See You Again Soon, Florida!

Florida is definitely different than Pennsylvania. Besides the abundance of long-legged, long-beaked water birds, here are a few other things I love:

 The beach.

Orange groves.

Pirates!

And Banyan Trees! Ok, so this tree is NOT native to Florida. It comes from East India. But this particular giant came to reside here when Thomas Edison decided to include it as part of his estate. At first, the area was his family’s summer home, but eventually they lived here year-round, and so did the family of his friend, Henry Ford.

They had a great big house, a great big yard with lots of trees, and ocean less than a minute’s walk away.

I was reminded of Thailand while walking through the estate, not just because of the beachfront, but because of the different varieties of plants and fruit trees: bamboo, lychee, avocado, mango, longan, and…

kumquat! It's like a tiny orange, but oblong, and you eat the whole thing – peel and all!

Speaking of kumquat, one time in Thailand, I ate them as a chaser to tequila shots. It was a great combo! And speaking of tequila, I even found an agave plant (from Mexico), which is where tequila comes from!

Of course, Thomas Edison had a laboratory as well, which he later shared with Henry Ford.

These two masterminds must have spent 1000s of hours here, experimenting, inventing and discovering.

Ford has gone down in history for inventing the automobile (which he called the quadricycle because it was originally made with four bicycle tires), and Edison for inventing the lightbulb.  But Edison had many more inventions, such as batteries, high chairs, cement, mimeograph and the first talking doll.

History and perfect weather. And then lunch at the Banyan Cafe!

This self-proclaimed "street food" style cafe on wheels is temporarily parked on the Edison & Ford Estate grounds while their regular cafe is undergoing renovations.

There's a nice sitting area, under the shade of a banyan and other trees. Besides burgers and other meat options, I was happy to see that there was one vegetarian option and one vegan option! Everything was made right there on the spot, so it took a few minutes, but was well worth it! I got a wrap with grilled portabello mushrooms, fresh spinach and sun dried tomato pesto - a great combo of flavors that was nice and tasty!

Yay for having veg options!
Until next time, in the words of the salutation I’ve acquired from George:

“Happy Day!”

Brown Woolly Fig Tree

Edison & Ford Estate, Ft. Myers, Florida

Lessons From the Sunshine State

Oh what beautiful weather Florida has this time of year! While warm air and blue skies are quite the treat, the main object of my affection here is my Grammie! This morning I went out with her and her “gentleman friend,” George, for an early breakfast before church at Peach's Restaurant.

They love this chain restaurant, which first started in New Hampshire, George’s home state. The founder named the restaurant after herself (or himself?), using the nickname she gained as a fuzzy-cheeked toddler: Peach.

The inside is pretty much your normal American restaurant, with booths and tables. But the wallpaper border is peaches, and the walls have lots of paintings of peaches as well. The menu is not geared towards vegetarians, but they did have a few choices!

Since this restaurant serves just breakfast and lunch, I thought they might have an egg alternative option, and they did: "Egg Beaters." I wasn’t sure if Egg Beaters are made with any egg or dairy products; I just knew that they aren't actual eggs. When I told the waitress I’m a vegan and don’t eat eggs or dairy products and asked what the Egg Beaters were made of she said: “it's an egg alternative.” I could see that the waitress probably hadn't come across my sort of question before, but I got shy and didn't ask her to find out if EggBeaters were made with any animal products. At this point, Grammie asked for clarification on my behalf, and the waitress replied, "they come from a box."  Grammie tried asking again, but the waitress was still confused.  So... without really know exactly what I was ordering, I went for it and later researched the ingredients online. The Egg Beaters website's headline is: "an egg substitute made from real eggs." Oops! So Egg Beaters are definitely not vegan. They are made with twenty ingredients, the first of which is "egg whites."


So this turned out to be a good lesson for me when it comes to eating out as a vegan: be persistent! It's a continual process for me, learning to take enough initiative to make sure I'm not ordering something that's made with animal products. My grandma is a great woman to learn from, because she is not too shy to find out what she needs to know, but is also polite and respectful. My mother had those same qualities, and I'm hoping those genes will kick in for me soon!

