First Mutual Menu Giveaway: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Something I've wanted to do for quite some time on Mutual Menu is have occasional contests where we give away cookbooks and other items we really love. We're finally getting this rolling after being inspired by Vegan Soapbox's Cookbook Giveaway and Elaine Vigneault's post on why blog giveaways are great.

Our first giveaway is a brand new copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule by vegan cookbook heavyweights, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero (they've also co-authored the recent Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook and Moskowitz created the seminal Vegan with a Vengeance: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock) . Vegan Cupcakes seemed an obvious first choice for many reasons. One, who doesn't love cupcakes? Two, the book is compact, cute, full of scrumptious pictures, and written in a friendly tone. It's also the first vegan cookbook I ever purchased and every creation I've made so far--Golden Vanilla, Apricot-Glazed Almond Cupcakes, and Lychee Cupcakes with Coconut Glaze--has been delicious. Additionally, the book contains many practical tips and troubleshooting for successful cupcake baking so anyone looking to enhance their baking repertoire in general will find much to learn here.

A major deterrent for many when it comes to adopting animal-free eating is the idea that food will not taste good anymore or that some food items, such as baked goods, will be impossible to replicate. I can assure you, you don't need chickens' eggs, cows' milk, and butter to make delectable cakes, cookies, pies, and other treats. Vegan Cupcakes is a testament to this fact.

Brian and I bought this book on Sunday at Robin's Bookstore in Philadelphia, which was one of the places we went to on our first date. It was in Robin's where I first realized I was going to know Brian for a very, very long time.

OK, back to the book, we will pick one person at random and send the cookbook to them. To enter the giveaway, just leave one comment to this post (be sure to include your e-mail address when signing on to comment). Entries will close on May 12, 2008. Unfortunately, to keep shipping costs down and post office visits short, we can only ship the book to those in the USA. Depending on how the first giveaway goes, we may, however, open up later contests to other countries.

Visit The Post Punk Kitchen for recipes and community. Visit Robin's Bookstore and buy some books. Visit Vegan Soapbox and enter their cookbook giveaway too. Please do spread the word and invite others to enter and read as well.

*Picture courtesy of The Post Punk Kitchen.

Random Fridays: Piglets, Painters, Plasma and More

I know I may be one of the last people on the Internets to have heard about Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture,” but better late than never. His lecture was part of a series at Carnegie Mellon Univeristy where members of the university community would share everything they would want to share if it were the last lecture they were ever to give. I finally listened to Dr. Pausch's lecture this week and was definitely moved, not just by the fact that the lecture is among the last Dr. Pausch will give (he is dying of pancreatic cancer), but because I always enjoy learning how people who love their work accomplish that feat.

In life, Dr. Pausch says, you’ve got to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore. I can relate to melancholy Eeyore more than bouncy, cocky Tigger but I’ve decided that I'm neither. I'm more of a Piglet:

A ‘Very Small Animal’ with a generally timid disposition, he often conquers his
fears and seems to want to be brave…Piglet himself can read and write, at least
well enough for short notes.

In honor of all the piglets, why not sponsor a rescued one at Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS)?Being greeted by the pigs when Brian and I first visited last September was one of the highlights of our trip. The pigs were very gracious hosts and allowed us to rub their bellies and coo at their piglets. I loved all the animals there and I pretty much love all animals but I do have a soft spot in my heart for pigs.

A lighthearted blog post I enjoyed this week was on the site, Book A Week with Jen, where one entry explores the long ago and simpler days before Gossip Girl when the Sweet Valley Twins reigned.

This weekend, Brian and I are going to take his mom to the Lee Miller and Frida Kahlo exhibits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). I’ve been dying to see the Kahlo exhibit for months and, though I’m not as familiar with Miller's life and work, after reading a bit about her in a Philly paper, I'm excited to see both exhibits. And yes, as I first time visitor to the PMA, I will be running up those steps a la Rocky.

Brian and I are also donating blood. I’d never donated blood before meeting Brian but he is a veteran. I didn’t know my blood type prior to donating and now I know that Brian and I share the same type, A positive (as a co-worker sarcastically remarked when I told him this fact, "How romantic"). It is the type that, according to the diet book, Eat Right for Your Type, means you should be a vegetarian, which, hey, I agree with. Other blood types should be too, though.

Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur

Last week, I mentioned that Brian went to hear Gene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary, speak at University of Pennsylvania Law School. I would have gone myself but during a work week, it's damn near impossible to get from northern New Jersey to Philadelphia in a timely fashion. Being the amazing person that he is, Brian picked up a copy of Gene Baur's new book, Farm Sanctuary. Not only that, the author also signed the book to both Brian and me, "Thank you for caring."

