Chocolate Mousse, version 1
My friend Layla posted a chocolate mousse recipe from David Wolfe on my Facebook wall awhile back, and I've been making a version of it regularly (the original calls for honey):
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup almond or coconut milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 ripe avocados
2 tsp. vanilla
optional dash of cinnamon
Throw all ingredients in the Vitamix and process until smooth. Refrigerate for at least an hour before eating. (There will be a bit of mousse stuck to the sides of the blender, but I like to add maybe two cups of coconut milk and run the Vitamix one more time to make chocolate milk out of it. Waste not, heh heh!)
Quick and easy, and simultaneously as rich and lighter than mousse made with dairy.
Lake Kivu
High time I got back to my travel blogging—we (Kate and Jill and I) are heading to Georgia to visit Alex in November, and I'd really like to have finished my Uganda/Rwanda and Israel/Jordan write-ups by then. 
September 1, 2013, 6:30pm LAKE KIVU!!! I'm sitting on the ledge of a terrace looking out at one of the most breathtaking views in recent memory. Or ever. So so so lovely. Hills like paper cutouts receding, receding into the pale evening horizon. A calm gray lake. 
September 2, 2013, 10amWe are sitting inside a church where more than 11,000 Tutsis were killed during the genocide. Outside there is a memorial with rows of skulls in a glass case beneath a small crucifix. The stained glass is of the crudest design I've seen, but it throws such bright and beautiful shapes on the cement floor.I keep saying to myself, "Let me be love." And I realized—actually began to "internalize" it, maybe—that there IS no me. I know I am beginning to internalize that truth because it actually felt good this time to face it. 
The Aspirational Lightness of Being, part 2
(The Aspirational Lightness of Being, part 1.)
Most of the junk I have accumulated over the past thirty-four years is stored in towering stacks of Rubbermaid bins in my mother's basement. Understandably, my mumsy has been hinting for quite some time now that she would be extreeeeemely happy if I were to winnow my (90% aspirational) collections of books and kitchenware. So I put out fourteen (!) bins, boxes, and bags for Vietnam Vets, and there's still a lot left to go through.
You may have heard of this Japanese book about decluttering called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It's a bestseller, and lots of journalists and bloggers are talking about it. Personal organizing is an industry unto itself, of course, but after reading Marie Kondo's book (on the plane home to New Jersey) I understand why people are so enthusiastic about it. Kondo's signature strategy is this: you're supposed to pick up the item in question (actually touch it) and ask yourself, "Does this spark joy?"
At first this seemed kind of corny. But I found that asking this simple question made the keep-or-toss conundrum incredibly easy—and the more I asked it, the more I realized that many of my possessions are still mine only because I either feel guilty about letting them go (unread books, unused gifts, my own handknit sweaters, etc.) or have just been too lazy or disorganized to dispose of them properly (like shoes I never wear anymore). Granted, the low-spark or no-spark factor is probably much higher on my possessions in New Jersey (I did leave them behind, after all), but I bet there are still a lot of things I'll want to let go of once I'm home again. (I'm still in New Jersey as I write this, so it'll be interesting to see how I view the objects in my bedroom when I get back to Boston.)
I shared The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up with my mom, and she laughed hysterically when I read the following passage aloud:
Now I realize that people who have a convenient place to send things, such as a parents' house, are actually quite unfortunate. Even if the house is large with rooms to spare, it is not some infinitely expanding fourth dimension...
(The mother of the client in question came to Marie afterward for help in dealing with her daughter's junk!)
Here are a few more tidbits that really resonated for me:
My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away. Corollary: When you attend a seminar, do so with the resolve to part with every handout distributed. If you regret recycling it, take the same seminar again, and this time apply the learning. It's paradoxical, but I believe that precisely because we hang on to such materials, we fail to put what we learn into practice.
On demoting tired clothing to "loungewear": ...[I]t doesn't seem right to keep clothes we don't enjoy for relaxing around the house. This time at home is still a precious part of living. Its value should not change just because nobody sees us...What you wear in the house does impact your self-image.
