Back home!

This morning I had drip coffee, you know what that means....

I'm back in America!! I already Americanized my nails

Much to my surprise, last minute I made the stand by flight & I got to spend a good 13 hours in the very back of a plane in between 2 men. FYI sitting between 2 men on a flight is the worse because they always take over BOTH of the armrests. The feminist in me fought for my armrest long & hard the whole flight. Besides the bad seat, since I was standby I couldn't order a special vegan meal, & not expecting to get on the flight, the only thing I had eaten was a bowl of warm muesli that morning.

The flight was a vegans worse nightmare: creamy fettucini, a roast beef roll for a snack, & eggs w/ grey sausage. Ick! I had to go non vegan a bit & had a small croissant, green salad, pretzels, chardonnay, & coffee. I was starving when I got off the flight! Thankfully as soon as my mom picked me up from LAX she brought me to a vegan restaurant that I have been meaning to try- Veggie Grill. This place was reminiscent of Native Foods (my all time favorite). I had the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin' w/ crispy chillin' chickin', lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, & southwestern spiced vegan mayo on a bed of kale w/ a side of chili.

My mom had the VG- Cheeseburger done El Dorado style w/ jalapenos, caramelized onions, & ketchup w/ a side salad w/ miso dressing. I thought it tasted yummy, but my mom still thinks Native Foods is way better.

Later I drove back to the airport & picked James up from his flight & we came home to a nice homemade meal. Knowing the both of us too well my mom made James a big pasta w/ chicken while I had brown rice topped w/ broccoli cooked in garlic & truffle oil. Truffle oil is sooo good!

This morning I had copious amounts of the coffee shown in the first pic & made breakfast for the family. Cooking for everyone else made me not so hungry, so I waited until the fam (along w/ James & Dru) & I went to go see Eclipse to have my first feed. My friend Dru, the person who originally got me into veganism, has recently converted back to her vegan ways so I brought us some healthy snacks to the movies. Chili & lime cashews, dried apricots, & pepitas.

For lunch I made myself a simple wrap w/ a whole wheat tortilla filled w/ shredded soy cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, & arugula. Doused in tapatio.

Tonight both sets of my grandparents came over for dinner & we drank peach sangria...

& I enjoyed an arugula salad w/, sugar plum tomatoes, & garlic croutons....

hummus, grapes,pita chips and a cold pasta salad....

Yum! It's nice to be home & w/ the family. Hoping for nice weather tomorrow so I can enjoy the beach. Cheers for now.

Feeling fruity

I've been a bit behind in blogging because quite frankly I've been busy living life (more like planning James's birthday). I'll let the photos do the talking.

Coffee as usual willing me to memorize flash cards

My beloved Starbucks in all sizes @ Darling Harbour

The Australian version of Starbucks; Gloria Jeans. Thank god for their 'American sizes'.

I tried overnight soaked oats in jar & even though I added less liquid this time they were still watery. It looks like pure PB in this pic. No complaints w/ that one.

1/2 cup oats, 3/4 cup soy milk, 1 tbs honey in a peanut butter jar.

Lately I've been feeling a bit fruit in the form of fruit salad...

and fermented grapes ; )

Go Australia! Sadly we're out of the World Cup now, the US is still going strong though.

Of course I've been eating salads too...

Mixed greens w/ tomato, peas, carrots, corn, chickpeas, cucumber, & tofu 2/ spicy tofu dressing.

Carrot & chickpea salad 2/ sultanas (raisins) & an almost barbequey sauce & a couple of chickpea falafels on the side.

The 24th was James' 21st birthday so I took him into the city to go to one of our favorite restaurants Zaafran. I had the mixed vegetables w/ spicy pumpkin sauce & James had the beef vindaloo.

Delicious, but sooooooo spicy even for me & I'm the queen of spicy food.

We also split the saffron rice...

and garlic naan.

Happy Birthday!!

That night we went to his parents house & had unpictured Chinese food. I did get a pic of the chocolate mouse cake.

Tomorrow is his big 21st bday party. We're expecting about 100 people, it should be lots of fun. Expect plenty of drunken photos!

Confessions

Surprisingly this morning did not start out w/ oats, but instead cereal & a long black coffee.

1 cup Special K Vanilla Almond cereal, 1/2 cup nonfat soy milk, 1/2 sliced banana

My day was pretty darn boring just studying, studying & more studying at the library. I snacked on a mix of dried fruits & nuts to keep me going. Luckily my favorite salad bar was open in the cafeteria for lunch. In my head I was planning an amazing salad w/ strawberries & walnuts, but when it was my turn to order my salad they salad informed me that they had no strawberries. Stuck w/ making a last minute decision I ended up w/ a pretty random salad...

Mixed greens w/ chickpeas, avocado, raisins, pumpkin seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, pumpkin, & tofu w/ balsamic vinaigrette.

