Fly Me to the Moon???

At last...a bad vegan meal!

It's an odd thing but, since becoming vegan, I had been waiting for the time when I was met with resistance or ignorance in a restaurant. It was almost like a rite of passage - according to the wider community, it is to be expected that meal requests or questions will be met with a blank stare and vague confusion on the part of the waitstaff.

Here in Massachusetts, however, I had not had this experience.

Until last night.

My Beloved and I met with our friends, R&R, to catch up and see what was new in each other's lives. We opted for the Apollo Grill in Easthampton, a small restaurant of which we'd all heard good things. And My Beloved - having looked online at the menu - was 100% confident that I was in for a treat there, so I was quite excited at the prospect in general.

However, upon arrival it quickly became apparent that the menu had changed. So I explained that I'm vegan and that I don't eat meat, fishes, eggs, diary or anything that had a face or its mother loved it, and asked whether the kitchen could prepare the advertised vegan dish? I was met with a blank refusal: 'if it's not on the menu, it's not on the menu'...I was told.

We all nodded sagely and looked hard at the menu again.

'What about the vegetable spring rolls?' we asked.

'Oh yes, no meat, no dairy, all good!', we were told.

'Excellent,' I said and was turning to the question of an entree when I was brought up sharp by the caveat '...oh, except for the egg-white wash'.

'Hmm...' I pondered out loud, 'not vegan....I'll pass on the spring rolls after all. Erm, so what can you recommend for an entree?'

I hoped that throwing it into the hands of the waitress would let her take charge and show me what this place could do. I mean - several months ago - I had an experience in a steakhouse of all places where the chef was more than happy to create something off-menu for me and I ended up having a waaaaaaay better meal than My Beloved's regular menu choice! So I assumed that this experience could be replicated.

'Erm...well, we could make you a plate of roasted vegetables, I guess', she said, uncertainly.

'Awesome' I replied, with a conviction that I did not feel, eyeing the beer menu and mentally adding up how many pints of beer equal a full meal.....

'How about this,' I suggested....'I'll take the burger but instead of having some cow in there, I'll have a portabella mushroom instead? And if you hold the cheese and mayo, I'll be wicked happy......could we do that?'

'Oh, yes, OK, I guess...' she said.

'Awesome', I said, this time with a tad more conviction.

Suffice to say, the meal was OK, passable and was eaten - except for the side of coleslaw that I was sure contained mayo - but was not good. I was disappointed and hungry, but in a perverse way I was also relieved to have finally joined the club and experienced - indeed survived - what others in the community put up with every time they try to dine out.

Of course, fundamentally the evening was a success as the point really was to see our friends. And we very much enjoyed the opportunity of spending an evening with them. Indeed, I would have hung out in a McDonald's in order to spend time with them.....but I wouldn't have got much to eat there either!

Stay Vegan, friends!

A Belated Easter Egg...

OK, I missed the boat on the whole Easter thing, but I stumbled across this video and couldn't resist adding it.

Spring is sprung...

The Grass is ris...I wonder where...the birdies is???

An old rhyme my Dad used to say, on occasion.

And today I thought of that as I watched a cardinal in the bushes around our house. And so, in honour perhaps of Easter or Earth Day (yesterday!) or whatever, My Beloved and I decided to tackle the spring clean-up of the garden. It is usually a really big job against which we steele ourselves, but this year it was just no big deal. I didn't resent having to rake leaves nearly as much as I usually do, and we managed to get the whole thing done without so much as one cross word between us!

And this is part of what we had to tackle....


- this is the herb garden - covered, strangled even - by leaves from the fall, rediscovered by the melting of the snow!

And here it is now!:



And this is how it was achieved:



Action shot: My Beloved trimming the 'burning bush'....



Me with the leaf blower/vac - one of the best devices known to wo/man!

:)

So, the job is the same, but the outcome this year was different - no temper tantrums, no frustration and no need for apologies for (my) outbursts. So what's different this year?

