It's beginning to look a lot like...

Lou's Thanksgiving

I'm pretty sure Lou had an even better day than I did. After almost sixteen years I've learned what makes him happy and today was filled with happy things.


It started out with a couple gifts I had to wrap today.  That involved tissue paper which is high on Lou's list of best things ever.

Once I returned home from the best meal...yuuummm...I came loaded with goodies to share with Lou.  He's missing 5 teeth but that didn't slow him down at all tearing through large hunks of turkey.

It was then time for dessert.  Lou loves a nice sweet cream filling.  I happened to have a slice of chocolate cream pie on hand.

After all that food it was time to clean up and take a nap.

Why Vegan??...Why Not!!

I am closing in on one full month of eating a vegan diet. I have a lot of health reasons that caused me to make the change.  I'll spare the details of that but trust me that this was not a decision based on vanity. I hope that nobody adopts a vegan "diet" hoping to lose weight.  I'm sure there are much easier ways. I had come to a point where I just really wanted to feel good and I was so close to eating in this manner anyway that it just seemed natural to go the last part of the way. I've slowly started reframing thoughts such as "I can't eat chicken." to "I chose to not eat chicken and live a healthier life". It's funny how the things that you think will be hard become non-issues. For example, I love chocolate and assumed I wouldn't be eating it anymore.  It's called milk chocolate for a reason, right? Well, I'm glad to report that I have been enjoying chocolate.  It's just that it is high quality chocolate made without fillers of milk or milk fat found in most commercial chocolates.  One of my favorite recipes right now are chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  They are free of white flour, refined sugar, and dairy but they taste fabulous!  I also just found a great cookbook that has so many creative ways to make ingredients including...drum roll...Caesar dressing.  So, the more time I spend (and it's only been a month) the better and easier it gets.

My two fave vegan books right now:

  

Ok, so I don't want to sound preachy but here are some (unsolicited) thoughts on what it has meant to give up the following:

Chicken- I had never prepared red meat at home and only seldom ate it out in restaurants.  I occasionally cooked chicken at home but out in restaurants it was usually by fall back food.  At least prepared in home  have some control about where the chicken came from and how it was raised. Eating out in a chain restaurant leaves little opportunity to doubt how bad a short life the chicken led.  It led a very fearful, stressed life and I truly believe that I was consuming that stress and fear which did nothing to help my health.

Eggs- I never eat eggs-scrambled, fried, omelet-yuck.  I also amuse my friend by picking the egg chunks out of Pad Thai.  Since I never have had fresh eggs in the house I have for years used an alternative when I need to use an egg for baking. Long before thoughts of vegan were dancing in my head I have used a heaping tablespoon full of soy flour mixed with a bit of water.  That substitutes for an egg.  I'm also starting to learn of other completely suitable egg substitutes, such as, who knew, pumpkin puree. In large egg factories (Decoster anyone?) the male chicks (who will not be of any egg producing value) are taken at birth and flung into a trash can where they are piled on one another and left to die.

Milk- I've never drank milk by the glass. Even as a child I couldn't stand it. Lately I've read articles from several different sources about how unnatural it is for humans to drink cow's milk.  We are the only species who even drinks milk into adulthood.  We are also, of course, the only species that drinks the milk of another species.  And when we complain of having gastro issues and lactose intolerance we switch to specialty products rather than just admit that drinking cow's milk might not be healthy.  My whole life I've used milk only as a mix in with other products so this was an easy one to cut.  I've been using almond milk in smoothies and it tastes just fine.  I've read that I should be able to substitute almond milk into any baked good that asks for milk but I haven't actually tried this out yet.

Cheese- Ok, this one is tough.  I love a nice cheese pizza or fresh shavings of Parmesan on pasta.  The fact that cheese substitutes are dismal doesn't help much.  So, for now I am simply going without. I thought I would miss out on Little Debbie snack cakes but my worst moment so far was walking in Whole Foods last weekend and smelling the strong, robust scent of a nice cheese. 

Ok, enough of that.  I'm off to enjoy my lunch of leftover Cashew Nut Roast which was sooo yummy last night :)

Favorite Things Part 1

Oprah's ever popular Favorite Things show aired today and although I wouldn't turn any of it down for some reason I was less than impressed.  After all this is her last year and there was supposed to be a ton of wow factor.  Then I realized that Oprah and I likely care little about the same things.  I really wouldn't care about a cashmere sweater or a diamond watch.  It's not my style.  It made me think about some of my favorite things.  I thought it might be fun to share over the next few weeks some favorite books, pictures, movies, etc.  I'll start with favorite beauty products.  My friends will tell you that I was super excited to have Sephora come to the Maine Mall.  I don't wear a bunch of makeup and I can't stand perfume but I am a sucker for a nice lotion or lip gloss.



This gloss has a sweet strawberry taste and while it goes on clear it quickly turns a pretty pink color.  And unlike 95% of glosses, a hint of color stays behind even once the gloss wears away.

