speedvegan

as some of you know, i am the organizer of a local veg*n meetup group. we meet at least once a month at veggie friendly restaurants or potlucks where we engage in friendly conversation, share recipes, etc. it’s a lot of fun. i am very proud of our group !

we wanted to have a thanksgiving potluck event sometime around thanksgiving and meet at our favorite vegan restaurant, Sublime, on the actual thanksgiving day. Sublime is one of the best vegan restaurants in the country which we are blessed to have in south florida.

hurricane wilma had different plans for us. Sublime suffered major roof damage and will be closed until January 2006. we were bummed, but still looked forward to the potluck. i called several places to see if they would host our potluck with little luck. one of the yoga studios was actually going to “make an exception” and offer their space to us, but their class schedules conflicted with our request. finally, i found a park that had an available pavillion. it was perfect, i thought, but i had to run it by the group first. there were mixed thoughts about it, but i decided to go for it anyway and i am happy to say it was a major success that will probably turn into an annual event.

the weather was perfect ! it was one of the best days we’ve had this fall. it was cool and sunny and the humidity didn’t exceed 100% for once ! by the time this was all put together, it was the tuesday before thanksgiving. for a moment, i thought “nobody is going to show up.” surprisingly, many people RSVPed “yes” to the event and those who couldn’t make it actually took the time to say why and how sorry they were to miss it.

due to all the trouble with finding a place, some of us were actually considering meeting for Indian or Thai food on thanksgiving. one of the members pointed out that wouldn’t have been very much in the spirit of thanksgiving, but we were desperate. i think that thanksgiving has to be one of the hardest days for vegans. some don’t spend that day with their families and those who do are sometimes given a hard time about their healthy, ethical and compassionate choice. i wanted to make everyone in the group feel like we were part of a big happy family gathered together for good food, good times… not for a funeral. i also wanted the event to feel a little bit like a real thanksgiving. i decided to make an unturkey from a company called now & zen. this is not at all like tofurkey, which i am grateful for, but do not love. the unturkey is seitan based with bread suffing and comes with delicious vegan gravy. yum ! i also made a side of garlic/herb potatoes, my awesome salsa, and apple crumb pie.

everyone brought delicious dishes. one of our most active members actually brought a gazillion watt microwave for us to be able to heat our food. he also brought a juicer and made yummy delights for other members. i brought my camping stove (hurricane necessity) on which he made fresh pasta to go with a delicious homemade sauce. yummy !!