Weekly Food and Craft: Cartoons and Vegetarian Feasts

My old friend Microsoft Paint came in handy this weekend, helping me to make a cartoon drawing for my friend D's 30th birthday. Here's the original:

And the cartoon version I drew:


Aside from crafting digital cartoons, I also found some time to do a little cooking this week, even amid the delicious meals we had out and about. More on the cooking in the next post, but first about the restaurant treats of the week. Last night, we attended a dinner of the Madison vegetarian meetup group, which has monthly dinners at local restaurants that offer a special vegan menu just for the group. Last night, it was at the Green Owl, Madison' s new and only vegetarian restaurant. Although we've been to the Green Owl before, they really put it all out there last night, serving a truly delicious meal of:

• kalamata olive, pesto, and roasted red pepper tortilla roll-ups
• hummus and baba ganouj with pita chips
• baked corn cakes
• samosa stuffed phyllo cups
• spicy tomato and chickpea soup
• Lebanese Sfeeha Pastry (spinach and walnuts in a folded soft pastry), served with carrot-cilantro salad, hummus, and muhammara;
  
• vegan chocolate cream cake with raspberry puree
• and orange blossom lemonade.

It was all amazing, but the cake may have taken top billing. Here's a photo I managed to find of the delectable dessert: