I should preface this post by saying that I am a Vegetarian foodie. If you are not aware, according to Slashfood,

a foodie is someone has an ardent or refined interest in food. I really enjoy creating unique and unusual dishes that few people would take the time and effort to cook. I generally do not use recipes to cook with nor do I usually remember everything I put into a dish when I am cooking. It is fun for me to never make the same thing twice.

While I get excited over things like Green Pea Flan accented with Cold Heirloom Tomato Soup, many people on VegWeb and VegSource are getting excited over a tater tot casserole. A lot of the posters use processed foods in the recipes they post online, which turns my stomach just thinking about it. Tater tots, canned food, and baked beans have never been and will never be a part of my diet. These people get excited about Tofurkey, which is really nothing more than tofu, gluten, beans, and some seasoning. Why not be creative?

I also fail to see how these people are eating a healthy diet if all they are doing is eating the Standard American Diet but using a meat substitute in the place of meat. That would mean that the diet they are eating is still high in saturated fat, calories, and low in fiber.

Why do people eat unhealthy & uninspired food?

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I love gourmet cooking and more specifically, I really enjoy creating art using food. I was pondering the possibility of making a dedicated kitchen computer to help me while I am cooking. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that I did not want a bulky computer sitting on my counter collecting gecko excrement. I was also thinking that using a computer in the kitchen would cut down on the need to use printed photos or recipes for inspiration. However, I do not like writing down shopping lists and even with a kitchen computer I would have to write down the list or print it out. I thought a laptop might be the answer but I have no desire to lug a laptop around when I go out to buy food. After considering it a bit longer, I was thinking that I could install a laptop onto the cabinets and turn it upside down so you can only see the screen and then use a wireless keyboard and mouse.

I Googled and found someone who had actually done this. They were able to use the dead space next to the refridgerator which was really smart. Nearly every house I have ever lived in has had that dead space and it went unused. Unfortunately, this house does not have that dead space and the kitchen is somewhat irregular. I definitely do not want to take up much counter space for this.

Then I started thinking about creating an island in the middle of the kitchen that is on wheels. It would be great for parties and prep work. Alternatively, I could house the laptop on the island and just move it when I need the counter space.

Does anyone have any experience with creating a kitchen computer setup or something similar?

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CNN has an article about vegetarianism, how vegetarians should eat a balanced diet, and how protein is a “real concern” for vegetarians. I am glad to see that a somewhat positive article about vegetarianism making the headlines. It was also nice that they chose to highlight my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Atlanta, The Sunflower Cafe!

The real issue I have with the article and other articles about vegetarianism is that they always seem to say *only* vegetarians should eat a balanced diet - which is absurd. All people should eat a healthily for optimum health. I am unsure as to why people seem to think that vegetarians do not eat enough protein. Considering that the large majority of vegetarians eat milk products and eggs it only stands to reason that they would get plenty of protein from those two sources as well as tofu/tempeh, fruit, vegetables, protein shakes, or whatever they eat. The rest of the vegetarians who do not eat eggs or do not consume milk or both generally find enough protein in their diets. Most people simply do not need the amount of protein that the average meat eater consumes. It is a waste of protein given that most people are not trying to be powerlifters and bodybuilders. For a vegetarian, eating a proper diet is not even difficult to do and I would surmise that most vegetarians successfully eat a healthy and diverse diet. After all, it is (generally) not vegetarians that you see cruising into McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendys for a meal. It can be a challenge in a meaty world but I’ve always managed to feed myself - sometimes you just have to be creative.

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I don’t really use recipes.  I am one of those people that says I use a recipe until someone asks for the recipe and then I realize that I did not in fact follow the recipe at all but instead made up something entirely different.  It makes me wonder why I continue to think that I actually follow recipes.

At any rate…  I was looking online for some new recipes to inspire me.  Specifically, I was looking for recipes that have blackbeans in them.  I always seem to be rather shocked at the horrific things people put in their mouths.  I saw way too many recipes that included Cheese Whiz (is that even a food?) and many many processed cheese products, random canned foods, and a myriad of unhealthy items with unforseeable quantities of unnatural colors and additives.  Why do people eat that crap?  Do they really believe it is healthy?  Or am I delusional for thinking people want to be healthy?  In a world of McDonalds and fast food am I weird for eating a healthy vegetarian diet?

