Last Two Weekends In Sacramento

So the last few weekends Matt and I spent time in Sacramento. Tattoos, to get, food to eat, death culture to explore. Fun times!

We went to midtown to have lunch and the first spot we chose did not have lunch hours so we were very hungry and decided to eat at Garden to Grill . We wanted to see if the place had improved since it was Sugar Plum after reading a bit about the changes in SN&R. I ordered a plate of pesto fries, a beer (to split) and Matt got a burger. It was $30+. My plate of fries above was cold, soggy, with a bit of pesto and a sprinkling of Daiya. Matt's burger looked more promising in the picture and even though he opted for the house made patty everything else from the bun to the sauce was store bought. I do not understand how a place can call themselves Garden To Grill when everything is heavy with Daiya and Gardein - which are great products but not something that I want my dine out meal to be made from the bulk of.
We liked Sugar Plum when it first opened. We would go there twice in one day if we were in town. After about a year in the place changed and then it went down hill. They do make really good whoopie pies and cookies you can pick up at Whole Foods and the co-op and at $2.99 they are really big and worth the price! I would not spend $30 there to dine again - in fact I would not even spend half that on stuff I can make at home and better.

Pushkin's Bakery has us covered with a tasty assortment of vegan cupcakes and muffins!

 El Papgayo has the best vegan Mexican food ever! The Baja tacos above is one of my fave dishes. Tangy, sweet and savory - all together and perfect in each bite!

My go to at Loving Hut in Elk Grove (and any LH) is the bbq vermicelli bowl. At the Elk Grove location I have to tell them no fake shrimp - not only do they creep me out I find them gross. Matt got a veggie burger and asked for no onions. I found fake shrimp in my dish under the noodles but luckily the giant slab of onion on Matt's burger was able to cover them up on the plate once removed. Ugh - seriously?

 
I was still riding on a cemetery high though after talking/interviewing a Buddhist master about life and death at the Ching Ming festival in East Lawn cemetery. I will be sharing the insight and bits of the conversation in an upcoming zine. 

We ended up back at El Papagayo - like always and this time around we both got the massive taco salad bowls - one of our faves. It is a massive fried flour tortilla with rice, beans, salsa, guac and choice your of filling spilling out.  I got the chile Colorado (potatoes, soyrizo) inside and was very happy while Matt opted for the fried tofu - his go to. This place is the best and everyone should go!

Food, Iced Coffee, and Beer!

I never had Hamburger Helper as a kid, if I did maybe it was once and that was it. I am thinking it had more to do with the size of the box than what was in it. My dad sure could eat a lot and I do not think a box would be a safe bet for a family meal.

Here is my own version - vegan of course! Organic pasta, soyrizo, cashew chipotle cheeze + Daiya cheeze blend, a can of Rotel, cashew milk and a bunch of spices. Really creamy, really good!

I split a Baracuda cupcake from Pushkin's and iced almond milk coffee from around the corner via Temple with Matt.

Because it is iced coffee weather (this time with coconut milk) and one can never have/read/buy/trade too many zines. My coffee even has my name spelled right!!!

Beer: The Super Tramp from Dust Bowl Brewing is now a favorite of mine. It has a slight strawberry taste and is refreshing. Perfect for warm weather and spicy dishes. Bonus it is brewed locally! I was hoping to like the Old Rasputin stout more - because I like stouts plus it had good reviews but it was just okay in my book.

Is the warm temps in your area yet? What are you looking forward to this spring?

East Bay Vegan Sweets

Some yummy treats were had in Berkeley last weekend besides the cupcakes from the RPSC event.

We finally made it to Cinnaholic before meeting up with friends at Saturn Cafe to score a cinnamon roll. We just went for fast and picked a already made brownie chunk combo. The treat was made within ten minutes and was perfectly warm in my hands, I wanted to dig in right then but was saving the treat till we were on our way home later in the night.
The cinnamon roll was super good even after sitting in the car for a few hours. My favorite part was the frosting - I can see why people do frosting shots of this stuff! Next time I am going to get seperate rolls for Matt and I - that way I can go crazy with flavors and he can play it safe!

