18

Brown rice green tea

Tastes a bit like bran. An odd taste. Tastes excellent- like a warm graham cracker s’more if you add a tad bit of maple syrup and a smidgen of rice milk. I like it with maple syrup- it dilutes the odd bran-like flavor. If you use other sweeteners, it doesn’t.

19

Rice Mellow

A vegan substitute for fluff. Tastes great. Made from brown rice syrup and other things. Doesn’t taste exactly like fluff, but could be happily subbed anywhere you would use fluff. Pricey, but, again, great taste.

20

Maple Butter

Amazing taste. Made from 100% maple syrup, so no preservatives or garbage. I’ll bet it tastes amazing on toast or crackers.

21

Gazpacho

Doesn’t look as appetizing as I’d like it to (the soggy bread pieces give it an odd unattractive look), but it tastes great. Would eat again, interested in trying to make it.

22

Black Soybean Pasta

Made from 100% black soybeans. Doesn’t taste that great. Doesn’t look that great. Not a wonderful consistency. I’d eat it if I had to again, but not anything I’d ever buy.

23

Dates

Yum, dates are sooooooo sweet. The taste reminds me of brown sugar. Such a great healthy snack for those times when feel like reaching for Oreos. Yum. Very sticky though.

Learned two new card games last night at the Relay For Life, where we had a bit of down time.

16

Some of my friends had been talking about pinochle a while back and it had sounded so complex- but when my friend Lizzie taught us last night, it was quite easy. Reminded me of Pitch, and so long as you remembered that tens were wacky, things went well. Though I may need to look up a scoring chart the next time I play, I’d definitely play again.

17

Later on some of the group was playing the card game Mao. I was initially so confused (still am, a little), but I started playing and learned the rules while playing (well, some of the rules). It’s kind of a silly mysterious mischievous game so I really like it. It’s really amusing to play, and even to watch others play.

15

A natural sweetener, made from the Agave plant.

It’s a mellow taste. It’s sweet, but subtle. Not overwhelming. I bought the syrup and I put a few drops in my almond milk/ soy milk creamer/ vanilla extract concoction- and it was much sweeter than I expected it to be (granted, AM and SMC are kind of sweet). This will be good for cereal, especially since I only need a taste of sweetness, nothing overwhelming and nothing that will leave that goshdarnawfulcavityfeeling in my mouth.

I’m really loving the subtlety of it.
I also like the price of it on sale at Trader Joe’s.
(I don’t, however, like the regular price of it. I’d rather just do without sweetener. Because it’s usually a want and not a need.)

So my rating?
Taste: 8.7
Price: 5.6
Availability: 3.0 (I can only find it at specialty stores)

14

Tazo- Calm- Herbal Infusion Tea (sans caffeine)

“A comforting blend of chamomile, rose petals and soothing herbs.”

My little cousin swears by this tea and gave me two tea bags of it.

I tried it today, not expecting much. I had thought it would be like most fruity herbal teas- and I just don’t care for the warm fruity taste (besides cider).

But it was really like a little slice of heaven. It had this subtle sweet taste- it was soft- not overpowering- not really fruity. And it really was calming.

I thoroughly enjoyed that cup of tea.

Would I buy it? Probably not- only because I have so much tea already to use up and I need not buy more.

If it was available, would I try it again? Absolutely.

13

Flat Earth | Impossibly Good Fruit Chips
Peach Mango Paradise

So I was with my cousin and we see these chips. They contain servings of fruits- like whole servings. And they’re chips. And we’re trying to figure out whether they’d taste horrible and have a funky fruity aftertaste or not.

So we bought a bag to try them- and we review them. They definitely tasted fruity, with a chippy aftertaste. They felt like golden grahams by touch/texture. The taste was pleasing, so much more fruity than expected. Would I eat ‘em again? Of course. Would I buy them again? A little pricey, I don’t know.

Ingredients: Rice Flour, Potato Flakes, Dried Apples, Modified Corn Starch, Corn Oil, Sugar, Whole Oat Flour, Fructose, Dextrose, Soy Lecithin, Dried Peaches, Mono and Diglycerides, Citric Acid, Beta Carotene (Color), Annatto Extract (Color), Monocalcium Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Natural Flavors, Dried Mangoes, and Ascorbic Acid.

12

Yesterday I was at the market and the Amish were selling dried Cantaloupe. I said “hmm. I’ve never tried dried cantaloupe- actually I’d never heard of it being dried. So I picked up a bunch, just to try it. It was very tasty. So sweet- almost too sweet- actually, yess- too sweet. It tasted more like candy than cantaloupe. I’ll bet they added sugar. While I liked it, I’ll bet it wasn’t incredibly healthy (but still better for you than Oreos). But nice when you’re craving something sweet!

Taste-wise, I give it a 7.6

10

Snowshoeing for the first time today! It was quite the exercise, and fun too. I enjoyed it. We went at a local urban park and were able to talk to plenty of strangers because of it!

11

Caroling! Christmas caroling! For the first time! With a friend, relative, and stranger. We sang the classics and I am taking quite a liking to singing Christmas carols :) and singing too!

9

Yesterday I walked a few miles to the grocery store to get some Toffuti Cuties. While walking aisles I saw some coconut water. Hm. I’ve heard about that in my vegan communities- I couldn’t remember what I’d heard about it, but well, it seemed like something I should try. So the brand is Vita Coco. The product is Coconut Water with passion fruit. 11.2 ounces. 228% Vitamin C. 19% Potassium (GOLD MINE!)

Now let’s see how it tastes…. Not bad, not wonderful. It has more of a flavor than I expected. Vaguely fruity. Somewhat coconutty, though not in the shredded coconut on chocolate sense. Tastes re-hydrating.

Conclusion: I like it. But I don’t love it.
7.0 out of 10

8

I learned how to make a lasagna today.

I don’t know how I’ve managed to make it through 21 years without ever making one…. but I created a vegan friendly one tonight! Complete with an ingredient that formerly creeped me out: tofu (of course, that was a few years ago!). But it was really easy to make. I mean, I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks good. I also didn’t have all the ingredients the recipe called for. Or most of them. But I got the gist of it. Some veggies. Some spices. Some tofu. Some noodles. Some sauce. Right? Right. I think I’ll be making this more often! Woo!

I <3 lasagna. I haven't actually had real lasagna since becoming vegan......

EDIT: It tasted great. Next time I’ll add more veggies. And vegan cream cheese. =)

7

Falafel.

I met up with a friend at Fantastic Pizza and Cafe in Worcester for an environmentally meeting/dinner. Two firsts here, both of which were quite wonderful. Falafel- though I’ve been a fan of the word ever since I first heard it, the thought of it has concerned me. It didn’t look tasty. And to be honest, I don’t know what it’s made of exactly. But here I was at this pizza place with my friend- and here, they had it. My friend recommended it, so…. Why not give it a try! Tried it and loved it. Would definitely get it again. Also had something of a hommus wrapp-ish thing. I’m not quite positive what was in that either- hummus, lettuce, tomato I saw… but, well. That was delicious too.

I give Fantastic Pizza a ten point zero! {though I was super messy and got food all over myself——oopsie!}