It's a BUNK CAKE! And it's vegan.

Man I love that movie (My Big Fat Greek Wedding for those of you who may have missed the reference in the title of this blog). Did that movie inspire me to make a bundt cake? No. But did I feel the strong urge to put a plant in the "hole" of the cake? Maybe a little...

The other day I stumbled upon a recipe that called for a Bundt pan. Since I've really never delved into the world of cake baking, I thought the bundt would be the perfect first step. It seemed simple enough, and if it failed? Well, who really eats/makes bundt cakes nowadays? I could claim that the times, well they are a changing.

I didn't make the recipe that I had initially intended to make, but instead tried to work with some ingredients that I already had in my kitchen. I also have mentioned a few times that I hate the idea that much of vegan food is attempting to taste like something else. Why can't it just BE what it's SUPPOSED to be? So, trying to find a vegan recipe for a cake that did not include some sort of egg imitator was pretty difficult. And I had started to believe that all vegan desserts tasted rather uninspiring, but alas, this little gem won me over.

It was incredibly easy to whip this up. I got a teeny bit nauseous when I mixed in the apple cider vinegar (this is because I went through a phase where I tried to drink 2 tablespoons of straight apple cider vinegar a day to try and combat acid reflux...I tell you, the things I've done because the internet tells me to is really ridiculous), but you couldn't taste it at all when the cake was finished. The cake was very moist and sweet. I would have liked a little liquid-y type frosting or something to jazz this up, but all in all, this was a great success.

Matt helped me pull the little flip-a-roo maneuvre that is required with the bundt cake and he made it look effortless. Once I had it flipped onto a plate he came over and tapped on it four times and it was out. That man has a gift...

I found this recipe here and am pretty impressed by vegetariantimes.com. Does anyone out there receive their magazines? Would this be a good investment for me?

Maple Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

Serves 12

3 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
2/3 cup canola oil
2 Tbs. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. maple extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in bowl.
3. Whisk maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, maple extract, and 1 1/3 cups water in large separate bowl. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes. Unmold onto rack, and cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Wok n Woll Wednesday...I'm embarassed by that pun.

I think Wednesdays suck. That might be because I'm a glass half empty kind of gal, but really Wednesday is not halfway to the weekend, it's only halfway through the week. One way I've been learning to deal with this most terrible of days (only second to Tuesdays, they are even worse than Mondays), is to institute a WOK WEDNESDAY!

Image credit: Google Image search


I love my wok. I'm not sure I'm using it to its fullest capabilities, but it's a nice way to change up the cooking routine. I found my wok at a yard sale in Alabama and believe I paid $3.00 for it. Funny thing is, there were about 5 other woks that were up for grabs at the sale. This leads me to conclude one of two things 1) woks are useless or 2) the world doesn't know how to wok. I'm going to go with 2 (myself included). I might invest in a how-to book in terms of my wok because at this point, all I cook in it is fried rice. But man that fried rice is good...

A great thing about fried rice is that it basically allows you to empty out your refrigerator of any leftovers. When Wednesday hits, I'm pretty much through my cooking for the week so this allows me to use up those leftover tidbits (did someone say leftover asparagus bottoms?).

Now, I have to warn you. I don't usually work from nothing when I cook. I'm a rule follower, I like recipes (even though I have a hard time following them). Fried rice is the one exception (that and Matt claims authority in the fried rice department).

I started off cooking some brown rice (about 1 1/4 cup uncooked) and put it in 2 cups of boiling water that had been salted and jazzed up with a little Earth Balance (I'd say about a teaspoon). After the rice had cooked for about 45 minutes, the fun began.

Start by putting a little oil (olive for those of us who aren't so classy, grapeseed or oil of a worm that was in love with a fruit ihavenoideawhyoilissocomplicated) in the bottom of a decently smoking hot wok. Then add your veggies. Yesterday, we used asparagus, broccoli, onion, garlic, tomato, celery, green onions, serrano pepper...I am sure I'm leaving something out. Some authorities say you need to add everything separately, paying special attention to the veggies that take longer to cook, but we are rebels, so we put it all in at one time. Then when everything is just about cooked, you add the rice. Now for the most important part: seasoning. I loves me some terriyaki sauce so I always use a healthy dose of that stuff (along with cilantro, cayenne pepper, seasoning salt, and soy...it was a leeeetle bit too salty yesterday), but really you can add anything you want.

I really love water chesnuts and wish they had been in the cupboard, but alas, there was none.

