Cemeteries & Vegan Pizza

Last weekend we headed out to the Pleasenton - San Ramon area to search cemeteries, eat vegan deep dish pizza and just get away for a few hours. We spent time in both the Memorial Gardens Cemetery and CFCS St. Michael Cemetery  which are right next to each other. 

The weather has been nice and I have been digging up history (ha ha) on cemeteries in the area and playing cemetery explorer. Partly because I love cemeteries and also I am working on a zine that has been decades in the making. I am also curating and updating the lists of cemeteries via Wiki in my area.

I am always on the hunt for interesting stones. Matt also has a good eye and spotted the above stone. What stood out is the pot leaf! We have never seen anything like that. Also note the sports teams, Matt found it funny that opposing sports teams seemed to balance each other out being placed next to each other.

As the sun set I had to have Matt get a quick pick of me in. I climbed up and got dirty but that is part of being a cemetery explorer!

After a quick trip to Whole Foods and coffee-fuel we headed over to Zachary's for deep dish vegan pizza! There are two places that offer vegan deep dish in the area and I like Zachary's better. At Zachary's there is not a super long wait, the atmosphere is fun and I like the taste better. We got our vegan deep dish with jalapenos (of course) and drinks on the side (I got a bottle of Angry Orchard Apple Cider - super good!).

Cemeteries and pizza - what a perfect day time date-getaway! As always thank you Matt for taking me and sharing these adventures with me. Also if you are curious about my upcoming zine project please keep an eye out. Check out my Instagram account in the links to the side for more cemetery photos and of course photos of random stuff I post.

Eats Of The Week

Almond milk cappuccino from Timeless Roasters in Oakland.

 

Salad for lunch at Golden Lotus - random lunch since it was not our first option in Oakland. 

 

Dosa at Udupi  in Berkeley for dinner, I loved the coconut chutney but the service needed improvement.

Avo-Toast (Crazy Sexy Kitchen  - gift from a friend) with red pepper flakes on Judy's Breadstick bread - omg so good!

Taco night Tuesday, tempeh tacos from the I love Cooking With Trader  Joe's Vegetarian cookbook (my fave cookbook lately!). I topped them with avocado and Daiya shreds. Served with red rice and chili and lime spiked jicama.

What have you been eating?

[Vegan Mofo Day 22] Tea Time: Starbucks

I have been ordering tea at Starbucks lately because my decaf usually ends up being caffeinated...I can handle the caffeine in tea more so than coffee. If it is cold I get a chai tea bag (not a chai latte - the mix contains honey) with steamed soy milk and either a pump of caramel syrup or vanilla syrup. The soy milk tastes so much better steamed - do not miss this step!  I also really dig on the vanilla rooibos tea. If it is hot outside a black tea with lemonade hits the spot! Another warm weather fave is a passion tea apple juice with a pump of classic and pump of raspberry! Matt likes the passion tea lemonade sweetened!

I go to a coffee place and order tea - so what!?!

A Cup Of Happiness

I have been feeling rather blah lately. I have been really tired, lacking inspiration and just shy of feeling like a zombie. It is not depression or anxiety - stuff I battle daily just a case of the blahs. I went to the store looking for some pick me ups.


I first bought I Am Happy liquid supplement via Vegan Essentials. I then found the line locally. I tried one this week when I was feeling stressed out and my anxiety over time and a clean kitchen was making my inner peace feel like a war zone. I downed the shot and did feel calmer about 30 minutes later. It contains L-Theanine (which I already take) and GABA to help beat the stress out of you. Each little bottle is 5 calories and contains stevia. I am not a fan of the taste - somewhat artificial and medical (like a less tasty Emergen-C packet) and the price about $4 a pop however it really helps. I am buying a few to keep around for those days when I feel stressed.


I was at Cost Plus looking at tea and found Republic of Teas "Get Happy Tea" . It is a caffeine free red tea that contains St. John's Wort. It has a mild peach flavor that is very aromatic. I have been drinking it day and night and it is soothing. At Cost Plus it was about $11 for the 32 tea bag canister.

I hope to feel less crappy soon and finish some projects I am working on. I hate having ideas and no motivation to do anything about them!

What I have Been Up To

For the last few days the blog was down due to some issues with the domain hosting switch. All is back to normal, except, my computer is acting up and my boyfriend and I are trying to fix things. Computer stuff just makes me angry, I don't understand a lot of it which just puts me on edge!


Enough of that! So last weekend my boyfriend did the second day of shooting for a music video he is working on. He needed hair and makeup for the actress. A nice girl came down to do hair and I lined up a makeup artist. Well, the makeup artist did not show up, I was put on makeup duty to create a simple alien queen look and the actress and I are totally different colors. I had new brushes, new liner and she had her own base so I did what I could given such a short notice and not much to work with. We know the actress, she was really sweet and sportive about the whole thing.



After the day long shoot and dinner I bought drinks and snacks for me and the boyfriend-director. I bought the seasonal flavor of Mike's Hard Lemonade which is strawberry - really good! A lot better than the pink ribbon blend last year and a few others I have tried.


This week I tried recreating the 'super bird' sandwich from Denny's for dinner. I made a few adjustments though. I used Monterrey jack cheeze and a whole grain bread. I used Smart Bacon, Tofurky slices, organic tomatoes and Earth Balance spread on the outsides of the bread to get them toasty. My boyfriend was pleased!


I just tired the new Tapatio Fritos - yummy! The leave a trail of heat behind! I will be eating more maybe with a Mike's Hard Strawberry Lemonade!