Playing Catch-up!

The posting glitch last night set me back significantly! Apologies!

My last post was Friday, and after the three day weekend I got to work Monday night (finished one of my longer posts only to have it disappear) So, I will briefly put a few thoughts down here. I will not try to recapture all the points I made (I say that now), so I can move on and stay on track.

You know, as I sit here and write this in my 1 bedroom, fourth floor walk-up in the middle of New York City, and with tobacco pipe in my teeth, I forget that absent my dear mother other people actually read this blog regularly. Over 200 in fact. Well over 100 people visited my blog yesterday, and a similar amount today. When I see that I get that sinking feeling that I did not due my homework and I have 200 teachers taping their foot and looking at my sternly.

Sunday, two days after my boxing work-out was when I felt it the most. Every muscle from my hands to my waist were terrifically sore. Simple tasks like opening a cupboard or putting on deodorant were a painful chore! It is great feeling to know that I am working my body that hard.

In order to condense the weekend let me reiterate something: Going vegan in NYC is so much easier than I thought with the plethora of vegan restaurants and so many others offering a viable alternative to satisfy my needs. But the problem is that with so many restaurants it is just too easy to eat out -- and in some cases actually cheaper than fixing my own meal. However, even healthy dishes at restaurants have their own oils and sauces that sometimes detract from the fresh taste of pure food that i have come to enjoy so much.

Two dinners at NY chain restaurants offered very good and creative vegan dishes: Baluchi's Indian - very good mixed vegetable, and chickpea with spinach sauce. I love spicy, but this was a tad saucy. Their lentil soup was excellent but too salty -so much so that i think it was a mistake by the chef. The other restaurant was Serafina's Italian. They have a great Vegetarian Dish - Spaghetti squash made to look like a little bird cage with mixed vegetables, pine nuts and tomato sauce.

For the best tasting food, and food where I know exactly what is put in it, I am better off making dishes myself.

Saturday morning I tested myself with another one of my passions - early morning pints of Guinness with an Irish breakfast while watching 6 Nations Rugby. Sadly, on this day the French handled the Irish quite handily. As far as resisting temptation? Please, that was a piece of cake! Or should I say, piece of fruit?

I went on a diatribe in my original post about what I don't like in the Olympics, namely the self-centered brashness of our athletes from the newer Winter Olympic sports like snowboarding. Whereas I saw an American figure skater talk about representing our country and trying hard to make the U.S. proud, I have not found that sense of selfless patriotism with most of our athletes in the newer sports that are better suited for ESPN's Extreme Games.

I think it was too negative, so I will not repeat it all. I will say I am a traditionalist. I miss Jim McKay with jacket and tie announcing the Games. I miss the old purity of amateur sport (except for Communist countries). Hell, I even miss the shady scoring of Soviet judges!

There were two commercials that are played often by major sponsors - McDonald's and Coke. Although I love their sentimentality and patriotic commercials they are two of the biggest culprits of childhood obesity, or is it the parents to blame? I want to address this topic again at another time. These issues are quite important such as reconciling my traditionalism with this new vegan lifestyle, and my affection for iconic brands because of the happiness they brought in my childhood, but which are completely unhealthy. I really lean towards putting the blame on the parents who make these two companies a staple of their children's diet, and I am not about to lead a torch and pitchfork mob to their company doors. However, we are talking about sugar water and processed meat here! I'll come back to this debate later.

Tonight I cooked two different vegan chili's - will discuss tomorrow.