Before and After

What up yo?

Halloween is upon us and I still haven't finalized my plans... Ah well.

One thing's for certain: last night was a dinner to die for.

We went to Cliff's Edge, a happenin' spot in Silverlake with- no joke- a tree growing the middle of the covered patio dining area.

Don't believe me? Here's proof:

Source

(Only it was WAAAAAY more crowded when we were there...)

Here's us pre-dinner, ready to par-tay

As soon as we were seated, they brought us two complimentary glasses of champagne :)

We started with the spicy mango ahi tuna tartare:

I chose the sea bass with onion and fennel rague for my main course:

But all that was really just to get to the grand finale...

Before:

Profiterole with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce

Fit for a birthday queen!

After:

Our original plan was to hit the town after dinner and show LA who's boss.

But we opted to pass out in a glorious food coma instead.

So worth it!

This morning we woke up bright and early to hit up a swap meet about 30 minutes from home.

I made a tiny breakfast for the road (amazed I wasn't still full from the night before)

apple, banana, raspberries, strawberries and [of course] pumpkin butter.

We toasted our busy day ahead with some LA Mill Coffee (sayonara, Starbucks) and were OFF!

There wasn't much to be had at the swap meet, but during a quick stop at Target on the way home, I fell prey to my weakness for cookbooks and picked up this bad boy:

Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook

It's Vegan, written with a punch, loaded with kitchen tips and on sale. How could I say no?

Around this time, Alex and I were starving! We managed to find a food court complete with a healthy veggie spot where I chowed down on this...

"Protein Power Salad" Before:

After:

Alex likes to balance his veggies with fun things like Hot Dog on a Stick:

Crazy boy ;)

We came home to get the house ready for his family's arrival...

I'm late posting tonight due to the birthday dinner and impromptu pumpkin carving "contest" we hosted.

I'll see you back here tomorrow with some pics from the night and other Halloween/birthday weekend fun!

Take care xox

mads