THE RETURN

Well folks,
I rarely write on this blog, since I am (a) busy being a law student and (b) not a vegan cook. However, I do post at least once a year, and I think that there's a topic we can all agree on: the ideological and physiological allure of the Twilight series.

Just kidding. Maybe next post? Actually, I wanted to talk about something near and dear to my heart as well as yours: animals!!! In particular, rescue organizations for cast-aside pets. I am proud to have adopted my dog from a rescue organization, but there's a lot of kitties, birds, heck even hamsters out there needing a home. However, there are some pros and cons to adopting a pet, same as if you were buying your furry friend. Although I'm sure our readers possess the mental faculties to figure this stuff out on their own, I'm still going to give you my personal list:

Let's start with the cons:
(1.) Pets are expensive. Even if you don't shell out the bucks for that purebred, food costs. Vet bills cost quite a bit. Especially if they get into something that they aren't supposed to.


There's the added problem that maybe the dogs need extra health care that the rescue organization couldn't afford to provide. I remember getting my dog and realizing that if I didn't act fast, his teeth were going to start falling out in the next few years. When I got the bill for the teeth cleaning, I nearly keeled over.

The good news is that many of the rescue organizations have relationships with vets that could give a discount. Make sure to ask.

(2.) PETS NEED YOUR TIME. All money aside, a rescued dog may have to deal with emotional issues like abandonment or abuse. They may need your support, and to do that, you're going to have to be there for them. I'm lucky to live at my parents' house right now, where I have three extra people to help look after the dog if I have to leave. My dog's breed (Pomeranian) is renowned for its bonding to humans, and I know that whenever I move out he'll need the extra stimuli of someone coming over in the middle of the day when I'm working. I'm willing to let that happen, just as I'm willing to take him on walks when it's freezing outside or take playbreaks with him - because a good petowner knows the dog needs bonding time!

(3.) Housetraining issues. Many of these rescue pets (mostly dogs, but sometimes cats I've heard) may have come from situations where they were never housebroken. And may never totally be. This is a pretty big deal if you can't handle it. So talk to some experts - vets, dog trainers - and be prepared for messes. Hopefully, you can train the dog out of it, but some may never totally be able to control themselves, due to their physiology or some emotional distress that happened to them.


OK, onto the PROS:

(1.) FRIEND FOR LIFE! At least sometimes. You may have a finicky cat or dog, or they're really shy. But with the right amount of work, you should be able to revel in being their best friend. Or at least cherish a bond with the animal. My dog helped me rebound out of a bad time, and I'm very thankful to have him.

(2.) Opening extra spaces at the rescue for new animals! Rescues can often only hold oh-so-many animals, due to the limited number of extraordinary people who will foster these poor souls. So an extra spot could mean life or death to those animals that are waiting to be picked up out of high-kill shelters and into a rescue organization.


In closing, please note that there's a lot of ways to support animals even if you can't afford the time or money to adopting a friend. You can often ask vets for lists of rescue organizations around, or just google it. You can make a donation to local rescue organizations who really need the support, as well as volunteering to help out. If you come across old dog or cat toys, beds, etc. that aren't being used anymore, you could pass these on to those organizations as well. Here's hoping for a happy new year to all of our animal friends!!!!!!

WANT MY CAMERA.

I would like to say that I am typing up a recipe, but I'm not doing that because I don't have a camera and haven't had one for some time now. I loaned it out. It has pictures of food on it currently.

Food blogs without pictures are DUMB. I will not apologize for that statement.

I feel like I am getting to this point myself right now:

Can't not bake.

When I'm stressed, anxious, happy, sad, angry or depressed, I bake. I'm feeling many of these things all the time, so I often try to resist the urge. I resisted until noon today. Then I made delicious muffins. Now I'm making dough for pizza crust. I'm not an emotional eater. I am an emotional baker.

I tried. I tried so, so hard.

Lemon Date Jam Muffins

I'm bleeding.

