Elijah you're so cute

Is Oprah going vegan??!

"Week One: Monday
Well, I feel like I got baptized in Vegan Land today. Kathy Freston sent her chef, Tal Ronnen, to help me and three friends at Harpo who are doing the 21-day cleanse.

Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. "What's left?" I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes. — Oprah"

Read more: http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/cleanse/blog/blog_2.jhtml

23rd Annual Vegetarian Food Fair

I had a great weekend! On saturday, I had the opportunity to work on LAVA all day, which I don't get to do enough these days now that I'm working full time. On sunday though... Chris, Sarah and I attended the Vegetarian Food Fair in Toronto. What a blast! I really look forward to that fair every year, and I'm so glad I was able to attend after years of being out of the country. We all spent way too much money, but we got amazing deals - the best deal being on Vega protein
powder (thanks to the guys running that booth! They were so fun and friendly!) I learned so much from just 1.5 hours with Brendan Brazier. What a smart guy. I'm so glad that we got to see him speak. I was really hoping to see Sarah Kramer too, but sadly, she had to fly home for a family emergency. Ran into my friend AngelA and her husband Jason who run Taste Better (www.tastebetter.com). They had a bunch of incredible t-shirts and cooking dvds for sale... and the most indulgent, gluttonous part of our weekend happened at the Sweets from the Earth booth. Good lord do they have a ton of dangerously delicious deserts! Chris and I have absolutely no will power when it comes to sugary vegan stuff that's in no way healthy... so we bought a blueberry cheesecake and a carrot cake. YUM!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't broken them open yet... but just wait. When we do I'll be sure to post a photo of myself pigging out.

GO VEGAN

I just recently moved back to Canada to start up a website called LAVA. Leather Alternatives and Vegan Accessories. I believe that there is not only a need for a store in Canada that is 100% vegan and offering all kinds of differents products that vegans have trouble getting elsewhere (ie SHOES!). The goal is to receive questions from readers and post the answers on this blog. That way, all of us vegans can benefit from all the information for free. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or if you just want to say hi, please email me at kellytwomey@gmail.com and I will get back to you.

Right now, I'm just finding out how everything works. I will have the store part of the website done by the end of this year.

I'm really eager to get started though! By becoming vegan you are not only taking a huge step to help a lot of animals, you are also helping our planet. Here are just a few facts on why veganism is good for our planet:

- Rainforest is still being bulldozed to make way for grazing animals, or to make way for crops to feed livestock.
- Storage of massive amounts of manure containing ammonia is the second biggest cause of acid rain (after fossil fuels).
- It takes 1000L of water to produce 1kg of wheat. It takes 100,000L of water to produce 1kg of beef.
- Animal agriculture is extremely inefficient and is a huge contributor of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (greenhouse gases that cause global warming).

Want to read more about it? Please check out http://www.viva.org.uk/guides/planetonaplate.htm

Animal Rights

I don't know if you've noticed... but there are A LOT of groups out there fighting for animal rights. There are protests all the time. Anti-Fur, KFC Boycott, Against the Ring-Ling Circus. I don't necessarily have anything against protests, but I believe that we can accomplish so much more with a positive demonstration. Instead of seeing an Anti-Fur rally, I'd love to see a PRO-faux fur rally. So maybe I should start a group that is based more on positive actions (I'll call it... SpiderLove... what else?). Wasn't it Mother Theresa that said that she would never attend an Anti-war protest, but she would definately attend a pro-peace demonstration? I think Mother Theresa was onto something there. It's the LAW. If we all think peace, we'll get peace. I have never been interested in attending a protest, and pushing my beliefs on other people. The people that I come in contact with in my life, quickly get to know that I am passionate about veganism and animals. If those people are interested in animal rights, I love to share my thoughts and ideas with them, and listen to what they believe. If however, they ask me idiotic questions like "Don't vegetables have feelings too?" or if their first response is about whether or not my shoes are leather (almost as if they can catch me "cheating"), then I know that there is little point trying to have a discussion. I am going to build a community for positive-minded people, who want to make a change by thinking about love, peace, compassion (no negative words here). I think this community will be huge! Most people want to help, and they end up joining protests because they believe that that can make a difference. However, I think, when you spray red paint on someone's fur coat, you not only give off a negative agressive impression, but you also piss that person off! What are the chances that the person is going to completely change their minds about fur? Is it not better to promote the good things the fur-wearer would be doing by supporting faux fur, or other materials... I don't know... just a thought.

