Another Brown....

A really good morning....

So I have been going on, and on about these lattes. The Silk Road Tea Company is being well represented by Edward the gentleman owner of The Common.


I can't even say anything that expresses the goodies found in these photos.

Lost Boy = Found Me

Sitting on Bloor drinking tea = me. (so I wasn't sitting 'right' on Bloor, but inside a corporate monster drinking tea - not because I wanted to, but because I was dying from the heat)

A comfy over stuffed wish-I-owned-you kind of chair was my throne, and at first the only view I had when I looked up from my New Yorker journal (thanks for that) was a unreadable kind of 'dude' guy who was unbuttoned (and I am SURE it was unintentional). Keeping my eyes cast down to avoid package/eye contact I failed to notice his departure and the capturing of the coveted overstuffed toadstool by a frail young man who was clutching a book and wearing all dark morose looking garb. It wasn't "I am a goth on Bloor and Bathurst-teen" wear, so much as it was "I might work at a bookstore, be a student or plow through my boss's travel itineraries as a personal assistance" kind of wear.

But, it wasn't all of this speculation that has forced me to pull over on my walk home and write this down....it was that he started crying.

Have you ever felt that you were looking at your insides? Well, I sure did today. Not to sound totally navel-gazing-self-reflective-bordering on being related to our anti-hero Narcissus, but holy(tofu)cow! There I was, right there, crying unashamed in the middle of this (horror) Starbucks.

I asked. After a mile worth of contemplation. I asked:

Are you okay?

Yes, it is fine.

And than he rose, I watched him walk away from the chair, out the door and into the street. He leaned against the building across the road. I guess I am doing that right now.

I LOVE ALLAN RICKMAN!

Ahhhhh....
recipe for my heart's desire.

Sitting in my favourite cafe on College (most decadent of Chai/Cocoa Lattes EVER) I overheard a British woman talking with her blue-haired oldish woman friend....and she was telling a story about "the last time Allan was in town, and he was in between the two potter films - he had his haired dyed all of these fantastic colours......" I had to interrupt and ask for clarification:

In my school girl shy voice (wait, I was never a shy school girl)

"You aren't talking about Allan Rickman 'the actor' are you?" I had dropped down to a whisper by the time I reached the end of the sentence.

"Why, yes, yes we are"

"I have the world's biggest crush on Mr. Rickman"

The woman giggles and tells me that they are good friends and went to school together.
Of course I am doing all that I can NOT to fall apart in an orgasmic goop all over the floor.

And she asks,
"would you like to hear his voice message?"

I stare - dumb. Just - dumb.

My response (so stupid, so fucking stupid)

"no....no, really I couldn't impose, and plus I would look like a total goofie girl-child"

"Suit yourself" (apparently this healthy looking woman is used to people losing their minds over her acquaintances and has no time to twist my arm into doing what I totally want to do)

So, my chance to hear his voice on someone else's cell phone (which I could have gleaned for inflections of love/lust for his real girl-hero-love (read: ME). But, alas, I did get to talk to someone who more than likely has glanced upon the naked legs of Allan, has seen the drunken smile of Mr. R, has heard a sneeze explode from that handsome handsome nose. Yes, I sat beside someone who has sat beside the love of my love.

I am ready to face the day - what ever that includes (no matter how free it is of Rickman sightings). Fantastic.

Yah for Emily!!!

Emily and Andrew before the ceremony

I just wanted to make a non-food entry about my kick ass sister! She is superb and always amazing. One week ago, I had the insanely emotional chance to watch this firecracker of a woman graduate from Barton high school. Yesterday matt and I were sitting in his focus discussing how bizarre it was to finally get to this place where Emily has taken this right of passage. We both remember thinking to ourselves sentences like this: "When Emily graduates from high school I will be......" Because of the age difference between Matthew, myself and little miss Emily, the older of us have had the opportunity to watch the evolution of this super star, and Thursday night of last week really accentuated this passage of time, and highlighted what a dedicated pair of parents we have.

Emily graduated with a truck full of awards, a jaw dropping average, a spot at the University of Toronto's Trinity College and a great group of friends. But, I have to say, that it is Emily's ubiquitous goodness of personality, a total pervasiveness in her whole approach to be great, an overarching stitch to her narrative so far that is full of good deeds and moments of kindness - it is this collection of her attributes that causes me to stop and gawk in amazement at this little ball of energy and altruism. She is pretty wonderful. I just can't wait to see what else she is going to get up to.Rick, Emily and Mom

Ontario - my Strawberries to Discover....

This post should have come down the pipe line a long while ago, but there have been other things in the oven besides good food and summer fun. Packing, organizing and trying to tame my wild cat (Biggums) have taken up some of my usual blogging time.

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a saucy celebration of Ontario strawberries. Yummy.
Obviously you are going to want to snap up the organic variety, but, to be honest, I would take the conventional form of strawberries FOR SURE.

Speaking of strawberries - this saturday will be all about the Organic Strawberry Festival at Dufferin Grove Park. It is being put on by the new health food store in the neighbourhood (Sunshine Natural Foods, which is on the corner of Dovercourt and College). There is going to be some yummy lemonaid, crepes and of course loads of reasonably priced organic strawberries. I think everyone should check it out (after checking out my garage sale first).

The Ontario Strawberries that I picked up last week lasted quite some time and they were tiny, fresh little red globes of love love love. I used them in a couple of shakes, used them in a couple of breakfast yummies (see photo) and of course I ate a whack of them RAW. They would have been great coated with some cocoa, (but that just might be where I am at in the moon cycle of things).There wasn't much to this bowl of goodness (which, if my camera wasn't being a jerk you could see is supporting the program from my most brilliant sister's graduation).

12 ontario strawberries - washed, cuddled and sliced.
1 banana - sliced
2 tablespoon of flax seed
2 tablespoons of oats
if you are feeling super sexy - add some soy milk and cinnamon



I am reading a most brilliant book - It is: Don't Get Too Comfortable, and is written by David Rakoff - the most hilarious gay man I have ever had the opportunity to read (he loves telling his reader that he is Gay (capital G). It is amazingly well written. It makes me laugh out loud and it picks my brain in a delightful way.
Pick pick. (strawberries).

Angry 'Coon Curry

I had a weekend guest who concocted the most beautiful vegan meal I have ever had the pure joy of putting to my lips. The entire dish, from consistency and flavour, to presentation and texture, was perfectly perfect.

Having only been left in charge of the odd wok stirring, and the consistent replenishing of our wine cups, my rendition of the recipe will be flawed, but I couldn't deny the world the posting of this world-altering union of taste.

Angry 'Coon Curry
(the 'Coon who I speak of was hiding in the roof of my porch during the preparation of the dish. He became so incensed with being unable to partake in the goodness of the vittles that he proceeded to literally RIP down the ceiling and throw the SLATES of wood to the ground)

4 portobello mushrooms (heads snapped off and gently washed)
2 large cooking onions (cut into chunks of approx. 2cm squared)
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 can of chick peas
1 can of black peas

cumin
coriander
yellow curry powder
salt
pepper (in a dead puppy pepper grinder)
some funny little black seed (THAT I THOUGHT WAS MUSTARD)
chili and garlic curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
garlic (diced)
fresh ginger (peeled, pounded and diced)

The spices (pepper, cumin, salt, curry powder,coriander) were toasted in the large un-oiled skillet with the intent or roasting and releasing the flavour.
The portobellos were dry roasted.
A touch of oil was added (I really dropped the ball by not having peanut or sunflower oil)
and the onions, peppers and a touch of water were added to the mix.
Following this garlic and ginger were added at this point, along with the pepper duo.
Following a quick smoke/wine drinking break chickpeas, black beans and curry paste were added.
Coconut Milk came next, with the dish being than allowed to sit and stew for about 20 minutes.
While the curry was getting more delicious by the milllisecond Nappa Cabbage (Chinese Cabbage) was diced and laid out in the shape of a circle in the middle of two glasses plates.

