date night

this week i am in cape may, new jersey at congress hall, which i have declared my new winter home. this place is amazing. if ever in the area, stop by, the fire is always burning and there's always conversations to be had. congress hall is located right across from the atlantic ocean and the views are to die for. earlier this evening i went downstairs to order dinner and i came across this elderly couple having drinks together in front of the fire. i immediately thought of my love at home and hope that we would have date nights even into our wee years. she was sipping on a cosmo (i think) and he, i would say he was a scotch man. when i asked if i could take their pictures they were smitten with joy. as i was taking the picture i noticed how he was delicately holding her hand as if they were on their first date (they very well could have been). it is so great to see that at any age you can enjoy life to the fullest.... it's a good life!

good times, cold nose

i wish i was here, instead i am heading out to new jersey today for one week. i am dreading the cold but i guess it will be nice to experience some winter weather, the good thing is, i get to leave the cold weather behind.

let her eat

since being a vegan it has been very hard to keep up such diet. not due to my lack of discipline but to the lack of avaiable eaterys. i have been very creative on my trips, booking hotels with a kitchenette so that I can prepare my own foods or surfing the net for vegan restaurants. as i travel from city to city the search becomes hard and i have been forced to change my diet and incorporate fish (not everyone serves tofu anymore, shocking, i thought our society was moving to a health conscious society). for how long is the question i ask my self. in the meantime as i await the answer, i say, comer bueno...... i was going through my pictures from my philly trip and came across my bottomless pit lunch picture. i was so hungry that day. i drove through allentown, pa trying to find a vegan friendly restaurant and came across ichiban (which anywhere you go in the USA, there is a ichiban. i use to think it was a chain but come to find out it means number one in Japanese, don't quote me on that). i know the picture above can only paint the potrait of a starving person who has just won the lottery and decided to buy out the restaurant to fill her empty stomach, but folks, i was hungry, what is a girl to do? besides i didn't eat everything, i saved some soy sauce.... first i started out with a bowl of salad (which i am not a salad girl, but hunger called) drissled with ginger dressing, to my surprise miso soup came with it. as an appetizer (hey the soup and salad was a complete surprise, and i don't like waste food) i had a spicy tuna roll, delish and yes, super spicy. shortly after my entree came, everything was so timely (i guess they saw the hunger in my face as well). for the entree i had teriyaki tofu on a bed of vegetables with rice, it taste as good as it looks, trust me. i was eating like i was going into hypernation and needed to fill up for the winter. my advise, never eat on an empty stomach. visit ichiban in allentown if ever in pennsylvania, you won't be disappointed.

sisterly love

this weekend i spent some much needed time with my family. as usual i pulled into the driveway a few minutes after the sun kisses the ocean line. i am greeted with smiles and hugs of joy from my younger brother and sister, but to my teenage brother and sister it's just another weekend. I decided that this trip would not be the same as others (finding my bed and sleeping until the sun was tired of beaming into my windows), but i was going to do some serious bonding with my brothers and sisters. around midnight my 8 year old sister and i decided that we were tired of counting sheeps and as usual she wanted to let the TV put her to sleep, being that it was my Sabbath, i suggested that we talk and catch up on life, from an 8 year old's point. some how we got on the subject of halloween, which as a child my parents were never big on and we never went trick or treating. my sister explained that mom was going to take them trick or treating (as i think to myself, when this become okay in our family) so i asked, "what are you going to dress up as?" most little 8 year olds would respond of being a princess or a balleria or something that was made of sugar and spice and everthing nice. i was ready to start my leisure of what halloween was all about but before i could my brillant little 8 year old sister response was, "i am going as myself." i am not sure why i was so proud of her answer, is it because I felt that she had so much self confidence in herself and she felt that she didn't need to cover up her beauty or try to pretend that she was something she wasn't, and she wanted her beauty and confidence to shine among all the ghouls and goblins of the night? i am sure her 8 year old mind had a simpler explanation then that, even so, i am proud of my little sister.

brotherly love

let's applaud philly for being philly. arrived in philly today and while waiting for baggage claim to unclaim my luggage, i decided to get a smart cart. on my way a met a friend and she was heading in the same direction. as i swipe my card, i recieved a wrong card type message, appalled and i must say embrassed, i quickly looked for cash (what's cash? who carries cash anymore)so my new found friend offered to pay for me, embassingly smiling i turned down her offer and continued on my way. guess what, my friend (let's call her brenda, i forgot to get her name, well they don't call florida brotherly love....) got her husband to help me schlep my luggage to the rental car pick up. now that's brotherly love. let's file her under good people!

star fish

while in philly i have had the pleasure of being a food snob and snob i was. i went to this quaint restaurant called starfish brasserie. the first thing i notice was this amazing art work made of glass stones, being the valiant person that I am, i have made it my duty to re-create this piece of eye candy. the atmosphere was very serene, small and had a contemporary twist. if you like the art then the food is the picasso of all picasso's (truly and art work). i had the pumpkin seed crusted salmon with black bean cake, can we say delish....i didn't know pumpkin seed could taste that good..and good for you, if you don't believe me, check it out(http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=82#healthbenefits) .... if ever in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, check out starfish on broadway. definitely good eats!