VeganMoFo: Goals + Cake Hit & Wreck

Welcome, my friends, to the 2nd annual vegan MOnth of FOod. Over the next 31 days this blog, and many others in the vegan blogging universe, will step it up a notch and post about the wonderfulness that is vegan food at least 5 days a week.

Here are a few posts to look forward to:

• Texas Veggin' Out Days
• Veganizing Mamaw's Kitchen
• TV show themed dinner
• Veganized Presidential Cookie Bake-Off
• Daily eats in Palo Alto and Santa Cruz, CA (I'll be there for a week!)
• Top 10 inside the 610 loop (Houston vegan dining)
  

And since I couldn't leave you without some food in my first MoFo post... here is a recent cake wreck and a cake hit.

First, the cake wreck. For our one year wedding anniversary, I wanted to recreate the top tier of our wedding cake, with a few different embellishments (a fondant bow instead of buttercream roses). I baked a vanilla & chocolate marble cake in my mom's kitchen and took it home to frost with chocolate mousse and cover with fondant. Even though I felt rushed to get it done before the sun went down (this was back when we didn't have power), I was pleased with my first fondant bow and the ivy leaf border on the sides of the cake. Little did I know that the fondant would melt into a puddle in the heat of the night....
After that massive failure I needed the next cake to redeem myself. Success came in the form of macadamia ginger carrot cake from VWAV with cream cheese frosting (which was flavored with orange oil). The top border was piped to resemble carrots. Hopefully the cake was enough to impress Kristen (the birthday girl and our SOP president). But I'd have to say that the cutest thing was watching her son pick out all the macadamia nuts and then proceed to make a "gingerbread house" out of the remaining cake by piling leftover fruit and rice from dinner on top.
By the way, if you haven't made this carrot cake yet... you should!! The macadamias and crystallized ginger really make this cake stand out compared to other carrot cakes I've sampled.

More Vegan MoFo tomorrow!

Our Happy Ending

September 23, 2007

Here's the property where we got married in Beverly, MA. Misselwood at Endicott College.
I had the most beautiful jewelry a bride could dream of, all designed and handmade by an awesome fellow vegan and blogger (McFarland Designs on etsy). Since I'm a geologist, here's what they are: prehnite, green garnet, moonstone, labradorite, vasonite, and vegan Swarovski simulated pearls.

Instead of a garter, John's sister knitted me these anklets.
My wedding bouquet. Mango cala lilies, green cymbidium orchids, kermit mums, green hydrangea, hypercium berried, and eucalyptus.

Saying our vows. This is the promise we made to each other: I promise to be there when you need me, to fill your days with sunshine, to comfort you and encourage you, to help you reach your goals, to be your best friend ever, and to love you all my life, with all my heart.
My favorite part of the ceremony. We had a moment of reflection where we got to spend some time alone while listening to my mom (flute) and sister (cello) play a beautiful piece of music.
We just got married!
Our first moments as newlyweds....
Goofing around....

Looking out over the Atlantic....

An up-close shot of our vegan wedding cake made by Hippie Chick Bakery. Table decor. I loved the flower arrangements. Lots of greens with a splash of orange. We also had mini-photobooks on every table of different places we have visited together (from Nycole on etsy). Soy candles provided mood lighting (from Dirty Bird Soaps on etsy)
Wedding favors! (chocolate bars from Endangered Species) We also adopted a pig, Petunia, in honor of our guests from the Peaceful Prairie Farm Sanctuary.

Our first dance, "Blue Eyes" by the Cary Brothers (I love the Garden State soundtrack!).
Our rebuttal to the toasts of the evening, given by my father, John's brother, and my sister.
Cutting the vegan wedding cake. I had a piece of chocolate and a piece of the pumpkin, mmmmm.
Our last dance of the evening to the tune of "Amanda" (my name) by Boston (how fitting and corny of course).
The end of a perfect day...
Back to regular posting tomorrow! And if you just can't get enough wedding photos, feel free to check all 501 of them out online at http://www.pictage.com/350348 using the event key 4863.

Wedding Food!

So I figured I would start out with wedding food, beginning with, of course, the cake!! As I've mentioned before, Hippie Chick Bakery designed, baked, and delivered my wedding cake. I absolutely loved the colors, I didn't want just a plain white wedding cake. The vegan buttercream frosting was sweet and creamy, I could eat it by itself, and I'm not even a frosting fan!



