Shout Out to Taco Bus!!

This is Taco Bus. Yes, it's a bus. (with a sit-in area on the side and around back)

They are open 24/7 and have not only delicious grilled tofu BUT

VEGAN STEAK STRIPS and

Butternut Squash Tostadas.

Thank you, taco bus. http://www.tampatacobus.com

It's not a Snuggie.

So funny, Frances and I had mentioned wanting Snuggies (yet feel horrible joining the Snuggie bandwagon). Really, they are a great design! Those who are not avid readers just don't understand. Last night we went to get Italian Ice and then walked around the stores (Marc's trying to find some new shorts). The first thing I see is......



Mine! hahaha, and it's not a Snuggie! Technically. Either way, I can now read peacefully on the cold, winter nights. I wish they had two because I would have gotten Frances one. Maybe we can share custody.

Then we went to Sally's and I got some purple haze hair dye.. not sure exactly what I want to do to my hair but I GUESS I'm growing it out again.. I usually get really bored with my hair which is why I always end up chopping it off. I used to dye it orange here and there but now that I have a job that wants you to look """PROFESSIONAL""" I can't--unless I go back to the wig I wore when I had a mohawk (ha). Maybe I could just use the 'punky professional' dye Marc told me about-harhar-

Current hair (after being out in the hothotheat)

kind of a weird growing out shortness

I also made shorts out of a pair of teal pants I had...just TOO much teal to cover all of my legs, idk. Plus I need some shorts-added a Cobra Skulls patch to the back pocket (which I still need to do another run through with needle and thread) and voila! shorts :) and they're the perfect length.



work 11-8 talk about ruining your day..

my favorite vegan noodles & gravy dish

Note: I used to eat noodles and gravy as a kid like nobody's business!! Everytime I went to Grandma's I wanted noodles and gravy. Here is my vegan swing on things.


P.S. I had already eaten almost half of the noodles and used less than 1/2 can gravy!! So when I explain my servings, the bowl had been full to the top with noodles...

Besides the fact that everyone at work is starting their 'diet' this week, I'm starting to really look into what we're eating and how to create the perfect, well-rounded vegan meals. I thought I was doing the right thing by buying these 'tricolor' noodles .. (maybe pasta in general is just really THIS packed full of carbs) .. but here is the breakdown of what I was making tonight.

Ingredients:
1 box tricolor twisty noodles
1 can Campbell's mushroom gravy
1 bag Gardein "beefless" beef tips

The noodles are pretty crazy:
328 carbs
56 grams of protein,
1680 calories,
8 grams of fat.
I probably eat 1/3the box at a time that makes it..
109 carbs,
19g protein
560 calories,
<3g fat
mushroom gravy is.. (whole can)..
5 grams of fat,
100 calories,
15 carbs..
cut in 1/2,
2.5 grams of fat,
50 calories,
7.5 carbs. not bad.

beeftips
45g protein,
17.5 carbs,
6g fat,
300 calories....
soooo in half again
22.5 grams protein,
8.75 carbs,
3g fat,
150 calories.


GRAND TOTAL: (1/3 regular box of noodles, 1/2 can gravy, half bag beeftips)


41.5g protein (someone my weight should eat a little under 50g a day optimally, so almost done this meal alone ;D)

125 carbs--not terrible but still more than Marc should have in one meal (diabetic, supposed to have about 75carbs three times a day)

about 8g fat--really good I think!!!

1010 calories (half daily intake) which seems a lot but dinner IS my biggest meal of the day


Hmm.. I need to go look at pastas and see if there's anything with lower carbs that would be better for us to eat. I do like that it is high in protein, though.

I'm back! (from GA)

Okay, for starters I found the best gourmet-type vegan restaurant in Atlanta! It is called Cafe Sunflower:

We almost didn't find it. I had looked up 'vegan restaurants in georgia' and found the menu for it which looked irresistible. vegan lasagna!? Yes, please. I called one number and it was a fax or something, my GPS would NOT find the address and when I called the other number noone picked up. I tried again a little later and finally!...an answer w/ directions. We later find out that they close for a few hours between lunch and dinner so I guess that's why I couldn't get through.