There were a number of side dishes and extras that I could have compiled to make a nice vegan breakfast. (Next time!)

Oatmeal, a bagel with peanut butter, and a bowl of fresh fruit would have done the trick.

But I ordered the Spinach, Mushrooms & Sour Cream Omelet (without the sour cream), Egg Beaters option. Rye bread and a fresh fruit bowl were the sides.

I could tell that the spinach and the mushrooms were fresh, not frozen or fried, so that made for a nice flavor.

I was pleased with my meal and left feeling nice and full. But it is still a learning process for me. The omelette was definitely not vegan, and they had already put butter on my toast (didn't think to specify that). Sigh. I am learning!

Interestingly enough, the flavored coffee creamers all seemed to be vegan. They’re labeled “non-dairy creamer” and “natural and artificial flavors.” Just to check, I looked that up online later and found out that they contain sodium caseinate, a milk derivative. But because the manufacturing process is "significantly different from that of other dairy ingredients... the FDA still classifies it as a non-dairy ingredient," according to the International Delight's website.

Ok, so maybe I sound like a whiner at this point. A tiny bit of caseinate (dairy milk derivative) in my body is not going to make me sick or even necessarily be noticed. But how food affects my health and wellness is not my only concern. I've come to see that if I don't draw a strict line, the line will get pushed farther and farther in the direction that I don't want to go - towards eating animals and animal products, and thereby supporting the industries that cause suffering to these creatures.


Anyhoo, apart from all that, the ambiance and company were fantastic!

That cheerful guy greeted us at the entrance way. And this duo hung out on the wall:

Both reminded me that despite the beautiful warm weather here in Florida, it is Autumn, and I'd be feeling cool weather again soon enough! But for the time being, I enjoyed everything Florida had to offer. This breakfast was just one of the great family moments I had during the week.
Grammie and George both treated themselves to huge waffles topped with strawberries, bananas, whipped cream and syrup.

Now I’m going to have to find a vegan waffle recipe to fulfill my new craving for a decked-out waffle!

On our way to church after breakfast, we passed by a small waterway.

I’ve been seeing lots of beautiful water birds since being down south, and I really wanted to get a nice shot of some. So I slowly crept up on these Sand Hill Cranes and starting snapping pictures.

When they heard me coming, they raised their long necks up out of the water, looked at me, and then dove right back in!

With a repetitive motion similar to woodpeckers drilling holes in a tree to munch on insects, these two-foot tall birds plunged their long beaks down in the water again and again, chomping on fresh water plants.

Practically their whole heads would disappear under the water, allowing them to reach a depth of nearly one foot! 


It was quite interesting to watch. I'll leave you with a video of the feasting in action, and with a salutation made famous and cherished to me this week by George: Happy Day!

Remembering Grandpa...

In honor of my grandfather, who would have turned 98 today, I ate apple pie for dinner.

As he would have said, "if the dessert is what you really want to eat, then why not eat it first?"
He probably didn't voice this rhetorical question until he was in his 70s, but I'm not waiting that long to answer it in the affirmative for myself! Grandpa, consider this meal my birthday tribute to YOU!

I remember "apple crisp" being served for dessert at his and Grandma's house when I was a kid. Unfortunately, both of my grandparents died before I was even a teenager, so I don't have any memories of them beyond childhood. And double-unfortunately, I was a a veeeeery picky eater as a child. Because what I remember about apple crisp at Grandpa and Grandma's house was being afraid of it. I refused to even try it, because it looked "weird." I just sat on my dad's lap after dinner, trying to avoid drawing attention to myself. But from the chair next to us, Grandpa scooped up a spoonful of soft cinnamony apples and crispy batter, donned the voice of an airplane, and flew that scary stuff back and forth in front of me: "zzzzzzz.... ZZZZZZzzzzz....." I curled up in a ball, squeezing my mouth shut tight and trying to avoid eye contact. "Try it, Abigail," he coaxed. I turned my head away, feeling my face get hot with embarrassment. "Try it for Grandpa," he said ever so kindly and gently. By then my heart was beating fast and my emotion had turned to shame. But I wouldn't do it. I was one stubborn child, and even though I was filled with guilt by refusing to even taste this unfamiliar food, I couldn't do it.

