Phoning It In
Lately I've been hard at work on this new novel. Once I've reached my daily goal (yes, we are back to the wordcounts), there isn't much time or energy left over for blogging, but you'll forgive me, right? It's temporary. 
My plan is to finish a messy first draft soon (within the week!) and then sort-of take a few weeks away from it, letting the tendrils of the first revision to weave and arrange themselves at the back of my head while I read for research, sew and knit, daydream about future projects, and plan a trip back to Ireland in April (working holiday, yay!) I'll also be packing up to leave my place at Kings College, because a monthlong trip abroad feels like the perfect segue. (I need a kitchen, people. I need a welcome mat, and a bathtub, and a blue sofa.)
The muse is a friend. She might be on time or she might keep you waiting, but she'll never stand you up. #amwriting— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) January 12, 2014
A Thought Experiment
I like to play this little "what if?" game with my meat-eating friends from time to time. (Those of you who have read The Sparrow, that most disturbing and exquisite novel by Mary Doria Russell, will see how it inspired me to come up with this.)
Imagine the aliens have landed. Cue dramatic invasion sequence, press conferences in which world leaders pretend to know what is going on, people panicking in the streets, et cetera, et cetera. By whatever means they are able to communicate with us, the aliens announce that they are now at the top of our food chain. After all, they have vastly superior technology, to have come all this way to "visit" us when we've only managed a silly little foray to the Earth moon; and vastly superior technology must mean they are vastly more intelligent.
(See Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man.")
Yes oh yes, the aliens say. We will eat some of you now, and save some of you for breeding. We'll need lots of females but only a few males. (We haven't yet decided what we'll do with the surplus.)
You can't do that! we cry. Our technology might be inferior to yours, but we are a sentient race! We are intelligent! We are CIVILIZED!!!
The aliens just laugh at us. You call this mess a "civilization"? Pah!
And without further ado, they begin rounding us up in pens and sharpening their weird-looking alien cutting implements. They don't react to our cries and pleas for mercy. Our feelings don't matter to them because they don't see us as individuals, as beings with minds and wants of our own. They don't care that we have nervous systems—that we will suffer. Because human is going to taste so, so delicious.
* * *
Not a subtle analogy, I'll grant you. But it's something to think about, and I hope you will. How does contemplating this scenario make you feel?
Scrumptious Meals along the Eastern Seaboard
On New Year's Day Kath drove us to Providence to celebrate the start of 2014 with Elizabeth, and we had a gorgeous brunch at the Garden Grille. This tofu scramble had kale, caramelized onions, and Daiya cheese.Then we all treated ourselves to carrot cake (which tasted just as awesome as it looks):
In the evening Meg came over with an Ethiopian-inspired curry with squash and kale, which we enjoyed after cocktails Elizabeth made for us.
Back in Boston (a couple weeks later): a post-yoga brunch at Veggie Galaxy. Tofu omelet with leeks, soy chorizo, and Daiya cheese. SO GOOD.* * *I combined last weekend's quickie trip to Miami with a visit to North Carolina to see Kelly and her family. On our first full day together she took me to Parker & Otis for lunch, where I had a hearty avocado-and-white-bean-spread sandwich on whole grain bread:
Parker & Otis is a cafe-cum-upscale-general store with an excellent selection of tea and chocolate (much of which is vegan!)
A gourmet hot chocolate with almond milk at Cocoa Cinnamon. (Photo by Kelly.) 
On Friday night (after an amazing yoga class at Loving Kindness in Carrboro) I cooked up some roasted red pepper fritters, which is my 21st-century vegan answer to the chicken cutlets of my childhood. (Recipe forthcoming! It's a little time consuming but pretty straightforward, and it always gets rave reviews from meat eaters since it's breaded and fried. Tricksy!) We also made pasta primavera and a salad of mixed greens, pumpkin seeds and avocado with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. (Paired with a bit of bubbly, of course.) 
A simple hummus-and-veggie wrap gets the job done. (Photo by Kelly.) 
