Argh,
Today is like one of those fancy olive oil decanters that hold a plethora of surprises inside - you know, roasted red peppers, basil, garlic, and other preserved goodies. My olive oil is decanting a mixture of aged goods - feelings about my dad, feelings about myself, some great and ancient pain about my grandmother's death. I can't wait to make a sauce from this.
Last night my phone rang....hmmm...312...who is that? Ms. Never-answer-the-phone picked it up and it was my uncle.
His voice has been quieted by a second tumor that has rendered one of his vocal cords paralyzed. He is hoarse, but he yelled over the silence of his throat to speak to me. I felt like a pile of shit right there, rotting in my big dumb ikea chair. I felt like a giant asshole on display at the international asshole show. Number One Jerk in any contest for sure. I hadn't called him....why not? Well, I couldn't stand to go back there. Step wholeheartedly into the pain that I knew was waiting for me. I kept justifying it with sentences like "Everyone is busy trying to get him settled..."
But, he didn't seem to hold anything against me. He chatted about tracking the avian flu; he asked me about school and how I was feeling. He did all the things that my uncle would usually do - making me feel special and important. A feeling that was mostly lost for me when I was little - notable exceptions coming from my uncle and my nana. Why is someone's death always such a selfish batch of emotions for other people? Is it me?
I wanted to yell into the phone that I loved him and that I think so much of him, that I didn't want him to die, that I wished I was there and not here, that I wanted to quit my job and come home to be there for my mom and him; for my little brother and sister. That I wanted to swoop in and scope out all of the stupid tumors that are eating him inside and out.
I wanted to - but I didn't. I told him about my trip to greece and my trip to italy. I told him about my students and tried hard not to cry.

The olive oil is going to taste a bit peppery tonight - my pain feels like pepper - there is the potential to sting and leave sores if rubbed too hard.

The world I am living in is too much a paradox. The death of him, the birth of this new life. The sorrow of my family, the joy of my new work mates. The clarity and certainty of his coming absence and the total confusion and disorganization of the approaching year.

I want to trade. I want to trade this situation for something else. I want him to live and be happy and I can take Atlas' burden or something like that. I will fight the snake at Hera's tree for Hercules - he is the hero - he can save my uncle. Come on. Please.
Pleas mean nothing sometimes. Especially not in death. I have to stop using them in other situations. I have to live more clean.

I have been just crazy for corn these last few days of summer (oh, did I say summer? I actually meant 'autumn'. It was a sweltering 15 degrees here today. I actually saw people wearing fall jackets this morning! Fall Jackets! Crazy. But crazy good for my jogging obsession - nice and cool.
Anyway - back to corn.
Here is a neat little yummy treat that was just about perfect for my post-meal delight. I must admit that the corn was frozen!!! oh my! Frozen corn. But I had to put something in my frezzer - I hadn't used it and I felt sad for such a small little frozen space.

Okay - this is a mostly raw deal, (hah) but the warmed up 'fu and corn give depth to the other flavours - don't skimp on the cilantro.

1/4 jicima
1 red pepper
1 cup of bean sprouts
1 cup of snap peas
2 cups of shredded cabbage
1/4 cup of tofu
1 cup of corn
soy sauce
rice vinegar
flax oil

slice the jicima (peel the root first - yes! It is a root - I just found that out this evening)
slice the pepper - nice and thin - really pretty.
Lay to pepper and the big 'j' on a plate (I did this dish up on a really nice cobalt blue plate)
break up the tofu into a small pot with the corn and a teeeeny tinnnnnny bit of water - simmer until nice and warm.
mix together the soya sauce, vinegar and flax oil - that's your darling dressing.
add the cabbage, peas and sprouts.
I laid the corn and fu all around the outside of the plate and then mixed it all up nice and pretty-like. You could for sure do it all in a large metal bowl - would be better for mixing, but I was starving so I wasn't thinking straight.

I am thinking of running a marathon.
I am thinking that I would be crazy for running a marathon - my knees will be dust and my feet will need some major rubbin'.
I am thinking that I would be crazy for NOT running a marathon - I have legs, I can do a pretty darn good 10km time, and I have loads of gumption (there's a word that needs more air time) - I am sure it can happen.

