Look what I saw on Inhabitots!* Vegan edible finger paint! Say whaaaa? You heard me. This is totally cool but is it a good idea? Obviously it’s safe to eat this paint but then what if they are at school and the finger paints come out and they are like, “sweet! Snack time!”
*Still not preggers
Picture from Inhabitots
Are you planning on attending? I went last year, and it was intense! But, in a good way! I wasn’t sure what to expect and my mind was blown, by both the film (Call of Life) and speakers. Also making it a very special night for me — I tried Nacheez for the first time. I highly recommend going this year; it looks like a blast!
The official promo manager of BVED, Alex Eaves, sent me the tip about this contest. If you don’t know who he is, get on that! He was one of the panel speakers last year, representing his company Stay Vocal and maybe I swooned a little bit.
[Ed.: For further East Bay veg awesomeness, don’t forget about Oakland Veg Week, which starting this Sunday. Eat all the food, see all the speakers, get laid, don’t get laid, whatever, you know how we do.]
[Ed., again: Not sure how we feel about contestants that make you shill yourself on FB/Twitter but uh, it’s for veganism? And it’s only 24 hours? And you could win some water bottles? All right!]
This round they’re back in Manhattan at Sustainable NYC. As always, they’ll have a raffle to raise some money for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Jamie wants you all to know that Jenny Brown of WFAS fame will attend! I don’t know what that means but I’m excited that Jamie’s excited!
Bring up to five of your vegan books (fiction, nonfiction, cook-, comic, etc.) to Sustainable NYC, 139 Avenue A at E. Ninth St., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16! Sustainable NYC will have a special used book sale for donations to Woodstock, which as you know is a wonderful place. Get more info about the event on Facebook, and the Bookswap page. See you there, New York vegans!
[photo by Andreas Levers via Flickr]
Ever since Mark mentioned the Alicia Silverstone video in which she feeds her baby chewed-up food from her own mouth, I have been unable to contain my curiosity over it! I thought that today was the day I could finally muster up the courage to watch it.; BUT NO! I turned it off before I could get to the feeding. I just can’t. By the way, I would be so pissed if my name were Bear I found out my mom did this (my mom licking a finger or napkin to wipe my face as a kid was bad enough)!
Now the feeding is forever on the internet for Bear to be plagued with; why wasn’t Alicia thinking about the 12-plus years of schooling he’ll have to endure?! Maybe he’ll be home-schooled? OH NO, WHAT IS LUNCH GOING TO LOOK LIKE?
Anyway, I get Alicia’s Kind Life blog updates in my inbox, ever since I became a member when she named Food For Lover’s queso an awesome vegan snack! Over the weekend I got an update I though you crafty, hippies beautiful people would love: how to make your own laundry detergent! It’s kind of a process (though it doesn’t look difficult) so click here to see how to do it! All you need is washing soda, borax, three gallons of water, a bar of soap, a large bucket, and time! And because I know you like a second opinion on matters concerning your clothing, here’s another detergent recipe from Bonzai Aphrodiate.
The only time I’ve made my own household cleaner is when I used baking soda and vinegar to unclog a drain. It works! Maybe this will be my new thing — making all my cleaners, along with my dinners, from scratch. Then I’ll start sewing all my own clothes, sell all my possessions and move to a hippie commune! I did need some new life goals.
Ingredients
2 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
1 medium onion (I use red), roughly chopped
4 to 8 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped*
2 lbs. fresh green beans, washed with stems cut off
3/4 to 1 lb. of cremini mushrooms, chopped or sliced
1/4 cup coconut aminos, soy sauce, or Braggs
1/2 cup sherry
1 1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. pepper
1/2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
Instructions
Heat up your oil on medium high, in a pan or pot large enough to hold all of these ingredients! If it has a lid, that would be preferable, but I have been known to stick a baking sheet over my pots as a lid. No judgment here!
Once the oil is heated, add your chopped onion. You should cook them until they’re translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes, but I like to caramelize my onions, which can take up to a half hour or more! Whatever you’ve got time for, right? If they start to cook so fast they burn, turn down your heat.
