i'm back from vacation!

actually, i didn't go anywhere but crazy! seriously folks, i needed a bit of a break after MOFO. i love all things blogging and really put my heart and soul in it this year. once the month was over, my brain was fried like a voodoo doughnut, and well--i ate that doughnut with some coffee and waited for a new brain to grow.

so what have i been up to? making holiday goodies. i shall post on those later--let's just say that balls are involved. tasty balls. (((giggling like beavis and butthead))) i didn't forget the latkes, either.

i've also been evaluating what i want to do as a blogger. i want to bring more readers to visit TPITA vegan and share cooking secrets, fun, and stories to vegans and non-vegans alike. one way i'm planning on doing this is by attending the VIDA VEGAN CONFERENCE out there in that holy land they call portland. i have no idea how i'll get the moulah to get there, but i'm so going to be there absorbing every morsel of wisdom excreted from talented vegans worldwide. won't you join me?

i still want to donate to mother hubbard's cupboard. i thought i had more than 17,000 hits, but it didn't end up being that much. my counter was wrong and i only had 4,000. my doll baby of a spouse matched this amount, so i donated a total of $30 to them. at the hub it takes $10 a day to feed someone, so with everyone's help, we managed to feed a person for 3 days! thanks so much. i hope to generate enough hits to make a donation of at least $10 a month to them. that's doable, right? this also means i'll blog more. now that i'm back, i'm making a personal goal of at least three posts a week.

i also want to think long-term goals as an aspiring vegan chef. i actually DON'T want to write a cook book. there are way too many out fabulous publications out there, and i want to share the magic of those books and the good times of being a vegan with others by cooking for people. i'd like to have my own personalized chef services available for the people of my community in 5 years. i KNOW i can do this. if anyone knows anyone who has done this or has done this themselves, drop me a line.


so what's the picture of? well that's the rare and beautiful black bean chili flower. see, you don't have to have mad chef skills to make a simple dinner beautiful. you just need some imagination. i dare you to try to have some fun with something simple and send me a picture of it. make a funny face sandwich. make a cupcake monster. go wild! i served some black bean chili with extra veggies over a bit of rice-(you can't see it), and i surrounded it with avocado slices to serve as the petals. the center of the flower is some salsa verde. i served this with some chips and watched true blood.