The next race I am for sure running is the Banff Winterstart 5 miler...get free glow sticks. I am there.

Let's get these saucony's a trainning!!! 1, 2, 3 RUN.
More running = more eating!! yes, yes, yes, yes.

The grocery shops in Calgary are for the most part atrocious (and I am not just talking about the prices - hi....can you say 14% inflation - I picked THE best city to start paying off student loans in!) - the grocery shops are....well, nothing compared to:
a) Fortinos
b) the wonderful little markets and fresh foodies stores I became accustom to in Toronto.
We have - COOP - the shop that lets you think you are saving money by letting you buy a 1$ stock in the company and then allows you to show your coop pride by hanging your swipe card on your keys. The produce is shitty and they canned goods are out of this world costly (and limited in selection: "sorry miss I don't think we carry artichoke hearts")
We also have - SAFEWAY - I met many a safeway employee during my shotgun drive out here. They started in and around the Manitoba border. They are 'okay' I suppose. They are trying so hard to be a PCish type store. They have bulk goods in some (small) amounts, and they have at least a smattering of organics/'international' and soya products. However, (again) their produce sucks and they are wickedly expensive (I just sound cheap and cranky don't I?)
The only possibility out here (if you want the big, corporate shopping experience) is Canada's Superstore - see trafalgar and highway five in Oakville. It is a PC store, and the canned goods are a bit cheaper and you can buy underwear, car oil and cabbage all at the same time - however, due to this walmart-style approach I feel overwhelmed and a bit skittish when I pull into my parking spot. But, they have quinoa in bulk so I do what I have to do.
The only non-corporate shopping option is the aforementioned Pacific Place with its TT grocery store...which I am sure is owned by some chinese conglomerate - but it will have to do.
There are no tiny markets to be found, and the farmer markets are so out of the way.

HOWEVER - this weekend will see me arriving at Heritage Park bright and early for the annual produce sale.....I am hoping for loads of fresh berries and lots of corn (TABER STYLE).

I have a yummy dish that is worthy of publishing - Enjoy!

(I think I need to start taking photos of these masterpieces)

Creamy Chicken-peas and Apple Curry

1 cup of basmati rice
1 apple (any ol' variety will do)
2 cups of spinach
1/2 a large spanish onion
2 carrots, peeled and cut up in chunks
1 bulb of garlic
1/2 block of tofu
1 can of chicken peas (or garbonzo beans as they are known in some circles)
curry (season as you like)
black pepper
salt (sea salt)
Olive oil
can of coconut milk

In a large skillet (on medium), pour your o.oil and let it heat up a wee bit.
Add your diced onion and some of your curry - I would also throw in some tumeric at this point
Add your carrots and a bit of water - cover and let those puppies simmer for a bit.
When carrots and onions are tender throw in the rice and a bit more water, stir and let sit for five minutes, adding your garlic after two minutes.
Add the chick peas and tofu; stir in coconut milk and season.
Let this mixture sit on medium heat simmering away for about 15 minutes.
Add some iron with that spinach party and let the dish cook until your rice is tender (I added water on occasion - you can decide how dry/wet you want this curry).

Now...you could also add some sweet potato and okra....and a can of tomatos (or fresh if you don't live in calgary).

Yummy - serve with vegan nan or pita...or do what I did and have it with some gluten free rice cakers!

Enjoy and be happy.

oh - just to report on what I am reading at the moment.
Finishing David Starkley's (crappy and pompous) biography on my lady queen elizabeth.
Just finished Sarah Dressen's The Meaning of Forever - a teen book that I was screening for my students - really good!
I got a load of really really really cheap books from the library yesterday including a book by Katherine Glovier - I read her Angel's Walk in 1998 and really enjoyed it..made me want to move to Point Au Barrel and take up a job in a munitions factory. The other day the fellow who gave me that book as a gift reminded me that rear view mirrors only show us where we have already been...but what if you like where you have been and enjoy visiting on occasion? Some people are way to fatalistic for moi - have fun!

