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I’ve spent the last two days playing tour guide to two friends in town from Prince George. Nothing helps me get past Friday night drinking like Saturday morning brunch. I took our three-man wolfpack (yes, we recycled jokes from The Hangover – don’t pretend you never have) to the Templeton on Granville. I adore the Templeton. Angela and Pat adored the Templeton too.

We took turns ordering and once it was Angela’s turn, I was instantly in awe. “I’ll have a coffee, some water, the New Denver Omelet and a chocolate milkshake.” It was 9:00 a.m., we were slightly hungover and each had empty stomachs. Any girl that can order a chocolate milkshake under such conditions gets my respect.

Let me be honest: I love food and my appetite does not shame me. I believe that milkshakes, mochas and pumpkin pie are pointless without a mountain of whipped cream. Chips always go better with dip. If you make me pancakes on a Saturday morning, I’ll smother them with butter and syrup before devouring the entire stack. Were I to live in France, I’d be nothing short of fat since I’d consume nothing other than chocolate, cheese, red wine and parisian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Obviously the value of balanced eating can’t be overlooked – and believe me, this girl loves her vegetables. But wouldn’t you rather be five pounds heavier and not neglect the good stuff? The concept is simple: eat what you love and love what you eat. Foodies unite.

If someone wanted to pay me to stay in the kitchen all day to bake, create, cook, chop, simmer, roast, blend, decorate, sprinkle, melt and frost simply for fun, I’d happily accept. Until that day, I do it for nothing more than spreading joy to people I appreciate through tantalizing treats. Food brings everyone together.

Martha knows what’s what when it comes to cookies, but I took a shot at her Rosemary Butter Cookies with a little bit of skepticism.

As a kid, I was constantly sneaking butter and sugar from the bowl when my mom made cookies.

Using fresh and real ingredients is a must. I picked organic rosemary over dried. I should also take this opportunity to remind you that margarine has no place in the kitchen. It is, in my opinion, a sacrilege in creating cuisine.

After forming the dough into two logs, I rolled and wrapped the dough in parchment paper, froze the logs for an hour before brushing in egg whites and sugar. With the dough frozen, making delicate slices was simple with a good utility knife.

After a quick trip to the oven, these sweetly crusted cookies danced perfectly with the rosemary and coarse salt inside. Simply amazing.

Next up was a big tray of ooey-gooey brownies laced with walnuts. Melting butter is a step I enjoy, simply because it means I don’t need to give my arm a workout by whipping solid butter into a sugary fluff.

Brownies are one of the easiest things to make, so after blending the rest of the ingredients in a bowl (ingredients most of us already have in our kitchens), the tray made its way to the oven.

While I’m sure they would’ve been great as-is, I was of the opinion that a wispy layer of chocolate frosting certainly couldn’t hurt. Spreading it on when the brownies are still warm is much more conducive to an even layer.

Santa managed to nearly triple the number of baking supplies and tools in my possession, including some Wilton stencils. Using a flour sifter, I dusted these designs onto the set frosting.

Don’t you wish some blogs were scratch and sniff?

These are all things that I love:

Photo: yum9me on Flickr

And as of yesterday, no more. While not so apparent to most, I am well aware that I have indulged in more than my fair share of ice cream over the summer. Refined sugar has always been my nemesis, the one thing that always trips up any balance I try to achieve on the scale.

A co-worker and I pledged to say no to all sweets, treats and everything in between until November 1. If we slip up, the penalty is chugging a litre of water. It’s more difficult than you might think. Though that said, I already have two exceptions to make during that time and I’m fully prepared to get my chug on.

This is where you come in and help. Tell me some of your favourite sugar-free snacks so I can take the edge off from time-to-time without indulging in the devil’s condiment.

Vicious beatings, crude instruments for prodding, verbal degradation, humiliation, chains and cuffs and megalomaniacal antagonists. While all of these sound like key elements from your humble narrator’s favourite Rob Zombie flick, they’re a part of everyday life for elephants in the Ringling Bros. Circus.

Last week PETA released the “fruits” of months of intense undercover investigation behind the largest and oldest traveling circus in the United States. Disturbing video footage screams loud and clear the heinous accounts of blatant animal abuse perpetrated against these gentle giants.

