Such as Lujuria Vegana‘s cake!  Lujuria is the Spanish word for lust, you know.  Mmmm I feel like such a dirty girl.

Molten Chocolate Cake

On Thanksgiving Day (just an ordinary day in Spain, of course),  Andy and I dropped by the headquarters of Lujuria Vegana (LV) in Hospitalet, a suburb of Barcelona.  A few weeks prior, during an email exchange with Rosa Avellaneda, LV’s General Director, she casually invited me to visit.  So I mistakenly thought the place would be a pastelería, where my guy and I could sit down with a few cups of coffee and inhale embarrassing amounts of cake served on ridiculously dainty little plates whilst we celebrated the moments of our lives.

Oops!  No café, no pastry case, no cute little tables and chairs.  Nope, it’s a full-on industrial bad-ass kitchen, located in a warehouse loft on a side street, surrounded by auto repair shops.  But no matter.

Even though he clearly hadn’t been expecting us, Toni Rodriguez, LV’s owner and chef, welcomed us with open arms and let us check out his kitchen.  After we put on hairnets, of course.

I'm lusting after this kitchen.

Toni Rodriguez

After Toni chatted with us for a few minutes about vegan restaurants and travel, he put something in the microwave and stood stiffly next to it.  I asked him a question and he didn’t respond, just kind of shook his head and grunted–later I realized he was doing a mental countdown to pull whatever-it-was out of the microwave at just the right time.

Next thing we know, he’s fixing us a plate.  I die.

Fancy!

As the chocolate oozed out of the molten chocolate cake after we pierced it with spoons, there was no longer a need for words.  Uhh, what were we talking about?

The only thing I didn't like about this cake was that I had to share it. :)

It’s one thing to have a vegan cake, but one with a warm gooey center?  Get the hell out.  It was everything a cake should be: moist, velvety texture, rich but not achingly heavy, chocolaty and sweet but not overly so.  What else can I say?

After Andy and I duked it out for the last few bites of cake and damn near licked the plate clean, Toni led us out of the kitchen into the reception area (letting us sample a few sugar cookies on the way) and mentioned a cookbook he had recently published, Delicias Veganas.

Well guess what?!?  I had been checking out that same book at El Corte Ingles (a big department store in Spain) for weeks but was too scurred to buy it.  (Would it fit in my luggage?  Would I be able to follow recipes written entirely in Spanish?)  For once my hesitation paid off because now I’d have a signed copy!!  IT’S A THANKSGIVING MIRACLE!!!

I still don't know what he wrote--gotta work on my Spanish translation skillz...

Then, as if that weren’t enough, Toni packed up a stunning array of delectable pastries for us to take home!  OMG!!  (Now please don’t go thinking LV gives stuff away for free to crazy Americans who stop by–Andy did give him some money for the book and the pasteles, though probably not nearly enough for the memorable experience…)

Thanksgiving dinner!! Just kidding...

Thanks again, Toni, for showing us where the naughty, lusty magic happens at Lujuria Vegana!

Getting some coffee while I peruse my new cookbook--can't wait to try some recipes!

LV’s HQ is located at Passatge Can Polític, 19 08907 Hospitalet de Llobregat.  BUT, just so you don’t have to go lurking around the back streets of Hospitalet like we did, here are some other places you can find Lujuria Vegana’s pastries:
Gopal, C/Escudellers 42, Plaça George Orwell
Pasteleria La Estrella, C/Nou de la Rambla, 32
Eco-Centro Vegania, C/Mallorca, 330
Veganoteca, C/Valldonzella, 60
Tot Natural El Super Ecologic, C/ Francesc Pi I Margall, 91, 08830

Nope, we went to Barcelona instead.

We rented an apartment in the suburbs via AirBnB, and have been here for almost two months.  Though we didn’t do a whole lot of touristy stuff (WTF, no Parc Güell?!?) I have fallen in love with the place and hope to return.  The weather has been poopy (rainy season!), the food has been mostly so-so compared to other places we’ve been to, but the people have been (mostly) wonderful. Barcelona is undoubtedly a beautiful city but its beauty isn’t as in-your-face as that of, say, Paris.  In that way, I felt as though it was more…accessible.  Does that make sense?  I didn’t find it to be an overly flashy and glittery city, just a very pleasant one.

If we can get work visas, we’d like to try living here for a while. My guy and I are very sick of moving around and though we do want to continue to travel, we desperately need a “home base.”  So…who knows?

Anyway, what did we do here?

We ate, duh…

I was pleasantly surprised to find so many vegan options!  If you’re checking out La Rambla, you must go to Gopal!

Gopal (crowded of course!) C/ dels Escudellers, 42 08002 Barcelona

Gopal's menu--look at all the choices!

It’s a cute little 100% vegan deli with delicious, affordable hamburguesas.  And if you need a vegan dessert, you’re in luck–their cakes and brownies come from Lujuria Vegana.  Mmmm… it’s best to go in the early afternoon because it’s a small place that fills up quickly!  Or, get some sammiches “para llevar” (to go, or literally “for to take”) and go back to La Rambla.  Have a seat next to the statue at Plaça del Teatre and have a picnic!

Other stuff I enjoyed:

Pimientos de Padrón! Available at most tapas bars...just padrón peppers pan-fried in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt--yum.

