New directions, new adventures

Over the summer I've been fortunate to travel widely in support of my new cookbook, Easy Peasy Vegan Eats.  It's been a fun adventure being on the road, visiting new locations, sampling local cuisine, and meeting new people.  During this time, I've also been doing a lot of thinking about my vegan personal chef business as well as this blog.  Most of my entries focus on the food I've been cooking, the classes I've been teaching and restaurants I've been eating in.  I enjoy getting to share all of this with you, but there are times when I feel like I want to be saying so much more.  After all, the reason I do what I do is because of the animals. That has always been my purpose, but I feel like this sometimes gets overlooked in the busy day to day activities of running a food service business.

This has recently come to the forefront of attention since I just started taking a food writing class at my local college.  The aim of the class is to help students learn to write restaurant reviews, food blogs and cookbooks.  While these are all worthy aspirations, something about those goals felt inadequate to me, like I was selling myself short.  Sure, there is always room for improvement in all of those areas and I will gladly accept critique of my work in order to become a better writer and blogger.  But I'm much more of an activist than a food writer, an ethical epicure if you will, and I want to communicate from that perspective.  So, from time to time, and maybe eventually more often than not, you will see blog posts featuring animal issues and the ethics of eating vegan.  It matters more to me than a pretty photo or a tasty new recipe.  But don't worry; you'll still get plenty of those, too!

I look forward to expanding the content of this blog and hope you will enjoy taking the journey with me.

For the animals.

ZuZu Luxe Dual Powder Foundation

I think I finally found the perfect makeup! I had been using Zia pressed powder for the longest time, ever since dumping my high school sweetheart, Cover Girl. It's a cruelty-free makeup made with natural ingredients and it was available at my local health food store. But then they stopped carrying it and I was at a loss.

I temporarily switched to Ecco Bella (which interestingly has a new gluten-free line), but it was so expensive and didn't last quite as long. It seemed I was buying a new compact every month and you you have to buy the entire thing instead of just a less expensive refill. At $27.95, I was feeling the pinch. Plus, they kept running out of my shade.

This week I was waiting in line at FoodWorks in Guilford and caught my eye on their makeup display (how sneaky to put that stuff up by the registers). When I saw the row of little pressed powder samples by Gabriel Cosmetics, I couldn't resist testing them. I'm glad I did. The texture is smooth and silky without being greasey, and velvety soft without being flakey. I hate it when powder flies everywhere and makes me sneeze. This didn't happen with the ZuZu Luxe dual powder foundation. At $21.95 it wasn't cheap, but after using it for a week I feel as if I've barely scraped the surface, so I think it will last longer than the others.

And it feels so refreshing to wear, leaving my face with a healthy natural glow rather than a shine. This is the most natural looking and feeling cruelty-free, vegan makeup I've come across and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who has been searching for that elusive combination. Wear in good health!

CT Animal legislation

(Thank you Justin Goodman for alerting me to this.)

ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009

The Environment Committee will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 10: 00 A. M. in Room 1E of the LOB. Please submit 50 copies of written testimony to Committee staff one hour prior to the start of the hearing in Room 1E of the LOB. Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 9: 00 A. M. in Room 1E of the LOB. Sign-up will be conducted by lottery. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for public officials. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes of testimony. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing with the Committee.

SUBJECT MATTER: Animal Issues
S. B. No. 856 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE POSTING OF ORIGIN OF PUPPIES SOLD IN RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS.
S. B. No. 891 (RAISED) AN ACT MODERNIZING CONNECTICUT FERTILIZER LAW.
S. B. No. 994 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING LEGHOLD TRAPS.
H. B. No. 6396 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING VETERINARIANS AND DRUG PRESCRIPTIONS.
H. B. No. 6428 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE OFFENSE OF HUNTING WHILE INTOXICATED.
H. B. No. 6552 (RAISED) AN ACT BANNING THE SALE OR USE OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE OR SERVICES TO REMOTELY OPERATE WEAPONS TO HUNT ANIMALS OR BIRDS.
H. B. No. 6553 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING SUNDAY HUNTING.
H. B. No. 6555 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE HUMANE TREATMENT OF ELEPHANTS.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/ENVdata/pha/2009PHA00309-R001000ENV-PHA.htm

EDUCATION COMMITTEE
MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009

The Education Committee will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 1: 30 P. M. in Room 2B of the LOB. Written testimony submitted after 11: 00 A. M. on the date of the hearing will not be distributed in hard copy form. All testimony will be available at: http: //cga. ct. gov/ed. Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 10: 00 A. M. in the Atrium of the LOB and will be conducted by lottery. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for elected officials pursuant to Joint Rule 6(2). Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes of testimony. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing with the Committee.

H. B. No. 6565 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING HUMANE EDUCATION.

http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB06565&which_year=2009

Healing Outside the Box

Yesterday I was interviewed for a cable access TV show on NHTV in North Haven. I've been on numerous television programs over the years and one commonality I've noted is that TV people often get a little squeamish when I mention the animals. Talking about veggies is fine, but nobody wants to be reminded about ethics when it comes to the food they put on their plate.

So I was pleasantly surprised that the hosts of Healing Outside the Box, Rosemary LaChance and Traci Crampton, were not only open to discussing factory farming and animal welfare issues, but were curious to learn more. I was happy to oblige. We didn't get into any of the gruesome details (other than mentioning battery cages, debeaking and downed cows), though I do think that just talking about these issues can be enlightening to many people in the audience.

Earlier in the day I had seen Wayne Pacelle speak at Yale to a small group of professors, grad students and community members interested in discussing animal welfare. He mentioned something very powerful which stuck with me, and which I reiterated on camera. That is, we not only have the power, but also the responsibility, to show compassion, mercy and empathy toward animals. It's intrinsic to being human.

The farther we can extend our responsibility -- not just from caring about cute and cuddly dogs and cats, but to other animals -- the more we increase our capacity for compassion, mercy and empathy to all beings. So simple, really.