Mission: Pancakes.

Result: Fail.

I had decided to take a break from my usual oatmeal or granola breakfast, after all, it was New Years Eve and I should change it up a bit. So even though I already had a recipe for pancakes that tastes fairly good, I leafed through the seven different vegan cookbooks I rented out from the library and decided on a basic pancake recipe from How It All Vegan. 2 cups flour, 2 cups soymilk, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tbsp oil later, I had a thick lumpy bland batch of pancakes. They tasted like plain popcorn blended up with a bit of milk. In an attempt to make it sweeter I added some sweetened coconut milk I had made the night before for some mango sticky rice. That made it a bit better but not much. I ate a few but ended up throwing the rest away.

Danielle, my new roommate said they tasted alright, but I think that’s just because she moved in 2 days before and didn’t want to hurt my feelings even though I told her I would be experimenting with a lot of recipes and it wouldn't offend me if she didn’t eat anything she didn’t like and I would appreciate her honest opionion.

A few days later, however, Danielle picked out a recipe from Vegan Express that turned out delicious. Cant remember the name exactly but something like Thai Coconut Corn Curry Soup. So Yummy and so quick! Definitely going to be made on a weekly basis for school lunches! (Thinking about cooking my way through this cookbook, so good!)

Also made a FANTASTIC little concoction from Vegan Lunch Box called Chickpea Salad. Phenomenal.

Make it, its so easy and so delicious. I add chopped tomatoes and stuffed it in a whole wheat pita with fresh spinach. I cant get over the deliciousness of it. Tastegasim for sure!

In other news, I've started school. Only on the second day and I LOVE it! Its keeping me incredibly busy however so dont get used to me actually posting things ;)

And still no internet :( How ever will I survive?!

Vegas Baby!

Hey Kiddo's, its been forever! I could use the excuse that I no longer have internet at my house, but lets not kid ourselves, I'm mostly just a huge slacker! Thats nothing new though.

So here's the update you've all been dying to hear. *chortle*
I made the decision to STOP working in restaurants. I didnt want to wake up in 10 years and be like, "Shit, I still work at this bleeping restaurant" So after some consideration, I decided that massage therapy was a rewarding career that I would like to get into.
I considered a few different schools around the country and then decided on Nevada School of Massage Therapy in Las Vegas. The people I talked to were incredibly cool and they covered a lot of different types of massage AND because the school is only two hours away from home and I figured it'd be nice to be able to go home more often. (Lets be honest, I was homesick but REALLY didnt want to move back home, so I picked the best school nearest there) Also, my uncle Clark is a massage therapist and goes to that school to get massages for himself and recommended it.
The staff at the school is super awesome and because I was from out of town they found another student from the school moving there and set us up so we could room together, helped us find an apartment and even had some potential jobs lined up, but I just transfered to the Cheesecake Factory there.

So with a mixture of sadness and excitement I moved to Vegas.

Now don't get the wrong idea here. I am NOT a vegas kind of girl.
I dont enjoy going there because I dislike clubbing, I'm not a huge drinker, and I certainly don't smoke. I'm not a gambler and hate the incredible heat. But I will only be here a year, max. Then I'll be off working on a cruiseline (hopefully) or some chiropractors office or maybe a spa. The possibilities are endless, really.
Mostly I'll be so happy finally doing something that is rewarding. I totally believe in the power of the human touch, I really do believe that it can heal so many things.

So I've been living here for 18 days now. With no internet. I am having withdrawl symptoms too. I sit alone in a corner of my mostly unfurnished 2 bed/2bath (because I will NOT share a bathroom if I dont have to) apartment rocking back and forth, pulling out my hair, mumbling nonesense.

Just kidding!

I just have a really good eye for starbucks now. In  fact, I ran my car battery dead there because I sat in the parking lot stealing internet. I had to walk to the nearby store at 11:30 at night and lure someone over to jump start my car parked in the dark corner of the parking lot. Not sketchy at all.
Lucky for me, a nice guy named Richard was brave enough to help me out.

My roommate, Danielle is from Hawaii and wont be arriving until the end of the month so I have been living all by myself this whole time and I LOVE it! I'm sure I'm gonna be real glad she's coming once I see the bills though.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy

I just want you all to know I'm a winner.

