Things I am Thankful For

I think I just ended that sentence with a preposition (Alabaster Mom or Margin Walker, can you help me out?). Any way, on this day instead of celebrating genocide, I prefer to think of the things that I am thankful for. So here goes:

1. That I am alive and well.

2. My family. They put up with me, what could be more rewarding? My dogs are my family as well and deserve a huge shout out.

3. My friends. Real life and online. I cherish all of you and wish you nothing but happiness.

4. My enemies. You give me something to work towards.

5. All those who work towards ending the slavery of animals. Those involved in animal rescue, veg*ns, and any one who has adopted a shelter animal.

I know I complain and rant a lot in this blog, but for today I leave you with my gratitude.

Acknowledgements...

Isn't that what authors put in their books to thank people. I guess that is kind of what this is. After reading it in completion, I do realize it sounds pretty sappy, but I also think it is important to let these peeps know they rule!

I want to preface this by saying that I always sort of thought that people who made friends online were kind of weird. Until I became one of those people. Which is the way a lot of things go.


Being vegan in Green Bay is very easy in a practical sense. I have plenty to eat and I am not afraid to ask questions in restaurants or at work. What I didn't have when I started was a network of vegan friends. People that could relate to what I was going through or had gone through similar things. I now have lots of these people. Granted, I have a virtual network, but man, they have helped me through a lot of shit. So I want to thank some of these people. I will use there screen names to protect the guil...I mean innocent. ;)

Amyagogo - I am not even sure what to say to you except that you rule. I am glad to know you and your craziness.

Dino - the cooking master. You rule. You have answered questions about cooking, how to deal with family, what I should wear, and countless other things. You kick ass.

DJMcBastard - If only I were a man. Then we could be together. You make me laugh and you have the best tattoo evah! I love your rave pants and the fact that you are now a home owner. And the dog you so graciously left with your pops.

Gymmie - You are the best vegan cheerleader ever. You never seem to be down and always make my day a little brighter. Mad props to you.

heathergalaxy - I am so happy for you and your new found romance! You are so smart and cool, I feel like you are the older sister I never had. Never judgemental, but always looking out for me.

Jenz - You are one of the first peeps I met at VFF and you rock. I love our drunken banter and our non-prolific posting. I am glad that we are kind of twins.

KozmicG - You are just one bad ass vegan. I learn a lot from you. And you have kick ass hair.

Lisat - Thank rawj for dogs. And smoking cigarettes. One day soon I will be out east to visit you and the pooches. We will have a night of vegan debauchery. RMB's :P

Pleather and VeganFreak - Um, yeah, I wouldn't be vegan if it wasn't for you two. VF, you are always there to sing me Billy Joel songs and rant in chat. Pleather - you helped with my pits and for that I am forever grateful.

tatman6006 - I lurve you and our drunken texting. I like that we have husbands. You are an amazing vegan cook and I can't wait to try your pot pie. Thanks for listening when I needed it. We will some day paint some town drunk.

venicesinking - Three words: Sauced and Burnt. I love that we are vegan superhero's and want to get my ass down south to see y'all. GODDAMN.

Woz - You are one ultra-cool chick. You have supported my Arbonne business from the get-go and were in fact, my first customer. Your outlook on life makes me laugh. You and WMDH kick ass.

Blog's I Like - Part Deux

Back in June, I did a review of the blogs that I read on a regular basis. I thought I would give another update as my list keeps expanding. These blogs are listed on the right side of my blog. Check them out.

Lelly's Vegan Kitchen
Lelly and her man Weeg, quite frankly, kick ass. They make me want to move to Scotland. Lelly mainly keeps a food blog, but often times will show things that she has made or her kitchen. She is an amazing cook and I love trying her recipes. Especially ones that might not be that common here in the states.

Pisces Place
Although she has been on hiatus for a little while due to the fires in California, Pisces Place is a veg*n friendly blog with lots to read for every one! She does amazing activities in California, travels a lot, and has a lot of friends. And the internets are blessed that she shares all of this with us.

Vegan FAQ's
I know I did an entire post on this blog, since I am one of the contributors, but it bears mention again. If you have ever consider veganism, please check out this blog. It is updated by a wide varity of vegans from all over the globe. This blog walks through many of the "practical issues" surrounding becoming vegan. Such as "What do I do about holidays?" "Don't you miss X?"

