Larry Takes Jerry Out to Flacos

Jerry: Hi everybody it's me, Jerry. I was feeling a little sad the other day, I mean I know there

was a Mommy sighting and everything but she's not here yet. I bet her cell phone ran out.

I bet Daddy didn't pay her cell phone bill.

Anyway, Daddy told me to keep my fingers crossed and my chin up. It's hard to cross my fingers because they can only go in one position. Kind of like my feet. I can keep my chin up if someone doesn't swivel my head.

Anyway, Daddy took me to my favorite place ever, Flacos in Berkeley and this what we had. Daddy can you tell everybody what we had?

Larry: Well, Jerry and Mommy and me love the taquitos which are made of a soy chicken mixture rolled in a corn tortilla and fried. They're doused in Flacos' signature avocado salsa, (also sold to-go for $6), which comes in mild or spicy, the latter with roasted habaneros, but we get it with mild because there is no happy medium. 

Flaco's 3031 Adeline Street Berkeley, California 94703 510.981.8081

Jerry: Tell everybody in blog world about the the huarache, Daddy.
Larry: Hi everybody in blog world, a huarache is a handmade corn tortilla layered with avocado, refried pinto beans, rice, cilantro, onions, cabbage and..
Jerry: There's cabbage in it, Daddy? No way!
Larry: Way, Jerry and it has radish and salsa too.

Jerry: And Flaco's has pozole that is almost as good as Mommy's.
Larry: Almost, you can find Mommy's recipe here. 
Jerry: I wish Mommy was here!!!

Larry and Jerry scream and cry and get kicked out of Flacos. On their way home from Berkeley Larry and Jerry get hopeful when they see Mommy's poster on a telephone pole. Larry and Jerry know in their heart of hearts that if people in Berkeley are looking for GiGi, then by God Mommy will be home soon.

Yes, GiGi/Mommy will be home soon.
P.S. I need Mommy to help me with Blogger. I am very sorry the text came out weird!!!
Love,
Jerry

A Vegan Vacation or Two Psychos Take a Hike

Psycho boy and I took a vacation last month. We currently take a break two times a year. Since Veganville usually gets slammed from September through mid January, a vacation was now or never, or then or never, since vacation is over.
We have a lot of changes coming down the pike, but we couldn't even think about changing anything up until we took some down time.

Psycho Boy and I are Woody Allen type New Yorkers, who have never camped or followed a trail or a mountain anywhere too rural. I take that back. Psycho Boy did quite well as a Boy Scout until the scoutmaster trusted him with some matches. Needless to say I was never a Girl Scout, but when I was in 6th grade I went away with scout friends to a dude ranch for a weekend. I never saw a horse because I spent the entire weekend in the rec room gambling.

Several friends suggested we go to the Russian River which is just an hour and half away from Oakland, Ca. They told us that the trails and Redwoods were beautiful. We decided to brave the great outdoors so I packed my allergy meds, Psycho Boy took 2 weeks of psych meds and some mosquito repellent. I threw out his matches. Life is to be embraced and besides we could always turn back unless of course Bigfoot ate us first. (cancel cancel)

We yelped Vegan restaurants and decided to stop and eat lunch at the Sunflower Center in Petaluma on the way. The Sunflower Center's menu is mostly raw, all vegan and the ambiance is cozy and comforting.

Crazy Boy (aka Psycho boy aka Larry) had the Mediterranean wrap. It was filled with eggplant, a spicy tomato sauce, and Larry said too few kalamata olives. The wrap itself was more like a Spinach Injera. I am surprised Larry liked it all given his immense dislike for the Ethiopian sponge bread.

PB also got some weird ass gluten free spinach muffin. I think it was called a "spuffin". Tasted like a door stopper to me. Not that I go around licking the floor or anything. It was paired with a very thin miso gravy, something you might eat at a Thanksgiving from hell.
That is a hemp chocolate shake behind the spuffin. It had the same consistency as the gravy, but Crazyboy liked it. I think he just liked the idea of hemp.

