[VegChat] Bridgehead and Raccoons! and- Almost Zero Emissions?

[vaalea]

Bridgehead
Last September I wrote a nice email to Bridgehead saying I was happy to hear from the staff that they were working on some vegan options, and that places like Perfection S.P. create wonderful vegan cakes that you can't even tell are vegan... etc... and I got an email back saying they had been trying out recipes without success [that would appeal to all so that it is sold fast enough to be fresh]. So I emailed them back with these recipes (in case you all want to try them out too =0)
_____________________________________________________________________
Chocolate Cake
[Add ingred to one bowl in following order:]3 cups flour, 2c sugar, 1/2c 
cocoa, [Stir a little] 2tsoda, 2t bking powder, 1t salt, 2 t vanilla, 
2Tvinegar, 1c oil, 2c water [Moisten by hand, then mix with electric mixer.]
Do the usual floured pan or whatever (I do cupcakes). 350 30-35 mins approx.

A "homemade" icing is pretty simple:
Chocolate Frosting
1 stick (1/2 c.) vegan margarine (Earth Balance/Soy Garden available at 
Kardish Glebe and Loeb Glebe)- long fridge life.
2/3 c. cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. soy or nut milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Melt margarine'. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, 
beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. 
Add vanilla. Makes enough to frost a round 9" layered cake or one 9" x 13" 
square cake.
- and if you don't like this icing, I'm sure I could get you several others.
Also, since this cake is great for black forest (I personally am not a big 
fan of cherries), a variety of berries can be used as a middle layer.


Otherwise a Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Squares recipe is SUPER easy, and 
would be popular:
1 c. corn syrup
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. creamy or chunky peanut butter
6 c. Rice Krispies cereal
In a large saucepan over low heat, combine first 3 ingredients. Stirring 
constantly, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.(Microwave is much 
easier -no stirring.) Add cereal and toss to coat well. Press into greased 
13x9x2 inch pan. Cool and cut into 2x2 inch squares. Makes 32.
and the icing: I can't remember the exact measurements, but it's a dark 
(semi-sweet, no dairy) chocolate chip and smooth peanut butter melted 
together and poured ontop of the squares. Chill and cut. I could get you the 
measurements if you like. 
(they have these squares available also at Herb and Spice... some of you guys may have tried them from there.)
__________________________________________________________________

so I didn't hear anything back, and I didn't see any new vegan baking on the shelves.

A couple weeks ago they sponsored? an Ocean Fest and had a "fact of the day" in the bathroom saying something about shadegrown plants like their coffee require less water or something. so I sent them my fact of the day:
To feed a vegan for a day it requires about 300 gallons of water. 
4x as much is required to feed a vegetarian (1200 gallons), 
and 14x as much to feed a meat-eater (4200 gallons). 
and again complained that their occasional vegan salad, some "nature bar" (meh-maybe it even has honey... only had it once. very dry) and dark chocolate bars just didn't satisfy a vegan like me.

She responded by saying again that they haven't been impressed with their attempts at a vegan dessert/snack but that "virtually all of their soups and breads are vegan"... yeay!
but still... how hard can it be to find one dinky little vegan recipe that would appeal to all the customers? ARGH!!!!
I do of course love bridgehead stance on fair trade- (I almost wrote in my email to her "free-trade"..oops. and I found out I had mixed the two in a sign on my veg table as well by accident-no one pointed it out.) shade grown, etc etc, and their free wireless internet access 

ANYWAY, If you feel so inclined... (perhaps you step into Bridgehead now and then yourself).... please send an email to bridgehead encouraging them to offer at least one vegan dessert to satisfy ALL their customers... and offer your assistance if they need tried [easy?] and yummy vegan recipes. you can email them through their website contact form: http://www.bridgehead.ca/en/FeedBack.asp?SID=322663803221438494101830701035035877491914887010507236185181&LangID=1&

or by contacting directly:
Tracey Clark
Managing Director
tracey.clark at bridgehead.ca


