Vegan

I LOVE everything about this song. Listen intently, I hope it speaks to you as loudly as it speaks to me.

Post coming tomorrow! This week I'm a stop on the blog tour for Whole Grain Vegan Baking, so check back tomorrow for the review and give away!

Some people are born controversial, some achieve controversy, and others have controversy thrust upon them. I assume that by now most of you have heard the rumors about Toronto’s illustrious mayor Rob Ford.  It seems, allegedly, that there is an alleged video of the alleged mayor smoking some alleged crack cocaine with two alleged drug [...]

Brunch: Tofu Benedict over Biscuits and Walnut Chocolate Scone with Plum Jam

Cinnamon Focaccia for Victoria Day brunch-- see below for details I'm working on my flatbread experiments, plus a recipe for a virtual potluck blog post this coming Thursday, and testing a recipe or two for another author friend -- delayed due to 4 lovely days of family visiting. My youngest daughter and her husband and son came from Vancouver to stay for the whole long weekend. We don't get to see them very often, so it was wonderful to spend time with them, despite the variable weather. My daughter's siblings all came to spend time, as well, on different days. So, there was lots of conversation and, of course eating. Several days ahead, I made some of my no-knead crusty bread dough (4 loaves-worth) to store in the refrigerator and bake fresh when we needed it. It came in handy! Most of the meals I made over the weekend were decided on pretty much on the spot because my plans to make up the menus ahead of time were thwarted by time taken up by shopping, cleaning house, etc. (that's my excuse, anyway!). But we managed to eat well, nonetheless. I should have taken more pictures of the food, but I forgot to most of the time, in the rush to get everything on the table at the same time and everyone to the table,etc. But here are a few pics and menus... For Friday night, my husband made his famous spaghetti sauce, so we had delicious pasta and green salad and crusty no-knead bread (from my book "World Vegan Feast") for dinner, and Chocolate Mudpie Cake with vegan Coffee Buttercream Icing for a little birthday celebration for my youngest grandson, who turned 9 a few days earlier. Homemade crusty no-knead bread Saturday morning we all had whatever we felt like for breakfast-- whether it be toast, cereal, fruit, etc., along with my husband's great coffee for lattes. My daughter brought me a big bag of whole yellow dried peas from Vancouver (they are expensive around here, when you can find them), so I made some of my vegan French Canadian-Style Pea Soup for lunch... We had what my son-in-law termed a "truly Canadian multi-cultural meal", since the soup was accompanied by Armenian flatbread that they brought from Vancouver, along with my homemade hummus and Turkish Muhammara (a delicious roasted red pepper, walnut, garlic and pomegranate molasses spread from my book "The Fiber for Life Cookbook"). We visited friends in the afternoon (sharing some of the leftover birthday cake with them), and before I knew it, it was dinnertime! We had more pasta, in the form of bowtie pasta (farfalle) in a vegan creamy sauce with mushrooms, Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage vegan sausage and Soy Curls, wine, fresh spinach, garlic, basil and vegan parmesan, with some Daiya mozza stirred in. It turned out very well for a made-up-on-the-spot dish. Sunday was a glorious sunny day! After a another simple breakfast (too much food the day before!), my oldest daughter came over from our sister island to the east, and we headed out for a family hike with the dogs. The island is so green and lush right now and we saw eagles, hawks and ravens and, I hope, walked off a few calories! Grampa and youngest grandson leading the family hike on Sunday Ringo sunning his belly on a sunny Sunday afternoon... Lunch on Sunday was a spicy beans soup with sweet potato and kale, from this blog, which I made with red beans instead of blackeyed peas this time, along with more crusty bread... Cousins playing cards... Sunday's dinner was steamed brown basmati rice with two stir-fries-- asparagus, onions, portobello mushrooms and marinated tofu in a vegan "oyster sauce" (actually made with mushrooms)-flavored cooking sauce, and a spicy Chinese mock "roast duck" and bell pepper dish with black bean sauce. This morning we had a brunch with my daughter and 3 granddaughters coming over from "the big island" (Vancouver island) and my son

