How I Spent My Winter Vacation

It's been awhile, and I hope no one's been worried about me. I've been MIA most of this month because I've been on vacation for the last week and a half! Don't get too excited, I barely left town, but I did have a full week of no-work, responsibility-free fun. I tried to stay away from the internet as much as possible, and just enjoyed spending time with my workaholic boyfriend, who was also on vacation. I'm here to give a recap for all you Nosey Nancies out there. (Don't worry, sometimes I lurk too...)

My vacation started by baking a bunch of cupcakes and cookies and heading up to Scranton to visit family and friends and drop off an order. Banana Split cupcakes, bowling, laundry, haircuts, and vegan chili cheese fries filled up my agenda.

AND I got a belated Christmas gift from one of my closest friends, Justin. I've been drooling over this necklace for awhile, and even though I never told him about it, somehow, he knew. I guess after 15 years of friendship, it comes with the territory. But seriously, how cute is this??

I headed back to Philly, and Ken and I did some nice weekend stuff. Gospel Brunch with friends at Johnny Brenda's...

...and a visit to meet Ken's new nephew! I've been working on a blanket for him over the last month and it was awesome to finally have a sweet little baby to wrap up all warm.

We spent our Valentine's Day enjoying the beautiful weather in Philly (over 50 degrees!). We headed to Chinatown, ate some Bahn Mi and honeycomb waffles, and roamed the streets and stores finding all kinds of gems.

That night we headed to a dinner party. I made some cake: vegan chocolate cake with a raspberry Chamboard filling, a raspberry Chamboard frosting and a dark chocolate ganache topping. It needs a little tweaking before I can give you the recipe, but it was a pretty big hit among the party guests.

Tuesday, Ken took me to New York. He had planned a really sweet, romantic getaway, but God laughed at all our plans, and after losing a debit card and forgetting to take enough cash out (combined with our lack of smart phones) we had to improvise. Not to be deterred, we still had a great day full of free art at the Met, tasty snacks, and a self-guided walking tour of Ken's alma mater, NYU.  Best of all, I finally made it to Lula's Apothecary and got some vegan pistachio ice cream in my belly. I'm pretty sure I'd walk 20 miles in a mud storm with someone whipping me the whole way to get another scoop of that good stuff, so it definitely made the trip worth it. After a long day of riding trains and walking the big city, we got home late and slept like fat babies.

The rest of our vacation was pretty uneventful. I did a lot of cleaning around the house, more laundry and organizing, mixed with ample amounts of reading, loafing and snacking. I made sure to meet up with my lady friends for early-afternoon Lucille Bluth-style lunching and enjoyed the sunshine and ridiculously unseasonable temps that blessed Philadelphia last week as much as I possibly could. And of course, I got in lots of quality time with my sweet little love, Gracie LaRoux.

I didn't get to leave the Mid-Atlantic region, let alone see a sunny beach, but I did ease deeply into that stress-free vacation mind-set. Now it's back to work, back to baking, back to cold temps, and back to the grind...

Better Butter

It's been busy and a little distracting around Casa de Sweet Swallows this month. Some of it awesome, some of it less than awesome. I need to tell you about one of the more awesome things. I made a new friend, and I'm going to dork out and tell you all about it. 

I've got some really great readers at this blog. Sometimes I get e-mails from those readers. A few months ago I got an e-mail from Marina, another Philadelphian, who owns a peanut butter company. She said she liked picnics, and that we should get coffee. I said I love peanut butter, and I think you should be my new best friend. True Story. 

Marina owns Better Butter. It's peanut butter mixed with fruit and natural sweeteners to make it even more delicious, but with half the calories of other brands. It's all natural, no preservatives, and some of the tastiest stuff around. There's no dairy, soy or gluten in any of the products, and two of the flavors are vegan.

Better Butter has two standard flavors, Honey Nut Banana and Nutty Chocolate Chip. They're both pretty tasty. But there's also a seasonal flavor: Maple Pumpkin Peanut Butter. Yeah, you heard that right. Maple. Pumpkin. Peanut. Butter. It's like autumn in a jar. And tastes like pumpkin pie filling. NOM NOM NOM. 