When you come across something that you cannot part with, think carefully about its true purpose in your life. You'll be surprised at how many of the things you possess have already fulfilled their role.
On regretting throwing something out: Life becomes far easier once you know that things will still work out even if you are lacking something.
Human beings can only truly cherish a limited number of things at one time.
By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past.
That last one is why I need to get rid of about 85% of my possessions: you gotta release everything that's over and done with to make space for all the exciting new stuff that's waiting to come into your life:
Mary Modern drafts? Destined for the recycling bin. (There are plenty more novels to write.)
Bulging portfolio of grade-school and high-school artwork? Recycled or trashed—ALL of it!—because I don't need proof that I could have been an artist. (What sort of artist would I like to grow into now?)
Pressed roses given to me by a very sweet young man on my 17th birthday? I scattered them in the woods behind the backyard fence. (Hello, love!)
As Marie Kondo writes, The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past. When you put it that way, I can actually get excited about cleaning out my closet.
City Mouse dress
When they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived, they found on the table in the dining room the leavings of a very fine banquet. There were sweetmeats and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses, indeed, the most tempting foods that a Mouse can imagine. But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble a dainty bit of pastry, she heard a Cat mew loudly and scratch at the door...
"The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse," from Aesop's Fables
* * *
Who doesn't love a fifties-style shirtdress? I sure do. 
I stopped by Grey's Fabric at the beginning of the summer to take advantage of a 15% off sale, and spotted this snazzy, not-too-girly floral (Central Park Fog from the Gramercy Collection by Leah Duncan for Art Gallery Fabrics—hence the title of this post. Which means, of course, that there must also be a "country mouse" dress at some point.) 
There was only a yard and a quarter left on the bolt, and while I purchased it thinking I'd make a blouse, this fabric knew what it wanted to be: a Hawthorn dress. So I ordered a couple more yards from Llama Fabrics on Etsy.
@themackenzilee I banged this much out in a day. Version #2 will go even faster! @ColettePatterns #sewing pic.twitter.com/CiiJz2frQf
— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) July 29, 2015
I am a big fan of Colette Patterns, as you know, although I must admit that I have many more patterns stashed than I've actually gotten around to sewing yet (like Zinnia and Parfait and Sencha and Ginger; I also need to blog the Sorbetto I made for my sister last Christmas). And this pattern was an absolute dream—I couldn't believe how easily it came together. (Sidebar: I rarely do trial garments/fittings, which are called muslins. You know I fly by the seat of my pants, or in this case, skirt. So I really lucked out that Colette's size 6 fit so perfectly.) 
I'd been putting off learning how to make buttonholes for ages, but once I resolved to learn (and did, thanks to this awesome Youtube tutorial; so straightforward, right??) it was smooth sewing. UNTIL. I mentioned in my last sewing post that I had created a real disaster for myself. What happened, you ask? While opening the buttonholes I applied a tad too much pressure on the seam ripper. 
I KNOW, RIGHT? *wails, tears at hair, gnashes teeth*But I held it together. I can fix this, I said to myself, because there was no way I was going to take this dress apart and redo the right front bodice. I figured the busy pattern would more or less camouflage any mends, and I do believe I was right: 
(I Fray-checked the "wound" immediately and zig-zagged it shut a few days later with some hand stitching on top, matching thread to pattern as closely as possible.)Mackenzi and I are sewing her launch dress (Facebook RSVP here, btw—Friday, September 25th at Porter Square Books at 7pm, be there OR ELSE) using the same pattern, and when she tried on this first version for sizing purposes she didn't even notice the repair job. 
Quick note on circle skirt anatomy here: because it flares, there is too much fabric to be hemmed as usual, and if you try you'll end up with wrinkles at regular intervals. I was originally going to follow the instructions for the 1 1/2" hand-stitched hem, but after a couple of rounds of pressing I did not have confidence that the hem was going to lay flat. So, as other Hawthorn sewists have done, I followed Gertie's two-part tutorial for a narrow hem, eliminating the need to ease in the fullness. If you are making this dress, you also might want to refer to the Hawthorn sewalong page for tips on adjustments and suchlike. 
