Downtown Date Night - Little Tokyo

Dan decided it was high time to surprise me with a trip downtown with a day packed with adventure and mystery. I had no idea what the plan was other than that it involved taking the metro downtown and that it would be all day, therefore involving food! Yum and fun!

We recently discovered the LA metro on an excursion to Angel City Brewery. We didn't want to drink and drive or pay exorbitant taxi costs and stumbled upon the well kempt, fast, and cost efficient metro! I never thought we would actually going downtown, but quickly discovered this to be an enjoyable adventure.

Anyway, back to date night. We hopped on the metro and ended up at Union Station. While that could have lead to a very different type of adventure, we walked away from the train station. I have a very apt sense of direction and quickly noticed we were headed in the direction of Angel City Brewery, but I decided to keep quite in hopes that we were indeed headed that way, and didn't want to ruin anything.

RECIPE: Amber Noël’s Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Jam is more versatile than you may think. Yes, it’s great for toast, but it’s also a delicious marinade, pie filling, ice cream topping, or even as a cocktail base. But that’s not the only way it’s versatile. The flavors you can create cross a wide spectrum as well: Spicy Plum, White Tea Nectarine, Blackberry Ginger. These are just some of the flavors I’ve come up with off the top of my head.

Most jams you see in stores are crap. No offense if you like them, but they are crap. The same basic, bland flavors just about everywhere you go, and believe me I’ve looked. But jam doesn’t have to be boring. Mixing some of your favorite fruits and spices, teas, anything you can think of (almost) is fun and rewarding.

DIY: Crochet A Pillowcase

So I recently decided it was time to change around my pillows in my home. After moving down to Los Angeles we got a new couch and with more of a retro style in our living room, we started to find that our old color scheme wasn’t working for us anymore. Plus, some of our pillows were starting to look a bit worn.

As you may know from my previous article The Only Five Items You Need In Your Home To Do Everything, I don’t like to buy new things unless I really need them. So, what’s a girl to do?

Simple. She crochets a new pillow.

A New Blog

Hi ya'll. This is a rather informal post.

I realized recently that it was getting crazy in here. Since I've been writing for Ladybud Magazine and the Leaf Online, I've been getting political which was not my original intent for this blog. In fact, I didn't want this blog to be political at all, but here we are. Politics taking over AGAIN. le sigh.

I thought about it and decided this was not what I wanted to happen here. Some of you might not enjoy seeing me blabbing on and on about what's wrong in the world and then post pretty pictures of some adventure we went on. It just doesn't seem logical.

Therefore, *drumroll* I started a new blog for just my political posts. This one will go back to just pictures and local events, etc. Nice, happy things... haha.

Here it is: Views of a Progressive Vegan

In the new blog I will be discussing political issues and current events. I also plan to do more biographies like the one I did on Che Guevara to hopefully expand people's knowledge of important historical figures, foundations, movements, etc. What can I say? I'm a historian!!

Anyway, thanks for all the support! Love you all and I hope you keep reading!

Joshua Tree

Before the government shutdown (luckily) we went to Joshua Tree for the first time. We went with another couple, Dorian an Elizabeth, and their adorable dog, Rocco. It was a great trip and easy planning. She is a vegan and he's vegetarian, so it was fun to come up with food ideas instead of frustrating. Yay for vegans!

More Revelations From Edward Snowden

PHOTO: Mad Magazine

Almost four months ago, I wrote an article explaining why it was important to understand who Edward Snowden was and what he had done. At the time, I thought his exposure of NSA secrets would fade in the minds of the general public, much like Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, has seemed to do.

While Glenn Greenwald and the Guardian continue to expose more and more astounding disregard for the 1st and 4th Amendment, I thought it was only right to expand on my earlier article and include the new revelations that have since been revealed.

When Snowden’s name first popped up in the news, there was much speculation about whether what he was saying was true, and if so, if it was deemed acceptable by the American public or a gross violation of our basic rights as Americans.

The State of Our Union; A Belated Rant

So.. a while ago, I was angry. Very angry at what I was seeing going on in our country. Granted, I am often angry about what goes on in this country, and outside of this country because of us, but I was especially angry on this day. It just so happened a lot of things were going crazy and I felt a bit overwhelmed, so I decided to rant.

I was tempted not to post this, because I don't want to offend people, but then I thought about it and said to myself, "Hey! You are who you are. If you have an opinion, share it. If people don't like it, they don't have to listen." So there. My internal logic wins again. Therefore I have decided to post my angry ramblings anyway.

I wrote this on April 18th, so although most of my unsure questionable thoughts have pretty much been answered at this point, this were my thoughts at the time.

Vasquez Rocks

One of the things on my Los Angeles Resident to-do list was going to Vasquez Rocks Park, so when a friend asked us to join her and some of her friends I said yes without hesitation, dispute the fact that I was still having serious back issues. Luckily, it was getting better by now so Dan didn't override my invitation acceptance.

You may not know what Vasquez Rocks is just by hearing the name, but it is a Trekkie heritage site. It has had multiple appearances throughout the many, many years of Star Trek (including the planet Vulcan in that crap they call "new" Star Trek), but it is perhaps the most well known for the fight between Kirk and the Gorn.

If you watch even just the first minute or so, you can see that I'm standing right about where they are fighting, the only thing missing is the dead tree.