Yep. I'm a ebay winner of the sims game (the first version). For a whole whopping .99 I will have something awesome to waste my time with. I now have power over however many sims I create. I can make them happy or sad, successful or a failure. I'm pretty stoked.
Fear not though, I will not be wasting any daylight time with my sims, only precious sleep. All my daylight time will be wasted with work.

Speaking of work, today is my certification day! After today I will officially be a server. I can pick up, swap, trade, and complain about server shifts now. Aren't you so excited?! I am!

And because its such an exciting day (and because I have to wash my work clothes from last night because my only other uniform was destroyed by multiple attacks of mustard and balsamic vinaigrette) I have been awake since 6:30am. I've been busy bidding on sims games and making breakfast and procrastinating the laundry process that I will now get right to since a certain turn of events have given me something else I'd like to do even less...

While I was making some delicious oatmeal with blueberries, Diesel, Cathy's cat, was following me around keeping me company. Diesel has a very loud, somewhat annoying, meow and he started that up right as soon as I entered the kitchen. My other roommate, Manny, hates that meow, and its not the most pleasant thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning so I gave him the tiniest amount of food because he can't eat much at a time or he pukes. After he ate his food he proceeded to meow at me and I, afraid he'd wake Manny up in a bad mood, snapped my fingers sternly at him. He backed away miffed of course and about five minutes later, as I was finishing up my delicious oatmeal, just about to take the first delicious bite...I hear him start to retch.

Now he pukes often, at least on a weekly basis. In fact, our carpet is speckled with light brownish-yellow spots from previous regurgitations. Cathy is usually all over it, cooing and feeling sorry for her kitty (which frankly I think might bring it on more if he's feeling ignored) but she cleans it up. I, on the other hand, have never been able to clean up puke. I usually add to the mess if I try. So I normally don't care, it's Cathy's cat, she cleans it up. Doesn't bother me too much, I just seldomly let the kitty's in my room, that being one of the reasons.

The issue here is Cathy's not here. She's pet sitting. I have to clean up the puke AND I think Diesel did it because he's mad at me for snapping at him. Bleh! Just thinking about it makes me want to heave. Do you think I can just hop back in bed, pull the covers over my head and pretend that this didn't happen? It's worth a shot....
Curse my parents for raising me to be a good, honest, hardworking individual. I could be playing sims in their basement right now surrounded by empty pizza boxes and beer cans and my mother would clean up after me and any pissed off cats.

Slim pickin'

Hey Everybody!
Just so you know, even though its so unlike myself to stick to anything that I say I am going to do (see previous posts) I did start my 30 day vegan trial.

Its the 10th day and every thing is going smoothly. I haven't been craving anything that I cant have, which is actually quite surprising to me. Working at the Cheesecake Factory, the hardest thing for me has been just being careful about picking in the food. 

Yes, we pick in the food. At every restaurant there is a large percentage of workers picking in the food. Sure, there are still people who abstain from it, but the majority don't. Don't freak out though, its only small things like fries and chips. At the Cheese, most of the servers eat the fries that fall off the plate. I know I keep a very sharp eye out for the stray fries and even being the clean freak that I am, compulsively wiping up every spill and giving dirty looks to the servers that slop ketchup, drinks, etc on the line, it pleases me to no end when the fry cooks carelessly dump fries on the plate, letting fries fall off. I usually stop what I am doing to feast on these fries.

In the bakery, before my diet change, I would constantly snack on the various toppings from the cheesecakes that were unfortunate enough to have fallen off the cheesecake. Just so you know, I would never eat directly off the cheesecake. Every thing I eat is excess or unserveable. Quite often a cheesecake will have a slice that is too small or got damaged in some way, those are the cheesecakes I pick off of right before I throw them in the trash, a hard thing for me to do. I usually do something overly dramatic like choke on a sob and look the other way while I dispose of it. Or I would just ask the managers if I could take it home for myself or my roommates. Even though we're not allowed to take home or eat the unserveable desserts, they sometimes let us anyway. 

So now I have to be careful that I don't just pop a piece of something in my mouth. The only thing I can eat in the bakery now is the strawberries. Strawberries! We have 40+ desserts and there is only one dessert that can be modified to Vegan standards. Bowl of Strawberries no whip. Surprising. 

I've thought about asking my GM or maybe writing to Corporate to ask if we could start incorporating more Vegan friendly items in our menu. Like offering soymilk as an option for our espresso drinks. Or tofu dishes. We have really great Chefs constantly working to create delicious items for our menu and twice a year we add new things to our already 200 item menu so I think we should be able to offer healthier, animal friendly dishes also. If you agree with me (you should) then go to www.thecheesecakefactory.com and let them know! Also, while your there, you should suggest a new restaurant location in St George, Ut.  Just do it.  

