Just over 11 years ago, only a few months after moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand, I made the switch from lifelong vegetarian to vegan. A lot has occurred in my life in the past 11 years: a move to Florida, surviving the pandemic and a divorce, turning 50 and visiting over 20 new countries. Perhaps my dedication to veganism is one of the few things that hasn’t changed in my life and I wanted to celebrate!
The Significance of 11
I always make a wish when the time turns 11:11 and I wondered if there were any additional significance of the number 11. Online sources revealed that “the number 11 symbolizes the principles of spiritual enlightenment and awakening and is a reminder from the universe that we came to this physical world from the spiritual realm and we all have a very special purpose in life”. It can also signify balance in the world as well as balance between our emotions and thoughts and fulfillment in life and vision. It is considered by some to be a lucky number and by others to be a sign of a new beginning of something full of positive changes. Some believe it is a reminder to find your true calling, the importance of letting go of negative connections. Others believe 11 is representative of a balance of feminine and masculine energies and can be interpreted as the peacemaker.
Perhaps due to my Quaker upbringing, I was mostly drawn to what I found online regarding the spiritual meaning of number 11, that represents the light within everyone that is only strengthened by the love of peace, gentleness, sensitivity and insight. Eleven is spiritually indicative of a reflective, thoughtful and intuitive soul, deeply involved in the progression of life with an awareness of universal relationship.
According to the list of traditional anniversary gifts by year, the 11 year anniversary gift is steel. This hard, tough metal is known for its durability and strength and, in my opinion, is the perfect metaphor for any commitment spanning over a decade. I decided to mark the occasion by gifting myself iridescent stainless steel taco holders to go with the 11 taco toppings I intended to make.
The first step to creating my veganniversary celebration dinner was to decide what to make. With endless possibilities of taco fillings, it was a challenge to narrow them down to 11. I spent some time researching vegan taco recipes online and also turned to my plethora of vegan cookbooks, including Vegan Tacos by Jason Wyrick. The result yielded three fillings, three salsas, escabeche, a cream sauce, peanuts, lime wedges and sliced radishes.
Like with any good feast, preparation began several days prior to the event. Escabeche is Mexican pickled vegetables and hence requires several days to marinate in vinegar and lime juice. I chose to make a carrot escabeche and began by first purchasing a tight sealing jar big enough to pickled all the ingredients: carrots, jalapeños, red onions and garlic. This recipe also calls for Mexican oregano and whatever you, don’t make the mistake of using non-Mexican oregano because although they share the same name, they are totally different herbs. This recipe is as simple as cutting up vegetables, putting them in a jar and filling the jar with enough liquid to cover the vegetables. Seal the jar and put it in the fridge for a few days. It can last for months, that is if you manage not to eat it all up.
The Day Before
The day before the celebration dinner I made all three salsas so the flavors had 24 hours to marry. I also made the peanuts and began the first step of preparing the refried black beans.
The first salsa I made was the morita salsa. The morita pepper, a smoked jalapeño, is my absolute favorite and so I have made it many times and without a recipe. As always, I began by rehydrated around 8 morita peppers by placing them in boiling water along with whole plum tomatoes, large sections of white onion, uncut cilantro and several garlic cloves. I like the ingredients boil until the skins on the tomatoes could be easily peeled off with a pair of tongs. I transferred the boiled ingredients to my Vitamix making sure to retain some of the now flavored water as it can be used to add flavor to other dishes. After blending all the ingredients together, I added the blended mixture to diced fresh tomatoes, cilantro, white onion and garlic and waited for it to cool to room temperature before placing it in the fridge.
I began to work on the other two salsas, pico de gallo and a mango salsa. The preparation of pico de gallo included finely chopping red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, plum tomatoes and garlic. I added the juice of a lime and some salt before adding it to the fridge. The mango salsa recipe, on page 220 of the Vegan Tacos cookbook consisted of mangos, red onion, serrano peppers, cilantro and lime juice. One of the many benefits of living in Florida is having access to a variety of fresh mangos. Unfortunately, the my mango trees hadn’t yielded any fruit, but I was able to secure some from a local produce store.
