Want: Wall Oven.

Must Have

In your dreams.

If you can't read this sign it advertises "Tons of stuff your dreams can't even imagine."

A Mercy For Animals sign on the a blue line CTA train. Definitely my favorite animal welfare group.

Our friend makes the most amazing tofu scramble ever. EVER. It's the best thing on a Sunday morning.

Vegan Map It!

Thank You Thank You Thank You!

I have a customer friend from the market who works across the street from my dad's office down in the loop. While casually mentioning I have had difficulties finding good places for us to go when I meet my Dad for lunch he tells me he has a google map made up with all the places that are great for vegans to go. And that it is o-k for me to share. And all you have to do is scroll in to focus on Chicago since there are other locations marked in India and Denmark and California. So HERE it is. Thanks!

Irazu

Taking pictures with my cellphone is my new thing.
Above: This is only two tacos. Below: My 5$ milkshake. Just like in Pulp Fiction.

We went for the first time today to Irazu - a Costa Rican restaurant not too far from our apartment. I had heard rave reviews about the oatmeal shakes there - and they are pretty great. Not over the top awesome but oddly comforting when made with strawberry and soy. And although the shake ended up being 5$ (I sprung for the soy...) the 2.99$ giant tacos made up for it.

And did I mention there is some sort of freak heat wave going on today? I was wearing my scarf two days ago and now it is 77 outside. Not that I am complaining...

Time It.

I have really fallen off the blogging bandwagon recently. Can it be because I have no time left to do anything? I think in one of my previous posts I mentioned something about it "All working out!" and well... it is, but isn't. I only have 4 bike hats left on my Etsy shop, two at Renegade, and all the while the temperature is dropping and I have only made one trial winter hat so far. (Disaster... anyone know how to sew up old sweaters without them stretching all over the crazy place?) And the other things I have been meaning to do, like buying travel insurance and getting a new pair of shoes, have been on the to-do list for MONTHS now.

Foodwise what I have been up to is eating scads of Honeycrisp apples and have finally almost used up the twenty-odd pounds of apples my grandmother brought from her tree in Iowa. I have about six left for Amos to make into applesauce. Did I mention I ate apple cobbler for breakfast today?

We also went to the Renegade Handmade Craft Fair - which was unfortunately nearly rained out... (As was the Green City Market that weekend - I felt like we were lost at sea...). My new favorite things from the craft fair are:

Jo Clothing (especially the underwear!)
Dearest Inez (why is there nothing on her etsy shop?! I got the cutest re-fashioned t-shirt ever!)
Sofia Masri

Plus I purchased a sticker proclaiming "I have a zombie escape plan." Like a bumper sticker, but for my bike. That I haven't had time to put on yet.

Fat Mouse

If you can even see this picture it is the cutest picture of a little fat mouse ever.

We ordered pizza last night from Marcello's and it was the best ever. If you are vegan get the vegetarian gourmet thin crust (sans Romano cheese). It has gobs of spinach and tons of mushrooms and tomatoes. And if you have a free coupon for a small pizza with an order of 20$ or more order an artichoke pizza without cheese. These last two go really well together. Do not order a deep dish pizza with the regular sauce as the deep dish sauce contains cheese. Do order a deep dish pizza with regular sauce and lots of veggies and it will be like eating a two inch thick wedge of cooked veggies in a deep dish pizza crust with tomato sauce on top. The only stinky thing about them is they won't substitute the cheese for a different ingredient of your choice - drats.

Shoe It

I am searching for a pair of shoes to replace my much beloved faux-spat shoes that have holes eaten through the soles where my bike pedals have worn them too much. I came upon something hopefully blog-worthy when I googled vegan shoes: Natalie Portman released her own line of vegan shoes last February. They are made in limited editions of 100 and are on sale at this website. I of course don't really need a new pair (or any pair) of four inch strappy heels or silver wedge peep toes.... but it is really neat to see a line of higher end shoes eschewing the notion that fancy means leather. I'm thinking about a new pair of sensible slip-ons (I heard slip-ons are indispensible when visiting multiple Buddhist temples) like these. You know what - I'm going to just pick up a pair of these vegan pumps designed by Stella McCartney....

Just for reference my favorite places for vegan shoe shopping are as follows:

Novacas (read no cows en espanol) available at MooShoes
Alternative Outfitters
Simple (Not all vegan... unfortunately because those boots on the upper left kick ass.)
Zappos Vegetarian (I love the little "Thank You" cow logo... but how many leather pairs of shoes does Zappos sell per year? Probably a lot. Ick.)