Well the diagnosis is final: lung cancer with a side order of brain lesions and liver tumors.
He is being treated with a palliative regiment - though, 'regiment' seems the wrong word for anything palliative. I am still feeling the shock in places that I can't manage to still; heart strings are made out of some tough animal skin because the vibrations last long and bounce off all other organs.
All I could do today was go shopping at Pacific Place Mall - way on the other side of town - up and over. I needed to drown this feeling of loss and sadness with something quite opposite - a little bit of consumerism goes a long way. But at least it wasn't filthy consumerism - that comes tomorrow. Food and school supplies; plastic baskets and a fish bell (I will have a picture for you soon I promise).
Let's swim further out from this feeling of 'water dark' because I don't have the vocabulary to discuss the wave that is again preparing itself to swallow my family. Out to sea for too long it has decided to take out our whole village. Nothing of this proportion has been seen since the summer of 2000.

So, swimming further, to safe cool waters of food and walking for hours. No muddy sea weed or rocks to slice the smooth cool pads of my feet. Just water to bounce in and out of my shorts which have ballooned around my big thighs. (My body is magic - big thighs no matter what I do).

What have I eaten?
Well community foods is a great little place, with a yummy (if not expensive and unrevolving repitoire of salad greens, cucumber, mango chutney, chick peas and soups/chillis). I am curious to try the vegan carrot cake - it looks as though I may have a place to run when the weather darkens out in Hamilton.
What else have I eaten? - I have been juicing like crazy - lots of carrot/apple/ginger combos, and eating fresh salads and fruit. Mostly homemade stuff to be honest. And avocados....I have been crazy for those butterish green buggers. Don't know what has gotten into me of late -but I want a million of them most of the time.
Today's meal (which I allowed myself to purchase out of the house, despite my tight budget until my first pay cheque) was rather disappointing.
Pacific Place seemed in my dreams to be a great choice for sushi....but alas, the not-so-japanesse, tupai wearing man wasn't the iron chef I needed him to be (esp. tonight...I had planned on drowning my sorrows in wasabi and rice wine).
The SMALL avocado roll and vegetarian rolls were just that - small. Small in taste, size and aesthetic appeal. The styrofoam take away containers did even less in the fight to save this place in my eyes. Nothing doing - down for the count. Yuck. and more yuck.
The cereal and cherries I enjoyed whilst typing up my unit plans were much more satisfying fare.

Headed to the university today to check out the library - oh oise friends...how we complained about our seemingly homely library - we had it wrong...dead wrong (sing the last part of that sentence to the music of joan jett's I love Rock and Roll) this library was A ROOM...just one wee room. Unreal. But their overall digs were much cooler than the hellish structure of windowless u of t. But so are the bathrooms in most Chinese rail stations. Most.

I also have to take the time to give it up to two really cool people.

1. the girl in starbucks who asked me if I wanted my soya milk warmed up before adding it to my chai tea. thanks!

2. KATHY MCKALE - this woman is a really cool principal who chatted with me for about 20 minutes in chapters. She gave me some great ideas, some wonderful resources to hunt down and a really positive affirmation about my career choices.

Well that is about all for me.

I feel like a highway that was built in Calgary: full of confusing signs, hectic, filled with lulls and surprise stop lights. Is this the city or the cross canada throughway?
My uncle, a man who stepped up and took on the role of father when there wasn't any lineup for the position, is dying. I saw him a month ago - flitting around his front yard trying to give me the casserole dish that he used to make his bean dish in - those were great beans. This meeting wasn't an example of him breaking with reality - the flitting and offering had purpose - he was in the middle of a garage sale.
I can still feel his hand on my head. I can still hear his words of incrimination as I had been dawdling outside chatting with Terry rather then following him in the house to look at a condo they were thinking of buying. I want that moment back because I think I would like to stay there a little longer.
He is dying.
He is dying of cancer that seems to be as prolific as Stephen King, and almost as detailed - it is everywhere and yet managed to hang out and expand itself undetected.
I still haven't decided how I feel, outside of extreme sadness for him. He has lived a life that was filled with giant sores and losses of parents, dignity, friends, job, health. And now - and now he is being pillaged in a different way - body taken bit by bit, nerve by nerve.
He is young and still in love with redecorating houses and finding new ways to invent spaghetti sauce. He is the son of the mother he never really had, and the child of the sister who, before him, stepped up in the role of parent.
And now she will wail.
And what can I do?