In other news, my doctor is presenting *me* or more specifically my case at a medical conference to get other opinions on what is wrong with me.  I have been referred to an endocrinologist for further study.  I will have to fly to Oahu to see one in Honolulu which is fine…

In other news, I am going to the mainland in May - it should be a fun little trip.  Brian wants to head to Alaska during the summer…

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I have been sick for a few days now. It started with me coughing last week and now I am running a fever and I am congested. Brian and I both think it has something to do with my immune system being short on defenses due to to me working out so hard lately. I just wish that I had called in sick to work today - oh well. I do not even feel like eating anything and that is saying a lot considering I usually eat 5000 calories per day…

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Post of randomness…

Given that our hot water heater is fried, we are getting a new one, yay! The new one will definitely be more energy efficient so we will not have a $175 electric bill, thank goodness. Our old hot water heater is currently being drained and the guy who is installing the new one is off buying a new hot water heater.

I am sleepy - we only got 6.5 hours of sleep last night and I generally need 9 hours to function properly and build muscle. I must work on this!

We have books all over our apartment - they are thrown hither and thither and are definite trip hazards.

I am finally in contact with a good nutritionist to help me make the most of my diet - with 5000 or so calories per day I need help!

Brian found out this morning that you can get cheap almonds at Cost-U-Less and we don’t even have to pay a membership fee like at Costco.

We need to start scoping out potential places to buy a new house next year we are thinking of looking in Papa’ikou down to Hilo or somewhere in the vicinity - maybe even close to here on a little street with interesting and unique older plantation (sugar) homes. They are really funky…

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We tried the Yves “fauxturkey” and here are the results: Brian made himself a sandwich with the fauxturkey on it and he said it tasted like turkey. He told me to try a bite and I reluctantly bit off a small piece which I promptly regurgitated into Brian’s mouth (he said he wanted it back!) and he happily went on eating his fauxturkey sandwich. I still think it is just as nasty as when I bought the stuff for Jason but Brian seems to like it. Yuck. Brian says I should eat it because it is high in protein but that is NOT happening. I am up to 300 grams of protein per day, fun for me.

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We got back from the farmer’s market earlier today where we got a week’s worth of food for under $15 and I purchased a beautiful orchid, a cross of Lc. Trick or Treat ‘S&W’ and Lc. Gold Digger ‘Orglade’s Mandarin’ and I like it a lot. Brian just calls it “that orange flower” and ignores it. He says he likes plastic plants better. Too bad! I did acquire some new plants this week (nothing special) - hibiscus, anthurium, and some other random things. It helps to clean the air (this is the excuse I am using) but we do live in the city with some of the cleanest air in the world as Brian reminds me. But, I simply enjoy horticulture…

After the farmer’s market Brian fed me my second meal, 5 giant pancakes and a huge protein shake. We eat a lot around here. Brian has decided that being a powerlifting vegetarian food snob is very expensive. He is always teasing me and tells me I should get a hamburger because it has a lot of protein. Of course, he would not eat a hamburger anyway but he does think he is amusing and I do like to humor him.
I also ordered some new multi-vitamins for Brian and some antioxidants for me (because of the powerlifting) so I think we are good for a while… Powerlifting is going well… My quads are killing me from last night’s workout and especially because we walked down to the farmer’s market and back (it is all uphill on the way back). Nothing terribly exciting going on, just beautiful Hawai’i weather and another perfect day in paradise…

Oh yeah, last night, we went to this natural food store (which I don’t like) and we bought Yves fake turkey. Brian said he would eat some - I think it looks nasty.

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Brian has been training me yet again for Powerlifting and Strongwoman competitions since we moved to Hilo. It has been great and I have made a lot of progress. Hopefully, I will be ready for aPowerlifting meet or a Strongwoman competition by this summer… I am putting on a lot of muscle mass, yay! Who said putting on muscle mass for women is hard? I need protein powder, we ordered 11 lbs. of it and I just ran out of my other protein powder today…

I need to start keeping my food diary again but I eat about eight times per day and it makes it too difficult to record everything. I also eat a lot of food. Oh well, I will try to keep the food diary up…

It has been raining here off and on but that is to be expected in the rainiest city in the world. Plus, March is supposed to be one of the wettest months here in Hilo. We did drive over to the Kona side on Saturday to go to Costco - we are SO glad we do not live there - people are incredibly rude and mean on that side of the island. It also takes us two hours to drive over there and then another two hours back but it does mean that we only have to go shopping for groceries once a month, yay.

