The Power to Make a Difference

Today I received an email from the Humane Society of the United States, about Fay, a fighting dog whose lips were cut off by the thing who had her (this is as polite a description as I can muster). Fay was rescued. In a sense, she was "lucky." How many other dogs (cats, pets, animals) - Michael Vick's come to mind - don't get rescued, or are so damaged (psychologically and/or physically) that the only merciful act is euthanasia?

Fay's story, most of which I could not read, made me sad, of course. And made me think about all the suffering imposed on animals, whether they are companion or farmed or otherwise used, by people. And honestly, in this season of good tidings, I cannot muster up the compassion needed to forgive or understand what was done to Fay, what has been and is being done to other animals - and if wishing were doing, there'd be 6 billion less people on this earth right now.

But while I am not all-powerful, I am certainly not powerless - and, yes, voice of the voiceless comes to mind. I can and do speak up. I read to learn more. I do my best to eat compassionately. I volunteer with animal rescues. I adopt my pets and don't buy them. And finally, I give.

And that brings me to the subject of today's post - charity, or how Fay's story inspired me to blog a list of the organizations I support. Here they are:

1. Animal Legal Defense Fund - because impact litigation has the power to make a difference for animals.

2. Animal Haven - because it's important to support a local rescue.

3. UC Berkeley - because I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't gone to the best public university in the country.

4. CCR - because they pioneered impact litigation and creative lawyering and have never been afraid to channel David against any Goliath to fight the good fight.

5. City at Peace - because I need hope that there will be a next generation able and willing to take on the cause of social justice work.

6. Humane Farming Association - because someone needs to stand up to the abuses of the factory farming industry and stop them.

7. Island Dog - because Americans should not countenance grotesque animal abuses on U.S. territory.

8. New York League of Humane Voters - because politicians should be held accountable to our collective interests.

9. Medical Students for Choice - because the right to choose depends on access to the everyday heroes who are abortion providers.

10. Vegan Outreach - because militancy never changed anyone's diet.

11. WNYC - because knowledge is power.

12. Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary - because preaching compassion can be fun.

I hope you will think of ways that you can make a difference in the coming year.

Peace.

A Vegan in Paris

Paris was the best part of my European vacation - I loved the sites, the people (much to my surprise - the reputation of the Parisians should in fact NOT precede them) and the company, and I even got a chance to practice my high school French! Which was very limited, mind you, but in the end sufficient ("may I see the wine list, please").

It was a ladies' weekend of old friends and new, good times made even better by countless glasses of the newly released Beaujolais Nouveau 2009. A simple and inexpensive wine that makes for a perfect refresher when taking sightseeing breaks.

I probably consumed more BN09 than I ate, which is less a testament to how much I liked the wine than it is to how committed I was to meeting the challenge of eating vegan in Paris. (no small feat!). Needless to say, food options in traditional French eateries were not great - and I never considered them all that great in the first place when my diet was slightly less restrictive as a vegetarian.

Mostly I bought pre-made tabbouleh salads in grocery stores and mixed those with nuts and all veg pre-made salads (cooked beets...grated carrots...) and olives - ingenious, I know. :)

Cafe noir to start the day.

Roasted chestnuts from street vendors to snack on.

I did pretty well, I think.

And now, here are a few of the awesome pictures I took, starting with Notre Dame at night.

The Winged Victory of Samath Race (do you know how hard it was to get this shot without a random tourist ruining my pic?!).


Sacre Coeur!


I will spare you a shot of the hotel room. We stayed near the Place de la Bastille, and I am convinced that the prison was not actually razed but instead converted into our hotel. I was happy to bid that place adieu - but of course very sad to say goodbye to my friends and our wonderful weekend together. Hopefully it won't be too long before our next rendezvous.

Rome

My favorite city in the world. This was my 8th visit in 8 years, but this time it was mostly to see friends, not to sight-see or use Rome as base camp for adventures farther afield.

Which is not to say that I didn't take advantage of the trip to visit some of my favorite spots - the Enotec'Antica on the Via delle Croce (near the Spanish Steps) ... a glass of Barbera d'Alba + some bruschette make for a lovely, lovely snack.

The Campo de'Fiori for a negroni (two days in a row!), though sadly, my favorite place - the Taverna del Campo - has been turned into a CHAIN "mozzarella bar." Sacrilege.