This is in my backyard.
Okay - so not my literal backyard....but close enough.

some things to make my missin' some loved ones heart feel a bit better!

I got a place! I love a place! I am a place!

Okay - get ready because I am in love. I am smitten. I am intoxicated. I am fully and whole heartedly (the only way this little vegan ever is about anything she loves) in mad passionate love with Calgary.

I have my first report:

Great people, expensive food, deals on gas (yuck), really f'ed up streets (can we have some names please?), awesome shops, amazinglytastic neighbourhoods (HOW CAN EVERY COMMUNITY WEST OF CENTRE STREET BE SO FANTASTIC?), and a most excellent dog population.

One yucky observation: noooooo recycling...you CAN recycle but you have to take your sorted goods to a municipal box (not so wonderfully located) and deposit your odds and sods in papers, plastics and glass...poop.

I have a great condo, I have a great little hood (give it up for bankview) and I have already made some yummy friends!!!
yah!

Everytime a cow moos a vegan is getting her cowgirl hat....
yes it is so...jimmy stewart I love you.


Went to work today - saw my new world...so perfect....
shite, all this happiness...is that the other shoe around the corner stomping and gripping about my smile? shoot, darn, oh no! I won't let my anxious tummy stomp out this excitment...onward into soyagood happiness and fluffy tarts made without eggs.

Check out the new hood: http://www.calgaryarea.com/sw/bankview/bankview.htm

Will have the keys and some photos tomorrow....

*Stolen goods*

A night out with some special ladies was an excellent way to spend my last night out East.
However, I stole a mug.
The older woman sitting to my right was disgusted in my vigilanty behaviour and was on the verge of telephoning the Hamilton authorities (i don't blame her - you have to do something with the youth these days).

I have some excellent photos of Emily (aka best sister on the planet) Brittany (best laugh EVER) and myself.

I am exhausted and totally ready to hit the road!!
Giant goose here I come.




this is a side shot of some last minute toe art and Emily on the phone with Andrew.....
"don't take my picture, don't take my picture" (pose).

As far as vegan food reports go, the winner of the last week of noshing goes to MY MOM!!!
She made THE BEST broiled veggies and fu...way to go mom! You are the best vegan mom on the planet.

I had a little creation of my own tonight.

Here is the receipe - enjoy!!!
Leaving the Hammer Jimica (pronouched Heemeeeeeca or something along those lines) and Mango Salad

1 massive Jimica (I think this might be the wrong spelling)

3 mangos

Slice it all up and slam it in a bowl

Throw it in the fridge while the rest of dinner is cooking and you have yourself a kickin and cool appie or main.

You could throw some lemon or lime in this baby and it would be delightful.

BEST NEWS ---- RICK LOVED IT......

Headed out.....
I swear I was going to get the plane....but see, I was watching TV and there was the goose, and some other big items that I knew I just had to see along the way - and hey! I am a teacher after all - what is the summer for if not for a little holiday? Right? Right!
So tomorrow at 4 am - I start my journey towards the west, towards the tofu rodeos and seitan stampedes. Can't wait.
Taking a place on a phone call is not advised, but it will do, it will do (Updates and photos to follow).
So, I have my first Calgary observations -
The folks are so very friendly - so friendly and helpful.