10K and a surprise!

May 2, 2010 Darlene and I ran our first race ever! It was a 10K for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. It was a lot of fun, there were Mariachi Bands playing along the way, people dressed in traditional Mexican attire were holding out cups of water and Gatorade and cheering the runners on every couple miles. The  weather was nice and overcast, perfect for running, and at the end we got a medal  for completing the race. There were booths and booths of free goodies for the runners. Darlene and Cathy stockpiled on all the energy drinks, protein drinks and all the goodies they could fit in their bags while I simply just stuffed my face with as much food as I could.
Even though I had to stop mid-race and wait for the restroom with two people in front of me, I still made good time, 1:16! Thats how long it usually takes me to run my 5.25 mile run and I don't stop for potty breaks either. Darlene was four minutes ahead of me since her bladder likes her better and she may have been running slower so I could catch up, whereas I was running faster for that same reason.

Virginia came down with Darlene and we had a fun girls weekend...well it would have been a girls weekend had our brothers Danny and Jonny not been there the whole time. But it was fun nonetheless!
We hung out at the beach both days and ate sushi (last time for me) until we were about to pop. Right before they left we went to Souplantation and gorged ourselves. I ate WAY too much since it was the last meal with dairy products that I'd be eating and so of course I was sick.


And now for the surprise (drumroll) I've finally been promoted to server!!!
Monday night, Ahn told me that I would start training on the last week of may for serving. No more bakery shifts (excluding special occasions which I'm fine with) finally! So happy and relieved!
Anywho, speaking of work, I better get going or I'll be late!

30 Day Trial

Hey All!
So I became Vegetarian ,er Pescetarian I suppose, in the recent past.
It wasn't hard, I don't even like meat. The only thing I would miss is fish and I will be cutting that out soon. In fact I will also be cutting out Dairy products. Yep thats right, I'm going to give Veganism a 30 day trial. Why so extreme you ask? Well, I've done a lot of reading and researching on the subject and its really not that extreme. There are many many substitutes for dairy products. In fact, in preparation for the 30 day trial I have already stocked up on soy cheddar and mozzarella "cheese". I've got vegan butter, tofu, and B12 supplements- the only vitamin that Vegans have a hard time finding in there diets.

Don't worry, I wont be missing out on any delicious food either. I have this wicked awesome cook book ( a couple actually, one is healthy the other one, er, not so much. Thats right, you can be a very unhealthy vegan!) I already made some bomb vegan cookies! Yesterday I had the yummiest vegan lunch ever at this local health food store, Mothers! My taste buds were in Heaven! There are substitutes for your favorite meat dishes. Tofu or Tempeh chicken nuggets, breasts, strips. Fake bacon, corn dogs, hamburger. Substitutes for sausage or chorizo and even ribs! Thats right meat lovers, there are alternatives for pretty much everything out there.

My reasons for doing this are for health, environmental, and ethical reasons. For just a brief overview.

Health: Beef. Corn fed cows create the bacteria e coli in their stomach and its in their poop which is all over them since they are wallowing in it. Believe it or not that poop also makes its way into the meat and wala! Theres your deadly bacteria.
But thats not the only way e coli spreads. It also spreads into the water run off from the massive factory farms which spreads it to the vegetables and your drinking water.
Not to mention that the cows (your beef and dairy product) was pumped full of antibiotics hormones and other chemicals to increase productivity.

Same with your chicken (minus the creation of e coli) Chickens are so pumped with hormones to make them nice and fat that they can only walk a couple steps before plopping down in exhaustion. So they too are wallowing in poop. Chickens on Factory Farms never see sunlight,they keep it unlit to prevent fighting.

As for milk, that stuff is for babies. Babies have these enzymes called Lactase that help break down the Lactose in foods. Our bodies stop making these after 2-3 years. We are the only creatures that drink milk into adulthood. Weird. Not to mention most people are lactose intolerant.

