Veggin' out!

Can I just say that I looooove getting payed? In fact, as soon as I got payed last week, I high- tailed it over to Kramer's Health Food store to partake in some tasty vegetarian delights.

A short list of the things I consumed:

A "BLT" with soy - based bacon, packed with thick slices of veggies and fresh sprouts. Like I died and went to veggie bacon heaven!

Peanut butter cookie from the Alternative Baking Company (vegan). I only do these once in a while because they're so rich and dense but gooood for those mid - day sugar highs.

I used to hate Kombucha but it has undoubtedly grown on me. Good for flushing the system but tastes like you're getting punched in the mouth.

Btw, I've got a lovely recipe for a barley salad if any of you out there are interested!

Eat vegetables and listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!

Mucca Pazza and weekend mayhem

This past Saturday I had the privilege of watching Mucca Pazza perform at Martyr's.
For those of you who don't know who they are, Mucca Pazza is a 30 piece circus punk marching band based out of Chicago, Illinois. They are always a blast to watch! Saturday was my second time. There isn't much actual marching going on except for when they are coming out on to the stage. They disperse through the crowd, playing their instruments and interacting with the audience. I turned around to find myself face to face with Mark Messing, blowing the sousaphone and smiling at me!

Mark Messing, the creator and head conductor of Mucca Pazza.

I probably shouldn't have flashed in this dude's face.

Half of the members playing away!

Mostly they do semi- synchronized movements and interact with each other. They even have a group of cheerleaders that do routines with frightening amounts of energy. After a powerhouse set of songs, the band somehow managed to do an encore of four additional songs!! My favorite moment was when the "junior conductor" came to the front of the stage and directed the audience and the band in an original piece.

The junior conductor doing his thing which was in my opinion, the highlight of the show.

The Mucca Pazza cheerleaders in the midst of their "Hand Signals" routine. I recognize some of them from various Redmoon events.

The reaaallly intense fiddle player. Doesn't he look like he's about to battle Darth Vader?

I danced the entire time! My cotton dress was clingy and sweaty when all was said and done. I was right in the front and even though my ears were ringing by the end of it, I didn't care. My knees hurt a little from all the jumping up and down but surprisingly my voice was not hoarse, despite all the screaming and yelling.

Go see them when they come to your home town and tell me how much you love them!

Aside from them, my weekend has been peachy! I went to an art opening Friday night and danced awkwardly to some reggae music and today I had my first couple Etsy sales (yay!) followed by a nice Easter potluck at a friend's place. Now back to school tomorrow to try to diminish the huge workload that I keep putting off. Yay me.

A small portion of Easter dinner. And yes, that is a chocolate cake with strawberries on it. In case you're wondering, it was dense and amazing.

Happy Easter!

All is love.

It's days like this that make me wish it was raining instead of snowing and that I had a vintagey apartment to cozy up in with a locked door. Wouldn't you want to curl up in this apartment?? Bad floral pattern and all. I listen to Aikea Guinea almost non stop.



Anyway, I had a great weekend celebrating my dear friend's birthday and it was filled with vegan food and loooovvvvveee and nearly nude female performers with pasties over their breasts.

Varietease Cabaret is located at the Lake shore Theater which is kind of an old shit hole with an awful opening band (think middle aged men playing hair metal) but the actual cabaret show was phenomenal! One woman stripped out of her undies while hula hooping with various parts of her body! I cheered and clapped and tried to hide my red face!

We also made our way to Soul Vegetarian which is a soul food/home cooking vegetarian/vegan restaurant out by 79th street. Everyone was stuffed and sleepy by the end of our meal. I ate a metric ton of kale greens and heavenly vegan mac and cheese!

On Sundays everyone is served the same meal, which is pretty much the above picture save for the BBQ tofu and the glazed carrots. Instead there was Seitan roast with gravy, glazed sweet potatoes and cornbread stuffing. Dinner was followed by the most lovely Apple pie. Stop by there and experience it for yourself!! We all walked back to the train very slowly....

All is love.