The Boca Chick'n Pattie Incident

I almost lost my mind. It was crazy.

DH and I went grocery shopping together. This isn't usually a chore that we share, quite frankly because we both hate grocery shopping so much, it's best to separate us.

As I have stated in the past, GB doesn't have a lot of vegan friendly choices in restaurants and it is very hard to search the speciality stuff out in grocery stores. One of the stores here does have a "natural and organic" section which is where all the stuff like Sour Supreme, Veganaise, and the fake meats are located. I spend a lot of time in that section.

I went to the frozen area of this section to get my Boca Chick'n patties, they are my fave. They are easy to cook, make a good lunch, and are delish. I picked up a box and noticed that it didn't have the word VEGAN on the side of the box that it normally does. This was enough to force me to check the ingredient list. And read the whole thing. Thank God I looked because for some odd reason these had egg whites in them. AND it didn't include the eggs in the allergen information. (Look at the side of most foods by the ingredients and you will see the little disclaimer "Contains: WHEAT, SOY, AND DAIRY. Usually it says eggs here too. My favorite is that peanut butter says "Contains: PEANUTS. Thanks) I checked the nuggets, same thing.

Now, I am pissed. I hate it when stupid shit makes me become the angry vegan. But come on, why would they change something and put eggs in it? Wouldn't that make it more expensive? Puh-leeze. My husband looks at me and knows not to touch on it. So I go home angry and pattie-less.

The next day I decide to venture to a different store. They also have a nice natural foods section, and this store has the patties sans eggs. I bought like ten. And I wish I was kidding, but this was the dumbest shopping trip ever. I spent $60 on fake chick'n, nutritional yeast, Clif bars, and smut mags. (I had to know about Pete and Ashlee's wedding!)

Last night I decided to figure out what was going on. If they were adding eggs to all these products I needed to know now so I could buy all of them. Here's what it boils down to. The ones with eggs come in a tan box and are organic. Not Vegan. The ones in the red box are probably genetically engineered but don't have eggs. Vegan. This world is a messed up little place.

VEGAN

NOT VEGAN!

Chicago

Was so fun. When we finally got there.

First things first, I had to pick a friend up at the airport. Got her and then we were to head to the Chicago Diner. Which is easier said than done. Got to the diner, ate a really good Philly "Steak" and Cheeze and mashed potato's and a shake. There was a mix up with my food, so I also had to pay nothing to eat this bounty.

Okay, on to our hotel in China Town. Now that I know where to go, I can't believe we got as lost as we did. I will say this, the words "Three hour tour" have a whole different meaning to Sarah and I now. Here are the highlights of our Tour of Chitown:

1. A sign that said "Big Buns and Pitas"

2. A flock of Segways. Not kidding like 20 of them.

3. A combination tanning salon/movie rental place.

4. Northwestern U. (Yeah, I know, this is in another town)

We learned that if you are following signs, make sure you know what CITY the downtown sign is referring and pointing.

When we FINALLY (and this is pretty much my fault) got to our hotel in China Town it was three hours later and we were woofed. Our hotel was pretty much a dorm room. Two twin beds, a closet, bathroom with shower stall, and a tv with a dresser. But it was clean, in a okay neighborhood, and for $90 a night, totally worth it. We were even able to find a parking spot so I didn't have to pay to park. Score.

That was essentially Thursday. Friday a bunch of people went to the Cubs game, but my friend Bri-ON and I weren't into it. He and I were going to go to a Hookah Bar, but they were all closed. We went to a regular bar instead and got drunk on PBR and he kicked my ass at darts. We ate at the diner again. I almost got sick. OOOH I also bought a really cool bike messenger bag (even though I am a poser) that I have been using as a purse. We went to a little get together at a friends apartment, got some puppy lovin and some Teese. We also tried to find a bar on Friday night which was easier said than done. Apparently downtown Chicago shuts down at midnight. We took our only scary bus ride back to China Town and crashed.

Sat we slept in and then went to Soul Vegetarian. Our food was sooooooooooooooooo good it is getting a post all it's own. It was kind of hard to find, but so worth the trip. I haven't had vegan food like this anywhere. We then headed to Veggie Bite, a vegan fast food restaurant. I was still full from Soul Veg so I didn't eat anything, but it is completely cool that they have vegan fast food. We headed to the Windy City Rollers bout, which was amazing. They make us look just a tad slow (insert sarcasim). Then we found a bar, drank, and then went home again. Oooh we also stopped for diner food at a place call The Pick Me Up Cafe. Can you say vegan french toast, pancakes, and hash browns? YUM.

