Let’s take a moment to think of all the great times we had this Veganmofo here at Lazy Smurf’s Guide to Life. NOTE this post is meant to be read with this video playing in the background.

I think the most exciting posts were about my trip to Chicago & volunteering at an organic farm. I was really excited to make a Top Ten list of my favorite things to eat in Austin and review a few local places that I have been to: Tarka, and Koriente and I even left our little blue dot and went to Mango‘s in Houston where I found tater tots, sandwiches, and cupcakes.I shared some recipes that I am very excited about, Black Bean & Plantain Empanadas, Sanguine Moon Curry, Ugandan Tofu Scramble, Risotto with Amaranth Greens, Raisins, and Pine Nuts, Chez Rolez Gumbo, Spicy Sesame Potato Saladand Soupa Za Moju Babu and I also added a new section for all my recipes on the toolbar. You can pick by picture but I think I might also do a second one by title of the recipe. I also posted recipes from Raw Food Real World, Hot Sour Spicy Sweet, and even the St. Sava’s Serbian Sisters cookbook.

I even wrote a few letters (actually I write a lot of letter’s in a similar way to Grandpa Simpson) but two of them were love letters, one was a letter to my workplaces sustainability comittee and I even ranted about the TSA stealing my peanut butter.

The best part about veganmofo is reading everyone else’s blogs and though it got overwhelming and my google reader still says +1000 I had a fun time checking out the other top 10 lists on Scratch & Sniff, Pulling it Together, Vegan Mom in LA, and a Bear’s Fare in Missoula. I also learned about Dancing Through Life when Ashley won the giveaway and I fell in love with her attitude and her blog. I made plans with Krys from Two Vegan Boys to volunteer at the farm and I went out with a bunch of Austin bloggers for pizza at the Parlor. I even found a blog, Funky Sunflower Foods from my hometown of Springfield which was really exciting I am hoping to find out about more restaurant options for the next time I go! I tried to hint at Mo that she should move back to Texas so I could go to her awesome parties. And I decided that I was going to make the Tempeh Sausage from Jes at Cupcake Punk, the garlic stuffed jalapeno poppers from My Veggie Kitchen, and the vegan solyanka from Seitan is my Motor.

I think that VeganMoFo is so important because it really encourages people from all over the world to eat vegan and blog every day about it. I read so many different blogs this year from people who were trying to eat vegan for the first time for the 30 days of VeganMofo just because they wanted to be a part of it.

The internet is just amazing for connecting people together. It can be really difficult for a person in a small town or other country that doesn’t yet have a vegan culture to figure out how to be vegan. At first, there is so much confusion because you don’t know what to eat or where to eat out or how to do it while traveling and now we can just link to others and see how they are doing it. It is so much easier for a lot of people to ask questions on the internet when you don’t have to be afraid of being judged.

I also love that people are documenting the vegan options in their town because now before I go anywhere I can usually find a vegan who lives there and has a blog or at least someone that has traveled there and learned about a fantastic little Thai restaurant or a place that accidentally has vegan donuts. Mmm Donuts……

Viva VeganMofo!