Bad New Addiction

Hi! I'm back from a few trips, the biggest one was a two week U.K. trip with Jamie. :) My blog has suffered because I'm never home now, but just in case anyone ever reads it still, I'll post my latest food addiction.

I had been making pancakes for Jamie lots, and I'm now becoming addicted to them myself! I was never one to eat a big breakfast of heavy pancakes... but I've (sadly) changes my ways! I love editing the recipe for the plain pancakes in Vegan with a Vengeance. I add different extracts or fruit or different flours. My latest pancake craze had me waking up the next day wanting more: Pigs in Blankets!



I never liked non-vegan pigs in blankets, but these are great! I used Tofurky breakfast sausages shown below in the orange box:


With the VwaV pancake recipe and lots of 100% pure maple syrup... I'm addicted to this sugary, sodium-filled, heavy, and really yummy breakfast!

Vegan Cat Food

Help!

Does anyone out there feed their cat a vegan diet? If so, which cat food do you buy? I'd love to switch my 2 cats over so the entire family will then be vegan, but I've only seen unaffordable vegan cat food on the Web, then you have to also pay for shipping. I'm also wondering if your cat(s) are still healthy on the vegan food? I've not heard any successful stories of converting cats to a vegan diet, so I'm looking for more information. I'd love to be a vegan family, all the way down to the kitties!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!! Tia and Mittens thank you too! :)

2008 Begins!

Yes, I'm a month behind on the "New Year" thing, but I'm trying! I have just begun the resolutions, but this is better than last year when I never quite got around to any of them. I hope you are all sticking to yours, if you made them! It's a great idea to write down your goals and read them daily, then you know where you want to go and you will get there faster with them in your mind!

One of my goals was to add more raw food into my diet. I say this all the time, but with help of a new "cookbook," it's easier than ever.

This new raw "cookbook" is more than just a recipe book. Ani talks about a way living healthy and discusses water, vitamins, sunlight, recycling, etc... which makes the book more interesting. We probably know all these facts already, but it's nice to be reminded! Here is the book cover and link to Amazon where you can peek inside the book or order it:



There's lots and lots and lots of photos of Ani in this book, but once you get over that fact, it's a nice addition to any vegan cookbook collection!

My first recipe from this book was a raw "egg" salad. Made with different types of nuts, I thought this was easy to make and very good! (Just be careful you are not eating too much fat other than this since this is packed with nuts/fat!) I added a scoopful onto some napa cabbage. The salad dressing was just an apple cider vinegar, oil, and some spices.



I have lots more to blog about, but I'm running out of "Internet" time! Work calls! (oh, and the treadmill.) :( Some of my next post will talk about the great package I recently got in the mail from my order from the infamous vegan online boutique called Viva Granola! Oh my goodness. Have you tried Sheese yet? You *must!* Viva Granola carries many flavors of it, and I'd like them all!

Lastly, guess what I started up again?! Wheatgrass!!!! If you read my blog awhile back, I used to grow and juice it. Small apartment life killed that fun, and it was all put on hold. I had been using the frozen cubes of it, but it was not the same. Finally, I began growing it again and had my first batch this week!!!! I can't say enough about it, and while I admit it's time consuming...it's so worth it to me. Here are some links to my previous posts about my fascination with wheatgrass, including how to grow it and (of course) photos:

Wheatgrass Posts

Off to work I go, but I hope you are all having a great 2008! I have been gone all of January and wonder if I've lost my readers? :( I will try to get you all back!! :P

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy February!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

A food I never imagined myself making was biscotti. I know my mom likes it a lot, so I decided to attempt baking her a batch for Christmas. With the help of V-Con, it wasn't nearly the ordeal I expected it to be!

Sadly, I did not have the ingredients for the almond-anise ones, so I made cranberry-almond ones. :P Only two of them broke, so I sampled those broken ones. Wow! A definite hit, and these will be beautiful wrapped and placed inside a pretty Christmas box.

My only tip: make sure you have a very sharp (non-serrated) knife. The heavier, the better. Then they won't crumble or crack in half!

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes

Oh yes! I broke out Veganomnicon recently and made the *best* dinner and a fun dessert too! I only have time to post the important part: dessert!