I was a bit alarmed when I first saw the wrapped package on my bed this weekend (with lovely wrapping paper from the dollar store, no less!). I thought maybe I had forgotten some obscure holiday and had no gifts to bear. No, it was just Brian being his usual awesome self.

I have not started reading it yet but I've been flipping through it and have already been moved to both smiles and tears by the stories and pictures of the animals on the sanctuary and of those still trapped and tortured on factory farms. I can tell that it's incredibly well-written and thoroughly researched so I urge you to pick up a copy to read.

Random Fridays: It's Raining Today

* New, live versions of Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses songs at Daytrotter.

* Did you see The Savages? With a father in a nursing home and an arthritic dog in a wheelchair, it hit very close to my home so I cried through most of the movie One of the funniest, most relate-able moments was each time Laura Linney's character did aerobics to an exercise DVD. Yeah, that's also me. I've been to a gym once in my life and while I loved the elliptical and treadmill, I just can't justify spending that much a month to sweat when I can sweat in my house or on the street for a fraction of the cost. Lately, however, I've been bored with the DVDs I have to I've bought a few new ones.

I know a workout is good when I have the exercise music stuck in my head during my lunch break and the songs are from Karen Voight's Sleek Essentials, a 3-DVD set with cardio, strength training, and flexibility workouts. The cardio includes lower body toning section that will make your butt sore the next day. Cuing in the aerobics section is good but there are enough subtle differences in the moves from other DVDs I have to keep it interesting. Her weight routines are always unique and really work. The workout uses a foam roller and it's worth springing some extra cash to get it. Doing crunches and leg lifts while balancing my back on a foam roller made my whole body shake, it's that hard.

Kathy Smith's Peel off the Pounds Pilates doesn't quite live up to its name's claim. With only 20 minutes of very light, mostly low-impact aerobics and 10 minutes each of upper and lower body toning, I don't feel like I'm working out very hard. But that's actually what I like most about it. On days when I am too tired to workout or my repetitive strain injury is acting up, I pop this one in to get my blood circulating and I always feel better than if I had just done nothing for the evening.

The last DVD I picked up is The Firm's Burn and Shape. I love The Firm so I was excited about this 40-minute mix of cardio and strength training. Emily Welsh's cuing, however, isn't the clearest during the aerobics sections (a surprise, since an older DVD of hers has excellent cuing). The moves aren't impossible but they don't flow intuitively so it takes much longer to get the hang of it. I've only done it once, though, so I'm sure I'll catch on eventually.

Collage Video is full of all the exercise DVDs you can hope for.You can watch clips, read very helpful user reviews, and can return even opened DVDs if they are not what you're looking for.

* Finally, Win a vegan cookbook at Vegan Soapbox!

(picture courtesy of CED Magic)

Vinegar: It's What's For Dinner

Why not take the cattle industry's advertising trope and turn it on its head with a tale of an entirely plant-based and exceedingly delicious dinner...

Italian (by way of Asia) Marinated Grilled Tofu with Roasted Veggies (or, How to Save Your Meal When You Add Too Much Vinegar)

This past weekend, Brian and I made a simple and warm dish that featured some seasonal vegetables that are beginning to make their way into the markets now. Like many, my favorite seasonal produce is in the spring and summer months--sugar snap peas, berries, onions, peaches, nectarines so I'm very happy to be digging into all of those foods again. (For a list of when seasonal produce is available across different parts of the US, visit Sustainable Table's "Eat Seasonal" guide).

We also made the Italian Marinated Tofu from Veganomicon. It calls for a 1/2 cup of white wine in the marinade. Since I didn't have any, I thought, why not substitute some white wine vinegar. I like vinegary food but this was a bit much. Once I got the tofu going on my new Calphalon grill pan, which I love, I tasted a small bite and all I could taste was vinegar. Brian suggested adding a bit more tamari. I did and then thought, why not a little agave nectar too. Those additions saved dinner by cutting the bite of the vinegar and adding just a hint of salty-sweetness. Grilling the marinated tofu gave it a nice, pronounced crust and tender, flavorful interior. Having tofu steaks, as opposed to stir-fried cubes, also was a nice change of pace from how I normally eat tofu.

On a parchment lined baking sheet, we loaded up some roasted red potatoes and yellow onion wedges that had been tossed in a small amount of olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. When the potatoes are crispy brown and and the onions are softened and a bit charred (this takes anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes at 475 degrees F, depending on your oven), we added asparagus, chunks of garlic and a few tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar. Yes, we still needed more vinegar. It's worth using the white balsamic as opposed to the usual darker variety. Once roasted, it's subtle and savory rather than hitting you over the head with--WHOMP! VINEGAR! It takes about 5 minutes for the asparagus to be ready and then your whole meal is done.