Cinnamon Focaccia for Victoria Day brunch-- see below for details I'm working on my flatbread experiments, plus a recipe for a virtual potluck blog post this coming Thursday, and testing a recipe or two for another author friend -- delayed due to 4 lovely days of  family visiting. My youngest daughter and her husband and son came from Vancouver to stay for the whole long weekend.  We don't get to see them very often, so it was wonderful to spend time with them, despite the variable weather.  My daughter's siblings all came to spend time, as well, on different days.  So, there was lots of conversation and, of course eating. Several days ahead, I made some of my no-knead crusty bread dough (4 loaves-worth) to store in the refrigerator and bake fresh when we needed it.  It came in handy!  Most of the meals I made over the weekend were decided on pretty much on the spot because my plans to make up the menus ahead of time were thwarted by time taken up by shopping, cleaning house, etc. (that's my excuse, anyway!).  But we managed to eat well, nonetheless. I should have taken more pictures of the food, but I forgot to most of the time, in the rush to get everything  on the table at the same time and everyone to the table,etc.  But here are a few pics and menus... For Friday night, my husband made his famous spaghetti sauce, so we had delicious pasta and green salad and crusty no-knead bread (from my book "World Vegan Feast") for dinner, and Chocolate Mudpie Cake with vegan Coffee Buttercream Icing for a little birthday celebration for my youngest grandson, who turned 9 a few days earlier. Homemade crusty no-knead bread Saturday morning we all had whatever we felt like for breakfast-- whether it be toast, cereal, fruit, etc., along with my husband's great coffee for lattes. My daughter brought me a big bag of whole yellow dried peas from Vancouver (they are expensive around here, when you can find them), so I made some of my vegan French Canadian-Style Pea Soup for lunch... We had what my son-in-law termed a "truly Canadian multi-cultural meal", since the soup was accompanied by Armenian flatbread that they brought from Vancouver, along with my homemade hummus and Turkish Muhammara (a delicious roasted red pepper, walnut, garlic and pomegranate molasses spread from my book "The Fiber for Life Cookbook").  We visited friends in the afternoon (sharing some of the leftover birthday cake with them), and before I knew it, it was dinnertime!  We had more pasta, in the form of bowtie pasta (farfalle) in a vegan creamy sauce with mushrooms, Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage vegan sausage and Soy Curls, wine, fresh spinach, garlic, basil and vegan parmesan, with some Daiya mozza stirred in.  It turned out very well for a made-up-on-the-spot dish. Sunday was a glorious sunny day!  After a another simple breakfast (too much food the day before!), my oldest daughter came over from our sister island to the east, and we headed out for a family hike with the dogs.  The island is so green and lush right now and we saw eagles, hawks and ravens and, I hope, walked off a few calories! Grampa and youngest grandson leading the family hike on Sunday Ringo sunning his belly on a sunny Sunday afternoon...  Lunch on Sunday was a spicy beans soup with sweet potato and kale, from this blog, which I made with red beans instead of blackeyed peas this time, along with more crusty bread... Cousins playing cards...   Sunday's dinner was steamed brown basmati rice with two stir-fries-- asparagus, onions, portobello mushrooms and marinated tofu in a vegan "oyster sauce" (actually made with mushrooms)-flavored cooking sauce, and a spicy Chinese mock "roast duck" and bell pepper dish with black bean sauce. This morning we had a brunch with my daughter and 3 granddaught

Uncle Sam Cereal and Almond Milk for breakfast. Intense tiny flakes. A little bit goes a long way.Cucumber and Cream Cheese on a Toasted Everything Bagel for lunch. A lot goes a little way.Field Roast Celebration Roast with Imagine Mushroom Gravy and Roasted Cauliflower for dinner. Just right.The other half a piece of Sweet & Natural Carrot Cake for dessert. Hard to believe I always hated Carrot Cake till the last year or so. Carrot was the Cake that was always thrust upon me at social functions. When served free choice, it's so much better.Will I get my *ss into my cube tomorrow? If so, that will certainly impact my meals.

