Jaan J. tie, Stella McCartney belt, Cri de Coeur boots, Vaute Couture coat, and olsenHaus shoes

One of my earliest memories is of my dad showing me an ant on the ground and explaining to me that we do not step on them because, however small in size, the ant's life is just as valuable as ours. That sense of compassion has stuck with me always and my love for all animals became the foundation for becoming a vegan years later. It was such a perfect move that when I made the transition it felt like coming home.

It is that feeling of compassion for all creatures that leads ethical vegans (my guess: the majority of vegans), to extend a cruelty-free lifestyle beyond food. Our compassion for animals and the planet affects what we buy when it comes to everything from body products to furniture to cleaning products to bedding to car interiors. And of course, it affects the clothing we wear. It would be hypocritical for us to avoid meat and then buy a leather belt. Vegans don’t just avoid fur—we also avoid leather, silk, wool, cashmere, down, alpaca, angora, and, well, anything that comes from an animal—including, when possible, animal-derived glue used in shoe manufacturing.

I haven’t always been a vegan, but I have always felt deeply empathic and connected with non-human animals—especially because they cannot speak for themselves. This connection, combined with my inclination towards creative endeavors and my love of fashion, led me to focus on researching not only the best vegan foods, but the best vegan clothing as well. Out of this inquiry emerged the creation of my own vegan fashion curation blog, plantmade.

There is something exciting happening in the vegan world right now where young designers are creating incredibly innovative ways to produce shoes, handbags, belts, coats, ties—you name it—with materials that are animal and planet-friendly. And vegan fashion-conscious individuals are also hitting the blogging world, as evidence by sites like Animal Friendly.Me, The Ethical Man, and The Discerning Brute, covering everything from the their top ethical picks from this season's collections to the recent Farm Sanctuary 25th Anniversary Gala in New York. They are mending the disconnect mainstream society harbors with regard to what they consume—whether it be a hamburger or a silk blouse.

While what’s best for our planet it to stop consuming at the rate we are, we can’t avoid the fact that people still want to buy a new pair of shoes once in a while.The key is to invest in quality pieces that you truly love and plan to keep for a long time made from materials that cause the least amount of harm to animals and the environment. If you do some research (through places like Global Action Network, PETA, Veg for Life, Farm Sanctuary, or vegan designers like olsenHaus) it can make all the difference. It is through this research that you will learn that sheep go through a cruel practice called mulesing and later get sent to slaughter (if they haven’t died from infection or heat stroke by then). Cashmere goats get castrated, notched, and dehorned without anesthesia and killed by age two if their coats are not perfect (50-80%), then sold for slaughter after shearing. Silk worms are boiled alive. Down "production," where birds are plucked alive or scalded in boiling water while still conscious, supports the foie gras industry. And of course, the leather industry is directly linked to the meat industry, whether it be represented in that calf-skin (veal) handbag, shearling (lamb skin and fur) boots, or in those kidskin (baby goat) gloves. And this is all just scratching the surface. The lesson here is that everything is connected and vegans don't like to turn a blind eye to that fact.

Luckily, more and more attention is being paid to conscious fashion and more and more small companies are popping up everywhere and growing. Footwear companies like olsenHaus (now sold at Nordstrom!), Cri de Coeur, Neuaura, and Melissa focus on vegan footwear. Stella McCartney avoids leather in her designs, so all of her shoes, belts, and handbags are vegan (but she does use silk, wool, and cashmere in her clothing). Melie Bianco, Matt & Nat, and Gunas are vegan “leather” accessory companies. Vegan coats can be found at Vaute Couture. Jann J. makes great silk-free ties. And of course, many designers who are not vegan, happen to create “accidentally vegan” pieces (like Marc Jacobs’s fabric bags or Givenchy’s jelly sandal). In that case a vegan needs to make the decision of whether they want to support a company that produces non-vegan pieces despite the availability of vegan ones. If the preference is to stick with only eco-conscious labels, check out any of the designers featured at Vancouver’s Eco Fashion Week. Fashion is becoming such a focus in the vegan community that the first annual Vida Vegan Con international blogging conference in Portland this August features a vegan fashion workshop.

