Dogs: Action Shots

November 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

Bella at the dog park, running with beagles.

Bella putting those beagles in their place.

Here I am with the dogs. From left to right: beagle, Bella, beagle, Floyd.

Floyd running at the dog park.

Bella sure liked playing with those beagles.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Miscellaneous
2 Comments to "Dogs: Action Shots"

Thanksgiving Photos

November 28, 2008 | 15 Comments

Here are photos from my family Thanksgiving meal…

The table is set:
vegan Thanksgiving

Bella, our newest family member, looks on:
vegan Thanksgiving

Our appetizers were: nuts, fried peas, pretzels, sweet potato fries, yaro root fries, hummus and pita, and fresh vegetables.

The spread:
vegan Thanksgiving
From near to far: fruit salad, cole slaw, pomegranate quinoa, squash and bean stew, stuffed squash, Celebration Roast, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. Not shown: nog, fruit juice, pumpkin pie, apple pie, vegan ice cream, vegan frozen yogurt, vegan whip cream, and chocolate coconut cookies.

From the other direction:
our vegan Thanksgiving

My sister starts the buffet line:
our vegan Thanksgiving

My plate:
our vegan Thanksgiving
Celebration Roast in the middle. Slaw and green bean casserole to the right. Fruit salad below, quinoa and mashed potatoes to the left. Pumpkin and bean stew, carrots, and stuffed squash at the top.

Our Thanksgiving was filled with abundance. We had our family, plenty of food, and good times.

UPDATE: Here are some recipes…

The carrots were simply sliced and steamed alongside the Celebration Roast in vegetable broth.
The fruit salad was simply a combination of apples, grapes, clementines, pear, blueberries, and strawberries drizzled with lemon juice and agave nectar.
The green bean casserole was somewhat ad hoc. It’s the basic casserole recipe minus dairy, plus soy or something or other.
Mashed potatoes were basic, too. She simply used vegan margarine rather than butter.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Family, Kids, & Friends, Food, veganism
15 Comments to "Thanksgiving Photos"

Bella Pix

November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Bella looks up from a nap.

Looking up for a treat or praise.

Curled up on the couch.

Chewing up her special bed.

Coming soon: action shots!

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Animals, Family, Kids, & Friends
Leave a Comment to "Bella Pix"

Sushi

November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“The New York Times has a disturbing and informative blog entry about the worldwide collapse of tuna populations. It’s beyond my understanding how people can continue to eat sushi given how dire the outlook for tuna stocks has become.” (source)

OK, granted, eating dead fish is not a good idea. It’s not a good idea for fish, it’s not a good idea for wildlife, and it’s not a good idea for people.

But… sushi does not mean dead fish and even if it did, it doesn’t mean tuna. Sushi is about RICE. Rice, people, rice. Get that weird idea that vegans don’t eat sushi out of your head. I LOVE sushi. LOVE it. I eat avocado rolls, asparagus rolls, veggie tempura rolls, cucumber rolls, plum rolls… I eat sushi about once a week. I have NEVER had a problem getting something to eat at a sushi place. The sushi chefs are ALWAYS accommodating to vegetarians and vegans.

From Wikipedia:

“In Japanese cuisine, sushi (寿司, 鮨, 鮓, sushi^?) is vinegared rice, usually topped with other ingredients, including fish, various meats, and vegetables. Outside of Japan, sushi is sometimes misunderstood to mean the raw fish itself, or even any fresh raw-seafood dishes.” [emphasis added]

Argh. This might be an issue for Vegans of Color.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Miscellaneous
Leave a Comment to "Sushi"

Slaughtering a Turkey

November 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Fucking disgusting:

“Last November, I discovered that turkeys don’t die instantly. At least our turkey — a thick-feathered Tom we’d bought, alive, from a farmer near our house — didn’t succumb right away after its throat was cut.”

“The bird jerked and managed a few panicked flaps of wings, though the flapping was limited by a metal funnel containing our upside-down turkey (neck and head poking vulnerably out the bottom). Just when we thought the turkey was finished, it thrashed some more. Then, finally, it was silent. ” [...]

“Most of us were new to this business of animal slaughter, and all of us curious about working (temporary as it was) on the farm. While adults accompanied turkeys through the proper steps, kids ran around in the drizzle, peering into the bucket of severed heads and the other bucket of beige entrails while asking a lot of body-parts questions. One girl held in her palm bright yellow yolks that had emerged from the center of a gutted hen, the whites and the shells not yet formed. Volunteers shoveled ice into barrels for the cold baths that followed the plucking and preceded the evisceration. Everyone, I noticed, seemed alive and happy. Engaged. An unmistakable communal pleasure hung in the damp air along with a lot of feathers, and somehow, the process never turned my stomach.”

For the record, this lack of repulsion is a BAD thing. It’s a sign that you’ve got some room for moral and psychological development.

Oh, and for the record, the guy who sold the turkeys saying he wanted anonymity and barter rather than cash didn’t do so out of “community spirit” and “fear of retribution.” He did it that way because what he did was probably ILLEGAL.

Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Miscellaneous
Leave a Comment to "Slaughtering a Turkey"