Filed under: Food, Vegan, pictures | Tags: Bake Me Up! LA, pictures, pups, Vegan
The last Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale here in LA was one hell of a party. The weather: hot. The people: lovable goobers. The baked goods: amazing.
The day started off with a customer buying ten raspberry filled chocolate squares before the bake sale even started (we were still in the midst of setting up). By 11:00 AM our three tables were filled with dog biscuits, gluten-free brownies, cheesecake bites, peanut butter cinnamon rolls, lemon rosemary cupcakes, garlic flat breads, cheesy quackers, and the list can go on and on. The smell of the sweet and savory was overwhelming and making customers drool.
Having the time to talk to Celine and Joni (who drove from Bakersfield and the OC) was one of the highlights of my day. They’re incredibly funny, sweet, and beautiful people. I couldn’t thank them enough for not only baking so many goodies, but for driving all the way out to LA. They even stood out in the scorching heat waving signs to get people to come to the bake sale, screaming “Wooooooo! Bake Sale!”(thank you Natalie for that stellar chant).
Unlike last week, we could only stay out in the sun for a max of five seconds without sweating. It was 100 degrees in LA! I could only imagine what the cookies were feeling. Thankfully we were under a ledge, where there was an occasional breeze and constant shade.
Meet Violet, Wanna Be A Vegan’s beautiful pup
Thank you to Rachel, Celine, Joni, Ashley, Natalie & Michael, Jennifer, Brittany, Huggerfood, Kim (C’est La Vegan), Ghalia Organics, Vegan Plate, and Shojin for all your hard work and for donating your time to make this bake sale possible. Also a thank you to those who couldn’t make it, but tried: Daniel, Allison, and Liz. A HUGE thank you to Locali for hosting us (again!). They’ve been so kind and generous, I can’t imagine having the bake sale anywhere else this year. AND thank you to everyone that came and bought something! Pat yourselves on the back for showing your support to Earthlings, Animal Acres, and Little Big Dog Rescue. From the quick money count we did at the end of the day (I’ll be doing an official tally on Thursday), we made over $1, 800 in total for both days!
I’m looking forward to the next Bake Me Up! LA bake sale (which will be happening next year. I’m not sure where or when, but I will keep you posted) and I hope to see you there.
There might be occasional (vegan) bake sales through out LA (that will not be a part of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale), but I’m still working on it. Just a hint…maybe you should keep October or November open…a holiday bake sale? Hmm….
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
Filed under: Food, Vegan, pictures | Tags: Bake Me Up! LA, Food, pictures, Vegan
I never thought the day would come, but Bake Me Up! LA’s first bake sale was a success! The day before the event I was scrambling about getting last minute things together and baking at the same time. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the kitchen baking anything because I’ve been so busy with art stuff…and I must say I never felt happier to back “home”. I baked ten dozen Peanut butter & jelly thumbprint cookies and miraculously I didn’t burn any of them due to my lack of concentration on keeping track of time (woot!).
I went to bed around 2:30 AM, setting my alarm for 4:30 AM so I can do some more organizing, preparation, and be ready for when my (new, awesome & fellow Green Day geek) friend, Rachel, to come over at 8:30 to help set up. I did wake up with the alarm, but I fell back to sleep (of course) and my mum comes in to wake me up at 7:40. Yes. Panic time. It was pretty funny to watch me running around the house screaming “I’m late! I’m late!” (it wasn’t funny for me, at the time). We weren’t late (thankfully). When we arrived at Locali they had reserved 2 parking stalls for us with signs saying “Reserved for Special Event.” Fellow bakers started rolling by to drop off their goods/staying to help out including Brittany, Jenn, Ashley, Lin, and Kim. We kicked it off at 11:00 am and I got to meet so many twitter-ers (including Natalie and Daniel), PPKers, and other fab vegan-ers. Carolyn and Melisser also stopped by, always great to see them. There was everything from whoopie pies (made by Brittany) to gluten-free blueberry muffins (made by Ashley). It went so fast, we started cleaning up at 4:00 pm, an hour earlier than scheduled.
Natalie & Rachel holding signs on the street.
Me at the bake sale (taken by Terri)
All done!
