Happy new year, everyone: I'm writing this post to tell you guys that I've decided to leave Howl to Be Vegan behind in 2017 because I think my goal of showing the affordability and diversity of vegan food has been accomplished.
I hope you've learned that vegans eat more than salads. I don't even know the last time I ate a salad. There's so much edible plant foods the majority of the population haven't eaten tried. This is a great quote from Eating Animals, which I mention below: "Americans choose to eat less than .25% of the known edible food on the planet." Hopefully through this series you've been introduced to more foods like bottle gourd and colocasia gigantea, and hopefully I've dispelled the myth that eating vegan is costly. Yes, you can get a burger for $1 at McDonald's, but you can also get rice, potatoes, and beans for dirt cheap when you divide the costs per meal. Gary Yourofsky explains it perfectly in this video: https://youtu.be/7PR64HGJoyk?t=40s (except I actually liked the taste of McDonald's). I'm paraphrasing, but "The same shit [but vegan] can be found at Taco Bell."
I'm also ending the series for selfish reasons because recording and documenting what I eat isn't really my forte. There are people who love doing this, but I'm not one of them. Nevertheless, you can continue keeping track of my restaurant reviews on my Yelp: https://chanhong.yelp.com.
Additionally, once you know a few recipes, you can start repeating the same ones over and over again, which is totally fine. You should eat what you like, so ultimately it comes down to your preferences. One of Jenn Im's weight loss tips is to find the "healthy foods" you like and stick with it: you don't have to eat brussel sprouts if you don't like them. There are so many other vegetables for you to try. For example, I learned last year that I'm not really a fan of butternut squash unless they're pureed into a ravioli or something lol
If you want to continue hearing about my vegan experience, I have a playlist on Youtube called "My Vegan Journey," which I update with my own videos and videos from others that have helped me on my "vegan journey." There are so many great Youtubers you can learn from. One of my favorites right now is That Vegan Couple. They do a lot of response videos, and they're honestly so sassy: I love it.
Additionally, there are so many amazing vegan cookbooks, documentaries, and books you can use as resources. I recently received Chloe's Kitchen as a Christmas gift and watched What the Health and Forks Over Knives. If you find What the Health to be sensationalist, then I suggest Forks Over Knives. They're both available on Netflix. Some books I've read but haven't advertised on my social include Proteinaholic, Eating Animals, and How Not to Die. I didn't publicize them because I weren't big fans of them, but you might enjoy them. The one book I do recommend is The China Study, which I did post about on my Instagram, so make sure you follow me @justcallmechl_oe to see the latest.
This is not the end of my "vegan activism" if you want to call it that-it's just not very practical for me to record everything I eat - good and bad (because vegan food like all foods has the good and the bad). I like to enjoy my food in the moment and not think about how I want to present it to my followers - just because I didn't record it, doesn't mean it wasn't delicious. I have hope that you will find vegan food accessible, affordable, and enjoyable without my continued guidance, but if you need that extra push, follow my sister @luus_thebeef if you haven't already done so. Trust me, she's so much better at this than I am.
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Howl to Be Vegan: Thanksgiving & Exams
Hi everyone, it's been a while. Immediately after Thanksgiving, I had exams so I haven't had a chance to update this blog, but without further ado, here is the menu for our very first vegan Thanksgiving:
Wow! listing things is nice. Most of the ingredients we got from our mom. As a result, we have't spent more than $20 (individually) on groceries in a long time.
Appetizer #1:
Daikon radish, celery, carrot, cilantro, lime, and apple cider vinegar salad
Chef: My mom
Appetizer #2:
Chả lụa chay
Chef: My aunt's mom
Soup:
Carrot, beet, daikon radish, chayote, tofu, and noodle vegetable soup
Chef: My mom
Main Course:
Bánh hỏi with Thug Kitchen's citrus marinade tofu, fresh herbs, cucumber, and soy sauce
Chef: My mom and sister
Dessert:
Raspberry oatmeal squares & cupcakes from Frostings in Richmond
Chef: My sister
Cupcakes courtesy of my aunt and uncle
Leftovers & Meals Since Thanksgiving (not including fruit, although I will mention clementines because they're in season)
Because of exams, I wasn't able to cook any besides guacamole and carrot cake cookies from Thug Kitchen for a potluck this past weekend and braised melon (with tofu my sister fried) two days ago so everything listed is courtesy of my sister, mom, or grandma.
- A lot of strawberry toast crunch cereal with almond milk and seaweed and rice
- 1 leftover ramen packet
- Stir-fried broccoli with rice
- Chicken noodle soup with Beyond Meat chicken (my sister also made this before Thanksgiving because we were both feeling sick)
- Spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, mushrooms, onions, and parsley (more like a snack)
- Sweet potato, green bean, and tofu curry with rice
- Roasted red wine potatoes and Korean potato salad sandwiches
- Broccoli cheddar soup with rice
- Wild rice with acorn squash and kale (acorn squash is more buttery than butternut squash)
- Rotini with pasta sauce, wine, and almond milk
- Lentil, tomato, onion, and corn nachos with leftover guac
- French toast with blackberry compote
- Japchae noodles with veggies
- Vegetable noodle soup
- Clementines
- Homemade hot chocolate
Wow! listing things is nice. Most of the ingredients we got from our mom. As a result, we have't spent more than $20 (individually) on groceries in a long time.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Howl to Be Vegan XI: Pre-Thanksgiving
For the last few days before the studies and before I was able to go grocery shopping and cook, I ate fermented bean curd, rice, and cucumbers to sustain myself during dinner (the cucumbers were 2/$1 at Kroger. I also bought bananas to eat with oatmeal and sustain myself during breakfast). The rice was still soft even though I had made it who knows how long ago #amazing.
On Saturday, I made vegan brownies for a Vegan Potluck hosted by various vegan-affiliated groups on grounds. The potluck was at such an odd-time: 2-4 p.m., so it was during the UVA-MIA game in which we were leading. As a result, after I brought the brownies and grabbed a plate of food, I snuck out. No one noticed. The food was okay, and we ended up losing. My favorite dish was a pecan pie. I had to eat bean curd again because the plate was not enough to serve as my lunch and dinner.
Sunday consisted of another potluck: my cousin and her roommate's. For this one, I made mashed cauliflower and potatoes. My sister had extra parsley from her vegan meatloaf dish, which she made for the potluck, so I added it to the mashed potatoes for extra flavor. Someone else also made mashed potatoes even though they didn't indicate so on the spreadsheet, so I still have leftovers :P I have made this recipe before so I knew it was good (same with the brownies). The only thing I could eat at the potluck was my mashed potatoes, my sister's meatloaf, some green beans, and cranberry sauce. I also ate two pieces of yeast bread before realizing yeast bread contains butter and eggs. It was really sad. I was hungry at the end the night. How to not overeat over Thanksgiving: go vegan. P.S. The meatloaf is a little on the sweet side.
Let's talk about the Bow Ties first. I actually used a 12 oz. box of bow ties because they don't sell 16 oz. boxes at my Kroger. That was $1. The butternut squash was $1/lb, and the frozen peas were also $1. I replaced the half-and-half/light cream with almond milk ($2.79 for a half gallon) and actually ended up pureeing the butternut squash because after tasting it, I remembered I don't like butternut squash. I used enough milk and vegetable broth (from my sister's meatloaf) so that it would blend. For the fresh sage leaves, I used ground sage, which my sister had just bought for her meatloaf, and last but not least, I excluded the parmesan.
For the Stovetop Chili, I followed the recipe verbatim, except my sister added her leftover tomato paste from the meatloaf to it yesterday. Before my sister added the paste, it was a lot liquid-y than I expected, but it tastes fine with rice. Although my sister thinks both dishes are bland. She made some cornbread to go along with it too, so add cornmeal to the list of pantry items now gone. Anyways, here are some prices for the chili recipe:
Onion: $~2 for a 5lb bag
Chili powder: $1 Kroger brand
Cumin: super cheap at Aldi (we bought it when we went home)
Coriander: $2
Jalapeno: I put it in the green bean bag and forgot to take it out to ring it up oops but it was pretty cheap regardless.
