No Tofu

Alert to regulars—there will be no fresh tofu tomorrow at market.

I am sad to report that our friend Mickey, our regular tofu-talking delivery guy, has passed away. I'm kind of glad there will be a gap in tofu sales—it seems only proper that Mickey's death should disrupt us!

Please forgive our soy pause while our thoughts are with Mickey's family and friends, and we'll be back to our regular programming soon. We'll have plenty of other goodies available at the Cold Spring Market tomorrow morning, including seitan, cashew cheese, spicy beer mustard, and a bunch of varieties of pickled veggies.

Purple Chocolate Skaters

Bakesalers, Chapter Three
Marsha Aliaga is an artist, vegan chef, educator, and roller skater extraordinaire. She's got her fingers in the pot of every good thing percolating in Beacon, so, even setting her yummy cookies aside, is clearly a good person to know. She brought us Elia Gurna and her lovely handmade cards, just the right thing for the Valentine holiday! (Elia has some skills on wheels, too.) You can see artwork by Marsha, Elia, Theresa, and other bakesalers here.
Chelsea and Catherine and their bright purple frosted hearts were what everyone wanted to see at the sale. Not only did their cookie artistry steal the show, but Chelsea and Cat womaned the sale during the rushiest hours with big smiles for everyone. Hats off to Chelsea of Cold Spring and Catherine of Brooklyn!
Hudson Valley Compassion supported the sale with chocolate cookies galore. Thanks to Shanti for her chocolate chocolate chip numbers, and Lauren for her chocolate chip cookies. You can help HVC's efforts to support sustainable farming and fight factory farming abuses: learn more here.
Lynn from Go-Go Pops loaned us the hot water thermos that allowed us to warm up the cold night with hot tea. Dana Devine O'Malley, whose Day of the Dead artwork is in the window of Zora Dora's, baked for the sale and donated a beautiful photograph: she also runs Cross St. Cupcakes Co. Carley of Ella's Bellas baked. You can try some of her creations at at Bank Square Coffeehouse). Franny, who volunteers at Mid-Hudson Animal Aid, made her very first vegan recipe for the sale, with ginger snaps in the prettiest little boxes. (I know one toddler who still cherishes the box her valentines cookies came in.)

A LOT of people brought food, helped out, and showed up to support the people of Haiti. There were a lot of generous people involved, and I am certainly failing to include everyone on this list. A profound thank you to every last one.

Accordions, Trash, Artshows, and Scraps

Bakesalers, Chapter Two!

Storms, power outages, no internet, oh my! We're behind in honoring those who made the Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti a success. Here are a handful of fantastic participants you should know about, thank, and support.
Lena DeLeo's artistry fit in with the variety of the Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti. She baked black bean flax brownies (wow!) and burned CDs of her band the Dandy Lions. If you didn't get a CD at the sale, have a listen here.
Joanne Boniello was moon gazing, and remembered the Chinese New Year, honored by her almond New Year cookies. She used to own a bakery in Peekskill, so has mad baking skillz (ha ha), but I'm even more taken by the bags she donated made out of reused materials. My dog chow computer bag gets compliments every day! (Reducing waste is important to Joann, as evidenced by her article on how to make rainbarrels in the Peekskill Daily, and her blog, Saved From the Landfill.)

Artists Theresa Gooby and Erica Hauser managed to whip up "Hummus for Haiti" and famed cupcakes, respectively, even though their group show was opening at Beacon Artists Union down the block on the same evening. The opening had even more of packed crowd that night than the bake sale for Haiti, so that's saying something!
My super talented mom donated fabric bowls she makes from her quilting scraps. Not only do her quilts keep wintergreens workers warm all winter long, but now she's ventured out into new territory with these fabulous bowls. Another reused materials artist at the sale (and I'm not naming names) was quite taken with them, and made me explain three times how they're made. Look at this, now we're an arts matchmaking service....

Anyway, the point is that we're proud to have had so many talented people involved in the sale. The community action can warm your little heart on the coldest night of the year.

The Cooks, the Singer, the Potter and her Students

Or Bakesalers, Chapter One.
First, we could not have had the Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti without a venue, and Steve Astorino provided his beautiful store, Zora Dora. Steve makes delicious paletas—if you haven't tried them yet, your summers have been incomplete. Because of the space, we were able to have hot tea, tables and chairs, be on Main Street, have music and mood lighting. It wouldn't have been the same without you, Steve, even if you were sunning in Central America at the time!
Lagusta Yearwood, chef, rabble rouser, and chocolatier, donated her exquisite truffles and bonbons. People especially went crazy over her "Vandana Shivas" and "Furious Vulvas," the latter being a salted chocolate that's my personal favorite. Adding Lagusta's food artistry to the mix bumped our classiness up a notch, no doubt.
My favorite country singer, Rachel Lee Walsh, baked five dozen chocolate chocolate chip walnut cookies, and than ran all over Brooklyn and Manhattan trying to get them to me. When I apologized for the hassle, she said "walking a handful of blocks when I'm tired is nothing when I think about what people in Haiti are going through." Bless your kind heart, your baking skills, and your velvet voice.
You may know Virginia Piazza Pottery from the Beacon Farmer's Market, area craft fairs, or because she's taught you how to throw on a wheel. Many, many thanks go out to Virginia and her students for donating many beautiful cups, bowls, and platters to the bake sale.

Beacon Bagel + wintergreens = TLA

Did you carve the sign for true-love-always in trees and wet cement as a child, or did I live in a weird subculture of freaks? No, no, I'm positive you made TLA signs, too.

Well, I feel all warm and fuzzy for Beacon Bagel. Because the market was closed, we held our last distribution of 2009 there, in the front window, with heat and coffee and food. Delightful!

Thanks to Anik and Art for helping out the C.S.A., but also for working so hard to run a great local business. We really appreciate you!