This vegan cowgirl has started to get a little choked up about things; saying goodbye is a little more difficult than I had imagined. Sarah, Kate and Emily by the far the most difficult. However, haven't tried (or even thought of) saying goodbye to my mom yet. Cowgirls are allowed to cry though right? That is a part of what makes them so cool right? That and their rabbit shirts? My mom is taking me out for my goodbye/happy birthday shopping spree and lunch (hopefully I can eat). This time next week I should be in my school setting things up and getting down to the scratchy of it all.
Speaking of scratchy - I was in a Chinese Grocery shop yesterday and one of the products they were selling was called:
Men's Pocky - now, 'pocky' is a most excellent desert (thank you mike and louise for my first pocky experience) but, I wasn't so aware of it being seperated by gender...interesting. It was quite neat to be at that shop yesterday and see SO many items from the grocery stores in China - very surreal.
Oh, one more foodie/out west item to relay - had a really wonderful lunch with mamere and jim yesterday - la luna's on brant. The food was great (fatoosh salad and a falafel for 9.95), but the company was amazing. I doubt I will be able to write from the road - and it might be a while before I get settled enough in my new Renfrew neighbourhood to find the time to write - so this will likely be it for a wee bit (not that anyone is reading this puppy). My last post as an ontario cowpoke......here I go....

Birthdays, Updates and Delicious Deserts!

So much to talk about, so much to write....where to begin? Where? Where? There have been a lot of 'where' questions in this world - one of my favourites would have to be the Sharon, Lois and Bram query:
"Where oh Where is sweet little Mary?"
But enough about Mary and her escapades......the second part of my last post is still owing.
I have made a decision about a new 'leaf', a new sprig of soya if you will, that I want to turn over, and it goes a little something like this:
I want my body to be really clean, really pure (a word that if used too much can smell as funky as a face cloth that was once wet that is now dry and hard, curling itself into a fetal-like position next to some equally as funky soap on the rim of my wash basin - yuck). What I mean, is that in a manner that is as far away as possible from a "dolphin songs heal the ozone layer and I want another pair of hemp underpants" kind of way, I want to be good to my body; I want to put only yummy things into this body (or this temple as one shitty jerk once refered to my body as), and I want to rid myself (body, mind, and heart) of as many impurities as I can without moving to a diet of strict air and sunshine.
SOOOO, part of my move to cow country will include a step up in my already trying-hard-to-love-my-bod lifestyle. I also need to learn to relax...this is being screamed at me by those lovelies in my life that have conquered their own stress demons and see me turning myself into a hot, steamy ball of stress lines and ugly energy.
yoga, organic, local, sleep, happy-work, focus, peace - those are the words I am going to make my students make a word wall for. yeah right.

Okay - food. Yummy food.
Many reports, many yummies.
Thursday night saw the kick off of my 28 years of livin' it up birthday rompus - and it is all about Affinity Vegetarian Restaurant on John Street in the Hammer. The juxta-position between the vibrant mural of an Eastern European pastiche that is a vestige of the previous (and well established) Budapest, and the delicate Chinese wall art (traditional paintings, calligraphy and some ornate carvings) sets the tone for this deliciously tossed up restaurant whose menu has a little bit of this and a little bit of that (what song is that from)
There is a hint of Toronto's famous veggie hut - Vegetarian Haven (please bow down) - but done positively Hammer style (enter the wacky mural that, rather, then being surplanted to complete a Toronto-acceptable decor, is actually the focal point for any dinner who sits facing North in the large dining room).
On the first visit to Affinity (and yes, there were two visits this birthday weekend - hey! its my birthday, I get to pick!): I enjoyed the crystal wraps (rice paper wrapped around a massive portion (maybe a bit too much) lettuce, soy-ham and carrots), complete with a sauce that smacked of coming out of a bottle and a bit on the too sweet side for me - but yummy none the less. My fine, fine dinner companion enjoyed two ordered-appetizers (bbque buns and curry pastry) and one that accompanied his main entree (soya nuggets). One thing is for sure - the portions are as large as the mural (relative folks, relative) - the bbque buns looked awesome, and the curry pastries were reportedly not only hot, but satisfying.
My main was the sweet and sour soup - perfect! Go and taste it. (I had it both evenings - sometimes too much choice can be overwhelming for me .....)
Almost the entire menu is presented as vegan - and I can't think of one dish that couldn't have been made vegan!!!! Feast your hearts out.