Despite the seam ripper mishap, I really love how this dress came out! 
Vitamin B12
A few months ago I went to my friend Carrie's house for dinner. Over hummus and chips (while a delicious cauliflower curry bubbled away on the stove), Carrie told me that she had been vegan for a long time. But somewhere around the six-year mark she got sick, and her doctor told her that the liver stores a six-year supply of vitamin B12. Apparently her supply had run out.
This story scared me into taking vitamin supplements more seriously. Up to that point I'd been taking a vegan multivitamin very sporadically (while grumbling about how vitamin manufacturers want everyone to think they need them when they truly can get all the nutrients they need from a diet of wholefoods). That sporadic multivitamin was better than nothing, I suppose, but I really wanted to feel confident that I was getting enough B12.
Here's some critical info on vitamin B12 from Vegan Society:
Very low B12 intakes can cause anemia and nervous system damage. The only reliable vegan sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 (including some plant milks, some soy products and some breakfast cereals) and B12 supplements. Vitamin B12, whether in supplements, fortified foods, or animal products, comes from micro-organisms. Most vegans consume enough B12 to avoid anemia and nervous system damage, but many do not get enough to minimize potential risk of heart disease or pregnancy complications.
Before Big Ag leached all the nutrients out of the soil, we could have gotten the B12 we needed from those micro-organisms in the dirt on our vegetables. Now, even if you grow your own, you should take a supplement just to be on the safe side.
So I ordered a supplement pack from Vegan Cuts (looks like it's no longer available though), and the B12 spray was the coolest thing in the box. It's way more pleasant to take than a capsule. One berry-flavored spritz and you're all set! The manufacturer's link (Pure Vegan) is here, although you can find the spray for a few bucks less elsewhere online.
I've learned my lesson here: making informed and responsible health and dietary choices doesn't have to be tedious.
Retreat announcement
Just a quick note to let you know that Anne and I have decided to postpone our writing and yoga retreat until next spring, when the timing will hopefully work better for most people's schedules. Thank you so very much to everyone who expressed interest in coming (and especially to those of you who signed up!) We're looking forward to making this magical weekend with you on the far side of winter.
And if you are still interested in coming and want to give me some rescheduling input, that would be great. I'm thinking Memorial Day weekend might be a good time. What do you think?
Kimchi!
Making more fermented foods is one of my culinary goals for the year, and I recently got around to making my first batch of kimchi. Kimchi is a Korean side dish or relish, sort of similar to sauerkraut, with a refreshingly spicy-sour flavor. Eat this yummy stuff and do your GI system (not to mention your sinuses, heh) a huge favor.
Zoe Keller of One Beet Wellness gave a demonstration at Herbstalk this past June, and her handout was really helpful. Zoe pointed out that, despite our fears about disease and contamination, most bacteria are beneficial! My sort-of-recipe below is based on hers.
Here's what I used:
one half a head of white cabbage
one head of fennel (including stalks)
three large carrots
one half a daikon radish
one large apple, peeled
stalks from four onions (you could just use an onion)
cloves from half a head of garlic, minced
two-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
4 tsp. of sea salt (no iodized salt! this is very important)
one skimpy squirt of sriracha (because I don't do super-spicy)
The method is simple: chop and mix everything up, sprinkle salt, and massage the veg until the salt has drawn the water out. Spoon the mixture into a glass jar or crock, pressing very firmly, pouring the water on top and weighting down the veg with a smaller glass jar. It's important that the veg not rise above the water line, or you might end up with mold on top.
I put a tea towel over the jar to keep the dust out, but the water kept bubbling up and soaking the towel, so I wound up overturning my iced-tea pitcher and placing that over the jar instead. (The pitcher is plastic, so it totally retained the yummy-bacterial odor. Oops. Hadn't thought of that! Soaked it in hot water and lemon juice and that did the trick.)
In this summer heat, the mixture got tangy within a few hours. You can leave it to ferment for weeks, but in this case, after four days my jar smelled quite fragrant enough! Once refrigerated, it'll keep for months.
