Wow, I can’t hide that I’m more upset than I should be by the ridiculousness below.

I know some of my closest friends disagree with me on trans issues as well as the whole postmodern “third-wave” “pro-sex” feminist thing (also mentioned below). I also know I’m as guilty as anyone of losing my temper and lashing out at people whose positions I disagree with. What scares me, however, is how quickly I’m being painted as a serious enemy by this tiny group of people over at The Vegan Ideal. The inability to have any space whatsoever for people who don’t agree with 100% of what a certain group of people have decided are the “right” positions is…breathtaking.

My friend R. (I’m pretty sure I’ve already told this story on the blog), a long time political vegan, will eat a little bit of cheese or egg at a restaurant if it comes on his plate even when he specified for it to be vegan, because, as he explained it to me, he became vegan in order to not waste lives, and if that food goes in the garbage it will truly be wasted. My friend C, another old school political vegan, is currently musing on the ethics of vegans keeping bees in respectful ways. Many of my friends in this little upstate NY town keep chickens, eating their eggs and providing them with long, happy lives.

My friend B. really believes in the transformative, feminist power of sex work and stripping and burlesque. I pretty much think it’s giving into the patriarchy, instead of challenging it, but I like talking about it with her, I want to hear more about what she thinks—I want to keep hearing different perspectives.

I’m not exactly in the same place as of any of these people (especially the chicken freaks), but I respect them. I respect that they are THINKING. And TRYING. And growing and changing.

I try, as hard as my fucking little wild heart can, to trust that the people I surround myself with—on the internet and in real life—have good intentions. What a slap in the face it is when this trust isn’t returned. I don’t know why this is affecting me so much. It’s a bunch of fascists on the internet—why am I surprised? Because they are vegan fascists? I’ve known insane vegans forever. They burn themselves out after a few years, and it can be fun to watch the show in the meantime. But my god, it hurts when they turn their guns on you.

Yuck.

Happily, I am not a fascist. I’m an anarchist. As such, I honor multifaceted methods of bringing about a better world. For the millionth time, I repeat: to nuance! To learning! To refusing to step in line!

Hey, look, a whole essay about what a horrible person I am! Ya gotta love the internet. And people who take quotes from years-old essays whose positions I’ve moved away from, and/or developed more nuanced ideas about. Ah, life.

Though I don’t have any feminist cred anymore, can I still point out more PETA ridiculousness?

Also, here’s a snippet of a conversation on Carol Adams’ Facebook page that started out being about about the infamous bj Burger King ad and turned into a discussion of PETA:

Someone: What does everyone think of the excuse PETA uses: the feminist ideal that a woman has the right to use her body and/or sexuality to make a point if she so chooses? They use references to Lady Godiva, who used the beauty of her naked body as a metaphor for her cause. I am looking at this for a master’s thesis, and am anxious for feedback.

Carol Adams: MacKinnon is best on this: they assume that the equality we are working for has been achieved; and thus that consent has meaning. But in a world of sexual inequality, consent is a fungible term.

What do you think? (Brittany, I especially want to hear your thoughts, ’cause I know you’ll disagree and you know I like that!) As usual, I think Carol is brilliant, and no one can ever refer people to Catherine MacKinnon fast enough for my taste. But if I said it I would be accused of accusing other women of false consciousness and hated on for the rest of humanity for even breathing the CaMac name. Fuckin’ feminists. You can never win with those bitches.

On a completely different note, why I haven’t been reading the blog of the fiercely feminist farmer Kara over at Wintergreens since day one, I do not know, but I’m happy to be reading it now. Upstate awesomeness, for sure—fresh/fermented/wild/frozen food all winter long!! People, they are MAKING BABY FOOD! Wow.

OK, back to work.

xoxox

L

Thanks for all the comments about the trans discussion below, everyone. And the emails. And the Facebook messages. Argh. I’ll have some time to think about it all beginning next Tuesday, after my super busy week is over. Of course, continue the discussion amongst yourselves!

