Buffalo Cauliflower is a little fusion-y on it's own, but when you put in inside a taco, well, that's super fusion! Bar Bombón makes a good series of tacos, one of which is the buffalo cauliflower taco. I love all vegan tacos equally like children... But this doubly-fused taco is the real gem of the family.


Okay, are you ready for this? Are you strapped in? The vegan sorceror princesses of Peaceful Provisions make this.. creation, and it is even more fused than you can imagine. It is a pretzel-croissant-donut. It is also savory/sweet on top of being all those things. It's a buttery, flaky [crust] croissant dough, that's super enriched, and pretzel-bathed in the salt bath (also in magic vapors), and then fried like a donut! It's frosted with an amazing maple frosting and topped with apple sage sausage! Could you get more fused? BTW, I just guessed at their process, I am just listing what I think they do to this magical creation, I'm not necessarily right though!



Reigning champs of all things fusion, V Street is the winner. My favorite item on the brunch menu, and this is an informed decision because I've tried them all, is the Piri Piri Tofu Shakshouka. The menu description reads: Zhoug Avocado Toast, Long Hots, Spiced Tomato Stew. The tofu is so insanely good, but that is beside the point. The spicy red-chile sauce spikes the tofu, and the cool & buttery, but also spicy, avocado toast balances this dish perfectly. It blends the traditional Shakshouka with the Portugese-turned-African Piri Piri profile, and pairs it with a perfect American Avo Toast. This is the brunch I dream about all week.

I saw @leslieconn make Ropa Vieja from Viva Vegan on Instagram and I couldn't get it out of my head so I made it using the No Evil Foods Prepper Seitan, which is packaged a little differently than most seitan because it's sort of spun together and seems like its more shreddable. I remember how I tried to shred my homemade seitan last time I made this and I didn't have great results shredding it so I was psyched to find this seitan because it was perfect for this dish. It gave it a true pulled-pork texture, even more than with jackfruit. If you can find it I would suggest trying it out with this recipe or with another shredded seitan or pulled pork-style seitan recipe because the texture was great. It did require some time to stand there and shred it but it was well worth it.


More #pastaproblems, I have made this pesto mac from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen a few times in the last couple months because it's pretty much a template of the kind of food I always want to eat. If I haven't had pasta in like.. 3 to 4 days, I start to get a little twitchy. I even start to smell it when it isn't cooking. Just wondering, what's wrong with me?


My best friend's daughter just turned 2 last month! She's really into Minnie Mouse so she had a Minnie-themed birthday party and I made these Minnie cupcakes for her.


Cupcakes with cookies > Cupcakes without cookies.


I got some makeup while out shopping with my mom when I was visiting home. I wanted to try out the Born This Way foundation by Too Faced after I saw a lot of people using it in makeup videos like Rhian on WifeLife and Tashina on Logical Harmony. I like it pretty good, I use it with the Primed and Poreless Powder which is sooo silky and nice. I have been using the Becca corrector in pistachio to cover up my red spots, as my face has been extra obnoxious in growing zits all the time. I just dab a little over each red spot after primer and then apply the foundation over it. I really like the Kat Von D Ink! liner in Trooper, it makes it really easy to draw a straight line and the point never needs sharpening like pencil liners, and doesn't smudge too easily like liquid brush liners. I gifted the eye shadow primer because my eyelids get real weird when I wear shadow primer, even cream shadows, it makes the skin of my lid get sort of grainy and gross. Anyone else have that problem? I know I described that beautifully, but I think I've heard people say that shadow primers irritate their lids too.


I was having this conversation with my mom about how to get calcium from vegan sources, and I named things like oranges, bok choy, tofu and quinoa, then realized that they are all in this dish from Isa Does It. It's called something like, "Grilled Citrus Tofu Quinoa Bowl with Tahini" or something similar. I've made it once before but sort of forgot about it. I love the citrus tofu and will use that marinade again soon.


I finally made the Creamy Tomato Soup from The Oh She Glows Cookbook after hearing so much good stuff about it. It pretty much transported me back to being a teenager at Panera Bread getting the creamy tomato soup. I really liked the chickpea croutons, and at first I was skeptical because they looked dry and burned but really they are just crispy and awesome. It's always all about the croutons any time there's croutons.


Here's another buffalo tempeh salad with Terri Ranch, my new obsession. It kind of does all the stuff Hidden Valley Ranch says it does. I'm sure you have all seen this commercial, but in case you just steal your TV shows off the internet like a normal person, the commercial is set in a huge carnival/fair where the people are all selling vegetables instead of fries or cotton candy and there's a vegetable-eating contest instead of a hot dog-eating contest, and the kids are all fighting over each others' veggies, all because of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and because it's so good. Anyway, Terri ranch is that good for me.


I have been waking up early for the past several months to "work out" but instead I mostly just sit on my radiator and have breakfast. My breakfast was particularly glowing on this morning, and I couldn't resist snapping a pic of my 197th smoothie bowl with coffee.


