I have a hard time functioning in election years. This photo from Diedre Jean helped.

Join us for VeganMofo - the Vegan Month Of Food. The idea is to write as much as you can for the month of October about vegan food. The blog entries can be about anything food related - your love of tongs, your top secret tofu pressing techniques, the first time your mom cooked vegan for you, vegan options in Timbuktu - you get the idea.

Last year we didn’t come up with strict guidelines for how often we wrote, but I think the idea is to shoot for every weekday, or about 20 times in the month. Don’t forget to tag your stuff “veganmofo” and you can use the VeganMoFo banner (^up there) on your mofo posts. If you’d like inspiration or would just like to whine about how hard it is, check out the MoFo forum on the PPK message boards.

As the world catches on that vegan food really is the best choice for animals (suck it, humane meat!), the planet (bite me, melting ice caps!) and people (piss off, heart disease!) let’s show them what vegan eating is all about.

One last thing - you may remember that VeganMoFo was in November last year, well, this year it’s in October because there’s more produce and stuff. Also, I’ll be in NYC this November and not really near a computer.

To be included here, just leave a comment on this blog entry with a link to your URL. I will then include you in the RSS feed, once I remember how to update it. You can also join the VeganMoFo Flicker group. Happy writing everyone! If you’re feeling at a loss for how to start this off, why don’t you make your first entry about that?

EDITED TO ADD: I’m going to be away for the rest of the week but I will update this list in time for mofo. I can’t believe there are so many mofoers this year!

List of participants so far:

(more…)

What exactly is brunch? Chad says there’s no such thing, but he hates cupcakes so can he be trusted? I like to look at other brunch books to get (steal) ideas from. Most of the ones I find are from the seventies, their covers speaking of a time when pineapples-as-garnish and copious amounts of raw egg yolks were what it was all about. The ideas are just as dusty as the front covers, but sometimes they just need a little brushing off.

The recipes run the gamut from the everyday (oatmeal) to the unsurprising (scrambled eggs) to the real stumpers (lasagna?) In New York a typical brunch was dim sum at Vegetarian Dim Sum House at Pell Street. Dragging ass to Chinatown with bedhead and smudged mascara from the night before for some greasy goodness was a welcomed tradition. The sunlight hitting your eyes as the D-train crossed the Manhattan bridge was worth it alone. The rest of the day would be spent nursing your tummy into recovery, but so what? It was Sunday. And who can resist treasure boxes?

The typical cravings I get for brunch are usually smoky and earthy and herby; fennel, mushroom, sage, thyme, tempeh. But the big question is always savory or sweet? My favorite way to decide is “both.” A big plate of scrambled tofu and homefries with burnt crispy pieces of onion, but also a plate of pancakes to split between the table. In the winter top them with cinnamon apples, blueberries and lemon for the summer. A little ginger in the batter always. It never smells quite as warm and homey at any other time of day.

As I come to the end of cooking, baking, rolling, kneading, frying and sprinking for the brunch book I’m no closer to understanding what brunch is exactly. Why is it okay to bite into beer battered tofu at 11 am on a Sunday but not 8 am on a Tuesday? The only answer I really have is that someone, somewhere said so.

This book has been so fun to work on. Some of my recipes testers have been with me since Vegan With A Vengeance, some just joined in, but they’re really the heart and soul and elbow and bellybutton of the book writing process. You’ve probably seen some tester photos floating around, but I’m going to share some of my favorites with you.

Raised Waffles With Baked Cinnamon Apples from tofu666.

Banana Flapjacks from Hoveringdog.

An omelet from Jess.

Stuffed Poblanos from Katie.

I’ll share some more soon! And maybe some recipes if I’m not feeling too mean and lazy. The brunch book will be out next Spring!