One of the hardest things to give up when I became vegan was cheese.  I think that goes for most vegans I have talked with and most vegetarians name cheese as the one thing keeping them from being vegan.    Begin a “strict-vegetarian” and eating cheese must be met with reading labels and investigating for cheeses that do not contain animal rennet.  Most brands now use vegetable rennet as a coagulant but some smaller companies still employ the calf-intestine enzyme to set their cheeses.  You’ll find it in almost every hard cheese such as parmesan.

What is rennet and how is it produced?

From Wikipedia:

Traditional method

Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into saltwater or whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. After some time (overnight or several days), the solution is filtered. The crude rennet that remains in the filtered solution can then be used to coagulate milk. About 1 gram of this solution can normally coagulate 2000 to 4000 grams of milk.

Modern method

Deep-frozen stomachs are milled and put into an enzyme-extracting solution. The crude rennet extract is then activated by adding acid; the enzymes in the stomach are produced in an inactive preform and are activated by the stomach acid. After neutralization of the acid, the rennet extract is filtered in several stages and concentrated until reaching the required potency: about 1:15000 (1 kg of rennet would have the ability to coagulate 15000 litres of milk).

 

Calf stomachs used for rennet production

So, you may be enjoying a bit of calf-stomach scrapings with that hunk of cheddar.   Considering that and the fact you’re just eating dried, moldy bovine-secretions why keep on eating it?  There are some good soy and rice cheeses on the market.  True, some are just like eating waxed paper but a few stand out.  Follow Your Heart makes excellent Cheddar and Mozzarella, both melt great and the Cheddar can make a mean mac and cheese.   Galaxy makes a good rice Parmesan and individual slice, but be sure to read the label as some of their products contain casein, a milk protein aids in melting.   Follow Your Heart cheese do not contain casein and melt just fine.

Also, don’t think all of those dairy cows live a great life just being milked daily.   They are kept pregnant and live short lives, average being 4 years.   Are you contributing to the cruel farming of animals by just eating dairy cheese?  Yes.

All of this leads up to a news story I saw today.   Sweetwater Valley Farm, a local Tennesssee cheese maker, has issued a statement saying one type of it’s cheese should not be eaten as it may contain Listeria.   Seems like a worthy risk to eat that nice cheesy sandwich or casserole topped with stringy goodness, doesn’t it?    Listeria can cause death in the young or elderly.    Healthy adults may be inconvenienced by headaches, cramping,  vomiting and diarrhea.  No big deal.  Teh story also mentions that if you have some of this cheese you may return it for a replacement.   Something doesn’t sound right about that.  “Here’s my chunk of Listeria, may I have another that has less bacteria?”

While were on the subject of cheese, don’t forget about Cazu Marzu!

For those of you willing to go to Opry Mills or if you already frequent that area Johnny Rockets will be offering free veggie burgers (with the purchase of another sandwich, starter (fries?) and drink) for World Vegetarian Week, which is May 19 -25.  The coupon is above as well as here.   The menu says it is a “100% Soy Patty so I guess it is the Boca Vegan Burger, Boca not being one of my favorites but still, free is good.

Venus, our adopted-from-stray had the bright idea we needed more mouths to feed.  This is her idea of helping out around the house.

Away from this site for the past week at least.  I have been taking care of things outside with the garden and preparing an herb garden.  Those tasks just take time away from the little things.  We have peppers, tomatoes, okra and squash growing in the garden so far.  The herb garden is taking a little longer as we need fill dirt and some more boundary rocks before it is planting time.  Two loads of mulch later the yard is looking much better.  A large maple tree was cut down this week in the front yard as it had died on one side and was threatening to fall onto our house.  I hated to cut down a huge tree, especially since it gave much needed shade in the afternoon sun but I also didn’t want to repair a roof.   Now we are looking for fast-growing shade replacement for that area.  Hybrid poplars and weeping willows are being considered.