Sigh. Food is such a big part of our lives. This is especially true in the communal aspect. When we gather together with loved ones - friends or family - food often colors the context. We eat to celebrate. We talk while we eat. We share our lives at the dinner table. We create, maintain and build relationships while surrounded by our favorite dishes. It's no wonder then, that cultural and family traditions are replete with treasured foods and meals. So even as a little five-year-old girl, I sensed that I was not only rejecting a piece of an apple cooked in sugar and flour; but that I was also refusing a gesture of love and generosity from my father's father. I felt awful about it, and could only hope that my grandfather would forgive me. Well, I'm sure he did, because he lives on in all of our memories as a model of wisdom, compassion and understanding.
But let's fast-forward about 25 years to my most recent experience with an apple-based dessert. Grandpa, I hope this makes you proud.

I've certainly come a long way from the picky eater that I was as a child. In addition to eventually learning that apple crisp is a quite enjoyable dessert food, I've come to love trying newdishes and am incorporating new foods into my diet on an ongoing basis. Oh but wait, you may say, now that you're a vegan, you're basically a picky eater all over again, right?  How on earth does your family put up with you? Ah, good question! I could recall many recent family vignettes in order to answer that question, but I'll let this apple pie night speak for itself.
I was invited over to my brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner this weekend, and not only did my sister-in-law make every possible attempt to make an all-out vegan meal, but she baked two vegan pies!!

Apple Raisin Pies to be specific! So very enticing did this pie look that one of my nieces just about poked her finger in and stole the first bite! Well, we all got our fair share, and I even got to take home leftovers.

A nice thick crust that was both chewy and flaky, perfectly cooked apples, sweet raisins, all smothered together in a sugary cinnamon syrup. And while many pies have a layer of dough covering the top, this open-faced method not only looks really beautiful when placed on the table, but has a really nice 50-50 balance of crust and fruit. I laughed as my five-year old niece ate all the apples and raisins on her plate, but left behind the crust. And my eight-year old niece picked off the raisins and gave them to her grandfather! Ah, the joy of seeing a bit of yourself in your younger relatives!
My sister-in-law had never made vegan apple pie before. But she made some changes to her regular recipe to accommodate for me. And I'm happy to report that everyone, including myself, loved it!

Family food traditions are something to be cherished, even if they change a little from one generation to the next. I don't have the recipe for Grandpa's Apple Crisp. But what is it about Apple Crisp that enables it to have a special place in my family? Is it the ingredients list? No, not quite. It's the experience that has gone along with eating it: family memories and togetherness. Just as my sister-in-law was willing to alter her apple pie recipe to augment our family gathering, I wouldn't mind making some minor changes to Grandpa's Apple Crisp recipe in order to make it vegan. Hopefully I'll get to try that out very soon and let you know! It is apple picking season after all!

Thomas John Carlisle

(Thanks cousin Jeremy for this pic.)

Spiffy Spinach Salad

Spinach salad for lunch? Well, it's a good start, but I wanted to bulk it up and make it more substantial.
So I grabbed some vegetables out of the fridge: zucchini, mushrooms, yellow bell peppers.
I sauteed some garlic and onion in olive oil (yup, that's the way I roll, this is pretty much how I start off most stir-fried vegetable dishes!) and then added the chopped up vegetables.

Then I had the great idea of making a sauce for the vegetables that would approximate the kind of salad dressing I wanted. So I added some grated ginger, soy sauce, sesame sauce, fresh squeezed lime juice, agave, and black pepper.
Once it cooked down, I put the veggies and all their sauce on top of the spinach.

It was kinda like using "Asian salad dressing" from a bottle (minus the preservatives and indecipherable ingredients) - but better!

About half the salad was raw (the spinach), and about half was cooked (zucchini, mushrooms and yellow bell peppers). Nice 50-50 balance. And the homemade "dressing" was also well balanced between sweet, salty, sour and ginger spicy.

I also had a little side-dish/dessert to finish off the lunch: wheaty homemade bread with strawberry preserves! Let that be a little prelude to a future blog post about homemade bread! ;)