bees and cows and sheep, oh my!

Okay, so maybe there isn't the same sense of fear as there would be when confronted with lions and tigers and bears, but these gentle creatures offer a more cerebral challenge. While the wild beasts of Oz may threaten physical danger, our honey-producing, leather-wearing, and wool-covered friends threaten our paradigms and ethical stands.

I had some great responses to my honey-flavored ramblings. A few helpful readers pointed me in the direction of some other resources I had not found in my own hunt for answers as to why honey was not considered vegan. And though I still needed some time to ruminate on that information before coming to realize that I do, in fact, find so many things wrong with the human consumption (and by necessity, burglary) of honey, I'm going to push my luck and appeal for help again.

It is a gorgeous autumn in Philadelphia. I have more or less given up on believing weather forecasters, because I really think they employ only slightly more science than native Americans who raised their eyes to the clouds and said "I think it will rain." I also put absolutely NO faith in a book written hundreds of years ago and its alleged ability to foresee the weather this winter. Nevertheless, whether we get the super-cold-and-snowy winter everyone is screaming about or not, it really does get very cold in this part of the country.

A few years ago (actually more like five or six), I got a beautiful black lambswool cashmere coat for Christmas. Not only is it beautiful and stylish, it is extremely warm when the winter wind blows. It is also starting to show its age - the lining is beginning to tear and I noticed some "balding" spots where the seatbelt rubs against my coat when I'm driving. If I don't replace it this winter, I will probably have to do so by next year. The urgency, however, to replace my coat comes from the going-on-now Macy's coat sale. When I visited the website, I found a couple of beautiful and warm and comfy looking wool coats for what I found to be a reasonable price.

This, of course, raises the conundrum about how ethical (or not) it is to rob sheep of their wool in order to craft a coat to keep me warm for many winters to come. I am not wasteful. I wear my clothing until it is threadbare or faded beyond what could vaguely pass for professional. I wear my shoes until they have holes in them or are broken in some other way. I drive my cars until they don't go anymore. If there is even enough leftover from a meal I've made to pass as a single-serving side dish, I will put it in tupperware and save it for later. So believe me, my stuff lasts. Like I said, I have had my current wool coat for 5-6 years. I also have a leather jacket that has lasted me a decade of winters and isn't even close to quitting. Unfortunately, it's not quite warm enough for January and February.

Admittedly, I have not done any research into this yet. If I don't hear back from any of you, I will do my usual google nonsense, but if someone already knows a compelling reason why I shouldn't buy a new wool coat this winter, I would love to hear it. Currently, I just can't see the harm - after all, it grows back. Obviously, there is something at least a little exploitative about stealing the fur off an animal to make clothes for me, but unlike silk or leather or a fur coat, which actually involves killing the animal who "supplied" the material, the sheep lives to bleat another day. I guess that is what keeps me from feeling bad about wearing wool.

So if anyone has some insight they would like to share with me, I would really appreciate it.

On a lighter note - I made Stir-Fried "Beef" with Broccoli and Peppers for dinner tonight. The steak strips were so much different stir-fried than they were in that funny Irish stew I put them in last time. I couldn't tell if they were saltier or if that was the soy sauce I sprinkled them with while discovering that my wok has decided (without consulting me) that it no longer wishes to be non-stick.

hearty 'beef' stew is for vegans, too!

My home is in such a state of disarray I could barely remember where I keep my cookbooks. They haven't moved, by the way, the chaos is just that overwhelming. Angst just sits in the middle of it, looking at me with big sad/scared eyes, wondering when Mister will stop moving his stuff around while he hides in the bathroom...all day, apparently.

So, I strapped on my apron and grabbed my cookbook to make the Brazilian Black Bean Stew...and remembered that I forgot to get a red pepper. After standing stupidly in the kitchen for a minute, I put the cookbook back and pulled out The Vegan Table and set about making Hearty Stew. This recipe came from Colleen's "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" menu and it is so Irish it hurts - all full of potato chunks and browned bits of "beef."
The recipe called for 8 oz of tempeh, but I think I've mentioned before that Mister is allergic to tempeh...or his digestive system just really hates it. Either way, unless I want to wake up 4 hours into what was a peaceful night's sleep to him rolling around and making noises like he's about to die, I don't feed him tempeh anymore. I wanted to add something for the texture and my first thought was smoked tofu (my favorite), but since the recipe calls for liquid smoke, I didn't want to go overboard with smoky flavors. I figured I'd just stand obnoxiously in front of the "fake meat" section of Whole Foods' refrigerator until I saw something that would be a fun and suitable substitute.

My first experience with LightLife Smart Strips was not a pleasant one, so I don't know what provoked me to try again. I guess it was because I was tired of using Tofurky sausages, didn't want crumbled fake meat, and the picture looked less frightening than the chicken strips. I don't know what horrible things they use to flavor the "chicken" strips, but they smelled so foul (pun intended) when I cooked them a few years ago that I almost got sick and couldn't eat my own dinner. You can take that as a non-recommendation.

In any case, the beef/steak strips were pretty darn good! I'm not sure a stew was the best place for them, though they did soak up broth and get tender the way real beef would have. I think they would be a phenomenal addition to a stirfry (their intended purpose, anyway, according to the box). It didn't occur to me until I was halfway home that they might not be vegan - I've gotten so used to Yves brand fake meat products that I forgot to check. They are certified vegan.

There's dinner, still in the pot because the pictures of my own little bowl didn't come out too well and Mister was too hungry to wait for me to take pictures of his bowl - I guess moving half of our furniture around the apartment single-handedly with the added pressure of "don't break my mother's dead mother's china teacups or I'll cry" will do that to a man.

It was really good - the broth was very rich and savory, the way I like it. My only regret is that I was too busy trying to clear all the stuff off of and away from the dining table to find time to make the accompanying Irish Soda Bread. That would have been fun to dip into that tasty, flavorful, and smoky broth!