Portland again

So I hit up some FNB servings while I was in Portland for the zine symposium last week. It doesn't seem possible to find out where they cook if you're only there for a brief period of time, as none of the websites/posters list cooking places, and the email bounces.

The Friday serving was kind of weird, in that they didn't provide any dishes. I felt that it kind of defeated the purpose of FNB (that anyone can come by and eat), if you have to bring your own dish/utensil. A girl I talked to who was serving felt the same way. Apparently people didn't want to wash all the dishes if everyone returned them. Blah.

Afterwards I went to the Red and Black cafe (a worker owned vegan cafe, with beer!)with some people, and we watched some people play music.

Saturday I tried going to an FNB, but it didn't happen. So I hung out with some other people that were waiting for it.

Sunday I went and found the FNB serving that I'd eaten with last time I was in town, and I ate some food and talked to them a little, but then I went back to hang out with the zine symposium people. Me and this other guy cycled along beside the river and hung out on an old, crumbling, concrete dock thing. Exciting!

Asstacular Adventures

I totally forgot one incredibly dramatic thing that happened at FNB in Seattle.

After we got back from serving and were hanging out, I sat on the arm of a couch, then slid backwards onto the seat part. I heard a ripping and realized that my pants had ripped.

In fact, basically the entire ass of my shorts was ripped, it was beyond fixing (short of large scale patching), so the next day I hit up a thrift store and just bought new ones. The old ones were kind of gross anyway.

Seattle!

What happened at the Vancouver FNB serving last week? I have no idea, as I was in Seattle. However I did help out with a FNB serving there.

I checked their website, and saw that they had a serving on Sunday. So on Sunday I called them up to make sure the information was right.

It was, but in a hilarious coincidence nobody had the key to open the place. They promised to call me back when they did have a key.

So I hung out with the guy I was couchsurfing with, and a girl from Argentina who was also couchsurfing at his place. Before too long I got a call back, and me and the other couchsurfer walked down and found the place where they cooked.

We met one of the people involved outside and helped him bring in some stuff to cook. Including vegan donuts! Well, those weren't to cook, they were to eat.

There were quite a few people there to cook, but it was a new cooking space for them, and there wasn't that much room. Plus there were lots of comfy couches just outside.

I busied myself helping to make the best fruit salad I've ever had at a FNB serving (peaches and nectarines and grapes and pineapples and apples and pears!), but there was also soup, a big stirfry, and we made limeade. Yum.

Once we finished cooking, we loaded everything into a truck, and a bunch of people piled into that and a car and drive to the cooking location. Some people also stayed behind to help clean up.

We drove to the serving place, which was actually kind of far away, spilling a bunch of the limeade on the way. Once there the serving was pretty laid back (at least compared to Vancouver), though it happened in what was called "crack park" by some of the FNB people. Apparently sometimes it can get intense. I think one good thing was that since it was in a park (or a paved pedestrian area or whatever), is that people could sit and eat right there, come back for seconds if they wanted more, and give back dishes if they wanted to. Solid.

Of course we didn't have any forks to give to people at first. Someone went to a Subway to try and get some, but they only gave us six. So I donated a few dollars and he went off to a store and bought some. Hurray!

At the end, we gave away all the food, except a little bit of fruit salad that I then ate, and boxes and boxes of donuts.

We dropped off some produce at a shelter place. Then we headed back to do cleanup. Except there were too many people there, so a bunch of us just hung out and drank. Apparently sometimes they drink while cooking. Oh I wish we could have done that...

A bunch of people were going to a punk show afterward, but it seemed far away, so I took off. Still! If you are ever in Seattle on a Sunday you should check out FNB there as they are totally nice.

That guy's a cycle path.

So Jim and Leilani were in Victoria for the ska festival, and lots of other people were busy. No food pick up was done, and nobody had the key. Would FNB even happen this week?

I had been in Victoria, but was cycling back so I could go to the Alice in Wonderland event at Trout Lake on Sunday. I'd expected to get into Vancouver around 3 or 4 and thought maybe I could eat some food and help with the washing up or something.

However, the person I was staying with in Victoria got up super early on Saturday to go to work, so I was off cycling by 7:30am. Around 8:30 I realized I could make it to the 9am ferry, so I cycled my ass off for the last 10km and made it to the ferry and was (I believe) the last person to get onto it (the ticket seller wasn't even sure if I could make it).

After falling asleep on the ferry ride across, I cycled for another couple of hours (including a van ride through a tunnel to get into Richmond) and got to Vancouver around 12:45.

Oh snap, that's early enough to get to FNB. I knew that nobody else would have gotten the key from Jim's place, and when I'd seen him the day before at ska fest I knew where it was. So I (painfully) cycled over to his place, got the key, and got downtown by about 1:45.

Sidney and her friend Ben were the only people there, but Katie (who didn't even think she could make it this week) soon showed up.

Sidney and I went to the grocery store, and came back loaded down with apples, pears, lemons, watermelons (not so hot), cantaloupes (yum), broccoli, onions, bananas, and baby carrots.

Katie made a huuuuge amount of banana bread. And banana bread muffins.

We soaked a bunch of lentils, and put those, the onions, spices, broccoli, and carrots together and made a good stew.

Then we chopped up loads of the fruit and made a big fruit salad.

Oh, and we made lemonade that we drank ourselves because there wasn't enough to serve.

We didn't make as much food as usual as we didn't start cooking until after 2, and I think it was the fastest serving ever!

Then Dave came by to help washing up the dishes! Awesome!

Props to Ben who did loads of work for someone's first time. He was a chopping machine.

Last (for me) Supper?

So maybe it was my last FNB in Vancouver? Or maybe I'll have a chance to do some in August. At any rate I'm leaving town to travel for a while and hopefully someone else can take over updating this thing.

The day didn't start off that great, as nobody had the key to open the cupboard, and none of the DERA employees seemed to be around. Not even Jim had the key, because someone else had taken it the week before.

Eventually (and thankfully) the person with the key showed up at about 2:15, which didn't leave us as much cooking time.

I made a rhubarb cake, and then felt sick/gross (damn disease!) so went off and did nothing for a while.

What else was made? Um, Zoe brought some hummus and potato salad from a wedding she'd been at. I think we made a salad with lettuce and peppers and stuff. We made a big stew thing with broccoli lentils and squash? I clearly don't remember as it was days and days ago and I have since cycled to another city.

Still, food not bombs is awesome.