Last Soccer Game

It was a stormy night and, in the morning, we were sure Jackson's last soccer game of the season would be cancelled, but the coaches felt it would be too difficult to try to reschedule, so the game was on. The field was basically one giant, muddy puddle. Of course the boys had fun slipping and sliding around!

Afterwards we walked over to the playground for a little end-of-season celebration. Their wonderful, encouraging coach said a few words about each boy and gave them a trophy.

Go Dragons!

I made chocolate mini-cupcakes with raspberry buttercream (recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.) They went quickly!

We snacked the rest of the day on olives, fruit, and Spinach Artichoke Dip from Dreena Burton's latest, Plant-Powered Families. I love that it's made from cashews rather than a ton of faux cheese and mayo. Dreena feeds her kids the way I like to feed my family.

We scooped the dip onto torn-off chunks of fresh baguette. The bread recipe is from The Garden of Vegan, it's an old favorite that produces a great baguette.

So. Much. Rain.

The deluge continues! It's been weeks now. I feel terrible for those affected by flooding. We've been lucky in our neighborhood. Aside from a few tree branches down, we've had no damage and our power has stayed on. 

Olivia loves to put on her boots and splash around in the puddles until she is soaked.

I warned her that her rain boots are not waterproof and her feet will get wet if she jumps into standing water. But in her mind, getting all wet and muddy just means that she gets to take a bath. So, win-win.

For dinner I wanted something warm and comforting, and I'd also been craving Indian food. I made the Coconut Cauliflower Chana from Get It Ripe and it hit the spot. That's good, because it made a ton! I served it over rice but I will serve the leftovers with naan bread to change things up. The coconut makes it so different and delicious! I guess that's a South Indian thing. So good.

After Olivia was warm and dry, she helped me frost some cupcakes. I made lavender-rose cupcakes by steeping lavender buds in some almond milk, which I then used in the batter, and adding rosewater to the buttercream frosting. The basic vanilla cupcake recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. I swirled together pink and purple frosting to represent the rose and lavender.

How is the weather where you live?

Austin Bakes for Nepal

Hi guys! I don't usually blog on weekends, but I am trying to get caught up on my posting. Yesterday was a typically busy day for us. First, I delivered some baked goods to Whole Foods for the Austin Bakes for Nepal bake sale. This was my first time getting involved with Austin Bakes. They organize bake sales around the city to help natural disaster survivors far and wide. In the past, they have baked for Austin (flooding), neaby Bastrop (fires), as well as Japan (tsunami). The after effects of the Nepal earthquakes are still being felt, I heard there was a landslide only yesterday, so very awful. The least I could do was use my baking skills to help raise a little money for relief efforts.

Olivia helped me get all our ingredients ready and we talked a little bit about Nepal. I don't want to scare her talking about natural disasters too much, since she is only five, but I do want her to empathize with families who are going through tough times and understand that we should always try to help out.

First we made Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.)  I wanted them to be eye-catching, so I found some cute little polka-dot wrappers at Michael's.

We also made Cowgirl Cookies (from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.) These were some seriously hefty cookies, studded with chocolate chunks, pecans, and coconut.

Finally, also from VCIYCJ, Peanut Butter Cookies topped with roasted, salted peanuts. 

The bake sale was just kicking off when I dropped off my items. I hung around for a bit and I was happy to see lots of customers coming by to check out the goods. Some people just gave donations and didn't even want any treats, which was so kind of them!

In the afternoon we attended a wedding. The dress code was country casual and none of us own cowboy boots, so this is what we came up with.

The wedding was held on a ranch out in Dripping Springs, it had a really rustic vibe.

A true Texas wedding!

Olivia and Jackson were feeling festive.

I was, too. It was a sweet, romantic ceremony and a fun reception.

However, throughout the evening, the heavy rain that started earlier in the day got even worse. During the toasts, the lights kept flickering on and off in the lodge. We all listened to the rain pouring down on the patio's tin roof, and anxiously watched the rising creek water.

The ranch grounds started to flood and we all moved indoors. I didn't get any pictures after it got dark, but this whole patio was underwater including at least one of the lodge's screen doors which blew off and floated out onto the patio.

Finally around 9:00, some friends said they were leaving before it got worse, and we decided to follow. Tony took Jackson and ran to get the car and pulled it up as close to the lodge as he could, but there was still a dirt path that I had to get down with Olivia.  As I carried her, my flip flops were sucked off into the deep mud! I didn't care, I was just glad to make it to the car safely. There was about a two-mile dirt road to exit the ranch. We hadn't gotten very far at all when a guy ran up to our car and told us to turn around. Everyone ahead of us was stalled out because the road was flooded. So we parked and watched people hiking back from their stalled vehicles, and debated what to do. While we were listening to the storm and considering our options, Jackson and Olivia fell asleep in the backseat. A ranch staffer knocked on Tony's window and let us know the flood was getting worse and we should plan on staying the night. He apologized that there wasn't really anywhere to sleep. Some guests were still up at the lodge, hanging out, but since the kids were already asleep we resigned ourselves to sleeping in our car until morning.