Next time I'll use red cabbage to stain the whole thing purple. I also need to buy a mandolin to expedite the chopping.
It may be an acquired taste for some—hard to believe kimchi is not made with vinegar—but it really is so good for you!
Sewn on the Fourth of July
All the way back at my first Squam in 2011, Cal Patch wore the most adorable blouse she'd sewn herself. (She's got pics on the old version of her blog.) Cal gave me the pattern number—Simplicity 3964, Built by Wendy—and I'd been looking for the perfect fabric to pair it with for a dress version ever since.
Then I found this pretty Japanese lawn at Mood Fabrics ($12/yard) earlier this year. This dress = finally happening! 
The inset panel was a real pain in the tush, but like the V on the Chataigne shorts, it's totally worth having to rip and resew a few times to get it right.
A few more notes:I sewed French seams on the sides, which (along with the front and back yoke/bodice facings) means there isn't a fray-able seam allowance anywhere inside this garment (yay!)I cut a size 14 (which seems big, I know—I'm a 6 or 8 in the indie patterns, 8 or 10 ready to wear), which was perfect apart from a bit of floopiness under the arms. I ripped out the top few inches of the French seams and took in the sides (which meant I also had to shorten the armhole binding).
I got the belt custom made from a wonderful Etsy shop called Good Mood Moon that does vegan leather accessories. It really makes the outfit—much more interesting than the self-made fabric tie the pattern suggests. I also skipped the wing-like sleeve thingies. I have pretty square shoulders, so I was afraid they might look a little ridiculous. I like this dress sleeveless. 
I'm still not sure about the below-the-knee length of the hem—I need to wear an (albeit tiny) heel to keep it from feeling dowdy, but with my favorite sandals on it's a pleasingly old fashioned length. Funny how fine that line can be sometimes.And yes, I sewed this dress (everything but the hem!) on Independence Day. All the fun went out of the 4th when I found out how horrible fireworks are for the environment, so I figured I'd be antisocial and crank out something lovely to wear.Next sewing post: smooth sailing before a HORRIBLE DISASTER! (Fortunately I am resourceful and can fix anything I almost ruin...)
Fuel for Camping
As I have mentioned in my travel posts over the past four years, my #1 vegan food tip is to pack tons of snacks. Actually, this isn't just a tip for vegans, as we discovered when traveling through Turkey during Ramadan. My sizable stash of Trader Joe's trail mix, sesame sticks, and dried fruit saved us at least one meltdown apiece.
You may also recall that one of my summer 2015 goals was to do more camping, so imagine my delight when Vegan Cuts advertised their deluxe camping box:
Thanks to this (mostly) snack box I've been introduced to several yummy new protein bar/cookie brands—Skout and Grab the Gold and Nii and NuGo Fiber d'Lish (I love Larabar, but new flavor combos are always nice)—as well as an organic, relatively-natural alternative to Red Bull called Dark Dog.
Ha, ha! Does it actually work? Well, I tried it one afternoon at Falcon Ridge while feeling fuzzy headed around 5pm—I was indeed tempted to take a nap, but at 5pm? come on—and it actually did work. Not a jarring jolt of energy, more of a ten-minutes-later oh-wow-I-feel-peppy-again sort of boost. Much, much better than Red Bull. Here's an explanation from the Dark Dog FAQ:
DARK DOG energy drinks contain the caffeine of guarana, which is much better for the stomach than the synthetic caffeine used in most other energy drinks. DARK DOG products do not contain chemical substances such as inositol or glucuronolactone that are found in other energy drinks.
It wasn't too sugary either (made with cane sugar), but I can't say I'm going to be picking up a case of it anytime soon only because I'm trying to wean myself off caffeine. (I've had several conversations lately about reducing my coffee intake, and the general advice seems to be to drink water and eat a little something, like a handful of nuts, if your energy is flagging.)
The breakfast cereal cup (with oats as well as amaranth, chia, flax, etc.) from Rokit Fuel packs ten grams of protein, twice as much as regular oatmeal, and it was really tasty too. The paper-and-plastic cup does seem wasteful though—I'd be more likely to buy it in the future if it came in little packets like regular instant oatmeal. I haven't tried the tea and coffee brew bags yet, and I am a bit skeptical, but I'll let you know in my next camping post if they're worth seeking out.