A little lesson about Nutritional Yeast

Yeasts are a group of microscopic single-celled fungi, relatives of the mushroom. More than 100 different species are known.

Nutritional yeasts can be used as condiments and supplements. They are rich in B vitamins. The yellowish colour of the yeast comes from the concentration of the B vitamin riboflavin. Some nutritional yeasts contain high-quality protein, with both essential and nonessential amino acids, as well as the vitamins niacin, thiamin, biotin, and folic acid and minerals selenium, chromium, zinc, phosphorus, and magnesium.

Gluten-Free

Primary-grown nutritional yeast is grown on mixtures of beet and sugar cane molasses. After it is grown and the fermentation process is complete, the yeast is harvested, washed, pasteurized, and dried at a high temperature. As a result, this yeast is guaranteed to be free of the Candida albicans strain of yeast. It contains no gluten.

This yeast is very easy to digest. Its delicious nutty-roasted taste lends itself to many cuisines. Two teaspoons (10 mL) of yeast flakes provide one microgram of vitamin B12, the recommended daily intake for most adults. I sprinkle it on my cereal, spaghetti, popcorn, and mix it into smoothies. Kept in a cool dry place, it can last for a year.

source: http://www.alive.com/3300a6a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=7

WeeMee

The internet has endless opportunities to waste time and get away from real life. Here is a cartoon version of myself that Chris created! I think it actually looks like me... I would totally wear heart antenna! There are so many different websites where people go to get away from themselves. I'm sure that there are good and bad reasons for that. Yeah ok, I'm being diplomatic, but it's not something I can comment about to any great extent. Some people escape by watching tv, others paint, and some people join chat rooms and pretend they are somebody else. Over the last year, I've started using the internet a lot more. MySpace, Blogs, Facebook... I think it's a wonderful tool to keep in touch with people when I sometimes feel like I'm so far away. I remember feeling so alone when I first came to Holland, but with the internet, nobody ever has to feel alone. It's such a great feeling to know that you're only a username and password away from a world of people that want to communicate. It is a bit mind blowing when you really stop and think about the endless possibilities. We used to put photos in albums on a shelf, or if it was a good photo, maybe it got a frame. Hell, we used to develop photos! Now, not only do we have hundreds of photos on our computer, but they are scattered all over the web on various websites! I'm telling you... mind blowing. The things we used to see on Back to the Future 2 are now real life.

The beginning of SpiderLove

I promissed to talk about SpiderLove so here we go... I can't wait anymore! It's become my obsession! It's an idea, a source of income (hopefully), and a way of life. For what seems like all my life, I've been trying to figure out what I want to do "when I grow up". I studied environmental science in University hoping that it would lead me somewhere. I found uni incredibly frustrating because however much I love learning, especially about the environment, I really wasn't passionate about any of my courses. Sure they were interesting and I'm glad I stuck with it long enough to get my degree but after 5 years (yep... 5 years) I still didn't have a vision. This past year, I've been thinking about one day, in the future, working for myself. It wasn't until about a month ago that I realized that I don't have to wait for the future! Why not start now?! Then SpiderLove crawled into my brain (like a spider crawling towards her prey). Without even knowing what the idea was, I already had the name. What I've been trying to envision through the years is a way to surround myself with everything I am passionate about (animals, environment, music, nature, veganism, photography, art...) and figure out how to make a living doing it!