Attitude, I guess. As I was in the garden, enjoying the sunshine and lack of snow - raking, leaf vacuuming, pruning etc - I was thinking about Easter (it being Easter Sunday today) and about the traditional way of spending the day: gorging on the hind quarters of a pig and littering the garden with plastic eggs. And it occured to me that it was an odd way of expressing joy for God's world - God, however you perceive Him to be.

Caveat! Caveat!!: neither My Beloved nor I have any particularly strong religious conviction, although we were both raised in the 'embrace' of Christianity, and we don't have children, so the whole plastic egg thing is a mystery to us! And it must be admitted that if we were religious, or if we had children, it's possible that we'd see the whole thing through a different lens but, as it is, it remains inexplicable.

I watched our neighbor's grandchildren collecting the Easter eggs fom her garden and, in my mind's eye, all I could see was the kids in a sweatshop probably in China somewhere, making these bits of plastic tat for pennies a day, so that kids over here can collect them to throw in the trash later tonight. And then they can sit in a landfill for an eternity, not biodegrading, or can find their way to the oceans to be swallowed by a sea creature who'll then die of intestinal complications.

I don't know, perhaps I am a kill-joy, but this seems to be a 'bass-ackwards' (as my associate David is fond of saying) way of celebrating resurrection or Earth Day.

And yes, I know that ham is the traditional way of celebrating Easter. But this is anathema to me too. God - however you perceive Him to be - created this amazing creature - the pig - whose intelligence rivals and even surpasses that of our beloved companions, dogs - and what do we do? We bleed the poor creature to death, dissemble him on a production line and then eat his body parts.

God, in His infinite wisdom, must be weeping.

So what's the alternative? Well, this year we are having 'roasted turkey' seitan (vital-wheat gluten, flour, water, ketchup, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, soy sauce - mix, knead and bake!) with lemon/red onion roast potatoes, maple carrots, asparagus, and a mushroom gravy. And I am thrilled at the absence of the pig on our table. :-D

For dessert, we have a triple-chocolate tart I made on Friday from a non-vegan recipe. I converted it rather successfully, so will post the recipe as soon as I manage to type it all out. Try it - you will love it! :)

OK, I have, have, have to email my darling sister, so I will finish here.
But...Stay Vegan, Friends!

West Coast Isa???

Isa - the Veganomicon/cupcake queen - is moving to Portland, Oregon.

I feel abandoned.

Why, oh why, are all these fabulous vegan types over on the West coast and I am here in Massachusetts?

Portland even has a vegan mini-mall. All vegan businesses. I was in Portland 2 years ago and had no idea it was that kind of city. I missed the boat there, I think.

Good luck in your new home, Isa - and keep up the good work!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Across Preston in the dark, cold and rain...

I'm very excited! My Beloved and I just signed up for a vegan cooking class tomorrow night! OK, maybe I'm easily pleased, but I am **really** looking forward to it. It's at our local Whole Foods (aka 'Bread & Circus' to those of us who remember the place before the takeover...) and we'll be cooking a 3-course meal and enjoying it with wine. All for $20 a head!

Since I know everything I know from Colleen's podcasts and her wonderful Joy of Vegan Baking (as I know, I know, I've said before....) along with the rich library of other cookbooks I've compulsively purchased over the last 5 months or so, it'll be great to actually see how others do it. And hopefully pick up a few more tips.

That's one of the best parts of being vegan - there is so much to learn. Food becomes endlessly exciting and novel. Tastes are deeper and more satisfying. And the adventure of taking a hitherto unknown ingredient and incorporating it into a satisfying and cruelty-free meal....well, for a foodie, it's really fulfilling.

Issues I must raise are:

1. how to cook with diabetics in mind
2. how to cook without gluten (the mother of a friend of mine cannot eat gluten...)
3. when's the next class...so that said friend and I can go again!

In the meantime, I *must* post some pix of My Beloved's amazing Lentil and Potato Curry that we had for dinner last night. The recipe is actually in the Veganomicon, but the original calls for cauliflower which - as noted in a previous post - My Beloved won't touch with someone else's 10 ft pole. Soooooooo, we have spuds in it instead....sorry, Isa!