In the cooking department I haven’t created anything earth-shaking lately.  The past week has consited of spaghetti marinara and tempeh sausage.   Red beans and rice,  roasted corn and macaroni and “cheese” and the usual veggie burgers (Amy’s are the best).   My wife did make coconut-lime cupcakes, those are always earth-shaking.   I owe someone a recipe and/or batch of eggless cornbread.  I’ll get to that one soon.

Other than those small things nothing much going on.

We do have fresh kittens, more on that later.

For those who are regulars to Baja Burrito or Blue Coast Burrito you may have noticed some changes lately.  Baja Burrito has been sold back to its original owners, Troy and Jeanie Smith, from David Osborne who purchased the franchise a couple years back.   You will notice that Baja Burrito will no longer be open on Sundays.   As far as menu changes I have noticed nothing more than price differences between the two.

Since I know David reads this site occasionally, I have a question.  Why the change to styrofoam cups at Blue Coast?  With the strives you make environmentally and health-wise in other areas shouldn’t this be a no-brainer?  Still love the place but I was just curious.

Coming back from our vacation in St. Augustine we stayed the weekend in Atlanta.  Atlanta is a semi-regular trip for us as my mother-in-law and brother-in-law live there  so we know the places to eat well.   Saturday we had lunch at Veggieland, a small restaurant in Buckhead that has quite an extensive menu.  I usually get a sandwich but decided to get a salad of some type since when I am usually there some at a nearby table orders one and I tell myself to get a salad next time.    I got Jennifer’s Salad (some salads are named after customers who have created and ordered them regularly), a mix of spinach, brown rice, steamed broccoli, steamed sweet potatoes, tofu, tempeh bacon, tomoatoes and cucumbers with a vegan ranch dressing.  My wife had the Tostada Salad, I am not sure what all was on it but it was tasty as I swipped a bite.  My brother-in-law had a pasta dish with steamed vegetable which smelled great and my mother-in-law, who never branches out in her vegan eating when she eats with us, got her usual veggie burger which was served with sweet potato fries.   Veggieland also serves a few vegan cakes and we had a slice of a peanut butter-chocolate cake and a strawberry cake.  I am never impressed by their cakes, they are good but noting compared to what my wife can whip up.   They are served directly from being refrigerated and are far too moist, their cake supplier has a few things to learn in the art of vegan baking.

Salad From Veggieland

Saturday night my wife and I had planned a dinner out and we considered Cafe Sunflower, of which I am not the biggest fan (see pretty food rant).  After looking at the menu we quickly decided against it as their prices have increased considerably over the already overpriced amounts.   We called to check on the hours of Soul Vegetarian, a restaurant operated by African Hebrews,  but were told they would be closing early for Passover.  They informed us they would be open the next moring for brunch, not a big deal to me but my mother-in-law has some kind of infatuation with it so she said we should go then.  After thinking and not finding anything that we really wanted to bother driving to and burning expensive gas for we decided to go to a nearby Mexican restaurant where they prepare guacamole at tableside.  After a bowl of guacamole and a margarita we called it a night.

Sunday morning started with Soul Vegetarian.  After looking at their menu I found there was too much to choose from to waste time on a brunch selection.  I ordered a plate of collard greens (one of my favorites) and barbecued kalebone, described as made in house using soy protein and wheat gluten.  It is seitan with some spices added but is quite good.  I was served two large pieces and my collards and was quite happy.  My wife had a battered-fried “steak” and macaroni-and-cheese made form raw cashews.  The steak was also seitan but not flavored the same as what I had and covered in gravy, also quite good.  My mother-in-law went out on a wild tangent and ordered…no wait, she had a veggie burger.  I had a bite of the patty and it was different than any other veggie burger I have had but since I didn’t eat the entire thing I am not sure what tey used to make it.  My daughter had two huge pancakes from the brunch menu, she is a pancake lover.  They were very moist and again, huge.  I almost forgot, onion rings!  We had onion rings for an appetizer, battered, fried, crispy and delicious.