More later, when I am not so busy…

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I am tired and hungry. We just got done cleaning, polishing, and waxing the Civic. We also did a clean-up on the CRV because it was gross. We spent the whole day up in Kohala dealing with work related issues and now we are done and back home foraging for food. Tomorrow, we are heading back to the car dealership to have a little chat about this speedometer issue, rather, the fact that they are idiots and either messed up when putting on the brakes or the tires and now the speed sensor or VSS is screwy. Oh well, we will get it taken care of! Life is going well here in Hawaii…

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We live in the most expensive part of the island of Hawai’i and thus the food and gas prices are absurd. Last week, when we arrived we went to Foodland in the Parker Ranch center to buy some groceries to keep us until we could go to Costco in Kona. We paid $5.99 for a half gallon of soymilk, yes, you heard me right. We also saw that a small box of Cheerios were $6 but we did not waste our money. We only spent $47 that day but that is mostly because we looked at what was on sale and only bought that. So, today we had to go to Kona to check on my TB results (I passed, of course) and so we went to Costco. The gas is 21 cents cheaper at Costco compared to the cheapest gas in Waimea. After that, we shopped around Costco and bought 25 lbs of bread flour for $4.99 total, which is less than what we paid for 2 lbs of flour at Foodland. We also bought 25 lbs of rice, 10 lbs of pancake batter, 3 half gallons of soymilk for $6 total, a giant box of 50 granola bars, a giant box of cheerios (at least 4 times bigger than the one at Foodland and cost less too!), giant box of Newman’s blueberry cereal, giant tins of tomato sauce (gallon size) for less than $2 each(!) and we bought a ton of pasta and other random things. I think we came out at about $90. If we bought it all at Foodland we would have spent a billion dollars, I bet.

On the way home, we saw this guy on a moped driving along the side of the road in Kona (coming from Costco) with a case of beer and chicken in his basket. It was funny…

We also got some books today, a juicer, and a random aloha shirt at Sal’s Boutique (Salvation Army). My juicer cost $8 and it is in perfect condition. It is just like my old juicer that cost about $75-80.

And who said living in Hawaii is expensive? I suppose it is if you are dumb enough to shop primarily at the grocery store in Waimea, love to buy gas at the most expensive place in town, must drive a $50K car, live right on the beach in a multi-million dollar home, and buy all new stuff all the time and only at the mall.

Oh yeah, in other news, I got a job. I will be working for Easter Seals helping developmentally disabled adults… Yay! Brian will be working at the University of Hawai’i and writing his book about Hawai’i.

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I am so full. We ate lunch at Chipotle earlier when we had to go to the post office, bank, and Target. We never eat out but decided we needed to have a pre-oral defense stress relief celebration. So, we celebrated by eating 2-3 lb. (they were HUGE) vegetarian burritos. That was at about 12:30 and I am *still* full. This is a miracle. I usually get so hungry that I have to eat every 2-3 hours but this is great. I am going on 4 hours now and I am not even a bit hungry yet! I need to learn to make giant Chipotle-like burritos at home. But where can I find 8 foot long tortillas? I would make them myself but I don’t have a pan large enough to make a Chipotle size tortilla.

I am selling a bunch of stuff on eBay currently. At any given time I seem to have at least 25-30 auctions going. It is really easy to run an eBay business once you get into the swing of things, I think. The moving preparations are moving along and we are on schedule. We are still a bit puzzled about the car issue though. We don’t want to have to rent a car when we get to Hawaii, we want to be able to buy a car right away or have a purchased car waiting for us upon arrival. We will figure it out though…

We are a one laptop family now. I am planning on getting another laptop soon after we arrive in Hawaii so that I can have my own. We have decided to go solely with laptops only from now on so that we can lower our power consumption. We are going to utilize solar power so we can only use/store so much energy.

Our next 5K is coming up next week. I really have not been running that much because I have been doing low impact things like the elliptical trainer because my knees felt stressed for a while because of the leg plyometrics and then my period. Also, I have just been tired from the weight training so I often don’t feel like doing much cardio. Not only is it boring but it makes me hungrier and I have to eat more. Eating more is bad because it is expensive and time consuming! But we will see how we do in the race. Brian has been better about his training than I have. He runs every week but I have only run several times since the last race. No matter how we do it will be really fun.

I made reservations for Brian’s graduation dinner party at the Melting Pot. He’s very excited about fonduing again. I hope the waiters sing “Happy Graduation to you” to him. That would be hilarious…

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I am constantly hungry. I eat about every two hours or so but this is just not enough for my body. Just the other night, we had dinner #2 and I ate a sandwich from Subway that had two veggie patties and ended up being close to 1100 calories and I was still hungry. We eat like pigs around here. Fortunately, Brian also makes my whey protein shakes twice a day so I will not die from hunger after we workout. Brutal, brutal workouts… But we are having fun!

