Vegan Week - Day 2

Last night, I fell into a deep karmically deserved sleep and then Miguel woke me up at midnight because he couldn't sleep. What's worse is that he wanted a glass of milk - cold, delicious milk which just so happens to come from COWS! I took him downstairs and poured him a glass of milk and then sat on the couch in the other room pretending that I had no interest in having a glass of milk myself. There may have been some gentle rocking involved on my part. We then returned to our respective beds and one of us quickly fell asleep and it was not me. I was awake for what seemed like hours though I don't actually know what time I fell asleep. I was stressing out about work but I'm not letting veganism off the hook completely because, once I did fall asleep, I dreamed that I went to a wedding reception and ate the freaking table cloth right off the table! This morning, I knew that adjustments to my coffee needed to happen so I mixed the soy creamer with a bit of vanilla soy milk and the result was much more palatable. I went in to the office today so I took a little mix of nuts and dried fruit with me for a snack so that I would not hear the siren song of the Cheez-its from the vending machine. Then, I went out for lunch and had pureed garbanzo bean and spinach soup which was perfectly acceptable though I would have enjoyed it more with some hot and spicy something in there. Yesterday for lunch I had hummus so, basically, today I had hummus soup. Tomorrow, I would like to find out what lunch might be like beyond the garbanzo bean. Tonight, we had black beans and rice which is an Up Popped A Fox staple though it pained me not to top it with shredded cheese. So how are we feeling? I hate to speak for Luisa but I know she won't speak for herself so I'll say that she does not seem to be enjoying Vegan Week. She's hanging in there though. As for me, it's been fine. This morning, I was weepy and had a headache but I tend to think that has more to do with sleep deprivation than a lack of cheese. Time will tell...time will tell. I can tell you one thing - Vegan Week doesn't seem as awesome as Peep Week.

Vegan Week - Day 1

I was a vegetarian for 11 years and never imagined that I would return to eating meat but then I got pregnant and I craved chicken nearly every moment of every day. Had I seen a chicken in the wild, I might have chased it down, doused in in hot sauce and devoured it on the spot. Fortunately, it never came to that. I started eating chicken when we went out to eat...and then we began making chicken at home...and then I had the occasional piece of bacon...and then I had a hamburger...and, most recently, I began to eat pork chops and pork loin. Since returning to our carnivorous ways, we have been committed to eating free-range, grass fed, etc. or as Miguel calls it, "Happy Meat" which makes me feel better about my meat-eating ways. I wish that more people could/would switch to "Happy Meat" but there are a lot of reasons people don't, cost being a big one. I have the economic privilege of being able to pay more for my food. Not everybody has that privilege. I'm not climbing on a soap box though - people should eat whatever they want and enjoy it, by god! I've been toying with the idea of going vegan as an experiment for the past couple of months. Why? Well, the answer to that depends on the day. So, pick from the following:

• I would like to lose a few pounts
• It's winter and I'm bored
• I'm getting tired of meat
• Vegans claim to have more energy and who doesn't want that?

Notice that I don't mention doing it for the animals. I know - I'm missing an opportunity to look saintly but I'm not giving up my leather shoes and leather belts and fur coats. I don't really have fur coats but it's funny to picture me in one, don't you think?

So, here is the plan. For the next week, Luisa and I are going vegan. Luisa is being a good sport about my rather whimsical idea to completely and drastically alter our diet. The kids will not be going vegan, however, so we'll be making meals that can be easily adapted to accommodate our vegan experiment. For example, tonight we will be having fried rice with tofu. The kids' version will have the eggs and ours will not. I'm only committing to a week of veganism right now because I want to see how inconvenient it is given that we will not be switching the kids.

I'll tell you all about it as we go through the week. So far, the hardest part has been my morning coffee. I use half and half which is, unfortunately, from cows. This morning, I switched to soy creamer and was deeply disappointed. This is a work in progress though and people have already suggested better alternatives. Feel free to make suggestions or offer pity/sympathy in the comments section. I need all the help I can get.