Briefly Blogging

I haven't given up on Blogland. Life and work, especially work, keeps getting in the way. I even thought of a few funny blog topics, but they will have to wait 'til I have more than five minutes to write. But I'll soon be back with blogs on my Canadian knowledge--or lack thereof, green food, and other random stuff that may be lacking in a point. :) In the mean time, work is calling.

Final Reflections on Being a Fake Vegan

The last day of vegan week went fine. As soon as vegan week was over (at 7:30pm on a Saturday night), I ate a piece of broccoli with dip. An unusual choice I suppose, but later I had cheesy veggie dishes and some desserts that contained eggs and milk. Aside from a few unintended goofs (the English Muffin and the snack at tutoring) and one intentional one (I didn't want to waste a glass of skim milk), I think overall I did well. However, that being said, I would not make it as a vegan. As you are well aware I lik my sweets, but what I found myself missing the most was...milk and cheese. Yes, cheese. Grilled cheese, mac and cheese, veggie burgers with cheese, bagels with cream cheese (okay not quite the same, but you know), quesadillas, etc. I think I mentioned in a previous blog, that I was amazed at how many things that I thought were vegan-safe were not (i.e. the English Muffins, salad dressing, bread crumbs, croutons, etc). I would be willing to eat vegan again for a week. I'm contemplating doing a week of almost vegan, meaning I could still drink my skim milk. Besides I've still got my fake egg stuff and you know how I hate wasting food so maybe I'll make me some fake bread for fake vegan week part two. But long story short, I applaud the vegans out there, I swear it must take a lot of willpower, but maybe if it's what you've grown up with you just get used to it (like I always had milk with dinner as a kid so I still do it now much to the dismay of some of my friends). But I like to have seafood once a week, chicken/turkey a couple of times a month, and lots of foods with milk, eggs, and cheese them (hello, summer is less than three months away, bring on the ice-cream). So there you have it, I mostly made it through a week as a fake vegan. But now that it's over, can I please have some ice-cream? :)

Reflections from a Fake Vegan Day 6: Maintain Your Willpower

Do you like how it's taking me nearly a month to write about a one week experience? Life just seems to keep getting in the way of blogging. I think I'm doing too much, but anyway...day 6 of vegan week went okay. I had to pass on an offer to go out to dinner because the menu didn't have anything vegan on it. Per usual breakfast and lunch went well. I safely snacked and for dinner I made rice for the first time in years. I mixed some pineapple and veggie burger in with it to give it a little something. It wasn't bad. I was hosting a party the following night so I baked a bunch of stuff for that on Friday night (day 6). I was tempted to sample many of the things I made, but I knew in 24 hours I'd be able to enjoy them so I restrained myself. I was kind of surprised about what I did and didn't miss. Yes, I missed my milk, but I also missed things like cheese and butter. I wanted to put butter on my zucchini bread and I would have loved to have put a piece of cheesy on my veggie burger. Considering my huge sweet tooth, I was surprised I wasn't craving sweets more often. I think the fact that I purposely didn't keep too many in the house that week helped. Had they been around, I may not have had sufficient willpower, but since they weren't there, I didn't have to worry about sneaking them. I'm somewhat curious about whether I could handle going vegan in the summer because in the summer I really like ice-cream. How do vegans go without ice-cream for life? Don't they know what they're missing? I know, I know, they probably think I'm crazy for eating animal product, but ice-cream is so good. :) I'll try not to take a month to write about the last day of vegan week. And until then, have a good one!

Reflections from a Fake Vegan Day 5: Keep Me Busy So I Don't Cheat

Day five was a long day. Per usual breakfast and lunch went well. I had to work late so work provided me with dinner. I did my best to eat vegan. I didn't put dressing on my salad and when I ate it, I tried not to eat any cheese. I was careful about which pasta I picked--not the really good looking cheesy kind. :( I also showed tremendous restraint and stared at the dessert table, but did not eat anything on it. After all, I had a piece of vegan-zucchini bread and a vegan brownie waiting for me. Yeah, somehow, those didn't sound as good as the desserts in front of me, but I managed to bypass the dessert table and head back to my desk. Since it was such a long busy day, I didn't have a ton of time to eat so I didn't mind the vegan thing as much as I otherwise might have. After work, I had a dance class so no time to eat then--or be tempted by non-vegan foods. When I got home from dance, I baked some things for a party I was hosting two days later. I really wanted to sample some of my baked goodies, but I knew I had to wait two days so I baked the goodies and then put them out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Yeah, not so much, but I managed. After all only two days left to go. The end was near, I couldn't wait to drink a glass of milk, make a grilled cheese, and enjoy some sushi. Oh, yeah, and perhaps a brownie. :) I don't know how real vegans do it. They must have insane willpower.