It can, however, be pretty challenging to find quality sweaters, scarves, and hats that are not cashmere or wool, and it can be even harder to find blouses and dresses (especially wedding dresses!) that are not silk. But they are out there. (Check out The Cotton Bride and Lindee Daniel.)

With yarn being made out of bamboo, soy, hemp, lyocell, and ramie, cotton and linen (made from flax) are no longer the only plant-based options for knits. Bamboo is incredibly soft, durable, and even antibacterial. Soy is smooth like silk and drapey, with a similar feel as cashmere. Hemp functions much like linen. Lyocell, made from cellulose fibers, is better known as Tencel or modal. Ramie, made from a flowering plant in the nettle family, adds luster to any fabric with which it's blended. Of course, it is advisable to look for organic when possible to avoid the chemicals used in the production of the textiles, both for environmental and health reasons. For more info, TreeWool is a great vegan blog that posts information on the world of vegan knitwear.

polylactic acid dress, DyeCat-dyed fibers, kombucha-bacteria-grown cellulose "leather" jacket

And then there are truly experimental materials out there that show how turning to plants that we normally associate with food can lead us to innovation in the apparel design world.

Suzanne Lee at Central Saint Martins in London is developing cellulose “leather.” Her “Bio-Couture” project uses bacterial cultures in kombucha tea to grow what resembles transluscent leather. Check out a video on her work on The Discerning Brute.

Compostable “Ingeo,” a plastic called polylactic acid (PLA) that’s similar to polyester is manufactured from plants such as corn, wheat, sugar beet, mollases, sugar cane, or rice. Not only does Ingeo not use oil or take centuries to degrade, it can also use up waste from our landfills. And, of course, it makes a fabulous wedding gown as well.

DyeCat is a company that created a way to “dye” polyester or PLA as the fibers are produced, eliminating the need for dyeing in water afterwards, a practice that has lead to dumping of chemicals into bodies of water, causing massive environmental damage and health hazards for workers.

If some of these options seem too expensive and/or out-of-reach, fear not and keep in mind that doing the best you can is better than doing nothing and you can always aspire to do more. The key is to buy products made from plants whenever possible (organic being ideal) and to stop adding to the consumerism cycle. Shop vintage. Buy kapok instead of down. Avoid PVC. If not made of plants, buy recyclable materials, then actually recycle them. Compost fabric. Donate clothing. Support small-scale designers. Educate yourself.

The whole point of being a vegan is to do as little harm as possible. And I’m sure that, no matter what we each ate for dinner last night, we can all agree that that’s not a bad idea.

A Greek meal worthy of the gods.

This weekend, Oakland's Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension is hosting their annual Oakland Greek Festival. Besides being a gathering of some of the East Bay's most colorful and enthusiastic Greek residents, the festival is home to some of the best Greek food the Bay Area has to offer.

Yesterday I hit up the festival's opening day, and was completely bowled over by the amount of food available. Every possible Greek delight you can imagine was being prepared by local cooks, from whole lamb on a spit to flaming cheese (seriously -- stand back when they set it on fire!). Saturday and Sunday are filled with Greek cooking demonstrations. If you've got some free time this weekend, can you think of a better way to spend a few hours?

Fresh calamari and French fries

Breading the calamari by hand.

John Constantine, calamari Superman

Flaming cheese -- this you really have to try.

Lamb goddess Karen Kolokithas

Fresh baklava, ready for a new home.

What kind of Greek festival would it be without the requisite feta and olives?

Loukoumades, or honey-dipped pastry puffs. There are not words.

Assorted Greek goodies for sale.

Alyssa Landis dishes out some of the most incredible lamb I've ever tasted.

Happy Greek chefs!

More luscious lamby bits...

Harry Greer unwrapping his lamb on a spit.

