FOOD
Oh, where do I begin? I was in the vegan mecca of Portland, OR, and truth be told, I didn’t actually eat that much! Kinda bummed about that actually. I still haven’t tried Veggie Grill, Voodoo Donuts, or Prasad. To be honest, I’ve gotten so into this higher raw and healthy way of eating the last few months (and more specifically the last month…read why here…), that I get full so quickly I can’t overindulge too easily.
My one caveat to that was the soy-free/gluten-free brownie from Sweat Pea Bakery. I seriously need the recipe!
So now I’m home and happy to be in my kitchen. I seriously need to go grocery shopping, but I made due. Breakfast was a savory smoothie, aka blended salad. I love these.
tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, and kale
Lunch took a little more thought (but not much), and I totally loved the result. Below, is the recipe.
Crissie’s Southwestern Quinoa-Guacamole Salad
Ingredients
*1 cup quinoa
*2 cups water
*1 tub guacamole (I used Whole Food’s Traditional, but feel free to use any you have lying in your fridge, or make your own).
*1 juiced lime
*1 splash (about 1 tbsp.) red wine vinegar
*1 can salt-free black beans, rinsed and drained
*1 jalapeño, diced
(if I would have had them, extra cilantro, red onion, and corn would have been great)
Directions
*cook the quinoa according to package directions. I just threw it into a rice cooker on the white rice setting.
*mix in the rest of the ingredients
I served mine on a bed of arugula, which gave it a nice peppery flavor.
Dinner was a ridiculously last-minute thing. I thought I was too tired to be hungry, but decided at nearly 8pm that I wasn’t. I boiled up some quinoa shell noodles and topped with nacho flavored Teese! Yummy comfort food!
FITNESS
While I was gone, I did a lot of hiking around town (not real hiking, but really lots of walking) and two yoga classes. One was a Bikram class at a local studio and one was an online class in my hotel room.
I will say, I’m not loving the Bikram style. I don’t like that it’s always the exact same 26 postures done in exactly the same order. I have issues with lack of variety. And there’s no down dog, and that makes me sad.
At home today, I hit up a hot yoga class at the studio I go to about 1/2 the time. It wasn’t the best class ever, but it was what I needed, so that’s a plus.
LIFE
Well this past weekend was really, really awesome. I was at the Vida Vegan Con bloggers conference in Portland (as if you didn’t already guess that). It’s hard to describe what it was like. For me, it was a chance to be around 350 other vegan bloggers (which is just awesome), sample food I wouldn’t normally get a chance to, hike around a neat (if not wet and a little cold) city, and go to…get this….a VEGAN MINI MALL! Yep…you heard that right…I went to a freaking mini mall of all vegan things. I bought t-shirts, a brownie, and almost got a new tattoo….(almost).
More than the food, I really enjoyed the conference sessions. I’ll be posting much more in the future of how they impacted me and what I learned, but as of right now, it seems pretty darned profound.
Oh, and at the Galarama to raise funds for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, I WON THE TOFURKY LUNCHBOX. I was starting to hover near the end of the auction to intimidate people to not outbid me.
As awesome as my adventures were, I was more than ready to come home. Too bad I screwed that up!
So my flight left Sunday afternoon. I was at the airport MORE than ready enough (I never got off East Coast time while I was there, so waking between 4-5 am was normal).
I may (or may not) have been at a little Mexican restaurant at the airport. I may (or may not) have been having a glass or two of wine. I most definitely WAS on the phone with my Dad (fun conversation about my trip, Marriage Equality, legalization of marijuana, and Reagan as president). As it happens, I was convinced my flight was at 250 pm. I hung up with Dad around 2 to head to my gate….and missed my plane. My flight was actually at 205, and because I was chatting up my Dad, I missed the dozen or so overhead announcements looking for me. Joy.
I got there and SAW them close the airplane door. They asked me if I was Christine, and looked me in the eye when they closed it. And told me I couldn’t get on. So…of my luggage went to VA and I went to find a place to stay by the hotel. And to look forward to wearing the same clothes for at least 2 days….
Anyway, I did eventually make it home (a day or so late), and I got to see New Mexico (don’t ask, but it seems beautiful). I missed one more day of work than planned, and….I’m tired.
Signing off as a girl who’s just incredibly happy to finally be home (and to take a shower and change my clothes…..)
