Day 45--Happy Valentine's Day!

Dax and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, and that's never bothered me because my birthday is just a few days later.  We have Dax and Melanie Love Each Other Day in May instead.  Regardless, the kids like Valentine's Day, and I have fond memories of it as a kid.  It was always more of a school holiday to me, probably because my family didn't do much for Valentine's Day either.  It was always small.  Usually, I try to get the kids a little toy or some candy, but this year I decided to make cupcakes, and since I was going to go to the trouble of making cupcakes, I decided to make vegan cupcakes!  Since this was a last minute decision, I didn't have time really to go to the store, so I needed recipes with ingredients I already had on-hand, or things I could easily substitute.  I went with this recipe for the cupcakes (substituting all-purpose flour for whole wheat (this is not a wheat-free day!), almond milk for soy, and leaving out the chocolate chips), and this recipe for the frosting.  I tried making some little hearts with sprinkles on the tops, but that didn't really work out.  Still, sprinkles are pretty anyway.

I haven't had my cupcake yet, but preliminary reviews from the kids is outstanding!  (and if my tastes of the batter and frosting count, I think I'm going to agree!)

Tonight was also Round 2 of my veggie burger experiments.  Apparently, still unwilling to follow a recipe, I think I can figure this out on my own using whatever I have laying around the house.  And well...I just might!  Maybe not quite yet, but getting closer!  This time I used about a cup of leftover brown rice, a cup or so of leftover lentil soup, drained as best as I could, a few tablespoons of ground almonds (all I had left),  2 tablespoons of ground flax seed, a handful of mushrooms, and a little bit of teriyaki sauce made from this recipe . I put that all in the food processor and it turned out looking like this...

It was really too moist, so I chilled it awhile until I was able to sort of make patties with it.  I put them between layers of plastic wrap so I could freeze them a bit too, hopefully making them a little firmer for cooking.  It worked...kind of.  When I was frying these, I was feeling like I couldn't quite get the inside cooked too, so I ended up, stirring it all up in the pan, with a little more teriyaki, and then reforming into a patty as I cooked, and that worked pretty well!  I topped the burger with mushrooms sauteed in teriyaki sauce (my attempt at recreating the teriyaki mushrooms I had last week), and I must say I found the result really satisfying!

I found the charred bits throughout (some would say "burned") most flavorful, and the nuttiness of the burger went really well with the teriyaki.  I need to work on the consistency of the burger, but I think the flavor is really coming along!  I have three more patties in the freezer, so I'm curious to see how they cook up.

As for now, it's time for dessert!

Nude Nite Orlando

Did that get your attention?  ;)

I mentioned before that Dax and I have been going out a lot more, and last week I heard about this art exhibit that was in town.  Nude Nite  is a yearly event, I believe, and it's a big art show celebrating the body, complete with wall art, sculpture, live art and performance art.  It was really an experience and a great excuse to really dress up.  (not that I bothered to get a picture of US)  Knowing that there would be live people walking around with little or no clothes on, I assumed that you wouldn't be able to take photographs, but apparently I was wrong...and stuck there with just my cell phone.  There is also the part of me that gets tired of always taking pictures and welcome the chance to just experience something as it's happening rather than through the lens, but seeing all these people snapping away at this great art was more than I could handle and I busted out the cell phone.  I did photograph everything through my Retro Camera app since I didn't have a good camera to work with, and I shot everything in black and white (which could be an insult to the artists who displayed their art in color) and even cropped everything in Lightroom, but I felt I had to have my thumbprint on the photos too, you know?  My biggest regret, though, is that I didn't think to get record of the artists' names to give credit, but I wanted to share a bit of our experience there.

This "mermaid in captivity" was the first installation I took a photo of.  People were really close to her and taking photos and chatting with her, so I figured it really was ok and started to get a little more comfortable.  Plus, she wasn't nude.

These people were, however, and I love this shot mostly for the silhouette of the girl with her mouth agape.

Beautiful, dreamy painting.

I couldn't resist a shot of this photograph (displayed in bright and vivid color).  I had that hoop.  That's the 5lb sport hoop that beats the heck out of your organs when you use it.  That hoop hurts. I have loads of respect for that woman.

Stilt-walkers.  I thought I got a shot of them head-on, because they were posing for everyone, but I guess I was still a little shy about taking pictures of some one's boobies.  If it hadn't been my cell phone, I don't think it would have bothered me as much, but instead I felt like I looked like that jerk with the cell phone who's sending "check out these tits!" pics to all of his friends.  So I tried to be discreet.  Plus there was one person dressed as "security" in one installation who yelled at me (and several others) not to take cell phone photos of his piece (it was a nekkid girl saran wrapped to a pillar with him "guarding" her), but I suspect that was just part of the piece.  Still, it made me anxious.

Oh I loved this!  It was done with bits of magazine.

Bubbles!

This was a set of two sculptured done with forks and spoons.  I wish they were a little clearer.  I loved these!

This was interactive.  People could write on the big white board around this guy.  I really like how this photo turned out.  Personally, I found this exhibit hilarious, for a few reasons, mostly the guy's resemblance to this character in Community (he's the Greendale Community College's mascot, The Human Being.)

But back to the neat stuff...