The night before whicle searching for a dinner place we found Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe’s website and noticed the address was near Soul Vegetarian so decided a stop there should be next.  It is in a small storefront and they have a good selection of vegan items usually only found online.   Asmall corner near the front of the store has clothing items including vegan shoes and belts.  There are two aisles of vegan foods and a cooler with vegan cheeses and other items, including my wifes much sought after vegan marshmallows.  There was only one package left and we would have bought more if they had them.  I also got a container of vegan rice marshmallow cremewich I have been craving on a saltine.  Both are great, there a re a few marshmallows left as we have been rationing them to ourselves.  My wife also found an apron which is perfect for her that she got which says “Vegan Master Baker”.

Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe

Next would be a trip to Ikea that I have been looking forward to.  I have been needing a new stand for my 60″ Sony television and the only reasonably priced stand I could find that was long enough was at Ikea.   Once I saw the stand in person I noticed the shelves for components looked a bit small on width.   Not wanting to buy the stand I really wanted only to get it home and find nothing I had would fit I decided to make some calls for measurement of components.  Sure enough, the width was 1/2″ shorter than the standard 17″ component size.  Why make something a standard component won’t fit in?  After being a a little disgruntled I found another stand that looked like what I needed which had the shelving and length required.   We also picked up some lighting to replace various ceiling fans in the game room on living room at a much better price than can be found at Home Depot or even the Ikea website.

After loading two oversized boxes into a small car as well as bags from Ikea we headed to Trader Joe’s to stock up.  As the Nashville store is not scheduled to open for a few months trips to Atlanta will include Trader Joe’s for the time.

Next stop, Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market.  This is a stop where we typically fill the car with produce as the prices are hard to beat as well is the selection.  With not much room to spare in the car we cut it short and opted for some basics as well as replinishing our spices with their large bulk selection.

Our last restaurant stop would be Sweet Tomatoes.  This is one place we always look forward to and would really like to see one open in the Nashville area, Coolsprings would be a great location.

Afterward we packed up for the trip back home.   As Atlanta is a regular trip for us  we will probably be going back soon and I will try more at Soul Vegetarian,  get back to Eat’s which we didn’t include this time and maybe Harmony Chinese.

Back from vacation, unpacking and trying to get back into the groove of things at home.   Our vacation was very much needed and relaxing and an opportunity for me to go without any sort of attachment to a computer.   I took no laptop with me, used no public access and stayed Internet-free for a week, quite the accomplishment.  Most of the veggie blogs, or food blogs, post pictures of their eats along the way.  I am not a big food photographer while sitting in a restaurant.   I did manage one picture while in Atlanta, but I will get to that later.

We started our vacation in St. Augustine, Florida.  My wife went to college there and I/we have visited countless times.  There was one vegetarian restaurant in town that we knew of, Manatee Cafe, but we found another while driving around.  The Present Moment Cafe is a raw food restaurant with a small deli located next door.  We visited the deli and looked at the menu of the restaurant but decided to pass.  Prices seemed a little high and it was “pretty food”.   Not to take anything away from The Present Moment Cafe or anyone who enjoys eating artsy food, but I am not into trying to figure out why a chef used this color or that texture to accent my collard greens.   Make the food tasty, put it on a plate and make it enough so that I leave your restaurant full.   Putting a sliver of whatever on a plate, dancing some dribbley sauce around it and sprinkling some fluff about does not dinner make.

Our first eating out was The Manatee Cafe.  This is a basic vegetarian restaurant with a menu of sandwiches, wraps and salads.  They have a great tofu reuben which I have had previously but this morning I wasn’t extremely hungry and went very basic with hash browns and grits.   The hash browns here are actually very chunky-cut potatoes fried crispy with Spike seasoning, nothing special but very tasty.  My wife had the veggie wrap (Tofutti, hummus, carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, sweet potatoes and avocados) with hash browns.   Everything was great and as expected.   No pictures,  it is the “Hey, I like to take a picture of my food so I can remember what I ate.” thing that I can’t get to.