We had no cell reception this whole time, but I was able to edit photos on my phone, so this is what I did while we sat in the dark listening to the crazy storm.

Finally, about 11:30, Tony made his way back up to the lodge to see if there was any news. While he was there, the owner came in and said that the road had become drivable and if anyone wants to try to leave, they should do it now, because another round of storms was due to hit any minute. Tony raced back to the car and I could see lots of other guests slogging towards their cars as well. We made a caravan out along the dirt road and luckily everyone was able to get through the low areas and get back onto the paved roads. I was soooo glad we did not have to sleep in the car! I do lots of yoga but I still would have been super sore in the morning. Very happy today to be home safely, but thinking of those in the towns of San Marcos and Wimberley which were completely flooded last night. Hundreds of people have lost their homes.

On a positive note, Austin Bakes for Nepal raised over $7000! Now, I am thinking there needs to be an Austin Bakes for San Marcos/Wimberley soon...

Spring Festival

I ordered Vegan Pie in the Sky as a "Pi Day" (3/13) gift to myself and the timing was perfect, since Jackson's school had asked for baked good donations for the cake walk at their annual spring festival.

First up, the Pucker Up Raspberry Pie. The edges of my crust got a little overbaked, hopefully nobody minded. I was surprised at how easy the lattice crust was! And it was fun cutting out the little heart shapes. I felt very Betty Crocker-ish.

Next up, Maple Pecan Pie. Looked and smelled wonderful!

We did not donate all our baking efforts, to be honest. I also made a batch of Boston Cream Pie cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. My chocolate ganache topping was wayyy too runny to dollop on top of the cupcakes. I had to thicken it up with some extra chocolate and coconut oil. There will definitely be a next time and I will cut down on the amount of milk used. Biting into the cream-filled cupcake center is pure heaven.

Anyway, the festival! Unfortunately Jackson had an upset stomach and could not attend, but I took Olivia for a couple of hours. She headed straight for the bounce castles first.

The human hamster ball was a new experience for her. 

. She was stumbling around like a tiny drunk person after the climbed out!

Random dude with a white bird just hanging out on his head. Sure, why not. This is Austin.

Try as she might, Olivia did not manage to dunk the teacher, but enjoyed trying.

Her favorite activity was the foam pit. "I'm swimming in clouds!" she exclaimed.

"This is the best day of my life!" she also exclaimed. Olivia may be prone to hyperbole but you have to appreciate her enthusiasm.

Later, I ran her home and then went back and volunteered for a couple of hours at various booths. That was fun too. I was starving when I got home, and I had a BLT craving. I cooked up some tempeh bacon and piled it on my favorite pumpernickel-rye swirl bread along with tomatoes, lettuce, hummus, and avocado. BLT deluxe!

Mountain Laurels

I'm not a native Texan but I've learned that spring = bluebonnets. Folks are down right obsessed with capturing the perfect shot of their little darlings frolicking among the bluebonnets, and I definitely include myself in that obsession! But, did you know spring also means the Texas mountain laurels are in bloom?

Bluebonnets have their own lovely floral scent, it's true. But...dude. Mountain laurels smell like GRAPE BUBBLE GUM. Not kidding! And it is a strong, bold scent. So basically when we take our walks around the neighborhood, it's like we're moving through a heady cloud of sweet grape incense.

I love spring in Austin.

While Jackson is at school, Olivia and I have been working on improving our baking skills. I have never been much of a baker but I'm getting there!

Blueberry Lemon Creme Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The perfect cupcake for a sunny spring day, bursting with blueberry and lemon flavors!

The Roller Skating Chef...I see a Food Network gig in her future!

For dinner I made a couple of Veganomicon recipes, Penne alla Vodka and Rosemary Focaccia.

A coworker of Tony's gave him a huge bundle of fresh rosemary and this focaccia was a tasty use for it. My focaccia dough rose nicely! Yeast bread baking scares me the most, but I will keep practicing!

Olivia Turns Five

Olivia started off her fifth year of life by feeding breakfast to her ponies.

For a special dinner, I made the Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits from Veganomicon.  I stuck it under the broiler for a minute after it finished cooking, to get the biscuits nice and golden.

I subbed chickpeas for the navy beans. It was so good!

Olivia requested a Rainbow Dash cake this year. She is just a little obsessed with My Little Pony these days (and Shopkins, and Monster High!) It was fun and challenging to make and to decorate. For the cake and frosting, I doubled the vanilla cupcake and vanilla buttercream recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Wishing.

Whoosh!

At five, Olivia loves roller-skating, gymnastics, fairies, princesses, hour-long baths, board games, cuddling, being tickled, and all things pink and purple. She can count to one hundred and she is starting to learn her sight words. She wants to grow her hair long like Rapunzel and she is excited to start kindergarten in the fall. She is a delightful little girl and I am so lucky and thankful to be her mama.