Misc

Worest Weekend Ever

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Oh Neil and I were bad this weekend we had yummy Chinese from A Single Pebble which was incredibleeeeeeeee and we had a bottle of wine (we decided to have a replacement anniversary weekend since our original one didn’t go quiet as planned). Then we had delicious brunch at Magonlia. Then we had lots of bread haha sandwiches for lunch and dinner (we were going to grill a pizza but the coals got tooo hot so we had to scrap it and I used the tomatoes to make soup and we had grilled teese and soup. Then yesterday we had raw cheesecake, vegan seitan rubens and then we went to a ball game and got veggie burgers and fries- i don’t know what we were thinking. So basically we suck haha but I am being good today (and for at least the rest of the week).
Today I am having green jucie, banana, apple, melon, and more green juice.

Going Raw

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Honestly I thought going raw was going to be a lot easier than it is. However I’m really struggling at giving up none raw foods- as well as fully liking the raw dishes I create.

I made a rawzanga and it was amazing and this raw broccoli and cheeze dish that was good. I also have made raw brownies which my husband can’t stop talking about. However then there was the raw burgers and sweet potatoes I just couldn’t get into it.

I think I just need to take more time and try new things as well as take a slower approach to raw food rather than just jumping in.

The most difficult thing I am finding however is that all the raw dishes I want to create take hours to make. I don’t have hours I work full time and mangage a house and have very little me time so it’s like what’s a girl to do? How can I put something in the dehydrator for 3 hours when I work from 7-5 and if i put it in when i get home we can’t even enjoy it til 8.

Anyways I have decided to go back to my cooking ways and leave 1-2 days a week for raw dinners (lunches may or may not be raw those are easier to do with salads and such).

I also need to jump back into working out I have been awful about it lately. It just seems like we are never home and our house is it rough shape from being gone every weekend and working all day – it’s hard to go home at the end of the day and just spend all my time cleaning and putting things away as well as until this past weekend we were lacking in places to store things. Anyways it’s back to working out today because I need to get back in shape for our cruise which is just a few months away.

I guess it’s time to work now.

Cheers.

Going Raw…..at least for the most part

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My husband and I have both noticed an increase in our weight over the last few months and are well unhappy about it. We know that it’s time to make some changes and after about a two years of discussing doing a high raw diet we have decided to jump right in. Our plan is to attempt to eat 60-80% raw and since we have our own garden this year it should be a lot easier. I just purchased a deyhdrator and i am looking into getting a few other essentials to make our raw venture easier and more doable. The thing is however it’s so expensive to go raw when you have to buy all the contraptions and lots of fresh produce all the time and living in the NE fresh produce is harder to find year round. Anyways we are excited to start and will jump into it after our weekend away to Toronto.

Non-Food Related Entertainment

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1) LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE? Bride Wars
2) WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? a book on Chiapas
3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? Scrabble
4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? Shape, Fitness, Self, VegNews, Consumer Reports
5) FAVOURITE SMELLS? sugar cookies
6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS? i love you from my hubby
7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Disappointment
8 ) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE? neil turn off the alarm
9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE? i don’t really eat fast food
10) FUTURE CHILD’S NAME? it’s a secret
11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D… open my own cafe/bookstore
12) DO YOU DRIVE FAST? sometime
13) DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? nope
14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY? scary,
15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? 1994 ford taurus
16) FAVOURITE DRINK? aqua con gas
17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT – IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD… get my house organized and cleaned
18 ) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? yep
19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? darker brown?
20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN? Colchester VT; St Albans VT; Waterville VT; Montpelier VT; Madrid Spain; Boston MA; Fredericton NB
21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Tennis
22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Didn’t get sent to me, but I read her blog often!
23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? boxes
24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Sure, why not
250 MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL? Morning person.
26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? neither
27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX? the shower
28 ) FAVOURITE PIE? raspberry- our cat’s favorite too
29) FAVOURITE ICECREAM FLAVOUR? i like the new coconut milk ice creams- vanilla
30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? I’m not tagging anyone, but I hope there are some readers out there who will fill this out for fun.

Little Cooking going on….

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Lately Neil and I have been so busy and out of town so needless to say little cooking has been going on. Last night we made grilled veggie wraps with hummus and this morning I made Vegan Crunk’s Peacan Waffles for her cookbook tester but when I went to take a photo of it my camera’s battery was dead.

Any ways here are some restaurant reviews from my Hubby wanted me post on here:
(transfered from old blog)
Since moving to Vermont from Fredericton, NB, Canada, I must say that I feel rather spoiled by the great options for veg*n dining throughout Vermont. In Fredericton, there were very few options available to vegans (for the most part french fries/salad and the occasional boca type veggie burger) and what was available was often bland and uninspiring. I’m not a food critic, so I won’t go into too many details, but here’s a quick run down of some of the Vermont restaurants that my my partner, Lindsay, and I enjoy eating at as vegans are:

Stone Soup
College St
Burlington, Vermont
This vegan friendly counter service restaurant has a great, always fresh salad bar, a number of veg*n friendly hot and cold sandwiches and fresh vegan baked goods! I love the vegan macaroons and the Vegan club sandwich!