So, here's the finished product. Ignore the GIGANTIC fork in the background. No, I don't eat with it, that's how I get the cover of my pot off when it's hot because it's broken. What can I say, innovation is a gift...

Anyone out there have some other great recipes that utilize a wok?

Winter Corn ChowDAH and a TRUE CONFESSION!

I have a strange confession to make. I'm not sure I really like corn. I mean, I like it on the cob, but I don't really like it in any other form. Not a huge fan of cornbread (well, except for this recipe). It's sort of a scarlet letter to bear, I mean, who doesn't like corn? Well, as was made all the more clear with this last cooking endeavor, I don't.

I try and cook with my crockpot once a week (have I mentioned yet how much my life has been enriched by my crockpot?), and yesterday was no exception. I got up a little early, did all the prep work (which was really only sauteing the onions and celery and then chopping up veggies), and left for the day. I should have known I wouldn't like this as much because there was additional work to do when I got home. And the additional work is scary because it involves moving a hot liquid into my food processor which has yet to go smoothly.

But alas, it was completed. Interestingly enough, I didn't do much wrong with this recipe, although to be fair, it was incredibly simple. At the end though, the flavor was so bland that I had to add some spice. I added a bunch of crushed red pepper, hot sauce, tons of cilantro (my favorite herb hand's down), and seasoning salt. It was still pretty bland and a little runny, but honestly, I'm not sure anything could have been done to this soup to make me like it anymore. Me + corn does not equal true love. If you have a recipe you think may change my mind, PLEASE let me know. Otherwise, I may just stop trying.

Here's a picture. Ignore the spill on the bowl and the mess in the background. I was under a time crunch.

Here's the recipe from "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker" by Robin Robertson. Great cookbook by the by.

Corn Chowder in Winter

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 large Yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
3 cups frozen corn kernels
1/2 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large ripe tomato, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives, parsley, or other fresh herbs

Directions:

-Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
-Transfer the cooked vegetables to a 4- to 6- quart slow cooker. Add the potato, corn, bell pepper, and stock; season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook on Low for 6 hours.
-Ladle 2 cups of the soup solids into a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Stir the puree back into the chowder and taste for salt and pepper. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the chopped tomatoes and chives or other fresh herbs.

Baked Ziti and I didn't miss the cheese AT ALL

Occassionally, Matt likes to usurp my cooking attempts. I know this is nice, but after I spent seriously like...30 minutes looking for Italian Bread Crumbs at Whole Foods to no avail on a Saturday morning (I LOATHE weekend grocery shoppers), I sort of wanted to finish the whole thing. BUT, it was sweet nonetheless. I came back from yoga only to find him deep into the recipe. As I showered, I yelled out to him "you have to tell me what you screw up." And apparently, I'm the only one that screws up recipes at all times. But thankfully, I already screwed up at the grocery store, so our bases are covered.

Here's what I screwed up:
-So, I think I may have an actual defect that doesn't allow me to guestimate height, weight, length, etc., so since I couldn't find a way to measure out 1/2 pound of zucchini at Whole Foods (I know it was there somewhere, I was just getting frazzled), I just bought 3 zucchinis. Is that too much? No idea. We used 2 and it seemed adequate and not overwhelmingly zucchini-y.
-Since I couldn't find those stupid bread crumbs, I grabbed the only thing that resembled bread crumbs at Whole Foods. I stumbled upon some Panko bread crumbs and decided they would have to do. Little did I know those delicious crumbles that cover fried shrimp at Chinese restaurants was noted as a good substitute, so we jazzed them up with some Italian seasoning.
-Matt and I love things to be spicy, so we added about 4 shakes of crushed red pepper, a little hot sauce, and some other stuff that I know Matt snuck in when I wasn't looking. He has an issue when it comes to seasoning...

Verdict: Really good! Simple. Lots of leftovers. Hearty. Didn't miss the cheese one bit!

I got this recipe from Donna Klein’s vegan cookbook "Supermarket Vegan: 225 Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Recipes for Real People in the Real World." If you are only considering going vegan or aren't committed to buying all sorts of weird oils, grains, substitutes, etc., this book is PERFECT. It has a ton of easy and quick recipes that don't involve crazy shopping lists - everything could be found in a normal grocery store. I love it.

