Toto, we’re not in Arizona anymore.

We were hoping by the time we got home, spring would’ve arrived in Ontario! Yea right. I think we are a few months off just yet. I still have a few Arizona highlight posts to show you, so maybe this will make Ontario’s clouds and snow easier to digest.

Early Friday morning we set off for Sedona driving the windy 89-A route up and down the mountains providing spectacular views (and some scary cliffs!)

I was that wife screaming at my husband to slow down near the cliffs while I almost had a heart attack.

Along the way, we made a pit stop in Jerome to check out the shops, empty our bladders, and fill them back up again.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones!

Despite the ghost in town, Jerome was actually bustling with people. And fun signs.

The cool morning called for some Tazo Awake tea. I was delighted to find out that they had a soy milk option. I always forget how much I love soy milk in tea, especially when it’s a sweet vanilla kind!

After looking at some shops, we set off for beautiful Sedona!

Horrible scenery as you can see.

After some sight seeing, we popped into Chocolatree Cafe, a funky little vegan restaurant in Sedona. We dined outdoors beside a hammock and hula hoops!

I had a loose leaf stomach soothing tea to warm up.

Eric and John both ordered the tomato soup and grilled cheeze sandwich. My mom and I died laughing when they ordered the same thing, yet again. Cut from the same cloth those two are!

After teasing them, my Mom and I proceeded to order the same thing.

We ordered the Thai brown rice bowl with shredded cabbage & carrots, brown rice, raisins, mint, basil, and sprouts, in a creamy sauce made up of almond butter, tahini, lemon, garlic, ginger, chili, and sea salt.

The boys weren’t too crazy about the grilled cheeze (I tried it and agreed it was a bit lacking), but they enjoyed the tomato soup.

The Thai bowl was fresh and flavourful, but the chia crackers really stole my heart. I can’t wait to try making some at home. I assume they are quite easy to make not to mention bursting with nutrition.

After lunch, Eric and I headed to our next hiking destination that many of you raved about: Cathedral Rock!

In my normal fashion, I got cold feet and almost backed down.

I took one look from the base and didn’t want to proceed with the climb. The mountains always look so steep and dangerous from the bottom and the people at the top look like ants! Once you get up there though, it’s really not bad and I find myself looking down and asking, how did I get up here?

I found myself saying two small words that can make the world of a difference: I’ll try.

How many new things would you try if you just replaced I can’t with I’ll try? It’s amazing to think about, isn’t it?

I find the hardest part when trying something new is always the beginning and then it gets easier. This realization has helped ease my anxiety so much. If I can just push through the initial moments of discomfort, it’s usually the worst part. I loved what another reader commented the other day saying, it’s ok to feel unease and discomfort at times! Often we resist negative feelings so much, we forget that they can be completely natural at times. It helps to accept the feeling for what it is and then work through it, without trying to outright dismiss the feeling. I said to myself. “I feel anxious and that is ok, but I don’t have to back down because of it.”

Cathedral Rock is also rated a “strenuous” climb like Camelback Mountain, but it’s a shorter climb just 0.6 miles each way.

As scared as I was, I knew that I could do it…and probably have a lot of fun in the process!

Here’s another low budget (heh) video I put together of the hike. Keep in mind that it’s really shaky in some parts! OK, all parts. Please don’t hurl.

Not surprisingly, the hike wasn’t as scary as I imagined and I found myself tackling the steeper parts most of the time because I just loved the challenge so much!

We both thought that Camelback Mountain was more challenging (and of course twice as long), but we absolutely loved the intimate nature of Cathedral Rock. It wasn’t very busy and we just had a blast with it. Bring a jacket too as it gets chilly at the top (I made that mistake at Camelback).

At the summit, we almost blew away…as you will see in the video.

After the hike, we warmed up with a hot tea while driving to Overlook point.

A short climb led us to this great lookout point.

Found a lucky penny and then left it for someone else.

I also discovered that I scratched up the bottom of my rings from clinging to all the rocks! So hard core, lol.

Our visit to Sedona was short and sweet, but was just enough to get a taste of what the area has to offer. We both agreed if the sun wasn’t going to set, we would’ve gone straight to our next hike! There are so many trails to try out.