INGREEDZ:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
1 cup full-fat coconut milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup vegan cane sugar
1 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp water
Jam of choice

DO THIS:
Preheat oven to 350. In a small dish, combine 1 tbsp ground flax with 2 tbsp water and allow to congeal. In a smallish bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. In a larger bowl, mix the apple sauce, coconut milk and sugar. Add in the lemon juice and flax mixture. Pour and mix in the dry ingredients a little at a time, until thoroughly combined. Distribute evenly into a greased cupcake pan (makes 12). Push a teaspoon of your favorite jam into the middle of each muffin (I used Date Jam, from American Spoon). Bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Snack attack.

I have many dishes to do. Shit.

I'm fucking out of control today. Out of my thrice-damned mind. Baking. Baking. Baking.

Tomorrow is the LOTR Extended Edition "Marathon" part 2. Part one was interrupted by a power outage, hence why the marathon is no longer a marathon, but a two part series. A half marathon. Do I get a t-shirt and a half-sized medal ("Hey, you did it! But only half of what everyone else did. The size of your medal shall serve as a reminder, you milksop").  Such all-day adventures require all-day snacks. Last time it was cookies. This time it will be more cookies. And some healthy banana bread. But back to the cookies because they aren't healthy and are therefore superior.

Eat me.

INGREEDZ:
1 cup Earth Balance (Tub kind)
1 1/4 cup vegan cane sugar
2 tbsp ground flax mixed with 6 tbsp water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Small pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
A lot of chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt

DO THIS:
Preheat oven to 350.

Combine EB with sugar, and whip together with an electric mixer. I'm not saying to just "mix." I mean beat the shit out of it. I'm telling you, as a person that usually mixes everything by hand, to use an electric mixer. I let it run for quite a few minutes, until things were looking as white and fluffy as cartoon clouds. This is capital. Meanwhile, put together that flax/water combo and let it congeal. By the time your EB/sugar whitecap has formed, it'll be ready to go. Throw in the flax mixture and let it stir in. It's simple from here. Mix in the cocoa powder. Mix in the flour. Then the salt. Then the baking powder. Then the chips. Yes, I did all of these separately and not in one dry ingredient dump. On cookie sheets protected by silicon baking sheets or cooking spray, spoon out heaping tablespoons of the dough. I mean heaping. When you look upon these delightful mountains of goop, I want you to feel your already ample ass broadening three inches in diameter. Finally, sprinkle the cookies with coarse sea salt. Bake for about 18 minutes. Cool. Eat. Read Alpine Urbanist.

My dog ate the foot off a tiger.

I made some god damn pancakes.

These didn't turn out quite as awesome as the first time I made them. The batter was very thick the first time, and the swirls were impeccable. Highly visible. They were also so rich I had a belly ache for a full 24 hours. In a good way. This time around, you can't really see the swirls, and I feel full but not gloriously ill with happiness. Nonetheless, these tasted good. I will post the recipe, but look for improvements in the future when I try to replicate the first batch.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Pancakes and visa versa

INGREEDZ:

PB batter-

3 tbsp creamy peanut butter (I used Jiff Naturals)

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk alternative

Chocolate batter-

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp cocoa powder

3/4 cup milk alternative

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp oil

DO THIS:

In a very small bowl, mix the peanut butter, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla. In two separate medium bowls, mix the dry ingredients for the two separate batters. To the sans cocoa dry ingredients, add the milk alternative and the PB mixture. Stir until just combined, with clumps still visible. In the cocoa bowl, add the milk alternative, vanilla, maple syrup and oil. Mix until just combined, and clumps are visible. In a cast iron skillet, melt down some Earth Balance. Drop 1/4 cup of one of the batters. Take a spoon and create a spiral with the other batter. Alternate so that you have chocolate pancakes with peanut butter swirls and peanut butter pancakes with chocolate swirls.

Pancakes.

Also, observe the latest blog cooperative I started: alpineurbanist.blogspot.com.

Buttcheek fiesta

!?!?!?