Whole tomatoes: <$1/can (I think it was $0.89, but I'm not sure because I threw away the receipt forgetting about this blog).
Green beans: $1.29/lb so less than $1 for 1/2 pound
Sweet potatoes: $0.38/lb!!!!!
Black beans: again <$1/can
In total, I spent ~$25 for everything I cooked this weekend. I only had to buy sugar for the brownies, and the potatoes were $2.50 for a 3lb bag. The cauliflower was the most expensive thing at $2.99 a head. This should feed me for at least a week maybe more considering how my mom is coming up for Thanksgiving later this week and cooking for us. My sister thought it was illogical that I made so much food given this fact, but hey, a girl's got to eat. I do have to say that the cold season (aka nothing can grow anymore) is making it very hard for me to eat fruit (I only bought three oranges from my grocery trip), but hopefully my mom can find some good fruit at Aldi and bring it up here.
Bonus: my sister made cranberry muffins from the cranberries my cousin used as a garnish for her party punch. She used walnuts, which she bought for her meatloaf, instead of pecans, applesauce instead of a flax egg, and orange juice instead of a freshly squeezed orange. This is what we had in our pantry (the applesauce is also from our mom).
I also broke the no-spending rule enforced in my last post by buying a hoodie at TJMaxx, but that's another story you can see on my Youtube channel. It was only $10, but I justified it as a birthday gift to myself, which means I'm not buying liquid eyeliner anymore aka my original gift to myself.
Anyways, enjoy the pictures below (yes, this blog actually includes photos for once) and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm saving a turkey's life for this and all Thanksgivings.
Howl to Be Vegan X
bitter melon - an update from my last post - my mom braised it with sweet soy sauce this time, and it was so good compared to regular soy sauce! the sweetness really balances out the bitterness
guac - mom gave us four avocados - I used one of them for avocado and toast and the rest for guacamole. I also used the tomatoes and a lime she gave us. the only thing I bought was a red onion and the chips. I highly recommend Santitas Tortilla Chips - they're only $2 and made with three simple ingredients: corn, oil, and salt. other tortilla chip brands like Tostitos have milk in them, which is ridiculous! (wow, Frito-Lay actually owns both Santitas and Tostitos)
mac and cheese - while grocery shopping, I stumbled upon Annie's Vegan Mac & Cheese, so naturally I had to have it. it wasn't worth it. I ended up using it like rice and eating the bitter melon with it. I also had it with some guac, so basically it was good as a base not as a solo dish.
busboys & poets - for my sister's birthday, we went to nova/dc to see Alton Brown Live and dinner at my favorite vegan restaurant. unfortunately, busboys also serves meat, but their vegan selection is so good, I keep coming back (I've been there more than 10 times and have introduced all my friends to it). what's funny is I didn't have a good first impression of busboys because the vegan crab cake made me sick (it's since been removed from the menu...), but the second time I had it (ironically with my sister), I was hooked. I had the vegan beef sliders made with lentils and soy protein (I believe). It was decent (I've had it before). they didn't put enough mayo on the patty so it was a little dry, but I fixed it with mustard and ketchup. I recommended the vegan tuna sandwich for my sister. The meal, which also included a side of sweet potato chips for my sliders and sweet potato fries for my sister, a mixed drink, a coffee, and a dessert only cost $54.52 with tip, which is not bad at all considering I once spent $40 on a meal at another vegan restaurant that I won't recommend.
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Busboys and Poets - Shirlington on Yelp
After going HAM on all these restaurant meals (see previous posts), I realized that my bank account was drained (I have horrible foresight), so I decided I wasn't going to spend any money until my birthday (more on that in the next post). As a result, I couldn't spend any money on food, so we had to use whatever we had at home to sustain ourselves for the next week or so. Here's what we made:
curried/cumin potatoes - poBAEtoes - what more do I have to say? they're cheap, versatile, and tasty. they can also be supplemented with rice for a more calorie dense meal aka you won't feel hungry after eating this dish. my sister used cumin powder instead of cumin seed, but it was fine. she also added tomatoes and lentils to the recipe.
pesto - mom gave us more herbs, so my sister made pesto again. she used the last of the walnuts in the last pesto batch, but she just replaced it with sunflower seeds and peanuts from my pantry, and it tasted the same to me. we ate it with penne. I also made the bow tie dish again because of leftover tomatoes.
gnocchi - "best gnocchi i ever had" - drake; my sister replaced the cashews with almond milk and peanuts aka what we had in our pantry #poBAEtoes
free pizza - midici opened in charlottesville and gave away free margherita pizzas; the 50 minute wait was worth it because we would have starved otherwise. because the margherita pizza has cheese on it, they let me substitute pineapple. I would never pay for the pizza though: it was mediocre and needed the extra toppings e.g. garlic, salt, pepper, etc. the restaurant provides on the side. the ambiance is 10/10 though.
pesto pizza - my sister and I were actually going to go to Midici again for a Yelp Elite event, but we were over it after the free pizza + there's only one option for me so it's not worth the time especially when I had homework and a UVA basketball game was on; my sister did make her pesto pizza again though. She used kale, mushrooms, my leftover red onion from the guacamole, and a grocery store tomato (aka not one from our dad's garden because we ate them all) as toppings. I'm pretty sure these are the same toppings from the last pesto pizza she made. she over salted the first pizza, but the second one was good.
black bean burger - the same night my sister made the pesto pizza, I cheated and spent money at an on-campus cafe except it was money I already spent i.e. I used my student card, which had money I previously deposited into it to buy a textbook. i stayed up really late the previous night doing homework and was really stressed, so I figured I would treat myself and treat myself I did: I added veganaise to the buns, and it was the most gluttonous black bean burger I ever ate. I had chest pains after eating it + along with the side of fries. the meal was only $6 too.
hummus - lastly, I made the hummus in my first "Howl to Be Vegan" post because I had leftover chips from the guacamole and cannellini beans lying around for this exact moment. i didn't have an actual lemon, but I used lemon juice from the fridge and adjusted the taste with peanut butter, a lot of garlic, and other spices. after I ran out of tortilla chips, I finished the hummus with my roommate's leftover pretzel chips.
I also had about four ramen and cereal dinners during this time period, so our pantry is pretty wiped out at this point. Updates are coming in the next post.
Edit: I totally forgot that I got pho at Vu Noodles, arguably the only Vietnamese restaurant and one of the few vegetarian/vegan-only restaurants in town.
guac - mom gave us four avocados - I used one of them for avocado and toast and the rest for guacamole. I also used the tomatoes and a lime she gave us. the only thing I bought was a red onion and the chips. I highly recommend Santitas Tortilla Chips - they're only $2 and made with three simple ingredients: corn, oil, and salt. other tortilla chip brands like Tostitos have milk in them, which is ridiculous! (wow, Frito-Lay actually owns both Santitas and Tostitos)
mac and cheese - while grocery shopping, I stumbled upon Annie's Vegan Mac & Cheese, so naturally I had to have it. it wasn't worth it. I ended up using it like rice and eating the bitter melon with it. I also had it with some guac, so basically it was good as a base not as a solo dish.
busboys & poets - for my sister's birthday, we went to nova/dc to see Alton Brown Live and dinner at my favorite vegan restaurant. unfortunately, busboys also serves meat, but their vegan selection is so good, I keep coming back (I've been there more than 10 times and have introduced all my friends to it). what's funny is I didn't have a good first impression of busboys because the vegan crab cake made me sick (it's since been removed from the menu...), but the second time I had it (ironically with my sister), I was hooked. I had the vegan beef sliders made with lentils and soy protein (I believe). It was decent (I've had it before). they didn't put enough mayo on the patty so it was a little dry, but I fixed it with mustard and ketchup. I recommended the vegan tuna sandwich for my sister. The meal, which also included a side of sweet potato chips for my sliders and sweet potato fries for my sister, a mixed drink, a coffee, and a dessert only cost $54.52 with tip, which is not bad at all considering I once spent $40 on a meal at another vegan restaurant that I won't recommend.