Bee’s Knees
Morrisville, Vermont
http://www.thebeesknees-vt.com/
The Bee’s Knees is a small, locally run cafe in Morrisville, Vermont with a really welcoming, community oriented feel to it. They often have many different veg*n dishes including great salads and sandwiches. My favourites are the mock pulled pork (mushrooms and eggplant i believe) and the tofu breakfast sandwiches (I love being able to get vegan breakfast that consists of more than just homefries). The menu indicates which options are vegan friendly and which can be made vegan friendly on request. They have local music acts playing there fairly regularly as well.

A Single Pebble
http://www.asinglepebble.com/intro.htm
Classical Chinese cuisine in downtown Burlington. Offers many traditional Chinese dishes including many veg*n options including my favourites mock eel (made from mushrooms) and the Buddha’s Beef (made from seitan).

Pho Dang Vietnamese Cafe
Winooski, Vt
http://www.7nvt.com/7n/listing.htm?establishment_id=793
This Vietnamese cafe makes up for what it’s lacking in atmosphere by it’s great, fresh food. It has a very lunch room sort of feel to it but that really doesn’t matter once you taste their great tofu dishes (veggie pho isn’t vegan). The portions are huge and the prices are cheap.

Ocha/Royal Orchid
Waterbury/Montpelier, Vermont
These two Thai restaurants are owned by the same family. Both restaurants seem to have very similar menus with slight variations between the two. They have many veg*n dishes and are willing to make changes to other dishes to accommodate veg*n customers as well. The menu is split into curries, noodle dishes, rice dishes and vegetable/stir fry dishes with your choice of tofu or meat. We usually start off our meal with the fresh rolls which is a soft rice paper roll with tofu, rice noodles and just a taste of mint with a nice light sweet and sour sauce for dipping. It’s a nice light and fresh start to the meal. The entrees we have had are the pad ki mao (my personal favourite, a wide rice noodle dish with thai basil and chilli), brocolli and tofu in a nice creamy peanut sauce, penang and massuman curries (personal favourites at home when my parnter cooks them and both very well done by the restaurants) and the pad thai (with no fish sauce or eggs). The pad thai is closer to a traditional pad thai than what people in New Brunswick knew as pad thai (spicy peanut sauce with rice noodles). While the Waterbury location seems to be a bit pricier, it also has a nicer atmosphere than the Montpelier location and I typically find the food to be a little better. Entrees are typically in the $10 range while the appetizers are in the $3 to $5 range.

Pacific Rim
Burlington, Vt
Pacific Rim is one of my favourite spots to eat when we’re in Burlington. It is a mainly Korean Asian restaurant in downtown Burlington. There is a good selection of salads/appetizers and main courses that are veg*n friendly. The food is fresh, flavourful and very affordable. They also have a good drink menu with asian takes on popular drinks and lots of ginger! It’s a very informal seat yourself sort of atmosphere with fairly decent service considering how busy things can get there.
(*note Pacific Rim’s menu has changed since this review was created and the last time two times we have dined here the food has been dissapointing and not up to the same standards they once were)

Magnolia Bistro
Burlington, Vermont
Hidden away in downtown Burlington is Vermont’s only truly green restaurant, Magnolia Bistro. Magnolia focuses on eco-friendly, fair trade, local and organic foods and offers a twist on regular breakfast and lunch fare. They have many veg*n friendly options and the menu indicates what is vegan or can be adapted to be vegan. Some of the veg*n options you can order vegan french toast, substitute eggs for tofu in breakfast dishes or if you’re not in a breakfast mood go for a garbanzo burger. The food is fresh tasting, well seasoned and fairly affordable considering the quality of ingredients used.
(*note this review from fellow VT Vegan http://howtofeedavegan.blogspot.com/2009/01/recommendation-withdrawn.html)
Neil

2008 REFLECTION SURVEY

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Since work is slow….
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Got married.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t recall making any.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
my cousin’s wife had a baby girl

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Canada, USA.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
travel.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 31- my wedding day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
graduating. getting married. getting a job.

9. What was your biggest failure?
not getting a job in my field.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
nope

11. What was the best thing you bought?
train tickets to NYC

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
my husbands- he is doing amazing at his new(ish) job and got a raise!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
a number of people.

14. Where did most of your money go?
moving. wedding. honeymoon.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
my wedding.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
anything chuck ragan.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:_a) happier or sadder?_b) thinner or fatter?_c) richer or poorer?
a) Happier.
b) Neither: i have stayed the same but hope to get more fit this year and loose some weight
c) richer: i am no longer a student and have a full time job

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travel. spent time with friends.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Surfing the internet.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
with my parents, grandmother, husband and cat.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
i am in love

22. What was your favorite TV program?
old episodes of Third Watch.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
no.

24. What was the best book you read?
The American Empire.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The What Cheer Birgade.

26. What did you want and get?
a honeymoon.

27. What did you want and not get?
a job in my field

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
um….across the universe.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i flew out of my honeymoon, 23

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
getting a job in my field.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
attempt to be stylish but lots of wear to work clothes and jeans

32. What kept you sane?
My husband

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jim Sturgess.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
All of them—the war in Iraq, the environment, the economy, healthcare, human rights, animal rights.

35. Who did you miss?
My friends who moved away and that we moved away from.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
um i have no idea. we haven’t met many people here yet.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
make time to relax.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
what?