Saturday, June 27, 2009

Been Busy

I've been busy at work the last little while. I did my first tattoos for money!
Here is a random selection of delicious things I've eaten recently:
  • Banana Strawberry muffins (the banana replaces the egg really well.)
  • Barley Pilaf: vegweb.com/index.php?topic=9131.0 (I added some thyme. Delicious substitute for rice.)
  • Mock chicken breast in a dijon mustard sauce from 'Its all good'. They're really good. Pretty similar to a lean chicken breast, but not exactly. They come in a few different tasty flavours and only take a few minutes to cook.
  • Dried mango slices.
  • Corn on the cob
  • Ginger ale
  • Deepfried vegetable maki roll
  • Dark chocolate bar with marzipan. Just realized that marzipan is vegan.
  • Coconut milk and curry vegetable dish with tofu and jasmine rice from a Thai restaurant.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Much improved, shaded version of the first tattoo I did



All fixed up.
Things I ate yesterday:
Breakfast:
Raspberry lime pancakes. Don't pretend you aren't jealous. The recipe is from 'Vegan with a Vengeance' and has maple syrup in the batter to replace the egg and the sugar. Soooo good. Also put some banana slices on it just to make it extra awesome.
Lunch: Deep-fried vegetable roll and salad.


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Things I ate today:
Breakfast/lunch: Tomato soup, potato chips and a coke
Snackies: Hummus and Pita
Dinner: Brown rice (made it with some vegetable broth powder, margarine, and a bay leaf in the water) with flax seeds and some frozen Vietnamese fake meat on top.

I did my second tattoo today. This one had some shading in it.
Heading off the drum circle at Cherry Beach as soon as I've crammed some food in my place. Toronto is awesome.

After Drum Circle Snack: 2 bananas and some pistachios. (I biked there and back.)

Monday, June 15, 2009

I mostly ate left overs today. I did have a weird vegetable maki roll that my boss bought me, and a Cambino Matcha Green Tea dark chocolate bar that Aaron bought me, though. I like when people give me food.
I've started re-playing Bioshock. Definintely still fun the second time.
Apparently I just don't get sick of drawing when I have an excuse to be doing it all day. I drew most of the day at work, and now I'm gettin' ready to draw some more. I'm trying to get my skills up, and just get a repetoire of images in my head for future use. Check it out: http://stephy-buttons.deviantart.com/art/Pin-up-2-126086586

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Someone left me a big long message on purerave.com saying that it doesn't sound like I'm a very healthy vegan. They be trippin'. Also they said they didn't like Lick's veggie burgers, so clearly they are quite mad.
I should note that the separation of my meals into breakfast, lunch, and dinner are kind of arbitrary. Dinner may in fact be only 2 hours after lunch, or some such thing.
Stuff I ate today:
"Lunch"
(Actually my first meal of the day, but it was like 3pm.): Pea soup and stir fry with rice from United Bakers. I believe that the soup had egg noodles in it, so that was cheating. I do occasionally cheat. I ain't perfect. I'm probably 99% vegan. I think that counts.
Dinner: Salad (I was really in the mood for some plain crispy veggies. Yum.)
Cumin Lime Tofu from 'Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan' (It had pistachios on top ^_^)
Jasmine rice with peas
Snack: Peanut Butter and jam on flax bread.
Side note about flax seeds: Flax seeds are awesome because they contain Omega-3 fatty acids and go good in a lot of things. I like to dump a bunch of flax seeds right in my brown rice (they don't do much to the taste, but I think they look really yummy in there), or in salad. I just now got the idea to try throwing them in pancakes. Will get back to you on that one.

I decided I was drinking too much soda and also I am currently very broke, so I went back to drinking water with a little lime juice in it. Really good. (I'm addicted to lime.)

Unhealthy vegan, my ass!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Brain in a jar

Things I ate today:
GRILLED CHEESE!
Made with Veggie Slices brand soy cheese. Soy cheese is one of those things I was really skeptical about before I tried it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Veggie Slices is just real cheese and they're lying. It's that good. Make a grilled cheese with it and I guarantee you can't tell the difference from Krafts singles. The block kind isn't quite as good to eat by itself as real cheese, but it grates perfectly and they all melt just like real cheese.
Also organic ketchup.

I also did my first tattoo today!!! Check it out: http://stephy-buttons.deviantart.com/art/Brain-in-a-jar-tattoo-version-125845608
Not bad for my first try.

