Wordless Wednesday: One vegan monkey, jumping on the bed

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!

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!

Vegan Finds at the Airport: Charlotte International & Bradley International Airports

Last month I had a whirlwind trip to Connecticut. On both legs of the trip, I had a connection in Charlotte, North Carolina.

A true vegan always travels prepared, even for last minute trips. I had brown rice cakes and airport-approved squeezy packets of peanut butter on hand. (Banana not pictured.)

Since it was an early flight, fresh-squeezed orange juice from Jamba Juice sounded heavenly.

On the return trip, while strolling around Bradley International, waiting for my flight, I was happy to find a display of vegan cookies, dried fruit snacks, and even a little vegan snack kit.

Back in Charlotte for my connecting flight, I picked up a fresh carrot juice from Jamba Juice

and staked out the rocking chair area. This is my favorite part of the Charlotte airport, and depending on the time of day you're there, a open rocking chair can be very hard to find. Ya gotta keep your head on a swivel!

Patience pays off eventually.

Flashback: October 2008 - Autumn in New England

I recently had to dig through hundreds of picture folders, trying to find a specific shot, and was immediately caught up on Memory Lane. I've been focusing a lot on food on the blog lately, and will really be focusing on food in November, so I'm going to post a flashback entry of a big road trip I took two years ago. Specifically, since it's timely, some time we spent in Connecticut and upstate New York.

First up, a visit to Pumpkin Town in East Hampton, CT. We saw a commercial for this place while visiting my grandparents and thought it looked like a cheesy good time. It was.

Arnold Squashenagger, lifting pumpkin weights



A slew of other gourd-geous characters.












From Connecticut, we made our way through upstate New York, hoping to enjoy a lot of peak fall foliage.


Lake George area

Prospect Mountain










And for our final hurrah in New York: Niagara Falls (the US side only because I didn't have a passport yet).



BLACK SQUIRREL!!!


I'm gettin' misty over here!




This concludes the autumny, New Englandy flashback. I may post a couple more of these before Vegan MoFo starts (less than a week to go!).