As for the toiletries, the Campn Stick (all-natural bug repellent) was wonderfully effective (I only got bitten when I neglected to use it, ha) and the Dr. Squatch soap came in handy (har har) too. I think it's marketed for men just because it has an herbal rather than a sweet or flowery scent. Actually, I rather like smelling like gold moss.
Being able to dig fun new goodies out of your bag when peckish enhances the already-awesome camping experience. Whatever you do and wherever you go, for the sake of your companions, make sure you have enough to nibble on!
(Not that I've ever been the crankypants of the group. Oh, no.) ;)
Chataigne shorts
Last summer I was trying on shorts off the Anthropologie sale rack, and when I checked the labels it seemed like every single pair was made in China. Then of course came the inevitable declaration of seamstresses the world over from time immemorial: I can make these!So here's a (typically belated) two-in-one sewing post: the Chataigne shorts from Deer and Doe, two versions from the same linen-rayon blend recommended by Ashley at Grey's Fabric in SoWa. (I LOVE Grey's. Love love love. Superlative customer service; gorgeous selection of fabrics, patterns, notions, and random gifty things; they sell Taza at the register!!; and now I have a punched-up rewards card giving me $10 off my next purchase.)
I made a pear-green pair last August; then, wanting something more practical, I went back to Grey's this spring and picked up some more of the linen-rayon blend in a medium gray.I don't have much in the way of notes or mods on this pattern, as the instructions are delightfully clear (unlike commercial sewing patterns, which is why indie designers like Deer and Doe, Colette, Victory, et al. are doing so well). The attention to detail is terrific without getting too fiddly apart from the V-shaped waistband, which is totally worth ripping and re-sewing a few times to get just right. (Also, a sewing PSA: diligent rounds of pressing are crucial to a successful finished garment!) I definitely want to make more Deer and Doe patterns (like this one and this one and maybe this one). 
I haven't done this yet, but my only suggestion (if you are using a linen or linen blend similar to this one) is to apply Fray-check along the seams to keep them from fraying too much over time. Also, I always hand wash these shorts. (I wash every garment I make by hand.)The green pair were a really good confidence-booster for me. I started my garment-a-month sewing challenge feeling way more competent than I had before! 
When my "I love animals too much to eat them" t-shirt arrived in the mail from Herbivore I squee'd at how perfectly the lettering matches my green shorts. One of my new favorite outfits for sure. (They're really wrinkly in that photo, but in fairness to the linen-rayon blend, I had been sitting on the bus for four hours!) 
I have another new dress to show you next!
Vegan Dessert Hall of Fame
Cranberry upside-down cake (recipe from Vegkitchen.com), served with oat milk. Photo by Todd (2023)
I've been meaning to collect my very favorite online dessert recipes for awhile now. I'll update this post periodically.
COOKIES
Ginger Yum-Yums and Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttons out of the Main Street Vegan Academy cookbook
Chickpea Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF)
CUPCAKES & MUFFINS
Lavender chocolate cupcakes (used maple syrup for the icing)
Chocolate stout cupcakes with whiskey buttercream
Peanut butter chocolate cupcakes
CAKES & PIES
Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake
Classic Spice Cake from Fran Costigan’s Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts
PUDDINGY THINGS
SORBET & ICE CREAM
DESSERT COOKBOOKS
The Joy of Vegan Baking (lemon bars, chocolate macaroons, apple cake, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies)
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (gingerbread with lemon frosting and pumpkin chocolate chip!)
Many more exquisitely delicious sweet things to come!
#WhatIMake
I'm just home from a wonderful weekend of live music, vegan peach cobbler and sock-knitting on the lawn at Falcon Ridge Folk Fest. I'm going to blog about the festival again this year, but for now here's another really cool event I'm about to add to my calendar:
(Edit: this is the revised poster for the rescheduled event.)