I'd have picked up a jar of this chai almond butter if it hadn't had honey in it. So I took a picture instead to remind myself to try my own version at home someday, maybe with maple syrup? 
On Saturday night we had an excellent dinner and cocktails at Fiction Kitchen in Raleigh. Purple sweet-potato cakes on a bed of lentils, topped with cashew cream and garnished with greens and beet puree. (We split this for an appetizer; I had a big salad with cashew cheese, local apples and beets for my main course, but I couldn't get a halfway decent photo of it.)* * *Now on to Miami:
Breakfast at Choices: raw acai blended with banana and almond milk, topped with organic fruit, coconut flakes and granola; a Cocobliss smoothie with young coconut, cacao, goji berries, almond butter, chia seeds, agave and ice; and a side of tempeh bacon (which was more like BBQ tempeh, but whatever, it was good!) 
Got this iced coffee at Choices for an afternoon pick-me-up (seeing as I had to get up before 4am to catch my flight). The cayenne was more subtle than I was expecting, but it still hit the spot! 
An awesome dinner at Books & Books: the kale and quinoa bowl off their vegan menu, sweet potato fries, and a green iced tea.Miami also has a vegan bakery called Bunnie Cakes, but I decided to skip it since 1, I was ridiculously full after that big brunch at Choices, and 2, Kelly had spoiled me rotten with coconut and almond-based ice cream for three nights straight, so I was feeling a bit maxed out sweets-wise. I'll check it out next time!
23 Hours in Miami
10:30am: for breakfast, the acai bowl at Choices Café. 
11:30am: walking to the bus stop for Miami Beach. 
1pm: the Wolfsonian. 
...and what I came for. 
3:30pm: a few quick notes. 
4:15pm: checking in at my AirBnB room. (Wonderful hostess, needless to say.) 
5pm: yoga on the beach. 
6:30pm: yoga over. 
7pm: twilight surf frolic. 
8pm: Books & Books for a delicious dinner and Rachel's debut novel. 
9:30pm: "Home" again for a shower, chocolate (thanks, Kelly B!), and another really good book.
Somerville Skillshare!
Just a quick post to announce that I'll be teaching a creative writing class at the first-ever Somerville Skillshare at the Armory on Sunday, March 2, 2014! The event is free and open to all (not just residents of Somerville). I found out about the Skillshare through my dear friend Amy Lou, applied to teach, and wound up on the planning committee, which has been a ton of fun. The Skillshare is the brainchild of John Massie, a lifelong Somerville resident who is really passionate about building community through knowledge sharing. Sharing the joy I find in storytelling in such a fun exploratory setting is going to be a hugely rewarding experience for me.
Read my Q&A here (in which I discuss the philosophy and goals of the class) and then head over to the Classes page to see what other modules you might like to take. I'm particularly excited for Emily Garfield's Imaginary Mapmaking and Liz Corkery's Intro to Screenprinting (though I could go on, there are loads of classes I hope I have time to sit in on, like windowsill gardening and lacto-fermentation.) [Update, 2024: links removed, website defunct!]
If you don't live in the Boston area, I'd be so grateful if you could pass the word to any friends of yours who are local. Very excited for March 2nd!
Get psyched! MT @ThoseWW: Excited to watch this #Somerville event unfold on March 2nd / http://t.co/PF9y8U3ZuL #Skillshare @SomervilleSS— SomervilleSkillshare (@SomervilleSS) January 15, 2014
Rynn Berry: In Memoriam
Many New Yorkers remember seeing him, Saturday after Saturday, in just about any weather, standing outside at the Union Square Farmers' Market selling copies of The Vegan Guide to NYC. He assumed—rightly and with some prescience—that getting someone to taste the food would whet her appetite for the philosophy, as well. To that end, this highly educated and academically gifted man stood at the edge of the park, with the beggars and the street performers, slowly and steadily creating a more humane world.
