Wednesday, 30 September 2009
I think I've gone to heaven? And so it begins...Vegan Mofo :)
Wow, I leave it a day, and I have sooo much to catch you up on!
As it has all has been happening with this trip I totally forgot to share with you the fabulous dinner that I got to taste at Voracious' house the night before I flew out last week!
She had attempted to invite me over plenty of times before but with my odd work schedule obviously it made it difficult until the night before my departure for a month. With Natasha offering to cook me anything I wanted, I requested her mac & cheese that Cody, her partner raves about. I was excited to check out this raw food staple, called nutritional yeast which is in alot of recipes but I had yet to source it (or try it).
Man was I in for a treat. Not only was I getting to try the mac and cheese but also her tofu omlette that she sweared would taste like the real thing. Tasha did advise however that she normally wouldn't serve the two dishes together, however with my big trip starting the following day, she had to send me off on my way with at least two of her delicacies to ensure I came back :)
I didn't have a great camera with me, however this is the mac and cheese in the pot...YUMMO. She promises to share this recipe at a later date. Come on Tasha, don't hold out on us!!
No piccies of the omelette, but YES it did taste like an omelette. I try to not eat any soy products but maybe now and then I will allow it just to have an omelette. Who knows. Here is Natasha's post on it.
Then dessert was this:
Pumpkin Spice Muffins!!! Not all of them of course but I had at least one!!! These were so moist and tasty!! Thanks so much Voracious Natasha. You are one talented LADY!!!
It was such a lovely evening, and another friend of mine, who is a sushi chef (and used to be a personal chef in California - what a gig!!) came along to sample some vegan deliciousness. We all parted feeling uber inspired off one another. Next time we will have to take some more pics!
Also I forgot to tell ya that Monday at the hairdressers, I pulled out the remainder of my green smoothie out of my gym bag as I was getting peckish and I have totally forgotten how strange it must look as it is just apart of my daily life now. But my lovely but very curious hairdresser asked me very politely "um, can I ask, what ARE you drinking?" And she also commented on my little lunch box of almond butter with banana and apples too. She was curious in a positive way though. I am happy to share my crazy eating habits. Isn't it nice not to conform? Too funny. Has anyone else had any other kind of strange reaction to their unique eating style?
Yesterday I started the day with a hot water and lemon and half an hour later had my usual green smoothie:
This one had 1/4 cabbage, 1 lemon, 2 green apples, 2 kiwi & a tablespoon of spirulina and water.
I really felt like something savoury and snacky and I found these at the supermarket. So had a couple plain. They were nice and crunchy!
Then I took off for my RPM/Spin class. This is WHAT I have been missing. Seriously. I like to be active, but sometimes I just need a little helping hand. And that is what group exercise does. Not only do you have 20 something others alongside you pushing themselves to their limits, but if you have a good instructor, they will push you too and also correct you in places that you need to avoid injury. And have a good instructor I did yesterday. She even remembered most people's names in class which helps you to not be slack as she called out to each of us at any given point to ramp up our effort. As much as I loved the 50 min class I did feel I didn't push myself enough so I headed to the treadmill shortly after for a 30 min run. The instructor did tell me though as it was my first time back in a few months that it is a good gauge for me to push myself a little harder at my next class which of course I WILL! Plus my legs are STILL so sore from my Body Pump class the day before. Such great calorie burners.
After class I went on a bit of explore around the city as the weather was the nicest it has been since I got here, and came across a wholefoods store!!!
I must have looked like the Cheshire cat as I scoured through all the shelves and came up with quite some treats. I did manage to buy some salted brewer's yeast which I was told is the same as nutritional yeast however any research I have done online says contrary to this. Does anyone else know any more about this?
This was my little stash I came away with, but rest assured I'll be back there again before I leave:
The assistant also gave me some lovely vegan and vegan friendly restaurants to try out and I came across one of them on my walk home. They were close to closing time, however I still hadn't eaten my lunch so I popped into the cafe and and grabbed this for take out:
Green bean salad (with ginger yum) and some kind of veggie bake
This was amazing! I just love how my taste buds have dramatically changed to absolutely adore this kind of food.
For dinner I decided to make Kristen's Garden Guacamole which she posted a few days ago. She has been living out of an apartment similar to me living out of a hotel (only she has a kitchen and I have to wash my dishes in the bathtub!) This is my latest FAVOURITE staple so expect me to eat this quite a bit from now on. I just loved the colours.
I plated the guac on mixed leaves of rocket (arugula) and baby spinach.
I headed out in the evening with some new friends to a wine bar and although I only had two red wines, when I came home I was hanging for something with some heaviness. Step in the crackers...and the left over guac. Gone are the days of calorie laden kebabs and hot chips, I really wanted the guac!!!
I had the last 3 crackers in the pack. And washed it down with a green tea before crawling into bed.
This morning I woke up with the heaviest legs (body pump!) and although I had planned to do another BP today, I just couldn't get out of bed as my pillows and stack of books seemed more inviting so decided a rest day was on the cards and a smoothie to sip on:
This one was the last of the cabbage, handful of baby spinach, 1 red apple, 2 kiwis and 2 bananas and some spirulina to give it that yummy green colour.
I finished off my day with a mixed green salad of baby spinach, rocket, bean shoots, alfalfa and wait for it....Kristen's Tuscan Sundried Tomato Pesto as I made here. As I don't have a processor with me, I used the Vitamix which was adequate, not as smooth as the processor would make but it hit the spot!!! You rock Kristen!!!! And so does hotel room dining hehe.
Anyway, sorry guys for such a heavy post, but I'll leave you on this note.
Tomorrow is the beginning of International Vegetarian Month and in honour of it I will be participating in Vegan Mofo III (you can read more about it here). Basically the rules are, all participants need to post every week day for the month of Oct and include this banner on each post.
Well this should be fun!
I hope you enjoy!
4 comments:
- The Voracious Vegan said...
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ROBYN THE PRESSURE! I can't handle the pressure! You AND Cody have totally teemed up on me. He wants me to make mac and cheese every day, so now I have to give in and make it and write down the proper recipe. Thank you for all the sweet words!
Your food looks AWESOME, especially that guacomole. You know how much I love avocados.
And NO, I know for a fact that brewers yeast is NOT the same as nutritional yeast, in fact, I made that mistake once and BLECH! never again. I'm not sure if salted brewers yeast would make it any different. Just taste it, if it taste like delicious, heavenly amazing cheese, then you've got the right stuff. :-)
I LOVE that Tuscan pesto, it is amazing. I am planning to make more tomorrow or the next day.
And YAY for VeganMoFo! - September 30, 2009 6:46 PM
- Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) said...
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Pumpkin spice muffies, the company of other awesome raw hotties, pumpkin seed crackers, beet salad, guac...holy crap my lady, I don't even know where begin but I'd start with hangin out with the chicas and you :) Glad you liked the cheesecake on my bloggie today, it's bangin girl, make it!
- September 30, 2009 9:22 PM
- Lori-Pure2Raw said...
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Wow you have been a busy bee haven't you. It all looks amazing! I love spin classes too, though only when it is a good instructor! Now, from my research and knowledge I believe brewers yeast and nutritional yeast are two different things. I just use nutritional yeast! And boy to I love it!!!!
- October 01, 2009 12:11 AM
- Paige@ Running Around Normal said...
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All that food looks so good! Pumpkin crackers? Never heard of them, but they sound great!
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