Ethan and I are selling our house. Our realtor, PJ DeCicco, knowing we are vegan, promised that at the brokers’ open house, all the food would be vegan. On the day of the open house, we took the dogs with us to work, so the house would be in perfect condition. When we got home that evening, there was a note from PJ saying he left something for us in the refrigerator. In the fridge was a box of red velvet and carrot cake mini cupcakes from Cake’s Babies. We called PJ to check on how the open went and also to make sure they cupcakes we vegan. He assured us they were and we dove in. They were fantastic: moist, flavorful and not too sweet. I knew I had to find out more about this company. I jumped online and read all about LaTasha Carter and her company. When
If you went to any kind of cocktail reception in the 70’s or 80’s you invariably either ate or at least saw Pigs in a Blanket. They were everywhere. Mini hotdogs wrapped in pastry that you could dip into mustard. However, they were chock full of animal products. Fast forward to today and our vegan, cruelty free version. I mean, why would we want to eat a friend like Esther? You can make them large for a meal or small for appetizers. As an added treat, I’m giving you two recipes for the price of one! For the large size, add bacon and cheese. It is a little difficult to add them if you’re making them appetizer sized. Yes, these contain a lot of processed foods, but these are treats for special occasions, like National Pig in a Blanket Day. Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 12 minutes Servings: 4
Language matters. Words have power and meaning. As an undergraduate majoring in French, I had to understand the subtleties and nuances of words having multiple meanings, both of which could be correct at the same time. When translating a foreign language, translators have the daunting task of picking only one of the meanings. For example in French, the word flamme literally translated to English means a flame from a fire, but it can also figuratively mean flames of passion. A particular scene in the novel Madame Bovary illustrates this point. When read in the original French, both meanings work. However, in the translated English version, they had to use the literal translation, losing the subtlety and nuance of the scene. As a law student, I became even more practiced at the use of words. The distinction between using “and” versus “or” can have a huge effect in a legal document.
I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis twice: first in 1993 from the College of Arts and Sciences and again in 1996 from the School of Law. I loved my time as an undergrad at Wash U. I don’t know many people who loved law school. I made some great friends over the seven years I spent on the campus. I am still friends with a few of them, but sadly I’ve lost touch with most of them. I had such fun in my first four years there, including some nights I don’t fully remember. I learned a great deal about myself during these years. I cannot speak fondly enough about my time at Wash U. As much as I loved my undergrad years, my law school experience somewhat tarnished my opinion of the university as a whole. It was a case of one bad apple spoiling the whole
This Lemon Chick’n is not the Lemon Chicken that is so popular in American Chinese restaurants or mall food court Chinese stands. This recipe came to us by way of Ethan’s bubby. Ethan made it for me once when we were first dating. However, Ethan, not being a fan of eating chickens never made it again. Fast forward many years to the advent of Beyond Meat Chicken Free Strips. Shortly after we tried Beyond Meat for the first time, the Lemon Chicken recipe miraculously reappeared. I just needed to veganize it. I needed something to adhere the breading to the strips. I found using a mixture of flax seeds and water to be the best option. This is a great recipe to make when preparing a meal for both adults and children. You can stop this recipe after frying the Beyond Meat strips, set some aside and have a great
This morning I was looking at my Facebook news feed and saw the most adorable photograph of my dear cousin’s beautiful three-year-old daughter. I’ll call her “Susan”, as my cousin really does not want her daughter referenced by name in this piece. Susan is the kind of child that is so beautiful that people stop and stare. She has these puppy dog eyes and an inquisitive nature that is readily apparent through every expression of her cherubic face. In the photographs, Susan was out shopping with her mother who is a bit of a fashionista. The caption under the photo was that she looked “too cool with her leather jacket and $2,000 Celine bag.” For some reason, the photo and caption combination irked me all the way through my 5K run this morning. Then it finally hit me why it bothered me so much. It wasn’t just because this sweet