The [rather large] lamb, in all its glory.

Anna Wade grills meat for gyros.

Brittany Wade shows off her winning gyro-making skills.

2011 Oakland Greek Orthodox Festival: May 13, 14, 15
Oakland's Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension
4700 Lincoln Ave
Oakland, CA 94602

Admission: $6 for adults, children under 12 free. With a coupon, you can receive $1 off adult admission.

You could set your watch by it, my mad love affair every autumn with all things squash-y and pumpkin-ish. A few weeks ago, I was kneading up pumpkin bread; this morning, mixing up a batch of rice-flour pumpkin muffins for a grateful wheat-free friend. The kids are carving their pumpkins out on the porch, and I'm planning for tomorrow's dinner, a grand stew served out of a stunning Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkin, the flattish, deeply indented beauty, as flaming red-gold as Joan's burnished tresses on Mad Men. It's also known as the Cinderella pumpkin, with good reason, since it seems to lack only six white mice to pull it straight into fairy godmother-land.

It's a little more dainty, if not quite so dramatic, to serve your pumpkin stew or soup in individual, bowl-sized pumpkins rather than one huge one, I'll admit. Whichever you use, prep them like you're getting ready to entertain the trick-or-treaters: saw out a generous circle around the top, reach in and scoop out what you can of the stringy, seedy stuff, and set it aside. Then, get a big metal soup spoon, and scrape out all the remaining stringy bits.

Separate the seeds from the pumpkin innards, and rinse the seeds well. Pat dry, then spread out on a baking sheet. Toss with enough olive or vegetable oil to coat lightly, then sprinkle with salt and paprika, smoked paprika, or chili powder, adding in a little cayenne if you like. Bake at 325 F until crisp and toasty, about 15 to 20 minutes. These are great for snacking, naturally, and also make a nice garnish.

(If you have backyard chickens, toss them the pumpkin guts and any stray raw seeds that escaped the pick-through. They'll snaffle them up like candy corn.)

But we're getting distracted here from the main event. To prep your pumpkins, put your big (or your little pumpkins) and their tops on a baking sheet covered with parchment or foil. Rub a little vegetable oil over the flesh. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove top(s), turn pumpkins bottom side up, and continue baking for another 25-35 minutes, depending on size, until flesh is tender but firm and pumpkin still holds its shape. It's important not to wander off during this time, as the pumpkin shells will collapse if they're overbaked.

Now, what do you want to put in your pumpkins? If you're going to all the trouble of scooping and baking these babies, what's in them should be the main course, I believe. Which means something rich and stew-like, not the usual pashmina-smooth, curried or apple-y bisques. In the Bay Area, the skeletons and jack o' lanterns of Halloween are always interwoven with the sugar skulls and marigold-strewn altars of the Mexican Day of the Dead.

So why not use goat as a base for this stew, a traditional meat for the latter--and, with their spooky eyes and devilish implications, a perfectly haunting choice for Halloween, too. Halal meat counters and Latino markets are good places to find goat; you can also find it at Marin Sun Farms' butcher shop in Rockridge Market Hall. You could also substitute lamb.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin Stew
If you're going to serve this in one large pumpkin or squash, make sure you pick out a good eating one, such as a rouge vif d'etamps or a musquee de provence. Both are wider than they are tall, an important consideration. Make sure the one you pick will fit in your oven before you start.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
1 large, shallow pumpkin or squash, or 6 small bowl-sized pumpkins, prepared and baked as above
2 1/2 lbs goat or lamb, cubed
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp chipotle powder or smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 tsp thyme or oregano
1 bay leaf
1 cup red wine
2 dried ancho chilies, soaked in hot water until soft, seeds and stems removed, pureed in a little hot water until smooth, or 2-3 canned chiles in adobo, finely chopped
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen's fire-roasted organic tomatoes)
Roasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish

Preparation:
1. Toss flour, paprika, and salt together, and spread out on a wide, shallow plate. Roll goat or lamb cubes through flour mixture to coat.

