Cherry Blossom Yoga – NOW OPEN!

Hello Primate Readers,

I know that Jo and I have been on hiatus, and most of you know that it’s because we’ve been building and opening a yoga studio in Spring TX (or Houston for those who like to think in Metro-area terms). Well, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are NOW OPEN and ready to share the wonderful experience of yoga with you! Now, for a little shameless self-plugging 🙂

We have a NEW STUDENT SPECIAL! All students new to the studio (which, right now is everyone) can get your first month of unlimited classes for $50! Anyone who knows yoga studios, knows that is a steal! So come in NOW!!!

We are also offering a GRAND OPENING REFERRAL BONUS! For all current members of the studio (see the above New Student Special in order to become a member of the studio), we’re offering a referral bonus of $25 for everyone you refer into the studio which purchases a New Student Special! Of course, you must remind your friend to list YOU as ‘how they heard about Cherry Blossom Yoga’ on their liability waiver so we know who to give the credit to 😉 This offer is valid from now until May 1, 2010 – so get your friends in now!

And to entice you a little further, you’ve all seen the pics of the build-out…but here’s some of the final product 🙂

A few shots of our Vegan, Handmade, and Fair Trade boutique items…

And for an overall view..

After the boutique, you walk down the hallway into Studio A. The front studio is slightly smaller, enough room for maybe 10-12 students…

Then, either choosing to walk through the flower doors, or continue down the hallway into Studio B (cool names for the studios to come). The back studio is slightly larger, accommodating up to perhaps 15-18 students…

As you enter the back of the space, you can pick up any props you may need for class, change clothes in the dressing area, leave your bags and such in a cubbie to keep the studio space free and clear, or use the facilities.

So pop into the studio, take a class..a tour..or treat yourself to some handmade soaps or candles from the boutique – 100% vegan & 100% cruelty-free. And if you’re looking for something for yourself or your significant other..a pair of Fair Trade earrings, and a 100% recycled glass jewelry dish to hold said earrings would be a sweet treat for your sweetie 😉

Thanks for your patience, and I promise…we will be back to recipes soon 🙂

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Apologies and News

Hello Primate followers!!! So so so sorry for the long hiatus. I can’t apologize enough… But it’ll all be worth it when you hear the news. Jo and I are opening a yoga studio in Houston (well, technically Spring TX, but seriously for those who know, there’s really no distinction when using ‘the google’). Our studio is called Cherry Blossom Yoga 🙂

Right now, we’re in the build-out/construction phase – and not only is our posting suffering, but my diet is suffering as well. I haven’t cooked anything in almost a month. The other night I made some rice and beans, but Dad and I have been living on burritos and sandwiches for the last few weeks. Ugh, I can hear my body screaming for veggies..but there just isn’t any time. The construction crew consists of me the whole week and Dad Thursday through Sunday, and then mom comes in on the weekends to help out. So needless to say, it’s slow going with a crew of 3! It’s exhausting but fun and exciting… hopefully the build-out will be complete in a couple weeks and then I can get back to posting deliciousness for everyone out there 🙂

So to keep you appeased until I can post again, here are the photos of progress on the studio. With a fresh coat of paint and some new walls, it seems like a whole new place! And I apologize for the graininess of some of the photos – these were all taken on my iPhone..and sometimes it’s not the greatest of quality.

Dad begins putting up the front wall that’ll distinguish the boutique from the studios.

This paint (which is going in the back dressing rooms as an accent wall, and in the bathroom), when I opened it looked just like a melted bar of Dagoba…and when I stirred it, it stirred just like melted ganache – can you say food/chocolate on the brain?! This was about a week and a half in (meaning it had been about 2-3 weeks since I’d had a home-cooked meal). And looking at the photo of the paint in the tray makes me think of a giant peanut butter cup….

The front boutique area is all painted and ready to be trimmed out with baseboards and window trim. It’ll be a completely vegan and fair-trade artisan boutique that’ll feature items such as Soy Candles by Phebes and various items from NOVICA!The last wall that’s going up is going to be finished 100% this morning (2/19/10)!! All the heavy lifting will be complete and Dad can move on to fun stuff like light fixtures and then flooring (oh wait, I’m in charge of flooring…but first I must tape and float the last wall. wohoo…)

If you want to follow day to day progress, check us out on Facebook – Cherry Blossom Yoga! And if you’re in the NW Houston area, we’re looking to open by mid-March (when we get closer, I’ll have a better idea of exact date)…tell your friends, and join us for the opening. (now for additional shameless self-plugging) We’re offering a new student special: $50 unlimited classes for your first month! Come as much as you want, any time, any class! Check out our website for more updates. And as I interview more teachers and we get the schedule filled out, I’ll be posting the schedule.