Last week, beloved vegan author Rynn Berry passed away at the age of 68. After he collapsed while out for a jog on New Year's Eve, the New York City running community spread the word on social media to get him identified. The doctors said it was his asthma that brought about the illness, and after a week and a half-long coma he passed away on January 9th.Of all the excellent lectures we enjoyed at Main Street Vegan Academy, Professor Berry's was my favorite. In his talk on the history of vegetarianism he displayed a rare combination of erudition and approachability—and serenity, too, which is not a word I often hear used to characterize men living in the "real world" (as opposed to, say, the monastic life). Through his message and his demeanor, Professor Berry gave me the impression that he had nothing to prove and everything to teach (which is something I can only hope somebody is kind enough to say about me someday, several decades from now).
I'm so glad I had enough cash on hand to purchase a copy of Famous Vegetarians & Their Favorite Recipes, which he kindly signed for me. You will recall, too, that I quoted extensively from Professor Berry's Food for the Gods in my post on the Christian fundamentals of simple living and nonviolence, which logically requires a vegetarian diet.
I am very grateful to Professor Berry not only for giving me a sturdy historical framework for veganism, but for inspiring me creatively as well. I haven't explicitly blogged about this little phenomenon before, but when you're developing a new novel idea and you remember to keep your eyes and ears open, you find that people give you the most perfect clues or leads without even knowing it. When this happens it feels utterly magical—there's nothing accidental about it. In this case, during his MSVA lecture, Professor Berry put up a slide about animal rights literature in the United Kingdom in the 18th century, and it included a title-page screenshot of Humphrey Primatt's The Duty of Mercy. As soon as I saw the Enlightenment-era typesetting, I knew the book was going to be very important to me while writing my Edinburgh novel. I needed to know that there were indeed philosophers publishing on the subject of animal rights that early on. I sat on my floor pillow, scribbling furiously to the very last page of my notebook and fizzing over with excitement and gratitude. Professor Berry gave me that, and The Duty of Mercy now rests on my bookshelf, patiently waiting its turn.And at the time, of course, I thought I'd have many more opportunities to hear him speak. I wish I'd had another chance to tell him just how much his lecture inspired me, because at the time I didn't want to sound too enthusiastic. Now I know it's better to err on the side of enthusiasm, if there's even any such thing.If you know me well, you've probably heard me joke on the square about dying at the age of 103 in the middle of a headstand, and I'm going to be honest here and say that my first reaction to the sad news was, but he had so many years left! A few days later, I was in the middle of explaining to a (non-vegan) friend how important a figure Professor Berry was in the vegan community, and I realized something. Longevity is not about living to 100. However many years you'll get, the important thing is that you don't finish them out with bed sores and terrifying gaps in your memory. Whether I live to sixty or a hundred and sixty (hey! you never know what 21st-century science has in store for us!), I want to die on the move after a life fully lived—just as Rynn Berry did.
Some links to check out:
Rynn Berry's biography and book credits on VegSource.
The Vegan Guide to New York City, 2012 edition.
Stephanie's post on Professor Berry: Our Cause Has Lost a True Pioneer.
Rynn Berry left us a few hours ago – a lovable vegan historian & a great friend on HappyCow.net.
Vegan Cuts Beauty Box!
You may have noticed that I've been painting my nails lately. It started out as just a nice thing to do with my mom—I wanted to treat her to a manicure because I know she loves them, but it wouldn't have been any fun if I hadn't gotten mine done right next to her. So I did it, even though manicures have always seemed like a waste of money (and a waste in general, not to mention the squicky chemicals in the nail polish remover).Once I had my sparkly sun-colored nails, though, I felt better about my appearance. I no longer bit my nails and cuticles (a nasty long-term habit of mine, alas), and I felt like a grown up for once. I realized that feminine doesn't have to equal frivolous. So I got myself some "eco-friendlier" polish and remover, and I put on a podcast while I do them, and it feels like a relatively quick yet nurturing thing to do for myself.This is how I came to appreciate the idea behind the Vegan Cuts Beauty Box, which is available by monthly subscription for only twenty bucks: "The easiest way to discover cruelty-free brands without committing to full-size products or prices." Also: SURPRISES!
