Thursday, March 06, 2008

A pleasant surprise and some lols.

International Women’s Day is on Saturday, and this year will be the 80th that the day is celebrated in Australia. To commemorate, I had a few feminist rants written for you all—about assholes who yell out ‘show us your tits’ as they drive past on the street, about super-expensive IWD events around Townsville, and sexual assault and prisons. But, I accidentally deleted them, and they can’t be recovered in any way. So, shoot. Maybe I’ll recreate them soon. For now, here are a few little things.

--The JCU Student Association hosted an alternative media workshop, a free bbq, and a movie night yesterday for all women. As far as I know, it was the only free, open-to-the-public IWD event in Townsville this year. Even though I am wary of bbqs, I wanted to go even if I just ate a bit of lettuce on bread. Well, imagine my surprise when I turn up to find an all-woman band playing kick-ass music while homemade chickpea-veggie burgers were being grilled on a meat-free grill! (There were beef burgers, but they were cooked after the veggie burgers were taken off.) Sure, the crowd was very small, but it meant that I got to have good, in-depth conversations with other feminists. And, even though I knew I would be eating dinner when I got home, I ate a veggie burger and it was so good. When the meat burgers were all cooked, no one was eating them. The 'chef', a veg*n, asked if anyone ate meat--amidst a chorus of "no", only one person said yes. Wahoo! Vegan feminists! Unfortunately, I had to cut the afternoon short because I was riding home on my bike, and I didn’t want to get stuck in the dark.

--When I did get home, Andy was just starting to cook me a delicious dinner. This is the second time he’s cooked in two days, thanks to late afternoon meetings—Tuesday I got home at 9:30 and was welcomed with fried rice and orange tofu. Last night he had the Ultimate Uncheese book open to the “Spinafel” recipe, which are spinach and ricotta balls. The recipe was changed in a fairly big way—instead of firm tofu we used a tin of chickpeas. And instead of vegan mayo, we used a block of silken tofu and a splash of vinegar. They were good, but a little dry and a little bland. After some tweaking, I’ll post the recipe. While he was mashing, I peeled and chopped some beetroot which we tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

--Nacho loves chickpeas. Andy was getting annoyed with her trying to get into the mixing bowl while he was cooking, and I overheard a conversation that made me laugh out loud:

“Nacho, when I sleep on the couch all day and you walk to the shop to buy the food, you can have all the chickpeas you want. Until then, get off the counter.”

--Nacho also loves Andy’s armpits, for some weird reason. The other day he was sitting with his arm resting on the windowsill, and she was going nuts, licking and biting his armpit hair. We bought her a toy a few weeks ago and she just doesn’t like it. We thought maybe it was the smell, so I came home to find the toy wrapped in Andy’s shirt, which was really sweaty from a bike ride. I laughed out loud when I saw that (maybe it was endorphins since I had just ridden home). She still doesn’t like the toy.

11 comments:

Vegan_Noodle said...

veganism and feminism seem like a natural match. sounds like a fun event!!

the little one said...

Vegan feminists who ride bikes! Now that's rad!

One of my cats loves our sweaty clothes. I'm not sure what that's all about. Even with her silly habits, Nacho is too cute!

Amy said...

Haha! Don't we ALL wish we could sleep on the lounge while our kitties went to the shops for us.

As for the armpit hair, well, Nacho can have that (blech, they get some funny habits don't they?)

Can't wait for the chickpea ball recipe!

Monika K said...

My dog loves to shove his head into small spaces (be it armpits or under blankets or behind furniture). It's almost like an ostrich thing - I think he figures that if he can't see me because his head is covered, I can't see him. Animals - you've got to love 'em. (-:

The spinach/falafel sound intriguing...

Anonymous said...

My cat does the same thing! Only to the hubby and only when he's sweaty. Bizarre!

Anonymous said...

fun event,

that nacho is so funny!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

HAHA!! Nacho is, once again, too cute; and hilarious! :0)

Definitely looking forward to the chickpea-ball recipe.

Unknown said...

That's a very nice meal he made. Nacho is cute!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

hehe Molly and Henry love chickpeas too... I don't know what they think of armpits, though lol.

The ricotta balls look fantastic, and I am once again inspired by what a good activist you are.

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

is there such thing as non-vegan feminist? I’m not sure how one could eat meat and still be a feminist, but maybe that's harsh.
what was the name of the band playing?
aren't cats funny?

Veggie said...

That's incredible that almost everyone at the event was veg.
The chickpea-veggie burgers sound good too.

My cat loved chickpeas when he was a kitten too!!