Vegan Paella @ Organic, C/ Junta de Comerç, 11 08001 Barcelona

Vegetable Couscous @ Venus Delicatessen, C/ Avinyó, 25, 08002 Barcelona

Also available at many places... Hummus, BEER, and pan con tomate, a Catalan favorite

Because we stayed in a non-touristy suburb (Cornellá de Llobregat) and are on a tight budget, sadly we didn’t visit as many “veg” establishments as I would have liked.  You’ll have to visit them for me and tell me how they are.  :)

Places that I didn’t visit and am looking forward to visiting next time include:

• Veggie Garden, C/ dels Angels, 3, 08001, Barcelona  (I hear they have vegan lasagna…)
• The Dog is Hot, C/ Joaquin Costa, 47 08001 Barcelona (Veggie dogs!  Loads of toppings!  Yesss)
• Cat Bar, C/ Bòria, 17  08003 Barcelona, Spain (quarrygirl said it had the best veggieburgers in BCN… is that true??)

One place that’s within walking distance of our place, Café Bambu (C/Vicenç Bou 12, Esplugues de Llobregat, 08950 Barcelona), which had tasty burgers and hummus, is being sold and may be an Irish pub or something by the time we return.  :(  If you get a chance to go before it closes, the owner, Stephanie, is very nice!

Oh yeah, what else did Andy and I do recently?

WE GOT ENGAGED!!!!

Yaaay!!

It was a post-breakup slutty phase.  I was slingin’ and flingin’ my hair extensions all over the place. I lived right upstairs from a personal trainer and worked my way down to a size 2 (on a good day). I wore contacts exclusively and wouldn’t be caught dead with my scratched-up glasses in public unless it was part of a “look” I was going for.  I had a TON of clothes and wore cute little outfits with high heels all the time.  I lived in a darling little apartment with high ceilings and a great view in dangerous-but-cool (well, cool by Cincinnati standards anyway) Over-the-Rhine.  I never merely walked down the street.  I flirted, I switched, I strutted.

I had, for lack of a better word, MOJO.

Then… late summer 2008, I decided that I wasn’t able to afford the fake hair anymore and hated the salon anyway so I went back to my TWA.  I met Andy around that time too, and since I wasn’t “on the prowl” anymore I was able to embrace my true homebody self.  Luckily, I’d found a guy whose idea of a party is a dinner party.  :)

Next thing you know, I’m gaining weight, selling or tossing clothes and shoes, traveling around, getting a new job, quitting that job… and gradually I started to feel a little…yucky.

At first I was in denial.  I’m a vegan! I thought.  I can eat whatever the hell I want and still stay thin.

But as I always tell people, French fries, potato/tortilla chips, many types of candy, many types of cookies, and bread are vegan, too!  And boy, did I have my share.

I’ve gained at least 10 pounds over the past three years, which is not a lot but I’m only 5’3″ and was never super-skinny to begin with.  My weight was creeping up to where it was before I became a vegan.  WTF?

A few weeks ago, shortly after a bender at Atomic Number 7 ice cream, during which I had not one, but two bowls of vegan ice cream (okay, 1 1/2, but only because I started to feel nauseous), I looked at all my schlubby glory in the mirror and asked myself: who is this frumpy girl?  What happened to my mojo?

Actually I don’t look so frumpy in the second pic–you only get one per day!–but the dark spot on my chest is where I burned myself with Nacho Mom’s Vegan Queso.  ‘Nuff said.

Losing weight isn’t the only thing I need to do to get my mojo back–there’s a lot more that needs to be done, and most of it has to do with self-confidence.  Furthermore, I don’t really want the same brand of mojo that I had three years ago–that was a fun time in my life but I’m in a different place now.  I like my cat-eye glasses, and prefer my own hair to extensions.  But, paying more attention to my external beauty is certainly the easiest way to start feeling better…

Baby steps.  Early last month I started weighing myself every day, and created a spreadsheet to keep track of my weight as well as what I ate the previous day.  I didn’t account for every bite, and I didn’t calculate calories–I’m not that fastidious–I simply wanted to record the “highlights” and be able to step back and look at what I eat.  (If you look at this picture more closely, there’s quite a bit of TMI about bodily functions, so I apologize in advance.)

The month of June was not pretty–I ended up gaining two pounds!  And it’s easy to see why: I ate a lot of bread, a lot of junk, and a lot of BEANS (as part of Andy’s Four-Hour Body diet, which I halfheartedly attempted in solidarity).  Beans–especially in the quantities in which we ate them–can be fattening, too!  Though they’re very healthy, they aren’t something you can eat in “unlimited” quantities the way you can eat, say, broccoli.

Seeing all that gluttony on the screen helped me snap into action.  It’s too hot here in Vegas to exercise outside, so I was dying to get my butt into a Spinning class pronto.  Early July, I joined the Gold’s Gym two blocks away–I’m grateful that it’s so close–and created a new column in the spreadsheet to record my workouts.  I kept it simple: even if I only did 10 minutes of dedicated, purposeful exercise (read: strolling to Starbucks doesn’t count but crunches do), I’d write an enthusiastic “YES!!!,” I worked out.  If I didn’t work out, just a “No” will suffice.

I started Spinning three times a week, and started to see and feel a difference in my energy level/sex drive (sorry, TMI again)/outlook on life almost immediately.  If you’re not familiar with Spinning, it’s a group class where you ride a stationary bike while an instructor plays music and tells you how fast to pedal, how much resistance to use, etc.

Hmm, to hear someone describe it, it sounds pretty stupid–why don’t I just ride a bike outside?  (Um, did I mention that it’s fucking hot?)

However, with the right instructors (and the ability to push yourself, even when you’re tired!) it can be quite addicting.  Sometimes I leave the class pouring with sweat, feeling like a million bucks.  Back in the day (2006-ish) I used to go to Spinning a lot–up to five times a week–but once I hit my “goal weight” I stopped, like an idiot.  I was probably burned out.  So now I’ve made a rule that I won’t Spin two days in a row, and I won’t do it on the weekends because it’s usually crowded, so that leaves Monday-Wednesday-Friday.

