Today's What Vegan Means post comes from our friend LJ. Lindsay loves talking yoga with LJ on Twitter, and I like to tease her about boys, heh :) She's a teacher from Miami and she blogs at It's Veganlicious.

I have to start this post with some gratitude. Thank you to Happy Herbivore for asking me to write about “what vegan means” when I can answer that in just one word: compassion. And thank you to life for …

We didn't plan to land in Venice on my birthday.. but its not exactly a bad place to celebrate, 'eh?

Venice is beautiful --- no doubt about that! but it's more jam packed than Times Square in July, or New Years. You can't move it's so congested with people (and yes, the canals are a bit stinky, too). I thought Venice was pretty, but would have preferred it with a little more breathing room. There were just so many tourists …

Just wanted to pop in an announce the winner from the Rhythm Foods kale and sweet potato chip giveaway! We left the contest open a bit longer- 243 responses!

If you didn't win, try making HH's oil-free kale chips!

The winner is;

Send me an email at andrea at happyherbivore.com so I can forward your information! 

Thanks for entering!

Hi Herbies :] Today's 'What Vegan Means' post comes from our friend Don, a PETA web designer based in Little Rock, Arkansas. You can find him tweeting his life away (follow him, he makes me laugh!) at twitter.com/donaldG and occasionally writing about food or other issues at dongaines.com.

It's difficult to tackle this subject in such a concise manner. My initial thought is I should probably just write a dissertation and withdraw an excerpt for this post, but alas, …

I like gadgets, don't get me wrong --- I look at an avocado peeler and think "that is so cool!" even though I don't have the need, space or budget for one. Sure it's only $10, but that $10 could be better spent...

Point is, I think people often get caught up in thinking they need fancy tools and gadgets to cook or to eat healthy... and you don't.

Maybe I was even a victim to this thinking, too --- …