Today I wanted to do something I have not done in a long time. I created a Tofu Scramble with Small Planet Organics Tofu(Sun Dried Tomato), Broccoli, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Yves Soy Chorizo, and Black Himalayan Sea Salt (for the egg flavoring).  To go with the breakfast and make it extra yummy I created an extra sweet not green smoothie. I am not usually a big cook in the morning because I firmly believe that the only breakfast is one in a 32oz canning jar. Smoothies are a huge component of my life but today I wanted to mix things up and make a more traditional breakfast. By the time I got all of the ingredients from our local Huckleberry’s health supermarket it was actually past 2.

I was going to go quickly to the store but I had 4 posters for the INVEG potluck next Sunday which will feature Eric O’Grey sharing his story of adopting his first dog named Peety and how they together transformed each others lives. I really want a big turnout so I have been sharing the posters around town. I dropped by the Yoga Studio on the hill and realized that there was one of the local Buddhist centers under the studio. I have this belief that most Buddhists are very much on the path to Veganism so I thought they would be happy to share my event. I was partially correct.

I walked into the studio and met 3 very kind individuals. The first was helping out at the front desk and she brought me to the gentleman who is in charge of the center. Over the next 10 minutes I learned that they are having a men’s retreat coming up in 3 weeks and that all 3 of them LOVE to cook and prepare meat of all sorts. Once they read my poster the conversation immediately turned to to how much they love cooking and eating meat. I still am always perplexed by this. I did not even mention that the potluck was vegan but once they read it it was all they could talk about for a few minutes. I just stood there and kindly listened to them. What was surprising was the next topic, non violence. I could not believe the topic of eating animals immediately turn into a conversation of how much this Buddhist center supports non violent celebrations. It was so hard to listen to this extreme form of cognitive dissonance but I did as I always do and I just smile and send out as much love as possible.

The lady who helped me in the beginning let me know that she put my sign up on the front door glass and so I made my exit. As I left I saw the poster in a very good location so I hope seeing this poster daily might make them think just a little bit about their own world. I do believe that every positive interaction that people have with loving and kind vegans will make a small impact.

When I got to Huckleberries I had yet another cool interaction in the vegan dairy section of the store. I met a father and son who were looking for “vegetarian” cream cheese in the sour cream section. I assumed he was looking for vegan cream cheese and so I directed him to the section behind his back. That started us into a great conversation on veganism. I find it truly incredible how more than 50% of the time when I got to the supermarket and I am in this vegan dairy section I meet really cool veg-curious people and am able to have wonderful thought provoking conversations with them.

So I met Joel who has been vegan for 2.5 years and his father who confessed he did not have the self control to go all the way yet. His son had introduced him to Cowspiracy just 2 weeks ago and he found it to be a good film. I expected a much more powerful reaction when he said he had seen it but I don’t believe I have talked to anyone who was not vegan who had seen the film before. We talked for about 10 minutes about vegan items and I did my best to share a few tips such as Just Mayo to replace conventional mayo. He said that for the most part they have replaced all basic condiments with plant-based versions in the house. They did have 2 gallons of cows milk and a single 1/2 gallon of silk soy milk in the cart. I shared with them the information on the monthly INVEG potlucks and we parted ways. I really love the conversations that I have in the vegan dairy section, each one gives me hope for the future.

This was the very first blog post I have written. I set out to write a bit about my recipe but now that I am done I have not event really touched upon it. It is going to take me a while to get the hang of these posts. I am going to let the posts go where they are directed instead of trying to control them. Thanks for listening.

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