The rest of my workout routine has been trial and error.  I tried walking/running on the treadmill, which, though boring, is fine but I have a tendency to overdo it and end up aggravating my Sickle Cell.

Several people told me to try another class that Gold’s Gym offers, “Body Pump,” but it did not work for me.  It’s a class where you lift weights and do stuff like squats and lunges (which I and my knees HATE with a passion).  I am not the most coordinated person, and all the fumbling around I was doing with the weights made me feel like I was back in high school gym class.  Nooo thank you!  I don’t want to force myself to do something I absolutely hate, even if it may help me lose weight faster. Plus, I really don’t want to be at the gym every day.

I just “discovered” yoga a week ago and LOVE IT!!

I’ve only been doing Sun Salutations (see above), but I hope to be able to do more soon.  Watching videos has helped–I like renting streaming videos from Amazon, like 10 Minute Solution: Yoga.

My body feels as though it’s glowing now, and I could see myself doing at least a few minutes of yoga every morning.  Is that possible?  Would I burn out, the way I did with Spinning five years ago?

So now my exercise schedule is as follows:

M/W/F: 10 mins of yoga first thing in the morning, Spinning

Tu/Th/Sa/Su: 1o mins of yoga (I plan to add more as I build my stamina/bendy-ness), plus bodyweight exercises assisted by the FitDeck I bought ages ago.

So far, so good–I’ve lost a few pounds and my clothes fit better.  Next time I’ll talk about how I changed my diet…

How do you keep YOUR Mojo?

What’s your diet/exercise regimen (if any) like?

If you’re a vegan, are you a “junk-food vegan” or do you eat healthy?  ;)

Vegan Snacks and Meals for the Regional Flight Attendant

(Okay, Okay…

OR

For Anyone Who Travels a Lot)

By Alecia A. Lott

***PART THREE***

(Here are Parts One and Two in case you missed them.)

Alecia’s Favorite Vegan Travel Foods

This is by no means an exhaustive list, just something to give you some ideas. Some of the foods I’m suggesting may be no-brainers to those of you who have been vegan for a while, but I wanted to present as many possibilities as I could.

***If something on the list is in italics, it probably won’t taste good cold and you will need a microwave.

Good travel meals and snacks should, in my opinion:

• Not be too messy/smelly.
• Ideally, taste good hot or cold—I’ve learned the hard way that microwaves aren’t always available.
• Be (at least somewhat) wholesome and filling.
• Stay fresh and look appetizing for at least a couple days.

Snacks / Light Meals

• Fresh fruit: apples, oranges, pears, bananas, kiwi, grapes, strawberries…just pack them carefully! Peel and slice beforehand if possible.
• Crackers and: cheez, seitan, avocado, tomatoes…
• Vegetable sticks or cherry tomatoes with hummus
  
• Nuts and seeds. Try to bring dry-roasted, unsalted nuts, which are more difficult to find while traveling but healthier. I love walnuts, almonds, cashews and pumpkin seeds.
• Nut butter and apples, crackers, pretzels, fruit slices, graham crackers…
• Trail mix
• Granola / Chex mix (make sure it’s vegan!)
• Protein bars
• Meal replacement powder
• Dried fruit–I especially love prunes, cranberries and apricots.
• A big ol’ avocado. You might get funny looks if you eat it by itself on the plane, FYI. People are weird about avocados. You can use an old (clean) hotel room key to cut it open if you don’t have a knife. Sprinkle it with sea salt and it’s lovely.
• Sushi. Veggie rolls are a great snack or light meal.
• Instant soup, such as Dr. McDougall’s brand or instant miso soup without bonito (fish) flakes, or vegan ramen. Just add hot water.
• Edamame (soybeans). I love them! And you can eat them cold or steamed in the microwave.
• Popcorn, preferably popped on the stove at home. Have you tried it with cayenne pepper and nutritional yeast? YUM!
• Fruit leather
• Fake jerky, such as Stonewall’s Jerquee (my fave) or Primal Strips
• Olives and/or artichoke hearts. My favorite hotel room cocktail snack! I like to sprinkle them with hot pepper flakes.
• Giardiniera (Italian pickled vegetables)
• Antipasto: combine the giardiniera, olives, artichoke hearts, and perhaps some roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes for gourmet finger food.
• Oatmeal. You can make instant oatmeal on the plane, at Starbucks, in your hotel room, almost anywhere! Always pilfer a couple packets from your hotel.
• Wasabi peas
• Rice crackers
• Good-quality dark chocolate. A nice after-dinner (or mid-day) treat.
• Cookies, brownies and other vegan baked goods. These are difficult to find outside of health-food stores, so bring your own.

Breakfast

Are you sick of mushy oatmeal, fruit, toast, bagels and “breakfast potatoes”? Well, other vegan brekkie options are rare in hotels and restaurants, so plan ahead if you want to start the day off right.