Next time we visit, we’re going to stay a night or two in Sedona and spend a couple days hiking from morning to sundown. It’s so much fun!!

Anxiety is something that I’ve been trying to understand and deal with my entire life. It works behind the scenes, constantly telling me that I can’t do this or I shouldn’t do that, while other people do those exact things seemingly without much grief. I’ve always been so envious of people, like Eric, who aren’t impacted by these constant worries and fears. To be able to do something so freely, is something I’ve always dreamed of my entire life. There are so many opportunities and experiences I’ve missed out on because of debilitating fear.

And that almost happened yesterday.

After enjoying a nice lunch out with my mom and John, Eric and I set out to tackle our next hike on the famous Camelback Mountain. Naïvely, we had no idea just how “strenuous” this climb would be. Still riding yesterday’s hiking high at Pinnacle Peak, we were eager to tackle the next mountain. We set out on the Echo Canyon trail- the most difficult climb of all 4 trails on the Camelback. We didn’t know this at the time though!

A website describes it as the following: “Beyond the first ¼ mile the hike up Camelback becomes physically demanding and potentially hazardous. The slope is quite steep in spots (there are hand rails and chains to steady your ascent) and the hundreds of trampling shoes have produced a fine coating of slippery, pulverized rock. Many hikers are very fit and use the trail for fitness training.” (source)

Right from the get-go we knew this would be a whole other kind of hike, and at first, I was excited.

The start of the trail is a series of large stairs and rocky parts, but nothing that we couldn’t handle. Within minutes, we arrived at a steep part of the mountain and this is exactly when my anxiety started to kick into overdrive.

I had to climb this…without killing myself?

The pictures really don’t do this climb justice, by the way. I took one look at it and told Eric I was turning back. “I can’t do this, I’m scared”. I felt paralyzed, unable to move forward.

“You can do it Ange! We’ll go slow and you can hold onto the railings as much as you need to. Look at all the other people who are doing it just like you can.”

Looking around, he was right; I wanted to be one of those people overcoming this amazing challenge. I took a deep breath and said, “I’ll TRY,” but expecting to fail. I never considered myself to be afraid of heights, but that became apparent as soon as I got half way up this first steep climb.

I stood there in fear once again unable to proceed. My anxiety was so strong I felt a bit panicked as I thought about how the hell I was going to get down. Eric gave me another pep talk.

“Do you want to let your anxiety win again and miss out on this experience? Imagine how proud you will feel when you overcome it.”

He was right.

I was sick and tired of letting my anxiety win. If I turned back, I was accepting defeat to my fears like I have done so many times in the past. I knew physically I was in good enough shape to climb the mountain, but it was my mind that I had to train. In the end, I decided to give my anxiety a big f-you, imagining myself sticking my middle finger up at the anxiety. As silly as it sounds, it was just the visualization I needed to set myself back on track and proceed forward.

If you would’ve told me I’d be hiking in a desert mountain and not worrying about rattlesnakes, I would have said you are crazy, but that was the last thing on my mind yesterday!

As we climbed and climbed, I felt more and more fear about how I was going to get down. I pictured myself getting stuck at the top and having to be rescued out. I told Eric this and we talked about how my anxiety leads me to think too much in the future, constantly worrying about things that probably will never happen.

“How about we take this climb one step at a time?” He asked.

Not only did I think that was a great idea, but I realized that this climb was a metaphor for life. I always worry about the future and I dream up bad outcomes that are “likely” to happen, so instead, I don’t bother doing them many times. This was exactly what I was doing on this mountain: self-defeating by thinking too far into the future.

“That’s a great idea.” I finally admitted. And that’s exactly what I tried to do for the rest of the hike. One step at a time. I wouldn’t think about the heights, falling, getting stuck, or slipping on a big rock and hitting my head. I would just think about which step I had to take next.

We climbed higher and higher and an hour passed. My confidence was growing, but the fear about getting down still lingered in my mind.

We finally reached the top after about an hour and 15 minutes (I’m not really sure as my Garmin lost reception!), and we were blown away by the 360 views.