Former Jackass and circus entertainer, Steve-O, recently teamed up with PETA in this video to speak out against these crimes. If you can get past his silly laughter, he does make some good points.

A formal complaint has now been filed with the United States Department of Agriculture and all evidence collected has been submitted. It’s my hope that the beatings will stop and the elephants (and other animals) will instead be sent to sanctuaries to enjoy the rest of their lives in peace. If you’d like to lend your voice to the cause, please click here to easily send an e-mail to the USDA’s Secretary of Agriculture, Thomas J. Vilsack.

The other day, as I spooned myself a bowlful of yogurt with lunch, I decided to check out the ingredient list out of curiosity. I always like to know how much sugar I’m consuming. To my surprise, I discovered that my beloved Island Farms yogurt contains gelatin. After a quick e-mail to them, followed by a prompt and pleasant reply, I was happy to learn that a new line of 2% Pro-Plus yogurt was being introduced to the Island Farms family – and it’s gelatin-free! And not only that, Island Farms confirmed to me that all their ice cream is also gelatin-free. Phewf!

However, my discovery prompted me to do some further research into animal by-products in food. Imagine my upset over learning not only what rennet is, but also that it’s used in many, many cheeses to coagulate the milk.

What is rennet? A complex of enzymes derived from the inner stomach of baby calves and is therefore a by-product of the cattle slaughter industry.

Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into saltwater or whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. After some time (overnight or several days), the solution is filtered. The crude rennet that remains in the filtered solution can then be used to coagulate milk. About 1 gram of this solution can normally coagulate 2000 to 4000 grams of milk. Today this method is used only by traditional cheese-makers in central Europe: Switzerland, Jura, France, Romania, and Alp-Sennereien in Austria.

Most hard cheeses, such as cheddar and Monterey Jack, list rennet as a key ingredient. Though thankfully, most varieties of mozzarella, brie (including Little Qualicum Cheeseworks’ brie), goat cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese, etc. is made without rennet. And further, many cheeses are now offered with a vegetarian-based coagulate. Read your labels, kids.

Lucky for me, all this means is being much more conscious about my grocery shopping selections instead of foregoing cheese altogether.

“When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of God we call him a sportsman.” – Joseph Wood Krutch, Literary Naturalist, 1893-1970

Some people seem somewhat shocked initially. Others are in disbelief and others still feel it necessary to dish out mild jabs in good fun. While at the same time, some people have simply exclaimed “finally! I was wondering how long it would take you…”

While I previously went through a two-year period of vegetarianism when I last lived on Vancouver Island, I had long been a big fan of meat. I loved eating it, cooking with it, creating new recipes with it, smelling it as it baked or broiled or barbecued. April 12, 2009 was the last time I ate meat.

A little over three months without meat seems like a short time for most and, while some may doubt the genuine intent behind my decision to cut meat entirely from my diet, that time is irrelevant. I’m still new to this “vegetarian thing” and know that there’s still a lot to learn. I’m constantly educating myself, researching the lifestyle I’ve undertaken and finding new recipes and ways at which to keep myself healthy without eating meat. My choice didn’t come about because I decided it suddenly tasted “gross”. In fact, my diet still includes eggs and dairy products from humanely-obtained local sources.

With so many questions being bounced around between my family, my friends and even my blog readers, I’ve felt the time is right to deliver my vegetarian’s manifesto, if you will. I can’t necessarily pinpoint the “how” but I can definitely articulate and expand on the “why”.

It’s no secret that I’ve long been a lover of animals. This includes everything from cats to dogs to chickens to birds to whales and every other living, breathing creature under the sun. To me, they have always been beautiful, abundant and gentle beings, each possessing somewhat of an innocence that we humans dropped along the way at some point. What was missing in my own life in this regard was a connection.

There was no particular incident that spurred on my decision to shed animals from my diet, my make-up bag or my closet. I know that I can honestly say that, although it may have been an idea floating in the furthest reaches of my subconscious, I truly did wake up one day and realized my perception had changed entirely.