A huge thank you to Locali for hosting us and bringing us samples to munch on while working.
I cannot wait for this Sunday’s second bake sale. Not only will there be there twice the bakers, but triple the baked goods! I have to bring another table in order to fit everything! This weekend you can meet Celine, Joni, Huggerfood,and Jennifer. Also Shojin & Ghalia Organic Desserts will be donating items. Hope to see you there with an empty belly.
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
Don’t forget if you’re in the LA area, stop by Locali on Sunday, June 21 & June 28. Get your old man something sweet and healthy (kind of…) for his belly. Come meet bloggers, hipsters, and other cool LA kids. And show your support for Earthlings, Animal Acres, and Little Big Dog Rescue.
Expect to see brownies, cookies, cakes, cheese cake, muffins, scones, breads, cinnamon rolls, gluten free, and raw items. And yes, they’re all vegan (!).
We’ll be holding it next door outside the dry cleaners because they’re closed on Sundays (score!).
I’ll post pictures up after day one and even more after day two. Eep! Can’t wait and I hope to see you there!
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
PS Check out these sites/posts for additional updates on Bake Me Up! LA : http://bit.ly/scTbc http://bit.ly/8176i http://bit.ly/8P97z http://bit.ly/6N14S http://bit.ly/ehi7k http://bit.ly/RGuXm
Oh yeah, and we’re on Craiglist: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/eve/1217349453.html
Bake Me Up! LA ‘09, originally uploaded by J. Afsoon A..
I designed this for the Bake Me Up! LA bake sale that’s happening here in LA at Locali on June 21 & June 28 which is part of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. How exciting! Come by and say heya. Buy some goodies and support Earthlings, Animal Acres, and Little Big Dog Rescue. There’s going to be some baked goods donated by local vegan restaurants, does Shojin sound familiar? Ha 
Also some kick ass bloggers will be there that you know and love, how about Celine from havecakewilltravel.com? Gah! I’m so stoked for this bake sale! All this hard work will be totally worth it.
And a little shout out to my peeps who helped me so much along the way:
Celine-I have no idea what I would have done without you! All those mental days I thought I was gonna lose it, you helped me come back down to earth. And thank you for dealing with my crap. xo. <edit-I can’t believe you didn’t tell me I wrote “with you” I have to wake the next day and feel like poo reading that. Ugh! Hope you weren’t offended!>
Ashley-I wuv you! You’re like my baby sister. I haven’t even met you face to face yet, but I feel like we’re going to be friends for a long time. And thanks for updating the blog with the latest info. You take care of yourself, girl. All my worries are because of you. Ha, JK.
Daniel-DUUUUDE. You helped out this bake sale crawl out of the covers. All the tech-y stuff has been possible because of you. Thank you <3.
Melisser-All that valuable info and suggestions put us in the right place. Thanks, love.
Jennifer-All your encouragement has helped me continue working on this bake sale and makes it seem worth it. I lovezzz you!
Joann-You’re just awesome. And you know it. Go bask in that.
Jenni-Thanks for the last minute editing! Saved my butt, you did. And thanks for listening to me rambling for hours about my sob stories.
And I would like to thank the Academy and my family and those sleepless nights.
If I forgot to mention you it’s because you’re not cool. Hehe. Forgive my brain fog, it doesn’t do me any justice. But you know you’re still awesome in my book.
Here comes BAKE ME UP! LA in your face! Are you ready to wear elastic wasted pants? Get prepared to get sugarfied.
Filed under: Art, Food, Vegan, class, pictures | Tags: Art, Art Progress, Bake Me Up! LA, Food, pictures, Vegan
Hiya! These past few weeks went by so fast, I don’t even know how I’m sitting here right now writing this post.
I updated the About Me page. I’m available for commissions now! Yay! So if you would like me to draw/paint/design/bake for you, just email me.
Mid-May I went thrift shopping and found nothing, but a hat. Boooo. But that’s ok, it saves me some money so I can buy more over priced art supplies. When I came back from my unsuccessful day of shopping, I stopped by at the Copper Chimney. The place was nice, but empty. It was a bit too quite…like a horror movie. On their menu, they had a nice selection of vegan dishes. I ordered the plate that had tofu with tomatos and spices. I expected something a lot more flavorful and the tofu to be used in some unique way, but instead I was served sauteed tomatoes with cubes of tofu thrown into it. I give them props for the presentation. It was lovely. The taste: a bit bland. My dad ordered the yellow dal, I liked his a lot better, although it was watery. The Copper Chimney will not be part of the top places I would go. But it is worth going there once just to try.