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Busboys and Poets - Shirlington on Yelp
After going HAM on all these restaurant meals (see previous posts), I realized that my bank account was drained (I have horrible foresight), so I decided I wasn't going to spend any money until my birthday (more on that in the next post). As a result, I couldn't spend any money on food, so we had to use whatever we had at home to sustain ourselves for the next week or so. Here's what we made:
curried/cumin potatoes - poBAEtoes - what more do I have to say? they're cheap, versatile, and tasty. they can also be supplemented with rice for a more calorie dense meal aka you won't feel hungry after eating this dish. my sister used cumin powder instead of cumin seed, but it was fine. she also added tomatoes and lentils to the recipe.
pesto - mom gave us more herbs, so my sister made pesto again. she used the last of the walnuts in the last pesto batch, but she just replaced it with sunflower seeds and peanuts from my pantry, and it tasted the same to me. we ate it with penne. I also made the bow tie dish again because of leftover tomatoes.
gnocchi - "best gnocchi i ever had" - drake; my sister replaced the cashews with almond milk and peanuts aka what we had in our pantry #poBAEtoes
free pizza - midici opened in charlottesville and gave away free margherita pizzas; the 50 minute wait was worth it because we would have starved otherwise. because the margherita pizza has cheese on it, they let me substitute pineapple. I would never pay for the pizza though: it was mediocre and needed the extra toppings e.g. garlic, salt, pepper, etc. the restaurant provides on the side. the ambiance is 10/10 though.
pesto pizza - my sister and I were actually going to go to Midici again for a Yelp Elite event, but we were over it after the free pizza + there's only one option for me so it's not worth the time especially when I had homework and a UVA basketball game was on; my sister did make her pesto pizza again though. She used kale, mushrooms, my leftover red onion from the guacamole, and a grocery store tomato (aka not one from our dad's garden because we ate them all) as toppings. I'm pretty sure these are the same toppings from the last pesto pizza she made. she over salted the first pizza, but the second one was good.
black bean burger - the same night my sister made the pesto pizza, I cheated and spent money at an on-campus cafe except it was money I already spent i.e. I used my student card, which had money I previously deposited into it to buy a textbook. i stayed up really late the previous night doing homework and was really stressed, so I figured I would treat myself and treat myself I did: I added veganaise to the buns, and it was the most gluttonous black bean burger I ever ate. I had chest pains after eating it + along with the side of fries. the meal was only $6 too.
hummus - lastly, I made the hummus in my first "Howl to Be Vegan" post because I had leftover chips from the guacamole and cannellini beans lying around for this exact moment. i didn't have an actual lemon, but I used lemon juice from the fridge and adjusted the taste with peanut butter, a lot of garlic, and other spices. after I ran out of tortilla chips, I finished the hummus with my roommate's leftover pretzel chips.
I also had about four ramen and cereal dinners during this time period, so our pantry is pretty wiped out at this point. Updates are coming in the next post.
Edit: I totally forgot that I got pho at Vu Noodles, arguably the only Vietnamese restaurant and one of the few vegetarian/vegan-only restaurants in town.
Monday, October 30, 2017
Howl To Be Vegan Part IX
First, I forgot to include some home-cooked meals my sister made in my previous posts.
september 27 ravioli
october 12 quinoa burger
Next, here is the food I've been eating since my last post.
october 18 fettucine alfredo
october 21 chili and cornbread
october 21 mom sent with my aunt, braised bitter melon, gourd, and tofu, which I ate with rice for the week
october 22 taste of china with the uncle and sister
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Taste of China on Yelp
october 26 mellow mushroom with the sister for trivia night
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Mellow Mushroom on Yelp
october 27 roots with Sari!
september 27 ravioli
- Good but super doughy because we don't have a pasta roller-my sister gave up trying to make the ravioli and just made dough balls with sauce
- My sister actually wrote a blog post about her experience! Check it out here: http://chanhedathepoet.blogspot.com/2017/10/butternut-squash-ravioli-recipe.html
- This was more of a snack than a meal.
- The onion to potato ratio was off, so the pancake was super onion-y but nothing ketchup couldn't fix!
october 12 quinoa burger
- I don't think I'm a fan of quinoa, but any burger is good with mayo spread on a toasted bun and tomatoes.
Next, here is the food I've been eating since my last post.
october 18 fettucine alfredo
- Once again courtesy of my sister
- Pasta is cheap and cauliflower and plant-based milk makes stuff creamy.
october 21 chili and cornbread
- Hearty without the meat
- The last thing my sister cooked
- I got mad at her because she forgot to buy chili powder, and I was like "How can you make chili without chili powder?!" Her rebuttal was "Chili powder is just a blend of spices, and we have most of those spices." As a result, she replaced the chili powder with the same amount of cayenne pepper. As you can guess, it came out really spicy, but she added more tomato paste, and it was all good (although it kind of tasted better spicy).
- The cornbread was really bitter by itself because she added 1 tablespoon instead of 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, but it was fine with the chili.
october 21 mom sent with my aunt, braised bitter melon, gourd, and tofu, which I ate with rice for the week
october 22 taste of china with the uncle and sister
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Taste of China on Yelp
october 26 mellow mushroom with the sister for trivia night
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Mellow Mushroom on Yelp
october 27 roots with Sari!
- I got The Southern as is this time.
- It was super yummy as always.
- Not vegan-friendly but we went for my parents' birthdays
- Mom also brought canh chua with okra, bac ha, mong toi (see below), and tofu; stir-fried tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, and fried tofu; and braised bitter melon and fried tofu (I apologize for the inconsistent use of Vietnamese accents in this blog)
- I yelled at her for always including tofu, and she said all you have to do is use your words and tell me, which was valid. She also said she saved it for me when she could have eaten it herself or not buy it at all and that my dad likes it too AKA giving me tofu is a sacrifice she makes for me. My American ass just wants her to ask me if I want the tofu. I can never be a Vietnamese mom, but that's a different story.
october 30
- no class today so I boiled some mồng tơi from my dad's garden and ate it with ramen for dinner because it's too bland for me to eat it alone
- I also made a soup with some Chinese flowering cabbage or cai ngot (sweet lettuce) from my dad's garden - this will be eaten with rice (as always)
Monday, October 16, 2017
Howl to Be Vegan [At Restaurants]
I was too lazy to cook last week and I finally paid off my credit card debt, so I went ham on restaurant meals.
Here's what I ate (taken directly from my credit card statement):
Lemongrass: vegetable pad see ew with egg (they didn't take out the egg even though I asked them to, but I was too hungry to send it back) 10/5 $11.03
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Lemongrass on Yelp
Mezeh: completely customizable grains & greens bowl 10/8 $9.78
Revolutionary Soup: spicy senegalese peanut tofu soup with bread and black bean & spinach wrap 10/10 $8.51 (I had a 15% off coupon)
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Revolutionary Soup on Yelp
Got Dumplings: tofu dumplings, seaweed salad (I don't recommend), and edamame 10/12 $9.65
Loving Hut: Thai tea bubble tea, "steak" salad, cheese sticks, and wonton noodle soup 10/14 ~$20 (I split the bubble tea and salad with my sister)
Note: all prices mentioned are before tip (if applicable)
I cooked green beans and carrot and apple soup today because I should save my money to pay off my grad school loans. Here's a receipt of my Kroger bill. My sister's going to use the other ingredients to make vegan alfredo. We're relying on a lot of pantry staples like pasta.
P.S. It's really late, so I can't figure out a good way to format this post.