• Peanut butter and banana sandwich. If your hotel offers a free breakfast buffet, they’ll likely have all the fixings for this. Peanut butter and apple is good as well.
• Bagels or toast w/PB, preserves, Tofutti cream cheese, or hummus. If you toast the bagel and put your toppings on before you leave home, it won’t get terribly soggy and TSA will probably be okay with it.
• Beans on toast! Very British, but a nice change of pace. Just use a can of vegetarian baked beans.
• Tofu scramble
• “Sausage” biscuit sandwich
• Unfrosted strawberry or blueberry Pop-Tarts. Not the healthiest thing but hey, there’s fruit in there somewhere, right?
• Breakfast burrito–I make a sweet version with peanut butter, banana, walnuts and raisins, all on a wheat tortilla. It’s the “PMS Special!”
• Breakfast burrito with tofu scramble. Pack fillings/tortilla separately.
• Cold cereal. Don’t forget your non-dairy milk of choice!
• Muffins, banana bread, cornbread…nom nom

Lunch/Dinner

Almost anything you eat at home can be packed for lunch/dinner, but not everything tastes good cold. Granted, there are a LOT of things that I’ll eat cold so feel free to disagree with me.  Here are just a few ideas:

Entrees

• Ratatouille.  Here’s a recipe that looks promising…
  
• Tuscan White Beans, Greens, Tomato and Polenta.  Use store-bought polenta (cornmeal mush) or make your own.  Sauté some garlic with some green leafy vegs, such as kale, in olive oil.  Add canned diced tomatoes and white beans (Cannellini, Navy, or Butter are my faves).  Simple, but good!  Freezes well.  See pic below!
  
• Pasta with Pesto or Marinara Sauce
• Spicy Peanut Noodles with Broccoli
• Curried Lentils
• Aglio e olio…Spaghetti tossed with olive oil, red pepper flakes and sauteed garlic. Add basil and spinach if you’re really fancy. It’s messy and smelly but tasty!
• Stuffed peppers
• Chili and Cornbread
• Spanish Rice n’ Beans
• Super-Lazy Curried Chickpeas & Tomatoes (Can of chickpeas + can of tomatoes + curry powder and a bit of salt)
• Lentil Loaf, mashed potatoes + green beans
• Casserole!  It travels well, it freezes well!
  • Green bean
  • Chili Mac
  • Mexican Polenta

Sandwiches

Drop that Boca patty! Screw those tasteless grilled veggie wraps that seem to be on every hotel dining menu! Make a real sammich that sticks to your ribs. For a lighter alternative to bread, try making a wrap with either a tortilla or a steamed collard leaf.

• Nut butter and preserves or fruit–duh
• Avocado & tomato with vegan mayo.
• Broccoli slaw, sun-dried tomato, artichoke hearts and hummus (You’ll find all the ingredients for this at any grocery store.)
• “Meatball” sub
• Lentil loaf
• BBQ seitan or tempeh
• “Tuna,” “Chicken,” or “Egg” salad (don’t you love all these quotation marks?)
• Lentil loaf, with extra ketchup
• TLT–tempeh (or tofu), lettuce, tomato. Add avocado and sprouts, too!
• Leftover pasta or grain dishes in a wrap–I like tabbouleh with lots of tomato.
• Falafel pita
• Stuffed grape leaf pita (tried this in a restaurant in Chicago once…mmm.  It was just a bunch of canned stuffed grape leaves inside a pita with lettuce, tomato and hummus)
• Potato salad, coleslaw and seitan (Messy, but so good!)
• Spring/Summer Rolls
• Tamales

Salads

• A big, green salad. Yes, in theory you can order one anywhere but once you omit the non-vegan toppings what are you left with? Often, just iceburg lettuce and a few carrot shreds. And at a lot of fast-food places the salads are pre-made and have been sitting in a refrigerated case getting all funked-up with hard-boiled-egg residue, so… what was I talking about? Yeah. Just make your own dang salad.
• Pasta salad has saved my life so many times! It’s usually eaten cold but you can heat it as long as you don’t use a creamy dressing. Just combine any pasta (including couscous) and any vegetables, add some beans or other protein and a light dressing or just season with garlic powder, salt, pepper etc, olive oil and lemon juice.
  • You can substitute brown rice, quinoa, or barley for the pasta.
• Roasted Beet Salad
• Fatoush salad
• Sweet Potato Salad
• Carrot & Raisin Salad–my favorite!  Shredded carrots + raisins + garam masala (weird but good) + a bit of oil and agave nectar.

So, those are a few ideas… If you need more, try The Kitchn’s recent post, filled with vegan or easily veganizable ideas.  

What are your favorite vegan travel foods?

Vegan Snacks and Meals for the Regional Flight Attendant

(Okay, Okay…

OR

For Anyone Who Travels a Lot)

By Alecia A. Lott

***PART TWO***

In Part One, I discussed the importance of packing your meals when you travel, how to choose a travel cooler, and how to choose where to stay when you travel.

Now, let me briefly go over getting your food through security, and eating while in the sky.

Security Warnings…

If you’re not a flight crewmember in uniform, it’s always a good idea to review TSA guidelines for liquids/gels and plan accordingly.  (And yes, peanut butter and hummus count as liquids!)  If it’s definitely a liquid, keep it in a 3-oz-or-less container. Keep any “borderline” items in small quantities, and be prepared to eat them before getting to security or throw them away (gah!) if a TSA agent tells you to do so. Hey, they’re just doing their job!

If you’re bringing lots of liquids, the smartest thing to do would be to just check your cooler at the ticket counter if you think your bag and its contents will survive being tossed around. Even if you have to pay a baggage fee (!) you’ll probably still save money over restaurant food, especially if you’re bringing your own alcohol. (People do that, right? Not just me?)

Just make sure you bring something to eat on the plane. Even if it’s supposed to be a short flight, always bring at least a small snack because you never know what could happen.  Why are people so grouchy when they travel?  They’re probably hungry and thirsty!

Don’t forget to declare your fruit/vegetables–or just avoid taking them altogether–if you’re flying internationally.