I have a love affair with kale and cashew cheezes and avocado. I think we broke up after this lunch though. Yes, it was beautifully plated. There was nothing inherently bad about the dish, just basically flavorless. I was a little disappointed but just so happy to be going somewhere, that I ate quite a bit.

That's me running for dear life because I heard a bird chirp.

That's Crazy Boy in front of the Twisty Tree, explaining to passersby that the Twisty Tree is what the synapses of his brain look like without meds. He then asked some German tourists for matches. Haben Sie einen matches.

Here I am pretending not to know the little matchboy.

We loved our cottage efficiency at Creekside Lodge and had a wonderful time there. The health food store in town was exorbitant but we were lucky enough to stumble upon a Farmer's Market one day where we picked some fruit and veggies to accompany one of the best breads we ever had. Raymond's Bakery is not exclusively a vegan bakery but they do have a garlic rosemary vegan round bread that wowed us. After a day at the River we picked up some hummus in a nearby grocery store and ate it with the fruits and veggies and bread.

Here we are so happy to have braved the unknown and to have outrun Sasquatch. All in all it was a great vacation where no one gambled and no one lit anything on fire.

MoFo 20 Another Quake but No Cake

I didn't feel the first earthquake today. Me and crazy boy were on a walk when a jeweler came out of his store and told us there was a jolt. We weren't home 20 minutes from dinner out at Herbivore in Berkeley when our building shook like a roller coaster. We both had shwarma wraps and salads at Herbivore. I had seitan. Larry had the un-chicken. The wraps were good, nothing we couldn't duplicate at home, but what if it was a real earthquake? What if that seitan shwarma wrap was my last vegan supper this time around? I'd be pissed. It's pretty sad that some people can only down jello before they go. I know jello isn't vegan, but really who wants even the jello vegan stand-in  kanten or agar agar as their last meal. Sure kanten can be pretty  and colorful but a last meal it does not make!

Time Magazine did a photo essay a while back, where famous chefs gave a brief description of what they would like their last meal to be. They were photographed with part of the meal the meal they would choose. I was appalled to see how gamey and cruel their favorite meals were. One chef was pictured with a rifle. One was pictured with a pig. Incredibly sad. 

There is an entire website dedicated to death row inmates' last meals. Vending machine sodas, and corn chips are often included in their requests. One inmate requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I didn't expect any of these inmates to be vegans, but I didn't expect the chefs to be so non chalant about their choices either.

What would I choose when there are so many kind choices?  I know! I'd like the- hell I'd like the  vegan Caesar salad to start, please. Hell, Caesar. Gee, I hope this meal never ends ;) Hmmm. I'll have to think about the rest of this last meal. This is definitely food for thought.

Isn't this just the perfect icebreaker for your next Halloween party? What would you choose for your last meal?

I Really Expected a Blender...MoFo Day 3

As you well know, since you follow my meanderings closely, yesterday was mine and Crazy Boy's 21st wedding anniversary. Now, I'm not the type of girl who peeks through wrapping or looks under beds for hidden presents, so of course I didn't sneak around looking for my anniversary present from you know who. I mean we've had over 21 years of giving gifts to each other, so who cares any more about gifts? Right? Wrong!

I mean I thought CB was so supportive of my doing MoFo again this year. I mean, Laaaaaaary, (aka Crazy Boy), don't you remember that our blender bit the dust a while ago? And remember we were going to make us some awesome coconut based ice cream with a brand new shiny ass ice cream maker? I mean you do want to try this whole marriage thing out for at least up until next year right?

Oh man. The box looked so promising too, with it's artfully wrapped purple recycled paper. I just knew the box looked a little small for a blender, and unless there are ice cream makers made especially for ants, I knew it wasn't an ice cream maker in this box. It's not that I'm ungrateful. But...

Shoes!? Shoes!? Okay they are very cute shoes, honey. Really cute shoes and thoughtful, honey, but I don't think I can churn coconut ice cream in them unless I spin around a lot. And then I don't feel like freezing my feet overnight to get the right creaminess.