Thanks again for your patience…

-Sara and Jo (new entrepreneurs)

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Liz’s Little Helper

I’ve signed the Primate up to be a little elf – and the benefit is two-fold! You guys get a coupon code, and I get credit towards free cookies!! hehee 😀 Of course, you can either direct your friends to this coupon code, or you can sign up for your own to work towards your own free Liz Lovely cookies. Let’s help make the world a happier, merrier place this holiday season by feasting on the most Liz Lovely cookies of them all (you like how I used the name as an adjective at how delicious the cookies are, I’m still working on getting that picked up in the parlance of our times as a description for something so delicious it’s unfathomable by one who hasn’t experienced it themselves…that’s “Liz Lovely”). Ok..so here’s the code and spiel Cowboy Dan sent me:

So, as Primate followers know Jo and I are huge fans of Liz Lovely Cookies.  They’re this awesome little bakery in Vermont that “bakes a difference” with organic, vegan & gluten free cookies.  I’m not sure how they do it, but these cookies are the best.  And they ship them all over the country!  (Hint hint)  Anyway, I’m on their Fan Club, and I signed up to be one of “Liz’s Little Helpers.”  If you go buy some cookies online, I’ll get you 20% off your order! And, I earn a little credit towards free cookies.  What could be wrong about cookies for the holidays?

OK, so go to www.lizlovely.com

At checkout, use this promo code for 20% off: SARATURK

Happy Holidays,

-Sara

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Houston Workshop Photos

Well, the first ever workshop was so much fun!!! Here’s some photos of the food and such… I made peanut butter cookies for the attendees to nibble on, handed out copies of the apple-cranberry pocket pie recipe, and gave out a big goodie bag filled with more cookies, a couple brownies, and a handful of my personal favorite recipes – congrats to Rachel for winning that delicious prize! Thank you to all who came, and we missed those who couldn’t make it..

I’m making some yummy refashioned peanut butter cookies…

The ingredients are ready and waiting to head down to the Falls at Copper Lake Reception Center…

Now the peanut butter cookies are taunting me…is it almost time to start with the pies???

Nom nom…pie filling before it’s cooked down…

The final mini pies….For the recipe, you’ll just have to make it to the next workshop….bwah, haha..I’m so evil 😉

Happy Baking!

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Innocent Primate Workshop – Houston

Announcing the first ever, Innocent Primate baking workshop. We’ll be baking up some delicious vegan pastries…then eating them! Learning how to make a successful, flaky vegan pastry is key when showing just how delicious a cruelty-free lifestyle can taste. I’m thinking Apple-Cranberry Pocket Pies….

If you get lost or if you have any questions – you can call/text me. No registration fee, but donations will be greatly appreciated to help pay for the groceries.

Date: Friday, November 27, 2009

Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Location: Falls at Copper Lake – Clubhouse

Street: 9140 Highway 6 N.

City/Town: Houston, TX

If you’re on Facebook, RSVP here! If you’re not on FB, just leave a note in the comments of this post that you (and any guests) are planning on coming! Hope to see (and meet) some Primate fans and followers!

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Primate Makes Top 75 Veg Blogs

Hey there Primate readers! I’ve just been informed that the Innocent Primate has been included in a list consisting of the top 75 Vegan/Vegetarian Blogs on the Pharmacy Technician Certification website. It’s a “site dedicated to serving the prospective distance education student as well as the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.” This website also attempts to “serve the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries more generally by maintaining our Pharmacy Technician Certification Blog, upon which we regularly publish articles which highlight interesting blogs, resources, tips and information.”

Anytime we can get more vegan information out to the healthcare industry, I’m all for it! So check out their list of the Top 75 Blogs for Vegans and Vegetarians. They have broken them down into awesome categories such as Cooking & Recipes, News & Politics, Health & Nutrition, Animal Rights, Lifestyle – under which the Primate falls 🙂 , a favorite subject among these two Primates – Beauty & Fashion, sites for those Thinking of Vegan and Vegetarian, and Family! Thanks Ashley for including the Innocent Primate among your Top 75!

On This Day In History: Apple Streusel Ice Cream

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Innocent Primate Workshop – Houston

It’s been suggested on our Facebook page by one of our fans, the lovely Mary Houston, that while I’m in the Houston area to hold a workshop. Jo and I have been thinking about this, and we agree it’s a wonderful idea! Since this would be our first one (Jo wouldn’t actually be here, just me), there are some questions I would like to pose to you, our fans!

