I’m going to apologize for this once and once only: It is autumn. I live way north. The sun goes down very early now and will soon go down disgustingly early, so my dinnertime photos for the next several (that sounds like a lot—we’ll see) months will be artificially lit. I will do my best. Thank you for your time.

Okee doke, on with the food. Autumn does have its positives. I can turn on the oven whenever I damn well please and I can cook comforty, rooty, often orange (look at today’s!) foods. I’ll get to the tofu scramble later, but let’s talk stuffed acorn squash. You’ve seen the photos and recipes. So easy and so forgiving. Swap it in and swap it out—don’t like an ingredient? Put in something you do like instead. And it’s its own serving dish. Suck it, bread bowl. 

I ran into some trouble with this, however; perhaps because I had no aluminum foil (was holding out until I found recycled stuff, which I did just yesterday) the squash took for-friggin’-ever to cook. And once stuffed and done, it was tough to serve. I ended up cutting it down the middle and hacking away at it that way. Just seemed more trouble than it was worth. Next time I’d use tiny squashes or something cut lengthwise, just not so high.

So how’d I make it? This is for 2 medium squashes, so if you’re just doing one as an experiment, halve it.

•squash of your choice (for this I used squash the size of a baby’s head, acorn variety)
•1 c wild rice (or brown rice or white rice, I guess), prepared as directed with vegetable broth instead of water
•2 T Earth Balance
•3 c vegetables (I used carrot, celery, leek, yellow squash, garlic, and parsley but would have used a bunch of mushrooms if Tom weren’t so anti-mushroom)
•½ c panko, breadcrumbs, or crushed nuts (for binding and excitement)
•salt, pepper, and 2 T of your favorite fall herbs (I used sage and powdered rosemary)

•Either cut the squash lengthwise or chop the top off like a jack-o’-lantern and scoop the guts out.
•Throw the EB in the squash, replace top if you took it off, then wrap in foil and cook in a 350º oven until softened up (try 20 minutes, depending on your squash)
•While the squash is in the oven, cook up the vegetables in a bit o’ olive oil and herbs,  until they’re almost done; they’ll cook inside the squash for the last 5 minutes or so.
•Add panko and rice, mixing thoroughly. This is actually really great and any leftover stuffing is lunch for tomorrow!
•Stuff almost-done stuffing into almost-done squash and finish off, uncovered, in the oven for 5 minutes or so.
•Have better luck than me serving it.

Really, this looks like a superduper holiday meal winner. One of those impressive, fancy-pants, win-over-the-omnis dish. I’m sure my next try will turn out so much better. Good luck with your first.

On to orange tofu scramble! Pictured here with garlic-n-peppery zucchini and a simple but supergreat pilaf, I’ve tarted up my tofu scramble with some extra paprika and orange bell peppers. It didn’t taste much different but it’s pretty. (And if you’re new, yes, I like my tofu scramble very firm and well done.)

And to you Portland folk, this Sunday (10/11) at 8 pm at The Artistry (4315 SE Division St.), the Food Fight! benefit movie will be Billy Madison. It’s a $5-plus donation for Fences for Fido, a nonprofit, all-volunteer group that, among other things, builds fences and shelters for those who can’t afford it so their dogs don’t have to be chained out in the elements. 

I went last month for The Blues Brothers, because I always have and always will hate Illinois Nazis. It’s in the basement of the building with an A on it. It’s a very informal setup—not an actual theatre—but it’s comfortable and has decent sound. So come on out for a silly movie and help improve the life of a pup. Click here for the Facebook event page, where you can RSVP.

So that I’m not completely trapped in my Lefty news bubble, I make sure I check out at least Yahoo! News every day. Today something caught my eye—yes, something besides the L.A./Valley fires and Swine Flu(!). In among the “most e-mailed” stories was this headline:
Video shows chicks ground up alive at egg hatchery

Oh, it’s in the “most viewed” too. The story’s about an undercover video of a hatchery. In addition to a couple of chicks on the floor (a violation that worries the company, probably because they don’t want their workers tripping over a chick), you see the unfortunate byproduct of the egg industry: baby boy chickens. These chicks are killed because they’re too expensive to raise for meat and they don’t lay eggs. It’s a pretty horrific practice in my eyes, but it’s accepted as the standard method and the industry has no problem with it. Even your “happy,” cage-free baby boys gotta go somehow.

