Posts (page 2)

BlogHer starts 2 weeks from Friday. But the whole week is pretty much shot. 2 weeks from today we're having a sales offsite. 2 weeks from tomorrow we start activities with the speaker training, editor meet-up and newbie mixer.

It's crunch time.

And whereas some people might lose their appetite and therefore some weight during such stressful times, I am not some people. Clearly.

Sigh.

So in the past four days I cooked one big mess o' [Whole Wheat because the S.O. decided he doesn't like the rice pasta all that much] Spaghetti and Meat[less] Balls, which I ate over two days.

And I went out to and also ordered Chinese food, which I also ate at multiple meals over two days.

Can you guess the other things on my menu over the alst four days? If you guessed:

Some Organic Cereal with Rice Milk
Soy Lattes
Vegan Scones
Cashews
Diet Coke
and a Burrito

You would be right.

Sigh. Even I bore me.

Bear with me...I promise I'll start cooking interesting things again after BlogHer. If I survive it.

Still brooding over that $150 I had to shell out over that company reunion I planned badly! I ended up taking home lots of leftover food from it...just because at $150 out-of-pocket (Over and above my own dinner cost) I figured I should the most out of it I could.

But eating mediocre pasta marinara for leftovers didn't really raise my spirits as I hoped it would. Fancy that.

Breakfast:
Soy Latte
Vegan Scone
Organic Banana

Lunch:
Leftover, mediocre, Pasta Marinara
Diet Coke

Snack:
Cashews

Dinner:
Leftover salad with Wasabi Dressing
Leftover Seitan Stew
Mini "Ice Cream" Sandwiches

To assuage my annoyance over screwing myself out of $150 the night before at my company reunion, I vowed to have a healthy day on Thursday...both going for a walk with my regular walking companion, and cooking dinner...including a salad :)

Only partly assuaged, but at least I didn't compound my annoyance with emotional eating that would then also make me feel icky and depressed :)

Breakfast:
Organic Corn Flakes, Dried Cranberries and Rice Milk
Organic Banana

Lunch:
Diet Coke
Black Beans/Rice and Guacamole Burrito
Tortilla Chips

Dinner:
Organic Romaine with Organic Avocado, Jicama, Dried Cranberries and Organic Wasabi Dressing
Organic Brown Rice
Seitan Stew, with Olive Oil, Garlic, Organic Leeks, Prganic Spinach, Portabella Mushrooms, Nutritional Yeast and Tofutti Sour Cream

With BlogHer '08 less than a month away I don't know why I volunteered to organize a little reunion for my last corporate job. I own the Yahoo Group for ex-employees of that company, but our last reunion was probably three years ago at this point.

Anyway, somehow I did volunteer, and I went back to the scene of our last reunion, BJs Brewhouse in Cupertino. Last time they simply gave us a big table out on the patio and let us order off the menu. I guess BJs learned from their mistakes and now if you want to reserve a table for 40 people you have to order a buffet.

Now there is one rule in event planning: People don't show up. They don't show up for weddings; they don't show up for conferences; they don't show up for loosely-planned company reunions. I know this.

So, WHY I gave the full number of 'Yes" RSVPs to the restaurant as the number attending is truly beyond me. yet I did...so when some people didn't show up, and others steadfastly refused to eat food and therefore did not cough up the cost of the buffet, I was still presented with a bill for the full number of people I reported would be there. And I was out $150, just like that.

Stupid, stupid me.

And the food was uninspiring.

Breakfast:
Organic Banana
Organic Corn Flakes, Dried Cranberries, Rice Milk

Lunch:
Macadamia Nuts
Miso Soup
Mini "Ice Cream" Sandwich

Dinner (BJs):
Salad with Vinaigrette
Pasta Marinara

Snack:
Mini "Ice Cream" Sandwich

How ca you all stand me!?

Seriously, the only interesting thing about Tuesday was that I got it in me to eat a big chunk of watermelon as my appetizer before dinner.

