Monday, January 07, 2008

Vegetarian Cooking Classes

While browsing through the Forsyth Tech catalog last night, I was excited to see that it will offer a course on vegetarian cooking twice in the next few months. The first session will be held from from Jan. 12 to Feb. 9; a second session will run from March 1 to March 29. Classes will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays at the Hare Krishna Center in Stokes County. The cost is $50.

The course description is available online here (scroll to the second page of the PDF). If it piques your interest, information about registering for the course is here.

Friday, January 04, 2008

2008 wishes

I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions per se this year. So instead, I thought I’d share my “wish list” for things I’d like to see in 2008:

*A totally (or even mostly) vegetarian restaurant for Winston-Salem. Hey, a woman can dream, right?

*A Trader Joe’s for Winston-Salem. You know, that space in Thruway where Fresh Market used to be is still empty.... Though I do shudder to think about what this would do to the already heavy traffic at Thruway.

*I’m glad to see more vegetarian frozen meals cropping up in area supermarkets. Now, I’d just like to see them be cheaper!

*A national commitment to reducing our impact on the environment and an increased interest in environmental issues.

*More people bringing their own reusable bags to the grocery store.

*Logistically, I know this isn’t possible, but Whole Foods really needs a bigger parking lot. That place is a madhouse no matter what time of day you go, and the parking spaces simply aren’t big enough for the many SUVs that always seem to be there. Maybe they need to just move to a new location with more space inside the store and out. I think the demand has outgrown the store already.

Do you have any 2008 wishes for Winston-Salem or the vegetarian world in general?

Thursday, January 03, 2008

A Good Sign

It seems like a signal that 2008 is going to continue the “Vegan Chic” trend that DawnWatch identified in 2007. The New York Times‘s dining section yesterday featured a story on Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, a new cookbook from the authors of the best-selling vegan diet book Skinny Bitch.

Here’s hoping that the trend continues going strong!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

New Year’s Resolutions

The best New Year’s Resolution I ever made to go to every party I was invited to that year. It was an easy resolution to keep, and it actually did improve my life. In fact, I’ve pretty much kept that resolution ever since. Other years, the resolutions don’t last past the first week. But it’s still worthwhile to think about the things that I want to change.

This year my main resolution is to finally go vegan by March 20, the date of the Great American Meat Out.

This is one of those resolutions I’ve made before and kept for a while before faltering. Perhaps this year will be different. I’ve gotten to the point where there is just one stumbling block - eating away from home. At home, it’s become easy to avoid dairy and eggs; but at restaurants, or when a friend or family member fixes a meal, it can be more difficult. That’s why I didn’t set Jan. 1 as the “start date” - I figure to use the next several weeks to develop strategies for avoiding eggs and dairy products when I eat away from home. Hopefully that will help me stick with it this time.

Readers, are you making any veg-resolutions for 2008?