Dancing Down the Moon

Hurrah for VeganMoFo!

I honestly don't mean to slight my readers, but I'm absolutely swamped right now with social, ritual, and personal obligations.  It's the Witching Season, after all.  I promise after November is over I'll be back on a more regular posting schedule and I'll do my best to keep posting in the meantime.   I know once again I owe several people emails--I'm working on that too!

It's also that time of year when a lot of crazy people attempt to write an entire novel in the month of November.  Yes, it's NaNoWriMo time again, and I'm already sick to death of reading word counts and progress reports.  Needless to say I don't foresee myself ever taking part in the madness.  More power to you guys who participate; I admire your stamina.  This time of year is stressful enough for me without trying to write an entire book.

Taking a cue from the novel-bangers, the vegan blogverse has created a monthlong celebration of cruelty-free cuisine:  Vegan Month of Food, aka VeganMoFo. 

The rules are nonexistent, except that participants are supposed to blog about vegan food.  (See the link for more suggestions)  Since I didn't get in on it in time to do a whole month's worth of writing on the subject, and since as I said I'm busy as all hell, and since this isn't a food blog anyway, I thought I would contribute by sharing my absolute favorite vegan food blogs and websites.  I visit each of these at least once a day if not more often. 

Don't be scared off by the "vegan" label, either--several of these sites have absolutely beautiful food porn and great recipes for anyone, regardless of dietary choice. 

(Just be glad I don't talk about cooking more often here--I could go on for days.  But though I consider veganism an important part of my spiritual path as well as an ideal to which I earnestly aspire, even I think posting recipes on a spirituality blog is pushing it a little, especially considering there are so many great food blogs out there.  I have this nutty idea that one day I'll create a food-and-spirituality blog that will combine three of my passions--food, ahimsa, and Wicca--in their own venue, but I have yet to lose enough of my mind to undertake the project.  Maybe in 2008.)

 

But, as is my custom, I digress.

Sylvan's Favorite Food Blogs and Websites

The Post-Punk Kitchen - Isa Chandra Moskowitz is responsible for the most fantastic cookbooks in the world:  Vegan With a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Her newest work, Veganomicon, is at the very top of my birthday wish list.  She's funny, snarky, and an amazing cook.  Her cupcakes will get you laid.  Honest.  The PPK boasts a recipe index, great forums with lots of cooking advice and food porn, and a blog.

Compassionate Cooks - I've sung the praises of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau many times, and I still can't say enough about her podcast, Vegetarian Food for Thought.  She's also a cookbook author--her new venture, The Joy of Vegan Baking, was named Cookbook of the Year by VegNews magazine.  Colleen is a role model for me in my own struggles to free myself of the animal-based American diet, and moreover she's just an amazing human being.  In addition to the podcast and cookbook, she writes a blog, offers cooking classes, and sells recipe packets from the website.  Oh, and did I mention the cooking DVD?  It's awesome too. 

Fat Free Vegan Kitchen - This blog's author takes such beautiful photographs of her dishes that I practically drool on my monitor.  Has a large recipe index with lots of pics.  She shares both her successes and her less-than-stellar experiments to help aspiring cooks learn from her experiences.  The Balsamic Fudge Drop cookies are slap-your-mama good.  As an added bonus most of the recipes are fat free or nearly so--it may be hard for omnivores to believe given the popular opinion that vegans eat nothing but sprouts and leaves,  but it's as much of a challenge to eat healthily as a vegan as it is for anyone else.  (Especially with Isa's cupcake book out there!)

Vegan YumYum - Another blog with gorgeous photography, including step-by-step tutorials on some recipes. The author has a cookbook coming out at some point in the future.  I haven't been reading this one that long, but I enjoy it quite a bit.

VegWeb - Good Lord.  If you're looking for a vegetarian recipe, it's on here somewhere.  VegWeb has hundreds and hundreds of recipes neatly categorized, and includes a "recipe box" feature so you can save your favorites.  Recipes are reviewed and photographed by users.  There are even sections on non-food recipes for beauty products, household cleansers, and all sorts of other things made cruelty-free.  People who try the recipes often post adaptations and substitutions they try, so you end up with all sorts of variations and new ideas that have been tried and tested.

A Vegan Pagan's Prayer

Lord of the forest and field, Lady of the starlit night,
I acknowledge the truth that for me to live, something must die.
I give thanks for the gift of free will,
And I acknowledge the responsibility that comes with the freedom of choice.

I choose then to abstain from the cycle of unnecessary suffering.
I pledge to be an agent of healing, not a bystander to slaughter.
I say to the animals:
You do not have to suffer and die for me.
I say to the workers:
You do not have to kill for me.
I say to the corporate death machine:
You will no longer profit from my blindness.
I say to the Earth, and to all that is holy,
That though we are taught to feast upon war,
I choose to lay down the sword
And take in peace instead.
I ally myself with Nature, not as her master, but as her child.
I will not claim dominion over that which is wiser than I.

Lord of the forest and field, Lady of the starlit night,
May compassion fulfill and transform me
May I give as You give, may I love as You love
And may my choices bring grace to my life
As You bring grace to the world.

So mote it be.

Don't Just Sit There Bitching...

"Don't do nothing because you can't do everything. Do something. Anything."

~Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

I don't intend this blog to be a platform for me to rant about veganism; it is, however, a place for me to write about my spirituality, and veganism is becoming a very important part of that spirituality, so from time to time ideas and recommendations along those lines will appear here.

I will not burden your eyes with endless diatribes about Why Pagans Should Be Vegetarians or anything like that, partly because I don't take well to being bitched at (and nothing will get people bitching like suggesting they change the way they eat), partly because I do that sort of thing over at my personal blog already, and partly because the self-righteous preaching of other vegans has already turned off enough people--including me. I no longer spend time on vegan forums or other communities due to the fact that a large percentage of vegans are, unfortunately, holier-than-thou assholes (and there's nothing assholes love more than an online forum).