I LOVE Bento

As a vegan you realize you can't always easily grab a snack or bite to eat when your out and about. Packing food is a necessity when you're not sure what your options will be when it comes to meal time. I've noticed that bento lunches seem to becoming more popular, especially to blog about. I got into it a couple years ago when I discovered Vegan Lunch Box, which led me to the wonders of bento. Funny how when I was younger I was obsessed with anime and Japan (where bento originates) yet I discovered bento long after. To the Japanese packing a lunch box (or "bento") is much more than a pb&j with chips, its much more creative and thought out. Although I've had my fancy little bento lunch box for awhile now, I haven't been able to use it lately. The fact of the matter is, I have no real need to make lunches recently. I'm not usually out of the house long enough to merit packing a lunch, but I've missed packing my vegan bento's. So after an absolutely horrible day yesterday I decided to raise my spirits by packing a bento just for the fun of it. But now, I don't think I'll be able to stop. After all I am flying to California this weekend for my brothers wedding. But my amazing bento box has a freezable gel-filled lid which I doubt I will be able to bring on the plane. What a pity the airlines wont let me bring more than 3 ounces of liquid or "non-solid" foods. But I've decided that with my love for bento I'm going to start blogging my creations and posting them on this blog, along with my regular posts. After all they are always vegan and like I said earlier the concept of packing lunch is not only smart for a vegan on the go, but economical and environmental. While you can find some pretty amazing bento's out there, mine aren't usually that fancy (as you can see in above photo) but since I'll be trying to blog them from now on, I'll be trying harder. Hope you enjoy!

My Feel Better Bento:

white container

-apple "bunnies"

-"ants on a log"

pink container

-mini daiya "cheese" quesadillas

-mini home-made chocolate chip cookies

-rolled tofurky slices

Scott Pilgrim

It seems like veganism is starting to pop up everywhere in the media. Usually it's referred to mockingly, and I have to admit the fact that there aren't any cool vegan images in the media is what first made me wary when I saw Scott Pilgrim. Spoiler alert, if you haven't seen the movie don't blame me if you continue reading this and I reveal anything that you would otherwise prefer to learn on your own about the film. You are warned. Speaking of warnings, despite seeing the film with several people who had already seen it, I didn't get any warning for all the "vegan content." That is if you don't count my friend leaning over and saying "You're really going to like this part. . . . or not" which I don't. But I don't like spoilers so I'm glad no one spilled the beans about the vegan "evil ex" in the film. While I admittedly cackled at the vegan jokes, initially I was concerned about the portrayal of vegans. Like I said earlier, there aren't many positive portrayals and this was no exception. But I couldn't deny how hilarious the character was, granted I think I may have been the only one laughing in the theater at this point in the film. Yes, Todd "the vegan" is stupid and of course in the end thwarted by his own arrogance but he has SUPER POWERS, that is vegan super powers. Because in Scott Pilgrim's world abstaining from dairy, meat, and other animal products apparently grants you super powers, but you have to go to "vegan academy" and live in fear of the "vegan police" taking said powers away if you aren't vegan enough. I couldn't honestly take offense to this character, his stupidity and pretentiousness is over the top, but all of the characters are in this movie. Just like you shouldn't get your panties in a bunch when South Park makes fun of a specific religion or ideals because its not like South Park singles anyone out, everyone is put on the chopping block. So I couldn't help but think the whole vegan portrayal endlessly entertaining, as well as the rest of the movie for that matter. If you haven't seen it, I ruined some parts for you but you should still see it, its a riot all the way through. With that I'll leave you with a quote from the movie, "MILK AND EGGS BITCH!"

Wedding & Honeymoon

I know I haven't been blogging lately. I could say I've been busy out of my mind but lets face it, in reality I've just turned into a lazy slob who feels way too overwhelmed with school and future prospects to do anything important lately. (Still haven't legally changed my last name oops!) The big news since my last post was *suprise* I got married! (Hence above wedding photo) Honestly the wedding was amazing, I was really disappointed with the DJ my dad had picked (picked on the basis that he is a friend of my dad) but he played weird music, and even though I gave him a list of music to go with he didn't use it at all. Also it seemed like Greg's side of the family didn't like to dance too much but I had fun dancing with my family and the in-laws! The food was good but as most of my guests realized in horror, all the food at the wedding was vegan. The venue didn't allow for an outside vegan caterer so they made the vegan food there. And although I thought they did a pretty good job, I still wish we could have gone with a vender that specialized in vegan food like we did with the wedding cake. Ok, ok no one hissed and moaned (to me anyways) about it and from what I gathered from second hand gossip no one hated the food. I have to admit though I wasn't entirely convinced all of the food actually WAS vegan. I noticed that the food on the guests tables looked different than the food at the head table, but I wasn't going to make a fuss over something that already over and done with. I was distracted with other things anyways , which I'm not going to get into (*cough* someone had smoked pot in the bridal dressing room *cough*) because as to who did it is a mystery that will never be solved and I'm tired of being sore over it. Honestly though most of the night is a blur from all the rushing and running around from pictures to people, I barely had time to dance or eat.

I was also really amazed at my kick-ass bachelorette party. My friends went out of their way to put together some vegan treats for me and then took me out for an awesome night on the town. I can't go into more detail because no matter how hard I try I couldn't capture the amazing-ness of the night in words.

The bridal shower was somewhat of a "problem" My aunt did an amazing job putting everything together, lord knows my mom wasn't going to be bothered with ANY wedding stuff. But thats a whole other story. I was stressed out and under the impression there would be more vegan options instead of just a special plate made just for me. So I probably was more upset about it than I should have been (wedding preparations are very stress inducing and I was already going a little mad) but when I brought it up I was called an "ungrateful bitch" by my aunt and nanny (my grandmother) This caused me to be an emotional wreck the whole time. I know my aunt has to have things her way, she has to be "the queen" but in my defense it was my day not hers and while I was grateful with the great job she did I would have liked to have been considered seeing as how it was a party for me. But its all in the past, and she did throw a nice party. . .

As for the honeymoon, we went on a Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean and while it was a BLAST the whole vegan issue was a total fiasco. When I got on board the first thing I did was talk to the wait staff and ask for whoever I needed to talk to about dietary needs. (I had called ahead of time but they told me they couldn't do anything for me and that I would need to talk to the wait staff directly) I was blown away when they provided me with a menu for the whole week of my on-board options, but when I went to dinner that night they looked at me quizzically (and the menu they gave me) and said "umm what is that? I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this" It was a hassle the WHOLE trip. To be honest I don't think the cooks really knew how to accommodate a vegan diet despite the menu they initially provided (and didn't know what to do with) Lunch was completely out of the question because they only served buffet lunches so I was stuck eating chips, salsa and fries for lunch for a whole week straight. Everything else was fabulous, the destinations, the shows, the services. I mean we did kinda get stuck in a hurricane for a little bit of the trip but it only really caused a problem at night when we were trying to sleep and when we tried to snorkel on the first day (I must have swallowed a gallon of salt water) The fact that it was the first time I was on a cruise I didn't know what to expect, but now I know I need to be better prepared when it comes to food etc.

I'm not saying I want to convert everyone to be vegan, but it is a large part of me now and it is something important to me, so I would hope people would be accepting and understanding of me. Thats the reason why I may make a fuss about something like food for a party meant for me or my wedding, but I want people to be more accepting of the idea and unless people start to try vegan food and open their minds how will they do that? So while I might sound like a whiny bitch, its just that I want people to consider me and my wants when it comes to things that involve me. Too much to ask? I hope not.