“You wanted to quit”, Eric reminded me.

I was so glad that I didn’t.

We grabbed our bag and took out the energy balls that I made before leaving. I suspected we’d need some energy on this hike, but I never knew how much!

While standing at the summit and feeling proud, I decided to call them “Reach Your Peak” energy balls. It just seemed so fitting.

We bit into these crispy and chewy balls and suddenly everything seemed right in the world. Our energy lifted and I felt ready to tackle the long, steep descent.

“We better get going. Sundown isn’t far off.”, I worried looking at Eric’s watch reading 4:15pm.

The descent turned out to be fine and we just took it slow. The hardest part I had was not slipping on the rocks with my runners (proper hiking sneakers are highly encouraged!!), but we just took it easy. I was jealous of Eric’s long legs, able to reach the ground without having to stretch and slink downward on a big rock.

We finally reached the bottom of the mountain after about 2.5 hours, with legs like Jell-O and a pride for overcoming such an amazing challenge. This climb taught me so much and I felt myself feeling emotional by the end. I walked away feeling more proud than I felt after my half-marathon races.

I also realized after this hike just how much Eric enjoyed this type of activity. I’d never seen him so eager and excited about any type of “exercise” like this! And I use the term exercise loosely here, because while it’s a KILLER workout, that doesn’t seem to be the main point. It’s much more than that.

Eric kept saying how much he loved it, and I’ll admit, his confidence and enthusiasm was infectious.

I think we are hooked.

Here’s a short video I put together about our experience. Please excuse how tired I am in the video!!! Also, there is a really shaky part in the video that Eric taped, so if you get nauseous easily I would take caution when watching.

Now that I’ve overcome such a strong fear, I find myself asking: What else can I do?

Have you ever overcome a strong fear?

Thanks to your helpful suggestions, we had hiking on the brain this morning!

Eric and I headed over to Pinnacle Peak for a 3.75 mile there-and-back trek along the mountains. Tomorrow, we have Camelback Mountain on the agenda which many of you raved about. Opportunities for hiking are everywhere around here! We’ve never hiked along this kind of desert terrain before and it’s incredible to see.

First we filled up our tanks. My mom made us these juicy fruit parfaits to go along with our breakfast fare.

I had another Green Monster made up of kale, frozen banana, blueberries, protein powder, almond milk, and ice. Unfortunately I found out that the Maranatha dark chocolate almond butter isn’t vegan like I thought, so that was left out this time. I think I got it mixed up with Justin’s chocolate almond butter in all my sleep deprivation excitement.

If you are looking for a vegan dark chocolate almond butter recipe, you are in luck because I made one last year that tastes incredible!

Green moustache ensued.

The trail was challenging, but not overly so (rated “moderate”), wrapping all along the sides of a couple summits with some butt-busting inclines. My glutes were actually sore by the end of the 3.75 mile hike! Buns of steel here I come.

Not.

After wrapping the side of the first summit, we looked over to the second and said, “We’re going all the way over there too?”

Yes, yes we were.

It’s always fun to reach the peak of the trail.

Mad respect for the Saguaro.

The hike took about 1 hour and 20 minutes (including photography) and boy did we work up an appetite in the process.

We enjoyed Holiday Soup for the Soul for a comforting post hike lunch!

Along with buns, apples, leftover tomato salad, hummus, and celery/carrots.

And an apple + dark chocolate squares for dessert.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up! It’s been a while since we’ve been able to spend this much time together, so it’s been nice to visit with my parents.

Dinner was filled with an array of roasted vegetables, along with something that I often overlook- couscous! I always forget how much I enjoy couscous, especially when paired with sautéed greens and mushrooms.

We adapted the roasted vegetable dish from the Whitewater Cooks Cookbook. It’s filled with roasted zucchini, red peppers, eggplant, yams, purple cauliflowers, beets, fennel, basil, and parsnip, all coated in a balsamic maple dressing. We weren’t thrilled about the cup of oil that the original recipe called for so I just mixed the dressing ingredients to taste. I ended up using 1/3-1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette, 3-4 tbsp maple syrup, 4 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 tbsp olive oil, and1/2 tsp kosher salt, pepper. The outcome was a sweet maple balsamic dressing that paired well with the roasted veggies…no cup of oil required.

and the couscous with sautéed spinach and button mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. I could eat bowls and bowls of this simple dish. Mom, John, and Eric also has some BBQ’d chicken to go along with dinner.