Baked Ziti with Zucchini, Chickpeas, and Olives


Ingredients

•8oz. ziti, rigatoni, or penne pasta
•1/2 pound zucchini, coarsely chopped (2 cups)
•1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, or 1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
•1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, with basil, garlic & oregano, juices included
•1 cup tomato puree
•1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives, divided
•1 tbsp. olive oil
•1 tbsp. tomato paste
•2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
•2 Tbsp. Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
Directions

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 11×7-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
•Cook ziti according to package directions for al dente in large pot of boiling salted water. Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain again. Return ziti to pot, and set aside.
•Meanwhile, combine zucchini, chickpeas, tomatoes and juices, tomato puree, 2 Tbsp. olives, tomato paste, and garlic in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 5 minutes, or until sauce begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Stir zucchini mixture into ziti, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.
•Transfer ziti mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and remaining 2 tbsp. olives. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until pasta is heated through and breadcrumbs are golden brown.

RISOTTO and my initiation into the world of White Truffle Oil

So, Sunday afternoon at around 12:00pm, I decided to step out into the world of Risotto. This was a scary time to attempt this since I knew I had to be finished by exactly 2:00pm in order to watch the Bears game (may they rest in peace until next season...tear).

I had seen this recipe in the "Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook" book by Kim Barnouin, and although I neither consider myself all that skinny nor all that bitchy, I decided to try this recipe because it looked OH so good. It also seemed doable for my first time with risotto.

So once again, here's what I did wrong:
-I didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing with those dried mushrooms, so I just boiled a bunch of water and grabbed a handful and put them in the water. Then I picked them out of the water and took a 1/2 cup of the water and put it into the stock.
-I don't have any grapeseed oil, so I used olive oil. I'm not made of money.
-I grabbed the "chef's selection" of mushrooms at Whole Foods and that didn't include ANY of the mushrooms on the list in the recipe, and they didn't taste all that good when I tried them raw.
-I like the tips of asparaghus, so I chopped up an entire bunch of the asparaghus starting at the tips and now have a lot of leftover asparaghus stems...
-I don't have any idea where to get vegan Parmesan. I couldn't find it in Whole Foods, and I frankly don't intend to look much further than there.
-I cooked this about 6 hours before I planned on eating it, so I had to refrigerate and then re-heat and I was too hungry to chop up the chives at 8:45PM.

Verdict: DELICIOUS! So good even with the mistakes. And, although I didn't buy grapeseed oil, I did splurge and purchase the white truffle oil because I adore mushroom everything, and omg, that was one of the best purchases I've ever made. It totally MADE the dish.

Here's a pic:

This recipe is not a quick one, and it's labor intensive not in terms of complicated tasks, but you have to constantly stir those little Arborio jerks, otherwise they get moody and burn.

My only critique of this delicious recipe is that it says it serves 6, but honestly, me and the S.O. (his name is Matt and he's upset he doesn't have a named presence on the blog...) polished off about 3/4 of this in one meal. I guess that answers the question as to HOW she is skinny and a bitch.

Here's the recipe (and here's the link to her book :

Ingredients:

6 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup dried wild mushrooms
1/2 cup hot water
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1/4 cup Earth Balance
3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms (such as porcini, chanterelles, crimini, portobello)
1 1/2 cups asparagus cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup shallots, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice, uncooked
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 vegan Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon white truffle oil (optional)
1 teaspoon chopped chives, for garnish

Directions:

In a large saucepan add the vegetable broth, cover and keep warm over low heat. Place hot water in a medium size bowl and add the two ounces of dried mushrooms. Allow to sit for about 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft. Then add the mushrooms and the hot water to the vegetable broth.

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil and 1 tablespoon of Earth Balance. Add the fresh mushrooms and asparagus, and saute until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, remove from heat and transfer to a medium size bowl. Using the same large saucepan, heat the remaining grapeseed oil over medium heat and add the onions and shallots, stirring until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and remaining Earth Balance and saute for 1 minute. Add the rice and stir until well combined. Add the wine and stir until the wine is absorbed. Add 1 cup of the warm broth and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until nearly absorbed. Continue adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each additional broth be absorbed before adding more. Continue adding the broth until the rice is tender and creamy, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Stir in the sauteed mushrooms, asparagus, and parmesan cheese to the rice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of chives, and the white truffle oil (if using).

An Ethiopian Birthday Dinner at Demera

Last night I went out to dinner with SO and a couple friends. It has become a quasi-tradition that when my Birthday comes around, I get to indulge my Ethiopian food desires. This year, we decided to try out this place called Demera in Uptown.

