Day 8: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning" -Winston Churchill

I've been thinking about what to write for this last post for a while, and as I sit here, I realize that I still don't really know what to say. But maybe that's for the better.

I began this blog saying that I've often hear vegan's associated with any term that has a negative connotation.
I began this blog surrounded by assumptions that vegan's were misunderstood, psychotic, confusing, complex, and difficult.
But it was a good thing, because I'm all of those things too.

Last night, I purposely saved this post to be written during the last hour of the day.
But I stopped halfway through.

I could sit here and talk about what foods I liked and what foods I didn't like; what was the hardest thing to give up and what felt like I was never meant to eat it in the first place.
But I'm not going to do that.
I don't think that was the objective of my challenge.
My objective was to immerse myself in something entirely foreign to me, and learn to appreciate it, even if it may not be my new lifestyle.
I mean, after all, isn't that the objective of life in general?
To attempt new styles, or new points of view just to experience them, even if you know that it's not what you're meant to be?
That's what I did this week.
I tried something.

Beginnings are a funny thing for me. For my entire life, I've had this belief that nothing in my life ever ends.
I believe that every situation that has occured in my life will never come to an end; a closing statement will never be reached, nor will a door shut.
So, this challenge was more like a situation for me.
Yesterday may have been my last day as a loyal vegan through and through, but I know that in years to come I'll find myself choosing a glass of almond milk over regular milk, or ordering vegetable dumplings instead of an egg roll.

What so many people fail to see about vegan's is how selfless they are.
Veganism is about being selfless, it's about sacrificing, and it's about being satisfied with the choices you've made when everyone else is choosing what's "normal."
These people are some of the most compassionate people in the world.
The people who come so short of understanding them could never amount to their level of compassion.
I may not be continuing with faithful veganism, but my respect for their lifestyle and mentality is immense.

In the movie Eat Pray Love (I advise reading the book before watching the movie), Elizabeth Gilbert (a woman whom I believe may be the most influential feminist of our century) travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia for one year, temporarily breaking all ties with her life in America.
She does it for herself, she does it for others, and she does it for personal fulfillment.
No, she's not a vegan.
But her mentality is the same as any vegan on the planet.
Vegan's live their life for themselves, for the good of others, and for personal fulfillment...for satisfaction that is beyond words. It's internal satisfaction on all levels of life.
Their lives, just like Elizabeth Gilbert's, is selfless and selfish at the same time.
As they give back to themselves, they give back to the world.
This is why I admire vegans so much.
We should all live our lives that way.

My favorite word in Italian is "attraversiamo."
It's not just because the word includes every beautiful sound of the Italian language: the relaxing "ahh," the rolling "r," the soothing "s," and the fancy sound that the "o" adds at the end.
It's because the word means "let's cross over."
In technical terms, the word is used when people are saying "let's cross the street."
So yes, in technicality, my favorite Italian word means "let's cross the street."
But I like to think of "let's cross over" as walking to another side, trying out something new, bringing fresh experiences into your life while still holding onto the past.
So, why don't we all do that.
Maybe you'll try some vegan cuisine.
Or maybe you'll do something entirely different.
Just try something.
It will be worth it.

I'm not going to end this post.
I'm just going to say "till next time."

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings. Attraversiamo.

Day Seven: and on the seventh day.....

......God didn't create the vegans.

He did create grass, though.

Which is basically what vegan's eat.


That was kinda harsh, I take that back.
We could all learn a lot from vegans.
Seriously.

Although I've become an incubus of the viral plague these last few days (I'm still trying to deny the fact that it's because I've been a vegan) , I've found that veganism is not just limited to soy, wheat, grass, and tofu-everything.
We non-vegans just assume that it is.
I've looked up vegan recipe's and such, and 99.9% of the recipe's I've found look just like the food that we eat, if not better in some way, shape, or form.
Sure, it tastes a little different.
But that's the only sacrifice you have to make. So what, your burger tastes a little less "meaty" than a regular burger.
Wouldn't it be worth it if you knew that the vegan burger you were eating was helping the environment, and basically, the entire world around you?
That may sound dramatic.
Okay, it sounds very dramatic.
But it's true.
Vegan's make up the part of the population who take their passion for health and the environment, and sacrifice the "normal" way of eating, for the benefit of everything else.
Vegans are, in my opinion, selfless.

