The Stylish Vegan

Well, Vegan Nation, it’s been a while. Sorry about that but your hero was suffering from the effects of a virus that attacks the weak in their most vulnerable moment. You may know this ass-kicker as the flu. Yes, VegHeads, it seems that days of little sleep, much ingestion of food and alcohol, left TSV in the cross hairs of hideous little bug.

As you know it was MSV’s Big Birthday Bash last Saturday and quite an event it was. There was sailing, food, sparkling wine, dancing, more food, more sparkling wine, starting early in the day and ending in the very wee hours of Sunday morn.

The decorations were hung at the Vegan Estate early on the Big Day. Disco balls, balloons, tracer music lights, you name it. All adding to the festive atmosphere of this important day.

Later, the two sailboats full of our dear, dear friends met in a cove off Bainbridge Island, were tied together and the party officially kicked off. Of course, this is when the food and drink consumption shot into high gear.

A small portion of the food spread back at the late night affair. Veganistos, it was a fab compromise of vegan and other stuff that most of the population of this country seems to eat. It was all catered by the local co-op so at least the animal parts were organic. All said, it was about 50% vegan and scrumptious.

And no party is complete without sensational vegan, yes, vegan, brownies. MSV’s special request for her day being distributed by TSV to the large gang that had gathered that eve.

Vegan Nation, The Stylish One is back – well, almost. About 60% as I write this. But hey, beats the hell out of puking all day.

You know, The Stylish Vegan never likes to admit to being sick. The moment I do, I get the carnies coming out in droves to tell me it’s my diet that left me vulnerable. Well, Meat Nation, it ain’t. TSV doesn’t get sick very often and never this sick. I don’t care what you eat, when you spend endless hours hosting parties, drinking, skipping regular meals for snacks, drinking some more, and then drinking even more, odds are you’re opening your immune system up to any viral thing that’s in the room. So don’t give TSV your shit, ok!

We’ll be back on track in the next couple of days with all sorts of new fashion and style tips. Until then, wish TSV well, I’ll truly appreciate it.

But I must leave you with an installment of the VegNews Frivolous Celeb of the Day. Today’s asswipes are actually a group; sportswriters/sportscasters.

It seems that this slugger, Prince Fielder, not only hit 50 home runs last season but decided to become a vegetarian in the past off season. Having seen a PETA vid on animal farming and abuse, he went cold Tofurky.

Here’s the problem; since the season began he hasn’t hit a single ball out of the park. This seems to have led the jackasses known as sportswriters (a bullshit job if there ever was one) to blame his lack of power on becoming a vegetarian. Here’s a challenge to all you douche bags; walk up to this man and tell him to his face that he should eat a cheeseburger. You’ll get a first hand look at his power as he kicks your sorry ass over the center field fence. Keep it up, Prince, you’re the man!

On a fantastic, fun-filled evening. The Stylish and Mrs. Stylish Vegan were honored to have our dearest Seattle friends turn out at Rumours for drink, food and dance last night. We’re fortunate, indeed vegan nation, to have such wonderful amigos.

I realize TSV made another ill-advised promise of posting photos of the food prepared for the evening. Imagine this, I don’t have any. That’s right, slap me right across the cyber face, I certainly deserve it for letting you down yet again. Enough with the drama already, I had a good excuse. Your darling TSV played bartender for the majority of the evening with a non-stop flow of tasty libations.

Of course Rumours is a fully stocked wonderbar but a couple of signature drinks made the menu – the House Special Margarita and Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail. Of course, long-time readers of TSV are very familiar with the Margarita that was responsible for putting Rumours on the map. But the Pom Cocktail, well this was a brand new elixir debuting on this gorgeous eve.

And it goes a little something like this, hit it:

For 8 Servings

4 cups crushed ice
2 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup ginger ale
1/4 cup brandy
1 750-milliliter bottle of champagne
Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a pitcher. Pour 1 cup of champagne mixture into each of 8 glasses. Garnish with seeds, if desired.

What you end up with is an incredible cocktail, magnificent in its deliciosity. As usual, kids, make sure your champagne or sparkling wine is indeed free from animal guts. On this evening, TSV opted for a California sparkling wine for this concoction.

According to Frommars online, this Mumm Napa Prestige Brut is 100% vegan and it’s pretty cheap at 14 bucks a bottle. Perfecto for using in this tasty libation. BTW: Frommars has a Vegan & Vegetarian Pocket Guide to Wine that it offers to us freaky vegans. Bravo! Frommars! Many Stylish Vegan Points for that nice little listo.

