Happy 2010!

Though I've got a full day until the countdown, my Sydney-sider friends will be rocking in the new year in just a few hours, so I thought I'd go ahead and post my look back at the year that was 2009.

This year Veg Table and Vegan@Large were born! I hope to have a bit more time to do some community building on Veg Table in 2010, but in the mean time I sincerely thank everyone who has contributed to the site, as well as all my readers here, followers on Twitter, and just the awesome vegan community in general.

In personal news, Tim and I witnessed some of our closest friends and family members get hitched! Lots of love to Amy and Stewart, Ali and Quinn, Brad and Becky, and Karen and Craig! And although I sadly lost a dear family member this year, there was still MUCH to be thankful for. Our travels for weddings and other events took us to Sydney, Long Island, Los Angeles, San Diego, Napa, New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Arizona. I've got the travel bug for sure and can't wait to explore a whole new part of the world next year.

I worked on three amazing bakesales, the first as part of the World Wide Vegan Bake Sale which led to the creation of the ongoing SF Vegan Bake Sale which continues to blow my mind in terms of funds raised, not to mention community building and some of the best vegan outreach there is.

Some other great strides were made this year in terms of mainstream vegan acceptance. Jonathan Safran Foer and Alicia Silverstone brought animal rights and veganism to new audiences through their books. Ellen Degeneres started doing easy vegan cooking demos on her talk show and Oprah welcomed chef Tal Ronnen (whose book The Conscious Cook I got as a Christmas gift and is food porn like WOAH) to show that vegan cooking can be gourmet and delicious.

Vegansaurus has an awesome wrap-up of the decade in veganism. I've only been vegan for half of the decade, but I'm so excited for the coming years for vegans. If you're itching for other year-end lists (because they're very hard to come by on the internet right now) I suggest really the only other essential list: The 30 Most Important Cats of 2009. Other than the glaring omission of Tony Danza, it's pretty much spot-on.

Lastly, I hope you all enjoy wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day celebrations. I'm not doing anything of particular vegan note, but I may make some Texas Caviar. As a one-time Texan and lover of black-eyed peas, it's a New Year's tradition I can get behind. VegWeb has a great round-up of other black-eyed pea recipes to bring you all sorts of good luck.

Happy 2010, y'all!

December Warm Fuzziness!

Whew, it was a busy weekend full of awesomeness. We managed to cram in Tim's company holiday party, a trip up to Petaluma to see my brother- and sister-in-law's new house, and of course, the SF Vegan Bake Sale.










I'm still kind of in shock and disbelief that we raised $4200 this time out! Those are going to be some safe bunnies and empowered foodies. Vegansaurus has a great wrap-up as usual and I've got some photos up here. My favorite part of doing these bakesales (and this has happened at least once at all three sales I've worked) is when some random vegan who hadn't heard of us walks up to our table and asks sheepishly, "You guys don't have anything vegan, do you?" And then I get to respond, "Why yes, it's ALL VEGAN! Feast your eyes on our glorious splendor!" (My exact words.) And then their eyes light up and the clouds part and sunshine and rainbows beam down.

Between the joy of these events, the sappiness of the winter holidays, and the fact that I'm soon leaving the city I've loved for the last 4+ years, everything's been feeling rather bittersweet. My baking cohorts will most certainly be missed!

The other thing about this time of year is that you somehow wind up with social obligations every day of the week. So between my day job, baking, moving, travels, holiday events, and shopping, I've been feeling a little scattered. This is my lame way of saying that I'm postponing putting up any of my Veg Table tour guide submissions until after the new year.

Or, hey, let's spin this: I am extending the deadline to submit! I'll be in touch soon with those of you who were diligent enough to send me your submissions in a timely matter. I love reading these! More vegan warm fuzzies!

Become a Veg Table Tour Guide!

In planning my upcoming trip to Brooklyn I've been overwhelmed by how many great vegan and veg-friendly restaurants there are in the area. It's hard to know which ones are worth it, which I should skip. And of course I'll probably want to spend some time doing something besides eating, so if I'm making a trip to go to a special restaurant, what else is nearby and worth checking out?

With that in mind I've decided to add a new feature to Veg Table: Veggie Tours!

Veggie Tours will be guides written to cities around the world, from a Veg perspective, and I'm recruiting Tour Guides to write these features. Whether it's your home town, or just your favorite city to visit, if you know hot spots, insider dining tips, and attractions off the beaten path, I want to hear from you!

Potential Tour Guides can submit their Veggie Tours to sharon@veg-table.net. Here are some guidelines:

1. Focus on the reader. While it's ok to throw in anecdotal experiences you've had, Veggie Tours should not be just a re-hash of your last vacation. Let the reader know what they should check out to have an awesome experience. Be creative, funny, whimsical, snarky, whatever!
   
2. There's no word requirement, but think maybe a little longer than a typical blog post.
   
3. Imagine the reader has 4-8 days to spend in a given locale. It might be helpful to list recommendations day by day and then include links to additional ideas.
4. Photos make everything better. While not required, links to photos you've uploaded to Flickr (that we can publish) are very helpful.
5. Submission deadline is Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. You can submit as many cities as you'd like.

I'll only be choosing one Veggie Tour for a given city. Chosen tours will be published on Veg Table on Friday, Dec. 11. Here's where your incentive comes in:

Why should I become a Veg Table Tour Guide?

1. Once Veggie Tours are published on Dec. 11 I'll be holding a contest for readers to vote for their favorite. There will be prizes, including an iTunes gift card, assorted vegan cook books, and more! Look for more details on this coming soon.
2. Self-promotion. Each Veggie Tour will link to whatever blog, website, cause you'd like to promote and we will include your Bio on our Tour Guides page.
3. Nothing feels better than helping out a fellow vegan. Except maybe prizes and fame. (See #s 1 and 2.)

Feel free to comment or write me with any questions, and please help spread the word to any if your fabulous, well-traveled, creative, word-slinging, veggie friends!