We should all take something from that.

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Be selfless.

Day Six: Tofu loves you

I'm currently watching a video about how Tofu loves you.
It's called "TOFU LOVES YOU."
and it's German.



I don't speak German.

So, I'm not going to post it.



It's just a bunch of farm animals screaming off things in German, with the words "TOFU LOVES YOU!" popping up everywhere on the screen.


But this is an unrequited love.
I don't love tofu back.


...but I'm trying.


I did, however, find this video that I find quite amusing.

Trust me, you wanna see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-XM9zeYRyk&feature=related

I'll be back later.

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Tofu should not be taken this far. If you watched the video, you'll get that.

Day Five: Pasta is the only thing keeping me alive.

^This guy has been my inspiration basically all week.


I've got John Mayer playing as I write this, so forgive me if I appear distracted through my...typing.
I've realized that my vegan diet consists of three things: pasta, water, and wheat thins.
Okay, it's actually a little more diverse than that...but those are my lifelines right now.

I need a vegan intervention.
I need to open up to more vegan friendly foods.

I mean, I feel like I haven't written a lot about vegetables, and the truth is, I've been eating them like crazy.
....but how do you write about vegetables in a way that's blog-worthy?


"The orange luster on my carrot was as bright as the sun's gleaming light."


That was actually pretty good.

.....in all seriousness, eating vegetables isn't something new to me; I don't eat meat to begin with, so any carnivore, this challenge would certainly be harder.
However, I've been eating more vegetables than I would have otherwise eaten had I not sacrficed myself.


We've been told to eat vegetables since the day we could open our mouths, but some still find it to be a long, painful process when you could use basically anything to spice the vegetable up. Yes, vegans are allowed to fry things.


...and they can use soy sauce (although, I personally don't)


...and regular sauce


...and other herb things.





You get my point.

Ah, but then there's the question of what to do at a BBQ.
Isn't awkward to be that person who says "Oh, I don't eat meat."
Can't you just see the rage inside of that person as you know that they're thinking "then why did you come to a BBQ?"
Well, there's an alternative.
Ms. McKenna, a fellow vegan at MHS, let me borrow her Vegan College Cookbook for the week.
Although I've failed to actually make something from it, I've read it.
And for anyone who's love of BBQ's is inhibiting their attempt at going vegan, here's your new true love:

Scuzz-Free BBQ Tofu

1 (16-ounce) package of extra firm tofu, drained, and cut in half horizontally


1 cup of bottled BBQ sauce


4 sandwich rolls


Sandwich fixings (lettuce, tomato, etc.)


...it's that easy.
There, now you can't argue with me about what to do at a BBQ.


I didn't eat anything new today, I'm sorry.
But no worries, tomorrow I'll have plenty more to blog about. I've got to live up to my expectations of making this blog as good as the one that Julie Powell writes in Julie & Julia, and yes, I read the book before I saw the movie.
If you didn't understand that reference, Google it.
It's worth it.


This may just be the most boring post I've written all week.
I've realized that all of this soy-ridden, wheat-infested "food," has been making me a little more tired than I usually am.
Is it just because I'm tired or is it the vegan food?
You'll have to read the article to find that one out.


I'll leave you with a song.


Again.

I knew Kermit the Frog was good for something...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIOiwg2iHio

caio.

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Apparently vegans like koala's too, not just panda's.

Day Four: Halfway There and I'm Livin' on a Prayer.

Remember when I said that I didn't really like waffles?
I've never liked french toast either.
But I like vegan french toast.
These were also made by Van's, right from King Kullen.
Is God trying to tell me something?
It seems that the only vegan meal that I really enjoy is breakfast.
This french toast tastes like gingerbread too....
I'm sensing a theme here...
.....do they just make everything taste like gingerbread to distract you from the fact that there's nothing really in it?

I mean, if that's the case...it's working...


OMG, wait! I totally forgot to talk about this amazing vegan pudding that I (well, my mom) made yesterday. My darling mother was getting tired of watching me eat wheat and grass, so she decided to show her love for me and make me chocolate pudding with almond milk (not regular milk, don't freak out, I didn't cheat.)


...and may I just say, it tasted better than it does with regular milk.


