This weekend was all about food, which is my favorite thing to do besides lie motionless. Sunday I went to Ann and Henry’s for brunch: tofu scramble, vegan raspberry waffles, roasted potatoes, fresh fruit and mimosas. ARGHHH! SO GOOD!

Later that evening I made tomato rice soup with roasted garlic and navy beans from V’con… I had to call my mom because I didn’t know what navy beans were. Turns out Jewel didn’t even have them, (but they do have 900 kinds of potato chips and 30,000 flavors of Lean Cuisines, thank god) so I substituted it with a different white bean.

Jewel. What a freaking joke.

But seriously, that soup is so good and took 2 min to make. I’m having it for lunch everyday this week, just so you know.

From brunch:

I just want to curl up in a ball and nap amongst this food.

You’ll be shocked to find out that since my last post 3 years ago I made some cupcakes. Life is buckwild and unpredictable these days - one minute I could be watching Dances with Wolves: The Directors Cut, and the next minute I might be taking the train to work or going to the post office. You just never know.

For #43 last week Riki made pizzas for us while I cheered him on and chopped a jalapeno. He had real things on his pizza while I had fake things on my pizza that are made in a lab somewhere to taste like the real things. And they don’t quite taste like them, but man, that was one good pizza.

Aw, so cute, they’re snuggling. Opposites really do attract.

Then, in honor of easter and my love of all things pastel, I made red-velvet cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes take over the world. Look at that icing, it’s shiny for crying out loud.

I have more things to write about that don’t include food. I’ll do this tomorrow, or in April.

Last night Riki and I had Lance and Liz, who own Permanent Records, over for dinner. Permanent is a local Chicago record store/label. It was really fun hanging out with them, and inspiring to hear their story about starting their own business, and doing something they really love, especially coming from people who are our age. Very cool.

Riki made the best dinner everrrr for the occasion: spinach and potato enchiladas, a side of asparagus, and home made guacamole. Oh man, I wish I was eating an enchilada right this second. I also made Tiramisu cupcakes, of course from Vegan Cupcakes take over the World, as problem #43. Check it out:

These even have booze in them. And coffee. And chocolate. A cupcake trifecta, some might say.

One more, why not.

And finally, not that this is big news if you live here, but look, it’s snowing in Chicago again today! How absolutely wonderful.

I curse you!!!

First of all, I want to apologize for neglecting you, the loyal reader, and also you, 99 Blog. I’m sorry I haven’t posted in over a week. I have no excuse, and am here on bended knee asking you to take me back. I’m so sorry. I love you.

Now that that’s out of the way, lets move on to what you’ve all been waiting a whole week for - the You Tell me What to do vote. It was a tight race, this one, with 26 people fighting to change the face of this blog forever.

Ok, so it wasn’t really a tight race at all. You all knew karaoke would win, and it did. I even went to Live Band Karaoke last weekend just to get used to the idea of it. Riki wanted me to go ahead and sing and get it over with, but that would have been against the rules since the voting wasn’t over. These problems are all about the rules.

And, here it is: Problem #60 Sing Karaoke in front of a bunch of people

Just so you guys know, I can’t sing at all, and am a little shaken at the thought of getting up in front of the leather jacket bro-crowd at the Pontiac to sing. I will more than likely need 7 vodka sodas to get me ready for this one.

Thanks to everyone who voted, and double thanks for not making me organize a g-damned snowball fight. I would have been swearing under my breath like crazy if I had to do that.

I am a little sad though, that Barack Obama didn’t win.

PS - For anyone keeping tabs, I rode my bike twice last week, didn’t go to yoga at all, (see the right side bar for up to the minute progress) and made vegan chili for Problem #43.  But it was kind of ugly and not very photogenic, so I spared you that one.

I don’t really feel like writing right now, I’m so sleepy and had the lamest weekend in the history of weekends. Next weekend I’m gonna go set some stuff on fire and rob a liquor store to make up for how stupid this weekend was.

I did do one cute thing this week though, in honor of Valentine’s Day (which I’m undecided, do I like Valentines Day, or do I dislike it? I suppose I don’t feel strongly either way.) I baked heart shaped sugar cookies using this recipe here. Halfway through, at about 11pm I was really regretting that I decided to make them, but I prevailed, fighting my way to the top.

So cute. Love all around. Note that I decided the hot pink accent icing was a bad idea after a few tries.

In other V-day news, Riki took me on a hot date to Kuma’s. I don’t eat meat, so going to a burger place might not seem like my hot-date dream, but this place seriously rules - It has a metal theme for crying out loud.

I wish I was there right now.

oh - one more thing - Tomorrow the poll will be up! That is, if I can figure out how to do a poll.

So, I’ve decided to extend my “You tell me what to do” poll for one more post. I’ve had 4 submissions so far, and they’re all such good ideas that I think I might just make them all problems. But first, I thought I’d open it up one more time for you to boss me around, so again, You Tell Me What to Do! Leave a comment or email me an idea of something you want to see me accomplish. You can even be anonymous, I don’t care. Then I promise I’ll make a poll and you can vote. Won’t that be so fun?

Anyway, on to this past weeks Problem #43: Make a vegan recipe. You guys don’t even know, I outdid myself. Sometimes, when I’m making these recipes, I have to stop for a moment and reflect back.. back to August 2007… back to when I couldn’t chop a vegetable, back to when the only spice I owned was oregano and salt. Who was I then? Who am I now? And why don’t I own a proper kitchen timer or an apron?

These are the questions that plague me.

What did I make this week? Well, of course it is from Veganomicon: Eggplant Rollatini. This was a fairly easy recipe, it just had like 90 little steps. It has fake ricotta cheese made out of tofu. So freaking cute.

To make this recipe, I had to ride my bike to Stanley’s to get the Eggplant, and it was 2 degrees out, and the condensation from my breath made my eyelashes freeze together! That was the first time that has happened to me, all the while I was thinking (not for the first time) “Why do I live here? I am forgetting right now why I live here.”

Do you think Rachel Ray ever rides her bike in 2 degrees to get her bullshit recipe ingredients? No. I can tell you no. She doesn’t.

And so, I present the 2 degree Eggplant Rollatini, with roasted asparagus and portobello mushrooms. Please forgive the horrible photo.

And the leftovers are even better….