My New Vegan Coat

I didn't cook a thing today.  Kind of sad.  But really, I am trying to get rid of my leftovers.  I had the rest of my soup and muffins for lunch, and the last of the ABC Stuffing for dinner.  

However, I did have a much better day.  I mentioned in a comment on my previous post that the soup was way better today, tasted much more garlicky.  So maybe it is worth trying to perfect it!    

All around good little things went on today, but by far the best thing was that my coat arrived.  I went coat shopping last week and found the perfect coat, I was in love.  So in love that I was minutes away from buying a $300 coat that was stuffed with DOWN!  I just don't know why I didn't realize that all those warm puffy coats are made from tortured geese's feathers.  What the heck?  They make fake down pillows, why no fake down coats?  

So I went home and read up on down.  Not that I was trying to convince myself to buy it AT ALL.  Seriously, not my intention.  I just realized that, while I know what down is, I was completely uninformed about it.  In case anyone else finds themselves in the same predicament, this quote pretty much summed it up enough for me:

How Are Duck and Goose Down Obtained?

When these birds are slaughtered, they are first stunned electrically. After their throats are cut (by hand, for geese) and the birds are bled, they are scalded to facilitate removal of large feathers. To remove fine pinfeathers, the birds are dipped in paraffin wax. Down and feathers, a very valuable by-product of the duck and goose industry, are sorted at another facility.

You can find that quote in this article.

Now informed, I set off on my online search.  There are really no fake down coats, at least as far as I can tell.   So I ended up at The Hempest.  Then I ended up buying The Hemp Hoodlamb Droptop.  Oh heck, I'll post the picture of it.  

Seriously, I am in love.  First of all, they said it would take 2-5 days, and it only took 2, which was awesome.  Second, it is warm, snuggly, "furry", has all kinds of cool little "secret" pockets, roomy "fur" lined front pockets, a detachable collar, little loops in the neck to hook up your headphones, and a "music pocket", which is just a perfectly iPod shaped pocket.  It also has little designs in the "fur" and has tighter cuffs inside the sleeves so that your arms stay warm.  Oh, and its warm.  Nice and furry warm and comfortable.  And I know I keep saying it's "furry", but it really doesn't look overwhelmingly like fur.  You can tell its fake (which is good, to me), but it is still seriously warm.   

That's all I've got for today.  Except I did also discover Laura's Wholesome Junk Food at my natural foods store, which made me jump up and down out of excitement.  If you remember, I bought them a few weeks ago when I was visiting my in-laws, and they are SO delicious.  I also got some Silk Nog, and some Soy Whip.  Holy moly is this stuff good (I know because I just squirted some straight into my mouth).      

And now...I am going to bed to snuggle with my cat (Zoe, see right!).

I hope everyone is all ready for Thanksgiving!  Tomorrow is "cheesecake" day.  My sister-in-law will be joining me to make this one, it'll be my first vegan "cheesecake"!