Raw Can Roll Cafe + car work?!

While Lauren was running this weekend I headed out of the city to meet up with two friends to get some car work accomplished. The goal was to get the engine in on the Greenland Polo, but a few parts were still unordered so we tackled some other projects. One of which was to fab up some mounts and install new seats into my other girlfriend, Bianca. Yes shes a bit older, and yes maybe a bit rusty around the edges, but shes a champ.

You can see here that both Lauren and Kitta enjoy the new seats.

So while I was out of the city my friend had mentioned a very new raw place up by him. A raw place in Douglassville? this seemed a bit odd but I am always in to trying a new vegan cafe, especially raw. It is called Raw Can Roll Cafe and is located in Douglassville PA. Also big thanks to Ben for letting me steal his camera to take a few shots at the café!

I love the quick service at raw cafes, no long waits for food to cook, rather instant gratification.

Jamie was first to order and went with the olive burger with the homemade onion flat bread. While ordering he told the owner he didn’t like vegetables and to hold the lettuce, tomatoes, and onion that accompanied the burger. She was a bit perplexed and asked if he understood this isn’t an “actual burger.” He explained he was vegan, just didn’t like vegetables on their own and she became a bit concerned for his well being 🙂 Instead she thought for a second and offered him to top it with salsa and a huge side of hummus. By the way their raw hummus is amazing… def the best raw hummus Ive ever had.

Ben ordered the thai spring rolls, with a tahini ginger dipping sauce and a side of dill marinate cucumbers. He also got the creamy tahini dressing for his salad which we both agreed was extremely tasty.

I never know what to get when I enter new restaurants and usually let someone else pick for me. So I asked what I should try being that I was hungry and she picked the delicate pasta with half alfredo and half tomato basil sauce. Like most raw pastas it was fresh spiralized zucchini and I went with hummus and a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette as a side.

Before leaving we wanted to pick up some dessert to go. We talked to the owner for a bit before ordering and asked the real question, why Douglassville??! She explained they never had given that area much of a thought but when they check out the yoga studio next door (that they also run) they knew THIS WAS IT! The owner and her husband were so so nice with offering us the opportunity to try anything we were unsure about and even made us a smoothie to try called Love Potion #9, which had chocolate, banana, almond milk & vanilla. This may have been one of the best smoothies I had in a long long time… They even have their home made crackers out to sample at the counter so you could try them before buying a bag. Over all the quaint new raw/vegan café is a must try if your ever in that neck of the woods, actually its well worth the trip. The foods light and refreshing and the staff is cheery, helpful, and actually nice fr a change (which is a change of pace from the city.) I guess my only complaint is that its not closer to the city!

Oh and I couldn’t go home with out treats for Lauren now could I? I picked up some coconut blonde vanilla & cacoa almond macroons. They were fantastic.

And at the end of the night after the car work was completed Jamie’s wife Laura also gave me some fresh baked chocolate chunk cookies to take home for Lauren. Its great having vegan friends who do some wicked baking!

Photos From The Weekend

Eric and I had every intention of hopping on our bikes and riding to South Philly for Friday night’s dinner. But then there was some happy hour, and tv watching, and before you knew it we were tired and just wanted to eat.

We decided to head to A Full Plate, one of our favorite brunch spots.

It’s BYOB and has some patio seating, which is nice.

Eric and I both ordered different veggie burgers, which were both good, but nothing epic.

We also split an order of their fries, which were epic!

And then Friday night came to an early end.
I am still half marathon training, which is going great, but I have to plan my weekend around it. Which usually means staying in Friday night and getting some good rest.
Well this week’s plan called for 12 miles. But then Leslie told me she was only running 13 miles (ha yeah only…) so I decided to tag along and try to do the entire 13.
We wanted to change things up this week and met at her apartment to to do some trail running at Wissahickon Valley Park.

Running on the trail was really nice because it went along a river and was completed shaded.

I am so happy to have Leslie has a running buddy. She is great to talk to and she also has such great energy and enthusiasm while running.

We came across a restaurant in the middle of the trail, which was a nice pit stop.

I carried my camelback for the first time and LOVED it. I might even use it for the half marathon so I don’t have to worry about water stops.

