Food with Friends!

I read an article on line recently or maybe it was a blog post, regardless the subject matter caught my attention. The writer was asking "why don't food bloggers just get to the recipe?!!! Why do I have to read through so much writing before getting to the point?" I wanted to see the "official" reason for that, although I have my own reasons. Basically, the magic reason is that bloggers like to write. Well, then.... can I just add that water is wet. Haha. But seriously, yes, bloggers like to write. I like to write. My grammar skills and punctuation may be weak, but I needed a creative outlet plus I needed to build my own vegan tribe at a time when I felt isolated. Ironically, everything that's old is new again as we vegans in the Keys are finally weaving our own little patchwork quilt of online social media, in person activism events, and other in person gatherings to have fun, educate people, raise awareness and do anything we can to help the community with veganism. I do have a recipe for you this month, if you want to skip my story here, scroll down. I mean, an entire article had to be written to solve the "problem" of skipping over a story to get to a recipe? First world problems baby, first world problems.

Allow me to get to the story here (the rest of you can scroll down to the recipe/method, pictures and videos)

A little over a week ago, we took our first totally full day off since Hurricane Irma to do nothing but "play" here in the Florida Keys. The Florida Keys Vegan Community was holding it's monthly potluck. I was excited to be able to tie this potluck in with the current summertime VeganMoFo prompt "food with friends." Since one of the organizers has Celiac, I wanted to make sure my own contributions were completely gluten free. I do not have Celiac, but do far better with zero wheat and gluten in my body. Unfortunately, that concern of mine has taken a back seat to simply being grateful to have vegan food especially through the first several months of recovery when things were total chaos. I've not yet reigned that aspect back in, but will soon(ish). You know how much I love those tempeh reubens from Sugar Apple in Key West... the sandwich by which all other sandwiches in the Universe are rated against... I decided to bring a gluten free version, inspired by the tofu reuben created by the Manatee Cafe (St. Augustine). The Manatee Cafe version is not gluten free, maybe they can make it GF but I've never asked for it that way from them. They use fairy dust and eco friendly glitter to make their sandwich happen tofu style. Any problems I had with bread would be solved because the Food for Thought natural foods store in Marathon now sells a vegan gluten free bread by the Deland company which is truly delicious. It's the only gluten free bread I've discovered in all my years here that I think is worth eating. As I made my way to the freezer for the magical Deland bread my heart sank.... sold out. I tell a lot of people about good products, Deland being just one of them. Good to see people listen, bad to see now I was stuck with no bread for the gluten free reubens. Hm..... what to do.

I ended up using Food for Life gluten free multi seed English muffins. I often keep a box of those in my freezer anyway. They are spendy in my opinion ($6.59 US for a pack of 6) but they are good. The marinade is based on a recipe I found on the internet. I'm not copying their exact recipe so I'm not worried that credit is not provided here. This recipe made enough marinade for 1 entire pound of tofu. The recipe looks longer than it is... it's simply a longer list of ingredients. The preparation itself is just minutes.

Ingredients:

Sauerkraut (I love Bubbies... raw, organic, my favorite)

vegan dressing (I combine Vegenaise, ketchup and sweet relish)

vegan cheeze (you don't need this, but I used Follow Your  Heart Smoked Gouda, and it was stellar

vegan gluten free bread of choice (see my notes below)

non-dairy butter (Miyokos has come into the reasonably priced range, and is free of palm oil)

1 pound super firm marinated tofu, drained (see below)

DOUBLE CHECK ALL YOUR COMPONENTS TO INSURE THEY ARE GLUTEN FREE WHEN YOU MAKE THIS FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN BECOME DEATHLY ILL FROM GLUTEN/WHEAT PRODUCTS!

Method:

Slice your drained tofu and place it in a lasagna style pan, then prep your marinade.

Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (I used Bragg's raw)

1/4 cup coconut aminos (I love the Coconut Secret brand, but Bragg's makes one too)
NOTE: SOY SAUCE/BRAGGS/and MOST TAMARI are NOT GLUTEN FREE, USE AMINOS!

1/4 cup filtered water

1 tablespoon liquid smoke (Colgin brand... accidentally vegan, and certified gluten free)

4-6 cloves crushed garlic

2 heaping teaspoons smoked paprika (I really think this is necessary but if you cannot get it, use regular)

2 tsp dried mustard (I think you can use GF Dijon mustard if you cannot find the mustard spice)

2 tsp onion powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix your marinade. Pour it over the tofu, cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make the sandwiches, heat your skillet or griddle on medium low, then spread your Miyokos or other non-dairy butter on both sides of your bread or English muffin. Place the pieces in the skillet (I sprayed a little Vegelene on my non-stick pan just in case, it's a restaurant non-stick spray... gluten free, vegan; you could even use a little more Miyokos or whatever vegan butter you're using for your pan, make sure it's non stick so your cheeze won't stick....) Very lightly brown both sides, set the bread aside.

