A phone call inspired me to go beyond my insular world of creative writing blogs and dash out into the new and wide-open space of a 'vegan-girl-heading-west' blog. I can't think of a better idea! Kudos to you and that sharp brain of yours (although with all the tofu-wings I am hardly surprised).

So here I am, it is 7:30 a.m Toronto time, and 5:30 a.m new world time. I am getting ready. The bags are packed (don't worry, this isn't going to launch into a denver song), and all I have left to do is change my address, finish reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (it belongs to the Hamilton Library - although, it is so amazing, I think I am going to have to get my own copy) and board a Tuesday evening plane.

What on earth is this blog going to be about? Well, I am aiming to capture (what I think will be) the humourous and sometimes frustrating experience of being a (feminist) vegan in Calgary, Alberta (but also add to that being a brand new cow-girl in a city that I have visited once as an adult for a total of oh.....3 hours).

I have already been searching the web for vegan friendly shops, restaurants and clothing stores and I have come up with the following (I have hope):

The Coup (great menu)
Planet Organic
LuLu Lemon (of course I had to add this baby!)
Mountain Equipment Coop (okay, so what is so vegan about this place? Nothing really, I just love their biking shorts)


*Disclaimer: The very inception of this blog precludes the presence of possible stereotypes, i.e: that people who live in Calgary aren't vegan, don't know what vegans are and will be throwing steaks at me from hotel windows and passing pick-up trucks. Don't get me wrong, PLEASE, don't get me wrong! It is the existing stereotypes and the constant "oh my god, you are a lefty-vegan and you are going to Alberta??? Beef and Conservative littlevegan, Beef and Conservatives" that I wish to challenge on this Blog, and well, it is also something that I wish to have fun with. It is the 'Ralph Klein meets littlevegan' hilarity that I wish to capture.

I also plan to post other tiddlie-viddles, in the likes of: recipes, book reviews, music munchers and photos, photos and more photos. I am assuming I will be a little limited at first - with no computer (thank the heavens for libraries), but I am totally excited about this little project.

My 'take over the world with carrots' plan is to knit together the seitan-loving, community garden planting, hemp wearing East (I wish) with the beef-eating, chap-wearing, homeless-person-insulting West!!!

So, let's get a cookie instruction sheet going here:
These cookies are dedicated to emily and they are yummmmmy.

My First Mistake Cookies

1 cup of cocoa (organic and fair trade is BEST when it comes to cocoa -like coffee, it is one of the more shadier deals going down in this world).
3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of oats (organic is best here too!)
1 tsp of baking soda

1/2 cup of Maple Syrup
1/2 cup of soy or rice milk
a dalop of apple sauce
either one mashed nanner' or 1/4 cup of vegan sugar
1/2 cup of oil (olive is good)
1/2 cup of black strap mollasses (good for yer' iron)
1 tsp of vanilla (or more! I love vanilla...go with more)
-if the mix is looking a little less then what will moisten your dry ingredients I recommend adding a wee bit of water...slowly.

Mix the dry, mix the wet (seperate from one another)
Pour the wet into the dry, if it is too wet you know what to do.

At this point you can do some of the following:
throw in some p.butter (or other nut butter), add a little crushed walnut, maybe do a little carob or vegan chocolate chip addition - really, this is YOUR cookie and I trust you to make your own decisions at this yummy point.

The cookies came about as an honest mistake, but man it turned out soo soooo good. Enjoy!
Oh yes, and be sure to spoon the batter onto a lightly oiled (YES mom, lightly oiled) and bake these puppies at 350 for 12 minutes.

Let me know how they turn out.