Sunday, I came back. Essentially it was a weekend of eating and drinking, but it was nice to be around vegans. It was nice to be around people that were annoyed by the same things and had the same eating habits and not having to ask if there is dairy in this. I learned a lot about public transportation and can navigate a subway like a true city girl. It was also great to meet people irl that I have been talking to for over a year online.

The Pasta Experiment

Many thanks to Laloofa over at Mehitable Days for some suggestions on alternatives to white pasta.

Here are the things that she recommends:
On your pasta issue, I recommend Tinkyada pasta. It looks and tastes like white pasta, but is whole grain (made from brown rice). We really enjoy it, especially the spaghetti and lasagna noodles...
http://www.tinkyada.com/


VitaSpelt is also really good... I prefer their shell and elbow pastas https://www.purityfoods.com/

As luck would have it the grocery store had both. So I bought both and I plan to cook up some mushrooms and kale and green onion and nom nom nom tonight.

I also picked up some quinoa pasta. I will check back later!

Venn Pongal

I wanted to write a poem about it, but I am not a poet. I can't screw it up. I added too much ginger last night. It was still delicious. I have burnt it. Still works. I have added too much assholefaetida and it still works.

I am not sure how I survived as a vegan prior to making this delicious recipe. I would post it here, but if you want to make it you should go get Alternative Vegan, by Dino Sarma. He rules. And I said so. That's why you should buy it.

It snowed again here. I am tired of being cold and wet. This is probably why my nose has been stuffed up as long as I can remember. I shouldn't bitch. This is the first good sinus-y thing I have had since going vegan. I mean I have had a couple colds and one infection, but nothing that has lasted this long.

Gettin' Old is a Bitch

Man oh man. I am pretty sure that right now I feel like some one would feel if they had been hit by a truck. And to any one reading who has been hit by a truck, I apologize, because I am sure it's much worse than this.

I haven't showered yet. My stomach is finally starting to feel normal. I have eaten a strange mish mash of foods ranging from tator tots to stuffing to green beans to ice cream. I am surprised my stomach finally calmed down with that goat like menu. I am pretty sure that I thew my back out last night with all of the dry heaving that was going on. Kids, let this be a lesson to you. Don't drink too much when you get old. I remember being able to drink a whole lot more and not get a hangover at all, so I am positive that this has to do with getting old.

I also have what looks like a bite mark on my inner arm. If any one has any idea how it got there, please get back to me. I would like to do an all out forensic bite check analysis, but I would need something to compare it to.

Chicago is - My Kind of Town

Okay, so I didn't screw up again. I am posting.

We leave for Chicago today. We are planning on two days there and then coming to Milwaukee. Then, alas, we will come home. Why the road trip you may be asking? We are going to see New Found Glory. We are vair excited. This will be there 4th, 5th, and 6th time we are seeing them. We have never done the road trip trifecta so it should be interesting. That's a lot of solid time to be spending with the Husbandito.

In other news, he found this restaurant: The Chicago Diner. I am very excited to eat there. I am also excited that dh found it and is willing to try it. This is HUGE for him. FYI.

The other piece of advice I have is don't drink PBR out of a keg. It hurts the next day.

Wisconsin Dells

The fam and I went to WI Dells on Thursday and Friday last week. It didn't rain. Any one who has known me for more than a half hour knows that every time we venture to the Dells, it rains. And is usually cold and shitty. It was gorgeous. My legs are still Casper-esque, but meh.

It was amazing that in the two restaurants we ate in, after I ordered, the waiter/ress said "Are you vegan?" and then proceeded to give me recommendations on what to eat.

The waitress at Pedro's was a life saver. She let me know that tortilla's had lard in them, made sure I got the kind without the lard, made sure there was no butter on my veggie fajitas, and recommended the Cheese Factory to us. She ruled!

Speaking of the Cheese Factory, it completely rocked. I never thought that I would find such good vegan food at a place with "cheese" in the name. Our waiter was an endearing older gentleman with an accent I couldn't identify. It was adorable. I ordered a soy latte (YUM) and then I was going to order a dish and I was minus-ing the cheese, and he said "Oh, are you vegan? Let me get you our Vegan Menu." That's right folks, our vegan menu. I think I giggled in sheer delight. I had scrambled tofu with a Romesco sauce. Delish. I was in vegan heaven.

All in all, the trip was a success for once, and we all ate well.

Mothers Day

Well mothers day was yesterday and it went off pretty much with out a hitch. They did do a barbecue, and I would be lying if I said it didn't bug me. What really got me was when my formerly vegetarian brother ate a double cheese and flesh burger.

I was in charge of making the potato salad. Every one loved it and we didn't tell them it was vegan until we finished. Yum. I also made two dips and a loaf of Misanthropy's famous tomato bread. Yum, yum, yum. I will post some pictures of my yummy food later.