Re glaze the pan with your spray, place the tofu slices and allow to brown slowly, don't make this crispy... lightly golden brown only. I added the marinade to each batch (my pan was small) and cooked it down.

When the bread and tofu are set aside, melt your cheeze if you want. This literally takes seconds... do only a piece or 2 at a time. Warm 1 side, flip and warm the other size. Have a slice of bread/English muffin ready and place 1 piece on each slice. Continue til finished. If you don't want, don't heat the cheeze.

Warm your sauerkraut in the pan if you're eating these fresh at home. For the potluck, it was unnecessary.

The only downside to using the English muffins is they are super hard to cut. I cut each sandwich in half since these were for a potluck, so I had 10 servings. Then I double wrapped them in parchment instead of plastic. If you make these for a picnic or potluck using English muffins, please make the effort to cut them. They are super messy and hard to eat uncut...  I know a thing or 2 about this as I've been making them for myself at home and I'm too lazy to cut. Boy oh boy I cannot wait til that Deland comes back in stock!

I also made a vegan gluten free Key lime pie (brought both vegan versions of the RediWhip "cream"... yes full of chemicals I'm sure, but dang was that a great addition to the pie), and nonGF vegan tempeh reubens. Other contributions were fruit, salad, avo pasta salad, fresh garden grown greens with coconut curry cream, cookies... I know I'm missing things, but I cannot remember it all. I ate a little taste of everything, that's how to roll at potlucks... try new things, taste it all.

One other thing that was a bonus... Sombrero Beach is dog friendly! Sandy & Bill brought their dog, but I'm ashamed to admit I cannot remember his name. He was so sweet, and fun to have at the potluck. See... animals are friends not food.... we have food with non-human friends too. Woof woof.

The potlucks are a monthly event run by the Florida Keys Vegan Community. If you're visiting us here in the Keys from out of the area, feel free to drop into the potluck if it's going on during your stay. Also, you don't have to be vegan to attend, but this is a vegan potluck so obviously all food must be vegan.

I snapped a few photos, not as many as I should have, and not a full group picture. I met some new people and saw others I've not seen since before Irma. It was also my first visit to Sombrero, in a post Irma world the beach looks absolutely wonderful. Excellent job on the first steps of the restoration, as you will see in the videos I shot:

These 2 videos above are where we were for the potluck, it was a beautiful Sunday in the Keys!

This video below is of Bob and Marlee who created the Florida Keys Vegan Community Group. They organize dinners out, potlucks, and other fun events through the Keys:

A few pictures from the day:

Meet Vicki. She came all the way from Key West.
She is a vibrant light in the world.
Rocking the vegan food with friends.

Meet my feet.
In a hammock.

Bueller? Bueller?
Not sure but I think that's Bob tucked in there.

Hello sweet one!
Thanks for coming to the potluck, it was a privilege to meet you!
Animals are friends, not food.

This was my view from the hammock.

The ride home.

This was the tofu I used, pre-pressed! It was great!

So, food with friends has come to an end. We'll go to as many potlucks as we are able, honestly being away from the place here was just what the doctor ordered. Sombrero Beach looked really pretty too. I did a walk through to see if there were any unmarked sea turtle nests, but there were none. Please remember to join the growing vegan Keys community, both on line and in person. Not to mention if you're in the area for any of the vegan community events, feel free to drop in.

Vegan for the win, vegan for the animals, vegan for ever and ever.

See you next month!

xo

April Showers Bring.... (I wouldn't know, we're in a drought)

Well friends, here we are. April. Not just April, end of April.

April showers bring May flowers. What do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims! Sorry, couldn't resist.

Actually, April showers barely exist where I am. Since we've last chatted, Big Pine Key had a wildfire. Actually tonight it's still going on, but it's contained in the high percentages now. But, for a while.... it was raging and out of control:

Wildfire, Day 1
Raging out of control on BPK
This was our view from across the island

Resources came from all over to assist in the fire fight. There is so much post hurricane vegetative debris, a wildfire has been of course at the forefront of many of our thoughts down here. Supposedly "they" are still investigating the cause, but my money would be that "they" already know what caused it, and somehow humans are involved.

We watched as a special helicopter that was dispatched to the island scooped up hundreds of gallons of water at a clip, flew up and staged, then dropped the water (cannot help but wonder.... did anyone else think wonder about the sea life at the wrong place at the wrong time? Swimming around in your water home and next thing you know poof you're out for a few seconds then free falling into the unknown....) Trip after trip after trip we watched, it was an amazing sight. The next day, the scene was much improved:

The firefighting efforts already paying off!
The next day, the scene was much different.
Still burning, but wow what a difference!

