It's my anniversary.

So I've been a vegan one full week. So far, so good. I don't even miss cheese... yet. I did get a whiff of the Famiglia Pizza on 111th today when I was walking past, though, and that caused a small pang of desire. However, it was easily overcome with my uber yummy tofu stir-fry I'd made the night before.

Well, only a week into this relationship and I've already proved to be a liar. I said I'd post about my shopping trip yesterday and I did not. However, that's ok as I think I'm the only one who reads this blog.

As for the grocery trip, it was gooooood. I went to Fairway in Harlem. Love that market. Basically everything you could want. I hate that all the refrigerated goods are in a huge refrigerated room, though. I was in there for so long checking out all the tofu goodies that I nearly became hypothermic. Who knew so much could be made from tofu? I got Tofutti cream cheese. It's delish. I also got a whole lot of different varieties of straight-up tofu. They sound like the belong in a sex shop, not a grocery store... Silken, soft, firm, extra firm...

Last night I made a stir-fry with my extra firm tofu. I just sautéed the tofu with fresh garlic, peppers, squash, carrots, onions and snap peas and threw in red pepper flakes for spice. I combined that with four servings of brown rice and then added soy sauce to taste. So yum. That's a recipe I used to make all the time with chicken, and I honestly think I liked it better with tofu. It's true what they say. The tofu does just suck up all the flavor around it. Look at my yummy photo. So pretty.

At the store I also found these super delicious vegan-friendly cookies by Newman's Own. They honestly taste better than Oreos. I have a feeling they will be my savior as keep up my battle against dairy. Screw you cream. Paul Newman's got my back.

At the grocery store, I also decided to buy brussels sprouts. I have a small obsession with random veggies like brussles sprouts and turnips. However, they are very intimidating so I usually give them a wide berth at the grocery stores and only confront them at restaurants. But I decided with my new vegan diet should come a new vegan confidence, so I bought a bag. I decided I'd steam them without bothering to look up how to actually cook the sprouts. After steaming for a half hour, they were still too hard to spear with a fork, so I finally broke down and looked up on ehow.com how to cook brussels sprouts. First, I should have soaked them for ten minutes in lukewarm (or tepid for those of you with a bigger vocabulary) water to get all the little buggies out that might be hiding in the leaves. As soon as I read that, I knew I would not be eating my brussels sprouts. I don't do bugs. THEN, after soaking, I could have steamed them if I liked. Or boiled. Or microwaved. Whatever I very well pleased.  However, the possibility that those little buggies were just waiting to hop into my GI tract meant this batch of brussels sprouts was toast. I still have half my bag left, so I'll let you know if the next time goes any better. They are so pretty and cute though, aren't they??

So as part of my Yoda-esque vegan ways, I've also been trying to give up caffeine. So far, not so good. I'm exhausted all the time and crave it more than cheeeeese. For that reason, I must be off to bed.

So until next time, leave the cutie pie animals alone. That means you.