Link to Some Photos of Mine

I have very little time to write or keep up my blog with school and work, but I wanted to share a link to my Flickr photo account because I have made some wonderful vegan dishes since becoming vegan in February. Some are my own recipes, most are from others or a variation of other recipes. I have experimented with so many different foods and ways of cooking I never dreamed existed before. Who knew you could make a cookie or cracker with just ground up almonds for flour or ground pecans? Or make an alfredo sauce or vegan whipped cream with ground raw whole cashews? Or make pudding with avocado, dark chocolate, and dates? or bake with white and black beans in cakes and muffins? I have discovered middle eastern and Indian style cooking as well, from dahls and curries to Ethiopian fuhl and chapitas and French socca (made with chickpea flour). Becoming vegan was a very easy transition for me. I do not miss meat or cheeses or other animal products in the least. I love cooking with whole foods and appreciating good raw food as well. I even started my own herb garden in my screened in porch just off the kitchen and enjoyed fresh parsley, oregano, dill, and thyme all summer long. Next summer I hope to have a garden outside. Anyway, here is the link. I hope you enjoy these photos! Some of my adventures and vegan friendly products are mixed in there too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elainevv/

Snowshoeing

I just wanted to share a quick post here about my first snowshoeing adventure in 17 years. My partner Greg is really into geocaching and so this last weekend we dusted off our snowshoes (yes there has been a shortage of snow in NE Minnesota lately but still enough out in the woods to snowshoe) and off we went into the woods just north of Duluth off Highway 4 near the Carroll Trail Road. Several years ago we drove through that area and spotted a pack of wolves on the narrow gravel forest road. Talk about an eerie experience. Wolves in the wild are very elusive and afraid of humans and they do not look straight at you but instead look at you in a strange sideways glance. We only saw them for a few seconds and then they slipped through the brush and were gone. I will always remember the area for those wolves.

The snowshoe trek was awesome! Temps were in the 20's, no wind, and no people in sight save one guy driving a four wheeler at one point. We went off the beaten path though and into the virgin snow in the woods. What amazes me is just how many animals are running around in the woods at any given time. You don't realize it until you see thousands of animal tracks all over the snow off the beaten path. We spotted rabbit, deer, moose, fox, squirrel, and a host of other strange prints zigsagging in all directions. Below are a few pics. It was a wonderful time and although I felt a little awkward in snowshoes for my first time, I still loved it! Today I exchanged those snowshoes for a smaller pair because it turned out the pair I wore that day were too big. Next time it will be even better! Anyway, here are just a few photos as I am short on time.

Greg and Sable

Myself and Sable