A walk in the footsteps of the gladiators...

The Palatine Hill at dusk...

And the Vittorio Emanuele II monument...

Sadly, after just four short days (and plenty more pizze rosse), it was time to go, but more adventures and friends awaited me in Paris...

Milan

I am back from my European adventures! Surprisingly, I am quite happy to have returned (in part, because I missed Casper, my adorable, stuffed animal-like Turkish Angora-mix...no comment on the OTHER cat, who knocked over a brand new Xmas decoration this morning as soon as I put it up...grrr), which would, perhaps, not be the case if I didn't live in New York City. But I do, so...it's good to be home again. Plus, I'm tired of improvising vegan meals (ugh) and happy to be eating well (and diversely) again.

Milan. Dreary, overcast, cold, and decidedly NOT spectacular. Essentially, the city met my expectations - sorry, Milanesi (not that I know any personally).

I landed at Malpensa Friday morning before Thanksgiving, made my way to the central train station (an imposing and magnificent structure straight out of Fascist Italy), then to my hotel. And conveniently located a few doors down was...a bakery! Woohoo. I made several trips to that little bakery over the next few days for my pizza rossa (pizza with tomato sauce) and focaccine - little focaccia, topped with: olives, or tomato/tomato sauce, or onions, or potato. I tried all of them. And then went back for seconds and thirds. YUM. (Lest you worry, I also found a supermarket nearby where I was able to buy barley-malt flavored soymilk (mmm), tangerines, arugula salad, etc. - and learned that you are supposed to weigh your produce before getting in line otherwise you get really angry stares from the other people in line who have to wait while the cashier goes and weighs your items for you - oops!)

Then I was off to the city center to have a negroni before my appointment to see the Last Supper. THAT was impressive - a mural, not a small painting as I assumed.

The next day, I visited the Duomo. And took a picture. This, sadly, was the most significant structure in town, and there wasn't much else to see.

A castle/fort (Castello Sforzesco) - photos on Facebook - and La Scala, picturesque image below.

On Sunday, I happily made my way back to the train station for my four-hour Eurostar ride to the Eternal City, where warmer weather and friends awaited me...

Bon Voyage and Toodle-Loo

At 4:45pm local time (Milan, Italy) this Friday, I have an appointment to see this:


Yes, one needs an appointment, often booked far in advance, because of all the Da Vinci Code nutjobs.

After checking out the sites in Milan (which I believe don't number that many), I will be getting on a train Sunday afternoon, November 22, heading to my favorite city in the world (for the 8th time in as many years):


That would be Rome, and this would be the Tevere (Tiber) and the structure in the background is the Cupola of St. Peter's (in the Vatican, of course).

(Jealous yet?)

No sightseeing for me in Rome (as I've seen most of it before), just time spent with good friends drinking good wine.

And then on Thanksgiving evening, I will be on an overnight train from Rome to Paris. I think I'll pack a bottle and make myself some friends in the couchette (ladies only). That weekend, I will see this:


And then drink more good wine - Beaujolais Nouveau will have JUST been released, so of course there will be plenty of that.

Full report when I return at the end of the month!

This is the awesome vegan boot I bought (the left boot came with it) from my favorite (vegan) shoestore, MooShoes. Stylish AND ethical. These boots were made for walking...through the streets of Milan, Rome and Paris...and that's just what they'll do...when I travel to Europe next week.

And just for fun, I threw in this tote from Brooklyn Industries for my carry-on items:
On SUPER sale. Check it out - THREE compartments, two external pockets, plus interior organizers.

Hurray!

Last Night's Pan-Latin Party (for one)

Mm. Fried plaintains.

These are as tasty as they look. Even tastier were the seitan-pinto bean enchiladas (corn tortillas) baked in mole sauce (of the jarred variety, gifted from Mexico) that I also made last night. Unfortunately, that dish was not as photogenic - but I went to sleep dreaming of the leftovers I'm going to have for lunch today.

The entree was preceded by guacamole (obviously, from scratch) and Kettle-brand chili-lime corn tortilla chips.

Now if only I had thought to bust out the tequila...

Eggless Benedict

Ta-da! Last Saturday I made my first attempt at vegan brunch, and I must say - it was an OBSCENE success (and I do say so myself).