Don't even get me started about how much I love all of the WEN hair products.  The cleansing conditioner is a MUST. This texture balm is perfect-not sticky or goopy- and the tube lasts forever.

My current fav lotion.  It isn't greasy, goes on super easy and has a yummy scent.



I fear snakes and losing my teeth so when it comes to toothpaste I don't mess around.  This stuff rules.  And luckily snakes don't much like Maine.

Another yummy product that feels very decadent for little money. 

 

Going Vegan

I've been thinking about switching to a completely vegan diet for quite a while now.  It isn't that big a stretch for me.  When I eat out, which is not often at all, I will eat chicken but when I eat at home I almost always cook without meat although I do tend to eat a fair amount of cheese.  My weakness is baked goods and I could live on Little Debbie snack cakes which are so NOT part of the lifestyle and diet that I see myself partaking in on any kind of regular basis. So anyway I figured no time like the present.

I did a lot of cooking today.  I started with some baked pita chips.  I had some pita bread hanging around that wasn't at it's freshest anymore so I decided to turn it into crispy chips baked with olive oil and herbs.  This was the result:

Next I made 100% whole wheat bread completely from scratch.  I was worried about it tasting tough since I had read that it's heard to make really good 100% whole wheat loaves.  I must say mine turned out really yummy.  I substituted honey (not vegan) for maple syrup and the recipe called for a small amount of molasses which seemed silly to buy so I used a touch of brown sugar instead.

Next was a surprisingly quick minestrone soup.  This thing had everything under the sun in it.  Tomatoes, rice, beans, carrots, spinach, corn, green beans, onions, garlic, and fresh basil.  It was only supposed to make four servings but I know I'll be eating it all week!

This Crazy,Silly Group of Friends...and A Few Nick Names

I am preparing to embark on a weekend getaway to Salem, MA for some witch and Halloween fun. 


As normally happens with such things,  the emails have been going back and forth between friends in planning the trip.  Some of them are rather business like and address such issues as "What time are we leaving?" "Do we want to eat lunch before we go?" etc.  However, the vast majority are beyond silly. We did spent a fair amount of time bossing around... err... asking one friend who isn't currently working to make phone calls and do the crappy legwork. Here are a few crazed, desperate clips from her emails

"Oh one more thing...", "Sorry meant to include that", "Thanks! I feel like I earned my keep!"

We all have a Hen nick name.  The origins behind that are a long and probably not very amusing to anyone else.  It involves a camping trip and a loud game of Yahtzee. It evolved to labels of each of us being the smart, quiet, funny and cute hens. Anyway I digress...Since we are clearly caught up in labels we naturally decided that for the trip we needed witch names.  Rowan, Elly, Alexandra and Hermione were born.

You would think that having witch names would be enough but it made us begin discussing our previously appointed Golden Girls Names.  I am Rose and as I put it that means I end up left all alone in the end with all of the cheesecake and a fork sitting out on the lanai. One friend couldn't remember her name and was quickly reminded of who she is:

Ginger: What the hell is my Golden Girls name?
Trixie: Blanche the slut
Ginger: Ahhhh...that's right

The discussion then turned to whether or not we had alcohol names.  We had this back and forth discussion as if having a nick name related to an alcohol product would be the most natural thing in the world. This all started because my mother who is an "Honorary Hen" is named Margarita therefore combining the Hen and Alcohol name into one

Trixie: I'll be Jager
Tatiana: Tequila!
Ginger: You guys are so boring!
Tatiana: Ok, Patron Tequila Shots
Trixie: Right, and I'm Jagermeister Liquor preferably from a tap ice cold
Ginger: Try fitting that on a business card

So, as you can imagine this trip could Salem could be adventurous.  It's a given that someone will be told "30 seconds ago!", that Jezibel will be teased about cigarettes and/or guns, that Ginger will lead us through the streets of Salem with everyone jogging behind to keep up, that Trixie will complain about a restaurant, and that Tatiana will need some wine.

If I make it back in one piece I will share pictures!

Vacation Day 3

I've been gazing longingly at cruise ships coming in and out of port all weekend.  That's the thing about "staycation".  It doesn't involve going on a cruise on the Carnival Glory.

Hmmm...but maybe it could involve a cruise. I decided to check out the inexpensive, worthwhile Casco Bay Cruises that I've been talking to some people about lately. This morning was bright and sunny and I thought...why not. The cruise was called mailboat run which didn't make much sense today since there is no mail delivery but the cruise still works the same way otherwise. It goes around to pretty much all the Casco Bay islands and makes short stops at each of them. The whole cruise lasted 3 hours which was a perfect amount of time.

The sun on the water at 10am was very picturesque

I LOVE the idea of a water taxi!

We had a 20 minute stop at one of the islands while they used the red crane to move some big flat thing from the boat to the shore.  It gave me a chance to get out a walk around for a few.

Back in the city.  Now if my head would stop rocking as if it was still out on the waves it would be good!