If you ever visit St. Augustine you will go to St. George Street.  With it being the oldest permanently settled city in the US there are many old houses and buildings to be seen and many are along St. George Street, though they have been transformed into modern gift shops and trinket stores.  The oldest school house is on St. George Street but more importantly so is The Spanish Bakery.  No where else can you get some of the best soup a big loaf of fresh baked bread and three VEGAN lemon, cinnamon or almond cookies for $5.   The bakery is a small hut with just enough room for a row of cookies on display and three pots of soup.  Table are outside under large shade trees which are handy on hot, sunny days.  In the summer they have a very good gazpacho, however, they only had a vegetable soup on our visit which was still excellent.

View sitting outside of The Spanish Bakery on St. George Street.

Our fix for sweet stuff was found at Rita’s, an Italian Ice place on St. Augustine Beach.  Rita’s is a chain located mostly on the east coast but this is the only one we have ever visited, and we do each time we go to St. Augustine.  The have Gelati and custard ice but we always get the vegan Italian Ice option.  Flavors range from tropical punch, black cherry, vanilla, chocolate, pina colada, lemonade and mango.   I think of the three times we went there I had six or seven large ices, I lost count, but the best was the mango.   Cold, sweet and with little bits of mango.  I just looked at their website and noticed locations are coming to Hermitage and Mt. Juliet.

Most of our time in St. Augustine was planned to be spent on the beach and it was.  Six hours in one day allowed for plenty of digging in the sand and burning of our skin.  While walking around in a few places the smell of shrimp boil hit me.  Not the smell of the shrimp but the combination of spices used to boil the shrimp.   I love the smell and it instantly made me want to boil something in those spices to munch on.  Since getting back I have gotten together all of those spices along with some corn and potatoes that will be boiled and enjoyed on the patio one evening, a post about that will come later.

 Mean people not allowed on St. George Street

Each trip to St. Augustine also gets us to go to a local nursery to pick out some plants that are a bit uncommon here.   I am a bit of a tropical plant enthusiast so you shouldn’t be surprised to see my fruit-bearing orange trees and palms.   I managed to find a Green Saw Palmetto and a Washingtonian Palm that were small enough to fit in the car for the ride back.  We also found a Madagascar Palm and a Longleaf Pine, both which are less uncommon here, for the ride back to be added to our plant family.

Washingtonian Palm and Green Saw Palmetto

So, to summarize, St. Augustine, good.  Pretty food, bad.  The Manatee Cafe, good.  The Spanish Bakery, good.  Beach, GOOD.

Tomorrow starts the first day of our trip to St. Augustine.  This isn’t our first trip there, in fact it is where my wife was going to college when we met.   Our last trip there was two years ago and so much had changed then from the time we went before that the year before.  We’ll be packing food for the trip as there is only one or two veggie restaurants in town.  I’m looking forward to taking a needed break from the work here and the other usual goings on.   I’ll also get some time to visit my favorite “thinking spot“.

The trip back will include a stop over in Atlanta for a couple days.  Visits to Trader Joe’s, Ikea and some of our favorite Atlanta veggie joints are in the plans.  Veggieland, Eats and maybe Harmony Chinese.

This means I will be postless here for the next week.   I know, no one will even miss me but I’ll bring back pictures and food stories when I return.

Yesterday consisted of a long day of getting our yard in some kind of shape that we would be happy with.  We had gotten 20 azaleas and planted those along the front walkway of our house.   Mulched and ready to make the front yard look so much better.   We’re the third owners of the house, the first owners were apparently plantaholics.   I realized there is a five-foot azalea growing at one corner of our home when the white blooms showed up this week.   A lilac bush is also blooming, as are plenty of daffodils.  There’s a group of peonies that are budding as well.   I planted 20 or so alocasias along our back driveway that I had been growing in a pot for about 5 years.  I am sure they are happy to get a spot of ground to call their own.