To let our guests know what flavors of cake were available, I made a sign out of the tons of leftover paper we had from programs, napkin rings, etc. And of course I had to highlight that the cake was vegan! It is so hard to choose a favorite flavor. We haven't even tried the marble yet (It's in the fridge waiting to be cut, one quarter to the freezer for our anniversary and the rest we'll try and eat!). But both the pumpkin and the chocolate were amazing ....



Now moving on to dinner (we actually ate this first :-) There were plenty of hors d'ouevres to start with, but I didn't get pictures (at least yet). Veggie sushi, spring rolls, falafel, and samosas. The caterer (Celebrations Gourmet) was even nice enough to bring trays over while we were taking pictures! But on to the main course, here was my dinner plate (one photo I actually did snap myself).



The plate consists of a wild mushroom strudel made with shitake, crimini, and oyster mushrooms sauteed with leeks and Madeira wine rolled in phyllo pastry. This dish got rave reviews from many of our guests.



On the side we had roasted asparagus



And roasted sweet potatoes (a bit blurry)



I went back for seconds of the strudel. I even told the caterer that I'd leave it on my plate awhile and not to take it away, that I'd be back for it. Of course I had good intentions, but I was so busy I never made it back! So instead, they packed us a lunch for the next day and also gave all the leftovers to John's family. They'll be eating this stuff for days!

In other eating adventures before the wedding, we tried the Boston Hot Dog Company while in Salem. I of course had the Veggie Dog which was made of tofu I believe. The guy running the place was quite a character.



I give it an okay review. Not something I would really eat again, but at least I tried it!



And finally, dinner in Salem at Fresh Taste of Asia where I had the sesame tofu. Also tried their Idaho Maki roll, deep fried sweet potato sushi. It was delicious and even converted my not-so-crazy about sushi sister.



More wedding photos to come!

Getting Things Sorted

Well, it's official now .... I'm married! John and I returned from Boston last night after getting married on Sunday September 23, 2007. It was a perfect day. So difficult to even think of where to start telling you all about it. First off I must thank you for all of your wedding wishes. They meant a lot to me! I am still trying to sort out photos from various people that had their cameras during the wedding (I was a bit busy...) and of course once I have the professional photos in a few weeks I'll post some of those as well. I am pretty exhausted (and already back at work), but I will find the time in the next few days to do a few posts (or check out my flickr photos if you can't wait) and of course visit all of your blogs!

I'm Off To Get Hitched!

Tonight we fly to Boston and our wedding is on Sunday!! So, needless to say I won't be blogging until we return on Tuesday (honeymoon is in December). But I will be back with plenty of pictures and stories. Thank you so much for all of your congrats and best wishes. I can't wait to return and catch up with everyone's blogging!

So I can't take off without a few pictures, although the last few nights have been anything that takes minimal effort to fix for meals. I did take the time though to make pumpkin muffins from Tamara's blog (altered version from VWAV). I couldn't resist eating one straight out of the oven and they were so tasty. These will be my saving grace for breakfasts at the hotel this weekend!



Dinner from two nights ago involved sauteeing red pepper and sugar snap peas, tossing in some peanut sauce, and pairing it with some leftover spring rolls from my bridal shower and perfectly ripe mango.



This is probably a pathetic picture to post, but I really did eat a plate of broccoli for dinner last night. Oh, and I snuck in one of those muffins :-)



Here I am all packed (sort of, I'm pretty last minute about those kinds of things, although I've been packing since Saturday). My wedding dress is hanging in the background. Won't that be fun to carry around the airport?



Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Woohoo, I'm getting married!

I Need Some Help Here....

Growing up I always heard the rumor that mascara was made with bat droppings (eww! and NOT vegan). Still not sure if this is true or not, but by now I do know for certain that there are plenty of non-vegan ingredients in cosmetics. Which brings me to my dilemma. I do not normally wear makeup, not even to go out on weekends or anything like that. I am a strictly slather on some lip balm and go kinda girl. But for my wedding I'd like to look a little fancier :-) My bridesmaids and I will be having our makeup done for us at a place called I Natural in Peabody, Mass. I hadn't really thought much about it (soooo many other things to worry about), but I'm realizing now that most of their products likely won't be vegan. I'm going to give them a call today and ask what products they use and do some research online. But otherwise, I'm prepared to do some purchasing of my own and bring in those products for them to use. Seems a bit crazy, but I have no idea how to apply makeup, so it's best to let an expert handle it. So, my question for all you ladies (and guys too) is, do you have a favorite kind of vegan makeup? I don't even know what colors would look best on me, so I guess I will stick with neutrals. Any suggestions would be welcomed and much appreciated!
Sorry for the lack of photos, not much cooking these past few days. Tonight I have my bachelorette party (which includes cooking a vegan meal together!) so I'm sure I'll have some fun things to post next time!

