Mar 30 2009, 3 Good Things.

In honor of me going to see GZA tonight I thought I would post this dope vid I saw on the internets. I know it isn't GZA but it's Wu related and there aren't many people that can fuck with Method Man when it comes to freestyling. Blackout 2 coming!

I also found about this today!
This is going to be a great year for music. That's all I'm sayin.

Let me close this off by givin a big happy bday to my big homie Wade and hopefully I can make it out that way sooner than later to chill.

Mint Chocolate Sunday

Preludium
Keeping in tune with the Sunday brunches made at home that started last week, it's now time to unveil this week's brunch. I had an idea at the last brunch and was pretty excited to see it happen today. Mint chocolate waffles with vanilla ice cream.
Who says you can't have ice cream for breakfast/brunch? Clearly they have never tried these! My bummed hip kept me from going to the store and picking up some fresh mint as garnish to really seal the deal on making this look amazing. Notice the green plate to make up for the lack of fresh mint. Marks for effort? It's always nice to have a good meal with friends and this brunch was no different. Nate ended up staying a while and we watched some March Madness action and it lasted a little while so I thought why not have a quick lunch? How bout some vegan grilled cheese sandwiches cooked in a cast iron grill pan served with onion and garlic chips?
Yes, yes I will have some! That's it for today, other than finding an east indian buffet for $7.90 that had 4 vegan options plus naan! Samosas were extra but not needed as I am still full.

8103 Goodies!

I know that sounds like quite a few goodies but it isn't literal. The big homie Mark over at 8103 Clothing sent me a package with some stuff in it. I love fitteds and these two gems scratch that itch. The shirts he prints on are amazing, they fit long but aren't too wide. Pretty close to the ideal shirt is what I'm saying. You can also see a few stickers and a skate vid.

The vid is "Translations" and 8103 alongside Nike SB plus some other companies sponsored it. I have watched it a couple times since getting it. Dope video, peep the trailer and then maybe buy it?
Visual Traveling "Translations" Trailer

Lost Bday Weiners!

Well Wednesday rolls around again and its time for Lost and some good food. This time around it's a little more special compared to every other Lost day so far. I decided to make my own little hot dog stand with all the fixins today. Of course you have to have fries with that...and Sardé loves a fry!
Here are the three creations I put into action tonight. First off is the grilled pepper and onion tofu pup with banana peppers, sriracha and ketchup.
Next up is the smokehouse chili and nacho cheese dog...yeah there is a little tofu pup underneath there somewhere.
Baked beans and grilled peppers? It is a nice combo. I only regret not putting the little bit of veggie bacon I had in the fridge into the baked beans...could have taken it to the next level. All things considered, this was a pretty next level vegan hot dog occasion already so no big deal right?
Here is Nate's creation and the reason why this day is a little more special. Happy bday bro!
Time for dessert!!! Nate had his pre meal bday present that doubled as a pre dessert before all the dogs. It was a vegan smore, he loves that stuff! Here we have a banana split ice cream sandwich made from coconut milk ice cream. These things are soooooo good. I think you can tell from the small amount of the packaging left what they taste like!
Sardé trying to enjoy her dessert in peace...
BOOM, Spike goes in for the kill!
A good night and good food and now a good night to you.

Classic Email

For anyone that follows my blog, you may recall a certain character known as Vegan Eric. He's a pretty serious bro and is hospitality to the max. Sometimes when I am ordering stuff online and the shipping is crazy cheap to the USA and expensive as fuck to Canada, I'll ship it to his place. I recently ran across a good deal with free shipping so I decided to take advantage of it. This morning I got an email with title "You still want these?". Inside the email I found this.
I wanted my hats even more after this, plus I was LOL'n pretty hard. Just another day.

One Week Late

I know it's a bit late, but St. Patty's day happened a week ago and there was really only one way to celebrate it this year. The North Star opened for the season on this day, which was now made magical. You're supposed to wear something green and I def forgot to do that. I did however make green curry mayo and get a lime Pic a Pop with my veggie burger and fries. This was one of the best ones I've ever had. Take advantage of the season and get down there before fall creeps up. Yeah, I know it's a little early for talk like that but time does slip away rather quickly.
You might remember the Glover brothers with whom I enjoyed a brunch on Sunday...well here they are. Nate taking it all in.
Adam contemplating how delicious this really is.
Here's Chill, we do a little catering together and soon enough it will be bigger than a little. I'll pretty much guarantee that she can cook better than you.
Here is TIFS most classic face...the absence is over!
mmmmmmmm

