Holiday Cooking Demonstration with Compassion Over Killing

For all you that live in LA or will be here this Saturday (the 4th)
I will be doing a Holiday Feast Cooking Demonstration for
Compassion Over Killing.

This demo will help those who are already great vegan cooks,
beginners or those who are interested in veganism or just a healthy
holiday. I will show you how to make two appetizers, two side dishes,
one main dish and one dessert including a Pumpkin Risotto with
Seitan and Wintry Chocolate Truffles!

This demo is really affordable compared to others out in this area--
The $20 admission fee includes the cooking demo, food samples,
and a goody bag containing recipes, COK note cards, coupons, and
product samples. Plus, all the proceeds benefit COK!

Buy your tickets today!

The demo goes from 12-2 and you will have a chance to mingle,
throw some questions at me, and enjoy the wonderful spread you
see made.

It is located at Arjay Plaza 23211 Hawthorne Blvd., 3rd Floor Ste 200
in Torrance on the corner of Hawthorne and Lomita.



***
Compassion Over Killing is a nonprofit animal protection organization
based in Washington, D.C. Since 1995, COK has worked to end the
abuse of animals in agriculture and encourage vegetarian eating
as a way to build a kinder world for all of us, both human and nonhuman.
***

Miss Kitchen Witch at Animal Acres

Recently I did some catering for Compassion Over Killing's Vegan
School Outreach at Animal Acres in Acton. It was my first trip up
there, so I was excited to meet all the beautiful animals and explore
the facilities. It is about 45 minutes to an hour up out of Los Angeles.

I was a bit beat after cooking the whole night and morning before
we left. I also forgot how hot and dry it is up there. I haven't been up
that way since I was a teenie-bopper. Thank goodness it wasn't too
hot, it was just a perfect day to get outside and meet some rescued
farmed animals.

We started off on the tour and got to interact with the cows, bulls,
and donkeys. But we quickly had to get back and set the food up.
We did sneak a quick peek at the piggies that were passed out in
their cool hay.


I think this was Harley


He likes to nibble when he thinks you have treats


Honkey Tonk the sweetie pie


Bruno




Mr. Ed


tired piggies




prepping the watermelon


a little bit of everything

We made two types of Pinwheel Pizzas (Red sauce and tofurky and
Pesto), Roasted Potatoes, Spaghetti Squash Parm. with tomatoes
and basil, Italian style GreenBeans, and Traditional Italian
Chocolate Cream Cake. Everything was vegan and cruelty-free


Everyone digging in


Even the chickens want some


After the food we went and got to spend some quality time with
all the goaty-goats and sheep. I love goats, they are so blunt
and happy. No non-sense friends.


"ummm excuse me, pet me instead"


"no seriously, pet me instead!"

Sundance really liked getting scratchums


Almost as much as Cassidy


lil Squirt


Mike handing out the watermelon rinds as treats



We then went over and visited with the chickens and Turkeys
who all just wandered where ever they pleased. Unfortunately
we didn't get to see the ducks, geese or Emus. Next time!







We had such a blast and all the food went over really well.
I can't wait to come back and cook for everyone again!

These animals can live out their lives in peace and happiness,
unlike their captive counterparts who are caged away and tortured
until they are no longer productive by industry standards or fat
enough to be brutally murdered for vile consumption. It gives me
hope when I see wonderful places like this, protecting and rescuing
these beautiful and innocent souls from the horror and suffering
that is our food system.

Living Free Animal Sanctuary

Yesterday we indeed hit up the Idyllwild Lemon Lily Festival, but I
was disappointed that there were no flowers to been seen. As I found
out the flower is actually near extinction and this event acts as a
fundraiser to try and reintroduce these flowers that are completely
unique to the area. To actually see the flowers we would have had to
drive all the way to the far far end of town, up the mountain, hike
up to the area and pay like $15 or something to get to the space.
So we passed. It was hot, too far and my family was doubtful they
could comfortably go with me and were not inclined to hike.

At the festival they naturally had a ‘petting zoo’ with the usual
miniature horse, goats, sheep, duck, piggy, a giant rabbit, and a
turtle. Someone told me they had baby doll sheep, so I went to go
see. If you haven’t seen a baby doll sheep, google them. Adorable.
But they did not. I think ‘petting zoos’ are pretty screwed up, I
felt horrible for all those poor guys out in that heat. The
miniature horse was snuffling me from inside the ring, but when I
offered my hand to snuffle he tried to bite off my finger. Guess I
taste good.

After that we went down to a companion animal sanctuary called
Living Free. It is basically the Farm Sanctuary of cats and dogs.
We went to ask about trying to find a home for one of my kittens
and then took a tour of the catteries.


