Sunday, May 4, 2008

a weekend of two anniversaries

It was this weekend last year that I moved from Tampa, Fl to the Atlanta, Ga area. It has truly been one of the best years of my life. Mind you, I do miss living near our families, but it was always a dream of mine to move to Atlanta, and Jared and I made it happen. We are close to the mountains (my favorite scenery) and we actually had four distinct seasons instead of just two seasons in Florida (too hot and not as hot). I got to enjoy snow for the first time in my life (at least that I can recall . . . I was, after all, born in Indiana). In this year, I decided to make a career change by going back to school, something I probably wouldn't have done in Tampa because I had a comfortable job there. I got to experience life as a homemaker on accident since finding a job here has proved to be almost impossible. Lastly, one of the biggest things this year has brought was a complete lifestyle change by becoming vegan.
This weekend marks my one-year anniversary of being a vegan! Deciding to live a cruelty free life has been one of the most satisfying changes in my life. I don't miss anything about being an omnivore because I have exponentially improved my cooking and baking skills by recreating my old favorites. I had a 40 drop in my cholesterol levels, love that I am no longer tempted to eat at 99% of the restaurants I would have in the past and maybe most importantly, my soul just feels so much better knowing that I am not contributing to any suffering for our gastronomical cravings or fashion needs.
Jared helped me celebrate my one year vegan anniversary by taking us out to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Atlanta: Soul Vegetarian. We rarely eat out now that we are savings for school costs, so when I get to eat at Soul Veg, I do it up right.
Most meals here start with a nice little salad with their famous Prince Dressing (which is what I loosely base our homemade house dressing on).
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Jared also got a small bowl of Orange Lentil soup with his salad.
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For my main meal (not the greatest picture), I got what I affectionately call, the "brown plate" which includes BBQ cauliflower (deep fried battered cauliflower drenched in BBQ sauce . . . trust me it is sooo good) and 2 sides. I almost always get their famous mac and cheese with onion rings. I could be less naughty and get collard greens or broccoli for a side but it's hard to pass up the mac and cheese and the BEST onion rings on the planet.
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Jared got his usual tofu sandwich with onion rings. This sandwich kinda has a fried fish thing to it since it's dredged in a cornmeal batter and then placed on a bum with their homemade tarter sauce. You can't go wrong with this!
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If lunch at one of my favorites places wasn't enough, Jared also took me to Abbadabbas and bought me pair of new flip-flops. I love shoes, generally, but I almost always wear flip-flops. I had my last pair for so long and wore them so often that the bottoms were completely slick. It feels weird breaking in these new flip-flops but I love them so much!
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What's the best way to celebrate two anniversaries? Ice cream, of course! I have an ice cream maker but didn't have time to make a base to chill and then freeze, so we went to Whole Foods and picked up some Purely Decadent, my favorite brand of soy ice cream. They were on sale too! I was in a chocolate mood but they were all out so I tried a new flavor called Turtle Trails, which has caramel sauce, chocolate covered pecan pralines in vanilla ice cream. YUM!!!
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30 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

So glad that you're happy about your new location and your decision to go back to school; and of COURSE happy one-year anniversary of being a vegan!! I celebrated my one-year anniversary this past March, and it feels great :0)

I used to eat the Turtle Trails flavor all the time - yum! :0)

Anonymous said...

HAPPY VEGAN ANNIVERSARY!!! =)

Leigh said...

I'm glad you guys moved here. We probably wouldn't have met you otherwise! And the brown plate at Soul v is the perfect way to celebrate anything, I say.

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Happy Veganniversary!

We just had a veg soul food place open in our area & it's tasty, so I can imagine how good your celebratory meal was! yum yum.

J said...

Happy Vegan/Movin' to Georgia Anniversary!

I am seriously drooling over all that food. YUM!

Beez said...

I looovvee Purely Decadent Ice Cream!! I always stick with the Chocolate flavors but I need to try the Turtle Trails. I love your blog, I am from Jacksonville, Florida and moved to Seattle May 2006 and its great to see a fellow vegan in the south like yourself make such an extraordinary blog like this one! Keep up the great work

Tofu Mom (AKA Tofu-n-Sprouts) said...

Oh wow! That plate looks good. I am SOOOO going to try re-creating that cauliflower... and I would order the mac-n-cheeze too!! Congrats!

MeloMeals said...

Happy Veganiversary!

Jes said...

Happy vegaversary! And happy moving to Atlantaversary! Hopefully I'll run into the both of you soon!

Sam said...

Happy anniversaries!

Bee Roach said...

Happy Anniversary!! That brown plate looks amazing! I now must visit Atlanta!! The turtle ice cream sounds so good, too :) I'm going to have to make a trip to Whole Foods soon.

Glue and Glitter said...

Happy anniversary! Man, I love Soul Veg. That place is delicious!

I was trying to track down your email address so I could ask you about something for the Indie Craft Experience. If you have a chance, could you email me? bstriepe AT gmail DOT com. :)

Anonymous said...

sounds like you celebrated perfectly! congrats to you! and, is that an owl cookie jar in the background of the photo with the ice cream? it's so cute!

Animal-Friendly said...

Congratulation on your on year vegan-niversary!

A delicious looking meal at a restaurant and ice cream- what a great way to celebrate! The barbecue cauliflower sounds sooooooooo good (I am definitely going to be trying to make a homemade version sometime since I can't get to Atlanta any time soon!) I haven't tried the turtle trails Purely Decadent yet, but it sounds great

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversaries- How wonderful that you get to celebrate them both at once!

Alicia said...

Congratulations! It seems to have been a very important year of your life, and it's great to know you're feeling you made the right choices :-)

Anonymous said...

oooh, onion rings. Those look wonderful!

I'm a little iffy on cauliflower... I think it's one of those things you either love or hate.

Jared's tofu burger looks really good, though.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Yum-- cauliflower in bbq sauce!

And ya gotta love that turtle trails!

Jess said...

Happy Veganversary! I totally relate to your feelings regarding veganism. It's so absolutely fulfilling & amazing! And yay for loving Atlanta, too. :)

Gorgeous pictures!

Theresa said...

Ah, happy anniversaries! What a great way to celebrate - you certainly deserve it!

Me said...

Congrats on the anniversary! The bbq cauliflower looks awesome. I was in Atlanta for a trip a while back and tried their bbq tofu and mac & cheese, so good!

p.s. I added you to the blog roll of my (new) blog

VeganCowGirl said...

Happy Happy Anniversary!!!

Who doesn't love shoes! Your flip flops are super duper cute.

What was the impetus for moving to Atlanta? Besides the mountains and seasons?

Vegan_Noodle said...

Wow, it has been quite a year of change for you! Sounds like you are a very strong person to totally change your life. Happy veganiversary!

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Happy 2 anniversaries!

Midgie said...

yay!!!! this month is my one year anniversary in becoming a vegetarian!!!

aTxVegn said...

Happy happy anniversaries! Atlanta seems like a great place to be vegan.

Rural Vegan said...

Happy Veggieversary!

Turtle Trails is my absolute favorite Purely Decadent flavor. So good!

That "brown plate" however, is incredible looking. I haven't had fried cauliflower in years, but I remember it being good!

Veggie said...

What a yummy way to celebrate.

Happy Veganiversary!

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