With the three salsas in the fridge, I began making the chilli-lime peanuts, on page 198 of Vegan Tacos. This simple recipe involves roasting peanuts sans oil in a frying pan with lime juice and chilli powder. Upon completion, I spread out the peanuts onto a baking dish and, because the weather was so beautiful outside, I set them on my picnic table in the back yard to dry. Before finishing up for the day, I made sure to soak raw black beans with dried epazote leaves for an earthly taste.
The Big Day
I began the day with corn flour, water and salt. After watching several videos and trying it myself many times, I am getting better at making fresh corn tortillas from Maseca flour. The trick is getting the right flour to water ratio and it takes some time to get it right. I used a big bowl with a lid and kneaded the mixture until it felt right, not too sticky or dry and not too soupy or slippery. At this phase of making tortillas, you remove a chunk of dough from the whole and, using your palms, roll it until it forms a ball about the size of a golf ball, but this of course depends on how big you want your tortillas. After the entire mass of dough had been transformed into balls, I covered them and set them aside to make just before we were about to eat.
After the black beans had soaked overnight, I drained the water and boiled them until they were soft enough to transfer them to my antique cast iron frying pan. Using a potato masher, I began pressing the beans to create a paste. I added fresh epazote and for additional flavor, I used some of the leftover liquid I had saved from boiling the morita salsa ingredients the day before.
Having made ensalada de nopales (cactus salad) many times, I am quite familiar with cactus and can navigate my way around them quite easily. The first step in doing anything with cactus is to carefully remove all the thorns with a knife. Two decades prior when I first prepared nopales, this was a slow and tedious process, but thanks to practice and advise from my best friend Erick’s mother, removing thorns (espinas) has become quite easy. I always begin by finely slicing off the very edge of each paddle all the way around. Then, finding a good place (without any thorns) to hold on to, I gently scrape the paddle against the direction of the thorn (from the broad top to the narrow, thicker bottom). This usually removes all the thorns, but if some are being stubborn, I simply go back and remove those separately. Before cutting them into long stripes, I rinsed them off, carefully inspecting both sides of each paddle. I grilled them until the texture became soft and the bright green turned to a yellowish green. The nopales will ooze a sliminess, reminiscent to okra when cooked. I added a little salt and cumin.
The paragraph at the start of the My Family Tacos recipe on page 85 revealed that the author, Jason, and I have something in common: we both had a great-grandmother named Rachel. This dish included zucchinis, a red onion and poblano peppers all cut into strips and plum tomatoes cut into quarters. I sautéd the onions and vegetables before adding the tomatoes and cooked pinto beans at the end.
Fearing the dishes might be too spicy for her, Chrissy whipped up an avocado cream sauce with the intention of it acting as a cooling agent. Without a recipe, she used perfectly ripened avocados, creamy oat milk, cayenne pepper and nutritional yeast. Chrissy simply put all the ingredients in a blender and voila!
The Spread
Just before eating and while Chrissy was setting the table, I used my tortilla press, that I schlepped back from San Antonio ages ago, to finish making the fresh corn tortillas. It’s important to line the top and bottom of the press with plastic to prevent the dough from sticking to the press. As per my usual, I placed one ball of dough at a time in the center of the press, between two ziplock bags, and pressed down with medium force, not as tightly as possible to ensure I could peel the plastic off the tortilla before placing it gently onto a large skillet. Do not add oil. When I saw that the edges had lifted slightly off the pan, I flipped the tortilla over to cook a little while longer before transferring them into my tortilla warmer I had purchased in Guatemala. (Side note: in Guatemala, it is not common to use a tortilla press; instead they simply use their hands, making the tortillas generally thicker than those in Mexico.)
While the tortillas cooked, I thinly sliced some radishes to add as a topping and cut limes into wedges to squeeze over the assembled tacos to enhance their flavor. I was excited to use my new Oaxacan bowls made of barro negro (black clay) that I had recently brought back from my visit to Oaxaca only a few months before.
Using one of my colorful Mexican blankets as a table cloth, Chrissy set the table with all the fillings, topping and salsas, as well as the tortillas, drinks and my new taco holders.
I placed three fresh tortillas into the taco stand before me and I was almost overwhelmed by choice as I stared at a table full of possibilities. What combinations of flavors did I want to try first? I began with one filling at the bottom of each taco: the refried black beans in the first, the grilled cactus in the center and the zucchini-poblano-pinto mash in the third.
