Food I Have Loved: Chocolate Cupcake

Allie's Birthday Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes

Our house, Made by Allie and Me

Chocolatey, moist, lots of icing. Elegant birthday treat.

Food I Have Loved*: Vegan Sopapilla Cheesecake

Vegan Sopapilla Cheesecake

The Remedy Diner, Raleigh, NC

Sweet, creamy, velvety, crunchy, soft. Rich beyond words.

*This is a new category here on this blog. Just quick thoughts about food, meals eaten out or at a friend's place that has really wowed me. Of course it's all vegan.

Food I Have Loved*: Avospacho Soup

 Avospacho Soup

Slice of Life, Sebastopol, CA

Creamy, cold, rich, crunchy. Summer comfort food.

*This is a new category here on this blog. Just quick thoughts about food, meals eaten out or at a friend's place that has really wowed me. Of course it's all vegan.

A Reflection 10 Years Later: Are we sane yet?

I am not watching the news this weekend. In fact, I have stopped watching it already.

I do not want to see the towers fall again. And again and again and again. I saw it 10 years ago, and it was all seared into my brain then.

It was a beautiful September morning in West County. Russ was getting ready for work, and I was lazily lying in bed with our very new, 3 week old daughter. Life was bliss then. A house in the woods, a warm bed and a snuggling infant.

"Turn on the news," he said. "There's been a plane crash."

I didn't really want to see a plane crash, but he didn't normally tell me to watch gory news stories. I'm sure I did a quick mental check if I thought anyone I knew had been traveling and could have been on a plane. A good friend of ours is a pilot and flew his own small plane at the time.

I turned on the TV, and the story had just begun to unfold. Only the first plane had struck. You know the rest of the story, so I won't retell it.

I knew thousands of people would die that day. My heart was sick for them and their families. I knew that life as we knew it had changed that day. I suddenly had the thought, "What kind of life have I just brought this beautiful baby into?" when I just as quickly remembered that we had adopted her. We hadn't brought her into this, she was going to be here no matter what. Thank goodness she was with us.

My next thought was even more sickening...this isn't the end. This isn't the end of the killing, the hatred, the racism, the horror, the madness, the religious fanaticism. It was the beginning. Or, rather, another beginning.

In the magical world of Margaret-land (although if I ruled, Earth might look more like a Star-Trekkian future–people of Earth have united and get along), with me as head of the government, I imagined this: the high road. No retaliation. Peace talks. Find out why these people are so angry with us. Do something about it. Strengthen relations. Come to agreements. Bring accord. Make sure this didn't happen again. No more dead.

I know, I know. I'm a Pollyanna.

But in my heart I did the math. Thousands of Americans dead today. Retaliation. Thousands more dead in another land, maybe double or triple that number. Not even "an eye for an eye" but a whole body for an eye. And if we went to war, we would again double that number of our own dead. More Americans. This time our beautiful young sons and daughters.

I never dreamed it would all go on this long. We went to "war" months after the attack, and just days before my father died. I wondered if he had heard what was going on. Did his heart sink when he heard we were again at war? He served his country in WWII, luckily (for me) in a non-combat position, but he knew plenty of people who died, and plenty of people left with visible and not-so-visible scars from being in a war where you kill people. Our WWII veterans have all almost died away now. Is this when we begin to forget what war is and want to put on another one?

I'm not saying that we should never go to war. I know that Hitler was a horrid man and needed to be stopped. I'm still amazed at how one man can lead so many people into fanatic thinking and horrid acts. And there seems to always be one (or more) of those around. And they should be stopped. But why do so many people have to die before they are?

I don't have the answers. I'm merely a tiny little player in the grand scheme. But there has to be another way. There just has to be. There are plenty of people in our country smarter than me. Why haven't they figured it out?

Sam Harris, of Project Reason, ended his blog post today with this...