Oh, the owners are from Taiwan and the tea is excellent!!!


Tonight I dined like a duchess on a homemade meal of roasted veggies, grilled fu, Whole Foods Guaach, WF vegan birthday cake (chocolate), hemp ice cream (fantastically nutty/earthy taste) and berries that were organic and ever so nice!!!

The meal was made with love, which just made it that much more wonderful. Thank you Anne, Jim and Russell.

Watched The Aristrocrats last night - whoah. First time in my life I actually managed to watch gilbert gottfried for more then ten consecutive seconds and not contemplate suicide.

I am loving red house painters and everything neko case. I think they will travel well to the west.
SPEAKING OF THE WEST ---- drum roll please. Heck, wait...I should make this a new entry.
wait maybe I will.......you are to wait with baited breath for the next entry.

Yummy in my Tummy!

Just wanted to share two things:

1. A really great recipe that I am calling Orange Feet Delight (please ask me why)

2. A recent new lifestyle choice that I am adding to my already 'freakish nature' (thank you mom).

1. Okay, so house sitting is always full of interesting opportunities in the world of food. You are left with a foreign kitchen, any variety of condiments, some rotting produce and, depending on whose house you are sitting, a HUGE motherload of dried goods (so my current summation is that housesitting for vets/doctors/dentists seems to be the way to go).

So you have this mismash of 'stuff' at your finger tips - and in my case you have a wack of time. This translates into going to the gym for long periods of time and working out so much that the car barely makes it into the drive way free from bite marks (I admit I was still killer hungry EVER AFTER stopping at the crappy Zehers for an apple and some FRESH dates). So hungry and equipped with a great kitchen, loads of food and a bunch of creativity I made a wicked little vittle that I want to share (or at least post so as not to forget).

Orange Feet Delight

4 carrots (peeled and chopped up however you like em')

1 or 2 sweetie pie tatters (peeled or unpeeled and diced up real good)

spinach

green onion

garlic

ginger (I used this fancy gourmet paste)

cilantro (see above)

curry paste (vegan)

hot sauce

soya sauce

I boiled the heck out of the potato and carrots and when I could pierce them with a fork and they had yet to dissolve overcooked goo I added the spinach and let it wilt.
I then drained the water, turned the burner to low and added all the rest of the yummy mess and let it cook for about 1 minute (remember how hungry I am here....) and man, oh, man - it was delicious! Just delicious.

Has any seen Ice Harvest with John Cussack? Awesome.

I will have to get back to the second part of this post tomorrow morning (when I leave one house sitting situation for another!!!!) Ohhhh...and I have a trip to the market tomorrow morning to look forward to!

With autumn leaves and gasoline.....says John-something-or-other from Spirit of the West.
Their album Open Heart Symphony is most excellent and is currently spinning with the hopes that their full and celtic sound with cure the head spins and stomach ache that is currently haunting my body.
Dating a psych PhD student in my own grad year lead me down a very seriously incorrect path - he told me that studies reveal humans to have deep affection and like for symmetrical faces, and that babies are considered more ugly if they have one eye larger or smaller then the other (imagine my discontent when considering my bodies tendency to produce a significant proportion of my many freckles on the right side of my body. Oh my!) However, spending the last five days with a one eyed cat has righted in me the falsehood that had kept me up nights on end dreading the day when I gave birth to a doomed to be unloved one legged girl named cynthia. This little fellow (who, like me, will be permanently a little fellow) has a side of his face in a perpetual squint. His left eye was born a little too early - premature I suppose for it was ever too small and needed to be closed for good. A loving human mother who also happens to be a loving vet removed the forever-infant eye and closed the lid with a stich or two.
I have loved many a kitten, but none this well. His cuddles and eye crusties have been equally as endearing and I will just hate to leave his side.
I think my mission of finding a location in the C-dot is closer then my worried stomach frets. I have had three really great contacts today and I feel much closer then I did this time a couple of days ago. It will all work out for this little cow poke and her wonderkat.