Environmental: Factory Farms are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions (or carbon dioxide) than all of our vehicles. Check out this site, it'll tell you all about it http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/legislation/gafs_manure.pdf

Ethical: The horrible horrible things they do to animals in the slaughter houses contributes a lot to my decision. First of all, all the animals are crammed into tight often unlit spaces with hardly any room to move. They are filthy and are wallowing in their own shit. Baby animals are taken away from their mothers almost immediately. Male calves are made into veal. Chicken have the tips of their beaks seared off while they are just chicks so they wont peck each other. Pigs, who have the intelligence level equivalent to a 3 year old child are stunned with electric rods which aren't always effective. They get jabbed in the face, back, and places where the sun don't shine with those rods.
The people who work in these slaughter houses are usually illegal immigrants who cant complain about the low pay and dangerous working environments. Slaughter house workers have the most dangerous job. Animals hung on the racks are often still alive and thrash and kick injuring workers. Feces and blood causes disease and infections.
Don't believe me, go watch Food Inc or some PETA videos (I haven't actually seen any Peta videos but I hear they're really scary.)

The 30 day trial is mostly just to appease friends and family who don't think I can do it and maybe I can't but I'm fairly certain I'll stay vegan after the trial is up.
I'm not saying it wont be hard, but it's becoming easier to become vegan especially here in Southern California. And like I pointed out earlier, more and more vegan product is being made available everywhere.
Also I'm not trying to make everyone I meet go vegan, but everyone asks what the reason behind the decision is and so I gave it. For me, the more I learned about it, the more it made sense to do it.

Its also all about timing. I dated a Vegan guy and didn't feel compelled at all to become vegan then. Its all about where your head is.

And just to be clear, Im not saying people who eat meat are bad people. Eat your meat, it's fine, to each his own. Vegan is just a choice I made for my self.


My Grandpa has a farm and they treat all their animals good. They are happy, well fed, and kept in nice, open, and large pens. They eat the eggs that the chickens lay and once a year they slaughter some of the cows, turkeys, and chickens for eating. They slaugher them right there on the farm in humane conditions. My Uncle owns a small dairy. His cows are treated real well. He even has a website where you can meet all his cows. I've even milked them myself. Uncle Finney makes the most delicious cheese too and if your not vegan you should definitely order some! www.finneyfarm.com  (look at me, promoting dairy consumption on my vegan blog. I'm already a bad vegan)
Alls I'm saying is, when at all possible, buy your food from local farmers who treat their animals right.

Update

Oh man, oh man, I watched Super-size Me last night and lets just say my appetite for fast food is gone. Gone.
I rarely eat the stuff anyways so it really doesn't matter, but to all you people who do, stop it and watch this documentary!
Well, everything in moderation at least.

As for an update from my previous postings: Lava Hot Springs was AWESOME as was to be expected. No one got naked...well almost no one. We didn't break any glasses by the pool and no one got hurt this time, however I did leave with quite a number of large bruises on various parts of my body and I did catch a cold that was temporarily chased away by consuming lots of vodka.

I went to the Tucson opening as planned and had a great time! Loads of work! I worked 39.5 hours in the first three days that I got there! After we opened, however, I went back to more normal 8 hour shifts. I met some awesome people there too! All the DT's picked for the openings were the coolest (well excluding maybe two or three people) and after our long shifts we'd kick back at one of our apartments and drink and relax...or party...
Tucson itself was a pretty cool, artsy little town. I didn't expect that.
One of my favorite things about the opening was ALL THE FOOD!!!
Before opening, the chefs would just make random crap off the menu for practice and everything they made was free for all! If you know me at all than you know food is my bliss, and food heaven I was most certainly in. Once we opened though, we were allowed only one entree of our choosing and either a specialty drink (non alcoholic), an appetizer, or a dessert. Still, gobs of food that I hungrily devoured.

Speaking of work, I start training for a food runner on Thursday so I'm FINALLY getting my foot out of the bakery...a year later. Pretty stoked about that (the training part, not the year later crap)

I just got back from a trip to Utah/Vegas for Darlene's Birthday (So much fun! So much booze! Too much dancing!) While I was there I managed to squeeze in a trip to see Mother and the children and even got a glimpse of Father too!
It was good seeing Mum even though its hard seeing her work so hard. I picked a good day too! Everyone was there, Grandpa, Grandma Evelyn, Grandma Ellen, Grandma Margret, Grandma Rose...everyone was nice too! I stayed there for six hours and me and a bunch of the kids went on a hiking trip! It was super fun and we got some cool pics of the different dirt there too! Now Im back to working diligently until the next adventure comes up!