Ten years have passed since a group of mostly educated and middle-class men decided to obliterate themselves, along with three thousand innocents, to gain entrance to an imaginary Paradise. This problem was always deeper than the threat of terrorism—and our waging an interminable “war on terror” is no answer to it. Yes, we must destroy al Qaeda. But humanity has a larger project—to become sane. If September 11, 2001, should have taught us anything, it is that we must find honest consolation in our capacity for love, creativity, and understanding. This remains possible. It is also necessary. And the alternatives are bleak.

Doughnuts, Veganism, Alicia Silverstone and Das Racist

Ok, this is just too weird.

I'm not too sure where to start this story.

I'll begin in Portland where I was attending the first ever Vida Vegan Bloggers Conference last week.

On one of our out-of-the-hotel vegan foodie haunts to Voodoo Doughnuts (a whole tray of vegan doughnuts to choose from ... even "creme" filled ... I know, heaven, if there is such a place, is filled with cruelty-free vegan creme filled doughnuts, vegan corn-dogs and just-deep-dried tater tots and comfortable pleather shoes), our family heard a tune being blasted in the glowing pink-walled just-a-touch-too-hot (is that a velvet portrait of Kenny Rogers on the wall?) doughnut shop. The lyrics were simple. The metre was rap.

"I'm at the Pizza Hut. I'm at the Taco Bell. I'm at the cah-h-hm-bination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell."
"I'm at the Pizza Hut. I'm at the Taco Bell. I'm at the cah-h-hm-bination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell."

Now sing that again. And again. And again. And for about 5 more minutes. You got it. You got it. You got it.

I'll be the first to admit that I hate rap. (I hate to wrap, too. Presents that is. Is there a connection?)

But this song struck a chord. Granted, just one chord. Over and over.

My darling husband and darling daughter were with me getting doughnuts. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are their two favorite places in the whole darn world. Yes, you can get vegan things (hold the cheese) at TB, but PH, well, not so vegan. We're waiting in line with our newly found vegan-foodie friends Cheryl and Kathy (vegan cookbook author) at this hot and stuffy hipster* joint (go look it up, I had to)  when I tell my family to "Listen to this song, I think it will have special meaning for you!"

Oh yeah, new family favorite.

The next day involves a twelve hour drive home to Sonoma County and some googling on my iPhone to learn about the song and its creators, the duo "Das Racist." Silly me, I thought they might be German. (I took two years of German in college.) Come to find out, it's slang for "That's Racist." Pronounced "Dass" not "Dahss." Which is really quite close to how it might be said in German, "Das ist racist." I have no idea how to say "racist" is German.

Fast forward to tonight, when we are just too bored to watch TV anymore (The Soup=Funny. Chelsea Lately=Chuckles, but Tacky. OMG, the Kardashians are on=Just Tacky. Let's google Pizza Hut/Taco Bell again.

We watch some pretty funny YouTube takes on PH/TB, but then I read that Das Racist is coming out with a real album on iTunes on September 13 and one cut has already been released. Once on iTunes, I see that there are a few free podcasts available with interviews.

One such podcast not only includes Das Racist, but an interview with actress and vegan cookbook author Alicia Silverstone. I only happen to write a blog, The Vegan Reduction Project, that includes her book. (APM: The Dinner Party Download. Episode 46.) How is it that the Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell song is so linked to veganism?

I like Pizza Hut. I like Taco Bell. I like Veganism. I like Voodoo Doughnuts. I like Alicia Silverstone.  I like a combination of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and Veganism and Voodoo Doughnuts and Alicia Silverstone.

I like Pizza Hut. I like Taco Bell. I like Veganism. I like Voodoo Doughnuts. I like Alicia Silverstone.  I like a combination of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and Veganism and Voodoo Doughnuts and Alicia Silverstone. 