The less interesting elements:

- mandarin orange slices on a bed of arugula w/ fresh lemon & olive oil vinaigrette

- sweet and russet potato home fries, seasoned w/ green bell pepper and red onion

Now for the good stuff: Eggless Benedict!!!

This required overnight preparation (3-4 hours might do, but overnight just seemed easier) of the tofu. I took one package of extra firm tofu, wrapped it in paper towels and then in a cloth towel, then placed the tofu in a bowl w/ a plate on top and a 7 lb. weight on that to press the water out. By morning the tofu had a much firmer and drier texture - when cooked, it approximates egg white. I then cut out 4 tofu rounds about half an inch thick. These were fried on both sides over medium low heat, no oil - just until lightly browned.

For the base of the Eggless Benedict, I used toasted crumpets - much chewier and better-textured than English muffins. These were topped with slices of ripe avocado and slices of skillet-browned Lightlife vegan "ham." Place cooked tofu rounds on top and cover with vegan hollandaise sauce: a blend of 1 cup vegan mayo (I like Nasoya brand), juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 4 tablespoons vegan butter (melted), 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon white (or black) pepper (finely grated), 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, 1 teaspoon regular yellow mustard (preferably not that French's crap, though), 2 tablespoons olive oil. After blending ingredients, warm over low heat before serving (do not boil).

This meal sounds a lot more complicated than it actually was. If you're nice to me, I might make it for you. Especially if you bring a gift of bubbly & peach juice - bellinis paired quite nicely with the meal!

Those annoying lottery ads...

...you know the ones - with the cute little furry and fuzzy baby animals? proclaiming how "sweet" those millions are? They're in our subways, on our city streets...at construction sites. Well, when they first went up, I knew something about them bothered me. But I wasn't sure what. And then a friend articulated my discomfort in jpeg form.

Which made me realize why the lottery ads disturb me: because they show only a snapshot in the life of an animal, one that the general public can feel warm and fuzzy about.

It is a shallow response, to be sure - and for lottery tickets???

Just as people go to the grocery store to buy a package of bacon or the local fast food chain for a bucket of buffalo wings and don't make the connection between the pigs and the chickens that lived (in profound suffering, mind you) and the food on their plate, so people don't ask what becomes of the piglets portrayed in the lottery ads (or anywhere else), the bunnies, the puppies, the kittens - and not just what becomes, but where from (see puppy mills).

And who cares for the animals when they are no longer fuzzy and cute? no longer puppies and kittens and baby bunnies and little chicks (when Easter's over and the little fuzzies grow up)? Countless everyday heroes like the folks at Zani's Furry Friends, or Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, or Animal Haven.

So the next time you see one of those lottery ads, take a moment to think beyond the shallow. And if the text in these ads make you uncomfortable, GOOD. THEY SHOULD.

I'm famous!

I got a shout out on NPR this morning for my Vegan Cashew Chili recipe submission and got the recipe posted on The Takeaway's website! Click here for the link. Go, vegans, go!

The Turning Point

This past Sunday, I attended the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's ThanksLiving 4.0 event - a vegan Thanksgiving celebration and fundraiser for the Sanctuary's farmed animal rescues. It was my first time attending the event, and I hope to make it an annual tradition going forward. The food was OUTstanding (vegan pumpkin cheesecake with whipped nutcream!), and I can't tell you how fantastic it was NOT to have to ask "what's in that" every time an hors d'oeuvre got passed - I could eat EVERYthing!

The presentations - by Nathan Runkle of Mercy for Animals and John Phillips of the New York League of Humane Voters, among others - were moving. So moving that I am committed to doing the vegan thing for real, not the half-assed veganism I've been practicing for the past year (which largely amounted to no eggs or dairy in the house - in fact, a big step for someone who kept more than 5 types of gourmet cheeses on hand at any given time and regularly made meals of cheese, crackers, olives and wine).

This is not going to be easy - not because I can't live without frittatas or La Tur, but because of the amount of vigilance needed: yesterday I ate several Hershey's Kisses and only realized today that they are made of milk chocolate (doh!). Still, I believe this is an important step I must take. I don't want to contribute to the suffering of dairy cows or the suffering of battery hens. Because I don't have to. And because I have a moral obligation not to.

I will be in Rome on my way to Paris for Thanksgiving Day this year. I'll be remembering the little critters at WFAS and keeping it vegan. No cappuccinos or croissants for me, thanks.