I met up with my friend that I haven’t seen for nearly two years. What better way to catch up with each other’s lives than eating at Pure Luck and Scoops? I ordered the Pure Luck Spring Rolls and my friend got the Carnitas Burrito. The spring rolls were light, which is the way I like it (I’m not a big food eater…but when it comes to sweets, watch out!).
Scoops’ flavors that day were Salty Chocolate (bleh! I did not like that at all! Way too salty, the name says it all), Oreo Banana (it was meh), Maple Coffee, and Raspberry (the last two are what I ordered. I give them 4.5/5 stars. Nom!). We spent the rest of the day shopping on Melrose (which had NOTHING, every “vintage” store was totally over priced and had the same things on display). It was so nice to spend time with each other, eventually we had to go our seperate ways. Hopefully the next time I see her won’t be so long of a break.
Speaking of ice cream, I’ve been buying so many pints! The weather is so weird here in SoCal, one day it’s hot and the next it’s raining. Seems as though the weather god is a woman. Here are just a few flavors/brands and my ratings on them.
Good Karma’s Organic Rice Divine: Carrot Cake.
I think I stood in Whole Foods’ ice cream section for 20 minutes trying to figure out what the hell I wanted. I was craving something new and random. My eyes fell upon the Carrot Cake and I had to get it. When I opened it (after I paid for it, silly) I was blinded by the neon orange color. Minus points for that, it just screamed “yellow #5, red lake #1.” After getting over the orange hue, I dug in. I was pleased to find actual chunks of carrot cake in it. There wasn’t too much flavor and it had a strange after taste. I also got a belly ache that night. Darn. I was looking forward to some good cakey ice cream. Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Next up, Soy Delicious’ Fruit Sweetened: Chocolate Peanut Butter. I wasn’t feeling so happy this day and I needed a pick-me-up ice cream (if you don’t know me that well, you have to know that I L-O-V-E peanut butter). I was intrigued that it was sweeted by fruit (basically fruit juice concentrate). It was OK. I wanted more peanut butter flavor. Nothing really stood out in this one. Rating: 3/5 stars
I was driving around looking for sponsors for our bake sale (Bake Me Up!) and one of the places I stopped at was Follow Your Heart. After getting the information that I needed, I immediately went straight to the ice cream section. I was in a hurry, so I just grabbed whatever that was in front of me. Turned out I got Whole Soy & Co: Chocolate Hazelnut. They’re one of my favorite soy brands as far yogurts, which are very creamy and don’t have a funny aftertaste. I’ve never tried their ice creams before and I’m glad I did. It was smooth and not too rich. The chocolate masked too much of the hazelnut flavor, which was a bummer, but in all it was pretty good! Rating: 3.99/5 stars
I’ve always been a huge fan of this brand and this flavor beckoned me to buy it, Purely Decadent: Pomegranate Chip. I admit, I’m a pomegranate girl. I always have to try anything that’s flavored pomegranate. Maybe it’s because I grew up with the fruit trees in my backyard. They’re starting to do their fruiting now (so stoked)! The plus side about this ice cream is the huge chunks of chocolate. Major nom! Down side, it didn’t taste like pomegranate. It was more like cherry. Booo. The texture was nice though. Rating: 3.92/5 stars
I set up a last minute mini-lunch meeting with Carolyn, The Healthy Voyager, to talk about the bake sale. She’s so sweet, incredibly funny, and full of valuable information. She got herself a veggie wrap, while I bought ice cream (hehe). Purely Decadent made with Coconut Milk: Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl. Well, you know why I got this flavor, I just never had it made with coconut milk. The coconut flavor definitely makes an appearance, but so does everything else. There’s huge pieces of chocolate and peanut butter in every other spoonful. Heaven in my mouth. My confession: I ate so much of it (Carolyn barely ate any!) that I made myself sick, but it was worth it! Rating: 4.8/5 stars
These days I’m so busy that I forget to eat lunch, so my mum has been buying me Luna bars to keep me going. One day she came home with these:
Hello?! My new favorite flavor!!! It is a bit too sweet, but you wash it down with water and you’re good to go.
