Day Two of the Vegan Challenge and Holiday Recap
Yesterday, on Day One of the Vegan Challenge, I ate:
– 1/2 an apple with 1/2 tbsp almond butter (pre-run snack)
– 3 buckwheat crepes with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and apple slices, drizzled with agave
– Smoothie made with 1/2 frozen banana, handful of spinach, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, just over a cup of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, a spoonful each of wheat germ and ground flaxseed, and a few fresh strawberries
– 2 carrots sliced into sticks and 1 apple
– Homemade veggie calzone topped with homemade tomato sauce and homemade “cheese” sauce (recipe from The Veganomicon, made with nutritional yeast)
– Salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, broccoli, tomato, bean sprouts, chickpeas, apple slices, and red pepper
– 1 banana with 2 tbsp peanut butter, plus a small handful of blueberries and a few sips of unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze
My week-long trip to Texas
San Antonio was fantastic. It’s a beautiful city and the people are lovely. It was a great place to go as my first taste of America! I would have really liked to have rented a car to visit Austin as well, but my sister forgot her driver’s license and my driving leaves much to be desired so that got ruled out. Next time!
Although there are many similarities between Canada and the USA, they are also two very distinctly different countries. Everything, in San Antonio at least, was just bigger (though not the physical size of the people- no difference there). Everything is more. Exaggerated. Take, for example, these cups of water:
Me with the mother dear. And our enormous cups of water. And a pile of tortilla chips with salsa (the Texan equivalent of a bread basket, apparently)
I found that this is really reflected in the personalities of the people living there, too. Canadians are always looking for reassurance, referring to one another for confirmation on both fact and opinion (Bag Lady? JavaChick? Want to back me up on this one? ;)). Americans seemed in general to be surer of themselves and their beliefs. I thought that was pretty interesting. Which came first, the personality or the scale of it all?
Anyhow, the whole trip was fantastic. I drank entirely too much sangria and frozen margaritas but they were delicious. During the day, while my mum was in her veterinary acupuncture conference, my sister Devin and I explored the Riverwalk and the shops.
That bag is… um… totally vegan. Right.
I tasted Marble Slab Creamery ice cream for the first time (they really do mix the ice cream with your choice of add-ins on a marble slab! Who knew!). And I saw a Cinnabon for the first time! I intended to eat there but forgot to. I think that’s because we were too busy buying Starbucks for breakfast every morning.
Devin and I worked out at the hotel fitness centre each day and in the afternoons we window-shopped at stores we don’t have in my city. We saw the Alamo, and it was great, but the real highlight of the trip was, of course… Whole Foods!
Eating a deli sandwich whilst guarding my purchases.
Whole Foods is beautiful. I was so excited to be there; there was so much to look at! We went up and down every aisle ooh-ing and aah-ing over everything. In the end my purchases included: one ThinkThin white chocolate raspberry bar (not impressed), one cookies and cream LUNA bar (just as delicious as their s’mores bar), a box of Kashi chewy chocolate chip cookies (really tasty but ridiculously expensive for the pitiful amount of cookies that are in the box), peanut butter pretzels (almost as good as chocolate covered pretzels), VitaCoco (which I have yet to try and am rather skeptical of), Kashi crunchy honey toasted 7 grain granola bars (very good but not nearly as filling as the Kashi cookies), vegetable fettuccine noodles (I have yet to try these but they are a variety of pretty colours), and Kombucha (fermented mushroom drink. It’s fizzy and tastes like ginger and is apparently insanely healthy for you. After you get over the first few sips, it’s super tasty). After our fun with shopping, we enjoyed sandwiches at the in-store deli.
Body Image
At the veterinary acupuncture conference cocktail party on Friday night, there was a DJ and dance floor set up. Everyone flocked to the dance floor when the music started. The problem was that for the first half an hour, no one could figure out the light switches.
It takes some nerve to get up and dance in front of other people, even if they’re all dancing with you. Most people are too shy to do this. And that’s when the lights are out. With the full brightness of every light in the room on, at first people were a little hesitant to join in the dancing. Jokes about how everyone needed a few more drinks before they could dance were tossed around, but there was something to that. Nearly everyone lingered in their chairs at first.
Regardless, most of us got up on that dance floor even though it was brightly lit. And there was something liberating about dancing with everyone watching. Hiding in the darkness is not an option! After a while the lights were dimmed, the music got better, and then we were all dancing our little hearts out.
I’m so glad I finally got to explore a Whole Foods store (sadly there was no Trader Joe’s in Texas, though). Between that and seeing my mum rocking the air guitar while dancing to Twist and Shout at the conference cocktail party, the trip was highly entertaining and satisfactory.
Photos taken by Devin.
Glad you enjoyed your trip to the US and got to experience the wonderfulness of Whole Foods! It was definitely food for thought about people feeling self conscious in the light, and yet they dance when the lights are low. Everyone is dancing and clearly everyone feels self conscious, so we should all be unselfconsciously self conscious….in my opinion 😀
Glad you had fun in Texas. You know what they say? EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas! So, you hit that on the nose.
I’ve never been to Texas, but I have been in a Whole Foods – it is amazing isn’t it?
I understood about the vegan eating, but hadn’t thought about other things like lip balm, etc. There’s a lot involved in your challenge!
I’d say the personality came first.
Glad you had fun in the U.S.
Of course I’ll back you up, Sagan – anytime! (We Canucks have to stick together!) And I think I agree with what you said – Canadians as a whole are more reserved and conservative, I think. It seems to be part of our collective politeness to express ourselves in a less assertive manner. (and yes, I got the joke!)
Glad you had such a good time in Texas!
Lia- unselfconsciously self conscious- I like that!
Gina & Tricia- it’s a great place.
Diane- finding lip balm was HARD. But I finally found some, thank goodness.
Bag Lady- it certainly does.
Wow, your food sounds amazing! I am going to research some of those recipes!
Always fun to hear how the USA looks to someone from another country, even an almost twin like Canada. Glad you guys all had such a nice time!
I was offered a position in San Antonio, but preferred to stay in Florida.
Glad you had a nice trip! Yesterday’s food sounds great! 🙂
Glad you had such a great trip! Texas is on my list of places to visit, for sure. It just seems to stand out from all the other states. When I think of Texans, I think of people who like to have fun!
Glad you squeezed in a Whole Foods trip, too. I could spend hours there!!
Sounds like a great trip Sagan! Husband has worked in Texas a few times and he always enjoyed it and came home with interesting stories.
Canadians do have a reputation for being laid-back, easy-going folk…So I’m not going to argue with you! 😉
Your trip sounds like a lot of fun – I’m all for dancing and would love to go to Whole Foods.
First day eats of your Vegan Challenge sound delicious. Yay for making those calzones in advance! 😀
San Antonio is a nice city – glad you enjoyed it AND Whole Foods! 😉
Hee hee, I didn’t think San Antonio is vegan-friendly…my friends just came back from there and they said it was BURNING!
Sorry, did you just say CREPES? Buckwheat at that? WOOO!
Hanlie- SUPER tasty!
Dr. J- one day I’ll make it down to Florida too 🙂
Andrea & Mia- I’m having fun with all the cooking.
Holly & FatFighterTV- Dreaming of Whole Foods.
JavaChick- it was lovely.
Burpexcuzme- San Antonio was delightfully hot! And yes, I considered being vegan for August… but figured that because I’d be in Texas for a week, going vegan was just a BAD idea. I definitely indulged in plenty of steak and seafood and cheese 😀