Here's what I ate (taken directly from my credit card statement):
Lemongrass: vegetable pad see ew with egg (they didn't take out the egg even though I asked them to, but I was too hungry to send it back) 10/5 $11.03
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Lemongrass on Yelp
Mezeh: completely customizable grains & greens bowl 10/8 $9.78
Revolutionary Soup: spicy senegalese peanut tofu soup with bread and black bean & spinach wrap 10/10 $8.51 (I had a 15% off coupon)
Read Chanhong L.'s review of Revolutionary Soup on Yelp
Got Dumplings: tofu dumplings, seaweed salad (I don't recommend), and edamame 10/12 $9.65
Loving Hut: Thai tea bubble tea, "steak" salad, cheese sticks, and wonton noodle soup 10/14 ~$20 (I split the bubble tea and salad with my sister)
Note: all prices mentioned are before tip (if applicable)
I cooked green beans and carrot and apple soup today because I should save my money to pay off my grad school loans. Here's a receipt of my Kroger bill. My sister's going to use the other ingredients to make vegan alfredo. We're relying on a lot of pantry staples like pasta.
P.S. It's really late, so I can't figure out a good way to format this post.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Howl Not To Be Vegan
If we're being real, cooking takes a lot of time and effort, which are things I don't have these days. Since my last blog post, I think I've only cooked two dishes: spaghetti, which only lasted four servings, and kimbap (I used Maangchi's recipe without the meat), which I can't eat right now even though I'm hungry, because I'm saving it for lunch this week.
I've also been over relying on my mom to provide food for me, so when she doesn't have enough food for me, I'm at a lost (I went home for fall break and only brought back one dish). My mom giving me food is great, but it throws off my cooking routine and meal prep. My motivation and inspiration are lost, and I don't eat because I'd rather starve than put junk into my body (I can only eat ramen once a week before I start hating myself). I also refuse to spend money on restaurant meals I know I can cook at home for less $.
Eating is not something I should be stressed about, but it has always been an issue for me, which is why I say I have a eating disorder. If I cook something, and it doesn't go well, I get really depressed. The same goes for when I eat something that isn't satisfying. I'm also known in my family for being hangry: this is a habit my mom has noticed in me ever since I was a child (I specifically remember crying one time because my mom didn't offer me food she offered my sister). Food has always affected my mood, but I really wish it didn't because I'd rather not have more things to stress about.
Edit: During this time, I also made a tofu, black bean, and yellow pepper stir fry. I used two cans of black beans at $0.59 each, one box of tofu ~$2, and one yellow pepper ~$1. This dish was not planned. I saw how cheap the beans were so I had to buy them. I bought tofu just to have it, and I stole one of my sister's peppers.
I've also been over relying on my mom to provide food for me, so when she doesn't have enough food for me, I'm at a lost (I went home for fall break and only brought back one dish). My mom giving me food is great, but it throws off my cooking routine and meal prep. My motivation and inspiration are lost, and I don't eat because I'd rather starve than put junk into my body (I can only eat ramen once a week before I start hating myself). I also refuse to spend money on restaurant meals I know I can cook at home for less $.
Eating is not something I should be stressed about, but it has always been an issue for me, which is why I say I have a eating disorder. If I cook something, and it doesn't go well, I get really depressed. The same goes for when I eat something that isn't satisfying. I'm also known in my family for being hangry: this is a habit my mom has noticed in me ever since I was a child (I specifically remember crying one time because my mom didn't offer me food she offered my sister). Food has always affected my mood, but I really wish it didn't because I'd rather not have more things to stress about.
Edit: During this time, I also made a tofu, black bean, and yellow pepper stir fry. I used two cans of black beans at $0.59 each, one box of tofu ~$2, and one yellow pepper ~$1. This dish was not planned. I saw how cheap the beans were so I had to buy them. I bought tofu just to have it, and I stole one of my sister's peppers.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Get You A Pair of Shoes That Can Do Both
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| Black is a good neutral color, but these sandals were silver AND gold. |
I replaced the Toms with a new pair of floral gold ones, but I'm left with only one pair of childish black flats and a pair of uncomfortable black sandals because I sold a pair of glittery navy flats which were too big for me. I keep these around because there are no better options at the moment.
Because of the lack of dress shoes in my closet now, I'm forced to wear my nude pumps, which is a good thing, but they're so uncomfortable (I also have a pair of nude and hot pink flats, but hot pink doesn't really go well with a lot of things). As far as the other heels in my closet, I gave away the ones that weren't versatile, including a pair of navy & green pumps I started my fashion blog with. Some of them were also old, but most importantly, they weren't flexible or comfortable (I saved my wedges and a great pair of pointed low black heels because I've worn them on more than one occasion and they haven't killed me).
While it's good to give away shoes you don't wear (and not buy them in the first place), it's really sad when you're forced to throw away a pair you love because of wear and tear. Those are truly the great fashion purchases.
*Honorable mention to my tennis shoes, which I am starting to wear more because I don't care as much about how I look now*
Friday, September 22, 2017
Howl to Be Vegan Parts IV-VII
School is in full-force now so I unfortunately haven't had time to blog :( I was also working two jobs at one point, but thankfully I quit one of them (after much back & forth with myself). I'm also not sure if teaching is the career for me, but that's a different story. Even though I've been super busy, I've still maintained my vegan diet. I still eat healthy, which I can't say I did when I was an undergrad. The difference is I don't have a social life anymore so I use that time to cook. My sister has also been a big help.
I ended my last post with DC VegFest. It was okay. The variety of food at Richmond Veg Fest was better. I think you can really see a city's food culture through events like these. The DC food scene isn't great, so the vegan food scene is going to reflect that. The DC vegan food scene consists of a lot of soul food and processed food/meat replacements, while the Richmond and Charlottesville vegan food scene consists more of ethnic whole foods. New York City also does a lot of American vegan food, but it is so much better than DC's, and I think this has a lot to do with the superiority of NYC's overall food scene.
I also don't find vegan festivals beneficial since I'm already vegan and I'm not a big socializer. My uncles love chatting people up, while my sister and I are just there for the food and free samples and. Speaking of free samples, there was a lot of vegan cheese samples, which was awesome but like I said very American and processed. I think I would get more from the experience if I was a volunteer. My sister and I also had some hot dogs and tacos, which were okay (and expensive-that's another thing to note about vegan food in DC)-should've gotten some soul food instead.
After Vegfest, we went to Loving Hut for dinner. I'm glad I ordered something instead of saving money (I would have starved later). I had the com tam bi chay (broken rice with shredded pork). I've had it before so I knew it would be good. We also tried the steak salad, which wasn't as good as the regular salad. It's funny because I really wanted to try it when I first came here with my uncle. My sister and uncles had noodle soups, which were apparently very clean and tasty. I'll have to come back to try them, especially the wonton soup my uncle got.
That same weekend, my mom visited, so she provided some much needed food. My dad's garden was thriving in bau or calabash, a gourd, so my mom brought canh bau with tofu (gourd soup) and bau kho or braised gourd with bitter melon and tofu. She also made banh hoi again because of the abundant herbs from my dad's garden. The last dish she made was stir-fry chives and bean sprouts.
After mom's food ran out, my sister made vegan clam chowder. It was pretty good. It obviously didn't taste like seafood, but it was creamy, which is something a lot of people don't think can be done with vegan food. She's been wanting to make this recipe for a while after finding it online, but we didn't have a blender.
With the leftover seaweed my sister bought to try to make the clam chowder taste more sea-like, she made sushi with cucumber, carrots, and leftover mushrooms. I'm not a huge fan of cucumber and carrot rolls, but this one wasn't bad. That same night, I made the Bow Tie dish again with tomatoes, limes, and herbs my mom left. This time, I halved the pasta knowing I didn't have enough tomatoes.
I also ate ramen with herbs-you can never go wrong with ramen when there's nothing to eat especially when you can add garnishes to it.
My sister used the rest of the herbs and bow tie to make pesto again. I think it was much better this time. We also had olive oil this time. I bought a cute little bottle from Kroger for like $3.
For snacks, I made buffalo cauliflower bites from my Thug Kitchen cookbook because cauliflower was on sale at Kroger and I was craving wings. I also made fries because I was craving them and didn't want to do my homework. They were good but too bland for me: I have a fear of over salting things.
I got finally got my salt fix from my sister's vegan Shepherd's Pie. She used leftover cauliflower stalks and celery, instead of the celery root called for in the recipe, to create the creamy mash and found the recipe online after trying to decide what to do with the beets my mom left her. It was so flavorful.
