2011 Schedule of Events

Exact dates are yet to be determined, but we've put together a tentative outline of Humboldt Vegetarian Society events for 2011 -

January 2011

• Adults' dinner out
• Fair trade chocolate tasting and screening of 'The Dark Side of Chocolate' (late January or early February)
  

February 2011

• Potluck (and film screening?) hosted by Valerie in Eureka
  

March 2011

• Vegan chili cook-off at the HAF Community Center
  

April 2011

• Adults' dinner out
• Outreach event - distribute vegan hot chocolate and vegan literature in front of the Arcata Co-op
  

May 2011

• Potluck and film screening (possibly The Cove) at the HAF Community Center

June 2011

• Vegan picnic (possibly at the pump station East of Arcata)
  

July 2011

• Potluck and speaker at the HAF Community Center
  

August 2011

• Vegan ice cream party hosted by Tamara in Bayside
  

September 2011

• Local foods themed potluck at the HAF Community Center
  
• Possible cooking class with Jennifer Raymond, either in combination with the potluck or on a different day

October 2011

• Adults' dinner out
  
• Potluck hosted by Heather in Eureka
  

November 2011

• Vegan Thanksgiving at the HAF Community Center
  

December 2011

• ???

If anyone has ideas for additional projects or events, please feel free to organize something using either our Yahoo group and/or Facebook page.

Vegan Thanksgiving!

Please join us for a truly happy turkey day celebration!

Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck
Sunday, November 21st, 2:00
Humboldt Area Foundation Community Center
(Indianola Cutoff in Bayside, between Eureka and Arcata)

Questions? Email us.

October Potluck and film screening 10/16

Hey everyone. Valerie again.

Marc and I will be hosting this month's potluck at our place in Pine Hill.

We will be showing the film The Witness. This Tribe of Heart documentary is an intriging story of a construction contractor from a tough Brooklyn neighborhood who becomes an impassioned animal activist.

Our plan is to show the film at 4pm and then for those who are comfortable, to share where they are on their vegan/vegetarian or animal protection/rights journey or the reasons behind their decision to investigate these issues.

Everyone is welcome to share(or not), no matter what stage they're at.

The film is only about 45 minute long, so potluck and discussion will start at 5pm.

You can also watch the entire film online from the link above and just come in time for the potluck.

If interested in coming, please email me for directions to our place. vsimone316@yahoo.com

And as always, please bring a dish to share that contains no animal products. (meat, fish, dairy, eggs, gelatin, honey, etc)

Looking forward to seeing you!

Dinner at Chapala Cafe, 10/1

Join us for an adults-only dinner out on Friday, 10/1 - enjoy great Mexican food, margaritas, and live music by the Tumbleweeds! Please RSVP if you plan to attend (just leave a comment here) so I can make the reservation for the correct number of people.

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream recipe

Hey People! Valerie here.

I had a great time with you all at the ice cream party at Tamara's yesterday.

Here's the recipe for the ice cream that I made. It's adapted from a recipe in the book The Vegan Scoop by Wheeler Del Torro.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

3 1/2 cups coconut milk, divided

2 Tbls arrowroot powder

2/3 cup agave nectar

1 Tbls vanilla extract

1/2 cup nondairy chocolate chips

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup coconut milk with arrowroot powder and set aside.

Mix remaining 3 1/4 cups coconut milk and agave nectar in a saucepan, and cook over low heat. Once mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and immediately add arrowroot cream. This will cause the liquid to thicken noticeably.

Stir in vanilla.

Refrigerate mixture until chilled, approximately 2 to 3 hours. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. In the last few minutes of churning, add chocolate chips.

Yield: 1 quart

Ice Cream Party

Hi guys, Tamara here. :-)

I'm going to be hosting a vegan ice cream sundae party at my house in Bayside on Sunday, September 19th at 3:00 in the afternoon.

If you'd like to attend, please let me know that you're coming so I can plan accordingly. It would also be great if you could tell me whether you plan to bring ice cream or toppings so I can be sure to have a reasonable amount of everything we need.

If you need directions, email me and I will send them to you privately.

If the weather is nice, feel free to bring bathing suits and water toys for the kids (or adults, who knows!?). If the weather is crappy, it may have to be a hot chocolate party instead. We'll see. :-)

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

How you can help spread the vegan pizza goodness!

Greetings Humboldt Veggers!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and having lots of fun adventures. Our household has been consumed these past few months by the massive effort involved in moving our home, my studio, Matt's shop, and all of our animals, while simultaneously attempting to renovate/remodel the house we're moving into. Fun stuff. ;-)

Many of my fellow group leaders have also been busy with travel this summer, and it seems we let July pass without managing to plan a get-together. I'm hoping to host a vegan ice cream sundae party at our new place in Bayside later in August (if you all don't mind the disarray and construction mess!). But I thought it would be fun to try something new in place of our July event...

About a week ago, we brought our own Daiya vegan cheese to Big Pete's Pizzeria in Eureka and they made us a delicious vegan pizza. It was my first authentic pizza parlor style pie in about ten years (cheeseless pizza doesn't count), and I cannot tell you how good it tasted! That got me thinking - if we harnessed the power of this awesome group of people, might we be able to get Big Pete's (or any other local pizzerias) to make Daiya a regular offering on their menu? (thereby saving vegan consumers about $10 worth of vegan cheese from the Co-op for enough for two medium pizzas!).

Coincidentally, within days of these musings, I came across a campaign on an LA-area vegan blog to try to get more LA pizza parlors to offer vegan cheese. I borrowed the idea from them and am proposing that anyone interested in helping to expand vegan dining options in Humboldt County email me to request the form I drafted and send it in to one or more pizza parlor locally (perhaps with an emphasis on Big Pete's, since they do have two cheeseless vegan pizzas already clearly marked on their menu, and because the owner did seem receptive when I chatted him up recently). All you have to do is write the date, the name of the restaurant, and your name on the handy-dandy form and mail it in or drop it off at the pizza parlor(s) of your choice. Then we just sit back and (hopefully) wait for the delicious, gooey vegan pizza deliciousness to begin. :-)

Thanks for helping, and I hope to see many of you next month!

Tamara