Monthly Archives: August 2011

Aug 31, 2011

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Vida Vegan Con – Day One!

My inner monologue has changed from “I can’t wait” to “I can’t believe it’s over!” Or maybe… “I can’t wait until the next one in 2013…”

To really sum it up, this weekend’s Vida Vegan Con was an incredible and inspirational experience. The organizers (and the other volunteers!) did such an amazing job bringing all of us together and making it all happen.

It was a whirlwind of vegan activity. Surrounded by 200+ vegans at breakfast and lunch was exciting and nearly unbelievable. The speakers were fantastic, the food at the conference and the surrounding area was delicious (I’m looking at you HomeGrown Smoker) and I feel like I’m leaving with both a renewed excitement about blogging and a sense of joy at the real life connections I made with the people that attended. I left with a new list of people to follow on twitter and countless new rss feeds to add to my regular google reader rotation.

After breakfast I started day one slowly, spending most of my morning trying to figure out how to get back to Toronto within a reasonable time frame, but I did catch the end of the nutrition panel with Wendy Gabbe Day, Bryanna Clark Grogan, Gena Hamshaw, and Ginny Messina. These are some of the people I’ve been following and reading on and off the net, in some cases for years. The works of Bryanna Clark Grogen have frequently appeared in my cookbook collection (as well as my mom’s), so it was really cool to see the face behind all those recipes I’ve prepared in the past, and now I have new blogs and cookbooks to seek out!

Then it was time for another talk I was really looking forward to. The Accidental Journalist with Vegan on the Move Gabrielle Pope, Vegtastic Voyage(r) Michelle Truty, and Vegan Moxie, Dawn Quinn. They offered great tips and tricks, advice and suggestions for developing style and voice, common spelling and grammar issues, as well as info on navigating into other avenues like writing for magazines/books (Query Letters are Important!) They also mentioned something I’m terrible at – transition sentences between paragraphs.

Finally, it was time for lunch, a northwest picnic consisting of a big slab of bbq tempeh, roasted veggies, orzo salad, kale, other salads and spreads, raw vegetables, pesto potato salad, and coconut bliss bars for dessert. I went back for more once (or twice) especially the orzo salad and pesto potato salad (and more kale… because who doesn’t like kale). Yum.


Lunch at Vida Vegan Con

After our colourful Northwest Picnic lunch, I went to another panel I was looking forward to (who am I kidding, I was looking forward to all of them): Vegan Parents! With the hilarious Ben Grossblatt (of Suicide Food), MamaPea Sarah Metheny, Sayward Rebhal, aka Bonzai Aphrodite, and Joanna Vaught, it was a fun group. I was kind of hoping for more talk about blended veg/omni families, but I know that was outside the experience of most of the panelists. Even though I’m not pregnant, or planning on it anytime soon, I’m looking forward to checking out The Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide (by Sayward Rebhal) because it sounds like a potentially awesome resource.

I was gifted a copy (thank you!) of Sarah Metheny’s new cookbook Peas and Thank You this weekend (& I do intend on reviewing it properly when I get the chance to cook again) but flipping through and reading the stories about her kids made me laugh out loud (several times) on the MAX and also miss 5 stops. Which I take as a good sign. So it was nice to see the real person behind the book&blog. I really liked her point about not making her daughters feel self conscious about how they eat, or labeling foods as “good” or “bad”. Especially since we all get bombarded with messages like that enough already.

The main thing I took away from this talk is that as with most things involving children and parenting, you have to be reasonably flexible and have as much information as possible (finding a pediatrician on your side doesn’t hurt either.) Not everyone is going to like your parenting style, or how you raise/feed your children, vegan or otherwise. Ultimately, the best defense is raising healthy happy children!

That night was the Galarama, food, fun, entertainment, dancing, and a silent auction benefiting the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. I missed out on trying the pizza from Sizzle Pie, but I did fill up a waffle cone bowl of Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss and a glass of The Vegan red Wine. Possibly related to the aforementioned wine, I worked up the courage to make a Fliptography flipbook, since I knew I’d want one no matter how silly I looked in it. (And by the way, I totally looked silly, and I still love it.)