Once your onions are cooked to your liking, add your garlic and saute about three minutes, or until fragrant. If you haven’t already, turn down your heat to medium and don’t let the garlic brown, as it will become bitter! Add your mushrooms and saute for about 10 to 15 minutes, until they’ve noticeably shrunk in size. Next put in your salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings; let them cook into the mushrooms and garlic for a couple minutes.
Time to add the sherry, soy sauce, and water! Let everything come to a light boil (you may need to increase the heat), then place your green beans into the pot or pan.
Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let simmer until beans are fork-tender!
*I use a lot of garlic in my dishes, no joke. Whatever a recipe calls for, I usually double or quadruple the amount. I’ve given you a healthy spectrum in this recipe, so you can use at your discretion. Of course I use eight cloves (or more), but the average cook would probably use four.
From Paul Shapiro:
I’m about to conduct a press conference in Washington, D.C., to release shocking new footage of HSUS’s latest undercover investigation at a battery cage egg factory.
The New York Times covers our investigation today in a powerful column by Nicholas Kristof, “Is an Egg for Breakfast Worth This?” [Ed.: Kristof, have all our babies.]
This investigation of course underscores the need to pass HR 3798, federal legislation that would reduce the suffering of hundreds of millions of animals in the egg industry.
GO ON, HSUS! GO ON, KRISTOF! FUCK OFF, EGG INDUSTRY!
[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus! And then make all your egg-eating friends enjoy it, too!]
SPRING HAS SPRUNG! Join us for the Vegan Spring Shop-Up on Sunday, April 15, from noon to 6 p.m. at Pine Box Rock Shop! Vegan Shop-Up is NYC’s only all vegan pop-up market featuring the best small businesses around.
We’ve got you covered for your springtime needs: Juices for detoxing! Chocolates for wooing! Soaps for cleaning! Plus it’s happy hour, and the whole world’s fresher a few drinks in. Don’t forget, NY’s only vegan food truck, The Cinnamon Snail, will be parked right outside just for us.
Visit our site for the full list of vendors. And join our Facebook and Twitter for even more updates!
OMG so excited for Cinnamon Snail! They’ve been making the rounds in NYC but I keep missing them. Everyone has been raving about them though! So make sure you are there for all the excitement. That was my hard sell. That’s how serious I am.
[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!]
Holy crap that video is cute! That mom is cray, carrying the kitten like that! She was all, “OK, that’s enough, give me my damn baby.” How cute is that? So awesome. I was like, why’s she putting it on the table? But she was just trying to get to the crate. It would be funny if she just put them on the table though, right? Haaa. Kittens on a table.
But wait, there’s more! These kittens and their pretty mom (she’s so pretty!) are being fostered until the kittens are old enough to adopt, but in the meantime, their foster mom set up a kitten cam for us! I love it! These guys are so rascally. I know what I’ll be watching all the dang time.
You guys, two epic things happened in the past week! First, I turned 28 and then I got monumentally sick. I was so sick, in fact, that I showed up to my own awesome birthday party woozy and coughing up a storm, but still managed to have an awesome time and offend my mother with my horrible jokes. She sat in a corner of the room the entire night and sent me pictures of myself from her phone with desperate captions begging me I calm down and stop swearing so much. I couldn’t do it! I love to swear! Maybe that’s why I’m still sick.
You know how sick I am? I am writing this post from bed, where I am curled up with my knitting, Charmed queued up on Netflix (I am just starting to watch this show! Ten years late!), and my phone all ready to call up Allen and make demands of him. He doesn’t buy it anymore, though. Allen used to be at my beck and call when I was sick, but now he just tells me to stop pretending I’m going to die and drink some Theraflu. Can you imagine that he and I will have been together for four years on Sunday? Gross! I hope things don’t get too serious!
