Hello! Whew. This feels weird. I've had my other blog for, uh....wow. 7 years. Which is culinarycontessa.blogspot.com , if you care to know. I intended for it to be a food blog, but I basically failed at that. It really had no direction and evolved so many times as I changed and got older that the description really means very little now. So I'm gonna keep this one simple! A picture or two, recipe and source, if applicable, and a description of what I did or what I changed. Sound good? Cool.
But first! A bit about me, if you're coming here for the first time. I am 27 years old. Single White Female (not the movie. Haven't seen it, but pretty sure it's a bad thing). Go by the name of Anika (which rhymes with Monica). I graduated in culinary arts about 6 1/2 years ago and have mostly worked in baking since then. Sweets have always been a passion, but I've expanded my cooking horizons since I've been living on my own and cooking for myself. I became a vegetarian on a whim after reading this book. Actually began as vegan, sorta, but I really had no clue what I was doing, so I pulled back to vegetarian, which worked to start with. And I held strong for over 4 years! But there was always that nagging at the back of my mind. Stopped drinking cow's milk, started with soy but once I discovered Almond Milk? Pff. I was a goner. That stuff is amazing. No joke. People asked me about eggs. "Aren't those meat, too?" Ehhhhhhh. I didn't have a good answer, really. It's amazing what we can rationalize when we don't want to see the truth.
BUT. Mine eyes have seen the glory of a fully vegan life! (Yes, that was typed to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" ; ) ) It began earlier this year when I started feeling SUPER crappy basically every day. I suspected an allergy, but wasn't sure to what. Gluten? Nah. Tree nuts? PLEASE NO!! Had to go off Almond milk for that experiment. Horrible. But I ruled that out. Phew! But... dairy. That was possible. My dad is Lactose Intolerant, so I asked what his symptoms were. They sounded scarily similar. Dang. I'm quite the cheese-lover. But I tried to cut most things out. Milk, already gone. Cheese, found a good substitute (more on that later). No ice cream. But items with cultures like sour cream and yogurt didn't seem to bother me, so they hung around a bit longer. It did make me think, though. What was stopping me from making that jump to vegan? My stomach clearly didn't want dairy anymore. I only ate eggs a few times a month, if that. So? I did what I always do: research.
Seriously, I love research. One of the few things I miss about school. I love learning new things. In fact, I love knowing things in general. So I tried a few vegan recipes. Read some blogs. Scrolled through Pinterest, of course. And I checked out "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone from the library. It's about time, too! It's a pretty great book. I'm not quite a "superhero" yet, but maybe someday. : ) So, that lead to more books and reading. An amazing podcast called "Food for Thought" hosted by the great Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Fantastic. I love her. She has amazing books as well. The information is all there! It's everywhere, in fact. But we as humans have somehow learned to completely tune it out. So I learned all I could and I told myself I was "transitioning" to vegan, but really, once the decision was made, it became harder and harder to eat those certain things. I'd say it's been about a month since I became "officially" vegan. I put that in quotes since veganism is not a destination, but a continuous journey. I'm not sure if someone else said that first or not, but it sure sounds good either way ; ) . But it's true. You don't just reach this place where vegan is where you are, what you are, and all you are. We don't work that way. Humans are always moving, changing, growing. I still have so much to learn and have enjoyed everything so far.
Sorry, perhaps you can tell that I can be exceptionally long-winded. Most posts won't be like this! I just have wanted to write about this new change for the longest time. Anyway. Recipes coming!
p.s. I'm still quite the newbie so if I happen to screw something up, feel free to let me know. I would appreciate any feedback, in fact! Just keep it positive. Here we go! : )
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