Half-way Through

Here we are about half-way through Vegetarian Awareness Month and my intention to blog daily for the month has been thwarted by work crises, weather surprises, and life. That's okay, because life happens and we adjust accordingly, right? Aside from staying vegan this week (natch) by choosing good healthy meal options, I can't say I have contributed much to the promotion of the vegan way of life.

Yesterday after working a short day (a blessing of self-employment, at least until the checks come rolling in) I went to the gym and put in 25 minutes on the recumbent bike on Level 5 (except for the last few cool-down minutes). Then I went to the nail salon to have my polish removed and the bare (for winter) nails beautified. Shocking! Under that pretty pinky-brown frosted polish lurked a horrible bruise under the big nail, the result of taking a long walk across Manhattan in enclosed (vegan) shoes after a summer of wearing sandals and putting off the needed trimming pedicure. Ouch. But this too shall pass. After that I headed home to meet my partner for a shopping and lunch expedition.

My vegan-ness emerged again at the Fairway Market in Red Hook where I was intoxicated with the selections. There's a whole annex of whole food stuff, like a wall of Bob's Red Mill products where I found the Golden Flaxseed Meal I heap on my cereal every morning. I was able to get a box of Nugo Organic Dark Chocolate Pomegranate protein bars, a staple of my busy working life and good to have in one's purse or briefcase in case of sudden hunger and nothing to eat but junk! Then from a huge selection of international olive oils, I found the Ligurian olive oil recommended for a VegNews pesto recipe in the Sept/Oct issue.

After a hot lunch of vegan peas and rice, samosas, and sauteed broccoli rabe, we set out again through the rest of the store where I found Galaxy's Vegan Cheddar slices and Gardein Chick'n Santa Fe vegan chicken cutlets stuffed with black beans and corn and in a marinara sauce, nicely heated in the oven for lunch today. Wow! It's a darn good chicken substitute, might even fool some folks. A pass through the frozen section bagged me some Morningstar Farms Meal Starter Chick'n Strips, great to have on hand to add to my weekly Tacqueria (Vegan) Caesar Salad. I went home happy and self-satisfied. then I checked the phone and found texts and voicemails alerting me to a work crisis that I handled remotely with the amazing (read "saintly") assistance of a colleague.

So that's this weeks wrap-up, and I am still living the vegan way.