Ban Live Export: our little rural rally

Dougy the mascot!

TORTURE

So, I organised a rally as part of the national day of action to call for the banning of live exports. I kind of only started the organisation at the last minute (the day before) and I really just tried to contact everyone I know in Armidale (total of 10 people max), made a facebook event, and handed out fliers at uni and around town. I also spent Friday night and Saturday morning making banners and printing fact sheets and petitions and posters of horrific torture. It was maddness. I really didn't expect more than 10 people to show up. But to my surprise almost 30 people came! I was so happy. I almost cried at one point (but I think that may have been due to PMS). I met lots of righteous people and we all exchanged email addresses so maybe we'll start a little Armidale Animal Rights crew. That'd be nice. I also alerted some local media but thought they'd just ignore me. To my surprise the local radio station advertised the rally so lots of people heard about it and came! Also, the local paper came and took some photos of the group and millions of photo's of Dougy in his get-up. Dougy was a prince. He just walked around and let everyone swoon over him. He even modelled his outfit willingly; turning around in order for people to photograph both sides of his jacket. The entire day just made me feel really good. Mostly because I feel like I did my little bit for the animals. Oh and we got 100 signatures for the petition, which I'll send on to the government tomorrow. Gah. What a rant. I guess I'm still a bit pumped...

Gum Boots

Well today is the first day in an entire week that the sun has been out. I blame my bad mood on the lack of vitamin D. I was feeling down-right miserable until I went outside before and the sun hit my face. Ah. All better. Dougy hates the rainy weather too. He doesn't get many good long walks when it rains non-stop. Anyway, since the sun was shining this arvo I put on my gumboots and took Dougy down to the soggy parklands for a run. He was positively joyous. He chased magpies and ran through puddles and his beard got all muddy. As for me, in my gumboots, I felt pretty invincible. When you wear gumboots you can go anywhere. No need to avoid puddles, in fact, you find yourself seeking out puddles and walking right through them. It's fun and I totally don't think it's a childish delight. Next time it rains in your neck of the woods, dust off the gumbees and try it. It's even more fun if your gumbees are fashionable; mine have Russian dolls on them so they are pretty sexy. 

Okay, time for me to get ready for Thursday night tennis with the boyz...

Winter foods, for some balance...

My new winter boots. Fake leather technology has really advanced!

The pizza night (no photos of actual pizza though because it was eaten before I got the chance!)

Pre-dinner nachos. Note: real actual vegan sour cream!

N's birthday cake(s). Mint slice cupcakes!

these were delicious!

dewy

Sweet potato cakes and a veggie wrap from a sneaky F'n'C shop in Bellingen

Some summer food and doug...

Hot days of Jan, ah how we miss them!

Summer = weekly sushi

Peanut butter and jam ice-cream!

Dahl

Burger and fries anyone?

My new creation: Meetloaf!

Since our Mexico trip last year we've been making our own tortillas and refried beans because store bought sucks.

Our summer pasta, served cold.

Gah. My new fave word...

GAH! That's my new, most used, word at the moment. It perfectly describes how I feel most of the time. It's a combination of frustration (with myself, for not just finishing my thesis, and with the world, for being such a messed up horrible place), disbelief (with the aforementioned things), sadness (same things again), exhaustion, shame, anxiety, fear, and confusion. GAH! I think it will be the running title for my thesis. 

Well, I'm sorry humble followers, I've totally dropped the ball on this blog thing. I suppose it was bound to happen, just like all of my other fleeting obsessions/hobbies. Here are some examples of hobbies that I have LOVED for a short time and then completely abandoned. It's a sad list.

1. sewing

2. painting

3. drawing

4. New York City Ballet Workout

5. ice-cream making (see previous post)

6. gardening

7. letter writing

8. Sopranos

9. poetry

10. journal writing

11. swimming laps

12. riding my bike

Does anyone else do this? I mean, is it healthy to be so fickle? At the moment my only hobbies are sleeping and eating, oh and Thursday night tennis. Oh boy, I haven't even told you about Thursday night tennis. What a laugh. Well, there's not much to say really, I play tennis with a bunch of teenage boys on Thursday nights. I never win. Turns out, teenage boys are a hoot! Oh tennis. You'll be lucky number 13 on the list soon enough.

Well this has been an entirely depressing blog post. Here are some photo's of our Christmas trip back to Melbs;  should cheer you up a bit...

Dougy: hungry for lunch on the long (15 hour) drive back to Vic

Sausage roll from La Panella on the steps of the church across the street

Lord of the fries chicken burger with vegan cheese!

Vietnamese rice noodle soup with lemon ice tea from Preston!

Ice cream dreams

If you just read my last post, forgive me, because I am about to talk about my plans to make my own ice-cream, which is by no means a healthy treat. Although, according to my ice-cream recipe book, vegan ice-cream contains way less bad-for-you stuff than regular ice-cream. My sister-in-law (but not quite in law) L gave me an ice-cream maker and vegan ice cream recipe book for crassmass. She's heaven. But I can't even remember what ice-cream tastes like. This will be very very interesting.

So, although the process involves a lot of patience, which I have little of, I will attempt a simple recipe first. Peanut butter and jelly (jam) ice-cream. YUM. I have been craving the delightful combo of salty nuts and sweet sweet jam for a while now. So this is perfecto. I will post photo's once it's done. Prepare to be shocked.

Thoughts on food

You can probably tell by now that I love food. It's one obsession that Doug and I share. I'm not into eating compost though, or rabbits, or grass, or duck shit. No wonder Doug's breath stinks so bad. Anyway, as I was saying, I love eating lots of food. I love eating out. But the thing I hate about being away from home for extended periods is eating out for every meal. We just returned home from Victoria and I'm so excited about cooking our own meals every night. N and I promised each other that we would abstain from junk for a week or so because we feel like crap from all the crap we've been eating over the past two weeks. It's just that when I get to a city I think "I've got to eat as much good food as I can while I'm here" and then I feel sick for a while. Just because we're vegan doesn't meal we're healthy. You have to invest time and energy into eating a balanced diet when you're  vegan, mostly because you don't want to end up sick and hear a chorus of "I told you so!" from the omni's. 

So this week we will be eating the following meals:

1. Miso soup and sushi

2. Stir fry with asian greens, ginger, lemon, tofu etc. 

3. Thai red curry with pumpkin and eggplant (okay this is a bit naughty)

4. Steamed vegies, mashed potato, and vegie sausages (this is basically fast-food for us)

5. Simple pasta with eff-loads of mushrooms and vegies and beans.

Yeah, ok, sounds a bit boring, but this is what we NEED right now. No burgers. No chips. No pies. No pastry. No lollies. Our snacks will be fruit and raw carrot dipped in hommus. Plenty of tea. Minimal coffee. Dougy is back to his raw meat and grains diet too. Hopefully his breath gets better.

Hope this inspires y'all to have a fresh healthy week too.