Whew!

I've been busy these past few weekends. I got to lay around all yesterday, which I really needed. Now I don't have any major deadlines, so I can do what I want. Even better, Andy is taking a month off starting on Friday. Yay! We aren't going anywhere, just chillin'.

Here are pics from NARN bingo that raised money for their anti foie gras campaign.

My winning card (we were going for a box pattern):

I won potholders & some cool bags. The potholders have been hidden away so I will have something unstained/burned to take to potlucks. What I made for prizes. I made 2 boxes of treats. Each had about 5 cookies 'n cream cupcakes (vegan cupcakes take over the world), 15 or so peanut butter pillows cookies (ppk blog), and 4 lemon polenta cookies (aka lemon gravel cookies from an old issue of Veggie Life).

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A while back (hmmm... I'm always behind, huh?) I made some of the red curry paste from a PCC cooking class, which was the base for some kick ass panang curry (paste, sugar, coconut milk, lightly fried tofu, and portobello mushrooms). It was AMAZING!!! If you live in the Seattle area, you have to take a class w/ Pranee (make sure it says "Vegetarian; no dairy or eggs").

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Like any proper dog, Kobie loves car rides.

Mmmmm... wind licking

On the way to the furry 5k, he opened car windows on his own.
Tired after the furry 5k.

Drinking some ice water. Andy fills up a tupperware container w/ ice and hours later when Kobie wants to drink, it is about 1/2 ice, 1/2 water. If he won't drink, I can easily get him to chew on ice.

Bake sale success!

The bake sale was a huge success. As a result, I'm completely tired today. Zero desire to do anything, and I have lots to do :( Enough whining, because I'm sure you want details on the sale.

I met a fellow blogger! Tofu Mom and her boyfriend made an appearance and we talked about things like making barbie cakes. Tofu Mom, I've confirmed what I already knew from reading your blog, you're awesome!

There were 28 different kinds of baked goods at the sale, 554 items in total. I bought a bunch of them, but I missed out on a few kinds because I was too caught up in the logistics of the sale.

Baked goods kept rolling in throughout the day, so what you could buy at any given hour would change.

Here is some of what I bought (Andy & I are still working our way through them). The cookies at the bottom right are mojito cookies and they are refreshingly minty and surprisingly mojito-y -- I loved them!

Here is what I made.

I used mostly eco friendly containers. Bagasse paper containers for the baklava and cupcakes. Natural Value waxed paper bags for the scones. I say mostly eco because the baklava needed an aluminum foil liner because it's so sticky and I didn't trust the bagasse container.

Cheddar Cheezly Scones using Bittersweet's delicious recipe. I actually made them twice for a total of 4.5 batches. They went quickly.

Cookies 'n Creme Cupcakes from where else but Vegan Cupcake Take Over the World. I sold them w/ 2 Newman O's so people could scrape frosting off the cupcake. My real motivation for that was to make sure there weren't lots of Newman O's lying around at home for me to eat.

Persian Baklava from a PCC Cooks class recipe.

More pics of the sale can be found here. The pic of the PB Insider eater is Sidecar's manager.

Now do you know why I'm tired? Two days of bake saleing is hard work.

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Random summer fruits.

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The new foster dog is here! Her name is Diana and she has tons of puppy energy because she is only 7 months old.

It's really hard to take a picture of a white dog on a super sunny day, so you can just barely see that she has super fuzzy wispy fur. That's because she is a longdog, which is a cross between 2 types of sighthound. In this case part greyhound. The things you learn while fostering dogs.

Aside from that, she is like any other dog I have fostered - loves to lick my face, likes to steal cat poop and cat food (though hopefully not before licking me), is way too interested in Kobie, and has lots of energy. I have found a way to keep her occupied and that's by giving her a Snook's dried sweet potato treat. It takes her hours to eat it.

Around here, a cat is always watching. This time it's only 2 - Chippy and The Judge.

Worldwide vegan bake sale & some restaurant reviews

I'm coordinating the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale in Seattle this weekend. If you're not in Seattle, check out their site because the sale is happening all over the globe. Here are the specifics of the Seattle sale:

Where: Sidecar for Pigs Peace
5270 B University Way NE, Seattle

When: June 20 & 21 -- 1PM - 4PM each day

Why: To raise funds for the Pigs Peace Sanctuary by stuffing yourself w/ tasty vegan treats.