Art classes have been keeping me on my toes. But I’ve been enjoying working on a lot of personal projects instead of assigned ones. I’ve been taking my work everywhere I go, but it’s hard for me to find a quiet space. I do listen to music while I work and most people would say that it’s not mellow. I guess I just can’t handle loud talking (?). I post up my progress on Twitpic (if you’re following me on Twitter and if you stay up late, you’ve probably seen me bitch while I work. Woo! Good times!).
In my uncle’s office/room. He’s an artist too. Amazing watercolorist, though he uses white guache (I don’t, unless I have to cover a mistake you’re not supposed to know that).
My best friend’s 21st Birthday is coming up (June 9)! She’s 8 days older than me, although she acts like my mother. She’s a down-to-earth kinda girl and she’s so damn patient. Anyone who can put up with me that long (7 years!), deserves the best. I love you, Va! Happy Birthday!!! I hope you get everything you wish for, even though you won’t tell me!
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
Filed under: Art, Food, Vegan, class, pictures | Tags: Art, Bake Me Up! LA, class, Food, pictures, Vegan
Hullo. Where have I been, you ask? Well, I’m not so sure myself.
I’ve been so busy! If you don’t know already, I’ve been incredibly involved with the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale happening here in Los Angeles, CA. Check out our website: bakemeupla.blogspot.com, Twitter page: twitter.com/bakemeup, and please make a donation at our Tip Joy page: tipjoy.com/u/BakeMeUpLA/
We’re going to be raising money for Earthlings and Animal Acres. For more info of when and where we’re holding it, keep checking the website and our Twitter page.
So what else have I been doing?
I made paper (I know you’re jealous)
Ate at Follow Your Heart with Melisser, Kristen, Alex, and friends. I had the Reuben. (I know I’m going to piss some people off…) I wasn’t a huge fan. It just didn’t click with me. I don’t know if it was the amount of mustard they put or the dry seitan or how everything spilled out when I took my first bite. No more Reuben for me. I bought some funky ice cream there too, but I couldn’t resist it since it had peanuts in it (nom!). It was made with quinoa, which made it have a grainy after taste. Wasn’t the best ice cream I had, I can tell you that much.
And there was World Fest…One word: HOT! I never sweat so much in my life (that’s a lie, but don’t need to talk about that particular event). I was so thankful I bumped into my girl, Jen and her friend. Lots of people, lots of booths, and only one sold ice cream. Maggie Mudd, I love you. You saved our butts from melting. In all, it was good (other than the parking…grrr…) and fun. I met some great people and possible sponsors for our bake sale (!).
I didn’t understand his shirt. Maybe you can explain (?)
The hero of the day
I went to a car show! It was so fun to see all the old vintage cars (*swoon*). Again it was HOT. I became so dark! Sunscreen isn’t helping! Anywho, the show had some beautiful machines there. If a vegan boy picked me up in one of those…yeah. Where was I? hehe.
I’ll be over my head with setting up the bake sale, but I’ll try my best to be a better blogger. Hope you’re all doing swell.
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
Sunday, April 26, 2009, was the first annual Veggie Pride Parade in LA! (If it wasn’t for Melisser, I wouldn’t have remembered [my mind has been so focused in getting my portfolio ready, I've been so absent from everything else]) The event began at 11:00 AM, where everyone could enjoy some live music, eat freshly cooked vegan meals, buy veggie apparel/accessories/books, get info on the inhumane treatment of animals, and just chill amongst other awesome veggie people in the nice cool weather. There were those who dressed in costume, which added a fun spark when scanning the crowd. While roaming around I bumped into Hugger Food, Leo Flowers, Melisser & Strummer, Kim (she had a booth for selling her baked treats. I’m a HUGE fan of her peanut butter cookies), and Jennifer (whom I finally got to meet! She is incredibly sweet with a good taste in music).
