22 posts tagged “blogher”
We launched a bunch of new features on BlogHer recently, designed to improve everyone's ability to find and connect with one another. We're talking enhanced profile capabilities and member search, friending, favoriting, following...plus two other really cool features:
I don't have a lot to say about this post from BlogHer about a new Florida law banning bestiality. Suffice to say this ain't stuff I want to think about too much or too often.
Rich, a child's rights advocate, said that those who abuse animals (sexually and otherwise) are likely to do the same to kids and the National Humane Society vehemently backs that up. Fact is, sexual abuse of animals often happens concurrently with sexual assaults on people. The NHS website cites numerous studies and statistics illustrating this disturbing connection, including this one:
"Of juveniles who engage in sex with animals, 96 percent also admit to sex offenses against humans and reported more offenses against humans than other sex offenders their same age and race."
--Fleming, William M., Jory, Brian and Burton, David L. (2002). Characteristics of Juvenile Offenders Admitting to Sexual Activity with Nonhuman Animals. Society and Animals
I'm probably late to the blogging party on this, but did you hear the one about Chicago City Health Commissioner's plan to help Chicagoans get healthy in 2009? He wants them to go veg for the month of January.
Delicious Living Magazine posted some nice vegetarian recipes for Thanksgiving, and Kalyn from BlogHer put out a call for everyone's favorite Thanksgiving recipes, so I felt inspired to dig out my favorite Thanksgiving recipe. This was originally included in a PETA mailing as a little perforated attached recipe index card. This recipe is how I discovered nutritional yeast, so I am forever in its debt! I may not cook the entire thing very often, but I can tell you I cook the gravy recipe just about every week.
Tofu Pot Pie, Serves 8 people
Pie Crust
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
½ c. margarine
1 tsp. salt
½ c. water
Directions:
- Mix flour, margarine & salt together, adding water as needed. Separate dough into two balls. Roll one ball into a 9-inch pie shell. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400° for a half-baked pie shell. Roll other ball into top crust.
Golden Gravy
Ingredients:
¼ c. flour
½ c. nutritional yeast flakes (available at Whole Foods.)
1/3 c. oil or margarine (oil works better.)
1 ½ c. water
2 to 3 TB soy sauce or tamari
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Toast the flour and nutritional yeast flakes in a pan, until the mixture gives off a nutty aroma. Add oil and stir until bubbly. Add water and cook until mixture begins to thicken, stirring constantly. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper. Makes approx. 2 c. of gravy.
Pie
Ingredients:
1 half-baked 9-inch pie crust (see above)
¼ c. flour
1 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp. garlic powder
3 c. firm tofu, chopped to bite size
2 TB oil
1 c. finely chopped celery
1 c. sliced carrots
Other vegetables as desired (I use corn kernels and green peas, for example.)
2 c. Golden Gravy (see above)
Preheat oven to 375°
Directions:
- Have ready the cooked pie crust, and the dough for the top crust.
- Combine flour, yeast flakes, salt, garlic powder and tofu in a paper bag and shake. Saute tofu mixture in oil until lightly browned. Add onions, celery and carrots. When onions are soft, add any other vegetables.
- Pour Golden gravy over mixture and serve. Pour mixture into half-baked pie shell. Top with pie crust and bake at 375° for 30 minutes.
- Alternate: You can also simply pour mixture into a casserole dish and top with crushed corn flakes.
Yesterday my BlogHer events manager and I were scoping out a potential site for next year's annual conference. As part of our site survey, and knowing I was a vegan, they created an entire vegan breakfast feast for me and Kristy that was absolutely incredible:
Check out my evangelistic ways here.
So, BlogHer is next week. Which tempts me to simply say:
"Move along, nothing to see here, come back the week of July 21st...or even the week of the 28th."
But in true obsessive blogger fashion I can't resist trying to keep up!!
So, I have a question for you. I've been thinking about this since the weekend.
I find that typically I have one day during the weekend where I lounge about and don't do much. (By which I mean I sit with my laptop and probably try to catch up on email for a while, but I don't catch up on other chores.) And then I have one day filled with chores. Grocery shopping, laundry, taking out the recyclables, tidying up a bit...that sort of thing.
