Dear Falcon, Am I wrong in thniking that udon is a full-grain rice product?  What are soba noodles made of?  What is a yakisoba?  Sorry to be so dense.  Yours in Him, Deb

jennylyn:

Thanks flutist . . . interesting about the freezing method.  I have not heard about doing that before.  Is that to kill harmful bacteria?

Hi, jennylyn.  I called my mom to ask her, and she said that freezing was just for the flavor, that the only way to kill bacteria is to pasteurize. 

This thread really helped to motivate me to make some changes these past couple of weeks.  My co-worker, also, is excited about making some changes, and we're going to go to an organic hydroponic u-pick farm this morning to get some veggies.  I have no idea what they charge, but I'm guessing it's going to be cheaper than buying organic at the grocery store.  I also bought some raw local honey (which tastes WONDERFUL) and will be looking for farm eggs.  We're also thinking of growing a small garden at the office if we can get things to grow in the shade (maybe squash?). 

I wanted to add that I found a nice website yesterday that has a healthy eating plan that's quick and easy and not filled with exotic foods.  It looks like most recipes can be modified if you don't have certain things, so it's practical.  http://whfoods.org/

(BTW, hydroponic basically means that they're stacked vertically, making it easy for people who can't bend or get down on their knees to pick)

flutist4christ:

(BTW, hydroponic basically means that they're stacked vertically, making it easy for people who can't bend or get down on their knees to pick)

Actually, that is incorrect. Hydroponic means the product is grown without soil, using water to distribute the nutrients to the root sytems of the plants. They are often grown in stacks, but this isn't to aid in harvesting in any way. Rather, it's because it makes better use of less space and also allows many plants to use the water with less equipment for moving the water.

Deb, you're not dense! No need to apologize for asking questions at all! Udon noodle are wheat flour noodles. Soba are buckwheat noodles, and yakisoba is mostly just a way of cooking them, and it's pretty much noodle stir fry with a special kind of sauce (which also isn't that special, it's just soy sauce, rice wine, and a few small spices). Techincally, yakisoba noodles aren't made from buckwheat, but we just use regular soba noodles to make it. 

Hope that helps!

Dear Falcon, Thanks so much for the explanation!  Yours in Him, Deb

This is a pretty neat link... http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html

You just enter in whatever ingredients you have on hand, and it will create a recipe for a vegan bean loaf. I bet whatever comes out could also be made into burgers! I haven't tried it yet, so can't say whether the recipes are good, but it's worth a look!  

Here is a very nice link on Veganism from a Scholar deeply involved in animal care 

 http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/

 Also, very nice Videos to watch there. 

 A general tip to Vegan/Vegetarian singles. The best way to meet Veggie folks is thru local Veggie Association, Veggie soup kitchen, Volunteer at the local SPCA or other similar groups that assist animals it appears. I recently went to a local Veggie gathering and met several veggie folks, it was wonderful.

 UN says to shun meat:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7600005.stm

rvijay,

Have you tried www.meetup.com , they have a vegetarian meet in my area (probably in yours too).  They also have meetups for the animals and other things of interest.  It is really a neat site.