Man, am I feeling ornery this week. That’s why I’m please as punch (take that!) that a zoo couldn’t get pandas to mate in captivity. Not only did pandas Sunshine and Sweetie fail to produce an heir, but they straight-up wrestled instead of doing the deed. I can relate to this because this is what also happens in my personal life. Every time I try to hug Allen at night, he kicks me. Hard. Then he blames me for bothering him because I should know that he is a very precise sleeper and cannot be touched. He also does this fantastic thing where, as soon as I have left the room during the night (even for as little as 30 seconds) he will roll himself into a sushi with ALL of the covers. Then, when I try to get them back, he kicks me! Four years, you guys!
Since this has kind of turned into my “grumpy anniversary post,” let me show you a video of a dog freaking out on an escalator (as dogs are wont to do) as the dude accompanying him laughs it up.
That’s it for this week! Send me links for next week and have a love-filled Wednesday!
But once you’re up the duff, things will happen to your body—sometimes overnight—and you will not really understand why. You will also not necessarily be warned about them. I knew that my stomach would get bigger, of course. I expected my boobs to do the same, though not quite as remarkably or quickly as they did. (Ow.) But were you aware that when you’re pregnant, your nipples get darker? I was not! It’s nice to be warned about these things!
There are actually biological reasons for these changes, though—those darker, saucer-sized nipples help your blurry-eyed newborn easily find them to nurse, for example. That’s a good trick, evolution! Here’s another: When you’re pregnant your digestion slows down, giving your body more time to get nutrients from your food to your fetus. Pretty cool. However, this change comes with an unfortunate side effect: constipation.
I know what you’re thinking: I’m vegan, I couldn’t possibly get constipated! I eat all the legumes! And that may be true, but I know you nodded when I mentioned Oreos. The thing is, even if you’re pretty good about your fiber intake, normal rules no longer apply. Your baby wants to steal all your vitamins and minerals, and your digestive tract is complying, so you’ve got to bring out the big guns or else risk getting hemorrhoids. Apparently that’s a common feature of pregnancy too!
I don’t want hemorrhoids. I have gone my entire adult life (thus far) without them, and I hope to continue that streak. And I know you don’t want them either. That’s why we’re going to talk about all the roughage you need to get into your body in between bouts of nausea and all that napping.
There are actually two kinds of dietary fiber that you need to pay attention to: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber binds with fatty acids and slows down the time it takes for food to exit your stomach and get into your intestines, which in turn means that sugars are released and absorbed more slowly. This kind of fiber helps to lower your total cholesterol and your LDL cholesterol, which is the kind you particularly don’t want to have. It also helps to keep your blood sugar regulated, which is important if you are diabetic, or have gestational diabetes. Oats, dried peas and beans, nuts, barley, flax seed, fruits, and vegetables all provide soluble fiber.
The other kind of fiber, insoluble, helps to keep the bulk of food waste moving along through your intestines, preventing constipation and keeping your guts at a healthy pH level. This keeps you pooping on the regular, which means you’re getting waste out of your body efficiently, and is tied to colon cancer prevention. You get this kind of fiber when you eat vegetables like green beans and leafy greens, fruit and root vegetable skins, seeds, nuts, and whole grains.
The average ratio of fiber is 75 percent insoluble to 25 percent soluble, but don’t get hung up on that; lots of foods provide both types. Just focus on eating lots of high-fiber foods in general, and the ratio will likely even out.
How much is “lots,” exactly? The American Pregnancy Association recommends getting 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily when you’re pregnant. It’s also important to drink lots of fluids. You need a good amount when you’re pregnant anyway, and the liquid helps keep things chugging through your digestive tract. Exercise can also literally help keep things moving, along with just being good for you in general. Talk with your medical pro about what’s right for you when you’re knocked up.
As an added bonus, a lot of the foods that are high in fiber—particularly legumes and whole grains—are also good sources of iron and zinc, important minerals for baby-growing. And because iron supplements can be constipating, it’s great to get as much iron from food sources as you can. Finally, getting enough fiber could also help prevent preeclampsia, a potentially dangerous vascular condition that can affect pregnant women. Now go eat some roughage!