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes

Not only are these super easy to make, you can customize the flavors too. I chose a seedless raspberry filling, but kept the "cake" part of the recipe as is. (I *so* trust Isa and Terry!)

Easy to make batter with little clean up: What's not to love about this recipe? Simple plain cupcakes with a plop of perserves ready for the oven:


Can't resist peeking on them as they bake:


Oooh! They are puffing up and the kitchen smells like doughnuts:


Out of the oven and cooling down. They look like little lickable belly buttons:


Coated by a sifter of powdered sugar, they were a perfect dessert and will be even better tomorrow after we've let them cool more!


Try them! Britty and I loved them and have loved every recipe in Veganomnicon so far! Just when I didn't think I could love Isa and Terry anymore...

Omegas, tacos, and a yeti

One last addition to the Omega-3 info below. My friend, Mary, reminded me of the enriched foods like this one as a great source for Omega-3 fatty acid:

Click on the picture to go to the Silk Website with info on soy milk versus dairy! :) Thanks, Mary!

Tonight's dinner included blue corn tacos from The Garden of Eatin'. :) I love the shells, but was not too crazy about the soy beef:


I wish I liked it because it's so convenient, and in 'pork' flavor too. I would have preferred beans in this, so I'm skipping the LightLife meats next time! What do you use for a taco filler?

So with FYH vegan cheddar, onions, and salsa I hid the flavor of the soy crumbles and enjoyed these tacos with broccoli:


The Abominable Bumble/Yeti enjoyed it too.

Onto some British goodies that Jamie picked out for us. The stash includes cereal bars with the *best* flavors: cranberry/almond, pumpkin/pistachio, and pecan/date. They are really good and taste like they were just made at home. I love how they are filled of toasted oats and spelt flakes. Held together by dates and/or agave nectar...these are a great breakfast or snack.

Also in the stash is our Christmas stuffing mix! Sage, Red Pepper, and Shallots. (I say "SHAAALL-ots;" Jamie says, "sheh-LOTS." It's ok though, it's not like we argue over silly things like pronunciations.) *pokes* :P

Time to zoom in on those chocolate buttons!
I liked the saying: "I love them on mum's chocolate cake." Hmm, I didn't have time to bake a cake with these buttons nearby. I ate them immediately, and popped a few of them in my coffee to make a mocha. :)

The Return of the Yeti:

Sea Lice for Dinner?

I read an article today that supported an amazing documentary I once saw about a woman who set out to study Orcas. Her research led her to discover fish farming and how the spread of sea lice was destroying the wild salmon population on the West Coast. The wild salmon were on a migration route and came into contact with sea lice when passing the fish farms.

I cannot find that original documentary link, but here is a bit of the news article from today:

"Wild salmon on Canada's west coast are being driven to extinction by parasites from nearby fish farms, a study claims.

Wild pink salmon around the Broughton Archipelago are declining rapidly and will die out within 10 years if no action is taken, say researchers.

They say the data, published in Science, raises serious concerns about the global expansion of aquaculture.

Sea lice from farms are known to infect wild salmon, but until now the impact on wild populations has been uncertain.

Scientists say commercial open-net salmon farms are a "haven" for sea lice - naturally occurring parasites that attach to the skin and muscle of salmon.

Mature fish can survive being infested by a few lice but tiny juvenile salmon are particularly vulnerable to attack.

"Salmon farming breaks a natural law," explained study co-author Alexandra Morton, director of the Salmon Coast Field Station, located in the Broughton Archipelago.

"In the natural system, the youngest salmon are not exposed to sea lice because the adult salmon that carry the parasite are offshore. But fish farms cause a deadly collision between the vulnerable young salmon and sea lice. They are not equipped to survive this, and they don't." *BBC News source

The article mentions a possible solution of moving the farms out of the paths of wild salmon. Another "solution" was to keep the farmed salmon in enclosed pens to try to prevent the spread of sea lice. It's so frustrating how the potential solutions in place do not even address the actual problem here. How many more grossly unnatural environments can we create so that we can kill and eat animals, and then be surprised at the problems we've created because of it?

