Charlotte VegFest 2014

We went to the Charlotte VegFest this year. I think it was the third annual festival for all things vegetarian, vegan, and animal friendly. There were vendors, speakers, food, and music. The weather was fantastic and we met up with our neighbors Kelly and Mark. They are not vegetarian (though she has expressed a wish to) be but they are definitely veggie friendly.

The highlight for me was meeting Gene Baur, President and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. I've posted videos of the animals at Farm Sanctuary before so you may recognize him when you see his picture:

He spoke at length about the problems associated with raising, killing and eating animals primarily from the ethical viewpoint of animal suffering yet also touched on the nutritional and environmental impact of this industry. I'm always awed when someone can speak passionately and eloquently for an hour without notes or props. He only had 10 minutes after his talk before having to leave for another engagement in LA, but I scooted to the front of the table to speak to him and have him sign my copy of his book, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food.

I mentioned that we'd seen his debate on Intelligence Squared and he pumped his fist with joy and exclaimed, "And the vegans won!"

Saeed and I really enjoyed the debate and I would love it if you'd watch it:
 

Another celebrity in attendance was Leilani Münter, one of the few successful female race car drivers. Her phrase is, "Never underestimate a vegetarian hippie chick with a race car." Discovery named her the "#1 Eco Athlete in the world." Her website is carbonfreegirl.com.

I did a poor job snapping pics. When I'm enjoying something I pretty much forget to take pictures. I got none of the food vendors but found this cute lady who runs a chicken sanctuary in NC.

I won the raffle (thanks to Saeed's suggestion to put all three tickets in the same jar) and we got a free dinner for two at Fern, a vegetarian restaurant in Charlotte. The lottery tickets I bought were 'delivered' inside this cute bag:

I hope to attend next year and will do a better job with my pic snapping. :-)

Meet Our New Surgeon General - There's Hope For 2015

Don't know if any of you paid much attention to our President's selection of our new Surgeon General who after seven months of squabbling was approved a couple of weeks ago by a 51-43 vote in our Senate. It's really quite amazing that he made it through since he's anti-gun and the NRA was having a fit with his nomination.

Meet Dr. Vivek Murthy, seen here with Senator Cory Booker. 

(I love Booker who is vegan but that may be another post.)

  
So why am I blogging about him? Because he is a breath of fresh air. A growing minority of us believe that the government's status quo position on health care and the role nutrition plays needs to go. We still give subsidies to the meat and dairy industries and not the fruit and vegetable industries, knowing that our citizens don't eat enough produce. We have one of the sickest populations in the West. Hate to go all valley girl on you but, um helloooooo?

Dr. Murthy is wicked smart. He graduated valedictorian of his high school, did his undergrad at Harvard University (graduating magna cum laude in three years' time) then got a combined medical and business degree from Yale. He currently practices at Brigham's and Women's Hospital and get this --- he's 37 years old. I've also read that Dr. Murthy has almond milk, carrots, and high-protein grains in his fridge, another sign of intelligence :-)

 I reward you for reading this post with the following Jon Stewart video:

The Daily Show
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Wishing You a Healthy Happy New Year!!

(eat your fruits and vegetables)

Buddies - Love This Picture

Chappu (L) and Tippy (R) can often be seen just hangin' out together. Chappu likes to lick Tippy's head and Tippy enjoys it so much she never asks Chappu to stop. Obi used to enjoy Chappu's licking but after a minute or two it ended in a tussle. The relationship these girls have warms my heart. It looks like Tippy has her arm around Chappu... OK tail.

Final Kitchen Post

I'm not as tardy as you'd think, seeing as we still have to do the final walk through with the folks who did our remodeling. There have been A LOT of problems. Our biggest complaint is that no one seemed to be overseeing the work that was being done. Instead of a supervisor noticing that the shoe molding hadn't been replaced, that the old paint was showing through the new paint, cabinet doors had gouges in them, a few of the floor planks had lumps under them, the caulking was cracking off, etc. etc. etc., we had to walk around with note pads and keep asking them to come fix stuff. We do like the final results though; here it is from left to right: (click on any pic to enlarge)

Let us know when you're available and we'll invite you over for dinner!

Hmmm...

Seems at the very least I could complete posting about the new kitchen. Perhaps tomorrow...