Friday, June 12, 2009

I'm sleepy

Tomorrow I do my first tattoo, based this drawing:
http://stephy-buttons.deviantart.com/art/Brain-in-a-jar-125413751

Stuff I ate:
Breakfast: A veggie-patty sandwich from Subway. Good stuff. (This was at like 1 pm. I'm usually still asleep around real breakfast time.)
Lunch: More Mr. Noodle. This time with frozen peas and fake Vietnamese mutton (this stuff is indescribably good.) Also more fudgeeos.
Dinner: My friends had a really cool barbecue. They have this cute little grill they were using on their little balcony, and we hung out in kind of a back alley of parking lots easily accessible rooftops behind their apartment in China town. They live above a store on Spadina. It's a sweet location, but I didn't know the back was so cool too. Anyways, I had a soy-dog (really good) and potato chips.

Apparently Aaron recommended this blog to someone at his work. HI SOMEONE FROM AARON'S WORK!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Stuff I ate yesterday:
Lunch: Pasta Primavera from a bar next to the parlour
Dinner: Made spaghetti with veggie ground-round and mushrooms in the sauce.

Today:
Lunch: Left over pasta
Dinner: Vegetarian Chow Mien from The Pickle Barrel.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Morning cake

I couldn't sleep all tonight, so at 6 in the morning I started baking a chocolate cinnamon cake from a recipe in 'Eat, Drink, and be Vegan' by Dreena Burton.
Vegan baking is really easy, and totally does not have to be health food. It's just a matter of substituting a few ingredients for other equally good ingredients. Milk is easy, it can be replaced with soy milk or another milk substitute. Eggs are used in baking mostly to hold the ingredients together (so the pastry doesn't get all crumbly.) There are lots of ways to do this with vegan ingredients, including banana (1/2 a banana per egg, fantastic in things like pancakes and muffins), store-bought egg replacer (just a few starches mixed together), apple sauce, ground flax seeds, soy milk with a bit of apple-cider vinegar in it to make it curdle, or silken tofu (1/4 cup per egg, put in a blended. Makes things really moist and yummy).
Some tips:
  • Like any baking, don't over-mix your flour
  • Put a pan of cool water in your oven while your pastry bakes. This should help it rise and keep it moist. (I once forgot to do this for one batch of muffins, then remembered for the second batch, made of the same batter. The second was noticeably better.)
  • When I can, I like to put prune baby food (yup) in my brownies and other chocolate things. It adds a lot of moisture and a subtle taste that works really well. (When I tell people the secret ingredient they usually get very surprised, have a few contemplative chews, and then get surprised one again when they realize they can kind of taste it, and it's delicious.)
I have a book called 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Buy this book. These cupcakes are as good or better than any non-vegan cupcake, I assure you. These cupcakes have converted many a skeptic and probably won me some friends (or at least one me respect for my cupcake-making prowess.)

Food I ate yesterday

Inevitably I will not be writing in this thing every day. I'll try to mention every time I have something I haven't written about here yet. I'll probably start skipping repeats after a while.
Breakfast: Toasted everything bagel with margarine.
Lunch: Tofu yakisoba
Dinner: Mr. Noodle with fake chicken nugget thingers (frozen from King's Cafe. They're like chicken nuggets.)

It's 5:10 and I ain't been to sleep yet. It's been a really stressful couple of weeks.

Monday, June 8, 2009

I LIKE TEA

I have an unreasonable amount of tea in my house right now. Lemon zinger, chocolate spice, vanilla hazelnut, a different vanilla hazelnut, vanilla, pear, and probably some others.
I've been sweetening it with agave nectar, which has the same consistency, colour, and taste as honey, but comes from a cactus so you don't have to steal it from bees. (COVERED IN BEES!!!)
Tea is good when reading.
I'm also hoping it will make me less stressed. Man I'm stressed.
Breakfast: Coffee. I'm not a big breakfast person, usually. I like breakfast food, but I'm more inclined to eat it for dinner.
Lunch: Went to 'What a Bagel' today and got pea soup and a hummus/veggie sammige. Man those are good.
Dinner: Finally cleared the fridge of mashed potatoes.
Dessert: Mango sorbet!!!

I'm having complications working out the payment for my tattoo apprenticeship, which is stressing me out like crazy. I just want to tattoo!

What do the inside of factory farms look like?

Here's a link that was on reddit.com yesterday: http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/05/what-does-inside-factory-farm-look-like.php?dcitc=TH_sbl_slide

I don't read much about factory farms anymore because I did that a lot in high school and it's very depressing. I think that everyone should at least be informed about where their animal products are coming from, even if you choose to keep eating them.