Don't you worry, dear reader I still have a frozen dessert recipe for you today...and yeah, well I guess I'll post some pics from our "Gracias Madre" meal.  And what an undeniably delicious meal that was :)
Before we went to Gracias Madre translation "thank yo Mama"

gracias madre

 Larry had another little surprise for me...

GiGi all strapped in the car and excited and stuff to go look for an ice cream maker!!!!!!!!

The above video is what happened in the ice cream maker store.

I was so grateful to have a beautiful experience at Gracias Madre.

Guacamole

Gorditas



Enchiladas with Cashew Creme and Kale

Here as promised is the frozen dessert recipe.

Rice Dream Karma Very Cherry (is very good!)

Handful of strawberries hulled and washed of course, then sliced

flaked unsweetened coconut

Chocolate sauce- I ripped off Rip, (see previous posts, please), with a twist from me

1 tsp cornstarch

1/2 C water

3 T agave

2 T cocoa powder

Mix 1 tsp of cornstarch with about 2 T of the water. Mix well 'til no lumps remain. Add to

heavy bottomed saucepan with the remaining water, agave and cocoa powder. Whisk and mix until liquid starts to bubble and turn down to simmer until the chocolate is thickened. Take off stove.

Scoop Rice Dream Karma into parfait glass with strawberries, spoon sauce over it and top with coconut if desired. Chow down. Happy Mofo Day 3. I'm so stuffed.



MoFo Day 2 Wedding Anniversary and a Theme Within a Theme Within a Theme

Guess what? Today is me and Psycho Boy's 21st wedding anniversary. We got married kind of young. We both were ten years old, but we had fake proof. Isn't it funny how our wedding anniversary coincided with World Veg Day? Today we are going to World Veg Day and then having dinner at Gracias Madre. Gracias Madre is the Mexican food sister to Cafe Gratitude, the vegan raw joint where every meal starts with an affirmation.

I would like the "I am phenomenal" almond shake please.

Then the wait person, repeats back to you., "Yes, you are phenomenal". Then you say, "you are phenomenal."  No, you are. And they say, well you get the picture, because "You are phenomenal!".

Here's something else about affirmations I really should tell you about. Never repeat an affirmation in the negative. For instance, do not say,"I do not suck as a food blogger". Instead say,"I am the queen of food blogging". Even though you may not  think that. If the universe hears you say, "I am the queen of food blogging" enough, you might begin to think that you rule the food world and one day you might even become infant Jesus' personal chef. Ever notice how Chef jackets and straight jackets look remarkably alike?

You might be thinking....Where's the food on this freaking blog today, GiGi? Well. Seems like some photo genius whiz blogger just posted about "Gracias Madre", the very restaurant I was going to take some less than average pictures of. Check these crazy ass pictures out. OMG. They are featured over at the drool worthy Vegan Culinary Crusade blog.
I suck! Whoops I mean I am the queen photographer of below average pictures .Maybe I'll take a photo essay of me jumping off the Bay Bridge today.

Here's the other thing. Yesterday while reading all 850 MoFo blogs I saw that most of the  smarty boots bloggers have come up with themes for MoFo. I might not be the sharpest measuring spoon in the drawer but I thought MoFo was the theme. I think that these bloggers' themes are themes within a theme. Ohhhhh. I get it. I think.  So if we can drive past the Bay Bridge safely today, here are a few themes I will include in the month of Vegan Food.

GiGi's Theme within a Theme

Martha's Peas

1. Veganizing Martha- I will veganize some of Martha's recipes from her pre-jail bait days, (pre 2005). I will also include a few recipes Martha came up with while she was in the can. Who can forget how Martha made eyeliner out of peas for the other pen gals?
1.a. Peas might also make a good theme.

Martha walking towards the yard to pick some veggies.

Inmate with green pea eyeliner, Martha whipped up in the pen.

2. Ripping off Rip- You know Rip Esselstyn the writer of the Best selling, "Engine 2 Diet"? His diet is more of a plan, plant based of course. It includes, no sugar, no white flour, no oil. Today is day 21 for us on the plan. Shorthand for this plan is E2, but since I will be ripping off most of Rip's recipes, let's call this the G2 plan.

