I Was A Teenage Vegan CookBlog

I know I said that I’d put the whole messy Army business behind me, but then the Army Times went and published a letter that I written to them on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. You might be able to buy a copy at your local newstand (which may or may not include an accompanying and doubtlessly militaristic photo of yours truly), but if not you can definitely read it here on their website. Pass the word along.

As for culinary content, my longtime internet acquaintance Homefries stopped by my kitchen earlier this week for some collaborative cookery. While our powers combined did not result is us transforming into some giant vegan battle robot, they did result in a few exciting baking creations:

the danishes (I think that’s the correct plural) pictured above are, clockwise from the left, cardamom tangerine, cinnamon apple, ginger plum, and raspberry jam, with touches of grand marnier, rum, cognac, and soy cream cheese, respectively, and were based on a recipe posted a couple months ago on this very cookblog. The cupcakes - chai with almond-buttercream frosting topped with crystallized ginger and sliced almonds - were based on some internet recipe and were, as Russell demonstrated, frighteningly delicious.

As some of you know, I spent the past three years serving in the U.S. Army as a bass guitarist, a position that took me on tour across this country and the world. Those three years were up yesterday. As of today I am a free man once again. Tecnically, I am obliged to spend the next five years on the “IRR”, which, depending on who in the Army you ask, stands for either Inactive or Individual Ready Reserve, the semantic difference between which was apparently not important enough to warrant changing the entire acronym. While it is possible for the Army to call me back onto active duty, I honestly can’t foresee any imminent Middle-Eastern bass-playing emergencies that would require my expertise. Regardless, since I am openly (and sometimes radically) queer, I think the likelihood of them dragging me back in are fairly slim unless some monumental policy change takes place, which I’m confident will happen one day, but perhaps not before my contract expires.

Many thanks to all of you who came to the grand welcome home and household hail and farewell yesterday - it was the last and best of its kind. For those of you who couldn’t make it you missed a hell of a time; my old band, Max Power and the Damn Straights played a little reunion show, there was face painting and eight-player MarioKart in the basement, and good vegan food and drink was had by all. I’ll post some recipes from the party later this week. For now I’ll leave you with this quote from Robert Graves, to whose military memoir I humbly allude: “What I most disliked about the Army was never being alone.” The thing is, I am not alone now either, but I no longer crave solitude. I am grateful to be immersed in my present pleasant company. Sacrificing the open expression of my sexuality for three years was difficult, and eating vegetarian in the Army was an ordeal, but never seeing my friends was what pained me the most. At long last, it’s good to be home.