*The whole hipster thing..I just have to say, even though I turned 50 this year, I was doing hipster stuff before I knew what is was. Ironic, huh? And THAT in itself is the definition of hipster. I served PBR  (that's Pabst Blue Ribbon in hipstese) at my birthday party this year, while dressed in my best 50's dress/crinoline/short poofed hair. I've been a vegan for almost two decades (when these 20-something vegan hipsters were still being bottle-fed cow-dairy formula), and I own two totally retro fondue pots. Which I serve vegan cheese fondue in. AND I've been blogging since BEFORE the term "blogging." OMG, I'm an old hipster. Now I know how all those old hippies feel out here in West County. 

"Turn on, tune in, drop out." Oh, what hipster said THAT?

1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's Pt 2

I just watched Breakfast at Tiffany's last night and...ummmm..well, Audrey was quite the beauty. I hadn't really read much about it, and my perception of what it would be was really "off." Audrey plays a young woman who "plays the field" (escort is a nice word) and the man she befriends who just moved in to her apartment house is a "kept" man by an older, married woman. She keeps hoping to marry one of these rich guys she goes out with, but they all turn out to be "rats" or "super rats" (go figure) and they dump her.

The movie was based on a book by Truman Capote, and I'm betting his story didn't give it the "light touch" that the movie did. My 50th Anniversary Edition DVD has extra interviews with the director (Blake Edwards, who died last December). He hinted that he wasn't able to make her character (visualized by Capote as sexy Marilyn Monroe) like she was in the book. "A big jump from the Capote Holly Golightly to the film Holly Golightly," he said.

I was expecting a light-hearted romp of the early 60s with lovely New York fashion and jewelry. But instead, it was a rather depressing tale of a young woman who escaped a horrible childhood only to have a horrible adulthood. A good story in itself, but when expectations are not met, it is depressing. Not really a movie for kids, although nothing really graphic is shown, and much of the inferences will go right over their heads, but the theme is pretty bleak and of course is about a prostitute trying to keep her head above water and better her lot in life.

I think I'll go watch The Parent Trap now (also 1961). It's just a romp about two parents that split up their twins as babies and never bother to tell them about their other biological parent, much less that they have a sibling. Now that's fun!

Update: I just watched The Parent Trap and the DD and I enjoyed it. Yes, a light-hearted romp. My only objection to it was the occasional violence. But I guess it was PC to slap people around in 1961, huh? The girls slap each other (hard) and start a rolling around on the floor and cake and punch spilling fight. Later, the ex-wife slaps (and punches) the father and when the girls finally upset the fiance enough to make her leave, she slaps one of them (very hard) after saying "Do you two share everything? Then share this with your sister!" SLAP! Really, it's OK to hit a 13-year-old? But again, great to see the fashions, especially the more casual ones for younger kids.

Next up, West Side Story. Just a romp about a couple of groups of kids in a city neighborhood who like to sing and dance, I hear. Maybe it's like Glee.

Famous people with my birthday

I share my birthdate with these folks...

1491 King Henry VIII

1577 Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painter, Circumcision

1824 Paul Broca, France, brain surgeon/anthro, located speech center

1902 Richard Rodgers, born in Hammels Station, New York, composer, Rodgers and Hammerstein

1902 John Dillinger (robber)

1926 Mel Brooks

1933 - Pat Morita, Berkeley CA, actor (Happy Days, Karate Kid)

1946 Gilda Radner, born in Detroit, Michigan, actress, SNL, Haunted Honeymoon

1948 Kathy Bates, born in Memphis, Tennessee, academy award winning actress, Misery

1966 Mary Stuart Masterson, born in Houston, Texas, actress, Some Kind of Wonderful

1966 John Cusack, born in Chicago, actor, Stand By Me, Sure Thing, Better Off Dead

1967 - Gil Bellows, Canadian actor

Gilda has always been one of my favorite"birthday buddies" and I just found this quote:

A thought on comfort...

"I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch."
- Gilda Radner

1961 Births

 A few of those who came into the world the same year I did...