It did get kind of annoying because my father still insists that I am going through a phase. Never mind that I am thirty, married, a home owner etc. Its a phase. There friend was also mispronouncing Spanish names on purpose, just to be an ass. Such as pronouncing the J in all Spanish names. It was just irritating and not really funny.

Other than that it was a pretty good day, I survived the family, I was even able to explain why I don't eat honey with out a huge issue. They liked the food so all was good.

Lots of Frustrations Lately

I haven't blogged in a while. I think it has been over a week, or like six days or something. I have been slacking for a reason.

Lately, I have just felt overly frustrated by stupid shit that I know I shouldn't let bother me. I had to attend yet another family gathering, and I think it was worse then Easter. FIL was really ragging on me for no good reason what so ever. I follow the rules now. I don't bring up my veganism. I let people approach me. I don't talk about it over food. So in other words, it wasn't like I was standing at the fucking grill tossing blood on people chanting "Meat's no treat for those you eat". FIL would not leave me alone. Bless my hubby for stepping in and telling him to back off.

Then, a couple days later I ordered marinara from a restaurant around here, where I have eaten before. The person who ordered specified no cheese, but apparently not no meat. My marinara came with flesh on it. WHAT THE FUCK. Most of the flesh was on the top, so I slopped the sauce in the garbage and ate the noodles. I then preceded to feel guilty about this for days, on the off chance that I ate some meat. (I doubt that I did. I was meticulous about it, and at this stage in the game, I can guarantee that accidental meat would make me sick). As if this wasn't bad enough, a know-it-all bitch from work preceded to tell me that marinara always has meat in it. UM - NO IT FUCKING DOESN'T. Does not. DOES NOT.

So, as you can see, I sound like a fucking whiner. I did make some great discoveries tho, so I will impart my knowledge to you so I don't seem like such a ranting bitch (although anyone who knows me, knows I am a ranting bitch)

1. I finally found a place to buy Florida Crystals Sugar.
2. I had a really good vegan meal on Friday.
3. My mom is totally cool with having me bring some vegan items down for Mothers Day.
4. I am having a vegan themed party on Thursday. Thank God beer is vegan.

Easter.....

So, my in-laws tried to be nice this year and suggested that we go to a buffet for Easter dinner, so my hopes were high as we went to eat.

First, we walk in and the whole building smells of fried chicken (any one who knows anything about me at all knows that I can't stand fried chicken. I worked in a deli for a long time...). Gross. SD looked at me and says "I suppose you are enjoying the smell". Big thought for a thirteen year old.

We walk in, sit down and pray. Cool. I am going to go check out the salad bar. This is what it consisted of and I am not kidding.

• Iceberg lettuce mix
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cheese
• Mushrooms
• Bacon
• Ranch Dressing
• French Dressing
• Potato Salad
• Italian Pasta Salad
• Macaroni and Cheese Salad

And I am the only person who saw anything wrong with this. I didn't even try the French dressing, I am sure it probably had milk in it. So I made a salad with lettuce, mushrooms and tomatoes. I head over to the dessert table to get a plate of fruit because I love fruit (why the fuck was it on the dessert table?) It had all this disgusting juice on it, but I could make do.

So there I am with my salad with no dressing and fruit. BIL sits down and I will give you three guesses as to what he says. Come on... just guess. Yup - "Look at all these dead animals. They look delicious". To which I just didn't respond. He then started asking a whole bunch of questions as to why I don't eat animal products, because I don't think we should kill them? I said there were a number of reasons and left it at that. He let it go, thank God.

I often wonder what would happen if I asked some one why they ate animal flesh? What the fuck does it matter what I eat or what I don't eat. (I know this is old news for some long time vegans, but man it still gets on my nerves).

So the tomatoes were rotten and the fruit was so bad that even my nieces didn't eat it. So I went back got some broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. I also made the mistake of walking by the hot buffet, just to see. Maybe they had warm veggies or something. NOPE. Chicken flesh, cow flesh, cow flesh, mashed potatoes (that you know have milk in them), and fish flesh. Jesus H. Christ. (Not something to say on Easter I know)

I sat down to eat the newly acquired veggies. That's when I realized the difference between fresh produce and that which comes from Sysco. Not good. It was vegan, but man it was gross. I tried my best not to look miserable as BIL consumed four different animals in about thirty seconds.

So I am going to go upstairs now and probably have a pb&j on whole wheat. Or something to tide me over.

As we were leaving, FIL asks if I found enough to eat. I lied and said yes. I am wondering now if it would have been better if I would have told the truth. I did feel awful that they spent $13 dollars for me to starve....

Fuck....