Spring Vibes for the List

Easter was a great time with family, Miko was happy to snooze in his lap blanket while the bigger, younger dogs played hard in the backyard.

Miko is doing okay this week, he has lower energy days with more coughing, but still a decent appetite and good about taking his medication. And happy to enjoy the cooler, wet weather in his warm beds last week. But spring is coming back this week with warmer temps and dry weather.

I have been trying to eat well while juggling stress, it has not been easy and my creativity is lacking as you can tell. But the smoky “ham” flavored soy curls we did for Easter worked out well.

We got a decent amount of rain last week making for beautiful clear air and clouds. And it has been ages since I visited Davis, California – since well before the pandemic. We headed there this weekend to check out the vegan and shopping scene which appears to still be recovering from the pandemic sadly. But still a hip, vibrant college town scene with lots of fun art and thrift shopping.

I stepped into one vintage, thrift clothing shop and found I am not as young or as hip anymore after overhearing a group or 20-somethings get in a light-hearted fight over who would buy the zebra-printed waist pack. I am just not cool enough to pull that off, ha.

For a progressive college town, the vegan dine-out scene appears to not be what it used to be. Sure, there are good local chain places like Burger Patch and Plant Power Fast Food. But unique, local options seemed to be lacking compared to what I remember. We decided on a mostly plant-based health food local place called Musette. When we arrived, we found it was in the middle of a mostly empty indoor shopping mall, but offered some unique plant-based superfood bowls with house made curry and other creamy plant-based dressings. We got the Pannier Bowl, a filling blend of brown rice and lentil “meatballs” with turmeric rice, lentils, curried cauliflower, raisins, picked onions, beets, and a vibrant blend of healthy flavors. Also the Century Bowl combining a jackfruit and mushroom “meaty” blend, quinoa, chi chickpeas, and kale with citrus and a smoky eggplant tahini sauce that was wonderful.

Other eats was a hearty protein pasta marinara dish and curry Thai tofu takeout again. I did harvest a large cabbage from our garden and found out why I should not let them grow that large because they start splitting the cabbage head into smaller heads and blooms in the center. But it still made a good tofu stir fry.

And here I am back at the Sunday blues, or trying not that have them facing a 5-day work week ahead with a lot going on. I am trying to be positive, but burnout is a struggle and it’s time to start planning a vacation soon. And look to this list for a positive start to the week.

• If you’re going to Vegas, here’s where to eat.
• How to get iron on a vegan diet.
• Essential vegan products at Trader Joe’s.
• I need to try Vegan Mob, next road trip!
• Vegan shoes for men.
• What does vegan clothing mean?
• High protein vegan recipes.
• Tabitha Brown on why she went vegan.
• New vegan scrambled “eggs”.