01/13/1961 Julia Louis-Dreyfus, NYC, comedienne (SNL, Seinfeld, Day by Day)

01/26/1961 Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oiler/LA Kings (NHL MVP 1980-1987

03/15/1961 Fabio, Italy, romance novels model 

05/31/1961 Lea Thompson, actress (Casual Sex, Howard the Duck, Space Camp)

05/29/1961 Melissa Etheridge, US singer/songwriter/guitarist (Never Enough) 

06/09/1961 Michael J Fox, Edm, actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf)

06/14/1961"Boy George" O'Dowd, androgynous vocalist & druggie (Culture Club) 

07/01/1961 Diana Frances Spencer, Sandringham England, Princess of Wales

07/15/1961 Forest Whitaker, actor (Bloodsport, Platoon, Stakeout)

07/18/1961 Elizabeth McGovern, Evanston Ill, actress (Once Upon a Time in Amer) 
08/04/1961 Barack Obama (President)

07/23/1961 Woody Harrelson, Midland Tx, actor (Woody Boyd-Cheers)

08/27/1961"Downtown" Julie Brown, TV host (Club MTV, Inside Edition) 

09/25/1961 Heather Locklear, LA Ca, actress (Stacy-T J Hooker, Sammy Jo-Dynasty)

:09/30/1961 Crystal Bernard, Dallas, actress (Amy-It's a Living, Helen-Wings)

10/18/1961 Wynton Marsalis, New Orleans La, jazz trumpeter (Grammy 1983)

10/18/1961 Erin Moran, Burbank Calif, actress (Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi)

11/02/1961 k.d. lang, country singer (& the Reclines-Absolute Torch & Twang)

11/04/1961 Ralph Macchio, Huntington NY, actor (Karate Kid, 8 is Enough

11/12/1961 Nadia Comaneci, [Gheorghe] Romania, gymnist (1st 10/Olympic-gold-1976

11/19/1961 Meg Ryan, Bethel Ct, actr (When Harry Met Sally, As the World Turns)

11/22/1961 Mariel Hemingway, Ketchum ID, actress (Personal Best, Civil Wars)

1961 Events

1961 Happenings

05/01/1961 1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba         

05/04/1961 13 Freedom riders began bus trip through South     

05/25/1961 JFK sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade

08/17/1961 Building of Berlin Wall begins

10/06/1961 JFK advises Americans to build shelters

12/31/1961 1st performance of Beach Boys

June 1961

06/14/1961 106øF, hottest temperature in San Francisco

06/17/1961 Russian ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev defects to west in Frankfurt

06/18/1961 CBS radio cancels Gunsmoke

06/19/1961 Kuwait declares independence from UK

06/24/1961 Iraq demands dominion over Kuwait

06/24/1961 Beatles record "If You Love Me Baby"

06/29/1961 Launch of Transit 4a, with 1st nuclear power supply (SNAP-3)

06/30/1961 Explorer (12) fails to reach Earth orbit

1961-65 Margaret & Family

A little travel back in time...(I'm the small one)

 

That's my mom holding me, my sister Jennifer in the red coat (and next to my mom in the other shots) and my sister Chris with the white hat. Me in the bonnet. Chris is looking very Jackie Kennedy.

 From left to right: Darlene (our cousin), Jennifer (my sister), Chris (sister), my Dad and me,
with our mom in the back. At our pool when we lived in Antioch. The only house I've ever lived in with a pool and I have no memories (OK, a couple)! Russ and I visited this spot many years
ago and the house was right next to a KFC and the pool had been cemented in. 

We left and there went the neighborhood!

 A princess from the start. 

Proof! I was a natural blonde! Ages: 3, 10, 18.

 Chris, Jennifer and me and Mopsy as a puppy. On the ranch in Stockton. 1965?

 Again, no memories of this.

1961 Fashions Pt 2

I'm currently fascinated with Breakfast at Tiffany's and the black dresses Audrey Hepburn wears in it. (I have yet to see the movie!) Here are the two that seem to be iconic from the movie.

1961 Fashions, Pt 1

Some wonderful images from Fashion-Era.com. See their website for even more photos. There were plenty of "leftovers" from the 50s through the mid-60s.