I have typically made chore day on Sunday, thinking it's better to relax more on Saturday. But this week I started thinking that maybe it would be better to move chores to Saturday, so it didn't feel like I was going back to work right on top of a day filled with chores.
What do you do? Thoughts?
As for eating this past Sunday-Thursday? nothing new and interesting to report. one night at dinner I ate some celery and I ate some grapes. And I thought, it would be so nice if I had actually chopped these up and mad some kind of fancy salad with them...that would be great to report on Veggie Goes Vegan.
But no.
I just ate some celery stalks. And ate some grapes.
I've also been enjoying the nectarines and plums that are in season. I discovered that one of my friends, who has a plum tree, actually does canning, when she brought me some plum conserves. Complete in Ball Jar. I looked at her as though she was a stranger. Who is this woman who cans? Or jars.
Plum conserves, by the way? Quite yummy. especially on Vanilla Soy Ice Cream.
That is all.
We'll see when I can post again...conference crazy time is upon us!!!
I had a wonderful experience interviewing Anna Lappe for a podcast on BlogHer.
It's part of BlogHer's Earth Day Every Day initiative this month, so check it out!
And check out Anna's new site: Take a Bite Out of Climate Change, too.
Another week, another business trip, another series of mostly monontonous meals, punctuated with some happy eating moments.
Monday was my last day at home before leaving on a long-ish trip to NYC for six days. (In fact I'm writing this form my hotel before I go check out.) Our BlogHer Business Conference was held at the Affinia Manhattan for the second year in a row, and they have a banquet manager, Libardo, who goes out of his way to take care of me and my crazy vegan-ness. To the extent that on day two when we had an afternoon break that included a popcorn machine, Libardo went out to the store, bought some vegan microwave popcorn, had it made up, and had it there with the popcorn guys, just waiting for me. They even scooped it in the little popcorn bags that everyone else was eating out of, instead of just handing me the big ole bag of Orville Redenbacher :)
The Affinia had also added a few more vegan items to their menu since last year. So, actually, if I'm being honest (as Simon Cowell would say) I had quite a few choices: A veggie burger, a grilled vegetable platter, and my favorite, the Cappelini with mushrooms and asparagus.
So the week living out of the hotel and on room service and catering went pretty well.
Except I had one outstanding vegan experience, and one terrible one.
Let's start with the terrible one. When I checked in, I discovered they had left me some welcome amenities (probably because I'm the organizer of this big event.) Apparently the General Manager's office isn't quite as up on my crazy vegan-ness as my buddy Libardo. The wine was great, but there was a big old cheese platter, and a platter of petit fours.The petit fours weren't that appealing to me, but I confess that as time ticked by, and I was waiting to see if I'd be going to dinner with a colleague, I got hungry, and then I got weak, and then I ate some cheese. As always the roots of my failure can be traced back to lack of proper preparation. I left for my early morning flight without eating breakfast. I did buy something to eat on the plane, but it was kind of nasty, so I didn't end up eating much of it. I didn't check in and then step down the block to pick up something at the deli. Nope, I just flipped open the laptop, started working, and kept waiting. And vegan tragedy ensued.
The lesson to be gleaned by everyone here: Don't expect to be taken care of when you're out and about. Sure, it happens often, but on those occasions when there's just nothing to sustain you, make sure you have something of your own to take the edge off.
The outstanding vegan experience was visiting Blossom for lunch yesterday. Yum!! This was an NYC vegan place I hadn't tried, so I was excited to add another place to my NYC arsenal. I had a scrumptious Porcini Seitan with Spinach and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. I ate every bit and practically licked my plate. The only bum note was the cheesecake, which was a bit too heavy on the soy flavor for my taste. My lunch companion actally really liked it, though, so it's worth a try.
So that was my week...lots of running around, lots of capellini with asparagus and mushrooms, one new vegan restaurant discovery, and one unfortunate vegan failure.
I'm soon to meet another friend for brunch (not sure where we'll go) before getting on an afternoon flight back home. And yes, I WILL buy food for the flight that will actually hit the spot :)
...And I would love to know if you have any questions you'd like me to ask her.