And a close-up:



I enjoyed the remainder for lunch today and must confess that it was just as good the second time around. Even microwaved - a technique I don't normally use as I don't like microwaves particularly. But I was at work, so what else am I going to do????

My Beloved also made a stack of poppadoms as we'd bought some hot lime pickle from our semi-local Asian store. It transported us back to the 'old country' where on a Saturday night we'd frequently go out for an Indian and a few beers.....

Sigh!

Sometimes I miss those days!

But then I remember the long walks home too - right across Preston in the dark, cold and rain....

:: shudder ::

Stay dry...and Stay Vegan, Friends! :)

Gingercake Giggles

I have taken soooo many food pix recently. Many. Many more than you'd believe. Especially as they've been staying in the camera and not actually seeing the light of day...

Too sad.....

So tonight I hope to remedy that a little - here's one of my newest creations:



Well, you didn't think you'd get the whole thing, did ya?!?!

I am still getting the hang of my new camera, so this is perhaps not the best gingercake photo of all time. But rest assured: it is the best **gingercake** you'll ever taste! And the recipe is mine, all mine, veganized by Yours Truly for your munching pleasure!

So here, without further ado, is the recipe....

You will need:

3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2tbsp fresh ginger, minced
2 tbsp crystallised ginger, also minced
1/2 cup ginger beer (the dark, caribbean type one - not gingerale!)
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup silken tofu
2 tbsp dark rum

Here's what you do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 9x9 cake pan
2. In a large saucepan over a low to moderate heat, mix together the molasses, sugar, ginger beer, fresh ginger, crystallised ginger and applesauce. When the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

**********
Vegan tip: in this recipe, the applesauce takes the place of the stick of butter you would otherwise have used and thus renders this cake ***fat-free***! So it's kind to your heart and kindhearted...at the same time! Imagine that! :)
**********

3. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger, salt and other spices.
4. In a small bowl, mash up the silken tofu with a fork or hand whisk and combine with the rum.

**********
Vegan tip #2: the tofu replaces the 2 beaten eggs from the beaten bodies of the 'layer chickens' who would have suffered and labored for 30 hours apiece in the living hell that is their existence on a factory farm to produce those easily replaceable eggs for you.

Eggs vs tofu: it's a complete no-brainer!!
**********

5. Add the tofu/rum mix to the cooled mixture in the saucepan. Combine well.
6. Add the flour mix to the saucepan too and mix until all the dry ingredients are well mixed in.
7. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30-40 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a rack.
9. Place well away from small children, hungry husbands and acrobatic doggies....the smell as the cake cools may just prove toooooo tempting!

I frosted a slice or two with vegan cream cheese frosting, but didn't do the entire cake as I knew I'd be utterly powerless to resist locking myself in my room and eating the entire thing in one sitting.

You may chose to do otherwise!

And if you do, remember: it's fat-free!

So enjoy....

...and Stay Vegan, Friends!

Got (Soy)Milk?

Think Spring!



The end of winter is a great cause for celebration here in New England. And it is marked - in my mind at least - by the beginning of the maple syrup season. And of course, with the running of the sap comes the inevitable maple pancake breakfasts.

My Beloved and I love the maple breakfasts - pancakes or waffles or french toast with lashings of maple syrup, cooked right there in the sugar shack. And of course, we stay local and frequent a family-owned place called Pomeroys.

This year, of course, things are slightly different. Being vegan means there is little I can eat there, as the whole menu revolves around sliced/ground pigs (aka 'bacon' and 'sausage') and cows' milk - in the french toast, waffles etc. So we were in a real quandry. We know the people who own the farm and they are truly good folks - genuine, kind, salt of the earth types, who are eeking out a living with a small dairy herd, battling for fair market prices for their milk, and cooking up maple sap for our breakfast. And their animals are well cared for and free roaming. I guess it's farming like it used to be.

