A few of our favorite things Part II

Part II of a two-part post!

It's that time of year again, when folks put out their "best of" lists. Last year we did a blog post on our favorite women and a blog post on our favorite men. This years' list includes many of our favorite things: people, groups, restaurants, etc. Like we did last year, we invite you to share some of your favorites with us!

And here's the rest of our list:

Chris Kluwe. He plays for the Minnesota Vikings, is way sexy and constantly speaks out for marriage equality. It is when people do what he does that makes me feel we will have full marriage equality one day.

Heather's Restaurant. I wrote a blog about this treasure in Bay City, Michigan. What a find. My mom lives near here and took us for lunch. We were blown away. HUGE selection of vegan dishes including desserts and cinnamon rolls!

Pussy Riot. Yes, you have most likely heard of this Russian all-female band whose members (two) are currently in a prison (actually I think it's a labor camp) all because of their peaceful expression of their beliefs, in a church. The church got mad. We love activists with courage and our reason for naming them here is to get more people to speak out against the injustice of their being imprisoned.

#tweetfortaiji. This is a symbol on Twitter for all of those speaking out for the dolphins being massacred in "the cove" in Japan.  I spend a lot of time thinking about the pods of dolphins being pushed into the cove and then being killed by hand. The fear, torture, cruelty and hopelessness as they try to survive breaks my heart. I will write a blog post soon in hopes of taking action against what is going on there.

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera. Kasha is the founder and executive director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a leading LGBTQ rights organization. In Uganda. One of the most anti-gay countries in the world. If you see this Kasha, know we love you. And to all LGBTQ activists who live in harm's way, we are sending you love too.

The activist. Yep, we know you are out there. You work all day. In some cases you take care of your family and are a supportive other-half. And in the limited free time you have you are a voice for the voiceless. And you rock. We love you. And we get it. It's not always easy. Thank you.

Thank you for reading our list of a few of our favorite things. We could probably write at least two more posts. We encourage you to speak out for your favorites and to let folks who you think rock know that they do and how you feel.

Vegan paradise in Michigan

Mike and I had a surprise waiting for us when we got to Michigan.

Picture this. If you are vegan, you have probably experienced this. A friend or relative says that they have been to a restaurant where "you can eat" and that you would love it. Having experienced this before and not being impressed with being able to order a chef's salad without the meat and cheese, you're thinking "sure".

This is what Mike and I were thinking when we walked into Heather's for lunch in downtown Bay City, MI.

Boy were we wrong!

Heather's is a vegan paradise right in the middle of Michigan. Well, sort of in the middle. Downtown Bay City is just ten minutes east of I75, and about two hours north of Detroit.

When we first saw the menu I smiled as I read about the vegan seitan pot pie. Oh my! That's what I ordered the first time and all I can say is delish! The side I ordered was a butternut squash delight with pecans and brown sugar. Incredible. Mike got the vegan BLT with homemade vegan bacon and homemade vegan mayo. What more can I say?

The second time we went for dinner, which they serve Fridays and Saturdays. Other days of the week they only serve breakfast (including vegan pancakes and French Toast!) and lunch. For dinner they have two vegan and two non-vegan specials, plus the lunch and breakfast menu offerings.  This time Mike got the vegan pot pie and I got the vegan special which was Beef Stroganoff. I loved it. My uncle got the soup which he loved. They have a vegan soup every day.

The most incredible of a totally incredible experience was the dessert. Both times I ordered the Peanut Butter Brownie Crust Vanilla Pie. I just can't write enough about this, or tell you how absolutely delish it was. I will dream about it. Their desserts change but they typically have five or six vegan desserts. Mike got the banana cake and it was crazy good.

Finally, as we left Bay City we stopped by for breakfast. One of the staff told us that vegan cinnamon rolls had just come out of the oven. Oh my. They were incredible.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. We covered them all. All were amazing.

If you are a long-term reader of ours you might know that for me, friendly service is critical in a restaurant experience. I am long past going to a vegan or veg or veg friendly restaurant just to be treated like crap or left feeling like I was in the way or not good enough (or cool enough) to dine there. Every person we encountered at Heather's, including Heather, was beyond friendly, kind, hospitable and helpful. We felt like we were being welcomed into a special place for sure.

Heather's is not exclusively vegan. They serve meat dishes. Their vegan dishes take up a good part of their menu.

We would travel hours to go back. We highly recommend Heather's to anyone who wants to be blown away by delicious, fresh food and incredibly friendly service. They could use your support, too. It's not easy being a vegan haven in the middle of Michigan.

Heather's is at 205 3rd Street in downtown Bay City. Their phone is 989.402.1116.

Thanks for reading. I would love your feedback. My email is vegandude@msn.com