Hoe Down: Part 2

Our next chapter begins with more rain and a vegan cocktail party! In a huge tent! After a delightful afternoon making new animal friends, it was time to get ready for free wine, sunset yoga and hoe down fun! Katherine and I went back to the tent city that you see below to get dolled up like hoe.....downers ;)



 In the tent was a local band heavy on the fiddle. I was in looooove! Available to sample were new vegan products like Queso and Dr.Cow nut cheese. Oh yeah, and free wine!

This evening turned into my first experience doing yoga with a buzz, a popcorn stand, line dancing with a caller and amazing new friends!

The next morning it was sunrise yoga! I got up an hour earlier than I needed to because of no watch *d'oh*. My mistake allowed me however, to see the farm wake up. To revel in the stillness and beauty around me. Later that morning we got to sit through some of the most amazing speakers I've ever heard. At this point, the clouds opened up and it started to POUR. It was no big deal, it wasn't like we had to dissemble a tent and drive back to Canada or anything :/. So we ditched early to take down our monstrosity of a camp set up, but lost the battle when it collapsed on us. So lame. Before we left this amazing place, we got one last unforgettable meal! First is was pulled BBQ with pitas, olives, bean salad and mmmm....fresh tomatoes and basil. We were all crammed into the people barn to escape the rain, which is also were they have all of their visual displays. This shot is of my delicious lunch, which does not include the sad animal in front of me. Pigs are awesome y'all!

Just when I couldn't eat another bite, a line up starts to form beside me. This line was chock full of some EXCITED people. I had to see what was up...VEGAN ICE CREAM BAR. O.M.G. So here I was in line, hoping from one foot to another with anticipation. Did I want coconut vanilla, cookie dough or chocolate? Rice mallow fluff (which btw tastes exactly like the original), crushed cookies, granola, sprinkles, vegan chocolate and caramel sauces? The answer was yes. To everything! Farm Sanctuary really practiced what they preached here. All of their plates, cups and silverware were compostable!

So finally, with one gigantic mouthful of ice cream heaven, we bid adieu Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down.

Even writing about this trip months afterwards, I feel waves of gratitude that I was able to be part of this amazing event at this spectacular place. Until we meet again....  

 

Caramel peanut butter apples=I just peed a little bit!

Oh baby! If there's anything that makes people loose it more than a surprise cupcaking, it's caramel apples. They have negligable health benefits and your face ends up covered in sticky sweet caramel. That's called a life win. In preparation for Halloween, I present to you simple caramel apples from The Post Punk Kitchen. Your welcome.

Hoe Down 2011: The time free wine happened near pigs

There is this place called  Farm Sanctuary. A foxy dude named Gene Beaur started it by rescuing a sheep from a pile of downed animals at a stockyard. He brought it to this beautiful farm in upstate New York and funded it by selling veggie dogs at Grateful Dead concerts. It grew into one of the primary animal welfare agencies today, with multiple sanctuaries for rescued farm animals. Vegnews published a story a few issues ago about a vegan bucket list, and this Virgo went check mark crazy with coloured pens. One thing I hadn't done yet was attend the annual Hoe Down at Farm Sanctuary.  An incredible vegan-palooza with world class speakers, rescued animals, amazing food, yoga, free wine, spectacular location and did I already say food? It was on!

We decided that for the full experience, we would set up camp in the tent village. At midnight. Without flashlights. In a tent neither of us had ever put up. Enter Adrian, a fellow Canadian, who saved the day with a glowing cell phone and more self preservation skills than we possessed. It wasn't quite perfect, but it did the trick (until the end when it didn't, and collapsed on us in the rain).

Fail.

Katherine and I both left nursing children at home, so this tent also served as a lactation station. It sure wasn't a stretch  to empathise with a dairy cow! We woke up to vegan breakfast and rain! Heavy clouds brought heaving downpours that clattered off of the roof in the people barn.

On the plus side, we brought cute rubber boots. In the afternoon, we got to learn about the animals on the farm. Their stories of survival and triumph brought me to tears, and then we got to meet them! My favorites were the fuzzy Holstein calves, squeallllll....even thinking about them now makes me swoon!

I told you we had cute boots.

See you in part two!

Free magazine!

 I love the story of Chickpea magazine. It started up with a mircobusiness loan, its name is cute, it has delicious recipes like vegan nutella and alfredo-and it's free! Check it out-I loved it!

Get in my belly: Vegan Fish and Chips

Hey guys! I'm back after a monumentally long absence. Mini took all of the keys off the keyboard, so blogging was out. You can now expect more timely updates thanks to the finest/cheapest laptop money can buy. I'm going to solicit your forgiveness with this amazing top secret recipe. It comes from my vegan homeslice Maggie, and the first time I ate it-I cried tears of fatty happiness. Perfect fried tofu! The batter was fish and chips all the way, so that's how I'm presenting it to you.

Maggie's Fried Tofu

aka Battered Fish

1 Block Tofu, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1/3 cup Flour

1/2 cup Non-dairy Milk

4 Tbs Cornmeal

4 Tbs Nutritional Yeast

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp Pepper

1 cup Grape seed oil

Place oil in the heaviest frying pan you own. Let it get nice and hot. If a drop of water is dropped into the oil, it should pop. Arrange three bowls, one containing flour, the next milk and the last your cornmeal, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper combined. Here's where you can freestyle-do you like garlic, onion, or sage? Add some of your favorite seasonings to the last bowl if you're feeling frisky. After that, dip each slice of tofu in the contents of the bowls, obviously one by one. Flour, milk, cornmeal. Got it? After this, fry a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Drain on a paper towel or newspaper if you like to kick it old school. From here, you can make yourself some baked fries for fish and chips, or put it on a roll like a chicken burger. A simple tartar sauce for dipping: Mix veganaise(or any other egg free mayo), a splash of lemon, salt and pepper, a 1/2 tbs agave syrup and 1/4 relish.

Now you can't say I've never given you anything! You're welcome.