I'll be one of those ten speakers! Hooray! I originally wanted to do a presentation on veganism and creativity, but one of my vegan friends may be speaking as well, so I'll probably do a talk and workshop on writing and intuition instead. It's going to be a delightfully busy weekend with our Halloween group reading (with Mackenzi, Kendall, and Marika) at Tres Gatos the next day!
Tickets for #WhatIMake will go on sale in September. There will only be 100 seats, so if you are interested do sign up for the Miranda's Hearth email list!
Women of Every Species
Last week Book Riot included Bones & All on a feminist YA round-up. Awesome, right?...And also very disappointing.
Still delighted to be on @bookriot's list of feminist YA today, but I'm bummed there's no mention of the #vegan angle. Veganism IS feminism.
— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) July 22, 2015
I also tweeted this:
The consumption of dairy products is an anti-feminist act. I know, I know. You don't want to see it because cheese tastes good. #vegan— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) July 22, 2015
I wound up getting into a bit of a Twitter argument with the author of the piece. The subtext of her tweets was, of course, HOW DARE YOU CALL ME ANTI-FEMINIST?
Here's why: because when you consume a dairy product, you are stealing another mother's milk. It belongs to her babies. You want to call yourself a feminist-for-humans-only? Yeah, you could do that. But it doesn't sit well, does it? Someday—maybe not someday soon, but someday—our society will recognize this theft, exploitation, and murder for what it is. How could I possibly "agree to disagree" on this?
I will write more soon about the underlying dynamic of this type of debate, because if we're not careful it can echo the original problem. We have to other-ize the animals in order to eat them, and I'm not helping if I'm other-izing the people doing the other-izing. I have to remember that we're all the same—ALL of us—not just the animals and those who truly sympathize with them.
I hope that makes sense, and if not, I shall elaborate anon. For now, just remember that I'm not judging you. I ate dairy products for the first thirty years of my life.
Writing + Yoga Retreat Schedule!
[Edit: This retreat has been rescheduled for May 20th-22nd, 2016. Details here.]
As promised, here's our plan for the retreat weekend. I don't want to tell you too much about the writing modules, since in some instances the unexpectedness makes the exercise more effective. I will say that the writing and yoga classes will be thematically linked, which is going to be really fun!
Friday
Snacks and introductions.
Setting our intentions for the weekend.
First writing exercise!
Dinner
Restorative Yoga practice & meditation.
Saturday
Morning Yoga practice
(Snack!)
Writing session, including a mind-mapping demonstration
Brunch
Writing session using symbols & archetypes
Free time (sauna, hike, etc.)
Dinner
Evening Kirtan & meditation.
Sunday
Morning Yoga practice
Brunch
Writing session on relationships & community
Final writing exercise and reflection
Thankfulness meditation in closing.
Drop me a line with any questions. Early-bird discount ($300 instead of $350) is good through April 15th!
Georgina, Reprised
Behold, the most flattering garment I have ever knit! I never blogged my first version of the Georgina cardigan (knit in 2012) because I didn't use vegan yarn and felt weird about it (well, yeah). 
Georgina #2 is knit from a bamboo-pima cotton blend I've enjoyed knitting with before, although this version is definitely slippier: 
The shawl collar won't stay put, but on the upside, it's much more comfortable to wear than that scratchy wool. First finished garment of 2015! (The Unicorn dress was #2.) 
I am trying to make cardigans and dresses to wear together. The green bolero and my sundress #1 matched so perfectly—I must recreate (and veganize) this outfit. The sundress fell to pieces from so much wear, but I have enough calico to make another one! (I've already started it. Three more dresses to finish by the end of the summer!)The construction of this bolero is pretty ingenious: you start at the back, increasing stitches and separating for the side fronts, then block hard before grafting the shoulders and picking up stitches for the sleeves and collar. As for pattern notes, my only suggestion is to start the decreases immediately after picking up the armhole stitches. Otherwise there's too much fabric around the underarms. 
