...and now for something completely different...

i've been a vegetarian for what seems like a very long time.

i don't eat any kind of meat at all, even seafood (unless it's the holidays or i have something rather magnificent to celebrate), although i get absolutely insane cravings for bacon. 

but whenever i have to tell someone about my meatless diet, i always feel compelled to add that i am a LAZY vegetarian. any meal i eat is usually created with the aid of a microwave or a toaster oven, and almost always involves some kind of melted cheese. i eat lots of bread, pasta (with creamy alfredo sauces OF COURSE), butter, milk, eggs, french fries, nachos, grilled cheese, blah blah blah FAT. 

this diet has led my grandmother to comment: "how do you gain so much weight eating nothing but vegetables?"

the truth is: i eat hardly any vegetables at all. 

so when a co-worker of mine mentioned that she had always wanted to give being vegan another shot, i was excited by the prospect, and we made a one-month pact. from january 6th to february 6th, we would be vegan. 

i didn't make the choice out of any misplaced sense of pride, or as a makeshift weight-loss program, or out of pity for the poor exploited animals (as i may have mentioned to many people before, i dislike animals on general principle....they're dirty and usually smell). i decided to cut all dairy and egg products out of my life because i want to learn how to eat healthier as a vegetarian, and how to cook for myself in a way that doesn't involve me pressing the 1-minute button on the microwave. 

i decided to re-tool my blogspot account (which i used for my vienna trip--the posts are still all here) to help me stick to my decision, talk about cooking vegan food, and, quite honestly, to get some moral support. Cause i have a feeling this is going to be hard. 

so here we go: one month of being vegan!