End KeepCup Prejudice Now, Snobaristas! or, Keep On Keeping Up, KeepCup!

Lisa Dempster has written an excellent article on I eat I drink I work exploring the intricacies of the coffee surcharge, from decaf to mocha to - the main interest of this writer - soy milk. I have always hated but accepted with grumpy surliness the soy surcharge imposed by almost every coffee shop, but Lisa's interviews with various coffee vendors has shown that soy really does cost extra, and despite the call that the extra cost should be averaged out over all beverages, the imperative of the business owner to, you know, make a proft from their business makes an end to the soycharge (ha!) unlikely.

But what really grabbed me was a comment on Lisa's blog that some Melbourne coffee shops have taken to placing a surcharge on, or even refusing to use, KeepCups.

I love KeepCups. They're well designed, they're environmentally loving, they're cute, they'r easy to clean, and they have really caught on with consumers. And what's more, they save the vendor money in not using a disposable cup and not costing them washing up resources. Big shout out here to my regular coffee vendors, Espresso Depot at 1 Collins Street, who after noticing my KeepCup got really excited and started selling the cups themselves. 

I was outraged to hear that some businesses aren't behind the BYO cup surge sweeping the city. But I was even more shocked to experience not hours later my own instance of KeepCup Prejudice!

I went to a team meeting at - name and shame! - City Wine Bar on Spring Street. I asked for my coffee to be put in my KeepCup so I could take it away in case I didn't finish it. I can only surmise that the City Wine Bar's cultivated European atmosphere would be offended by the interloping plastic of my KeepCup, as I was told that store policy was to not allow KeepCups on the table - but they would do takeaways. Quelle bloody horreur!

I kept my KeepCup on the table throughout the meeting - empty, but who was to know? - for over an hour. No staff member asked me to put it away. No uber-too-cool-for-school trendoids fainted. No coiffeured besuited ladies sniffed. No one spat. And then I left, having bought nothing, to go and get my coffee on my way back to the office from the place I like best.

In Grade 4 my teacher banned the phrase "I don't get it" from his classroom. But I don't. There's nothing particularly nice about 100-washes old glass tumblers (and if you Snobaristas think that my coffee will just taste better in one, then leave that to me to decide). There's certainly nothing nice about single use cardboard cups. If you want to impose an aesthetic standard, then start with banning skinny jeans that reveal circumcision status and faux-Rihanna mohawks.

So get on board. Bringing your own cup is sensible, less costly to the vendor, promoting environmentally sustainable choices, and just doing your bit. 

*Disclaimer: I have two KeepCups (Small: white with chocolate trim, light mushroom lid and matt chocolate plug. Medium: white with light green trim, dark mushroom lid and chocolate plug). My sister has two (One medium like mine. One medium: white with fuschia trim, chocolate lid and aqua plug). Buzz has one (Medium: black with chocolate trim, black lid, chocolate plug). Toby has Darth Vader (Black. Just black). Lots of people have them. Speed up.

The Commune coffee - Oh Soy Drinkers, How We Suffer! The Commune, East Melbourne.

Ah, such is the lot of a soy drinker. Used to being slugged a surcharge for our soy drinking at every turn, this earns grizzles and grumbles but we usually succumb to our caffeine cravings and ask for an extra-large cup anyway.

It is my understanding that a coffee loyalty card entitles the bearer to one free coffee after a certain number are purchased. Some restrictions may apply, if published on said card, but in general the coffee purveyor accepts that in exchange for the repeat business of their customers, a small loss may be incurred when the unscrupulous suddenly upgrade their freebie.

Not so the owners of The Commune – Basement 2-6 Parliament Place East Melbourne, www.thecommune.com.au – which services the captive audience of bureaucrats around St Andrews Place, Macarthur Street and Treasury Place. Their freebie comes with (unpublished) caveats – soy drinkers must pay for their soy as an ‘add-on’ even when a free coffee is reached, and even when they have purchased the requisite number of soy-filled coffees. Apparently this is because some customers would ‘suddenly’ upgrade to soy on their freebie (at the wallet-busting cost of up to 80 whole cents a pop)!