Reflections From a Fake Vegan Day 4: The Joys and Challenges of Baking

Day four went fairly well in fake vegan-land. I think I successfully avoided English Muffins and all other foods that might contain eggs, butter, or milk. Might I also add that on day two, I passed up a brownie and had fruit instead. Just had to pat myself on the back for one success. So anyway, on day four I decided to try some vegan baking. A friend of mine gave me some egg replacer (replacement? I'm not sure it's proper name) and told me I should make zucchini bread with it. I like zucchini bread and I've made it before so I thought I'd give it a try. I made it with the fake eggs and well...it looked really weird. Not terribly moist and when it was done cooking, it looked a little crumbly, but you know what? It tasted fine! It would have tasted better with butter on it, but yeah, it was good. I also made vegan-safe brownies. Those were also not as moist when in batter form though when they were done baking they seemed more moist than regular brownies. They taste all right, but I haven't been as addicted to them as I have been to regular brownies. I think I'll stick with the zucchini bread. :)

Reflections from a Fake Vegan Day 3: Will Power...Or Not

Day three of vegan week started off well enough. I had a vegan-friendly breakfast and lunch. At lunch time, it was someone's birthday so one person on my team brought in a birthday cake. I gathered up some will power and said no thank you. Even when they peer pressured me to have just a little piece, I said no thanks, "I'm trying to be good" and I stood my ground. Go me! Later that day I had a meeting with my boss who offered me my favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie. I really wanted one, but I said no thanks. He offered again and I managed to resist again. I was so proud, I was actually passing up sweets. Usually when I battle with my sweet tooth, my sweet tooth wins, especially on a stressful day. Well, things went along nicely until it was time to tutor. When I got to tutoring, they had a nice little snack left out for me on a plate at the spot where I usually sit. I wasn't exactly sure how to explain that I was eating vegan for a week and could you tell me if there are eggs, butter, or milk in this little treat. If it were a friend or family member or something, I'd probably just explain, but let's face it this whole thing I'm doing is weird. Who eats vegan for one week just because? And I was pretty hungry since it had been five hours since I had my fruit salad so I ate the treat and I'm pretty sure it wasn't vegan-friendly. So three days into vegan week, I've eaten three things that were not vegan-approved. Am I a failure? I may have to do this vegan business again sans milk, English Muffins, and tutoring treats. I give those real vegan some major kudos. It's a lot of work to keep up with all the ingredients and pass up on good foods when everyone else is eating them. We'll see what day four brings.

Reflections From a Fake Vegan Day 2: Those Darn Labels

I suppose if there were a week to be a fake vegan, this was the week to do it. This week is/was insanely busy. I have/had meetings, etc after work every day (okay Friday isn't so much a meeting as a standing walking date with a colleague) and something to do every night (some fun stuff and some meetings). So since I was going to be so busy, I wouldn't be snacking so much since I wouldn't have time. Breakfast on Day two of Vegan Week went well as did lunch (I'm loving the fruit this week). After my meeting, I went to the gym, then was home for about 15 minutes before I had to meet some friends to go to see a movie. I vaguely remember inhaling an English Muffin with peanut butter in the midst of changing, returning a phone call, and playing beat the clock in an attempt to make it to the movies on time (success). Later on that night I was reading some vegan websites in an attempt to get more ideas for recipes and vegan-safe foods and I noticed one of the more comprehensive lists didn't list English Muffins, so I checked the label and wouldn't you know it, the darn things have milk as the second to last ingredient. SERIOUSLSY?! Seriously? Apparently, bagels are safe. I like bagels, in fact I like them even more then English Muffins. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy English Muffins, but had I been smart and read the label FIRST I would have noticed this and bought bagels instead. I guess I'm kind of a failure since I unintentionally ate non-vegan food on vegan week. Grr. I'm still sticking with the project, but I may try it again another week later this year when I'm more sure of the food labels. Ironically, since doing vegan week, I've been eating fewer vegetables. I'm definitely eating healthier since I can't eat sweets, but instead of my usual salad for lunch I had fruit salad. I figured since I'd be eating lots of veggies for/with dinner I'd do fruit for lunch, but I've yet to have veggies for dinner so we'll see how that goes. In the mean time, have a good night and read your food labels, or maybe you shouldn't read them, then you won't know you are unintentionally cheating.