Vegan Meetup Picnic -- Furry 5k -- Andy's bday

The Seattle Vegan Meetup group (meetup.com) is having a potluck picnic on Saturday, June 6th. I went to the 4th of July picnic last year and it was fun. There was also a LOT of delicious vegan food. I hope I see you Seattle peeps there.

~~~~~

The Furry 5k is on Sunday, June 7th. It raises money for the Help the Animals Fund, which provides veterinary care and supplies for sick, injured or abused orphaned shelter animals.

I'll be taking the walking option w/ Kobie, Andy, some friends and possibly a new foster dog. Kobie loves to hang out and eat sandwiches, which is what we'll be doing after the walk.

~~~~~

Andy's bday was this month. I decided to make him a bday feast. 4 items doesn't make a feast, but I was tired all the same.

I made miso soup (no pic) using this stock recipe (dashi). It was the easiest stock I've ever made. Just boil up some kombu and dried shitake mushrooms, then strain.

I asked Andy if he wanted green tea, he said "can't we have orange soda"? About 1/2 way through the meal, I asked him why he wasn't drinking his "tea". Apparently, he confused the orange soda (in the teapot)for green tea because natural soda is not nuclear orange.


I made the chinese dumpling recipe that I got in a class I took at PCC. It worked out well because it called for rehydrated shitake mushrooms, so I used the ones from the dashi I had made. They were perfection. I cheated and used a gyoza press.

3 kinds of Sushi. (V'con Elephant Roll: avocado & chopped peanuts), (teriyaki tofu/green onion/red pepper/cilantro), (avocado)

Tomato Soup Cake with lemon glaze & zezt. The recipe is from Passions, a truly bizarre soap that was cancelled. It is a spice cake.

Campbell's tomato soup is accidentally vegan. I replaced the butter w/ Earth Balance, eggs with Ener'G egg replacer, milk with a soy/rice milk blend. I typically tone down the amount of certain spices, but I followed the recipe on the spices. The batter should be sort of thick, but not so thick that it is hard to smooth in the pan. I always add more soy milk. The batter looks really nasty, but when it's baked, it looks and tastes really good.

Lemon glaze = powdered sugar, lemon juice, soy milk, vanilla. You just add stuff until it's the right consistency. Start with powdered sugar, then slowly add/mix lemon juice. I add soy milk when it starts to taste too lemony, but is still too thick. When I'm happy w/ the consistency, I add in about 1 tsp of vanilla. You have to taste it a lot. As you can see from the picture, I always make a huge mess with this stuff.
In honor of Andy's bday, Peepa practiced yoga pose #2329B aka Downward Facing Tummy Lick. Yes, he is cleaning his stomach.

VeganMoFo day #24 - Maple Bday Tidings & Pizza

Today was my buddy Kevin's bday, so I made him maple cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. We went to lunch w/ Kajal at Taco Del Mar.

I skipped the maple extract in the batter, probably a good move because the cupcakes were super mapley enough without it.

I tried making the maple frosting, but it was a disaster. Very gross, I'm not sure what I did wrong. If the frosting had been maple, it would have been a maple overdose - this is coming from somebody that could drink maple syrup from the bottle. They were perfect as is with VCTOTW's vanilla buttercream. I don't like the name buttercream, it sounds very unvegan, but it is. If you haven't made these yet, you gotta do it.

For dinner, we had Juliano's pizza. Juliano's is located in Seattle and he makes the best pizza. The cheese is follow your heart - somehow he can serve it up in thick slices and make it taste great. If you're ever in Seattle, stop by.

Calzone

Scoatt moved to VT to live with my brother last year. A couple of the cats and Kobie were picking on him. cat-cat-dog-cat-cat-cat-cat-cat dynamics are complex. He's now an only cat and he loves it. Mostly because he is the huggiest kissiest neediest cat ever. You gotta love a cat that can purr and growl in the same breath :) This pic is from this summer. Ok, now you've met everybody, though I sort of put the dog's pics in much earlier posts.