I’m a star!

I was just cast in the lead role of Catherine in our local theater group’s production of the Pulitzer prize winning Broadway play Proof! YAY!

And when I say lead role, I mean lead role. There are 83 pages in the script, and I’m in 80 of them. Whew. That is a lot of [...]]]>

I’m a star!

I was just cast in the lead role of Catherine in our local theater group’s production of the Pulitzer prize winning Broadway play Proof! YAY!

And when I say lead role, I mean lead role. There are 83 pages in the script, and I’m in 80 of them. Whew. That is a lot of lines to memorize.

But I’m not worried, I’m thrilled! This is my first time on stage in 8 years. Growing up I was always in the theater. In fact, during school we traveled all over Europe and the Middle East participating in acting and debate competitions. So, being back on stage feels so good and really natural.

The performances will be the first week of November, so the next 2 months will be a flurry of preparation. Catherine is such a compelling character, I really relate to her struggles and her personality…except for the math genius part!

So, on top of that news, I’ve been busy in other areas of my life lately. That explains the lack of posting. Sorry! I’ve been even more swamped than usual with women’s rights work – writing, researching, editing, rewriting. The usual. But I love it, so no worries. I’ve also got a ton of grad school paperwork to muddle through. Does anyone else hate mindless paperwork as much as I do? Plus, I’m gearing up for our second World Hunger Souljourn. The amount of work that goes into that is unreal, so I’m trying to get a head start.

But, as always, I make plenty of room for delicious food. Here are a few highlights from the past week -

Snack Plates 4 Ever!

Nutty Noochy Pate...I love you.

All the usual suspects get food processorized into my most favorite of nut pates – cashews, lemon juice, garlic cloves, soy sauce, turmeric, nooch, HOT SAUCE, anything delicious and nutritious.

The REAL star of the show.

The tiniest bit of leftovers from THE BEST POTATO SALAD IN THE UNIVERSE. Yeah, some of you bitch and moan that I claim that too many things are THE BEST, but you know what? I don’t care.

Anyway. This potato salad REALLY IS THE BEST. I boiled rough chopped red new potatoes, tossed them while warm with vegan mayo, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, thinly sliced red onions, and chopped marinated green olives. OH MY YUM.

Veggie Packed Zatar Bread

It’s the Muslim holy month of Ramadan right now, which means an entire month of dinners and parties and celebrations with family and friends. The grocery stores help out by always having tons of freshly prepared goodies you can grab up and take with you. Veggie packed Zatar bread is my favorite quick and easy snack.

Speaking of veggie packed...

You know I can never get enough veggies! I love veggie wraps with a side of super salty roasted pistachios. And I think I just about eat a salad with every meal. I think it’s cause I like the dressings!

The magical fruit!

And you know it wouldn’t be Voracious Vegan Headquarters without a pot of fresh made beans in the fridge at all times. The more onions and garlic in there the better! Serve with a side of fresh made bread topped with avocado and it’s a perfect meal.

We’ve also been social butterflies lately which is SO unlike me and Cody – we are usually the two biggest homebodies. But we’ve been playing tourguide lately to this really awesome American guy who just moved to Saudi last week. He contacted me through my blog a few months ago to see what it would be like to live in Saudi as a vegan. Yep, he’s a fellow veggie!

The new guy himself!

Me and the infamous Coco Larue.

Expat music night!

We also went took him out to dinner with a big group of our friends.

Of course, my brain froze up, probably unused to all the social graces being required of me, and I forgot to take any pictures.

Except one. It’s like my brain wanted to prove that mentally I’m still 12 years old.

Until next time! Hope you are all having a great week!

xoxox

And when I say heat, I mean HEAT. It has reached 120F with 60% humidity [...]]]> Sorry for the long absence, folks! I think this heat is melting my brain. It’s definitely sapping me of any motivation to cook blogworthy meals, so you’ll have to bear with monotonous shots of green smoothies and salads for a while.