The march then started at 12:00 PM. People honked their horns when passing by and the crowd chanted and sang , informing the world the right way of being green. We walked from Washington Blvd (in Culver City) to Venice and back again. (sorry about the video being so crappy. My camera’s uber old, but at least you can make out what’s going on) Along the way, we spoke to cool people and befriended many (although this one lady bitched me because I put a Happy Cow sticker on an electrical booth. She called it “Vandalizing property and giving vegans a bad reputation.” Eh. Whatever. I’m not going to get on my soap box). Towards the end of the march Jen and I ended up carrying a banner that said “Stick up for chickens! Go vegan!” I absolutely enjoyed it. I loved the people, the support, and the friendly atmosphere. It could have been a lot more organized, but it’s the first time that it’s been done here in LA. I have a feeling that next year is going to be a whole lot better. It was great to see familiar faces again and I’m looking forward to seeing you guys sometime soon!
Hands down the best costume at the parade. This guy deserved an award. A walking cube of tofu, you can’t beat that.
I bought things here and there, eventually I went broke. I wanted to get a magnet (the one pictured below), but ended up not having enough money for the tax (damn raised taxes–9.25%!). This woman standing next to me said that she would cover the rest of the cost and I just couldn’t let her do that, but she kept insisting and forced the money in my hand. So, because of her, I now own this magnet in my room. I couldn’t stop thanking her, I wanted to cry tears of joy because of her kindness. You, lady, are freakn FABULOUS! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I believe in Karma and she will definitely get something amazing out of life.
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
While everyone else was on spring break, I still had class at Art Center which involved 80 master/anatomy drawings and a final due on Wednesday. So I didn’t get to relax until thursday.
I went out with my Sweedish friend to Flore. It had a very home-y atmosphere and nice weather, plus fab service (the guy kept refilling my friend’s coffee every time she took a sip!). I had scrambled tofu (although…I think, Follow Your Heart’s is a lot better) and my buddy had a TuNo melt sandy-widge. Both were yum! Although I’m not a fan of tempeh, that wasn’t a bad TuNo melt. Speaking of sandy-widges…I have yet to try the Reuben at FYH! Check out To Eat and Live in LA’s review, sounds pret-ty darn good!
I also ordered a chocolate cupcake (because I have a MAJOR sweet tooth). That was incredibly rich and smooth. The cake just melts in your mouth while the frosting lathers your taste buds with sugary goodness. I will come back for the cupcakes!
Then we chilled at her place for a bit and I met all her incredibly adorable adopted doggies and fat (but beautiful) cat.
After, we went walking around Silverlake–looking at antique/vintage shops, until it was time for us to go our seperate ways (she had to go feed some frogs, don’t ask).
On friday, I hung out with my (recently turned vegan and Earthlings activist) cousin. We went out to M Cafe in Culver City. Very clean, but I wasn’t a fan of some of the people who were eating inside (gave me the head-to-toe look, well you know what? Go stick it up your ass). All the sweets looked sooooo good (I didn’t buy one due to the fact that my pants weren’t fitting like they used to. Hee-hee. But I’m good now, keep the sweets coming, baby!)!
I got an interesting quinoa salad with beets and a bean salad. Both of them were scrumptious. I’d absolutely come back for those dishes again (and the cute guy that works there).
Later, after walking around the stores and little shops, we went back to his place and made some dinner. I was his “sioux chef,” so that was fun. We made spaghetti with a tempeh (I know! Tempeh two days in a row, but I couldn’t even taste it!) tomato mushroom sauce, a cabbage salad, and had So Delicious chocolate peanut butter ice cream (I thought it was going to have a more peanut butter taste, which it didn’t and was greatly disappointed by) for dessert.
Next weekend is Veggie Pride LA! So I’ll keep you posted on that when it rolls around.
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
Filed under: Art, class, pictures | Tags: Art, Art Progress, class, pictures, Update
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
I was walking and I saw all these dark things on the cement. Some were moving just barely the rest looked wither squished or dead. I looked closely and they were bees! A whole bunch of them…It was really odd. I guessed that someone sprayed them or something. So sad. People eat their honey and kill them too.
I went to Whole Foods in Glendale and found lots of new stuff! 
Images ™ J. Afsoon A.
