vegan chai

unlikely companions

yesterday i was driving through a somewhat marshy area on the outskirts(-ish) of town, and i suddenly saw the familiar silhouette of a great blue heron ahead. he was standing very near the side of the road, maybe about 4 or 5 feet away, at the edge of some tall bronze grasses. i love herons and i love being able to see one so close, so i was really excited--especially since it was in kind of a strange spot. i was less than .25 miles away from a major intersection where things turn city-fied again, but apparently that was just fine by him. 

anyhow, as i got closer, i slowed a bit so i could gawk at him, and then i suddenly realized that there was a gigantic red-tailed hawk standing with him! he was also about 4 feet from the road, maybe about 4 or 5 feet closer to me. i was totally gobsmacked, and i quickly checked my rear-view mirror to make sure i wouldn't get rear-ended for slamming on the brakes. it was all clear, so i went ahead and ground to a halt right in the middle of the road so i could watch them for a few minutes. the heron didn't seem to mind me so much, but the hawk was very curious about my stopping, and he kept shifting his head to examine my car. 

suddenly remembering that i could, i started struggling to get my iPhone out so i could snap a picture, but before i could get organized the hawk decided that he'd had enough of me, and he up and flew away. the heron then cocked his head and considered me more carefully, but stayed put. i told him he was gorgeous, and decided to leave him alone. i felt a little bad that i freaked out the hawk, but i suppose that's the way it goes.

afterward, of course, i wondered what the heck they were doing together... whether it was just a coincidence, or what. i hope there was nothing icky going on. anyhow, they were soooo pretty, and it was such an unexpected surprise, i was excited for the next 20 minutes. 

sweet potato doughnuts

this morning i woke up to the sounds of my sweetie bustling in the kitchen. when i asked, "what're you building?" he said i'd find out in a few minutes. when i went downstairs to check it out, i squealed for joy: from-scratch vegan doughnuts! holy smokes!

 he found the recipe here, and it's originally from here. the texture is sort of a hybrid between a yeast doughnut and a cake doughnut; the flavor is mildly sweet and the cinnamon sugar topping is deelish. highly recommend!

thanks, aveda!

today i had to pick up a variety of aveda products (my hair is an aveda snob), and while i was there i started poking through the lip products in that just-in-case style so many vegans are familiar with. as long as i've ever looked, aveda lip stuff has always contained beeswax, but there was a new-ish (to me) line there that i'd never checked out, so i grabbed a box and started reading. lo and behold, no beeswax! i was stunned, and i honestly stood there forever, reading the ingredients list over and over to be sure. eventually i asked, and the girl went to get The Big Product Book just to be double-certain, and she couldn't find beeswax in the list either. hooray! the product in question is their lip glaze, which comes in a variety of colors that appear to change at the company's whim. i've done a bit of googling and it seems like there are lots of colors that don't exist anymore, so i'm not sure if they change seasonally, or what. i went with the wineberry, which two different girls said was a huge seller for them, so here's hoping that if i fall in love with it, it won't be discontinued by the next time, har har. 

what i did today

slept in, showered, snuggled the animals, checked kitty's adoption profile (still available), went to get a mani/pedi (woo!), snuggled the animals again. checked kitty's adoption profile (still available). watched some teevy while waiting for husband to get out of meetings. checked kitty's adoption profile (still available). went out to late lunch with husband. ate a cup of vegetable barley soup with a roll (delicious!), a black bean burrito with guac and chips & salsa (amazing!), and part of a slice of peanut-butter-chocolate cake (divine!). drove home quickly and then left immediately to babysit nieces. socialized with sister and brother-in-law while convincing nieces to finish eating dinner. struck a deal with a 22-month-old involving noodles eaten for chocolate milk prepared. snuggled nieces. put the baby to bed and then snuggled the 5 year old on her own. talked for awhile with sister and brother-in-law after they came home, then drove back home to eat the rest of that piece of chocolate-peanut-butter cake (woo!). watched some teevy with husband, snuggled the animals, cleaned the litter box. checked kitty's adoption profile (still available).

welp, it has happened once again

i know this isn't the first time, and i imagine it won't be the last... but i've fallen in love with a kitty at the humane society. he's been in the guest lodging area for the past six weeks or so, being treated for an eye condition, and i loved him instantly. he is a light grey/cream tabby with medium-length hair and cream eyeliner. he is a total pistol; he loooves attention and being held, and he's playful & feisty. he gives hugs. he meows loudly. in short, he'd fit right in (hee). every monday i went straight to his kennel, last row, all the way at the end, number 41. and every week he would see me, hop up with a big meow, start purring, and rub his face against the bars until i would scoop him out for a snuggle. oh, how i love him. and today, i discovered him on the adoption page, and my reaction was a perfect mixture of excited and disappointed. i'm entertaining daydreams of scurrying over and adopting him, and feeling sad about the fact that he won't be there to greet me on monday. sniff, poor me. i really want to be a crazy cat lady, is that so wrong?

