veganmadre

I can't decide if I like the black and white or colored back shot best! Then again, why choose?! I want more!!

yeah, I'm just saying, too! It's amazing to see those pictures. While I haven't weighed myself in a couple months, I'm probably close to having lost 95 lbs total - not because of veganism but because of healthy food choices and exercise. I see your dramatic results and I'm boggled - did I have the same transformation?? Isn't it weird to see the pictures? You know you're losing but you don't see it daily in the mirror! Congratulations! You look great! (not to mention healthy and happy!)

And you can even buy them if you live in Pittsburgh and want to stop by our table at the "Your Not the Boss of Me" Trade Fair Here, you can see the smores cupcakes, mint chocolate and one version of the cookies and cream. http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c240/veganmadre/tradefair1.jpg Smores, up close and personal! http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c240/veganmadre/tradefair2.jpg mint chocolate and cookies and cream http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c240/veganmadre/tradefair3.jpg A veganmadre "original" - vanilla topped with amaretto buttercream and toasted almonds http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c240/veganmadre/tradefair4.jpg Another veganmadre original - "jelly donut" cupcakes http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c240/veganmadre/tradefair5.jpg These are my cupcakes and they aren't prudish - here are the naked chocolate ones! The darkest ones (made with dutch cocoa) will be topped with chocolate mousse and the others will be topped with peanutbuttercream and fancy dark chocolate swirls. mmmmm. http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c240/veganmadre/tradefair6.jpg

I typically play the game of checkers - figuratively. I think that there is a tremendous amount to be said for "emotional IQ" and that one can, in fact, play an intelligent game without a "long term plan". Perhaps I'm just idealistic and naive. There are worse things I could be accused of being, though. I'd like to live MORE "in the moment" than I actually do. I want to spend days with people important, savor the hours and deal with the future as it arrives.

Nope, you aren't alone. I'm willing to bet that at least 60% of the board has consumed refined sugar (even if inadvertently) within the past several months. Potter, you'll probably want to forgo any future Panda Veg grubs, too, if you plan to skip the toffutti. I can almost guarantee that their sauces contain refined sugars. I'm not dissing those who have high standards of veganism and strive to live as conscientiously as possible. I'm not a "hardline" vegan, myself. I avoid honey, milk, whey, eggs...But, I do sometimes drink a glass of wine that I haven't verified to be vegan before drinking it and I do add refined sugar to my coffee in the morning (it's that or artificial crap which I completely cut out of my diet 6 months ago).

We're "unstocking" now - trying to get rid of all of the packaged and processed foods that we've had in the house that we don't want to move with us. After that, we'll be stocking basics in bulk (think rice, beans, dehydrated veggies) - probably through mail order/online - and ultilizing the organic veggies we'll be growing. There is also a great market not far from our "homestead" that we'll occasionally stop at. We won't have electricity nor will we be paying to "refrigerate" things. I don't forsee us "shopping" regularly because we have kids to play with, places to explore and creeks to splash in. Who wants to stand in line?! Back to basics for us. Previously, though, we shopped several times a week. We have a chain grocery store, bread bakery, fruit/veggie market, greek specialty market, asian market and health food store all within walking distance of our home. Where in Santa Cruz are you Matt? I moved to Pittsburgh a little over a year ago from Watsonville! I just missed you - left CA as you joined the board!

Is Brendan kicking the satellite? Oh my god - I hope so. That would be so insanely cool! Even if he's not officially kicking it and just pretending to! Still cool.

Sounds like fun?!? That may just qualify for the understatement of the year! To me, it sounds like a life dream realized! It sounds like hard labor and self-sufficiency. It sounds like FINALLY being able to appreciate little fluctations in the weather and time spent with family and slow cooked simple food that tastes that much more incredible because the sole "investment" was our own time. It sounds like following our natural inclinations as the seasons change and...where did I find you michaelhobson? Oh yeah... lucky me. (Tigress, I'm still around - though I feel myself withdrawing from the internet - I spent entirely too much time during the day staring at a computer screen at work and I'm enjoying nights of incense, scrabble, night walks and book reading)

eewww! Wait. I just noticed the nails! Yikes, those are scary! Cute face, though.

I agree, she's cute!

Listened and voted!

At times like these, you just need a food pill! (inside joke, though I encourage wannalift to share if he feels compelled)

Very awesome, Liz! What an exciting adventure/life change! Looking forward to one of my own! Walking! Aaah - that's one thing I love about urban living and what I've heard of the UK. Good luck! So glad you're back and that your move went well!

I've totally been faced with this type of attitude - mainly from my family. I was harrassed about not celebrating Christmas and encouraged to go to their house just for companionship. I expressed that I had no desire to socialize with others around a dead animal and was attacked with "well, we respect you and your decision so you should respect ours. besides some of us dislike your decision, too". I was livid! As if abstaining from animal cruelty is somehow deplorable...

I honestly don't know if it's possible for me to be any more jealous that I am at this exact moment! Pirates Tavern was one place that Michael and I decided would be a must stop in Portland. Tofu scramble and...for $2?!? Aye de me! Que Suerte!

Just Sunday night, I had a snack/dinner just like this. OK, so I didn't have the beans or rice but I did have two bowls full of steamed carrots and brussels with a tiny bit of earth balance and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast! The black beans and rice really top off the meal! Looks incredible!

This just tickles me beyond tickle (and not just because I'm easily tickled). (I sent you an "I'm happy that you're happy that the both of you are happy that you met on this happy site and the rest is happy history" PM) To all of the rest of you - my apologies in advance for my supremely silly mood today!

I KNEW you didn't love me just for my cupcakes!

Traps are fine but I think the imbalance makes you look like you'll topple over in the wind. I'm a strange girl, yes, but I'd prefer a nice and solid chunky boy to an oddly chisled top heavy boy. Of course, nerdy tops all physical.

Thank you! I say that very empathically! You brought a smile to my face and brightened my evening last night!

It makes you a hippie-nerd like me! Yay!

We went bowling with our vegan meetup group. It'd been almost a year since Michael and I bowled and I proved to be just a poor a bowler a year later. Still, it was a lot of fun! David (wannalift) is an INTENSE bowler. I cracked up every time I was up next to him. He gets a look of seriousness that is priceless! As for Scrabble, Michael and I play quite a bit. It's a nice "intellectual" game and since I'm not a challenge at all for Michael at chess, Scrabble is our stand-by. We're pretty equally matched. I win less BUT we're usually pretty close in score!

Hehe. Cool thread and cool shop! The places you find news!

Ooooh! Chocolate crackles, huh??! Can I make them in a huge cast iron kettle hanging on a tripod over a fire? (please don't break my heart and tell me no! ) My newest creation - some of which I sent with our girls to Washington, PA and a few of which I left at home for Michael who exclamed them to be "a poor white boys dream come true". That's me. VeganMadre - making dreams come true for one poor white boy at a time. I should note (for those not familiar with Hostess Cupcakes) that these vegan versions are complete with icing in the middle, a chocolate ganache and a wonderful swirly on the top. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/403420684_f4ea0bdcd3.jpg Edited to add a photo of the original and NOT vegan Hostess Cupcakes: http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~levine/hostesscupcakes.jpg

Looks like fun! Great Picture! Summer! Aaaah! I (semi) joked with Michael last night when we saw the picture that "so many of the good guys are gay!" Personally, I think the guy in the tank top is kinda freakish.