So, here we are 1 week later and there are supposedly still hot spots flaring up, but they are being controlled and extinguished. We finally had a real soaker of rain a couple days ago. We're in a huge drought down here. The animals are suffering because of no rain, plants need the rain too, and quite frankly this overload of brush which apparently is of no matter to local government needs to just stay super saturated all day every day, but not a chance. Honestly, I'm terrified of fire. The other happy vegan recently had to go on another road trip and I simply had no peace in his absence. Before he left I made him go around and switch "off" anything and everything he had plugged in that I had no use for, or didn't want plugged in, IE: all ceiling fans, tools, etc. I'm legit scared some shithead is going to illegally camp on the beach somewhere out here, flick a cig or have some illegal campfire and whoosh the entire 'hood will go up in flames. Maybe part of this comes from the fact that the house to the west of us burned down in the middle of the night a few years ago. I'll never forget that... the other happy vegan rushed into the house his voice with a tone never I'd heard before, or since, saying that house was on fire, call 9-1-1 and back outside he went over to the house. No one was in it, it was vacant at the time, but honestly we had no idea if 1) there were actually people in there that did not belong that had caused the fire (no), and 2) we had things of ours stored there (including a small boat) that were also going up in flames, very big flames, very scary flames.... flames seemingly everywhere at that moment. It's VERY rural out here, no hydrants, and an all volunteer fire department. We were evacuated, as were all our guests and animals of course. The great and wonderful Dr. Mader came here during the evacuation and helped us round up the animals.... I remember seeing him on our back porch trying to literally pry our cat Pink Moon off the wood ceiling. She gave him a very unfortunate beating, but he did manage to pry her off and get her into a carrier. Our place was filled with emergency personnel getting us out, there was literally zero time for gathering possessions. Get out with the clothes on your back (hopefully ya sleep in pajamas.....) and our animals.

So, yeah, fire scares the crap out of me.

Thank you to all who came to Big Pine to help battle the blaze. There has been a loss of a home, which is one home too many.

So... all that comes from April showers?

A few weeks ago, I made soup and tempeh Rubens special to post for Vegan MoFo... "rainy day food" theme. This was before the wildfire, and on a day it actually rained. Not much. And, with lightning, which I can SO do without in massive drought. Can't we just have rain without any lightning to cause my mind to whirl with thoughts of that starting a fire too? Sigh..... my ramblings are getting the best of me.

I made Rubens. Of the tempeh variety. Not as in "Kincaid" (hey, YOU don't have to love the Partridge Family, but don't expect me not to!) and I made soup. Potato cabbage soup. And, we lived it up eating said soup and Rubens. Now, the Rubens ... I didn't wing them, I followed a recipe, and sure, they were great but not worth all the extra effort I put into them. Did some sort of weird dry rub spice, then marinated, and put in a special pan to slowly brown. Bleh. Too many steps, too much effort. Usually I mix up apple juice, vegan Worcestershire, vegan liquid smoke and maybe a dash of veggie broth, let sit about an hour and bake. That's it. None of those ridiculous spend your day before blending spices, blah blah. So, you don't get a link for the Reuben. Because, just google "vegan tempeh Reuben recipe" and make the simplest one you can find. But... use the best ingredients you can get your hands on, including the best sauerkraut you have access to (or lucky for you if you make your own). I prefer Bubbie's sauerkraut, it's wonderful. And, use vegan cheese, or omit. Brutal honesty here, I prefer my Reuben w/o the added vegan cheese. Just the tempeh, sauerkraut and vegan dressing is my style on the grilled bread. And, I make my own dressing.... vegan mayo, ketchup and sweet relish. That's it for that, ok?

But the soup.... oh, you get a link for that! It was SOOOOO wonderful. Potatoes are life. I love potatoes any way they can be served. And, this recipe didn't disappoint. I used an entire head of cabbage. I took extra time to clean the leeks extra well.... leeks are always filled with dirt and do take effort... don't omit the leeks, they're worth the effort, trust me. Also, I used an immersion blender to blend up the soup partially, but I don't like a full puree of any soup so I'd say my version was about 60 nonblended/40 blended. Whatever works for you.

Here's the link: https://www.veganosity.com/vegan-colcannon-potato-cabbage-soup/

Here's a picture:

Yeah, there's vegan cheese on this one.
I made it for the other happy vegan. I prefer mine without.
That soup though.... perfection. And, I jammed some coconut bacon on top!

My view on the day I made this:

It didn't rain enough to prevent a wildfire on Big Pine....
But, it did rain.

So, there it all is. Rainy picture. Rainy sandwich. Rainy soup. We're precariously close to the "rainy season" starting down here. That's code for hurricane season. Don't be a shithead and ask me if I'm ready for hurricane season. I will never be ready again for hurricane season. Nothing can make me ready for what really does happen in a natural disaster. But, yeah, we've got our plans nailed down as best as possible for "what if" and that's all I'll say about that here.

We welcome the rain. We will not welcome another natural disaster. One last tidbit that surprised me. When the wildfire hit, I didn't panic, but was all consumed by it moment by moment. Then, I went looking for the ferals. This was during the time that the power had been intentionally cut in that area, I guess it had something to do with protecting that infrastructure or whatever. Well.... driving down the Overseas the roads were filled with emergency vehicles parked and staged in various areas, as well as some with flashing lights speeding to different spots. And it was dark. Very dark. Very VERY dark. No lights. Nothing. So eerie. Major flashbacks to the post Irma time we lived through, along with physical manifestations of sickness from stress, anxiety or whatever you call that. I wasn't really prepared for those feelings. It's been difficult getting through even 7.5 months post hurricane, but I guess part of me didn't want to admit just how scarred I remain inside from what we've endured.