My wife’s daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are in full bloom and look spectacular.   I think she is very happy with the variety she planted.  Irises should be blooming next week.

We plowed up a small patch, about 15′x15′, for a vegetable garden.  We’ll be planting tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe and maybe eggplant in a couple weeks.   A smaller herb garden will be fixed up later.  Both will be organic, of course.

I have been contacted about a screening of Earthlings that will be hosted at MTSU on April 14th.  It will begin at 7pm and will be held in the KUC Theater.   Free vegan desserts and drinks will be served and admission is free as well.  There will also be a Q&A session after the screening.

It seems it is finally happening!  Trader Joe’s will be opening a location by Thanksgiving this year at the old Wild Oats location in Green Hills!

From tennessean.com:

Trader Joe’s, a grocery chain some Nashvillians have long clamored for, is set to open a Green Hills location by Thanksgiving of this year.

The store will be at 3909 Hillsboro Pike and measure 14,000 square feet, said spokeswoman Alison Mochizuke. That’s in line with the California-based company’s average store size of approximately 10,000- to 15,000-square feet.

The address is the former Wild Oats location.

Maybe they can get the wine issue straight by that time.   I’m thinking this might hurt Whole Foods a little bit, they already have issues with my reusable TJ cooler bags.

A day earlier and I would not have believed it.

I was at a friends house last night and had dinner.  I had brought my usual vegan dishes that I carry to events like this, vegan macaroni and cheeze and a veggie tofu casserole.  Both were great and everything was going well then the usual discussion of veganism began.  I went along with it for awhile then I decided to give in a play devil’s advocate.  Discussion of the evolution of a diet came up.  Talk of what proteins are more complete.  Hormones that may actually benefit the human body from those given to  animals.  Factory farming and how there is possibly a cover-up on the outside from those attcking it.  How plant may actually be sentient beings after-all, that was a lengthy one involving plant dissection and the playing of the hidden track off of Tool’s “Undertow”.

It all went downhill (somewhat) from there.  My friend had made barbecue wings, small sirloin steaks and baked beans.  I crumbled.  I have no idea what happened, I had a bite of a steak on a dare and it fell apart after that.  I flet a little sick at first but slowly the queasiness subsided and I began to enjoy the foods I had lost over the years.  Cold hot dogs, another rare steak, a piece of warm gouda, buttermilk…oh yes the buttermilk.  I went as far as to have my old favorite this morning for breakfast, pork brains in runny scrambled eggs.   The memories hit me when the smell wafted in the morning air.

Now I am sitting here the morning after full of regret, I think.  I am so confused but the onle thing I know is that I am not vegan any longer.  I don’t even think I am vegetarian.

I have been running this absolute hogwash of a diet for years and now I am through.  It’s over.  Finished, just in a matter of seconds.

What this site will become is yet to be known, but it can’t be a vegan or vegetarian site without one to run it.

It’s time to plan gardens.  We have a new house and plenty of yard space to transform into patches of edibles so work will begin soon.  We’ve made a short list of what will be included.  As of now, a medium sized vegetable garden and two smaller herb gardens are planned.

Herbs to be included:

• Rosemary
• Basil, Sweet
• Oregano
• Lemon Balm
• Thyme
• Sage
• Parsley
• Catnip (Something for the rodents we keep as pets.)
• Peppermint
• Spearmint
• Cilantro
• Dill

Vegetables:

• Squash - Yellow
• Eggplant
• Sweet Potatoes
• Tomatoes, Roma & Beefsteak
• Peppers - Bell, Datil, Poblano, Anaheim
• Cucumbers
• Onions
• Broccoli

I am sure more will be added as we get into it and know exactly how much room we will have.  I would like to plant artichokes, I think that may have to wait a year.   Asparagus is another one but I’ll need to make space around the yard elsewhere as keeps on giving and I don’t want to risk digging it up by getting the gardenspace ready each year.