I’m sure I’ll get to a day two recap soon, but I’m still thinking about it all. I miss it already!

Aug 26, 2011

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First day and a half in Portland – Leading up to Vida Vegan Con funtacularness.

Dovetail



I’m sitting at Dovetail Bakery (3039 NE Alberta St.) after taking in some of the cute little shops on Alberta St, nibbling at a vanilla bean and raspberry jam scone (after already eating a bartlet pear and black current scone.) Scones people. Scones are amazing. Plus today (August 26th, 2011) they’re donating 20% of the profits to Sisters of the Road, in support of the organization’s work towards community driven and nonviolent solutions to homelessness and poverty as part of the Dining with Dignity event happening at various businesses in August. It’s such a cute little space, with four tables and a street facing counter top offering additional seating, bright windows and baking related decorations.


Bartlet Pear Scone



In case you didn’t know, this weekend is Vida Vegan Con, the first (and best) vegan blogging conference ever (ok I’m biased.) so while I like Portland, that’s the real reason behind the visit. Unlike most people, I opted to take the greyhound bus here, from Buffalo (after driving down from Toronto). I don’t even know where to start in recapping that journey (so it’ll have to wait). After a year or so of excitement, the event is finally here, and I couldn’t be happier. The weather is atypically and relentlessly sunny, so I’m a bit disappointed that I’m not getting the full PDX experience… but I’m hoping that maybe later this weekend I’ll get my rain.

Magic Scones


Yesterday’s early morning arrival left me hunting for vegan breakfast options, and after getting a coffee fix at the only cafe open before 6am (from a large Seattle based chain) I found a perfect place. Open 24hours, Voodoo Donuts (22 Southwest 3rd Avenue, Portland, OR), has a ridiculous variety of vegan and non vegan options (and even has coffee.) I think I’ve tried most of their vegan friendly donuts, but I’m always drawn to the maple. Oh maple donut, you can do no wrong.


DSCF8196


After meeting up with the wonderful person that’s letting me stay in her home for the weekend, I went off to meet a group of fellow bloggers for lunch at Hungry Tiger Too (207 SE 12the Ave, Portland, OR.) It was such a pleasant surprise when so many folks showed up, even a fellow Torontonian! Portland spoils me almost every time, with good food and great people.



I ordered a basket of spicy Tofuffalo, (but just FYI… you can totally order it half and half spicy and bbq… do it!), they’re pieces of chewy, deep fried tofu dripping with whatever sauce you choose and come a a dish of creamy vegan ranch sauce for dipping. A little messy, but so delicious. Part of the excitement of heading over to Hungry Tiger Too, was it’s close proximity to my favourite strip mall in the world on Stark street. Home of Sweetpea Bakery, Herbivore, Food Fight, and Scapegoat Tattoo. ( I had to visit at least once, while I had the chance.)


DSCF8200


I picked up an oatmeal, peanut butter chocolate chip cookie from Sweetpea Bakery (1205 SE Stark St, Portland, OR), and went over to Food Fight to pick up all the personal care products I forgot to pack with me (or lost on the road). Sigh. Then I proceeded to get lost for a couple hours before another well attended Vida Vegan Con related event, the Meet and Greet at Vendetta (4306 N Williams St, Portland, OR) a vegan friendly bar with a giant back patio space.

More awesome people, more sun shine and copious amounts of RC cola, the long busy day was finally getting to me. But it wasn’t over yet! My host and I met up with a few non VidaVeganCon people at Hungry Tiger Too (I liked it so much I went back) and got a basket of half and half spicy and BBQ Tofuffalo. After 7pm on Thursdays the Tofuffalo turns into a crazy bargain at 49 cents per piece. BBQ is now a hands down definite favourite.