Eating on the Plane

You may already be aware that requesting an airline vegan meal is risky. Some airlines don’t seem to know what vegan means, and will still try to give you dairy products. Others will forget about your meal, or give it to someone else.

Make TRIPLE-sure your meal will be there waiting for you—it’s a bit obnoxious, but a lot better than the alternative.

1. Book your flight at least 24 hours in advance. Talk to a customer-service representative, and make sure they know that you don’t want any milk, butter or cheese with your meal.
2. When you check-in at the airport, confirm with the gate agent that a special meal was ordered for you.
3. Board as early as possible. Once on board, pull a flight attendant aside and say, “Hi, my name is _____ and I’m in seat 32B. I ordered a special meal…when you have a second can you check to make sure it’s here?” and make sure you get a “Yes, it’s here” before the cabin door closes!

If (free) meals aren’t being served on the plane, bring your own grub! Just a few gentle reminders…

• Avoid anything that has a strong smell. YOU may think your orange smells fabulous but I personally can’t stand that smell and cringe every time I see someone pull one out of their bag. Odoriferous foods might push a queasy passenger over the edge. Would you like your meal accompanied by the sound of a stranger’s dry heaves? I didn’t think so.
• If you have snacky foods, such as trail mix, consider sharing with your neighbor—they’ll probably say “no, thank you” but you just might make their day.
• Please clean up after yourself. If possible, give snacks to small children a handful at a time so they don’t throw them all over the place. And the seat pockets are not trash bins!
• If you ask the flight attendant for anything special such as an unopened can of soda or extra cookies, do it discreetly.
• Use gum or mints when you’re done eating. Your neighbors will love you for it.

And I know you’re ready for PART THREE–Vegan Food Ideas!

]]> http://bangbangquest.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/vegan-travel-meal-ideas-part-2/feed/ 0 bangbangsquest http://bangbangquest.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/vegan-flight-attendant/ http://bangbangquest.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/vegan-flight-attendant/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:20:59 +0000 Alecia Lott http://bangbangquest.wordpress.com/?p=1524 ]]> (Super-secret information for flight crewmembers ONLY!!)

Vegan Snacks and Meals for the Regional Flight Attendant

(Okay, Okay…

OR

For Anyone Who Travels a Lot)

By Alecia A. Lott

***PART ONE***

This is a post that I’d been working on for a while.  I recently quit my job as a flight attendant, but ahhh I have fond memories…

People seem to think it’s so difficult to be a vegan and a flight attendant at the same time.  Eh, it was and it wasn’t.  I just dealt with it.

Sometimes my job would me away from home for up to 4 days at a time, and eating at Subway because there were no other veg-friendly options available got tiresome quickly.  Sometimes there’s not even a Subway or ANYTHING within walking distance of the hotel and nothing vegetarian on the hotel’s ridiculously-expensive dining menu.

Thus, my food bag was extremely important to me. After a 12-hour day, all I wanted to do was take off my uniform, wash my hands very, very well with the Lush soap I brought (I saved the hotel soaps for my mother) and unpack all my goodies. Food is love, indeed.

In this three-part series, I’ll discuss my ideas for keeping fed while on the go!

This list is not just for flight attendants who work at regional airlines–such as Mesa, Mesaba, SkyWest, GoJet–but I worked for a regional carrier so I figured I’d represent!  :)

Packing Your Meals – Where to Begin?

Bringing enough food to cover at least half my meals over the course of a trip saved me a lot of time and money and kept me from starving. I’m hardly a chef, but I usually enjoy the food I’ve prepared according to my unique dietary needs.

The first thing you must think about is how you will transport your food.  For the frequent traveler, a cooler bag is a wise investment—there are so many options available online, in any shape, size and color you can dream up. I’ve written about my favorite brand already.  Some of them even have wheels. Whatever bag you choose, be sure it’s sturdy, leak-proof, has good insulation, and different compartments for utensils, condiments, etc. Also, get an ice pack for it or fill it with ice as necessary.

Odds ‘n Ends

Aside from the actual food, which will be discussed in Part Three, what should you put in your bag? Here are my suggestions:

• Utensils: fork, spoon, knife and maybe even chopsticks. It might be a good idea to invest in bamboo utensils—they’re strong enough to withstand travel (plastic forks LOVE to break!) yet TSA-friendly. Better for the environment than plastic ones, too.
• Do you have a drawer in your kitchen where you keep condiments from restaurants? Come on, everyone does. Bring packets of condiments and seasonings such as ketchup/mustard, salt/pepper, soy sauce, hot sauce or red pepper flakes for when your meal needs a little extra somethin’. Sometimes I even pack a lemon—lemon juice is a great way to “brighten up” the flavors of your food, as the chefs say.
• I do use plastic bags and Gladware, but if you’re looking for more eco-friendly options they are available online. However, I have yet to find a lightweight, microwaveable solution that isn’t made of plastic.
• Napkins! One can only use the the hotel’s towels for so long…
• Stay hydrated. Bring an empty water bottle with you to fill up after you go through security. Flavored drink packets, though generally teeming with artificial flavorings, can be a lifesaver if the local water tastes bad. Many flight attendants swear by Emergen-C, for the vitamin boost and the flavor. If you like a special brand of instant coffee, bring small packets of it. Airplane coffee is revolting. There, I said it.
• Hand sanitizer is a must. Bring a small bottle or packets, OR if you’re really cheap you can ask a flight attendant for some.
• Mints/gum. You’ll thank me later.

Where you stay…

…will determine what you need to pack. If you have a choice in the matter–crewmembers don’t, unfortunately–keep meals in mind when choosing your lodging.