I'm the kind of person who's known to eat pie for breakfast. Shamelessly. If you'd like to eat pie for breakfast, but feel guilty about it, just pick up the Maple Pumpkin spread and put it on some toast or graham crackers. Problem solved. 

I can't keep this stuff in the house. It disappears by the spoonful. Into my mouth. And Marina can barely keep up with orders. So I've been helping her occasionally to make those big vats of Better Butter.

So how did I spend my day yesterday? Filling jar after jar of all 3 kinds of Better Butter. And it took all my will power not to swan dive face first into the giant vat of it. I was really proud of myself. I held back. I might not be strong enough next time. Just warning you, Marina. 

You can find Better Butter all throughout Philadelphia. It's available in some local grocers like Almanac and Green Aisle Grocer, and Marina also sells at a few farmer's markets around the city. For a full list of locations, check out their website. And now it's even available for your morning bagel at Grindcore House in South Philly, and Bodhi coffee in Headhouse Square. 

Seriously though, you'll want a whole jar for yourself. TRUST ME.

Battling the Universe

Guys, I can't believe I made it. This past week was a constant battle with the Universe, which seemed hell-bent on dragging me down. I put up a pretty good fight, but at last check it was Colleen: 15, Universe: 20.  Let's talk about the highlights. 

I tried to go to the beach for a 2 day mini-vacation. I got a flat tire on the way. On the Garden State Parkway, you can't use your own road-side assistance (which is free), you have to call the state police, wait for them to send someone out, and then pay them. Are you kidding me? 

This also happens to be the month my license and inspection expire. Between the new tire, renewing my license, inspection and repairs for inspection, my car is costing me an obscene amount of money this month. Enough to make me want to trade it in for a bike and a Septa pass. 

I eventually made it to Sea Isle City, and got to chill out on the beach with sand between my toes. Also, in case you were wondering, 9 AM at the Jersey Shore is much more peaceful than 2:30 PM.

My birthday came on Friday, and I spent the whole day baking and shopping for display materials for my friend's wedding. The Universe really pulled out all the stops that day. The biggest challange was losing 3 dozen cupcakes and 3 hours of my day to wonky oven heat and batter gone awry, amongst other annoyances.

What the Universe didn't know is that I have awesome friends and a wonderful boyfriend. Ken had taken a couple of days off and was sweet and helpful and determined to make my birthday special. My closest and dearest friend Jackie came to visit, and didn't complain once while zesting, glazing or washing dishes. Without these two loves of my life, I don't know how I would have done it all. My heroes! I also got lots of love and birthday wishes by call, text, tweet and facebook. Thanks to everyone who sent their love, it was so very needed and appreciated!

Know what else helped me get through? Old episodes of Soul Train and Afro-Sheen commercials from the 70's. After hitting the 18-hour working mark, Ken, Jackie and I took a break and found some old episodes On Demand that worked like magic to ease my weary soul.

Saturday morning saw more baking, glazing and decorating, and finally the wedding was Saturday night. And let me tell you, it was THE GREATEST WEDDING EVER. I'll tell you all about it soon, but here's a quick preview of the cupcakes.

A Low-sugar option. Vanilla agave cupcakes with fresh strawberries.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes. Lemon cupcake with fresh strawberry frosting.

And a Mango-lime Cupcake. Mango cupcake with mango jam filling and lime buttercream.

On Sunday we woke at a ridiculously late hour, and finally got around to celebrating my birthday. I wanted to keep it simple, and we went to the Philadelphia Magic Gardens on South Street to putz around and look at the beautiful chaos. 

If you've never been, it's a cool way to waste an hour or so. Also a cheap date idea!

We grabbed some delicious (but expensive) microbrews at the Foodery, met with some friends for all-you-can-eat dim sum at New Harmony Vegetarian, and finished the night with a coconut flavored soda from the Franklin Fountain. Overall, a pretty swell day. 

So, in the battle of Colleen vs. the Universe last week, the Universe totally had the upperhand: flat tires, ridiculous mechanic bills, ruined cupcakes and and other baking disasters. The good news is that my life usually balances out in the end, so I'm hoping it's only uphill from here for the rest of this week. A girl can dream!

