To Do, Or Not To Do... That Is the Question.

If anything on this planet gets cloned, please let it be me.

It is without a doubt that I think I can accomplish more than I am physically able. When I make my "to do" lists, usually I envision a page full of crossed out items by day's end. The Universe laughs. I should listen.

I made a "to do" list last night, and in general had a decent idea of how this week would shape up for obligations, and any "spare" time. Mr. Happy Vegan stumbled upon my "to do" list after I had written it, and he thought it was, um, shall I say, ambitious? Yes, that is the word I'll choose. I thought he was being pessimistic on me. I was convinced not only would I do everything on that list, but I would have time for a run AND a workout. Stop right there.

I'm coming up on 9pm. I have 2 racks of cookies cooling on racks, 2 trays of Valentines' treats chilling in the fridge, 4 boxes of sweets to wrap and give tomorrow, and I still have not even begun to vacuum and wash the kitchen floor. Not to mention my regular breakfast prep that is not even started, and a few other choice necessities not taken care of. Eating? Forget about it. About 5 minutes ago I scarfed down a Happy Buddha frittata, I couldn't muster the energy to make a salad and sit at the dining room table.

Most of my days are NOT like this. They are busy, even over-scheduled, but they are not like this. Holidays throw me off, they always do. It has to do with my inability to gauge just exactly how long something will take, because in my imaginary world, things get done properly the first time... which is always what I call the fatal flaw in the story.

I really like watching food shows like Challenge, Cupcake Wars, etc. If you wonder why I enjoy these shows so much, its because I love watching others make mistakes in the kitchen. It validates my own kitchen issues. Take cookies, for example. I have tried & true recipes. Made most of them dozens of times, some of the literally hundreds of times, maybe thousands (for 1 particular recipe that is no exaggeration). Now, I was making cookies today for a delivery scheduled for tomorrow in Key West. Somehow, something went wrong on one of the double batches. This is why at 9pm I have racks of cookies cooling on my counter, instead of being wrapped, labeled and boxed for delivery. Last night on a food show, I watched a baker make a recipe she has made probably hundreds of times. After she had the product baking in the oven, her assistant realized they left an ingredient out. I understood, understood completely. And, tonight as I realized the mistake in my recipe (picking up 1 box that looks similar to another box of a different ingredient), I thought of the baker on television last night.

Yesterday morning as guests were just sitting down to breakfast, I picked up the OJ container that Mr. Happy Vegan had taken out of the fridge at my direction, gonna make smoothies for guests. I picked up that carton and shook it with all my might. Did I mention that Mr. Happy Vegan did me a "favor" and removed the cap without my asking, or telling me. Orange juice flew in slow motion out that spout. I watched it defy gravity, and time stood still. Then, there was juice everywhere; on the cabinets above the counter, and below the counter. OJ dripping down into my utensil drawers, pooling on my feet, and across the floor. There were expletives, I admit it, something I never do while cooking & baking. You may think its silly, but I think its very important to be in a pretty good mood while in the kitchen, lest any negative energy flow into the food. Couldn't help it with the juice, something as benign as that added about 30 minutes of extra chores to my day. Stuff like that, its what I really should put on my "to do" list. Yes, for every "to do" on the list, there should definitely be at least one "un do" related to each said particular chore. Perhaps that's the secret.

She's Pinkalicious

The earliest photos of me as a baby include stuffed bunnies, teddy bears, and cats. As I've written before, dad loved dogs, mom loved cats. My upbringing absolutely nurtured a love of companion animals. Growing up with animals, real & fake, I've learned many important things from them. I have a cat in my life now that is complicated, and I just cannot figure her out. Here she is, her name is Pink Moon. Isn't she beautiful?

She was a rescue. Like most rescue animals, you don't find them, they find you. Here at Deer Run, we had gone through a profound period of loss, including my dad, one of my closest friends, and 3 of our animal companions all within just a few months. It was an excruciating time in my life. One day after all that loss, Mr. Happy Vegan came home with an animal carrier, and silently put it down on the floor in our living room. I was certain it was a bad joke. I peeked inside, but saw no one. I told him he wasn't serious, and he said look again. So I did. Cowering way in the back of that carrier was a Very. Small. Animal.

That very small animal was terrified. I wasn't sure why she was so scared, pick a reason I suppose. Was it because she was a throwaway at a local shelter? Had she suffered abuse no one would ever know about? Was she frightened because of all the noise at the shelter? Scared of the big carrier, the big person who put her in there, the big car, or the big house? Who knew, certainly not me. We took the carrier into the bed room, shut the door, and opened the crate. Eventually she came out, and ran under the bed. I did not see her again for several days. This very small animal didn't want anything to do with anything in her new home. She had an amazing talent of being able to slip through my hands. For her first vet appointment, I literally moved everything in the entire bedroom in an attempt to get her into a carrier. Mattress, box spring, bed frame, dressers, night tables, laundry baskets. Blocked off the closet, the bathroom, and the exit door. Didn't matter. She was so quick, I had to cancel the appointment and reschedule, for over 1 hour I tried to coax her any way I could, it was impossible.

