My Cat Got Cancer and Park+Vine Closed

So it has been a sad week and a half. Foxy got diagnosed with lymphoma. Thankfully when I started a gofundme I was given some money and started her chemo treatment as soon as possible. She is still only given 6 months to live but it is better than 4 weeks. Look at my cute baby.

I was already freaking out because I barely have any money to finish out the school year but I am spending as little as possible. And with the help of my partner I think I will be just fine.

Because I am spending so little I am forced to eat whatever I have and not add on all the nice extras. Since the place I used to work at (an all vegan store!) closed it has been easier not to spend anything. Trying super hard to keep it local. I can still go to vegan-friendly places like:

OTR
Pho Lang Thang-  Vietnamese restaurant
Gomez- Taco window
Bottle and Basket- deli with kombucha and vegan chocolate and soups
Findlay Market (Madison's and Dean's Market mostly)- veggies and bulk food stations

Clifton
Clifton Market- Co-op just opened!
Clifton Natural Foods- used to be on bus route to school but moved farther down. Good place for v sausages and chz

Thinking about Green Bean Delivery now too since it has local stuff and I am super busy at school!

Physics BS almost done!

Kinda of a hole in my heart now that Park+Vine is gone and my cat is going to die prematurely. Feeling super guilty about not doing enough activism and volunteering. But I do what I can.

Today I made my own granola bars and banana bread. I used brown rice syrup for granola base. Turned out pretty well.

Ok, that's it. Bye.

Celebrating Halloween Now! And Halloween Haul the Halloween Bucket List

I love, love Halloween and this year I decided I'm celebrating now. That's about 2 months of Halloween! So today I started with a pumpkin spice donut at the all vegan bakery in Cincinnati- Happy Chicks Bakery. 

After work I went to Target and TJ Maxx to snag some Halloween goodies. I'm going to list my halloween bucket list sometime too. Just like Spookyvegan. I got this sweet cat costume for Fox Mulder my adorable black kitty. I got some candy buckets and a bunch of Airheads and Sour Patch Kids. I got some window clings and paper pumpkins. When I got home I binged on some R.L. Stine. I thought it would be too kiddish but it wasn't. I liked how some endings were good and then others were bad. 

So first I need to blog more but then I also need to have more words of the day if I am to be called vocabvegan! And guess what I have to study for the GRE so I am going to pick one. 

Chicanery- the use of tricks to deceive someone.

And I can add some physics vocab:

Scriber-A machine or hand tool that makes a line to break a chip or wafer into pieces. 

Homemade Veggie Stock Experience and Date Lady Syrup and Karitex Shea Buttter from Vegan Cuts

I was so excited to add another food saving thing to my repertoire. I haven't mastered it but it made my soup tastier.

So after searching the internet I used celery leaves, onion butts and garlic butts that filled one full gallon bag. I kept it in my freezer until I was ready and then I put it in a slow cooker on high for four hours. Then I sifted out the pieces over a bowl. I transferred the broth to containers and let them cool before putting in fridge.

When I made my soup it wasn't flavorful enough and I had to add a bunch more spices but I could tell it added some depth.

Maybe next time I will make sure I have more onions and garlic in it. I have another batch going.

I just bought some Date Lady syrup from Vegan Cuts. If you haven't heard Vegan Cuts is kinda like Groupon for vegans. For stuff not restaurants and businesses. So I got the syrup for $7.50 (12 oz) and their store sells it for $10. Good deal to me. Well, I mean bulk organic sugar is cheaper but I'm trying to eat more whole foods and I'm trying out dates so I thought this would be great since I don't have a high speed blender.

The date syrup is perfectly blended into a little thinner than molasses feel. And it actually reminds me of molasses when I eat it straight, but when I used it for my hot cocoa it was perfect!  So now lucky for me I have a "healthier" version of my hot cocoa. Water, Westsoy soymilk, and Wilderness naturals cocoa powder are the other ingredients. And sometimes I add Dandies jumbo marshmallows. Which has lots of refined sugar. Oh well!

I also got some Karitex Shea Butter. It was 1 lb for $13. I love shea butter and coconut oil. I use shea butter for my hands and feet and coconut oil for everything else. I also use some Desert Essence lotion from time to time when I don't feel in the mood for greasiness. Shea butter blends into my skin better than the coconut oil I feel like. It came in a baggy which I thought was cool because it used less packaging. It seems fresh too. I am already thinking I will order it again because shea butter is usually $20-28 at my local store. Which I love supporting local but I also want to support Vegan Cuts! :) I do what I can.

Eating Clean! (vegan as always) What I ate Thursday! Champ's Diner in NYC

So lately I've been eating clean vegan with my partner. We try to eat very little processed food and little to no added sugar and I'm trying to eat HCLF.

I'm feeling pretty good although I still have coffee almost everyday. So my energy fluctuates. Saturday is my cheat day! (always vegan !) My partner is vegetarian on his cheat day but vegan diet 6 days.

Today I had coffee with raw sugar and soy milk. I know, I just cheated but I need it with my coffee. Then I had a banana and then a burrito bowl at Chip. with brown rice, guac, pinto, corn and mild salsa and Sofritas. Ha. I am sucking at this but really it is way less processed food. I usually don't ever get the bowl because I love the burrito tortilla. Then I had some Mary's gone crackers and edward and sons brown rice crackers and go raw choc cookies. For dinner I ate a pad thai bowl with zucchini noodles at a place called Rooted. I also sampled all the vegan juices. (One had honey.) Not sure I ate enough, but in the meantime while I figure out the picture situation I think I can at least post what I eat most of the time.

This pic is from NYC's Champs diner. April 29th 2016. I was starting my quest on eating a vegan burger and fries everywhere. It tasted homemade and I liked it.

Goodnight bitches.

I'm in Berlin!

So there's about 45 all vegan restaurants in Berlin. How many have I been to? Hm. Like 10 I think. Let's see:

1. Ohlala (like a french bakery?)
2. Let it Be (crepes named after celebs)
3. Fast Rabbit Food (tasty wraps and smoothies)
4. Voener (vegan doeners and chzy fries)
5. Tofu Tussis (tofu salads and tofu meatballs and such and tofu classes)
6. Sun Day Burgers (tofu sandwich with tasty sauces and veggies)
7. Rawtastic (raw food)
8. Kontor Ice Cream
9. Yoyo World (pizza and burgers and fries)
10. Velicious (bakery and some soups)
11. Brammibal's Donuts (Store Front opens May 22nd! while I'm here!)
12. Chaotheorie Bar (breakfast, lunch and dinner)
13. Vegan Tiger (didn't buy anything yet but I looked, no bathroom and I had to pee!)
14. L'herbivore (like a vegan butcher shop with seitan burgers)
15. Veganz (all vegan grocery store- the feeling is wonderful in here)
16. The Bowl (on top of Veganz on Warschauer)
17. Goodies (in both Veganz- the one on Warschauer not in Veganz is not all vegan! so pay attention to signage)
18. Huong Sen (vietnamese)

I didn't buy anything at the Bowl or Goodies yet.

Tomorrow is a holiday. I wonder what will be open.

This has been a really fun experience.

I need to make another list of places to go to. :)

Easter Vegan Egg Time

So I've been gnawing on the Moo Free Honeycomb Easter Egg. It's at least 6 inches tall and hollow. The chocolate quality is great. I love Premier Chocolates but sometimes the chocolate bars can be a little waxy. I know Park+Vine. The vegan store where I work got a new shipment of easter stuff from them so I'll have to get their easter offering. I love the peanot m&m's though.

Vegan Chili and Corn Bread

I was flipping through my old Chickpea magazines and I decided to make chili and cornbread. Both turned out great.

In the chili I used Butler's soy curls but then it was like chick'n chili and I didn't like that but the seasoning was good and Bakersfield liked it.

The cornbread turned out a tad bit crispy on the outside so next time I will use liners.