VVOC.org

Today’s meeting was hosted by John.  We shared a lovely lunch of Winter Soup and some hearty dips with bread including home made hommus and carrot dip, followed by some fresh fruit.

1. Helen has successfully set up some new links with other vegetarian groups and will continue to look for more.

2. We talked about our current members Jacki andMelissa who are overseas and congratulate them on the good work they did while in Africa. We look forward to seeing them home again safely. We hope to hear about how Jacki and Melissa catered for their vegetarian diets both while on the ship and while travelling.

3. Tasks from previous meeting to be carried over includes updating Wordpress, tidying up graphics and collating information about online traffic.

4. Next meeting will be the 1st of october 2011 at Vasilios and Helen’s house.

Mung Bean Fettucine

Thank you to Melissa, who kindly hosted today’s meeting.  Melissa is very talented in the kitchen and prepared a wonderful lunch for us consisting of an Arabian salad (a warm salad of chick peas, spinach, onion, cumin and garlic), dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with rics and herbs), and mung bean fettucine topped with roasted vegetable and tomato sauce.  The mung bean pasta was a relatively new discovery by Melissa and has a lovely texture and a light flavour, a great alternative for those who are gluten intolerant.  The pasta also has a nice appearance (see picture to the right) and looks similar to spinach fettucine.  The piece de resistance was most definately the dessert.  We all sat and watched in awe as Melissa whipped up an apple pie in front of our eyes, vegan, gluten and sugar free to boot!  As we talked over our agenda for the month we could smell the wonderful aroma of the pie being freshly baked.  If only I had taken a camera, it was definately photo worthy!  Oh well, I guess we will just have to get Melissa to make another one in the very near future.

Minutes

1.  Jacki has reported that she is unable to use Skype whilst on the Mercy Ship, so couldn’t participate in today’s meeting.  Melissa and Jacki will both be away for our next meeting – having a lovely break off the coast of Sweeden!  Melissa is looking into setting themselves up so they can participate in out next meeting – our group will be having a simultaneous vege meal in two locations, one having lunch in Sweeden, the other dinner in Brisbane.

2. Our Holy Week trip for 2012 would coincide with work commitments for both Helen and Melissa.  Helen to look into possible leave.

3. Melissa raised that she has become aware of a petition to lobby for the ban on the live export of meat.  Helen to upload this in the news section.

4. Vasilios has decided he would still like to pursue the campaign – “Breaking Eggs With Compassion” for 2012.

5. Vasilios reported that the site is due for some maintenance and upgrades to WordPress.

6. Vasilios has agreed to look into the cost of placing a google ad to increase our traffic.

7. Helen to check that a reciprocal link has been placed for the Vegan/Vegetarian Society of Queensland, and also to continue pursuing other connections.

8. John to research the cost of placing a classified in a publication he subscribes to, “The Vegan.”

9. Items for our next meeting: Vasilios to report on statistics and cost breakdown of google ads. Melissa and Jacki are to report on all the wonderful vege cuisine they have been sampling on their trip- lucky ducks:-)

Thank you to John, who hosted our meeting today and provided a scrumptious lunch.  We shared some delicately flavoured lentils served with bread and salads, one of green beans and one of  cucumber dressed with coconut milk. Lovely, thank you John.

Topics discussed:

(1) We talked about our local Indian restaurants and all agreed that it would be good for each of us to post reviews of these.

(2) Helen raised that there was recent talk that Oprah had challenged her staff to be vegan for a week!  Helen to put up a brief post about this.

(3) Discussed the idea of a VVOC excursion to Melbourne to participate in Holy Week in English at the Good Shepard Australian Orthodox Mission which is based at Monash University. Helen to look into this and gather some info for the group.

(4) Melissa kindly offered to host the next VVOC meeting.

(5) Our August meeting will hopefully be a Skype talk or online chat to include Melissa and Jacki, who will both be working on the Mercy Ship in Africa.

