Waves and Margaritas

A quick story from the beach. I've always loved the ocean and being at the beach is usually a very restful and spiritual experience for me. But it's truly been years since I waded out past my knees and really got into the water.

When I was younger (ahem) I used to love to Boogie Board and body surf. But with age and a fear of sharks, I stopped going out into the deeper water. NOT THIS TIME!!!

We went to Walmart and bought Loryn a pink boogie board. She had great fun with it riding the smaller part of the waves near shore. So I decided to give it a try. San Onofre Beach is known for being a surfing destination and having pretty decent waves. At first I was a little apprehensive and also rode the smaller waves near shore. But I was having such a great time that I decided to venture further out into the break water.

WOW! Am I ever glad I did. I was hoopin' and hollerin' nad having so much fun! There I was, 43 and fat and hanging out with a bunch of 11 year old boys. Funny though, after catching a few big waves and sucking down some ocean - I decided that all that salt water was making me crave a Margarita! So I wandered back to camp and made a jug of margaritas to take back to the beach.

Let me tell you - tequila and lime never tasted soooo good! After downing several I made my way back out to the break water. In the meantime the surf was getting larger and I felt very brave thanks to my newfound tequila confidence! HOLY SHIT! I was paddling after some fairly large waves and was having the time of my life. I ate it hard a few times, but didn't really care. It was the most fun I've had in years.

The Meat Thing

Well, since this is afterall a blog about going Vegetarian, I suppose I should update on that topic. At this point I would say that 80% of my meals are vegetarian. Breakfast and lunch for sure. Lacto Ovo that is.

Dinner is where the meat creeps in. Usually in the form of chicken. Last night it was a turkey sandwich. Still not sure I can go veggie all the way. That would be a lot of grilled cheese and french fries!

It's going to be a 2 cup morning

The Friggin' dog woke me up at 3:30 and thanks to my allergies and old bladder, I couldn't get back to sleep!!! So here I sit. Instead of doing something productive, I'm pissing away time surfing the black hole that is the internet. THANKS ALOT AL GORE!!! (he claims to have invented the internet!)

I have plenty I could be doing right now. The downstairs bathroom needs cleaning. I have PTA stuff I could work on. I need to make some flyers and tickets for a fundraiser. I could sit on the couch and watch all the shit I DVR'd last night. Or I could continue to read useless info online. And drink coffee.

Guess which one I chose?

Back from the beach!

It's good to be home, but a little sad too. I miss the beach already.

The reality of everyday life hits hard. Lots to unpack. Drag all the beach gear out of the trailer. Tons of laundry. The house is seriously dusty and in need of vacuuming and mopping. Ugh. And worst of all I have to work tomorrow. I really want to spend today kind of relaxing a bit because I'm exhausted from having so much fun at the beach. But unfortunately the real world beckons and I need to get off my ass and get busy.

Hopefully I'll have time to sit down later and properly catch up on my blogging. Writing and reading. As of now the husband keeps walking in here looking over my shoulder. So yeah, I'll write about the trip later.

Bad Blogger!

I've been a bad blogger lately! Working this week sure took up0 my free time. WTF?? It's going to totally suck going back full time in a week.

At least I get a week at the beach first. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Almost gave in again!

Damn you grilled hotdogs!!!

I'll say it again, the smell of grilling hotdogs is like my friggin' crack!!! I was grilling some Ballpark Angus dogs for the KID for lunch and it was all I could do to resist the siren song of the weiner.

I fought with all my will power. This resistance is not so much a "vegetarian" thing, but more of a "hey-fat-ass-stick-to-your-diet" thing. JUST SAY NO!!!

We leave for the beach in 8 days and all my beachy clothes are a little on the snug side. So I'm on a self imposed slimfast-y diet. I'm not actually buying and drinking their shitty shakes, but I'm making my own healthy protein smoothie for breakfast and lunch, then planning a healthy dinner. This may or may not last because I'm really hungry right now, but I'll try.

For the record? I WILL have grilled hot dogs while camping at the beach. And they will not be tofu dogs. There is nothing like skewering up a hotdog to cook over the open flame. I anticipate the moment when I can grab it with the bun and hear the sizzle as it slides over the hot exposed metal of the cooking stick. Do I smell mustard? mmmmm, really looking forward to camping!

Dontcha love the weiner roasting gizmo pictured above?

