Left Feet in Vancouver tomorrow.

I had a wonderful time tonight hanging out with my buddy Steve of Left Feet. He'll be in Vancouver tomorrow night and is moving his way across Canada showing off his shoes, so check his website for details, he may be coming to a town near you. I have to say it's pretty great to actually see and touch the shoes, rather then just look at photos on the internet. You realize what great quality they are.

Left Feet's on-line store will be up and running very soon. Are you excited my Canadian friends? Think about it... no more duty or broker fees. OH! I'm so excited to get my hands on those red wonder woman boots!

I'm be in Van this weekend for the Burlesque Goes North festival. I'm taking photos for The Capital City Cheesecake Girls so if I push you out of the way so I can stand at the front of the stage, don't get mad. I'm wee. I don't take up much room at all, in fact you'll probably be able to see right over me, if my afro doesn't get in the way. :)

See you there?

There's been a venue change for opening night. Details here: Due to capacity restrictions, we are changing venues for our BURLESQUE GOES NORTH Opening Bash!

Friday December 1st
ROYALE BANQUET HALL
2122 Kingsway @ Victoria
(1 block East of Victoria)
$15 Cover, Doors @ 8pm, 9:30pm Showtime

Oh yeah. I forgot to say that Steve gave me some stuff to give-a-way so when I get back on Monday we'll have a contest of some kind. :)

Have a nice weekend!!
I'll miss you.

The Pontani Sisters

Got a funny little note today from Angie Pontani of The Pontani Sisters.

Hi Sarah!
So I'm sitting in a diner in Vermont and the woman at the table next to me says, "Excuse me, but are you Sarah Kramer, the fabulous Vegan Cook Book Queen"!

I said no, and she said, "Well you sure look alike!"

I love it!! I wish I looked as good in leopard as she does. ROAR!

Tofu Roast just keeps on giving...

Got a great e-mail today! :)
For those of you who don't know... the Tofu Roast recipe is in La Dolce Vegan.
xoxo
SARAH

Hi Sarah,
I was inspired by the girl who posted pictures of
the tofu roast a few weeks ago, and decided to make it
for Thanksgiving. It was sooooooo good, and not nearly
as difficult as I thought it would be. I just had to
send some pictures too (no real close-ups, sorry)
surrounded with roasted pumpkin. Even though no-one
else in my family is vegan, they all loved everything
I made, including roasted root vegetables, mashed
potatoes, gravy, haricorts vert with almonds, extra
stuffing, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie,
apple-cranberry crisp and ginger cookies - all vegan,
all yum. Vegan food is something to be thankful for!
Jennifer





I also did a quick google for tofu roast posts and found THIS and THIS ... I LOVE IT!

What is wrong with my dog?

I have never met a dog who liked snow more than Fergus. He won't walk on the path, but insists on walking through the snow bluffs. He never wants to come inside. He is LOVING the snow.




Then we have to come home and spend 20 minutes rinsing off the "snow balls" in the tub. *laugh*

Holy Crap!

Wowzers.
Woke up to this...

Victoria does not do well under snow pressure. *laugh* The buses are not running and the schools are closed and they are advising everyone to stay home because people drive like such maniacs here when it snows. SLOW DOWN! Speeding up only makes things worse!!

I'm thinking I should probably go get some groceries.

It sure is a nice change from the rain, let me tell you. Reminds me of when I lived in Saskatchewan... almost makes me miss it.

In other news. I won a Veg News Veggie Award for Favorite Column for I Can't Believe It's Vegan! So thank you so much to all of you who voted.

I have 2 copies of Veg News. Congrats to Ariane and Amberly for winning the magazines!

I'm off to forage for food.
Wish me luck.

snow day

White out!

Woke up this morning to a blanket of snow!!
I know ... I know... it's just snow for most of you but for us in Victoria, snow doesn't happen very often in this part of the woods.
Needless to say Fergus is VERY stoked.He loves to eat, snuffle, run, roll and get crazy in it. We had a very wet, very snowy, very cold time at the park today.

If you listen carefully you can hear the sound of me falling on my ass... I only own rubber boots, and let me tell you they are slippery in the snow. :)

The Hundreds and Thousands

My buddy Maury (the busiest musician in the Toronto) of The Monkey Bunch and The Supers fame and who also plays with K-os and Jann Arden is in another band called The Hundreds and Thousands. You can check them out at myspace...

Love it!! I hope they put up some more songs soon!

They are playing a gig at The Horseshoe on Friday Nov 24th. They go on at 9:45. If you're in Toronto (you lucky bastards) then go check them out and tell Maury I sent you!

Nothing much going on with me. I've been keeping a low profile and working on a writing project that I've been working on for the last 6-7 years. Ugh. I wonder if it will ever see the light of day.

I also have been helping the girls at the Capital City Cheescake Burlesque Review get ready for their show in Vancouver in Dec. Should be a lot of fun.

I hope all you American readers have a lovely and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

The Victoria Vegan

My buddy Dave at Friends of Animals has started newsletter called The Victoria Vegan focusing on and celebrating veganism and vegan living with tips and tricks about living in Victoria and the surrounding area.

The first 4 people to e-mail me their mailing address will get one in the mail!! Or you can download the newsletter HERE or get a subscription HERE.

In other news... one of my photos was used for an article in Discorder Magazine for an article about Margaret Thrasher (who doesn't seem to have a website).