Finally the olfactory-pleasing and taste bud-party of a dish was ready. I almost had a seizure due to the explosions detonating in all nerve sensors - but I would rather choke on my tongue than have gone my whole life without tasting this beautiful plate of food.

I admit to enjoying another large portion today at lunch - which may have signed my death warrant - I am certain I saw the raccoon looking in the window. Oh well.

What is Dirty Blister Infection?

I have a hole in my foot. I am not sure if I got around to mentioning the blister a super cute pair of shoes from Le Chateau happened to drill into my heel? Since I haven't been interrupted by a florist delivering me your sympathies I will assume not....

The blister isn't THAT large. Well, perhaps the size of a quarter? How about the size of a dried apricot procured at Strictly Bulk on Bloor and Ossington? Anyhow, blistered my ankle be. I covered it almost immediately (which may be my problem), but noticed that by Sunday night it was warm, red and signing its own rendition of some really great Broadway tunes (okay - as an aside, there is the CRAZIEST woman on Jeopardy right now!!)

I decided that rather than have my foot swell itself right out of my Birkenstock or deny me one more afternoon without my cyclefit class (I admit to having cycled on Sunday when I should have taken a day of reprieve) I would head over to the Christie and Bloor Walk In Clinic. I was ready to wait an hour (or four), but I was actually the only patient and was seen within five minutes. After a quick (and totally unneeded) groping by the Dr, I was treated with BOTH a cream and an oral antibiotic (so Roger, I think you were wrong, this thing COULD kill me).

I am quite sure that this expensive duo is NOT vegan, but I have to say that my moral fibre is not willing to do a full investigation at this point - I want my leg. Is that terrible? Is that bending to the unavailability of vegan first-aid/antibiotic formulas?

The shoes that I thought I had gotten a fantastic vegan steal on ($29.99) seem to have now cost me around 80 bucks once you work in the cost of the medicine, the bandages and the now unwearable shoes.....but hey! at least I got felt up by the doctor! Excellent.

PlowPeople - Vegan Style

The plowman's platter has always held sway with my tummy - not for the cheese, meat or bread so much as for the aesthetic of little food chunks so sweetly compartmentalized on your plate. I also really dig the idea of its tradition. Vegan's aren't likely to find options to their liking in the plowman's platter: at least not in most conventional eateries, but when has this limitation stopped me from satisfying my own foodie desires?

With a beautiful day making it impossible to spend even a meal time of one hour suffocating between four walls, we found our way into the heart of St. James' Church (the corner of Church and King). Prior to making our way over to the church we spent about 45 minutes exploring the offerings of St. Lawrence vendors. It was when we spied the giant roasted-garlic-stuffed olives and the sundried tomoatoes that we knew our lunch was going to be of the sampling variety.
We eventually settled on the aforementioned olives, and tomatoes, but added to this some artichoke hearts, blueberries, cherries and a lovely little apple. I must admit that to this lunch there was also a string of intensly hot 'pepperoni' (which of course I passed on).

With our food and forks in hand we made our way over to an inviting bench and spent two hours admiring the dresses of mother's of the bride and making plans for an upcoming trip to Montreal. The lunch was a perfect little compliment to the bites and bits of conversation shared in the church's garden, so eloquently called: God's Garden.

My Monastic Rice Pudding Party

While penning (or keying rather) this post I am enjoying the second podcast in the Medieval Studies Series - which is researched, written and read by some fellow who has the most excellent medieval-my-real-name-is-Beuwolf kind of voice. It is excellent. A great friend to the delightful desert I managed to portage all the way home from the Carrot Common.

The Carrot Common, which use to be known more simply as "The Big Carrot" has gone (in my opinion) from being a homey, authentic-like healthy/organic/Earth-minded shop to a scrubby version of Whole Foods. Gone are the dreadlocks, gone are the millet crusted cookies, and welcomed are the gentrified yuppie-puppies who are scanning through my bulk raisins wearing their LL Bean Hemp shirt with their eyes plastered with a fake smile that shines through their 240 dollar Alfred Sung specs. I know this is a cynical review. I know. I am just finding myself frustrated with the commercialization of a lifestyle that I think is important and essential to the world we are destroying. Organic, wellness, health, yoga, digestive enzymes - all of these things have become buzz words that sit next to latte, apple, lulu lemon and Volkswagen. Being well, being vegan, 'going' organic has all become precious and elevated. I want the healthiest and most organic to be available to everyone or none. Damn it.

Health and wellness should not be a pop label. Rather, more like a Gregorian chat - deep and pervasive and lasting and, in a most monastic way, available to the lay, to the most indigent to the most feeble.

Let's get on this.

After my rant:
Let me say that the Carrot's own brand of vegan rice pudding is quite good. Although, personally, I would have gone without the maple syrup and apple juice. I might just have to try this weekend and see what I can whip up for myself.

Yummmmmm

Decisions...decisions

I can't make them. I have a couple that need tending, and like my back garden, I am full of intentions and plans and exciting little crops of goodness; the weeds and erratic nature of the environment is weighing down hope for clear path making.

I had an interesting experience happen to me on the way to yoga on Sunday night. It was one of those moments where you aren't quite sure how to act, and you are afraid that your gut feeling might be misplaced or just down right Conservative.

I had taken my mac to the shop and actually had it fixed FOR FREE, by a wonderfully quiet and knowledgeable man at PCUSED (a great little shop on Bathurst and Dupont), and decided to go straight to yoga following the rebirth of my laptop. Good idea - get there a bit early, maybe do some more cardio (because the two hours in the morning wasn't enough). However, good intentions...blah blah...you know the idiom. Taste of Little Italy was robbing me of a quick path down College and I had to trudge (and it did, given the heat and hoards of people, feel like trudging) my way down about 10 blocks before getting to the YMCA locker room. But! I still had a few moments to spare before yoga. Rather than jumping on the elliptical, I ran across the street for a soy milk - Starbucks...why do you charge me 3 50 for warm soya milk - and Lyndsay...why do you pay for it? Anyhow, as I reached for the door I was cut off by a man who I had seen in the coffee shop on numerous occasions - yelling, screaming and causing general raucous. It was clear that he had mental illness of some variety. No problem. However, on this hot Sunday afternoon, the fellow stepped in front of me and blocked my entrance to my soya milk. I tried to dodge around him, no luck. I asked him to move, no luck - he kept staring at me accusingly. I think I was invading his sanctuary. Fair enough. But I wanted a drink. I asked him a couple more times to move, in a fairly pleasant manner, and than....than he lashed out and tried to punch me! Whoah. Not expecting that. I got a little nervous, backed off and waited for him to head off. Afterwards I went inside and spoke to the manager who informed me that they were trying to get him off their property but were having difficulty.

My thoughts are this: If he had hit me - he would have been in a lot of trouble. If I had been someone else and he had hit me, he might have put himself in danger. Shouldn't he be removed from the streets because he is a danger to himself and to others? But this is the ugly blurry line that I can't decide is making me a big asshole or not........When is someone a danger? When does it become an issue of social responsibility? Does everyone have the right to freedom even if it means that they are potentially setting themselves up for harm? And if they do not have the capacity to understand that potential who gets to decide this, and than of course the larger answer - who is given the responsibility to police this?
Of course there are obvious cases that need little moral or ethical stomach knots in order to come to a clear answer - if someone is in a state of mental understanding whereby they feel it acceptable to punch, kick, bite, try to have sex etc, every single person who comes their way. That doesn't give me as much mental trauma to come up with the thought that they need intensive and special treatment. But, what if, it is just the odd attack of the yoga soy seeking girl at the local coffee shop? BUT - what if that yoga girl did not have her chakra's lined up and was a tough cookie who hit back and knocked any offending fist slinging person out? What then? The initial fist slinger is putting themselves in the way of peril and yet they are either not aware or not caring....what do we do??? Hmmmm.....I just will have to go and try and fight my way to some more soya milk to come up with an answer.