Again, to that guy who knows a farmer who never kills baby chicks, I get it. But this is industrial farming. This is how the vast majority of America’s food is produced. This is why many of us go vegan in the first place, because we don’t want to contribute to practices like these. 

So…with this story being so widely viewed (the link to the video is at the bottom of the story), what sort of effect do you think this’ll have on the egg industry? Yeah, I don’t think so either.

Awesome idea. Whether you’re not home or unconscious due to smoke inhalation, the firefighters will know you’ve got critters in your apartment. In my building of more than 100 units, I think the doors would be completely covered. But we live in a super-new building with sprinklers and big automatic fire doors and stuff, so fingers crossed, I guess. Or everyone could have one on their individual doors, which would also help in the case of repairfolk. Hmmm.

On to the food! My first full day there, after accompanying my mom to a couple of medical institutions, we headed to (where else?!) Chicago Diner for take-out and shot down LSD to Navy Pier, where this friggin’ bird would not leave us alone. Others came and went, but he just sat there, fluffin’ his feathers, lettin’ out a little birdy bark now and then. Nope, I didn’t share, no matter how he begged. It’s Navy Pier, there’s tons of stuff for him to eat.

So here’s the basic Chicago Diner burger. I can’t believe I’ve never had one before. It’s pretty tomato-y (think Field Roast) and tangy, and between that and the mound of sweet potato fries, I could only eat half. (But the rest was great for dinner!) My mom got the black bean burger but she put—gasp!—real cheese on it so I refused to photograph it. She also got through about half, which is pretty darn good for her. She got the potatoes and said they were perfect. As if the food we couldn’t get through wasn’t enough, we also split a strawberry shake. Since we weren’t at the restaurant and didn’t have a menu in front of us, I freaked out a little over the shake. It was so rich and creamy and soy-taste-less that I started to wonder if it was vegan. Today, if I were to drink a dairy shake, I imagine it’d give me quite the tummyache. Oh, I kept drinking it. When I got home, I checked. The shakes are indeed vegan. How do they do it?!

I went back to Chicago Diner with a friend later in the week. I’d told them about Veggie Thing, and how the ravioli had made it to the Top Choices page, so Chef Kim said the next time I was in, dessert was on her. Oh my friggin’ frig. This is the Raspberry Mocha, and it’s not really that pink. That’s just how the photo turned out. Whatever, I like it. And that’s my friend Amy on the other side of it. She’s omni, but she dug into that thing as fiercely as I did. Again, how do they do it?!

And on to Green Zebra. I cannot tell you how amazing this dish was. Looks totally simple, right? It’s slow-roasted shitakes and cabbage in crispy potato, like a spring roll, in a broth with more shitakes and cabbage. As you can see, there’s not much here, so it killed me to give up a single bite, but I had to share with my friend so she could experience the savory roundhouse kick this thing was hiding in its little crispy potato wrapper.

Green Zebra is vegetarian, aside from one seafood dish, and they have at least one vegan item per course. They’re small plates and they will cost you. If you’ve got the tummyspace, the $55 tasting menu is actually worth it. I ended up spending almost that on a cocktail (rum, berries, and mint), this, a side of grilled corn on the cob, regular ol’ coffee, and dessert. Worth it.

