Which cat attending a Zoom meeting are you?

Summer Anne Burton
Tenderly
5 min readMay 19, 2020

--

Photo: Peace Ridge Sanctuary

Friends,

How was your weekend? Mine was… kinda the same as every other day, to be honest. But I’m here, and you’re here, and for that I’m grateful. Thanks for subscribing — feel free to forward this email to friends who might be interested, or pass along our sign-up page.

Every Type of Zoom Call Participant, Illustrated by Cats. Are you more The One Who Just Got Out of the Shower or The One Who Insists on Showing You Their Pet? Oooh, or are you The One Who Is Day Drinking? Find out in Jack Shepherd’s latest happiness break.

See if you can read the stories of these rescued animals at Peace Ridge Sanctuary without crying. I failed!

I also cried reading Elizabeth Pachaud’s vulnerable and raw report on the lasting trauma of going undercover at a factory pig farm. “A vegan since age 21, I was only in my mid-20s when I decided to do more by becoming an undercover investigator for Mercy for Animals. In my months of training for the physically and emotionally taxing job, my biggest fear was that I would somehow blow my cover. I practiced my poker face, watching graphic undercover footage of animals being slaughtered and tortured until I could train myself not to react. Of course, nothing could have prepared me for what it was like to actually work at a factory farm.”

I stumbled across these gorgeous black and white plant photos by German artist Karl Blossfeldt. They were published in 1928, but look thoroughly modern — beautiful and yet austere, natural and yet architectural. They’re a great reminder to look closer at everything around us.

I also discovered that making your own flour tortillas is a whole lot easier than I thought — mind blown.

Wow: These Stunning Photographs Will Give You a New Appreciation of Nature.

🍉🍉🍉 Are you as Watermelon Sugar high as we are right now? Check out Arabella’s favorite ways to enjoy watermelon. Happy almost-summer!

Also published recently on Tenderly: How to create a pet-friendly garden. Why koji is the future of vegan charcuterie. Alicia’s recommendation for the best vegan cheesemaking book. An endorsement of the doggie door. Buddhist meditations for food anxiety.

ARABELLA’S EASY VEGAN RICOTTA

Perfect for sheet pan pizza!

Photo and recipe by Arabella Breck

There’s nothing better than some homemade vegan ricotta dollops atop a pan pizza. Here’s how I make a cashew-based ricotta…

Ingredients

  • 1 cup soaked raw, unsalted cashews
  • -¼ cup water
  • 2–4 tablespoons of lemon juice (I add this to taste/texture)
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (you can add more to taste)
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend.
  2. Add lemon juice, water or salt as needed for taste/texture. You’ll know you’re done when the mixture is smooth, but still thick.
  3. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before use.
  4. Add dollops of ricotta to pizza before baking and enjoy!

If you prefer a nut-free cheese, the blog Sweet Simple Vegan has a recipe for a tofu-based ricotta that is great as well!

TWEET TWEET

Some good tweets (they exist)

CURRENTLY PLAYING

Tunes from Tenderly HQ

I made y’all this playlist called Watermelon Season to capture the hopefully gentle transition from spring to summer. I’m named after the summer and it’s my favorite season. How could it not be? Pools, popsicles, and baseball. All I need. I’m a little nervous to face a summer — especially one here in Austin where many days stretch above 100 degrees — without swimming or vacation on the horizon, but I’m still indulging some gentle summer vibes with my song selection. This is not a party playlist, but more of a one or two person picnic playlist, or a great soundtrack to a walk around your neighborhood. There’s Harry Styles, of course, but there’s also some 60s girl group sounds, late 70s African sunshine, 80s New Zealand indie pop, 90s riot grrls, and current singer-songwriters. Enjoy!

WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT?

A vegan recipe recommendation from the Tenderly archives

Vera’s Vegan Korean Tteokbokki. The recipe is simple enough: add Korean rice cakes to a stock mixed with a paste made from gochujang, sugar, and gochugaru. Simmer it until the sauce is thick and glossy. Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds. Last summer Vera Blossom wrote this for us about what a perfect meal it is to eat with friends (WAH), but it’s a perfect recipe to pair with a trip to your local Asian supermarket. They are often less crowded than U.S. chain stores, and full of vegan delights from dried mushrooms to fermented black beans. And rice cakes! To make this. You won’t regret it.

Thanks for reading and supporting Tenderly, friends. See you on Friday! You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest to keep Tenderly in your life all week long.

And if you have ideas, contributions, questions, or requests for our newsletter — send me a note by replying to this email. If you’re interested in contributing to Tenderly on the web, we’re currently accepting submissions through Medium’s partner program.

Talk soon,

— Summer Anne Burton, Editor-in-Chief of Tenderly

--

--

Summer Anne Burton
Tenderly

Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tenderly. Former BuzzFeed exec. Moomin. Texan. Vegan for the animals. 💕