Don't believe me? Check out the menu, it will all sound familiar:

Breakfast:
Soy Latte and Vegan Scone...yes I am Stabucks' bitch

Lunch:
Diet Coke, Tortilla Chips and Black Bean/Rice/Guac Burrito...I am also the bitch of the taqueria across the street from the office

Snack:
Cashews
Organic Nectarine (Wow, getting daring!)

Dinner:
Aforementioned Watermelon
Morningstar Farms "Steak" Strips, sauteed with Olive Oil, Garlic, Organic Peas and Nutritional Yeast
Mini "Ice Cream" Sandwich

I love leftovers for two reasons:

1. It feels like you're eating a hearty, healthy, home-cooked meal, even though you're just microwaving as per usual
2. It means I didn't eat-the-whole-thing the first go-round :)

Leftovers for lunch and leftovers for dinner might be going a bit far, but hell with it!

Breakfast:
Organic Banana
Soy Yogurt

Snack:
Cashews

Lunch:
Diet Coke
Leftover Rice Spaghetti and Veggie Sauce with Meatless Meatballs

Dinner:
Leftover Organic Brown Rice with a small amount of Leftover Spicy "Beef" Stroganoff-like topping
2 Smart Dogs sauteed in Soy Margarine

Seriously, I do not know why I love to buy and receive cookbooks. I have god knows how many, and I've gone through many of them dog-earing the pages to indicate which recipes I'd like to try. (Hint: almost all of them.) I've even made lists of the recipes that look simplest to pull off with stuff I normally keep in my kitchen.

And yet, more often than not, I will simply wing it. Pull things out of the fridge, freezer and pantry and throw it all together. I like to think the cookbooks subliminally inspire me, but really, I'm not so sure.

Not that I'm unhappy with the results, but my meals do tend to veer towards the following few dishes:

-Some kind of pasta with some kind of sauce, usually with meatless meatballs
-Some kind of savory seitan stew, typically over rice, sometimes over potatoes or a different grain
-Some kind of stir fry, also over rice
-Some kind of roasted vegetable cornucopia
-Some kind of ground "beef" dish...either a rich, stroganoffy approach or a spicy, taco-like approach

Last night I did the latter...although I thought I was going to go rich, stroganoffy, but then took a left turn at spicy along the way. No recipe, just me and my weekend shopping trip to Whole Foods getting intimate.

Breakfast:
Organic Corn Flakes with Dried Cranberries and Rice Milk

Lunch:
Soy Latte
Part of a leftover Rice Bowl
Macadamia Nuts
Soy Yogurt
Soy Jerky

(Yes, a very random "lunch")

Dinner:
Organic Brown Rice, topped with:
Ground Taco-flavored "Beef", sauteed with Organic leeks, Tomatillo, Diced Chiles, Garlic, Organic Tomato, Organic Spinach, Organic Peas, Nutritional Yeast and Tofutti Sour Cream

This week I had a somewhat last minute (and very brief) trip to Dallas that involved eating in airports, on airplanes, and at the mercy of a hotel "cafeteria-style" solution for seminar attendees. Let's just say the pickings were slim.

This resulted in several vegan mishaps:

Mishap #1: My S.O. has brought me home veggie burgers form Burger King on many an occasion, so I was happy to step up to the counter and order one from the BK at SJC. I was not so happy to be reminded that the reason that the BK veggies the S.O. brings home are always mayo-free is because he is smart enough and nice enough to remember to ask for them to be mayo-free! I was not so smart.

That's how my travel started on Wednesday, Day 635.