Or is it? I took some pictures and in reviewing them notice something startling: there are few babies. There is a stable of dairy cows, but only one baby. And as you see, she's a bit of a tourist attraction:



As I stood with her, she rubbed her head on the wire of her enclosure and clearly adored being tickled around the ears. Her pink-mottled nose was slightly wet and softer than velvet. And her eyelashes were curled, silken strands that seemed to 'whoosh!' as she blinked gently. She really was the most gorgeous animal.



While I was scratching her head, a woman with a young child came to stand with us. The little girl was clearly rather taken with the calf and her mother was quick to explain how the little calf would grow up to be like her mommy - a big cow who'd give us milk. My Beloved and I exchanged a glance which said as clearly as if he'd spoken: do not say a word! He needn't have worried - the lump in my throat prevented me from speaking anyhow. Because I was thinking about the future of this little one. Of how she would be raised only for her milk, how she'd be impregnated year after year, only to have her baby removed from her each time. How she'd develop porosis as the demand for an unnaturally high milk yield leached the calcium from her bones. And how she'd find herself on a truck to a slaughterhouse when her productivity waned, around 6 years from now.

But this is a dairy cow? Can this be her future? Yes. It can and probably will be. Ask yourself this question: even on the small holdings, on the organic family farms...how many retired cows do you see? How many aging animals can you visit and see being cared for in their 'twilight years'? And remember the recent story about the unconscionable abuses of cows in the California slaughterhouse? Well folks - these were dairy cows. Spent, used up, abused and broken animals whose only purpose in life was to provide you with your daily glass of milk at breakfast.

So take a look into their endlessly soft and deep eyes and ask yourself if you couldn't perhaps make it a soy-milk after all?

Shout-Out to Gravity Switch!

I have been remiss. I haven't posted recently. It's all to do with being exhausted from my new job, but there are a few things I need to get to, the first of which is a shout-out Thank-You! to Rachael and the Gravity Switch team.

One day last week, I was greeted by a large parcel waiting outside my backdoor. It looked like this:



The greeting read "Congratulations on your new job. We loved working with you - Thanks for eveything!" and inside were the following:





Which I have to say was an awesome idea. These are truly nice folks who went out of their way to send a gift to me, even though we'd worked together only briefly. People constantly amaze and hearten me! :)

Anyways, the couple of non-vegan items were eagerly snapped up by My Beloved



who will enjoy the honey and has already scoffed the scones. The crumpets remain and will probably form the basis of a weekend breakfast for him. And I'll stick with the vegan muffins and scrumptious strawberry jam!



Thank you so much Gravity Switch guys - especially Rachael and Jason! You are the best!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Happy Birthday, Colleen!

A very special person has a birthday coming up, so this is a shout out to her - Happy Birthday, Colleen!

As you may know from previous posts, I am addicted to and inspired by the Vegetarian Food for Thought podcasts produced by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks. Colleen's work is consistently thoughtful, highly-researched, balanced without pulling punches, and above all each podcast embodies the compassion she advocates. She truly is a hero to me and I recommend her work to anyone with even the faintest interest in healthful, sustainable eating or animal welfare. To learn more, search for vegetarian podcasts in iTunes, or click here to visit her website.

My teacher, my guide, my friend - Happiest of Birthdays to you!

:)

Today's WTF Moment...

So what, do tell, is a 'ham shoot'?

It conjures up images of the fairground, where kids shoot paper targets to win goldfish. Perhaps at a sportsman's ham shoot, the competitors win packets of sausages? Or bacon sandwiches?

I say this tongue very firmly in cheek, of course.

What in the name of all that's holy is a ham shoot?

In the run up to Thanksgiving, I've seen 'live turkey shoots' advertised at the same spot and have always cringed at the thought. And now, as we approach Easter, there are ham shoots, and I am absolutely terrified to consider the possibilities there.

And - note the shingle - this is at a fish and game range. Which is open to the public. Anyone can wander in off the street presumably and take a shot.

Some days I can't help but wonder what the heck I am doing here.....

Stay Vegan, Friends....