Underground Thoughts

–Manhattan Bound L Train–
Last night I met up with Todd at a movie being played on the lawn of McCarren park. I don’t think I have ever seen so many bike chained to a fence. They were looked to each other and even locked above one another.

The movie was an old horror film and not my thing but it was entertaining none the less.

Todds friend Catie was there with her boyfriend. You can imagine my enthusiasm when I found out she was Vegan. Afterwards she led us to a icecreame shop with vegan icecreame and a selection of other desserts. The icecreame was made by a Chicago company and the best vegan icecreame I have ever had.

We then migrated to a pizza shop with vegan pizza. All of these places are a four minute bike ride from home. Catie and I shared a piece of chicken Bacon BBQ vegan pizza and even Todd admitted it was good.

–Downtown 5 Train–
Two weeks ago a blogged about running into the NYC Earth Day Street Fair and how I had bought a shirt from We Add Up. Well today the shirt was delivered and just in time for this weekends NYC Veggie Pride Parade. I was the 0011115 person to join the pledge, hence the number printed on the front. I love the qoute on the back. “No one can do everything, but we all can do something.”

Visit WeAddUp.com too see all the different earth-saving pledges you can make. And of course to get your own personlized T-shirt.

–Uptown M15 Bus–
So last week Darren and my old co worker Kia went with me to the Vegan Meetup at V-Spot in Brooklyn. We were excited to meet some fellow vegans and vegetarians, and even more excited to try the new Daiya Cheese.

One of the ladies was great and we talked to her throughout dinner. But the one girl to my left and the co host of the group was not so pleasant. She was conversational and disagreeable and did not make us feel welcomed.

The cheese however was amazing. It had great texture and was thick and stringy. I wish it were available retail!

So we probably won’t meet up with this group again but I am thinking I am going to start rounding up my NYC vegetarian friends for our own meet up. Which reminds me! This coming weekend is the New York Veggie Pride Parade!

–Uptown 4 Train–

I got an email invite today for a vegan meetup next week. The announcement was boasting a new non-dairy cheese that is supposed to be really really good. Having never heard of Daiya I looked it up. It’s brand new and not yet available in stores. The company is distributing it to companies that make and ship food. Thus currently Daiya cheese is only avialable at locations set up for promotional purposes. We will see if I can drag Darren to the Tuesday evening event!

After a great afternoon, reading and talking in Central Park Darren and I headed home for dinner. On the way we passed four elementary school girls selling lemonade and cookies. I asked the price and they excitedly answered that it was donation so however much we wanted to pay. The fence behind them was lined with computer made flyers with pictures of kittens. One sign said “it’s furr real.” I of course had to ask the cause and they proudly announced sod. Accromyn (that I can’t remember) and said “it’s for the animals!” I if course had to ask they were vegetarian and one girl gleefully shouted out “me, her and her are!” when I said I was two she lit up! I then told her about the upcoming veggie parades and she said “that’s so cool!”

The incident made my aftternoon. Looks like vegetariansim and social responsibilty is already reaching the upcoming generation!

–9:40am Downtown 4 Train–
two months ago I discovered soy hotdogs. They are the cheapest, high protien, low fat lunch I have yet to find. I started off with the brand Tofu Pups, but I then discovered Smart Dogs. So yesterday while at Wholefoods I bought my three week supply. Seeing me load my basket full of them, the girl next to me exclaimed “did you take them all?!” but I was able to reach to the back of the shelf to pull forward a few more packs.

–10:43pm Uptown M15 Bus–
I am lucky to have a boyfriend who values quality time. There are a few times when it’s not fun, like when he gets “worked up” (he hates it when I say upset) that I am eating to fast and not paying attention to him during our dinner conversation.  But overall it has been a tremendous bonus. Tired of eating out all the time he has been wanting to make dinner together for a quiet evening in.

So this evening we did. Darren loves it when I plan things ahead so I rushed to the health food store to get Tofuti cream cheese and soy butter, and soy chicken. I wish I had a camera for the happy look on his face when he asked me, “Do you already know what your doing to make?” and I answered, “of course!”

I made a Vegan Alfredo cream sauce (without a recipe! woot woot) and drizzled it over whole wheat pasta with grilled asparagus and red peppers. Darren made aweseom garlic bread and set the table. So before I forget how I made it I thought I should jot it down.

–Nathan’s Vegan Alfredo Sauce–

In a saucepan saute a large scallion and three cloves of minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a few table spoons of vegan butter. The longer the better. Saute till dark brown. Add an 8 oz container of Tofuti cream cheese.  Add 8-12oz. of a spaghetti sauce of your choice.  Add water to get to the right consistency. And add pepper and basil to taste. (I added a little bit of flour because I added to much water and it turned out really well, so I may to that on purpose next time.)

Grill asparagus for about five minutes in olive oil, minced garlic and chopped scallion. After about five minutes add the sliced bell pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Grill two vegan chicken breasts.

Put the whole wheat pasts on the plate then add a layer of the sauted vegetable. Slice the breast into vertical strips and place ontop of the veggies, then cover in the alfredo sauce.

I have had a blog for years and yet failed to keep it updated… So here’s the new plan. Everyday I spend close to an hour beneath the streets of NYC. so now that I have an iPhone this is how I will blog. This will also help me condense my thoughts down to their minimum as typing on an iPhone is still not that easy.

This will be an online journal. And knowing me it will likely be about: vegetarianism, Mormonism, exploring NYC, and my realationship with Darren.

So the goal will be to write all the entries on my iPhone, and take all the pictures I use on my blog from here as well.