Most lip balms are made with petroleum and/or beeswax, so I was very pleased to find this in the box. (Still loving the mint and cinnamon lip balms from North Coast Organics though!) 
If this seems like an incredible deal for $19.95, I should note that the Fanciful Fox soap and Vegan Cuts cosmetic bag were bonus items. They'd originally said they'd give them out to the first fifty people to order a three- or six-month subscription, then apparently they extended it to everyone. Lovely customer service, and still a good value even without the soap and cosmetic bag! 
Also, on the topic of feeling guilty for wanting to wear makeup, a thoughtful piece on Salon.com by Megan Mayhew Bergman:
1st column is on my tenuous relationship w/ makeup, as a feminist & environmentalist.But it's human to self decorate. http://t.co/Xl8GCq9Xxz— Megan Mayhew Bergman (@mayhewbergman) January 5, 2014
Another year of YES
Goodbye, Best Year Ever! Hello, New Year which will no doubt build upon the progress of the Old Year to an as-yet-unfathomable degree!Over the past year I've realized, particularly through my yoga practice, that progress and change may not happen as quickly as we'd like, but if we set the intention and keep it close (practicing, journaling, whatever energetic investment is applicable), we will see that hoped-for change manifesting in our lives. Progress happens by degrees, so that you look back after weeks, months, or years and feel stunned and grateful for what, in ordinary moments, may not have felt like much of a difference. Today I'm looking back and celebrating the changes, and ruminating on some things I'd like to do, be, work toward, and achieve in 2014.
How about you? What are some of your intentions for 2014? Who do you want to be 365 days from now?Happy New Year, everybody!
Christmas surprises
You may recall that I put this book on my wish list. I love it when my sister and/or Elliot give(s) me something I mentioned on the blog. 
I got Kate this magnet from a shop called Rhody Craft at the Providence farmers' market. Hee! 
One night I whipped up some hot cocoa using almond milk, carob powder, cane sugar, cinnamon, and a little bit of vanilla. The next day, and the day after:
"Are you making more cocoa?"
"Why, do you want more cocoa?"
"Do youuuuuuuu want more cocoa?"
"I guess I'm making more cocoa!"
* * *
And, lastly but certainly not leastly, a Christmas surprise that wasn't under the tree: K. R. Paradis wrote a lovely piece of music inspired by the holiday "covention" chapter in Petty Magic! Honestly, it's been a week since she posted it and I still can't quite believe I have readers this awesome.
More Holiday Cooking and Baking
It's good to be home. My sister and I have been cooking and baking every day.
Yesterday Kate made a kale and butternut squash curry (recipe courtesy of Naked Vegan Lunch), and I could hardly get enough of it. My grandmother always used to say that food tastes better when somebody else makes it; I guess that's because you're free to enjoy the meal without tallying up the "should haves." 
There was plenty of kale left over, so we made kale chips (toss lightly with olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, then bake at 375º for twenty minutes) to snack on during our one-hundred-and-forty-ninth viewing of Holiday Inn. It cracked me up when our mom said wonderingly, "I can get my vegetables this way?!" Funny how "getting" them was a chore when I was a kid; now I can't get enough of them. 
As for sweets, I made two of my standbys out of The Joy of Vegan Baking: chocolate coconut macaroons and apple bundt cake. (By the way, I heard from Amanda that she received the gingerbread cookies and that her daughter was happily surprised at how good vegan cookies can taste. Mission accomplished!) 
One of my goals for 2014 is to get way more adventurous in the kitchen. In fact, I'm thinking I should pledge to make only new recipes! A new Vitamix will help, no doubt—I'm going to order a refurbished model next week—and the Susanna MacIver project too. (In case you don't feel like rereading that "YAY it's a new website!!!" entry, I'm planning to veganize a series of recipes out of Susanna MacIver's Cookery & Pastry, published in Edinburgh in 1789. When you love two things THIS MUCH—in my case, cruelty-free eating and a city steeped in the gothic—you might love them even better if you put them together, right? We'll find out...)
