Day 5: Coffee dilemma? Solved!

I can’t wait for tomorrow morning. My drinking black coffee days have come to an end.

My nutritionist, Kim, suggested that I look for a coconut milk creamer, but Whole Foods had nothing even close that I could find. Today, on my way home from having my car serviced, I stopped at Lois’s Naturals, a wonderful, small, locally owned store on Route 1 in Scarborough.   I stopped primarily to get a snack, as I was famished. I wanted to try the Little Ladd’s herbed popcorn that includes nutritional yeast in the herb mix. The popcorn, which thankfully comes in a small bag in addition to a vat-sized bag enough for 25 of your closest friends, was yummy. We will talk about my initial reaction (gag) to nutritional yeast another time.

While I was there, I decided to look for some products that Kim had mentioned to me. There in the refrigerator items was SO Delicious Coconut Creamer.

My heart leapt into my throat. Creamer that wasn’t soy! Then, my enthusiasm tanked. Would it be awful? Would I be crushed, defeated and forever drink my coffee black? Regardless of the emotional spectrum I traveled during that 45 seconds of contemplation, I purchased it.

You have to guess that the 1^st thing I did when I walked in the kitchen door was make some coffee. The creamer looked good in the coffee – just the right color. But, then again, so did the soy creamer. I smelled it – all I smelled was delicious, smooth coffee aroma. The taste was next.

Praise the coffee gods! I swear my eyes became dewy. Then, I shook for an hour after drinking too much caffeine at 4:30 in the afternoon. The price one must pay. It was glorious.

To mark the Friday night, Peter and I went out to dinner at Veranda Thai, a sweet little restaurant on Veranda Street in Portland, less than 2 miles from our house. We chose Asian food because we knew that tofu and veg options were always available. Today we had fried tofu in our stir-fries. Peter tried Spicy Cashew Nut and vegetables and I had Namprik Pao, a very flavorful and spicy sauce with green beans, sweet red peppers, carrots, scallions and bamboo. Brown rice and Singha beer rounded out the meal. All was flavorful and fresh, not over-sauced, just spicy enough and entirely satisfying. We will go again and try other tofu possibilities, like the Thai curries or Drunken noodle, that we had always eaten with meat.

Tomorrow is farmer’s market day where I plan to be inspired by the surfeit of veg available. Fall crops are flooding the market and Brussel sprouts squashes, sweet potatoes, leeks, carrots, and garlic will be available at my CSA.

It’s also the day I’ll bake those Congo squares with my Little. Eek. I’m thinking of muzzling myself to keep from licking the bowl.

Tomorrow night we are joining 2 close friends for dinner who, entirely coincidentally, began their own vegan journey 2 weeks ago. Eggplant is the theme; I’ll be bringing eggplant parm using the Oh She Glows recipe, as well as a frisee salad from my garden. http://ohsheglows.com/2011/11/08/eggplant-parmesan

It’s all such fun.