We'll be here for May blogging, but probably you won't find any pilgrims alongside. In the mean time, I suppose it would be nice if you'd do a rain dance but ask for no lightning please, and yeah, make some soup cuz even in summer soup is the bomb. 

Vegan soupy (and sandwichy) love to you til next time.

xo

March(ing) on.... Green Stuff (ie: food & crafts)

Well here we are last day of March 2018. Our prompt for MiniMoFo this month was basically sharing the green, after all it WAS St. Patrick's Day what seems like ages ago (although in reality merely about 10+ days ago).

It's been another busy month around here, if you follow along on Facebook you know I post more there than here, it's just easier for me. I had lots of ideas for green, but basically when it came down to the wire, I made a sandwich and I did my first post-Irma crafting. The sandwich was inspired by a gorgeous photo I saw on someones Pinterest page, all green things and of course vegan. My version was DeLand brand vegan gluten free bread stuffed with avocado (can you believe it?!! Me and avocado!), overloaded with organic greens, a super fast pesto I made using a purchased basil paste (hey don't hate.... it's March, where I am you try and find organic fresh basil that's not outrageously priced this time of year), a sprinkle of pico de gallo I made inspired by the cafe I'm working at part time, and a slice of Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. I made a toastee, or as we call it on this side of the pond, a grilled sandwich. If I had a panini press, it would've landed in there, probably would've looked better. I contemplated shoving this in the waffle iron, but was too lazy to rummage around... the kitchen is still mostly non-functional and the waffle iron is tucked away in a large tote somewhere. Here's my sandwich:

Mostly green!

So, perhaps it's not as pretty as the sandwich that inspired me, but dang this was super tasty. Here's what I used for the pesto:

1 cup vegan parm cheese

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup olive oil

3T basil paste

pepper to taste

(yes you read this right.... no added garlic, amazing how tasty this is even without the garlic. I don't have garlic in the house anymore since basically I'm still not cooking)

I put a dash of vegan butter on the bread, heated a small skillet, built the sandwich, and heated it in the pan. Then I ate it. With avocado. Yes, I ate avocado. A miracle. Not a miracle are my photography skills. I should take a class to improve on that. Then again, I'm still using that antique phone so I'm grateful there's any photos at all, yay!

The next thing I did was my first post hurricane crafting effort. I saw a "thing" on line about cold porcelain. I was interested enough to give it a try. I used vegan white glue, cornstarch, mineral oil and lemon juice. Honestly, not worth my effort. I'm making a set of wind chimes. In the last few weeks, we've had a lot of new landscaping going in on our property, the 2 empty lots which used to be thick with hardwood trees that were completely destroyed, and the neighbor's house on the opposite of the lot. The lot is being reforested through the efforts of the neighbors. They, at their own cost and expense, are going through the effort, and major expense, to get the approvals and trees (have to have every tree approved by gov't officials) planted on these 2 County conservation lots. Because they want to see our area re beautified. The big diggers came and worked all day for a few days. It looks so much nicer, so great to see GREEN! So, there's more birds now. And bees. And, Key deer seem to be wandering through more often. Which made me want to hang chimes on my  property. So, I made cold porcelain hearts, stamped them, painted them, and will be stringing these on some driftwood (pick of the litter around these parts) and then hanging this eventually. They won't chime, and were a half hearted effort since I was very unhappy with the cold porcelain. But, tomorrow is the day I string them and hang them. The letters are here. I'm going to cover them with iridescent paint and seal them with vegan friendly outdoor sealer before they go out there. More green. Here's the lettering:

vegan is love
vegan cold porcelain getting ready to be turned into outdoor chimes

I'm pretty sure I'm hanging up my crafting apron for a long time. Most of my art and crafting stash was also destroyed and won't be replaced. I was lucky enough to find and save most of my brushes, and a very small amount of paints. I also found and kept my stencils which I plan on using for a larger scale pallet project to brighten up the grounds. That I will absolutely share with you, once that day comes.  The cold porcelain was no better or worse than cornstarch or clay, but I found it more difficult to stamp, which is why I painted on the letters. Nothing special here, just something I've been wanting to try. Since the MiniMoFo prompt said our green efforts could be pretty much about anything, why not crafting too.

March flew by. I always hope to have more interesting posts, and more frequent posts, but it's a challenge. Let's see what April brings (well, April showers bring May flowers.... this I know) and look for a post here over the next month. Maybe more if things swing my way.

Vegan for the win, green style. I miss you guys! Thanks for your support. xo

Food is Love

This post is my contribution for February's "food is love" prompt in Vegan Month of Food world, but is also a little update about things.

