Magazine mania

I admit it---I love magazines. It's neither environmentally friendly nor frugal. I fully own up to that. But the fact remains, it's a vice of mine. Right now I receive:

VegNews
Vegetarian Times (free)
Organic Gardening (free)
E! (in place of another magazine that went out of business--Plenty, maybe?)
Entertainment Weekly (extremely cheap 2 year renewal)
Mother Earth News (cheap automatic renewal)
Body and Soul (free)
Reminisce
Reminisce Extra--I was born in the wrong era, I tell ya. Love the 40's and 50's.

My mother-in-law usually gives me a few magazines at Christmas, just random issues of a few different subscriptions, so there's that too. And my mom gives me her weekly copy of my hometown newspaper.

But I do my best to decrease the environmental aspects of my magazine-loving self:

-When I'm finished, I give them to my mom or sisters if they want them. Those they return, plus the ones they don't want go to the Friends of the Library bookstore, where they bring in a quarter each, and benefit the library.

-I very rarely clip an article/recipe, instead choosing to type the information into my computer, so that I can leave the magazine intact and donate it.

-If there's an article I really want to read in a pop culture magazine (People, for example) I trot myself down to the library and read it for free.

-I have always been a fan of Archie comics, ever since I was a little girl. While they aren't magazines, per se, they're still made of paper and ink, and are expensive considering how quick a read they are. For years I rarely bought them, but recently discovered I can buy them much cheaper and paper-free through the app store for my Ipod Touch.

-I stopped getting our local daily paper delivered when they started offering a pdf version online. Love that!

-My husband was inundated by free professional magazines at work. Trust me, nobody but those in his field wants to read those, and frankly my husband rarely cracked them open. I went online and got them all to stop sending, except one. Still working on that one.

How about anyone else? Can't get enough of a good magazine or think of them as clutter and don't want them in your house?

Deceleration

Eventually it was time to leave Summerfest. At lunch on the last day, we receved a rave review of a restaurant that was on our way home. And so that night we decided to give it a try:


The vegan selection was good, and the food truely was delicious. Mr. GV had the lentil soup


and a pita pocket.

I had the mujadara, which is lentils and rice, topped with salata and fried onions. Delicious! We also had some hummous served with pita which was devine.

We left completely satisfied, and found our hotel. I guess we should have known the evening wasn't going to end well when this happened right after we arrived:

As I about to check us in, the fire alarm began going off. People started filing out of the hotel, and soon 2 fire trucks arrived, and men in gear trooped inside. Thankfully it appeared to be a false alarm. But just in case, I made sure I knew where all the emergency exits were before went to bed!

Shortly thereafter, Mr. GV started feeling pretty rotten. It was soon evident that he had a full blown case of food poisoning. The restaurant had been very clean, service was spectacular, not to mention it had been voted Best Mediterranean and Best Vegetarian in an area paper. I suppose it can happen even at the best of places, but naturally we won't be eating there again!

The next day was a fairly uneventful 8 hour ride home. Mr. GV went to bed in the early evening and when he woke the next morning he was much better.

Celebration

I think for both of us, the best part of Summerfest was the new friendships we made. We are all from different walks of life, different parts of the country, and different backgrounds. But the things we have in common--compassion, veganism, dedication--were enough to draw us instantly together.

Monday supper

Monday I decided to try out one of my new cookbooks, Vegan on the Cheap, by Robin Robertson. She also wrote Vegan Planet, my favorite cookbook, so I've high hopes for the new one.

I decided to start off with Walnut-Dusted Fettuccine with Caramelized Vegetables, mainly because I had 2 boxes of spinach fettuccine I wanted to use up. The recipe called for everything you see below:

Many of the ingredients were staples I either already had or buy regularly anyway. The butternut squash, mushrooms, and fresh parsley were the only items I bought specifically for this recipe. The only modification I made was to cook the onions in water instead of oil. We just didn't need that extra fat, and the end result is the same.

The finished product. I have to say, I was skeptical while I was cooking it. I just didn't think it was going to be something I would love. And my husband wasn't sure that it would be filling enough for him.

But in the end we were both wrong! I *loved* it, and my husband did also, and found it very hearty. I described the dish over the phone to my mom and she said it sounded good to her! I will most definately be making this dish again, most likely when we are sharing a meal with my mom.

Saturation

Durng our 4 days at http://vegetariansummerfest.org, there was constantly something to do:


Demonstation: I went to only one food demonstration, which was given by Terry Hope Romero. She has a new cookbook entitled Vegan Latina (http://veganlatina.com.) She showed us how to make seitan tacos (with homemade corn tortilla) and we all got to try a serving. Yummy!

Illumination: This is Mr. GV having a free cholesterol check from Dr. Greger www.drgreger.org. His cholesterol was fine. Mine was OK compared to the typical American cholesterol, but not for someone who has a family history of heart disease. I was glad to hear from Dr. Greger that in just 2 weeks I could begin to improve my cholesterol level, and came home with a new determination to do just that.

Situation: We found ourselves in a new situation---being interviewed for a vegan radio show! I was a bit nervous, but think I made it through OK. That's our new friend C being interviewed and Mr. GV looking a bit stunned after it was all over. lol He did great though!

Identification: I took a class all about identifying wild edibles. After some education inside, we moved outside for some real-life experience. While I already knew about dandelions and a few others, there were many weeds that I did not realize were edible. My plan is to order one of the recommended guides and start checking out wild edibles in my own yard!

Exploration: Mr. GV and I had many opportunities at Summerfest to explore new ideas, including eating raw. Here is Mr. GV waiting to ask some questions after the presentation. We plan to incorporate some raw dishes into our diet in the near future.

Destination

This is the view from our hotel on the second day of vacation, in West Virginia. It was a gorgeous day!






This car was in the parking lot of the hotel. I hope they had a successful and fun journey from North Carolina to Los Angeles!




When we arrived at our destination, The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, we checked in and went to our room. And this is what we saw:

Yes, I knew this was a university, but somehow when I booked a double occupancy, I got the idea of "double bed" stuck in my mind. Silly, I know. I got a good laugh at myself because of that. I referred to these beds as our "Rob and Laura" beds, Rob and Laura from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that is.

Rob, er....Mr. GV planning out his schedule for the week.

Anticipation

A couple weeks ago, Mr. GV and I headed out for our much-anticipated vacation. The drive there was easy enough. We spent one night on the road, then drove a few more hours the second day.

Here I am on the first day. We were so excited to be going on vacaton!

And here is Mr. GV taking the first (long) shift driving. Yep, this time one of us sat in the front and one in the back. It allowed us to have a bit more space on the drive.

And it let us have comfy naps. :)


We weren't sure how far we would make it the first day, so we didn't make a hotel reservation. I took along my laptop and when we were ready to stop for the night, we looked for a place that offered free wi-fi.

That place was a Panera in West Virginia. We used our Vegan Express app on my Ipod Touch to see what we could get that was vegan. (Fabulous app by the way. Loads of restaurants listed, and you don't have to have internet to access it once you have the app downloaded.)

We each chose the Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean soup, with some yummy bread on the side.


Part 2 of vacation coming soon.