Ode to office food

So, to follow PR's point, I think I have totally developed some Rexie tendencies from my fast.  I actually find myself not craving sweets, meat, eggs, cheese or dairy so much anymore, which is probably a good thing.  And I'm not hungry like that these days.  But, this has made it difficult for me to discuss decadent, fatfat-esque on this blog.  Don't get me wrong, I've definitely been eating well.  I've made everything from Jamaican jerk seitan chili to vegan enchiladas with gooey melted rice cheese on top to spicy and sweet African peanut stew with couscous.  Yes, I said rice cheese.  The brand I bought actually tastes better than real mozzarella cheese, which in my opinion is one of the most bland cheeses on earth.  Especially in its freshest form.

Anyway, I sit here typing after having just finished a conversation with a co-worker while hovering over her candy dish.  I miss the days of convenience foods in my office: The random bagels with tubs of room-temperature cream cheese hanging out in the kitchen mid-morning after early meetings; the picked-over  and unidentifiable baked goods brought from home sitting on desks; the cookies and brownies left over from afternoon meetings that have been randomly cut in half by a neurotic co-worker concerned about her own calorie count.  I even miss the vending machine even though I would never eat most of the options it offers.  But most of all, I miss the sandwiches left over from lunch meetings.  I used to go for the inevitable turkey and cheese option or anything on a croissant.  I don't know what it is about smoked turkey lunch meat that I love so much...

Anyway, my fast is over this Sunday.  I'm still thinking about a semi-permanent predominantly vegan lifestyle.  But the first thing I break my fast with will be a glass of red wine.  Oh how I miss my wine!

It's been a while...

Princess Rotound-a returns after a brief vacation.

Sorry to leave the blog for so long but PR was going through some major life (and food) changes. New job, newly single in the new year. This, of course, means a new diet.

Which crazy crash diet did I choose to ring in the new year, you ask? Remembering the mantra- "moderation is not your friend"- I chose the "Maker's Diet" (NO! It has nothing to do with Maker's Mark!), for all intents and purposes a crazy, crash diet billed as a transition to healthy eating. http://organicfanatic.blogspot.com/2007/06/makers-diet-how-to-get-started.html

For the first two weeks, you cut out most all fruits excepts berries, most beans, carbs, and pretty much anything Satan tells you to eat. I continued to eat shrimp because quite frankly, I never real understood the whole bottom dweller thing. I realize rebelling on this small point while not questioning why I can only eat berries makes no sense but I digress.

I also promised myself not to fall off the wagon if I cheated. So for the first week, I definitely ate small pieces of candy, a cookie crumb, etc. to get me over the initial shock. But by the second week, I was looking forward to my yummy breakfast of hard boiled eggs, strawberries, and almonds. I didn't actually want to cheat. I moved the bread off the table at dinner and learned to love olive oil and vinegar on salads. Salmon is now my best friend. And I may now account for .5% of California almond sales.

I lost 8 pounds in the first two weeks. It was awesome. The only drawback is that I was also attempting to exercise and with no carbs in your body...good luck. There were also some unfortunate GI side effects but no one wants to hear about that. Let's just say I think I might have cleansed out that cheese stuck to my intestinal walls back from the third grade.

Oddly enough, I am having more trouble adhering to the diet now that I have more options. Could it be I only respond to deprivation and rexie-like* tendencies?

*"Rexie" is my shorthand for simulated anorexia because let's be honest, a big girl like me ain't ever really gonna pull the real deal anorexia. Not to make light of a very serious disease though.

Chocolate sheet cake

So I'm day three into this intense sugar-free vegan fast, and every hour or so my mind wonders to cake.  It doesn't even matter if I'm in the middle of something totally unrelated and unappetizing.  I keep picturing myself sinking my teeth into a huge piece of chocolate chocolate cake that I'm holding in my bare hands.  The frosting is smeared all over the lower half of my face.  This is not a fancy piece of cake either.  It's the one-bowl kind (though it's till made from scratch).  My mouth is actually watering right now...

Terrible.

Yikes!

Um, yeah.  No way...

Not for the lactards...

 

Liberate your mind and your mouth will follow...

In my previous post, I mentioned my manic plunge into self-improvement in this new year.  A major part of that is an intense vegan fast I will be practicing from the 9th through the 29th of this month.  Now that does not mean I won't blog about the rich and decadent foods that bring pleasure and comfort to my life.  It probably means that I will be inspired to blog even more about them.  I have a feeling that practicing self-control when it comes to food aggravates the little devil on your shoulder who works even harder to convince you to indulge.  Especially when you have been eating very healthy and start to think that just one cupcake or one chocolate bar won't hurt.

I intend to use this space to release all of those temptations and will continue to share my musings on the foods that inspire, excite and enrich our daily lives.

Cheese curls--a stress reliever?

So yeah.  I didn't feel like developing a list of the most interesting things I ate in 2010 and the things I plan to eat in lucky number eleven.  I live life on a whim.  It's my blog so I can do stuff like that.  Booyah.  However, I can say that I've made adventurous eating part of my growing list of New Years resolutions.  Last year I had the misfortune of chowing down on cold and slimy wild boar brain on little pieces of garlic toast.  I'd say that was pretty adventurous.  This year I might try chocolate-covered mantis or some other atrocity that makes punks shiver with repulsion and fear.

Anyway, now to the part of this blog that relates to the title.  As I sat on my couch earlier this evening trying to decompress from the events of the day as well as my manic plunge into life improvements in this new year, I found myself unconciously going to my kitchen cabinet to retrieve my beloved bag on Cheeto Puffs.  "Cheeto" really looks like it should end in an "h" but I am too tired to care at the moment.  So yeah, I sat back down on my couch and placed cheeto after cheeto into my mouth, savoring the light crunchy texture and the salty tang of fake cheese with each bite.  Something about the texture of cheese puffs and cheese balls is incredibly satisfying like nothing else I enjoy eating.  I felt better by the time I rolled the bag back up, pretending there was actually another full serving left.  Don't judge me.  It's not cute.