Vegan MoFo 11.1: What Happened Wednesday ;-)

Dan took Wednesday (yesterday) off which meant we did nothing but goof off. It was the perfect day for it too. The day turned out to be your typical cool crisp fall day.

We started our day with a green smoothie, which Dan requested. I am still surprised that he enjoys them so much. I use two bananas and a handful of walnuts in his but he loves them even with the kale and that is all that is important to me.

Next we had leftover over unfried rice from Tuesday night.  That is the pic from last night I didn't take a pic of lunch.

Dan thought it would be fun to do a little shopping so we headed out to get a few things crossed off our respective to do lists. First we stopped at our local library and I picked up two books on cancer. I am sure you are shocked since I seem to always be reading something. ;-)

Next we stopped at REI to look for a jacket for Dan since he has also lost weight since my cooking has taken a turn to the uber healthy side. Pictured above is the one he liked from Marmot but he wants to look around to see if he can find one from Patagonia that he might like more. Do any of you have an opinion on Marmot versus Patagonia outerwear? If you do please share we would love to hear your thoughts.

Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped at the health food store for a fresh juice of romaine, beet and carrot.  I also found black bean pasta which I can't wait to try.

The library in Cockeysville was next on the agenda since it was only ½ a mile up the road. I picked up “Look Great Naked” while we were there. If it is any good I will let you know.

Since I am also shrinking out of my clothes we stopped at Burlington Coat Factory to see if I could find a winter jacket I liked. I did find one short black quilted jacket that didn’t make me look like a tick. Why are so many winter coats big and thick? I definitely prefer thinner fabric in my outwear. Why does everyone want to look like the little kid in “A Christmas Story” with so much thick clothes that they can’t move? *rolls eyes*

Dan thought a trip to Jesse Wong’s would be good since we were in Hunt Valley. We took a few pictures of the open kitchen and sushi station since we think the modern look is interesting. I am one of those people that like to be able to look into the kitchen. I guess that comes from being a server when I was grad school. ;-) If you never were it was an eye opening experience for me.

Both Dan and I love the Hunan Faux Duck they have at Jesse Wong’s as well as their vegetarian sushi. Since I did not cook today and we had no leftovers we intentionally ordered too much food so Dan had something to take for lunch on Thursday.

Here is the vegetarian sushi list.

First we ordered shitake and tempura sweet potato sushi and edamame.  Next time we will definitely have them hold the flaked salt. The edamame were a salt rush since we don't use it at home.

Next we had the tempura zucchini and asparagus sushi. We both preferred the shitake and tempura sweet potato rolls but they were all good.

Jesse Wong’s carries a number of different faux meats. Here is that list. You know the chicken is off our list because of the soy protein but since we love the faux duck it really doesn't matter.

Dinner for us was the faux Hunan Duck with broccoli, mushroom and baby corn which comes in brown sauce and we ordered the brown rice. We ate maybe a ¼ of it and the rest went into Dan’s lunch today. The faux duck is so amazing I wish you could all try it. Hands down it is the best faux meat I have ever had.

We sliced a piece and took a close up so you can see that it even looks like meat. How do they do that with layers of tofu? (I omitted the word skin earlier after tofu in the prior sentence in my haste to post this evening.) If any of you know the secret please share. The faux duck is one of those things that if I ever figure out how to make I know Dan would want it weekly. Yes it really is that good. I hope it isn’t bad for us. But as much as we enjoy the taste, I suspect it probably is less healthy than we would like it to be.  I tried making faux meat with dried tofu skin and that was nothing like this.

In between courses I noticed that Dan and I were both playing with our phones rather than talking so I mentioned that we were behaving like some of our younger friends. Dan’s retort, “should I send you a text?” Only my husband could come up with that answer. LOL

Here is a pic I took of Dan at dinner being his usual silly self looking over his reading glasses at me.

He took this picture of me that I am including because while I don’t love the pic I also don’t hate it. ;-) Now you all know what it we looked like yesterday at 56 and 48 years old respectively. Since Heather has mentioned many times she would like to see more people pictures I wanted to include these of us.

Our next stop was Greetings and Readings but they were ready to close so we were in and out quickly. Dan spotted adorable window clings that had a “jelly” type consistency. I may have to stop back out and pick those up. The Christmas ones were particularly precious. I have my eye on the Christmas ornament and light motifs although the reindeer version, which reminded me of Rudolf, was pretty darn cute too LOL. I swear I am 48 going on 8 most of the time. ;-)

Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped at Wegman’s. It is impossible for me to be that close and not stop and pick up a few things. This trip was small, more dried beans, broccoli sprouts, organic farro (woo hoo), and mellow yellow miso.

On the way to the check out I spotted this adorable Christmas stocking. I almost bought it but at $69.99 I decided that was a bit steep since I would need 5 (for the 2 humans and 3 felines). I wanted to share a picture in case any of you are handy with a sewing machine. There is a good chance I will be trying my hand at making a version of them either this year or next.

Here is the close up of the beading if you are interested. It looks to me like faux pearls and a thin sparkly cord around each half pearl. ;-)

Once we got home it was time to take up the cat food for the next dental procedure for Massimo which was scheduled for Thursday. I will fill you in the detail of that in the next post.

Happy thoughts to end this post:

• Massimo only needed teeth cleaning, no extractions and was waking from anesthesia as I typed this. *enormous sigh of relief* Dan even headed home early to go with me to pick Masi up from the vet.
• I am also very grateful that we can afford all this feline health care. Cat dental work costs much more than dental work does for Dan and me. 
• How many people get to marry their soul mate? I am one very lucky lady.
• Dan and I were able to spend two days together this week in addition to the weekend. We even have fun running errands so it was a great week for us.
• Today is Thursday which means it is almost time for the weekend again and two more days with my Dan.

Signing out:

I need to run and take care of a little grey furry angel. Masi is still wobbly and not quite himself. We have in a dog crate now to keep him from jumping as well as safe from his siblings who think he smells funny.

I hope everyone’s week is going as well as mine. I also hope your week was a little less hectic. Talk to you all tomorrow when I hope my life is a bit more relaxed. I hope everyone has a great evening. Good night.