Sunday Brunch

I haven't had a nice Sunday brunch in a while and plans just weren't coming together so I thought all was lost yet again. I def slept in but got a call and turned out that a brunch would happen but it would be cooked amongst friends and then enjoyed. Here's what the Glover brothers and myself indulged upon yesterday. Unfortunately all I had was the BlackBerry so here is what you get.
Here's the rundown clockwise starting at the top right corner: Coconut lime pancakes, orange chocolate pancakes, fresh fruit salad, homemade tofu bacon, and yam hashbrowns (obviously covered in ketchup). There might be some apple juice in the corner as well. Who knows? There is something pretty magical in the works for this coming Sunday...

My Top Movies of 2008

I know this is way late, but whatever ya know. Here are my top movies of 2008 and hopefully they were all released during the year, but if not oh well. They are pretty much in order so let's do this!

Blindness - I was stoked on this movie since I saw the preview...plus I have a thing for Julianne Moore. It was nothing like what I was expecting. I'll let it creep into my list though.
Burn After Reading - This looked good and it took me quite a while to get around to seeing it. The apparatus that George Clooney's character makes is reason enough to see this. That's it.
Ironman - Robert Downey Jr killed it. He was solid gold in this movie. I will admit that I'm not a comic book reader so I can't vouch for the validity of the story but the movie was enjoyable to watch.
Inside/A L'Interieur - A horror flick that was recommended by the good folks over at Mishka. I thought it was done well and the gore was pretty realistic.
The Sasquatch Gang - Tuned into this one night while hurt. I was pleasantly surprised and laughing a ton. So much classic stuff right here. Justin Long is pretty damn amazing in this movie. Do you like chameleons?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Watched this movie via netflix at Vegan Eric's place one weekend in MPLS before going out to party. I could have easily stayed in that night since this movie owned that evening. So many hilarious things including Kuno. This movie also had a vampire musical! Did I mention that Mila Kunis is in it?
The Dark Knight - You've heard the hype and most likely seen the movie. It was fantastic. Enough said.
JCVD - One of my favorite actors of all time. You might get yourself worked up and say he isn't much of an actor but how are you to compete with the trinity of Bloodsport, Kickboxer and Lionheart? You actually aren't going to. This movie is far from anything he has ever done and he does it well. I owed it to myself to watch this movie and I'm sure that I will again.
The Wrestler - I was a huge wrestling fan growing up so this movie looked good from the get go. I also heard from other people that had nothing nor wanted anything to do with wrestling liking the movie. Mickey Rourke has a stand out performance in this movie and gets the part done pretty much perfectly. I also related since some of my friends do the indie wrestling thing and it felt like that while watching the movie. Plus Marisa Tomei has not lost a step.
Let The Right One In - Here it is, my favorite movie of the year. It's a vampire movie and quite possibly the best vampire movie I have ever seen. We'll stop there and you go watch it for yourself.
Isn't this convenient?

A Delicious Evening

A nice little trip to Delicious Vegetarian was on the menu tonight. A few new things were ordered today. First off steamed tofu with satay sauce is like $6.50 and was hard to capture since myself and someone else were both hungry...this kinda looks like a full plate of it.
Next up was deep fried tofu with spicy peanut sauce and broccoli. We both noticed it going out to another table and were intrigued. What better way to make peanut sauce healthy than to add broccoli?
Now for the other person I have been mentioning...it's just this little darling Tara right here. She's only mad/giving the finger because she is gonna be so old soon. Pay no mind to that.
I'm gonna finish once again with a picture that sparked my interest due to it being of something I like. I noticed this on the BLVCK SCVLE blog in a post sourcing the Vampire-Colasa blog.

Simple Salad

This is the salad that I've been meaning to make and get up here for a minute but numerous things led to me not making it. Here it is in all its glory.
Now to make this little ditty put some of those rice noodles in some boiling water and let them sit off heat until they are cooked and soft. While you're waiting for that whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, lime juice, sriracha and water together until you get a taste and consistency that you like. I have never measured while making this so just do as you will but don't go too heavy on either the sesame oil, rice vinegar or sriracha. The water will also be the last thing you add to thin it out a bit. Use a vegetable peeler and make little carrot ribbons for the salad, I just used one carrot. Next julienne some sugar peas in the pod and toss them in. Pull some cilantro apart and put that on top. Mix it all together and there you have it. Just missing one thing. Prepare whatever protein you're going to use. In this case I used a breaded "chicken" strip and put it on top. Feel free to do whatever you want for this. Its always nice to have a salad with protein in it and in the dressing since some people might not eat a whole lot of it. Goodnight.