Most people do not look into where their fish comes from. I was disgusted at the sight of fish farms and of commercial fishing as well. It only takes a few images to figure out why I have no desire to eat fish and would never feel like I am "missing out" on it:





Over-fishing, destruction of the environment, and bycatch animals are enough to realize that fish are just as destructive to kill as are cow and chickens. With the fact that fish do feel and that they are not treated humanely in any way, I could never participate in eating fish or crustaceans. (or any animal at all.)

"You need fish for the Omega somethings!" Yeah, just like we need cow's milk for calcium?

The Omega 3 issue is one I hear a lot from proponents of eating fish. It's easy to substitute your source of Omega 3's though. Which one looks like a healthier source to you?

Dead fish:

Flaxseeds:

Sources of Omega 3's for vegans:

"Vegans can get omega-3 fatty acids by eating flax seeds or flax oil every day. A more reliable but more expensive non-animal animal source of EPA and DHA is from algae or phytoplanton. Indeed, this is were fish get their EPA and DHA since they don’t manufacture their own. *Modern Psychiatry source

It's interesting how cow's milk has calcium added, and how salmon do not actually manufacture the Omega 3's. Why would we rely on these animals for what we need, when we can go to a different source?

Update! I forgot to add in the most common source of Omega 3's! Nuts and nut oils! (Thank you, Ash, for pointing this out!) I mostly hear of walnuts as a great source, but also many nut oils:

"Nut oils are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E. Walnut oil is highest in omega-3s. Nut oils contain saturated as well as unsaturated fats. Consider using nut oils in homemade salad dressing or in cooking. When cooking with nut oils, remember that they respond differently to heat than do vegetable oils. Nut oil, if overheated, can become bitter. Just like with nuts, use nut oil in moderation to restrict overall calorie and fat intake." *Mayo Clinic source

When I read articles like that of the sea lice, I am happy that I do not partake in the killing of animals. It's nice when you are comfortable with your diet because you know, without a doubt, that it's the best thing for you and for the environment. An added bonus of being vegan: when I make my morning breakfast shake and add my Tablespoon of flax oil, I won't have to peek into the cup and check for sea lice. ;)

Trip to the Animal Shelter

~ looking for a home ~

With the passing of our bunny, Smokey, we knew we had the supplies and room for a new bunny. We searched online for some unwanted adult bunny to give a home to. I knew we wanted one that was maybe harder to place than a cute fluffy little baby bunny, so we searched on www.petfinder.com. (What a great site!) Pet Finder linked us to hundreds of unwanted bunnies in our area. Amongst the bunnies, we saw two that were rescued by the Spencer Animal Control. I called to find out that these two bunnies were not placed yet and had been rescued as far back as April! The manager, Carol, informed me that she was giving up hope of them finding homes. That's when we came in!

No bunny will replace Smokey, but it was still nice to offer these ladies a safe, warm home full of veggies and hay. Here is one of the bunnies we took home:

~ "Carrot" ~

She is HUGE!! She's a sweet girl, and we'll get more photos of her and her sister later in the week. Her new sister is very shy, and I think the camera flash would be too much for her! ;)

While there at the shelter, we took a look around at the many homeless cats. They were well cared for, but it was still very sad to see them wanting so much attention. I wanted to take them all home, but all I can do is get the word out about the Spencer Animal Control and Shelter, and hope that people will adopt instead of buy animals. These kitties were beautiful and have nothing wrong with them, aside from no owners!

Check out some photos of these adorable kitties:

~ kitty with an eye infection ~

~ Mommy kitty and her kittens ~

~ Calico ~

~ A kitty that I wanted so badly! ~

~ Here he is again. His elderly owner is dying of cancer, and she hoped this kitty would find a great home. ~

~ "Pick me! ~

~ I'm partial to the name "Minnie." Check out her eyes. :) ~

*********

This is a long post, but it's important to show this. I'd like to add a few video clips from the shelter. These kitties are really sweet. I wish I had room to adopt more, despite my allergies to them! They are beautiful and social and were abandoned for various reasons, but are deserving of a great home. I hope just seeing them helps get the word out there to consider adoption from a shelter. If you have room and the desire for the best sort of company you can think of, look up www.petfinder.com.

