Thursday, January 24, 2008

Do unto others..

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

While hiding indoors from this awful weather we're having in San Francisco, I thought I'd do a little update about some recent events going on in my world.

Rocket Dog Rescue is an amazing organization in San Francisco who has saved over 1,900 dogs in its existence! Sadly, Pali Boucher, the founder of Rocket Dog, lost her home and three beloved foster dogs, & her parrot in a house fire not too long ago. While I was unable to attend a recent benefit being thrown for her, I whipped up some cupcakes to be sold at the event. Mini Chocolate cupcakes were topped with either Peanut Butter buttercream or Mint icing with crushed chocolate cookie bits & the large cupcakes were dressed with Peanut Butter buttercream & a Scharffen Berger chocolate snowflake piece on top. I received the most lovely email after the event letting me know the treats were well received! Rocket Dog is an amazing organization & I'm glad I could help in a small way.

Last week Amy, Danielle, & I went to Santa Clara University & tabled for Californians for Humane Farms. While we didn't anticipate so many students would be from out of state, we gathered a good amount of signatures from a friendly crowd. We were lucky enough to have donations from two companies to entice students over to our table! Let's Do Organic was kind enough to supply vegan gummy bears in both regular & sour flavors & Vegan Sweeties donated individually wrapped Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies! The cookies were perfect for students to grab & they went quickly! Of course, gummy bears are a crowd pleaser as well. Laurie from Vegan Sweeties also sent some Blueberry Jammies for the girls & I to test; they were FABULOUS! I named them the "donut cookie", as I felt like I was eating cakey donuts with a little zing of blueberry jam. Vegan Sweeties is mainly mail-order, so if you need cookies for an event, check them out, I've heard the brownie cookies are awesome!

By the way, if you're in California, it's not to late to sign up to reduce the suffering of 20 million animals on farms in this state. Even if you collect a few signatures from friends & family, it will be an amazing help! Every signature counts! Californians for Humane Farms needs 650,000 signatures to see this important bill on the ballot & we can't do that without your help!

Finally, we had another successful installation of the Vegan Brunch Cartel this past weekend. I am lucky enough to be a tester for the new vegan brunch book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, so I made her Cauliflower & Red Bell Pepper Quiche for the event. This was my first attempt at a pie crust, it was well worth it; the quiche was a success! If this recipe is any indication to what's in store for the book, it's going to be another amazing publication for your kitchen shelf!

24 comments:

Traci Anne said...

Sounds like you've been busy, and for good causes :) And the cupcake pictures are making me drool a little. Sigh.

Vegan_Noodle said...

All these good deeds!! It's so wonderful that you are giving your time and energy to promoting a cruelty free world :-)
Oh, and did I mention the cupcakes look scrumptious?

Jess said...

Ditto to what vegan_noodle said! That all sounds terrific, and your cupcakes are making me drool.

mel said...

I hope you're staying warm!

Cakespy said...

Deliciousness and good deeds...you rule, Melisser.

Anonymous said...

you rule! and I know I'm one amongst many who cannot wait for Isa's [and Terry's] upcoming books.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Wow, you are awesome for helping out so much! It inspires me (and hopefully others) to help out more, too. Keep up the good work!

Diz Rivera said...

Work it for the animals, ladies. Awesome job! Outreach never looked so fly.

the little one said...

Great idea to table at a university! I'll have to talk to some student groups on my campus and see if we can collectively do something like that.

Anonymous said...

What gorgeous cupcakes, and what a fittingly worthy cause to make them for!

And I'm totally jealous that you're a recipe tester for Isa... Just let me know what to make first when the book is finally released!

Anonymous said...

Oh Melisser!
It's cruel and horrible for me to be looking at your blog from India! I want a vegan cupcake!!! :) I suspect there will be a serious frenzy of baking once I get home (one more week).

So cool that you could donate some cuppers to the Rocket Dog fundraiser. I'm so sorry to hear about her loss. Rocket Dog really is a cool organization.

And, I'm massively jealous that you are testing for Isa's vegan brunch book!!! Right on! I couldn't possible over emphasize how much I would be delighted with a vegan brunch at this moment. One does get tired of the same few vegan Indian choices after 4 and a half weeks! :)

Also, I'm super glad to hear that the donations worked out!! Good work. It's not so hard, is it?? How cool! Wish I could have come along and helped out.

Hope all is well!
Amey

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

what fabulous causes - and such fabulous baked goods to go along with them!! kudos, Melisser, for doing so much good!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the update and happy belated birthday. I love reading your blog. :-)

Peace~ AM

Unknown said...

Good luck with your action. It's a great idea to support the anti-cruelty movement.

TB said...

Good for you for doing all you do! And I'm so jealous that you're testing for the new brunch book. You posts always make me think that I need to get myself a vegan brunch cartel...

julie hasson said...

You're too cool Melisser! and your cupcakes are gorgeous.

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

too cool for school! good job with all yr good doings! the cupcakes are beautiful.

bazu said...

Ooooh, it's so good to be catching up with you and your blog! I love all the cool events/groups you're involved with- and your cupcakes, as ever, are drool-worthy...!

Penny said...

Vegan brunch taster=coolest gig ever. The quiche looks great!

Anonymous said...

Wow another book!!! Yeah! How does one get lucky enough to be a tester?

Anonymous said...

I must say your peanut butter frosting looks absolutely perfect! And all the good deeds;-- you're truly admirable, Mel. Keep it up :)

Enza said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

traci anne- I drool over cupcake pictures too!

Mel- I am ready for Spring!

thelittleone- I hope the tabling worked out! I found it a great way to reach people.

Hannah- Will do! I'm loving what I've made so far!

Amey- Thank you for the information about donations, they have been an awesome tool! You rock!

textual- We ALL need a vegan brunch cartel!

veganfabulous- Begging & sexual favors! ha!

Amanda, Jess, jessiecakespy, celine, CCvegan, madnessrivera, veggiegirl, AM, cookiemouse, julie, ppvegan, bazu, virgogirl, ovenhaven -Thank you SO much!

vko said...

You are the bestest!