As a soy drinker I find this highly suspect. Non-soy drinkers hate soy. You do, you tell us all the time. I find it a stretch to think that hordes of devious caffeine addicts would consider the opportunity to sneakily add soy to their free coffee an irresistible temptation to commit fraud. Some might do it for an extra shot, maybe; or some vanilla syrup, likely. But I can’t for the life of me imagine a dairy-drinker gleefully whispering “Today I will get soy! For free! Oh mwahahaha!”.

So what other reason could there be? Arrogance, perhaps. This writer has already been on the receiving end of unsolicited public soy-bashing from staff at The Commune (written about in a blog piece when she was too discreet to name and shame), or perhaps it is simply the opportunity to express disdain of ‘not real coffee’. In that case, please add a $10 charge to every small weak skinny decaff and refuse to serve anything but a short black after 10am.

A step too far, Commune. Sort yourselves out.

A potluck in the south: TexMexxing, y'all

I eat more than I write, and that's why I am finally blogging about the TexMex potluck at Emily's house long after other, more diligent bloggers have done so. You can check out Kristy, Pip , Cindy and Michael (note there's two different links there to two different posts), and Lisa's posts too for more time-appropriate writing! Also, have a look at Lisa's chihuahua companion Kimba in her tequila-chihuahua outfit at Pip's blog. I will preface this post by saying that awesome as the food was, it takes second place to the adorableness of Kim's outfit (Sam wasn't having a bar of it).

The emergence of themed potlucks is, in my splendid opinion, a top hole idea. It gives structure and purpose, and allows us to really concentrate on finding something new and appropriate to cook. For pretendy-chefs like me who are always tempted to crawl back into the hole of easiness and comfort and prepare a boring variation on boring theme - and for me it's pasta five thousand ways - it's a real challenge and one that has the added benefit of expanding my personal repertoire as well letting everyone share in a special event.

Also, Emily bought a new tortilla skillet that she wanted to try out.

Pregan, my sister had made me some quesadillas which I devoured in cheesy gooeyness. I was eager to recreate them as non-quesadillas, and was happy to find that there are more than a few vegan versions floating around the interwebs. Some use soy cheese and some smashed red kidney beans to stick it all together, so I decided to take a bit of an experimental approach (and use up the one lonely can of kiddly beans I had a-mouldering in the cupboard ... no! it wasn't actually mouldy! I did not attempt to poison my friends!) and combine a bit of everything. I didn't take pictures of the preparation though as I was also cooking some food for my friend who recently had a gorgeous little girl (hello Minnie!) so my cookering that day was timed to the nanosecond.

I bought two rolls of Cheezly, the highly flavoured and highly orange nacho and the more neutral mozzarella, and grated the lot. Yep, the lot. I chopped some spring onions finely, diced some orange capsicum, used some sliced black olives form the fridge, sliced some spicy jalapenos, defrosted some corn (it's cheap and it lasts!), and smashed me up some o' them red kiddlies. I mixed it all together, and heated up Magic Pan.

I had a packet of El Paso Light Flour Tortillas - why get the full fat when I was just gonna sizzle it anyhows? - and I spooned the mixture into half the tortilla until it was about 1.5 centimetres high, folded it over into a moon shape, and then whacked it on to a pre-oiled Magic Pan.

Each non-quesadilla required a couple of minutes on each side, and there was a bit of trial and error in working out the boundary between nicely toasted and a bit too sizzled. However, none of them came out in such bad shape that I wasn't happy to present them to the potluck, so they're not really that hard to mess up. After they cooled I garnished them with some coriander.

Pip was kind enough to say she really liked them, and I think they came out ok. The kidney beans were very effective and coalescing all the ingredients, but who can seriously resist a great big handful of melted Cheezly?


I also made gazpacho, something I experimented with over the heatwave in February, and I can never get over how easy it is (and also I think of Red Dwarf so it makes me giggle).


