Post Punk Kitchen Forum

re: tucking things in. Sometimes if you tuck something in then wear a loose open sweater over it, it is crazy flattering.

Yes. I've tried to tuck, but I look ridiculous. And as gravity does it's job and my boobs hang ever lower, my abdominal space seems to get even smaller. No tucking for me.

My newest confession is that I've watched 214 "Law and Order: SVU" episodes on Netflix. Since Jan 7. This is not helping my overworked imagination while living by myself a good 75% of the time these days. Sometimes, I am my own worst enemy.

I've recently decided I need to rewatch all of Supernatural (they're on their 8th season currently) because I'm not happy with the fanvideo I'm making, so I need to find better clips.

I know where I'm having breakfast from now on. Your house.

Confession on behalf of a friend of mine - he just learned to cook rice. Said he'd never tried before because he didn't think he had a strainer with holes that were small enough...

When my boyfriend is away, I let my cat, who he is highly allergic to, sleep on his pillow on the bed in the room she isn't even allowed in.

My friend does this, even though one of her biggest (justified, of course) fears is being raped/sexually assaulted. She watches all theses episodes of SVU and then sits around her apartment terrified at every bump in the night and weird sound her cats make. I'm not saying I wouldn't do the same thing, but I'm also not sitting around watching SVU (even though it is a really excellent show and I love it). I'm not judging, I just find it a little hilarious.

Did you tell him that all he needed was a pot with a lid?

At least our animals think we're the nice ones.

Totally. Even though my cat just munched on my wrist with her spine-sharp teeth. It's love.

I often fantasize about getting fired from my job so I have an excuse to do something ELSE with my life.

I'm at the point where I'm no longer very enthusiastic about going vegan, but it's still new enough that it's a bit of a challenge to cook well. No fun at all. I still want to be vegan, but that feeling of embarking on a new adventure has passed, and I'm tired, and I miss cheese, and I'm generally a bit whiny at the moment.

Hang in there, amonik! It gets better! I really think being vegan is something you have to get into the swing of, and sometimes it takes a while to get your groove. (Are those mixed metaphors?) Try to find some easy ways to eat well so that it doesn't feel like you have to completely relearn how to cook and you have something to turn to when you just can't be bothered. Bowls really worked for me because they're easy to improvise, but also just veganizing some of my easy pregan recipes (like soups and pastas). And when you feel up to it, try something new and challenging (for me, this was making seitan) and before you know it, you'll feel like you've always been doing this! Also, keep coming here for support! The place really helped me to feel like the whole process was completely doable!

My confession is that I have the PPK open in several browser tabs because I'm getting sucked into reading some longer threads, but I also want to punctuate my delving into those with fun, light threads. Oh, and I really need to get shiitake done, but oh well....

if you haven't already, start listening to Colleen's podcasts at compassionatecooks.com (start at the beginning).

I was in our building's elevator with my dog when I noticed there was a piece of shiitake right under where he was standing. He's done this a few times before but I always had bags to pick it up. This time I had to pick it up with my hands because I had forgotten bags! And then on my way back in I noticed he had dropped another piece of shiitake inside the elevator room and I had to pick it up with my hands again, and this was right before going to work, ugh!

I was scratching my ear and discovered a rich deposit of earwax. When I pulled it out, my hair got in the way, and I dragged a big wodge of earwax through my hair. And then it got all over my fingers when I was trying to get it out. So gross.

Thank you! I recognise this phase from other life changes, like moving in with people etc. The honeymoon is over, but it's not quite familiar and comfortable yet. It's actually a good thing that I can't use a lot of convenience foods now that I'm in clinical training (it's kicking my asparagus) - usually I eat a lot of stuff that makes me feel like crepe during the training periods.

Amonik, what I do for a trick is pretend I've always been vegan, I'll always be vegan and everyone is vegan. So whether I feel motivated or not, I make myself believe I cannot eat anything with animal ingredients in it any more than I can eat rocks. So it feels so natural to be vegan I don't question it and just go along with it... I'm good at fooling my brain, he he...