A few videos from today. Thanks for reading my blog and for watching:

Stuffed Acorn Squash

A quick recipe with a few modifications from Student's Go Vegan Cookbook made a quick and great dinner.


I ran out of mushrooms, so I used white canelli beans and green peas too! At first I was going to skip the maple syrup listed in the recipe, but I'm glad I didn't. The syrup baked right into the squash and was really good, and not too sweet as I had expecting. I could have eaten the squash plain, but the stuffing was too good to miss! Britty and I each had half and it was more than enough.



Those look like nuts in the photo, but those are the white canelli beans. I would have loved mushrooms in this, but the beans made up for it, and I may keep them in next time, even if I have mushrooms on hand!

Hope you're all staying warm! It's freeeeeezing out here!! :)

No more bunnies

With the recent and sudden loss of our bunny, Smokey, we are bunny-less for the first time in 9 years. I've gotten so used to giving them our left-over veggies and breads. I keep putting cilantro and carrots aside forgetting that Smokey is not there to eat them anymore. Britty made a nice post about her here:

Smokey

Britty and I painted this stone for our baby to put in the backyard where she is now buried:


I've been looking into adopting a bunny, and I cannot believe how many homeless ones there are. The shelters are full of them, and it's sad to think of them sitting in their cages all day. Some are in foster homes, others are in shelters, and I found a few in "animal control." :( A great site for finding homeless animals is PetFinder.com. I've found endless pages of bunnies in my area that need a home. They typically come spayed or neutered, and the cost to adopt takes care of what the facility has put in to rescue the animal and possibly help out the ones who were not yet adopted. I called one place who had the bunnies that were not the youngest or the most colorful. The super cute baby ones will place faster than the older ones, I'd guess, so we will look for one like Smokey: full grown, abandoned by their owner, and very happy to give us a chance.

None of these bunnies will replace Smokey, but since we have the room, the supplies, and the desire to spoil a rescued bunny, this may make us feel just a little bit better.

Viva Granola - Online Vegan Shop

Yay! My package came today!! :) I've been so excited since I first read about Gaia's new online vegan shop! I was lucky (and fast) enough to be her very first customer. <3 <3 Check out what I got!

Adorable logo, huh?


My stash!!! :)


Zooming in closer on those adorable bunny buttons and the chocolate filled candy:


Perk lip balm! :P As Gaia would say, "Ils sentent si bon qu'on voudrait les manger!" (I hope I didn't just ask you to marry me again, Gaia!)


The DVD I have been wanting for a long time now:


*********************

Thank you to Gaia and Viva Granola! I loved my package and even my free gift! :P The site is so cute and easy to shop in; I'll definitely be back there! Check it out for yourself!

www.vivagranola.com

<3 <3 <3 <3

Birthday!

Happy 11th Birthday to my biggest baby, BJ! :) :) What a cutie. He got spoiled with some treats and a new bed:


Britty has a bit more about his day on her blog: ***clickeh!***

********************

I have to rave again about one of my favorite Websites: FitDay. It's a health site geared to help you track your goals and current weight. This is not so much about losing weight as it is a general log of your health. It calculates nutritional values of the foods, tracks fat and calories, protein, vitamins, etc... you can add custom foods (like all the vegan ones!) and also keep a journal and an activity log. It's good stuff, and it's a challenge to get all the right vitamins in sometimes.

Today, I checked my daily progress and saw I fell behind a lot in calcium for the day. After meeting with my nutritionist last week, I was re-energized to focus more on health. (by the way, all blood work came back fine, so I still laugh when people ask how I get my protein or B12.) Anyhow, I was short on calcium, so got out my coolest kitchen friend - The Magic Bullet! I made a quick shake of:

Rice Dream rice milk
Silk vanilla soy yogurt
Calcium/Magnesium liquid supplement
macadamia nuts
cranberries
dairy free chocolate syrup

A few buzzes on the Bullet and I had a quick dessert loaded with calcium:


With Fitday, I saw I hadn't eaten enough calories for the day, so I wasn't concerned about the fattening macadamia nuts in there! They are too good to pass up anyhow! :)

If you are looking to track your health and/or fitness progress, definitely check out Fitday! It's free and it's very helpful.