Today Was a Good Day

Here's a little recap of good things about today. First off the new Brother Ali ep The Truth Is Here dropped today and if you didn't cop it already, head over to Fifth Element Online and proceed to do so. This is what you'll be grabbin.
Next up is the little surprise I got in the mail from Haven. I have been waiting to get my hands on this watch since I saw it pop up on the net a while back. There is a different picture on the Haven blog if you don't like the one I took.
Made a quick stop by the bookstore and was going to pick up The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and it turned out that both The Tipping Point and Blink were in the bargain bin and I got them both for less than The Tipping Point would have cost. That's a victory.
I read the bag from McNally Robinson when I got home and was pretty stoked to see this. It is something small but is a good change for them and the environment. Let the hippy comments pour in.
End with a picture I saw on Over This Way that has one of my favorite things in it.

Gala Food

The 6th annual Gala Evening of Culinary Inspirations for the Canadian Hemophilia Society Manitoba Chapter took place last night. A quick recap of the food since maybe not all of us eat food made by 4 and 5 star chefs everyday. The vegan meals were a little smaller than the regular meals but when there is only a few out of 275 it's harder to expect the world. We'll start off with the appetizer. A chickpea and sundried tomato mash along with a white bean and truffle mash served with a red pepper coulis. Both of these mashes were fantastic, a great way to start a meal.
Next up was the soup which was a ratatouille of fire roasted vegetables and was nice and simple but tasted great.
The main was much different than the meat main, that's all I'm gonna say. We had salad rolls with tofu and some veggies in them served with a spicy pepper sauce and broccoli. Some found it too spicy, but I was more than fine with it.
Pineapple and cucumber salad served with an edible orchid. I love orchids and rarely get the chance to eat them! haha. It had an abundance of flavor, which really surprised me.
This dessert is by no means vegan but it certainly looks better than a fruit plate!
Well that was the meal. There were tons of great prizes and fun and free booze for those that drink. My dad won $700 at this so it can't be that bad, actually it wasn't bad at all...it was great! If you need an excuse to dress up, eat a great meal and support a good cause...start saving your money right now and join me at the next gala dinner in 2010!

Cupcakes and Art or Art and Cupcakes

Well I don't want to start this and seem like I'm stroking my ego or anything...but when I got to the art show this evening there was a single cupcake left on the plate and I had to get a pic of it. Little did I know that there were more in storage, so I kinda felt silly. The cupcakes seemed to be a hit since they were moving quick and that made sense since there were quite a few people at the show. It was with good cause, there were some amazing pieces on the wall.
Here's the man of the hour admiring a cupcake, you'll get to admire his art soon enough.
Nate is just gettin in where he fits in...amongst two of Ryan's paintings.
This next piece was not for sale as it is going to be auctioned off at the Canadian Hemophilia Society's annual Gala Dinner of Culinary Inspirations. I can fully back helping out a good cause.
This was sold by the time I got there, yeah I mean 1.5 hours after the opening.
Oh weird, another piece that was sold.
This one was still available, so make your way down there and get some great art for cheap from a good dude.
These next two pieces are from a guy who is new to the collective that do these shows. I'm a pretty big fan of both of these. If someone wants to throw a few bucks my way to make my walls look better I'd be cool with that.
This one needs to be seen in person. It's layered and doesn't translate well via photo capture.
The rest of the pieces shown here are by one of the girl's in the collective that I picked something up from the last show. She has so many nice things out right now.
Oh what does this say...
Pretty much classic is what it says!
This one is so chill and I'm 100% down.
Good colors and nice flowers. This one is screaming my name.
Probably the best 5 piece you could ever buy.
Nate owed me a few bucks that I had forgotten about and it turns out that money can be exchanged for food. Luckily The Albert had a few BBQ Tofu sandwiches, sweet potato fries and vegan aioli kickin around. My hunger for art was satiated and now my hunger for food was also taken care of.
As I was going home, I happened to look through the big ol window at The Vault and see a pretty girl brushing her teeth. Might not be a conventional brush, but certain times call for certain measures.
Bon nuit.