In freedom,

Lagusta

Hello sweet beets,

A Facebook pal friend asked for my pumpkin pie recipe and I thought I’d toss it on here even though I don’t have a picture of it and it’s not exactly my recipe, but rather an adaptation of an old recipe from Fine Cooking. It’s so great though. Make it, take a picture, and send it to me along with your kudos, will ya?

Fun fact! I started making this tart my regular Thanksgiving pumpkiny dessert after Khaela Maricich (yes, Khaela of The Blow!) tasted it alongside my standard non bourbony pie and declared that it “had more going on.” My god, I love that Khaela. We’re actual friends, but every time I see her I still can’t stop from basically screaming about how much I love her and making dorky references to all her songs. This is of course slightly awkward and I commend her for being so awesome about it (full disclosure: she’s more of a Jacob friend than a Lagusta friend, but how great to be in a couple where you get to be friends with all your sweetheart’s friends, non? Actually…read this paragraph quick, because when Jacob sees it he will sigh in that “you don’t have to share everything with the internet” way and I will feel weird and take it down. He is in Sweden today though, so I can blab on and on about my deep and wild love for Khaela to the entire world without any sighing disrupting my oversharing.).

I LOVE THE BLOW!!!

Pumpkin Bourbon Tart with Walnut Streusel

1 11” tart

• This recipe looks long, but it is really just three easy components. It calls for a stand mixer and a food processor, but it can be made without these by combining the tart and filling ingredients (separately) in a bowl and by hand-chopping the streusel ingredients and combining them with a fork or pastry blender.
• The coconut oil should be at room temperature, which means that it shouldn’t be completely liquefied or completely solid – it should be soft enough to scoop out easily but still white. Since it can be tricky to get it to this consistency, especially in very hot or cold kitchens, remember that is always better to err on the side of it being more liquid, because otherwise the dough or streusel could end up with holes that were once solid coconut oil. However, a colder oil makes a more flaky pastry, so finding a balance between workable and too warm (liquid) is worth it. If you’re scared of coco oil or don’t know what kind to buy, read my coco oil manifesto here!

tart crust

2 c all-purpose flour

1/3 c sugar

1 ts. orange or tangerine zest (tangerine adds a special quality)

½ ts. sea salt

10 Tb. coconut oil, at room temperature, see note above

2 Tb. flax seed “eggs” (you know, just boil 1c of water and 3 Tb. flax seeds for a few minutes, then strain it. If it’s too thick to strain, add more hot water and whisk whisk whisk. Voilà! Egg whites!)

¼ c coconut milk, more if needed

1. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour, sugar, zest, and salt. Add the coconut oil and combine on low speed until the mixture looks crumbly and like dried peas – about 2 minutes.
2. Add the flax seed “eggs” and coconut milk and mix on low speed until the dough is just combined. If the dough is too dry to come together, add more coconut milk a spoonful at a time.
3. Evenly press dough into a 11” ungreased tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate. (Yep, a pressed crust! EASY!)

pumpkin filling

15 oz. pumpkin or squash (I like Blue Hubbard squash the best), steamed (use canned pumpkin and I will kill you. Just STEAM SOME SQUASH, you can do that, Jesus!) [If anyone has both a scale and measuring cups and can tell me how many cups 15 oz. is, let me know and I will update this for the benefit of non-scale-owners. But if you're serious about baking, you should buy a scale!)

scant 1 Tb. agar powder (I talk about it here)

½ c evaporated cane juice sugar

¼ c packed minimally processed dark brown sugar

2 Tb. all-purpose flour

1 ts. ground ginger

1 ts. freshly ground cinnamon

¼ ts. freshly ground cloves

½ ts. sea salt

½ c coconut milk

¼ c bourbon (once I accidentally used Southern Comfort and it was delicious as well, which is weird because I usually find SoCal vomitious.)

