Birthday Cake, Plus My Favorite Giveaway, Starring PPKers

There is lots to celebrate at my parents' home these days. Over the course of the week: their granddaughter (my niece!) visiting, Thanksgiving, the fact that the granddaughter just might remember Thanksgiving this year, my father's birthday, my parents' anniversary, and the first day of Hanukkah. Most of these occasions, if not all, call for celebratory desserts. The dessert above is the cake I made for my father's birthday, a raspberry blackout cake with ganache frosting from Vegan With a Vengeance. I would say this went over well. In fact, my mother sat on the kitchen floor for some time scraping leftover ganache from the pan with a spatula. It was kind of awesome . . . as was seeing my niece eat chocolate cake for the first time ever.

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Today is my favorite giveaway of the month, because it's starring the PPK. First I want to plug the stars' websites and etsy shops, because they are working hard and putting out great products and I hope you'll support them. First up, Soyfucker quarterly comic zine created by vegan writers and artists. These are awesome and you'll want every issue. Next please head over to the home of friendly monsters and tofu pirates at Panda with Cookie. You will want to feast your eyes on the delicious cookies at the companion shop Panda with Cookie Bakes. You may need them in your stomach, especially if you have a hungry monster or pirate to feed. Since you are already on etsy, you must check out the lovely cards at Chirp Cards. More great cards and art can be found at ilikeapplejuice.

So now let me tell you what the winner will win today. I have for you:

• killer Soyfucker Zine volumes one and two from Erica Soyfucker and friends
• pandaful tofu pirate pin and and panda pin from the fantastic panda with cookie
• adorable hedgehog card from Tahinitoo
• fabulous Heartkite and Saints and Sinners cards plus two great stickers from ilikeapplejuice

supplemented with: one smiling Oregon cloud magnet (you know you love rain), one package Butlers Soy Curls, six Primal Strips in different flavors, two coupons for free Turtle Island/Tofurky products, one coupon for a free Earth Balance product, one cute Amy's blue tote bag, one Amy's pen, and cents off coupons for Tofutti, Follow Your Heart, and Bubbies products.

Interested? The giveaway is open to everyone everywhere, from Philadelphia to Graz to Manila and all points in between. To enter, tell me about a PPKer you like, or a PPKer's art/craft project/recipe/whathaveyou that stuck with you, or tell me anything at all. Note: This does not mean pick your favorite PPKer. Who wants to do that? Not me. There are lots of nice ones. Tell me about one of them. The winner will be chosen by random number generator and posted on tomorrow's blog post. If the giveaway is won by an overseas entrant, I'll choose a US winner for the coupons by random number generator and post the second winner tomorrow as well.

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The winner of yesterday's Animal Camp giveaway is Mandee! Congratulations! Please send your name and address to me at miso...@yahoo.com. (<---make sure to click on the . . . link for the rest of the email address. This is a spam avoidance thing.)