The Vegan Potluck

The Vegan Potluck was a wonderful success. There were about 10 people on the new patio - veggie dogs and burgers grilling on the Weber - lots of yummy side dishes to complement. Most of the guests were either vegan or vegetarian, but the People for Animal Rights group (the activity sponsor) does not have any requirement about diet - only a concern for animals. There was a couple who was neither and they seemed to be surprised how tasty and interesting the food choices were.

The biggest hit was the veggie dog - just about everyone who had tried a grilled one wanted a second. Since I underestimated the number of folks who would want one, I ran out of regular hotdog buns and had to provide bread or burger rolls. This problem did not seem to stop of flow of requests. "Whodathunkit"? (with apologies to Mary McCarthy's "The Group").  The time flew with the effortless flow of conversation between and among those who have something in common - their love and concern for animals.

Everyone was admiring the prominent location cat condo (3 stories tall). I spared no expense to pamper our rescued felines. Used my new toy - iphone docking station with nice speakers to provide the mood music - used my stations on Pandora radio. Started with Edith Piaf, moved on to Sarah Brightman and ended with Tony Bennett - lots of singing along with the Tony songs (probably indicative of the average age of the group :-)

So to end - I say - "wish you were here" and "let your compassion be your guide."

Grilling Vegan at the Cookout

In preparation for the summer grilling season, I am learning how best to grill veggie dogs and burgers. (I have never been much of a griller and I only have a charcoal grill to work with) One of the major events on the agenda is a vegan potluck at my new house with the big flat backyard (croquet anyone?). One thing I bought to improve the process is a grill grate to put over the one that comes with the grill. This handy product keeps things from falling through and it has handles to pick it up and out. First step was to make sure we used enough charcoal to cover the bottom and keep the whole top hot. With the hotdogs, we put them on the grate, but had to make sure to watch them carefully and turn quite a bit - they get brown (and burned) pretty quickly. With a toasted bun, mustard, relish - very yummy! The veggie burgers were used frozen. I put some olive oil on both sides of the burger and also sprayed some on the grate so they wouldn't stick. Again with the toasted bun and some ketchup, relish, lettuce, tomato and onion (and those coveted grill marks!!!!) - quite delicious.
So I guess we are ready for the cookout - the others will bring vegan side dishes and we will party.

Talking about Pink Slime

OK - Here it is - the finely textured beef otherwise known as pink slime that has been making all the headlines! I have to be honest and agree with John Stewart of the "Daily Show" that if you are eating all the other meat products that are available to us like hotdogs, sausage and chicken mcnuggets etc, is this really any different? In a way, it diverts attention from the real problem of the industrialized production of our food. A good discussion of this is right here. (The tweet indicated "the meat industry be dealt a fatal blow if every omnivore watched this):

MSNBC's Chris Hayes hosts roundtable on Pink Slime

All I really have yet to say is that when I hear these things about pink slime, ammonia, chickens on caffeine, pain killers and antidepressants, it reinforces all the reasons why I don't eat meat. YAY!!!