I started to think about this year’s FSMas feast well before November. Since we’re talking about a (spoof) religion which revolves around pasta and pirates, a noodle-based dish is basically a given. Last year, we had lasagna…the same as every x-mas before. What can I say? The pasta, I loves it. That, and I’m not especially adventurous in the kitch.

But in the spirit of Vegan MoFo, I vowed to try out a new dish this year – but what?

Stephen Colbert to the rescue! (@ 2.27):

Communist Manipesto – that’s the ticket. Naturally, a “Communist Manipesto” dish must involve manicotti and pesto. And sundried tomato pesto is the shit! Blend a pesto recipe with a little tofu for bulk, stuff it in a package of manicotti, and there’s a FSMas dinner to (not) die for!

So I started by Googling around the internets in search of sundried tomato pesto recipes, finally settling on this one from All Recipes:

Ingredients

* 4 ounces sun-dried tomatoes
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
* 1/4 cup chopped pine nuts
* 3 tablespoons chopped onion
* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 1/3 cup crushed tomatoes
* 1/4 cup red wine
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* salt to taste

Directions

1. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover with warm water for 5 minutes, or until tender.

2. In a food processor or blender combine sun-dried tomatoes, basil, parsley, garlic, pine nuts and onion; process until well blended. Add vinegar, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and red wine, and process. Stir in olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt to taste.

Of course, this was only a starting point – I had to modify the recipe a bit to make it vegan. And, you know, adjust certain ingredients according to what I did and didn’t have in the pantry. And add a few extra steps.

Here’s the final version of the recipe…well, the final version of Chapter 1, anyway. I’m not in love with it, so likely there will be additional “Chapters” forthcoming. More on that below!

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Dec 29, 2008 8:56 PM
Subject: Monkeys: Stolen From Trees, Sold For Research

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST

12/29/08: Cambodia Monkeys: Stolen From Trees, Sold To Research
FOR A FORMATTED LETTER (WORD DOC), EMAIL: kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Easily modify letter. Copy/paste it into an email or print letter to fax or mail.

LT: Cambodia’s long-tailed macaques are stuffed into mesh bags and crammed into the bottom of a boat.

RT: Babies clinging to each other in small barren cages await their fate.

SOURCE: www.buav.org/e_projecty.php

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A few weeks ago, I raved about Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. They were seriously awesome and, better yet, the mix doesn’t require eggs (for us veg*ns, this means egg replacer and the associated risk of lumps of egg replacer).

Last week, I broke out the box of Cherrybrook Kitchen Brownie Mix I had stashed in the pantry. With the memory of fluffy chocolate chip cookies still fresh in my mind, I had high expectations for this brownie mix. Alas, the brownies fell a wee bit short.

The cooking instructions for the brownies are pretty straightforward: add margarine, water and vegetable oil; cook at 350 degrees for 16 minutes for fudge-like brownies, 18 minutes for cake-like brownies (2 minutes less for dark pans). Quick and simple.

I wanted fudgey, gooey brownies, so I removed the pan from the oven after 14 minutes and let them cool a bit. Ten minutes later, I tried to cut myself a piece and…got a butter knife full of batter. So back in they went.

I didn’t want to overbake them, so I checked in every two minutes to see how done the insides were. I ended up baking them an extra 6 minutes or so, but despite my best efforts, I ended up with cakey brownies. Maybe I was having bad luck, or perhaps I was just tired and cranky after a day of holiday baking – I dunno. Not my best batch of brownies, though. They’re good, just not very brownie-like.

(Even the chocolate chip cookie pictures came out better!)

So…I’m not sure what to rate these. 3 out of 5 stars, maybe? 4/5?

Meh. Mom and dad, please to send me some more chocolate chip cookie mixes!? *nudge-nudge wink-wink*

——————

Tagged: food vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism chocolate cherrybrook kitchen review flickr photos brownies

Action Alerts

Animal Person: 2 Things to do Today
“I’m posting to ask you to participate, ASAP, in Change.org’s Ideas for Change in America project, in the AR category of ideas. First-round voting ends at midnight, PT, on December 31, so we need votes right away, to show the president’s administration, Congress, and the public that animals matter.”

