2010 is Vegan. If You Want It.

Happy New Year!

I hate to begin the first post of the new year with an apology but I really need to. The past few months I have sorely neglected this blog for one reason or another and you all deserve better. The fact is that life got in the way and - between the kitchen renovation, side work, volunteer activities, a visit from my father-in-law and sundry other reasons - Cackleberry was the victim of too-much-to-do-and-not-enough-time-to-do-it.

This must change.

I intend this blog to be a tool for - as Gary Francione puts it - creative vegan education and of course that means actually posting more than once in a blue moon! So, with that in mind, I have decided to re-prioritize a little this year and, although I am not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, here's a few thoughts for 2010....

This year I will...


...reach out to others more and lead by example

...make time for what's important in this life. I am about to turn 40: if I don't make time now, when will I?

...accept that my needs are important too, respect them and not put them at the end of the queue

...translate the desire to help the animals into actually helping the animals. Leverage the strength of my convictions to actually create physical change.

...take better care of my body so that I can be a good example for others of the health benefits of veganism

...remember that this life's not a dress rehearsal and take time to reconnect

...strengthen the community by actively participating and supporting the work of others

...drop the 50lbs or so of excess weight I need to lose. This padding has been my protection for too long. I no longer need it.

...eat more leafy greens and fewer vegan cupcakes

I also want to gain more confidence in, as Colleen Patrick-Goudreau puts it, speaking my truth. An anonymous comment on my last post upset me sufficiently to prevent me from writing and, while I ought to have responded clearly and swiftly, confronting the views of this individual was so painful that it become another reason not to post. It was the elephant in the room - until it was dealt with, I didn't feel I could write anything else. Well, that's going to change too: the gloves are off and I intend to learn to articulate my views more confidently. It is easy and comfortable to talk solely with the like-minded, but reaching non-vegans and those for whom animal rights is a non-subject is what's going to help the animals most. In short, I intend to belly-up and learn to communicate more effectively.

So, that's pretty much it for this first post of 2010. Thank you all for hanging in there and excusing my absence. This year will be a banner year for the animals and I intend for Cackleberry to play some small part in that. So: stay posted!

And tell me - what are your intentions for 2010?

Stay vegan, friends! :)

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's an unimaginative title for the year's first post, but I guess that I - not unlike a few others around the blogosphere - am feeling perhaps slightly below par. Under the weather. A little fried.

No, send no sympathy my way. I know it's mostly my own fault for ringing in the new year with - arguably - one glass of champagne too many. But actually, to be fair, my pounding head does owe something to the fact that My Beloved and I just returned from taking the boys for a run in the forest and they screamed all the way there and most of the way back. The walk itself was tremendous - the sky today is a piercingly bright blue, the white of the snow blinding. And the simple contrast of the evergreens was exquisitely refreshing and invigorating.

But the barking....and the high pitched screaming from Humphrey...was just horrendous.

And so, while My Beloved labors to bring up a stack of firewood and build a fire to doze in front of, I thought I'd quickly share some pix of last night's revelries with you. We were fortunate enough to get a reservation at a local restaurant here in Westfield, the School Street Bistro. They were offering a 6-course meal beginning at 9pm which was just perfect. My Beloved, while making the reservation, had 'used the v-word' and, although the evening's fixed menu was a veritable Noah's Ark of animals, they assured him that I would not go hungry. So, in we went!

The appetizer was a choice of cold cucumber soup (which given that there's 2 feet of snow outside did not seem overly appealing last night!) or a fresh salad of arugula, grilled lemons and toasted cashews. We both chose the latter and it was delicious! I have never toasted cashews before but if you like pinenuts, you will love the cashews done in this way. They're slightly salty and utterly more-ish! So much so that this is all the evidence I have of it:



Eek, sorry, that's kinda gross, I admit!

Next came a special dish for me in place of the non-vegan options. It consisted of portabello mushrooms in a balsamic reduction with roasted red peppers and grilled fennel. It was just delightful. Again, grilling fennel is new to me and I really enjoyed it this way. It has a much more mellow flavour and it's one that I will be trying to reproduce from here on in. I think it would be a super topping for a pizza....but that's a thought for a whole other post!

Anyways, since their presentation was very nice, I managed to contain my enthusiasm long enough to get a pic this time:



Then, the intercourse, or whatever the real, fancy name is: eggplant rollatini. Thin slices of grilled eggplant were generously stuffed with a mix of fresh and sun-dried tomato, red peppers and mushrooms, rolled up and scattered with pinenuts. A sprig of fresh dill finished off the mis en place nicely. The eggplant rolls almost looked like stuffed crepes at first and - although I adore crepes - I was glad to see the whole vegetables instead.




After a palate-cleansing dish of home-made lemon sorbet (which was delightfully more like a granita than a sorbet - refreshingly icy and not at all sugary) we moved onto the entree which, for me, was off-menu again. A massive plate of succulently marinated and fire roasted squash, eggplant, onions and peppers lay atop a ring of light and fluffy rice. As you see, a little sweetness was offered by the balsamic reduction playing across the plate:



Towards the end, I could manage no more and was actually relieved when our waitperson returned from surveying the dessert options to pronouce - uncomfortably - that there were no vegan choices. I was extremely happy to accept a coffee in lieu! My Beloved did partake of a chocolate-hazlenut moussecake and pronounced it admirable:



At the stroke of midnight (about 15 minutes before we finally finished eating!) we had a champagne toast to our absent friends. Our families are spread as far afield as the UK and New Zealand, whilst our friends are as close as Westfield and as far away as California. But we thought about you all and quietly wished you everything you wish for yourselves in 2009 and beyond.

Happy New Year, Friends....and...stay vegan!