Living Free Animal Sanctuary Entrance

The Cattery
The sanctuary is set up on a huge acreage with a great view.
They operate entirely on donations and rescue animals from
different pounds etc at which they would have been euthanized.
So all the animals there are basically last chancers that were
not adopted and going to be put down. They offer adoptions for
all the animals, so they can either have another chance getting
a home or can live their lives out in happiness or dignity there.

The Cattery is comprised of three large rooms with large outdoor
cages attached to each. The cats may come and go as they please
by way of open windows or little kitty doors cut into the walls.
As you can see the rooms are amazing and any cat’s dream.
Carpeted trees, blankets, beds, nooks, crannies, baskets,
shelves, toys...

The entire place was extremely clean and you wouldn’t believe
that that many cats lived there as it wasn’t stinky at all.
(Why are my cats so stinky!?)


The Lookout
And none of these cats missed being adopted before they came
here because of their own faults. All of the cats were
extremely friendly and affectionate. They were all shapes,
shades, and sizes and they seemed to get along just fine. I
guess they must adapt pretty quickly because if they don’t
like other cats they don’t have much of a choice.


The First Greeter

Everyone was cozy

This old baldy calico reminds me of our 'Rags'

One-eyed Pirate Kitty

All the walls were lined with shelves to sleep on

Enjoying the outdoor houses

Adorable Scottish Fold

Super Cute Fatty

A Handsome Fellow

Uninterested?

One of the biggest boys I've ever seen

Muppet Kitty with Owl Eyes

Cranky Butt

Such amazing faces...

Overall the place was amazing and so heartening. Its wonderful to
see that there are places like this out there, I only wish there
were more. If I lived in this area I would for sure volunteer.
I’ve seen other no-kill shelters, but the had nothing on this place.
I see it due more to better management than of more resources though.
The other no-kills I’ve seen had cats and dogs running loose, the
spaces were a mish mash of cages tied together, they were dirty and
stinky and a huge pity. The cats here were so mellow and content,
I’ll let them be the judges...

Everyday is Earth Day

Its been one year since I got to spend a couple days hosting
Paul Watson, Captain of the Sea Shepherd, in Hawaii for an
animal rights group that I led. As I was driving him to the
airport on earthday we had a great conversation about what
earthday really is.

Earthday has become such a greenwashing of corporate
marketing techniques that it is really hard to see through the
crap. Companies brand their products to make you forget the
guilt behind the consumerism and waste that is so prevalent.

"But this microwaveable dinner has organic beans in it!"
"All natural"
"Made with 5% recycled materials"

Should we really be spending one day remember that the
environment is important and then turning around the next
day and going back to our bad habits? You know something
is wrong when earthday events are sponsored by major
corporations like GE or Coke.

I feel that in a small way earthday is good for people that still
don't know any better. Last Earthday, after taking Paul to his
awaiting plane, I went to try and educate faire goers about the
impacts of factory farming, leafleting, and handing out PETA
stickers to little kids.

This year I leafleted down at the Mar Vista Farmers Market for
a while. Then today I attended a green jobs panel at school to get
some more ideas for internships that I could support. However I
couldn't help thinking about everything that has changed in the
last year.

My own life, it has changed alot when it comes to sustainability.
I'm not as able to get to good quality, local, organic food that I
once was. But I can recycle a hell of a lot more than I could in
Hawaii. I don't drive, but rely on public transit or biking every-
where. I don't use paper products (except for TP, which is a hard
vice to give up). Veganism has become second nature to me and my
partner has taken to the lifestyle and all my cooking more than
happily. I'm not a huge consumer. I reuse, recycle, reduce...
Where do I go from here? What more can I do?

When I started studying it-- turns out a lot.

In a way, my solution has been part of my New Years Resolution.
I promised to do whatever I could to become more environmentally
conscious and sustainable. And for the last couple months, I did
what I did with a lot of New Years Resolutions... I got lazy. I didn't
get worse, but I didn't get better.

The last month though, with the coming of spring, I planted my
own garden. Hell, if I can't find a decent farmers market in my
area... I'm just gonna have to grow my own. I've always composted,
but finally got my butt into gear.

My next step is to eliminate plastic almost entirely from my life.
I know this is gonna be hard with alot of vegan products coming
in packaging, etc. But I want to reduce that as much as possible.

I want to start making my own nut milks again and get soymilk a
little less often. I want to try to make my own nondairy 'gurt.
And stop using plastic produce bags. I ALWAYS bring my reusable
bags. I keep at least one in my backpack or purse at all times, its
really not that hard.

I wonder though at certain places they get pissed when I produce
my own bag. Like using a reusable bag makes me self-righteous.
TJ is always happy about the bag thing, but I've found that mexican
markets and big markets like albertsons always sneer at me when I
pull out my own bag... Have you guys had this problem.

