Whoa....I Don't Want To Be A Vegan

Have You Ever Wanted To Be A Vegan?
I was hunting for a  chocolate cake recipe and found a Vegan Cake recipe.  My oh my - it doesn't have eggs, it has no oil, no fat, but it has applesauce and cocoa.  I read on, and then  I came to the reviews of the recipe.....the first one said "it was nothing less than horrible".... "it was dense and squidgy" (whatever that is).  Why would I want to make a cake which was "squidgy"?  I want a cake which I can munch on with delight, smiling all the time as I stuff it into my mouth and enjoy those wonderful calories.

Now, I'm not degrading a Vegan lifestyle, I'm just wondering how a gal, who was raised on cows and pigs and chicken eggs, would ever want to change to a Vegan!!  A few years ago someone told me how great Tofu was.  So I thought what the heck, we raise soybeans in Greenview and that's what I'll be eating when I eat the tofu.   I'll try it!  I bought some firm tofu and looked around until I found a recipe which called for chunking up the tofu and browning it and mixing with lots of nice green peppers and onions.....I was going to have me a nice stir fry with healthy benefits. Everything I found said tofu absorbs the flavors you cook with.   I tasted my concoction....oh ick!  I found another recipe which said to use teriyaki sauce for flavor, so I did.  Oh ick!  So then I found another recipe which said use garlic and ginger, so I did.  Oh ick!  I ate some of each prepared dish and cringed  the whole time.  Something happened along the way and maybe I didn't cook these dishes right. Regardless, I just wasn't giving up on Tofu since it supposedly has so many health benefits.

My next step was to buy silken tofu.  I read where this could be used as an egg or cream cheese substitute.  So I looked for a delicious recipe.....and found one called Lemon Un-Cheesecake with Lemon.  That sounded super.  It used a graham cracker crust and looked wonderful......until the first bite.  The texture was like nothing my palate had ever touched and tasted.  It was kind of like ricotta cheese texture but I could taste something in the background of the lemon and honey which just turned me off....and I think it has an odor.  I have an extremely sensitive nose which I gained when I lost my eyesight a few years ago (gained it back though with surgery but kept the keen nose).  With the good nose and the tastebuds similar to a food expert, I'm  pretty dang picky about what I'm eating.  With all of these experments in cooking,  I found out that Tofu isn't something I'm fond of....and I'm quite sure I will never aquire a taste for something which tastes like a mixture of wet bread and wallpaper paste in my mouth.   But......a vegan's diet doesn't just contain tofu, so maybe I could someday be a tofuless vegan and just eat vegetables.

All kidding aside, there are some wonderful Vegan recipes which use vegetables and lots of spices and sauces which are totally free from cheeses, eggs and other products which come from animals.  I love vegetables in any way shape and form and am willing to try Vegan recipes with veggies only.

Yesterday I said I had bought some corn on the cob for $3.50 per dozen and I also found green peppers at the store for $.44 per pepper....those prices were certainly cheap when compared to the prices Ken D. found in Anchorage this week....$.80 per ear of corn and $1.00 per green pepper.  I exclaimed a resounding "WOW" to Ken and he said....on the other hand the residents of Alaska don't have sales tax, no state income tax, and every person per household gets an oil revenue check from the state (last year $1200--so kids stay home).  Considering the winter weather in Alaska, that oil check would need to be about $120,000 for me to consider living there.  Maybe in Illinois we could start receiving an annual household check for having to put up with the crap we do with a state which has sales tax, income tax, broken finances, lottery, bingo, casino revenue and the state is still broke!  I say let's feed all of the politicians tofu....I'll cook it so it will be mighty tasty....NOT!

Another Trip Down Greenview's Memory Lane
Does anyone remember the root beer stand in Mason City.  Someone in the area posted this picture on facebook so I saved it to show folks.  I made many trips to Mason City as a teenager to sit at the root beer stand and look "cool".  We did the same thing at the root beer stand in Petersburg too.....and Icy Root Beer in Springfield, and Tops Big Boy too.