• Find out if there are any veg-friendly restaurants in the area.  While I’m all about avoiding chain restaurants to save money and stave off boredom, but if there’s a locally-owned place nearby that looks really good and you can afford it, I say go for it! To me that’s part of the fun (okay, most of the fun) of travel.
• It would be great to stay in a hotel that offers suites with kitchenettes so you can easily prepare meals, but those can be pricey and/or not conveniently located. Instead, try to find a hotel room with a microwave and/or mini-refrigerator. Some hotels don’t have enough appliances for every room but may have a few available that can be brought to your room upon request. If there’s a mini-bar, ask if the hotel will empty it out for you to use.
  • If you can’t get these appliances in your room, see if the hotel has an employee break area where you can refrigerate/heat your food. If all else fails, use ice from the ice machine to keep your meals chilled and use hot water from the coffeemaker—almost every hotel room has a coffeemaker—for instant soup. (Please don’t put food inside the coffee pot!  Uggghh)
• Look for a hotel near a grocery store, health-food store, co-op, or farmers’ market. I always like to supplement my meals with fresh, more perishable items whenever possible, and you can pick up small quantities of liquids like soy milk or hummus.
• See if your hotel offers free breakfast, and if you’re feeling really bold, find out what they serve before you leave home. If they serve bread/bagels, then you won’t need to pack those. If they serve potatoes, perhaps bring some fake meat or veggies to go with it.

Well, that’s all I have for Part One… Stay tuned for security warnings, my tips for eating on the plane, and FOOD IDEAS!

What do you think so far?

Of all the things that a vegan is “supposed” to know how to make, such as tofu scramble, kale chips (yeah right) or hummus, seitan is one of those things I never quite got the hang of.  Wrapping the gluten dough up tightly in aluminum foil and baking it usually turns out well for me, but that method gives the seitan a very firm, dry texture that I don’t always want.  When I do the traditional method of simmering the dough in broth, usually it goes terribly wrong.

But tonight, I got it just right.  Purely by accident, of course.

I followed the recipe for “Simple Seitan” in The The Veganopolis Cookbook by David Stowell and George Black.  I really enjoyed this recipe because it was, well, simple.  Call me weird, but I kinda don’t like bits of garlic, pepper flakes and other debris mucking up my wheat meat, so I appreciate that Veganopolis’s recipe used powdered spices that were readily available and blended easily with the vital wheat gluten (and saved me from having to dirty up my garlic press).

However, the ingredients didn’t really matter; probably any recipe would have worked.  What made this seitan awesome was the technique I used.

The recipe was your basic “simmer the seitan for 40 minutes” type of deal, which I tried to do.  I kneaded the dough, let it rest, kneaded it again, cut it into strips, and threw the strips into four cups of boiling vegetable broth.

The strips of dough started out so little and cute.  After letting them boil for a minute, I reduced the heat to a simmer, set the kitchen time for 40 minutes, and went back to looking at Twitter or something.

20 minutes or so later, I decided to go check on my strips of gluteny wonder.  They had nearly TRIPLED in size, crowding the pan!  I didn’t take a picture–it was too scary.

Looks like I screwed it up again, I thought.

Until Andy stepped in!  Yaaaay Andy!

“Why don’t you put it in the oven?”  My boyfriend asked.  After all, the seitan wasn’t rubbery like bubble gum, just soggy and spongy.  It could be saved!

I oiled up a baking sheet, heated the oven to 350 degrees, and baked the strips for 30 minutes, flipping them halfway through.

And ta-da!!!

I must say that it was very close to seitan that I’ve had in restaurants.  Slightly crisp on the outside, moist and tender on the inside.  Firm enough to pick up and dip into barbecue sauce.  (Not that we’d do that before dinner or anything…)

After that, I wanted to get dinner on the table in a hurry.  I made a stir-fry using frozen veggies and fresh bok choy, and chopped the strips into bite-size pieces.

Andy made some chili sauce (as you can see in the top picture) and then we ate!

Victory is mine at last!!

Even though I spent A MONTH in Paris and A MONTH in Morocco (where the unofficial second language is French), I feel as though I already know WAY more German than I do French, and I’ve never been to Germany or any German-speaking country.

As I mentioned last week, I’m kind of obsessed with the blog Fluent in 3 Months, which features unconventional language-learning tips from Benny Lewis, an Irish guy who speaks 8 languages and is on his way to learning two more. Well, a few weeks ago I purchased the Language Hacking Guide.  This guide has so many ideas for surrounding yourself with your target language and truly immersing yourself in it as much as possible, so that you can learn very quickly.

Although I’m still too scared to follow Benny’s #1 piece of advice (see below), I’ll show you all the things I’m doing right now and hope you’ll share what works for you!

