What I Ate This Weekend

I ate so much this past weekend! But it's a good thing I loaded up on calories this weekend because our nice, cool springy days have suddenly turned icy and cold again. Winter Storm Titan (I love that winter storms have names now!) took a toll on us last night, and now I just wanna hibernate in my PJs.

We lost power for 12 hours today after the storm, and it was supposed to be a work-from-home "snow day." But I can't do my job without the internet, so I was forced to brave driving on solid sheets of ice to get to the office. Ugh. Anyway, before all that yucky stuff happened, I ate this!

On Thursday (that counts as the weekend, right?), I met Leslie for lunch at Arepa & Salsa, a Venezuelan sandwich shop. We both ordered the Veggie Queen Arepa (black beans, sauteed eggplant, avocado, and salsa on an arepa corn patty) with homemade chips. I just love the soft, corn texture of arepas, like a corn tortilla had a baby with pita bread.

Friday was the real kicker though. I had to sample lots of beer Friday afternoon for work. I can't say why yet, but let's just say, the life of an alt-weekly reporter is pretty darn sweet sometimes. Certainly makes up for all those hours-long school board and city council meetings. After beer, I had plans to meet up with Stephanie for dinner. She made a Broccoli Quiche!

I'm not certain, but I believe she uses Isa's recipe from Vegan Brunch. And it's so perfect. I've had this quiche before from Stephanie, and it always looks and tastes amazing. If I made the same exact recipe, it would taste great. But I could never get it to look that pretty. Stephanie has mad food styling skills, especially when it comes to pie crusts. You should have seen the entire quiche. The crust was perfect!

At my request, she also made Vegan Scones with Clotted Cream. And I may have had, um, three plates just like this one.

This is, hands down, my favorite thing Stephanie makes. Better than all the cupcakes, pies, cookies, petit fours, cheesecakes, etc. Steph is a professional vegan baker (she runs Swell Baked Goods), and everything she makes is delicious. But these ... oh man, these are BEST THING IN THE WORLD. The clotted cream is light and whippy. The scones are just a tad sweet and perfectly biscuity. And her homemade jams — blueberry lavender and strawberry balsamic black pepper — are insane.

On Saturday, I went to my friend Cindy's for a chakra balancing session. Call me a hippie, I don't care. I'm aligned from my crown chakra to my root chakra now! Anyway, after balancing, we dined on light potluck fare. I brought these Roasted Winter Vegetables from Cooking By the Seasons (sweet potato, red potato, red bell pepper, acorn squash, broccoli, carrots, onions, and garlic seasoned with rosemary, thyme, olive oil, salt, and pepper). Simple and delicious.

Some of you may be reading this on Tuesday, and if so, Happy Fat Tuesday! I'll be posting King Cake pics Tuesday night. Also, Tuesday is Stephanie's Veganaversary!