Mishap #2: Again at an airport. After a breakfast of a soy latte I bought for myself before the day-long workshop began and some fruit, and a lunch of some green salad, I arrived at the airport facing a 90 minute delayed departure and some hunger pangs. Now, even though I had gotten an upgrade to First Class for the return flight, the agent had basically said there was no way to order a vegetarian meal (I actually don't believe her, I think she was just tired of helping me.) So I wandered the DFW concourse finding either highly non-veg friendly options or extremely long lines everywhere I looked. I finally found a Taco Bell, and much as I am not a big fan of their work, I do know the beans are vegan. I ordered a bean burrito and a small salad, careful to check that there was no meat in the salad (there was, but I asked for beans instead...no problem.) But you know, I just didn't go far enough...you always have to remember the no queso, no crema especially at fast food places that this a dollop of sour cream and sprinkling of cheese will make you not notice how little actual food you're getting for that exorbitant charge.

Let's just say a lot of scraping ensued. It's not like I could take it back, considering it was my own mistake. Would you have?

Luckily Friday was an entirely new and better day, because I actually took most of the day completely off and went up to play in the city with a friend who was one of those people taking a "staycation" last week. We started out with lunch at Greens, my absolutely favorite veg restaurant, where I had some nice potato-garlic soup and some brochettes. We had dinner at Destino, a Peruvian place on Market Street, where I had a lovely Heart of Palm Salad and a Quinoa dish. Destino is one of the few non-veg places I've ever encountered that makes sure to have not just vegetarian, but actually vegan options available in their prix fixe selections.

In between the eating we stopped in Union Square, did some shopping (I actually bought something to wear right then because it was HOT in the City, and I was wearing something way to heavy) and had a massage and facial. I'll be honest: The massage was torture. This woman was digging her elbows into my back so hard I actually had a couple of bruises the next day. I was indicating pain, and she just said "breathe, breathe." Yes, I absolutely should have told her to lighten up or leave me alone. I didn't, and it was my mistake (again.) The facial, on the other hand was very nice. Especially when the esthetician asked me how old I was and was surprised by my answer, saying she thought I was 10 years younger, and I have good genes. I'm sure they say that to all their clients, but I lapped it up anyway :)

Of course, taking a day off simply meant that I worked much of yesterday. But considering I've been working much of most weekends, it was still a nice change. I also even took a 2-hour nap yesterday afternoon. Wow. And then I cooked (Rice Bran) Spaghetti and (Trader Joe's Meatless) Meatballs for dinner, complete with some leeks, spinach, celery and peas.

It's a bit hard to get the cooking time exactly right on that rice pasta. If I do it the number of minutes on the package, it gets mushy. So I tried less time this time, and it was a bit over-al-dente. But it certainly tasted good.

So, that was the second half of my week...the thrill of foodie victory and the agony of vegan defeat.

How was your week?

I think it's totally a wonderful thing that when I'm a guest at someone's home, and they take my vegan-ness into account, they end up creating wonderful vegan meals that a) are not a pain in the ass to cook and b) taste great and c) make everyone equally happy and fulfilled.

It just proves the point that it's not terrible burden being vegan, nor a terrible deprivation. Like last night at my book club. We had a most yummy dinner. All vegan. All good.

Breakfast:
Soy Latte
Vegan Scone

Snack:
Cashews

Lunch:
Diet Coke
Avocado, Lettuce and Tomato on Wheat Bread
Vegan Brownie

Dinner:
Chips and Salsa
Almonds
Sparkling Lemonade
Salad with Avocado
Butternut Squash Soup
Pasta with Chard and Mushrooms

There is not one thing on today's menu that I haven't eaten many times before.

Even though I took a visiting colleague out for dinner.

I chose a restaurant I've been to before, because they have a salad I've ordered half a dozen times before.

This was a boring food day.

The question is: is there anything wrong with that?

Breakfast:
Soy Latte
Vegan Scone

Yawn

Snack:
Cashews

Yawn

Lunch:
Diet Coke
Tortilla Chips
Rice, Black Bean and Guacamole Burrito

Double-yawn

Dinner (Milagros):
Chips and guacamole
Grilled Portabella Mushroom Salad

Hard to yawn about this yummy salad, but I have ordered it many times by now.

Just call me Sleeping Foodie.