First, I dare you to watch this and not have the song in your head all day…

Toll, ich nehme es!!   hahahahaaaaa

Anyway…

Things That are Working for Me

• Heavy use of Google Translate!  I’m always looking up something on there.  Sometimes I’ll put in a word I already know, just to hear how it’s pronounced.
• German in 10 Minutes a Day.  This little workbook is okay by me.  Lots of colorful illustrations, fill-in-the-blanks, games, etc.  At the bottom of each page there are “free” words (aka cognates) to learn, which makes me feel good.  :)  I have been chugging through it for at least 10 minutes every day, though usually it ends up being longer than that.  It has flash cards, little German stickers to place all over the house, and a menu guide–can’t beat that!  Though I wish the order in which the material is presented were slightly different, I’m very happy with this overall.  It came with a CD-ROM, but unfortunately I can’t use that because my laptop runs on Ubuntu (Linux), not Windows.  Hmph.
• Making posters to put all over the house.  Okay, so far I’ve only made two–one for kitchen/food-related stuff, one for greetings/conversation starters, etc.
  Unfortunately I don’t know how great they are as learning tools… after a while they start to become invisible.  I have to remind myself to recite what’s on them and try to make different sentences.  However, I would like to make laminated cards for the shower–as you can tell, I consider showering to be “wasted” time that could be spent learnin’!   ;P
• Plain old-fashioned flash cards, using index cards.  On the German side, I also include pronunciation guides and always say the words aloud (whispering to myself) as I read the word.  I don’t know how practical this method is in the long-term, though… the stack is getting bigger and bigger!  I just downloaded a flashcard app for my phone called StudyDroid… I’ll see how that works out.
• Speak in a Week German, Week One.  Just because I needed an audio study tool.  Gotta learn how to pronounce all these new words!  I’m not saying Speak in a Week is the greatest but I like it for now.
• Listening to German radio.  Here is a list of different radio stations–so far I listen to Antenne Düsseldorf and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) but I haven’t been through the whole list yet.  The downsides are: a) the DJs sometimes speak sooo quickly, and b) it’s often difficult to avoid the American music in English!
• I actually prefer the online commercials, like this one, because the announcers speak more slowly and use simple words like neu (new) and lecker (delicious) and there are words/pictures to go with what they’re saying.
• Watching German movies…not often enough but a little.  Andy and I just watched Soul Kitchen the other day, and thought it was cute.  German TV has yet to hold my interest, but here and here are two lists of stations.
• Taking a pocket dictionary and phrasebook with me everywhere, and using them when the urge strikes.
• Casually perusing different sites such as:
  • BBC Languages German: a nice little course for beginners.  FREE!  I particularly like the “Cool German” section, which gives you some slang.
  • Suite 101′s German Language Phrases for Beginners
  • Frommer’s German Travel Phrases

You like all those links?  Of course all of this stuff is just a way to stall the main event, the #1 language-hacking tip: ACTUALLY TALKING TO GERMAN-SPEAKING PEOPLE!!

So far my idea to make a weekly pilgrimage to the German bakery up the street isn’t working–when I ask the ladies there a question in German, they answer me in English.  While I’m glad they understood me, I don’t yet have the guts to request that they only speak to me in German.

I’ve joined MyLanguageExchange.com, but so far the people who have written to me only want to be pen-pals, rather than chat live via Skype.  When I search for people to talk to, I never seem to find the “right” person.

Who is the right person?  Well, let me tell you that when I was in Paris, I met up with a Spanish woman at a cafe for a face-to-face language exchange.  As soon as we began speaking, it was clear that she was already fluent in English, and that my struggles to string a sentence together in French were quite boring for her.  Quite humiliating, indeed.  I ended up spending an hour listening to her chatter away in English, feeling like an imbecile.  And she made fun of Cincinnati, my hometown!  That chick was  a winner.

Sooo, the right person for me–at least in my mind–is someone whose English is as bad as (or worse than) my German, OR someone who does okay in English but is extremely patient and won’t monopolize the conversation.  Where is that person?  :P

Yeah yeah yeah, I know… I need to get over it.

Anyway, I want to also share three things that haven’t worked for me.  Feel free to disagree with me…

Things That Haven’t Worked for Me in the Past

• Rosetta Stone (RS).  Now, I did once date a pilot who learned Spanish using RS.  He’d speak Spanish for me and it sounded as though he was fluent but his accent was HORRIBLE–he sounded like an American dude reading a menu from a Mexican restaurant!  No rolling r’s, nada.  I tried the French version and it bored me to tears…I didn’t even come close to finishing it.  Andy still insists on buying the German version one day (if he finds a used one or is ready to cough up nearly $500 for a new one) even though I try to dissuade him.  If you like wasting time looking at pictures and putting together little sentences like, “The boy eats the red apple,” or “The man buys the coffee,” be my guest.  Even then, I would suggest using RS in conjunction with other learning tools.
• Any course that only engages one sense/skill.  I’m against “audio-only” courses that you listen to in the car.  Words are often spelled differently than they sound, and sometimes people talk so fast that you’re thinking they’re saying one big word when it might be three little words, etc.
• Expensive Language Schools.  I’m not against spending money to learn a language, but I don’t agree with spending big bucks on ONE thing and ignoring everything else.  When I lived in Cincinnati, I worked with a French tutor, one-on-one, and paid several hundred dollars to do so… but I didn’t have the internal motivation to seek out other learning tools.  Once you pay that much money, and you go to these LONG, BORING ASS classes where it’s all grammar grammar grammar, it’s easy to think, “This is all I need to do!  I’ll just go to class, do my homework and I’ll be fluent in (my target language) in no time!”  But it doesn’t work that way.

So now you get an idea of how I’m spending my time these days.  :)

**Do you have any other tips for learning a new language?  What do you think of my methods?**

*** By the way, if you watched the above video, “Wieviel” is incorrect, it’s actually two words: “Wie viel,” which means “How much.”

They charge almost $60 per year for what’s called a “Video Upgrade,” which is what I thought I needed.  But that’s only necessary if you upload videos directly onto WordPress’s servers and stuff.

Learn something new every day.  The internets stump me sometimes.  What happened to books and card catalogs? ;)

Anyway, my first embedded video is of…

Nene Leakes, from The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Celebrity Apprentice??  Huh?  I mean, she is hilarious to watch on TV, but I don’t respect her (or at least her TV persona) or consider her to be an intelligent, caring individual.

Today I found out that she is now a spokesperson for Sickle Cell Disease.  Does she inspire you to want to donate money?  Does she make you think of Sickle Cell awareness in a positive way?  (Well, er, as positive as one could be when talking about diseases, I mean?)