Sharing that didn't help me in my road to decision making, but it did waste some time. Good.

Another Look: Four Years Later

I trekked back to Hamilton in the back of my parent's speeding sedan. With riotous tales of early morning robberies as my auditory accompaniment I watched the world of Hamilton whip by. Four years ago I left it behind, even when we returned it wasn't with the same intention, even when we hadn't actually left I was out the door. Sometime around Locke and Stanley, but definitely by the time I started stealing the mini-van for trips to the back of your warehouse. I was already gone.
After a brief stop at the Rockingham Hotel (now affectionately known as "the scene of the crime") we made our way down to Il Fiasco to celebrate a number of family happinesses - Emily and her acceptance into Trinity One, Mom's promotion, Father's Day, Anne Marie's Birthday, Matthew's 90, and my new job. I selected Il Fiasco tonight for a couple of reasons.

1) I am all about self-deprecation and I had some of my WORST dates ever in this now expanded eatery (read: Spinach in teeth)
2) I absolutely hate the owner and was looking for a fight
3) I wanted to check out their new dinner menu
4) I wanted/needed to go back to the scene of my own crime.

Emily and I hit Goodness Me, while mom and Rick grabbed our reservation (though, upon walking in at 7 pm, we realized that when dining on a deserted island one hardly needs to make reservations). Goodness Me was a bit disapointing, although I did grab some organic nanners and 2 for 5 rice milks.

The waiter appeared to have done a few lines of coke in the back room before making his way to our table. His discomfort was tangible at first, but, after what I assume was a few more tokes off the prep table, he loosened right up.

The menu hadn't changed much in the four years since I had started (for a brief period of about 6 months) haunting this bistro 'ish' hole in the wall - which now that they have dug further into the back of the building and without the assistance of any additional windows, one could very well confuse the back tables with a grotto of sorts. They chef/owner was still clinging to the pasta/pizza/seafood fare, adding dishes rather than categories to the offerings.

Having forgone my FAVOURITE HAMILTON yummy house for this I was sad to see that they had resisted my vegan needs and had yet to have even ONE item on the menu that didn't include at least one of the following: meat, cheese, milk or cream. Sorry, so sorry - the organic greens salad with the same blueberry dressing (although the dressing is less satisfying than it was 4 years ago) seems to pass as vegan.

I listened to my family, watched them enjoy their butternut squash stuffed ravilio, pad thai and baked brie and realized that tonight wasn't about the food, or the atmosphere created by a pair of self-important 'let's make west-hamilton special' boobs. Nope - this was about spending time with my family and being a part of something really amazing.

My pizza (special ordered - sans feta and plus onions) was alright...and everyone seemed to really dig the food - although the rice dish was too spicy for mom, and Anne Marie looked like she needed a medic to cool her down when she finished her Pad Thai.

I love my family and I love all of our stories.
Here's to families that can pull it together and still love each other at the end of it all.
Tofu to that!


I dedicate the next recipe to a certain little baby 'a'. Momma Mercat will have to make it for you, but I think you would really 'dig' it (get it angelique, dig it! hah)

A's Raisins and Nanners

1 organic banana (sliced into banana coins as the fancy tv chefs say)
1/2 package of soft tofu
2 tablespoons of vanilla
1 tablespoon of cocoa
2 tablespoons of organic oats
a handful of raisins

Throw the vanilla, tofu, banana and cocoa into a bowl and fire up your hand blender.
When everything is nice and smooth ladle into a serving dish and through your oats and raisins right on top. Enjoy! Yum.

Notorious Little Vegan

Last night I watched (or fell asleep to) a rather disappointing retelling of Betty Paige's life. yuck - it was terrible. But, in falling asleep before 9 30 I was able to wake up early enough to put in 3.5 hours at the gym this morning! I had a great cycle fit class....all of this exercise led up to a fantastic cook-off tonight that consisted of a killer refried beans recipe and some excellent guacamole.

But!
Before I get to my dinner I have to share my beauty treasure for the day: SunCoat Nailpolish, number 24. The colour is a tad more 'goldish' in hue than I was hoping for, but I can live with it. I found this little treasure at Noah's on Bloor at Spadina, and although it was more pricey than your average nail polish, it is 70% natural product and it isn't tested on animals.

Okay, so the beans.

I started with some Canola in my large wok, and added some organic tofu (1/2 a package that I pressed and than diced into small cubes). To the tofu I added some pepper and oregano. I let this satay for a wee bit and than added the diced red pepper, green pepper and a hot house tomato. While this little mixture warmed up a la medium to high heat (the tomatoes were great for adding liquid and preventing any sticking), I got to work on my guacamole only to find that I had left myself with only 1/2 an avocado (thanks to my chocolate pie adventure of last weekend), but I made do by adding 1/2 a tomato, the juice of 1 lemon and 3 cloves of garlic. I contemplated adding some silken tofu, but decided against it.
Back to the beans. I decided to go grad-school-stanely-ave styles and rather than using black beans I used some PC refried beans...they are nicely spiced....and voila, a little salsa, a little love and a whole lot of yummy.
I warmed up some pita in the oven and enjoyed a little bit of wendy mesley's Market Place (watch out of insurance deals when buying a car!) while eating my bucket full of beans.

They didn't last long enough for me to get a photo................

I have no idea what those silly goats are doing. But, they have horns so I am not going to mess with them.

Squares and Pods

I had a wonderful trip through Dufferin Grove Park tonight. All the 'bring your own bag' folks were milling about the growing-by-the-week number of vendors that were offering everything from organic herbs and horizontally traded chocolate to soy based treats and raw granola. I was glad to have only 2.50 on me or I think I might have opted for more than the vanilla-coconut square that I ruined my dinner with.

I am off to Vancouver next weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing Angelique and the littles. She has the best troop of littles and she really is an amazing mom. I will have to take a bunch of vegannie goodness with me, I am not sure how many options I will have in Campbell River and especially in Zeballos or Tassis. I am hoping to see the SuperPod.

My Avocado Chocolate Surprise

Nursing a supposed pulmonary embalism (never will I go to a walk in clinic again), I settled into my long weekend with a couple of movies. The most startling and well done was by the director of Hoop Dreams - Steve James. Check out Stevie if you are in for an evening of depressing and frightening nature of the human condition. Oh, and keep your eye on the puppy at the beginning of the film - he is the most light hearted aspect of the doc.

Anyhow, the other pick was Go Further, a documentary that followed the west coast (really bad) speaking 'mission' taken-on, and completed, by Woody Harrelson. The film wasn't that fantastic, a little self-congratulatory, though I was impressed with how little WH was actually in the movie - and he is one of the only guys to ever pull off hemp pants. Anyhow, one of the entourage that was traveling with Woody and his gang of do-gooders was a raw food chef. And low and behold she blew my mind by making (ahhh...NOT baking) an avocado-chocolate pie.

Although the credits didn't include the recipe, I was on a mission. I used a compilation from a couple of recipes that I found on vegweb.com, and before meeting Miss. Rankin for a nice little Monday afternoon tea (not green) I shopped myself silly in Kensington (you would be surprised how few shops were open on the holiday).....and I turned out a pretty amazing pie (Okay - I ate so much last night while watching The Name of the Rose that I was sick all day today).
Here is my recipe - give it a try and let me know. I still have half a pie left in the freezer, so be sure to stop by the Gladstone pad for taste testing.