Here are several recipes I'm going to try in the new year:
Boston Cream Pie from Lunchbox Bunch
Pumpkin Lasagna with Basil Sauce from Luminous Vegans
Vegan Velveeta from Jessica Corra
Save-Cash Quinoa Loaf from Ellen Jaffe Jones's Eat Vegan on $4 a Day (via Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine)
Vegan meatballs with spiralized zucchini "pasta" from The Pursuit of Hippieness
Mushroom bourguignon from The Simple Veganista
Fried (cashew) "goat cheese" salad from Vegan Belle
Almond-butter snickerdoodles from Vegan Richa
Chocolate espresso chia and coconut pudding from Fran Costigan's Vegan Chocolate (via A Dash of Compassion)
Chocolate mint truffles from Deb Gleason on MindBodyGreen
Vegan Nog from Oh She Glows
(All those sweet things have reminded me: I meant to mention that I won a book giveaway on Chic Vegan back in October, so I'll be reviewing Amber Shea Crawley's Practically Raw Desserts too.)Of course, I have more resolutions where this came from. Further ruminations on 2014 in my next post (which probably won't be until New Year's Eve, so Merry Christmas, everybody!)How about you? Do you have any kitchen-oriented goals for the new year?
Cookies in your mailbox, part 2
vegan_baking_cover-246x300
Amanda T. won last week's Joy of Vegan Baking giveaway, and chose gingerbread cookies with icing. I hadn't actually tried Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's gingerbread recipe yet, so I was psyched! The gingerbread cookie recipe on page 122 calls for the Royal icing recipe on page 234, which is simply Ener-G egg replacer, lemon juice, and confectioner's sugar (the almond or vanilla extract is optional).
Two more reasons I'm excited Amanda won: 1, she just had a baby, and 2, I don't actually know her. Usually my giveaways don't attract entries from perfect strangers, but as my sister pointed out, "You can't eat books."
Once I found a store that had ground ginger in stock (and it did take me awhile, weirdly enough), I had only a couple minor hiccups in my cookie-baking session last night. I'd picked up a cheap-o icing decoration kit from Bed, Bath & Beyond, and made the mistake of first using the tall bottle instead of one of the little accordion-shaped ones. The icing was already pretty thick, so it stuck to the sides of the plastic bottle instead of squirting out. But I transferred the icing with a small spatula into the smaller accordion bottle, and the icing process went smoothly after that.
My first batch (on the bottom) was too thick, but you can see (above) that I figured it out. I've been making gingersnaps pretty regularly for years, but this is the first time since high school (has it really been that long??) since I baked gingerbread cookies. Thanks to this giveaway, I have an even longer list of desserts to veganize. I'm particularly excited about Marcel's chocolate mousse cheesecake challenge, so I'll be blogging about that sometime in the new year!
I Praise the Cleanliness of Rwanda
(Continued from In Which We Are Nearly Trampled by an Elephant at Midnight.)
So we had that late-night incident with the forest elephant, and I tossed and turned until morning (or would have, had there been any room to). It had occurred to me that I'd been eating pineapple, and at bedtime I got lazy and relieved my bladder at the edge of the campsite. What if the elephant smelled pineapple in my pee??I became increasingly convinced of my guilt as the day went on and we packed up and set out for Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. (Immigration control was more tedious than we expected, but then that is the definition of bureaucracy.) 
Apart from a bit of ongoing car trouble, our evening in Kigali was very enjoyable. The hostel is wonderful (lovely breakfast included—awesome homefries not pictured), and we had filling burritos at a Chipotle-esque place down the street. Then we took two taxis downtown for some proper exploring. 
After awhile of wandering the residential back-streets, where children ran up to us and grabbed our hands to make sure we were real—everywhere we went kids would gleefully shout “mzungu!", which means "white person" by way of "ghost"—we stopped for juice at a random restaurant on the main drag. I said, “Guys, I have to tell you something. I think it's my fault we almost got trampled by an elephant."I told them my theory about the pineapple pee, and they said I was being ridiculous. (Whew!) 