I have all the organic pest control I should need.  Neem oil has done the job quite well in the past and should suffice now.   Organic veggies and herbs throughout the season should get me cooking regularly.

Lesley over at MCB has been catching up here since her return from out west and noticed the post I did last week regarding unsavory food additives.  She also pointed out another post on cracked.com regarding the tasty delicacy Casu Marzu.

Casu Marzu is a cheese from Sardinia, Italy that is infested with larve and is more commonly known locally as “maggot cheese”  It doesn’t stop there.  These larve are capable of jumping…while you EAT this stuff.  These larve survive the digestive process (if they can take that smell then what can’t they take?) and setup shop in the intestines, boring into the lining causing bloody diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Ready for lunch?  I know I am!  Watch this:

The Veggie Cafe has finally opened in East Nashville.   We made our first visit on Saturday night and had a great dinner.    It is located at the corner of Porter Avenue and Riverside Drive at 1601 Riverside.   Plenty of parking and not an overly small place.

I am sure there were some people who walked in and waited to be seated, not the case.  Go to the front counter and order then find yourself a table.  There’s even a comfy couch and chairs to relax in.

We both had the vegan meatloaf with green beans and turnip greens and my daughter had a bagel with roasted red pepper hummus.   Vegan mashed potatoes were available earlier in the day and there was macaroni and cheese as a side choice, but it is not vegan.  All menu items are marked V and GF for Vegan and Gluten Free making choices easy.  The extremely happy and attentive staff is ready for any questions you have about the menu.

The meatloaf was not what I expected, a good mix of grains with a tomato topping that didn’t overpower and the vegetable sides were very fresh, excellent. The hummus was very good as well and topped with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and sprouts with sliced apples and strawberries on the side.   We wanted to try the dessert.  Cookies,  apple crunch and muffins were on the menu, all vegan, but there were none available.   I did not carry a camera in, so no food pictures.   I’ll remedy that next visit.   Overall, a great dinner for $20.

From what I understand menu items will vary so I am eager to return to see what else joins the meatloaf, tofu reuben, sandwiches and wraps.   Dawn, the owner, told me plans were to soon open for brunch on the first Sunday of each month and starting in April to open for breakfast.  I am not sure how often I would be able to make it for breakfast but I would love to see how they create a tofu scramble.

The only full-time vegetarian and vegan restaurant should be around for a long time.  I am already wanting to try it again.

If you have followed the news of The Veggie Cafe since their announcement of opening in East Nashville from being in a mobile unit a year ago you will know opening dates have come and gone.  All of this because of inspection issues, I can assume it can be hard getting started in the restaurant business.   Today was the certain announced date of their Grand Opening, so, when I called this morning find their hours for over the weekend to plan my visit I have to say I was surprised to  hear the the opening had to be postponed once again.  I spoke with Dawn and she told me she hoped to be open tomorrow (Saturday, March 15th) but was uncertain and would call me to let me know for sure.

So, if you planned on a trip to East Nashville today or this weekend to get a vegetarian or vegan lunch you’ll be waiting a bit longer.    No Veggie Cafe today…

The Veggie Cafe
1601 Riverside Drive
Nashville, TN 37216
(615) 495-8888

UPDATE:  Just had a call, Grand Opening is on for tomorrow (Saturday).

Another email sent to Trader Joe’s corporate today.  Just to update those who need to know, the reply:

We appreciate your suggestions and enthusiasm regarding opening a store in Nashville. We regret to inform you that at this time we have no plans for a store location in this area.

File that under Trader Joe’s - Nashville -  No.