Now we’re sitting here debating whether to catch a movie at the theatre tonight. Anyone see any good movies lately?

Toto, we’re not in Ontario anymore.

We’re visiting the Phoenix area with my mom and John this week. It’s our first time in Arizona and we’re pumped to be here!

and a bit scared…

We booked an evening flight, since it was our only option. It’s really strange waiting until almost 5pm to leave the house on the day of a flight! I actually started to go stir crazy waiting to leave.

The flight was only 4.5 hours, but felt incredibly long due to some nasty turbulence. The plane kept dropping and dipping like crazy and I actually started to feel nauseous which never happens to me. At one point, I just closed my eyes, gripped Eric’s arm, and prayed I didn’t lose my dinner. The last 30 minutes ticked by in slow motion.

We arrived around 12:30am…sleepy, dazed, and hungry! Mom brought us some homemade vegan blueberry muffins and walnuts to save the day. I got my appetite back, miraculously.

When we finally got to bed around 2:30am Toronto time I was so tired I couldn’t sleep for the life of me! Does that ever happen to you? If I get too tired, it’s actually harder for me to sleep. I passed the point of no return, so my body did the logical thing and stared at the ceiling for most of the night. Awesome.

A sunny, green breakfast helped with the 4 hour power nap.

I opened the fridge, saw some gorgeous raspberries and dark chocolate almond butter, and knew I had to make a chocolate raspberry Green Monster to save the day.

With fresh raspberries, banana, dark chocolate almond butter, almond milk, ice, and wait for it….Dinosaur kale! Yes, come to me my little kale.

Note: I just found out this dark chocolate almond butter is NOT vegan. I blame the sleep deprivation for that error! For a vegan version, try my homemade Dark Chocolate Almond Butter recipe!

Cover your ears, my mom said, this thing is small but loud!

As I sipped my Green Monster, I could feel my tired, lifeless body revive itself almost instantly as kale pumped through my veins. I swear a GM is worth at least an extra hour of sleep!

I also had a whole wheat blueberry muffin with Earth Balance.

and a herbal tea…because breakfast wouldn’t be the same without a hot drink.

Ok, make that two!

My mom and I had a lovely chat over tea while the boys waited for the rental car.

Later on in the day, Eric and I stopped into Whole Foods to pick up some groceries. I picked up some brussels sprouts, red pepper, spaghetti, kale, blueberries, corn chips, salsa, asparagus, and some nori sheets, kombu and kelp granules that I’ve been looking for forever!

and a fun salad!

Layered up for lunch.

This will be the first thing I make when I’m on Canadian soil, mark my words.

Poured into a bowl.

and topped with orange ginger dressing and hummus. Blew. my. taste. buds. off.

I said I wouldn’t be able to eat the entire thing, but I was wrong.

Plump blueberries for dessert in this fun strainer/bowl duo.

For dinner, we all pitched in and whipped up a yummy spread.

…featuring 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta!

and a tomato-basil salad, sautéed asparagus, and roasted fingerling potatoes.

Oh, it was lovely.

I had seconds of pasta and potatoes! My body just yearns for carbs when I’m tired.

Now we’re watching American Idol, eating chocolate, and I’m trying to stay awake while typing this. I hope I’ve kept you up!

On our second and last day in San Diego (and final day of the trip)  we did a mini road trip along the coast! We drove through Del Mar and Encinitas and explored the beach towns. This was so much fun and the weather was gorgeous!

We popped into Whole Foods for a quick bite to eat along the way:

I don`t know what was better, the meal, or when we realized how much cheaper the Whole Foods bar is compared to here in Ontario. Our bill was at least 40% less than it normally is. Tears of joy, tears of joy.

I didn’t do a great job documenting our road trip, but the sights were beautiful.

Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t attempt many pics…those “shooting from the car pictures” never seem to pan out! I try to take a shot of the ocean and all I get is a concrete highway median.

We made it back for the sunset in La Jolla again! This time we took pictures from the beach (instead of up on the cliff) and we had a totally different perspective.

Om.

I told you the people here are chill.

After relaxing in the hotel room for a bit, we drove to Encinitas to try out The Lotus Cafe that we came across earlier in the day.

Similar to Rancho’s, Lotus cafe offers a wide variety of omnivore, vegetarian, gluten-free, and vegan options. If only more restaurants made it this easy! I immediately loved the menu in this cafe. Check out the legend…

After discovering our obsession for vegan nachos the night before, we had to try the vegan nachos at Lotus made with organic blue corn chips topped with vegan cheese, salsa, and guacamole.

The nachos were great, but Rancho`s still has the win!

Eric ordered the lasagne made up of spinach pasta, ricotta cheese, fresh veggies, and marinara sauce. He said it was great.

I wanted something spicy to warm me up, so I ordered the Indian Curry Bowl made up of fresh steamed veggies with an Indian curry sauce served over organic brown rice. It was light, low on the oil, and fresh, but it wasn’t as spicy as I expected it to be. It could have used a bit more curry in my opinion. All in all though, it was a nice light meal and a nice change up from a few heavy ones while traveling!

As we were finishing up our meal, this beautiful California girl walked up to us and introduced herself as Sarah, an avid blog reader. Small world! Sarah if you’re reading this please shoot me an email as I have a question for you…I’m not as awkward over email, I promise.

Since my meal was so light there was obviously room for their vegan dessert bar.

This vegan peanut butter chocolate fudge cupcake was anything but light, but it was the perfect ending to our vacation. The peanut butter frosting was so buttery and not super sweet. A great way to end the trip!

Our stay in California was short and sweet, but that just means we’ll have to go back soon! Thanks to everyone who provided us with suggestions on what to see and do. We actually got home last weekend (and were already gone before I posted), so we’ll have to take you up on your suggestions next time.

When I got home, I edited some of my favourite photos in HDR format (high dynamic range imaging) which is when image files of differing exposures are merged together. The HDR format is new to me, but very fun to learn. I set my DSLR so it took 3 pictures at once (one at –2 exposure, one at normal exposure, and one at +2 exposure) and then post-processing I merged the images together. It creates a fun 3-D effect and works great for travel photos.

Anyways, here are some of my favs!

NYC:

Love love love the 3-D look of this one:

San Diego:

I’m hoping to create a few more and frame some of them.

Have a great Friday!

San Diego Part 1

After our energizing lunch at Lean and Green Cafe, we explored downtown La Jolla and all of its of shops and cafes. Very cute and laid back!

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Then, we headed over to a popular look out point in La Jolla with 360 views of the city and surrounding area.

…and back to the beach!

We realized the sun was about to set, so we raced over to the ocean to try and get some pictures before the sun went down. Sunset lighting is a photographer’s dream! Everything glows

There were these cute little birds that we called ‘roadrunner’s’ because they would SPEED RUN across the sand…I’m pretty sure they could outrun me! Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

meep meep!!!

These guys were a bit more chilled out and wondering what the commotion was all about…

There were so many surfers out taking advantage of the waves and lots of women surfers too. So bad ass. I would love to learn to surf, if I could get over my shark fear!

After booting it about 10 minutes, we finally made it to the look out point for a sunset pic.

By sunset, there were a ton of seals on the shore and on the rocks. At least 100 or more. It looked like they were retiring for the night! It’s so cute how they all snuggle up close with one another.

After watching the sunset, we headed back to the hotel and decided where to go to dinner. We decided on a Mexican place called Rancho’s.

A peek inside Rancho’s fun decor.

The restaurant has meat, vegetarian, and vegan options…and I even think some gluten-free options too.

We started with the organic blue corn nachos with black beans, guacamole, pico de galo, and Daiya cheese. Both of us quickly claimed them to be the BEST NACHOS EVER! Quite a claim, I know. If you overheard us you would have instantly thought we were nuts because we could not stop talking about them.

