bienvenido a tijuanua dad!

i picked my dad up today in san diego. he'd like to do ibogaine and have a visit with his his loca daughters. my father is totally rad. he's all about the love. here we are at el yoghurt place, which is a health food joint here in playas with bitchin' three's company treehouse decor. i'll keep you posted as to the fun doings of me and the familia esta semana. que locura!!!

this carrot wanted to be born early....

here is just one of his new friends. aye, que mono!

today's spoils

i started today out wanting to basically cook as much of the time as possible. so for breakfast was a potato frittata with some beet leaves in. then a couple boring sandwiches for meat-eaters and a high-calorie gluten-free veggie for nathen.



then i did a modified heavenly pie from 101 cookbooks. i added three tablespoons of raw honey to it. it smelled lovely but i'm still eating raw so maybe another time. lastly i made a modified ina garten chocolate cookie with peanut and chocolate chips instead of white. definitely super-yum.

beet love

my vegetable garden is going crazy and i'm discovering the many uses of the abundant beet leaves that have arrived. they are so gorgeous and mild-tasting; i plan on using them i as i would baby spinach so first up is vegetable croquette/pancake type things. as it's hotter and people are eating lighter, i'm making a lot of the type of things one sees at the deli counter - things that taste even better maybe at room temp. anyway, here's my cute sister feeling the beet.

la yoda mexicana

today i had the true privilege of seeing my favorite ninety-three year old vendor (nicknamed yoda by me and clare) while crossing the border. i had set the intention of getting a photo the next time i saw her and i lucked out by seeing her RIGHT AWAY. she's about three feet nine inches and her voice sounds a lot like she's been living in a cave with the REAL YODA for the last 2 thousand years. she is also clearly above the law and any arbitrary BORDER because she walks freely on the american side with no repercussion and a great deal of humble entitlement. the sweets and pepitas she sells are an afterthought, almost an excuse, it seems, to be able to bless those she comes into contact with. i asked her today (in spanish) if she knew she was very special and she said yes and then proceeded to give me a benediction. she's rad and i love her. hopefully you'll hear more about her or maybe she'll remain a beautiful mystery, reminding us we're eternal and as strong and fit as we want to be. viva la yoda mexicana!

so i tried subbing fresh strawberry puree for the applesauce while making erin mckenna's vanilla cupcakes. i also added white choco chips (not NECESSARILY vegan). they turned out DOPE but next time i will add some natural red color. i've made a bunch of her recipe from babycakes and they are all mostly great. although her frosting is WAY too involved and kind far from a whole food type experience. plus there's the whole AGAVE DEBACLE i will get into later.

there's a carnival in playas tonight.