Recruitage and a recipe

Well I am swamped for time. I will try to find ways to grow this blog, and am currently recruiting authors for this project. I have snagged one, and am in the process of trying to get others.

I figure while I'm posting I will share a recipe that I made, that that my (non vegan) mom absolutely loved. I started by sauteing half a medium/small red onion sliced, getting that going for a minute I added about 5 cloves of roughly chopped garlic. I did this until the onions were caramelized, then added a good bit (maybe about a cup?) of three buck Chuck (Charles Shaw) Cabernet, and decent splash of balsamic vinegar. I let that cook down a good bit (about halfway), and added a jar of Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Marinara pasta sauce. I brought that up to a low simmer on medium/low heat, then added the (drained) penne pasta I had been cooking to the pan. I stirred it all together and served with a side of salad. (I made some croutons earlier, which I added to a bed of mixed greens and my balsamic vinaigrette.)

Quick and easy recipe. Good for when you want a decent meal after you get home from work, but don't feel like making something extra hard. I specialize in those kind of meals.

Tidbits

So I am in New Orleans for a conference. There is a real lack of vegan options here, aside from Middle Eastern food. The place I went Thursday when I got here was decent. I hit the jackpot with a vegan waitress! But they didn't serve beer as they are a Muslim business. But that's okay -- if there is one thing that is easy to find in NOLA it's beer. Then I ordered delivery from the Pita Pit -- good stuff.

Nothing really much else to add. The conference is a bit boring but I did get to see a few people from my past (when I lived in the area).

I need to recruit some people to write for this thing. That is all for now I guess. Back in StL tomorrow, then back to work.

First post

Where to begin?

I thought it would be a cool idea to start a St. Louis-area vegetarian blog simply because I have several friends in the area that are vegetarian.Having grown up in Mississippi, I am very thankful for living in a place with so many vegetarian options, as well as cool places like the Loop and the Central West End. A lot of people unnecessarily rag on the Lou, but I love it here. Sure it's not a perfect place -- the public transportation leaves a lot to be desired, there is relatively high crime, the Rams suck -- but there is a lot that is good about this place. Most of all there are some really cool people here.

Here is what I envision for this blog: there will be several authors that will write about... well, whatever comes to their minds. This might be vegetarian related stuff, but it doesn't have to be. Whatever would appeal to the St. Louis vegetarian community is fair game. This could be thoughts on animal rights stuff, a recipe, or a preview of the 2009 Cardinals (but I have dibs on that one!). What I don't want this blog to be is a preachy place where we talk about how much more moral and high minded we are than omnivores. There is already waaaaaay too much of this among the vegetarian community. Also, I don't want this to be a place where we preach to ourselves. We all know factory farming is fucked up, so why dwell on it? I would like this place to be a bit more light hearted and fun, and have a more positive emphasis.

Please feel free to comment, or if you think you might be interested in writing for this blog, let me know. I want this to be a conduit for what is already a pretty cool little community of grasseaters.