I was comfortable with the vibe in downtown Kigali; apart from the kiddos, I don't remember anyone looking at us as if we were remarkable. We even met a guy who tried to sell us sunglasses at nine o'clock at night. 
The next day we headed south to Nyanza, former seat of the Rwandan kings. There's a reconstructed palace compound, which is well worth a visit—we had a very friendly and knowledgeable tour guide, and the cattle herder sang a beautiful pastoral song as we toured the farmyard—and a newer and much grander palace on a hill is now the site of the Rwesero Art Museum. Lots of interesting contemporary art—sculpture, especially—but the children's room was our favorite. 
Next post: Lake Kivu, then back to Kigali to visit the Genocide Museum.
To the Unseen Future
I tweeted so much about the Harvard Books warehouse sale that they gave me a $25 gift card! So I went to Cambridge last Wednesday night to pick up a Christmas present, but the section I needed was inaccessible due to a reading in progress. "Oh well, I'll just hit the occult section and buy more books for myself!" 
@cometparty "For research." YEAH RIGHT, LADY. *eyebrow wiggle*
— Sarah P. Miller (@SarahPMiller) December 16, 2013
Cookies in your mailbox!
As promised awhile back—The Joy of Vegan Baking giveaway! To clarify, I'm baking the winner the dessert of his or her choice out of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's modern-classic cookbook, boxing it up and popping it in the mail in time for your Christmas Eve shindig. (I'm not giving away the book itself, although you should certainly get yourself a copy, since everything I make out of it turns out exquisitely delicious! Though come to think of it, if an international reader wins the giveaway, it might make more sense to send a copy of the cookbook. We'll see how it goes.)That's right: I am sending you a box of scrumptious homemade cookies! (Or a cake. Or sweet bread. Or macaroons.)More about The Joy of Vegan Baking from the author herself: I regularly listen to Colleen's podcast, I've heard great things about the 30-Day Vegan Challenge, and I can't say enough glowing things about her work. I honestly don't know where the vegan community would be without her and my dear teacher Victoria Moran.Here are a list of recipes that would be easiest to box up and send:
- chocolate chip cookies
- chocolate chip mint cookies
- peanut butter cookies
- pine nut anise cookies
- oatmeal raisin cookies
- gingerbread cookies
- chocolate brownies
- chocolate coconut macaroons [this one is my go-to; easy and delicious.]
- blueberry orange bundt cake
- cinnamon coffee cake
- light lemon bundt cake
- apple cake [I like to bake this one for Christmas presents, adding dried cranberries.]
- pumpkin spice bread
- zucchini bread.
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment here and tell me your favorite dessert recipe. It doesn't have to be vegan—actually, I'd like to hear about your favorite non-vegan desserts so I can enjoy veganizing them. Same deal as the audiobook giveaway:
- You get ONE entry for a Facebook comment
- TWO entries for a share, tweet or retweet
- and THREE entries for leaving a comment on this or any other blog post. (Sneaky!)
This giveaway closes at midnight on Sunday, December 15th. Tasty baked goods to be delivered by Christmas. Good luck! I think this is going to be a lot of fun.* * *I like to wear vegan-message tank tops to yoga class—it's a great conversation starter! This one is from Colleen's compassionate messagewear shop. (Photo by Alex.)
Books and Chocolate and Books
I went to the Harvard Books warehouse sale yesterday, and it was MARVELOUS. I felt like I was browsing a half-sized version of the Strand, only without the grumpy sales staff. (Everyone there was really friendly and helpful, by the way. Good job, Harvard Books!) 
"If everyone -- including the women -- looks like Putin, then it's Van Eyck."— Sarah P. Miller (@SarahPMiller) December 2, 2013
There were a few food vendors there as well. I finally tried Taza Chocolate (which is all vegan and made in Somerville!), and I can't even tell you how exquisite are the gingerbread and cinnamon chocolates. 
Morning at @jpcentreyoga + afternoon at #hbswarehousesale with @tazachocolate = the perfect Sunday.— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) December 8, 2013
(This post is especially for Jen, who would've been there and salivating along with me if she only lived closer.)* * *Update: SQUEE!