Terri Coles lives in Toronto, where she enjoys barbecuing, feeding feral cats, going to local music shows and getting really mad about hockey games. She blogs about her adventures in plant-based eating at The Vegina Monologues. We edit out all her extra vowels.
[photo by Jessica via Flickr]
San Francisco vegans, it’s a big week for us and it’s only Wednesday! IMAGINE WHAT THE REST OF THE WEEK HOLDS. Probably mainly disappointment but JUST IMAGINE! So, word on the streets is that Rainbow will start carrying Punk Rawk Labs vegan cheese next week and than said vegan cheese is like Dr. Cow vegan cheese but only better. And that’s not just us, that’s omni cheesperts (JUST MADE IT UP, PASS IT ON). It’s moister, tastier, and you get twice as much for the same price. That’s the word. Me, I don’t know, I always thought Dr. Cow tasted like a fart but there are lots of people who love the stink and want farts in the mouth, so who am I to judge? But seriously, you’re nasty.
Anyway, anyone tried it? Excited? Look for it next week at Rainbow Grocery!
BART Blue Sky is holding an ad contest to benefit one of their nonprofit partners, which include the Coalition to Fight Factory Farming, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, Earth Justice, and the San Francisco Vegetarian Society. All you have to do is vote, via Facebook, for the nonprofit of your choice, and you could win a $500 Clipper card, a folding bike, or a $100 BART card. And if you don’t want those things, maybe vote anyway, because the three nonprofits that get the most votes will win nearly $45,000 worth of free advertising space on BART!
One vote per person, and the contest is open through May 4. Tell your friends! Vote for some awesome vegans!
[photo by Austin Cross via Flickr]
FEP is run by my friend and former co-worker Lauren Ornelas’ vegan advocacy nonprofit. While I interned at the Center For Environmental Health several years ago, she and I became acquainted through her work at Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. I saw Lauren speak at Vegan Prom in San Francisco, and am pretty much in awe of her dedication to protecting humans, animals, and the planet. Seriously, look her up! I am also so inspired by her work to promote ethical vegan chocolate companies that do not trade in human or animal suffering.
According to the Endangered Species media kit, the company donates 10 percent of net profits to support animal protection and sound environmental practices. And they also identify themselves as non-GMO, and 100 percent ethically traded.
Other great varieties of Endangered Species dark chocolate include their dark chocolate with cherry, dark chocolate with orange, and peppermint squares. They even sell individually-wrapped bite-sized chocolates that are perfect for stuffing in lunches/your unisex handbag/bra. Yay for ethical chocolate!
This is Vegansaurus raw correspondent Sarah E. Brown’s latest post! Read more by Sarah on Vegansaurus, and visit her personal blog, Queer Vegan Food.
*Note: This post originally stated that Endangered Species vegan chocolates were approved by the Food Empowerment Project. In fact, it is Endangered Species organic chocolates that received FEP approval. Vegansaurus regrets the error.
WE ARE SO EXCITED! Look what we just read on Facebook!
I’m super, dooper, ridiculously excited to FINALLY announce that my favorite person, Rod Middleton, and I are FINALLY opening a lil’ vegan shoppe!! It’s called Pinko’s Vegan Mercantile, because we’re pinkos and we’re vegan and we have stuff to sell! In all the years we’ve been vegan, we’ve been utterly confused by the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area was lacking its own exclusively vegan shoppe. We’ve FINALLY decided we just cannot take it anymore, so we’re making it happen! Much to our delight (and surprise) everyone that we’ve told (mostly non-vegans) has been incredibly excited, supportive, encouraging, and confident about the sure success of the shop. It seems people agree with us about now being a really good time for this idea to have FINALLY hatched.
