Sheridan's Birthday!

My best friend Sheridan has a birthday on Monday! But she lives in Little Rock, Arkansas — about 2 hours from my home in Memphis — so I drove down to celebrate with her this past weekend.

Shortly after I arrived, she and her husband Drew and I scooped up our friend Brittany at her house and headed to The Pantry Crest, a hip little restaurant in the Hillcrest neighborhood. We started with a round of dirty martinis.

The Pantry Crest has a few vegan options, most of which are salads. But they're very well put-together, dinner-sized salads. Sheridan, Brittany, and I all ordered salads, and Drew tried a vegan roasted potato skillet dish. But since we were gonna be eating salad, we figured it was best to start with an appetizer of Pommes Frites (served with curry ketchup!).

For my entree, I got the Seasonal Pantry Salad — bibb lettuce, golden and red beets, shaved asparagus, radishes, toasted sunflower seeds, and a mustard-herb vinaigrette.

After dinner, we grabbed some beer and vodka and headed to Brittany's house for post-dinner drinks. Her husband Brett had to skip dinner and stay home and watch their kids, so we went to her place so he could hang out too. We spent most of the night on their patio. By the way, Sheridan and Brittany and I go WAY BACK. I've been friends with Brittany since elementary school! And Sheridan transferred to our school in seventh grade. After college, Sheridan and Brittany both moved to Little Rock, and I moved to Memphis.

Sheridan had requested either coconut or maple cupcakes for her birthday. So I picked maple! I made these Maple Cupcakes with Sugared Walnuts and Maple Buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They have candied walnuts on top and inside the cakes.

Sheridan made her birthday wish on Britt's patio.

For a late-night snack, Sheridan whipped up some creamy Dill Dip using a Simply Organic dip mix and Tofutti sour cream. So good! This is one of my all-time favorite snacks. Enjoyed with wavy avocado oil chips.

I spent the night at Sheridan and Drew's house, and we got up this morning and headed to brunch at The Root Cafe before I made the drive home. The Root is our fave Little Rock vegan brunch spot. We typically go there every time I'm in town.

I ordered the Tofu Scramble and Salad plate. They make a great scramble, and we love that it's served with fresh greens. 

I also got an order of The Root's Shiitake on a Shingle. It's offered on special there sometimes, and it's soooooo good. Savory shiitake gravy over homemade whole wheat toast.

Bonus picture! Here's their cat Ellie!! Ellie is so old, and she's just the best. Sheridan took Ellie in when she was just a kitten. She and I and Brittany were sharing an apartment together in college at the time, so Ellie lived with me briefly. Since then, she's moved all around with Sheridan and Drew. She'll be 17 years old this year! God, that makes us sound so old.