Is this some vain attempt to give the blog life again?

WHO THE FUCK KNOWS! I'm not making any promises. All I know is that I made cookies, they are the bee's knees and the world needs to know about them.

Fact: The Oxford Comma has been annihilated. I am upset about it, but am acting accordingly.

Fact: I have been meaning to blog. I enjoy writing, and my outlets are few and far between.

Fact: You can no longer find newer work by me on Alpinist, but you can continue to find it on verticalgirl.com. Also, anyone who is a climber (female), would like to try a hand writing about it and isn't afraid of exposing their work to the world should throw something together and send it to jenny@verticalgirl.com. It may just make it on the website!

Fact: Although this blog hasn't seen new material since April, it's not because I haven't been eating.

Observe.

Cherry swirl pancakes with crumble topping

Cashew Tofu from VeganDad

Last night was the first day this week I've cooked. I've been in the lovely Leelanau, eating out every night. Dinner was stuffed bell peppers with a baguette on the side, courtesy of Bay Bread Co. I desperately wanted cookies afterwards, but watched a movie instead.

Beau's plate, arranged as a smiley face.

So, I made cookies early this morning. Why not? Honey badger don't give a shit.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (Better with dried cherries)

Ingreedz:

2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tbsp ground flax, mixed with 4 tbsp water

3/4 cup (tub) Earth Balance

1 cup light brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or a mix of chocolate chips and dried cherries)

Do THIS:

Pre-heat oven to 325. Melt the Earth Balance in the microwave (note, I used tub EB, not stick). Meanwhile, mix the flax and water and allow to congeal. In a small bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Afterwards, in a larger bowl, mix the melted EB, brown sugar, vanilla and flax mixture. Once well-combined, add the flour mixture in spurts. Once everything is well mixed, stir in the chocolate chips (and/or cherries). Drop dough balls about a quarter cup in size onto parchment covered cookie sheets (unless you're a real badass and have silicon baking sheets like me). Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until brown.

Consume as many as possible while they are warm, preferably with a tall, bourgeois glass of your favorite milk alternative.

WHY AM I NOT STILL HERE?

Good Idea Monday: Southern Comfort.

I GOT TO BUY GROCERIES.

My EBT card re-upped. It's been weeks since I last went grocery shoppin'. Hence the no cooking thing.

I started this post a week ago. I had two AMAZING recipes to share. In the time it took me to finish this post, I forgot how I made them. I'm angry, because now I can't duplicate them. We all suffer for my foolishness. I mean, LOOK AT THIS SHIT. Unforgivable.

As usual around these parts, updates to the blog after a hiatus come following a trip to Northern Michigan. I arrived home yesterday from a whirlwind vacation to Marquette and Traverse City. Marquette was for "business," and TC was for fun. I was supposed to interview climbing legend Fred Beckey for Alpinist following a presentation he gave at Northern Michigan University. That didn't really happen due to several reasons, none of which matter now. It was cold and windy. However, the two hours that it was sunny and moderately warm coincided perfectly with our finally finding the slab wall we were anxious to get trad with. We had chosen the location because it was easy for a bum shoulder, and because it was CLOSE. But then it took us hours to find it. Irony.

This was my first time climbing in the UP. I hope it won't be my only chance.

Traverse City was windy on one day (knocking out power at our hotel), and rainy the next. This didn't stop me from indulging in yet another hat, nor did it ruin a beautiful hike on the extensive trail network behind the Traverse City Commons. Brilliant! Wine was enjoyed at Left Foot Charlie, and beer at Right Brain Brewery. Meals were cooked and eaten in parking lots and on sidewalks. Pseudo-hoboism.

I'd like to say that some cooking will be happening in the near future here, but I'm leaving for Seattle on a reconnaissance mission this Thursday. No cooking is likely. I'm sure I'll have plenty of exciting things to report. Maybe I'll find some tasty vegan eats out there to talk about. Today isn't even my turn for Good Idea Monday at work.

Sorry for the hiatus!