After dinner we decided to go grab a cup of coffee, as we rounded the corner everyone stopped at Cakes and Purls window, Matt was like "they have vegan stuff"...I ran in, plunked down $3 for a vegan banana cream cupcake and took a card to go. The shop was cute, the owner/person behind the counter was nice and it had me thinking I really need to get out my knitting needles!
The cupcake got a lil squished by the next day, but it was still tasty. I liked the cake part, Mar did too. Nice real banana flavor and moist. I am not a frosting person (unless it is like a cinnamon roll drizzle or something cream cheeze based) so my "meh" on the frosting is not important, but Matt said it was good.

Rock Paper Scissors Collective 5th Annual Vegan Cupcake Challenge

On Saturday we headed to the good ol' East Bay. First stop was Rock Paper Scissors Collective to take part in their 5th annual vegan cupcake challenge. I arrived wanting cupcakes and needing a sugar boost. We paid our 5 dollars each to get in and started sampling away!

 

The crowed wants cupcakes!!!

 

First up in the line of cupcake sampling was the Dark and Stormy by Mollie Rose Baking Company. I actually sampled this one last - though it was first in line. It was my favorite - the one I voted for and the winner! It had a salty sweet taste going on and the lime shooter slice at the end was a tasty whimsical touch.  

Matt voted for the strawberry cheesecake - he is a sucker for cheesecake! 

Pumpkin Pecan Passion Cupcakes in the mix made me think of fall!

 

Coconut cupcakes - I liked these, though Matt passed them up due to his coconut-hate (more like dislike, hate is such a strong word!).  Tropically-tasty indeed! 

After sampling cupcakes they did a drawing and Matt won a prize! He seems to win prizes at vegan events pretty easily! Lucky him. He won a a pass to the Pacific Pinball Museum! Right up his alley! Yay!

A super fun start to our day in the East Bay! I love vegan events! So fun! I even got some inspiration and kind words! Thanks Matt for braving the cupcake crazed crowd and scoring me some photos! 

Moving On With A Cupcake Contest

For the last year I have been writing articles and showcasing some cool products for Creepy Queen Magazine, both online and in print. Yesterday I received a mass email stating that the blog portion of the site would close down - the part of the site I wrote for weekly. I was in the middle of two interviews with really nice people and was really bummed. This came after seeing the Gothic Beauty ad for Creepy Queen magazine that was supposed to showcase my product as well as a few others - well the others were in it, not me though. Also after two months I still do not have my copy of the print issue of #2 that I spent $18 on just to see my print article, yes I filed a PayPal claim.
I was going to quit this month. I talked it over with Matt and he said it was time after feeling so unappreciated. I was going to finish my two articles, have them posted and let the owner know I was disappointed for not being recognized as someone who busted their butt because they wanted to see the magazine grow.

Moving on, I will be blogging more, writing/testing out DIY beauty recipes for a vegan DIY skin care zine I want to put together, ready myself for the upcoming craft shows and much more stuff in the works. I need to get to things I put off for way to long!

To see MissMuffcake grow I am holding yet another fun contest! MissMuffcake came about as a name when my sister and I were discussing muffins that tasted as good as cupcakes and we came up with the term Muffcake! I love cupcakes and I love being vegan so to share my love one random lucky person will win a new copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero! All you have to do is comment with the answer to this question: if you were a cupcake - what kind would you be? Please have your email/contact info on your blogger profile or leave your email* in the comment as well so I can contact you! This contest is open to everyone and will close on September 12, 2010! Good Luck!

*If you do not want to leave your email in the comments please email me at the email provided on my profile page with the name you commented with so I can keep track!

Turning 31!

