Returning to work after vacation is always unpleasant, isn’t it? Unless you really really really super love your job, you can’t help but feel a bit down. Luckily(ish), I had email to catch up on and lots of things to do when I returned from my RI trip on Wednesday of last week. I’m glad I had the distractions – I was in a bit of a bad mood after having to spend the night in Detroit thanks to some weather-related delays and connection missing. All that aside, I had a really lovely trip back home, full of friends and family and, duh, food.

Both of my siblings were also home when I was, so my parents hosted a big ol’ cookout for all of our friends and family. I love hosting events at my parents’ house – my mom’s vegan and my dad is super vegan-friendly, so we always have lots of options. At this cookout, we had baked beans, potato salad, regular salad, fruit salad, corn salad, and desserts. I don’t have too many great food pictures, though, because I was too busy relaxing, hanging out with friends, and meeting this little guy:

Such a curious little guy.

My friend Jess became a mama last month; she’s the first of my pals to have a baby, which is both bizarre and exciting. Her little Noah is beyond adorable, and I was so happy to meet him. My mom snapped that photo of us, and I shamelessly stole it from Facebook. Same goes for the next two pictures, hence the craptastic quality. Facebook photo downloads are icky and grainy, and I apologize.

Coconut-lime!

Vegan With a Vengeance came through again for my dessert-making needs – the coconut-lime cupcakes received raved reviews from everyone. I’d originally planned to make only this batch of cupcakes, but I had a ton of frosting left over so I decided to make some plain vanilla cupcakes to use it up.

Vanilla!

All 24 cupcakes were snatched up within minutes of us setting dessert out. I barely snagged one! Luckily, my aunt had brought a vegan blueberry pie, so my dessert urges were well satisfied. ;) As was my desire for delicious vegan food in general, both at this party and later at the other places we ate in RI and NYC. But more about those later!

What are your go-to vegan cookout options?