Is it weird that I get pumpkin & pumpkin seeds in my salad? Guess I'm just obsessed w/ all things pumpkin.

Dinnertime is when things started to get weird. James & I went to Bondi Junction to go see a movie, Animal Kingdom, and we were expecting to grab something there but everything was closed. Much to my disdain, the only thing nearby that we could grab quickly was Oportos, a fast food restaurant that specializes in chicken (James' favorite). I am not a fan of fast food & it has been ages since I have eaten at a fast food restaurant. I thought I was really smart when I asked them to replace the chicken on the green salad w/ the veggie patty. Our dinner was ready in a minute & I stuffed our Oporto bag into my purse and we ran quickly to the theatre to not miss the start of our movie. As I was munching away in the dark of the movie theater I thought that my salad seemed a bit creamy. I told myself that it was just the avocado that they added; my taste buds have been shot the past couple of days due to a cold & I haven't been able to taste much of anything. Upon throwing away my trash at the end of the movie though I read on top of the salad container that the dressing was mayonnaise... yes MAYO, the kind w/ eggs in it that I have disliked way before I was even vegan.

Errr, frustrating. I guess this is what happens when you try to eat vegan at a fast food restaurant

: (

Oat-ful & Veggie-ful Weekend

Let me update you on my weekend. There has been a big change in my life.... no more soy lattes for me! I've officially changed my Australian drink of choice to a long black w/ soy milk & honey. More caffeine & less soy milk.

Go Socceroos!

My mornings have been very oat-full

Pumpkin Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup water, 1 tbs honey, a couple of cubes of steamed pumpkin

Pistachio Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup water, 1 tbs honey, pistachio bits

PB&J Overnight Soaked Oats

1/2 cups oats, 1 cup water, 1 tbs honey, 1 tbs crunchy peanut butter soaked overnight w/ a few strawberries added in the morning. This was my first time trying to soak oats overnight & I think I may have done something wrong; they had way to much excess water that had to be drained out. They were still very yummy though & easier than making them on the stove like I usually do.

Lunch & dinner has been very veggie-full

Arugula salad w/ steamed pumpkin, cherry tomatoes, 1/2 avocado and hummus & BBQ sauce

Toasted wrap from the Bondi Junction food court w/ spinach, carrots, cucumber, onion, & avocado

Vegetable soup w/ roll from a cafe at the Spot in Randwick

Salad w/ spinach, cucumber, avocado, & capsicum

& bowl of whole wheat spaghetti w/ marinara that was seriously lacking vegetables.

I also tried out a new juice company Emma & Tom's. No added sugar, no concentrates, nothing artificial. The extreme C was delicious.

Other weekend highlights included attending a very fun house warming party for our friend where I ripped my favorite faux fur jacket, going to the movies & seeing Get Him to the Greek which was hilarious, watching the World Cup and rooting for the Socceroos, & making a very decadent non-vegan dessert (pictures to come). Hope you had great weekends too!

Samurai on Stanley

With this cold weather outside lately I've been craving a bowl of warm oats.

1/4 banana

3 sliced strawberries

1/2 cup oats

1 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tbs crunchy peanut butter

Then I enjoyed a soy latte w/ honey at the Paddington Grind while I read my book.

For lunch I took the bus to meet James' sister at her school & we walked to the Westfield Mall at Bondi Junction to grab lunch. I had a mix of the Thai salad w/ tofu and spicy vinaigrette & a mixed green salad w/ onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado.

Can you believe this is what they serve at mall food courts? This is not your average sitting out all day under heat lamps normal mall food... everything is fresh and healthy (maybe not so much the fried tofu).

I spent all day getting ready & planning for James' big 21st bday party on the 26th. So far everything is looking great, I can't wait!

For dinner James and I were craving sushi so we tried out a new place on Stanley St. near the city. I love this area. There are tons of quaint restaurants & cafes w/ tables facing the hustle & bustle of the street. I'm a bit skeptical trying new sushi restaurants in Aus, I've had a couple of bad experiences, but Samurai was my best sushi experience in Australia yet.

We started off with some drinks & edamame. Like my new manicure? OPI Light my Sapphire.

I was expecting a little seaweed salad but they brought me this enormous bowl of greenage. Trust me I was not complaining.

I also ordered a vegetable roll.

Dinner was delicious! I always thought that fish would be the one thing I would miss becoming vegan since I used to eat sushi about once a week, but oddly enough I have not craved it once. It's weird how much being vegan has changed my taste buds.

I saw a couple things on my way home that made me happy including an adorable white Vespa...

& a possum in the tree outside. Possums are way different in Australia than they are in America (i.e. overszied rats w/ fangs). They are the cutest things ever. Last winter James & I would go on walks in Centennial Park at night & try to find them climbing around in the trees.... I know we're weirdos.