The Last Batch .... Sniff

One month from today I'm getting married! I want to be as healthy as possible for the "big day" (wow, that sounds cheesy) so for the next 31 days, there will be no more of this stuff....





Last night I made my final batch of sweets (okay, I will be making an exception on my upcoming birthday and also at my wedding shower). These are the Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies from vegweb. I love them, so tender and yummy with a hint of cinnamon. I think I ate three right out of the oven for that warm cookie gooeyness. A perfect goodbye to sugar and sweets. The focus for the next month will be fresh fruits, veggies, and whole grains (something I usually do anyways). And no, I'm not trying to lose weight or anything to fit into my dress, I just want my immune system to be strong, my skin to be radiant, and my energy level high for all the wedding events.

Hopefully putting this information in blogworld will help me stay true to this diet/detox/craziness!!

Boston Part Two: Wedding Planning Whirlwind

Planning a wedding in Boston while living in Houston is not easy. So what was originally scheduled as a vacation (before the engagement) turned into a few days of a frenzy of wedding planning (we successfully escaped for a few days as you'll see in the next post). First up: cake tasting!! Before I would even book our venue I had to ensure that Amy from Hippie Chick Bakery was free to make our vegan wedding cake. We visited her home to discuss the details and of course, taste the cake. Sorry for my photos of half eaten cake. I was so excited about tasting I forgot about photos!!

Here is chocolate cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting and layered with fresh strawberries....


And a spice cake with ginger "buttercream" frosting....




And finally carrot cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting....

We also tried lemon cake and a marble cake with chocolate frosting. They were all amazing!! John was thankful, even though he knows vegan desserts can be every bit as good (I think better) than their non-vegan counterparts, he was admittedly a little worried. We are also going to try a pumpkin cake with ginger frosting once they are in season. My favorite was the chocolate, so we've decided that will be the largest of our three layer cake. The second will either be the spice or pumpkin cake with ginger frosting. The top layer John and I will take home (yeah right I'll be able to wait until our one year anniversary to eat it!!) is still up for grabs. Any suggestions? I opted not to have a traditional white wedding cake. Instead it will be shades of green with orange frosting flowers. The style will be similar to this cake.

Next we visited our wedding rehearsal dinner site (although there will be no rehearsal!). We chose the Concord Colonial Inn. John actually washed dishes there back in the days of summer jobs! This historic inn is located near the Old North Bridge, where the American Revolution began.

Here is the a view of the Heritage room where we will spend the eve of our wedding.

And of course, the site of the wedding and reception. This is the house I enter from before heading down the aisle!

A view of the Atlantic Ocean, the backdrop for our wedding ceremony.

And the reception tent and cocktail patio.

Over the week we also met with two caterers and did menu tastings, met with our J.O.P., visited the hotel where we will spend our first night as husband and wife, did a trial run of my hairdo, and met with the florist. Whew!! Sixty days and counting, it will be here before I know it. Okay, enough wedding stuff. I promise to stick (mostly) to good ole vegan blogging. But first one more quick post about our trip, visiting the White Mountains....

Break in Beantown

John and I leave this evening for Boston. The next week will be filled with wedding planning and visiting family, as well as a quick two-night get away for us in New Hampshire's White Mountains. I think I am most excited about tasing vegan cakes from the Hippie Chick Bakery, who will be designing our wedding cake! Of course I hve some veggie dining options scoped out, so hopefully we'll make it to a few of those. I'll have a full report with pictures when we return next Sunday!


Till then, I'll leave you with a photo of John's seitan cacciatore that he made earlier in the week. It was experimental cooking, but turned out really wonderful! He marinated the seitan overnight in white wine, tomato paste, and some herbs and seasonings. The seitan was then browned on its own in a little olive oil. Then he sauteed green and red pepper, zucchini, onions, and garlic, added back the seitan with some wine and simmered for about 10 minutes. We served it over some couscous. It was one of those dishes that improved with flavor, luckily we had enough to last us two more meals...