Photo credit: Demera Ethiopian Restaurant


Besides the fact that it was like, -400 degrees outside and a man who had clearly peed his pants walked in right after we got there to ask to use the restroom, it was great! AND, I was able to eat a vegan meal IN PUBLIC without feeling SUPER awkward.

We first started out with some Ethiopian honey wine, which, thankfully the server had us try before we ordered an entire bottle. That was nasty. The SO made some comment about how the bees who had participated in making that wine must have been pretty angry about something...cough cough, is this thing on?

Anyways, for appetizers we had vegetable sambussas that were like little pastries filled with deliciousness (i.e. lentils, onions, peppers, herbs, etc.). Then we moved on to the main course which is difficult to describe because for 4 people, we ordered like 12 dishes. We ordered 6 vegetarian options and 6 meat options, and my favorite had to be the ye-misir wot because it was spicy and filled with lentils. Also, the quosta (spinach type thing) was pretty excellent as well. They sort of scoop out all of these different kinds of stew and plop them onto this bread type thing called injera. I basically come to get Ethiopian food because of the injera, which is strange because the only way to describe this bread-like thing is to talk about how it feels like skin. Wow, this is now the second time I've come across as a cannibal on this vegan blog that has only been in existence for about 2 days. That's awkward...

Anyways, here's what the whole kit-n-caboodle looks like.

Photo Credit: Google Image Search


All in all, the meal was great. But as I was leaving, I commented to the SO that I really only need to eat Ethiopian once a year. And judging by how my stomach is feeling today, that feeling rings true today as well.

Check out Demera's website here

Vegan Crockpot Chili i.e. I smell like garlic all day.

So, if I knew I was going to be stranded on a deserted island and I could only have one kitchen gadget, it would be my crockpot. I love that thing. So much. I don't have any pets, but I assume my relationship with my crockpot is similar to pet ownership - I wake up in the morning to tend to its needs, I make sure it has everything before I head off to work, and it sits there waiting for me expectantly until I get home. When I arrive home, it is there to give me love and comfort. Then I clean it up and do the whole thing over again the next day.

Ok, so all you pet lovers may disagree, but seriously. It's great. Yesterday morning I decided to make some vegan chili. One thing that bothers me about being vegan and vegetarian is that I have a hard time finding a really good chili recipe that has that HEARTY factor. Usually vegetarian/vegan chili is lacking in the hearty area and is more runny and soup-like than chili. Unfortunately, this recipe was still a little soupy, BUT I think that may have been the cook's error, not the recipe.

Here's what I did wrong:

I had a few crises at the grocery store. I got confused and bought refried beans rather than baked beans. I forgot to get a bell pepper. The jalapenos looked nasty so I bought a habanero. I had no idea what the recipe was talking about in terms of the 14 1/2 ounce can chopped tomato puree so I just bought the big can of crushed tomatoes and put them all in. I don't like onion-heavy food so I only used half an onion. And I didn't have any dried parsley.

None of those things seemed to be a deal breaker, so I made it anyways. Like I said, it was a little soupy, but I assume that was from the refried beans. My biggest complaint however was that it was rather bland. I added about a tablespoon of sugar, half tablespoon of salt and a couple four shakes of black pepper. I would recommend for the next time using a black bean soup with flavor rather than the black beans in juice, but I was too stressed at the grocery store to try and read the labels to find a vegan friendly black bean soup.

Let me know if any of you have an AWESOME recipe for chili, because I'm still on the lookout.

Granny's Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili from food.com

1 (11 ounce) can condensed black bean soup (or canned black beans in juice)
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (sometimes I use lentils)
1 (16 ounce) can vegetarian baked beans
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chopped tomato puree (I use large 29 oz. can crushed tomatoes)
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can diced chilies
1 -2 jalapeno, chopped (depending on how much heat you want)
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon cilantro (optional)
Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 6 1/4 hrs
1 In a saucepan, saute the onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and celery for about 5 minutes.
2 In a slow cooker, combine black bean soup, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, baked beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno, chilies, and celery.
3 Season with garlic, chili powder, cumin, parsley, oregano, basil (and cilantro if using).
4 Cook for about 6 hours on low.
5 Serve with tortillas, cornbread, rice, or French bread.
6 Enjoy!
7 This freezes well!
8 Leftovers are good on top of nachos!

How to survive pizza night as a vegan

So, I've only been a vegan for a grand total of about 10 days, but I've already realized that life isn't worth living if I have to go 10 days without pizza. So, I decided to hit the google search to try and find a way to address this need.