While we prepared dinner, I also cooked for Luckie, who had his usual turkey, rice, and veggies combo. The dog normally has carrots but since asparagus was on the menu, I gave him the snapped off ends of the stalk. He goes nuts for asparagus, can eat loads of the stalk.

Why no pictures of the final meal in its complete state? Because Brian and I are eaters before we are bloggers and we just started eating before the idea of taking more pictures occurred to us. Dessert was chocolate chip cookie dough soy cream topped with a maple french toast twist by Barry's Bakery. No dairy or eggs or funky preservatives and only one Weight Watchers point for each crunchy, flaky treat. That is living.

NOTE: This post is actually by Brian and me. I wrote the text but Brian took the pictures and we both cooked the meal. In other Brian new, he will be headed off to a talk with Gene Baur, president and cofounder of Farm Sanctuary this evening at 6:30 pm at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It's hosted by the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Blog Round-Up

I've stumbled across some exceptional blogs lately. I encourage you to check out each of them ASAP:

* My good friend and our first guest blogger, Sky Chari, is now blogging regularly at her new venture, Eats Well with Others. It's chock full of restaurant reviews and tales of being vegan amongst the aforementioned others.

* I came across Elaine Vigneault's blog after reading her balanced and reasoned comments in response to a particularly heated post on I Blame the Patriarchy. Elaine's post today, "Because They Can," led me to...

* Vegans of Color, which, after comments like the one that follows, I am so eating up.

I’m glad some people are looking at the socioeconomic implications of the meat industry. So much attention has been put on animal welfare, animal rights, health, and the environment in relation to vegetarianism and veganism. Few people — vegans included — are aware of, or choose to think much about, who is relegated to the killing floors, namely minorities.

*

Finally, today is the one year anniversary of my grandfather's death. I'm not so much sad as I am just shocked that I've lived without him for a year. It wasn't long after he died that I decided to stop eating land animals. I didn't think the two had much to do with one another until I remembered how my grandfather often was treated like another cog in the hospital industry's wheel. How he was prodded and poked and turned over at the ease of the hospital staff and was completely dependent on others for his life. This isn't to say there weren't quite a few great nurses and aides and doctors. After all my grandfather needed to be turned and jostled because he was so sick. It still made me feel sad and powerless, nonetheless. I can't help but wonder if the sadness I felt for my grandfather being just another sick person out of many opened me up to feel sadness for so many other things, including for the billions of anonymous animals we eat.

Well, a lot has changed for me during this year without my grandfather, except for the fact that I still miss him terribly.

Top 10 Reasons Going Vegetarian Doesn't Mean You'll Lose Weight

1. Scallion pancakes and faux boneless spare ribs from Veggie Heaven. The first item is fried dough. The second one is animal-free but still slathered in ruby red barbeque sauce, black charred soy skin, and it leaves behind a neon orange grease spot on white paper. Oh, and it has fake fat in it. It's really awesomely, junkily, and spookily delicious.

2. Soy cream.

3. Bread. Especially if you've not gone vegan and the bread is accompanied with butter and cheese. And even if you are vegan, Earth Balance ain't no health food.

4. Fried shrimp in General Tso's sauce at Kingdom of Vegetarians. And fried noodles, moo shu mock chicken, and wonton soup at Golden Empress Garden. Uh, yeah, Chinese takeout was my downfall when I ate meat and it's my downfall now that I don't.

5. Vegan cookies, especially Alternative Baking Company, Liz Lovely, and Brian's mom's oatmeal raisins.

6. Burgers, fries, and shakes at Foodswings. At least you walk it off getting back to the subway station, right?

7. Eating more avocados, more nuts, and more seeds.

8. Coconut milk in curry, coconut milk in your chocolate truffles, licking the coconut cream off your fingers after you open the can of coconut milk.

9. Eating more than the suggested serving size of tofu that is already dripping in oil when you eat from Whole Foods' buffet at 10 pm because you've just gotten out of cookbook writing class, are tired and hungry, and still have to trek back to Jersey. That the buffet is surrounded by the bakery selection doesn't help either. Because you do need dessert, right?

10. Speaking of even more desserts: cupcakes, chocolate, cake, doughnuts--all vegan and vegetarian now. All often very cutely stylized, and absolutely necessary after eating something salty.

So yeah, those are all the reasons I'm still in Weight Watchers and all the reasons I haven't lost any weight since going pescetarian and then vegetarian!

* picture is of me eating my portobello and brie sandwich--courtesy of Johnny Brenda's--at last year's Trenton Avenue Arts Festival.