Here's the recipe I tend to use to make a truckload, although there are some faaa-aaaancy variations out there that use black beans or watermelon too:

• 8 - 10 ripe tomatoes. It's better, although messier, to peel them.
  
• 1 orange or yellow capsicum
• 1 cucumber, sliced any way that your food processor will get at it
  
• a couple of stalks of spring onion
• a few cloves of garlic - I always like more
• a big slosh of lemon juice
• a slightly smaller slosh of olive oil if you want it a little less fattofied, but if you like it then feel free to splash it about some more (and use the good stuff; you'll taste it)
• parsely, coriander or other fresh herbs to taste
• red wine vingear to taste

Method: in the food processor until you think it looks good. You might like it more chunky and salsa-like than others, or you might prefer it baby-style pureed. Whatevs - you just can't mess this one up folks!

Back on the ranch, there were some truly stupendous TexMex offerings. I loved Lidia's Cowboy Beans which were beans with lots of mock meat including sausages and bacon, and which were accompanied by authentic (I think) cornbread, and Craig's chilli was hot hot hot!


Tim's chilli with corn, mushroom and chickpea was a good contrast in restraint, and the black beans, made by someone who's name I rudely forgot, were fascinating.



Vanessa made a fantastic paella with lemon wedges and artichokes, which I went back for long after I was full to have a little pick at, and a sangria that was, unlike festy sangrias I've had in Barcelona, not at all over spirited and very, very drinkable.


Tara made some unbelievably delicious salsa which I also got stuck into for thirds, and Lisa also made a fabulous dip - the creamiest, smoothest guacamole I've ever had. I didn't get a chance to try Cindy and Michael's green pumpkin seed mole from Veganomicon and I sorely regretted it.


And what would a potluck be without dessert? Kristy and Toby outdid themselves with two types of cupcake - tequila and chilli chocolate. I downed a tequila one and the icing was incredible - not enough to get you pished but definitely adults only!


There were two kinds of Mexican Wedding Biscuits, chocolate ones made by Cindy and some plain from Jo. They were both perfectly crumbly, and were complemented by some raw oatmeal cacao nib cookies which were fantastically sweet and sweetly accessorised with an ingredients list.


Finally, Pip and Tim made some churros. Yep, real, live, fried churros with melted chocolate. And cinnamon sugar. And lots of fatty sugariness - mmm-mmm-mmmm. They were fried and sweet and delish, and, like the sangria, better than what I've actually had in Spain. So there, Iberian Peninsula!


I didn't hang around much long after the obligatory tequila; Sam had had a bit of a testing night after not wanting to play with the other puppies and was clearly rejecting this attempt to introduce he and Kimba to their culture-of-origin.


In any case, I was in a world of stuffed-belly and the introduction of hard spirits might have seen me burst like Bec's awesome pinata after she and Toby had demonstrated their proficiency at various martial arts on it:



But seeing as there was an absolute mountain of lollies from Rishon's inside the pinata, I was glad I did. Ain't they purdy?

Winering: Riding off into the sunset with Shadowfax

I have never really been a wine-drinker, and since veganism curtailed my winering even more so (but certainly not my whinering), I have become an incredible lightweight. However, sometimes a girl needs a glass and that glass must be filled with something red and wintery (I still can't really get into the whites; how could you possible go past beer, a cooling G&T or a refreshing vodka soda with fresh lime on a blistering day?).

I emailed Shadowfax Wines to ask if their wines were vegan-A-OK in preparation for a now-on-hold visit.

A very prompt, informative and friendly reply was received:

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your enquiry. I have just checked with our winemaker and he says that the last time we used animal products was on one of our 2004 reds (which is no longer for sale). We have always been specific on our label if we have used animal derived products. All of our current release of wines would be fine. I hope this helps. Let me
know if you need any further information.

