I Never Imagined…

Wowzers. This was my first diary entry during my trip to Mexico and boy, was I fired up! I apologize in advance for my ranting! I was pretty upset at the time.

P.S.- remember in my San Diego, Day 2 post when I ate  brioche bun and said “when will I learn not to order anything that sounds French“? This is what I was referring to!

Another Rant (written August 8, 2010)

I’m very annoyed right now! I ate out for breakfast this morning and I ordered a croissant, not realizing that croissants are made with butter and sometimes milk. D’oh. I thought they would be ok because most other bread-like products are vegan, especially white ones- but croissants are not.

Breakfast is such a difficult meal for vegans when eating out. I’ve talked about the trouble I had when I was trying to find a brunch place. Yesterday while I was at the airport I discovered that I can order plain toast and dip it in maple syrup. So, I did the same today with the croissant but unknowingly ingested butter. This sucks!

Anyway, I knew that it would be hard to travel as a vegan. I am in Mexico and it’s even harder than I expected because all of the items in stores are labeled in Spanish only! So basically, unless it is a food I already know to be 100% plant-based, I can’t be certain that it’s safe for me to eat.

Also, when I ate out last night I ordered a grilled vegetable tortillas and the guacamole on the side came out with cheese sprinkled on top. I scraped it all off but it is still frustrating to get little surprises like that on my plate!

Rant over. I will have to be more strict with myself when I’m unsure about a certain food. When in doubt, don’t eat! I will order something else, and remember to look it up when I get home so I know whether I can eat it next time. Still, I won’t beat myself up too much for this. Accidentally eating something makes it easier for me to remember not to eat it next time, because I feel so guilty for doing it. I’m learning from my mistakes!

In this diary entry I was feeling pretty chuffed with some yummy meals I had been making and ordering while I was eating out. I was really getting into the swing of the vegan lifestyle!

Success! (written August 5, 2010)

I just cooked the most delicious, healthy dinner! It was a ‘fried rice’ with brown rice, onion, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, olive oil and some salt to flavor. The rest of the flavor came from the mushrooms and spinach. Amazing! For all these years I thought you needed sauces to flavor a dish (like my risotto which is the exact same recipe but with vegan cream cheese and soy milk added) but the vegetables provide more then enough flavor on their own. Sauces actually cover up other flavors and add unnecessary calories.

I am going to Mexico in 2 days and I’m a little concerned about what kind of foods I’ll find down there, and what I’ll be able to eat. I really have no idea what they eat in Mexico (real Mexican food, not what we all see in restaurants), but I am sure I will be able to find a lot of meals that are rice-based with vegetables. Even if they have meat, cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, etc- I can ask for them to be removed, provided that I can communicate this to the person serving me because I only speak English, and I have the Australian accent!

I had another picnic in Central Park last night and this time, much to the delight of my friend from Georgia, I bought some mac and cheese. I did this because last week I bought a pasta dish that was vegan but was an imitation meat and cheese dish, and it tasted awful- so I figured that there is no point buying vegan food that is imitating non-vegan foods anymore. It’s not right. Now as I write this I feel guilty, so I don’t think I will buy anything non-vegan like the mac and cheese again. If my friends want it, they can bring it themselves.

I had a delicious meal the other evening at The Frying Pan which is actually a boat docked at Pier 66 in Manhattan. It was a hummus and grilled vegetable wrap and it had a wonderful light, fresh flavor. It was made with a flat bread and there was some lemon in the hummus, and the salad in the flat bread and on the side was dressed with vinaigrette. Boom. I have found my salad dressing! I always thought vinaigrette was made with vinegar and some kind of creamy dressing- but it’s oil and vinegar! Hooray! So long, french fries; hello, salad!

I remember that when I was writing this diary entry I felt a sense of relief, because I was adjusting to calling myself a vegan, and was becoming more confident in choosing vegan meals when I was eating out. I made an interesting discovery in the third paragraph!

The V Word (written August 3, 2010)

Lately I have been feeling more confident in calling myself a vegan, and I think it is because of a combination of a few things. One, it has been almost a month since I started this journey. Two, we have been spending time with Toby’s parents and it feels like I have “come out” in a sense by having them know about this. I still haven’t told my parents, though! I know they will be concerned. Three, I have been making better decisions when eating out recently, and it is getting a lot easier, too. If we’re going somewhere where I know there’ll be food I can’t eat I just eat beforehand (usually sushi, so it’s still a treat for me!) or if we go somewhere when I have no warning I can usually pick something that I can eat, even if I have to change the dish a little by removing the cheese or the mayonnaise.

Last night we went to a BBQ restaurant for dinner. It was my idea, because it’s a great American experience for Toby’s parents. However, when I checked out the menu that afternoon there was absolutely nothing on the menu that I could eat! So, I loaded up on sushi before I went and had some iced tea at the BBQ restaurant.

I am so happy that I’m a vegan! I saw a friend of mine on Facebook talking about how he ate a whole packet of chocolate cookies, and I thought to myself “I could probably do the same”, but then I realized that no, I can’t! I can’t (won’t) eat that stuff, so the temptation is no longer there. I get a feeling of relief when I realize that foods like that- foods that taste so good but are so bad for you- are foods I don’t eat. So I will never be sitting around thinking “ooh I might have one cookie” and then end up having 5. Instead, I’ll never even have that first one!