Soup, Dessert, and Coffee

It was fun reading through lots of Thanksgiving blogs and seeing what you all made! :) I think one of my favorites this year was the Cranberry Sauce from ED & BV. I'll definitely do it again at Christmas!

With the leftovers gone, I'm searching blogs for ideas. Without the ability to be creative, I simply stole a dinner off of Vincent's blog:

Asparagus Soup & Grilled Cheeze:

Here is the link to Vincent's: *stolen!*

It was good stuff! I read his blog before dinner and went to the store with it in mind. I grabbed the asparagus knowing I'd be attempting this soup. I added in some parsnips, brown rice, and parsley to mine. I put it in the food processor for a bit, then transfered it back to the veggie broth. It was very good, and very easy to make. I loved seeing Britty get that many veggies in one sitting too!

Dessert: Vegan Baklava

This was too addicting!! My new "personal chef," Anthony, whipped this up with me. We fought the Filo dough and guessed at the filling. Almonds, walnuts, EB butter and agave nectar with cinnamon is all it took to make us happy!

Coffee:

Not your typical coffee. I found this firelog at Whole Foods. Java_Log smelled so good and I loved that it was using all recycled grounds. Among its many benefits, these are a few listed on their site:

Environmentally Friendly (Recycle, Re-Use, Renew):

* Utilizes a renewable, natural vegetable wax

* 100% recycled packaging

* Saves trees

* Diverts 10 Million Kg/year of coffee waste from landfills

In their FAQ section, I had to laugh at this question:

Will Java-Log keep me awake all night from caffeine emissions?
Java-Log does not emit caffeine when burnt, so you will not have to worry about being kept up all night.

:P I would not have even thought to ask that. :P

When burning, there was no coffee smell, but the crackling sound was nice! It was a new product to me, so I thought I'd blog it in case you have a fireplace in need of a coffee boost!

Thanksgiving Turkey

Along with the Tofurky comes the yearly turkey adoption! The photo of an adopted one (or two! or three!) from the Farm Sanctuary will hopefully get some friends to realize how barbaric sitting around a dead carcass is.

My sister adopted "Feather!" Yay! Feather can eat her weight in pumpkin pie, which is why she connected with her right away. (I'm not being mean! My sister told me this and is damn proud!)


I adopted Pearl. How pretty is she?!

Britty adopted a turkey with the most favorite name, Luna:

As a surprise (or until he reads this blog...) we both picked a turkey for Jamie to adopt. Her name is Cicada:
Don't you just love her, Jamie? Go build a coop because she'll be arriving next week! ;)

If you'd like to adopt some turkeys from the Farm Sanctuary for the holidays, click here to read more and order one online. :)

Thanks to my sister for poking me to blog about these lovely ladies!

Related Links:

"Free Range" and "Organic" Turkeys

Poultry Factory Farming

Turkey Breeding Facility Info

Turkey Rescues

New England Foliage

Sadly, I missed the Boston VegFest this weekend. I will be living it out through your blogs though, so I hope lots of you went!! :)

Instead of learning about new veg foods, meeting my blogger friends, and picking up literature and books that I'd love so much, I was off photographing a wedding. While there, I photographed some of the backdrop we used for our couple. I have not had much time to enjoy the colors out here, but it was nice to stop for a moment and see what I've been missing:

Taken on the grounds of Butternut Farms Golf Course,
Stow, Massachusetts

I missed out on VegFest, but I hope you all had a great time there! Enjoy the rest of Fall. Pick apples for me! Make lots of pumpkin foods too!! :)

PS> I took these photos because of you, Jamie. I wanted to get a jump start on our Fall photo project you mentioned! <3

Pizza Party!

We're here in our new home and finally with Internet access! Woo!! I love the new home, even though we are surrounded by boxes and more boxes. The kitchen is fun to cook in, and I'm already starting:

Pizza party!


