South African Scenes

A sign at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg
Jesse next to an anti-poaching rhino in Mandela Square. Poachers get $100,000 per tusk. Heartbreaking and disgusting!

A mama monkey and her baby

Bourke's Luck Potholes (or as we call them, a giant canyon)

Jesse and I at Bourke's Luck Potholes

Two giant mangos and an entire bag of lychees for less than $3. I love traveling to countries that have summer when we have winter!

An elephant asleep on a tree at Kruger National Park

Lions at Kruger National Park

Baby warthogs at Kruger National Park

A field of giraffe at Hluhluwe Game Reserve

Cape buffalo at Hluhluwe Game Reserve

Zebras at Hluhluwe game reserve

A male giraffe at Hluhluwe game reserve

A hippo during our estuary cruise in St. Lucia

The view of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain

A rock hyrax that lives on the top of Table Mountain

Jesse and I at the top of Table Mountain

Baboons hanging out on the side of the road (there had to be at least 100 of them!)

The District Six Museum in Cape Town. This is on the floor. It's a map of where people's homes used to be before the government tore them all down during apartheid to make room for white people's homes, though they never built anything. The District Six area remains empty to this day.

Langa, the largest township in Cape Town

The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town

The beach in Cape Town

African penguins at Boulder Beach in Simon's Town

Cape of Good Hope

Autumn Wishes

It's finally here. The best season ever has arrived! It was a long, extremely hot and humid summer here in the D.C. area. I'm so looking forward to cooler weather, the leaves changing colors and all of the fun and excitement that the last quarter of the year brings. Here are my wishes and happenings:

~Nationals vs Braves game

~DC VegFest

~Brad Paisley concert

~Ray LaMontagne concert

~Get back into my yoga practice

~Apple and pumpkin picking....make an apple pie afterward

~Trip to Texas in October to go to the Texas State Fair and Texas State Veggie Fair

~Meaningful and inspiring Jewish high holidays

~Lose 25 pounds

~See Ron White do a comedy show on October 15th in NJ

~Regular exercise schedule

~Possible trip to Peru for work in November

~Lots of quality time with J's family over Thanksgiving

~J gets into the grad school of his dreams (still unclear which one that is, ha!)

~Amazing, once-in-a-lifetime 10 day trip to South Africa in December

~Lots of quality time with my family in late December

{Image via Denis Collette...!!!!}

Pigs, a Sanctuary

This past weekend Jesse, our friend Noel and I went to Shepherdstown, West Virginia to visit Pigs, a Sanctuary! A few months ago I was searching for farm sanctuaries to visit. We would like to make the trip to the New York location of Farm Sanctuary in the near future but also thought there might be something more local to us. I found this one and immediately wanted to make the trip.

When you drive up, there is a sign that says, "To the animals: You have nothing to fear and so your story ends. Your troubles are all over and here you have a home." The sanctuary is home to about 400 animals (including pigs, horses, donkeys, cats, dogs and goats). They came to the farm mostly as rescues from unbelievably horrible situations. The staff here not only feed and care for the animals, but work on socializing them with the other animals on the farm and, when appropriate, try to find the dogs and cats forever homes.

It costs the farm about $23,000 PER MONTH to stay open, so if you have it in your heart to donate, you can either make a donation via their webpage or purchase something from their Amazon.com wish list.

This guy is the first pig we saw. How adorable is that face?

These are potbelly pigs. The director told us that after the potbelly pig craze, many people were surrendering their animals once they got to be too large for a house or became agressive with the kids. PEOPLE OF THE WORLD: Pigs are not pets. They belong on big, beautiful farms with lots of land and other pigs.

This is Spanky. He is a Mexican hairless pig, also known as a Yucatan pig. He has cancer and his best friend recently passed away. The director said he showed signs of mourning for her. He was right at the fence and let us pet him. Such a sweetheart.

This is what a full-grown farm pig looks like. They can get up to 1,000 pounds. Very few people ever see full-size farm pigs because they are usually slaughtered young, before their meat gets too tough.