I turned 31 on June 28th. I had a amazing 3 day birthday that involved coffee-walnut cupcakes and friends, San Francisco fun and good eats , a concert in Sacramento a more awesome food.

I decided to make two different cupcakes for my birthday. The one that had the most positive response was the coffee-walnut cupcakes with coffee butter cream frosting. This cupcake is super dense and rich and has loads of coffee flavor. The recipe is something I came up with after veganizing and reconstructing a few recipes. If you do not like StarBucks feel free to use a different brand of instant strong coffee.


Super Walnut Coffee Cupcakes + Coffee Butter Cream Frosting
[makes 12 standard sized cupcakes]

3/4 cup Earth Balance (room temp)
3/4 sugar
3 tbsp. of Egg Replacer with 9 generous tbsp water - mixed
1 1/4 cups ap flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ cup walnut pieces
1 packet* of Via Instant coffee -Italian Roast- dissolved in 1 tbsp. of hot water

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners.

Beat the Earth Balance and sugar together until creamy and then slowly add the Egg Replacer mixture. Sift in the flour and baking powder and then mix in. Fold in the walnuts (checking for big chunks, discard those). Divide the mixture between the cupcake liners evenly. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

[Coffee Butter Cream Frosting]
2 tbsp. of plain soy milk
1* packet of Via Instant coffee -Italian Roast-
6 tbsp. of Earth Balance
1 1/4 cups of sifted powdered sugar
large walnut halves to decorate

Warm the soy milk in a pan (do not boil) add coffee and stir until dissolved. Let cool in a medium sized bowl till warm - not hot. Beat in the Earth Balance and frosting till creamy. Frost each cupcake and decorate with a walnut half.

*About 2 teaspoons



For my birthday we usually take a mini day trip, this year I really wanted to go to Japan Town in San Francisco with a few stops. We got off BART and went over to Westfield Mall to have lunch at Loving Hut. We both ordered combo plates. The food was good, I even got a mock beef dish and it was not to ‘beefy’ which is sometimes the case when using mock meats.




Once in Japan Town I went crazy with all of the cute toys in the mall. We had a blast taking photos and decorating them at Pika Pika. I walked out with lots of super cute stationery from Kinokuniya. I could spend all day and all my money in this mini mall. We went across the street to the New People store/mall and I fell in love with some of the goth lolita stuff on the upper level. I really liked Black Peace Now’s stuff!



We headed down Filmore and had soy yogurt at Fraiche Yogurt with lil pillows of mochi settled on the side. Then we walked down hill (later up hill - my poor feet!) To eat vegan Chicago deep dish pizza with loads of Dayia at Patxis Chicago Pizza. I was never a huge fan of ‘commercial’ pizza since I grew up with hand made pizza from a Sicilian grandma, then vegan options are usually not tasty. Patxis just rocked the taste buds that night and we were both amazed at how good it was.





The next day in Sacramento we started off eating at the all you can eat vegan buffet at Queen Sheba . I always load up on enjeera and lentils!


I just really wanted to try Sugar Plum Vegan after seeing they opened a store front. I had tried a gluten free - vegan brownie at a craft show one year and it was yummy. The owner was super nice and we both got our order fast. I got the midtown club and my boyfriend got the tempeh reuben panini - they were both damn tasty and we are not even sandwich people. We stocked up on sweets for after the concert (we saw Dum Dum Girls perform at Blue Lamp - good show, clean venue!), the owner even through in a large cowboy cookie! The best thing we had (on our way home!) Was the peanut butter creme filled giant cookie - tasty!
Can I just applaud Sugar Plum Vegan for a bit...Living in the valley we don’t have vegan food on every corner. People from bigger cities thinks that we are often lame and write shit about us. Sugar Plum Vegan gives me hope, they are offering monthly workshops and kick ass food without the attitude. I look up to Sugar Plum Vegan - they started off how I am starting off with my own vegan bakery and it gives me lots of hope.



Yay smaller town vegans and having a awesome bday!