Pulped

Guess what's in your processed shredded cheese?

Guess what's in your Fiber One cereal?

Guess what's in your Coffee Mate?

If you guessed wood pulp, you win!

We all just assume that anything we buy in a grocery store that isn't a fresh fruit or vegetable is teeming with nonsense additives and freakish artifical colors. But I'm pretty sure the last time I heard someone say their nut and grain loaf of bread tasted like wood, they were joking.

Welcome to the wild world of Cellulose, the powdered wood pulp that manufacturers are putting in processed foods in increasing numbers because it's cheaper than flour. The FDA approved the use of Cellulose in food products years ago because it is fibrous and, apparently, does our bodies no harm.

But that's not the point. The point is... ewwwwww! I don't recall the last time I looked at a piece of tree bark and thought, "Yummy! Let's have some right away!" Manufacturers are so determined to cut costs that they've turned to NOT FOOD to cut corners.

Whenever Anthony Bourdain does an episode of No Reservations that extolls the virtures of Cellulose in my coffee, I might begin to change my mind. Until then, thank you, but no.

Vegan Log, no. 2.

I'm four days into my Vegan Adventure. I thought I might go over exactly what my perimeters are. I'm following "The Kind Diet" plan for the most part, but have chosen to look at this as a chance for exploration. For the record, that means whole grains, beans, greens, and fruits. I'm not just using recipes from that book exclusively or anything like that.

*No animal products of any sort. That includes meat, milk, cheese, dairy of any sort, gelatin, and honey.

*I'm avoiding sugars and white flour. I'm using products sweetened by fruit juice and whole wheat flour, when necessary. I've switched over to agave syrup.

*Prior to my dedication to the Vegan Adventure: I've weened myself off coffee and soda and haven't had them in about a month. That was more of a battle than the vegan thing is, at least so far. I wanted to get that out of the way before I made this attempt (I was a 3-soda a day kinda gal), and I'm relieved that this hasn't kicked up any cravings.

My husband is not actively doing this with me, but he's eating what I've prepared each evening when he comes home from work, and being supportive. My best friend, Kim, has decided to give the Vegan Adventure a try as well. We are on the phone via text and voice checking in with one another and swapping food ideas.

Today I'm on a hunt for a small white board for the fridge--Kim had the brilliant idea of making a food plan for the week and essentially listing everything out. Since I live so close to health food stores, it hadn't hit me how much this could help! With deadlines looming, I need all the extra time I can get!

On Monday, my friend Michelle took me to Studio City to try Kind Kreme, a raw vegan ice cream shop. Michelle isn't vegan, but she's totally into trying new things and knew that I'd be into this. I had a scoop of Fresh (Cucumber, Kale, Lemon, Himalayan Crystal Salt) on a gluten free cone and loved it! Shoulda got a double scoop. I can see this being a regular spot for me.

I haven't had any vegan cheese since starting on Monday--and I'm trying to prolong the amount of time between starting the Vegan Adventure and actually working with it. My friend Jessica said to wait about a month before delving in because it's so different from regular cheese. I am heeding her advice because she's a genius.

I feel noticeably lighter, with more focus and energy, and a bit more alert. I'm hoping the alertness gets more pronounced as I continue with this. Shopping has been easy, and I live in a neighborhood where it's easy to comparison shop, so it's not breaking the bank. Since Kim is living in Fresno, I know this might take more effort to make happen. She has also had to deal with people asking what the heck vegan means, and then looks of disgust or laughter (seriously?! Seriously. So lame.). None of that in L.A. so far, and I don't expect it. People have too much on their own plates. Whaa wha.

Dispatch, over. Live long and prosper, I'll see you soon!

food and relationships

Since moving to Chico I met this guy Ben who is like my domestic partner now or something. No seriously, Ben is my boyfriend. This is us:

Ben was a certified meat eater before me, and I have never set out to change that. EVER. That's his gig. I've even cooked him meat, sausages, chicken, whatever. Mostly because I don't have the right to tell him what to eat any more than a meat eater has a right to tell me what to eat. I don't have a problem with people doing their own thing, just mostly their own thing isn't what I would do.

Ben and I basically live together though and we're talking about getting a serious home/apartment together. I do the cooking, he does the cleaning. Total non gender specific roles. I just love to cook and hate to clean and cooking isn't really his bag. Awesome.

The thing is though, my boyfriend doesn't ask me to cook him meat very often if at all. He's a huge fan of Chikn (the fake stuff) he loves tofu. Like me, he will eat fish every so often but for the most part he only eats other meat when we go out to dinner or when he eats without me. Which I find insanely respectful, and sweet.

The other day though he blew my mind when he said he was thinking about going pescatarian full time as well. Meaning no more half and half pizzas, no more double doubles from In and Out (actually he loves their grilled cheese and veggie burgers go figure) no more bacon (fake-on for real) and no more pepperoni. He's watched me struggle with my lifestyle and eating habits and is willing to at least try it.

This is love folks. I think I will put him on the 30 day weaning challenge. I did this when I gave up meat. You only eat meat three times a week, then two, then one, then not at all. It's nice because you don't have to go full stop and you get used to it.

But I love it because we can create meals together or at least he can give me ideas. Things he misses eating, I can figure them out. Mine was sloppy joes and I figured that one out with the quickness. I still haven't recreated proscuitto or pastrami but really I shouldn't want that.

