Think Spring not Cheese!

It's a beautiful day in Seattle. The sun is out (almost completely) the birds are chirping, the sky is blue and I'm not at work! I'm planning on going over to my friend's place on Queen Anne and walking downtown. Normally at this time I would be sitting in the warehouse, eating my lunch, looking longingly outside at the marina. No more! It's been a week since I quit my job and while I still have mixed emotions about the decision, I'm no longer depressed a majority of the day.
One of the big hurtles of becoming a Vegan will be giving up cheese. My roommate went grocery shopping this morning and came home with a big block of cheddar. Oh how I love me some extra sharp cheddar! My favorite snack in the world is cheese and crackers. I'm sure I've consumed my weight in cheese which is a little frightening. I'm actually surprised how easy it's been to not eat cheese or buy it. I'm firm on this decision to avoid animal products so I just do it, almost without thinking. But I love watching cooking shows and they really test my patience! The other day a show featured homemade polenta with fresh fontina and salami; I just about died! But I can have polenta and boy do I have a yummy polenta recipe.
This year I'm going to eat Spring instead of cheese. Watch out!

Favorite Vegan Thing: Maple Syrup

Okay, okay, I know I'm new to this Vegan thing and a lot of this stuff I'm discovering is old news but I'm trying to catch up. I'm reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone and one of the nasty foods she talks about is white sugar. Now, I love tea, especially sweet tea and giving up sugar was going to kill me but the wonderful thing is there are ways around it. Take Maple Syrup for example. How amazing! My tea is sweet and it's not maple tasting at all. I'm very excited about this discovery. And I thank Alicia for her book; it has been so helpful already and I just started reading it. I'm feeling more empowered each day as I become more conscience of what I eat.

Hire Me

I went to a job fair today. Wore the wrong shoes, now my left foot is all tore up. Nice huh? It wasn't a total bust. I did give my resume to a couple staffing agencies and I got a response from one of the resumes I sent out. So far a productive first day unemployed.
Not the best day on my Vegan adventure. I did have 2 poached eggs over toast this morning and a little half 'n half in my Americano. I haven't eaten since about 10 so I think it's time for a little tomato soup and a big salad.
This no job thing is starting to sink in. I'm no longer in shock. But having the entire day to myself is amazing. The freedom that comes with not having to be behind a desk at 8:00am. Humans are not meant to push papers all day. How did the world get to this point? Where work comprises of typing and talking and not actually making anything. Our culture really crushes the human spirit. It's no wonder we're always consuming and moving on to the next thing. Never really stopping to take a look around us.

Favorite Vegan Thing: Whole Foods Vanilla Rice Milk

I just opened some vanilla rice milk, Whole Foods 365, and it was delicious! I'm so pleasantly surprised. I don't have much experience with the rice milk but I think I've just found my new Favorite Vegan Thing.
Find a Whole Foods near you:

www.wholefoods.com

Tuna Day

I quit my job today.
Suddenly things got a lot more interesting.
First this whole Vegan thing, which by the way, from the title of this post, is not going exactly as planned. And now I find myself unemployed. It's strange and great and terrifying all at the same time. I will never have to go back to that place again.

But I have been eating tuna like it's nobody's business today! I bought a bunch of it at Costco on Sunday to sorta help this transition I'm TRYING to make. I didn't expect it to be so delicious. Literally, it's the best tuna I've ever had. Way to make things easy big tuna. I'm getting a little taste of what things are going to be like. So I've allowed myself this tuna and it will be the last meat I eat.
(photo: tuna & mayo on garlic rustic bread with tomato)

New

This blog has sorta changed focus. Well, it never really had a focus before. But I've been reading and listening a lot lately. All this paying attention is making me more aware of what I buy and what I eat. So I'm becoming conscience and this has started me on a path of no meat and no dairy. It feels a little weird to say that I want to be Vegan. I'll be honest, I kinda get annoyed at picky eaters and that's what I thought about Vegans up to this point. But it's not that simple. I can no longer eat meat while the rain forests of the world are slashed and burned to make way for cattle. It feels wrong to support an industry that exploits it's workers and pollutes unflinchingly. The money I spend buys me power and me, this one person, can make an impact however small. If all of us read a little more and educated ourselves about the true state of the planet, we would have a real chance for change. One person's story can become global. So from now on this blog will be my story. One that I hope is greener, smarter, healthier and whole.