Domestipithecus

…doesn’t stay in Vegas. Especially if you don’t do anything that needs to be kept secret.

Mr. Pithecus and I headed out to Vegas Friday morning. We took the mega scenic route heading down the 40 and then off of that and onto National Old Trails Highway, or as most of you know it:

(Some of these pictures were taken with my cellphone so they look a bit more grainy - please forgive me)
Our first stop was Ludlow, CA (I forgot to get off the 40 earlier so we missed Bagdad Cafe and a couple other things BAH!)

The old garage - certainly not used anymore:

I wonder what this used to be

Our next stop was Siberia, CA (at least I think it was - the standing ruins were removed years ago). Not much left of it but for the cement.


Apparently, a pastime for locals (I assume) seems to be to come out to this place and shoot stuff

There was more evidence of this, including shot up, rusted tin cans, used shotgun shells and

Then we were off to Amboy and Amboy Crater

View from the visitor center

The signs point the way

Getting closer

Lizards!

Wait. Did that say we had only walked 1/4 of a mile? It seemed like so much further. Maybe the weather had something to do with that?

At least we got good mileage.

Some more info on the trail

Here is where I felt we should turn around because our water was half gone and I feared my sunscreen was giving out!

We walked back to the visitor center, signed the guest log and, after pouring water over my head and pressing ice against my neck (I was HAWT) while eating an apple, we headed off.

Not far from Amboy Crater is Roy’s Cafe. It’s history is here.

We didn’t stop in though it looked like business was good. I’m sure we could have had fries (places like this don’t usually have vegan options!), but we were still soooooo exhausted from the Amboy hike that we just wanted to get on the road.

That ended in less than a minute when Mr. Pithecus slammed on the brakes and pulled over shortly after was pulled out of Roy’s parking lot.
SHOE TREE!!

All the rest of the on the road photos were taken by Mr. Pithecus and/or were just too boring and crappy (not that these are riveting and works of art, but you get what I mean).

The reason we headed to Vegas is a friend was having a bachelorette party there. I begged out of the first night because when we got to Vegas all I wanted to do was sleep. We did go down and buy one of them tall-ass frozen drinks, lost $40 in the slots (”the sluts”) and crashed.

We lazed about a bit on Saturday, I passed on the girly dinner at the seafood buffet, but met up with the ladies for… Chippendales. Yes. You read that correctly. And here is evidence. You can’t miss me. Really.

Then Mr. Pithecus and I drank too much (refills on them tall frozen things were nummy!) and lost more money.

Then on Sunday, we went to the Luxor to see the Bodies exhibit. It was very interesting. We enjoyed it.

Then that evening we got discount tickets to…

Woooo!!
There was the Penn & Teller Envelope Signing and Box Viewing Extravaganza where they invited the audience up to look at the box on stage (Teller popped out of it at the beginning of the show) and to sign an envelope (used later in the show).

Then after the show, the guys hang out and sign things and let you take pictures

The line for Penn was just too long and someone farted in the lobby area so we got out of there pretty quickly (after Mr. Pithecus purchased his metal. pocket sized Bill of Rights).

Monday we put some money down on Roulette for the Mr’s brother (it lost) and we headed home.

On the way home we passed the World’s Largest Thermometer, but we just wanted to get home so we didn’t pull off the 15.

It was 97 degrees when we passed it.

When we got home we crashed. We love road trips, but they do take a lot out of you. The Mr. drives most (all) of the time so it’s more rough on him.

I will do an entry on the yummy vegan food we discovered and enjoyed soon. Two words: Vegan Donuts!!!!!!

Our little rattie furbaby, Denver, died yesterday in my arms. We’ll miss him terribly.

So, apparently Earth Day is coming. Do you know how I know this? The glut of ‘eco-friendly’ wedding posts in an old wedding community I used to frequent during planning, but now go back every now and then to look at pretty dresses.

Reminders of how to have a ‘green’ wedding go from corn based disposable plates and cups to recycled paper invites. People seem to have some sort of ‘I’m soooo much greener than you’ thing going on. It pissed me off last year and it still does.

CORN? Yeah, lets give Monsanto more money by using even more of our valuable land to grow yet more of their GMO corn that is not meant for food. Not to mention the boatload of chemicals used in making corn products. Sustainable? Sure. Eco friendly? Not particularly.

People don’t seem to understand that ’sustainable’ and ‘eco-friendly’ (or whatever you wat to call it) do not mean the same thing. Leather is a sustainable product. Leather is NOT an eco friendly product.

I want to yell at these people, “If you are so concerned about the environment, don’t serve meat at your wedding!” but we all know how that would go over.

The best thing you can do for the environment is to stop consuming animal products. It is not knitting with bamboo yarn (again, sustainable but not eco-friendly), it is not using corn plates and it is most certainly not buying into this whole “green” label.

I agree that every little thing counts. Yes, use recycled paper for your invites! Use live, potted plants for your centerpieces (a friend of mine is doing succulents!). Do as much or as little as you want to make your wedding what you want, but please, don’t brag about how ‘green’ you are and then talk about your menu of steak, chicken or fish. Hell, serve a whole cow and pig on a spit (not that I condone this), but don’t tell me how green your wedding is because you had DIY seat covers.