This is Walter. He's a farm pig that was bottle-fed as a baby by sanctuary staff. He is living with potbelly pigs at the moment so he can learn to socialize.

This is Walter's pen-mate, Kevin Bacon.

This guy is Jack. He was my favorite. I love those floppy ears!

This is Zeus. He is a mastiff that came from a rescue case. He has problems with his legs that cause him to sit funny and a big calcification on his head from being beat by a previous owner. However, he came right up to us to say hi. The resilience of these animals is amazing.

The sanctuary also has four separate areas for cats: one for cats that are up for adoption, one for feral cats that roam the fields, a house for cats that test positive for feline AIDS (these cats are usually immediately euthanized but can live happily for many years without being affected by the disease), and a small house for special needs cats. These guys above have CH, which causes them to lose their balance. They are sometimes also known as drunk cats. They are totally healthy other than the fact that they fall down often. And they are really sweet!

This horse was rescued from an Amish farmer. He was found with a severe leg infection and about 700 pounds underweight because he couldn't walk to his feeding area. Now is is living happy and free, roaming around the many, many acres at the sanctuary.

If you want to visit: Email Melissa, the sanctuary director, at melissa@pigs.org to arrange a tour. They last about an hour and the sanctuary asks for a minimum $12 donation in exchange for their time. Tours are available from June-October on the weekends and will be canceled in the event of inclement weather.

Saturday

In all of the years I've lived in this area, I've never been able to attend the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This past weekend, however, Jesse and I made it happen! This year they were celebrating the Peace Corps, Rhythm and Blues and Colombia. The picture above is of a Peruvian woman weaving. Her training and business are supported by the Peace Corps.

Kenyan women making baskets.

Rugs made by Kyrgyz women.

These were made my a Colombian woman. I loved the colors!

Traditional Colombian dancing during carnival.

After the festival, we drove out to Clarksville, MD to go to Roots Market, our most favorite grocery store (think Whole Foods with lots of veg items and lower prices) and had dinner at Great Sage, the vegan restaurant next door. We started with the "Almost Raw Vietnamese Spring Rolls". They came with a delicious peanut sauce. So yummy.

Jesse had the udon noodle bowl with veggies and tempura tofu.

I had the Santa Fe salad, which has marinated tofu, tortilla chips, corn, black beans, tomatos, onion, guacamole, mixed greens and lime vinagrette. Amazing!

Blog revival!

Last weekend I ran into Valerie of City Life Eats, Katie of Quick Cook Rice and Gena of Choosing Raw in the parking lot of a vegan restaurant in the DC area. Seeing them together inspired me to revive my blog! I'm going to spend some time getting you up to speed and then I promise to be much better about posting here.

The most exciting thing I did while I was gone? Jesse and I took a trip out to San Francisco and Sonoma County in California for a few days in late May. Here are some of the highlights:

"Tree Hugging Dirt Worshipper". Welcome to California. We first spent time in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Sonoma, visiting friends of ours from college and their adorable little boy, taking winery tours and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

A leisurely walk around Muir Woods. Those redwoods are breathtaking!

A tour and tasting at Benziger winery. This sauvignon blanc was amazing.

Sonoma is so pretty!

The Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park. So serene.

Like a postcard.

The very overwhelming Chinatown.

We rode one and decided once was enough. Still cool, though!

A definite dinner to remember at Millennium. So gluttonous and so worth it. Sadly, the pictures taken inside came out far too dark to see the food. I'm still thinking about the cornmeal-crusted oyster mushrooms!

Gorgeous. I love it here.

A trip to the Moma that ended with their Mondrian cake. Art you can eat!

The Castro

Murals everywhere! This is the outside of the Women's Building.

Purple house? Yes, please.

Ended our trip with quite possibly the best vegan meal I've ever had at Gracias Madre in the Mission.

Sweet potato quesadilla

Zucchini-filled enchilada "mojado style"