Sarah Kramer's Blog
Sarah Kramer is is the author of a series of vegan cook books (Along with Tanya Banard) that changed life for a lot of vegans. Her blog is less about food and veganism than it is about the daily shit that happens to her. She has a fantastic sense of humor and a cute dog to boot.

Alternative Vegan
This is another cook book author, Dino Sarma. Oddly enough, he authored a cook book entitled "Alternative Vegan". Weird, I know. Dino concentrates on cooking sans omni-subs. In other words he doesn't use "fake" anything. No tofu, tempeh, seitan, etc. His recipes don't even call for soy milk. Again, his blog will include the occasional recipe, but a lot of it involves the life he shares with his husband Steve in New York. He is witty, honest, and down to earth.

I hope that all you out there in blog land take the time to check out some of these. You can find them here ------------------------------>

My good friend DF made this for me.

She rules.

My friends crack me up....

So I have some pretty fucked up friends. I think I have made it very clear that I do not have one close vegan friend irl (that's in real life, TISNF). I do luckily have a couple of friends that are extremely supportive and very funny. And remember, I do have a pretty fucked up sense of humor.

Here is how it breaks down.

I receive an email from DF today with the subject line "I should apply for this job". I thought maybe it was an internal job and I open it. Hmmm. It is a job for a beef processing company here in Green Bay. I thought she was just being an asshole, but I learned it was much more thought out then this.

*I think it is important to note that DF is one of very few people (omni's) I will let get away with poking fun at me. I know she understands the cause, and is intelligent. I hate it when arse-tarts poke fun*

So, I give DF a call and say "Um, you're kidding right?" And she proceeds to let me know it is all part of her new undercover operation. See, if DF worked in a facility like that, the first thing she would make new employees do is eat a steak. That way, she would know that it wasn't an animal rights person coming in. She stated that if we (the AR people) sent in a meat eater to film and such, they would never be suspect.

I am not sure why, but this made me laugh very hard. It is fucked up logic, and maybe that is why I laughed.

*I am going to point this out one more time. DF is one of 3, yes I counted, 3 people who could get away with this. I share her sense of humor and I know she supports and defends me.

Rock on DF - You rule!

Mothers Day

Well mothers day was yesterday and it went off pretty much with out a hitch. They did do a barbecue, and I would be lying if I said it didn't bug me. What really got me was when my formerly vegetarian brother ate a double cheese and flesh burger.

I was in charge of making the potato salad. Every one loved it and we didn't tell them it was vegan until we finished. Yum. I also made two dips and a loaf of Misanthropy's famous tomato bread. Yum, yum, yum. I will post some pictures of my yummy food later.

It did get kind of annoying because my father still insists that I am going through a phase. Never mind that I am thirty, married, a home owner etc. Its a phase. There friend was also mispronouncing Spanish names on purpose, just to be an ass. Such as pronouncing the J in all Spanish names. It was just irritating and not really funny.

Other than that it was a pretty good day, I survived the family, I was even able to explain why I don't eat honey with out a huge issue. They liked the food so all was good.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages...

I just thought I would share some pics I like...

This is Spot and Cosmo playing with a rabbit (they aren't vegan) when Cosmo was just a little babe.

This is me and my bff DK. She's cool. I am the large one.

This is me and the fam.

Maybe she will come in dressed as a tomato....

Okay…an interesting interaction on the elevator. DF says that it was a genuine interest and it was pretty funny. I am not so sure. The whole situation left me feeling rather like I wanted to punch some one. So here is how it went down.

I got in the elevator at work with some co-workers. A woman who I don’t work with but have in the past began a conversation with me that went something like this:

Woman: “What’s with this new thing, with you not eating milk or eggs, I know it isn’t vegetarian, its called something else.... (I was wearing my vegan button)

Everyone in the elevator: “Vegan?”

Then DF and DA (two people I like, thank God) started saying “vejan” which is funny to me. We were all kind of laughing and then the conversation continued:

Woman: “Well is it like vegan month or something?” “Why are you doing this? I see the button and I see cookbooks everywhere and you’re baking…..”

Everyone else in the elevator thought it was really funny. There were laughs and stuff, one person even commented that “Soon she will come in waving a vegan flag”. I then said the flag would have tomatoes and celery on it.

Then it was said that “Next thing you know, she'll be dressed as a tomato”.

