Pesto and Peas

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A pasta salad of sorts with pesto, tempeh, garbanzo beans, peas, and bell peppers

The Goods: After an extremely fun weekend of scooting down to LA for the Humane Society's Genesis Awards on Saturday, my dinner when I got home last night was decidedly of the "throw together whatever's in the fridge" variety. So, with some on-hand cashews, garlic, frozen spinach, and one bunch of fresh basil, this impropmtu pesto came to be. Back at the VNHQ the excitement continues, as tomorrow we'll be talking veganism and manliness in our Twitter Chat, and Thursday we're headed out for SF Vegan Drinks! Whew!

The Best Pizza Ever

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: Pizza that was so good we freaking died. Made on Indian-spiced naan, covered with melty Daiya cheese, red onions, kalamata olives, rosemary, greens, and sun-dried tomatoes, today's main course was insanely delicious. Once again, despite its own gorgeousness and garlicky dressing, our salad of greens, sliced bell peppers, tomato, and avocado played second fiddle to the incredible pizza.

The Goods: Of course, the food today was phenomenal, or, as the chef herself might have put it, "phenom." The goods didn't end there, however, since today we also had the pleasure of dining with Jennifer Fearing of The Humane Society of the United States—who brought with her some of the best homemade chocolate-chip cookies we've ever had—and Jayne Harless, aka Kailey's mom. The weather was gorgeous, the food was awesome, and the company couldn't have been better. Oh! And in case anyone didn't already know, today's Friday, which means the weekend is mere hours away. Yes, this makes us happy.

Thai Times

The Chef: Aurelia and Vanida Thai Kitchen

The Menu: A tantalizing tray of Thai food! Ms. Aurelia cooked us up some delicious brown rice, which we used as a base for the great dishes from one of our favorite local restaurants. Tofu with cashews, eggplant with basil, flat noodles with veggies, and a broccoli-packed yellow coconut curry made for this entirely satisfying afternoon meal. For dessert, we were treated to the sweet surprise of Nada Moo ice cream, which went perfectly with the warm day.

The Goods: There were two other very exciting elements of lunch today, both of which are pictured below. Paul Shapiro of The Humane Society of the United States—who's in California campaigning tirelessly for Yes! on Prop. 2—joined us for lunch and treated us not only to his fantastic company, but also to tales of pranks that had us in stitches. If there's anything better than having a hilarious guest join us for lunch, it's getting to share the hot-off-the-presses November+December issue of VegNews with that guest! Oh, and did we mention that this is the Veggie Awards issue and that HSUS was named Favorite Non-Profit Organization for the second year in a row? Here's Paul with the VN staff and our fancy new magazines: