Actually...the really, really scary part is what people will say when you put your thoughts out there in the great wide expanse of Internet world, where people are free to insult without having to face the consequences of their comments.
But the other (slightly less) scary thing is the weeks or days between blog posts, when you lose your steam, have little time or hit a wall with writer's block. Somehow it makes the blog feel less real...only amateurs forget to write, or don't write, or have long expanses between their writing! To avoid this, I could have set myself up to write less often, but then I would have missed out on many a post I enjoyed writing.
Alas, here I am, re-entering my world of blog posting now that I'm back from Seattle, done with my crunch to get a draft of my graduate papers turned in to my advisor, and feeling more balanced in general. Finally I'm finding the time to put keystroke to computer screen, and hopefully you're happy I'm doing so!
I think today's post should focus a little on the Vegan for Lent experiment, particularly considering that I'm in the last few days of the journey. Specifically, I have 63 hours left (assuming I stop being vegan at midnight between Saturday and Easter). If we take out the hours I plan to sleep (as then I'm not thinking about what I'm eating), I really have 45 waking hours of conscious veganism left. Not that I'm counting or anything crazy like that.
Over the past 2-ish months, I've had 2 slip-ups (that I was aware of). The first being my first weekend of veganism when I was at the Rotary conference and binged on half a round of boursin, which did not end up well for my digestive system. Let's just say, my tummy hurt. The second occurred on my recent trip to Seattle, when my brother-in-law rallied himself from the depths of what must be the worst cold/flu/fever/cough combo known to man to fire up the pizza oven he made with his own blood, sweat and tears and grilled up what must be the best pizza known to man. How could a girl turn that down? I did turn down the prosciutto pizza, but I indulged in the veggie pizzas despite the ooey gooey mounds of fresh mozzarella dotted all over the surface like little oases in a desert of yum. I do not regret this lapse. My soul is better for it.
So then, what happens on Easter? Assuming I find the time (this is not given, as Mr. K and I have a full schedule of apartments all over MA to view, as we are considering moving), I was planning to make a bread that my dad always made for Easter. It's an enriched bread (read: contains egg), dotted with squares of grueyere cheese that melt into little holes of amazingness and give the bread a holey-cheese filled appearance that warrants the nickname "swiss cheese braid." Oh yea...it's braided too. The whole loaf is quite a sight, and I do love it.
But as I type that sentence, I'm not sure how I feel about buying eggs. Even before I was a vegetarian (much less a vegan) I felt weird about eggs. I hate the way raw eggs smell. I can only eat them when they are scrambled or poached or cooked in things, only with several other items that also have strong flavors. On more than one occasion I've spent an hour or so baking up a quiche for Mr. K and I, only to end up eating salad because the thought of eating egg makes me queasy. As such, I think I might just continue not using eggs. This will be sad for some baking purposes, but I think I can work around it, and I'll give myself the flexibility to indulge once in awhile for holidays and such.
Butter is another tricky spot. Mr. K really likes the vegan "butter" we got for this experiment, and I've found it works just fine in baking. I may therefore also stop buying "real butter."
Milk is something that I have happily replaced with soymilk, which has been a real treat for me as I actually like soymilk better. Come Sunday, milk will make a reappearance in our abode, however, as Mr. K misses it for his cereal and coffee.
Cheese and yogurt: While I LOVE these foods, I have also noticed that I feel a LOT better when I don't eat them. As such, they will likely continue to ride in the back seat of my cooking convertable, making an appearance on rare or special occasions. It will also be a relief to have them as options when I am eating out of the home, as it is really, really hard to avoid milk, eggs, butter, cheese and yogurt in public (I'd like to see that change, as it's just silly). So it looks like I'm going to be a loosey-goosey-veganish vegetarian come Sunday. yahoo!
A treat that I will continue to love? Toasted whole wheat everything bagel with veggie tofu spread and tomatoes. Best. Breakfast. Ever.
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