I’m glad that the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America is jumping on the celebrity bandwagon to help spread awareness about this debilitating disease (which I have) because in my opinion the disease has been too “underground” for my liking.  But, I don’t know… Nene??

Kandi Burruss, also from Real Housewives, has a video as well.  She doesn’t irk me as much.

I don’t know why it bothers me so much that reality TV stars–particularly ones who normally portray themselves as aggressive,  loudmouthed, overly materialistic media parasites–are representing “my” disease, even if for just a few seconds.  It just does.

But then I feel like an asshole for even saying anything because they are doing it for charity, after all.  Right?  I’m so conflicted…

To make me feel better, I hope you donate money that will go toward Sickle Cell research.  I tried donating via text but it didn’t work on my phone, so you might have to go HERE to do it.

Yaaay my blog will have videos now!  I’m so excited!

A few days ago I wrote a post explaining why I haven’t blogged in a long time.  I took it down because I was feeling very negative toward myself when I wrote it, which is not the way I wish to be.  I didn’t want that attitude floating around in cyberspace.  Yes, I have personal struggles with maintaining focus and truly identifying and following my passion(s), but I’m getting better as time goes on.  I started this blog to chronicle the search for whatever it is I’m looking for, so that is what I need to continue doing.

Anyway, just to get you up to speed…

• I have left my job as a flight attendant.  After my health scare last year, Andy and I had to leave Denver due to the high altitude.  A friend of his let us rent her condo in Las Vegas very cheaply, so that’s where we live now.  But, since my airline doesn’t have a base in Las Vegas, I commuted to/from Denver, then Chicago so that I could work.  Commuting sucks!!  Naturally, this took a toll on my relationship with Andy and my own well-being, and I decided that the job just wasn’t worth it.  If it were something I wanted to do forever (or at least a few more years) then I would have moved Chicago or another base, Houston, to avoid commuting, but it wasn’t.
• Ironically, now that I’m not tied down by the crazy schedule of a flight attendant, I can travel more.  Andy and I are planning a trip to Berlin!  Don’t know when or for how long, exactly… we would like to stay for a few months, but that all depends on who he ends up working for.  He’s a consultant so he works from home and could, in theory, work anywhere in the world but on Monday he just interviewed with a company that wants him to stay in the US for a year.  Booo!  Anyway, we’ll see…
• Since we’re going to Berlin, my “job” is to learn German!  Inspired by Benny the Irish Polyglot from Fluent in Three Months, I’ve been focusing a lot on my studies and think I’m doing quite well so far.  This morning I was counting in German in the shower… I got to around 65 and gave myself a slight headache from thinking so hard, but whatever.  What I need to do, though, is actually speak to people in German!  There’s a German bakery nearby that I plan to visit regularly, but since I’m trying to lose weight I don’t think I should go more than once a week.  :)  Besides, it’s not really a place I where I could hang out and be able to do much more than exchange pleasantries:  Hi, how are you?  I’m good, thank you, and you?  Womp womp womp.  I need to have real conversations with people if I’m ever going to become fluent.  So… are you fluent in German?  Email me at aleciabangbang [at] gmail.com and we can chat on Skype, if you’d like.  Guten Tag!
• I’m writing an e-book.  Everyone has one nowadays, don’t they?  ;)  Mine will be a very short guide aimed toward vegans who travel frequently for business, who would like to pack their own food to take with them.  Coming soon…  In the meantime, check out this blog post about vegan travel.

I’ve decided to make some changes to the blog.  Again.  (Why do I feel as though I spend more time writing about what this blog will be about than anything else?  Hmmm)

I will no longer be sharing recipes (unless I find something I’m super-excited about).  I still love to cook, but would rather leave kitchen experimentation to the zillion other foodies out there, many of whom do a far better job than I did.  If I come across a cookbook or a restaurant that I enjoy, I’ll share my recommendation.  If I have a thought/rant about something related to veganism/restaurants/other food-related stuff, you’ll find it here.  (By the way, if you have a lot of cookbooks, have you tried Eat Your Books?  It allows you to do a search through your cookbook library to find the perfect recipe.  Faboo!)

The blog will be more focused on my goals (see my newly-edited Happiness List) and my progress toward reaching them.  That’s the direction I’d been trying to take for a while but I was too wishy-washy.  Some of my goals are silly and light-hearted, and some are things that will really help me with my career.

The goals I’m focusing on right now are:

1. Becoming fluent in German (#6), as I mentioned above.
2. Becoming a restaurant consultant (#33).  Answering questions and giving advice to my friends about “vegan stuff” has been something I’ve enjoyed for almost five years.  Whenever I walk into a restaurant, I’m always bursting with ideas about how they can become more attractive to vegans and vegetarians.  (Remember this post?  It’s still my most popular one by far.)  Surely there’s some restaurant owner out there who’s willing to listen to my advice and the knowledge I’ve gained after eating at hundreds of restaurants around the country, and the world.  Right?
3. Hosting a cooking or food-related show on YouTube (#67).  This one is the scariest!  What would I do/make?  How will I format it?  What will I wear?  I’d like to do a series of shows but for now just one will make me happy.

I’ve been reading Rosetta Thurman’s wonderful career-coaching blog, Happy Black Woman, and her latest post discusses having someone in your life you are accountable to, to keep you on track.  I don’t have a person to speak with regularly and can’t afford to hire a coach (I’m unemployed now!) so this blog is where I will go.

Anyway, I’m glad to be back to blogging again!  Thank you very much for reading.