The Hubz and I are starting my birthday weekend out right and going to enjoy an ancient spa treatment at Jivana Spa. We are both getting the Jivana Journey which just sounds amazing. I am debating between the Thai Lemongrass and the Ginger Spice- I’ll let you know it goes.  So excited for tomorrow!

As I see it a good start the morning can usually result in a good start to the day and what better way to start the day than with toast and tofu scramble?

We have to improvise a bit lately since we no longer have a toaster but it can be fun using our $2 camping toaster for fun.  We had left over cheezy tofu scramble with lots of broccoli which was delicious before our crazy days started.

After a getting a cracked tooth filled and crazy day at work and prepping for another crazy day tomorrow I met up with my mom for a drink and a snack.

After we finished our drinks we met up with this guy:

C.V.L. Dad! (cook.vegan.lover. dad)

Then we did a little shopping and headed to A Single Pebble for dinner.

Double Garlic Broccoli

Dry Fried Green Beans

Vegetarian Pot Sticker

Vegan Ants Climbing a Tree

Buddha's Sesame Beef

Also if you heckle the food blogger for photographing the food  you suffer the consequences. Welcome to the blog post hall of shame:

Meet C.V.L. Mom who on the evening of August 25, 2010 who knowing the consequences decided to heckle the food blogger regarding her photographing the meal. Welcome to the hall of shame. XO MAMA just j/k all in good fun.

Meet the Hubz who decided to join in the heckling fun. love you lots but welcome to the hall of shame.

Disclaimer: the blog post hall of shame is all in good fun don’t worry.

Over the last few years I have becoming an almond butter addict.  It is amazing on so many things such as:

Between Bread with Jam

In My Overnight Oats

In My Banana Soft Serve

On top of My Oatmeal

In My Raw Cookies

And the Best way to eat Almond Butter is Straight out of the JAR!

As you probably saw earlier this week launched the OpenSky Lunch Box Project where a dollar from select items will go to help this charity. “The Lunch Box provides schools with free, tangible tools to transform school lunch from highly processed foods to made-from-scratch meals using nutritious, fresh ingredients. It contains tools for real change including school-tested recipes with nutritionals and training tips, financial modeling guides, budget templates, downloadable, customizable calendars, and training videos.” Source

In honor of this amazing charity and my love for almond butter you can now find Artisana Almond Butter in my OpenSky shop and  for every jar sold from now until September 7th  $1 will be donated by OpenSky and I will also be making a donation for every jar sold as well to The Lunch Box Project.

The other night the Hubz and I decided that we wanted to have a date night out on the town with drinks and a fun meal at a restaurant neither of us had been to, Daily Planet. We have walked past here a number of times and have always wanted to stop in so we decided to branch out and try something new. We inquired first to find out if there were going to be any vegan options for us and they had a few so we decided to try.

Maura’s Salad  $9 with baby greens, roasted garlic, red grapes, toasted pecans, balsamic and grilled tofu

Summer Vegetable Crepe  $16 with grilled tofu, baby arugula and balsamic

Dirty Martini

Overall the Hubz and I weren’t too impressed with things although the Hubz just kept telling me how much he loved the pancake. That’s right pancake! The “crepe” was this big fluffy pancake and it really changed the dish completely. The best part of the “crepe” dish was the massive amount of chanterelles that were on top of it the “crepe”; however it was otherwise expensive for what it was. As for the salad it was pretty blah. I really didn’t enjoy that the greens had become super wilted and it was small for the $10 it cost me. Neil had a beer which was great and I had a dirty martini which was pretty awful. We haven’t totally written the place off because we did enjoy the atmosphere but it is a one more chance type of place.

• Value: 1/5
• Food: 2/5
• Atmosphere: 3.5/5
• Vegan Friendly: 2/5

Today kicks of the OpenSky Lunch Box Project where a dollar from select items will go to help this charity. “The Lunch Box provides schools with free, tangible tools to transform school lunch from highly processed foods to made-from-scratch meals using nutritious, fresh ingredients. It contains tools for real change including school-tested recipes with nutritionals and training tips, financial modeling guides, budget templates, downloadable, customizable calendars, and training videos.” Source

In honor of this amazing charity I will be selling Artisana Almond Butter and for every jar sold from my OpenSky shop a dollar will be donated by OpenSky and I will also be making a donation for every jar sold  as well to The Lunch Box Project.

I know that there are lots of almond butter junkies out there just like me and what better way to enjoy a jar but by knowing that you have helped someone out with your purchase?

If you have never enjoyed raw almond butter before you are in for a treat because unlike it’s non-raw cousin it has an amazing creamy sweetness that you don’t get from the non-raw version.  I like mine on celery, carrots or in green monsters!