
Thanksgiving by Govinda's
Good morning! Because I feel like speed of delivery is of the essence, I am going to keep this short and re-iterate the important dates for our service in the next few weeks. While writing up the menu descriptions this morning, I looked back at the newsletter from last Thanksgiving. Boy was it what I needed to hear, complete with a spontaneous mission/passion statement by me for Govinda's Catering. When times are tough, and you feel like a loser, it is important to remember t

Happy Fathering Day
I want to be perfectly honest with you all, as that is just the easiest way to be - this is late getting out to you because 1) I had a very busy weekend that included 3 kirtans and 2) I have discovered the BBC Sherlock Holmes series on Netflix. All the profound and appreciative things I was crafting in my mind to say to all the fathers out there were pushed completely aside by the mystery of the Black Lotus Crime Ring...
I definitely wanted to honor and give credit to all

The Medicine of Kirtan
Good morning! Yesterday morning I had one of those experiences where I woke up and with a sinking feeling suddenly remembered my life. By that I mean, I opened my eyes and the feeling of sleepy neutrality gave way to sensations and feelings that had been influencing me before I fell asleep. As I became conscious, a heat began spreading through my chest, my heart quickened, my mind raced, replaying a key scene from the night before. Anger. Yep. There he was in full force, befo

Of Mothers and Buzzards
Ladies, if you haven't heard it yet several times today, Happy Mother's Day! Gentlemen, if you haven't said it several times today, it is not yet midnight, so go ahead and tell the important women in your life - yo' mama, yo' sister, yo' wife, those 3 magic words. Everybody likes to be recognized and appreciated for the hard work they do.
Now, bear with me. What I am going to say next will depart from our Mother's Day theme, but hopefully only temporarily, as I aim to come

Sage Decisions
Earlier in the week I planned to meet a friend of mine for dinner on Saturday. I figured we would go to Sage Vegetarian Cafe in Chapel Hill, since I had never been there. I know. That statement is sheer craziness. How is it possible that I have been a vegetarian for twenty-three years, lived in the Triangle for twenty years, and been a caterer and vegan food blogger for the last three of those twenty, and have still never visited Sage Cafe? Yesterday I righted my wrong, humbl

Hailing the Happy Oasis
For those of you who were wondering about the challenge question that I put out last week, the four people who were in the kirtan photo were: 1) Dave Stringer, 2) Danielle Koppel, 3) Jon Seskevich, and 4) Donovan Zimmerman, co-founder of the Paperhand Puppets. Jon has been a long-time enthusiast and teacher of both meditation and kirtan in the area, and Danielle is one of the folks who began their relationship with sacred chanting thanks to Dave Stringer's concerts. I believe

A Mess with A Message
(photos radpix.ninja) No! Yes! No! That can't be why you are posting these action shots of a Vitamix explosion... Au contraire, it most definitely is... For those of you who can interpret Stream of Consciousness, this does in fact mean that I had a Vitamix explosion in my kitchen today. Not only did the most powerful blender on the planet get to thrust its contents all over every surface imagineable in my kitchen, there happened to be a wooden spoon in there at the time. Yep.

Dancing Towards Ecstasy
You know that I am committed to exploring the Triangle and exploring its culinary and cultural offerings, just so that I can report back to you. ;-) Or perhaps it is more accurate to confess that I have a thirst for newness and variety. And because I have a weekly readership of sorts, I get to satisfy my social cravings in the name of doing research for the blog. I love it! The mind can rationalize just about anything... The other day it actually crossed my mind that The Indy

The Honor of Eating
So many recipes, so little time! Thanksgiving is a particularly wonderful holiday to cook for because the entire holiday centers around eating. During other holidays, you squeeze a meal in around other activities. However with Thanksgiving, there is nothing much else happening besides cooking and eating. Of course, for many folks, this is a time to get together with and celebrate family, and that is all done... When? While cooking and eating! I'm telling you, this scenario is

Frustration and Growth
I am used to our food coming out somewhere between mildly and wildly awesome. The past two weeks I made something that was more on the "eh-it's-okay to truly-not-good" spectrum. If you don't know which preparations I am talking about, then bless you my child. However I know, and those of you who were bold enough to complain, you know that I know that you know. So my first reaction was to do something that I have seen my son do many times - throw my cooking spoons on the floo