A Conglomeration of Notes

It's been one of those too-long-between-posts again.  What can I say?  Some weeks aren't very adventurous and sometimes I avoid the blog like the plague.  Why?  I don't know.  It's daunting.  I cook something new and think gee, now I need to blog it.  But I also think, who really wants to read about how I put pumpkin seeds in the brown rice and threw it into the hollows of a squash?  Whoopee!  It might have been a first for me, but I bet it's nothing new in the universe.  Blogging takes motivation and self-esteem.

Well, after a certain length of time, a new blog post is necessary so that the blog doesn't die and become just another speck in the universe (or is it already?  This is clearly not the time nor blog for metaphysics).

So now I get to tell you all how this is the first week I've weighed in at a gain since I've started losing weight.  Yes, I know it's natural to have plateaus and gains while trying to lose weight, but the first gain is always frustrating (not that the rest aren't, as well!)

I blame it on the vegan rice crispy treats, recipe courtesy of Alicia Silverstone.  Yea, I finally got around to make those little devils and I didn't even put the chocolate chips in.  Sure they're not bad for you (really only brown rice and peanut butter when you get down to it).  Not bad until you find yourself picking at them all...day...LONG.  I cannot keep my hands away from these things.

I wasn't Little Miss Perfect the rest of the week, either, but I still blame the treats.

In other news, the shelter I volunteer at had a Halloween party/bake sale on Saturday.  Needless to say, none of the goods were vegan friendly (aside from the chips that went with the $3.00 hotdog lunch you could buy).  I stayed most of the day to help out with the dogs and didn't eat anything from breakfast until I got home around 4:30pm.  That's when it hit me how hungry I was.  That didn't bode well when my parents and I went out to dinner at a local restaurant.

My parents really like this restaurant and I was so-so on it after turning vegan.  I decided to ask what the black bean burger was made of so that I didn't have to stick with a bald portobello mushroom on a bun again.  The waitress was amazing and brought out the book that had all the ingredients of the pre-prepared foods and she read off every last gorey detail (i.e. soy protein, wheat gluten, etc.)  I was shocked to hear a lack of cheese and egg proteins listed.  I should add that the black bean burger is actually two of these burgers stacked on top of each other.  Usually with cheeses, avocado, pesto, and crispy fried onion thingies.  I asked for it without the cheese and avocado (I don't like avocado which I guess is a sin against vegans everywhere) and they automatically put the pesto on the side.  It was delicious but my stomach paid for it the next day.  (I ate the whole thing...and despite my choosing the side salad instead of fries, it wasn't pretty).  I'm thinking of writing an email to the restaurant applauding them and the waitress.  Nights like that make me giddy.

Tonight I attempt cooking curry for the very first time.  Wish me luck!