Remodeling The Kitchen - Update #1

There has been more activity on our kitchen project recently. A couple of weeks went by when nothing much happened but the original finish date was to be October 2 and that date has come and gone. I expected as much. Lowe's has been good about keeping us up to date on the calendar changes but they haven't seemed to hire the best quality workmanship. Saeed contacted them to say we are seeing some problems and today I spent two hours going over the work and putting sticky notes where the problems are. Our project manager will be coming tomorrow to see what's going on. I feel sure they'll address the problems satisfactorily.

The cabinets have been put in. The structure in the foreground is the island. I didn't realize it would be so long but that's all good - lots of extra storage space inside it.

This is where our white desk and phone used to be.

This used to be our pantry. The refrigerator will go in there and we have nice cabinets surrounding it.

The counter top has been installed. This picture doesn't do it justice.

It's very pretty.

One day half the floor was down and...

... the next day it was done.

The backing of the island was attached and an electrical socket was put in so appliances can be used on the island. Notice also the under cabinet lighting that's reflecting off the counter. Pretty!

Our new sink (no water yet) and our new dishwasher.

So that's where we are right now. Hope the meeting with the project manager goes well tomorrow.

Remodeling The Kitchen

This project has been in the making for a long time. We would stick our toes in the 'kitchen redo water' and find it too daunting, but even the worst task must be tackled if it has to be done. And BOY, does it need to be done. I'm really so embarrassed to even post the pictures of the nastiness that has been our kitchen for years, but here we go...

Desk area

Pantry

The first of several pics of our beat up cabinets...

...

...

...

... rags wedged between the cabinet and the dishwasher...

... eww..

... the floor all dinged up...

... a piece broken off near the utility room...

... scuffed wood and scratched misaligned molding...

...

... one of our oven burners...

... and then one day recently I came home to this!

All the cabinets and flooring ripped out...

...

...

I keep blocking the holes they make in the walls because I have a fear (a valid fear if the stories are true) of one of the kitties getting stuck/falling between the walls.

Chappu and Tippy are very nosy girls.

The piano room houses all our boxes of kitchen utensils, as well as the new dishwasher and the new oven.

The dining room houses all the new cabinetry and flooring...

...

... with a path to get through it.

Our refrigerator is now in the living room along with...

... our kitchen table.

Our current set up for eating is in Saeed's old office. We're calling it the campsite.

The coffee pot and area to wash dishes is in the bath room along with...

... the recycling.

We've had a lot of fun in this old kitchen and there's always the sentimental part of me that feels a pang of sadness. Yet new memories will be made in the new kitchen, 

In sha'Allah.

And Then This!

Every day the news reveals another article regarding the importance of plants in our diet and/or the disadvantages of animal products in our diet. Is it just me? Am I like one of those women who can't get pregnant who sees thousands of pregnant women every time she turns around? A vegetarian's wet dream to be sure, but this is the third day in a row an article like this has come out.

TIME magazine published an article relaying the findings of a new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. The title of the TIME article by Alexandra Sifferlin is... EATING MORE VEGETABLES CAN ALMOST HALVE YOUR RISK OF DYING. You will have to read it to understand that the title doesn't mean you halve you chance of ever dying! Click here to go directly to the article. And pass the asparagus.

Informed Consent Not Just For Surgical Procedures

Wow. The day after I read about doctors prescribing produce instead of medication this video arrived in my inbox. It's only 4 minutes long so I hope you watch the whole thing but what impressed me starts at minute 1:44. Doctors are supposed to be practicing medicine by a code of ethics which states that "physicians should sensitively and respectfully disclose all relevant medical information to patients" which includes giving patients all their treatment options and then allowing them to decide. It's called informed consent. I know better than the next person that informing a patient about all options is time consuming, yet that is what physicians are ethically required to do. This means that we, as patients, may need to demand that at our appointments. And it might mean that we need to bring up diet and nutrition. Unfortunately physicians are poorly trained in diet and nutrition and probably can talk less to that point than the average Ingrid.

Again please pay attention at minute 3:30. The editor in chief of The Journal of Cardiology (not some vegetarian freak) states, "Atherosclerosis is due to abnormalities of serum cholesterol, mostly from eating calories high in cholesterol and saturated fats. If we all existed on a plant-based diet we would not have needed this discussion." Wow.