Let me repeat that, so you completely understand. "Next thing you know, she'll be dressed as a tomato".

I think it was funny until then. Again, I do have a sense a humor. I have covered this in past blogs. I can take some good natured ribbing. It is funny when DF calls me a “vejan”. Although I am coming to realize that a lot of how I take the jokes, etc depends on who they come from. I can take just about anything from DF and DH because I know they respect the choices I am making and are even coming to understand them a little. There are others who I know are just harassing me because they think I am a freak. (Which I am, but it has very little to do with me being vegan).

Why the fuck would I dress as a tomato? There is nothing tomato-like about me. I am not even that fond of tomatoes. Although, that might not be true, I put tomatoes in a lot of things. I love salsa, and I put it in salads and curries. Never mind. I like tomatoes. But why would I dress like one. The whole reason that I wear the button is to create conversation, so I guess this shouldn’t piss me off that much. I just hoped, for some odd reason, that it would be intelligent questions. Maybe I would have gotten more intelligent questions and dialogue dressed as a tomato.

I don’t know if I am just overly frustrated lately or what my issue is. I am desperately trying not to become the angry vegan, but man it’s hard. I am really trying to look for ways to talk about veganism. I found today on my drive to Port Washington (where my parents and most of my family lives) I was actually rehearsing different scenarios in my head. This was actually very helpful, although I didn't use it today. I have been known in the past to get a little preachy and I hope by coming up with answers beforehand, I can stop that preachiness.

My Friend "DF"

I just have to write a blog and give some major props to my friend DF (I don't really know what props are, so forgive me).

At work, DF has been listening to some VF Podcasts in her spare time. One of them suggested she go out to PETATV and look at the "Meet Your Meat". I wasn't even at her desk that day, and she did it any way.

Needless to day she hasn't consumed any cow, chicken, turkey, or pig flesh since last week, like Tuesday I think. WHICH IS TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME. We are still working on seafood, and dairy, and eggs, but this is a huge, huge step.

So DF rocks. I mean she would fucking rock if she didn't give up animal flesh, but this makes her rock that much harder.

I <3 her!

Food Day and Other Random Thoughts

So today was our pig out, or Food Day. Unfortunately, I was the only one that brought anything for me to eat. Which is fine, because I don't expect any one to take care of me, but still a little dissapointing.

I made my scones and "chick cheese" last night. The scones were really good. I even messed with the recipe a little. Added cinnamon. Yum. The "chick cheese" was all right. I was having problems with the blender and it didn't seem to blend well and when I tasted it today it was a little to "peanut-y". Which is all the more odd because I didn't use peanuts. I am wondering if it was the Tahini? Who knows, we'll try again. People ate it and liked it so that is good.

Two weird things happened today. First, I was talking with an old friend, who is pretty sympathetic with the veg*n cause. I was putting PeTA stickers all over stuff and he stated "I used to be a PeTA member until I found out how radical they were". And I kind of gave him a look I guess. I should point out here that when I think radical, I think ALF, not PeTA. To answer my look, he said "They expect you not to wear leather shoes or anything. And I have a rabbit fur hat." Um, okay. I literally had no idea what to say to this guy. He is very intelligent, fun, down to earth, etc. How he couldn't make the connection between eating animals and wearing them is beyond me.

Soon after this, a very close friend of mine wanted to watch one of COK's investigation videos. I was stoked. After all, how could some one watch one of these and still eat animals, right? Wrong. First lesson. I guess I expected her to suddenly give up eggs (it was video of battery cages) and that didn't happen. I suppose I am not the first vegan to feel this way, but it was mildly frustrating. She is lucky that I love her as much as I do ;) (She also claims to love everything I cook her, so that is a plus as well)

So, here are the things I learned today:

1. PeTA is radical. ;)
2. Not everyone sees things as I do. (Funny, I thought the world revolved around me)
3. Scones are good.
4. "Chick Cheeze" needs some work.
5. I love scrambled tofu. (Okay, I didn't learn that, but I do and was reminded of it at dinner)

Good Friends

I have friends who rock. I think it is important you know that.

We are having a food day tomorrow at work, or more affectionately known as a "Pig Out". Two of my best-est friends in the whole wide world are trying new recipes to make sure I have something to eat.

I just thought you should know.

I am now going to the kitchen (my new favorite place) to bake scones and make some "Chick Cheez". Wish me luck ;)