I've not felt up to shooting videos for a while. The red tape boondoggle has continued, and it takes a toll on every level for us; financially, emotionally, physically (yeah, don't ask me why but stress sure does manifest with physical issues, right?) So, instead I've been working a couple jobs sometimes with odd hours. I've been treated to rising in pre-dawn hours which at times allows me to see the sunrise as I drive up the Keys, and also at times driving home very late with largely vacant roads (although still seem to find the annoying drivers who just "have" to pass in no pass zones.... ugh). The kitchen here is still not up to speed, so my forays into food preparation are nothing complicated. I'm really looking forward to summertime when the fruits and more veggies are back in season, not really sure what will come our way in post-Irma world of growing (so many farmers on the mainland took a huge hit, not just our local beloveds like the Grimal Grove) but I am sure there will be more variety coming down the pike.

So, this is February, and many people turn to thoughts of love because well, Valentine's Day. In years past, I've always made an extra nice presentation here at the bed and breakfast for guests, this year that was off the radar since we're still closed. I did reminisce though to the times I offered up "Single Awareness Day" cookies for the stores. 

Singles Awareness Day is always so much more fun than Valentines
in my opinion!

This year Valentines Day came and went with zero pomp or festivities. I have had it on my mind though to work more with aquafaba, so I took a crack at Valentines macarons, since my prior attempts at macarons with aquafaba had come out perfectly. You'll note there are no pictures here of Valentines macarons..... you do that math.

One of the perks of working in a natural foods cafe is the aquafaba. It comes my way. In copious amounts if I want. Since we finally have a freezer again for the last couple months or so, I have a few items back on ice in larger quantities, well ok 2 items... frozen wild blueberries and a bit of frozen aquafaba once again. Although I enjoy the concept of meringues, I seriously do not like the taste. Sugar, pure sugar, just far too sweet for me. But, I have fun from time to time making things out of little meringues. Since I'm a fan of chocolate, I've been wanting to make a chocolate meringue, but you must remember oils/fats are the enemy of meringues. As I was wiling my night away (insomnia....) a few weeks ago, I found a method for chocolate meringues. I improvised a little bit, and then a little bit more. The method on line was to make your aquafaba meringues, and then fold melted cooled chocolate into the meringue batter. When I followed this method, little by little the meringues deflated. But the flavor..... ooh, the flavor! So wonderful!

These are the aquafaba vegan meringues using the "fold in" chocolate method
Perfect flavor, but the structure.... not so much.

I then got to thinking more about filling them. I piped little discs onto the parchment, and then piped bits of cooled melted vegan chocolate onto the discs. I took a toothpick and swirled the chocolate just a bit on each one, and then piped a vegan aquafaba meringue "kiss" on top of every one. See?

As you can see, the meringues were much more full bodied this way.
I drizzled some additional melted chocolate on them too.

I've made the chocolate filled meringues a few more times, each time with varying degrees of success. No matter what, the chocolate contacts the meringue, and that causes them to deflate to a certain extent. My next batch will be the last method... I'm going to pipe larger "kiss" style meringues onto the parchment, and then with a smaller nozzle I intend to inject the chocolate into each meringue then dry. I also will try half of the batch in my dehydrator instead of the oven method just to test the differences.

People everywhere seem to love meringues. I brought the chocolate ones to the store cafe where I'm working and people went mad for them, which made me happy. Anything cruelty free that brings to smiles about is what it's about.

I missed last month's prompt, it was "creating warmth." I'm still going to work on my creation, I desperately wanted to veganize my mothers stroganoff, but I couldn't find eggless noodles, and worse yet, her tiny yellow recipe book (remember that thing from a video years ago?) is MIA since Irma. There's hardly any recipes in there to begin with, but it had the stroganoff recipe... she used dead cow back in the day I have extra mushrooms, or if I change my mind I will forage for a bag of vegan crumbles conveniently for sale in the store of the cafe where I'm working. I have a bag of beautiful organic mushrooms again in the fridge, I'm so hoping I can find her book, because as a little miracle I did finally find eggless noodles while up on a very short road trip to the mainland last week. I have tomorrow as a day off and my intentions are of course spend half my time doing administrative work that all of us are coping with in post Irma world, but the other half of the day is devoted to locating mom's book and veganizing that recipe. As I always say... hope springs eternal.

So, there's my contribution for "food is love" during the month of February (today is the 27th... I'm a day ahead, right? haha!) I hope you've been continuing to follow the monthly mini prompts on the VeganMoFo site, and that you're continuing to follow along the happenings here at the inn. We're getting there, slowly but sure, we're getting there. In just about another month or so, it looks like the kitchen will be back to almost full function too.... makes me look forward to all the wonderful prompts coming down the pike for VeganMoFo!

Till next time.... sending the vegan love! xo

Happy New Year - Welcome 2018, Hurry Hurry!

When you are born

in a world you don't fit in

It's because you were born

to help create a new one

Happy New Year dear ones.

Let's make it big.

Kiss My Ass 2017
Cheers to 2018 in the biggest way possible!