This one was done with Jelly Beans, and  again, color would have been nice here.
Oh wait!  (must find cell phone)  This is the one piece of the night, that I did switch modes to get a color shot of it too.

I really liked that one.  There were a few "works in progress" going on throughout the night, and this is one I would have liked to see the finished product.

Another "work in progress" and definitely my favorite of the live art that night, mostly because I loved the way this girl was painted.  It was swirly and sparkly.  Red glitter, clear crystals and white detailing.  It was just beautiful.  I want to be painted like that.  I would have really appreciated the zoom capabilities of my good camera to show the detail, but I really like the way this photo turned out too.  I love the reflections!

Finally, we'll end with a laugh.

Have a great day!  Make some art!

Day 42--I've been neglecting my blog, but not my health!

I can't believe I'm almost halfway through this challenge already.  I keep track of my progress with this pretty calendar and some stickers.  I get a flower sticker for every day that I have remained vegan  (you'll notice some "good try" happy face stickers on days that I accidentally had egg or milk in some food item, and one day that has nothing on it because that was the day I had beer.  The star and heart stickers are days I exercised and since this photo is from my January page, you'll see that for the first month, there wasn't that much.

In some ways being vegan has been a huge adjustment, but in others, it's really been pretty easy.  I want to take a minute and just take stock of where I am vs. 42 days ago.

I have more energy, but maybe not as much as I thought I would.  I'm happy to be caffeine-free though.  I bought one decaf coffee since the challenge started, and I thought it tasted too heavy and too muddy, so I don't bother with decaf.  I have a nice assortment of teas, and I have hot teas in the morning and at night, and iced during the day.  I don't sleep very well though.  I average about 6 hours per night, and I usually take a nap during the day.  I suppose it sorts itself out to 8 hours, but I'd like to be more productive during my daytime, and sleeping doesn't help me accomplish this.  Napping is just so seductive when the house is empty though.

My weight has been a pretty major frustration.  After the 8lb loss of the first two weeks (when I couldn't figure out what to eat), I discovered food that tasted good again and I came back up about halfway.  So yeah, that's about a four lb loss for the month, but while I wasn't expecting a magic bullet to weight loss, I expected better than that.

I'm no longer taking the arthritis medication, but within a couple of days of stopping, any inflammation improvements I'd been experiencing started reversing right away.  I have another prescription for the meds, but I don't want to be on that stuff long-term if I can help it, so I'm looking into alternative methods.  I'm also looking suspiciously at wheat.  I've suspected a gluten intolerance for quite awhile, and even was tested for celiac last year.  The celiac test was negative, but that doesn't rule out an intolerance.  Finally it was settled that my symptoms were probably due to a lactose intolerance, but at the time, I didn't really give up dairy.  I expected those symptoms to go away when I went vegan, but they didn't, and when you've eliminated so many things from your diet, it's easier to examine the effects of what's left.  I've been experimenting with wheat  free days, and when I do, my joint pain is less.  I haven't done it for enough days in a row to know for sure (it's hard), but it's something I want to look into more.

Now for the good stuff (and there's a lot of it!).  I've really been enjoying most of my food!  I actually think being vegan is making me a better cook, because so much of what I cook is just imagination and experimentation.  What things do I have in the house that could go together and taste good?  It's easy to make meat taste good, and I often think that what I prepared would be a whole lot better with a little chicken in it.  It takes a little more effort for me to figure out satisfying flavor combinations when I'm working with different options, but when I do, it's so satisfying!  I've also developed a big appreciation for tofu and tempeh.  Those two ingredients have transformed a lot of dishes from pretty good to really satisfying.  I don't think of them as meat substitutes, but they do lend an umami element to a lot of dishes that I would definitely miss!

I love the way my food looks too.  It's so much prettier than it used to be.  Even the simple stuff...This is one of my recent lunch wraps.

This one is a garlic and herb wrap (a wheat product I would sorely miss), some bok choy, mushrooms, tempeh sauteed in some soy sauce and sesame oil and Goddess dressing.  Super crazy yummy!

Dax and I have been having a few more date nights than usual.  Partly because WE FINALLY CLOSED ON THE HOUSE this week, and partly because we're losing our babysitter soon.  Cori has decided to move back to Missouri and will be leaving us on the 22nd.  :(  So anyway, we've been trying a few more restaurants around town, and although I've had one other night where my only option was french fries (and that was o.k.  It was Dax's turn to pick a place.  He lets me pick most of the time.), and I've had a few menus where I only had one choice from a five page menu.  But I've also been to a few places that had so many options that I can't wait to go back and try something else.  Last night we had Japanese and I had some to-die-for teriyaki mushrooms!  I can't wait to go back there!  One of my favorite restaurant meals I've had was this great dish I got from a Vietnamese restaurant.  I have no idea what it was called, but it's tofu, green beans, and carrots in a curry sauce.  I managed to get a picture because I had half of it leftover for a great lunch the next day!

Finally, the best new thing I'm doing is taking yoga classes at Shine On Yogasomething (yoga, biking, walking the dog, hooping) six out of ten days so far this month, and I'm hoping to improve on that even more.

I'm also going to try and update my blog more frequently!  This entry took forever!