1. In blender, combine all filling ingredients over low speed until combined. Set aside.

streusel topping

¾ c walnut halves, toasted, cooled

¼ c crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped

¾ c all-purpose flour

1/3 c evaporated cane juice sugar

¼ c packed minimally processed dark brown sugar

½ ts. freshly ground cinnamon (I always use canela Mexican cinnamon from my local Mexican market [Casa Latina in Poughkeepsie---I call it a Mexican market even though it's a Latina market because I am a big giant racist.] and grind it in a spice grinder, but you can use your sad little tin of cassia cinnamon, sure, go right ahead, even though it’s probably like 10 years old and doesn’t taste cinnamony at all…)

½ ts. sea salt

1/3 c coconut oil, at room temperature

1. In a food processor, combine walnuts and ginger. Pulse to chop into medium pieces. Remove. Add remaining ingredients except coconut oil and pulse briefly to mix. Add coconut oil and pulse until just barely combined. Remove blade and stir in walnuts and crystallized ginger.

assembling the tart

1. Heat the oven to 350F.
2. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the unbaked tart crust. Do not overfill tart pans because the filling puffs a little. It might overflow a little in the oven. I personally like the look of it when it does, and it sinks back down after it comes out of the oven, but if you want a tidy tidy tart, take out 1/3 cup or so of the filling and just eat it. Scatter the streusel topping evenly over the pumpkin mixture, covering it completely. Put the tart on a cookie sheet.
3. Bake until the topping is evenly cooked and no longer looks wet in the center, 50 to 65 to 75 minutes, depending on your oven.
4. Let the tart cool on a rack for at least 2 hours before serving. The tart can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight; before serving, let it sit at room temperature 1 to 2 hours.
5. The flavor of this tart is best after one day, and it will keep up to 6 days.

…Or so I’ve been telling myself since I was fifteen and first read The Fountainhead and committed those lines to memory.

Well, here’s a shameful secret: I’ve really been enjoying the audio book of this new Ayn Rand bio. I’ll have lots of thoughts to share about it…soon.

Sorta soon.

In the meantime, it’s my busiest work week of the year (making hay while the sun is shining sounds good on paper, but it sure sucks when you collapse from sunstroke…) and after that my sweetheart will be home for a few days and we’ll be raking leaves and petting lonely cats and catching up on Mad Men and generally acting like we share our lives even though our lives seem to be conspiring to make us liars lately.

Until then, here are some peeled chioggia beets and raspberry orange tarts. Enjoy!

While I’m gone please feel free to debate and discuss the philosophy of Objectivism; Ayn Rand’s insanely weird life; the virtues of altruism versus the virtues of egotism; various thoughts on the sexiness or lack thereof of Ayn Rand’s characters (I have soft spots for Howard Roark and Dagny Taggart, myself), whether or not the grassroots left truly is being torn apart by lazyass dreamers who can’t shake themselves out of their idiotic mystical visions long enough to get anything done; and, the topic I really want to bring up: can collectives ever accomplish anything? I’ve been a part of a few, and I think I can make a strong case that Rand-style individual actions get a shit load more done with a shit load less drama. Is there something inherently virtuous in working together, or are we deluding ourselves? No collective I’ve  ever seen is a true collective, all have had a certain sort of hierarchy in order to survive. What’s wrong with that? As long as it’s not a fascist hierarchy that is killing its underlings, what’s wrong with admitting the truth: we are all good at different things, and shouldn’t pretend to be equals at everything.

Also: should an avowed anarchist who describes her political leanings as somewhere to the left of Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky be getting as much pleasure as I am getting out of the ideas of a woman who so loved capitalism? Or could it be said that in a certain sense Rand was an anarchist? Her love for capitalism was, it seems to me, really a love of the meritocracy. Money doesn’t have to be involved in a meritocracy, and I’ve always thought that in any worthy anarchist society cream would still rise to the top (which by the way is a totally vegan metaphor if you’ve ever opened a can of coconut milk in the wintertime)—it’s just that everyone, creamy or not, would have a say and a stake in how they live their lives.