One pre-made vegan dough and pizza sauce

Corn meal on the pizza stone

A bit of olive oil on the dough

Lots of herbs: basil & oregano <3

Minced garlic

2 kinds of vegan cheeze: FYH Cheddar & Mozzarella mixed

Ready for the oven:


Just out of the oven. (Looks the same as before baking, huh?)

Definitely very easy, and we both loved it. I never really liked vegan cheeze before, but the FYH ones are good and they melt, even though it takes a long time to do so! (Must be patient!)

We're having fun decorating for Halloween, even though the place is not really set up yet at all. (Decorations are important!!) It's great having so much space and so much privacy for once in our lives. *ahhh* I also enjoy having a big vegan kitchen. The fleet of vegan cookbooks are out, and I'm so ready to unpack all my pans and kitchen gadgets and get to work! I am really, really looking forward to making Susan's Impossible Pumpkin Pie again this Fall. I used to look forward to Fall because of the weather; I'm more excited for that pumpkin pie now.

Hope you are all doing well. :)

Trip Pics

You are all so smart! Yes, my trip was to the UK with Jamie. Check out this cute map I found online! :) We were in the London area for our trip:


I have a crazy amount of photos from the trip, so I'll post a few here in random order. :) One evening, I made Jamie drive around endlessly again while I happily looked for pheasants, rabbits, random mole-like creatures, and a billion sheep. (oh! and fox too!) We stopped to take a little hike up to a scenic spot in Oxfordshire. (Correct me if I have these names wrong, Jamie!) One of the views:



We were lucky enough to get a great full moon that night. See my sheep friends lined up in the right-hand side of the photo? Awww. I wasn't used to hearing the "baaaa's" everywhere we went, but I loved it:



In that same spot was the Uffington White Horse. Here is the entire horse from an aerial Web photo:



To get an idea of its size, here I am sitting near its eye. (I still say it's a cat...)



Jamie drove me all through villages and to some great scenic places in and around London. We also went to the Oracle Mall in Reading and had lunch at Wagamama. They have a separate vegan menu if you ask! Here's what we got:

Jamie's tofu and noodle soup with veggies:


My rice and tofu dish (with no egg!)


Britishness in Wagamama:


Another scenic trip with a great view.


That photo above had something to do with a historical site where people were hung. Yeah, a bit spooky! Another spooky trip we took was to a tomb called the West Kennet Long Barrow. We went at dusk and were the only ones there. Here was the entrance to the burial chamber that we walked into with a tiny flashlight: *insert spooky music*


I found this on the web and thought it was interesting about this site:

"The latest excavations also revealed that the side chambers occur inside an exact isosceles triangle, whose height is twice the length of its base. It is thought that this tomb was in use for as long as 1,000 years and at the end of this period the passage and chamber were filled to the roof by the Beaker people with earth and stones, among which were found pieces of pottery, bone tools, and beads. A local legend tells how this tomb is visited on Midsummer Day by a ghostly priest and a large white hound." *1

I won't be visiting there on "Midsummer Day," that's for sure.

OK, time for some quick photos:

Glastonbury Tor


A village that I cannot remember the name of:


Re-thatching a roof:



Pretending to drive Jamie's car and also loving his "Harry Potter" keys!


A view from inside the pub where we had vegan beer: (click here for a list of vegan beer!)


Trying to catch a souvenier for Britty:


Jamie's House:


Our images from Avebury:












We went to lots of vegan restaurants and got lots of "take-aways." :) I had British chips... a definite diet killer. Chips and ale. What more would we need for a complete meal? We found vegan hot and sour soup, and I got Jamie hooked. :) :) He's got me addicted to mushroom pate now though, so we are even. We were too enthusiastic about a purchase we made... a toastie maker! (you may think we're lame now, but you will be addicted too!) Here's a pic from Amazon:


Just add Cheezly (Yes!! I had some!!) and toast away! :P

I found the shops to be much more vegan friendly and was shocked that the beauty products had the Vegan Society trademark on them. How easy is that?! (I stocked up on some like this: Simple brand.) I enjoyed the pubs and also the vegan beer Jamie found. (I'll have to ask him which one was my favorite! It had a bird on the label, and that's all I know! Maybe I'd remember the name if I drank less of it...)