Crust:
1 cup of walnuts (soaked)
1 cup of walnuts (chopped up in your food processor)
1/2 cup of cashews (chopped up in your food processor)
1/2 cup of dates
1/2 cup of raisins
1 tablespoon of cocoa
1 tablespoon of vanilla (I grabbed some authentic stuff from a Latin American shop)

Filling:
2 avocados
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 tablespoons of cocoa
1 banana
1/3 cup of dates

Okay - here we go:

Set aside the 1 cup of soaking walnut crumbles - let them be for about 1/2 hour. It makes them nice and sticky.
Add in your food processor your cashews and other cup of walnuts, whir the heck out of these until you are left with a mealie mush. Add to the mush your dates and raisins and whir her up. Add the cocoa, and remaining nuts and...whir. You should end up with a 'crust' that will lay nice and flat in your pie dish. Press the dough down firmly, and throw it in the freezer while you are getting the filling ready.
This is the easy part - throw EVERYTHING, except the dates, into the food processor and whip it up. I left mine while I was doing the dishes - The last thing I wanted was any avocado lumpies in the pie. While doing the dishes let the dates and about 1/2 a cup of water come to boil (see....mine isn't totally raw)...and let the dates boil down into an almost chutney consistency. Add this into your filling and whir again. If you feel the need to add some more sweetness you can add some chocolate via more cocoa or melt down some vegan chocolate chips.
All you have to do is add the filling to the crust and throw it back in the freezer.
I recommend leaving it for about 2 hours and then enjoying!!!


Avocados for ALL!!!!

Ohhh...and last night I added some Quinoa to a whack of left over chickpea curry and I managed to impress a certain boy......

Soya Sad

Spending time with my grade seven girl's club group has made me sad.
We met today during their lunch hour and of course with the pretense of the hour at hand it was easy for me to openly inquire about the whereabouts of some of the girls' lunches.
"I am fat. I don't eat"
"I never eat lunch...or breakfast"
"I'm hungry, but I am fat, so I don't eat lunch"
These three separate, and yet equally disturbing comments came from three separate and yet equally NON fat girls (women).
It was hard for me to hide my 28 year-old concern (you know the kind that makes a teenager want to throw up all over you), and instead I turned it into a lesson about metabolism, and that by not eating they are actually putting themselves at risk to gain UNHEALTHY weight - not too mention the liver failure, the hair loss and the ceasation of mesnses that likes to disturb the unhappy life of most anorexics. I also talked about how some very thin girls are as unhappy with their bodies as those with the inverse concern - the girls not eating their lunches seemed to find this hard to believe, and who, when exposed to our thin=happy culture could blame them.
I didn't want to talk about metabolism and teach them about how they can NOT slow down their metabolism. I wanted to scream at them and tell them that they are beautiful, and that they should eat if it feels good, and exercise when it feels good, and rest when they want to, and eat fruit, nuts and peanut butter when they want to (all items they were discussing and labeling as 'make you fat' foods), but of course I couldn't. At 12 and 13 these girls are looking for my affirmation, love or concern. They aren't even looking for their parents' love or support (something that I realized later in the session when we were doing a quick activity) - nope. They want to be loved by their friends - and many of them by male 'friends' and bound up in this notion of friendship and self (via peer) admiration is the concept of thin=beauty. And this is ugly and totally wrong. Totally wrong.
I feel sad. Sad for them, sad for me as a 12 year old - I remember being caught up in that, and really believing that only if I was thin would I really be good enough. I also feel sad for 28 year old me who is still haunted by old thoughts and fears.
This world is so unhealthy, so dissatisfied with itself and it is turning in on who we naturally are - and, well, that just sucks a rusty chickpea.

Like Aged Tofu

It has been ages since I have been blogging. Life has really taken me by the head and given me a good knock about. In the process, with a sick tummy, my experiments into the wide world of vegan cooking has slipped into the abibsmal state of rice, seaweed, soup and mushy brussell sprouts.
I headed to Urban Herbivore today with the intent of enjoying something that wasn't on the 'safe' list of happy tummy foods, and ended up with the DARING sweet potato muffin and curried cauliflower soup. Sore tummy followed and my day dragged along like the phantom stump of a wounded war veteran.
But...I have had a couple of clandestine meetings the last couple of days - and they have outshone the cloudiness that accompanies my sore tummy.
On the train last night - being rushed home through tunnels and over tracks - I was disturbed from my Neko Case ear-injection by the voice of a stranger "do they just give those away?" he was referring of course to my snazzy eco-chic Toronto Public Library cloth bag that was draped over my shoulder and filled to bursting with end of term Communications papers. We had a great conversation about tai chi and some interesting Korean Martial Art that I can't recall.
And than, this morning, over a cup of silk road chai tea, stepped in Soy Milk and sprinkled with cocoa, I met this amazing woman who is doing her PhD at York. We chatted for quite a bit about teaching, academics and jerk boys who live in the city and like to pose as scruffy 'cool' guys when they are 35.......anyway, great woman, great guy, great conversations. Makes a belly happy!

I plan to return here. I like it here.

Christmas Eve Cereal

Puffed Wheat and a sprig of mistletoe.

It was late, I was teary-eyed and what lay before my eyes? The ultimate Christmas treat. Okay, so it isn't your conventional Christmas treat, but it did the job.
Puffed Wheat, Unsweetened Soy Milk, a banana and a handful of walnuts (grieving doesn't mean missing out on one's EFAs).
I am a bit of a mess this festive holiday season. A mess to be sure.
Missing Wayne is a bit larger of a parcel than I had been anticipating. It has been under the tree all week, and I have been trying to avoid tearing it open. But I have it now and it fits like the pink sweater I got in 2004 - perfectly, but with a couple of itchies. Where is that pink sweater? Damn to hell all of this moving.

I am reading the most ridiculous novel, an 'alternate history' by H. Turtledove (I think this fellow missed the class on 'creating a pseudonym' in his writing workshop). This novel sees Queen Elizabeth the first imprisoned in the Tower of London; the Spanish Inquisition is in full swing and Catholicism is returned to the people of England. The BEST part of the book is that William Shakespeare is charged with saving the English people via a play. I love it. The language is so silly (as though the entire 'groundling' populace of early modern England spoke with the tongue of Spencer) and I can't get through more than 20 pages without coming across some overdone sex scene. Oh, and the best!!! The gay jokes that Shakespeare keeps hurling at Kit Marlowe...hilarious....the one about Kit being 'yolked' to one of his friends (Kit is enraged when Wil supposes he is a front man) is by far my favourite.

My sister told me a story the other day about the kindest thought ever directed my way ---- I was stupid and missed the entire moment......thank goodness I have my sister around to remind me of what I am missing in life.

To all a good day - Stacey: what are you doing for C dinner???? Please share!!! Oh, and no...there is no one.

Happy Tofu everyone!

Holidays Holidays and The Scandal in Bohemia

I have just had the most ridiculous argument with someone about real irish people having to be under 5 foot 3. Please.

Can amazing nights come from investigating health foods store again for the first time; playing a piano with your feet, all whilst being suspected for shoplifting from a toy store and navigating through a new space with a most interesting person?

I don't have any recipes today. Only recommendations.

1. Eat good food all of the time.
2. Do not eat before cyclefit class when you want to show someone what you are capable of. (barfing will ensue)
3. Leave yourself open to new experiences, even if they may potentially get you fired.
4. Celebrate holiday because you are on holiday, not because the potential for receiving new lu lu lemon outfits go up by about 100%.

5. (and the most important) write at least one love poem in your life, and be sure to receive as many as possible.

I must return to my research. I adore reading all of this sherlock holmes. And I am most excited to report my discovery of the Toronto Public Library's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Special Collection. It must be christmas.

Oh wait, one more recommendation - check out The Merchantile - a great little gourmet shop on College between grace and...which ever street is the next east. Fantastic treats and great service. Nice little gift baskets and loads of vegan treats.

One more thought - I finally wore the boots. Although they looked much better in C's rendition of Miss Duke a la boots, shorts (can you call fabric that small shorts?) and tank, I think I managed to pull them off.....not bad for a Monday night dinner out.

Ewan and Nicole.....so dreamy.....