Here’s another thought: as much as Rand was an avowed capitalist, I’m an avowed barterer (I GOT THE COAT! IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND! PIX TO COME!!), and it seems to me that bartering is the purest, most anarchic form of capitalism—bartering is capitalism minus governmental and societal bullshit, it is capitalism stripped of anything but the perfect question: “what is it worth to you?”

So basically what I want to say is that lefties shouldn’t ashamed to like Ayn Rand. She made a lot of mistakes and was sort of a giant bitch with an addiction to amphetamines and some serious emotional issues, but! Her sometimes overly simplistic, sometimes shrill ideas have real value. Inherent value, even.

xoxoxo

John Galt

PS: Um. Maybe I just shot my wad on that Rand post TK. Oops.

You know? Totally.

Why, hello there, internet!

Lots to say, as usual, not much time to say it, as usual. But right now I’ve got a Noodle-cat on my lap and some nice honeybush tea on my desk and old, old, old M. Ward on the record player—everything feels just right. Let’s chat a little.

First of all, as someone who watches a fair amount of TV on the computer while working, I was excited about this new Wanda Sykes show. As Jon Stewart put it: “…Wanda Sykes is going to be starting up her own late night talk show—wait, that’s got to be a misprint, she’s not a white man. Well, I guess now we’ve seen everything.”

I had high hopes (my crush on Wanda is long and deep), but it seems to be sort of a Real Time with Bill Maher minus the Bill Maher creep factor plus more cheesiness and with, let’s just admit it, crappier guests. And her rah rah Obamaism was tiring after just one episode, though why I expected anything more from a mainstream talk show I’m not sure.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when a truly interesting figure gets a bit of a handhold in the “real world” and all her quirkiness is completely tamped down…but come on Wanda, I think you can do better. (And if you can’t, I’ll keep watching just because you’re so freaking cute.)

In other feministy zeitgeistey culturey news, I was fascinated to read this Feministing post all about where The Wire gets it wrong when it comes to gender. I don’t completely agree—Kima!—but it is food for thought, for sure.

Speaking of Feministing, a site I’m partial to (and have advertised the Bonbons on), it is currently being boycotted by those who believe that the Feministing crew are horrible transphobic ableist racists.

I dunno. I don’t really buy it.

Some random thoughts on the whole mess which will probably get me in a lot of trouble with very few people and not make much sense to people not intimately familiar with the site (to learn what the hell I’m talking about, click the links mentioned here. Thanks to Facebook friend JC for the heads up, and I hope we can still be pals though we disagree!):

• To be honest, it truly seems like a whole lot of the left punching itself in the eye, which is, of course, our favorite activity. Oh infighting, where would we be without you?
• That said:
• Jessica Valenti, the face of the site (though I know much has been done to change this by bringing in a much more diverse editorial staff) has never, in my eyes, been that interesting or deep. She’s just….fine. She’s the Ms. Magazine of my generation—nice, slightly boring, slightly simplistic, but a good cheerleader to bring intimidated stupid people to the big bad F word. But there is a LOT to Feministing besides her, so if her, like, white middle class privilege worries you, you don’t actually have to read her posts or her books.
• Claims of extreme transphobia and hostility toward trans women on the site: I can’t claim to have read all of the long long long threads that the pages I’ve seen link to (and if you have specific examples of the perceived horrible treatment of trans women on the site, I’d like to see them), but man oh man! Trans issues are complex for a lot of cisgender people, myself included, and I appreciate Feministing’s attempt to work through the more nuanced and complicated aspects in an inclusive way. Also, it seems that most of the problems people are having take place in the comments, and it seems ridiculous to blame the site for that.
• 
• Also, why boycott? Why not hop on the comments thread and make your views known? I know people feel like they have and that the staff isn’t listening, but walking away is a silly way to respond. Isn’t feminism about dialogue? You don’t like the way one of the biggest feminist websites is run? Keep talking about it until it changes, people. My god–what do you do in the real life when you don’t like something, just walk way to a “safe space” where no one disagrees with you? (Yes, that’s what I do, but I’m not the one complaining.)
• And people boycotting because of “their classist “boycott Walmart” post”: HA! Ha! HA! HA!!!!! Wait, let me rephrase: So, let me get this straight. There are people who, as feminists, see nothing wrong with Walmart? There are people who, as feminists, think that it’s CLASSIST to point out problems with WALMART? Could someone please explain this hilarious logic? It’s CLASSIST to say that people should be paid more than minimum wage with no benefits and not locked inside their jobs at night when they are stocking shelves? And is a feminist utopia one in which we all own cheap shit made by largely female sweatshop workers? And…um…who’s calling who a racist? I mean, yes, there are places where literally the only store is Walmart. And there are people who are underpaid and thus must shop there to buy vital things like food. But to say that pointing out the giant problems with Walmart is to deny these facts and somehow hate on people who have no choice but to shop there is, well, just mindblowingly idiotic.
• In short: I don’t get it. Feministing could be more diverse and inclusive, of course, but I truly get the sense that they are trying pretty damn hard. Maybe they fuck up now and then, but don’t we all? I guess I’ve bought into the great Feministing swindle, but I truly think their hearts are in the right place, which is why I’m a loyal reader and occasional advertiser even when I don’t agree 100% with every single post.

