Last weekend I had folks in the garden for our annual CANCERAMA!

I know, odd title - but we're astro geeks and we've got a lot of wonderful, watery crabs who live in Chicago.

I used the event as an excuse to make my best cake, a triple chocolate layer cake with chocolate butter-cream frosting (recipe credit to Cedar of NM who gave this to me during Feri training). I got creative and made a little crab out of fruit as decoration. I was particularly pleased with myself and secretly gloated over his cute little raisin eyes.

Hey...it's the little things.

See the cake and gorgeous crabs ( behind the cut )

Today, for lunch, I am finishing the end of the worst pot of beans and rice I have ever manifested in my life. Really...they sucked. If eating the food that I buy were not a part of my food activism - the whole pot would have gone to compost.

Ironically, when I was an omnivore I considered myself good at cooking beans (which I would do for much of the winter...with cornbread of course) but have realized that as a vegetarian...I have no clue. For this particular batch I used veggie broth, garlic, thyme and marjoram (YUCK!).

I was born and raised in the south you see, where beans are often cooked in chicken/beef broth and with some type of meat. Back in the day, I used turkey bacon, but was raised to cook them with fat back (yes, such a thing exists...yes, it is horribly gross and unhealthy...yes, it makes beans taste good to some folk).

So what seasonings (which do not involve an animal in any way) do you like with beans? I'm hoping some of you yanks can give this dixieland expat a helpful hint or two.

I finally found a used copy of Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, co-host of The Post Punk Kitchen. Some of you recommended it to me, and my research supported your opinions, so I began to lust after it in my heart and to stalk it.

Now it is mine...ALL MINE and I am anticipating making tempeh bacon BLT's this weekend (likely much to the horror of my partner who thinks bacon is a sacred food). Don't tell him, but I am dabbling with veganism to see if it would be a sustainable "next step" for me....shhhhh! Even if I decide that veganism is not for me as a total lifestyle choice, I would like to eat vegan more often so that my support of industrialized farming and meat/dairy production is reduced as much as is possible.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Does anyone here have an opinion on the Veganomicon? If I like Moskowitz's recipes...I may have to give that one a try too.

I happen to like Brussels sprouts...though I hated them until I turned 30 or so. Now that I like them, I am always looking for new ways to prepare them. For Christmas dinner I made Brussels sprouts with pecans using this recipe from Cooking Light.

They are panty-meltingly good...Enjoy!