But I agree motivation feels better than just taking veganism for granted. What motivates me is getting new cookbooks... I love cookbooks and can't help wishing to use them once I have them. And veganism is such a good excuse for buying new cookbooks... I might actually have even more fun salivating for long periods of time over Amazon's cookbooks than I have actually buying and using any of them. If you don't like cookbooks, maybe you can have fun listing recipes from blogs you'd like to try, or ideas for your very own recipes? Also, I have fun finding out absolutely everything in the grocery stores/restaurants that I can eat, and listing recipes from my omni cookbooks that are vegan or easily veganized. (OK, I admit I like making lists and planning). And I enjoy reading vegan blogs and such, snooping into other people's lives and meals. Everyone is different, but I hope you can find a lasting kind of motivation or source of fun related to veganism.

As for cheese, have you considered trying the book Artisan Vegan Cheese? I haven't, yet, but many people seem to enjoy it. It is also a kind of project that can be new and motivating in itself, if trying something new is something that motivates you. What I do for cravings is keep more food than necessary in the pantry, especially salty foods that replace the saltiness of cheese like salted cashews, salted pistachios or crackers, or other things you can snack on and that keep like bruschetta, tapenade, dried apples and good quality dates. Store-bought waffles in the freezer and frozen fruit for smoothies don't hurt, either. And I would feel stressed-out without frozen vegan meals such as burritos and spring rolls in the freezer for when I don't want to cook. Those are things I like, but everyone likes different things, of course!

Also, if you find it hard being vegan (which it often is), think how much worse it would be to feed yourself if you were also a raw foodist/allergic to soy/allergic to gluten, or had diabetes, or hated all vegetables and fruit, for instance (well, assuming perhaps wrongly that none of this applies to you). Then relax as you realize being simply vegan is not so bad in comparison.

That being said, I am still in the honeymoon myself, so I'm not preaching, just trying to give tips that work for me so far. :)

My confession is I am not hurrying learning which of the mysterious, weirdly-named ingredients on foods I buy come from animals... I know casein, but that's about it... I'll have to find a list of them somewhere.

The problem is not that I don't have recipes, I have some great vegan cookbooks - I just don't have the time and energy to try a lot of new recipes right now. I don't have a repertoire of quick and easy meals that are vegan yet, the way I have with vegetarian meals. I got some new motivation from reading a book about Swedish animal husbandry the other day though, so I'm feeling a bit better. (For those who read Swedish, it was Hur mår maten? - very interesting.)

I may have eaten an entire thing of masala hummus for lunch. I feel gross but it was so good....

i was ready to go to the gym today and said "nah".
(in my defense i worked really hard today).

My confession: my first reaction on reading this was "DUDE, AWESOME!!" before I realized that it was supposed to be "ew".

Colleen's podcast was super helpful to me for a few years when my energy was flagging. She even let me help her with a podcast:).

The best thing I've ever done re: cooking was to pick a cookbook for the week and create a meal plan and shopping list from it, then get to try out four or five new recipes that week. Eventually, I amassed a good handful of regular recipes that were easy and always work. I also have a rotation of super easy, "almost home made" dishes: pasta with jarred sauce and peas, enchilada bake with canned enchilada sauce and canned beans and frozen corn, calico beans (refrained beans, whole beans, a chopped onion, meaty crumbles, and a sauce of ketchup, mustard, sugar, and vinegar that gets mixed up and baked, excellently with roasted potatoes), corn and okra étouffée (from the ethnic vegetarian, I make it with frozen chopped okra for speed), rice and beans from a box mix, vitamix/immersion blender frozen corn, soy milk, and Cajun spice soup.

I have the hugest internet friend crush on ndpittman! There, I said it! I've been feeling it ever since she starting commenting on my facebook photos of sandwiches and then those photos of the PPKers in Boston and her cute little face and ugh! Sorry I'm such a creep, ndpittman, but I want to be your friend IRL!