I want to go to there

butterflies are taking over my garden.

Happy Birthday Daddy <3

(Tal Ronnen’s Coffee Date Cake with Coconut Irish Cream Sauce)

So this is my first vegan food blog and I’m super excited to share my recipes with you all! I’ve been experimenting with vegan baking for awhile now, and let me tell you, there have been a lot of misses. So I was reallllly excited when these cookies finally worked out for me! I adapted this recipe from one of those Whole Foods recipe cards they hand out in the store. No animal products or sugar, whole grain, and delicious…enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Ingredients

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup almonds

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

Organic fruit preserves (I like strawberry)

Steps:

1. Put the walnuts, almonds and oats in a food processor and grind until it resembles a thick flour (no big pieces).

2. Pour the oat mixture into a bowl and add the wheat flour, flax seed, salt and baking powder. Mix.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the agave, maple syrup, oil, molasses and extracts.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (as always) and combine.

5. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and set on a nonstick baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

6. Make a “thumbprint” in each cookie and fill with approximately 1 teaspoon of fruit preserve.

7. Bake for 12-15 min, until the edges are golden- make sure you check the bottom because they brown really quickly.

Remember kids, you don’t need to use animal products to bake yummy desserts <3

…and the hardest part will be leaving the most amazing kids i’ve ever met. 

Me: I love you Dipendra

Dipendra: You’re welcome [shuts door]

More pictures/stories to come.

Mumbai post from Nepal (the kiddos are in school right now). Better late than never, right?

I think the last time I updated, I had just seen my grandma and we were planning to go to the Gateway of India and Elephant Caves. The majority of these pictures are Krithi’s because my camera died. Worst timing ever. 

We drove to the Gateway of India and took an hour long boat ride to get to the caves. 

.

Chinna Thatha (grandpa’s little brother) and me on the boat

Walking up the steps to the caves.

Entrance to Elephanta Caves!

The AMAZING caves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephanta_Caves

Me, Chinna Thatha and Raja

Krithika

Gateway of India and the Taj Palace Hotel on the way back from the island.

Taj Palace Hotel

The Gateway of India! (Photo courtesy of Raja)

I have a million more pictures, but this post literally took 3 hours to upload. I think I’ll stick to one picture per day :). Love from Nepal!

So i’ve been trying over and over again to upload pictures and it’s just not happening. We’ve been travelling nonstop in India and we leave for Nepal on Tuesday! Hopefully I can get some pictures up by tomorrow. So far in India, we’ve been to Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Fatepur Sikri, Mathura, Kullu and Manali. Most importantly, we saw the Taj Mahal! It’s been an amazing experience and i’m sad to say goodbye to such a beautiful country. I’ll try again tomorrow :)

Im finally in India after the almost 20 hour fllight. I was seated next to the weirdest people, but I made it so it’s all good (stories later). The second I stepped off the plane, the heat and humidity hit me, but Mumbai is nothing compared to Delhi, so i told myself to suck it up and be a man. Also, I had forgotten how crazy the drivers are. Driving here is an art. You have people, autos, cars, buses, cows and rickshaws crossing the road through red lights and on the wrong side of the road. It’s awesome. We didn’t do much today, but I got to see my grandma after 5 years, which was great. Tomorrow is the Gateway of India and Elephanta Caves :).

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

• When: May 1st, 2010 - June 12th, 2010
• Where: India-Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Mathura, Kulu, Manali, Dharamshala, Mcleod Ganj, Amritsar. Nepal-Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lumbini…
• Who: Me, Krithi & Raja
• Why: Travel through India and volunteer in Nepal. Voluntourism.

I promise to update this blog as often as possible while we’re over there :)