Long Weekend Love

It is so nice to have today off work. While it’s been a great weekend, it’s also been packed with activities, so I’m thankful to have today to catch up on house stuff and get in a long run. I finished watching another documentary on Netflix, Happy, and really enjoyed it.

It takes a look at many people in other cultures and compares their level of happiness while analyzing what makes them happy. Some of the major factors of happiness are physical activity, a sense of community, having more fun, and having a sense of purpose or positive impact of other lives. It looked at people living in poor slums that were happy because their jobs had purpose, they lived in a close community, and had simple lives. It’s a very interesting and positive documentary that was more engaging and entertaining than most sitcoms.

I’ve also been enjoying quiet mornings surfing the internet and sipping coffee with a relaxed lap dog.

So much better than rushing off to work at 7 AM.

Other than smoothies and salads, my eats have not been very raw the last few days. Hubby and I tried a new Vietnamese restaurant for lunch on a chilly day where I started with tofu spring rolls dipped in peanut sauce.

Then a veggie pho bowl that was almost too big to finish!

It was packed with mushrooms, baby corn, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and green onions – tons of veggies for the price and much prettier than the greyish/brown meat pho bowls at other tables.

For a simple dinner at home, I coated steamed spaghetti squash in a fresh marinara sauce whipped up in the Vitamix and topped with Trader Joe’s Vegan Mozzarella shreds.

And I had a fast tempeh stir fry for another simple dinner at home using a mixture of grated ginger, tahini, tamari, and garlic for the stir fry sauce.

We also had a fabulous family gathering for my sister’s birthday with plenty vegan-friendly appetizers, including the Spiced Fudge Balls I threw together.

It was a family pizza part where my sister and her husband made large batches of pizza dough for everyone to create their own custom mini pizzas. And it was the first time I got to try Trader Joe’s Vegan Mozzarella shreds on an actual pizza.

I liberally sprinkled on the shreds over marinara sauce, then layered on peppers, olives, pineapple, artichoke hearts, and onions – how’s that for a crazy combo?

The vegan shreds look transparent after baking, but still had a nice gooey and stringy texture similar to traditional cheese and added a nice mozzarella flavor – so it gets a thumbs up from me for using on a vegan pizza.

Yesterday I attended a free 4-hour class on self-defense with a friend that was very interesting and scary. The instructor was a cop with a lot of experience in disturbing cases and the first half he discussed those and basic self-defense techniques. For the second part, we broke into groups and practiced moves to get out of certain situations. It was an awesome and informative class, but a little disturbing and scary at the same time. Still, it’s something every young women and parent of young children should attend for sure!