This little slip of a cat was, and still is, an absolute thief. It sounds so cliche', but she stole our hearts. It took a while to name her, but eventually she told us what to call her. We went with it, agreeing with her that this is an optimistic moniker, and represents hope, even through hard times.

She was born anxious, and to this day remains full of anxiety. The slightest noise or misstep causes her to seek refuge under the bed for hours. But... when she is relaxed and content she becomes one of the most docile and loving souls I have ever known.

Pink Moon was exceptionally small when brought home, and she has stayed small. She never got really long, tall or heavy like most others here do. She's tiny for an adult. She has this "thing" she does every morning. She waits for my eyes to first open, then begins her "dance." She starts to swirl, twirl and tumble all over me. She beings to rumble like a Detroit Diesel, and then, only then, she begins to drool. Oh, geez, you think that is so nasty don't you? Actually, so do I. But, this tiny 6 pound cat has the sweetest face, I forgive anything and everything the moment she sets her eyes upon me.

She frequently looks foolish, as we have one of our other cats (I will write about her soon) who "mothers" her. This other cat wants to be a good mommy, but she overdoes things in that she chews off all Pink Moon's whiskers. Pink Moon is a tortoise shell kitty, with very long white whiskers, given the opportunity to have them grow. But, her pseudo-mommy doesn't like her having long whiskers. Once they get to a certain point, she will over-groom her and remove them. Usually it takes about 2 days for the whiskers to be fully removed, and for the interim, she really looks hilarious, half whiskered, half not. Then, she will stare at me with her anxiety filled eyes, wondering why am I laughing, and I have to explain its only because she's so beautiful.

Pink Moon enjoys constants. She abhors change, be it new food, new people, new toys (she still plays with her purple fuzzy from baby days) or new animals. She will not gaze outside the window, rather she is content to be on a cushion, a pillow, a blanket, or a throw rug. Anything soft is her home.

Of course, Pink has a song. You might think you know what it is, but is not what you think. Nope, her song is "Super Freak" by Rick James. Goes like this "She's a very pinky girl, a pinkalicious little girl..." You get the drift. I hope Pink loves her "Super Pink" song, but I cannot be sure. I'm tone deaf and will never sing in public anything more than a round of Happy Birthday. But, whether she likes it or not, she tolerates it for sure, and when she does she stares, then blinks very slowly at me.

I think it is true that animals tend to pick one person in the house and be closer to them than any other. Pink has chosen me, much to the dismay of Mr. Happy Vegan. Don't get me wrong, Pink LOVES him, loves him a lot. But, her anxieties come out much faster with him, and she is slower to respond to him. Is it possible that terrible things happened that we will never know about, and it was a male offender that has burned an indelible memory upon her? We do not know. What we do know is that we have all the time she needs, all the patience it takes, and all the love there is, to nurture this tiny thief of hearts any way she wants. She is the princess, she is in charge, and we are merely vessels to bring whatever it is she needs or wants.

Now you know a little something something about our little pink, pink, pink, pink... Pink Moon.

The Beet Goes on, but I Fail Movie Trivia

You guys take your blog reading seriously, and you also know your movie trivia. Yes, its been pointed out (several times in the last couple hours) the movie with the armadillo cake was Steel Magnolias, not Terms of Endearment. Well, in my defense, wasn't Shirley MacLaine in both? And, even better for me, although that movie was in the 1980s too, it wasn't the early 80s after all. I confessed I didn't remember much about the movie. I wasn't kidding, now you've got the proof.

I'm feeling much better about it all, thank you very much.

Red Velvet Compost

We've been extra busy here, sorry for a slight lapse in posting. I have a very important post I will do post-haste, but Mr. Happy Vegan has a photo which must go with it, so it will wait another day or two.

This post started out titled quite differently, and with a rush of optimism. By the time I finished writing it, my experiment had gone from glory to epic failure. I'm taking this opportunity to edit the post as written, and just post it as is, warts and all (I hate that saying!)

