To be or Not to be - Meat Free

I decided this weekend, after a day of eating in diners without a vegetarian option, that I was going to try to go meat free for 30 days. Saturday, for lunch, we stopped at the Eaton Cafe in Charlotte. Surprisingly great salad with chicken and Monte Cristo sandwich. Not the kind of sandwich that is deep fat fried but made on homemade French toast. After a day of yard sale-ing we then went to dinner at the Napoleon Cafe. I really don't know why I ordered dinner. I should have gone straight for the dessert. Napoleon Cafe is known for it's pies, but I went for the pineapple upside-down cake.


So after a Saturday of overindulgence and the thought that I really didn't enjoy the ham and turkey in the Monte Cristo. I realized I would have been just as happy with the French toast and raspberry sauce. So, why do I eat meat? I don't know. When your favorite meat is sausage followed by tonkatsu, why continue to eat it? It really isn't good for me so, I am going to give it a real try despite the fact that I have lovely slices of pork loin from Rountree's (http://www.rountreemeats.com/) in the freezer and a package of Koegel franks (http://www.koegelmeats.com/) in the fridge.


Tonight I tried a recipe I found online at the Vegetarian Times - Spicy Asian Stir-fry with Whole Wheat Linguine (http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10900getariantimes.com/recipes/10900getariantimes.com/recipes/10900). Super easy and delicious. I thought the sauce was a bit bland. I don't think that my chile sauce is as hot as it could be, so I added a bit more of my vegetarian Hoisin Sauce and a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes. The red pepper flakes and peanuts really made the dish. Being the busy chef that I was I didn't even think about a picture until I decided to write about dinner. So... the photo is from the site.






I have found the web to be a wonderful resource for vegan and vegetarian recipes! My favorite sites right now are:
http://www.vegweb.com/ - mostly vegan. Several recipes have become weekly staples. http://www.fatfreevegan.com/ - a blog with never a bad recipes! http://vegandad.blogspot.com/ - blog with lots of "meat" alternatives and now... add http://www.vegetariantimes.com/ - I think I need a subscription!



Today's brew - The last of Sterling's Northern Nighthawk from Dead River Coffee in Marquette.


Tomorrows brew? - I went to Jackson Coffee today and bought a bag of Black & Tan (my favorite from this roaster) and a bag of Kenyan AA.

May Catch-up

Things got pretty busy around here in May. I had a wee bit of time off between Winter and Summer semester and made the drive to open up the camper in Michigamme. My new semster started with two classes and is down to one - I think it is a good thing the evening class got cancelled, I really don't like teaching a swing shift of moring-night-morning-night! It is hard to get up for a morning class after teaching until 10pm the night before.

Around the house it is project time...

The gardens are coming along nicely. I was going to take special JUNE FIRST pictures today but it is too dark, wet, and rainy outside for that. So...

May 25th!


This hosta bed near the house is looking very lush, filling in nicely! The iris have finally started to bloom. I don't understand why my iris are usually a week or two behind other yards. Shade? Low yard? The pond?





I am going to check on dividing the hosta. I think I have a couple of years before they outgrow this little garden.






This garden was started three years ago. We have a trio of trees near our driveway so we put in a wedge of a garden using the trees for the points on the triangles.


In this garden are more hosta, primrose, and creeping charlie. We used to fill-in around the plants with annuals. This year I am not going to add annuals because the hosta have gotten larger.




Here is the view of the new garden as of May 25. We actually finished this bed last night, but I did not get pictures yet. The bed has a slight mound and is planted with a new butterfly bush at the top. I moved about a dozen or so iris that were under the new lilac bushes near the rock and a couple of dozen narcissis that were being over run by the purple cone flowers. We bought some border that a neighbor posted on Craigslist.com. The guys scraped the center flat between this bed and the large planting of daylilies. I'm thinking about a bench or picnic table between the beds.


The vegetable garden is coming along well. On May 25th the green beans were just peeking out. Yesterday they were about three inches tall and some had their first real leaves.







Today's brew: Jackson Coffee Company - African Blend! Yummy - dark and smokey!