I like to educate about a vegan lifestyle. If people ask, I’ll talk to them about it. I don’t like to be pushy about it. I certainly dont like being proselytized to, so I don’t do it to others. But if someone asks me how they can be more ‘green’ I am going to tell them to cut down their consumption of animal products. Cutting them out all together is better, of course, but baby steps are good.

I’m not the most environmentally conscious person out there. Far from it. I went vegetarian because I love animals. I had rats for pets and loved them like crazy for crying out loud, how could I justify eating a pig or cow? When I met Mr. Pithecus, he was vegetarian as well, though for environmental reasons. Our decision to go vegan was based on both.

I am not saying we are better than those that eat meat, but don’t try and get into a ‘green’ pissing contest with us. I am not saying don’t bother with the recycled stuff if you are still going to eat meat. Just don’t be all righteous about your recycled toilet paper while chowing down on a plate o’ ribs.

I know I have a lot of meat eater friends who read this blog. I hope I don’t offend them with this rant. Most of you don’t buy into the whole ‘look how green I am’ thing anyway. You all have brains.

Now I have to go make some non organic coffee in my department store bought french press and drink it from my commercially bought mug on my non-eco friendly couch while watching my giant, ungreen TV.

Woo! I got a new camera. This one to be exact. I had some fun… (click through to see full details)

Color select mode. I had fun with this, but Mr. Pithecus actually took this pic.

This is one of my favorite. It’s the croissants from lunch at the Pithecus-in-laws.

Some easter candies

Vegan “Cadbury” creme eggs (my sister-in-law calls ‘em Cadbury Veggs) made by me. I used Bryanna’s recipe (search for ‘creme’ to find it)

Pretty flower

The in-laws’ puppy dog (no bigger click through on this one)

And last but not least, a little collage made on Picnik of my favorite veggie, brussel sprouts!

I love my new camera!!!

I also just ordered this (click through to go to site):

Also, I will be working on re-vamping this site as soon as I figure out some stuff.  I’m totally not as web savvy as I used to be.

Last night I used Vegan Dad’s recipe for vegan “corned beef.” I’m not big into the steaming of seitan meats because I have texture issues with food, but I followed his instructions exactly.What resulted was a bit more rubbery than baking yet not as hurl inducing as boiled seitan. I just can’t eat seitan that has been boiled. The rubbery, blubbery blob that forms is enough to make me gag just thinking about it.

Anyway, instead of making the reuben sandwich on the linked page, I made corned beef hash. I cut it up unevenly, just some random chopping, to try and get the consistency of the real thing. Semi-recipe below:

1 recipe of Vegan Dad’s corned beef
2 russet potatoes
1 tbsp horseradish (though I think I would have liked more, all I had was 1 tbsp)
1 white onion, chopped
2 tbsp earth balance
seasoned salt, pepper to taste

1. chop potatoes into 1/2″ cubes and put into 10″ skillet. Cover with water and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 min. Less if you made the cubes smaller.

2. Drain potatoes and set aside. Wipe out skillet and put earth balance and onion in. Let cook at medium heat for 5-7 minutes.

3. While the onions are cooking, chop the corned beef into uneven, somewhat small pieces. You could also coarsely grate it and I think it would be fine. I actually only used about 3/4 of the recipe and left the rest to make a sandwich for Mr. Pithecus later.

4. When the onions are ready, add horseradish and distribute evenly.

5. Add potatoes and corned beef to skillet and mix. Then flatten in the pan and let cook until that yummy crustiness forms on the bottom. Then mix around and repeat for more yummy crustiness.

I served this with some mustard greens we got in our produce box this week.  I used this recipe. I did not like it. It wasn’t the recipe, Mr. Pithecus loved it. I just don’t really like mustard greens it seems. Way too bitter for me. I don’t like a lot of bitter. I will pick the baby arugula out of any salad (and really it looks like Sigmund the Sea Monster anyway) because it’s just too bitter.

No pictures because my camera is poopy and well, hash doesn’t look very good at all. It tasted awesome. Apparently, it was even better today, straight from the fridge.

I need to blog about a new vegan restaurant in Pasadena call My Vegan next. It’s yummy and happy and vegan vegan vegan!! AND THEY DELIVER!!!!

I don’t think I could let the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin pass without talking about it. After all, I am an upright ape.

So yay for the Theory of Evolution and yay for science!

I am glad that we got to see Lucy so close to Darwin Day. Kind of a nice little pairing, if I do say so. I find the entire thing amazing and utterly fascinating. I mean, who can’t look at chimpanzees/gorillas/bonobos and see similarities? Feel the connection? Sense the intelligence lurking in their minds? *sigh*

The universe is so incredible. We are so incredible. Earthlings, all of us, from the smallest single-celled organism to the biggest whale. The enormousness (is that even a word?) of it all overwhelms me and amazes me, comforts me and frightens me and makes me feel like a giant and so very small all at the same time.

Here is an added treat: Me as an australopithecus afarensis

Mr. Pithecus and I are getting on a flight headed for Seattle, WA this evening. We are going to see Lucy, an australopithecus afarensis.