And when I say heat, I mean HEAT. It has reached 120F with 60% humidity over the past few weeks and it will hold steady for another 6 weeks at least. Summertime in Saudi Arabia is no joke, it is not just gross stepping outside, but downright dangerous. We hibernate inside in the AC as much as possible!

Yesterday when I woke up my sweet husband already had a green smoothie waiting for me. Have I mentioned that I’m the luckiest woman ever?

Breakfast of Champions. And me.

We finally found organic baby spinach (imported from the USA – talk about food miles) and my life is now complete.

Finding decent greens is really difficult here, the usual option is local chard which is pesticide laden, bitter as all get out, and totally lifeless. When I can find fresh, tender, flavor packed organic baby spinach I’m thrilled.

I’m all for eating local, and would all the time if the local options weren’t all covered in nasty chemicals! When the choice is racking up food miles to support sustainably grown organic produce that is good for my body or buying local foods that are poisoning the earth and my body, I’m going to have to go with organic every time, food miles be damned.

After sipping my yummy breakfast I suffered through the torturous 5 minute drive to the gym. Usually I bike or walk but in this weather? I don’t think so. Even in the car with the AC blasting I arrive to the gym in a puddle of sweat gasping for air. Well, at least I’m warmed up for my workout!

An hour of full body weight training later I come home and find that sweet hubby of mine had made me one of these beauties -

Slurp.

An icy cold juice filled with apples, carrots, cucumbers, celery, and tons of mint and ginger was just what I needed to cool down after my muscle melting workout. Yum!

Of course, a juice keeps me filled up for about 5 minutes. So, before too long I was tearing into this -

Snack Attack!

I eat a variation of these snack-plates several times a week – I love them! What you see up there is fresh blueberries and blackberries, guacamole, crackers, raw veggies, and cashew cilantro Baja cheeze.

After that snacky lunch Cody and I lounged around the house enjoying our weekend (Thursday/Friday here in the Land of Sand) and daydreamed about the future. A cottage out in the country, a vegetable garden, a herd of dingos, and a drum circle or two might have been mentioned.

Once the early evening rolled around and the stores opened up we piled into the car, braving the heat once more, and headed into Khobar, the town outside of our compound to do a little shopping.

We headed for Desert Designs, an upscale home decor store targeted at wealthy expats who would rather overspend than trawl through the dusty, grimy souks looking for authentic bedouin treasures. Desert Designs is filled with local tribal crafts, bedouin antiques and reproductions, and all the things expats love to fill their homes with.

Normally, I wouldn’t set foot there because I love sifting through the souqs and exploring dusty desert markets , but in this weather I was willing to pay that little b it extra for the pleasure of shopping in comfort.

Abaya + 120F = heat stroke.

(NO! I definitely do not and would not wear the abaya by choice. I HAVE to wear it when I leave my compound or else I would be arrested.)

After picking up a few gifts and trinkets to send off for friends and family we went on a mad and ultimately pointless search for edamame. It is only fitting, now that I have nooch back in my life, the balance of fate in Saudi Arabia must decree that something be missing. Saudi inventory giveth and taketh away. Sigh. I will miss my giant salty bowl of edamame every night.

So, loaded down with cute gifts and adorable knick knacks but lacking the all important edamame we arrived home to walk the dogs (an ugly undertaking in this heat, I didn’t know I could sweat so much) and make dinner.

PIZZA PIZZA! This was the perfect end to a hot and sweaty day.

I topped the pizza with pizza sauce, sauted onions, bell peppers, wilted spinach, huge slices of pickled jalapenos, and liquid smoke coated Boca Burgers. There’s nothing like pizza when you are feeling lazy and HUNGRY, is there?

***

And don’t forget to enter my TofuXpress Giveaway! If you want to win your very own TofuXpress, enter this giveaway and good luck! Thank you to the generous people at TofuXpress for this giveaway!

