When first I spotted this series of ads from Fur Free Alliance on Ads of the World, my mind immediately perceived the naked, brutalized human form as “female.” (Because, hey, isn’t it always?) “Ah, great, another hot, sexy, naked dead ‘chick’ getting all hot and sexy and naked and dead ‘for the animals.’ Just what we need!” So you can imagine my surprise, upon closer inspection, at finding a naked dude showing some abused skin for a pro-animal cause. A reversal of gender roles – hot damn!

In case you can’t view the images, here we have a series of three ads, each of which shows a naked, white male being hunted and tormented by a gleeful fox – who is obviously another human, most likely also male, decked out in a fox outfit, all mascot-like.

In the first ad, the human victim appears in the background; he’s sprawled unconscious on the ground, most likely dead, his naughty bits obscured by a strategically placed tree trunk. The fox stands off to the human’s left and in the foreground, legs spread shoulder-width apart, arms raised triumphantly. In his (her?) right hand/paw, the fox holds a gun. Most likely Mr./Ms. Fox went hunting, and “bagged” a human. (It’s worth noting that this slang – “bagged” – can be applied to sexual “conquests” as well bloodsports. Sex and violence, sex and death.) The caption reads, “Fox like this doesn’t exist.” (Fur Free Alliance is an international anti-fur organization; its website, which is in English, is “operated on behalf of the Fur Free Alliance by the Humane Society of the United States.” So while the caption appears to be broken English, I can’t tell whether this is intentional or not.)

The next ad in the series shows the fox, still toting a gun in his right hand, dragging the now-conscious man through the underbrush. Again, the man is stark naked, this time with a pile of leaves (or is that a bush?) covering his groin. With his left hand, the man is trying to grab onto a tree; with his left, he reaches toward the fox, as if imploring him for mercy. “How does it feel?” the caption demands.

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Green Giant Steamers, I can’t believe this is the last week of October – and of VeganMoFo 2009! It’s been rather exhausting, this daily blogging, and yet I feel like I’m just getting started – there’s so much more to say! It’s all good, though; since I’m vegan 365 days a year (366 in 2012), I can get my VeganMoFo on whenever, wherever, with whomever I want. (Um, just don’t tell Shane I said that.)

Anyhow, for our very last Monday Mashup of the month, I decided to go with a frugal vegan theme. All of these dishes are made with relatively inexpensive, readily available ingredients. You name it, we’ve got it: veggies, fruits, pasta, grains, beans, tofu, pancakes, cookies, pie, breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner and dessert – represent! Veganism: truthy, yes; inconvenient, not so much.

Now if you’ll excuse me, those twice-baked potatoes are calling my name…

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Many, many years ago – back when the show was still “innovative” and “popular” – a designer on TLC’s Trading Spaces pulled a grotesque and speciesist stunt. Genevieve (Gorder), tasked with redecorating a kitchen, created some “artwork” by raiding the family’s fridge in search of decomposing animal corpses, posing the “meat” products in various “comical” positions, and photographing and framing the result (“meat people”). Cue laugh track.

Granted, the bit was rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but to me, the utter pointlessness of Gorder’s actions made them that much more offensive. It’s bad enough that cows, pigs, chickens and other farmed animals suffered and died in order to feed humans who could just as easily subsist on a plant-based diet; worse still that their corpses were mocked, ridiculed, and then wasted further. (There’s no way that “meat” went back into the fridge after being handled under hot camera light for several hours.) It was enough to turn me – then an apolitical vegetarian – off of the show for good. I even fired off a few complain letters to TLC, Trading Spaces and Ms. Gorder herself. I’m still waiting on a reply.

Anyhow. My point in telling this story isn’t to rail against Trading Spaces, but to introduce today’s post – a vegan version of Gorder’s “meat people,” if you will. Fruit and vegetables make for darn shiny fun artwork! Mr. Potato Head is perhaps the most beloved human-vegetable hybrid – (Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask my mother if she still has my old family of Potato Heads; methinks they’d look cute on the mantle. But I digress.) – however, he’s only the beginning. There’s life on melon (and lettuce and tomato and eggplant), after all!

