I think I will add this to my Thanksgiving menu

http://www.boyfriendlycooking.com/2009/11/12/vegan-sweet-potato-cornbread/

Veggie Turkey

I wanted to try and host a vegan Thanksgiving this year but my carnivore friends are whining about it so I am giving in and, as usual, doing both a real and a fake turkey. Last year I made one from tofu and seitan and it was really good but this year I think I will just get one of these listed on this link. I have tried them all and honestly like them all (once they are covered with a vegan mushroom gravy).

http://www.slate.com/id/2205361/

(non vegan post) about Twitter Marketing

A friend of mine who works for a large company and does market research sent me this link earlier today. We had chatted recently and I mentioned my ambivalence regarding Twitter and marketing. This article makes sense to at the very least get involved as much as you can and use it in different ways, such as email campaigns that link to your social media accounts. I am going to try and sell my freelance client on the value of it (and hopefully gain more billable hours in the future).
http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/1335/a-match-made-in-e-heaven-twitter-and-email

More San Francisco Vegan Things

I have tried all of these places and would give high marks to all of these. I particularly like 'Weird Fish', which is close to my house and offers vegan fish and chips that are to die for.

http://cuteanddelicious.com/2009/05/01/san-francisco-vegan/

New Book Review about, well the title says it all

Read an interesting review of a new book called "Eating Animals". We all know that most of the meat that is consumed is not exactly free range but I had no idea it was 99%. Yikes.

Here is a link to the review:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/08/RVCQ1AABAN.DTL

Traveling Vegan

I am always looking for tips on traveling and finding ways to maintain my vegan diet. It is not easy, especially traveling in middle America. Here is an interesting post I found today.

http://www.tripcrazed.com/715948130/traveling-as-a-vegan/

Another Social Media Tool

Here is an article about Google's new 'Social Search' tool. Just in case you had time on your hands to participate in yet another avenue. This article mentions that ad words may be on the outs. How the heck does everyone keep up with all these things? Anyway, I guess I should start really updating my Google profile and utilizing all the tools they offer. I think if things keep going the way they are with Google dominating everything that it is almost getting scary. We could become United States of Google.

http://www.clickz.com/3635514

Vegan Chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm

If you've never tried any vegan baked goods you don't know what you're missing. I honestly believe they are better than the non-vegan. Particularly the chocolate version. Check out this recipe video with subtitles in several languages.

http://www.gogreentube.com/watch.php?v=ODc4ODQ1&ref=rss

An interesting HTML Email Blog

I posted a comment on this short blog with tips on HTML email marketing:

http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/email-design-ideas-from-block-club-magazine/comment-page-1/#comment-5880

Good to get Oprah's endorsement

I am not really a fan of Oprah's show or anything. In fact, I find it a bit cultish really. I do appreciate her ringing endorsement and financial support of Barack Obama. But it almost felt like "wagging the dog".

Anyway, I had heard about her vegan diet challenge and honestly, I have no idea if she followed through and if she converted or what really became of it but here is a 21 day podcast site which offers a wide variety of advice for those taking the challenge.

http://www.vegan.com/articles/oprahs-21-day-vegan-challenge-support-page/

Punk Rock Vegan Chefs from Brooklyn

I have 2 of their cookbooks and they are the BEST!

"Vegan with a Vengeance" and "Veganomicon".

Check out their website

http://www.theppk.com/

Check out their video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2339485853386165626&ei=biTuSt6KG4H8qAO8oaGvBQ&hl=en#

Why I chose to become vegan

Okay, this is not an easy question and I get it a lot! Not so much from people here in San Francisco (although it has happened here many times too). More from my family in Minnesota. I grew up there and we, of course, were carnivores. I mean, it is beef country! Cows, cows, everywhere! And so I really never heard the term vegan until I was in college and it was shortly after that I started to think about trying out at least a vegetarian diet. So, I gave up eating beef first. That lasted about a year and I felt a lot better. I had been hearing and reading about the effects of beef on your digestive system and so that was my main reason. I thought I would feel better and low and behold, I did. Well, then I went back to full carnivore diet for many years. I moved to San Francisco in 1997 and started to meet a lot of new friends, many of whom were vegetarians. Some of them eat seafood once in awhile and honestly, it is never really discussed much in terms of political reasoning. I slowly adopted a vegetarian diet then went back and forth and then finally one day, about 3 years ago, I woke up one day and decided to give the vegan diet a try. I had been hearing things about greenhouse gas emission from cows (gross, I know) and also how our oceans are polluted and then of course you hear how many non free range animals are treated (not a pretty picture). So all of those things impacted my decision but mostly it was the fact that I knew that by not eating animal products you also greatly reduce your chances of contracting heart disease and cancer. Now there is a good reason all by itself. So, I would say my choice was based about 25% on moral and ethical reasons, 25% political reasons and 50% on health reasons.

It was not easy to make the leap. Growing up eating meat I naturally craved it so I find comfort in the many fake meat products on the market. Veggie burgers, sure, but how about veggie chicken, steak, ribs, you name it! Some of them are not so healthy (lots of added sugar and chemicals or whatever) but it really satisfies that itch. I know some vegans who think it is ludicrous to have all of these fake meat products but I have come to realize that they are usually the ones who were raised on a vegetarian or vegan diet and so thus have never really associated with the joys of eating meat products.

Enough for today. Happy Halloween anyone out there who is possibly reading this.

Cheers,

Tim

Thanksgiving for Vegans

I found this recipe last year for vegan turkey and it was really great. We are lucky to live in San Francisco where it is easy to find the bean curd for the "skin" of the turkey. Yeah, it sounds weird but don't knock it until you try it. Even the carnivores that tried it were impressed:

http://twovegansisters.blogspot.com/2006/12/how-to-build-turkey-vegan-of-course.html

Aside from the turkey it is pretty easy to make everything else vegan. For the mashed potatoes you can use olive oil instead of butter (or margarine). And Whole Foods (and other places) carry a soy whip cream for pumpkin pie. Yum!!!!

Vegan Fast Food

Last week I finished my Branding class in which our group project was a fast food vegan restaurant called 'Veg Out'. If only ...

Vegan things (not food)

Check out these vegan items at Flight 001!
http://www.flight001.com