2. In a heavy Dutch oven or wide, heavy saucepan, heat olive oil. Add meat in batches, browning on all sides over medium-high heat. Remove and set aside.

3. When meat has been cooked, add onions, garlic, celery, and carrot. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until softened but not browned. Return meat to pot.

4. Pour red wine over meat and vegetables. Add chiles, diced tomatoes, and thyme or oregano. Add water if necessary so that liquid comes half-way meat and vegetable mixture.

5. Bring mixture to a simmer, reduce heat, and cover. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender and liquid is reduced, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper as needed.

6. Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour stew into prepared pumpkin(s). Bake for 30-40 minutes, until pumpkin flesh is tender and stew has thickened a bit. Taste for seasoning. Remove from oven carefully, since it will be hot and heavy. Replace lid and bring to the table.

7. Pass pumpkin seeds at the table for garnish. Scoop out a portion of cooked pumpkin with each serving, being careful not to pierce the skin.

If the kleig lights circling out front didn't show you the way to the Contra Costa Festival of Greek Food & Wine at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Concord, the smell of spit-roasting lamb surely would.

Autumn, it seems, is the time for the Bay Area's moussaka-loving, retsina-toasting, fisherman-cap-wearing lovers of all things Greek to wander from booth to booth in church parking lots, dusting their shirtfronts with buttery shards of phyllo, munching souvlaki and sampling olive oils.

And while most street fairs start breaking down and sweeping up at 5 or 6 pm, the Greeks keep partying through dinnertime and beyond. At 9:30 last night in Concord, you could still get a paper plate of baklava or syrup-drenched loukoumas, a glass of red wine, a lamb sandwich or some garlicky Greek potatoes. The band was still playing, and a loose circle of dancers, hands joined, were revolving around the floor. Someone was doing a brisk business in glow-stick light sabers, seen waving from the hand of every child under 10.

There were tchotchkes for sale, carved wooden items, bits of painted pottery, t-shirts, the ubiquitous Zorba-style black fisherman's caps, but, judging by the vast sea of white plastic tables set up under the tent, food (and wine) was the point here.

A whole lamb was roasting on a spit next to one booth, ready to be turned into plates of lamb, lamb sandwiches, lamb dinners with rice and salad. There were booths for fried calamari, for gyros, for souvlaki on a stick. Several bars offered a selection of Greek wines, along with a few local wines made by Greeks. Made from the Assyritko grape, the Hatziyiannis white wine from Santorini was beautifully golden, with notes of honeysuckle and peaches.

The place to get the real deal, though, was inside, where the ladies of Philoptochos, the church's good-works organization, were earning their place in heaven by dishing out generous platefuls of roast lamb, moussaka, pastitsio (baked macaroni), baked chicken, stuffed eggplant, stuffed peppers, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), green beans with tomato, and more. For under twenty bucks, we got a cup of feta cubes, a cup of kalamata olives, a hefty square of moussaka, cinnamon-scented ground beef layered with eggplant and potatoes under a thick layer of creamy bechamel sauce, some sesame bread, and an enormous lamb shank braised with tomato.

We cleaned up the moussaka, feta, and olives in no time; the lamb shank we picked at, then realized that what it really needed was to go home with us, destined to be the centerpiece of a thrown-together rainy-day soup. The next day, into the pot it went, with sauteed onions, celery, carrots, and garlic, some tomatoes from the garden, sage and thyme, some soaked and parboiled white beans, a few chunks of potato, a glug of wine and just enough water to cover. A long, slow simmer, and last night's dinner becomes tonight's, and probably tomorrow's, too.

As we paid for our plate, I asked the woman making change if all the food was made here. Oh yes, she told me, they've been working for months, chopping, cooking, and freezing. It's the church's 32nd annual festival, and by now they've got it down. "I call us the YaYa Sisterhood, you know, because "yaya" means grandmother in Greek," she said.