happy day

this post has nothing to do with veganism, but it's the big event of my day so i'm writing about it. anyone who's been reading awhile will remember that my little sister was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer at the end of february (although i didn't talk about it here until april). the past nine months have been a roller coaster in every sense; lots of ups and downs and surprise twists and stomach aches... but now, the sense of relief that comes when you're at the end. after a 12-week round of chemo, a double-mastectomy over the summer, some beginning stages of reconstructive surgery, a terrible MRSA infection, and another 12-week round of (a different) chemo, my sister officially completed her treatments today. YAY! she's done, done, done and we couldn't possibly be happier. she has some reconstruction work yet to do, but no more medicine and no more cancer. we all held our breath as she waited for her labs today, to get the official word that she could go ahead with chemo this afternoon, and when the "yes" came it was so exciting! she's been waiting for this day for nine months, and i'm so proud of her. the doctors say that she should feel back to her old self in a couple of months, so here's to an amazing 2010. we are all so done with 2009.

vegan thanksgiving decorations

today i took a giant pile of exams over to our campus testing center to have them scored and analyzed, and while i was waiting on my paperwork, i noticed that they had decorated their office for thanksgiving. nothing too fancy, just a few cartoon turkeys and stuff. but then i noticed that there was also a magic-marker-colored tofurkey ad hung up with the decorations. ha! i commented on it, and the girl behind the counter said it was one of her co-workers' handiwork. i had a giggle and i told her i really liked it (and i copped to being vegan). she laughed and said she'd let her co-worker know that it made someone else happy. i'm so easily pleased.

dr. oz is annoying

let me begin by saying that dr. oz has always bugged me. he's a hugely enormous gigantic proponent of (and participant in) vivisection, which automatically makes him a massive tool in my humble opinion. and it drives me bonkers that he's held up as this wonderful amazing "doctor for the people" and that everyone thinks his word is gospel. ugh. 

so imagine my surprise when i saw (via someone's facebook last week) that he had some guy on his show adopt a vegan diet for 28 days in order to improve his health. the guy in question is "rocco the cowboy," and i watched a 10-minute segment that showed rocco's transformation and apparent adoption of a vegan diet, and by all accounts it sounds like he's planning to stick with it. yay for rocco. of course, it probably doesn't even need to be said that dr. oz never once mentions animals; this is entirely a health-based argument, so we already know he's not necessarily on my team here.

after watching rocco's segment, i clicked through to check out dr. oz's "go vegan" page, and let's just say it's sorely lacking in awesome. 

first, he totally misuses the term 'vegan' when he explains that "many vegans also choose not to purchase items made from leather or that have been tested on animals, but the commitment that you bring to veganism is your own." um, wrong. ALL vegans choose not to do those things, or they wouldn't actually be vegans, duh. 

second, in his "action plan," he outlines a four-week process to going vegan. in week one, he implies that vegans need to take multivitamins and B12 in order to get protein. what? good one, doctor. in week two, he advocates substituting all meat products with soy products. seriously, has he ever heard of beans, or  peanut butter? i know that doctors get next to no nutritional training, but seriously.

and in what is perhaps my favorite part of the whole charade, dr. oz's week four of his "go vegan" plan is that you don't actually go vegan. what the eff? he honest-to-christ suggests that you re-introduce eggs and meet (sic) into your diet in week four, because veganism "isn't a reality or even an ideal." wow, i feel healthier already.

mmm, brunch

we capped off our convention visit to chicago by stopping at karyn's cooked for brunch (we had karyn's the first night for dinner, too... bookends!). we'd never been there for brunch before, but there were tons of great options. i had another smoothie (peach-banana this time), an order of banana french toast, and my husband and i split an order of potato pancakes (in addition to his scramble/skillet breakfast). everything was really tasty! we left feeling full, but not uncomfortable. i also snagged a gigantic cookie for the train ride home. thank you, chicago, for feeding us so well!

only two more meal posts, i promise

i know i just keep blogging about what i ate today, but i can't help it! i'm gorging myself on delicious vegan restaurant food and i feel compelled to share. ;) tonight, we decided to head back to the diner for another go. we had some "convention parties" to attend tonight (our own department's, as well as our alma mater's), so we headed over for a really early dinner before the parties started. i had the country fried steak, which comes with mashed potatoes, and i also had a little side of mac and cheese. ha! a side of starch with your starch, miss? the server didn't even bat an eye, and in fact he said with very good humor, "well it's not like people come here to eat health food!" awesome. i then, of course, had a pumpkin shake for dessert. that thing is seriously the best shake on the planet, no exceptions, no lie. 

tomorrow morning we have brunch in store, so i'll blab about that once it's been eaten, but then i promise to stop my obsessive meal-blogging.