OBAMA IS PRESIDENT

I am the happiest liberal, feminist, animal rights activist, vegetarian, Buddhist, pagans in this great land of ours this very night!

Cheers to our new President Barack Obama!

Part One: Etsy - I love handmade vegan stuff!

Since I have been fairly entrepreneurial my entire life, I deeply support others who are too. Imagine my joy to come across an entire vegan Etsy collective! Yay - super fun!

Here are some links to some of my favorite Etsy shops:

myzoetrope.etsy.com: I love Michelle's quirky and kawaii art. I just bought the cutest recipe box and recipe cards. She also has a great blog too - http://my-zoetrope.blogspot.com/

Here is a link to the Global Vegan Etsy Team here I will list some of my other favorites:

aimeedars.etsy.com : great looking natural stone and sterling silver jewelry.

angelcatbeds.etsy.com : adorable hand-crocheted kitty cat beds!

artbysusmitha.etsy.com : unique art Goddess inspired jewlery.

asacco9642.etsy.com : vegan cookies and brownies - oh my wow.

beachcottagestudio.etsy.com : collage art trinket and cool things.

Brisil.etsy.com : vegan bath essentials and handmade soap dishes.

CricketsCreations.etsy.com : gorgeous hand-knit scarves - totally funky!

CyanideSweetheart.etsy.com : stickers, comix and art.

DarkTemptations.etsy.com : vegan bath and beauty for charity.

dkany.etsy.com : I am absolutely crazy for Debbie's animal rights jewelry and just placed an order!

fashionsplatter.etsy.com : help save bunnies by buying these lovely collage pieces.

ForTheLOVEofVEGAN.etsy.com : more vegan yummies including zucchini bread!

inkart76.etsy.com : tattoo style jewelry so you don't have to commit to the ink!

jakrandomart.etsy.com : groovy and hip cuffs that are recycled.

JaneDiamond.etsy.com : sweetest kitty cat art!

kamutflakegirl.etsy.com : one of my favorite bloggers has a shop - groovy art!

KMStitchery.etsy.com : awesome feminist t-shirts!


I'll be back tomorrow with Part Two!

Vegetarian Halloween

Halloween (also known as Samhain) is my favorite holiday. I usually go all out, decorations, food, candy, gifts - all of it.

Unfortunately this year my new sister-in-law was suffering with a terrible cold, I was having the worst sinuses of my life and Mom just plain doesn't like Halloween in the first place.


I got some party trays at Publix instead of going all out. It was a great decision and some good vegetarian (not vegan, though could have easily been made vegan by switching out the dips for vegan dips) food that we will be eating for the next several days. I packaged some up and brought it over to Lisa, too.




Usually we have a fire in the fire-pit and drink mead and wear witchy garb and sing silly songs and I really missed that.

Fortunately since this is holiday time we can make up for it with the next few get-togethers, Thanksgiving, Yule, Christmas Eve (I am having a high-tea for Christmas Eve) and finally Christmas.

So how did you spend Halloween?

Veganmofo: PETA dresses up the Trollsens

Because I loathe and despise the antics of these two monkey-faced druggies I really enjoyed this anti-fur and anti-Olsen Twins dress-up game.

http://www.peta2.com/Trollsens/dress_up.asp

The Olsen's wear fur and use it in their clothing line.

Plus one of them killed Heath Ledger which is not very nice.

Veganmofo: Dining Out at Dandelion Communitea Cafe

We dropped my brother Ray off at the airport in Orlando so he could fly back to Louisiana and go back to work and we decided to visit a quaint little vegetarian tea house called Dandelion Communitea Cafe in the heart of Orlando's Asian neighborhood.

The adorable cafe is slightly off the beaten path, but not too far from the main drag in a very bright green house located in front of a Holistic school and across the street from a yoga center. It's a great location and you have the option to sit outside at picnic tables or to sit in the cozy little tea house.

This place is all about organic, sustainable and local goods. But mostly it is about tea and there is a wall of teas you can purchase to take home and an extensive tea menu to get you drinking a cuppa. The best tea deal they have is two daily specials for $2.50 plus free refills.

That's how we began, a tall glass of tangy Hibiscus herbal iced tea and then we checked out their mostly light lunches and snacks menu.

