Day 10 -The hard part is setting in

Being vegan is starting to be a lot harder than I expected. Sure, I thought it would be hard but this is extreme.

I will start with my weekend.

Friday night: I had some plans to go to a bar with some friends. We met a bit before dinner time, so I actually packed a little dinner (PB & J and pickles) for myself because I wasn't sure if we would be going to a vegan friendly restaurant.

We ended up at Viceroy (a trendy bar that is modeled like a bar during prohibition - there is even a secret door and password to get in). And as it turns out Viceroy is (sorta) vegan friendly! So, I ordered vegan chili and french fries.

Not the best/most appetizing picture, but at least I got to eat out!

On Saturday, I had a wedding to go to. I was really nervous about what was going to be served at the reception. I thought about asking the groom (who is a good friend but doesn't know I'm vegan) if there were going to be vegan options. BUT I forgot. So, I planned on bringing some snacks in my purse. BUT I forgot that too(surprise, surprise). So, I just had to be anxious and wait to see if I would go hungry for the night.

We get the reception and sit down and I look at the menu: Salad, chicken, fish, green beans, and mashed sweet potatoes. Great! I can eat salad, green beans, and mashed sweet potatoes. The salads were soon served and look so pretty! Plus, it was easy to pick off the blue cheese. Yippies!

It was small, but mighty tasty!

Then, I get to the buffet. I am waiting in line thinking "please don't let there be butter on the green beans, please!". But of course, the green beans were DRENCHED in butter. So, I get a huge plate of sweet potatoes. Here what one of my friend's plates look liked:

Look at the chicken. mmmm!

And this is what my plate (and I) looked like:

ugh.

After about 2 bites, I realized I really didn't like them. They probably would have been good if I something else to eat with them, but they were very. . . mushy and gingery (I don't like ginger). So, I literally had 3 bites. And starved until I got some Taco Bell later that night.

ARG! I HAVE TO BE HONEST. I have a confession- the mashed sweet potatoes were probably not vegan. There is no way to know for sure because I was too shy to ask (I really gotta get over that). But I just googled recipes for mashed sweet potatoes, I noticed that all of them have butter and even some have chicken broth. ARG, because of my "I don't want to be that girl" insecurities, I have ate butter and maybe even chicken. Damn it, I should've asked.

On Sunday morning, all my friends were going to a popular breakfast place called Wolfgang's. If you ever come to Grand Rapids (and you are not vegan), go to Wolfgang's! They have the best, unique breakfast combinations - Banana Bread French Toast, Pancakes with cream cheese and fresh berries, and Skillets with eggs, potatoes, meat, and seasoning. It is SO good.

So, once again I planned ahead. I thought "I will get hash-browns with onions and peppers in it." And as a back up (if the hash-browns have butter), "I will get potatoes with peppers." I thought it was a pretty solid plan.

The plan failed - miserably. The hash-browns are cooked on the same skillet as everything else = butter, butter, butter (and maybe bacon drippings). The red potatoes are even worse. They marinate them in chicken broth - why? I don't know. Good thing I asked this time. It was really awkward as the waitress and I tried to figure something (anything!) out. I suddenly remember I could get a plain bagel. So, that is what I got.

AND IT SUCKED. Well, the bagel didn't taste bad. It just sucked watching all my friends eat very yummy cheesy eggy breakfasts while I had a bagel with jam on it. I love eggs so much. I love breakfast so much. I probably won't go to Wolfgang's again unless they get at least one vegan option.

However, I have made some yummy vegan breakfasts. Here is some photos:

This was my second time making breakfast potatoes. This time I added vegan bacon, and it tasted SO good.

This is a very interesting breakfast. It's suppose to turn out like cheesy eggs. Here is the recipe. This was an adventure of it's own. I made it with tofu and nutritional yeast. I was really worried as I was cooking it because it looked kind of nasty. But to my surprise, it tasted good. At first, I was a little turned off but the more I ate, the more I liked it. Especially when it was on my bagel!

In fact, I am eating the left overs right now. :)

This is a random shot. I get really hungry at night when I am reading and I often need a lot of food. This is what I grabbed. Vegetarian refried beans, chips, and a pickle. I love my pickles.

Lessons learned: ASK. and ask ahead of time! I should have called Wolfgang's with my questions so I wouldn't have been so disappointed, and I should have asked my friend if there were going to be vegan options at his wedding. It would have avoided a lot of sadness and hunger in my stomach. My poor stomach.

Good news! I have lost weight. NOT gained and the acne is not bad. Woop woop!