A Giant Cookie Cake of Stress

I wish that I forgot to eat when I get stressed...instead, I end up eating anything in sight. Unconsciously and impulsively. For example, I ate a leftover biscuit from Cracker Barrel when talking on the phone with my mom last night. I was standing in my kitchen, just having gotten home from work, and I inhaled that biscuit...and two mini Reese's eggs...and a handful of honey wheat pretzels. For a snack.

Oh my lawd. WORK IS KILLING ME.

When Little Came to Play...[Homemade Guacamole & Salsa]

This weekend was a "girls weekend". I haven't had one of those in a while! My Little, Lisa, came down for a long-anticipated visit. We took a walk in Colonial Williamsburg, got dinner and Chai tea lattes at our favorite coffee shop (Aromas), ate blueberry pancake platters at Food Craft, ran in the pouring rain, deep conditioned our hair, made a delicious Mexican feast, went out to the "delis" (aka Williamsburg bars), made crockpot steel-cut oatmeal, and took a lovely morning-after walk to get coffee and my car.

Vegan Dinner: Black Bean Quinoa Burgers, Wheat Buns, & PB Agave Cookies

In honor of spring's official arrival, vegan dinner was "cookout" inspired this week.

On Wednesday night, I started making the White Whole Wheat Burger Buns. The recipe called for only one major rising; however, I didn't throw the dough together until late in the evening and I was not about to stay up longer than I had to. So, I made up my own directions...AH! Having a few yeast breads under my belt gave me the confidence (cockiness?) to try it. Instead of leaving it out for two hours to rise in a warm place, it sat covered in the fridge until my lunch break on Thursday (~17 hours). Then I  punched it down and put it in a warmed oven until after work (~4 hours). By that time, it had come back down to room temperature and risen again. I split it, shaped it, and let it rest for 15 minutes before putting it in the preheated oven and saying a prayer. The end result certainly looked and smelled like bread!

Having bought a bag of sweet potatoes at Trader Joe's earlier in the week, I found a recipe for Sweet Potato Fries. I LOVE SWEET POTATO FRIES! This recipe promised crispy baked fries, with part of the trick being the use of cornstarch (I used arrowroot powder instead). The fries weren't exactly crispy, but I think it was it because I sprayed with olive oil rather than tossing.

RVA Breakfast [4]: The Dairy Bar

I am on a huge breakfast in Richmond kick! It just so happens my business (*cough, Boyfriend, cough*) has brought me to this pollen-laden city the last few weekends. 

Fun fact: Richmond, VA was #8 in the list of The Most Challenging Places to Live with Spring Allergies last year! (Granted, this year its down to 46 and Virginia Beach is up at #16. But that's still not good, right?) It wasn't until last year that I actually "started" experiencing allergies...it was something I was always thankful to not have. I didn't take it for granted! But it didn't matter. Now, with each passing season I'm reminded that age is not my friend. It gives me gray hairs, a stuffy nose, and deteriorating eye sight. GROSS.

So about this restaurant...

Boozy [Vegan] Brownies

Remember how much I raved about the vegan brownies I made with my friends in January? These are better.

Oh the magic of ALCOHOL...sorry, too soon? I certainly hope not! Its been 3 full days since St. Patrick's Day. And I, for one, was surprisingly successful in not overindulging. Although I did accidentally have meat...on nachos...but it was a necessity. (IF you didn't know, I gave up meat for lent.)

This vegan brownie is similar to the chewy vegan brownie in that it has ground flaxseed in place of eggs and melted chocolate to help make it chewy (and extra chocolaty!). These, HOWEVER, use a vegan butter instead of oil and a smidgen of alcohol...for fun. The first go around I used the amaretto, which is what the original recipe called for, then r-e-a-l-l-y under-baked them. In vegan-land, thats what I call a safe and delicious "oops". I basically couldn't keep my hands off them. I put them in the fridge, hoping to hide them from myself, but then I discovered how equally good they are cold!

Sunshine & Rainbow Sugar Cookies

Something about rainbows makes me smile. It must have something to do with finding them in the most unexpected places. What is something so bright, hopeful, and beautiful doing at the edge of a storm...or on a cookie?

What also makes me smile? Summer weather in the middle of MARCH! Today it was over 80 degrees in Williamsburg...and sadly, I had to spend a majority of it inside at work. But believe me, I took advantage of the warm weather after work, and made time for a nice run in a tank top and shorts. I didn't miss my winter layers at all; also I hadn't realized how much I missed the sun. Not much else can make you feel as alive as sunshine and exercise! Now, if I could just figure out how to dress for this weather (flip flops, bare legs: too early???).