Yesterday we went to Key West. I had a delivery to make, supplies to buy, and heck as long as we were there, we had a quick bite to eat. Our day trip took us to Help Yourself, a small organic restaurant on Fleming, which we are fans of. We happened to hit it just right, every Monday they have a farmer's market on site from 11a-5p. I never get down there on Mondays, but the stars aligned, and there we were. Now, you farm country folks would not consider a farm market that which we consider here in the Keys, which is a pity. There's a bit of snobbishness from farm market shoppers, meaning most are accustomed to huge areas with many actual farmers on site, selling gigantic volumes of corn from the back of a pickup, tomatoes by the bushel, homemade breads & jams, or whatever. But, you know what? They had local grown produce, albeit not by the pickup load, homemade jams, ketchups, jellies, baked goods, and even a nice guy with a machete on site to whack open a coconut so you could get fresh coconut water right out of the coconut! Betcha you don't have that at your farmer's market. I left with homemade papaya fruit ketchup, homemade spicy starfruit relish, garden grown tomatoes, local starfruit, and drum roll....US grown organic beets. I almost fell over when I saw them, and here's a picture of them here in their new home, my kitchen. Edit: No, I refuse to publish a photo of the beets. They've disgraced my kitchen. This is where the photo would've been. Too bad for the beets.

So, what's the big damn deal about beets? Look at your calendar boys & girls... its almost Valentine's Day. Don't curl your toes up and get your panties in a bunch, I'm gonna be ready for it (edit... yeah, sure, right!) if you're not, that's YOUR problem. My organic beets are going to be made into the best red velvet brownies on the planet (edit... ahahahahahahah, no they're not!). I've been obsessed with red velvet cake, cupcakes & brownies since I saw Terms of Endearment (in an actual movie theatre, um, when was that... last year? certainly it wasn't 1983!) Anyone else remember the armadillo groom's cake? Well, that's basically all I remember from that movie. Cake. Of the red velvet variety. I'd never even heard of red velvet cake before then. It made a lasting impression, here I am more than 25 years later still stalking red velvet baked goods. (Wait, you're NOT laughing at me, are you?! All because I learn important stuff through movies? Stuff about cake, and other subjects? Yeah, well, I'm not too embarrassed to admit it, even if you are. I also learned that there were pans under refrigerators "back in the day" that you had to pull out and clean, from another movie. That pan information was quite relevant at the time for a certain then-apartment-dwelling, but future Florida Keys Happy Vegan).

Being vegan, red velvet is not something that's what I would say is "common." Most red velvet cakes are made with food coloring, and what is conventional food coloring typically made with... beetles. Yuck! Over the last couple years, there's been an explosion of cupcakeries, so I'm always checking out the red velvets. Of all the places I've been, only 1 ever offered a red velvet, which was vegan. I devoured it, wow, was it good. And, you know what else? It was NOT stoplight red, like the armadillo cake in the movie. Rather it was a mellow reddish brown, kind of like the Hawaiian islands famous red dirt.

Being that I don't get organic beets very often, I couldn't help but grab enough to make red velvet brownies for guests. Admittedly, I've never made them before (edit... this is the fatal flaw). So, why am I certain my brownies will be the best ever? Because 1) they're cruelty free 2) they're organic AND fair trade and 3) I will make them with tender loving care, how can they NOT be the best ever? (edit... 1) I'm delusional 2) I'm delusional and 3) I'm delusional).

I'm practicing a small batch today, just "to be sure" they won't need any additional adjustments (edit.... adjustments? how about an extra step at the end that says "walk to compost bucket") I've poured over about a dozen recipes, including my own basic brownie recipe, to figure what's what to red velvetize a brownie. I think I've got it down, so I've taken the plunge, the beets are steaming as I type, then off to puree them, and mix up the batter. (edit..... I did all that, including the walk of shame to the compost barrel).

So sad, you didn't book your Valentine's Day here at Deer Run. For the lucky ones who are booked in, red velvets all around (edit.... eeks, pressure! Maybe back to red velvet cupcakes after all!). Heck, I might even save one for my own valentine (edit.... he sure hopes not!)

Edit.... Back to the red velvet drawing board.

Can't a Girl Eat in Peace?

Food. Life here revolves around it, its part of the business. Being vegan even more so. Yeah, I got the snarky question again very recently "so if you don't eat meat, what DO you eat?" I wanted to reply with something just as snarky, but I didn't. Instead, I took the opportunity to try and educate the seeker. Stupid me. They weren't interested in hearing anything I had to say. No, they were interested in the sound of their own voice... and their own eye-rolling histrionics.

No newsflash, vegans do not eat flesh, or by-products from animals. Yet, anyone reading this already knows that. Vegetarianism has gone much more mainstream than days past, and most people at least have heard the world "vegan." I am constantly astounded though by some people feeling so attacked because of something I adhere to. I'm not out there at steakhouses going "ewww, how can you EAT that?!" or dissecting the food on someone else's plate, why do some people think this is so very ok for them to do to me?