So, kiddos, we had a wondrously happy evening where yours truly was the only vegan in the bunch. As for the food, well, there was plenty of non-meat options available but when it comes to carnies, you can’t miss with gourmet salumi and cheese.

The music has faded, the lights dimmed, all our fab friends have departed. Rocktoberfest 2007 is in the books and The Stylish Vegan can’t wait til next year!

Alright, The Stylish Vegan’s keeping promises percentage has dropped into the upper 60 percentile range after my ill fated attempt to write daily a couple of weeks ago. Look, I’m traveling with Mrs. Stylish Vegan while trying to work simultaneously so writing anything worthwhile for the vegan fashion crowd is rather difficult. Not only that, as you are well aware, this fucking site is running soooooo slooooooowwww. But you would never know that when you talk with my host server intelligentsia, “It’s running perfectly”, they say, repeatedly. You know what, assholes, it’s not! It’s slit my wrists slow and your lack of support makes TSV automatic riflelific. In other words, I’m heading to Kmart for more rounds in the a.m.

Ok, I’m back. Why are the FBI so rude? Anyway, back to the rant, things are going well here. Sr. Stylish Vegan, i.e., moi, has been seeing old friends while staying with the “cool kids”, Rocky and Jimmie. How comfy, fellas. Aren’t they the bestest?! So many stories to tell but time is my nazi tonight. Sleep calls. So here’s my one quick tip for the evening other than HGTV sucks donkey dick, when you drink white wine, kiddos, hold it by the stem. When you put your warm, clammy hands around the glass, you’re warming the wine. Be refined and refreshed all at the same time. And, you’ll be able to snicker at the wine expert in the sueded blazer whose meat-killing mitts are doing a blast furnace routine on his crystal vessel of sparkling white fermented grape juice.

Good night and I will do my best to keep vegan fashion on its toes once this internment is complete.

It’s time for The Stylish Vegan’s monthly travel back to the midwestern section of our insane nation and man am I psyched! Ok, you all know me better than that but it is a great time to see old friends, veggies and carnies, visit some really good vegan restaurants and take care of my real business. So it’s not all horrible. But awful enough to make this dude crave an ice cold brew.

Dudn’t that look perty? All of you veganites who have been following this blog, waiting daily for each gem of wisdom I may spew forward, are well aware of my affinity for martinis. If you ask, what kind? Please don’t upset me, just go back and read the entry. But heading back to the snowy tundra of the middle west (actually it’s quite warm right now but don’t ruin my rant) a pint, or several, looks awfully inviting. And TSV has many, many eager beer connisseour buds who are more than willing to partake at the drop of pale ale.

Uh-oh. But wait! Not all of these wondrous suds are suitable for my imbibing. Oh my fucking god! Wha…how..wher…Relax, cowboy. It ain’t that difficult. You see, some beers and lots o’ wines are fined with animal products in a process that “acts like a magnet to extract unused yeast”, according to those asswhipes at Guinness. Some come from fish, some from charred cow bones. Sounds yummy, eh? So what’s a veganaholic to do? Well for starters go here.

These wonderful people, or rather, angels have taken upon themselves with the help of all of us hopheads, to check out which beers are actually vegan. The list is extremely encouraging and comforting. Aaahhhh, now you can relax. Of course, there are many lists out there and many dedicated drinkers looking out for our best interests but I like the interactive nature of this endeavor.

But what about wine and liquor are they…Hey, look, this is about beer right now. We’ll get to the other vices later. Just a quick tip, there are a hell of a lot of wines out there that use dead animal in the process. More on this later just in case there are any jackasses reading who prefer wine to a martini or micro brew. I know, they need help, now.

And finally, one last piece of advice from my darling self, German beers are almost certainly animalless due to purity laws handed down for generations. I love you German people post WWII! So go grab a beer or two or three or…and rest assured your best friend, The Stylish Vegan, will be with you in spirit! (Get it, spirit? Whatever.)

Quick note tonight. Had a spledid vegan Thai dinner in Wallingford with friends (carnivores) at Jhanjay. Down the avenue from my favorite Thai joint, Araya’s. Although not as scrumptious as Araya’s, very nice indeed. What I discovered with my winey friends was an introduction to biodynamic wine from Quintessa in Napa Valley. The thought of actually enjoying something as pretentious as biodynamic wine would usually send shivers up The Stylish Vegan’s spine. Ah, but this, aside from being vegan was an excellent wine. I truly did not even need my winey friends to tell me so – it was damn fine. Stylish Vegan points not only to Quintessa but also to my unpretentious, carnivorous amigos.