We’ve been mulling over ideas of this nature for a couple of years. We’ve come close a couple times to opening some version of this idea, but this is truly the best of all the options we’ve ever seen or considered. That’s why, despite the fact that we had tabled the idea—which meant we were not ready to open asap—we realized we had to jump on this space. Our little shoppe is on Valencia Street, one block south of Market. The rent is mind boggling for that street and area. Our landlord is the most pleasant man, and though he’s not vegan, he thinks our idea is great and he’s almost more excited than we are. Our shop’s neighbors are a small upscale cafe that’s hoping to open this week. We met them last week and they were also super excited about our idea. They told us they already have a vegan sandwich and vegan empanadas on their menu, but they’re looking forward to working with us to create even more vegan items! Yippee!
When we first looked at the space, we knew Valencia St was a good address, but we hadn’t yet realized the many, many ways the location is going to be truly amazing for our shoppe.
- Our shop sits right where the über hip neighborhoods, the Mission, the Castro, and Hayes Valley all meet. And, it’s just one block from where Muni trains in and out of downtown let visitors off to begin their trek through the super-vegan-friendly Mission.
- The ever-popular Valencia St. bike lane goes right in front of our space.
- Our store’s facade can be seen clearly by every single car that enters and exits the freeway at Market St. and we are just one block from both the Division and Market St. entrances and exits from the freeway.
- We are just around the corner from the local health food co-op for folks who will be going there before or after visiting us.
- One of Off the Grid’s mobile food truck events happens all day every Saturday—right in front of the shoppe—and though it attracts loads and loads of folks, it typically does not offer vegan foods.
- Zeitgeist, an iconic, always-packed, and very large bar (with the biggest and best backyard in the whole city) is right on the same block as us.
- Across from Zeitgeist, the popular-amongst-vegans-restaurant, Burma Super Star, is building a new Mission outpost.
- An upscale vintage collective across from us has just expanded to the second floor and is selling fun, pricey stuff. (pricey = good for us)
- Our block offers a large public parking lot but the streets around our shop also have plenty of metered spots.
- My dear friend works in a vegan-owned salon two blocks down from us.
- The clothing store next to the salon recently told me their Spanish-based company has made a commitment to the environment, so now they are producing exclusively vegan clothing and accessories!
- Further down Valencia, there are numerous vegan-friendly eateries and tons of interesting shops and curiosities for visiting vegans that can now stop at our shop first to begin their days of fun and exploration by stocking up on snacks, nourishment, and travel advice.
Pinko’s Vegan Mercantile is going to take a little time to pull together, so when we take occupancy on May 1, we’re going to bring in assorted vintage merchandise we’ve been buying, selling, and collecting for years. We’ll run Pinko’s Vintage Pop-Up Shop while we get everything set up for the Mercantile’s official opening. All proceeds from the Pop-Up Shop will go directly to building the Vegan Mercantile. So please come by, shop, introduce yourselves, tell us what you’d like from your local vegan shoppe, and spread the word!
Pinko’s Vegan Mercantile is coming! Pinko’s Vegan Mercantile is coming!
Follow Pinko’s on Facebook to get updates on its every move! Hooray!
In an LA Times op-ed today, the chairman of California Democratic Party lays a strong smack-down on those who want to repeal the state’s upcoming ban on force-feeding ducks for foie gras.
Food service giant Sodexo reports on the Meatless Monday efforts in its cafeterias: “Of the 74 percent who offered Meatless Monday, the majority of providers, 76 percent, said that the campaign was ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to implement and 65 percent said they will continue to promote the campaign with an additional 24 percent noting that they may continue.”
Speaking of, the Des Moines Register notes that demand for meat is falling due to many forces, including both the popularity of Meatless Mondays, as well as “a more powerful animal rights movement.” The article illustrates this by saying “Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, took his agency from its traditional role as protector of the nation’s dogs and cats into a political activist organization that has pushed, with partial success, referendums against animal confinements.”
(While on that topic, Michigan papers reported this past week on HSUS’s efforts to get Domino’s pizza to stop buy pork products from producers that use gestation crates for pigs.)
P.S. New report says sleeping with your pets is good! How about also working with them on top of you?
If that doesn’t make you love cats, this video of the week might get you closer.