Speaking of flavor, I finally put the right amount of salt on something and flavored green beans successfully yesterday! They were on sale at Kroger so I bought them because I've always loved green beans and I rarely see them fresh in American grocery stores. I think I was helped in not having real soy sauce, which I usually use to flavor them, so I had to use a generous amount of salt, sugar, and vegetable seasoning (I also learned from past mistakes). My sister also made raspberry bars last night because the raspberries she bought weren't good so she decided to find a raspberry dessert to make with the oatmeal I had. THEY WERE SO GOOD.
As far as breakfast, I've resorted to carrying around a bag of bread and just eating it slice by slice because carbs give you energy! I've stopped eating peanut butter with the bread because it's fat, but I'll eat it on the weekends as a treat. For fruit, mom and grandma came through once again. I was disappointed in the unsweet plums my mom gave us though. Eating low quality fruit really is a bummer. My uncle spit out longan he bought from NOVA because it was not as sweet as he expected it to be. Thankfully, I have a lunch break every day so I don't starve.
Last but not least, here are the restaurant meals I ate: a Roots bowl with some new friends from a student CIO called Veggies of Virginia. I didn't expect them to be so cool, and I'm sad I haven't gotten to hang out with them more. My sister and I went to Cafe 88 last week for some fake chicken. I was hype for it, but it tasted like any old soy protein, but the vegetables on the side were on point. The curry was good too.
Here's a picture of the Roots bowl:
I ended my last post with DC VegFest. It was okay. The variety of food at Richmond Veg Fest was better. I think you can really see a city's food culture through events like these. The DC food scene isn't great, so the vegan food scene is going to reflect that. The DC vegan food scene consists of a lot of soul food and processed food/meat replacements, while the Richmond and Charlottesville vegan food scene consists more of ethnic whole foods. New York City also does a lot of American vegan food, but it is so much better than DC's, and I think this has a lot to do with the superiority of NYC's overall food scene.
I also don't find vegan festivals beneficial since I'm already vegan and I'm not a big socializer. My uncles love chatting people up, while my sister and I are just there for the food and free samples and. Speaking of free samples, there was a lot of vegan cheese samples, which was awesome but like I said very American and processed. I think I would get more from the experience if I was a volunteer. My sister and I also had some hot dogs and tacos, which were okay (and expensive-that's another thing to note about vegan food in DC)-should've gotten some soul food instead.
After Vegfest, we went to Loving Hut for dinner. I'm glad I ordered something instead of saving money (I would have starved later). I had the com tam bi chay (broken rice with shredded pork). I've had it before so I knew it would be good. We also tried the steak salad, which wasn't as good as the regular salad. It's funny because I really wanted to try it when I first came here with my uncle. My sister and uncles had noodle soups, which were apparently very clean and tasty. I'll have to come back to try them, especially the wonton soup my uncle got.
That same weekend, my mom visited, so she provided some much needed food. My dad's garden was thriving in bau or calabash, a gourd, so my mom brought canh bau with tofu (gourd soup) and bau kho or braised gourd with bitter melon and tofu. She also made banh hoi again because of the abundant herbs from my dad's garden. The last dish she made was stir-fry chives and bean sprouts.
After mom's food ran out, my sister made vegan clam chowder. It was pretty good. It obviously didn't taste like seafood, but it was creamy, which is something a lot of people don't think can be done with vegan food. She's been wanting to make this recipe for a while after finding it online, but we didn't have a blender.
With the leftover seaweed my sister bought to try to make the clam chowder taste more sea-like, she made sushi with cucumber, carrots, and leftover mushrooms. I'm not a huge fan of cucumber and carrot rolls, but this one wasn't bad. That same night, I made the Bow Tie dish again with tomatoes, limes, and herbs my mom left. This time, I halved the pasta knowing I didn't have enough tomatoes.
I also ate ramen with herbs-you can never go wrong with ramen when there's nothing to eat especially when you can add garnishes to it.
My sister used the rest of the herbs and bow tie to make pesto again. I think it was much better this time. We also had olive oil this time. I bought a cute little bottle from Kroger for like $3.
For snacks, I made buffalo cauliflower bites from my Thug Kitchen cookbook because cauliflower was on sale at Kroger and I was craving wings. I also made fries because I was craving them and didn't want to do my homework. They were good but too bland for me: I have a fear of over salting things.
I got finally got my salt fix from my sister's vegan Shepherd's Pie. She used leftover cauliflower stalks and celery, instead of the celery root called for in the recipe, to create the creamy mash and found the recipe online after trying to decide what to do with the beets my mom left her. It was so flavorful.
Speaking of flavor, I finally put the right amount of salt on something and flavored green beans successfully yesterday! They were on sale at Kroger so I bought them because I've always loved green beans and I rarely see them fresh in American grocery stores. I think I was helped in not having real soy sauce, which I usually use to flavor them, so I had to use a generous amount of salt, sugar, and vegetable seasoning (I also learned from past mistakes). My sister also made raspberry bars last night because the raspberries she bought weren't good so she decided to find a raspberry dessert to make with the oatmeal I had. THEY WERE SO GOOD.
As far as breakfast, I've resorted to carrying around a bag of bread and just eating it slice by slice because carbs give you energy! I've stopped eating peanut butter with the bread because it's fat, but I'll eat it on the weekends as a treat. For fruit, mom and grandma came through once again. I was disappointed in the unsweet plums my mom gave us though. Eating low quality fruit really is a bummer. My uncle spit out longan he bought from NOVA because it was not as sweet as he expected it to be. Thankfully, I have a lunch break every day so I don't starve.
Last but not least, here are the restaurant meals I ate: a Roots bowl with some new friends from a student CIO called Veggies of Virginia. I didn't expect them to be so cool, and I'm sad I haven't gotten to hang out with them more. My sister and I went to Cafe 88 last week for some fake chicken. I was hype for it, but it tasted like any old soy protein, but the vegetables on the side were on point. The curry was good too.
Here's a picture of the Roots bowl:
I unfortunately forgot to save my Snaps of the cauliflower and fries, but here are the raspberry oatmeal squares my sister posted on her new food account! There are also pictures from the actual recipes I linked.
The moral for this week: my sister and I had no idea what we wanted to cook, but we went to the grocery store and picked out what we could buy and thought about it later using Google and the staples we had in our fridge/pantry to create some very delicious food. I also cooked on multiple week days...is this what adulting is?
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Howl to be Vegan Part IV
Update on last week's dishes: I didn't flavor the water spinach enough so it was kind of bland. I needed the secret ingredient: sweet soy sauce. I also added tomatoes to my bitter melon to dilute its strong taste. My mom usually makes bitter melon with egg and tomatoes so I just did that without the egg.
This week, I made curry, one of the easiest and cheapest vegan dishes to make. I had already bought two cans of coconut milk on sale along with a bag of yellow curry powder (cheaper than curry pastes). All I needed to add was vegetables! Here's the recipe I used this week:
Yellow Curry good enough for a week and a half
2 cans of coconut milk ($2/can at Kroger)
2 sweet potatoes
3 russet potatoes ($2/5 lb bag)
4 carrots (still from the same bag as the spaghetti)
1 onion
3 tablespoons yellow curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt for seasoning
Peel and cut vegetables. I actually hate prepping sweet potatoes because their irregular shape make them really hard to peel, and they're really hard to cut/slice, but the flavors are worth it in the end. Because my sweet potatoes were huge, I had to add an extra potato to balance out the sweet and savory.
Heat coconut milk in pot. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar (taken directly from the instructions of Thai Kitchen's Red Curry Paste lol) and 3 tablespoons of yellow curry powder (taken from an old bottle of yellow curry powder I had). Mix well. Add sweet potatoes, potatoes, and carrots. Cover and cook until tender (15-20 minutes). Add onion and season with salt, msg, or whatever. Serve with rice or vermicelli noodles.