I decided to add mango salsa and some chili-lime peanuts to the refried beans, pico de gallo and escabeche to the cactus and Chrissy’s avocado cream sauce and radishes to the zucchini-poblano-pinto mash. Although I loved every bite of these three creations, Chrissy and I continued trying different combinations until the tortillas were all used up.
Middle: cactus, pico de gallo and escabeche
Right: zucchini, poblano, red onion, tomatoes and pinto beans; Chrissy’s avocado cream sauce and radishes
Supporting the Vegan Community
Whenever I look up “ways to celebrate a veganniversary” online, the list of suggestions inevitably includes visiting a local animal sanctuary, supporting a local vegan business and/or donating to those furthering the vegan movement, fighting for animal rights or caring for animals rescued from the industries actively participating in animal cruelty, namely the meat and dairy industries. There are several wonderful farm animal sanctuaries within a couple hours of my hometown of Clearwater, Florida and I’d like to praise each of them: Rooterville Animal Sanctuary, Peacefield Farm Sanctuary Kindred Spirits Sanctuary, Noah’s Arc Potbelly Pig Sanctuary and Animal Rescue Farm.
I visited Rooterville while driving back home after spending a week volunteering and learning at the Pig Preserve, now called the Odd Man Inn in Jamestown, Tennessee. Located in Melrose, about midway between Gainesville and Jacksonville, it’s a short distance from either those locations and also doable as a day trip when visiting Orlando. One of the many aspects I like about Rooterville is their commitment to veganism, being frequently open to the public for tours of their sanctuary.
I celebrated my 48th birthday at Peacefield, located in Newberry, only 20 minutes from Gainesville, Florida. They have an AirBnb onsite so I got to really immerse myself into the sanctuary, cuddling with newly-rescued cows, getting chased by Mary the turkey, napping with a pig named Wilbur and going for a walk with sheep through rows of beautiful trees. I loved resting in the hammock and listening to the roosters and chickens talk to each other. I love how the sanctuary founders, Emma and John, promote veganism by 1) showing why we should go vegan and 2) demonstrating how to go vegan. They do this by welcoming guests to meet the animals and offer cooking classes.
I first became acquainted with Kindred Spirits Sanctuary when I stopped by their booth at the Tampa VegFest. Located in Citra, between Ocala and Gainesville, they welcome visitors to join one of their public tours and offer volunteer opportunities. I have visited their sanctuary twice, once during their event around Thanksgiving where they prepare lots of food and give it to the resident turkeys. I can’t express how beautiful it was to watch turkeys being appreciated and loved, especially during a time of year that so many are being murdered en masse.
I volunteered at Noah’s Arc Potbelly Pig Sanctuary in New Port Richey, for a couple of years until I moved away from the area. I arrived before the sunrise to prepare the food for the pigs and enjoyed delivering breakfast to each of the approximately 100 pigs. I picked up piggie poop, cleaned out some pens, did some laundry and other chores before returning to gather the breakfast bowls (each bearing the individual name of the pig it belonged to) and cleaning them for the evening meal. Sometimes, I would bring bags of apples and carrots for extra treats – the pigs loved them! It was hear that I first became acquainted and fell in love with a piglet named Jade. I knew her at just 3 months old when she thankfully rescued. She is now over 500 pounds and will still drop at your feet and roll over, begging for a belly rub.
The last animal sanctuary I visited in the area pre-Covid was the Animal Rescue Farm in Duette, Florida, between Tampa and Sarasota (east of both). As part of the Vegan Women of Pinellas Meetup group, I got to meet their rescued cows and goats, bunnies, chickens (their resident pig was taking a nap at the time of visiting) and more. With podcasts on Eating Like You Give a Damn, the founders actively promote vegan living. An aspect of Animal Rescue Farm that is quite unique is that they have sectioned off an area of their land for wildlife, leaving it untouched and natural, thereby supporting local bird populations as well as other animals in danger of losing their habitats. This year, I decided to donate to this sanctuary, adding an extra $11 to my donation just to mark my 11th veganniversary. I tried to visit them, but being that it was August, the hottest and most humid month of the year, they understandably do not accept visitors at that time. I was encouraged to return once the temperatures decreased.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating an excellent decision that I made 11 years prior. Happy 11th Veganniversary to me! The only thing I regret is not going vegan sooner!
Vegan Vixen Ventures 