I can hear the tinklings of THE best movie of all time...okay, maybe not THE best movie, but pretty close to the highest peak of my stars and moon list of things that make me feel all girlie, silly and bursting with potential tears and other emotional consequences....get ready -

that's right Emily, you guessed: Moulin Rouge.

I don't know what it is. A more cerebral and grad-school part of me knows that they might revoke my degrees if I fess up to being enamored with this film...but honestly, maybe it is the sequins in nicole's dress or the look of longing in good ol' ewan's eyes. Or perhaps it is the medley of madonna, U2 and David Bowie that does it to me. An answer is not what I seek - but to be left to enjoy!!! The entire soundtrack is also a good accompaniment for a long run.

So in honour of Moulin Rogue let's have a little red in tonight's menu.

My cabbage soup will do. I went through it quite quickly - it is so nice and warm, the little hint of curry adds a great depth to the flavour that is often missing with cabbage. Not to mention the kick it gives to the otherwise boring aesthetic.

1/2 of a green cabbage (you can use the red cabbage, but look out -- you end of with a soup that looks like an alien cocktail)
1 large onion (diced)
1 large head of garlic (maybe too much for you? these should be peeled and sliced)
2 zucchini (cut up in 1 inch pieces)
1/2 of a cauliflower (pulled apart into little trees)
1 green pepper (cut and diced)
1 large carrot (shredded)

2 can of tomatoes
3 - 6 cups of water (your choice)
2 tablespoons of curry power
2 tablespoons of black pepper
1 tablespoon of mustard seeds
3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

I prefer to avoid the oil in this recipe and I sweat the onions with a little bit of water and some of the juice from the tomatoes. Add the mustard seed once the onion becomes translucent. The mustard seeds will start to pop and you can start to either 1. add the vegetables and let them fry themselves up a bit or 2. add the tomatoes, vinegar and the spices. Let this mixture warm up a wee bit and than feel free to add all of your veggies into the pot. Stir and begin to add the water until you are left with nothing but a pot of simmering soup and a couple of dirty dishes.

The longer you leave this soup the yummier it gets.

The vegan cookie gifts I received yesterday at the end of characters and culture went ever so nicely with my warm before-bed soy milk. All three varieties!!!

Keeping it simple

I just had the most amazing meal I have had in a long time.
I don't know if it is the glow I have in my cheeks; a stain left by notes and wonderfully thoughtful flowers - or, it my belly and my mind happened to combine in a moment of totally uninspired genius. Perhaps both?

Even though Chris is having a hard time reading the recipes (stacey seems to have no problem) I am going to continue to post my goodies in my own deliciously saucy way.

So, here is all you need for a yummy night of satisfaction (well, maybe not ALL you need...)

5 mushrooms (any variety will do - though, avoid portobello for this dish)
2 tomatoes
1 lemon
1 tspn of soy sauce

Heat a small pot on a medium burner and add the tomatoes - diced.
Squeeze the entire lemon over the t's, and splash in your soysauce.
Add your diced mushrooms and just let it simmer in its own yummy goodness for about 10 minutes.
Oh my......enjoy!

I promise you will.

You know what...sometimes even when it is pouring rain one can still be head over heels in love with the world...even when you are wearing woolie shoes.
ahhh woolie shoes.

Not in a Million Years

I haven't posted in a million years. So sorry.
There is so much to share and so many brilliant pictures to post. Let's see what we can get through in this limited time between writing the last few questions for my students' exam tomorrow and continuing to mark my papers (argh, there are so many this year....why oh why do they have to write papers? Can they not act out their understanding? Can they not write me fiction? Can they not sing me sweet songs about Hills Like White Elephants? It isn't that I don't want to mark them, I just feel that they don't want to do them any more than I want to spend the rest of my days drawing animation (because I can't) so why put them through this...I don't agree).

I have made some final decisions about next year. Toronto - look out.

The recipes I have been dying to add are from a couple of weekends ago actually. The darling Brenda and her love Mike found themselves in Toronto for a dinner with The Sultan - giving me the chance to spend the entire evening with my two favourite ladies: KATE AND SARAH! We started the afternoon with a bowl of fruit left out by their dynamite mom/vet extraordinaire. While enjoying fruit, which was complete with tooth picks, we managed to get through a couple of short stories. The girls have been writing like crazy...and it was great fun. Some about monsters and boys from Kate (I understand that connection) and a great one about Odysseia (a relative of our famous not-so-hero) that Sarah and I have been working on for about a year now....

We than decided that we needed to make some dinner to be followed by cookie baking! Dinner was Frogs and Snakes in Sauce and the cookies were just hilarious. No other word fits them best - they were hilarious. We took a really basic cookie recipe and the girls just 'added'. I managed to find a wet/dry balance but it was mostly them digging through the fridge/cupboards and finding the things that they liked to eat and throwing it all together into one tasty mess of a batter. We even managed to personalize a couple of cookies for their dog Ryker - adding dog food to the top right before the baking.

You will find the recipes below, but the fun and laughter was all ours - we would love to share!!! You will have to join us sometime.

Kids are really the most amazing version of the human species. Their belief in goodness and their cuddle capabilities can make even the worst year in one's life seem filled with a load of sunshine and cookies....After baking we headed for the HUGE bed in M and B's room, where we huddled under the covers and enjoyed Harry Potter (you know Kev, it really wasn't as bad as we had thought...remember that trip home from the theatre last december...it was so cold....thank god for TTC), and the girls past out - one on each side.
Auntie Lyndsay tucked them into bed and headed for the hot tub.

Frogs and Snakes in Sauce

1 box of whole wheat pasta
1 cup of veggie ground round (italian)
1 onion
1 green pepper
tomato sauce (canned if you like - the girls prefer it to my 'fru fru' fancy homemade sauce)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Green food colouring


Add your oil to a warmed up pot (medium sized), and add your onion. The girls aren't crazy about garlic so the onion was just fine. Add your green pepper as soon as the onions are translucent. Give it a stir and let it sit for about three minutes, stirring occasionally. Add your tomato sauce, ground round and a wee bit of pepper. Simmer.

While you are making your sauce be sure to start the pasta water. When you have a rolling bubble going on throw in your noodles. I love my noodles over done - so go to town if you like, otherwise about 7 minutes should do it.
Strain, rinse and add the sauce to the larger noodle pot.
Ask the kids to add the food colouring and you have yourself some snakes/frogs in sauce. They loved it! Screams abounding.

The cookies are another story. Which I might get to tonight, but these exams may just be the death of me. We will see.

Not Impressed with Blogger....

Can we NOT have a shrimp advert on a vegan site PLEASE?

Just to make up for that I am posting my clandestine pea and lentil curry that just 'sort of happened' on my stove top last night.

1/2 bag of frozen peas
1 cup of lentils
1/2 a red onion
4 little brocoli trees (I know there is a more 'grown up' name...but come on)
2 large tomatoes
raisins and walnuts at your discretion

1 tablespoon of chili and garlic curry paste
1 tablespoon of crushed garlic and ginger paste
2 cups of water to start and than as needed
1 tablespoon of tahina (I just can't stop using this stuff)

Add water, peas and lentils to large pot (I made the mistake of using a medium sized pot)
Let these guys hang out for at least 10 minutes on their own and then add your additional ingredients (with the exception of the walnuts).
The peas will become quite mushy...which is what I was looking for.
Let this simmer for another 10 minutes and than plate a top a bed of rice. I actually added rice to the dish while simmering....but it might look a bit more presentable if the curry is added to a bed of, let's say....jasmine scented rice...or brown basmatti.

This is the time to add your walnuts, tamirand chutney and perhaps a sprig of cilantro.

Enjoy!!!

Totally Funky Site - and THEY came

Fantastic Site! The Animal Friendly Life.

I was poking around looking for information on the Foie Gras ban, and I found this excellent site. I was impressed with the amount of research and top notch writing that went into these pages. The links and podcasts are also quite useful - I found a whack of stuff that didn't make it through a 'Google' Search.