Halloween is coming, so it’s only natural that we start the exhibit seasonally, with some Great, big, beautiful pumpkins!

Pumpkin art runs the gamut, from crazy creepy smiley faces:

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Once again, I’m using the Monday Mashup / “get out of veganmofo jail free” card on a Sunday. The Mr. and I squeezed one last mow into the season; I raked leaves away from the fence, house, and other assorted obstacles, while he decimated my piles with the lawn mower. Lazy, us? No way! I prefer “time savvy.”

Anyway, this mashup is all me – dishes I’ve made or, in three cases, bought. I’d challenge you to guess which three, but meh, it’s too easy!

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GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSS!

Sorry. Cheesy, I know. But it’s been a long, frustrating day, and for some odd reason, this tired old joke always elicits a grin.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I could use a fun, fluffy post. And what’s more fun and fluffy than vegan Halloween candy? (That’s a rhetorical question. There is nothing funner or fluffier than vegan Halloween candy. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Rien. Nichts. Niente. Niets. I said good day!)

The way I see it, vegan Halloween candy can be separated into two groups: the cheap, readily available, accidentally vegan stuff that you keep on hand for trick-or-treaters, and the expensive, hard-to-find, specialty goodies, which are oftentimes veganized versions of old, pre-vegan favorites.

Not that the two groups are mutually exclusive, of course – if you’re over the age of 12, probably you don’t consume candy on a daily basis. Thus, a fistful of dark chocolate Peanut Chews or a mile’s worth of Fruit by the Foot is indeed a special treat, pedestrianism be damned. And that’s okay! You don’t need to drop a small fortune on gourmet vegan foodstuffs to Kenneth Lay out this Halloween. On the flip side, if you do sit atop a small mountain of money, all Scrooge McDuck stylie, feel free to distribute gourmet vegan goodies which proudly proclaim their veganism all over the mofo packaging, in a sneaky guerrilla effort to lure some of the neighborhood children over to the light side. But toss in vegan literature at your own risk – ‘twould be very un-vegan to wake up to an egg-covered landing on November 1st!

(And yes, I am assuming that everyone reading celebrates Halloween, because if you don’t, you should! Between the candy, the costumes, the pumpkin carving, the hay rides, and the horra movies, everyone should be able to find at least one aspect of the holiday worth consecrating!)

What follows are two lists of vegan candies; the everyday stuff is vegan per PETA, so take these with a grain of salt – there be some rumblings on the internets re: the accuracy of PETA’s “accidentally vegan” list. Also, I’ve only included candy here; for party snacks, please refer to the original list.

The gourmet vegan goodies, on the other hand, come from firsthand knowledge and the product inventory in vegan-owned online shops, so mistakes in these listings are much less likely.

So, what are your Halloween plans, my lovely vegan zombies? The Mr. and I have a longstanding (read: four years, maybe five) tradition – we spend the day watching horror movies, relaxing with the dogs, and chowing on all sorts of vegan junk food. Pizza, spring rolls, french fries, cupcakes, turnovers, ice cream, pop corn, candy, brownies, soda, liquor – ah, that’s the life!

I’ve been dying to dress my dachshund kid up in a hot dog outfit to entertain the trick-or-treaters, but we literally have not had a single one since moving to the Midwest – all of our residences have been so rural.

On the plus side, no interruptions during the movies!
 
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Today was a busy one: the Mr. and I spent the morning cleaning the house, had a quick lunch (leftover mac & cheese – recipe forthcoming!), hit a matinee showing of Whip It*, picked up a few miscellaneous consumables at the nearest Buy More on the way back, and got home in time to feed the dogs a late dinner. As far as blogging goes, I found just enough steam to put together this week’s easyVegan Activist, and that’s it. I’m so, so ready for bed. But I’d hate to break my MoFo streak, so instead of missing Day #11, I’m phoning it in instead. That’s right: here’s my Get Out of Jail Free card, in the form of a Monday Mashup…on Sunday.

