When I first switched from vegetarianism to veganism, I tried some vegan “cheese”, and did not like it. Since then, I have acquired the taste for it, though it is by no means a main part of my diet. I have also now tried a few veggie meat substitutes. Again, they are not a main staple. It is not something I miss, or crave, but just something to eat once and a while to change things up. Honestly the item I would miss the most from a pre-vegan diet would have to be Reese products… Peanut butter cups, reese’s piece’s, and the reese peanut butter cup ice cream sandwich. My craving for peanut butter chocolatey goodness has been covered though. I discovered probably the best peanut butter chocolate item ever invented, and it is completely vegan. Karmavore in New Westminster BC makes them, they’re amazing oat/peanut butter/chocolate bars, of the home made variety. Anyways that’s really all that I missed and I found an even better replacement. Luckily for me, they are about 45 mins drive or an hour by transit, so I am not over indulging in their goodness.

Anyways, on to the subject of todays entry.

I went on a nice vegan outing today. I took the bus into New Westminster BC mid-morning. New West is right on the river, and they have a really cool river market and board walk. In the market is Crepes Des Ami’s. THey make vegan crepes. I have never had a crepe before going vegan, but they are quite good. I never liked pancakes or waffles, but crepes turned out to be quite delicious. They make various different vegan crepes, but the one I get is the “Vegans Sensation”. It has diced tomatoes, tofurkey, and daiya, with a little syrup. After breakfast, I headed across the tracks (right next to the market), and stopped by a safety clothing company on the way to Karmavore. My work requires me to wear CSA approved safety boots. The ones I have are falling apart. It seems to be near impossible to find any that are not made of leather. The people who worked there looked at me like I was stupid, for asking.

After I struck out at the boot store, I went to Karmavore Vegan Shop. I got a chocolate milkshake, and peanut butter bar. Then I took transit a bit further into town, to stop by Nice Shoes, a vegan shoe store. Honestly, their selection of shoes, for men at least, is rather slim. I did however inquire about vegan CSA approved work boots. They said they get the question a lot but up until now have not been able to find any. Good news however, is they think they should have some in fall!

I got back on transit and took it to Burnaby Village Museum, it’s an open air museum of an early village, farm house, bank, black smith, theater, etc. I had a wander around, and then again boarded transit (I had a day pass).

I returned back in New West (I must pass through on the way home anyways), and stopped back at Karmavore. I’ve never had one before, and especially not in a restaurant, but I got a vegan “cheez” burger. It was topped with what I believe was daiya, sparingly, and lettuce and tomato. It was very good. I also had a berry smoothie. Yum.

After that, I boarded transit again, and headed home. My kobo (ereader) makes transit fairly enjoyable.

It was an enjoyable vegan outing. 9 hours ago

Another great dinner, all vegan: soy ham salad, mushroom pizza, creamy lasagna, Chinese dumplings, raw chocolate cake.

Bought two jars of seitan today, a carton of soy cream, two packs of curry, aubergine, potatoes, and onions. Epic curry tonight. Found vegan “beef style” and “chicken style” stock cubes today. 1 day ago

Going to eat a vegan cheese platter with a glass of wine tonight in Tokyo, with a nice view.

It’s raining so there had to be an upside to all of these rainy weekends/sunny office days we’ve been having for the past month… 1 week ago

Just had Asahi Super Dry beer and some vegan potato chips (careful label checking completed!)

Making some sort of simple vegan pasta tonight, nothing too difficult.

Vegan baking has been a fiasco for me so far. Everything seems to end up like flan. 1 month ago

Visited Victoria BC this weekend. It was a great trip. I went to Green Cuisine twice, it’s a vegan buffet style restaurant. There was a lot of great food to try. 2 months ago

It’s been over 2 months since going vegan now. I was not checking this off until I was comfortable with it. I’ve been taking my b12 vitamins, and including more veggies through fresh juice. This will be ongoing learning process but I feel good about this :) 2 months ago

Last night I followed a recipe for lentil loaf. It calls for rice, ketchup, spices and (of course) lentils. The taste was pretty goid but it was kind of crumbly. I think it needed some liquid to bind it together or else I waited too long after cooking the lentils before putting it all together.

I have been working out of town leaving me little time to cook. Off today so I will make something to take with me. It’s so hard to eat healthy on the road. Lots of bagels and PB sandwiches! 2 months ago

Starting today. That will be the easiest one. Animal by-products like gelatin will be the next easiest. Then eggs. The hardest will be milk, but I think my stomach will thank me for it!

So I’m just going to transition into it slowwwwly, and go to each phase when I feel comfortable. 3 months ago

I have been enjoying trying new recipes and modifying others. Some of the results have been disastrous – crumbly peanut butter cookies anyone? But some of this stuff is scrumptious. This creative experimentation is lifting me out of my seasonal funk. I just pulled sweet potato muffins from the oven. Hoping for good results! 3 months ago

I’m making good progress. I’ve cut out the foods I was eating that contain animal products, mainly pizza (cheese), and processed foods (cookies) containing milk ingredients or eggs, and bread. I’ve also given away the few items I had containing animal products such as leather and wool… A computer chair, a couple wool toques, and motorcycle jacket. My work boots remain leather though, because I require CSA approved boots, and can’t find any made of synthetics. I will just make them last.

I’ve also tried some more vegan products. I tried Daiya, twice, and I find it utterly disgusting. I don’t know how people rave about it, but it doesn’t work for me. I’m better off without “cheese” then substituting it with that. I don’t think going cheese free will bother me.

I found a local bakery that makes some amazing breads. Not only is everything they sell vegan, but it is also organic and non gmo. Silver Hills bakery is only 5 minutes from home. They have a retail store here, where they make all of their breads (organic sprouted grains, and they are Non GMO project certified). Not only do they sell their products, but they’ve also got a great vegan shop setup, and the prices are great. I didn’t compare a lot of products, but for example, the Earth Balance spread is a fair bit cheaper then the local supermarket.

I also went to a somewhat local vegan shop, about an hour and a quarter via bus and skytrain. They have all sorts of treats, cookies and chocolates and such. I actually just did that today (reward for my progress?), I wanted to try some sweets out. They were good, but I think I’m happier with an apple, but it is good for the rare occasion I suppose.

I’m doing good with grains, fruits, nuts, etc, but I know I need to get more veggies. That has always been an issue for me. From what I’ve been reading and watching online, it seemed like making some veggie juices would be a good option. I did some research and ordered an Omega 8006 juicer, which arrived, but a part was damaged in shipping. I’m just waiting to hear back about that.

So while I’ve technically been vegan since a little before the new year, I’m not going to mark this off as accomplished just yet. I want to make sure I’m doing it healthy. I think this will be an ongoing process. Oh and I also need to get some b12 supplements… 3 months ago

I have two priorities (aside from going to work): Go vegan and go to yoga. Since Thanksgiving, I’ve eaten mostly a whole foods diet and juicing. I’ve eaten twice at a fast food place, ordering a smoothie at MacDonalds and a veggie cantina bowl at Taco Bell. Having been a daily fast food junkie, this is major. I got a groupon for a three-day juice cleanse that I’ll use next week (I do have a juicer, but this deal was too good to pass up and I could use a break from all fuss that goes with making your own juices)). 4 months ago