We got two appetizers, two meals, two teas, and two desserts as follows:

Sampler Box containing spring rolls w/ sweet-n-sour sauce, hummus w/ pita bread and veggies, soy nuggets, i can't remember what those things are called you get in like wonton? soup, and stuffed mushrooms. DELISH!

fried green tomatoes! with hummus in between them, SO DELICIOUS!

Marc got this, some kind of lemon crusted tempeh w/ mashed potatoes and veggies

I got this eggplant orzo lasagna w/ tofu ricotta!!

These delicious sugar and caffeine free all-natural tea.

and two pieces of pie!! Peanutbutter (front) Chocolate (back)

We asked for a dessert menu and they literally brought out a tray of pie slices to choose from!! ALL VEGAN! I was in heaven and teared up on the inside. Some of the other pies were chocolate raspberry, carrot, coconut creme?, strawberry shortcake.. but my mind was set on peanutbutter!!!

So why Georgia? ...to see this man!

aka Billie Joe Armstrong! Whom, sources tell me, is totally veg! They are Marc's favorite band and we got a guitar pick and one of tre's drumsticks so that was awesome. Two days before this we went to an 8-hour ska show called the Mass Ska Raid at the Masquerade, get it? and.... they had tofurkey kilbasa and boca burgers!! SCORE!! It was only $4 for two kilbasas and a bag of chips. The same price as two cheap hotdogs and a bag of chips :) I thought that was awesome. In between this, we went to a place called Little 5 Points with our friend Mike. Him and his wife were gracious enough to let us stay at their house while we were up there. (THANKS!) We went to this restaurant (the name is escaping me) and they had really awesome veggie chili, burgers, zucchini chips, sweet potato fries, tater tots, etc.etc.

All in all, a very good trip!! On the way back to FL we stopped in Gainesville to get some icecream and a cupcake, brownie, and cookie from Karma Cream!! It used to be 24 hours but I think right now they close down for a bit at around 2:30AM? Not sure..there was some kind of sign on the door but I slightly ignored it due to the fact that I LOVE their icecream. I got toffee w/ vegan whipped cream and vegan hot chocolate fudge :) Marc got a chocolate & pumpkin shake. So good!

Oh, we also saw that Will Ferrell movie "The Other Guys." I thought it was a lot better than the trailer made it seem, so no disappointments! Also got a Rat Fink doll and a Tank Girl comic book!! hehe.

I really need to figure out how to do my own layout on this thing, as a side point.

So we got back Wednesday at 1/2AM. Interned that day.. I ate my leftover lasagna :) and made my favorite 'beefless' beef tips w/ noodles and gravy for dinner, started reorganizing the house (trying to get this done before school starts up--11 days!)

Today I worked 11-8 and literally ate an entire dish of nacho dip for lunch and dinner. I'm addicted!!! Tofutti now makes a sourcream & guacamole together. I actually bought in on accident but it tastes SO good with salsa. I always thought normal sourcream was kinda nasty but the tofutti one is so addicting!! It has the same taste except without the gross feeling of eating curdled milk. Just mixing that with salsa is good enough..with some daiya cheddar cheese on top. Refried or black beans are always good as another layer and you can make veggie crumbles with taco seasoning for meat. mmm I love vegan taco nights!

I went through all of my nail polishes and threw away the ones that weren't good anymore. I then went on to paint them pink with white polka dots! I love painting my nails (which I happened to stop biting while in Georgia). It's weird because the last time I stopped biting them was when I went up to South Carolina and when school was starting and here we are--vacation and school is starting!! Coincidence?

I rearranged the furniture in the living room maybe two weeks ago. It seems so much larger and inviting-like a living room should feel! The record player is now in a corner on my old tv stand and all of our records (currently) fit on the shelf below it. The guitar stand even has its own space. I actually spend time in here and can even have boardgame nights after the redo. Hooray!

That's all to report, intern again tomorrow. Work Saturday and Sunday.