On Martha, and Vegan Dining.

My friend Sarah's mom was in town yesterday, visiting from northern Virginia, and the three of us went to the Martha Stewart show. Sis and I actually went to the Martha show when we were both living in the city. Martha had a show just for redheads-- Conan was on, Mario Batali was there, and an author was promoting her book, The Roots of Desire. Here's picture proof:

(September 2005: When Emily had enough hair to cover her head, and Mario Batali's. Twice over.)

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After Martha with Sarah and her mom, we headed uptown for lunch. Sarah had recently purchased a cookbook from the Candle Cafe and was excited to try the restaurant. Although I'm not a vegetarian, I loved the fresh foods and organic recipes. Want to know what we ate? Of course you do.

a starter of guacamole with Ranchero sauce and fresh corn tortilla chips
a side of Garlic-Shallot mashed potatoes
the Aztec salad (topped with spiced pumpkin seeds!)
a classic Caesar salad
Red Lentil soup
Split Pea soup
quesadillas with whole wheat tortillas and soy cheese
a Chocolate Mousse cake
a Pumpkin Bundt cake
a (to-die-for) Banana Cream Cheese cake

Our waitress was from Fairfax, and we loved making a hometown connection with her. Perhaps because she felt the same she shared that David Duchovny is a regular at the cafe. He comes in every day for lunch. We waited until 2:30pm, but alas no Californicating.