Another thing I got while I was out makeup shopping was the Pacifica Coconut Power Shampoo and Conditioner. I had been using the Alba Botanica Mango Shampoo and Conditioner but my hair was getting so dry and greasy so quickly, and after switching to this stuff it really made a huge difference in my hair. I definitely feel more moisture and can go at least one extra day without washing my hair again. It lathers really nicely, smells amazing and the packaging is gorgeous, as always.


I was thinking of doing an "Empties" video like I've seen some people do, where they show you the products they just finished up, whether it be stuff they purchase all the time or stuff they tried out for the first time. Either way, it's only after having used the whole product, so their opinion is fully formed on whether they would use it again or go for something else next time. If I do something like that, I'll be including this Kona Coffee scrub from Pacifica because I'm almost done with it. I have been loving it and would definitely buy it again. The smell is so amazing and it leaves your skin so silky with a tiny layer of moisturizing coconut oil. Sometimes after I use body scrubs my skin feels so dry and damaged immediately after I step out of the shower, but this really helps to lock the moisture in.


Back to food- I made the Cauliflower and Pesto soup with pasta shells from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen, which was super amazing. The only thing I would do differently next time is puree the soup in the vitamix instead of using an immersion blender. I also added more broth than called for because there wasn't really enough to simmer the cauliflower. But I think it would benefit from a silkier base than what you get with an immersion blender because when you use one of those it just can't get to that silky level.


When I ran out of Terri ranch I used the Follow Your Heart one, not quite as good but certainly does the trick when you're in need of a ranch dressing like now. I used to exclusively make my own dressings but it just takes time and this bottle is easy to grab and even bring with me to work, and I just am a lazy person I guess. Stop making me apologize for not making my own dressing!


It's not summer yet, and I'm happy about that, but I made summery food recently, with salad, BBQ Tofu, and potato salad. Alex made rice-a-roni because he wanted to help. He tries.


We visited Maresa at her new shop on E 9th over the weekend and got some macarons. It's right near Tompkins Square Park so we took them to go and ate them there. This one is Peanut Butter Brownie, dare I say my favorite flavor of Maresa's Macs. Can't be sure though.


Her shop is also right by Superiority Burger, which we had yet to try until then. It was really amazing. Alex got the burger, which he deemed so-so, and I got what was called "the new creation" which was tofu skin cooked in a way maybe Philly Cheesesteaks are cooked with some aioli and pickles. That was so great! I loved it and would order it next time again for sure. We got the Burnt Broccoli salad to share and then after we were done we ordered more food, the sloppy joe, which we devoured before taking pictures.


The main event was the Ice cream. It was Rhubarb Sorbet and Labne. The top has the rhubarb and the bottom has the labne. I haven't had ice cream this good since.... I can't remember. I don't know if I have ever had ice cream this good!


That same day we had been to NYC Veg Fest and had a great time hanging out with our friend Belinda, who has come to VegFest with me a few times. We got lots of great food, saw a few talks, and tried lots of new products. Some highlights were Ponycakes in orange-blossom-tahini-black sesame-something, Love Beets juice who also had some great balsamic marinated beets, and the Sex Kitten eye shadow palette that 100% Pure was selling for about 1/2 price! I think they're normally $45 and I got mine for $27 or something like that.


Alex's favorite kind of meal is a simple stir-fry. This worked out especially easy for me on this particular day because I had all of the ingredients I needed to make the Cast-Iron Stir Fry from Isa Does It, which is rare that I would actually have everything I needed. There's always at least one thing you didn't get or don't have. So yeah I was especially proud of myself for remembering this recipe existed and realizing I had everything I needed for it. This is so simple and awesome and I don't know why I don't make more stuff like this all the time.


At VegFest, there's always a guy doing a Vitamix demo. I have the Vitamix, and I think I bought it after the first demo I saw there, but it's still just too fun to watch the guy make all the stuff and do his demo. He always makes soup that is so fast and a bell went off in Alex's head that he could make that some night for dinner. So on monday night I came home from work and he had this soup almost ready and it was just as good as the one from the demo <3.


 The May Vegan Cuts Beauty Box came and it's one of the best so far! I pretty much deem every box that has a makeup brush in it the best. So this brush is the softest brush ever and it's from an all-vegan and cruelty-free makeup company called Terre Mere. It had a mini body scrub, a toner and a face oil. It also had a lip gloss, but I'm not really a bright-red-lip-gloss kind of girl and I saw a bunch of people get blushes and bronzers instead and got really jealous again!!!!! The cycle continues.

Another reason 2015 turnt down for no one, was that I discovered scallion pancakes. I know that vegan pan-asian restaurants exist all over the country, but they opened one that delivers to my work, so I have a new default love for them, and scallion pancakes are one thing, and that thing, is dope AF.
I say dope a lot for someone who doesn't smoke. If you find yourself at a vegan asian place, don't skip the scallion pancake!