I've also been eating a lot of free food at various events hosted by the University and its constituents. Last Friday, I went to the 7th Annual Gazpacho In the Garden hosted by the Morven Kitchen Garden. There was such much vegan friendly food! This wasn't the case at the UVA Arts Grounds Day on Saturday. There was a veggie falafel, but I don't think the BBQ chipotle sauce was vegan (I should have gotten ketchup instead). The patty was dry, and I ate a hush puppy knowing it wasn't vegan. The veggie baked beans were meh too, so I basically ate junk in terms of taste and health. I did eat some delicious vegan BBQ with avocado slaw at the Curry Picnic though.
In addition to my curry and the free food on grounds, my sister also contributed since my last post by making pesto with the leftover herbs from our mom and the avocados our grandma gave us, flatbread pizza with the leftover pesto, and quinoa with the leftover pizza ingredients. She put mushroom, kale, and onion on the pizza and added canned beets and carrots to the leftover mushroom and kale for the quinoa bowl flavored with lime and tahini from Mezeh. She kind of went overboard with the lime though, but it tastes fine to me. I ate the pesto with my leftover penne (there was definitely a lack of tomatoes), spaghetti, and a new box of cherry tomatoes. 10/10 would recommend the pizza recipe.
Last but not least, my sister and I went out to dinner on Thursday night to celebrate my new jobs and me being done with two weeks of grad school, but really we just had a $10 coupon to Maharaja that was expiring. From left to right: 1) Vegetable Kholapuri 2) Mushroom & Pea Malai 3) Baigan (Eggplant) Burtha 4) Bhindi Masala. I don't think the top two dishes aka my sister's are vegan because they were rather creamy/buttery. You can see Maharaja's menu here: http://www.maharaja-indian-restaurant.com/wine-list/ The food was on point as always.
Tata for now! I'm off to DC Vegfest, which you can read all about in my next post.
This week, I made curry, one of the easiest and cheapest vegan dishes to make. I had already bought two cans of coconut milk on sale along with a bag of yellow curry powder (cheaper than curry pastes). All I needed to add was vegetables! Here's the recipe I used this week:
Yellow Curry good enough for a week and a half
2 cans of coconut milk ($2/can at Kroger)
2 sweet potatoes
3 russet potatoes ($2/5 lb bag)
4 carrots (still from the same bag as the spaghetti)
1 onion
3 tablespoons yellow curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt for seasoning
Peel and cut vegetables. I actually hate prepping sweet potatoes because their irregular shape make them really hard to peel, and they're really hard to cut/slice, but the flavors are worth it in the end. Because my sweet potatoes were huge, I had to add an extra potato to balance out the sweet and savory.
Heat coconut milk in pot. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar (taken directly from the instructions of Thai Kitchen's Red Curry Paste lol) and 3 tablespoons of yellow curry powder (taken from an old bottle of yellow curry powder I had). Mix well. Add sweet potatoes, potatoes, and carrots. Cover and cook until tender (15-20 minutes). Add onion and season with salt, msg, or whatever. Serve with rice or vermicelli noodles.
I've also been eating a lot of free food at various events hosted by the University and its constituents. Last Friday, I went to the 7th Annual Gazpacho In the Garden hosted by the Morven Kitchen Garden. There was such much vegan friendly food! This wasn't the case at the UVA Arts Grounds Day on Saturday. There was a veggie falafel, but I don't think the BBQ chipotle sauce was vegan (I should have gotten ketchup instead). The patty was dry, and I ate a hush puppy knowing it wasn't vegan. The veggie baked beans were meh too, so I basically ate junk in terms of taste and health. I did eat some delicious vegan BBQ with avocado slaw at the Curry Picnic though.
In addition to my curry and the free food on grounds, my sister also contributed since my last post by making pesto with the leftover herbs from our mom and the avocados our grandma gave us, flatbread pizza with the leftover pesto, and quinoa with the leftover pizza ingredients. She put mushroom, kale, and onion on the pizza and added canned beets and carrots to the leftover mushroom and kale for the quinoa bowl flavored with lime and tahini from Mezeh. She kind of went overboard with the lime though, but it tastes fine to me. I ate the pesto with my leftover penne (there was definitely a lack of tomatoes), spaghetti, and a new box of cherry tomatoes. 10/10 would recommend the pizza recipe.
Last but not least, my sister and I went out to dinner on Thursday night to celebrate my new jobs and me being done with two weeks of grad school, but really we just had a $10 coupon to Maharaja that was expiring. From left to right: 1) Vegetable Kholapuri 2) Mushroom & Pea Malai 3) Baigan (Eggplant) Burtha 4) Bhindi Masala. I don't think the top two dishes aka my sister's are vegan because they were rather creamy/buttery. You can see Maharaja's menu here: http://www.maharaja-indian-restaurant.com/wine-list/ The food was on point as always.
Tata for now! I'm off to DC Vegfest, which you can read all about in my next post.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Howl To Be Vegan Part II & III
Last weekend I went home solely for eating purposes: my dad's herb and salad garden is overpopulated and my mom needed my sister and I to eat.
She first prepared for us banh hoi with tofu and herbs. The Country Crock and onion dressing is to die for (literally because it's so unhealthy). I also had banh xeo with a chayote, jicama, and cabbage filling served with herbs and soy sauce. Other typical vegetarian fillings include mushrooms, tofu, or carrots. My favorite part has always been the actual crepe (misleading name because there are no eggs in a banh xeo).
In addition to these special meals, I also ate a very simple dish of fermented bean curd, cucumber, and rice. My mom mixed the bean curd with a little bit of sugar to dilute the strong fermented taste. It was actually my first time eating it, but I loved it: I was afraid of its pungency before.
Fruit (blueberries, strawberries, nectarines, mangos, plums, and bananas) was also a must have.
Along with leftovers, she sent home with us canh chua made with Chinese water spinach, basil, and bean sprouts. You can also make it with pineapple, tomatoes, and colocasia gigantea (the plant kingdom is so diverse, yet people are satisfied with only eating beef, chicken, or pork all their lives). The canh chua was super sour because she used fresh lime instead of a prepackaged canh chua seasoning, which includes seafood. I ate the canh chua with ramen, and it was so much better. The second dish she made for us to take home was stir fry chives, bean sprouts, and tofu. She also gave us bitter melon, cherry tomatoes, and more water spinach, herbs, and fruit. You can get familiar with the herbs here: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/vietnamese-herb-primer.html
Today, I simply cooked the water spinach with garlic and cut the bitter melon and cooked it with soy sauce. My mom actually made us the water spinach and stuffed the bitter melon with tofu for us our first week in Charlottesville. I used the box of cherry tomatoes (you'll actually need need two, but I just made use with what I had), basil, and mint in addition to a box of unused whole wheat penne my sister had to make a pasta dish I've made before. The recipe (Bow Ties with Tomatoes, Herbs, and Lemon) is from Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes: Vegetarian Meals. I made it with lime instead of lemon this time because that's what my mom gave me and took out the olive oil for health reasons (we also didn't have olive oil). The oil definitely would have dispersed the salt better, but I think it tastes fine without it.
My sister contributed by baking tofu ($2 at Kroger) with a Sweet Citrus Marinade from Thug Kitchen. We didn't have ginger, so she excluded it, and she used regular vegetable oil instead of olive oil. I used the tofu as a savory component for summer rolls. I used whole wheat rice paper, the herbs, and added julienne carrots for the crunchy component. I learned from experience that all delicious summer rolls need a savory, crunchy, and herby component. Top it all off with a good dipping sauce. My go-to is peanut and hoisin. I added the chili sauce from Thug Kitchen last time for a spicy kick.
I will be eating the dishes we cooked today all week, which is why now would be a good time to mention that what I cooked in my last blog post did not last me all week (more thoughts on meal prepping here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBlaI213eNs&t=4s). I did have to supplement with tofu sausages my sister bought and hot dog buns. I cut the sausage into quarters because it was too "meaty" and ate each quarter with a bun. I had two buns per meal garnished with fresh carrot sticks for a less heavy meal.