Go vegan, stay vegan.

xo

And So This Is Christmas

This time of year I do my best impression of a hibernating bear. Mostly it's due to super long hours in the kitchen bakery getting orders ready for shipping and local delivery. This year sure was different since my kitchen remains almost totally offline (still not conducive to VeganMoFo, mini or not). I found myself retreating inwards even more, not for the best of reasons either. Finally I decided to make an effort to shake the blues and I've started working outside the bed and breakfast. Two part time jobs, one involving food (vegan!) the other involving animals (aw). The scheduling is a lot harder to get used to than expected, and the driving involved can be quite treacherous this time of year (we've moved into season here, honestly even with less visitors to the Keys due to Irma, the roads remain very clogged with people taking ridiculous and unnecessary risks like passing in no passing zones, speeding, shooting iPhone video while driving, and so forth). Since we're not reopened yet, and I couldn't take a single baking order, I thought it best to find a purpose, that's where the jobs come in. We are making slow progress around here,  I'd like to say slow and steady progress but it's not that way. Some days we accomplish far more than other days, some days it seems absolutely nothing gets done. Once January hits, things will get back to a more normal schedule and it will be hopefully easier to get things done. The County has been slower than normal, contractors that have been working like mad have taken some well earned time off, and many people tend to get caught up in this whole holiday madness thing.

Down here, the community did a lot of nice things for a lot of people in need. We did our small part, for what we were able, driving around a couple neighborhoods, being silly and handing out small boxes and bags of vegan cookies. I'd also like to say that really brought a warm fuzzy but damn it was so hard being in such hard hit areas (yes, our neighborhood is among the hardest hit too, but since I don't go out much, I ignore the realities that go with all that). Both of us happy vegans were out there, and we had a little elf with us... the son of our neighbors, he is such a fine and sweet boy. He was so sweet and excited handing out the cookies. People were hugging him, thanking him. It was just cookie, not a magic wand. It simply sucks looking at shattered lives when all you have to give is a cookie. After we were all finished, the little elf said something like "wow, those are some messed up houses, we should do this more often." Mind you, this sweet little elf had his own life and house shattered thanks to Irma, and they too are putting back their own pieces. But there he was with a smile, a big heart, caring about others knowing full well we should do that more often.

The reality is, at least for us, we can't. At least not yet. We have to keep our eye on the prize though, and that means rebuilding our lives and our business. There is so much red tape that has been an issue, and so much unnecessary nonsense that we have zero control over. If you've been following us for a while, you know full well the way I cope with stress is either through running, exercise or working with food. Triple frustrating because those things have all been compromised as well.

So frustrating.

Despite all the stumbling blocks, I was very determined to do something for us, and something... anything... for the community. The cookies started out as a donation for one of the great feeding the community programs that has popped up, but they didn't get picked up on time. That's when we decided to head out ourselves, which was a good, but hard, move.  I baked several hundred very plain, but still kinda cute vegan sugar and gingerbread cookies in (Key) deer and people shapes. They looked like this before bagging:

And this after bagging:

We had a visit from one of Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve:

We took a trip up to the mainland a few weeks ago to do some business, have some really important meetings about some really important issues we're dealing with, and we stopped into IKEA to have a look around at some ideas for decorating when we finish the rebuild. Yup, IKEA is know for ultra modern, but we were super pleasantly surprised to find 1) vegan food in the cafeteria and 2) furniture styles that can blend into coastal styling and some really great storage design ideas. We also stumbled upon an accidentally vegan gingerbread house that (of course) needs assembly, IKEA style. It was $4! I had to get one! So, with some accidentally vegan candies from the local CVS (by the way, I never knew that CVS has it's own brand of candy, some of which actually says "vegan" on the label), a little aquafaba royal icing, and some vegan sprinkles I get from Sweetopolita, we came up with this:

Since cooking and baking really is not happening on a regular basis here due to logistical issues as well as mechanical issues (you have no idea how much went into baking those couple hundred bags and boxes of cookies.... but it was still worth all the challenges), and I knew I wanted to do my best to have a nice post for MiniMoFo as well as keeping my own tradition of an annual Buche de Noel, I had my wishes granted by the raw fairy when I stumbled upon a photo of a raw Yule log on facebook. The recipe is offered in a free seasonal e-book download from Joey's Kitchen. Seriously, their picture is mind blowing, it stole my heart. I knew as soon as I saw it that was the ticket. I headed out a few weeks ago to get the 1 ingredient I did not have (psyllium powder), and this is what I came up with:

That, dear hearts, is a raw, vegan organic Buche de Noel. I decorated it with organic pomegranate seeds I had left from a few poms we picked up while at Whole Foods on the mainland, as well as some raw cacao nibs. The ganache softens quickly at room temperature, I think if I let the cake chill a little bit longer the sugar snow would've held up better, but I was happy, very happy, very VERY happy. If you want to make that same cake, you can look up "Joey's Plate" on facebook and sign up for the free ebook. I'd give you the link, but it's only a sign up link. Get the book, its free and has several recipes.