OK, time to turn the record over, see ya!

These are from last week, but they always make me laugh. I’d say they are a pretty good representation of my internet life…for better and worse.

Three points:

1) Sock garters. I want! What are they called, stays or something? They are cool. This is from The Sartorialist, and I can’t figure out how to link to the actual post, so I will just link to the site. How cute is this girl? I sort of have a massive crush on her for some reason today. (Full disclosure: I always have a crush on urban bike grrrls, doesn’t everyone? Do I date myself by using the term “grrrls”? It’s still so apt, I will never let it go! It’s still my ringtone too!!)

2) I was in NYC a bit last week, and I realized I have a pretty major fetish for watching women in high heels (and, preferably, tights and short shorts) climb up out of the subway. I love the back of women’s legs as they climb stairs so much it almost causes me physical pain. The past few days were perfect heels + shorts + tights weather, and I sort of just wanted to sit on a bench and drink it all in for hours. I’m not someone who can pull off or would even want to wear such a combo (well, yeah, shorts and tights, yes. Heels, no.), maybe that’s why it gives me such deep pleasure?

3) I had a mini Facebook fight yesterday (what else is new?) and I wrote a pretty snotty response to someone who responded to my awesome status update of “Oh hey, I’ll be accepting “You were so right, I was so wrong” crow-eating comments anytime about Obama, by the way…I’m waiting…” (which was prompted by this). I was hoping the dude would respond with “that was mean” because I had the BEST RESPONSE: “to non-vegans and dudes, yep. I’ve never found a reason not to be.” (said someone was indeed a non-vegan dude).

And while I was sending him brain waves to write what I wanted,* I realized that I have like four dudes in my life (three on Facebook, one of whom I have never met) who I just can’t not be mean to. How horrible is that? I can just tell, even in the case of the one I’ve never met, exactly the type of dude they are—the kind that needs to be taken down a peg. It’s a horrible trait of mine that I can never not be the taker downer. Fuckin’ dudes. Why can’t they just leave me alone, so I am not forced to insult them?

Where are some nice calves I can look at to calm me down?

____

*There is something SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH MY LIFE. Yes, I know that. I need to get off Facebook, I know that too.

Yo! Local peeps!

On November 14th I will be enjoying the honor of providing nibbles for my adorable farmer-visionary pals Ken and Doug’s Hudson Valley Seed Library annual Art Pack gallery show. Come on down! All details are here. I will be bringing truffles made with local ingredients (the pumpkin seed oil dudes and the beet-coriander grrls!) as well as tasty little savories made with local treasures of the squash variety. See you there!

Oh, and even if you aren’t fortunate enough to live in the H-to-the-V, you can buy Ken & Doug’s open-pollinated HV-specific seeds, packed in their gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous seed packs designed by the same lovely Sarah Snow who designed my gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous bonbon boxes and featuring the work of local artists. Browse the loveliness here.