Can you see how the nacho chips are flakey and layered?? They were incredible!

I think we managed to eat about half and then had to stop eating so we wouldn’t ruin our appetite!

Eric ordered the chicken and beef enchiladas for his main:

And I ordered the vegan enchiladas with green, mole, and red sauce. One was packed with avocado, another with roasted eggplant, and another with beans.

Don`t judge a book by its cover.

We couldn’t get over how huge the portions were! I could barely finish half my plate.

I must say, this picture wins for OSG food photo of 2011.

Eric said I should submit it in a photo contest, heh.

If that picture doesn’t make you want to eat there, I don’t know what would.

We finished the night with a lil nightcap!

Biscotti Giveaway Winner

A big congrats goes out to Stephanie W for winning the biscotti giveaway! Stephanie, I have emailed you to collect your info. Congrats!

Day 3, the final day in NYC! More walking, more exploring, more great food, and more blisters! Eric joked that I had more moleskin on my feet than an ultra marathoner. A word of advice: Do not break in shoes on a trip to NYC!

We picked up a few Christmas gifts at FAO Schwarz, a huge toy store filled with neat things.

Fish’s Eddy…a really cool kitchenware store!

It’s too bad I couldn’t pack much in my suitcase or this store could have been trouble!

I love all of their bright coloured dishware.

Then we ended up at the Union Square Market.

What a GREAT market! This was so much fun.

I picked up something I’ve been looking all over my hometown for…Smoked Paprika!

We got some HOT mulled apple cider. I burned my tongue over all the excitement.

After the market, it was time to eat again! Walk and eat. Eat and walk. This time, we had lunch at Angelica Kitchen.

Eric ordered the cold apple cider and I ordered a veggie juice.

Mid-drink I realized there was a celebrity sitting outside the restaurant! It’s Liev Schreiber from X-men & other films. He was on his cell phone for a good 30 mins or so.

We actually had no idea what his name was so we sent the pic to a friend who quickly identified him for us.

I read that his mom raised him a vegetarian, so maybe he had been dining in the restaurant?

To start, we shared the Agrarian Salgado made up of baked rounds of mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and herbed seitan with a parsley-almond pesto centre; topped with dill-tofu sour cream & garnished with piquant marinated kale.

Oh my word this was fantastic!!! One of our fav dishes of the entire trip! It tasted just like a croquette, but only better. The dill sauce was outstanding too.

We also got some sourdough on the side with onion butter.

For Eric’s main, he ordered one of the specials- “Tales of the Onion” made up with savoury quinoa-vegetable croquettes with b’nut squash, carrots, celery, and chopped parsley; crowned with tarragon cream and served over green split pea sauce. It also came with broccoli and roasted turnips garnished with tatsoi and radicchio.

He raved about this dish…as did I. The croquettes were really flavourful and crispy and the sauces went lovely with the dish.

I ordered off the special menu too- the “A-meze-ing Stories” which is a Mediterranean meze plate featuring an assortment of vegetables including grilled portobello and button mushrooms red & green peppers, onions and carrots served with a creamy white-bean basil pate, baked garlic chips, and a spelt-berry salad tossed with a hazelnut kalamata olive-caper pesto.  With Brussels sprouts and arugula too. That was a mouthful!!

It was also incredible. I thought the hazelnut olive caper pesto was a really fun idea for a pesto. Normally, I’m not a big olive fan, but I really enjoyed it.

Wait, I just remembered I had more with my meal! A side of sea vegetables and quinoa.

With “no room left for dessert”, we each enjoyed some tea before heading out to explore the rest of the afternoon.

However, SOMEHOW we ended up stuffing our faces with vegan baked goods not long after!! I really have no idea how this happened…

Hello Babycakes!

This was our second stop into Babycakes.

It’s a little hole in the wall down some random side street…it took us a while to find it! The interior is really cute, but they have a sign saying no pictures.

I’ve heard great things about the Babycakes’ apple toastie bread as well as the doughnuts, so I picked up an Apple Cranberry Toastie, pumpkin cupcake, and a chocolate crunch doughnut.

