What the hell is a vegan anyway?

The article came out in the Promoter on Friday and Amy Harris did a fine job of describing our situation and the future of our company. I thought since some of you don't have access to our local rag I would reprint it...

Staff Shortage leads to changing of the grill
A local restaurant has become the latest victim of a province - wide staff shortage, but the owner isn't calling the pending changes a negative thing.
As of the end of October, the Moose Mountain Grill in Bellevue will be shutting down the restaurant portion of the business, but will stay open to do catering services and take home freezer foods as the Moose Mountain Catering Company.
Owner Carol Ann Smith says although the changes are in large part due to the inability to acquire staff for both the front and back ends of the restaurant, she along with Chef Stephen French are looking into all the positives the future can hold.
"It's a positive thing. We're not going out of business. In fact, we're almost a victim of our own success," she said.
"Business is going great, and we've had a great summer, but there is definitely a staffing issue so we're turning the business into something we hope will be better."
Smith says she's not only looking forward to the upcoming changes in services, but also to the increase in free time the changes will hopefully allow for.
"The past four years have been wonderful, but I have to admit (myself and Chef Stephen) haven't been able to do anything else but run the restaurant. Our personal lives have been put on hold and we're hoping to have more time now," she said.
More information on the changes to Moose Mountain Grill can be found at (this blog site).

Thanks Amy! You can't buy that kind of advertising!!

Yes we know what Vegan means! In fact Tristan our trusty Chef's Assistant from last year, the guy you can thank for closing down the Moose... he was irreplaceable... (sorry Tristan!) was the Vegan of the Moose Mountain family and taught everything Chef Stephen knows about this particular genre of food! We can do great and I mean GREAT vegetarian & vegan food! In that spirit our recipe this week is a delicious Vegan soup. By the way ... did you know that most of our baking on our brunch cold buffet was vegan? Betcha didn't!

Curried Pumpkin & Apple Soup
3 large onions - diced
3 carrots - diced
8 sticks of celery - diced
1 bulb of roasted garlic
2 T fresh grated ginger
6 T of curry powder
3 T ground cumin
3 T ground coriander
1 T black pepper
2 T salt
1 t ground clove
3 granny smith apples - peeled, cored & diced
4 lbs of pumpkin puree
1 litre of apple juice (preferably organic)
5 litres of vegetable stock

This makes 6 or 7 litres of soup! It freezes well or cut the recipe by 1/4.

Peel & dice 4 lbs of pumpkin - roast & puree.
Slice the top off a bulb of garlic, drizzle with olive oil & place in 350 f oven for approx 45 minutes. Let cool. Squeeze cloves out of the skin.
Saute onions, carrots & celery in a little olive oil until soft. Add roast garlic & spices, saute for a further 5 minutes. Add diced apples & pumpkin puree. Cook for another 2 minutes. Add juice, stock, salt & pepper. Cook until all vegetables are tender - about 30 minutes. Puree soup in a food processor or blender until smooth. Transfer back to pot. If too thick - add more stock & correct seasoning.

Tune in next week for another installment...
CA & Chef Stephen