But for vegan fare fellows I have some wonderful news - though it isn't of the western canada variety. Rather, it is guelph ontario that satisfied my buds this afternoon (after a wonderful run). Oh, and I don't think that it is the food that has turned my head to the world of nausea - I think it is more from drinking only tomato juice yesterday.....
So, Wild Organic Way, is located on carton Street, just a ways up from the Carden Street Cafe and next to the old Aquarius Cafe (me thinks they are the same owners). WOW as it is otherwise and almost a bit too kitchily (is that a word) known is a small cafe, with an even smaller patio (two tables with a total of six chairs) and a cute little bar inside. The menu is inconveniently located on the wall, written in the hideously 80's style neon wipe off marker that is just as difficult to see when looking at it straight on as when trying to cran one's neck around to see it from any of the second hand tables scattered in the small space. Despite the menu and the decor this restaurant is redeemed by the most important elements of any dining experience - the wait staff and the food itself.
For dinner and lunch options patrons can choose from a raw/organic/vegan menu of about 6 options plus a daily special (which they didn't have available today). I enjoyed a combo platter of one falafel ball, 1/2 of a quesdilla and a lovely garden salad. I was amazed with the raw falafel -wonderful. The cashew inspired 'cheese' in the quesadilla wasn't really my cup of tea, but overall this was a great lunch (if not a bit too much moooola...but hey, its raw and vegan and organic..can't complain for all that health can i ?) But, the wonderball of the meal was the 'cheese cake' that I had for desert. The almond paste and oatmeal crust was awesome!!! and the raspberry culle that topped the cake was so organically-tasty that I licked the plate!! yes, I licked the plate....but what can I say? raspberries are THE worst for retaining the taste of pesty-pesticides and the like...so organic really makes a difference when it comes to raspberries. wow. Great meal, great service (the chef came out to say hey and ask about the lunch). It cost me about 20 dollars with tip.
I must mention that yesterday I enjoyed the banana-date-almond milk smoothie from WOW and it was WOOOOOOOOW. Great, not too much date, just enough nanner.

By the way - Spirit of the West is playing August 12th in Calgary....need to check that out!

Sure to be a stampede favourite!
Well, as I wallow in the new turn in my life: NOT FINDING A PLACE IN CALGARY, I have been experimenting with some new yummy-in-the-tummy sandwiches.
I would like to make the daring postulation that if eaten by a steak loving stampeder there would be a carrel of folks screaming for more!
Enjoy these bad girls with a healthy helping of garlic-laced guacamole and veggies (carrots, celery and you know what is great with guac?? APPLE slices)

Ingredients for Sizzling Tofu Stampeded sandwiches
1 loaf of crusty vegan bread
2 zucchini (sliced length wise)
1-2 tomatoes (sliced)
green or red pepper (cored and sliced)
lettuce
hummus or vegan dijon mustard
brick of extra firm tofu - cut the brick in half and then slice into 1 cm slices
olive oil, soya sauce, salt, pepper and ANY other spices that you dig (I did rosemary, basil, oregano)

Okay - so know you have all the goodies and you are ready to impress the mouths of many -

dredge tofu, veggies and bread (easy with the bread, and don't bother with the lettuce)
through the olive oil, soya sauce and spices.
Slam the whole lot on a bbque or a george foremanesque grill (or the frying pan!)
Grill/fry until the veggies/fu is the way you would like for sandwich munching (I decided to go crispy)
Grill the bread for about 1 minute until crispy, spread with the hummus or mustard (or BOTH if you are feeling special)
Pile everything onto the bread (now let the lettuce play) and close that puppy right up!
Now - you can opt out of the bread option by taking all of these yummy ingredients and making them into a fantastic salad - saving some of the grilling sauce as a dressing.....yes!!!! for multitasking!

Enjoy! and hey, if anyone has any space to share with the cutest little vegancowgirl this side of the latest Chinook then give me a yodel.



Watch out! If you don't enjoy one of these stampede delights there is no guarentee that this bull over here isn't going to throw you right off your feet.

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.