Baking and Beaches…

There is nothing cuter than miniature foods. I mean really. Miniature cookies, miniature burgers, miniature cupcakes. I’m not sure if I love them because they’re so darn small and adorable, or if it’s because they make me feel like a giant and I get to devour them in just one bite. Either way, I’m pretty sure that foods taste better in smaller sizes. Actually I’m going to make a sweeping declaration here and say that they do. For sure. It’s science.

And with that, I bring you more mini-cupcakes.

yummm

These cupcakes were crazy delish. I’ve made them before just never in mini-form. Anyway, they were very moist, very vanilla-y, very fluffy and the entire cupcake tasted incredibly buttery. Not sure how that works, as these are vegan. But I won’t argue with the masses. I took these to work for the very sweet, very pregnant English bird going on maternity leave and after eating one, or two, or three each, we shared them with the rest of the office. I left for a couple minutes and when I returned they were gone. 🙂

Without further ado, I will share with you the recipe that I only slightly tweaked from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. Possibly the best cupcake book ever created, vegan or not.

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 c. oat milk

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 c. flour

2 tbsp. arrow-root powder

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. margarine

3/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan.

Whisk the oat milk and vinegar together and set aside.

Sift the flour, arrow-root powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Cream the margarine and sugar for two minutes until it is light and fluffy, then beat in the vanilla. Add the soy milk mixture.

Beat the dry mixture into the wet. Fill the muffin cups up 2/3rds of the way and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Eat many.

In other news, this past weekend was jam packed with hot summer-y days and incredible beach-y afternoons. I narrowly escaped a Steve Irwin-like death, thanks to my keen eyed Canadian friend who spotted a sting ray as I was galloping into the water. No big deal.

So what if Sean laughed at us upon hearing our tale of near death, so what if that sting ray wasn’t large enough or fierce enough to take my life, SO WHAT if Sean’s stepped on sting rays before with no harmful effects… I still think we’re smart for avoiding the shallow waters.

beachin'

We followed Sean on a small hike up some rocks to find the perfect place for an afternoon swim. After much consideration and debate we climbed down the rocks and into the jelly-fish infested waters. Apparently the see through ones don’t sting you. I’m learning so much… and slowly getting over my fears of deep sea creatures. Although, that seaweed the brushes past my legs freaks me out EVERY TIME. idiot.

After fully submerging ourselves in the clear blue waters, Sean casually pointed out which jellyfish that would sting us, if given the opportunity, and so as Samantha clambered for the rocks… I peed my swimmers, only slightly.

🙂

I kid. We were totally cool. Because of course we know that those jellys only move with the wind, so if we kept tabs on the wind direction and stayed aware… we’d be fine. Never mind that their tentacles range from 15 cm to 10 meters. pft… That doesn’t scare me. At all.

Oh my god. It terrifies me. But I have to admit, you can’t say no to the ocean. It’s nearly impossible, even if it’s salty waters sneak into my nose and ears. There is nothing like swimming out in that warm water. It was incredibly comfortable… nothing like swimming in those crisp Canadian lakes. (which I still love and miss.)

We paddled around for quite a while and after gracefully climbing back up the rocks like the mermaids and mermen that we are, we dried off and cracked into the beer and chocolate. All class.

summer beer

It was so lovely and relaxing that I completely forgot it was Sunday.

xxx

party boy!

Coastal jog, ocean swim, all day breakfast.

For the past couple weeks I’ve been working in an office from Monday-Friday. A regular nine to fiver, I am. And Sundays are mostly lounging and dreading Mondays, so in my mind, this leaves only one day a week for doing whatever I please.

Today was one of those Saturdays. I had a hankering for a run, swim and brekkie. A day-off tradition.

pre-run coffee and lounging...

Sean suggested a run that we’ve done parts of before, but it was beautiful and challenging none-the-less. Bondi to Coogee. A coastal walk that takes you past 5 beaches, each with their own strip of cafes, crashing waves and die-hard surfers. We’ve never made it the full way from Bondi to Coogee. Sean informed me that it was a quick 45 minute run. I questioned it, only because his 45 minutes and my 45 minutes are at quite different paces. However, I’m trying to up my game for the City to Surf 14km run in August. So Bondi to Coogee it was.

It took us just under an hour… but I was puffffffffed for most of it. There are a lot of stairs and a lot of up and downs. However, it’s easy to get distracted by the beautiful views. That combined with the fact that there are a billion other runners that you can focus on beating kept things interesting. haha. When we were finished I was left wandering how long it actually was. Well, I’ve just googled it and found that Bondi to Coogee is a 6km walk. We did it, and then we returned. I’m going to go ahead and say we ran 10-11km since we didn’t run the full length of either beach. But still. That’s damn good considering I haven’t run longer then 5kms in about 6 months. booooo-yah City to Surf.

We started in Bronte, ran to Coogee back all the way to Bondi and then back to Bronte. I was on my final sprint to the Beach and ready to kick off my shoes in a fit of joy to jump into the ocean when Sean hailed me down, informing me that we should use the ocean pools. Apparently, it was dangerous surf.

Off to the side, near the cliffs, there was a gorgeous little ocean-water pool. We dove in, as the waves crashed up over the side. It was all the fun of the ocean without the scary undertow and mysterious sea-creatures.

sooo cool...

After a quick dip, I sprinted back to the car and attempted to change strategically under a towel into dryer clothes.

Sean had researched some delightful little cafes and we decided on a hidden gem in Paddington called …at Perry lane. It was, coincidentally, on Perry Lane. Tucked away, almost impossible to find. I thought it would be packed on a Saturday morning, but since it was so strategically placed, we had no trouble securing a table immediately. They also serve All Day Breakfast. The three sweetest words in the english language.

We started with some hot tea, since it was partially outside and the weather here is getting quite cool. Again, not being able to decide on only one dish each, we ordered three.

...a delightful menu...

Toast, avocado, and roast tomato for the lady, a breakfast burrito for the gentleman and maple granola (they ran out) fruit toast with honey and almonds to share. Obviously.

I'm pretty sure people think we're food critics...

delishhh

The food came pretty quick and I gobbled it down twice as fast. At the time, I couldn’t quite figure out why I was so damn hungry… but after finding out the legth of that run, its started to make more sense.

he's sooooooooooo hun-gree

That fruit toast was pretty good, but it was the atmosphere and delicious coffee that did it for me. I would definitely go back here for a long lesiurely lunch. It didn’t break the bank either, which was a nice change.

Back home, Sean took a doze on the couch while I whipped up a batch of granola that had been missing from breakfast. We watched ridiculous TV and snacked on warm granola until the sun went down.

xxx