Fireman Rip and his fruits.

3. And back by unpopular demand, I will include more Video footage of inanimate objects. Happy Mofo Day 2. And Happy Anniversary, Baby!

New Kick Ass Chocolate Lover's Sample Box and Vegan Bake Sale

Greetings and Salutations from an undisclosed oven. Please don't confuse me with Sylvia Plath. Sorry, I'm getting a little punch drunk here. New goodies aboard. And in addition to our other nifty locations you can now find Veganville Muffins at Philz Coffee on Shattuck in Berkeley, and at Thyda's Thornhill Coffee House at 5772 Thornhill Drive in Oakland. Come check out our muffins and voopees. Yippekayay.

I had a special request from my buddy Hope (of the cool Blackbird and Peacock) for a "Chocolate Lover's Box" over at Etsy this week. Now why didn't I think of that before? We have a "PB Lover's Box" and a "Mint Lover's Box" and a "Sample Box" and a "Chocolate Voopee Assortment Box", but where was my head on that one? Yeah I know- probably in the oven. Sorry Sylvia. It includes Double Choc Choco Voppees, hunks of devil rich Sam Sam Loaf, Jumbo Chocolate Cupcakes and some Chocolate Mousse to boot. Or if you prefer some groovy Chocolate "Creme" Cheese frosting.

Did a vegan bakesale to raise funds for Animal Place this past weekend. Animal Place rescues abandoned and abused farm animals and does dynamic work.

The mastermind behind the sale is my pal, activist and jewelry and bath/body designer and (part-time bakesale baker) Roni Seabury from Daisywares. There were so many spectacular bakers. A big shout out to Yvonne Emanuel, Tiana Trutna, Dana Portnoy, Me, Raelene Coburn, Kelly Beth, Vanessa Morelan and Laura Etter for donating vegan baked goods to the Animal Place Bake Sale. And of course Roni for making those Mexican Wedding cookies that sold like vegan hotcakes!


People were generous and a big thanx goes out to Nature's Express for letting us use the space in front of their store. Mary Rose rocks. I got to sample their Salt Caramel frozen dessert. Freeze head prevailed but it's oh so good and worth every moment of my icy cerebrum! Everything sold out, well almost everything (there were a couple of lonesome carob muffins left). $602.00 was raised it would have been $604.00 but ahem ahem someone swiped a Chocolate Oatmeal Banana cookie and it ruled! I mean I heard it was quite good.

Tempeh For the Taurus

Well crazy Taurus boy had yet another birthday. But I swear the dude is like Dorian Gray. I'd hate to see what his attic picture looks like. We celebrated with the movie, "Bill Cunningham New York" . The photos and fashion are a must see and Bill is a lovable eccentric. We enjoyed takeout from Nature's Express in Berkeley and combined their delicious frozen dessert with some lemon custard cupcake and lemon frosting to make a delectable party parfait. Woohoo.

The Einstein, a scrambled tofu, tempeh bacon, Daiya cheese tomato avocado and black bean burrito is pretty good.

The real genius is the Grilled Tempeh Reuben. The homemade kraut paired with the tangy house thousand island and melted Daiya hits the spot and is calling to my taste buds as I write.

I'm a huge fan of Nature's Express frozen dessert, even though I get freeze head. They carry a different flavor everyday. The vanilla almond was a terrific compliment to the lemon flavors swirling through the parfait. It was a very hot day, and we had to carry the parfaits home without lids, hence the leaning tower.

Now excuse me while I go eat in the attic. Bahahahaha.

(photo credits-crazy Taurus boy)

Dessert in the Raw

If I ate as many dried fruits and nuts and seeds as I would like to it would be in the pounds and I would be one hefty vegan. That's not to say I don't partake in a rolled coconut date once in a while. When my body craves dried papaya, or dates, or figs, or roasted pumpkin seeds I give in and give moderation a whirl. I'm not particularly fond of moderation, myself. Doing everything in moderation is extremist and once in a while I'd like to gorge myself on nut butters.
On the way home from LA  last week, we bought some dried pineapple rings.They looked like pineapple. They smelled like pineapple. They tasted like a pizza box. We soaked them in OJ which kind of killed the dried fruit thing they had going, but at least the rings were edible, and we upped the "C". 