I would totally go vegan for chocolate pudding with almond milk. It was a little more lumpy than regular pudding, but better nevertheless. I'll ask her to make it again so I can post a picture of it in the next few days.


By the way, have you seen the vegan health pyramid? I mean, they might as well just write "just eat grass." on the thing.


Also take notice of how they want you to have at least 6-11 servings of tofu per day.
I tried tofu for the first time when I was at that Chinese restaurant with my family, and it was just plain tofu in soup. It was like little tofu cubes just chopped in there looking like rubber...I swear, they practically squeaked.

However, the website it comes from is great. It's called chooseveg.com and it gives you everything you could ever want to know about Veganism (and being a Vegetarian, I can understand 99.9% of its mentality.)

Just click on the link below and start vegging.

http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp

Well anyway, getting back to my day...

Lunch was fine, I guess. I haven't really found any great vegan lunches...well, I haven't found any creative vegan lunches, rather, mostly because I don't have much time to make myself a gourmet vegan lunch. However, I'm willing to extend this another two days so that I'd have the weekend to potentially make something (or have my mom make something) a little more fancy.

Right now, I'm stuck with peanut butter on wheat bread which is just about as exciting as when Kara DioGuardi was on American Idol.

Dinner tonight was fine. I had leftover Chinese food from Saturday....so, I don't have much to write about........except the vegetable soup.

Sweet jesus.

It was painful.

Okay, so...I like vegetable soup. I'm totally fine with it. But, vegans take it a little too far. I mean, the ENTIRE thing was just....a mush of vegetables stuffed into a bowl but it was.....bad.

Maybe it was veggie-overload.

I'll try a toned-down version and write about that later.

I mean, I can't say that I don't like veganism yet. I certainly don't love it yet either, though.

So, since it's Day Four and it's the halfway mark of my venture, I'm going to say that I'm 50/50 on this whole vegan thing.

and so....in honor of my halfway mark (so I think), let's play a little Bon Jovi.

Here's Livin' on a Prayer on Jenna's Vegan Blog...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk

Stay Veggy, MHS.

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I wonder if other vegans have played the song Livin' on a Prayer when watching their dietary counterparts eat.

Day Three: It's not easy being Green and Italian.

I know it's bad to skip breakfast, and I've always prided myself on making sure that I have an adequate morning meal every single day of my life; but this morning was different. I was feeling a little apathetic about breakfast, so I turned to my new lifesaver: vegan cinnamon twists.

They're hollow, so don't get your hopes up.

But, they're still satisfying, nonetheless.

They're just mini...mini........um...twists of wheat, I guess? They have cinnamon sprinkled on them, and...you know what, I'm just gonna post a picture.

Here they are:

Kinda cute, right?

It's Sunday, and I'm Italian so that means that I don't have lunch. The clock stroke 2, and I was at my grandma's house, with all of mia familia in la bella cucina for our weekly/early Sunday dinner of lasagna and bread and wine and some more bread.

I practically sat in tears as I watched my family eat my grandparent's famed lasagna, while I was stuck with plain ol' spaghetti, which really is nothing when you compare it to lasagna, especially when your cousin Matt is sitting next to you and listing all the reasons why being a vegan isn't worth it when there's lasagna on the planet.

I didn't think it could get any worse until everyone started pulling out boxes from Capri, and all of a sudden, there was a canoli buffet in front of me, and.....................................................................

I had to walk away.

It was the most shameful moment of my life.

Really.

Have you ever seen what a cannoli buffet looks like?

It's beautiful.

I couldn't even have a proper cup of espresso, I was stuck with tea. I mean, I love tea, but nothing beats a good cup of espresso after grandma's Italian sunday dinner; and see, the whole point of a cannoli and an espresso is the dunking. You don't just eat the cannoli. You dunk the cannoli in the espresso, and then you eat it. It's a beautiful sport, you should try it sometime.

This may be my "deal breaker," as a vegan.

Can I really live my entire life without dunking a cannoli in an espresso when I've been taught to do that since I was three?

The answer is no, sorry vegans.

Well, my family is here watching the Superbowl and I feel a tad isolated right now, so I'm going to end this post because I want to get back to them; the only good thing about continuing this post would be that I wouldn't be tempted to grab a cannoli off of the buffet which was moved to my dining room table after grandma's.

Today was the worst day of Vegan Week, by far.

Italians were not meant to be vegans.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

caio.