My cooking demo at Canzine was also covered and there is mention of me and a terribly funny fuzzy photo of me doing the demo. So get a copy and point and laugh at it for me.

K-os

Went and saw K-os play last night. My friend Maury of The Supers and The Monkey Bunch fame plays bass in his band.
What a fantastic show. K-os is a national treasure. :)

Random myspace picture

I said I'd never myspace but now I love myspace. Lord help me. Are you my friend yet?

I love random myspace pictures like this. :)
This has inspired me to have a contest!! I want you to send in a creative, silly, naked or hilarious photo of you and the cookbooks. I'll post them in the blog and a panel of expert judges (me, Gerry & Fergus) will pick our favourite photo and they'll win a cute little prize (to be announced later). Send LOW RES pictures here: sarah@govegan.net

Photos must be in by Nov 30th and a winner will be announced soon after.

ok ok wait

Ok
I've had some time to think about things and I think I need to move Stranger Than Fiction into a different catagory.

Perfect movies that I only want to see once because if I see it again it might remove some of the magic I felt when I saw it the first time.

Other movies that are in that list are:
Adaptation
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love

Stranger than Fiction

Went and saw Stranger Than Fiction last night. Don't let the trailers fool you into thinking it's a Will Ferrell goofy comedy. It's a lovely, smart, funny, touching movie. The attention to detail. The story. The cast. The acting. The scenery out the window. Everything. Perfect.

I'm going to go out on a limb and put it on my list of perfect movies. There's not many movies I think of as perfect:

Amelie. Perfect.
Raging Bull. Perfect.
Wizard of Oz. Perfect.
Corrina, Corrina. Might sound crazy... but it's perfect.

What's your perfect movie?

Tofu Roast

My buddy Kim alerted me to her Live Journal post about the La Dolce Vegan Tofu Roast she made.

I'm so proud of her for trying such a daunting recipe. :)

Hi hi hi

CHEEMO!
How are you?
First off... someone sent a LARGE file to sarah@govegan.net and it ****ed up my inbox so I had to delete my entire inbox and start again. If it was you... don't send me large ass files. :) And by the way. I have no idea what you sent because I had to delete the file because my inbox was ****ed up. Don't re-send it. Just e-mail me and "use your words" to describe what it was you were sending me. :)

Anyhoo.
It's wet here. SO WET! Winter is officially here and it is WET! All the blinds are open and every single light is on and it still feels dark in here. Fergus won't get out of bed and the wind last night was so crazy it woke me up. I thought for sure a window was going to smash. Yikes. LOOK at how gloomy it is.

Whoops. I lied.
As I was writing this post, the sun popped out and Fergus and I ran to the park to get some exercise. I could see another rain cloud looming so we managed to get about 40 minutes of sunshine before it started pouring again. Ugh. The rain is killing me!!

Gerry and I watched a fantastic movie the other night called Souvenir of Canada and it is loosely based on Douglas Coupland's Canada books. Not only is it a fun look at what makes Canada Canadian but it also is a little peek into Douglas Coupland's amazing brain. He is my hero!!

I highly recommend renting/buying this dvd. Run. Now! Before it starts raining again.

sniffles

I'd just like you to know - that by not posting for two days - you've completely thrown my world off-kilter.
Just so you know.


Sorry kids.
I have the sniffles so I've been snoozing on the couch trying to chase it away... so while I'm recovering why not "get fit" by watching this video.

Attack of the killer Parkas!

Dark...

It's so dark here in Victoria. Our glorious fall is over and we have moved into the dark gray clouds of winter and non-stop rain. I have all the blinds open. Every single light on in the house... and it still feels dark. If this is an indication of what winter is going to be like this year. I want to leave.
Fergus loves his new parka... keeps most of him dry. If he'd only wear the hood then his face wouldn't get so wet. I don't think he likes to have his ears covered. We went to the lake the other day for a walk... got some nice shots. The only time I enjoy the rain is walking through the woods...

This soup makes me feel cozy and hopeful on cold damp days like today.
Enjoy.
xoxo
SARAH

Raunch Red Lentil Soup
This warm thick soup should be served over a scoop of basmati rice.

1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup dried red lentils
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 inch fresh ginger, finely grated
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

In a medium soup pot on medium heat, saute the onions in oil until translucent. Add the garlic and jalapeño and saute for an additional 5 minutes. Add the stock, lentils, turmeric, cumin, salt and ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover with lid and simmer for 5 minutes or until the lentils are tender. With a hand blender or food processor blend half or all of the soup until smooth (be careful when blending hot liquids); return to the pot and stir in the tomatoes and cilantro. Cover with lid, remove from heat, and let stand for 2-3 minutes before serving.

Makes 2 large or 4 small servings.

Taken from LA DOLCE VEGAN (GoVegan.net)

journal

Found a page out of someone's journal on the road the other day... It's really weird. This is my favourite part of the entry which is about this person who went on a trip with a friend (not sure if they are romantic or just buddies). Names have been changed...

"The water is beautifully soft! Sally dropped my camera and broke it and also the film fell out. I got angry at her again. Bought Sally a small steak for dinner and she kept eating it with her hands and I got angry at her again."

AHHH AHA HA.
What? I thought it was funny.

Poor Sally. She dropped the camera twice. Lost the hotel key. Went swimming in the fountain in front of the court house and eats steak with her hands. Sally sounds like a nut job to me.