We both opted for the soup of the day which was a stunning sweet onion soup served with Dr. Kracker! I was so excited. I felt instantly at home. I could have taken a gallon home, it was that good. It was loaded with local organic Vidalia onions, green onions and shallots in a super rich veggie broth.

We split the SXSW appetizer which was three different dips for blue corn chips. There was an terrific pea guacamole (so bright tasting - I will be making this at home), a black bean dip and a vegan nacho cheese dip (everything homemade). We devoured this and it was the perfect dip to chip ratio for two people.

Mom got the Fakin' BLT on whole wheat toast which had tempeh bacon (also homemade and local) with tomatoes, basil pesto and baby greens. Mom didn't warm up to the tempeh - she likes my Light Life Smart Bacon BLT's too much.

I on the otherhand LOOOOOOVED it! Turns out I could easily be a tempeh freak!

We decided to split our sandwiches so I shared my Eve's Revenge wrap (huge) with her. This motherlode of a wrap was baby greens, apple, raisins, walnuts, red onion and feta (vegan or dairy, your choice) with a delicious fresh raspberry puree balsamic dressing on the side.

The only gripe was they failed to supply an adequate side dish with the sandwiches and they were pricey ($7.50 and $9.00) to just be sitting on a plate with a few slices of apple as the "side dish" (more like a garnish). They should offer some vegan potato salad or whole wheat pasta salad as a side. It would round out the meal and add value.

Mom wasn't too thrilled with the value regarding the price even though I explained that such a small place (six tables inside and three or four outside) would have to struggle to survive. You have to pay more for beautiful, healthy, fresh, local organic food. Truly the best deal going there is to drink their amazing tea of the day.

We also tried the Morrocan Mint Green tea which was fantastic too.

A cool thing about the place was all the silverware, plates, tables and chairs are recycled. Nothing matches except they have painted all the chairs and they are decorated beautifully. This place had really great energy and the people were just lovely. I could definitely see hanging out there or stopping in after yoga class for a cup of tea. It's too bad I live so far away.

I really enjoyed the experience and will definitely go there again. My poor mother. What she has to endure!

Veganmofo: Surprisingly Vegan

I made a fun and tasty meal last night, not really anything to crow about since it came from a can (yikes!) but interesting in that it was completely and surprisingly vegan as well as low in fat and calories.

I used to love La Choy Chinese food when I was a kid. Remember their jingle, "La Choy makes Chinese food, swing American."? Mom made it for us when my Dad was out of town since he never liked Asian food. Of course this can barely be called Asian by today's standards but back in the seventies it was all we had!


From the La Choy site: Wally Smith and Yu Il-han, two friends from the University of Michigan, founded the La Choy brand in 1922. Smith had a grocery store in Detroit and wanted to sell bean sprouts. New, a Korean, knew how to grow them. They formed a business to can bean sprouts, growing them in a bathtub. The first La Choy plant was built in 1937, but was later closed due to World War II. They moved the La Choy operations to Ohio, and eventually its products were sold nationally.

My Mom used to eat La Choy when she was a kid too.

I made chow mein with the canned vegetables, a can of water chesnuts and a handful of fresh snow peas. I made my own chow mein gravy using soy sauce, vegetable broth and a little cornstarch. I served it over La Choy Chow Mein noodles and it was low-brow but high nostalgia.

Do you have any favorite foods from childhood (or meals) that you discovered were surprisingly vegan?

Veganmofo: Dinner - Vegetarian Chili

This is a bowl of Texas Red Chili that I made for dinner last night.

Mom was hungry and wanted a "stoup" (pardon the Rachel Rayism) but I was not about to get all into making something complex because I was tired and not very hungry myself.

This chili came in a package from Fantastic Foods.

Start there (it is the Cha-Cha Chili Bean soup mix) and follow the directions on the back to make it from soup into chili (less water, add some salsa or canned chopped tomatoes) then let your imagination run wild.

I added canned Mexicorn, some leftover roasted potatoes and some frozen baby lima beans.

It is not gourmet by any stretch but served with saltines and some hot sauce on the side it is absolute veg heaven.

It makes 4 hearty lunch sized portions. I got the soup mix from Pangea but I think they are out of it so you can order directly from Fantastic Foods.*

* Actually they have it backordered there too so it must be popular. Check at your local health food store, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.