This batch of food p0rn hails from the Flickrs, but unlike last Monday’s Mashup, they do not some equipped with instructions. Should you wish to duplicate any of these dishes, culinary experimentation is the name of the game. Just remember to take plenty of photos – and grab a partner to double the yum!

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That’s right, we have another canine birthday in the house! Ralphie, our first-born dog-kid, turned 12 years old today. That’s 69 in dachshund years, he’ll have you know.

He doesn’t look a day over 55, I tell you what.

Normally, I would have spent the day outside with the old boy, letting him walk me ’round the neighborhood, or watching on as he digs for buried treasure (read: carcasses) and whatnot, but he’s on house arrest for the time being. The vet hacked him up good on Thursday, removing a bunch of lymphomas lipomas (!*) (floating fatty deposits, so fun to poke and prod and play with!), cysts, and miscellaneous gross body growths. This is all old hat for him – he’s already had a few (two? three? four? I lose track.) lymphomas lipomas removed previously, but they just keep springing up in the same spot – serendipitously located in his right “armpit,” right where his harness runs under his leg. Once they grow to the size of a large grape, it’s time for another round of slicing and dicing and teeth cleaning.

Even so, this was by far the most growths he’s had removed at once, and I wasn’t at all prepared for the Frankendog who returned home after a day at the veterinarian’s:

It’s hard to make out in these photos (or any one photo, for that matter – so extensive are his injuries!), but Ralphie’s got sutures on his head, under one ear, and on the side of his neck, in addition to the several obvious cuts on his (Buddha) belly. He’s taken it all in stride, though he’s a bit miffed that we won’t let him go outside and dig in the mud. Damn fascists!

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Today I bring you the first of four vegan food mashups.

(Addicted to Mosaic Maker, me? Crazy talk, I say!)

Behold, sixteen gorgeous vegan masterpieces, complete with sixteen vegan recipes. Simply click through to each photo’s Flickr page for details.

Mini focaccia (#9), chickpea flour pancakes (#6), or Patatas al ajo y cebolla (#16): which to try first?

Choices, choices…

Vegan Food Mashup #3: Vegan Food on Flickr, with Recipes

From left to right, top to bottom, we have:

1. vegan stracciatella,
2. Beet risotto salad with pineapple and peas,
3. Corn Cakes I,
4. Red Pepper Hummus,
5. potato and bean chimichangas,
6. chickpea flour pancakes and coriander chutney,
7. Vegan chocolate oreo cupcakes,
8. tofu mash with walnuts and whole grain bread,
9. mini focaccia,
10. Fajita Sweet Potatoes,
11. Tofu Fish Sticks with Vegan Tartar Sauce,
12. Vegan, Gluten-free Breakfast,
13. vegan cupcakes,
14. vegetus’ vegan carbonara,
15. vegan cupcakes with purple icing,
16. Patatas al ajo y cebolla

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Yesterday we celebrated Kaylee (11) and Jayne’s (5) birthdays, as well as the three-year anniversary of their adoption. Whereas Ralphie and Peedee were owner surrenders with known DOBs, all of the girls are ex-strays, so we’ve really no idea how old they are. Instead of pulling birthdays out of thin air, we celebrate Kaylee, Jayne and O-Ren’s birthdays on the days of their adoption. This means the girls are cheated out of a second “special day” every year – which is why I try to make their celebrations extra-special!

I really, really wanted to make Kaylee and Jayne a birthday cake – ganache, anyone? – but alas, I haven’t been able to find vegan carob chips or carob powder locally, so no luck there. My backup plan worked out beautifully though: I made a batch of mini-muffins using Molly’s Apple Cinnamon Muffin recipe, and topped them off with a “frosting” of blended silken tofu and peanut butter.