Confessions....

OK, so I ate a few pieces of pepperoni tonite. It looked and smelled soooo good! I ordered a mushroom and onion pizza and also a pepperoni pizza for the family. Funny thing was, even though the pepperoni smelled wonderful? It really didn't taste that great. On the other hand, the mushrooms were really good! I blame the pepperoni tasting on the weakened state I was in due to the fabulous Australian Shiraz I was drinking at the time. Booze always makes me easy!

And on a completely unrelated topic, it seems I'm doomed in life to be perpetually behind some idiot with no real urgency to get where they are going. WTF people? WALK!!! It's not that hard to continue on at a steady pace without rubbernecking and wandering all over the place in front of me when I'm trying to get somewhere! Here's a thought, look ahead. Take in all the interesting stuff as you see it ahead so I won't have to slam into the back of you when you come to a halt to look at something to your side! If you see it in advance, you can veer over! Have you ever heard of peripheral vision?

Same goes for driving. Am I the only person on the planet who still uses a turn signal?

Done ranting. Need more wine.

Chipotle's Vegan Black Beans

Lunch at Chipotle yesterday was weird. I figured I'd get a veggie burrito. This all went wrong, but that's ok. Their black beans are vegan - cooked with no animal products. However I wasn't in the mood for black beans so I requested pinto. The staffer there informed me that the pinto beans are cooked with bacon. Um, no wonder they're so good! Well, no worries. I don't mind that my beans have touched bacon. So then they inform me that they're out of the fajita veggies so my veggie burrito is basically, rice, beans (bacon fat), salsa, cheese, & guac. I got so flustered that I requested sour cream to make up for the missing veggies!

I ended up having a small bite of the Kid's carnitas. I love carnitas!

Dinner was pasta salad and a kings hawaiian roll. Man, those are good! So soft and warm.

No accidental ingestion of tofu.

Fried tofu chunks

Made chinese dinner for family last night. Sweet & Chicken, Spicey Garlic Chicken, brown rice, jasmine rice, veggie egg rolls, and Spicey Garlic Tofu Chunks. mmmmmm!

So first I sliced the tofu into slabs about 1/2" thick and let them drain on paper towel. Then I cut those into about 1/2 - 1" chunks and rolled them in some cornstarch and seasoning. That got tossed in a pan with olive oil and was sauteed until crispy. Then the spicey garlic sauce was added with some water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.

Overall? meh, still not a big fan of the replacement meat type products. I didn't mind the tofu. I think part of the issue was I didn't really like the sauce I used. It was store bought and if I had put forth more effort to make something homemade and less sugary it might have been better. I ended up eating 2 chunks of the spicey garlic chicken.

I'll do this again, but I'll make a homemade lemon sauce or spicey orange sauce. I still haven't ventured into the tempeh or seitan territory. And no "not"dogs for me yet!

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

That shit hurt. Really hurt. What shit you ask? Well, my epilator (aka: hair-RIPPER-outer) finally arrived.

After a week of growing out my leg hair and wearing birks, the UPS man cometh and delivered my tool 'o torture. We were on our way out the door to go ice skating, but of course I had to drop everything and tear open the box and try it out without reading any instructions! eeeeeyyyyooouuuccchhhh!!!! sonofabitch!

After ice skating, dinner, and some wine (not enough) I went up to the bathroom to get started. Basically this gizmo has a rotating shaver type head with little clapping tweezer type thingies that grab your hair and pull it out from the roots. I liken it to getting a tattoo. It hurts. A little. Sometimes a lot. Some areas weren't so bad and other haireas (couldn't resist!) were ultra sensitive and made me want to punch someone due to the pain. But I took my time and made it through both legs.

My biggest mistake was leaving the wine in the kitchen! My legs are smooth. Once I realized that the thing itself couldn't really hurt me - the pain was from the hair ripping out - (i admit i was a little afraid that the thingy could tear the skin off my bones!) I got up the nerve to go after my moustachio. Overall I am pleased with the results and will continue with epilating.

I have the Braun 5270 which also has this really cool headlight on it. My old ass eyes would NOT have been able to see all the little hairs without the light.

Living up to my name....

Yesterday I was truly a Grilled Cheese and French Fry Vegetarian! That's what I had for lunch. We went to the movies yesterday and I had waayyyy too much buttered popcorn. After the movies we ended up in Johnny Rockets for lunch and the grilled cheese was pretty much my only option. The salad looked horrible. What a waste of veggies.

