So there is this fun little vegan questionnaire going around, you may have already seen it.  It comes to us via an email from Janine in England (she has no blog).  Anyway, it's below.  Feel free to submit your answers on your own blogs.  It's a fun way to get to know each other a little better.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Actually, I have three:

1. Home-made almond milk -  Jane whips up a batch using our  Soyabella Milk Maker every four or five days. I use this in our breakfast shake and Jane uses it for almost all of her cooking/baking endeavors.
2. For cereal, I like WestSoys Plain Light - it's closest to the old fat free cow's milk I used to drink BV (before vegan).
3. Silk Light Chocolate - I like this as a snack.  I'm totally addicted!

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
I don't do any of the cooking... but Jane's certainly got 3 recipes on the back burner that I can't wait to try.  Susan's Okara Crab Cakes and her Seitan baked in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce.  And a whole bunch of new recipes Jane is planning on debuting for Thanksgiving this year.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
I have never been a huge fan of flavored popcorn.  I prefer the regular buttered and salted variety.  So it's Earth Balance for me!

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
The worst thing Jane has made for us as vegans has been Veganomicon's Mac & Cheese.   I know plenty of you enjoy it, but we both took one bite and then Jane threw out the panful (something she NEVER does).  It was such a disaster that we have avoided all mac and cheese recipes

5. Favorite pickled item?
There is a wonderful Japanese pickled cucumber condiment we get sometimes.  I can't remember what it's called, but I know they use a bit of sugar in the brine too.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I don't understand how Jane has the books organized, but she knows where each one lives.  She's also got a ton of recipes online organized by things like: appetizers, breads, soups, breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, cakes, cookies, and FAVORITES

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
How about recycling?   I compost all our kitchen scraps.  And we're lucky, we can co-mingle all our recyclables, including all plastics, which are picked up weekly.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Turkish Lentil Stew, Strawberries (really ripe, fresh from the farmer's market) or Cherimoya, and almost any bread.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
My mother made hamburgers for dinner one night; they were rocks (my mom was and still is a HORRIBLE cook).  When my parents weren't looking, my brother grabbed our burgers and threw them out the third floor window.  When my parents went out that night, my brother ordered us a pizza.  He was 6 years older than me, and I thought he was sooo cool.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
So Delicious - Chocolate Brownie Almond

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
Again, I defer to Jane.... It's her Kitchen Aid Mixer.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Savory: Cumin // Sweet: Cinnamon

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Joy of Cooking, and we still use it!

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Blackberry.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Tofu chocolate mousse.  People cannot believe that it is vegan.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan by far.  But tofu is the easiest.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Jane likes to cook in the afternoon.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Because we have such a tiny kitchen, we have a ton of stuff on top of our fridge.  The toaster oven lives there, along with whatever cold cereals we are eating at the moment, tea bags, two bottles of liquor, and the local phone books (what are those?).  I'm probably forgetting something!

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
That's easy.  Morningstar's Grillers Vegan, frozen fruit (blueberries, blackberries, and cherries) for our breakfast shake, and Trader Joe's Chocolate non-dairy dessert (our vegan ice cream).

20. What's on your grocery list?
Phyllo dough, Field Roast sausages, and tofu.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Trader Joe's.  They are starting to carry more and more vegan products, and their prices are usually much better than what we get elsewhere.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
Macaroni and cheese!

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Fat Free Vegan - Susan has the best recipes!

Seitan is My Motor - Mihl also has a great blog.  Jane has had good results with her baked goods.

Bitten - Mark Bittman's blog for the NY Times.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Jane's chocolate truffles.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Soy milk powder.  Jane uses it in icing.  It was around $14 for a canister.  Sheesh!

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Jane bought something called annatto for a recipe she can no longer find.  It's been sitting in the cupboard for about 4 months now.

Today is our two year vegan-versary.   Over the past two years we've learned a lot about the positive health benefits of a vegan diet, about the benefits of being vegan on the environment, and about the horrific conditions in which livestock spend their entire lives.  And while we may not be "perfect" vegans, we have found our stride and are quite confident that we will be vegan for the rest of our lives.

When we first went vegan, we experienced a considerable amount of trepidation.  Would we be able to do this?  Would we miss meat and dairy?  Would we be any healthier?  Would we be able to eat out again?  I've blogged about many of these experiences, and you've shared your own with us, and on your blogs as well.  I think most of us have found the transition to veganism to be far less painful, and much more rewarding than we could have anticipated.

The most unanticipated thing though, is our shift in thinking.  There is no way we would be able to go back to a meat-centered diet.  We went vegan for our health, we're staying vegan because we cannot conceive of eating meat again after learning how that meat is produced.  (And some of you can say you told me so!)

As I mentioned, Jane's mom was here for a visit recently. While she was here, she mostly ate vegan.  But she couldn't give up milk for her coffee.  She tried, but she wasn't enamored with the soy milk or almond milk alternatives we had for her.  When she left, we had a bit of milk leftover that she hadn't consumed.  In the interest of "science" I decided to try it and see if it still tasted great to me.  Remember, we really loved cow's milk.  Not only did it taste weird to me.  I would have to say I didn't like it at all.  I know plenty of people who are omnivores who don't like milk, but I used to drink it all the time.

I found it very interesting that after two years I've grown to actually dislike something I used to love.  How quickly our tastes can change.  It makes me wonder how I would react to a meat-based meal?   Would it taste odd to me?  Would it be bad?  Not that I'm planning on experimenting here.

But what is even more exciting to me is that I can now say, in all honesty, that you can easily learn to adapt to a vegan diet.  And after a few short months, eating vegan will be the norm.

So, we haven't been around much lately.  I'm sure you all know how it goes.  Work, life, etc.  No, we haven't become omnivores in our absence.  We are both still very much vegan and loving it.

Jane's mom was here for a visit.  She's such a good sport.  She ate vegan for all but two of her meals, and one of those was an accident because the Thai restaurant delivered the wrong food to our house, so it would have been thrown away.  Also she had cow's milk in her morning coffee.  She tried the almond milk Jane makes every few days, but thought it was too thin.  I can't really blame her.  It took us a long time to "get over" milk.  We didn't try soy creamer (just didn't think of it), but will during her next visit.

One of her favorite things was the Seitan Scaloppini we blogged about back in February.  It's one of my favorite too.  And I would recommend you all try it.  Just remember, it is not a weekday meal.  It takes a bit of prep work!  She also really loved Shojin, where she was fussed over and made to feel very welcome.  It was a very pleasant visit.  I don't think Jane's mom plans on going vegan, but she is willing to eat that way all the time, provided someone else does the food prep.   Actually, I know she eats vegetarian often.  I just think the idea of learning to cook new things is something she no longer has any interest in.

While we were on our unscheduled blogging hiatus we noticed this bizareness... you could buy your Easter ham at our local grocery store for $0.77 per pound, but green beans were $0.99 / pound!  This seems way out of whack if you think about it.  We often complain that you can get a beef burrito at Taco Bell for $0.79, but a bean burrito - no cheese please - costs $0.99!  Seems wrong to us.  (Yes, I know plenty about food industry subsidies.)  But I think this ham thing wins the prize for the most obvious price support.