Back to the produce bags. I like them because I hate to think of
what has oozed out on to the conveyor belt at the market and putting
my veg on it bare. I use the bags to hold my compost in the kitchen
til I get a chance to take it out to the garden, then I wash and recycle
the bag if its got holes. Now I'm going to take it further and sew my
own mesh bags for produce and bulks. I've seen them sold at whole
foods and whats easier to sew than a freakin bag?

I use recyclable razors, but I want to find and use a straight razor.
After that, I'm gonna try to sew cloth panty liners. Although I use the
ones without plastic, I still hate throwing anything away.

My trash output is about 1 gallon every three months.
(Not including Kitty poooo)

After that? I don't know we'll see. Maybe I can eventually give up
TP, find a decent farmers market, and get a better bike to forsake
public transit. The point is that I am aware and I am trying.
Are you? I challenge you to finally look at one of those habits that
you find yourself burying away to ignore the microguilt. Look at it
closely and ask yourself "is it really worth it", "what can I do
differently and better", and "what benefits come of rejecting my
habits". Consider it self spring cleaning for earthday.

Its not about changing the world by yourself, but really living by
what you believe in. Do you believe in waste, garbage, and
destruction? Than why incorporate that into your life?

Happy Earthday folks...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/19/7-things-you-can-do-for-e_n_541165.html

Vegan Chain on the Rise: Loving Hut

On New Years Day Monkey-man and I were pretty hard pressed to
find anything to do. Through the Holidays were a little over
being super duper lazy. We missed the Rose Parade that morning
and thought there there might have been some kind of after
event (not to do with the floats), but maybe something in town.

Well, there wasn't. But we drove around anyway, which in turn
made us hungry. I whipped out Vegan Steven iphone app and
found a place that isn't even four miles from us: Loving Hut in
Alhambra.



I was surprised that anything was even open on New Years Day,
but there were already a few other people there. It looked
like a family owned franchise and according to some of their
literature, its a growing chain all over the world!



The interior was fun, I can't compare it to where else I've been,
except some Japanese bars.

I ordered an orange juice drink... All of their drinks looked
absolutely beautiful. Check out mine!







A gorgeous presentation, topped with little tiny dried flower
petals. I'm gonna trust they know whats edible or not, hee hee.













Yummy!

Not to completely spoil our dinner, we split a meal.
We ordered a veggie burger and fries. Yeah? Sounds boring,
well it wasn't. It was gear-fab. Plus I am so over Asian
food, you have no idea. I hate Chinese food so so so so so
much and for some reason whenever people try to cook vegan
food they make it Asian. Please, hand me a barf bag and
throw away the teriyaki sauce now. Everything tastes the
same. It is the most boring and uninventive way to cook
and to top it off when people cook like that, they think they
are being super experimental and unusual because its not sold
at a fast food chain.



And it wasn't like a frozen burger out of a box, on the
pan, on the bread, to your face either. The bread
was decent, the filling was good. The patty was awesome.
We went to Green Leaves in Hollywood on Halloween and had
some sort of burger-sandwich and the bun not so good,
very white 'loves-ish'. But this patty was topped with
mushrooms and cripsy!



The Frenchie Fries were pretty tasty too. Tossed with a dry
seasoning. But pretty much your basic fry.





Yup, I'm satisfied. Num num num....

What!?? Vegan Chocolate cake?!



The cake was good, classic, filling. The frosting was a
tofu cream cheese with some cute toppings. I'd hate to really
know what is in those cherries though! I loved everything we
got. I can't wait to go back and try something else!

A funny thing that we noticed while we were there, was one
of the tv stations that was on. They had two screens on either
wall and one had the rose bowl- the other had a weird foreign
station with about fifty different language subtitles scrolling.
With the check they gave us a little piece of literature
describing all the benefits of being vegan and all the
atrocities that are taking place in the environment and against
animals. I thought that was awesome. I've never had a vegan
restaurant actually give me literature before.
It makes excellent sense too, not all of your customers are
going to be entirely veg.

But come to find out the literature and the weird tv station
that we noticed were from this organization (?) called
Suprememastertv.
I don't really find it all that strange. I've since read some
blogs and writings from people that were really freaked out
and calling it cultish, etc. Frankly, its just another
religion, just like any other.

I've gone to a lot of Seventh Day Adventist events to be
honest. They talk about God and Jesus, etc But almost
all of them practiced veganism. So if its not hurting
anybody (including animals!! yay) and it supports delicous
food... than go for it, say I. You don't have to be an initiate
to glean practical advise or information about the benefits
of a vegan lifestyle. Food is food, always without animals.