VeganMoFo Day 28 - Pushing Daisies and Julie Hasson

Pushing Daisies is a great television show that's being ignored by the masses. It doesn't deserve to be. Last year when it debuted I caught a few minutes of one episode but my family insisted on changing the channel for something else, and I never looked for it again. There was always something else on at the same time that I thought was a better show, but for the life of me I can't think of it now.

This summer our Blockbuster got the DVD's of season 1 in and I was desperate for something to watch and grabbed the first one. I was hooked before the first episode, a.k.a. the Pie-lette, was over.

I won't go into detail about the show — these web sites do a much better job of it:
The official Pushing Daisies site on ABC.com, including episodes to watch on-line
Internet Movie Database Pushing Daisies page
Pushing Daisies WikiPedia entry
"How Do I Love Thee" essay from a TWoP Daisies lover
Television Without Pity detailed episode recaps

Right now it's in danger of being canceled, so Wednesday night, instead of watching Obama's paid-for speech, turn on your local ABC station and watch. You'll be glad you did.

Now, you're probably wondering what all this has to do with Julie Hasson? Well, the simple premise of the show is the love between the piemaker and the dead girl (Read the info I posted and it'll make sense), and Julie's newest book is about pies! (It's okay — you can groan.)

I can't make pie crust to save my life so I won't be buying that particular book, but I do frequent Julie's (and her guests') videos on Everyday Dish Television, bought the Everyday Dish DVD, made a number of her recipes multiple times, especially those Italian sausages, own a few of her other cookbooks, and love reading her posts over on the PPK forums and her own blog. She's always ready to share a recipe and a laugh. The vege-verse (vegetarian universe) is a much better place for having Julie in it. After Isa and Terry, she's probably my next favorite vegan cookbook author.

So, that leads me to today's dinner. I'll make up a new batch of those sausages, pop yet another loaf of Italian bread in the ABM to bake in the oven, and when my husband gets home toss a pound of whole wheat spaghetti into boiling water. We'll have our salads while that's cooking, then after I drain the pasta and mix it with a jar of McDougall-safe spaghetti sauce, cut the bread and dig in to a simple but filling Italian meal.

And if the rain lets up, maybe I'll drive over to the bakery and grab a pie for dessert.