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We did our grocery shopping this evening after dinner. Later, when we were hungry again and desired a smeal (snack/meal), we were looking for the brie that we had just purchased. It did not turn up in our thorough apartment search. So, we agreed that after we finished eating the smeal that we would march angrily up to the Giant Eagle (our crappy grocery store) and demand that they give us a new wheel of brie. I then suggested that maybe the brie fell out of the bag or we dropped a bag on the way home. I knew this was far fetched but Brian went outside to look and found our brie sitting in the grass. It was brie with herbs…I suppose it was just trying to return to the earth. At any rate, we enjoyed our brie then… I still hate Giant Eagle.

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We decided to go to the North Market today. We stopped off at the ATM in Giant Eagle (grocery store) to get some cash. We were second in line. I thought that would mean that we would be in and out quickly. I did notice that the manager or assistant manager of Giant Eagle was helping a person with a mullet haircut at the ATM. Apparently, this fellow was illiterate. He was not only illiterate but he could not understand that you had to take money out in increments of $20. He wanted to take out $10 and said that his account should have at least $10 in it. Of course, this was not his bank so he would also have to pay a $2 service charge. He could not understand why $22 could not be debited from his bank account that held $10. The manager person (Brian says he is a bag boy, I think he was too nice to be a bag boy, whatever…). Anyway, this illiterate person just stands there at the ATM trying to argue at the bag boy/manager trying to understand this situation using what minuscule amount of logical capabilities he had. As we were leaving, I commented about the person and Brian said that the illiterate person was mentally challenged. I really just think the person took many drugs and his brain is fried…

After that lovely experience, we went to the bus stop to take a trip to the North Market. Some weird person randomly says, “Sure is a long wait, isn’t it?” to us. We ignore him, as he is a random weird Ohioan that we have no social or intellectual interest in. I spot a weird woman go out of her way to pick up a penny on the sidewalk. The bus finally comes and we head down High St.

We arrive in the Arena District at the North Market and all of the local farmers have set up little tents outside of the building. We looked around and it seems as though the 30+ farmers only grow corn and tomatoes. Great. We did not buy any of it as we already had locally grown tomatoes at home and the corn did not look so hot. The place was filled with stupid Ohioans and we had to wait for them to move since they seemed to enjoy just standing in the middle of walkways. We got inside the building and walked around looking at everything. We noticed that they had a disproportionately large sections of meat compared with everything else. We stopped to look at the cheese shop, the Vietnamese shop, and various other little shops. We ate a lemon fraiche from Jeni’s Ice Cream. After a while, we decided to leave. I always seem to want to remember the North Market as being better than it really is.

Then we walked north on High St. to where the Happy Greek is located and caught a bus going north. We got on the bus and saw three vacant seats. Then we noticed that they had tape over them. I could not tell why at first but I later figured out that someone poo-pooed on the seat. Great. Finally were able to move to the back of the bus to sit in poo-free seats. Yay. Of course, this was after being thrown about the bus by the driver who liked to drive double the speed limit, cut off cars, and tail them. I asked Brian if this was supposed to be the *New Express #2 Bus*. He laughed because I am very funny. We then arrived home safely and still in time to workout at 2 PM.

We went to the gym and I started out on the elliptical trainer watching some inane news program on TV. I had the remote on the elliptical with me. Then, some girl walked in and bothered me while I was working out. She asked if it was possible to watch tennis. Then she channel surfs to find tennis announcing each channel, as “that’s not tennis” and making me annoyed. I jumped off the elliptical trainer to get away from her and went to start on the weight workout. Two of her little friends came in, they started yelling across the workout room, and then they did 3 minutes of cardio and then worked out with 5 lb. weights. Why bother? Then one of the friends took the workout cleaner so I waited for her to return with it. She came back and attempted to start a conversation with me. Annoying… I avoided it and took the bottle from her. Why would I want to talk to her? Creepy. As I was doing my weight workout, I could see out of the corner of my eye that tennis TV girl was just lying on a mat watching TV. Go home; this is a gym, not a living room. She reminded me of the fat guy who was laying on a mat watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer while his girlfriend and her friend attempted to manage a shoddy workout. Of course, those same idiots brought a large dog into the workout room and attached it to the leg extension machine. Great. Fortunately, I turned them in and they had to leave the workout room. Funny, I have not seen them in there since…

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