Apple cran toastie:

They were all delicious. I think my fav was the toastie bread and Eric’s was the doughnut. Very fresh and sweet, but not overly so. We shared the doughnut and then saved the rest for later…

I also had something else on my list to try from Atlas Cafe in East Village. This is such a fun cafe with a HUGE menu written all over the walls in chalk.

Then, somehow this happened…

We shared a pumpkin cupcake from Babycakes and a Peanut Butter BOMB Brownie (added to clarify about the brownie: by Vegan Treats) as found in Atlas Cafe.

OMG….that brownie!!!!! Check it out.

Here is a better picture of it:

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It’s made up of a thin and dense brownie base topped with a cloud-like peanut butter mousse, a chocolate shell, and a peanut butter drizzle. Heaven.

This brownie is on my must make list. It was one of the best things we tasted on the trip, hands down.Eric doesn’t even like peanut butter and he could not stop gushing over this brownie. If you are near Atlas Cafe anytime soon you gotta order a PB bomb brownie as soon as possible. You won’t regret it!

We ended the trip with a great meal at Pure Food & Wine, followed by a stop at a bar on the way home. It was a great finish to the trip.

For just 3 days, I think we really packed in a lot! Literally.

Has anyone seen my elastic waist pants?

After resting our weary legs, the promise of another good meal and fun lured us out of our comfy bed!

We made reservations at the highly-praised Candle 79 for a pre-show meal before heading off to Radio City Hall.

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Opened in 2003, Candle 79 is the upscale, elegant sister restaurant of the famous Candle Cafe. The restaurant features gourmet vegan, local, seasonal, and organic cuisine with an organic wine and sake bar. It has been rated twice as Zagat’s #1 vegetarian restaurant!

The atmosphere is elegant and cozy featuring two intimate floors for dining. I started with a glass of organic Cabernet Sauvignon from The Heller Estate in California- a bit fruity (blackberry and dark plum), vanilla oaky, and peppery according to the description. Eric tried the Chardonnay from Sherwood House Vineyard in New York, described as, “bursts of starfruit softened by ripe gala apple with undertones of fresh bread”. Delish.

Compliments of the chef, a beet salad while we waited for our appetizer.

For our appetizer, we shared the seasonal grilled artichoke, onion rings, white beans, and grilled vegetables in a red pepper sauce. This was outstanding and the flavours were spot on.

It was Eric’s first time trying grilled artichokes and he really liked them…score! He tried to tell me it was his first time ever eating them period, but I had to remind him of the Vegan Artichoke Dip I made last year (that he devoured!). HIs reply, “Those were artichokes?” lol

For my main course, I ordered the Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Cake with seasonal vegetables, red coconut curry, date-apricot-ginger chutney, and toasted almonds.

Oh my, this my friends, was absolute perfection! I was blown away by the combination of flavours. I had my doubts, but it really went together really well. Each bite had a bit of the lightly sweet and spicy date-apricot-ginger chutney, crispy fried chickpea cake, grilled vegetables and coconut curry sauce. A party in my mouth for sure. I would definitely like to try to re-create this at home sometime. Adding it to my list (I actually made a list).

Eric ordered the Spaghetti and Wheat Balls made with truffled tomato sauce, roasted garlic, spinach and cashew parmesan. He loved it and shared a bite with me. It was amazing. I would love to make cashew parmesan as I’ve only made sesame seed and nutritional yeast parmesan.

And for the grand finale, we shared the mouth-watering Molten Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Sauce and Mole Ice Cream. This picture makes me drool thinking about it!

I think the chocolate cake was covered in a coconut oil-based chocolate and vanilla glaze. It was just so silky, while not being too rich. We finished it with chocolate in the corner of our mouths like any respectable couple.

After lingering over another glass of wine, we hit up the subway to head to our show!

The subway system has been really easy to navigate, but maybe that’s because we’ve had lots of practice in Toronto. The most difficult part is knowing where we’re going, which was made easier by the NYC Subway App on Eric’s phone! Otherwise, I’m sure we’d still be lost…

We bought tickets for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes Christmas show.

We were pumped to get in the Christmas spirit!