Here are the muffins, sans frosting:

and frosted:

The ridiculously cute embroidered placemats in the background, by the way, were a gift from my aunt (last x-mas, perhaps? I forget.). She made one for each of our six nonhuman animal kids; the front of each features a species-appropriate pattern, and the animal’s name is on the back. Naturally, the dogs’ mats are shaped like bones, whereas Ozzy gets the sole fish. I think she thinks I didn’t like the gift because I don’t actually use them as placemats for the animals’ food – but I love them so much that there’s no freaking way I’d risk staining them! (So if you’re reading, Aunt Cindy, there ya go!)

Anyway, back to those muffins. Mostly I followed Molly’s lead, with the following modifications:

- I substituted vanilla soy milk for the water; and

- I didn’t have any flax or hemp seeds, so I used a flax/nut/seed combo from Matilda’s Kitchen Flax & Company.

My initial impulse was to frost the muffins with peanut butter, but I decided to blend the pb with a brick of silken tofu in order to water down the fat content a bit. The recipe is pretty simple:

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Update, 9/30/09: And the VeganMoFo madness multiplies! Check out Vegan MoFo Headquarters International (The Blog!) and follow VeganMoFo carnival queen Kittee on Twitter (@VeganMoFo) for details as they unfold. Also, all participating bloggers should shoot her an email with the following: email addy, URL and location, even if you’re already on the “official” blogroll.

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The third annual VeganMoFo is almost upon us! For the entire month of October, vegan bloggers (315 and counting!) will storm the internets with all manner of yummy, cruelty-free foodie goodness.

If you haven’t yet signed up to participate, fear not! The deadline for “registration” is October 2; hit up Cake Maker to the Stars, who is hosting the event, for details. (Scare quotes because, theoretically, you can jump in at any time. Nor should the spirit of VeganMoFo be limited to October; VeganMoFo lives in our hearts, yo!)

You can find a master list of participating blogs here, with public feed info here.

This year’s VeganMoFo is shaping up to be the grandest one yet. On Monday, Kittee Cake Maker and Carnival Queen promised that

There are big plans in the works at Vegan MoFo Headquarters International, where you’ll be able to check in everyday to read a daily MoFo Roundup, see a map of MoFoers form around the globe (sorta like Hands Across the Vegan Blogo-Galaxy), see if there are any mini Mofo events taking place, and other fancy stuff like that.

Additionally, ameyfm @ the PPK put together a nifty press release; participating MoFoers and MoFo groupies can customize the doc and send it off to their local media outlets in order to score some media coverage for the month’s events (as well as their own humble blogs and/or favorite local vegan bloggers).

But wait – there’s more! Fellow Flickerites can share their gratuitous vegan food pics in the VeganMoFo Flickr group, and should you tweet your VeganMoFo-ing, join the VeganMoFo twibe and use the hashtage #veganmofo or #vmofo. Total tubal domination is be ours!

If you’re in need of some inspiration, the PPK’s VeganMoFo forum is a great place to start. Since I know I’ll be short on time clear through October, I’ve already mapped out some of the month’s posts. Mondays will feature a vegan food p0rn mashup – read: a mosaic of vegan photos on Flickr – which should provide a nice respite from the otherwise frenetic blogging on what’s usually one of my most busiest weekdays. Or so I thought: I started playing around with the mosaic maker widget tool thingie this morning, and was sucked in for hours. Photo mashups aren’t much of a shortcut when you’ve shades of ocd and hungry eyes, I tell you what.

Anyhow, I created the above mashup in honor of VeganMoFo founder and Vegan Goddess Isa Chandra Moskowitz. All sixteen of the vegan yumyums pictured were born in her 2006 masterpiece, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. So magnum is this opus that there’s even an entire Flickr group dedicated to its offspring (which numbered 5,312 at last count). Vegan Cupcakes: they rule, you drool.

On that note, see y’all on October 1st!

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