I had previously mentioned to Leslie that at some point after the half marathon I wanted to run 15 miles, just because it seemed cool. Well we reached the turnaround point of 6.5 miles, but decided to keep going till the end of the trail. We hit the end at a little over 7, and that’s when upping the run to 15 became a reality. Was I really going to run 15 miles?
The craziness didn’t stop there, because Leslie decided to up her run to 20 miles. So mine went 12, to 13 to 15. And her run went 13 to 15 to 20.

The run was definitely tough, physically and mentally, but I never felt like I couldn’t finish. I think having a running buddy helps you so much mentally.

We might have done a few laps around the parking lot to hit 15, but I did it! We finished in about 2 hours and 21 minutes!

I had some dirty ankles at the end.

And then I came home and did what any sane runner does, take an ice bath! Kitta Marie was concerned. I think this is probably what was going on in her end…
“Mom…WHAT are you doing in there? There is ice. Are you crazy?!”

“You’re scaring me Mom. Why would you sit in ice? It’s cold!”

“Ok, I think I will observe from a safe distance.”

After showering I ate then passed out for a long time. 15 miles takes a lot out of you!
But when I woke up I had only one thing on my mind, cake. Apparently Leslie was thinking the same thing, hah.

I made a chocolate cake that my friend Amanda had actually made at our going away party. It turned out fabulous, and hit the spot!

I tried to walk around some, but was really just tired, so I think this explains how I spent my Saturday night.

I woke up starving on Sunday morning, and got to work making pancakes. I definitely end up feeling the hunger the day after my long run.

It’s hot again in Philly, but Eric and I got out of the house for a bit Sunday and walked around Old City then headed to the grocery store. We invited Josh and Kelly over and whipped up some quick veggie burgers. It wasn’t a fancy, or glorious meal, but it hit the spot and I hope they enjoyed their burgers.

The trade off for feeding them was we got to go to their apartment and watch True Blood and Iron Chef. Did anyone else watch the vegetarian Iron Chef? Anyone else confused why they let her use marshmallows? They even mentioned gelatin earlier in the episode, and how it wasn’t allowed, but then she used marshmallows?!

Garmin Edge 500.

So the rest of my birthday gifts got here today. Big thanks to my parents who let me order a little something, something. Its good to still get birthday presents… Im excited for my new bike toy, the Garmin Edge 500.

For those who don’t know the Garmin is a GPS based cycle computer that monitors your speed, distance, time, calories burned, climb and descent, and altitude using a barometric altimeter to pinpoint changes in elevation. I also opted for the package that included the heart rate monitor and cadence sensor so I can track both remotely through the Garmin display monitor. I’m hoping this will be a good tool for training/races since I will be easily able to look down and tell if I’m pushing it too hard and need to back off or if I can continue this pace for “X” amount of time. I can give an assessment of how I like it after a few months if anyone is interested, but as far as setup up and install it was a synch. Very user friendly thus far and am very excited to take it for a spin in the morning on the commute to work. I’m excited to upload the info to the computer after the commutes/training rides to track my progression.

even matches the colors scheme on my bicicleta : )

No pictures of our dinner unfortunately but made a quick basil fried rice with chickpeas and kale and all that goodness. Had to make it quick since I was busy setting up the Garmin. Im going to try it out tomorrow morning see how she does. We did break into a Peanut Butter Smore from Sweet and Sara that we picked up the other day though.

The Eggplant Agenda

As you may recall from yesterday’s post, we received a HUGE eggplant in our CSA box. I am very particular about how I eat my eggplant, but I immediately started making an agenda for all the eggplant.

First up on the ‘eggplant agenda’ was making eggplant bruschetta. Smitten Kitchen has posted a recipe that was on my mind all week, and I couldn’t wait to try it out.

We slightly adapted the recipe, to veganize it, but overall it was extremely easy. Roasted eggplant on top of ciabatta bread topped with cashew cheese and sunflower shoots.

I really want to have a dinner party in the coming months, and I think this would make a nice appetizer.

The weather had slightly cooled down, so Eric and I dined outside on the deck.

Other uses on the ‘eggplant agenda’ – eggplant bacon, grilled eggplant, eggplant napoleons…anything else?