A great description of Women's fashions in 1961: 
http://www.paperpast.com/html/1961_fashion.html

Men's Fashion:

Also from
http://www.paperpast.com/html/1961_fashion.html

Men's Fashion.---The trim, easy two-button suit was the important item in men's fashions for 1962. The look established by President Kennedy was as immediately popular as the Ivy League three-button suit was 10 years earlier. The two-button suit allowed more shoulder, more lapel, and more chest room, and exposed more shirt and tie. There was also a small, growing interest in the one-button suit jacket.

Classic suiting fabrics continued to be featured, such as worsteds, cotton and synthetic cords, sharkskins, mohairs, and iridescent blends. Camel became important for fall, while shetlands and rugged tweeds dominated the leisure-wear market. Gray flannel, out of fashion for five years, returned in more durable blends. The ski-look in country clothes was as outstanding in men's sportswear as in women's. Fur-trimmed collars and fur-lined semi casual coats, as well as suede and suede-trimmed jackets, were also popular in leisure clothes. Odd jackets continued in casual wear, with more prominent patterns.

Brown for town made a surprising comeback, often with subtle stripings of black, blue, or green. High-rising slip-on shoes with square toes and new wing tips were shown for casual as well as evening wear. Stripes were popular in shirts and ties. Hats with preshaped crowns or triangular convex forms and semicasual town hats in silk and velour made fashion news.

1961 Movies

Here are a few of the big movies that came out in 1961.

From the website: http://sixties60s.com/1961movies.htm 

Some of the good ones....

The Absent-Minded Professor
One Hundred and One Dalmatians 
The Alamo

Breakfast at Tiffany's

King of Kings

Exodus
The Parent Trap
Swiss Family Robinson
A Raisin in the Sun
The World of Suzie Wong
La Dolce Vita
El Cid
The Errand Boy (Jerry Lewis)
The Ladies Man (Jerry Lewis)
Flower Drum Song
Pocketful of Miracles
Splendor in the Grass
Two Rode Together

Babes in Toyland
The Young Ones
Westside Story

And then some of the "B" movies

Reptilicus - Danish movie filmed twice in English and Danish. Miners find a dragon's tail which regenerates to reek havoc in Amsterdam.

The Pit and the Pendulum Roger Corman and Vincent Price team up for the second, and most acclaimed of the ten stylistic Edgar Allen Poe series.

Atlantis, the Lost Continent Geroge Pal's worst movie with lots of footage taken from Quo Vadis and the Naked Jungle.

 

Mothra - Toho Studios, gives us the first of ten starring the friendly monster (non larval stage).

Also a link in case you want to see the entire list of 397 movies that came out that year!


http://www.myvideostore.com/content/movies/year.html?client=&year=1961

1961 Trivia

My "big" birthday is coming up and I've been having fun researching what the world was like that year, and that day I came into the world.

Here's a newsreel from that day and also a recording of a Kennedy giving a talk that day.

What I learned on a field trip

My DD's school went to the Warm Springs Dam Fish Hatchery today and one of the things I learned was that fish are born with all the scales they are ever going to have, and they are a lot like tree rings–you can see a ring for each season they have lived, and are wider when they grow more, like in the summer.

From the Texas Parks and Wildlife site:

"Fish with bones have scales. Some fish, such as gar, have heavy, plate-like scales called ganoid scales. Other fish have thinner scales. Fish scales form rings as they grow. During the cold months, scales grow more slowly and leave a ring on the scale. Like rings on a tree, you can count rings on a scale for clues on the age of fish. This is easier to do with fish that live where winter temperatures are cooler. Fish without scales include catfish, sharks, most eels, lampreys and rays."

That's funny, 'cause when I have a really good growing season, my scales reflect it, too!

Sad week

Our beautiful golden retriever died this week in a freak accident in the house. She was running up and down the hall and through our bedroom when her head hit the door. We think she broke her neck. She was gone within a few minutes.

Goodbye Sweetie.