It was beautiful and sparkly inside.

The show was really cute and The Rockettes were flawless!

Thanks to the wine I had with dinner (and early morning travel and walking all day), I started to get really sleepy by the end of the performance! I could barely keep my eyes open like the 80 year old grannie that I am. The show ended at 11pm, but it felt like it was about 3am. I kept joking to Eric that it was the time change (there was no time change). What can I say, I can party like the best of ‘em!

ZzzzzZZzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzzzz…………..dreaming of superplums, molten chocolate cake, and Nutcrackers.

Central Park is just as gorgeous as I hoped it would be…and much, much larger!

(umm hello, cute kissing romantic couple!)

The park was packed with people out walking, running, skating, biking, and rollerblading all enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures. I think it reached about 18C (64F) on Saturday! We both had to rip off our jackets because we were sweating to death! We were so thankful for the weather because it could’ve easily been snowy and cold at this time of the year.

After exploring for a couple hours, we soon found ourselves ready to fill our bellies for a very late lunch. We headed to Cafe Blossom which is a popular vegan restaurant in the Upper West Side of Manhattan not far from Central Park. Cafe Blossom also has vegan “sister” restaurants, Blossom, as well as V-Note, Blossom Du Jour, and Cocoa-V all located in the city. Umm, WOW!

The cafe has a clean and inviting atmosphere with cozy wood and modern stone accents.

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Because of the way the cafe is set up, it feels very intimate and you don’t feel crammed in next to other tables.

For a “cafe”, I was extremely impressed with the atmosphere. They really did it up with class!

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Going out to eat is such a treat and I appreciate every minute of not having to prepare the food myself! This trip is a nice break from my kitchen. I feel so spoiled when I get to order anything off a menu.

I had a the Field of Greens juice with spinach, cucumber, apple, lemon, and ginger. Ah, it felt so good to have greens after the flight.

For lunch, I ordered the COLLOSSAL Quinoa Salad layered with black beans, quinoa, julienne peppers, watercress, toasted pumpkin seeds, mango guacamole, and poblano dressing.

OH MY LORD. Have mercy. I am embarrassed to say how quickly I inhaled this!

These pictures really don’t do this salad justice either. It was absolutely amazing and perfect in every way. I am definitely going to try to recreate this salad at home…come to mama!

Eric ordered the Veggie Grain Burger made with lentil-quinoa burger, hummus, lettuce, tomato, pickles on multi-grain and fries. He loved the meal and was nice enough to share a bite with me. It was really good. The only thing I would change is the texture. It was very soft, almost like mashed potatoes.

I’m always asked what kind of diet Eric eats and that’s a bit hard for me to answer because he doesn’t like to label himself. He eats a mostly vegetarian and vegan diet now, with the occasional meat & dairy products as desired. He’s really embraced a plant-based diet and loves trying all kinds of new foods these days.

It’s really crazy to think of the foods he used to eat when I first met him. He was a fast food, Coke, and meat & potatoes kinda guy and the only vegetables he ate were staples like peas, corn, potatoes, and tomatoes. I’m happy to see him so content with the balance he has in his diet now. If he wants pizza or chicken, he usually eats it, but he also enjoys a lot of vegan and vegetarian dishes too. I think everyone needs to find the balance that works for them personally.

Since our lunch was so late and our dinner reservation was early, we hesitantly skipped the dessert menu and headed back out to explore and take advantage of the nice weather. I am so sad I was only able to eat at this cafe once during our stay…I would love to sample everything off the menu! They nailed casual, yet gourmet, vegan cuisine.

It was really busy around the city on Saturday, not surprisingly! Bustling with shoppers galore.

All the shops on 5th Ave are decorated so pretty for the holidays! It really got us into the holiday spirit even though it could have been a summer day.

Cool night display:

…and we soon found ourselves like this…unable to move.

…the only thing that motivated us to move again was the promise of more food, alcohol, and chocolate molten cake

Stay tuned for more food, Rockettes, a celebrity sighting, NYC vegan goodies, naked cowboys, and more…

Viewer discretion is advised.

See you tomorrow with words, pictures, and more!