old favorites with a new twist

Tonight we had the Juice for Life Green Goddess rice bowl (brown rice topped with steamed swiss chard, kale, and broccoli, with lemon tahini and ginger soy sauces), which I have posted here before. But tonight instead of marinated tofu or tempeh, we decided to be brave and try out the frozen vegan "fish" we bought back in June at King's Cafe in Toronto. It's quite good... but kind of spooky. It isn't going to fool anyone, but it's a reasonable subsitution. We had the "tuna steak."

Tomorrow through Wednesday we will be eating Indian. I made a big pot of curried Indian vegetables (cauliflower, bell pepper, potato and onion), which I have posted about before. But this time I included half a pound of seitan strips (green cuisine) that we need to use up. We will also cook up some frozen dosas we bought at the Middle Eastern food market.

pick of the crop!

Our little tiny garden is churning out fresh fruit and veggies right now. Todd is making salsa right now to use up some of the tomatoes.

A little background for those who may not know: our yard is about 18 by 20 feet in size, and about 1/3 of it is planted with edible plants. We have a large raspberry bush (there are raspberry pictures elsewhere on this blog), and several spaces along the fence where we have stuff planted. Except for the raspberries, we have maybe 50 sq. ft. of garden.

We also have two composters which we use to enrich the soil. We practise "veganic" gardening... no pesticides, herbicides, animal-based fertilizers (or commercially-produced fertilizer PERIOD), etc.

Bunny feet

I was sitting on the couch and looked over towards Tippy's cage, and this is what I saw. For some reason her little feet and legs all stretched out like that struck me as really really cute. :-)

Tofu kebabs and spinach feta salad

We bought this black bean marinated tofu after tasting some at the veg food fair. Tonight we made kebabs with it, using the tofu, zucchini from my dad's garden, cherry tomatoes from my garden, and red onions and pepper. I had a bunch of leftover spinach (can't feed much of it to Tippy!) so we also had spinach salad with VEGAN soy feta (garlic and tomato flavoured), red onion, and a homemade tomato basil vinaigrette. I LOVED the feta, and so did my dad. My husband wasn't crazy about it, but I don't think he's very open-minded. I am so happy I have leftover salad fixings for tomorrow! We had oatmeal cookies for dessert.

speaking out against foie gras

I got this action alert from Farm Sanctuary today:

Support Needed to Prevent Repeal of Foie Gras Ban in Chicago!


A ban on the sale of foie gras (French for "fatty liver") recently went into effect in the city of Chicago, and in response, a group of chefs has initiated a campaign to repeal it. Opponents of the humane ordinance assert that serving the cruelly produced appetizer should be their "choice." Two Chicago Aldermen have introduced an ordinance seeking to repeal Chicago's foie gras sale ban, denigrating the council's compassionate stance and calling it "silly."

It is critical that they hear from us. Chicago's foie gras sale ban is humane and upholds societal values. It restricts cruel and unacceptable behavior. We cannot allow the abuse of children or animals to be a "choice." Foie gras is a product of extreme cruelty, and selling it should not be a "choice."

Please contact Aldermans Bernard L. Stone and Burton F. Natarus and tell them that compassion is not "silly," and cruelty should not be a "choice." Urge them to withdraw their unprincipled proposal.

1. Alderman Bernard L. Stone, Ward 50

Ward Office:
6199 N.Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60659
bstone@cityofchicago.org
Phone: 773-764-5050

City Hall Office:
121 N. La Salle
Room 209, Office 20
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6855; 312-744-6106


2. Alderman Burton F. Natarus, Ward 42

Ward Office:
121 N. LaSalle St.
Room 306
Chicago, IL 60602
bnatarus@cityofchicago.org
Phone: 312-744-3062; 312-744-3065



So I decided to send the jerks an e-mail. This is what I said:

Hello

My husband and I are Canadian, have money to spend,
and love to travel to North American cities to shop
and eat. Chicago moved up on our list as a
destination when we heard that foie gras had been
banned in the city. We thought, "What a progressive,
compassionate city," and decided it would be somewhere
we should travel to and spend our money.

However, I hear you are involved with a movement to
repeal the ban. I thought you should know that should
you be successful with this, Chicago will not be of
any particular interest to us any longer. It's
shameful to hear the comments being made, about the
ban being "silly" and people deserving to have the
right to "choose."

I'm sorry, but that's total bullshit. NOBODY should
have the right to choose that that sort of torture be
inflicted on another creature. It is NOT akin to
choosing to wear red shoes instead of brown shoes, or
coke versus pepsi. Foie gras is a symbol of
everything that is shallow, self-righteous and
self-centred in this world, and Chicago is much better
off without it. I don't need to tell you the kind of
torture that those poor birds endure to produce this
"delicacy;" I'm sure you already know. Which is what
makes your desire to repeal the law all the more
bizarre and incomrehensible. But, in case you aren't
fully aware, I highly recommend you view these videos:
http://www.gourmetcruelty.com/videos.php

Perhaps you should consider channeling your energy
into a cause that is actually worthwhile... say,
homeless animals, sick children, or maybe volunteering
to help elderly people. I don't think that the taste
buds of the elite, and the fat cat restaurant owners
really qualify as a "cause."

Please do not reply and tell me that I should become
"educated" on the subject, as so many politicians are
fond of doing. The purpose of this e-mail is to
register my disgust with your actions, and to implore
you to please consider dropping your campaign to have
the law repealed. There's no valid reason why this
ban shouldn't stay in place, and it's shameful that
you have made this your own personal cause. Please,
find another cause, and leave the ducks alone.

yes, it's vegan!

Tonight we had a dinner guest, my dad. I made spicy peanut thai rice noodles with kale, homemade spring rolls (filled with tofu, vermicilli, red and green onion, bean sprouts and red pepper), and our usual smoothie with flax oil. I topped the noodle dish with some faux shrimp that we picked up after the food fair on the way home. I cannot speak as to their authenticity, having never consumed a real shrimp, but they certainly smell and look like shrimp! Since I haven't eaten any shrimps before, I enjoyed these faux shrimps on their own merits. They're chewy and quite tasty. They're something I expect we'll only eat occasionally.

We had cinnamon buns for dessert: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/8169/3253/1600/sticky%20buns-%20omfg.jpg

Urban Herbivore

We just got back from the Toronto, where we went to the Vegetarian Food Fair (Saturday) and the Kensington Market (Sunday). We had a really good time! We spent about three hours at the fair itself, and met a couple of people who I know from online.

For lunch in the market we went to Urban Herbivore. There we had these massive sandwiches... BBQ tofu with sprouts, mixed greens, tomato pesto, and tahini sauce, on fresh-baked multigrain buns. It was absolutely delicious! More than six hours later I'm still full. We also each purchased an apple walnut muffin, which we each nibbled on during the drive home.

rabbit gourmet

I'm not much of a salad person, but Tippy is! Part of a healthy rabbit diet includes fresh greens, so I have to give her a salad every day. Usually it's mostly leaf lettuce, but sometimes I can add other things like zucchini, green pepper, cucumber, kale, chard, spinach etc.

For this particular salad I remembered we hadn't given Tippy any carrots for a while (she loves them) so I artfully placed one on top of her salad. Of course the first thing she did was rip it off the top of the lettuce and eat it beside her plate.