I love that the Hubz is a coffee drinker now and that we can make a french press of coffee for the two of us in the mornings and share it while waking up and getting ready for the day.  I however have been trying to be good and cut back on my coffee intake because it isn’t great to have too much of it but I have a cup or 2 a day and tons of water. My favorite Bodum french press (above) is in my OpenSky shop and is such a good deal too.

Oh and here is breakfast:

I finally have got myself back in the yoga groove again and am loving how the balance between my running and hiking and gentle yoga that helps to stretch my tight body.  I have recently received a new yoga mat from Aurorae and I am really starting to like it.  For me and I assume most people it takes a little time to get used to a new yoga mat and work it in but I am really starting to enjoy this one.  I also love that each of the Aurorae mats are a different color which are meant to define your inner self; mine is pink which is Hope.

The qualities that the Hope (pink mat) define are intuitive, faithful, visionary, power of positive thought, energetic & healing.  Additionally I really like that this mat is longer and thicker than some of my other mats which is great when I want a gentle practice or meditation.  Lastly one of the great features of this mat is the focal point icon at the end of the mat to help with concentration.  I find myself drawn to focusing there and it helps me balance and focus. Since I really like this mat I’ve decided to add it to my OpenSky shop hope you check it out!

Lastly don’t forget to let me know if you are interested in participating in the vegan care package swap.  At this point there is no commitment I am just trying to get a feel for how many people are interested.  You do not have to be vegan to participate in this swap however you do need to have a blog and unless paired with another non-vegan you will be expected to only include vegan items in your care package.  These items can be store bought or homemade and can be anything from food to clothes to gadgets or basically anything you like and want to share with someone else. If you are interested please go here and leave a comment letting me know.  Oh and you can be international so long as I have participants who want to ship internationally! In the next day or 2 I will be posting more information about what the swap entails and how to sign up.

Disclaimer: Aurorae provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

We used our GlassDharma Straws to sip them with

After our whirlwind day we finally sat down to a meal that was filled with delicious items from our CSA. In our CSA this week we received 2 lbs Red Beets; 2 lbs Onions; 1 Bunch Kale; 1 Bunch of Thyme; 1.5 lb Beefsteak or Heirloom Tomatoes; 1 Bag Spicy Brassica Mix; 6 ears of Sweet Corn; 1 Qt Frozen Winter Squash Puree. Last night I used half the kale to make baked kale chips, 2 corn on the cob for baked corn and 1 tomato for our pita pizzas.

The kale was tossed with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne and baked at 425F for about 7 minutes; just until it began to crisp up.  The corn was removed from it’s husk and rubbed down with a little Earth Balance and then sprinkled with nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and rolled up in aluminum foil and baked at 425F for 15minutes.  The little pita pizzas had a slice of vegan cheese of half of a pita with a leftover bean&rice burger, tomato and quarter of an avocado.

After dinner I caught up with my BFF for awhile over skype since we hadn’t talked via phone/skype in over a month and then I decided that it would be a great time to try out the Ravi Wine Chiller.  I learned something new last night that red wine is often served too warm! I was unsure about the Ravi Wine Chiller at first thinking that maybe it would make my red wine too cold but it was perfect! It has a great little valve on the side that the more your thumb is over it the slower the wine pours out and the colder it gets; so for red wine you just let it run through the chiller and it brings it to a proper temperature without making it cold.

Q: What is your favorite type of wine to drink? or do you enjoy wine?

P.S. From now until August 16th you can save 25% of your total purchase when you use coupon code EXCITE25; this a one time use only so make sure to check out other items on my OpenSky shop as well as others shops before checking out!

Disclaimer: Ravi provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Aren’t all of these desserts beautiful? I wish that they had been vegan but at least they were nice to look at.  Among the beautiful desserts and other savory dishes we found one we could eat, a mushroom bruschetta- it was amazing!

After the reception it was time to get ready for the tasting which you could view live on UStream. We sipped some water and waited around at the nicely decorated tasting tables.

Wasn’t Hubz looking pretty sharp in his new(ish) shirt?

Hubby and I both really enjoyed this coffee and the Hubz isn’t event a coffee drinker! Here is the UStream Video and you can hear my muffled comments which were kindly repeated by our hosts.

We were sent home with a few goodie bags that included a sample of the Spring Revival Coffee to try at home.  I also received one bag that had K-Cups for the office.  Inside the bags there was this awesome fair trade coffee sticker as well as information about the coffee and World Fair Trade Day (May 8, 2010).