Well, with the rainy weather here (sorry about that BC) and the temperature almost acting normal I am happy to announce that VeganEssentials came through on their delivery promise. On Tuesday afternoon, with much fan fare (and an EXTRA 20 dollar COD charge...not from VE, but from CANADA POST) my heart shaped cowgirl boots arrived.

I felt like Cinderella. Wait - where is my prince? Can I be my own prince? Well, that will have to suffice for the moment. Anyhow, they are, admittedly, a wee bit eccentric and SUPER nerdie. But, hey, if you need to find a reason for working for a pittance as a College Professor, it might as well be the certain amount of permission that is afforded to you in the realms of acting and dressing rather odd.

I can also happily report that I found a pair of flats...thank you Transit - you have come through yet again. And....okay, I also bought a pair of knee high black boots....yikes. No more shoe shopping until after Christmas.

GOLDEN!


Now try this one Stacey!!!!!

I just made what may-potentially-quite possibly be the best curry I have yet to make.
It was the unique ingredients that made a surprisingly delicious taste party in my mouth - give it up for tahina and apricots.

Most curries that are made in the Daniel house are of two varieties:
1. The fruit curry (preferred by Keith, and accepted by me - though to be honest, I am not so hot on the pineapple-banana-apple with curry paste combo)
2. The spicy veggie-fu curry (adored by me, loved by russell)

Being out of Tofu, and not wanting to face a round at Whole Foods for the sake of some organic tofu, I decided to go sans protein and just experiment with some of the ingredients I had procured earlier in the day at The Bulk Barn - which I raided in pursuit of bread/cookie components.

So here is our ingredient list:

1 can of tomatos ( I used whole, but diced would be fine)
4 fresh tomatos - just added some nice texture
1 head of broccoli
1/2 head of cauliflower
1 red bell pepper
1 red onion (this was unusual for me - I am more of a spanish/cooking onion for my curries)
1 garlic clove
1 zucchini

1 heaping tablespoon of cinnamon and tamarind flavoured curry paste
1 heaping tablespoon of crushed ginger and garlic
2 tablespoons of tahini sauce (this was unexpected, but oh-so-delightful)
a handful of mustard seeds
whole cardamon pods (crushed yourself)
1 cup of apricots

Start with a spray of canola on the bottom of a LARGE pot, let this heat up and through in your mustard seeds - let these guys heat up until they start to pop, at this point toss in your onion with a splash of the tomato liquid. This this cook until your onions are see-through; add your garlic and garlic/ginger paste.

From here I added pretty much everything else and than let it simmer for 3 hours.
The vegetables melted in my mouth and the tahini thickened the curry without making it too sweet (a la coconut milk).
This was delightful. I served it with a whole wheat, raisin cinnamon bread that I made while the curry was a'cookin.

I also made a wonderful bunt-banana-raisin bread (that my students will be the recipients of tomorrow morning), and a nice little apricot and raisin bread.

What a yummy way to spend my day. It doesn't always have to be marking and working out now does it. I might need some additional workouts after the pig outs I had this weekend - however, it was the ONLY remedy for my 'didn't get the job' blues.
After a big tear-festival and with the kind words of mr. mcneilly I managed to realize that hey! at 28 to be interviewing for a permanent/tenure track professorship is pretty bloody amazing all on its own. So yah me!
I have already started to line things up for the next term, but it was really the work of the sushi I ate on Thursday AND Friday that made me feel better.....Check out Bento Box in Burlington - they will make you a vegan miso soup if you ask nicely. And oh my goodness...the avocado roll is to die for, not to be outdone by the sweet potato roll though.

What a wonderfully foodie-esque weekend.

Ride Em'

Well, I did it. I finally purchased a pair of vegan cowgirl boots that I have been coveting for some time.....I just couldn't think of a reason to NOT get them anymore. I am waiting for them to come via UPS...and I am getting a little antsy. But, they are worth this anxiety; they are worth the trouble. The daintily stitched little hearts that float up the leg of the boot, and the veganacity of the whole purchase just make me shake with glee.

Now, I just need new pairs of flats and runners. The runners - no problem. I love Saucony! Many of the company's products are vegan AND it is managed by a woman....fantastic. Vegan AND they give me some of the best 10kms I could ever ask for. So the runners: I am thinking The Running Room. A bit more expensive, but I get to feel like I could do the Toronto Marathon in 2 hours when I am in there....positive folks and Canadian-run....just the way I like it.
But, the bane of my existence has been finding a pair of flats this year. All I need is Vegan, flat, black, and cute...is that too much to ask for it? Well, this season it is! It is the year of the heel, and being a lady-of-the-little-people I do feel the need to attach extensions to my legs on occasion. However, I am not one to 'flamingo' it on a daily basis - making me a not-so-ideal consumer during this recent invasion of the spike. Transit usually satisfies my need for dress shoes...not so much right now....

Shoes, shoes, shoes.....I can't help this fetish, I can't put them down, I can't stop, I can't hold back. But all of this purchasing does have a non-obsessive reality behind it....the buggers at GreyHound who lost my stock of vegan footwear....and want to offer me a measly 100 dollars...Imagine. Imagine. I am fighting; fighting with all the energy in this little vegan body of mine. But until I get the funds deserved to me I will keep coughing up in the attempt to restock my limited supplies....oh, shoes. Lost on the highway between oakville and calgary....you must be so scared, so alone, so very unsure of where I have gone to. I might be able to replace you, but I will go on loving you (no matter how many pink hearts they stitch on my shiny new pair of vegan cowgirl boots).


Here is a nice little breakfast whenever you feel like having a raw week (which I am having):

1 Banana (sliced)
1/2 cup of blueberries
1/4 cup of walnuts
1 teaspoon of flax
2 dashes of cinnamon

Mix them together in a cute little glass bowl and there you have it - an energy packed breakfast. It is wicked tasty too!!!
Yummmy

Zinetastic -
I have been inspired to create a zine version of vegancowgirl! A rather wonderful girl-student in my Wednesday morning-impressed-anyone-makes-it-because-it-is-so-darn-early is a zinestress (in addition to a number of other superhuman talents), and her dedication to craft and indie art projects has struck a cord with me.
I have been looking for something to do, something a little bigger and requiring more responsibility than this little blog here...and to be honest, I can't quite handle my cats yet, so I don't think a child is the appropriate answer. So let's see if I can't birth myself a zine.

As noted, the zine will be a print version of VeganCowGirl, with the inclusion of reviews and submissions from other folkies (of the vegan and non-vegan persuassion).
Let's see how this goes.
Any thoughts or ideas are totally encouraged and will be lovingly applied to what ever is about to happen on my apple.

Ten Cent Magnificent!
Now there is a title for an email.
Actually it is a title for an email.
The email is in my inbox. Thanks Crackerjack.

Well, my fate is to be decided tomorrow. I just wish that it was over and I had the burn of too much interview chatter already spread across my cheeks.

Okay - I think I need to dedicate my next few postings to one of my favourite meals of the day -
Breakfast. I love you breakfast.

Having had my allotment of sleep (sometimes 10 - 5 30, sometimes 12 - 6 - really depends on the amount of BattleStar Gallactica I had access to), I love love love to wake up and feel the hungries exploding in my tummy. One of the really wonderful realities of being vegan is just how hungry sleeping can make me. When I was still dinning on milk, butter and every bite of cheese I could score I would wake up and often still feel full from the night before. Granted, this is more a sign of eating too late, too much and too gross - but none the less, this is a feeling that (for the most part - see any night that involves popcorn) has left me since giving up dairy and eggers.
So - I wake up with the power-hungries having taken over my gut and I find myself rushing through the VERY necessary first step of putting on the kettle. I want and need my breakfast, but I want and REALLY need my tea. But after the tea activation comes the anticipation...ohhh...what is it going to be......what will I do? what will I create? what will I bring to a slow simmer while adding a touch of vanilla?
Here are some of my breakfast favourites. Pictures to follow tomorrow morning -

1. Irish/Scottish or Conventional Oatmeal. Oh my god, this is the best. Just the best.
1/4 cup of oats, 1 cup of water, some vanilla, some cocoa, a tablespoon of flaxseeds and if you have it, a decadent addition of any (or all) of the following - banana, blueberries, figs (this morning) or dates.
The prep is soooo simple - throw oats and water in a small pot (the red non-stick from Ikea is fashionable and functional), bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and add all of your extra love and goodness. At this point you might also want to add soya, rice or almond milk - it adds sweetness and smoothies it out a wee bit.