@cometparty You're one of the winners of our #HBSWarehouseSale promo! If you follow us we can then DM you details on getting your gift card.
— Harvard Book Store (@HarvardBooks) December 9, 2013
The gift that keeps on giving
Knitting with Vanessa.
Lately I've been giving knitting lessons to the ESL students here. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to watch them, a few minutes after the click happens and they nail down the motions, teaching their friends who've shown up late how to do what they've only just learned.
I'm also doing my part to eliminate the annoying stereotype that men don't knit (or crochet). Daniel knit the most perfect garter stitch scarf I've ever seen—a Christmas present for his girlfriend who is patiently waiting for his return to Colombia.
Daniel weaving in the ends with a crochet hook.
Last year at this time, I taught my dear friend Amiee how to knit. At least that's how she sees it—as I see it, I gave her some pointers, but it seemed to me that she already knew how. She insists she only knew how to crochet. At any rate, she's been stitching up a storm over the past year, and when I saw her in Providence the other weekend she presented me with a gorgeous shawlet-scarf (the pattern is Saroyan by Liz Abinante).
The color choice was a mindful one, as it's been an ongoing joke-on-the-square with us that I need more orange in my life. I never expected my teaching to come back to me in such a perfect way. (Not to mention useful—Amiee knew I needed a vegan scarf!) This is the first thing anyone has ever knit for me, and I'm so grateful!
(And I love how this has been a blog post entirely about other people's knitting.)
Peace and Ease (another weekend in Providence)
In peace and ease she spends her happy days,And fears no envy, as she courts no praise.
—Elizabeth Scot
There are many things I love about visiting Elizabeth in Providence, but going to the beach is pretty high on the list. 
Amiee flew up from Philadelphia and we had a magical time—literally magical. We each had some important inner work to accomplish, and the process becomes so much smoother and more joyful when your "soul pod" is helping you through it. I had a lot of letting go to do.Of course, nourishing the spirit starts with physical nourishment. We had beautiful food at every meal. 
Sunday evening we went to Wildflour, a vegan bakery/café, followed by dinner at the Garden Grille (which I believe is owned by the same folks). Like I said, I'm trying to listen to my body, and between two gorgeous cups of coffee with steamed almond milk and cinnamon (thank you, Elizabeth!) my body'd had enough sugar for one day, so I regretfully passed on the bourbon truffles. 
That said, fresh juice is just as much a treat to me as a cupcake. That sounds a tiny bit crazy, but it's true—especially since juice never winds up feeling like too much of a good thing. 
More "detox" for dinner: this salad with mango, beet, avocado, and orange was light but satisfying. The service at the Garden Grille is great too! I told Bristol about our meal and she mentioned that they've opened another restaurant in Providence called the Grange, so we'll have to check that out the next time I'm visiting.
Up and Writing!
I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be teaching at Squam Art Workshops next fall! The class is called Up and Writing and it's designed to help you evolve from a person who daydreams about being a writer into one who actually writes. You may look at my books and see a gulf of experience between you and me, but there isn't, really—as I mention in my first Flashwrite episode, I spent a good deal of time talking and thinking and reading and dreaming about shaping words into stories before I developed a writing practice in earnest.How did I become a "real writer"? More to the point, how can you? Sign up for the workshop and find out! A week at Squam is an incredibly life changing experience in general—you breathe in the delicious pine-scented air, go swimming in the lake, count stars (and lose track), listen to the loons calling at night, learn a lot, get crazy inspired and make friends for keeps. Squam is the closest thing I have ever found to heaven on Earth.Registration doesn't open until January, but you can pre-register to save your spot. I just pre-registered for Spring 2014 and I'm over-the-moon excited. A really cool online workshop with Harriet Goodall—Gift of the Heart—just launched today as well!
"I am awake"
One of my fellow MSVA vegan lifestyle coaches, Adrienne Borgersen, recently shared this Facebook post from her friend, singer-songwriter Marilyn Carino. This is a powerful testimonial from a brand-new vegan, so I really wanted to share it with you.