And now it's time for a BUTTON-OFF!: 
Georgina #1 buttons were a gift from Ailbhe. Georgina #2 ancient-coin buttons from M&J Trimming in NYC. I will deeeeefinitely be knitting a third version at some point, but I have to decide on a less slippery yarn sub.I've made zero knitting progress lately, partly because of all the sewing I've been doing (yay!) and partly because I've hit a wall—ambitious lace vs. not taking the time to memorize the pattern so I can knit on autopilot. I need to get started on something mindless for a camping trip this weekend!
How I Turned a Catcall Into a Teaching Moment
(That title isn't as accurate as it could be, but I bet it got your attention!)Recently I was in the market for a new futon, and the Boston Bed Factory got pretty good Yelp reviews. Unfortunately, there is a kill-'em-in-the-back butcher shop located right next door. 
On my way out of the futon store, I saw a man wheeling a dolly out the front door of the butcher's. There were no dead or doomed chickens in sight, but it was obvious the man was an employee. And dude was checking me out."Hey girl. How you doin'?"I very deliberately looked away and kept walking."Hey, why you gotta be like that?" he called after me.Still walking, I looked over my shoulder and pointed to the butcher's facade. "Because you work there," I replied. "I'm vegan."He didn't have an actual comeback for that—just something to the effect of "Aww, man!"—and maybe it's totally naive of me to think I planted a seed, but you never know, do you? I do know that I felt a whole lot better about that interaction than if I'd just ignored him and kept on walking.
Hinduism FAQ
As promised, here's the first in my series on Hinduism. I absolutely loved the class I audited at Tufts this spring, and I'm excited to share what I've learned on the blog. It's taken me so long to get this started only because (as you well know, dear reader) I have too. Many. Projects.What follows are my most basic burning questions, which our professor Brian Hatcher mostly answered in the first couple of lectures (with the exception of "om," which we came to a little later on). 
Is Hinduism a polytheistic religion?The delightfully slippery thing about Hinduism is that it can't really be classified as a polytheistic or a monotheistic religion, nor is it a unified belief system with a "central authority" like the Pope or the Dalai Lama. You can look at a list of basic tenets like this one on the Hinduism Today website, but it isn't accurate from a practical standpoint. Not every Hindu believes in reincarnation, for example, and it's estimated that only 25 to 40% of Hindus are vegetarian, so ahimsa isn't a hardfast principle either.It seems that the underlying tenet of Hinduism, the thing all Hindus would agree on, is the oneness of all creation. Each of us has a soul—atman—which is part of brahman, ultimate reality, the "cosmic soul" if you will. In this sense there is only one "god," though that "god" appears in many avatars; and because we are divine beings, we are all on a spiritual path. What are the Vedas?Amy Lou's husband Finn recently finished his Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian Studies (check out this gorgeous video of Indian high school students getting ready for a theatrical competition, which Finn filmed in Kerala in December 2012). They actually moved to Kerala for a year, and when Amy Lou referred to Vedic this or that, I'd have pretty much no idea what she was talking about.Now, however, I can tell you that the Vedas are the very oldest Hindu scriptures, written in Sanskrit and divided into four texts: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. The Vedas are śruti—"what is heard," or divine revelation—as opposed to smṛti, "what is remembered," wisdom gained through tradition.Each of the four texts is further subdivided into four (or five) types, the fourth being the Upanishads, which cover philosophy and spiritual principles (which is why we Westerners hear about them most often; this is where you learn about the concepts of atman and brahman).Another word I came across from time to time is "Vedanta," which means "the last" or "highest of the Veda." Vedanta originally referred to the Upanishads; now there are six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, of which Vedanta is the most prominent. What does "om" mean, anyway?"Om" (or "aum") is a sacred syllable, a primal sound or "root vibration" linking heaven and earth. It's made up of three sounds, A + U + M, which symbolize earth, heaven, and the space between. Now I understand why we chant "om" at the beginning and end of yoga class—it's the simplest and most powerful mantra there is.
* * *
What else will I blog about in this series?
The Four Goals of Human Existence
Hinduism and Vegetarianism (you knew that was coming!)
Hinduism and Yoga (ditto!)
Hinduism, the Epics, and the Role of Women
Asceticism
The Concept of Divine Sight
This is going to be great! (If I can just get organized enough to post on a regular basis...)