2. Pants not done up smoothie - this is for the mornings when I have only just managed to jump from the bed, into the shower, into a pair of pants, and into the kitchen with oh...tee minus 30 minutes until class.....
All you need is: 1 cup of soya or rice milk, vanilla, strawberries and a banana.....hello mr. handblender. DO it ---- you know what I am talking about. All the way! Whir that puppy up and there you have it....you can drink your smoothie with one hand and finish pulling up your stockings with the other!

3. Scramble Me Tender: Okay - no eggs. just fu!
1/2 block of medium or extra firm tofu, some tumeric, some onion, some garlic and any other ingredient you would like to add to this little masterpiece.
Start with some olive oil in a non-stick pan and add your chopped onion. When the room is fragrant with the promises of your fresh breath, add the tofu and the rest of your ingredients. Move it all around in the pan until you have something that looks like tofu scramble. Done! Yum.

4, Don't forget Buckwheat. I think the big B will be my preinterview energy for tomorrow morning - with a touch of hempseed protein.

Let's give it up for some of the really amazing vegan websites that are out there.
A web-savvy girl could feed herself for at least a billion years with the plethora of information that is available at your vegan-friendly-polished finger tips.

Some of my favourites include:
The Post Punk Kitchen - you can even down load some of the show (which is the egg and sperm of this website child) and cook away to some tunes.

Then there is VegWeb. I have to admit that this pretty little site (with its consistent vomiting of advertisements) has helped me out in a pinch....on a few occasions. Recipes are neatly indexed and there is even a 'meet a vegan friend' post board. This site started as a very 'animal friendly not totally vegan' site, however, over the last five years I have noted its slide on over to most things vegan.

The Vegan Chef is a GREAT site. Although the recipe portioning has been a bit off (and whose recipes haven't????), it is a fantastic place for inspiration.

Okay - I think that is a pretty fair helping...(okay, it is NOT a fair helping, but I am in the middle of moving and my big papa is a great papa and I don't want to keep him waiting)

carrots and peas for everyone! i promise more sites and links in the next few days.....althought with all this marking....who knows.

Calling All Vegan Shoppers!!!

Looking for a vegan-commuter bag...one that will fit my books, loads of (un) marked essays/tests, lecuture notes, my gym shoes, gym clothes, lunch, ipod, iBook, a rash of books that I carry for some sense of comfort.....ahhhh...help.
Due to a recent 'incident' I will not be purchasing anymore Mat and Nat, nor do I dig the new 'lug' bags...they don't fit my ibook.

Any thoughts would be wonderful...I think maybe, maybe MEC might have something for me. But I would prefer something more unique - any sewers out there???

Thanks!
LV

Two essentials - an oldie and a newbie.

Just discovered this new site. Great vegan bags.
http://www.cosmosveganshoppe.com/

And...listening to the all time sexiest and heart squeezing song of all time:
Hallelujah - lyrics by Leonard Cohen, sung by J. Buckley. (come on, just READ the lyrics...and than listen to the song)

Damn it. I will have to knit faster to deal with all of these emotions.

Sweaters abounding,
littlevegan

PS. the buckley would have to be followed by the second most heart-harrowing sound:
P. Gabriel's sound track for Last Temptation of Christ. Thank you Mr. M for my copy, I cherish it and all the memories. I can't wait to rescue it from my moving boxes and turn off the lights. Give it up for OISE and Parr Street.

Tea and....anything you WANT!

In an attempt to reduce the now steeped and simmering feelings of frustration and disappointment (mom's can't always be relied on) I ventured outdoors for a quick stroll. In search of a source of protein for this evening I found myself at the not so wonderful world of sobeys. Looking for Quinoa, I settled for fava beans. Hoping for avocado I settled for Kale (and still the bewildered look by the cashier. The look that pleads with me to just tell her what it is so that she can stop spinning the produce wheel of fortune that is perched above her register).
So before launching off for a run which will see me returning to an exciting evening of making some sort of kale-cucumber-tomato-onion-garlic-bean extravaganza I am settling in for a nice little cup of tea.
Funny that I have yet to mention much of anything about this little (read as: BIG) habit of mine (read as: addiction).
I started out with the extra large orange pekoe (with milk) back in the non-vegan days of undergraduate youth. I had never delved into the world of the coffee bean, but thought (oh so naively) that I would be safe with the pretty little tea bag. The innocent orange pekoe has morphed into a morning, mid morning, late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon MUST HAVE kind of ritual that if not performed leaves me grumpy and with hands slightly trembling.

I still cling to the regular tim horton's cup of tea - but my tastes have been refined to indulging on the Green Tea. My orders drive the cashiers crazy...and most male horton accompaniments refuse to order for me....(except you Mr. McNeilly). Ready: "I will have an extra large green tea black, one bag in and one on the side, and can you please put some cold water in it to cool it down" They want to kill me. Fair enough.

In addition to my desire for the antioxidant rich Green Tea blends I have also enjoyed the fantastic stylings of more precious brews, such as:

Roobios: Thank you Connell - I reach for a cup of this ruby red delight and think of you.
Chai Tea: Oh,yes...this is good. Take one tea bag (I like the PC Chai) and steep it with some soya or rice milk that you have warmed...add some cinnamon and some cocoa...and then froth 'er up.
Mango: Ohhhh..I love you mango goddess
White: They are claiming more antis than the greeners...but the flavour is too subtle for me...I need more.
Chamomile and Sleepy Time: Ohhhh...so nice when the sleep demons have run off with my good nights.

Okay...so that is about all....
I plan on taking my feet out doors now and hitting play on my ipod...a good collection of the decemberists and the hip should get me through a chilly 7 km.

The following soup recipe and this posting are for Kevin (who by virtue of living in the UAE can't read this- but that's okay).

Oh my goodness - let me write that again: GOODNESS. That is the word I would use to describe the delicious, nutritious, olfactory pleasing soupie goodness that came splashing out of my pot yesterday afternoon (note: do NOT turn your handblender on to puree unless you have installed some type of guard around the blender or wear body-rubber).

The weather is on the lovely side of stormy and my toes are almost chilly - this weather calls for nothing other than soup (it isn't quite time for the stick to your insides stylings of vegan chili).
I had a couple of misfit squash hanging around the house yesterday, and the sweet potato was looking at me a little funny, so I did what any self-respecting vegan would do and brought them (and some garlic) together for a good old conversation that saw at least one of us in a pot later that same day.
Here is the recipe:
1 butternut squash (peel the mother and than chunk it up nice and big)
2 sweet tatters (cut into cubes)
1 onion (diced)
4 cloves of garlic
1 yellow zucchini
2 cups of lentils
2 apples (just NOT fujis...fuji apples MUST be eaten in great abundance right about...NOW!)
1 can of fava beans
3 sprigs of rosemary
Fresh basil leaf rippings
Dried oregano
Cracked pepper
Sea salt (only if you want...I actually decided against it)
8 cups of water (or veggie stock)

Okay - so simple. And no oil - which means no fat...I was just being lazy and didn't want to bother with the frying/sauteing of the veggies.....
1. Cut your squash, tatters and apples up - and throw them into a nice big pot, add 1.5 cups of water, your spices/herbs and get a nice simmer going.
Let the water reduce down a wee bit (I would give it a good 10 mins) and than add the rest of your other 6.5 cups of water and your zuch.
Leave to simmer for 30 minutes (go and take a nice warm shower - but please, learning from my fire alarm inducing lesson, turn the burner down to 'min')

Now you can puree - remember - watch the splash factor.

