My week as a vegan – Day 5
Over the last 4 days, I’ve proved to myself that being vegan at home is easy (just don’t mention coffee), especially if you are insane like me and do several weeks worth of food prep in one day. But what about when you go out? Well…
6.45am Left plant milks at work yesterday and felt it would be a waste to open another box, so had to have coffee with cow’s milk.
7.00am Saw sad mommy cows behind my closed eyes while washing hair in shower.
7.30am Green smoothie
8.45am Applied yesterday’s light bulb moment to the coffee crisis – mixed half oat milk and half soya milk, heated it up and poured in coffee. You know, it’s not…gag awful. By which I mean it’s not good – I haven’t discovered the second coming of hummus or anything, But it’s eminently more drinkable than anything else I’ve tried this week. Will try again later and see if it’s like a new shoe that gets better by powering on through the pain.
10.00am Toast with…
11.30am Fresh apple for a snack. I’m snacking less this week and I’m usually a champion snacker. Research suggests this could be from all the fibre which keeps you feeling full. Other research suggests vegans snack more frequently as they digest their meals faster than meat eaters. Love the internet, you can validate absolutely anything.
1.00pm Quinoa bowl. It will take a lot for me to get bored of this.
3.00pm Running errands with my Bug. Drove one handed while the other hand rolled out a fast-moving conveyor belt of snacks, essential to keep children from wailing because they want their dada/bear/bottle or their mommy to sit down (I am!)/come/go away. Honestly, the mixed signals. Snacks included cheese wedges, biltong and mini cheese-flavoured rice cakes. Guess I’ll pass then.
5.00pm Headed out to Spur for an early dinner. I can see your question mark. “You went vegan and SPUR was the best option you could come up with?” Yes, dear friends, because going out for dinner with the child is not about us. It’s not about the cows or the chickens, or what we might actually feel like eating, dietary restrictions or no. It’s about jungle gyms. It’s about relatively safe spaces where toddlers can careen off walls and fling themselves head first down slides like suicidal lemmings powered by rocket fuel. It’s about a place that allows you to drink your much-needed glass of wine while you try to prevent see-saw related trips to the A&E.
I wasn’t hopeful at finding a vegan option. I figured I’d make the best of either a cheese-and-guilt-laden veggie dish or an unfortunate fish. As we were about to order two fish and chips with a moment of respectful silence, I spied the soya burger. I had no idea Spur did them. I don’t want to know what’s in them. We ordered them (cheating with pepper sauce in case they were gross and we had to disguise the taste), and lo and behold, we were treated to a pretty damn good burger! It’s a relief to know there’s a probably-vegan option going forward – I say probably because I’m fairly certain the waiters have no idea what’s actually in most of the products. It’s not that kind of restaurant. But Spur is our kind of restaurant, at least at this stage of our lives. It’s going to be on repeat for a few years until the Bug is old enough to sit at a table without desperate cries of OUT! OUT! OUT! every 5 seconds or she can fling herself off jungle gyms and land on her feet. Soya burgers, welcome to our family. May you find much joy (and minimal gloating) in being our one and only option.
7.00pm We. Are. So Full. Can’t move. Lying on couch in carb-induced coma.
8.00pm Still haven’t moved. Thirsty but kitchen is so far away. Is it the mountain of unrefined carbs? Mid-week exhaustion? Just parent things?
9.30pm In bed. At least whatever it is will ensure a great night’s sleep.
00.15am Still awake. Rocking very sad little girl to sleep after she woke up screaming for the 5th time. Those damn best laid plans.
Catch up!