Becoming a Vegan Food Critic

Me and Den were talking today about my future and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Although I am currently working at a community college in the library, I'm not sure if this is what I can really see myself doing for the next thrity or so years. I asked Den said what is something I excel at, something I do better than anyone else and his response was simple: be a vegan food critic. While initally I was hesistant considering that there's not a large amount of people professing to be professional vegan food critcs; I realized that he did have a valid point. We do travel alot and  have had the opportunity to eat at various wonderful vegan restaurants as well as the fact that I have a background in Enlgish and grammar so this so help with my reviews as well.  I look forward to any comments you have regarding my reviews and happy reading and happy eating!

Vegnews and photo controversy

Sorry I have haven't written in a while but after reading Quarrygirl's and Babe in Soyland's responses to the fact the Vegnews magazine has been using non vegan stock photos and photoshopping them to make them appear vegan, I've decided to add my own opinion in regards to this upsetting development. Keep in mind that what follows is my opinion only so you can feel free to agree to disagree with me.Although I'm sad that Vegnews has been using stock photos made with non vegan ingredients, I'm still going to support the magazine because it is the only vegan periodical out there. While I've read Vegetarian Times in the past, it seemed boring ,clinical and serious Vegnews is a more fun and informative read. People should realize that anytime you see a photo in a magazine, it's highly likely that it has been altered in some way. I think Vegnews can save face and regain some dignity by hiring vegan photographers and apologizing for their error. I love reading the magazine and hope that they can fix this issue in a timely manner before they lose anymore online and print subscribers.

Happy Vegan Pizza Day!

I know it's been forever since I've posted, life's gotten a little crazy but now I'm back to write about celebrating the first annual vegan pizza day. This holiday was created by fellow vegan blogger Quarrygirl and Chicago Soy Dairy and I was totally excited be able to celebrate eating vegan pizza. Yesterday me and my hubby celebrated by going to some place new for vegan pizza in Valencia. While we usually go to Whole Foods for my vegan pizza fix, I had heard great things about Tomato Joe's so we decided to celebrate vegan pizza day there.Although I've never tried the brand of vegan cheese they use (follow your heart), I was excited to try something new and hoped that Tomato Joe's wouldn't disappoint.

Once we got there, we decided to order the Sally's Secret Garden pizza with artichoke hearts instead of green peppers, added veggie chicken and had it on the beer battered crust. Here's a photo of this pizza perfection!

Oh my gawd I can't tell you how good this pizza was. I went with the promise to eat only two slices and keep two for tomorrow but once we started eating, we didn't stop till the pizza was all gone (I know, we're so bad;-) Here's a photo of me enjoying the Sally's Secret Garden pizza (please forgive me for looking so geeky)

and here's a photo of my hubby enjoying the pizza:

Even though my husband is vegetarian, he really liked the follow your heart cheese as did I. I liked that the beer battered crust was flaky yet crispy and the flavors were incredible. We'll definitely be going back there soon!

Enter to win $40 vegan essentials gift certificate at Vegan and so forth blog

Jenny at Vegan and so forth is having a give away to win a $40 vegan essentials gift certficate. If you've never shopped at this online store, you're definitely missing out because they have TONS of awesome vegan stuff from food and books to clothes and housewares. Enough reading, go enter already!

I'm profiled in The People Project and Saturn Cafe now has vegan pancakes!

I'm happy to see that my profile is on The People Project website at veganvoice.org. The purpose of the people project is to show people from different races and countries that are vegan as well as show the various reasons why people decide to become vegan. It's a great website and I definitely recommend submitting to it.

In other news, I just read from one of the many blogs that I follow that Saturn Cafe is now offering vegan french toast and pancakes. Score!!! I've been craving pancakes for a while now and can't wait to taste what Saturn Cafe has to offer.

My first vegan festival (with photos)

After months of reading about the upcoming World Veg Festival in San Francison, Den decided to indulge me and take me there. We went to festival yesterday and it was so much fun, I can't wait for it to come around next year. The World Veg Festival was a two day event filled with vegetarian and vegan speakers, various food vendors and San Franciso's first ever vegan fashion show. I was super excited because I got to take photos with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Rory Freedman, author of the Skinny Bitch books series! I also ate way too many samples and bought more cookbooks to add to my collection.Without further ado, here are some photos from the festival.



Collen Patrick-Goudreau & me




Vegan rice krispie treat and smores cheesecake square



Dr. Joel Fuhrman &  his sister



Banana leaf tamale and vegan taquitos



Den pinkine promising Rory to he'll try veganism for a month



Author Rory Freedman and me

If you'd like to see all the pics I took, check out my flickr feed at flickr.com/photos/bamalibrarylady.

I've been a bad, bad blogger

I'm sorry I haven't written in such a long time, we've been extremely busy traveling and trying to get settled in after having moved to California. Travelwise, we left from drove from Huntsville, Alabama to Bakersfield, then from Bakersfield to Columbia, South Carolina for my mother in laws family reunion then me and Den took a trip from Columbia to Huntsville and Huntsville to Wahsington, D.C. then returned back to Huntsville and finally drove back to Bakersfield. The next week, we went on our yearly trip to Adventist Campmeeting in Soquel, California. It was fun but tiring considering we hadn't really had time to relax after our cross country trip.

Now that all my traveling's over (unless it's for a job interview), I have time to clean up our new digs. It's proving to be an uphill battle but I know with persistent, I can succeed. I am also happy that the 29th will be my veganversay;I can't believe I've been vegan for a whole year-it's been rocky but completely worth it! I did partake of some extremely delicious foods during my travels so try not drool too much on your computer while looking at the photos:-) I'll post some more photos later.

Cupcakes- Sticky Fingers Bakery, Washington, D.C.

BBQ Tofu-RP Tracks, Memphis, Tennessee

Vegan veggie pizza- Whole Foods, Atlanta, Georgia

Greek Tofu Scramble-Dharama's Restuarant, Capitola, California