I Moved!

 I moved! Alex and I live in Philly now, and a lot has changed since my last post. Things have been extremely hectic, both good and bad, but...

 I moved! Alex and I live in Philly now, and a lot has changed since my last post. Things have been extremely hectic, both good and bad, but now we're here and I'm looking forward to building a new life in Philly. We just started exploring our new neighborhood in the past couple days, and it seems ripe with vegan options, and I do plan to eat all the vegan cheesesteaks at all the various locations across the city (and the options are plentiful), and I intend to start with Blackbird because everyone says it's the best. I already ordered (and got delivery!!) from there a few times, but so far haven't tried the cheesesteak, and no, I don't know why not. I ate at V-Street and basically cursed the whole time because it was so good. I am anxiously anticipating my upcoming reservation at Vedge later this month for our first wedding anniversary dinner, and I plan to eat everything on the menu. I will go into debt for this dinner if I have to. It's that good. Plus, I'm dying to give it a chance to remind me that it knocks Dirt Candy on it's ass, because as you remember, Dirt Candy got high marks from us when we went in February. My outfit that night was on point, so I think it makes my memory of our dinner there even fonder, but anyway- we're coming for Vedge and we're going to eat all its tofu and give zero fucks.
So in my new apartment, I was bestowed a new kitchen, place of cooking, plentiful counterspace, a vent(!), and most importantly, baby's first dishwasher. What it lacks in natural light, it makes up for in gorgeous countertops over 2 feet deep, magical cabinet real-estate and enough space for a tiny table, on it's merry way from Amazon. I made this salad in it, my fave salad probably ever, buffalo tempeh with super perfect summer cherry tomatoes, from a Whole Foods I now live dangerously close to, and Terri Ranch, because I obviously wouldn't leave town without grabbing a bottle to bring to the new land of PA.

 About that natural light... I think I need to make it mandatory to edit all my photos before posting from now on, because these photos are just... sad.

When we were driving to Philly in a moving truck, I remembered that my favorite beer is from Philly, and we couldn't get it in NYC, so I was super psyched to remember that we could have it again and loudly exclaimed, "YARDS!" and perilously freaked Alex out, who was driving during the very early morning hours in the pouring rain, and made him think we forgot our keys or something. Nope, just remembered about beer. False alarm.

Another perk of many of our new apartment-- it has patio space. We christened our new patio table with Yards, new Philly friends, Tospshelf coozy, and obilgatory Instagrams on a recent sticky summer evening. Gotta filter those pics tho.

I am pretty much set up in my new kitchen now, the first room I attacked upon arriving. My toaster oven no longer dangles off the edge of a high pantry shelf and my microwave is attached to the wall above my stove with a vent under it. This is definitely the nicest kitchen I have had of any of the apartments I've lived in so far, so I'm super psyched and please forgive the gushing about it, but I daresay you would be gushing too if you were coming from this kitchen. 


After the first week of moving, unpacking, cleaning, re-cleaning and rearranging, we were very grouchy, exhausted, and in need of something that was purely for entertainment and particularly in cake form. A while ago I started following @vegfoodvideos on Instagram and they had put up a video of a rainbow cake that Alex really liked and wanted to make. I also have a bunch of non-natural food coloring and cake decoration supplies that I'd like to use up and replace with something better, so I figured this would be a cool cake to christen our new kitchen with. 



It has been a while since I've made a cake. Back in Jersey I made so many cakes and pies and cupcakes and baked with vigor. Making this cake made me miss doing that all the time. It was really fun to make, easy, and colorful. It was kind of exactly what we needed.


Not a very vibrant photo, but the frosting is colorful too. Again with the bad lighting and unedited photos. Duly noted.


Frosting game needs work. Also I brought my cake frosting turntable back to Massachusetts to leave in my mom's basement and now I want it back! Also, I never make enough frosting! I wanted to write something on the cake, but didn't have enough frosting left and it started melting. More cakes soon, more practice, more better.


I've made a couple things from Isa Does It in my new kitchen, mostly because they are easy and old favorites. This one is Seitan with Broccoli and Pantry BBQ Sauce. It's one of Alex's favorites, which works out well for me because it is so easy.


I want to be blogging more during this transitional phase of my life, in addition to doing more of the things I love to do but hardly found time for when I was in New York. I am looking for jobs, but also taking my time to find the right one, change fields, try new things, meet new people, and use this move as a way to start over and work on changing the things about my life I don't love and fill my life with more things that I do love. Can't wait to see all the new sights, eat all the vegan food (which there is tons of here), and hang with all the Philly vegans and punx alike, so hit me up if you are nearby, passing through or know someone who is.

More soon and with more frequency,
KZ <3

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3 comments

  1. Ahhh the cake is so pretty! And the kitchen looks super (and a lot more spacious). Urgh, we just moved house a week or so ago; not from city to city (only around 7 miles) but with a houseful of furniture and more than 60 boxes packed full of stuff it was stressful enough. I am surprised our relationship coped with the strain! It's nice to be settled though, I hope the new place is working out great for you :)

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    1. Thanks! I pretty much only cared about the kitchen. We looked at other places that would have been great but had a baby-sized stove and fridge, which I probably wouldn't even be able to fit my pans inside of, so yeah, that's all I want, a dece kitchen. Hope you're new place is working out for you too!

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  2. I'm in the Philly area, and use to live in Philly and that is a NICE kitchen! I have had too many sad depressing kitchens in my day. One place was even smaller than your NYC kitchen (yeah, didn't think that was possible right?) and the oven would spew out smoke so we could only use the stovetop. So if you make any friends who are looking at an apartment at Pine and 16th (the apartment on the corner) tell them it is awful ^__~

    Not sure where you are in Philly but you might want to try The Tasty. I haven't been to it yet, but it is a vegan diner in South Philly. I plan on checking it out at some point, but it is pretty new and is only open during the day.

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