I love me some raw food. Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley still rocks my boat. Their raw Caesar salad made with nut Parmesan and raw croutons is delicious and fresh and their cashew coconut  almond shakes are tasty and not too sweet. The cocoa nib truffles although delicious are the size of a thumbnail and one would have to trade in their solar powered car to buy a satisfying amount. Last time we were at Gratitude their service sucked. I think we waited an hour for my salad and none of the wait staff ventured near our table to tell us what was up. What the hell takes so long, anyway? Everything is served at room temp. Maybe the dehydration machine was on the blink.


I could never be a raw foodist or nudist foodist all the time. I like high temperatures and blackened broccoli and hot coffee and baked goods that are well uh baked. Those dehydrators piss me off too. I get too thirsty as it is. Still I had to give making raw food a shot. I will definitely make this again.

Me and Mo made these raw brownies on the one sweltering day we had recently. Look how the Rice Dream ice cream is melting.

In The Raw Brownie Adapted From http://therawtarian.com/

1 C walnuts

1 C dates

5 T cocoa powder

4 T shredded unsweetened coconut

2 T agave nectar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1. Place walnuts in food processor and process until the walnuts become small and crumbly.

2. Add dates and process again until the mixture sticks together and the dates are well processed.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and process until the mixture turns a dark chocolaty brown. Stop processing before it gets too buttery. (There should still be air between the small bits so that you will be able to press them down into your brownie pan.)

4. Dump the mixture into a brownie dish or 8 by 11 cake pan and press down firmly using your clean hands.

5. Refrigerate for an hour or more. You do not have to refrigerate it, but it's much easier to slice when chilled.

Remember summer is coming , and it'll be hot so you'll want to eat these brownies in the raw, I mean... Oh you know what I mean.

MoFo 15 Throb,Throb, Food, Food

I don't want to get all maudlin on you or anything but I got something funky going on with my mouth. Why now? Couldn't something like this wait until MoFo was over. I need my mouth. My mouth contributes to my senses. I've been so busy that I've ignored the pain and never really took a good look at my mouth until the other night. Some nudnick was going on and on whining and boring the lot of us so I took the opportunity to excuse my self, find a public restroom and explore the inner workings of my mouth. Although the Pac and Save bathroom was not as good as my dentist's office I could tell that I have a tooth growing out of my left cheek. So rather than cook dinner last night I opted for a vanilla vegan milkshake, (my favorite), from Saturn Cafe http://saturncafe.com/, and had to forgo the awesome vegan nachos. Soft food is helping a little. Anyway, Saturn Cafe bills itself as, "your favorite vegetarian space age cafe", has a few vegan options and promise to add more. I'm crazy for their shakes and fat fries and chipotle, and wasabi dipping sauces. 

My buddy Marcia is going through a tough time and hanging with me and Larry for a while, so tonight we made comfort food and soft food to satisfy everybody.

I whipped up my fave sweet cornbread recipe, sauteed some mustard greens with lemon and garlic. Larry made mushroomy gravy from Veganomicon, and since I am partial to thick gravy, I made a slurry of 1 tsp cornstarch to 2 tsp cold water and added it to the already prepared gravy and cooked it for about 2 more minutes.

The food was deliciously soothing, however it did not heal this strange molar problem.

Do I look a little weird to you?

He who sleeps feels not the toothache. William Shakespeare

Night. See you tomorrow.                                          

A Sicilian Welcome, A Sicilian Goodbye

Two Guys Salad

The priest didn't know the deceased but he had heard she was very loud. The priest said that a lot of people must have loved the deceased since a lot of people were weeping. My right eye drips uncontrollably whether I am happy or sad. Once my right eye started, my left eye joined in. If I continue to go without this eye operation I could probably make a good living as a professional mourner.The deceased is up there laughing at my dripping eye. Did the priest mention how funny the deceased was?
 The first time I met Lynn was on her 38th birthday.