RVA Breakfast [3]: Star-lite

So the Year of Busy continues...this past weekend, I was in Richmond for Friday night and then went home to Caroline County for Saturday night. My little brother turned 13 today. AHHHH! The youngest sibling in my family is officially a teenager. I bet my parents truly never thought this day would come (and only 5 years until they reach official empty-nest-dom!). 

All my brother wanted for his 13th birthday was a cell phone; would you believe he is literally one out of 3 people in the 7th grade that doesn't have one?! I didn't get one until freshman year of high school, back before texting was in its hay day...heck, I don't even remember if it existed. Even if it did, we all lived in an AIM world back then. I remember sitting in front of the computer, half doing my homework, and chatting with upwards of 5 friends. Nowadays, texting is the new AIM, even for middle schoolers...which honestly, makes me a little nervous...luckily, my brothers pretty perfect. A real gentleteen. Something that my sisters and I would like to take some credit for, but who really knows where it came from.

Before heading home on Saturday, Boyfriend and I ventured out to brunch, which required no pleading on my part since it was a SATURDAY. Not a SUNDAY. Its a compromise we've come too :) Brunch this weekend was at Star-lite, located on E. Main Street in the Fan. Its actually Boyfriend's favorite bar in Richmond, so it was interesting to be there with the sun out and no aroma of beer. One of my favorite features of Main Street restaurants (bars) is that a lot of them have covered patios / porches. So naturally, Boyfriend and I found a nice corner booth on Star-lite's covered patio, and proceeded to enjoy delicious food and people-watching...

Ok. Ready, set, judge!

Vegan Dinner: Orange-Glazed Tempeh & [Chickpea] Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Last week, the vegan trio met up to have another thoughtful meal together. The meal included orange-glazed tempeh and a (chickpea) chocolate chip cookie cake. See how the recipes fared below!

Orange-Glazed Tempeh, from The Food Buff
I've never tried tempeh before, but its been on my list since we started these vegan dinners. Its just not something I would've been brave enough to try without an experienced vegan at my side. After a little bit of research and discussion with Ms. Vegan herself, I learned that tempeh isn't as weird as it sounds...and definitely not as strange as tofu (ugh). Ingredients include fermented soybeans and other grains like millet (we used Trader Joe's 3-grain tempeh); and it has a firm and "meaty" texture.

RVA Breakfast [2]: Champagne Brunch at The Jefferson Hotel

Boyfriend asked me over the weekend about all the pictures I take of food. "What do you do with them?" During my pre-blog days, I suppose I used to just hoard them on my phone and computer. If the photos were of a giant plate of pancakes or other breakfast food, they more than likely ended up being texted to my Little. Or if it was something I made that I was incredibly excited about, up on Facebook it would go!

Nowadays I have Pursuit of Sweetness to collect not only my extremely amateur food photos, but the memories that accompany them, which would've otherwise been forgotten. That is, if I remember to post them before my life runs away with me...

Por ejemplo: Last month, my family all congregated in Richmond for a "birthday" weekend (i.e. it was the weekend between both my sister and I's birthdays). We went to the Lion King at the Carpenter Center: AMAZING. If you don't know, I have an infatuation with elephants...and there was a G-I-A-N-T elephant costume / puppet that walked down the aisle during the opening Circle of Life number. All the costumes were so impressive! And it was fun to be a kid again for 2 hours.

Sunday morning was the true pinnacle of the weekend though. After years of hearing my parents and other adults discuss the exquisite experience of the Champagne Brunch at The Jefferson Hotel, I finally got to experience it myself. It was so exciting and overwhelming! And you just can't help but feel regal when sitting in the hotel's rotunda lobby...no matter how much food in on your plate :) Having a bad tendency of overeating, often triggered by excitement, I made a VERY conscious effort to take small portions ("samples", if you will) and eat slooooooow.

Food Highlights: Asheville, NC

VMI was in the Big South finals this weekend; however, it wasn't official until late Thursday night, of course. Having been warned by Boyfriend that he would be attending the championship game if they made it, I waited anxiously by my computer with ESPN pulled up (...not a normal occurrence, I'll have you know) until the Charleston Southern vs. UNC Asheville game ended. Charleston or Asheville. Two cities I'd happily be dragged to, even if it meant having to sit through 2 hours of stress, balls, and sweat.

In the end, Asheville it was.

So at 4:30AM on Saturday, Boyfriend and I began the 6.5 hour drive into the mountains of North Carolina.