Help Wanted

When the revolution began, we didn't expect it would grow so much so fast.

We're incredibly grateful it has become what it has, and this means an exponential increase in time, work, and money. At this rate, we'll be welcoming many more people every brunch, and that will require some extra stuff, comrades.

For brunches to continue, we ask for your help with several things:

Brunch price will be raised from $5 to $8. Although no one profits financially from this, we believe it's important to cover our costs rather than pay out-of-pocket each time.

The next brunch will be Sunday, June 25th. Since we need to purchase the right amount of food to avoid a shortage/surplus, it's important to know how many people are expected. We kindly ask that you R.S.V.P. to brunchrevolution@yahoo.com by the evening of Wednesday, June 21 with the total number of your party.

We need extra hands to make this work. Read The Manifesto, and do consider helping if it resonates with you. Those who volunteer will meet fellow revolutionaries, pay $5 for brunch instead of $8, and get free cocktails on the Friday night shift! Please sign up for one of the following positions (send an email to brunchrevolution@yahoo.com, or leave your info in the comments section):

Friday Night Food Prep: Chop. Mix. Bake. 7:00-9:00 p.m. (5+ people)

Set Up Crew: Create the brunch vibe. Sunday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. (2 people)

Sunday Morning Crew A: Refill, clean, etc. for the first hour. 10:00-11:00 a.m. (2 people)

Sunday Morning Crew B: Refill, clean, etc. for the second hour. 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (2 people)

Take Down/Cleanup Crew: Tear down and dish duty. Sunday, 12:00-1:00 p.m. (2 people)

Donation Station A: Take money for brunch entrance for the first hour. 10:00-11:00 a.m. (1 person)

Donation Station B: Take money for brunch entrance for the second hour. 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (1 person)

If enough people are signed up to fill these slots by Sunday, June 18, we can go forward with the brunch. Many, many thanks for being part of this.

Second Brunch

This brunch, attended by over 50 people, was really smashing, in every sense. No matter how intense the planning and prep, the lovliness of people makes everything okay. And I love when people gush over food.

Dessert first. Throughout Latin America, you'll find vendors selling gelatinas. Shimmering and jewel-colored, they're often studded with a mosaic of fruits. I replicated this using agar as a thickener, and almond milk, strawberry puree, and organic kumquats (from my Mom's backyard garden in Los Angeles!) to flavor the layers. I ran low on agar when doing the strawberry, so it slushed out rather than standing firm. But I doubt most Coloradans have a deep love for gelatina, so it's okay.

Debora made loads of Cocoa Mole Waffles, subtly flavored with cinnamon and chili. We served them with Pan-Fried Bananas and rich Chocolate Sauce, both of which I really should have made more of.

And my favorite: Caramel Almond Bread Pudding. It's superflous, but great with Coconut Caramel. Soyatoo would have gilded it, but a lady can't remember everything.

Because we vegans don't skimp on protein, we served Isa's Scrambled Tofu with plenty of tortillas, salsa, rice, and Frijoles Mezclados. This simple mixture of kidney, pinto, and black beans tossed with cilantro, corn, onion, garlic, and jalapeno is high in fiber and wonderfully cost-effective.

Chipotle Roasted Potatoes, smoky and simple, were kept warm in a crock pot. I also made three large platters piled high with water-rich tropical fruits. Thanks to climate change, we can enjoy these a bit earlier every year! And I made Horchata, the rice-flavored agua fresca, from scratch. And en masse at that! I'm not sure how authentic it tasted, but pulverizing soaked rice into sweet, chalky liquid convinced me it was.

We're so grateful to you comrades who gave your time, from the fundraising table to the kitchen. We'll need much more of that for the revolution to continue, so please contact us at brunchrevolution@yahoo.com if you're interested.

Special thanks to author Mark Warren Reinhardt, who brunched with us and donated a copy of his down-to-earth and very useful book "The Perfectly Contented Meat-Eater's Guide to Vegetarianism"

Brunch 2 - June 4, 2006

Viva la revolucion!

Our 2nd brunch was a great success, and it grew amazingly from 20 people at our first, to around 50 for our second! This was, as you can imagine, an amazing amount of work, but it seemed worth it, exhausting as it was.

We served brunch downstairs on the patio off the "yoga room", overlooking the gorgeous lawn. In the entrance we had literature on one of the side tables, and then two tables set up next to the doors onto the patio - one for the brunch collection, the other for our SHAC7 fundraiser.

Outside we had one long table set up rather than several small tables. Family style, we hoped it would encourage conversation and community between people who might not necessarily have met before, but who could easily have plenty to share with one another.

About 20 of our revolutionaries were from a local Kung Fu school. The founders and their daughter are vegan, and this weekend happened to be a workshop weekend for them, and many instructors were here from out of town. Though we didn't realize beforehand, this brunch was a great way to spread the word outside of the Denver community as well!

I learned during this brunch that many (or even most) styles of martial arts have strong buddhist roots. This surprised me, maybe because my 2 years of martial arts were in a style that came from the Japanese people/farmers who needed to learn a subversive fighting method out of self-protection. These other styles came from the temples, so the buddhist connection, upon reflection, made perfect sense. And from the buddhist philosophy of non-violence, it follows that many martial artists are vegetarian or vegan. The people at our brunch from the Kung Fu school were a mix; not all were vegan or vegetarian, but just a group of people who enjoy good food.

And everyone enjoyed the location even more this time, I believe. It was cooler downstairs, and once people had eaten their fill, there was the lawn! This setup definitely contributed to most people hanging around for the full brunch, regardless of how early they arrived.

People were wonderful about helping with cleanup. Not just for the self-busing cart we had set up (it is wonderful having access to an industrial kitchen!), but our comrades were more than willing to come back to the kitchen and put in some elbow grease on the dirty dishes. We greatly appreciate this, and hats off to all of you who helped!


Not to mention the fundraiser! Wow, it was really great. We'd decided to do SHAC7 again, this time more organized, more announced, more obvious, more fun. Lynn and Sarah from Three Little Figs Market in Boulder agreed to help us by providing a selection of titles from their vegan market, and to offer them for sale. Any money above the wholesale cost would be donated. Between the booksales (yay! I bought The Milennium Cookbook, which I've been eyeing for about a year!) and the straight donations, we pulled in $142 for the SHAC7 defense fund! Brunch Revolutionaries rock! Awesome, hats off, and many thanks to all who participated.

Viva la revolucion!

June 4 Brunch: 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in the Cherry Creek area.
Send email to brunchrevolution@yahoo.com for location information.

This week's Latin-inspired menu includes:

Chipotle Roasted Potatoes
Scrambled Tofu with Salsa and Tortillas
Frijoles Mezclados con Lechugas
Cocoa Mole Waffles with Pan Fried Bananas
Caramel Almond Bread Pudding with Joy's Coconut Caramel
Kumquat-Almond-Strawberry Gelatina
Fresh Fruit
Horchata
Organic Fair Trade Mexican Select Coffee

We'll also be offering a cookbook fundraiser, generously sponsored by Three Little Figs. All proceeds go to The SHAC7.