Starbucks is officially back in my good graces.
All it took was a pleasant smile from the young man working in the Orange coffee shop today. (Take that, Woodbridge Starbucks)
But truthfully, it was not just the nicety that got me; he also pleasantly showed me the Lucy's Cookies, which I sought after a wonderful comment on Vegging Out let me know that the gluten free, dairy free cookies are vegan too.
But it got better.
When I asked this young man for soy milk, he handed my a big container of it and informed me there was no extra charge when it is simply added to a regular cup of coffee. This was good news as rumor had it that soy milk was always an extra charge.
Score 2 for vegans in this store today.
Coming tomorrow: my vegan shopping trip to Trader Joe's, or more accurately, news of the trip that should have come before this vegan plunge, not after it.

Turns out Facebook is the place for vegetarians too.

There are a number of groups that allow veggies and vegans to gather and chat and share cooking lore. One has almost 10,000 members.

I am now a fan of one group in which I met I "met" Rich Heiser.

Rich makes it happen.

He has a Web site and a Facebook page devoted to the vegetarian lifestyle and both contain not only recipes, but interviews and other useful information. It's no wonder he calls them both Not-Just-Recipes.

His Not=Just=Recipes Web site is "Your source for great vegetarian recipes. Simple vegetarian recipes - vegetarian dinner ideas, vegetarian lunch ideas - from breakfast to dessert. You'll find tips on cooking that promote a healthful, compassionate lifestyle," it says.

But, "You'll find more than just vegetarian recipes; there are vegan recipes as well as cooking videos and articles and information that will inform you and help you choose a healthier lifestyle."

Choosing a more healthful lifestyle is something everyone should strive for and for vegetarians staying informed is a key to making the right choices.

The Web site, amid a number of features, also offers a place for folks to share their stories and experiences, which I think is a great idea.

Thanks Rich for all you do.

The site is here: Not-Just-Recipes

The Facebook page can be found at the link I pasted here. The caveat, of course, is that to see that site, you have to join Facebook. If you are already a member, or do join, please friend me and let me know Vegging Out sent you!

P.S. For the Twitter family out there, I tweeted this story two. That seems like a full circle. See me @newsgirlct

Among the New York Times Sunday Magazine's year in ideas was this, vegansexuality.

An excerpt:
"In a study released in May, Annie Potts, a researcher at the University of Canterbury and a director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, surveyed 157 vegans and vegetarians (120 of them women) on the topic of cruelty-free living. The questions ranged from attitudes about eating meat to keeping pets to wearing possum fur to, yes, “cruelty-free sex” — that is, “rejecting meat eaters as intimate partners.”

One survey respondent explained, “I couldn’t think of kissing lips that allow dead animal pieces to pass between them,” while others said that vegans simply smell better.

I have little personal understanding of this, since for a few years of my relationship, I ate meat and my boyfriend did not. But if I ever was to seek out another partner, I don't think I would really consider meat eating to be deal-breaker.

How do you feel about this? If you're a vegetarian or vegan, does it bother you (or would it, hypothetically) if your partner did not follow the same rules? And do vegans really smell better?

Since I had absolutely no evidence to back up my earlier statement that vegans are nutritionally challenged, I asked my friend Matt, who is in his first year of medical school at Yale and, therefore, an expert on everything. Here were his musings on the matter:

Good health is certainly achievable on a vegetarian and is just a bit more difficult on a vegan diet. The only thing that gives me reservations about the vegan diet, is the number of foods you're limiting yourself to.

As a staunch meat advocate (sustainability and ecological difficulties acknowledged!), I will be the first to say that a healthy diet should contain mostly plant-derived food. On the other hand, the best diet in the world is the most varied. Just as you should try to eat a rainbow of colored plant foods (orange, red, green, blue, etc.) to get the necessary array of nutrients and vitamins, there are several vitamins, such as B12, which are difficult to find outside of meat or animal-derived sources.

Luckily, today we have vitamin-fortified cereals and supplements - but still, the medium in which a vitamin occurs will alter how readily it is absorbed by the body, which has led many experts to question the nutritional benefits of a tablet multivitamin. As for complete protein (which you probably know, means it includes all essential amino acids which our bodies can't produce themselves), there are plenty of combinations of plant foods which will give sources of complete protein if eaten together (beans and rice, etc.).

(This email has already broken my favorite guideline of writing - never use 8 words to say something you can say with 4...so I'll briefly sum up my somewhat obscured point now...)

A vegan diet, when properly planned out, can be healthy for an adult (and only an adult). The problem is, this requires time and money that most people don't have when it comes to meal planning. As a result, many vegans end up eating a very limited set of foods, which is unhealthy.

I once heard someone on the radio say that it is virtually impossible for a person to eat a completely vegan diet and still be healthy. I'm not sure my source on that or whether it's true, though... can anybody confirm or deny it?

On the same subject, I read this really interesting article in the New York Times a few months ago. It's about how vegan parents have accidentally killed their infants by not feeding them cow's milk, or by nursing them when the mother is eating a vegan diet.