We are moving soon, which is why we have been very busy! Yep, it's packing time again! I will soon have a kitchen that can hold my collection of kitchen gadgets that I love so much, so I expect more cooking. :)

One last thing, thank you to all the viewers from Chicago who checked out my blog! :) I hope you liked the foods on here, and I will certainly be making more when I have my new kitchen. If you ever have questions about anything, you can post them here, or just email me. Thanks for reading through here though!!

Final photo from the trip:

PS> You know I'm lying about the house photo, right? ;) Jamie's house looks a *little* like that though. :D


Source: *1

Vacation!

Thank you for all the comments and for stopping by my blog while I was away! I had a great "last minute" vacation to a place in the world in which I had never properly seen. (Running through the airport for a flight connection doesn't count!) So, can you guess from the photo where I went? :)

I'm happy to be back, but I miss lots about the trip. I will try to post more about it, since we had the best vegan foods, the most gorgeous scenery, and some awesome sunsets and full moons. Most importantly, I had the best company. :)

Minnie - One Year Later

One year ago today, I got the call that my Minnie had passed away in the night. I can't believe that was a full year ago. We were never so devastated and not everyone understood. I had never had my heart broken until that day. I didn't know how to get on after that, and one thing that made me feel better was to acknowledge that I'd never, ever get over her or forget her or replace her. I knew that a year from then, I'd still be missing her.

Minnie in her last week with IV in her paw to help flush out her kidneys.

She has made me question traditional vets' medicine, and also the ethical aspects of having "pets" at all and the methods in which they are acquired. I know I'd never again take on any animals I could not afford to care for completely. I'd never buy a pet store animal or even go to a breeder. I'd never have my pets have babies. We will only rescue pets from shelters if we choose to have any more at all. Until then, I will care for my remaining babies keeping in mind that they are not "pets," but they are my family.

Minnie's shelf with photos and her urn is the only shelf we hung up in our apartment. When we soon move to a house, she will have a place there as well. I knew I'd never stop missing her.

Easy Pasta Dinner

A recent quick dinner of ours was pasta salad:



We used Brown Rice Vegetable Spirals from Tinkyada (wheat-free, gluten-free)



We added some Vegenaise from Follow Your Heart:



...then added onions, carrots, olives, salt, pepper, dill, and a splash of Rice Milk so that I could cut back on the vegan mayo.

I added Dulse Granules (with garlic) to mine. :P Next time, I'll add beans.

True Villain of Lost

Britty thought I was strange for laughing at this video. I love Lost though, and especially love seeing the true evil behind all the madness on the island.

If you are not caught up on Lost yet and do not want any spoilers, please skip this video.

LOST

Being Spoiled

My friends are so sweet. I was lucky enough to have two belated birthday dinners recently!

The first dinner was with Lexx, and we went to Nancy Chang's in Worcester, MA. We had soy shrimp in a sweet and sour sauce. It was very different, but good! I'm glad Lexx suggested it. I took some home, and Britty loved it too!! :P


Add Lexx as your MySpace friend! She's vegan and is always fighting for animal rights. Thanks for taking me out, Lexx!!

My next dinner was with Mary, and we went to El Basha in Westboro, MA. They have three locations, and this is their newest:


El Basha is a Lebanese restaurant that made it easy to order vegan. They have a small vegetarian menu, and my waiter kept the butter (and all animal products) out of my dishes. I ordered a "Pumpkin Kibbee" appetizer that was large enough to be my dinner itself:


I also ordered the "Vegetarian Port Saiid:"


With a side of hummus, we took lots home! It was all very good though, and it was great to see Mary again!! We've been friends since the 7th grade. :P


Thanks, Mary!! :)

I told you I was being spoiled!

Farm Stand, Upton, MA

It was nice to take the back roads today and skip my usual highway trip to pick up Britty. I found a farm stand we used to go to when we were little. Kelly's Farm in Upton, MA was perfect for finding some ingredients I need for a few planned dinners this week. Here are some pics:




My basket sitting on top of the citrus! :) I got:

Peppers (2 red, 2 orange, and 3 green)
Beets
Parsley
Mango
Apples
Scallions
Lemons
Limes
Summer Squash
Zucchini

..all for $20