1st Annual CT Veg Fest

To say last Friday through Sunday were "busy" would be an understatement, but I truly enjoyed my entire time with the 1st Annual Connecticut Veg Fest. Since I was volunteering at the event, I didn't catch every speaker or visit every booth or snap many pictures, but I do have some highlights to share.

* I was primarily running the CT Veg Fest Facebook page over the weekend, and the buzz and excitement was so much fun to track! New 'likes' rolling in by the minute, tags and shares, it was great to watch the anticipation mount.

* I met some really great people who were also volunteering. It was fun to chat with vegan people from the area. Some were very interested in what the Tampa scene is like, and I was happy to write down resources and tips for anyone who asked. Community is huge to me (in so many ways) and I feel so blessed to have found such an amazing one here in Tampa.

* Entrance to the two-day festival was free with the donation of a vegan, healthy food donation for area food banks and chapters of Food Not Bombs. People were SO generous! This picture is just from the first day.

* I was able to sit in on a talk from Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan from Our Hen House. I love their site and podcasts and I was really excited to meet them afterward. Even though I've been veg/vegan for a long time (feels like my entire life, at this point), I love hearing the perspective and stories of other vegans. Everyone's journey is different. I hope I can catch the OHH gals again.

* I met the sassy Chef AJ over the weekend. I unfortunately was only able to catch part of her Sunday morning food demo, but what I did catch resonated with me because I truly feel that I have a sugar/chocolate addiction. On Saturday, AJ told me she really loved my hair and asked if I would bring my hair wax in on Sunday. Sunday afternoon, I styled her hair. She gave me a signed copy of her book, Unprocessed, and wrote a lovely message inside of it. Chef AJ is a hoot and I truly hope to cross paths with her again soon! I can't wait to dive into her book.

* I was amused to meet TWO other Florida vegans in Hartford for the festival! One is a well-known gal that I met at Tampa Bay Veg Fest last October, author Ellen Jaffe Jones.

Unfortunately, I missed Ellen's talk AND demo on Sunday, but it's okay -- I already know she's fabulous!

The other is a woman named Joy who runs Earth Balance Bag, making "tree-free bags from stone."

Seriously cute stuff. She even enlisted Ringing art school alumni to design some of the bags! Earth-friendly AND local!

* There were two classic cases of snooze & lose for yours truly. Saturday morning, another volunteer and I made the rounds to quickly check out the vendors while we had time. I foolishly thought that I could go back later (even a day later) and still find certain things. Tsk, tsk. The first case of this is with Taza chocolate.

So yeah, what I was saying earlier about chocolate... Maybe it's for the best that I didn't end up buying anything from Taza! But let me tell ya, the salted almond and vanilla bean damn near killed me with deliciousness.

The second case of Snooze & Lose happened at the Compassion Company t-shirt table. I think I first heard of them while helping with CT Veg Fest earlier in the year, saw their website, thought they had cool stuff, and looked forward to seeing them at the festival. By the time I came around again on Sunday, they were out of my size. Good thing I can order online! Seriously, how stinkin' cute are these shirts?!

* Vegucated was hosting screenings on both Saturday and Sunday. It drew big crowds and a lot of people were talking about it afterward and on Facebook.

* These gals from The Fanciful Fox and I became fast friends. Their products filled the entire hall with the most amazing, comforting smells. It was like aromatherapy.

Looking forward to seeing them at Summerfest!

* Heaps more great vegan peeps were at the festival, but I couldn't catch 'em all. There were bumps in the road, though, but we all learned from it. All I can say for sure is that everyone who attended the fest LOVED it and they are very excited for next year, which I anticipate to be even bigger and better.

When all else fails, find a Thai restaurant

Thursday evening, finally touched down in Connecticut, Ani with the CT Veg Fest picked me up from the airport. We were both starving, but neither of us were terribly familiar with vegan-friendly restaurants in Hartford. We bounced a couple of ideas back and forth, until I said, "Do you like Thai food?"

"I LOVE Thai food!"

"Let's get Thai then." A quick Google search and we were on our way.

Folks, you can ALWAYS count on Thai food. If you can't agree on where to eat with someone, or Happy Cow isn't yielding many (or any) results, or you're in an unfamiliar area, look up a Thai restaurant. This has served me well in Des Moines, Iowa, and Middle-of-Nowhere, Idaho, and everywhere in between. Just make sure the vegetarian dishes don't contain fish sauce and you should be golden.

The man with the convention center called while we were in the car and he highly recommended a place to us - Tamarind Grill - and gave us turn by turn directions. I've seen a lot of pretentious-looking eateries in the Hartford area before and I wondered if this place would be similar, all fancy-pants and overpriced. I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

We started with edamame and a pot of High Mountain Green Tea. $3.50 for a pot, plus refills, is a darn good deal.