Add the beans and the lentils and let simmer another 25 minutes.
Don't puree again (ie. leave the lentils alone!)

Serve with a sprinkle of crushed peanuts!
I enjoyed a second helping avec cabbage for my dinner tonight...couldn't beat the bread and roses party I should have been attending but it will have to do.

Here is a photo of tonight's reheat spectacular:
(Sorry about the lack o' focus).

My brain must be still stuck on my Tuesday and Wednesday lecture where I bored my students with my rant on parenthetical referencing styles (MLA) because I have used an abundance of parenthesis in this posting...wow.


Enjoy the soup! I did. Three times.

Macrobiotics and other zennish delights.

In my search for calm and order (a good balance to the furry of confusion that has left me feeling like that little twig in the old idiom. Not sure how much more I can bend though) I have been looking into the world of Macrobiotics. Mb sounds a bit "Gwyneth Paltrow hollywood romance" for me upon first listen, however, I think that there is some merit to be had from spending more time thinking about, and deeply considering, the relationship your food has to your life and vice versa. Having been given permission to eat wheat once again (thank you oh mighty digestive enzyme/probiotic goddess - you can also call her angelique) I think that the world of macrobiotics is one I might take a bit of a swim in. I have on my goggles and my swim fins (otherwise known as critical reading skills and bullshit detectors) and find myself wadding through a murky mire of internet information (read as sales pitches).

I have a bit of the basics:
Avoid Red meat, dairy, eggs (this vegan is already on that train) - allowing for the body to be free of any 'ying' or 'yang' intensities. Sounds a bit 'smoke another' but let's keep going.
Ingest 50-60% whole grains (daily) and then mix in loads of veggies (they seem to adore the world of sea vegetables) and then add a weekly sprinkle of seeds and nuts.
Avoid caffeine, sugar and refined anything (that would be nice) and also attempt to go organic whenever possible.
So far this is sounding quite healthy but a wee bit expensive. I have really serious issues with the marketing of 'healthy' and organic lifestyles as the answer to so many of our consumer driven problems. Not to mention the fact that the whole idea has a thesis that reads like this:
Only the rich are permitted to be well and healthy.
That is terrifying - one could argue that we are finding a way to engineer the poor and unhealthy right off this planet (okay, sorry, I watched battle star galactica last night and I think my brain is a little too heavy on the world conspiracy theory....)

So....let me read a bit more about this macrobiotic world and see what my thoughts are......

For lunch I am thinking Quinoa, tomato, some broccoli and maybe a couple of handfuls of cabbage.....
let's check it out.

New Protein Product!

I procured from the local Fortinos (by the way, can I please celebrate the glory of being back in the belly of Ontario with its bevy of fruit stands, excellent grocery stores and all around incredible foodie options)...so, anyway, I procured from the local fortinos a really wonderful product that I want to recommend to any muscle building (or protein craving) vegans.

The product is:
Hemp Protein Powder, (made by North Coast and ringing in at 19.99) and it comes in this fantastic little recycled-paper paper bag. I was concerned that it might be a bit grainy or chalky, but when I whizzed it with a frozen (half) banana and some fresh strawberries, some flax powder, a touch of cocoa and a tiny bit of water it was a little pudding treat to start my day! I threw on a handful of walnuts to capture a whole lot of EFA's for my day of lecture writing....just what my brain needed.

Oh - the recommended serving was 2 table spoons - I cut that in half and added all of the above ingredients to enhance the EFA quotient I was getting this morning.

I must admit that my tummy has never been happier. Lately my steady commitment (which is saying a lot for me) to Dr. Udo and his handy little bottles of Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics (which you can get totally veganized) I am feeling in tip top tummy shape. Never better in fact. I find that salads, raw foods and legumes don't cause me half the tummy woes that I had experienced in the past. They all get my recommendation.

Had a long chat with my bro last night about the situation with my uncle. My brother is a real stoic, a missing link in today's society of fast ipod, blogging mania, mass this and mass that....he is a buddha I think. Which would be great for me - I could use some help with my tree pose. Anyhow, he has a really fundamental way of looking at things: What is the point of being angry. This sentiment seems to be the ground in everything that he does, says and exudes. He is my little brother, but sometimes I have a sneaking suspicions that my mother has inverted the years we showed up on this fantastic little planet. He has wisdom - I think he may have gotten a good allotment of that from the mighty emperor penguins he met while traveling through south america.

Have a protein shake and dance until you can remember your name!

Back to my soya-stomping grounds.

I have had the time I need to heal from the situation that took me out of my blogging frenzy of the mid to late summer.

I am back and soy free!
That's right. Soy Free.
Most wouldn't have thought it possible. What, with my soy binging on those little and wonderful Edamames, and of course my countless feats on tofu delights. And who can imagine that I would have the gumption (or the desire) to give up on my steamed soy milks....(and Second Cup could we PLEASE stop calling them steamers??? It just doesn't make me feel good while ordering).

So what has prompted me to do such a silly thing like put down the soy fork?
Well...to be honest the words of a cappaccino bar maid is what did it. Sharing her story about the 56 pound goiter that had burst out of her throat as a result of too much Soy...that is what did it. Well, that is what at least got the party started. I did some more research into the mysterious world of our favourite little bean and noted that vegans (and the like) have developed a dependency on soya that is similar to the dependency that others have on cow, chicken and corn products (now, to avoid being called a generalist, I realize that there are many vegans who are much more diverse in their culinary habits than this little missy - not to mention a bit more up and up on the discourse of dining). Soooo...long story short: Soya beans (esp. those that are processed) introduce too many isoflavones into the bodies of those of us who drink it like the holy water that it is. These little isobuddies can suppress thyroid production - causing some metabolic disasters (hello goiter) for some and too much estrogen production for others.
I have decided to take a wee break, but will re-introduce after having had a break.

The following news is not quite as exciting as the above:
I have given up on my alberta adventures. I hummed and hawed about continuing this vegan cowgirl world. But you know what? I don't need to be living in Alberta to be a cowgirl. No way! I can ride all the bulls I want right there on Bloor street, and I can check out all of the mocksteak options that continue to grow in the wild world of toronto.

This is by far the best decision. I need to be here for my family, and to be honest, it is amazing being back at my old job. I love working at this particular college. They are wonderful and my students are superb.

Here is a text message that I received from a student on Thanksgiving:
Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you are having a great tofurkey of a day!

Now that is impressive! Who needs apples when you get text messages like that!

So here is a little recipe that I have concocted in my non-soy loving days. I call it

Pass the Pickles

1 tsp of olive oil

2 roma tomatos

1/3 cup of canned 'matos

5 cloves of garlic (this is my recommendation, but do as you like)

1 chopped onion (either coarse or fine)

6 fat pickles: chopped into just a bit smaller than bite size

raisins

chili powder

1 cup of black beans

Warm up your pan (i used a deep frying/simmering pan) and make it nice and wet with the olive oil (if you don't want to use oil - I find that having the burner on med and starting out with some liquid will get you the same effect)

Add your onions and wait for them to get a little translucent. (maybe 2 mins)

Add your chili powder, rosemary and a some fresh oregano (can you smell it??)

Add your little pickle slices and your black beans. You will at this point want to add some liquid so throw in your canned 'matos.

Let this simmer for about 10 mins and then you can pitch in the raisins, a wee bit more chili powder and your roma tomatos (which should be a bit chunky).

cook for five minutes more and than enjoy. It is pretty yummmmtastic.

Best,
your cowgirl

Well -
It wasn't the poor food choice, nor was it the aggressive driving.
But,
I am headed home.

I need to be home with my famiy, and I need to be away from here.

vegancowgirl will live on.