As fun as the 4th can be, I am glad it’s over. I guess fireworks aren’t as exciting as I get older and I hate what they do to the dogs more. Leela used to be terrified and was a nervous wreck during fireworks. Now that she’s older, blind, and mostly deaf, she doesn’t notice them at all. But they really bother Miko now. We went to my sister’s house for a family party last night and I felt terrible about leaving him home alone and left a radio on, but there were just so many fireworks in our neighborhood this year and he was so terrified when we got home I had to coax him out of our closet. Neither of us slept well last night.
Thankfully he’s much better today and happy to share cauliflower and carrots with me at dinner.
Sunday night I met some great vegan friends at Pho Fresh to discuss judging and posting results from The Great Sacramento Vegan Burger Battle and tried two of their offerings, the pulled mushroom sliders and the great eastern mushroom and tofu burger.
They were both excellent! Usually I’m not a huge fan of mushroom burgers being picky about the texture and flavors. But these worked so well, the savory, cheesy flavors and crunchy textures from the big eastern burger were perfect. The battle was a big success with a lot of feedback and participation that we’re going to try and make it happen next year and maybe even bigger which is exciting. And a lot of the restaurants are keeping the vegan burgers on the menu and all have had a lot of success selling the Beyond Meat and Impossible Burgers which is such positive news for this area.
Between decadent vegan burgers and holiday eats, I’ve been keeping other meals simple and healthier with large salads and oil-free stir fries.
And after so many great vegan burgers, we decided on vegan hot dogs for the 4th of July celebration with Lightlife Smart Dogs loaded with sauerkraut, mustard, ketchup, and relish. And paired with a simple salad and bean salad and a colorful summer plate.
Then we played darts until it was time for quick fireworks in the street before racing home comfort poor Miko. It was a fun 4th, great spending time with family even though we didn’t stay out too late on a work night. Hope everyone that celebrated had a great time.
Ugh, neither Luka nor I slept well that entire week. It’s bad enough to have the explosions going on for the 4th, but it seems like the whole city wanted to keep blowing things up every night just for the fun of it. Luka went crazy, of course. Poor baby… I really hope it’s done with now! I used to love fireworks but now I dread them, as does he.
Me either with the heat and fireworks. So true on fireworks and it’s scary seeing pets suffer and deal with fire fears with everything so dry now.