Members Present: Jacki, Melissa, John, Vasilios and Helen

Location: Fundies Whole Foods Cafe Paddington QLD
               219 Given Terrace, Paddington QLD 4064

Today we met for a lovely lunch at Fundies Whole Food Cafe.  Topics discussed were:

1. Helen reported on the progress made so far to increase traffic to our site by organising links on other related websites.  So far three applications have been put in to the following sites: The Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland, The Australian Vegetarian Society and The Australian Vegetarian and Vegan Resource Group.

2. Discussion around developing a campaign of our own for Easter.  The idea would be to encourage Orthodox people who dye eggs red for Easter to use free range eggs.  Idea for the name of the campaign – at this stage would be ‘Breaking Eggs With Compassion.’  Vasilios and Helen are to work on a PDF poster to circulate to parishes and also put on the website.

3. Discussion about becoming a non-profit group.  All agreed to see how the campaigns go and then look into it as this may have other implications too in terms of raising funds which could be done through making the t-shirts and bags or also through donations.  Becoming a non-profit group would give us credibility as well.

4.  Vasilios brought along our website statistics for 2010. In summary, the top three countires generating traffic include Australia, the US and China.  We are averaging 150 unique visitors per month.  Our goal is to double this number over the next twelve months. Vasilios to keep an eye on stats for us and Helen to continue to set up connections/links out of related websites (with reciprocating links on our site.)

5.  Meeting dates for 2011

• 5th of February 2011
• 9th of April 2011
• 4th of June 2011
• 6th of August 2011
• 1st of October 2011
• 3rd of December 2011

Members Present: Jacki, John, Vasilios and Helen

Apologies: Melissa

Today we met at Helen and Vasilios’ place for lunch and a discussion about the film ‘Food Inc’.

1. We started off talking about ‘Food Inc’. For those who are unaware ‘Food Inc’ is a film about the underbelly of the US food production and supply chain.  All agreed there were some truly disturbing instances of where profit is clearly put ahead of people’s health, let alone animal welfare.  Being vegetarian and vegan never felt so good after watching this! For more information about the movie go to the offical website at: http://www.foodincmovie.com/index.php.

2. Afterwards we shared a leisurely lunch including chickpea patties (cooked by Jackie), chickpea roast (cooked by Helen) and salad, olives and chargrilled veges.  John brought along some lovely sweet date and sesame balls to go with fruit for dessert.

Members Present: Jacki, Melissa, John, Vasilios and Helen

Today, we met up at Gopal’s Pure Vegeatarian Restaurant, Sherwood.  Whilst surveying the large array of meals on offer we met up with two fellow Orthodox Christians, subsequently discovering they were also vegetarian!  We were very happy to have Emmanuel and Tamara join us for our take-away picnic at Sherwood Arboretum.

1. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the arboretum.  It was a beautiful Brisbane winter’s day.

2. Helen brought along some ‘not too tricky’ famous vegetarian trivia questions, which, of course the group blitzed. We also enjoyed a game of Bocce, despite some questionable tactics by some group members!

3. We discussed the possibility of looking into the logistics of travelling to Melbourne to participate in an all EnglishHoly Week and Pascha. (Possibly in two years time)

4. We also discussed the possibility of attending Pascha at the Antiochian parish in Caboolture.

5. A reminder for Helen to post the photos of our t-shirt and bag.  John received a compliment  today for our ‘Want To Save The Planet’ t-shirt.

6. Vasilios is to send a reminder to Melissa about her logon details.

7.  Melissa and Jacki have been using Quinoa in place of cous cous with success.  Melissa is going to post their recipe for Quinoa.

8. Vasilios is going to source copies of ‘Food Inc’ and ‘The Corporation’.

9. Our next meeting will be held at Vasilios’ and Helen’s place with a pot luck lunch and a viewing of ‘Food Inc’.

Members present:

Jacki, Melissa, John, Vasilios and Helen

1. We enjoyed a beautiful lunch prepared by John – Thank You! Dishes included Gazpacho soup; guacamole; carrot dip; tahini dip; chick peas and spinach with potatoes and red onions; green beans with tomatoes, onions and zucchini in olive oil.

