from 5/2/2007

I have not smoked for 2 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 8 minutes, 43 seconds, which equals 382 cigarettes and $95.50. But, yesterday was dicey. I was calling all over creation trying to find some canning jars, and was put on hold one billion times. That, with a doubtless contribution from pms and some recent dykey annoyance (not quite drama, but still), made me almost crack. I wanted a cigarette more than I have since the day I quit. I tried nicorette. I tried slipping into the bathroom at work to bawl for a few minutes. I tried talking to friends. But, nothing was helping. I was kinda freaking out. The only thing that stopped me from smoking is the thought of having to quit again. The quitting process pretty much sucks ass, so it's a strong motivator. So. There I was up the proverbial shit creek with a turd for a paddle (thanks, Supersuckers). I discovered my recipe for success. 1) leave work, 2) walk outside into a gorgeous day, 3) go grocery shopping, 4) run into Matt at WF (he teaches the vegan and raw cooking classes at WF, and I adore him), 5) take half of a xanax, 6) wash it down with a mango kombucha (hot damn, the mango flavor is good), 7) meet Lauren for dinner at the Quiet Storm.

Easy-peasy. Crisis averted.

And, I was rewarded by the universe with an email back from Alison Bechdel this morning that was cute and funny. Good times.

So, I ate at Quiet Storm (http://quietstormcoffee.com/) instead of cooking last night. I got the Magic Carpet. It may be the best sandwich Of All Time.

MAGIC CARPET: Grinder of roasted zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, peppers & onions, with fresh spinach & tomatoes, ajvar (roasted red pepper sauce) & vegan mayo on a roll $6
Add soysage or tofu for $1 [I add the tofu]

And, then Lauren and I split a slice of (vegan) lemon-coconut cheesecake. I'm betting that it was made by Deanna (a local vegan baker that I fell in fan-love with at last year's Handmade Arcade after tasting her coconut-avocado cupcakes). Freakin' fab.

And, I brought the other half of my Magic Carpet for lunch today, along with a salad of some of the leftover wild rice with spinach, grape tomatoes, some ramp salt, fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of my current favorite olive oil.


Marsha asked about assembling the pocket tarts. Duh! I totally forgot to put those instructions. I don't have them with me today, but I'll post the instructions from Heidi's Cook 1.0, along with my notes tomorrow (now just have to remember to bring them...).

Maggie is coming over for dinner tonight. I think I'm going to make Heidi's recipe for Millet Fried "Rice" from Super Natural Cooking. And, maybe some kind of crunchy salad. I especially love it when Maggie comes to dinner, because she always volunteers to be my "dish dog", and I loathe doing dishes. Sweet.

I made a plan to go to Zenith again for brunch this week. Yum! If you haven't checked it out, you should. It is bomb!

Oh, and a guy I work with is tossing around the idea of making a vegetarian/vegan taco shop. Wouldn't that rock? I want a vegetarian "fish" taco!

I just found a recipe for tofu "fish" sticks from Jennifer McCann (she does the Vegan Lunch box blog). Here's a link to the recipe: http://shmooedfood.blogspot.com/2006/01/tofu-fish-sticks.html
And, here's a link to Vegan Lunch Box: http://www.veganlunchbox.com/index.html

Look how cute! In fact, all her lunchbox creations are painfully adorable. I love that blog.