In conclusion, the moral of this post is be creative with the food available to you. I also saw this Tweet (see below) in a Buzzfeed post, and it really speaks to how my mom has always taken care of me with food. I didn't realize how much work she put in for us to have something new to eat every other day until I started cooking for myself. My parents also don't make that much money, yet, we've always had good food to eat, which goes to show you how much creativity really does help.
Asian parents always ask their children if they've eaten yet because that's how they show love. I've always been annoyed by this question because I thought it was a stupid one: of course I've eaten, but this Tweet really puts their love in a new perspective: nobody will ever love me as much as my mom. She's literally been feeding me my whole life.
Asian parents always ask their children if they've eaten yet because that's how they show love. I've always been annoyed by this question because I thought it was a stupid one: of course I've eaten, but this Tweet really puts their love in a new perspective: nobody will ever love me as much as my mom. She's literally been feeding me my whole life.
Oh, I almost forgot about dessert! My mom made this delicious silken tofu and ginger soup with coconut milk and sugar. I was lowkey cheating by eating frosted blueberry donuts she bought for my sister before she made this. Vegan desserts are usually really complicated to make because you have to make a lot of substitutions for cakes, etc., so it's really easy to cheat, but the tofu and ginger dish is really simple and easy to make. God bless Vietnamese cuisine for broadening my palette and reminding me that I can be a vegan and have my cake too (okay not literally, but I had to make this joke). I guess another moral of this story is to learn other cuisines because poor countries know how to not eat meat lol.
Fruit for this week: blueberries, avocados (courtesy of my grandma), bananas, and $0.99/lb grapes from Kroger! My grandma is retired, and she is still able to feed me. Food banks seriously need to step their game up. I can't believe the junk (hello, sheet cakes) I saw delivered to homes on A Place At The Table.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Howl To Be Vegan Part I
Update: I'm still a vegan. I feel the need to say this because I haven't posted any food pictures on Instagram in a while (Did it really happen if you didn't tell the whole world on social media about it?). I don't normally post food pictures for several reasons: 1. I'm way too excited to eat my food to take a picture of it. 2. Just because something looks good doesn't mean it's going to taste good, which is why I need to do a taste test first. 3. Lighting really sucks sometimes.
Because I haven't been posting any pictures of food, I feel like I've failed in showing people how to be vegan. I've been sharing snippets of vegan documentaries and books like What The Health and Proteinaholic on Snapchat, but I haven't been sharing my meals. One of my friends responded to my Snaps saying how he's more interested in how to become a vegan. He has this belief that it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of effort to be vegan, and I want to disprove that. At first, I was going to vlog how I prepare a meal from going to the grocery store to cooking it, but I'm too lazy for that, and a blog post seems easier and more my style. I might someday vlog one of my meal preps, but today, I'm going to tell you what I've cooked since moving back to Charlottesville (I've lowkey been struggling in how to show you guys what I've eaten until I thought of this idea today. My move made it the perfect time to start this series).
A couple of disclaimers first: 1. I know people are more drawn to pictures, but this series will be more text-driven like most of my work because of the reasons I mentioned in the first paragraph. 2. The name of this series was inspired by Lost Dog's Cafe Howl To Be Vegan menu, which some restaurant employees don't even know about.
Spaghetti
My sister bought some spaghetti sauce with no intention of using it (that's another story), and she had a bunch of leftover pasta lying around. Spaghetti is also a relatively simple dish to make, so the choice was obvious to make spaghetti for my first self-cooked meal in Charlottesville. I usually make spaghetti with mushrooms and onion, but mushrooms were expensive at Kroger, so I decided to replace them with carrots I had in the fridge instead. I actually prefer it over the mushrooms now. Here's the recipe:
Serves 4
Classico Spicy Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce/your favorite pasta sauce 24 oz $1.98 (according to walmart.com)
Spaghetti $1 or $2 at your local grocery store (any type you want but I suggest whole grain)
2 garlic cloves
4 carrots (You can get a bag for a few bucks at your local grocery store)
1 onion of any kind ($2 for a bag of sweet or yellow onions)
Fresh tomatoes
Chop garlic, carrots, onion, and tomatoes to whatever size you like. Heat up some oil (this is an unhealthy step that I will try to avoid in the future). Add the garlic and cook until brown. Add carrots and onion. Cook for 10 minutes or whenever you feel is adequate. Season with salt, oregano, and whatever seasoning you like. Stir in pasta sauce and fresh tomatoes, and cook until the carrots are soft enough for your liking. Add more seasoning if necessary. Cook pasta separately. Enjoy.
Cucumber, Tomato & Hummus Sandwich
My mom gave me some cucumbers and tomatoes from my dad's garden, and before I didn't know what to do with them. Then, I saw a hummus sandwich on a restaurant menu. The rest is history jk this story's a little more complicated because I needed hummus but wasn't going to spend the money (it's expensive) on it at when I've thrown away the last two or three hummuses? I've bought at the grocery store. Because my sister had a can of cannellini beans left over, I told myself I would just make my own because a girl in one of my fourth year seminars brought in some homemade white bean hummus one time, and it was banging. The only problem? I didn't have a blender. I was about to give up, but then I was like eff it-I'm just going to make a "deconstructed hummus" and see how it goes. I also didn't buy tahini because that shit's expensive, but I did have leftover sesame seeds, which I had to use whole too.
Serves ? idk I'm still eating it
1 can of white beans ($0.99 max)
1 lemon (I bought one for $0.79, but you can get one cheaper)
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1 garlic clove
1 cucumber
5-6 tiny tomatoes (or 1 big tomato)
Bread (I'm using 6 pita pockets aka pita halves, which I got for $2.50 at Kroger).
Rinse and mash beans. Add sesame seeds and mix. Squeeze in juice from lemon and mix again. Make the garlic clove into tiny pieces somehow and add them as well. Mash and mix some more. Maybe season with salt (I don't remember if I did or not). Toast bread. Spread hummus mixture on bread or inside pita. Add some slices of cucumber and tomatoes, and enjoy.
This ended up being pretty tasty. If you recreate this recipe and it doesn't taste good, then I probably left out an ingredient in these instructions. I've also been eating the hummus with some of my sister's leftover sesame rice crackers, which complement the sesame seeds in the hummus really well.
Breakfast & Dessert
For breakfast, I've been eating my sister's leftover almond butter, which she got for free, with whole wheat bread, and for dessert, I eat fruit. This week, I got bananas and two packages of strawberries for only $3, the special deal at Kroger this week so fruit can absolutely be affordable.
That's all for now! I hope you guys enjoyed. Let's see if I can keep this up, but in the meantime, here's a picture of an okay donut I got at the Farmer's Market yesterday. In addition to being vegan, it was also gluten free, which is probably why it didn't taste that good (it was super dense). It was also $5, so it was definitely a treat.
Edit: A previous version of this blog forgot to include fresh tomatoes in the spaghetti recipe.
Because I haven't been posting any pictures of food, I feel like I've failed in showing people how to be vegan. I've been sharing snippets of vegan documentaries and books like What The Health and Proteinaholic on Snapchat, but I haven't been sharing my meals. One of my friends responded to my Snaps saying how he's more interested in how to become a vegan. He has this belief that it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of effort to be vegan, and I want to disprove that. At first, I was going to vlog how I prepare a meal from going to the grocery store to cooking it, but I'm too lazy for that, and a blog post seems easier and more my style. I might someday vlog one of my meal preps, but today, I'm going to tell you what I've cooked since moving back to Charlottesville (I've lowkey been struggling in how to show you guys what I've eaten until I thought of this idea today. My move made it the perfect time to start this series).
A couple of disclaimers first: 1. I know people are more drawn to pictures, but this series will be more text-driven like most of my work because of the reasons I mentioned in the first paragraph. 2. The name of this series was inspired by Lost Dog's Cafe Howl To Be Vegan menu, which some restaurant employees don't even know about.