There was great controversy when Ethiopia decided to let her tour the states. I am not sure I thought it was a good idea either. Her fossil is so fragile and such a treasure that it seemed risky. So risky, in fact, that The Smithsonian actually refused to host her because they were against her traveling.

Even though the outcry from the scientific community was quite loud, there were still places that were willing to take her in. She arrived in Houston, TX in August of 2007 where The Houston Museum of Natural Science let her hang out for a little over a year.

Then she traveled to Seattle, WA where she resides at The Pacific Science Center until March 8. She was then supposed to move on and enjoy a stint in Chicago, IL at The Field Museum.

Unfortunately, Seattle is losing money. They are way under the estimated attendance and are having to lay people off. Also, due to budgetary constraints, Chicago backed out.

So the next stop for Lucy may be back to her home in Ethiopia.

To me, seeing Lucy in person is a once in a lifetime chance. Something that my old physical anthropology teacher and I talked dreamily about. When I read about the possibility of Lucy coming to the states in 2006 or so, I told her about it and we talked of a road trip to visit her because we both knew it was a chance that may never again present itself.

So we are off to crazy cold Seattle and me without a winter jacket. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures at the vegan restaurants we visit while up there. I am looking forward to trying out Pan-Africa Cafe and a couple other places I have found through Happy Cow and  seattlevegan.com.

…in Southern California.

Last night looked like this here:

It hailed and it stuck around for a while on the ground. It’s supposed to get down to 40 degrees tonight and is currently just below 60 degrees. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m a big baby, but that’s freakin COLD for this area.

In other news, the coconut milk ice creams were yummy. Mr. Pithecus liked the coconut flavor one the best and I liked the chocolate peanut butter swirl. You can taste the coconut in the background, but it was fine because I think it went well.

Mr. Pithecus and I went to a Thai place with his dad on Tuesday. They are not a veg place, but they are very accommodating (just ask for no fish sauce or eggs in anything) . We had the yellow curry (the BEST yellow curry I have ever had), drunken noodles, fried rice and oh so yummy sticky rice with mango. Well, I dislike mango, but the coconut cream and sticky rice is SOOOO good.
Curry and fried rice (sorry we had already started in when I remembered to take pictures):

That’s the drunken noodles in the background - here they are in their own shot:

Yum-MAY!

Also finished knitting a little bunny for a little boy’s 1st birthday. Benny’s Bunny:

Fuzzy bunny butt:

I’ll be back later this week to post things from my sister-in-law’s engagement party. I forgot to bring my camera with me, but I took pictures of all the stuff I made.

So, I finally got around to trying acai juice. It smells like olives and tastes like… olivey chocolate blueberry. I tried to drink it with my nose blocked, to try and minimize the olive thing, but it’s in my head now so it will always taste olivey. It’s not horrible, but I probably won’t be drinking it again.

Let’s hope the Purely Decadent coconut milk ice creams I got to try are more on the positive side.

Mr. Pithecus is currently two time zones away for work stuff. I have a feeling I won’t be eating as well as when he is home. Though i do have a lot to make for my sister-in-law’s (vegan) engagement party. Mini quiches from FatFree Vegan Kitchen (though I may put crusts on them for presentation purposes), pineapple upside-down mini cake thingies and toasted coconut marshmallows (from the Angel Food mix).

I got some veggie tamales from Whole Foods for dinner and the oven is heated, but part of me would rather have the veggie baked beans with Smart Dogs cut into them. Talk about comfort junk food. Yep. Not gonna eat very well at all

Ok, I’m going yo heat up the tamales. I’ll do the beans tomorrow. Or not.

I have finally gotten around to trying the Meringue Cookie Mix from Angel Foods. I ordered it through VeganEssentials, an awesome site for vegan products.

The process was very simple. Some of packet a, some water, some of packet b, some ultrafine sugar. That’s it.

I added some vanilla and cocoa at the end of my mixing. All-in all they have the same melty in my mouth feeling meringues had. The batter was a little sticky and heavy, unlike regular meringues, but that could have been my doing. I only made one batch so I have more times to try.

As I get more and more frustrated with the ass lights in my kitchen and the eh-ness of my camera, I want to post less photos. I mean, how can a yellowed-out low light or washed out flash picture make anyone go, “Oh wow that looks DELISH!” So minimal pix on this one.

Set up (yes the sugar is regular sugar and probably not vegan, but it is in the house and I have to use it up. If you want your own vegan extra- or ultrafine sugar just take your regular vegan sugar and pulse it in a food processor or similar for a bit)

I didn’t mix the cocoa all the way in so it made some swirlies

And the nifty hollow inside thing that I loved so much about meringues

Next time I am going to give my old Meringue Surprise cookies. Basically folding chocolate chips into meringue with a bit of vinegar. The surprise is that from the outside, you can’t tell there are chocolate chips in there.

I also have the same company’s marshmallow mix. I will probably get tho that in the next week or so… Actually, my sister-in-law’s engagement party is the 17th so I will probably make some sort of coconut marshmallow thingy. It’s a hawaiian theme (he proposed there) and all vegan.