I ate a lot of crepes this year, exclusively from Little Choc Apothecary, who makes great crepes. I have tried the pizza crepe, the mushroom crepe, the breakfast crepe, the apple crepe and the seitan crepe. Oh, and alex aways gets one with banana and nutella with pecans, so I get to have a bite of that each time too :)


I think tea is fun and interesting, and as I've said earlier, I get sick of coffee easily. This place specializes in tea! So it's fun to try out a little teapot full of a new kind of tea you've never heard of. When they bring it out they give you a little hourglass timer box so you know how long it steeped for. Then you can play with it the whole rest of the time you sit there.


I baked some breads to bring home with me for Xmas, including the Cinnamon swirl bread from Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day. This bread is great and it's not too sweet the way some cinnamon swirl breads can be. Isn't freshly baked bread the best?


It's even better when it's been freshly baked -- by you :)



I cooked a beautiful meal for my family on Thanksgiving, everything vegan! My dad did cook a turkey and put it on the table with my beautiful spread of food but that's okay. He ate the rest of the food and seemed happy about it. Alex and I were the only ones who ate any of the Field Roast Celebration Roast I made, but it made for crafty leftover-sandwiches -- more to follow on that.


I made some roasted garlic mashed potatoes, cashew-creamed onions, cranberry sauce with pomegranates, and baked stuffing! We did some mashed butternut squash, which needs very little in the way of preparation, and peas that we heated in the microwave. It was delicious and I was really happy with everything! I was also happy to sit down to a nice meal with my close family and not have a super hectic time cooking and traveling.


A special vegan announcement: There's new stuff on the menu at Champs!!!! Tots are on the menu!!


Also, there's something called the "Mac Daddy Bowl" which was basically created with me in mind.


I also got married in 2015. And we looked real cute that day...


This is where we eat. We have an apartment that's too small to fit a dining room table, so we just eat at our coffee table while we watch shows or movies together. It's definitely a different vibe than setting a nice table for a fancy dinner, but having a casual place to eat together is nice too, plus I know things will change one day when we move or have kids and we won't have our little table and our shows together anymore. It's kind of time that we know we're going to miss someday.


I have had a large stack of books to read for a really long time. I have started reading all these books, some I've read over half-way through, some I just read the first chapter of. A couple of them, I didn't really like the beginning of, but still feel funny about not finishing. For me, I think of a book as an endeavor that I must see through, and won't feel right until I do. So as you can see from this large stack of books, I feel very off-kilter from having half-read so many! My goal is to finish all of these books in a timely fashion instead of buying new ones to read first like I did all year.


I know that last year I talked about wanting to eat more salads, and man did I do right by that resolution. I ate salads exclusively for a whole month! It was easy with the help of Salad Samurai. I never got around to making the Bento Box Niçoise salad from the book until a few weeks ago. Maybe I was holding out for purple potatoes. Well I finally found some! And damn-- this salad was amazing. I mean, there isn't much left to be desired. You've got your potatoes, your veggies, your avocado, your greens, lemony dressing and coconut bacon crunchies for the top (or everywhere). The coconut bacon filled a gap in my cold heart and helped me love again.


I finally tried the rainbow cookies by Sweet Maresa's this year! They are perfect in every way and I can't say anything appropriate to how good they are in this language so I will just stop.



Okay so this is my plate from Wigilia this year. I made those pierogies with the help of my mom, dad, and Alex helped pinch them this year too! My golabki is covered in a creamy cumin tomato sauce I made, and above that is my pumpkin-cranberry risotto, that was totally gone by the end of the night! My aunt Karen makes delicious potato pancakes, which I ate 4 of, and my cousin Sarah made this delicious Kale, pomegranate and quinoa salad that we begged her to make ever since the last time she brought it. Spoiled, right??


Alex and I are so similar and cute that we bought each other the same record for Christmas. So cute and barfworthy.


Yeah, I shredded a little bass in 2015... What of it??


My craftiest moment of the year is when I made these thanksgiving leftover sandwiches. I had the perfect storm of leftovers, and purchased nothing that wasn't already in the fridge to make it! It has (ahem), celebration roast slices, garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, chao cheese, and cilantro pesto on pumpernickel bread! I pressed it in my panini press (spoiled), and voila, the best sandwich I ever made was eaten.


My final spoilage of 2015, was my mom finding the most perfect device to fit to our very specific measurements that would hold our dish drain, and support the weight of a multitude of cast-iron pots and pans, and look cute. She scored for seriously. It looks so great and I could finally take the heavy pots and pans out from under the sink cabinet in which the floor of it caved in due to the heaviness of the pots. Kindly don't repeat that to my super.


Today marks my fifth anniversary of veganhood! It seems like forever since I went vegan, but some of my friends have been vegan for 15 or 20 years! They make me look like a newbie vegan. Speaking of newbie vegans, Alex decided to go vegan today! Yay for him! I am so excited to have yet another huge part of my life to share with him. I recognize how lucky (and spoiled) it makes me to have a vegan husband, living together in NYC, and eating at Champs once a week, Chloe's for lunch on weekends, seeing shows all the time, I'll stop, I can see it's bothering you.

Happy New Year to all the vegans of the universe! I'd never be the same without all of you.
<3
KZ