I stumbled upon vegweb.com, which I'm pretty sure is a gift from God because this website has a crapload of recipes. Not all of them look all that great and it's kind of ugly, BUT I was able to find this recipe for vegan pizza, submitted by user "HeyItsMikeyJ". I would like to take the opportunity to say "thank you" to Mr. HIMJ for helping me address a human need and right that is, vegan pizza.

I've never really been a huge fan of Mexican pizza, but this was AH-mazing. Even the S.O. (this will be how I refer to my significant other) liked it (he would rather eat a human than be a vegan, that's how much he loves meat).

The key was in the salsa and bean mixture which took the place of pizza sauce. I also loaded the thing up with more cilantro than was called for, but I loves me some cilantro.

It was difficult to find vegan taco seasoning packets, so I ended up having to use a fajita seasoning packet which seemed to work find.

My only caution is this: this makes 2 pizzas, which in theory is awesome, but in reality, I started to smell like this pizza after about the 7th meal.

SPICY TACO PIZZA

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans
1 (16 ounce) jar salsa (medium or hot)
1 handful cilantro, diced
1 lime
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (12 ounce) package vegan burger crumbles (I use Boca or Morningstar)
1 (1.25 ounce) pouch vegan taco seasoning
olive oil
2 premade (about 22 ounces) vegan thin crust pizza doughs (I use Pillsbury thin
crust pizza dough in the tube)
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
3 jalapeño peppers, thinly sliced
1 head lettuce, optional
taco sauce for drizzle, optional

Directions:

1. Start with a small pot on low-medium heat and get a saucepan on another burner on medium heat. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In the small pot, mix together the 2 cans black beans and the salsa. Heat that up and mash up the black beans with the salsa, and add juice of 1/2 lime. Add spices and cilantro. This will be the sauce.

2. In the saucepan, heat the crumbles and the taco seasoning. Use a little olive oil to prevent sticking. Heat the crumbles until the seasoning mixture is absorbed. Don't worry about cooking it completely, because it'll be going in the oven eventually. Turn off the burners and put the black bean/salsa mixture and crumbles to the side.

3. Spread the pizza dough onto two cookie sheets and get that prebaking for about 4 minutes. Take out the pre-baked crust and spread the black bean/salsa mixture in an even layer as the "pizza sauce". Next, sprinkle a layer of the taco seasoned crumbles. Toss on the red peppers, green peppers and onions over the top and then decorate it with the jalapeno slices.

4. Throw it in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the crust looks crispy on the bottom. After it's done, you can throw some shredded lettuce on the top if you wish, and juice the other half of the lime over the pizza! Drizzle some hot sauce/taco sauce on the top and you'll be all set to get crazy.

Just brought this to a vegan potluck tonight and it VANISHED.

Source of recipe: I combined several recipe ideas and came up with this one. It was a HIT at the vegan potluck tonight.

Makes: About 2 10x15" pizzas, Preparation time: 20-30 Minutes, Cooking time: 15 Minutes

First Post!

Hello world...it's me, on a different blog. If any of you were familiar with my old blog (Windy Wisdom), you'll know that I had a decidedly different image and theme than this one. Rather than destroy all traces of said blog (tear tear), I decided to keep it around and start this new one and talk about other things, possibly heading back there from time to time to rant about something like this and this, but for now, this blog is going to follow my ventures in VEGANISM.

Why vegan, you ask? Well, here's the thing, I'm a walking cliche. I'm learning to accept this fact, but I also am learning that in order to be a cliche without being annoying, you have to have some authentic reasoning. So yes, I'm a liberal yuppie who does yoga and loves to cook, but I'm also a trashy tv show loving gal who neglects to shower on a regular basis. TMI? Get used to it...

So, this blog is sort of my attempt at combating this cliche reality. I am a vegan Monday-Friday, mostly. I just started this endeavor about 2 weeks ago and so far so good. I don't have the budget or the willpower to eat already prepared vegan food, so I'm having to try out new recipes that call for no meat, no dairy.

You all will be able to watch from afar as I struggle, spill, sputter, and spew out obscenities while trying to better the world with my personal dietary choices. Aren't you lucky...

So sit back and enjoy the ride.

Oh, and even though I'm a vegan, I still eat honey (I initially had written 'bees' here). Honestly, I don't think bees in hives have such a terrible life. They get to hang out, make honey, inhale smoke (which I'm pretty sure is the equivalent to marijuana in the bee community), and that queen has quite a life.

Quite a life I tell you...