I do write about life post Irma, because that is my reality. I suppose if one doesn't live here or visit here to help repair lives, it's hard to fathom what it's like right now, but basically it's all consuming and exhausting. Knowing this, we HAVE to keep our spirits up, do silly things, find a way to get through the day helping someone else, find a way to laugh, anything along those lines. We lost most of our family things for Christmas, and what was saved just didn't make sense to drag out only to be covered in the dust from drywall sanding or whatever else is floating around. Instead, I had an idea and asked the other happy vegan to grab the ladder that was our very good friend for a couple months as a stand in for when we had no steps. I came up with this:

He opened up the ladder and together we started grabbing random things lying around.... contractors demolition bags, paint chip samples, stirrers, outlet covers, caution tape that we had leftover from the house we lived when we had it roped off before final demolition... you get the idea. The "angel" on top is a safety lantern that was donated to us in a relief delivery from Adam & Timberly along with one of the respirators they donated as well. I popped on the head of a broken angel that my dad gave to me many years ago retrieved from underneath some rubble. It made us laugh, mission accomplished.

And, finally, last night in the stillness I decided to find it in me to be with nature, which used to be one of my most favorite things. I rarely go outside anymore, I don't think walking from where ever I may be to my car counts either. When I went outside I saw the deer walking by, a fish jumping past the flats, and was treated to the most amazing technicolor sunset:

After I took the shot above, the sun did set, and the sky went from fire oranges and amber to pinks and purples, then finally to black. Since it was Christmas Eve, I stayed out there til the other happy vegan joined me, and we walked up onto the roof to watch Santa & Rudolph fly over. Every year some kind pilot gets some special clearances and flies down the Keys with just a red glowing light. High enough so the wee ones can't see him, but low enough that us not-so-wee ones hear the gentle buzz of the props. The schedule is published ahead of time, and indeed Rudolph came at the stroke of his appointed time. The astronomy buff in the other happy vegan came out in him last night as we talked about Orion and a few other constellations. It was crystal clear where we were last night, perfectly still and quiet. There actually was a slight chill in the air, but that's probably only Keys style talking, I mean if I had to take an honest guess I'd say it was about 72 degrees. When I looked at the temperature during cookie delivery time, it said 81. I'm so not a white Christmas, holly jolly, rolly polly with Santa gal.

So, even for a Solstice loving, summer loving, tropical kind of gal like me, Christmas came and gave us a few moments trying to fool us into peace and good will. We don't wait for holidays and such for that kind of thing, that's why we went vegan, you know.... to actually DO something about the troubles in the world, not just give lip service and SAY we'd like to change the world.

I was able to keep up the Yule log tradition in spite of some really difficult circumstances, and I'm just pleased as punch (kombucha?) about that. No matter what Yule 2018 brings, I know cake will be involved because if I can do it this year, seriously I can do anything. One more week of 2017.... to take a page from Queen Elizabeth, with a little Key's twist:  "2017 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure ... In the words of of one my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an 'Annus Horribilis' I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so." Oh Queenie.... if only you and I both had a crystal ball!

Annus Horribilis or not, we still have cake. Raw, vegan, organic, fair trade, blissful, beautiful cake. And that, my friends, is where it will always be at. Vegan style, for the win.

Wishing us ALL a better 2018... getting it in now, in the very likely event I don't get back to the computer before January washes in. And, oh what a year 2018 will be. I am SO kicking 2017 in the ass come December 31. New Year look out, here we are totally ready for you with open arms, and we plan to make it fabulous beyond comprehension.

Happy Solstice. Merry Everything. Happy New Year. Go Vegan. Stay Vegan.

Yup, we've got it all covered.

xo

The Plate That They're On

Last night I put up a picture on our Deer Run facebook page of vegan egg nog muffins. As I said then, probably only the second time I've baked since Irma. Between having to throw out thousands and thousands of dollars of ingredients, and also have some equipment impacted, I just cannot find my way in the kitchen right now. But..... muffins are doable, and in the spirit of the season I thought I'd come up with something not so run of the mill as far as a seasonal flavor. Anyway, the muffins came out pretty darn great, and I wanted to put them on a holiday plate for the picture. When I posted the picture, I said something about maybe someday I'll talk about the plate they're on.

Vegan eggless nog muffins
On "the plate"

Let's talk.

When dad was alive, he would give me gifts at Christmas of certain things that were cumulative over time. Crystal for example. I have this amazingly gorgeous set of lead crystal which I have not used once since I moved to Florida. In fact, I even wrote about that crystal on a prior blog post, because I remember writing about how a box I picked up one day actually still had a shred of Christmas paper attached. It was causing me angst because I have these things that I do not use, but couldn't seem to part with.

Irma has given me quite a change of perspective.

