Coldplay......and a few other things

I apologize for my recent absence. We have been eating, but I just haven't been cooking much that's new, exciting, or blog worthy. Part of my absence was due to the fact that Rob and I headed up to Chicago for a few days to catch Coldplay. The show was phenomenal, Rob won an on-line auction and we had seats in the 13th row!! Coldplay never fails to put on a tremendous stadium show, and this one didn't disappoint, complete with giant orbs dropping down from the ceiling to show live footage of the band, a seemingly endless shower of butterfly confetti, and a few songs on a makeshift stage just feet from where we were sitting. And then of course there's Chris Martin (swoon!). Ok, back to being an adult now........

The concert was nice, and the eating was great. We started our visit with a trip to Jamba Juice for an Acai smoothie. For lunch is was off to the Silver Spoon for some crispy fried tofu, and spicy basil leaves (sans fish sauce). Our dinner was with our good friends Jesse and Holly at Karyn's, and as expected after our last visit, didn't disappoint. We started with Thai Skewers (skewered thin sliced seitan, slathered in peanut sauce). The main course for me was the Seitan Fajitas with a side of guacamole. And, of course, I can't eat at an all vegan restaurant without having dessert, so I finished with a slice of Pecan Pie and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. Yum!! I'm sorry that I don't have any pics for you, I just feel so weird about taking pictures of food in restaurants. We started the next morning with cereal and soy milk from room service, and made a stop at Dao's for Spicy Crazy Noodles with Tofu (again, sans fish sauce)before heading back to the airport. It was a lovely trip of good music, good friends, and good food!!


I do have a few food pics for you, of some things I made last week. First up we have Red Velvety Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, or something like that , from VCTOTW. I didn't have the full 2 Tbs of red food dye that the recipe called for, so mine aren't as red as I would have liked, but the flavor wasn't affected any. These were awesome!! I think I like the cream cheese icing better than the buttercream I've been making (although, once again, the sugar needs to be cut quite a bit next time).
I also made this simple maple dijon pasta salad last week when we went swimming at my mom's house. All I did was just grill our CSA veggies (squash, zucchini, onion) and toss it with some whole wheat penne, some diced roasted red peppers, and then drizzle it all with a dressing made of dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and maple syrup. This turned out awesome. Everyone LOVED it!!


I'm off for another trip to Chicago tomorrow. Going on a girls weekend with a friend, so I'll be sampling some more tasty vegan fare from the Windy City.......who knows, maybe this time I'll get brave enough to snap some shots!!!