It was Easter Sunday and my mom was out of town, so my aunt and I were left to our own devices for dinner. Rather than cooking a large turkey for the two of us, I found a recipe for Cornish game hens and planned for that instead. Easter Sunday was also the day I decided I was done. I carefully prepared the meal, as well as the vegetables to go along with it, and then sat at the dinner table with my aunt that evening. “Today is the last day I’m going to eat meat,” I told her without batting an eyelash. It was simply that matter-of-fact.

What caused that connection or that proverbial light bulb to illuminate is beyond me, but perhaps it was simply an inevitable culmination of my personal beliefs. If I love animals as much as I purport to, then why do I have no problem at all throwing parts of their carcasses on a grill or in a pan and proceed to devour them?

This is where the problem lies: animals are living, humourous, loving, emotional, intelligent beings that eat, breathe, sleep, feel, think and move. Food, on the other hand, is completely inanimate. A hot dog just sits on your plate without movement or sound. The only thing meat will do if you leave it long enough is decay. But making the connection between the living and the non-living isn’t easy. What joins the two usually involves a sharp blade, inhumane treatment and much pain.

It isn’t my endeavour to shock each of you through facts or unbelievably disturbing details of how the animals make it from the farm to the plate. Many of you have seen the PETA videos while others still may have witnessed it first-hand.

It’s my belief, as a woman and an individual human being, that we are all here on the planet by the design of something greater than all of us. Animals have personalities and feel, experience and understand many of the same quotients and emotions we humans do. If you have met Jordy, you know what I’m talking about! We are all species and none of us can say that one is greater than the other. Animals feel physical pain, experience the emotion of fear and feel the natural urge to flee when threatened just as you or I do.

Something as simple as a backyard BBQ with family is deemed more valuable than the life of the pig whose ribs are being devoured. Dispute that if you will, but actions always speak volumes above words. Last month, an Oklahoma woman and her friend were charged with killing and skinning a seven-week-old puppy with the intent to make a belt [source]. While the community was outraged, I couldn’t help but wonder how this was deemed to be a “despicable” case of animal cruelty, yet if the belt had been made of a cow, it would be okay. Something doesn’t add up.

I’ve heard a million arguments made to justify the consumption of meat. While some will say that the production of meat is actually good for the environment and the economy, others still will tell tales of the astronomical impact it has on the global environment. The point can also be attempted that eating vegetables is also killing living things, but it is scientific fact that plants do not possess both the central nervous system and brain required to feel and register pain [source]. But instead of respecting these beings, we assume we own them by locking them up in zoos, keeping them confined to large tanks at city aquariums and corralling them until they’re ripe for slaughter.

All of that is besides my point. The irony is that humans take such pride in being a group of beings so incredibly evolved as a species that our lives are seemingly worth more than those of animals. Yet, we rely on the idea that eating meat is our primitive right.

The truth about us humans is that yes – we are evolved; so much so that we no are longer required to consume meat to ensure a balanced diet and live a healthy and wholesome lifestyle. While at one point in time, eating meat and testing on animals may have been essential, it’s no longer necessary. Technology has moved us past that, and the choice to eat an animal is no longer premised on a need but instead on desire.

Very recently, I was discussing the beauty and gentle nature of cows with someone close to me. “I love cows too but I could never look one in the eyes – I’d just feel too guilty!” was what they told me. That, right there, is precisely the reason for my choice. I can no longer look at what is literally staring me in the face and deny it any longer.

I have made a decision and declaration to live a vegetarian lifestyle. I now make every single effort possible to use products that have not been tested on animals. No longer will items purchased for my wardrobe be made of leather products. By making these choices I am not claiming to be perfect, just as I do not attempt to describe those that eat meat as imperfect.

However, no matter what kind of argument anyone attempts to make against my choice, there can be no argument against compassion. There can be no argument against equality or love. I believe that every living being, whether toes, heels or hooves, has the exact same right to live a normal, happy and healthy life.

In 2007, Academy Award winner (and bonafide babe) Joaquin Phoenix passionately contributed to a film called Earthlings. It is as incredible as it is intense. In it, he points out the direct correlation between all of the Earth’s species and their individual values. While containing compiled videos that are not isolated events, but instead the norm, Earthlings is perhaps the most violent and graphic film you will ever see. Except it’s real.

Earthlings can be viewed online in its entirety here.

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