This weekend, I traveled back down to the States to have a job interview and attend a cousin's wedding. In terms of human interaction and general enjoyment, the trip was great.
In terms of continuing to stick it to cholesterol... not so much.
Thursday night, Ken and I spend the evening in the oddest Holiday Inn to grace the United States (if you ever want to see it, make your way to Kingston, NY, an otherwise fantastic and quiet small town). For instance, the hotel had decided that they needed a courtyard, but apparently wanted to protect it from New England winters, and so made in an indoor courtyard, with room windows overlooking the pool and fake plants. (Is it even still a courtyard if it's indoors?) In the evening, we made our way down to the hotel's restaurant and I ate from the most overpriced salad bar I have ever seen. Of course, the company and the ridiculous ambiance of the place more than made up for that fact.
Friday night, in celebration of Ken's birthday, his mom took us out to a local restaurant. The restaurant had recently opened in a building that took the place of another that had burnt down some years ago; the town had neglected to fill the empty, still mildly charred-looking space for some time, and it's odd to see a new building where I'd gotten so used to seeing a negative space. In the restaurant, I somehow managed to order the same dish as Ken's mom. Why is it so awkward to do this? I mean, I can't help it if we both thought the arctic char looked delicious; indeed, I'M the one with extraordinarily high cholesterol, so don't give me a quizzical look when the fish is the only thing that I can hope isn't completely covered in butter. (The meal was delicious and company entertaining, by the way, so perhaps I should let the whole arctic char issue rest. Also: it's impossible to say "arctic char" without sounding like a jackass.)
Saturday night was the wedding. I started the night pretty well, steering clear of any appetizers or hors d'oeuvres that looked unsafe. However, I quickly discovered that everything I ate was fantastically delicious. This, combined with a tricky waiter who kept refilling my champagne flute, resulted in my consuming a rather horrifying amount of buttery, sugary food. I live without regret, though; it was all fantastic.
Sunday night was the trip back up to Canada. I was still working off my food hangover (it's amazing what a night of relatively heavy animal fat intake will do to you) and I actually can't recall what I ate. I'm sure it wasn't so bad. I may have even just fallen into bed.
Monday night was my Mom's birthday. She had come up to Canada with me and dinner was her choice. We ended up going to a restaurant called Reuben's, which, one might expect, wasn't exactly the bastion of healthy eating. I stuck with what I thought was the lesser of all evils (as I'm pretty sure even the salad came as 50% lettuce, 50% cheese), and got a chicken club, sans bacon. Of course, I forgot that Reuben's delights in filling whatever empty space is left on a plate with fries. I found I couldn't eat even half of my food, as my stomach soon gave up in protest. Though, I have to say, I am happy to report that fries are just as delicious as ever, I spent the rest of the evening in stomach discomfort and regret. Though, my Mom was happy, so my complaints mean little in that light.
Now, back to the schedule!
Looking back on the weekend, I spent a lot of time wondering what I should and shouldn't be eating. I hate this, as it seems very diet-like, and I am firmly against any sort of dieting, as I think it's ludicrous; eat healthy and eat when you are hungry, and that is enough. I guess, though it really is a diet in that I'm limited in what I can eat, it's not a "diet" diet, in that I'm not doing it for the usual social reasons (weight loss, "body management," appearance's sake, etc.), but for something that could potentially be dangerous later in life.
Still, there are some days I get fed that I shouldn't really eat the brownie from the university's student run cafe, even if it is only every once in a while.
If it comes down to it, I would much rather have this little experiment work and have my cholesterol go down from increased exercise and increased diet regulation and not have to take medication... but at the same time, if it DOES work, this will be my life forever.
You know, there are worse things. Tofu is pretty delicious.
It was one of those days. I didn't feel like making anything. Normally, this would result in my throwing together some cereal and toast and calling it a night. However, on CholesterolWatch2009, I feel like I need to make a complete meal every night. I stumbled across a pretty fantastic looking website called 101cookbooks.com with a plethora of vegan recipes. Inspired (and feeling the nagging of my sweet tooth), I threw everything together quickly.
Following my obsessive taste buds, I redid the tofu recipe from last night, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. It was equally fantastic, with slightly less oregano used than the night before. Excited to use the fresh produce, I made a couple of quick side dishes of green beans and tomato.
Tonight, I had my callbacks for Trainspotting. My ability to do a Scottish accent hasn't improved too much, and the other women writhed in pain a lot more than I did during a scene where they had been kicked in the vulva, but other than that, I think I could have done much worse. The thing is, I'm DYING to be onstage again. It's been so long and I'm a theater kid at heart.
Dancing the Hora leaves one feeling a little low on energy (the late-night Beatles danceathon didn't help either, though its entertainment value was priceless). So, again I called for a simple meal, especially since I had spent part of the late afternoon thoroughly ignoring responsibilities and, instead, played Bully on the Wii, a game that takes place in a boarding school where your character is a student. NOTE: this game is advertised as a teen version of Grand Theft Auto. Specifically, you're encouraged to break rules, pick locks, and generally get into mischief without actually getting into trouble. That's the basic plot and, for the most part, people revel in this. I, however, take a totally different route. I had the potential truant go to ALL of his classes (the English mini-game was my favorite) and go to bed promptly before 11 PM. That's right, I took a game all about making trouble and made it into a game for geeks. I CAN'T EVEN BREAK RULES OR GET PAST MY ENORMOUS GUILT COMPLEX IN A VIDEO GAME. When another character proposes picking on the hobo on school grounds, I PUT THE CHARACTER TO BED instead of fulfilling the challenge because I FELT BAD FOR THE HOBO. WHO DOES THIS??
Quite a good looking meal if I do say so myself. 
Alright, I know I'm supposed to be doing vegan cooking, but after conferring with some confidants (read: ken), it was decided that fish was the only meat/animal product that I would be allowed to eat.
It just wasn't in the cards for me to explore a new recipe today. If you wanted to talk feminist theory or the West Wing, I was your girl. But new recipes? Not today. Perhaps tomorrow. In truth, I was just really hankering for the quinoa/chopped nut combination I tested out yesterday. As evidenced by the anecdote of my month-long obsession with kidney beans and kale, I tend to fixate.
DELICIOUS! Separate, the quinoa/nut/kale and beans were each brimming with flavor, but towards the end, I followed the typical vegan example and just mixed everything together like a maniac. (After years of partitioned plates, I HIGHLY recommend the vegan attitude of mixing everything together into a little mass of delicious.) This turned out to be the best option. The sweetness of the bean salad and the nutty flavor of the quinoa and, well, the nuts, were great compliments. 
Passable, albeit a little bland (this is where a little parmesan cheese would have gone a long way). I need to find a way to add a little more cheesy flavor, perhaps with some nutritional yeast on top. Either way, the dish definitely needed more pepper/some other spice overall.