I had them add grilled onions to my grilled cheese. I split an order of Fries with Bill. But still, it was a load of fat and grease! However it was pretty damned tastey. I was full for the rest of the day. Finally had a late dinner of salad and toast.

I will save the tofu experiment for another day. Perhaps today?

Tuesday Morning

My husband is using up some vacation days and is home all this week. This will make it more challenging for me in my veggie world. Monday wasn't bad. I made spaghetti for dinner. And yes, I cooked the Italian Sausage in the sauce, but did not eat more than 1 little 1" chunk of the sausage. Say it with me people - "BABY STEPS!!!"

Not sure what's on the menu for tonite. Thinking about making some kind of spicey garlic chinese chicken dish. But I'm thinking of experimenting with tofu chunks for me and chicken for the family. I think I'll marinate them in some kind of ginger/garlic/teriyaki concoction for the day. We shall see.

Walked 3 miles this morning with the dog. Came home and jumped in the pool. Really friggin' humid out there. Gotta love the monsoon season.

Still no epilator = really hairy legs. Might braid them this morning. Peace man.

Hippie Chick! Is it "hippy" or "hippie"?

I'm never sure if you spell it with a "y" or an "ie". According to Wikipedia it's "ie". So I'm a Hippie Chick!! Groovy!!! Oddly enough on the same day I started trying to eat Vegetarian, I also stopped shaving my legs. For completely unrelated reasons, just a coincidence. I ordered an epilator (aka: hair-ripper-outer) that day and I know my leg hair has to be a little longer for it to work properly. So I have stopped shaving until it arrives. Unfortch for me, the ebay seller was on vacation so it didn't ship right away. So now I'm getting a little fuzzy here!

I'm going to the thrift shop today for some birks and a gauzey tye-dyed skirt, listening to Janis Joplin, and embracing my inner hippie chick!

Oh - and the husband is apparently growing a moustache. I tried to tell him the Village People are NOT recruiting, but oh well. I did tell him I'm not shaving my legs until he shaves his lip!

Part of the reason I'm ordering the hair-ripper-outer is environmental. I'm tired of throwing out so many razors and I'm also stunned by how much they cost these days.

And BTW - the Chicken Caesar Salad was by far the best I've ever had last night. Thank you Jamie Oliver! So, back to the veggies today!

Sunday - I'm Having Chicken Tonite!!!!

Friday and Saturday went pretty smoothly - except for being up 1 pound on Friday morning! But whatever. I'm really having to think about what I eat right now, so I think that's going to help. Had veggie nachos last night while the rest of the family had ground beef on theirs. Tastey!

But yesterday I randomly tune into Food Network and find the show "Jamie At Home" with Jamie Oliver. I've always been a fan since the whole "Naked Chef" thing, but haven't watched his new show. So I sit and get comfy. He's cooking outside. His twist on a chicken caesar salad. OHMYFRICKINGAWD!!!! It looked soooooo good! And - he was just so, um, "passionate" about the prep. The way he talks about and touches the food was turning me on big time!

The croutons were made from ciabbatta bread that he brutally tore up and put in the bottom of a pan. Then he masaged chicken leg quarters with Rosemary and Garlic that he bashed up with salt and pepper and put the chicken on top of the bread - yes, the chicken fat soaked into the bread to make the croutons! So he shoved that pan into a hot brick oven.

When the chicken was just about done he put thin slices of pancetta on top to get crispy. Meanwhile he cleaned and roughly tore up romaine leaves and made a fresh caesar dressing. When the chicken and pancetta were nice and crispy - he attacked the meat with a fork and knife and roughly tore it up. All the while talking in that sexy Jamie voice. I was seriously immersed in true food porn. All my senses were tingling! He was mixing it all up and tossing the salad with his hands and I wanted to launch myself through the screen and lick his fingers and have him hand feed me the salad!!!! Geezus, I practically need a cigarette just writing about it!