1. How many of you would be interested in attending?
2. Would you be willing to chip in a little for groceries – I’m just a poor college student, and $5 or $10 would be helpful in paying for supplies? of which you’d get to eat 😉
3. Would you like to learn a particular dish, a particular technique, etc? What would you want to get out of it?
4. Would you prefer before or after Thanksgiving (i.e. the 20 or 21st, or the 27 or 28th)? And would you prefer a Friday or Saturday afternoon?

Depending on what it is you’re wanting from the workshop will determine how long it’ll be. But I would anticipate average about 2 hours.

Let me know what you think…

Thanks,
Sara

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Environmentalism = Veganism

Hello Innocent Primate readers!  I know I have taken a serious hiatus from blogging, and I’m so glad that Sara has been working hard to pick up the slack and bring y’all great recipes over the last couple of months.  I have a couple of recipes in the hopper, myself, so hopefully I can get those posted soon.

In the mean time, I just had to bring your attention to an article in the New York Times entitled “To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates” (cue vegan amazement that a government would act independently of the cattle lobby to help the planet).  Over the last year or two, I have noticed the NYTimes running articles promoting meat-free diets as environmentally sound and others mentioning veganism as a perfectly valid life choice (which, hey, is a pretty new concept for most people).  Then there’s E. Coli tainted beef, which is a veganism ad that writes itself.  It wasn’t that long ago that every person I met had to be told what a vegan is.  Now, it’s only about half of the people I meet.  Ten years ago, when I became just a vegetarian, it was practically impossible to eat at a restaurant when I visited my parents in Texas.  Now, there are several entirely vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Houston, and vegan dishes available at many “ordinary” restaurants, too.  So, the word seems to be getting out, and hopefully people like us at the Primate are helping to show them that being a vegan is not martyrdom.  Vegan food can just be good food.

But, I digress.  Back to the article at hand.  “An estimated 25 percent of the emissions produced by people in industrialized nations can be traced to the food they eat, according to recent research [in Sweden].”  Accordingly, the Swedish government, with the cooperation of many food producers and restaurant owners, have started to calculate the carbon footprint of different foods, and then (here’s the critical part) put that information on the packaging or menu.  They have even changed the dietary recommendations (equivalent to our governments food pyramid) to give “equal weight to climate and health.”  So the government is telling people, instead of eating beef, it’s better to eat chicken or beans to get your protein (yes, beans are a legitimate protein source!).  And then when they go to the grocery store or restaurant, they can make immediate comparisons of carbon emissions for different foods.  Of course, just telling people that beef is terrible for the environment will not make everyone stop eating it.  At least not right away.  But as one man, after being asked about the hamburger he was eating, said, “You feel guilty choosing red meat.”  And I am certainly not above making people feel guilty about choosing meat.  They should feel guilty.  Although that guy was a eating a burger, I bet that guilt will at least decrease his consumption over time.

Anyway, give the article a read, and pass it around.  People are frequently flummoxed when I say that 1/3 of the reason why I’m a vegan is environmental.  News like this will hopefully help them understand.

On This Day In History: Peanut Butter Ganache Cups

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Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!! Jo and I are in the middle of cooking the ginormous vegan T-day feast…we’ve got the family noshing on pico and tortilla chips to keep the hunger monsters out of our kitchen (and out of our hair..hehe). It’s all smelling so good, and I hope ya’ll are having a delicious vegan Thanksgiving – save room for pie! 🙂

-Sara and Jo

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Celebrate the Turkeys!

Thanksgiving is coming soon – and most of us know about the suffering that goes on to ‘celebrate’ this holiday, or otherwise described as a ritual sacrifice, “To commemorate a past event you kill and eat an animal. It’s a ritual sacrifice…with pie.” So instead of murdering our avian friends, how about sponsoring a turkey and help Farm Sanctuary rescue and care for turkeys at their sanctuary (you don’t even have to take in a turkey!). I realize money is tight these days, so instead of taking $25 and putting it towards a turkey to eat, how about giving that money to saving a turkey..then let yourself overindulge in guiltless, murder-free dishes, such as vegan pecan pie, or perhaps some decadent chocolate cake smothered in caramel sauce, vegan vanilla ice cream, jimmies and chopped nuts…*drooling now*…. We all deserve a thankful holiday, even the turkeys!

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