Animal Person: On Obama’s Food Agenda
“Susan directed me to ‘A food agenda for Obama’ by Christopher D. Cook of the Christian Science Monitor. Cook suggests nine elements for Obama’s food policy. Number ten is: ‘Fill in the blank, and send me your thoughts at www.christopherdcook.com.’”

The Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics’ (CCIC) / Leaping Bunny: Take the New Year’s Pledge!
“Make a commitment to eliminate animal testing by pledging to only purchase products approved by the Leaping Bunny Program, which provides the best assurance that no new animal testing is used in any phase of product development by the company, its laboratories, or suppliers. The Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics’ (CCIC) Leaping Bunny Program administers a cruelty-free standard and the internationally recognized Leaping Bunny Logo for companies producing cosmetic, personal care, and household products.”

Carnivals

Carnival of the Green #160 @ Ruscombe Green

(more…)

After a few days away from the internets, I sat down at my desk this morning, only to find 100+ emails cramming my inbox – most of which are end-of-the-year donation appeals. Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind receiving the occasional solicitation – even though these can quickly add up, as I’m subscribed to a ridiculous number of mailing lists. But as we approach the 31st, groups have ramped up their efforts to the point where I’m receiving a couple emails per day, per group. That’s spam, peoples, and it’s only slightly less annoying when done by a non-profit. Seriously, it’s going to take me an hour to slog through it all.

One solicitation from Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary – who haven’t spammed me ad nauseum, I should add – is super cute, so much so that it yanked me out of my grumpy stupor, if only for a moment.

I just have to share:

I love it!

You can view the entire email as a web page here, and, if you’d like to send some cash Woodstock’s way, go here.

I think I’ll make a last-minute donation as a token of gratitude to Woodstock for not abusing my inbox.

—————-

Tagged: woodstock woodstock fas donate animals animal rights animal welfare the internets

I founded and moderate a local freecycle group; for practical reasons, we don’t allow live animal listings, although “meat” is acceptable (conflicted emotions, I has them). Recently, a member requested unwanted meat, as well as…unwanted livestock and sick or dying animals. I deleted the post and removed her from the list, as this was her second strike.

Naturally, she took issue with the strike. This is a direct quote from the email she sent in reply:

The other issue you have with me I don’t understand because any meat is any meat whether it is in frozen form or live form.

Let me repeat:

The other issue you have with me I don’t understand because any meat is any meat whether it is in frozen form or live form.

“Meat is meat” whether it’s already dead, slaughtered, prepared and packaged…or is walking around, nibbling on grass, playing with other “meat,” and just generally living life.

“Life” is simply a transitional state on the road to consumption.

Wow. Just…wow.

I wonder if she has visions of drumsticks while conversing with other humans?

Echoes of (the ghost of) Bobby, anyone?

Sometimes I’ve just got to laugh, otherwise I’d never stop crying.

(Crossposted.)

——————

Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare meat life ethics the colbert report stephen colbert stage manager bobby video pop culture medianimals quotables

Again with the meat-as-sex meme.

In this commercial for fast food chain Arby’s, a dutiful wife dresses up as an Arby’s waitress for her husband’s birthday. In the bedroom, if you know what I mean, where she delivers a chicken corpse to her eagerly awaiting hubby. Cue sexxxay, “doing it” music: Boom-Chicka-Wow-Wow! As the wife/waitress slinks into the room – somewhat uncomfortably, mind you, as though she was wheedled into doing this against her better judgment – the Arby’s logo (a red hat) “pops up” over dude’s head while he smiles with hunger/lust.

(Oh Arby’s, so clever with the double entrendes, you are! Original, too.)

Here, beef functions as an aphrodisiac and dinner time is sex-ay time. It goes without saying that dude is a REAL MAN because he eats REAL MAN food, i.e., food with a face. No veggies on his plate, nosiree. Except for ketchup, of course.

Which begs the question: if eating meat is analogous to having sex, is the wife/waitress a living piece of Chicken Cordon Bleu?