"Before I introduce you to Lynn, I have to tell you something," Larry said.
"Okay."
"Lynn is very loud." 
"Is she deaf? My family is loud... how loud is loud?" I asked.
"Lynn is loud-loud."


And off we went.Twenty-five Sicilians and one jovial Irish guy were all seated around a long kitchen table.They squeezed me in between Tony, Tommy and Eddy (the Irish guy) who married the lovely Mariella. I sat under the gold framed eight foot picture of the Italian patriarch. Everyone kissed me hello like I was an old friend. Once they understood that I did not eat pork, ham filled calzone, or chicken parm, the family welcomed me with artichokes, pastry, espresso and potato pie. Beautiful broken English came at me from all sides.
"Want some baccala?" Tommy Sr. asked.
"No thank you, I don't eat fish."
"No fish??? Whatddya mean no fish?" Tony said.
"Fish is not sausage." Tony and Tommy Sr. said in unison.
"No, no thank you."
"How 'bout anchovies? Whaddya mean, no anchovies?"
"Um no thank you. I think those are tiny fish," I said.
Someone yelled, " Get GiGi some more potato pie."
Nina, Tony's gracious wife jumped up to get me some. And then like a volcanic eruption, the second coming, or Jurassic Park dinosaur,  I heard ...


"WHADDYA WANT TO DRINK? JUICE, SODA, WATER,  BROWN OR BLACK COFFEE?"
TOMMY- ANDREW- STEVEN ( Tommy-Andrew-Stephen is all one word) GET LARRY'S GIRLFRIEND SELTZER AND BLACK COFFEE."


"THANK YOU!" I bellowed back and then I heard my soon to be sister-in law's hearty contagious laugh.
Larry and I left New York for way too long. Life has a weird way of stirring things up. Sometimes life takes away the things that make it possible to do the things you need to do. Until life happens again and finally you do what you gotta do and should have done all along.
Births, deaths, marriages, restaurants, graduations, and always food went on while we were gone. It was Lynn's tragic, unfortunate and premature passing that brought us back to that kitchen table last week.
Amidst all the sadness and loss, those crazy Sicilians still found a way to feed this crazy vegan. About 80 people feasted at Nunzio's Pizza Town after the funeral. 


"Can I help?" I asked.
"No don't go into the kitchen, GiGi".
Tony went into his kitchen without me and brought me out a steaming voluptuous mixed vegetable dish.Yep, I was served before anybody.
The day after the funeral Gina, my nephew Stephen's wife had us over for a BBQ so we could meet the adorable twins (our great niece and nephew) and the rest of her family.
"Can I do something?"
"No, you sit. " Gina said.
"But I'm really good in the kitchen", I  said.


I proceeded to put the steak knives away in the wrong knife stand, (maybe so they wouldn't eat steak again).
Tommy Sr. and Kara (Andrew's girlfriend) made stuffed artichokes and marinated eggplant and zucchini for me. Stephen made potatoes and string bean salad.Tommy Jr. brought homemade vegan baked beans. I'm salivating now.
Before Andrew took us to the airport Larry, Andrew and my niece Dawn Marie went to see Tommy Jr. at the other family restaurant, "Two Guys" in Hicksville. Ziti in marinara, potato wedges with fried onions and olive oil, mixed greens with oranges and cracked olives, grilled NY Italian bread with grilled red peppers eggplant fresh basil and drizzled balsamic graced our table. This was Tommy Jr.'s first foray into complete vegan chefdom. I was more than impressed and couldn't stop eating. Delicious!
"Can I help you in the kitchen, Tommy?"
"No, you sit."
"But I'm good in the kitchen." I said.

