Vegan MoFo 25: It's My Birthday!

So today I'm 24. A huge thanks to all my friends and family for the birthday wishes/fun/embarrassing songs. It wouldn't be complete without you.

I started the day off as one should on a birthday - with pumpkin pie. Okay, pumpkin pie overnight oats.

We started a tradition in our house (it actually started on my birthday, thanks to Katie) a couple years ago of birthday signs that you get to wake up to on the morning of your birthday. Here are some highlights:

A note from the animals of the world. I am their favorite vegan apparently. I'm sure that's a temporary designation for my birthday, but I'll take it.

This is a party rock, because I am a party rocker.

I am also sunshine. 

And a note from my future patients - oh the children I will save. 

I spent a few hours at my rotation, then Fiance John surprised me by arriving early. Where to go? It's October 27 - the Pumpkin Patch!

Following a browsing of the place we picked a couple small pumpkins that I'll eventually eat. Maybe another slow cooker recipe? We also saw an outrageous number of kids having an awesome time.

And apparently they have a problem with pumpkin-sitting children. Don't do it. 

For dinner I was blessed to have lots of my friends come together and we went out to Eureka Burger. 

Their Loma Linda Veggie Burger is made with beets, so it looks bright pink like a rare burger - but it's totally vegan as long as you get it without the bun. Side of sweet potato fries. 

Thanks again everyone, you're the best!

Vegan MoFo 23: Birthday Week!

So on Thursday I turn 24. It's kind of an "eh, whatever," number, but I can always count on Katie and her love of birthdays to get me totally excited to celebrate. I was just planning to maybe go out to dinner, but this past weekend, my friends went all out for a celebratory experience.

It is an important component of this story to mention that Katie has a really hard time holding in surprises. It's not that she wants to tell - it's that she really can't lie. So this is impressive.

First they sent me off on a scavenger hunt around town - full of presents along the way. Unfortunately I kind of suck at that kind of thing and I missed a part of a clue where I needed to grab a badge to get into the hospital, so before my final clue sent me to the hospital, I came home to get it ... not realizing that there was active preparation for a surprise party going on. Oops. 

So a badge was flung out the door at me, Katie shouted "This never happened!" through the door, and I was on my way. After finding my last present (sparkly leg warmers heck yes!) I came back home. I pulled into the garage, gathered up my presents from the car, and went into the house.

I'll be honest, even though I had totally ruined it for myself, it was awesome to have everyone jump out from behind the couch and counter and shout "Surprise!" I've never had a surprise party in my life. 

Look at that committed decoration! It's staying up through Thursday. Our floor is still covered in balloons. I walk through and kick them every time. And love it. 

And for my candles? Katie made these Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (from Peas and Thank You).

I hadn't made this recipe yet, and they're awesome. The Tofutti Cream Cheese does have a slightly different taste, but in combination with enough sugar in frosting form and the perfect carrot cake mix everyone in the group liked it. 

What finishes off a celebratory Saturday night like that? Karaoke. Obviously. 

"Don't Stop Believing" was the first selection, and we followed it up with "Baby Got Back." Yes I know all the words. It was on my running playlist for a long time, despite the fact that this baby does not have back. It's been the curse of my jeans-buying attempts for years. Everyone was a great sport, but we're third year medical students - so we still left at 10 pm. Wild.

Also I wore a tiara and Birthday Girl ribbon. 24? No. I am 6 years old. 

And finally ... guess what Mom and Dad bought me for my birthday?

GPS Trainer watch - yay! I usually like to wait to open my presents from family on the day of my birthday, but I didn't realize it was my present until it was too late. I can't say I'm sorry though because I've already gotten to use it twice.

Ready to go with this and my RoadID.

First run - 7 miles at 10:38 mile pace. Not exactly swift, but that's okay - I don't think I've run that far since April. I'm proud to have finished it. 

If this has been the week so far, what on earth will my actual birthday bring? I get to see Fiance John for the first time in 2 weeks, so I'm pretty sure it'll be great no matter what. 

What's your favorite-ever birthday celebration?

Happy Birthday Katie!

This post contains:
I. Happy birthday wishes for my roommate Katie!
II. Highlights of an Inland Empire hockey game - that have nothing to do with hockey.
III/IV. German Chocolate Chip Muffin/Cupcakes and Chocolate Raspberry Jam Cupcakes


I. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! You're 23!
Katie and I have been friends since sophomore year of high school.

Summer 2005 - High School graduation trip to Disneyland. So young and fresh-faced. 

