Mint and Gravy

Going through my random pictures from November, I found these two I thought I'd share.

This one is a spicy and fruity martini made at Mint/820 Lounge on Russell Ave, one block from my house.The owner, Lucy Brennan, is probably the most famous mixologist in Portland. She's written at least one book, and is known all over town, primarily for her avocado daiquiri, which I still have never tried. She's also known for being a sugar nazi--the bartenders have to rim all the martini glasses *just so* and line them up evenly along the bar. If they fail to do it correctly, she makes them do it again.

Regardless, it's a fun place, and there are delicious yummy sweet potatoe fries on happy hour.

This one is my breakfast at Gravy a month or so ago--wasn't too hungry, so ordered a side of hashbrowns and a (housemade) soy sausage.

Oh my gosh. HUGE. I know, right? I don't know if you can quite tell how big these hashbrowns are. They're the size of my head. The soy sausage patty was delicious. The hashbrowns were delicious too, but way too much for me. When I came here, I asked for a vegan bloody mary, and they couldn't help out. I did have a mimosa though!
A Bloody Mary is not vegan (or even vegetarian) because worchester sauce is a common ingredient, in mixes and when made fresh. I always think that in Portland, bloody mary's would be made fresh and I could have one, anchovy-free. It rarely happens though.

Anyhoo, I had a delicious lunch today at work, and I'll post a picture of that soon.

A Vegan Thanksgiving

A Vegan (of course) Thanksgiving with the family:

Tofurky. (Mik/Turtle Island)

Stuffing (Ahi)


Cranberry Sauce (Mik)


Mashed Potatoes (Ahi), Gravy (Mik/Turtle Island), and Jalepeno Hush Puppies (Mik)


Braised Cajun Greens (Mik)


Almond-Ginger Pumpkin Pie (Me)
Sparkling Cider (Martinelli's)

Yum! It was delicious and filling and fun. Thanks to Craig Steele for reminding me to put these pictures up. Wish you could have been there! :)

Why I am Vegan

I stumbled across the page today, while paying bills. While taking a break from paying bills, to be truthful.

Why I am Vegan

It states much more eloquently that I could hope to what motivates me every day.

Buy Nothing Day

Today is Black Friday.


But. Today is also Buy Nothing Day. This campaign is spearheaded by Adbusters as an informal protest to combat the mass consumerism that is associated with the day after Thanksgiving.

How do you do it?

Well, spend today by not spending.

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Here is an excerpt from Adbusters' website:

Suddenly, we ran out of money and, to avoid collapse, we quickly pumped liquidity back into the system. But behind our financial crisis a much more ominous crisis looms: we are running out of nature… fish, forests, fresh water, minerals, soil. What are we going to do when supplies of these vital resources run low?

There’s only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.

It will take a massive mindshift. You can start the ball rolling by buying nothing on November 28th. Then celebrate Christmas differently this year, and make a New Year’s resolution to change your lifestyle in 2009.

It’s now or never!

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P.S. Hope everyone had a Fantastic Thanksgiving!

*****Edited to add: A man was killed at a Walmart on Black Friday by Stampeding Shoppers. Here's the link.

Modified Style

Andrea, her boyfriend Ryan, and I all made the quick drive up to Seattle yesterday. We saw a cute dog on the way:

This Seattle trip was for a fashion show called Modified Style. Each designer paid ten dollars and received a bag of scrap material. After choosing a model, the designer has to make an original dress. Andrea, who had never sewn before, decided to jump in and do it, and she picked me to be her model. She's been working on it for a few months, in addition to a full-time job and finishing her MBA. Busy girl!

The dresses are sold in a silent auction, with the proceeds going to charity. There were 9 of us models total, 2 of us being under the age of 10. :) We all had a blast.

I don't have any pictures of my dress yet, but I'll post them when I do. Here are some pictures of the night:

The girl on the left won. They're both really sweet girls, and they both designed their own dresses.

She looks like Mira Sorvino to me.

Alice, on the left, co-produced this fashion show and made a dress. Rose, to her right, was her model.

Me and Erin Wong, who lives in Seattle now.


Here's Andrea and Ryan:

I drank *way* too much wine and sangria, ate *way* too many nachos after it was over, and the 3 of us passed out by 9:30 pm. Yikes! I woke up really early though and went for a walk along Green Lake.

This was a blast and Andrea and I are already in the planning stages for a Modified Style: Portland.
If anyone is interested in designing or modeling, let me know!