Our third new event premiering this month is a monthly Marin event. With thanks to Andrea and Alicia, hosts of the new series, we will have our first dinner in San Rafael on 1/19. For all future months, the event will happen monthly on the 2nd Wedn.

We also have a new monthly dinner on the 3rd Friday at Kaleva, a vegetarian Indian restaurant in SF. This dinner, organized by Thea, started in January (but after the publication date of the previous newsletter). Anyways, with the new dinners, BAV now has a monthly dinner throughout the major portions of the Bay Area -- East Bay, Peninsula, South Bay, North Bay and SF, for a total of 7 monthly dinners.

If you made a New Year's resolution to go vegan or vegetarian and have had troubles keeping it, start anew with the Chinese New Year. February 9th marks the start of the Chinese New Year. Make a fresh start by joining the Veggie Mentor program, trying a new recipe, attending a monthly dinner, etc.

We'll have a special 9-course vegan dinner at Shangri-La Chinese Vegetarian restaurant on 2/24.

Looking for your 15 minutes of fame, or better yet, 70 minutes of vegan food eating? Then host a Vegan Food Party! You can read more about VFP's here. With winter, we really need a cozy indoor space. If you can help, please contact Tammy. VFP hosts are Veggie Important People in our book!

Interested in a support group for vegan families to address all the issues that come with living and raising a child in such an alternative lifestyle? If so, please contact Mary who is looking to connect with other vegan families. You can read Mary's introduction in the forum and introduce yourself and your family, too.

Since 1985, activists throughout the world celebrate the first day of Spring, March 20, as Great American Meat-Out.

Here in the Bay Area, activists are already planning their meat-out event, from tabling at local malls and shops to leafleting on the streets. If you'd like to plan a meat-out event in your neighborhood, we'd love to hear from you!

We're kicking off our meat-out with another visit from Erik Marcus, owner/publisher of vegan.com and Erik's Diner.

Last year, he spoke for us to a standing-room only crowd in Mtn View. He liked us so much, he wanted to speak again for our group -- so he's returning on Sunday, March 6 to San Francisco to talk once more about his new book, "Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money". Meat Market looks at the history of animal agriculture, and charts the decline of its ethical standards. Despite the worsening plight of animals, Erik’s message is hopeful and optimistic. He offers ideas and strategies to combat cruelty that can be embraced by meat-lovers and activists alike.

With the wonders of a random number generator to identify random votes, the following voters won in our voter prize giveaway:

Doug Strauss, Menlo Park - Sun Flour Baking cookie basket
Michael Torres, San Francisco - BAV logo pin & vegan cookbook
Andrea Lindsay, Oakland - VegNews Magazine subscription

Thanks to our prize donors, Sun Flour Baking, Wild Bryde Jewelry, VegNews Magazine, and Tammy & Chris (vegan cookbook).

The category winners of the BEST OF VEG contest were announced earlier.

We like giving away prizes! Congratulations to Charlie & tklarin for their winning reviews in the Ultimate Guide, randomly selected.

If one of these is your forum ID then please contact us to claim your choice of prize, donated by VegDining.com, WildBryde Jewelry, and Bay Area Vegetarians.

Curry Lentil Rice dish

Serves 10

4 cups onions, diced
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups brown rice, rinsed and drained
2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drain
1-2 carrots, diced
3/4 tsp ea: cardamom powder, turmeric
1 1/2 tsp: ground cumin
3 tsp salt
8 cups water
baby spinach

Saute onion in oil until translucent. Stir in the seasonings. Add lentils, rice, carrot, and water, and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for approx 45-60 minutes until rice and lentils are cooked. When nearly done, add spinach.

This is the basic recipe and it's fun and easy to add other ingredients, like chickpeas, green peas, eggplant, potato, mushrooms.. Just keep in mind that ingredients that need longer cooking times should be added earlier.

Sun 6 - Concert & Vegan Dinner, Berkeley
Tue 08 - Palo Alto Vegan Dinner (*2nd Tues.), BayLeaf Cafe
Wed 09 - SF Dinner (*2nd Wedn)
Sat 12 - SF KFC Protest (*2nd Sat)
Sat 12 - Santa Cruz KFC Protest
Sat 12 - South Bay Dinner (*2nd Sat.) - Vegetarian House, San Jose
Wed 16 - Marin Dinner, San Rafael
Fri 18 - SF Dinner (*3rd Fri) - Kaleva
Sat 19 - SF Letter Writing Party (*3rd Sat.)
Sun 20 - Oakland Vegan Dinner (*3rd Sun) - New World Vegetarian Restaurant
Thu 24 - SF Dinner (*Last Thurs.) - Shangri-La Vegetarian Restaurant
Sat 26 - KFC Protest (*4th Sat) - Pacifica
Sat 26 - Palo Alto Letter Writing Party (*4th Sat.)
TBD - Adopt a College leafleting, SF (check calendar for date)

* - monthly event

For latest news and events for Bay Area Vegetarians, check out the News Blog and Event Calendar. We don't always announce it, but event photos are added periodically to the gallery, too.