Over at the pastry stall, we hear the same thing: all volunteers, working for months. I ask the woman handing us our baklava and kataifi if she was one of the bakers. "No, I'm a runner!" she laughed. "The bakers are these 85-year-old women. I call them 'the machines'--their hands move boom-boom-boom, so fast! Me, I run for them--I run to get the butter, I run to put the trays in the oven, I run to take them out. It's exhausting, but it's easier." She's working on her own baklava, though. First try, the nuts--too big. Second try--too small. So she's getting up her courage for round three, sure to be the charm.

Now, I don't know if my own baklava would pass the yaya test, but I can tell that there's nothing like freshly made baklava, made with lots of nuts, honey, and butter, the pastry crackling and shiny with syrup infused with cinnamon or orange.

The best way to get the consistency of the nuts right is to chop them by hand, handful by handful, on a heavy cutting board with a big knife. You want them rough and nubbly, and even one pulse too many in the food processor will turn them to powder. If you don't already have a pastry brush, get one before you start. There's a lot of buttering that needs to happen, and while you could use your fingertips or the back of a spoon in a pinch, a pastry brush is neater and does a much more consistent job.

Baklava

The trick to getting the perfect balance of sticky and crisp (rather than stolid and soggy) is to have the syrup and pastry at opposite temperatures when they meet. Either pour hot syrup over cold pastry, or pour cold syrup over hot pastry. Let the syrup soak into the pastry for a few hours before serving. The baklava is best on the day it's made, but it will keep for a few days, if you can possibly resist it for that long.

You can find frozen phyllo dough in the freezer aisle of most supermarkets, usually next to the puff pastry and frozen cakes. Let it defrost a little before you use it. Unroll the sheets carefully, and always keep a clean, barely damp dishtowel draped over the sheets while you're using them, to keep them from drying out and becoming crackly and hard to use.

Ingredients
For pastry:
2 1/2 cups walnuts, almonds, and/or pistachios, or a combination, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons honey
pinch salt
One of the following flavorings: 1 tsp grated orange or lemon peel and 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom; 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of ground cloves; 1 teaspoon rosewater; 1 teaspoon orange-flower water

1/2 lb phyllo dough (half a standard package)
1/2 cup butter, melted

Syrup:
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup water
One of the following flavorings: 1 tablespoon grated orange rind; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 tablespoon rosewater or orange-flower water

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly grease an 8-by-8-inch baking pan.

2. In a small bowl, mix nuts, honey, sugar, salt, and your choice of flavoring.

3. Unfold phyllo dough and trim into 8-by-8-inch squares. Spread a sheet over the bottom of the baking pan. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush sheet with melted butter. Repeat with 5 more sheets, lightly buttering each sheet before adding the next.

4. Spread half of the nut mixture over the top phyllo sheet in the pan. Top with another four sheets, lightly buttering each sheet before adding the next. Rewarm melted butter slightly if it gets too thick.

5. Spread remaining nut mixture over the top phyllo sheet. Top with another 6 sheets, lightly buttering each sheet before adding the next. Lightly butter the top sheet.

6. Using a sharp knife, make four equal vertical cuts (about 1 1/2 inches apart) through the top layer of pastry. Then, make eight equally-spaced diagonal cuts (about 1 inch apart) across these strips to form 18 diamond shapes. There will be a few triangular pieces left over along the edges --perfect for the cook to snack on before serving!

7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until pastry is crisp and pale golden.

8. While pastry is baking, make the syrup. In a small, heavy-bottomed pan, bring sugar, honey, water, and lemon juice to a boil. Keep a close eye on it, as it will tend to froth and foam up. Add orange rind or cinnamon stick if using. Over low heat, simmer for 5 minutes until syrup has thickened slightly. Remove from heat. If using rosewater or orange-flower water, add now. Pour into a pitcher and let cool.