Also included were step by step cards on how to do your own tasting at home as well as information on everyday brewing.

Since Green Mountain Coffee was kind enough to send me home with an extra bag of goodies I thought who better than to give it to but one of my readers? So if you would like a chance to win a Green Mountain Coffee bag of goodies which includes a bag of ground Limited Edition Spring Revival, a fair trade coffee sticker, coffee tasting cards and a few informational pieces keep on reading to see how you can enter.

To enter: (Please enter by noon onMay 8th, 2010 – World Fair Trade Day)- GIVEAWAY CLOSED! – THE WINNER IS ENTRY #11: ANGIE BISHOP

There are a number of ways to enter however for each to qualify you MUST leave a SEPARATE comment for each individual entry.

1. Visit the Green Mountain Coffee Site and let me know of something new you learned or a coffee that interest you.

2. Follow Green Mountain Coffee on twitter

3. Become a fan of Green Mountain Coffee on Facebook

4. Follow me on Twitter.

5. Become a fan of Cook.Vegan.Lover. on Facebook.

6. Tweet about this giveaway “I want to win Fair Trade Ltd. Ed. Spring Revival @GreenMntCoffee on @cookveganlover  http://wp.me/pFVWo-J0″

7. Blog about this giveaway.

Everything at ‘SNice is vegetarian and all vegan options are marked accordingly. The menu is mostly that of salads and sandwiches with bagels and breakfast sandwiches in the morning.  The place was pretty quiet for the sit in crowd until around 11am however there was always a line at the counter for take out bagels and coffee. I really would like to return during lunch ours to try one of their yummy salads or sandwiches.  There is also a location in Brooklyn which I understand has a similar menu. 

Delicious Soy Latte

Tofu Scramble Wrap

Click to Visit Caffe Ibis Website

Caffe Ibis, located in Logan Utah, was great and sent me four samples of their organic coffees. The four coffees I tried were:
1. Organic Mayan Sunrise Blend- I really loved this coffee it was a great morning coffee that is a blend of dark and light roasts.
2. Organic Aztec Blend- what I loved about this coffee was that it is smooth, sweet and spicy.
3. Organic French Roast Blend- this coffee is rich caramelly, and smooth.
4. Organic Highland Sumatra Dark- This is my absolute favorite of the 4- it is a light french roast that is full bodied and has light acidity.

I drink a lot of coffee and I loved these coffees. The other thing that influences my coffee purchases are the companies ethical practices. Caffee Ibis has great ethical practices that are both socially and environmentally responsible:

Caffe Ibis Mission

“Our mission for thirty years has been to be “unbeatable for quality and freshness, while supporting social and environmental responsibility.” Caffe Ibis endeavors to:

1. Provide customers with mountain grown and mountain roasted specialty arabica coffee with unbeatable quality and freshness.
2. Provide due respect and fair compensation for the people whose labor brings us our exceptional organic coffees.
3. Respect and safeguard the environment that provides the extraordinary growing conditions true specialty organic coffee requires
4. Utilize buying practices that support shade grown and organic coffee, a sustainable coffee future, and social and environmental responsibility.
5. Honor and respect our partners in this endeavor, and the employees and customers of Caffe Ibis Coffee.

We believe that by adhering to the above principles that we will show returns that justify the costs incurred in presenting our goods and services along with the additional costs of future growth.” Source

To find out where you can get yourself Caffe Ibis Coffee you can visit their website or you can order direct from their website. 

Disclaimer: Caffe Ibis provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

“Doi Chaang Coffee produced by the hillside Akha tribe of Northern Thailand in Doi Chaang is Certified Organic, high altitude and shade grown, hand picked, fresh-water washed, sun dried and in all aspects cultivated with the sustainable farming practices of the 900 family co-operative that owns the coffee growing and processing operations. It is we believe, the only coffee (from anywhere) that from grower to seller is the same entity.”

This coffee has received great reviews and on the 100-point review (much like those in the wine and beer industry) conducted by Kenneth Davids it received 90 points on the Medium roast and 93 points on the Peaberry roast. 

I received the Single-Origin Signature and the Single-Origin Peaberry roasts.  I have at this time only tried the Peaberry roast and I found that it was amazing.  I was really impressed with the earthy flavor.  I am looking forward to sampling the Signature roast as well. 

Currently the best way to get your hands on this great coffee is to purchase directly through the Doi Chaang website.  However you can find it in select shops in LA & Ojai CA, as well as in various provinces in Canada.  Where to Buy & Online Shop