Spaghetti
My sister bought some spaghetti sauce with no intention of using it (that's another story), and she had a bunch of leftover pasta lying around. Spaghetti is also a relatively simple dish to make, so the choice was obvious to make spaghetti for my first self-cooked meal in Charlottesville. I usually make spaghetti with mushrooms and onion, but mushrooms were expensive at Kroger, so I decided to replace them with carrots I had in the fridge instead. I actually prefer it over the mushrooms now. Here's the recipe:
Serves 4
Classico Spicy Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce/your favorite pasta sauce 24 oz $1.98 (according to walmart.com)
Spaghetti $1 or $2 at your local grocery store (any type you want but I suggest whole grain)
2 garlic cloves
4 carrots (You can get a bag for a few bucks at your local grocery store)
1 onion of any kind ($2 for a bag of sweet or yellow onions)
Fresh tomatoes
Chop garlic, carrots, onion, and tomatoes to whatever size you like. Heat up some oil (this is an unhealthy step that I will try to avoid in the future). Add the garlic and cook until brown. Add carrots and onion. Cook for 10 minutes or whenever you feel is adequate. Season with salt, oregano, and whatever seasoning you like. Stir in pasta sauce and fresh tomatoes, and cook until the carrots are soft enough for your liking. Add more seasoning if necessary. Cook pasta separately. Enjoy.
Cucumber, Tomato & Hummus Sandwich
My mom gave me some cucumbers and tomatoes from my dad's garden, and before I didn't know what to do with them. Then, I saw a hummus sandwich on a restaurant menu. The rest is history jk this story's a little more complicated because I needed hummus but wasn't going to spend the money (it's expensive) on it at when I've thrown away the last two or three hummuses? I've bought at the grocery store. Because my sister had a can of cannellini beans left over, I told myself I would just make my own because a girl in one of my fourth year seminars brought in some homemade white bean hummus one time, and it was banging. The only problem? I didn't have a blender. I was about to give up, but then I was like eff it-I'm just going to make a "deconstructed hummus" and see how it goes. I also didn't buy tahini because that shit's expensive, but I did have leftover sesame seeds, which I had to use whole too.
Serves ? idk I'm still eating it
1 can of white beans ($0.99 max)
1 lemon (I bought one for $0.79, but you can get one cheaper)
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1 garlic clove
1 cucumber
5-6 tiny tomatoes (or 1 big tomato)
Bread (I'm using 6 pita pockets aka pita halves, which I got for $2.50 at Kroger).
Rinse and mash beans. Add sesame seeds and mix. Squeeze in juice from lemon and mix again. Make the garlic clove into tiny pieces somehow and add them as well. Mash and mix some more. Maybe season with salt (I don't remember if I did or not). Toast bread. Spread hummus mixture on bread or inside pita. Add some slices of cucumber and tomatoes, and enjoy.
This ended up being pretty tasty. If you recreate this recipe and it doesn't taste good, then I probably left out an ingredient in these instructions. I've also been eating the hummus with some of my sister's leftover sesame rice crackers, which complement the sesame seeds in the hummus really well.
Breakfast & Dessert
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| Donut from Moon Maiden |
For breakfast, I've been eating my sister's leftover almond butter, which she got for free, with whole wheat bread, and for dessert, I eat fruit. This week, I got bananas and two packages of strawberries for only $3, the special deal at Kroger this week so fruit can absolutely be affordable.
That's all for now! I hope you guys enjoyed. Let's see if I can keep this up, but in the meantime, here's a picture of an okay donut I got at the Farmer's Market yesterday. In addition to being vegan, it was also gluten free, which is probably why it didn't taste that good (it was super dense). It was also $5, so it was definitely a treat.
Edit: A previous version of this blog forgot to include fresh tomatoes in the spaghetti recipe.
Monday, April 17, 2017
My First Day of Unemployment
I struggled to get out of my bed as normal even though it wasn't for work. As a result, I didn't get to eat a proper breakfast (you'll see why this is important later) as I rushed to leave my house in time to get to the Hirshhorn museum in time for my 10:00 entry into the Yayoi Kusama Infinite Mirrors exhibit. As I was running to make it to the museum before 9:45 aka the latest I was supposed to arrive according to my ticket (people definitely showed up after 9:45 though and it wasn't a big deal), I immediately regretted choosing such an early entry time.
It's amazing how long the line was for a same-day walk-up timed pass.
Because we were the first entry group of the day (which I didn't consciously realize when I signed up for a ticket), the lines for the five mirror rooms were super short, so I definitely recommend getting a 10:00 a.m. ticket (definitely don't regret choosing such an early entry time now). Staff members recommended seeing the mirror rooms first before viewing the other collections, but some people were not smart and did not listen lol.
The first mirror room: I didn't realize that these rooms were tiny and only fit 2-3 people at a time. I thought they were actual house-sized rooms even though I've been to the Hirshhorn before, and this wouldn't make any logical sense at all. The mirrors make the room appear a lot bigger than they are in photographs, which is the artist's intent duh lol This image is actually a screenshot of a video I took inside the room. You only get 20-30 seconds in each room, which is definitely not enough time to appreciate the work in addition to recording the moment.
The second room: This is also from a screenshot of a video I took. The selfie I took was blurry and obscured by two strangers-the disadvantage of being single-having to experience the exhibit with strangers. Clearly, I haven't gotten the hang of taking a good picture in 30 seconds. I think this picture is fitting though because of the cell phone smack dab in the middle: taking a picture of the exhibit and sharing it is part of the experience. There's an excellent New York Times article about this.
It's so much easier taking pictures when no one else is in the room. Being single is definitely an advantage when going to crowded/over populated places-once the lines got longer, staffers were asking if there were any singles to join a group or another single ahead in line. I think this advantage beats having to experience the exhibit with strangers. My metro wait was longer than any wait I had to do inside the Hirshhorn. I did have to pay $21 for parking though because it was a weekday. It would have been more economically efficient to Uber-note taken for next time.
It's amazing how long the line was for a same-day walk-up timed pass.
Because we were the first entry group of the day (which I didn't consciously realize when I signed up for a ticket), the lines for the five mirror rooms were super short, so I definitely recommend getting a 10:00 a.m. ticket (definitely don't regret choosing such an early entry time now). Staff members recommended seeing the mirror rooms first before viewing the other collections, but some people were not smart and did not listen lol.
The first mirror room: I didn't realize that these rooms were tiny and only fit 2-3 people at a time. I thought they were actual house-sized rooms even though I've been to the Hirshhorn before, and this wouldn't make any logical sense at all. The mirrors make the room appear a lot bigger than they are in photographs, which is the artist's intent duh lol This image is actually a screenshot of a video I took inside the room. You only get 20-30 seconds in each room, which is definitely not enough time to appreciate the work in addition to recording the moment.
The third room: I got to enter this room alone because there wasn't a line-hence, better quality pictures.
This wasn't in the room but was one of the two peep holes in the exhibit.
The fourth room: This is when I realized the staff has to repeat the viewing instructions for every group who enters. Imagine saying the same thing over and over again every 30 seconds for eight hours. I have mad respect for the Hirshhorn museum employees. I auto-enhanced almost all of these pictures on iPhoto, but the changes are most pronounced in this photo, which is why I've chosen to post the original picture.
The fifth and final room: I think I was the only person in line for this room, and again, I got to enter alone, so I had so much time in here that I even struck up a conversation with the staff member who accompanied me inside the room. The topic of conversation: how someone broke one of the pumpkins and hence why visitors can't be trusted alone in this room.
The description does not align with the piece of work, but this is Kusama's "Notice of Approval of VISA petition..." I think this was pretty important given Trump's recent attempts at banning immigration. It's also pretty cool to see people lining up by the hundreds to see an Asian woman's work.
Last but not least, The Obliteration Room: you can't renter the exhibit once you enter this room.
No one ever shares the art description, but I think it's important to look at a piece of art beyond its face value especially when it's already there and you don't have to figure it out for yourself, which I think is dumb by the way.
Overall, I loved this exhibit and the messages behind each of her pieces."Anatomic explosions [truly are] are better than atomic explosions."
And oh, I got a headache because I didn't eat enough. I'll write more about my day in another post/Youtube video.
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