So in Love
In case you didn't see it on Twitter or Facebook, here it is: the Immaculate Heart cover!
(What do you think of a Virgin Mary nightlight, Ma? Is it sacrilegious? If not, I am getting you one for your birthday!)
Namirembe dress
The garment-a-month challenge I set for myself in January (inspired by Annika) is working out pretty well even though I am two months behind. I would never have finished five garments in six and a half months without this self-imposed motivation! 
And of course, the more I make the more compliments I get, which gets me even more psyched to start on the next project. 
On our Uganda/Rwanda trip back in August 2013, Kate and Elliot and I spent a good bit of time at a craft market in Kampala shopping for fabric. They'd just bought their house and were looking for an eye-catching print to hang on the wall, and I was hoping to find something fun but not too "busy" for a dress project. As soon as I saw this subtle and vaguely botanical print (are they berries? squash? nuts? acorns?) I knew three yards of it were coming home with me. Kate convinced the shopkeeper to cut a six-yard swathe in half (they wanted me to buy the whole thing, but I knew the three extra yards would only sit in my stash for years)—she is so good at bargaining, while I'm still working on doing it despite my discomfort. 
I think of this sewing project as the Namirembe dress because "Namirembe" comes from the Luganda word for "peace," and it's a popular name for girls. The story goes that the first Namirembe was a great benefactress in the Christian community. 
Apart from the fabric origin, I don't have much in the way of notes on this project; it's the same mash-up as the unicorn dress, Mary Adams + Simplicity 2591, but this time I included the pockets from the Simplicity pattern. The practicality is so worth the extra sewing! 
As you can tell by the photos on my news page, this has been my go-to gussied-up-authoress outfit for the past month and change (I finished it just before my NYC event on May 6th). It is flattering and funky and I get appreciative looks and gentlemanly compliments every time I wear it. My favorite comment came from my friend Jaclyn's roommate, who asked if I'd ever lived in Africa while I lounged in their hammock at a recent tea party. She'd lived in Kampala for awhile, so she recognized the fabric. 
I lined the bodice with black batiste left over from the cathedral dress, but I haven't lined the skirt yet. I really need to do that if I want to be able to wear this dress through the fall and winter. (Otherwise the fabric clings to my stockings. Slippy acetate/rayon lining = free movement.)I have to confess that when I'm almost finished with a sewing project, I get lazy. I haven't actually sewn in the bodice linings of either this dress or my unicorn dress, just basted them in place so I could wear each of them ASAP. I also had to re-sew this zipper. I showed up at Kate G's office the day of the McNally Jackson event and heard the ominous sound of snapping threads as I took off my jacket. But literary agents help you out with all kinds of things, not just book deals, haha—Kate put in a safety pin and I was good to go. 
More sewing projects to blog about soon! 
On Being a "Joyful Vegan"
I get a lot of comments on my "Joyful Vegan" tank top and sweatshirt, which you can find on the lovely Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's website. My favorite reaction is "Are you really vegan?", to which my response is equal parts "LOL" and "?!??" (Which translates to "Um, why else would I be wearing this shirt?")I've also received feedback that is less curious and more, shall we say, mildly antagonistic. A girl who works at a yoga studio I used to frequent announced in front of a bunch of people in the lobby, "If I were vegan I wouldn't be joyful," which is downright unfortunate—not because her remark came off as hostile and so made me uncomfortable, but because she clearly wasn't as open minded as she might like to think she was.But I don't wear my "joyful vegan" duds to try to convince anyone to go vegan. Funny as it may sound at first, I wear them for myself.I wear them as a reminder that I am a diplomat of sorts, a living breathing example of the change I wish to see in the world. If I'm wearing this shirt, I don't leave myself room for pissiness if the soy milk curdles or the cafe doesn't offer any vegan baked goods. If I'm advertising my lifestyle in this way, I can't indulge those baser impulses (my impatience, my tendency toward crankiness) without coming off like a hypocrite. I have to step up and be who I want to be, the very best version of myself.And if, while wearing this shirt, I inspire anyone else to strive for the same, well—what a bonus! 