Normally when I'm at a Thai restaurant, I have a hard time straying from Panang curry or some kind of peanut sauce, but I went with the Mango Tofu this time. Something about reading "famous mango sauce," made me think I should try it. I'm so glad I did.

This was great! I can see why the mango sauce is "famous." I was particularly taken by the tofu, though. They were like tofu fries: long pieces of tofu, fried until perfectly crispy.

Ani ordered the Phatt Ruom Mitt, which is sauteed vegetables with tofu in a brown garlic sauce.

Great mix of vegetables in a savory (with a touch of sweet) garlic sauce.

$10 a plate for generous portions is nothing to share a stick at, either. (Is that how the saying goes?)

Ani and I had lots of festival things to talk about over dinner. I was very excited about the weekend!

Dashing Through Detroit

Thursday was a long day of travel to Connecticut.

For starters, I woke up at the last minute. Thankfully, the majority of my packing had been finished the night before (or, technically, very early that morning, which resulted in very little sleep). I was very disciplined and didn't DARE open my laptop to check email or Facebook. I just plowed through an accelerated version of my morning routine, crammed my stuff into the car, and left for the airport right on time.

Within 30 seconds of driving, I thought, Oh crap. Rush hour.

Rush hour doesn't really exist in my world as I'm never on the interstate or on busy roads during that time of morning. But indeed, rush hour is a thing, and I was about to hit it.

Thankfully, the traffic lessened once I got to the feared interstate. It wasn't as speedy as I would have liked, but I made it the airport right on time. I was feeling good, riding on this wave of just-barely-making-it.

Parked the car. Hopped on the shuttle. Zippin' along on the tram. And then I felt like I walked into a brick wall: As I stepped off the tram, I found myself staring at a security line that looked like a thousand people deep. I looked at my phone; my flight was scheduled to leave in 30 minutes.

Totally. Screwed.

I felt a little anxious for a few minutes, but I'm pretty zen about derailments in the day like this, so once I realized how slowly the line was moving, I just breathed and accepted that I would be missing my flight, for the first time ever. I was moderately concerned that I would get charged something to rebook, but again, I wasn't going to worry about it until I made it through security.

I was somewhere between half-way and two-thirds of the way through the line when Delta agents came looking for me and several other people who had checked in for the flight, but hadn't boarded. With only two security lanes open for all of these people and the Delta agents wielding no leverage, we couldn't get through the line any quicker. By the time I got to the gate, I was exactly five minutes too late. I was rebooked for another flight, departing in two hours, with a connection in Detroit instead of Atlanta, bringing me to Bradley a little over two hours later than scheduled. I was very thankful for TIA's free wifi, as it allowed me to get some work done during that two-hour wait.

Then came all the pain and annoyance of hauling an uncomfortable and painfully heavy carry-on bag all over the place and stinky people on the flight. Before I boarded to Detroit, one of the handles on my carry-on bag tore clean off. By the time I got to Detroit, I was dragging the monstrosity on the floor by the shoulder strap, it hurt too much to sling it over my shoulder.

So there I was, dragging that beast behind me through the airport, feeling ultra groggy and a little annoyed about the distance between gates, when I came upon a lovely fountain. The way the water shot out made it look like thin glass tubes flying through the air.

I stood and watched it for a few minutes. I took one lousy picture and thought about trying to take another when I looked over and saw this.

A color-changing light show within a walkway, set to ambient music.

Needless to say, this kept me good and occupied for probably 15 minutes. It took people-watching to an all-new, colorful level and amusing level. It was the highlight of the day's journey!

More to come!

Help Wanted

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's post is about two different events that could use some support.

First up, the first annual Connecticut Veg Fest (for which I've been tele-volunteering) is happening on April 28th and 29th at the Hartford Convention Center. The festival is still accepting applications for sponsors and vendors, as well as accepting donations for their huge raffle. They are also in great need of VOLUNTEERS! If you can contribute in any way, check out their website and Facebook page, and please spread the word about the event. (Once their Facebook page reaches 200 fans, they'll be doing a random giveaway!)

The other event is an online event. An online vegan bake sale, to be exact. The folks behind the Peace To All Creatures zine is hosting a charity bake sale on March 18th & 19th, with all profits being split between four animal charities: Animal Coalition of Tampa, Darlynn's Darlins (which I've blogged about HERE), Dogs for the Deaf, and Friends of Arlington Animal Services. How does the online bake sale work? Refer to THIS POST HERE. This online bake sale is seeking BAKERS to donate vegan baked goods for the bake sale. Spreading the word will also help make this bake sale successful.

Thank you for spreading the word!