(God it was good though...)

thoughts on an article

The OC Register just did an article on Veganism.

I can't imagine being Vegan to be honest. I still after four years struggle with Pescatarianism and I feel like this article was a pretty honest portrayal as to how the rest of the world sees Veganism.

However I've had some amazing Vegan meals and wouldn't hesitate to try more.

Recently I invited my friend Aurora to join this blog and she's documenting her Vegan journey here. I'm excited about it. I hope it gets me back into the habit of writing about food and also taking photos of the food I create and eat.

I'm hungry, off to the hippy market

"This new girl is gonna guac my world"

When Stephanie told me about "Feed Me Bitch", I was caught by surprise, and not because of the name. The truth was, even though I'm probably the most dedicated (re: stalker-ish...I love blogs and have been reading our girl for years upon years!) Stephanie reader out there, I did not know she had this blog! Needless to say, I was stoked to have more content to read, and even more stoked--dare I say, double stoked?!-- to be asked to contribute.

So, of course, since I am female and living in America and also aware of stereotypes, I have a history with food. As in, I LOVE to eat. I love all sorts of treats, carby things, veggies, meats, the whole deal...save for bananas. We all have something, I guess. I was vegetarian for a few years in college but obviously lacked the conviction to follow through once my ex-boyfriend's mother shoved a pepperoni pizza in front of me at a family dinner. Lacking the elegance to gracefully find a salad or potato, I bit into that greasy slice, loved it, and reverted back to my meat loving ways.

My body paid for it. I didn't jump back on the vegetarian bandwagon--I ate bad food after bad food with reckless abandon! I ended up gaining 50 lbs, had acne, and felt tired and unmotivated. My pleasures continued to be confined to an 8-inch plate, or a 5-inch bowl of heaping ice cream. Yum in my tum. That's right.

Eventually I was asked to participate in a weight-loss pool at one of my office jobs. I had found a motivator--money! Imagine that. I lost all of the weight on Weight Watchers, which I still heartily advocate. The program is healthy, not extreme, and makes sense if you just stay on board with it! Not to brag, but I totally won. I felt amazing fitting into a size six again.

Alas, life changed, my mother passed away, and I stressed the heck out, eating crap. I gained some of the weight back, which is where I'm at now. It's been three years since. My husband and I stick to a fairly healthy diet. I mean that, if you compare it to the rest of America. We don't typically eat fast food, save for every few months when I must have a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl's Junior (look, it's only when I'm riding the crimson wave. He usually gets something less horrible.). We eat a lot of fish, veggies, and whole grain pastas. We occasionally have red meat, but it's when we go out. We eat pretty well. But like all things, including Jennifer Aniston, we could do better.

So, what's going on right this very second? I read Alicia Silverstone's book "The Kind Diet (I'm a child of the '90's and in my private world, she and I are best friends) last week and it's got my head spinning. Ms. Cutie Face makes a very convincing arguement for at the very least trying some new foods. I'm completely loving the idea of taking care of my body, animals, and the earth at the same time. It really speaks to the multi-tasker, faux-Virgo, Filofax-carrying part of me.

Here's the scoop on "The Kind Diet". It's a vegan/macrobiotic plan. It explains the danger of having meat products in your system and the toll it takes on the environment, as well as the crazy stuff sugars and processed foods do to you. I'm 30 now, so I am starting to be very aware of how my body is changing and is affected by my environment. I want to be responsible and conscious. I have absolutely no reason not to. And to contrast the elimination of easy-to-find-in-vending-machine foods, the book is loaded with vegan'macrobiotic recipes that acutally look awesome. I'm talking peanut butter cup awesome.

I'll be documenting my vegan experiments on "Feed Me Bitch", and on my own blog, "Trois Mois". It's about to get all soy up in here. For the time being, I'm just finding recipes on-line and in books. I hope to get so adept with my new vegan ingredients that eventually I'll be concocting my own recipes from scratch.

Here's to a new adventure! If any of you are vegan, what resources do you use and do you have any tip for someone just trying it out?

I’m in Evol

(this is reposted from my main blog Spin Spin Sugar)

Since moving to Chico, one of the places I go the most is S & S Organic Produce & Natural foods. It’s close to my house and my job and they have so many things I (as a vegetarian/pescatarian can eat. But this morning my life changed, when I popped in to get something for breakfast.

I discovered Evol Burritos.

This is a line of frozen burritos, not dissimilar to Amy’s another great company. They carry meat products, vegetarian and vegan products. And bless them, they make breakfast burritos. BIG ONES. I just got the egg & green chile burrito and it’s actually really good. It’s huge and full of eggs and spices, something most frozen foods lack. It does take a little longer to cook than most and is still steeper in price than say… Taco Bell (ugh, damn their cheap but bad for me products!)… I paid 1.99 for mine this morning on sale, but damn if this isn’t good.

Best part is that it didn’t explode in the microwave like burritos are want to do. I don’t know if these puppies are hand wrapped or if they have some very sophisticated robot up in their burrito plant but it stayed together until then end of my breakfast… And I’m full.

delicious

*after some research I found out these burritos are hand rolled. Totally worth the price of burrito admission!