Little did I know, we'd independently chosen the same college. We didn't even live in the same dorm, but that gave us both a chance to meet a lot more people, and we had some great times. After lots of time together in the Chemistry and Biology departments (she also has a degree in math - girl is crazy) we were both applying to medical school our senior year.

Although we both a had a choice...again we independently chose the same medical school. And so now 9 years later, here we are becoming doctors. She's a generous, loyal, fierce friend. And obviously she's super pretty. I'm certain I wouldn't get along without her. 

And sometimes we still go to Disneyland. 

Happy Birthday!

II. Birthday Hockey

For her birthday, Katie decided it would be fun to go to a hockey game. Although I had never been to a hockey game, of course the chance to let out some rage through heckling and do something new sounded great. So last night found a big group of us in Ontario watching the Ontario Reign play the Idaho Steelheads. Although they didn't exactly put in a stellar performance, we had a blast, and my throat is really sore this morning from all the shouting. 

Highlights:

1. The Kung Fu cam and Dueling Banjo cam...like a kiss cam, but way better. 

2. The coaches wrestled on the ice...in sumo costumes. 

3. The blimp that floated over the audience dropping coupons. 

4. The kids behind us shouting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" every time 2 players got close to each other.

5. Katie shouting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" ... all the time. 

6. At one point, you could win a spray tan. And free wings from Hooters. And a night at an airport hotel. Keep it classy Ontario. 

7. The mascots are a Dragon and a Knight. Obviously this = awesome. 

Suffice it to say, it was a great experience:

Can you spot the birthday girl? Hint: She's a princess. Every day, but especially today. 

III and IV: Birthday Cupcake Dessert

After the game we assembled at our house for a little birthday dessert. Katie's favorite is German Chocolate, but some people are very anti-coconut, so I incorporated her other favorite - pink - into a raspberry one. Katie made a good effort with the candles, but it took a couple tries to get all of them. There were 23, and we made it rather difficult by spacing it out on a cupcake tree:

Ready.

Set.

GO!

Good try. Catch your breath. 

Winner!

Chocolate Chip Muffin/Cupcakes

These are from the Post Punk Kitchen, I just left out the coffee: find the details here.

I doubled the recipe and it made 16 full size and 36 mini ones.

I've made it replacing the yogurt with applesauce, a flax egg or Ener-G egg replacer, and they all work. I actually think the applesauce one was best, but I also had white mocha coffee powder in that one, so it's hard to say what made it so great. 

This is a muffin recipe, so it's a little more coarse than a cupcake recipe, but at the moment I don't have a go-to chocolate cupcake recipe, and I was already experimenting with my toppings, so I went with a trusty base, but I'll be working on a cupcake recipe soon. 

For both types of cupcakes, the first step is taking out some of the center. 

For the German Chocolate ones, the purpose is just to increase the frosting:cupcake ratio, you won't replace what you take out. 

For the raspberry, we're going to fill it with a dab of jam and then replace the cut-out portion. 

So what works best for scooping out some middle without splitting your whole cake and making the paper go all wonky? The wide base of a metal frosting tip. I forget where on the internets I read this, but whoever said it was brilliant. 

Gather tools:

Push it into the middle of a cupcake:

For the full-size I used 2 overlapping scoops, while the mini ones just need one. 

And you get out a nice little chunk. I just used a butter knife to scrape each one onto a scrap plate. 

Save the scraps for replacing if you're doing raspberry. Or eat them. I won't say which of these actually happened in my kitchen. 

Next, make some frosting.

Vegan Coconut Pecan Frosting (for German Chocolate)

I used this recipe exactly. DO spread it on while it's warm because it hardens up nicely in the fridge. Be careful though, I burnt my finger a couple times trying to spread it on too early.

Ingredients in a pot. 

Pot on the stove. Stir stir stir (12 mins). 

Frost!

Raspberry-Filled with Raspberry Frosting

For this one, I based it on this recipe. However, I added about a 1/4 cup raspberry jam. I actually think it could have used a little more sugar, but I'll work on perfecting it. 

To do the filling, I just used straight seedless raspberry jam, a dab in each hollow, then replaced the top from the scrap plate.

After filling, I put my frosting in a plastic bag, cut off the corner, and piped it on in a liberal and voluminous fashion. 

I refrigerated them about 6 hours, but that was just because of when we'd be available to eat them. I would give them maybe half an hour at least though, the frostings both taste better chilled. 

And that's birthday dessert!

Katie, Happy Birthday!