Thanks to all of you who participated in the giveaway and thanks again to VegNews for naming The Voracious Vegan [...]]]> The randomly selected lucky winner of the VegNews Giveaway is…. Jennifer of Soy Chai Bookshelf! Congratulations, Jennifer! Contact me with your info and we’ll get your 1 year subscription to VegNews sent off right away.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the giveaway and thanks again to VegNews for naming The Voracious Vegan as one of their Top 10 Vegan blogs!

***

Jennifer wasn’t the only one who got lucky this week. I did too!

Remember that health food store in Bahrain that I was telling you about?

Well, their promises of a shipment of nutritional yeast finally came true! And oh did we stock up…

SO MUCH NOOCH! I am over the moon about our latest find – we have been out of nutritional yeast for months now and I was getting desperate.

Nothing can beat nooch’s cheezy taste, amazing texture, cheezy taste, and fantastic protein/B-12 profile. And did I mention the cheezy taste???

So, the meals I’ve eaten in the past few days have been comprised of approximately 50% nutritional yeast, and 50% items that can be dipped in nutritional yeast. For example -

Burger, fries, nacho cheeze dip!

What can I say? I like a little burger with my vegan mayo.

The star of the show.

The nacho cheese sauce was devoured entirely and the bowl licked clean by the end of this meal. I think my body is craving nooch on a cellular level…I’ve been deprived for too long!

There’s no real recipe for the sauce, it’s just my typical cheezy dipping sauce. I blend up cashews, lemon juice, soy sauce, NOOCH, salt, pepper, turmeric, and whatever else I’m feeling like adding that day. Hot sauce is always recommended.

Fear not, dear readers, there have been meals that didn’t focus entirely on the beauty of nooch. Behold –

The sweetest berries I've had in years.

Sweet Berries, Hummus, Bread, and Falafel!

I also got lucky this week because on my very first attempt to veganize and old favorite – I succeeded!

Success!

Can you guess what delicious and decadent dessert this is? Don’t worry, answer and recipe coming soon!

Luscious and golden and creamy and smooth...

Too pretty for words.

So any lucky guesses as to what that dessert might be? I can’t wait to tell you and share the recipe, I hope you are as excited for it as I was. It tastes exactly, exactly, EXACTLY like the ‘real’ thing.

But this week someone else got very, very unlucky.

Poor Jack had a wardrobe malfunction while playing fetch!

Luckily, we fixed him up in no time and hid his shame. This is Saudi Arabia, after all, we’ve got very strict modesty laws!

Then it was back to the fun!

throw the ball throw the ball throw the ball throw the ball throw the ball...

All tuckered out!

Congratulations again to Jennifer for winning, and thanks again to everyone who entered the giveaway.

Because of all of you fantastic readers, bloggers, friends, and commenters, I feel like I’m the lucky one.

Have a great day! xox

Who: Farm Sanctuary – Farm Sanctuary is an AMAZING organization that I am happy and proud to support.

“They operate two shelters — a 175-acre farm in upstate [...]]]> Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help Farm Sanctuary!

Who: Farm Sanctuary – Farm Sanctuary is an AMAZING organization that I am happy and proud to support.

“They operate two shelters — a 175-acre farm in upstate New York and a 300-acre farm in northern California. Their shelters rescue, rehabilitate and provide lifelong care for hundreds of animals who have been rescued from stockyards, factory farms, and slaughterhouses. Farm Sanctuary gives these animals all the care and love needed to recover from a lifetime of abuse and neglect. All of the animals have nourishing food, spacious, clean barns, and acres of green, sunny pastures in which to roam.”

What: Farm Animal Adoption Network -

“Farm Sanctuary also operates the country’s largest farm animal rescue and adoption network.  Every year, they assist with urgent placement needs — particularly in cruelty cases involving large numbers of animals. When their shelters are full, they depend on compassionate people who want to make a direct difference for a suffering cow, pig, chicken or other farm animal. Since 1986, nearly 3,000 needy farm animals have been given a new beginning — thanks to people all across the country who have room in their hearts and their homes to join our FARM ANIMAL ADOPTION NETWORK (FAAN).”