What do I eat? Everything that is NOT animal flesh or by-products. "How much time do you have to listen to my list?" is what I should've said to the hater who bashed my lifestyle. In the last 2 weeks, I've had more smoothies than I could probably count, amazing stuffed squash, hummus plates, vegetable timbales, chocolate, scones, frittatas, seitan peppersteak (courtesy of The Cafe in Key West), too many fresh vegetable juices (thanks Champion!!) to count, hot cereal, cold cereal, fruits, grain salads, vegetables, kale, kale and more kale, plus a host of other things. Someone who is several years my junior, carrying 50 extra (or more) pounds on their frame, is not in a position to come up to me in a public place and disrespect me about my food choices, especially considering I was minding my own business not bothering anyone.

I've said it before, and it bears repeating, being vegan is a lightning rod issue I believe mostly because everyone knows there's problems with conventional eating. We know this, its not a mystery, the information is in mainstream media. We've all seen or heard something about the horrors of agri-business, be it cruelty, filth, disease, or whatever. I was brought up as a conventional eater. Its what I was taught. I didn't know any better. But, once information was forthcoming, I began making changes. What can I say... there's always gonna be "haters" out there. I guess I picked the wrong day to go out to eat, someone had a problem with something, and took it out on me.

After I finish this post, I'm going to enjoy this 80 degree day, do my 5K and then give thanks for all the good (including the good people) in the world. After that, I'm going out to eat with friends tonight. In a public place. I'm pretty sure if needed they will form a wall around me to protect me from any ignoramus who may stumble my way. I hope.

Sunshine Superman

February 3rd? How can it be? I'm here in the Florida Keys, doing my vegan-y thing while the temps are over 80 degrees another day. Its summertime baby. Sunshine. Music. Frosty cold beverages. Lounging in hammocks. Picnics. Friends. Sand. Palm trees, palm trees, palm trees.

The title of today's post refers to one of the most summery songs ever. Psychedelic pop from the 60s, summer music from a time long gone. The memory remains though. And, looking out my window today, its more than memories... summer is HERE. Now!!!

I'm giddy. I can no longer contain my enthusiasm at all. You HAVE to come down to the Keys!! What the heck are you waiting for? Why waste another moment socked in the snowbanks. As soon as the airports re-open, you MUST come here. There's lots of places to stay (including my favorite, Deer Run), wonderful people to meet, the most amazing turquoise water to swim in, and a sky so blue it hurts.

I'm here in shorts, flip flops and a tank top. Making vegan cupcakes, then going for a run. The heat index will be in the high 80s by the time I get out there. The last 2 days of running I actually received a sunburn. SUNBURN KIDDIES! Not frostbite. Nope, rather is a bona fide sunburn.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I promise you. Its just that I feel so good, I wish everyone could feel the same way. Feed your soul. Carpe Diem. You won't be sorry!

Can You Dig It?

Whoomp there it is!

February 1st is the "it" I mean.

Today is called Imbolc by pagans. I like the reference, it's basically a celebration half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Half way to spring. Ahh....

But, we're not quite there yet, are we? No.

My heart does go out to everyone who is bracing for yet another severe winter storm. I suppose you don't need my sympathy if you're one who relishes the snow and cold. If that's you, my empathy is not sent out in your direction. Rather, I'm feeling for those souls stuck in the cold, wishing they were in the warm. I hear ya. Believe me.

It seems almost impossible, but it was pushing 80 here today. The sky was so blue, I actually photographed it with my cell phone while I was running. Being that its allegedly winter, I went out there without sunscreen. Bad move. I came home from my on-street workout with a sunburn. My runner's tan has been fading, but in one fell swoop, poof its back. Bliss.

Tomorrow our forecast is amazing, gonna push past 80. I have 3 workouts planned tomorrow, 2 of them outside. I'm so looking forward to it. I admit I slack when the temps cool off, its just too much when north winds blow off the Bight, and I'm getting smacked here and there by our "when good winters go bad" Keys-style. Oh, this is especially hilarious when I consider my past life up north. I was a Spin instructor. I distinctly remember one February morning in particular, having a 6am class to teach. Oh yeah, talk about misery. The alarm went off at 5am. I dressed for the gym then dragged myself down 3 flights of stairs in utter darkness to my frozen over car jammed in a snowbank. When I turned the key, my car informed me the outside temperature was 7 degrees Fahrenheit. I can close my eyes and still see that scene...the green glow of the dash reading that oh-so-wrong number 7.

So, try as I may, its very difficult to control my glee about our particularly warm, sunny patch of weather here in the beautiful Florida Keys. Yup, I'm giddy alright, and I'm taking it for all its worth as long as it lasts. Whoomp, there it is. Oh yeah.