——————-

Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare commercial meat arby’s video youtube animals and women intersections parallel oppressions sexual politics of meat sex death piece of meat speciesism sexism misogyny feminism

Action Alerts

DawnWatch: Year end round-up PLUS Vick pit-bull SI cover! 12/25/08
“We have had some real advances, and in the areas we have not seen the change we would like for the animals what we have seen is unprecedented coverage of their plight. Before we have change, we must have exposure and acknowledgment that animal issues matter — and 2008 has been the year for that. Animal issues have saturated the media. Given how bad the animals have had it, for how long, it’s about time they got some public attention.”

People’s Email Network (PEN): Action Page To Stop The Bush Pardons
“Pay no attention to the handful of Christmas pardons granted by Bush. This is mere political window dressing to distract from the bumper crop of blanket absolutions, including one for himself, scheduled to be released just before midnight on Jan 19th. Cheney would not so arrogantly be bragging on TV about how he authorized torture if it were not so. But there is a resolution in Congress, H.Res. 1531, preemptively condemning any such move if we can just get enough members of Congress to sponsor it (already 10 so far). Many of you have submitted a action page on this already. Please do it again, especially if your representative did not hear you the first time.”

Newsletters

In Defense of Animals (IDA): eNews, 12-24-08
“News & Features”

National Wildlife Federation (NWF): Wildlife Action News, December 2008
“Wildlife Action News: Check Out Our New Look for the New Year!”

The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG): VRG News, December 2008
“CALL-A-DIETITIAN DAY – JANUARY 23 & more”

(more…)

Update, 1/19/09: VERDICT: Brindi lives and comes home soon!

Update, 1/7/09: Kinship Circle: Update/ Brindi’s Fate In Judge’s Hands

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Dec 26, 2008 6:03 PM
Subject: ACT/ Brindi’s Life Matters. Help Save Her.

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

12/26/08: Brindi’s Life Matters. Help Save Her.

FOR A FORMATTED LETTER (WORD DOC), EMAIL: kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Easily modify letter. Copy/paste it into an email or print letter to fax or mail.

Halifax (Nova Scotia) has recognized that Brindi is not a threat to humans. It was informed by two respected trainers that her wayward behavior does not signify aggression and definitely can be corrected. Yet the city prefers to have her pay the ultimate price for human error, rather than accept reasonable alternatives that would both maintain safety and keep her alive.

www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-brindi-this-dog-must-not-be-euthanized

KINSHIP CIRCLE realizes that not everyone agrees with this plea to spare Brindi’s life. We respect opinions, but ask that you refrain from sending us an ALL-CAPS, exclamation-point complaint. Any time you disagree with our stance — in this case, no-kill without exception for a healthy animal — simply delete the alert. Thank you for your unyielding voice for animals.

(more…)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Dec 24, 2008 8:45 PM
Subject: Rebuilding Lives, Two Hands At A Time

KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER AID NETWORK

12/24/08: Rebuilding Lives, Two Hands At A Time
YEAR-END REFLECTIONS * www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters

THIS IS FOR YOU:

1. Rebuilding The Gulf Coast, Two Hands At A Time
2. Kinship Circle Recognized For Work In Iowa Floods 2008
3. The Great River Rescue
4. I Rescued A Human Today

=======================

1. Rebuilding The Gulf Coast, Two Hands At A Time

SOURCE: 12/24/08, VIDEO – With My Own Two Hands
WATCH VIDEO NOW: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ44B33HRmo&NR=1

FROM KINSHIP CIRCLE: Thanks to my sister and fellow animal rescuer, Cara Shoss, for alerting me to this beautiful video and inspiration for this message. Brenda Shoss, president, Kinship Circle

From Cara Shoss, cshoss [at] gmail.com — Imagine what we could do if we all used our own two hands to change the world. Keep believing in what you are doing. Happy Holidays to all of you and thank you for using your two hands to make a difference for the animals in the world.

TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ44B33HRmo&NR=1

KINSHIP CIRCLE REFERENCES:

GULF COAST: Animals In Gulf Coast Storms & Other Disasters

www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/gulfcoast/default.html

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