And what was for dessert? Blueberry strudel, peach granita, sliced peaches, and candied pecans. The flavors all worked amazingly together, and it was the perfect size. It was the perfect end to a perfect meal. If you’re in Chicago and have an excuse or an expense account…

Finally, an old favorite from the omni days, Leona’s. They’re sprinkled throughout the city, and apparently my parents live in close-enough suburbs to have one near them too! We met my brother for lunch, and while he got a grease-drippin’ meatburger, I got the Big Fat Vegan Burger. You never know what you’re going to get when you order the vegan burger. If it doesn’t say Boca or Gardenburger, you could get one of those squishy things that you end up eating with a fork. Not today, my friends. This held up pretty well, and it tasted like stuffing. My mom didn’t believe me so I gave her a taste. Agreed. Thanks-friggin’-givin’ stuffing. With roasted mushrooms and onions on this pretzel roll, I was in burger-lovin’ heaven. Again, only made it through half and the rest became dinner. Thank you, old friend, for having this for me.

So that’s it. Last Chicago round-up. Until next year at least.

Apparently living under the belief that the human-swine-bird flu strain that’s sweepin’ the globe travels by collective unconscious or some other such crap, Egypt has decided to slaughter all its pigs.

Some farmers have refused to cooperate, and Health Ministry workers have thus far left without carrying out orders in those cases. By the way, there have been no cases in Egypt yet. Washing your hands, sneezing or coughing into your elbow, staying home when you’re sick? Sure. Killing 300,000 animals because you’re caught up in hysteria? Way classy, Egypt.

While searching for pig pictures, I found this link—click it for an overdose of cute. Pigs in tiger costumes! (They were being nursed by a tiger.)

Just an excuse to post a picture of Mädchen using my wrist-rest as a pillow. (If I don’t offer a pillow she ends up falling asleep on the Tab or Caps Lock key.)

Actually, there’s a pretty big fight going on over at Huffington Post, over a story on whether it’s safe to feed dogs and cats a vegan diet. No surprise that a lot of the comments are off-topic, just ripping on veganism in general, but some of it’s pretty funny, especially when someone comes in with a bit of research and stops the thread cold.

We all know it’s pretty simple to raise healthy dogs on a vegan diet, but cats are a lot tougher, what with their short-ass digestive tract. I know people manage to keep vegan cats and there are carefully formulated vegan cat foods out there, but I just can’t do it—if that strips me of the “vegan” label in your book, so be it. I’d be super neurotic about it, testing her urine pH weekly, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I caused her any sort of malady. Plus she’s got those teeth—them’s flesh-tearin’ teeth. Watching her hunt down the tiniest of flies is amazing. She gets so focused…as if she’d starve without it.

I feed her Evolution vegan kibble to keep her teeth clean and moist organic poultry and fish (I did give her Evolution moist food to try but she wouldn’t go near it). And I’m seriously considering adding some raw poultry to the equation. I’ve seen it frozen in little serving sizes, so you just thaw it and make sure any uneaten portion is not left out—it’s expensive, but it’s cheaper than raising a kid. 

Maybe if I were vegan 13 years ago I would have gotten a guinea pig or some other herbivore (are there many guinea pigs in shelters?), but Mädchen’s been my pal for a long time and I hope she’ll be around for a long time.

And LightLife and Morningstar Farms have agreed to further reduce their egg use in 2009. For LightLife that means five new vegan products.

So our e-mails work.

I also saw a great ad from COK’s MTV campaign—the one with the little girl here eating breakfast. In this picture, she’s just about to drop her bacon. I don’t go in for the snuff-style marketing because I don’t know how effective it is, and I think the plain offering-up of some facts in an interesting way could flip the switch just as easily.

Also, images of mistreated animals can be dismissed as cherry-picked, as though it’s not standard practice. Someone eating oranic, free-range animal products can easily shrug it off with the “knowledge” that their consuption doesn’t lead to misery. I’m glad the videos are around (aside from the fact that the conditions exist), but that might be step 2, when the person sees the ad and says, “I need to know more about this.” I don’t know if some little kid out there watching videos (does MTV still play videos?) should see the violence of a chicken being debeaked or hanging by its feet.