Then I went to clear the plates and I dropped three forks.
 I would love to mention every kindness and generosity extended to us when we were back in NY, but there isn't enough space here. I realized I don't know how to finish this blog because I just don't want to say goodbye again. Since this is a vegan blog, I want to tell you something else about Lynn.
In addition to her vivaciousness, Lynn adored all kinds of animals almost as much as she did babies and QVC. In reverence to Lynn and this beautiful family, this week my blog  will be devoted entirely to Vegan Italian cuisine. Grazie Mille!
If you are in New York and want some great food prepared by great people please visit:

Nunzio's Pizza Town  

    751 Route 109 West Babylon New York

  631-957-3365

                          Two Guys Pizzeria                         

94 West Old Country Road. Hicksville. New York

  516-932-8489

Cavatelli with Fava Beans (Two Guys)

  Lynn, the table will never be the same without you. We love you forever. xoxoxo

Trouble in the Snack Shack

Lots of people called my gluten-free muffin names like horse pie, door stop,artifact, gall bladder yesterday. Undeterred, I was not ready to jump the xanthan gum ship. I had a fail-proof cookie recipe up my sleeve and I was ready to bounce back.  Do you even know what xanthan gum is smarty pants name calling reader? Well, Xanthan gum is a stabilizer and a thickener made from a bacteria that rots on cruciferous vegetables. Anyway, Eric left town again, so I have another week until I make the bacteria cookies. In the meantime, let me tell you about my awesome trip to see my family in LA.

It was birthday week for the Aries and Tauruses in the family, so of course we just had to go see my nephew Sammy (the Taurus) and baseball phenom play. We got to see him play second and pitch. My famous Sam Sam cake is named after Sam by the way.
Since we are talking baseball here's my pitch for (pitch get it? bahaha)
Veganville's Sam Sam loaf, a death by chocolate, rich, moist and uber- chocolaty chip loaf. If you have a hankering you can purchase some Sam Sam cake at http://veganville.etsy.com/

Anyway, while everybody was yelling Go Mustangs...I screamed, "Why can't you  all have pleather recycled gloves made from tires? Why is baseball so cruel? " (Sammy gets a hit!)

Thinking I would be better off in the kitchen than the stadium, my sister paged me to the "Snack Shack" where she was brewing coffee.The windows of the "Snack Shack" face the field so I got to watch the action and "moo" between snack servings.
Now I know my way around vegan kitchens.The "Snack Shack" I am appalled to say is not vegan. Still, I wanted to be of service to Heidi and Judy the other sweet baseball mom who was also working the "Snack Shack". Remember, veganism is all about  non-violence and helpfulness.

There were plenty of orders for dye number 7 Gatorade. Apparently some children were confused when I asked them if they would like their Gatorade hot or cold.
I was moved out of the beverage section onto the popcorn. Big seller. Apparently microwave popcorn is called microwave popcorn because one must microwave it. Several complaints and broken teeth later I was switched to the candy section of the "Snack Shack".

The kid who broke his tooth on the unnuked popcorn came back for some Jujubes.

I obliged. Yeah kid,sugar will help you lose your other teeth too, what's another tooth at this point? Come back tomorrow and I'll give you an 8 ball. 

Judy and Heidi took a break and left me to lord over the shack. I took this opportunity to steal some Twizzlers for myself. Apparently they have some video setup in the "Snack Shack".

The next picture was taken after I convinced several families not to buy nitrate laden hot dogs.

Hidden camera again.

The next thing I know that sweet woman Judy was pushing me out of the "Shack" and pulling something shiny out of her Louis Vuitton bag.
Pretty bracelets, Judy.
Put them on, GiGi.
Oh Judy, it was my pleasure to help in the "Snack Shack". I couldn't possibly take a gift...
Half way through the Miranda rights I confronted Judy...
Wait Judy...I thought you were number 7's mommy, then I remained silent for a little while.. I was just kidding about the twizzlers, Judy...

Well turns out you can be a mommy and a police sergeant for the LAPD at the same time..

.

Heidi and Larry want to know if they are in trouble by proxy.

Heidi and Larry are so happy that they don't have to serve time again.

Sammy's team wins too. Sammy's team is 20 and 3.

Two nights later Larry and I ate a delicious vegan dinner at the Veggie Grill http://www.veggiegrill.com/  in El Segundo. I had  blackened vegan chicken with avocado over kale, and Larry had chipotle shredded veggie steak with a tangy BBQ sauce and caramelized onion. I wish I had pictures, but Judy confiscated my camera. Go Mustangs!