Raccoons
You may have read my email asking for help for the raccoons... =0( anyway, hopefully the story had a happy ending.... we tried to reunite them with their mother at night but we didn't bother 'locking' them up. so every morning they were gone, and every night for I think 4 nights Sun-Wed they came back for food. Thurs-Sat they did not come for the food we left out, although Friday it was raining some of the night. We are assuming the best. In my reading I found out that there are average 10-25 raccoons per square km in the city... rather amazing since we rarely see them ;0).Anyway, with that kind of "density" I'm hoping that they ran into their family by the fourth/fifth night. Some other things... while they are often regarded as a nuisance.... raiding garbage cans with food because N.Americans tend to be wasteful and/or not compost in the city... they also eat grubs, and small rodents among other things considered "pests". they are classified carnivores even though we fed them veg*n pet food, and of course they will eat anything.
I also found:
"“I started looking into the behavior of raccoons in urbanized areas, where they are so successful,” said Gehrt, who has been involved with the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation (MMWF) in Dundee, Ill., since 1994. “We have found that raccoons are fairly tolerant of each other. Even if they don’t live in packs, they live in close proximity to each other, even sharing dens. Their home ranges usually overlap: they share ranges, dens and feeding spaces. So when you cut hunting and trapping, as is the case in the city, raccoons have even more chances for contact and reproduction. Cubs spend a long time with the mother in the family unit, and adult males seem to spend a lot of time together, too. This is a very unique social behavior.” "
and 
"The devices[radio collars] are programmed to record every time a raccoon comes into contact with another within at least one meter (approximately three feet). The first study using these novel collars started last year and will continue this spring. It involves 44 radio-collared raccoons living in a little less than one square kilometer (1 sq km=247 acres). Last fall, one radio-collared subject had more than 400 contacts with 13 different raccoons in a single night." http://extension.osu.edu/~news/story.php?id=3077
And I forget where... New York City has the densest raccoon population in all of New York State.
When cared for by humans, baby raccoons like human babies need to be burped after feeding.
"It is widely believed that raccoons always "wash" their food. This is not true. They exhibit a behavior called "dabbling" in which they dunk their food in water. This helps enhance their sense of touch and helps them find food underwater by feeling with their sensitive fingers. It also enables them to sort out items that are not edible."
http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html
One person recently told me when they had been camping they raccoons found their sealed (resealable- but I understood it had not been yet opened) bag of marshmallows.... however instead of ripping/chewing through the plastic, they rather unzipped the bag to get the marshmallows.
and
"Raccoon mothers with babies enjoy a privileged position in the raccoon hierarchy for as long as the babies remain with the mother. Other raccoons will defer to a female with babies in feeding situations."
says http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/4892/raccoonfaq.html

If you are interested in helping out the Rideau Wildlife Sanctuary, they need foster parents- if you have time to care for baby animals.... and also from their newsletter on their website- [which also btw has a totally adorable picture of a baby raccoon drinking out of a bottle on it]
We are looking for release sites for the 19 squirrels we overwintered this year. They will be ready to go when the tree buds start blooming and there is an adequate food supply. Because regulations require us to release the squirrels within 15 kilometers of where they were found, we are looking for appropriate release sites in or near the following neighbourhoods:
• Carlingwood
• Bells Corners
• Barrhaven
• Island Park
• Sandy Hill
• Bank/Albion
• Mountain or South Mountain
We will need even more release sites throughout the city for 2006 so please call us for further information if you are interested.
(Spring babies are probably released sometime about now?... otherwise there are the fall babies needing releasing in the spring.)

Device Burns Fuel with Almost Zero Emissions
Simple design makes ultra-low emission combustion more efficient, affordable and stable
ATLANTA (June 21, 2006) — Georgia Tech researchers have created a new combustor (combustion chamber where fuel is burned to power an engine or gas turbine) designed to burn fuel in a wide range of devices ― with next to no emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO), two of the primary causes of air pollution. The device has a simpler design than existing state-of-the-art combustors and could be manufactured and maintained at a much lower cost, making it more affordable in everything from jet engines and power plants to home water heaters.
more... http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/release.php?id=1020
(but still using non-renewable fuels is dumb)
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