OK. So let's keep in mind that I'm a bratty individualist who reads a lot and likes to stay thin. So for years and years I followed what I read to be the way to do that and wouldn't change it because it worked. I exercise (yoga, swimming) and eat very low fat foods and ZERO CARBS. I felt pretty good and stayed thin. Then I started to feel pain in my gut which recently got so severe I was hospitalized for three days, turns out I have diverticulosis which hurts like a mutha and which will be a chronic condition I will always be in danger of having flare up into an intestinal infection that will send me back to the hospital (diverticulitis).
Why did I get this, you ask? Because my apparently sensible diet of meat, veggies, low-fat Greek yogurt, fruit smoothies and ZERO CARBS is ruining my colon, my liver, and is also giving me bone loss. I'm not on any meds now except for Vitamin D supplements.
What's my point?
I read some more, different stuff that wasn't as easy to find, mostly recommended to me by my dear friends Beth Lockwood and Adrienne Borgersen, whose posts here about veganism I regularly tarred with my bratty brush as being pompous and extreme. Hey, I'm thin, that's all that matters. But now I understand that I was brainwashed by propaganda even someone like me couldn't see for what it was until I got sick. The food industry is vastly powerful. It needs to sell us its poisonous wares to make profit and send us to doctors who will prescribe expensive chemicals to temporarily alleviate the effects of the useless crap they push. And convince us that torturing and killing animals and destroying the planet in order to do so is, well, no biggie.
I am awake. I've been eating vegan for two weeks and I'm not going back. I can't un-learn what I've learned and I'll be damned if I'm going to be a victim of that corrupt, lying system that is ruining people's health and our beautiful world.
I'm changing because it's good for me and it's the right thing to do. All of you who scoff and say mmmm bacon are blind. This is not extreme, that's what they want you to think. Wake up, for your own sakes. Peace.
Huge thanks and congratulations to Marilyn for speaking her truth, and to Adrienne for sharing it!
Save-a-Turkey Day, part 2
(Continued from Save-a-Turkey Day, part 1.)
Last Thursday I was very tempted to join in all the vegan tweeting about how our bodies should be temples instead of graveyards, that tradition for tradition's sake is—if you take a good hard look at it—pure insanity.I've tried that sort of activism, and it doesn't work for me. I get too hot under the collar, too righteous you might say, and I know I wind up alienating people. I think my friends are more open to eating vegan because I don't try to convince them. I'm fit and healthy and very happy, and if they want some of this awesomeness, they know where to find me and that I'll answer any questions they want to ask. 
That said, they only admitted after they'd tucked into the food that they were nervous about a "vegan Thanksgiving." How could the food possibly be as hearty as what they're used to, when they almost always see me eating salads in the dining hall? 
Fortunately my friends were happily surprised, and I had quite possibly the most enjoyable Thanksgiving of my life. I cooked and baked for hours (in intermittent solitude) and loved every minute, which was new for me. I needed the space from my family (as much as I love them!), and I needed to cook because I wanted to cook, not because people expected to be fed. I opted not to tweet about tradition and complacency, but it was still at the front of my mind as I measured and mixed. I don't want to do anything because it's expected of me. I want to do it because it gives me joy.And—not coincidentally, I'm sure—everything I made turned out amazingly delicious. I winged half of what's on this table, and in the past my "winging it" hasn't turned out so well. 
My only regret is neglecting to buy salad fixings. It may be vegan, but this is still quite a heavy meal. 
.alexdoyle0 is juicing apples for "cider." Cinnamon sticks in the pot. Seat-o'-my-pants stuffing worked out fine. It smells AWESOME in here.— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) November 29, 2013
(I messed up the tag on that tweet, but you get the idea.) 
I have to admit that I did have a favorite guest. (No doubt he was everyone's favorite guest.)
...and a gratuitous baby pic: http://t.co/ZMiAnRwt4e— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) November 30, 2013
I have even more vegan deliciousness to blog about on Wednesday—while I was in Providence the weekend before last we went to Wildflour and the Garden Grille!