I ate too much food yesterday and got a tummy ache. :( Why must the things I love hurt me?! (Actually, I was on a medication called Welbutrin for several months and it almost completely obliterated my appetite. I lost around 15 pounds. Now I'm off it (it wasn't doing what it was supposed to) and my appetite appears to be returning very slowly in waves. So I'll get hungry, eat more than I have been, then feel way too full. I'm hoping I balance out some time soon)

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Fooood

Breakfast: Polished off the butternut squash soup.
Lunch: Japanese food (cucumber avocado role and deep fried tofu.)
Dinner: Zen salad and miso soup from King's Cafe in Kensinton market.
Side note about salads: A lot of people probably think that vegans eat mostly salad. I actually don't eat salad any more often than I eat any other food. When I do they're usually an appetizer. Sometimes I have a big one for lunch. I usually don't order them at restaurants, partly because they usually come with chicken or something.
They can be really good, though. The one I had today had pineapple, melon, and strawberries. I like to throw in random seeds and nuts to make them more substantial.
Dessert: Chocolate chip banana bread from Moonbean cafe.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Things I ate today

Breakfast: Pistachios and a soy milk mocha from Second Cup.
Lunch: Amy's black bean burrito (microwaveable).
Dinner: Left overs.

Things lazy vegans eat


K, my boyfriend is the laziest vegan of all time. Here is what he would eat every day if I didn't cook:
Breakfast: Cereal (he mixes a few together) and soy milk (actually he's been having Chinese bean milk that is green and I think is gross lately. But he likes it).
Side note: The following soy milks are delicious;
Natura (I like the vanilla kind best. I use it for coffee, to drink plain, and for baking. I use plain Natura for cooking things like creamy soups.)
Silk (I only buy chocolate Silk because I like vanilla Natura better. It's reeeaaally good. It's basically a chocolate milk shake. My non-vegan sisters buy it all the time.)
I'm less of a fan of So Good and So Nice, but it's probably a matter of taste. If you don't like the first one you buy, try a few more just to be sure!
I also really like almond milk, especially the chocolate kind. It tastes like a chocolate bar.
There's also rice milk (most people don't like this, but I know at least one person who does), potato milk (Aaron has a co-worker who can't have soy so she drinks this), hemp milk (had this at the vegetarian food fair last year and it was the most milk-like I've had yet.)
Lunch: Peanut butter and jam sandwiches. (We buy interesting bread like flax and sunflower, ancient grain, and the crazy shit they sell at Cobbs Bread.)
Dinner: Mr. Noodle with fake meat (I'm especially partial to the frozen Vietnamese brands. Trust me, they're tasty. Not health food. They're like 50% grease. *drool*), chickpeas and/or peanuts.
Sometimes he has hummus on toast.
Drinks: COFFEE. I think his blood must be primarily coffee at this point.

So there you go. You can be a vegan and not think at all about what you eat. He's been eating like this for about a decade and he's still super healthy and the picture of sexyness.
Featured picture up top: Aaron drinking coffee.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Dear God, why is Harper such a douche bag?

For fuck's sake, contact your MP and stop this horrible Bill:

http://www.whyprohibition.ca/campaign/vote-no-bill-c-15

My shoes


Shoes don't need to be made out of cow skin.
I've got 4 pairs of heals, a pair of sneakers, a pair of sandles, and pair of winter boots and some bitchin' giant platform goth boots, all from synthetic materials.
Payless is a pretty sweet stop for vegan shoes.
They aren't all fake leather. One of my pairs of heals are fabric, and the platforms have an intentionally rubbery look.
To the left is a picture of me going out to shake my booty in my rockin' boots. Enjoy.

Hiya

Things I ate today
Breakfast: Baguette with olive oil
Lunch: Left over lemon grass tofu and vegetables with rice from Thai food last night.
Snack: Mashed potatoes and peas (frozen.)
Dinner: Roasted butternut squash soup from 'Vegan with A Vengeance.' (I forgot t to get ginger so I used rosemary. It had lime in it. Soooo tasty.)
Jasmine rice with basil
Artichokes broiled with some bay leaves and lemon juice.
Movie snack: Snuck in Fudgeeos

I looove mashed potatoes. I always leave the skins on before boiling them. I use margarine (some have whey in them (not vegan.) I use Fleichmann's) and soymilk to make it creamy. I also like to add sauted onions and garlic, and sometimes mushrooms. Onion powder, garlic salt, and rosemary are also awesome.