If you have read other posts here you know I regularly check my server statistics for search terms that lead visitors to this site.  I have noticed “Publix veggie burgers and vegan burgers pulled from shelves” or some variant a few times in the past weeks.  I noticed the last time I was at Publix that the vegan patties we get each week were on clearance.  This I found alarming as they are some of the best, unless you count Amy’s burgers at $4.50 a pack.   We took what few packs were left and asked the manager about the clearance and if they were discontinued.  He told me Publix does not clearance a Greenwise product unless they are going to be discontinued and directed me to contact corporate and let them know I wanted them to keep the product on the shelf.

After emailing Publix’s corporate office this is the reply I received:

Thank you for your email. We appreciate our customers taking the time to contact us.

The plant used by the manufacturer of our Publix Green Wise Frozen items has been sold.
We are currently sourcing a new supplier and have every desire to return these items to the shelf as quickly as possible; but we will be out of stock for an undetermined amount of time.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us. If we can be of any further assistance regarding this matter, please either call our Consumer Relations toll-free number at 1-800-242-1227, write us at the Publix Super Markets Corporate Office, PO Box 407, Lakeland, FL 33802, ATTN: Consumer Relations, or contact us at our website, publix.com

So, if you are looking for your Publix Greenwise Vegan or Veggie patties and/or burgers and can’t find them, they will return!

I just crossed an article on Cracked.com (yes, the same as the immature magazine) that lists some of the not-so-savory food additives and their sources.   If you are a well-versed vegan then you know of these ingredients, if not then make this time to familiarize yourself with some things to look for when reading ingredient labels.

Some snips from the article:

“excretions of the Kerria lacca insect”

“the abdomen region that houses the fertilized eggs…ground into a powder”

Tasty!

I have decided to go from 7-8 cups of coffee a day to zero. No transition period, no gradual reduction, just one day coffee the next day none. My head aches something wicked. I am drinking nothing but water and juice in hopes it will help the headaches with extra fluids. I slept bad last night but I will not give in. I have a full bag of espresso roast that beckons me when I open the kitchen cabinet. My espresso maker is sitting idle, that can’t be a good thing. The coffee grinder is whispering for me to push its button everytime I walk by. I can get through this.

Shut your mouth coffee beans! I don’t want you, leave me alone. Just me and my juice. I love my juice. Juice…go away coffee.

My head hurts.

Quick and simple:

Why is it that meat-eaters are so damned offended by the mere mention of a person being vegetarian or vegan?

Answers below…

I have received news that The Veggie Cafe will be opening this Friday (March 14th)  from 11am - 7pm.    On Saturday there will be a Veggie Kids Workshop at 3pm and an Eggless Hunt on the following Saturday (March 22nd).

Looking for Blue Coast Burrito’s Pineapple Salsa Recipe?

Blue Coast Burrito … Pineapple Salsa … Want the recipe?

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I don’t have it. Sorry!

This is one of the best responses to “Why are you vegan?” that I have heard. This woman has done her research and obviously has been asked the question before. A bit “fringe” of a response but you can take some good information from this.

My love of Whole Foods is dwindling. I have touted them as my favorite store in many posts and was mildly excited at the acquirement of Wild Oats, I may have to reconsider. After going to the Whole Foods at Green Hills weekly I have noticed prices that were once in-line with Wild Oats gently budge upward on items I consider staples such as orange juice, bread and buns. At first the prices at Whole Foods were lower on some items in comparison to Wild Oats at Coolsprings but now the prices at Wild Oats have started to increase and some items are disappearing from shelves and I am told they will not return. Rudy’s buns and bread has gone from $3.29 to $4.79 and the lower priced, but just as good, Wild Oats brand bread and buns is being replaced by a higher priced, and lower quality, Whole Foods brand that contains honey. Orange juice has increased at Wild Oats by 60 cents since they began carrying the Whole Foods 365 label and they have stopped stocking no-pulp variety.

The produce section was recently changed out at Wild Oats and as far as I can tell prices were not. Changes are coming for the rest of the store as well I am sure. I just hope the prices and items that are left don’t change along with them.

I’ll save the story about the woman at Whole Foods who refused to put my groceries into my Trader Joe’s bag for another post.