They tried to take his rocks away. They tried to lock him up so he didn’t have rock-collecting time. Didn’t help. The ONLY POSSIBLE solution they could come to was to castrate him…which they did last fall and will find out come June or July, his peak aggro time, if it did the trick. Speaking of testicles, it looks like Santino’s the only male chimp; I wonder how males in the past have handled this place.

Didn’t they think maybe this wasn’t the best place for Santino? Transition to a new home would be disturbing, sure, but he seems to be dealing with disturbance all the friggin’ time here.

I went online to learn more about Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo—turns out it’s not really a zoo like we think of zoos (I grew up with Brookfield). Unfortunately, I couldn’t get much info from the website because my English and limited German only get me so far in this big, big world of ours, but this is a zoo, a circus, an amusement park, a pool, and a place of lodging. Maybe it’s really, really big so the animals don’t have to listen to kids on rides all day. But even at well-set-up zoos (I’ll get into my feelings about zoos at a later date), the number of idiotic humans is astounding. I can only imagine what happens when the kids come here to swim and go on rides and eat sugary treats, then “Hey, there’s some monkeys we can squeal at!”

I admit, I have a soft spot for chimpanzees (even softer for bonobos). These fellas laugh, play, mourn, and apparently plan for war. Now, there’s speculation as to whether this particular chimp is a genius. The question is moot. He’s obviously smart enough to let us know he’s upset with his surroundings, and as humans, we can help him find new surroundings. Was there no other sanctuary or preserve willing to take him, or did they not bother asking and just start snipping?

In captivity, chimps have been known to live to 60—it makes me pretty dern sad to think that Santino’s only halfway through this bullshit. I know, I know, other chimps have it much, much worse. But this was in the news and I felt like commenting on it today.

So I’ve had my grumblings over PETA (as have many of us), but they done made me giggle today. The above banner is from their sea kittens campaign to make over the fish image. You can go on the site and dress up different fish in kitten (or biker) costumes—I kinda wish there were more kitten costume choices and less stuff like “German mustache,” because when was the last time you saw a kitty (even a German one) with a big ol’ mustache?

Fish aren’t cute. Some are beautiful and exotic, but you can’t hug a fish. People don’t often count fish as “meat.” I know it was one of the last things I gave up going veg. And it’s easy to dismiss their tiny brains as not capable of emotion and other characteristics people use to decide whether an animal is edible or lovable. The truth is I don’t know if fish feel fear and pain in the way we do. I’ve been told they can and I’ve been told they can’t. I’m not a fish and if I were I couldn’t tell you because I’d be a fish and fish can’t talk. But it’s still humans exploiting another species unnecessarily. (I’m not even going to get in to how our fishing practices have damaged the waters…or how our water practices have poisoned the fish.)

I don’t know how much I project human emotions onto the animals I don’t eat. I might do it. If you’ve never watched an elephant funeral procession, I gotta tell ya, it sure does look like a human one. But I’m not going to not eat elephant because of that. I’m going to not eat elephant because I don’t have to. The same as I’m not going to eat cow because I don’t have to. And I’m not going to eat fish because I don’t have to.

Sea kittens, man, sea kittens.

I just saw this story on The Raw Story and was taken aback, which is rare. (And as with all the other animal abuse videos, I don’t think watching it is going to help me.) Rhinestones on sunglasses and crappy economic policies aren’t the only things that came back from the 80s. Apparently so has the need to fight for the baby harp seal.

I remember when I was pretty young my mom telling me about the evils of fur, and I remember stickers or buttons or both featuring baby harp seals—she probably donated some cash to the cause—and then it seemed to go away. The stigma had its effect on fashion and it took a few decades for this little trend to pop its fugly head up over in Russia and Poland.

You know what, hunters, I’m really sorry that regulations and distaste for your particular brand of slaughter could cost you a job. Things are tough all over, man. Find something else to do.

Here’s a link to IFAW’s seal hunt page, which I stole the picture from. They’re not just looking for cash. There’s also an e-mail you can send to Canada’s Prime Minister. And check out the rest of the IFAW site—they’re lookin’ out for a whole mess o’ critters, not just the übercute ones.