9. When pastry is baked, pour cooled syrup over hot pastry. Alternately, let pastry cool to room temperature. Reheat syrup to almost boiling, then pour hot syrup over cooled pasty. You may not need all the syrup; you want the pastry to be glossy and sticky but not drowned.

10. Following the previously made cuts, cut the pastry all the way through into diamonds. Let syrup soak in for at least 3 hours before serving.

The Contra Costa Festival of Greek Food & Wine continues through Sunday at the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 1955 Kirker Pass Road, Concord, across from the Concord Pavilion. Sat., 9/18, Noon-11pm; Sun., 9/19, noon-8pm. Admission $5 adults, $3 seniors (55+), children under 12 free.

In San Francisco, the Annunciation Cathedral at 245 Valencia St will be hosting its annual A Taste of Greece festival Sept. 24-26th. Fri., 9/24, 11am-10pm; Sat., 9/25, 11am-10pm; 12pm-9pm.

What happens when National Pie Day meets Burns Night?

Not a haggis pie, thankfully. But something haggis-inspired, something that could live up to lines like these, from the Scottish poet Robert Burns' immortal Address to a Haggis,

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.

In other words, not salad. Lamb, the foundation of this "great chieftain o' the puddin'-race," should be involved, perhaps using parts a little more approachable than the lungs, liver, and heart from which haggis is traditionally made. Also present should be neeps and tatties (rutabagas, or what Brits would call swedes, and potatoes), the pearls and pumps to haggis's little black dress. Finally, it should be both celebratory and economical, in honor of that famous Scottish thrift.

And why not make it pie-like while you're at it? Not because I really take a marketing ploy like National Pie Day seriously (yes, inroads may have been made by panna cotta, Oreos, and pineapple upside-down cake, but pie is far from an endangered species here) but because pie makes a party. Cupcakes are cute, cookies are swell, but a pie is Something Special. Not to mention that as a certified Pie Therapist, I feel that no good pie-making opportunity should be ignored.

Taken altogether, then, what better dish for a rainy winter day than a Shepherd's Pie, made with the leftovers of a good lamb stew instead of the usual drab gravel of ground meat. And topped with a thick cloud of mashed potatoes mixed with rutabaga, turnip's earthier cousin, the whole flecked with green bits of leek or scallion. Some rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf could also go into the stew, since this is California and these herbs grow everywhere.

Irish cookbook author Tamasin Day-Lewis suggests lamb neck for stewing, and having spied some at Avedano's recently, I decided to give her advice a try. And she's right: these "thick, bony, fatty chunks" are just right for stewing, falling into thick flavorful shreds after stewing, while the bones add body to the base. You'll need 2 necks for this, each cut up into four or five pieces (ask the butcher to do this for you, as this is requires serious bone-cleaving action that you don't want to attempt without a mallet, a heavy cleaver, solid arm muscles, and a very sturdy wooden countertop).

The stew makes plenty; eat it one day for dinner, then make your shepherd's pie with the leftovers on the following day. Serve, naturally, with a wee dram of your favorite whisky--Caol Ila, perhaps, Laguvulin, a tot of Ardbeg or Laphroaig.

Shepherd's Pie for Scotland
It can be a bit tricky to find rutabagas. Cauliflower, especially the beautiful, usually organic golden variety, makes a fine substitute if you find yourself stranded far from these useful roots. If you're making the stew a day ahead of time, leave the meat on the bones. Remove the meat and discard the bones just before serving.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 lbs (or thereabouts) lamb neck
4 carrots, chopped in rough chunks
3 sticks celery or one head fennel, chopped
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, 4 sprigs parsley, tied together
Salt and pepper

For topping:
3 large potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large rutabaga, or 1 small head cauliflower
knob of butter (size depends on how buttery you think mashed potatoes should be)
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk, more as needed
green part of 1 leek, finely chopped, or 3 scallions, finally chopped
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. Put the lamb in a large pot and cover with cold water. Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Drain off water and scummy froth; rinse both meat and pot.

2. Lay onions, carrots, leeks, celery on bottom of pot. Add lamb and herb bundle. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Cover with water until lamb is just barely covered.

3. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat, cover, and cook slowly until lamb is very tender and can be pushed off the bone with a spoon, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

4. Let cool slightly, then remove lamb from pot. Set aside until cool enough to handle. While lamb is cooling, mash some of the cooked vegetables roughly to thicken sauce. Taste for seasoning. Remove herb bundle and discard.

5. Using your hands, remove lamb from bones and return meat to pot. Reheat before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.

6. To make topping, cover potatoes and rutabaga chunks with water, adding a few good pinches of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer gently until potatoes are soft. (If using cauliflower, add when potatoes are just barely tender.)

7. Preheat oven to 350F. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Add butter and mash well. Add buttermilk or milk a little at a time, mashing thoroughly as you go, until desired consistency is reached (don't let it get too loose and creamy; it should be on the stiff side).

8. Saute leeks or scallion in a little butter, stirring, until softened. Add to potatoes.

9. Spread leftover stew in a 2-inch-deep baking dish, preferably glass or ceramic. Mound mashed potato over stew. Bake in the oven until stew is heated through and potatoes are just beginning to brown in parts, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

For those truly dedicated to all things haggis, this report from the BBC claims that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture is considering lifting a twenty-year-old ban on importing Scottish-made haggis into the U.S. It also notes that a prominent haggis manufacturer has recently branched out into making haggis nachos.

Ah, the impending new year is all about lists, isn't it? Well, here's yet another one.

Recent tragic events, human and animal alike, at the San Francisco Zoo has me doing several things:

1. I'm snatching up my very plump and extremely domesticated cats and kissing them all over, while demanding to know how their sister could behave so much like...well, a tiger.

2. Swearing I will never go to another zoo to gawk at animals. They may be alive and safe from hunters' rifles, but they are still miserable unless they happen to be lucky enough to secure roams in the spacious San Diego Wild Animal Park.

3. Thinking about primal urges for meat.

While I do live a fairly vegetarian, multi-grainal, or pescatarian lifestyle, it's more from ease and quickness of prep and less of actual desire. I do love my fish and vegs, but I also love, crave, and need on a deep, dark, and primal level, meat.

When hit with a specific meat need, it's usually for how a certain restaurant prepares it. Like, if I'm feeling porkish, it doesn't follow that I'll be satisfied with any old piece of pig.

My Top Meat Places in San Francisco

Pork: Late-night or middle of the day, nothing beats a burrito stuffed with thick, shaggy pieces of carnitas at El Farolito. Also, because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since Jen reminded me in her post, the shelling beans with Sofrito at SPQR and sweet and smoky Suppenkuche's cured pork chop.

Beef: I haven't yet found my designated "favorite steak" place in San Francisco, but the Slanted Door's Shaking Beef still makes me very happy; I'm really sorry to see that it hasn't yet made it onto the menu at Out the Door in the San Francisco Center. When it comes to the ground stuff, Burgermeister is the place I go back to again and again. That said, Zuni Cafe's lunch-time burger is pretty spectacular, even if the ridiculously greasy focaccia bun has me wiping my hands down every three seconds.

Chicken: I'm sorry to be predictable, but I'm still not bored nor have I ever failed to reach complete nirvana with Zuni's roast chicken. However, Ziryab Grill's sumac chicken with velvety oyster mushrooms and Ton Kiang's deceptively plain-looking salt-baked chicken run it a very close, very delicious second.

Duck: I'm very choosy about duck and I don't order it every time I see it at the menu, but Paul K's Syrian Spiced Duck with pomegranate molasses and Ton Kiang's peking duck get my picky vote.

Lamb: This is my favorite meat, but I have yet to find a place that satisfies my need for tender, rare. Until I find it, I have to be satisfied with my own lamb chops: salt and pepper, broiled for 3-4 minutes on each side. Though I haven't yet been, I have suspicions that Kokkari might scratch this particular itch, however I'm open to suggestions...