2. Thank you to John for all your restaurant reviews.

3. Thank you to Jacki for her latest campaign and the article from Father Themi.

4. Raised the idea of starting another resource section to contain books. This may include reviews or lists of Orthodox books, Vegan/Vegetarian books and children’s stories about animals rights etc.

5. Must follow up on t-shirt and bag photos for website. Need to also follow up on link to Dewey’s website as Jacki has reported that it had disappeared.

6. Discussed pet profiles. Need to create a separate page for this content. Perhaps to include content around the therapeutic nature of pets in people’s lives.

7. Discussion around animals and spirit. Vasilios presented the idea that animals have a spirit which is more of a fringe Orthodox idea. John presented the idea that animals don’t have a spirit in the same way as humans, which is the more traditional Orthodox view.

7. Planning a picnic for our next meeting – Sherwood Arboretum. Emails and updates regarding this to go on website soon.

Today we shared a lovely lunch at The Loving Hut.

1. Thanks to John for his restaurant reviews.

2. Thanks to Jacki for her ongoing work with campaigns.

3. Jacki suggested we put up a post featuring our t-shirt and bag as an activity.

4. Vasilios is going to put up links to two articles he has written; “Being Orthodox and Western” and last year’s Easter article.

5. John has offered to lend Helen a book : to assist in writing a posting about fasting.

6. John is going to write a review of The Loving Hut and has kindly offered to host our next meeting.

7. Discussed the book “Dewey“, a wonderful story of a library cat in IOWA.

Minutes VVOC 12/12/09

1. Talked about the t-shirts and decided that Helen would look into the possibility of ladies styles. Will order 2 mens shirts and tote bags for Jacki, Melissa and Helen.

2. Need to put up a post about fasting and our different perspectives. Should we be discussing what we do? Does this diminish the purpose of fasting? Perhaps some general information about fasting – this needs to be a communal posting so that we are all comfortable with the content. Add in a comment regarding the nature of fasting – that it doesn’t have to be scary or an impossible task. (Frederica Matthews-Green book had a good passage about fasting)

3. Vasilios clarified that the personal aspects of the site would be testimonials and recipes etc and that all other info is resource based/links out.

4. Dates for VVOC 2010
* 6/2/10
* 10/4/10 – Picnic
* 5/6/10
*7/8/10
* 2/10/10
*11/12/10

5. Tasks for 2010:
* Jacki – to continue campaigns
* Melissa – recipes
* Vasilios – contact us form
* Helen – nutrition focus
* John – restaurant reviews

6. Noted the importance of stating the nature of content – fact or individual opinion.

VVOC 14th August 2009 6:30pm

Members Present

Vasilios
Melissa
Helen
Cyrano
Josie
Bert
Harry

Apologies
Jacki (With very good reason:-)

Minutes
1. All members agreed that work from previous list needs to be completed!
2. Lentil Loaf and roast veges were a hit.  Recipe to go up on site.
3.  Vasilios discussed his latest creation of the “Eurasion Salad.” ( A combination of endive and other salad veges with a dressing based on soy sauce – very yummy but not auditioned at this meeting!)  Vasilios to put up recipe on site.
4. Melissa requested a Greek Salad recipe to go up on site.
5. Meeting interrupted for a discussion about Cyrano the cat.  After sufficient pats and cuddles, meeting continued…..
6. All members agreed to put up their testimonials regarding becoming vegetarian before next meeting.
…..short interruption to enjoy chocolate coated strawberries from Melissa – yum!….
7. Discussion about our dream to set up an animal rescue farm.
8. Melissa to write a review of “The Loving Heart,” cafe.
9. Vasilios to create a page for Testimonials.