Soon, it’ll be time for early registration (name badges!!!), and shortly thereafter the VegNews reception, (complete with sweet treats, cider and wine.) I can’t wait!

Aug 15, 2011

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Conscious Food Festival

I went to check out the Conscious Food Festival this weekend. I didn’t go last year, but the reviews generally complained of a lack of non alcoholic options and minimal vegan options. This year, it seemed to have something for everyone (alcohovore, herbivore, omnivore, or whatever.) There were options from restaurants and local breweries, presentations by local chefs at the Conscious Food School, as well as a Conscious Food Battleground where chefs went head to head with different challenges.


Stoute Catering


Chefs Darren Stoute & Shawn Lane of Stoute Catering offered a local stuffed field tomato dish. I was waiting for some kind of obscure non vegan item in the tomato, but was happy to hear there wasn’t anything weird in it. The tomato dish was complex and flavourful option, stuffed with roasted root vegetables, corn, black beans and drizzled with a four herb and lime infused olive oil.


Pizzeria Libretto / Enoteca Sociale


Pizzeria Libretto / Enoteca Sociale showcased a crisp cucumber radish salad. I have never been to Pizzeria Libretto or Enoteca Sociale, but after that salad, I’m sincerely tempted to do so.




Marben


Marben (488 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON) was showing off their versatility and partnership with The New Farm with a rich mustard based potato salad and a spicy red gazpacho. This was an exciting revelation for my non-vegan partner, because he’s loved that place but since it’s generally known as a meat heavy restaurant, we’ve never gone there. I spoke to one of the chefs a little further, and he mentioned it would still be a good idea to reserve in advance and mention being vegan.


Nzyme - Zucchini pesto


We also sampled some of Nzyme‘s delicious raw food options. There was a zucchini pesto and a mock tuna. My favourite was the zucchini dish, but the mock tuna was a hit with my friend, it was especially great when wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Nzyme is located in Oakville, ON (341 Lakeshore Rd E) and are planning on offering lessons in raw food preparation in the near future.


Cooking Demo


One of the owners taught a crowd how to make coconut haystack desserts at the “Conscious Food School” and made it look easy, which really, when you can count all the ingredients on one hand, and the most complicated thing is to food process/blend/crush almonds… you’re in pretty good shape.


Cooking Demo


It was impossible to go thirsty at the festival, with options ranging from fair trade organic coffee, fresh stevia sweetened lemonade, root beer, and beer from Mill Street Brewery, Creemore Springs, Nickel Brook, Beau’s, the newcomer Spearhead Brewing and Steamwhistle, in addition to a locally produced corn based vodka from TAG. I’ve blitzed all the breweries that were involved with the festival about how vegan friendly their production methods are, or at least the ones that haven’t already been cleared by Barnivore volunteers. But as of yet, I haven’t gotten any responses back… yet.

Beaus

We spent a lot of time at Nickel Brook Brewing, Mill Street and Beau’s though. Nickel Brook had a very very very rooty root beer, pumped straight out of a keg, and I still can’t decide if I liked it. The favourite’s of the afternoon were probably Mill Street’s Lemon Tea Ale or Nickel Brook’s Apple Pilsner.

Oxfam was there promoting a cause with a goal near and dear to my heart, the Grow campaign, and we ended up signing up for the City of Toronto’s Live Green project, though I’m still not entirely sure how it actually works, but apparently we’ll get discounts at various places with the card.



The other thing that really piqued my interest was a pamphlet for The Stop (1884 Davenport Rd, Toronto, ON), which is an Toronto based community food center, acting as a food bank, drop-in, a community kitchen, and farmers market as well as offering hands on learning opportunities for people that might otherwise not have access to them. I think it would be a great organization to volunteer with.



The price of admission was $15 in advance or $20 at the door, I picked up two tickets on EthicalDeal for $20 which also included 10 food tickets. But the best part was that when we got there on Sunday morning, we were told that The Grid had sponsored admission for the day, but everyone that had paid for admission in advance, would get the equivalent in food and drink tickets.

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