Regards

Stephen Bell
Cellar Door Manager
Shadowfax Wines
0397314420

Personally I find it very hard to remember which wines are drinkable - being more of a beer girl vintages and varieties tend to blur into one of two categories: red or white (I do remember YellowTail because it's readily available, quite cheap and all products are vegan). It's particularly handy for me and my sieve-like brain to remember entire brands - so hooray for Shadowfax!

Shopping is the Staff of Life, or: How I Eat and Shop, thanks for asking

Although I was an unthinking vegetarian, by which I mean I no longer thought about why I didn’t eat meat, having been vegetarian since early 1990 I was used to scanning menus for what food I could and couldn’t eat. Being vegan is certainly different – my menu-searching skills are laser sharp, I religiously read food labels, and I diligently interrogate waiters. I plan ahead – I read menus online and call restaurants, I think about what I can eat and when and where I can get it, and I have developed a bloodhound-like ability to sniff out good quality non-leather bags and shoes at one hundred paces (oh how I love them!).

I shop at the supermarket and farmers’ markets when I’m out of bed on a Saturday morning on time. I am not forced to frequent health food stores nor am I restricted to wholegrains and dried apricots. I drink some beers but no wines unless they’re labelled vegan. I often take my own food to dinner parties to a) show off my creations when they’re good, and b) ensure that I have something to eat.

I’ll just add this: in almost 20 years of being vegetarian and one year of veganism, across Melbourne, Europe, the UK and India – I have never, ever had nothing to eat. Sure, occasionally it’s chips and salad – but it’s food and it’s there. And I’m not the kind of girl who’ll quietly go hungry.

I do love to shop. A lot. Frequently. And veganism hasn’t slowed me down all that much. I just accept that most coats have wool, most special dresses are silk, most nice scarves are made of silk or cashmere, and designers who design exciting shoes and bags use leather and suede (but stay tuned …. Ellie and Rach change the world with the RoC!). Finding a cruelty-free item that I love now has even more excitement (and it’s cheaper).

I’m off to New York City (avec Buzz) and London (sans Buzz) next Friday for five weeks. Expect me to return laden down with good quality animal-friendly bags and shoes, and fit to burst with a belly full of food.

Yessss!

Hello! or: I take this opportunity to blather on about myself for a bit.

I am vegan, but I’m not much of a princess – I just thought it was a funny name. I did choose Princess though because although I’m not (too much, I hope) a spoiled, bratty, high-maintenance rich-bitch, I’m also not what many people think vegans are: a dredlocked, unwashed, patchouli-wearing, pot-smoking, preachy, feral wearing hemp. I don’t like mung beans.

I would really like for this blog to able to show that veganism is totally compatible with the mainstream. I hope to show that vegan living, while it requires more forethought and planning than that required of omnis or even vegetarians, is much easier than people may think. When I was vegetarian I thought not only was veganism totally extreme Nimbin-only, but that it would also be far more difficult than I could do. It’s not.

I went vegetarian at 9 1/2, when I decided that if I loved animals then I didn’t want to eat them. Over the years it became almost more of a habit than an ethical choice. I said I objected to the ways animals were treated, but I didn’t really think any more about it. I happily (and greedily) wore leather, I’d not worry about the fish sauce or chicken stock in my food, and I swore on my life that I’d rather die than give up cheese.

So what prompted the ‘upgrade’ to being vegan? Was it a deep ethical disquiet, a moment of moral awakening, a light shone upon my conscience?

Nup.

It was a diet book.

It’s a bit sad, but Skinny Bitch changed my life. Not the ranting about giving up Diet Coke and coffee (I shall never surrender!), or the processed food-heavy Americanised recipes, or the eating disorder-inspiring tone, and certainly not the injunction against alcohol (although the comment “Beer is for frat boys” made me giggle), but the description of research about what really goes on in slaughterhouses.

I had a Moment.

Hormones flowed, blood pumped, cheeks flushed – my eyes opened. I knew I just couldn’t be involved any longer. I spent time reading and learning, replacing food, cosmetics, clothes and accessories (being lucky enough to be able to do so, and having total respect for those who choose to use up their pregan things), and absorbing everything I now allowed myself to know. I will never go back.