Meat Free Monday: Super King Buffet In Hattiesburg, MS

So this is my favorite Chinese buffet around.

Why? It is very vegan-friendly if you don’t mind a shared hibachi. 

Their make your own has not only soba but udon, glorious udon! As well as a good selection of vegetables and sauces.

Also, they have two vegan sushi types, plus seaweed and edamame on the buffet. 

For dessert, they have fresh fruit. The pineapple is my favorite.

I can eat myself silly with yummy food I know is safe.

Yay!

Meat Free Monday: Lower-Fat Tofu Breakfast Sandwich

I love these because they’re savory and a little sweet, just like fast food breakfast sandwiches, but without the nasty heavy greasiness (and, of course, without the animal products).

Ingredients: 

  • 1 block firm or extra firm tofu
  • 8 slices white bread (I still love Sara Lee Artisano)
  • Vegan margarine
  • Jelly (I prefer grape or hot pepper jelly) 
  • Salt and pepper
  • Onion flakes 
  • Optional: vegan cheeze

Directions

  • Cut the tofu into 8 pieces. You’ll use 2 per sandwich 
  • Put the tofu in a nonstick pan on medium high heat.
  • Add salt and pepper and onion flakes to the tofu
  • Let it cook for 5 minutes without messing with it.
  • Flip it, add more salt and pepper and onion flakes, and turn the heat down to medium
  • Let it cook for 4 minutes without messing with it.
  • Toast the bread while the tofu is cooking.
  • Assemble the sandwiches: margarine, jelly, 2 pieces of tofu, and vegan cheeze if you like it.

The onion flakes make it extra savory, the margarine and tofu make it creamy and rich, the toast makes it crispy, and the jelly makes it sweet.

Yum!

I Played a Video Game Today! 


I played one episode of Saturday Morning RPG. It took maybe an hour. 

The point isn’t how long  I player, our what I played, but that I played. 

I’ve enjoyed video games since I was a kid, but lately I’ve felt like I haven’t had time to play them. I played Helen’s Mysterious Castle  around Christmas, but hasn’t played anything since then. 

I’d become a little resentful that I felt like I “had” to completely give up this perfectly reasonable hobby that lots of people enjoy.

But my wife reminded me that I have the time if I plan and make the time. And so tonight, I made the time to play a video game.

And it felt good.

My New Spot

There’s a beautiful old oak on campus, a century old at least. They installed three benches under its massive, shade-giving arms.

I’ve been taking my lunches there when the weather’s good, and its been wonderfully relaxing. It really helps my mood for the second okay of the day. 

Just thought I’d share. I’m thankful to have such an ancient, beautiful tree to shade me. There aren’t many of them around anymore. And while you can make more, the production time is awfully slow 😊

Meat Free Monday:  My First Vegan-Versary!


So yesterday was the one year anniversary of me going vegan: the first Sunday of June, 2016. 

I’ve always fallen off the diet or health trend wagon much faster than this. I doubt I’ve even made it 6 months before. But right now I’m a year in and have no desire to change. 

I’m 25 pounds down from where I started, but much more importantly, my blood pressure and cholesterol are dropping, too. 

So yippe!


Okay, I can do better than The Phantom Menace:

https://youtu.be/soeQ1i-tYAg

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There, that’s better!  

One perfect example of a passable movie, and one movie that … isn’t

We watched Alice Through the Looking Glass this past weekend, while we were both recovering from annoying but non-threatening illnesses.  It was a textbook example of a passable movie. 


It took no chances. It took what worked from the first one and added a forgettable time travel plot whose stakes suddenly rise to “the fate of all Wonderland and all in it” with the resution literally coming down to the last second. 

Spoiler Alert: Alice succeeds. The entirety of Wonderland is not destroyed. A shocker, really! I mean,  you could cut the tension with a spoon. 


I mean,  how could such an all-star cast put together such a mediocre movie? 


I mean,  without George Lucas?

Okay,  so on to the other movie I watched while resting,  the one that was anything but passable:  Blancaneives.


This movie – a silent, black and white film made in 2011 – is striking just by is choice of medium.  It’s choice to tell the Snow White tale via 1920’s Spanish bullfighting sets it apart even further. 

The performances are all excellent, especially Macarena Garcia, who is luminous as Blancanieves/Carmen.

Spoiler Alert:

Seriously, look away! Close this tab.

I hated the ending.  It felt like a gut punch, like the entire story had been poisoned. 

There were no supernatural elements in this story,  so when Carmen was poisoned, she just went into a “locked in” state.  

The guy who owned her bullfighting contract put her on display (in a coma)  and charged people 10 cents to kiss her and see if they could wake her.

At the end,  one of the dwarfs, the one who had a crush on her,  kissed her,  and a year rolled down her cheek. 

Now,  maybe that was supposed to mean she was waking up,  but if so,  they should have shown it.  From what’s on screen,  all I could see was that she was being held captive and sexually assaulted for money, and that she was fully aware of it.

Oh, hell no. This is like an “original” version of Beauty and the Beast where gain killed the beast, raped Belle,  and forced her to marry him.

Just, no.


Seriously, no. I’d have gone asking with you killing her, but this is just sadistic and even a little misogynist.

So, anyway, great movie, but turn it off before the final scene. Ick.