elizabeth:

Day Two:

Multi grain waffles, organic banana and 2 tablespoons of pecans – sprinkled with cinnamon. Filling, but I am still nervous that I might be blocking the sun at the end of the week. Still reading Veganist and I am getting to the hard part – the torture of animals so that we can put food on our plates. I have known this for a long time, and I am starting to freak out that 10 years as a vegetarian gave way to me eating meat again.  The things we do for men. The husband does all the cooking (as any ex-chef should do) and I got lazy. Damn. I got lazy.

I am looking around the house and when you get pass the hairy tumbleweeds, the hair balls you slip on at 3 AM and the 5 litter boxes that need to be cleaned out everyday, there are 6 rescued cats and a yellow lab living with me. Each one has a distinctive personality and I love to watch them interact with each other. If you step on their tail, they will cry and hide and then you have to soothe them and ask them to forgive you for being a klutzy human being. They are living and breathing creatures.  I feel it is a privilege to be their caretaker – the vet bills will attest to that.

And none of them have ever said to me, “your butt looks big in that” or “why do you want to be a writer?”  And if anyone ever hurt one of them…let’s just say that dealing with the authorities would be a walk in the park in comparison to what I would want to do to them.

Lunch was salad with the kitchen sink thrown in and I am tasting the vegetables more. Got veggie turkey ( heard that it is not really considered vegan since it is processed) and all I can say it that is smells like day-old vomit that was left out in the desert sun and  I want to vomit when I eat it. Some nasty, nasty stuff.

Dinner was a frozen vegetarian dinner – it was good and no animals were hurt, but I did burn my hand taking the tray out of the microwave.

Let the struggling begin.

Charlene:

Day Two:

Day Two: I think that most vegans think they are super ethical and don’t believe that animals were meant to be eaten. They are wrong. There’s a reason it’s called a food chain – and humans are at the very top of it! If cow’s milk wasn’t meant to turn into brie then why would brie be so delicious? And why would cows let that farmer anywhere near her nether regions if not to let him take the delicious nectar that will soon be turned into my beloved Greek yogurt for me to blop on top of my summer peaches?

And if a life without brie and Greek yogurt were not bad enough I just found out that all wines are not vegan. What?!Apparently different animal parts are used as processing aids in the “fining” or filtration part of the winemaking process to help remove solid impurities such as grape skins, stems, pips, to remove the yeast used in the fermentation process or to adjust the tannin levels in certain wines. It sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me. I started to read more about it but saw words like pig’s hooves and fish bladders. I had to stop reading for fear of being converted. For this meat lover ignorance is bliss!

For breakfast I had whey-less curdle-less toast with peanut butter and banana. Lunch was a similar Mediterranean feast as I had yesterday – hummus and chips, tapenade, and a couple of dolmas. For dinner I had black beans, Israeli cous cous, roasted carrots with almonds, roasted tomatoes, and sautéed mushrooms and onions. I also had a bit of crusty bread with olive oil and pomegranate balsamic vinegar. I do have to admit the food is pretty tasty. And to drink I had some most likely non-vegan Chardonnay. If that looks like a tacky ice cube in my wine glass it’s not, it’s uh, uh, the light hitting my glass funny. (Or who knows – maybe it’s a leftover pig’s hoof!)