Take, for example, the plate those muffins are on. Along the lines of those "cumulative" gifts from dad was a set of Spode "Christmas Tree" dishes. He started me on them, and kept me going for years. I actually really liked them, and I began to pick up little "fillers" here and there as I would see them at thrifts (not often for Spode, but it happens), on sale in department stores (goes to show how long ago this dates back for me), and other stores. I had some nifty pieces like a cake cutter, a quiche dish (used quite often as it was just a perfect size for my own chickpea quiches) and other neat pieces that aren't really dishes. I was looking in my cabinets a year or so ago and decided some things had to be packed up since I wasn't using them, and this included my Spode. I had so much of it all in protective china cases and boxes. I pulled it all out of the cabinets and packed everything away into plastic tubs. And, then I put them into my storage trailer where I also had the bulk of my personal items which were removed from here when we put the place on the market.

Hello Irma. You really suck.

Irma took our storage trailer, and everything inside. She didn't flood it. She took it. She moved it from here to there, and along the way she decided just taking it wasn't enough, she wanted the exclamation point of it actually exploding into pieces. Even writing these words actually cause a sort of nausea for me. The things that were in there and will never recover... maybe I'll never completely come to grips with the personal nature of it actually. I'm not talking about things like clothing (although that was in there too), it's more like the tubs and tubs of photographs going back decades before I was even born. My books, I'm a book lover. I love the smell of the, the feel of them, and the experience of reading a book instead of a computer screen. 95% of my books are gone (cookbooks excluded). Things like that which would have no value to anyone else, but were irreplaceable to me. So sad. Anyway.... Irma took the Spode. All of it. Gone. Vanished.

Not too long after Irma, I put a video up about my experience with "death cleaning." I was surprised when I opened up the cabinets where the Spode used to live and saw that it was already gone. In that moment, I realized yet another thing that was gone not by my choice. Big empty spaces in those cabinets where years of memories through dishes used to be. I even used the Spode during Christmas time here for guests. Not every day, but I used it. Not because it was Christmas, but because it brought me good memories.

I've been out to the Coupon Bight several times searching for things that Irma took, including clothing, photos, books, paintings, furniture, you name it. I found so little, but there were a few victories. One of the lowest moments for me after the storm was the time I was out in the Coupon Bight in the post storm blistering heat. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, I was wearing my non-fishing fishing boots, a swimsuit and sobbing as I sifted through the silt trying to retrieve as much of grandma's silverware as possible. At that moment, a rental carload of 'bags came down the not-yet-repaired street still rife with asphalt washouts, (so obviously not from around here in their shiny new Mustang convertible, laughing) holding their iPhones up high recording every image, including me. It was humiliating, sickening, infuriating, and a moment I just wanted to give in to all my misery and run away. I didn't go back out there anymore after that until the other happy vegan and I went out there together in an effort to survey the wreckage of the Save-A-Turtle trailer and see what we could salvage from that for the non-profit (so very little, unfortunately). Yeah, that trailer also was eaten by Irma, and I've not gone back out there again since, but the other happy vegan has made a few trips on his own. Alone, he's brought a kayak to load anything he found, just as I had done in the early post-Irma days. After one of those trips I saw a small pile of mud encrusted zippered china/dish protectors sitting in the sand near my sad room. I knew immediately what it was.... Spode! I plopped myself down in the sand and unzipped every case right then and there. Not a single dish had nary a chip or crack. They had been submerged for more than 2 months, ripped out with a huge storm surge pushed by winds that reports say at times were in excess of 150 mph in my zone.

After I unwrapped each plate, I soaked them in tubs with anti bacterial cleaners, scrubbed them with soap and a special scrubby, rinsed them, and then ran them through twice in my superheated dishwasher (new, also since Irma). I stacked them, opened the cabinet where they had lived for well over a decade since I moved here, and put them right back where they sat all those years before I moved them into the trailer as an "unnecessary" item, although they no longer sit in their protective pouches, and there's a mere fraction of what used to be.

None of the special cute pieces have been located, including the cake server, and the quiche dish. Not a single cup has been located, but almost all the saucers have been retrieved. I don't have all the plates, cake plates, salad plates, rather just a few of each. But, I do have some. I know I did a death cleaning after Irma, but I feel like these dishes are meant to be kept, at least I'll say not meant to be given away just yet.

It was astonishing to me to come full circle with something as innocuous as plates. But for whatever reason(s), these dishes are a sign of either ridiculous excess, or the exact opposite. I'm not sure which, and actually since most days I'm not really coping very well navigating life and all the bombs that come with it since September 10, I'll try not to read too much into any of this. But.... I cannot help but to some tiny extent think of my dad more than ever right now. It's been really difficult to go through the storm, and everything that's happening since. The ground is constantly moving under us both personally and with our business since Irma, we are constantly adjusting our sails and it's exhausting at a time when I'm already exhausted.

So, I have some Spode and it's a pretty safe bet that I'll be eating off that plate after December is long gone. Seems like the right thing to do, when there are no rules anymore anyway. I think a nice red dragonfruit will look just as beautiful on it as the vegan eggless nog muffins.

And that is the story of the plate that they're on.

Vegan love my friends.

xo