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.