The Best Pizza Pie in Philadelphia

I've spent most of my time in the bedroom these last few days. Quit giving me the sassy eye, that's not what I'm talking 'bout. It's the only room in the house with an air conditioner. In case you haven't heard, there's a heat wave in Philadelphia. 

104 °F outside feels something like 9,941 °F in a South Philly row home. Accordingly, I've been treating the rest of my apartment like the surface of the sun and venturing out only for necessities like water refills and multiple showers. 

Baking? HA. Haha. Ha. Ha. Ha. What is that? I'm fairly certain if I turned on my oven it would spontaneously combust at this point. So while I'm in the kitchen, I'll just grab this pint of coconut sorbet and this bag of fresh cherries and head back to my crisp bedroom climate, thankyouverymuch. 

I've got a fridge full of just-picked garden-fresh veggies and herbs. But they're just gonna have to wait. Now is the time for going out to eat and grabbing take-out. And, oh yeah: Pizza. 

You probably already know about my love for pizza. It's a pure, deep and wholesome love. After a couple of terrible experiences with pizza joints around Philadelphia, I swore off pizza from the city entirely. Until I tried the vegan pizza at Whole Foods on South Street. 

I'm usually unimpressed with Whole Foods' pre-made vegan dishes, especially anything that comes out of their bakery. But this pizza is the best pizza I've had in Philadelphia. Seriously. It reminds me a lot of pizza from Scranton. Like if Calabria's and Maroni's got together and made delicious pizza pie babies. 

I have to confess, I found out about their pizza months ago. I get a slice every week on my Whole Food's shopping trip. But I've never held on to one long enough to document it. Usually, a slice doesn't make it out of the parking lot. What you're seeing here is the first slice to have a life-span longer than 15 minutes. Historical. 

So what's so great about it? The crust on WF's pizza is thin and crispy, but with flavor (they often use a multi-grain crust). The sauce is a little sweet, and tastes like it's freshly made. And the cheese, THE CHEESE. They use Daiya, which is a new vegan cheese product that actually melts and stretches. It's amazing. It's completely changing what it means to be vegan (or lactose intolerant)! Whole Foods' uses a combination of the mozzarella and cheddar flavor, and when those two powers combine the result is miraculous. The cheese actually gets gooey and melty in the best way possible. NOM NOM NOM

I cannot vouch for the quality at any other Whole Foods, but if you can make it to the one on South Street in Philadelphia, I highly recommend this snack. They usually have two vegan options, one with a chef's choice of toppings. Get a slice of each and thank me later. You can find me sprawled out on my bed along with Gracie in a very unlady-like manner trying to stay cool. Knock first, please. 

I Survived Muffinpalooza!

Happy Independence Day to all! And welcome, scooter rally peeps! Let's talk muffins.

Ok, so I've been talking about these damn muffins for weeks now. I'm sure you're sick of it. But fear not gentle reader, because today was the big day!

A couple of months ago a friend of a friend contacted me about making muffins for the Hostile City Scooter Club's Philadelphia Independence Day Scooter Rally. She was responsible for breakfast, and thought my blackberry corn muffins looked tasty. I believe my response was something to the effect of "OMG Hell yes! and Thankyouverymuch!"

12 dozen muffins, 4 different varieties, all to be dropped off the morning of the 4th of July. Slightly daunting, but mostly exciting! My first big order! Exclamation points!

The varieties?

Strawberry Rhubarb, also dubbed the Summer Love Muffins. Share one with your sweetie in the morning. (wink, wink.)

Blueberry, which I'm calling the Midnight Murder Muffins. Seriously, the way those berries burst, they look like they didn't make it out of an 80's slasher flick.

Banana Nut, also known as the Nutty Monkey Muffins. Too cute? Probably. Deal with it.

And last but not least, a savory corn muffin with sundried tomatoes and chives. I didn't come up with a cute name for it. Feel free to suggest one.

Scooter enthusiasts, I hope you liked them. I hope you loved them. I hope you NOM NOM NOM'd them all and didn't leave a crumb. Feel free to leave some comments below and let me know just what you thought. Inquiring minds want to know. Also, don't hesitate to follow me on the Facebook or the Twitter. Social Media, ho!

And of course I need to give a big shout out to Ms. Poliana who set it all up. Girl, you rock my face off! Thanks again!