(p.s: there's two 'vegan thoughts' of the day. I know, it's exciting.)

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY 1: Vegan's should be allowed to have their grandparent's lasagna.

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY 2: Vegan's should be allowed to have cannoli's. Or they should at least make vegan cannoli's, I mean, COME ON.

Day Two: I wonder if Ralph Kramden ever considered going vegan.

I've never been a fan of waffles. Maybe it's the shape of them, or the way that the syrup gets stuck into the little squares engraved into the waffle; I just don't like them.

But I like vegan waffles.

The ones made by Vans Waffles.

I know.

It doesn't make sense.

They taste more like gingerbread than they do waffles; they look like gingerbread, too. They're fairly small and can be broken into four differen't pieces, which is convenient and pretty cute.
For anybody who has a gingerbread admiration, and likes breaking things, I'd recommend these.
They're also a lot less awkward to eat than regular waffles are, seeing as they're not round nor are they annoyingly crunchy.
So far, in the battle over breakfast, the Vegans are winning.
I swear, these waffles were that good.



Lunch is my least favorite meal of the day, and on the weekends, I kinda just don't have it. It's usually because I'm a busy girl who tries to get 59290510919009 projects done and read 8 different books at the same time before I succumb to texts from Chrissy and Steph asking me to leave my house; I literally will not leave my house until I get everything done that I wished to get done. So that results in me just not caring about lunch. I'll have like a bunch of fruit or something and call it an afternoon.
I gave that dreaded granola bar another try. It was even worse the second time around. So, if you're in King Kullen's organic section, and stumble upon the green granola bar package with a panda on it (oh wait, there's like 75 of those) just please, for the love of all that is holy, do not buy it.
Regardless, my fruit bowl was lovely. Rather than popping dark-chocolate covered pomegranate's or blueberries into my mouth (which can actually, to my surprise, become quite filling) the fruit buffet was energizing.
So far, Day Two has given Vegan's a score of 2 for 2.

My family has quite a few February birthday's; my aunt, my grandma, and I are all born in February (but I don't have to share a celebration like my aunt and my grandma do). So tonight, mia familia and I went out to our usual Honeymooners-esque (Jackie Gleason, anyone?) Chinese restaurant (I swear, this place looks like it came straight from Brooklyn). I was a tad nervous. My old-fashioned Italian family fails to understand what a vegan actually is, and 99.9% of the responses I recieved from them about this challenge were "what the hell a ya doin'? fuggedaboutit!"

Their faces looked something like this:

(Yes, that's Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, in an episode of The Honeymooners, a la Brooklyn circa the 1950's)

So tonight, as we gathered into the restaurant, I was, as I always am, the one who was picked on. However, as it turns out, vegans may just be the happiest people in the world in a Chinese restaurant, for they are certainly the only ones who can walk out of one not feeling as though they've just gained 582258814194909052099502295009525902109194 pounds. The only part of my dinner that I didn't enjoy was the miso soup (it tasted a bit like windex). Other than that, I was perfectly content with my asian-hippy meal, which consisted of scalian pancakes (it's like Chinese pizza and is totally vegan friendly, check it out), vegetable dumplings, vegetable lomaine, and brown rice. May I just note that I had very relaxing tea alongside my plate so I was in vegan heaven, and it was wonderful. So the answer is yes, my friends, vegans can survive in Chinese restaurants, believe it or not you don't have to order ribs and eggrolls, there is other (and healthier) stuff on the menu. Just think of Ralph Kramden's stomach if you're tempted.

A few minutes ago I tried a vegan cookie, and although it was a tad hollow, it was actually a pleasant surprise. It tasted a little more....what's the word I'm looking for here....crumbly. Is that a word, "crumbly?" Well, it's a word now, because I can't think of any other way to describe this cookie. But, it was delicious, just the way a normal non-vegan cookie would be; except, it doesn't make you feel guilty about eating 'junk food' because well, it's not junk food.

Oh, the beauty of being a vegan. La vita e bella.

I've been stalking that Vegan News guy on YouTube, and so far the most interesting show I've found is one about how piglets react to being placed in a cage. But, you're in luck. I found a video from a CNN news special on veganism, and I think it's worth a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYX18NGTwls

ciao, non-vegans.

*VEGAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Why do vegan waffles smell like perfume?