There are lots of bakers baking many delicious treats, so please stop by and grab something. I'll be making baklava and some other stuff. Hells yeah!

All proceeds go to the Pigs Peace Sanctuary. Here is some info that I gleaned from their site, but really you should look at their site and check out the cute pig pics.

Pigs Peace Sanctuary is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing a safe home for unwanted, abused or neglected animals in need and is committed to spreading the message of compassion and respect for all animals.


Questions about the sale? email seattlebakesale@hotmail.com


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NARN Bingo was lots of fun. David, the guy reading numbers, had me laughing the whole time. I'll post the pics of what I made for 2 of the prizes soon-ish. you know me :)

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Eastsiders, I am one of you! There isn't a lot in the way of exciting vegan food on the eastside, but there are a few spots. Preets is one of them. It's a veg indian restaurant located in downtown Redmond and it has lots of vegan options. They give just the right amount of food so you leave satisfied, but not uncomfortably stuffed. Though leftovers aren't an issue as long as I remember my tupperware.

Cauliflower Pakoras, mostly eaten because as usual, I forgot to take a picture at the beginning.

Their samosas are really really good.Clockwise from the top. Corn flat bread hiding underneath a roti (be sure to specify no ghee), Aloo Gobi (potatoes and cauliflower), Sagwala (spinach), Carrot Pickles/Onion/Jalapeno, and Rice.

Note that you have to order the rice separately, not a huge deal, but annoying to have to order after the fact.

The carrot pickles are so good and I always eat my jalapeno. Plus if you go w/ Andy, you get his pickles :). Did that sound dirty?
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I went to Squid & Ink in Seattle a while back. There were some hits and misses (fries & frosting) here, but overall, it's worth going back again.

Fish & Chips. The breaded tofu fish was really good. The fries were not good, they were very firm on the inside and greasy (but not crunchy) on the outside - maybe the oil wasn't hot enough? I would like to give their fries a second chance at some point.
Monte Cristo. This was really good, but I was expecting the more traditional version where it is assembled, dipped in batter, then fried as one cohesive block of a sandwich. Then sprinkled w/ powdered sugar, and served w/ strawberry jam.

Carrot Ginger soup was good.
Clouds and hearts cake. This was very fancy looking. The inside of the cake was good, it reminded me of a firm, yet delicate wedding cake texture. The frosting wasn't very sweet, sort of like that grocery store crisco like frosting.

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The Judge was rolling around in the dried up grass clippings left behind by the trimmer. He doesn't mind getting dirty. Hmmmm...

They see him rollin', they hatin', patrollin', they catch The judge ridin' dirty. Hey, Sal, hopefully you get that song stuck in your head. It's in mine now.

The Judge is serenading all dino style. Just look at that neck stretch as he eats some triassic vines (ok, fine, it's me holding up some grass). Don't be messing w/ those dino teeth!

Now, I'm completely hungry. Time for something frozen for lunch. Trust me, I'd rather have pakoras and roti.

NARN Bingo is this weekend

If you're in the Seattle area this weekend, NARN is hosting a bingo fundraiser. There are many reasons to go:

1. I'll be there
2. I'll be baking 2 of the prizes
3. Bingo is fun. Especially if you get more cards than you can handle and go crazy trying to keep track of them.
4. It supports NARN

When: Saturday, June 13th @ 8pm
Where: Skin Deep Dance Studio (El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave S, Ste 311)

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The Seattle Vegan Meetup group's monthly meetup was a picnic at Cowen Park. There were around 17 of us, mostly people I didn't know, but I do now :). It was a fun time all around. I tried Yves vegan brats and they were really good. Lowfat sexy vanilla cupcakes from VCTOTW made an appearance, and they were indeed sexy and delicious with nice little flecks of vanilla seed. There was also some spicy indian rice, tomato salad, bean salad, sandwiches (I made them, they had avocado, pesto, red onion, tomato, lettuce), chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, fruit, iced tea, vegan brunch guac potato salad, veggie booty, moist tasty chocolate cake, and lots of other stuff that I ate but can't remember. I barely remembered to take any pictures of some of the food. I'm getting more and more lazy about this.