If you love the menu at Out the Door (and you know I do) then you should really get to thee to the original, and dine at The Slanted Door. It takes forever to get a reservation, but the location (in the Ferry Building, with sweeping views of the Bay Bridge), service, and vegan offerings, can't be beat. We had all our standard OTD faves on our visit last weekend, along with copious amounts of a lovely muscadet (thank you, kickass sommelier), and this tasty and refreshing treat to cap off our visit:That is their coconut lime sorbet and it alone is worth the trip. After some spicy lemongrass tofu and smoky chard, it is the perfect way to end your time at The Slanted Door.I'm off to NJ for my cousin's wedding this week, so stay tuned for some NJ eats soon! Have a great week, y'all.

Produce: for growing, eating, and portraiture! Giuseppe Arcimboldo painted these crazy portraits/still lifes/reversible portraits that were simultaneously still lifes in 16th century Italy, including a series of the four seasons. Those four paintings were later turned into massive sculptures by Philip Haas, and they are now on display through October 27 at the New York Botanical Garden. Just look at Summer! Amazing, right? Apparently some of the vegetables—like the eggplant and the corn, and is that an artichoke?—were brand-new to Europe at the time. Get more details at The Salt blog, and let’s go visit them and appreciate their massive scale for ourselves. When the rain lets up, of course. [Photo courtesy New York Botanical Garden via NPR]

I had the strangest week, where it seemed like all my non-veg friends and acquaintances couldn’t wait to talk to ME about veganism. More specifically, they couldn’t wait to talk to me about Alexandra Jamieson and her veganism no-more. I heard the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) interview with Alex when I was driving in to work on Wednesday, and I was steaming by the time I got there. I was angry for a number of reasons, but mostly because I felt, as a vegan, I was being represented in mainstream media as some kind of intolerant, hate-filled extremist – which is not at all an image I, or ANY of the vegans I know, identify with. Today, I am finally ready to steam down and talk about what bugged me – and the crux of it is something I think needs to change in the vegan movement: our quickness to judge others and to react harshly — especially anonymously, online. In all the years I have been listening to the CBC this is only the second significant interview I can remember hearing about veganism. It seemed that by the end of the week everyone I knew had either heard that interview, or others that Alex has done recently, about her decision to eat meat after 13 years of eating a vegan diet. To me there is a lot that is newsworthy in the vegan movement – a lot that the general public could benefit from hearing more about – not the least significant being the fact that many thousands of people are changing their lives and reversing disease every day by adopting a healthy plant-based diet. As those who have read The China Study or seen Forks Over Knives know, there is a lot to be excited about. So the first thing that struck me was frustration over the fact that there is all kinds of great news about veganism out there, and what goes mainstream? The story of one person who decides not to be vegan anymore. But to be fair, the reason for the story wasn’t all that. If it hadn’t been for the overwhelming response to Alex’s blog, this story too would likely have passed under the “newsworthy” radar of the mainstream.  And this is where my despair grew. Because the bad press that the vegan movement received this week was brought on by people who are obviously passionate about the movement. I have been vegan for 3 years, and veg for close to 20. This is a lifestyle I will live for the rest of my life – I believe in it completely. I often feel impatient with “the rest of the world,” as many of us do. How can you not feel impatient when you know the terrible suffering that is caused by the consumption of meat – to animals, humans, and the environment? If you are committed to the vegan lifestyle it can be devastating to hear that someone who WAS living a vegan lifestyle, or eating a vegan diet, is no longer doing so – especially when it’s someone who has become somewhat prominent. But at the end of the day, what good does it do anyone to toss around angry, hurtful statements? In this age of technology, where it’s easy to read something online and comment without even adding your name to it, and without having to talk to an actual person, we are often quick to place judgments, and those judgments are often harsh. Out of close to 500 comments on Alex’s blog (where she originally wrote about her decision to eat meat again), the CBC aired only a few. One quoted the writer as saying she hopes Alex gets cancer. And that’s not the worst one. I learned something early in life. Words said in anger can haunt you for the rest of your life. Words written in anger can do even more damage. I agree with one thing in Alex’s post: “Compassion…This was a word I had given to the vegan community completely. But I began to realize that we need to offer compassion for all creatures, all animals, all humans, ourselves, in order to be truly compassionate.” Compassion is something I also link with veganism. In fact I think it is at the heart of true veganism – and that is compassion for all beings. I know that’s sometimes easier said than done.