i’ve sometimes survived for weeks on little other than pasta and sauce, but even with my very high tolerance for repeated italian meals (same with pizza), i reach a limit. with many foods, that would be the end of it until after a respite. italian food, however, has the added variation of pasta shape and size. astounding how merely changing the shape of an ingredient transforms the meal into something else. (more…)
tonight i was in DC (involuntarily), and decided to check out some pizza joint noted for its vegan pizzas. ordered a marinara pizza with soy cheese and two toppings — artichokes, and onions. each topping was an extra $1.50, on an individual size pizza. no problem; i knew it going in.
[UPDATE: as a new vegan who generally avoids faux animal products and had never sought or eaten soy cheese before this incident, i assumed that experienced vegans touting it as vegan was enough. however, it turns out that most soy cheese is made using animal-derived casein.]
the pizza arrived with a marginally acceptable showing of artichokes, and what summed to a spare 3 or 4 small, thin slices of onion, generally concentrated on about 1/4 of the pizza. i immediately went to the front desk and asked for the manager. he followed me to the table, and i showed him the pizza, reminding him that they charge $1.50 per topping. did he feel that was an adequate appearance from the onion squad?
no, he said, offering to put more on. or he could remove the charge. i said i’d prefer he not charge me for it. i persisted though, as i sometimes do (ha!). as a manager, how did he feel about a pizza being sent out with a few thin rings of onion tossed onto one edge of the pizza, the rest basically left bare?
“well, it’s not ideal, of course, but i must also stand by my employees and say that they always do their best.” (more…)
the new group i’ve been riding with includes one of those rare animals — a hot young girl who doesn’t act like she’s hot. i’m the poster child for loser geeks, and this sweetie talks to me just like anybody else. fairly disconcerting. tonight i showed up late at this bar/restaurant after a ride, and she goes and gets me a chair.
so the first time i met her, we talked after the ride and i went to put my bike in the car. was getting ready to drive off when some helpful dude walking by signaled me that my wheels were still leaning against the outside of my car. doh! (more…)
as a cyclist, i was long ago hooked on chocolate PowerBars. checking the ingredients of a PowerBar was just another disappointment in my 1-wk shock treatment in march, listing the stuff i’d likely never eat again after switching to veganism. i figured no other energy bars would come close to vegan (whey and other milk products seeming almost universal), so i just wrote it off as gone. but i showed up early for my bicycle race/ride this week, and was walking through a grocery store looking for something to eat as bonk prevention. being bored, i picked up a clif bar and looked at the ingredients. couldn’t see any animal products! cool. still, i figured there must be something i missed, so i bought it assuming i’d research it later and find i’d eaten animal products anyway.
nope. except for the possibility of trace animal products because the processing machines are used to make other stuff — something of no concern to the rational vegan — clif bars are vegan. nice. (more…)
just passed my 3-month mark after converting to veganism. though it hasn’t been without aggravation, including a spot about one month in where i thought my drastic lapse in energy would lead me to start eating animal products again, some things have made it pleasurable. i’ve written about amy’s frozen food, and how great that is. this post is about target’s food brand, archer farms, available at SuperTarget. mmmmm mmmmmmm! you might expect the store brand from a walmart type place to be ultra shitty, but some of these salsas and pasta sauces i’d be happy eating in a fancy restaurant, at fancy restaurant prices. even their dried pasta’s highbrow, and packaged as if from a gourmet store. (more…)
recommended — independent living
even in the alaskan bush, socialism shows its jackass self, but this 55-minute 6-part series at YouTube is probably as free as it gets in the US. take the time to savor this transport to another world (ignoring who the narrator is, if you can).
had an interesting incident tonight at a grocery store. waiting to pay, i heard an attractive, friendly woman behind me say, “my nutrition professor would be very happy with your purchases there.”
oh really? 
tell me more! (more…)
a local grocery chain sells many different frozen meals from amy’s, some of which are vegan and very tasty. fellow vegan freakazoids will know what i mean when i say how nifty it is to do the product pickup and label dance with an amy’s item, because if it’s vegan, that’s the first word you see (in parens) after “INGREDIENTS”. i’ve gotten pretty quick with the label dance, but that’s about the best thing next to having it on the front of the product. as a new vegan, i understand why they might want to keep the word off the front, since before my conversion i’d have run screaming from any product with a prominent “vegan”. (more…)
as the all-knowing ruling class in NYC stomps its way through lives, wendy’s reacts with understandable self-interest (AKA unintended consequences). the natural result: legislation has again forced a result opposite of the avowed intent. (more…)
thought it might have been a fluke, but last night i had my second deep dish pizza from out of this world. with the slight possible exception of sugar, it was free of animal cruelty, far as i know. this was only possible because of a super cool manager who has offered to prep a large cheese-free crust whenever i call between 2 and 4 on the days when he works. if you can find someone at a local uno who’ll do the same for you, i recommend it. using the uncheesed crust, get the chef’s choice (3 toppings at discount), specify no cheese topping of course, then add onions, green peppers, and roasted vegetables. do it even if you normally eat animal products, because it’ll blow your mind. (more…)
been putting off saying anything about this, just because i find the word describing what i’ve become so revolting. the word is… (more…)
i love earthy salads, but don’t have the patience to buy a bunch of produce, wash it, mix it, and watch it spoil because it’s such a pain in the ass to prepare. pre-made bagged salads are nice, but they’re usually too expensive and, from the brands i’ve tried, spoil quickly.
lately i’ve been digging on the one-pound spring mix box (“mélange de printemps” — ooooh!) from earthbound farm, also known as “mixed baby greens” under the same UPC (no idea why). it’s prewashed, and usually very dry, to delay that ratty spoil deal. you just open up, pull out a few handfuls, add toppings, and jam. stays good for at least a few days, and often a week or so.
too easily diverted. woke up this morning with NYC being the last place i’d ever want to visit again, then i ran smack into this. DiFara Pizza, in brooklyn. oh god. i make good pizza, but i suspect it’s nowhere close to pizza heaven, which appears to be in brooklyn.
more pics here.
spoke to an old friend last year for the first time since the mid 80s. he and i worked at the same restaurant for many years, in high school and college. that was over 20 years ago.
waiting tables was something i was never great at. was usually pretty good from the customer’s point of view (and even had regulars who asked for me), but it stressed me out terribly. that kind of thinking just isn’t in my nature. our manager (super cool dude billy powell) would sometimes pick one of us to watch throughout the day. after he watched me the first time, he called me aside and told me what my problems were. and… well, what do you say to somebody who busts you, dead accurately, and all you can do is agree? he was right. i wasn’t cut out for waiting tables. yeah, i coulda fixed it, and it’s not like i was bad for the restaurant (he seemed happy enough for me to work there). just wasn’t a natural. (more…)