Anyway, it looked so good that I had to look it up and I'm making it tonite! So, a little chicken once a week! This is a transition. Not a full blown Vegan lifestyle for me! Here's a link:
http://tinyurl.com/66kr8f

Day 4 Thursday July 10th

Crap! Trying to get the kid packed up and ready to go to rec - I'm forgetting to eat breakfast! Good thing I went to Sprouts yesterday and loaded up on fresh fruit & veggies. Still not really toying too much with the fake meats and various protein replacement products. I'll get there eventually. So I chow down one of those mini banana's - it's a friggin flavor explosion!!!! Grab a ff strawberry yogurt and a handful of almonds. When I drop the kid off I'm heading out to run errands with Charyll.

We did some back to school clothes shopping for us - NOT the kids. Well, I got a couple things for the kid. ($3 pants at Penneys!) Had Mexican food for lunch. I stuck with a bean burrito! Although the chicken in Charyll's Norteno burrito looked really good.

For dinner the kid had tacos and I didn't even nibble on the beef. I steered (hah!) clear of the steer! Fuck I'm funny. Instead I ate leftover vegetarian pad thai from yesterdays lunch at Pei Wei.

Day 3 - Wednesday July 9th

I actually worked out this morning! Yay me! Yay Leslie Sansone!

Now for breakfast. Damn, there's maple bacon in my fridge!! WTF???? Moving on.... Breathing.... and simmering multi-grain cereal with peaches & cinnamon in milk. Rye (hmm, it's apparently not just bread!), barley, oats, & wheat. I toss in a few walnuts. I think all these whole grains will pack enough fiber that I'll be able to make Dr. Oz tap dance in the bathrooom in a few hours! Woot! Woot!

Lunch - We were over by Sprouts so I stopped at Pei Wei and had vegetarian Pad Thai with tofu and lots of veggies. Yum, I love their pad thai! Dinner - pasta (actually barilla plus) with marinara. I cooked some meatballs in the sauce for the kid. Yes, my sauce touched the meatballs!

Day 2 - Tuesday July 8th

Ah - Breakfast. Quite possibly the easiest meal to go meatless. Once you put aside your dreams of bacon, sausage, or ham with your eggs. (or steak, corned beef, and any other meat ever consumed with eggs)

Anyways. There are so many meatless breakfast options. Cold cereal, hot cereal, yogurt, fruit, various toasted bread products, smoothies, and all the unmentionable things that I shouldn't eat like pop tarts, toaster struedel, donuts, cakes, and assorted yummy pastries. Mmmmm, pastry.

This morning I opt for Morning Star Farms Breakfast Starters Classic Scramble. This is a D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S (fergalicious in my head) blend of red potatoes, veggie sausage, green and red peppers, and onions. Cook (fry) this in a pan with olive oil and then scramble in an egg. Serve with toasted whole grain english muffin and green tobasco sauce. Viola! I shouldn't be hungry for hours! Oddly enough I really like the little bits of fake sauasage in here. Who knew?

So - my day is off to a good start. No to contemplate lunch and dinner. Lunch. Hmm, tater tots? that box of stove top stuffing looks good. I ended up making ww couscous with sundried tomatoes, garlic, and a chiffanade of basil. I did cook the whole mess in liquid chicken (broth). Sorry little chicken. Technically I am going lacto-ovo so is this really that far removed from the egg? At least I didn't chew any chicken. And besides, I have to use up the broth that I have.

I'm realizing that I'm really not well prepared for vegetarian meals and that I need to go grocery shopping. I have pasta and some veggies. Brown rice. So, I guess I can make do for a few days. Thinking I'll make something Pasta-ish for dinner - but I'm really craving a carnitas bowl from Chipotle, or maybe the nacho fries from Ramero's!

Day 1 July 7th - Monday

Here I go! Best of intentions and stuff.

Breakfast - Going to make a smoothie. SHIT!! I'm out of bananas!!! Not gonna to let this derail me. To the blender I will add skim milk, protein powder (not soy!), cinnamon, frozen peaches and frozen strawberries. Dash of vanilla and 2 splenda packets. Quite yummy. Also having a whole grain english muffin with Skippy Natural Super Chunk PB.

Lunch. Hmmmm. I think I'll make some grilled veggie tacos, that sounds really good. But first I have to grill a hotdog for the kid. DAMMIT!! Unfortch for me the heady smell of grilled nitrates & compressed "meat" is more than I can bear! It's like my crack or something and I wolf down a bun length Ball Park Frank. Oh well.

In light of my lunch fuck up I toss in the organic cotton towel and have sweet & sour chicken for dinner. Oops. Tomorrow is a new day!