Friday, July 25, 2008

Random Fridays: J-41 Kicks & Vegan Etsy


Straight from my favorite online spot for shoes, Alternative Outfitters. Are they not completely adorable? I wanted to purchase these before heading off to Portland and San Francisco (by the by, I do have half of my over 300 photos uploaded to Flickr and notes about what I want to post about the trip but still, no time to do the post justice. I am hoping there will be time before my next trip, whenever that is) but they were sold-out of my size. Bummer because I really could have used these well-cushioned and arch-supporting sneakers while tromping around Portland and up the hills of San Francisco. Now that I am home, though, the right size is mine. I will be rocking them until I am forced to wear socks in September or October.
If you need one more reason to procrastinate, check out the exhaustive blog, Vegan Etsy. One of my favorite team members so far is Emma's K9 Kitchen, who sells recipes for dog treats. I'm sure Luckie would go peanutty for the peanut butter carob cake. In addition to the seeming deliciousness of these treats, 100% of the proceeds to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary. Thanks to the latest Vegan Freak Radio podcast episode for the heads up.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Canine Cake & Sunday Brunch

The first recipe I made from My Sweet Vegan was the Canine Cake, of course. After Luckie's health challenges in this, his 14th year, I figured he deserved a cake. He hasn't touched commercial pet food in well over 10 years and he has certainly had his fair share of baked goods passed his way from the table to floor but he's never had an entire cake made for him.

The cake is simple and wholesome--nothing but flour, baking soda, shredded carrots, peanut butter, canola oil and applesauce. It's a cinch to make--just briefly mix all the ingredients together until you have a consistency more akin to cookie dough than cake batter, place into two small ramekins (or a small baking dish), and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.



Although it's not very sweet, the end result is incredibly moist and like a mildly nutty carrot cake. Add some sugar or even just serve with some jam and I'm sure even the human dessert craving will be sated. In fact, Brian stole a generous chunk from Luckie this morning. But Brian said that is only fair since Luckie has helped himself to our meals more than once.



Oh, the dog seemed to like it too.





On a recent epidsode of Animal Voices, Isa Chandra Moskowitz said that Portlanders really love their brunch, particularly biscuits and gravy. Brian and I found this to be true when we were in Portland a few weeks ago. We had tofu scramble, smoky kale, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, and a berry crumble at Sweet Pea Baking Company's weekly Sunday brunch. Sweet Pea does not need to do brunch because their marionberry muffin was the best muffin I've ever had in my entire life and the Elvis cake (bananas and peanut butter and chocolate oh my) completely silenced Brian and I as we sat in the rental car in an Oregon state park eating it instead of hiking. That's more than enough. But they do brunch too because they care and because they are vegan angels.

Inspired by their brunch, Brian and I cooked up the tofu scramble from The New Becoming Vegetarian, which features nutritional yeast. I must be earning more and more vegan stripes every day because now I like the stuff and can't wait to use it again. Instead of potatoes, I sliced up a green plantain and fried it in a small amount of canola oil before blotting and lightly salting them. Add some Amy's meatless grain and vegetable-based sausages and you are good to go.



Canine Cake photos by Brian & Joselle; Brunch photo by Brian

Friday, July 18, 2008

Random Fridays: Guess Who Is Going to School?


Congratulations, Brian, on your admittance into Drexel University’s College of Information Science and Technology! Please allow me to disagree with your modest claims that this is really no big deal. Yes, it is! Not everyone is admitted into graduate school and not everyone takes the time and effort to go through the various steps of choosing and applying to a program while working full-time, taking care of a house, and doing the whole long-distance relationship dance with their girlfriends, not to mention eating, sleeping, and showering. I know you will succeed in school, make lots of genuine connections (‘cause that’s just what you do), and go on to be a top-notch archivist. You will probably invent a new, cutting-edge archiving system that will blow Mr. Dewey out of the water. Have fun and I love you.

(Picture is of the Library of Congress, Washington DC, where the Storycorps Brian and I recorded in Grand Central Terminal last year is archived. Maybe he'll be able to find it there after he's done with school.)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Feeding Philly's Veggies: Miss Rachel's Traveling Fare

While perusing uwishnu's feed today, I came across this entry on Miss Rachel's Traveling Fare, a vegetarian and vegan personal food service based in Philadelphia and owned and operated by Rachel Klein. From her MySpace page:

Miss Rachel's Traveling Fare is a personal chef, catering and consulting service in Philadelphia, Pa, offering menu-planning and delicious homestyle vegan and vegetarian cuisine...

Whether you're craving comfort food, want a few meals made for you (and delivered) to enjoy throughout the week, want to please your vegan sweetie, need healthy veg food to take in a cooler to the beach (yes! the beach!), have been on the road and are tired of Taco Bell and peanut butter straight out of the jar, or have a soiree (that's French) to host, Miss Rachel is your gal.

By the looks of the sample vegan four-course and sample gluten-free three-course menus on MySpace and the scrumptious picture of sweet and sour tofu served over coconut and lemongrass jasmine rice posted on uwishunu, Miss Rachel is definitely barking up my tree. According to Miss Rachel herself, she does most of the cooking in her kitchen now and delivers it instead of cooking in clients' homes, so the prices are a lower than what is listed in the uwishnu post.

For more information:
Miss Rachel's Traveling Fare MySpace
themostesshostess@gmail.com and tourmommy@gmail.com

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Luckie. With Bone.


luckie with bone, originally uploaded by joselle.

Luckie with a greenie-type bone in his mouth. It is unusual for him to just let it sit in his mouth but since he had a second seizure, he's on a med that makes him a little more loopy and sedate. This is why I could take this picture. Otherwise, he would never let me get this close to him during bone time.

So, yes. He's still doing okay.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Links to Discussions on Veganism and Animal Rights

I am unable to post now due to work responsibilities, Luckie's continuing health issues, and my RSI. But I have been keeping my eyes and ears open to vegan happenings on the internets and wanted to share some interesting links I've come across in the last week or so:

* "So the point i am getting at is that we need to be careful not to view ourselves, vegans, as standing upon an ethical pedestal. Just because we don’t consume animal products does not give us moral high ground. If we wish veganism as a movement to grow, then veganism must become informed by all movements for justice, compassion, and non-violence. Rather than limiting ourselves to non-humyn animal suffering, we must also critically approach ability, gender, class, race, age, size, sexuality, and other categorizations that have been used to create violent hierarchies. To do this, we must put a great deal of effort on our own persynal growth and awareness." from "Getting to the Core Principles of Veganism" by vegankid.

* A discussion on the convergence of animals, work and class on this Animal Voices interview with Jason Hribal entitled, "Animals Are Part of the Working Class."

* Vegan and animal abolitionist scholar Gary Francione on VeganFreak Radio, parts 1 and 2.

* I had the pleasure of listening to and briefly speaking with lauren Ornelas at the Let Live Conference in Portland when Brian and I were there a few weeks ago. I want to write about that experience here and on Vegans of Color but until then, The Food Empowerment Project is one lauren Ornelas' endeavors. Here's an interview with her from Satya magazine.

* On a more lighthearted note, I just ordered this adorable passport case from the tinymeat shop on etsy. I love bears (and Brian thinks I am a bear...one of those sillysecretcouplesthings) and the case pictures a bear who travels. That is so me.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Coming Soon: PDX & SFO. But First, a Picture & Poem

One of my best meals in Portland, Black Dragon Noodle Bowl from The Red and Black Cafe
Brian and I are home
Back from Portland and hillsides
But work awaits me
(so here is a teaser picture along with an unorthodox and bad haiku)