I found out about a new to me way of donating to Action for Animals by grocery shopping at PCC. AFA is a vegan outreach org that leaflets and has booths at events. They get the word out about veganism in a friendly way. Dave from AFA was at the meetup and he was handing out PCC scrip cards. They are cards that you charge up with money, then use them to shop at PCC like they were cash. All the money that you put on the card is yours to spend. PCC donates to AFA 5% (of their own money) of what you put on the card. Here is more info on the PCC site. If you're interested, there is contact info on the AFA site.

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After the meetup, we went to Healeo, a new store / cafe in Seattle. They sell premade sandwiches, drinks, tea, coffee, cookies. I didn't scope out everything to see what was/wasn't vegan because the main goal was to get some of their vegan soft serve ice cream. Mission accomplished, and it was good. Hemp in a cone. Yeah, the one in the pic is partly eaten.

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I survived the Furry 5k walk. The tops of my feet and my butt still hurt. Hopefully the elliptical will get my body back in order today. Kobie was very well behaved, though he was hyper at the beginning and wasn't really sure of what to make of the whole thing.

The crowd was thinning out because the race, then the walk had started. I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place. Total furry chaos.

Got to mention the crows that were on the edge of the park crabbing at everybody.

Kobie walking...

and walking...

and stopping.

...and we make it to the finish line taking our sweet time.

There were these 2 dogs that were walking near us and they wanted to sniff Kobie's butt. Then we saw them after the race on the way up to the car and they charged across the street to do some more sniffing. Tubs now has competition as the #1 Kobie fan.

Kobie drinking in his surroundings at Wayward Cafe, our post race eating spot. He was too busy watching cars to want to eat any of my pancakes. Kobie won't chase any old car, he saves himself for UPS trucks.

My favorite sautee ever

It continues to be super hot here. I have to force Kobie to come in and cool down for a few hours during the day. I think it will only be around 65 on the day of the 3k walk, so that will be ok. Right now it's a bit overcast, so Kobie and I are going to run some errands before the sun really comes out. Doggie doesn't like to miss his car rides.

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Neptune's Gift from the Veggie Works cookbook is my all time favorite sautee. It has lots of fresh veggies (In the pic, I forgot the kale) and dulse. The dulse adds a really nice salty sea taste to the dish and complements the tofu. I love dulse. The recipe says to put a huge chunk on top of the sautee and remove after cooking. I disobey and just crumble the dulse up all over the pan. Delicious dulse!

I have tried other sautees in this book, but didn't like them that much. I really need to branch out into other parts of the book, but every time I open it w/ that intention, Neptune's Gift calls to me and I put off trying new recipes. ~~~~~

Faline was hanging out in the shade of the blackberry vines and other picky growth in the cat cage. She is avoiding the camera on purpose. grumble.

This was taken a while ago when it was sunny out, but not hot enough for The Judge. He also demands to be under a blanket when he's inside. Don't have a blanket? No problem! He'll try to crawl into your pant leg or up your shirt. Not the least bit annoying.

Peepa is eating kobie's food right now. That cat will eat anything, even peanut butter and jelly.

RFD cookbook & Kobie gnaws on dead trees

I'm done trying out recipes from the Real Food Daily Cookbook and they were all fantastic, so I bought the book. If you haven't tried any recipes from this book yet, just do it. Either via the library or Amazon's "look inside" feature. If you try some recipes, I'm sure you'll love them and buy the book. And these recipes are simple and fast.

Asparagus and Cilantro soup. Really good. Save some uncooked asparagus to throw into the pot each day when you heat it up so you can have 2 different textures. mmmm.... green logs of asparagus swimming in a tasty asparagus swamp.

Salisbury Seitan and Golden Gravy. I can't wait to have this again. I put in way less oil than called for in the gravy and it was still really great.

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This was taken early in May. Once every week or so, we make up a platter of summer fruits and mow through them. This one had pineapple, apple, pear, kiwi (sour), strawberries, banana and mango.

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One of Kobie's many reasons to go into the cat cage is so he can celebrate his pica. This is one of the fallen trees that we tied up to the posts in the cat cage. Kobie thinks it's almost as tasty as the dirt he eats. Kobie mostly spits out the bark. I've also seen Tubs chewing at the bark and spitting it out really violently - like how did this get in my mouth, ugh!