The stand in Mason City was just south of the park on the outskirts of town....now there is a mobile home park where it once stood.  Oh boo hoo....all of history's fun things are no more.  To think that the stands may have closed because kids took the mugs.....Yikes!

Mason City Root Beer Stand

And, this is what your tray may have looked like!

Do you remember going to the skating rink above the Red Cardinal Grocery store.  You had to climb those iron steps...which gave me the willies.  But what fun we had.....until it closed and then burned when the store and many other buildings burned.  After that I always went with my friend Janis M. and her mom and grandpa to the Petersburg skating rink.  It wasn't in the best of neighborhoods but I felt safe with her mom.  I never had my own skates...and always wanted some.

Does anyone remember going to our Presbyterian Church Sunday School teacher Eileen Tice's at Christmas to pull taffy?  We also got to skate on the frozen pond....winters were colder then and the ice grew thick.

Does anyone remember going to the Orpheum Theater in Springfield to watch a movie.  I remember going on several dates and seeing movies there.  It was beautiful....and what a landmark.  Everyone was sad to see it torn down for a bank to be built.

And speaking of Tops Big Boy, I just happen to have a picture.  I even remember going to Jack Robinson System cafe just in front of Tops Big Boy.  We used to get sausage sandwiches at Jack Robinson and hamburgers too of course.

Memories grow fonder as time passes.  Make sure you take the time to reminisce with other people you know.  It always puts a smile on your face and a zing in your step.....because you feel young again.

What's To Eat At Our House Tonight?
I guarantee you it's not Tofu!  It's marinated chicken breasts which I bought at Kent's IGA.  They use some tasty type of marinade and I will really miss that when they change to County Market.  I'm going to cook the chicken breasts on the grill and serve with corn on the cob (again), sliced tomatoes and cukes and onions in vinegar and sugar.  A nice simple meal.  It's too hot for much else.

New Word For The Day
Remember .... we're learning new words so Greenviewanites will be the smartest in the county!

New Word:  nefarious = flagrantly wicked; evil

New Spanish Word/Phrase: Nada = Nothing Much

Thought For The Day

He who asks a question is a fool for a minute;

he who does not remains a fool forever.

--Chinese Proverb

As a person who reads blogs for fun, I would ask:  "Do You Really Know Who You Are?"  I guess our whole world is based on knowing yourself and what you're all about.  Some people don't have a clue and never know much about himself/herself.  Other people can read that same person like a book, but the person can't read thyself.

I think it takes a special person to be able to sit down and read a blog, a story, an article, a book and similar .... and really be able to read it with an open mind and still be able to accept that the writer might not be of the same opinion as the reader.  An open mind will help the reader to understand that their own opinion is not always right or the best.  Sometimes a person will make a decision and will completely disregard himself/ herself.  Self discovery has evidently not been introduced to this type of person.  Perhaps this person has a feeling of false self within their self.  In otherwords, they don't know thyself, and perhaps don't trust their own opinions.

Some people spend their lifetime running from themselves because they don't know how to get to know the real "me" in themselves.  Sometimes these persons have too much going on in their lives to find time to get to know oneself.  Distractions occasionally need to be put aside and let yourself get lost in discovering your own mind and what's there.  Once you begin to self-discover, your life can improve because you are more open minded and realize that you never really knew this or that about oneself.

I can't tell you how to do this, because I don't know you as well as I should.  I can sometimes read you better than you can yourself, but when it comes to knowing what's in that brain of yours, you and only you know that.

Listen to what your mind is saying to yourself.  Make sure there is no bias and no prejudice when you take the time to do this....be open minded.  You may discover yourself really quickly if you haven't already made that discovery.

I know myself pretty well....and know that I value each person I know, but I sure don't know everything about each person I know.  If they want to be my friend, I'll be glad to know more about them....I pretty much have an open mind about most things....and it's usually unbiased and ready to learn more.  Time for me to self-diagnose ...  Happy Day To You.....off to see the Wizard of Oz to get a brain for my scarecrow.