I’m already mourning the passing of the Season of Wearing Cute Dresses in a pretty hardcore way. Yuck. Forgive that I already posted a picture of this outfit (which I have christened “You’d Never Guess She’s a Man-Hating Anarcho-Feminist,”), but I did a lot of tailoring to it to make it fit (there was a LOT more lace) and I’m pretty much in love with it. Those tights have little twee hearts on them!

Lots happening out there in the world, plus I am over my horrid mood of last week! Let us celebrate with links:

My BFFF (extra F for how Fucking much I love him) Than Luu is doing some ridiculous food blogging on his travels around the world with his band Black Gold (Oh look! Another opportunity to mention the music video I was in, how handy!). Check it out!

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Speaking of bands, while I was engaged in a horrible Halloween depression spiral, my sweetheart was in Louisville mixing THIS. Wow.
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Profanity-laced hilarity courtesy of McSweeney’s.

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The new Bloodroot calendar is out! In the two years since Bloodroot published the gorgeous cookbook set that I was honored to have had a hand in creating, they have been publishing a calendar with new recipes. The calendar is super gorgeous and filled with 99% vegan recipes straight out of my mentor Selma’s head–snap it up!

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I’m happy one of the Brooklyn Jonathans (Safran Foer, Ames, and Letham) wrote a book about why you should be vegan or whatevs, and I’m happy that famous blonde actresses are writing vegan cookbooks, all of that is well and good. But these books are written for non-vegans—why people have to keep pointing them out to me I have no idea.

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Speaking of another of the Bklyn Jonathans, Ames wrote that new show Bored to Death and though I haven’t seen it I completely loved & agreed with Nancy Franklin’s recent New Yorker review (I basically agree with everything Nancy Franklin has ever said though.). Particularly this part:

Chick lit—the range of fiction by women about contemporary city life, friendships, sex, jobs, climbing out of the wreckage of youthful dreams—gets a lot less respect than the male equivalent, which people tend to approach as if it were automatically more artful, more written. Women write “thinly veiled accounts”; men write “romans à clef.” Women writers may have a room of their own, but men who thrash around in front of the mirror and record their every failure, humiliation, moue, and excretion for an audience’s consumption still own the house, even if all they do in it is lie on the couch—and then write about it.
The work of Jonathan Ames, who created the new HBO series “Bored to Death,” lies in this vein of self-fascination and self-conscious inertia.

My god, YES. I suffered through a Jonathan Ames audiobook (which I refuse to Google to figure out the title, as I am unwilling to spend one more second of my life on Jonathan Ames) once, and every second was pure torture.

On the other hand, everyone says this new series is good. Oh, the pain.

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And a few work-related miscellanies:

Heya Baltimorites (?)! Check out Brunie’s Bakery, a cute small-batch vegan bakery in your fair city. Recently their head baker emailed me to say that she was making the wedding cake for the woman who ordered the aforementioned wedding truffles from last week and she just sampled and adored a few truffles. How nice is that? I love it when things like that happen. Vegans can be a crazy bunch, but overall we are such decent, sweet, friendly people, no?

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(All that follows is NSFW!)

So, this erotic chocolate shop in Belgium wants to sell ye olde vulvaz, and I hope we can make it happen. How hilarious does it look? My favorite product so far is the “Candy Gay String.” And while I find these deeply, deeply horrifying….I must say they are pretty well done! And they remind me all over again to be annoyed that no one (Beloved TCHO! Are you listening?) makes high-quality vegan (coco milk!!!) milk chocolate and white chocolate. Oh, and I have this mold! I once made it for my sweetheart filled with peppermint patty filling and presented it to him right before he left on a tour. It was too much sugar (a solid inch or so of peppermint patty filling, I’m not sure quite what I was thinking) and he couldn’t eat it in front of anyone and I fear a lot of it went to waste. But it was adorable!