“Farm Sanctuary recently came to the aid of six male Holstein calves, several just days old, who had been abandoned without food or water and left for dead.  With much love and care these calves are now thriving, but they are in desperate need of potential adopters for these sweet boys.: To read more about their amazing story – click here!

Why: Because all of you amazing people out there have the ability to help an awesome organization and save lives! Sure, you might not have enough room to adopt a farm animal, but maybe you have a friend or family member who does, or maybe they have a friend or family member who does. All it takes is a little bit of effort and we can make the world a better place. Never underestimate the power of your actions!

How: Please send emails about this story to friends and family, tweet about it, post the story to your facebook page, post a story on your blog, put up fliers at work, make an announcement at your school, link back to this story on your blog – get the word out any way you can!

Farm Sanctuary really does a phenomenal thing, saving the animals most people don’t care to even think about. I really hope you can find a way to help them out.

Speaking of Farm Sanctuary… you might remember my Valentine’s Day post where I encouraged people to sponsor an animal from Farm Sanctuary. Remember Plantain? He’s our sponsored cutie!

***

Helping Farm Sanctuary isn’t the only mission we have been on lately. Earlier this week Cody had to spend a few days across the causeway from Saudi Arabia in the tiny island Kingdom of Bahrain to renew his visa and do some passport paperwork. As you all have heard me mention a thousand times, Bahrain has a much better selection of vegan treats than Saudi Arabia, so we like to stock up whenever there.

We had been hearing exciting rumors that there was a new specialty food store in Bahrain with lots of vegan goodies – including Sheese! The only vegan cheese I’ve ever tried is the only kind they carry here – Tofutti. While I love Tofutti cream cheese, their sliced cheese is only okay and it doesn’t shred or taste too good on pizza. I had heard that Sheese was great and I told Cody it was his mission to find some and bring it home to me.

It’s not as easy to find places around here as you might think. There are no addresses, no maps, no mapquest, no accurate way to find your way around at all….you go by people’s vague gestures, landmarks, and a whole lot of luck! Somehow, my sweet Cody, with his total lack of direction, managed to find this health food store….and Sheese! And exquisite chocolate!

Here was the haul he brought back to me:

Look at that beautiful Sheese!

My favorite flavor was mozzarella – it tasted mild and slightly tangy, just like real mozzarella. I sprinkled some over a pizza (it shreds beautifully!) and it was one of the best pizzas I have had since going vegan. THAT good. Its flavor was just right, and even though it didn’t melt completely, it still added that cheezy chewy texture that I love so much.

I was so hungry I couldn’t even cut proper pretty slices. Good thing the way it looks didn’t affect the delicious taste!

And who can eat pizza without a big bowl of garlic butter?

Next, we got out the cheddar flavor and piled it into black bean, rice, veggie, avocado quesadillas. You can see how yummy that was!

Sheese Verdict – pretty great! Cody loves it unabashedly. He is piling it onto crackers as I type. And I enjoy it, but not without reservation.

Eating big bites of Sheese on its own leaves a not so pleasant taste in my mouth, but this is not a problem when the Sheese is lightly sprinkled on top of something, like pizza, or in the middle of something, like a quesadilla. In that situation it is SO GOOD!

And for dessert, what else but chocolate!?!

So far we’ve only tried the 75% dark Ecuadorian chocolate but it was really delicious. The texture was fantastic, smooth and extra creamy. The flavor was good, but very intensely dark (obviously!). I prefer my chocolate a little more sweet with stronger notes of vanilla.

(I find it funny that people are always surprised that I will eat chocolate, they assume that it isn’t vegan. The truth is, high quality chocolate, like high quality bread, is almost exclusively vegan. Traditionally milk, and other non-vegan add ins, are considered ‘fillers”, things that you add for bulk, to stretch the product, not a desirable ingredient at all.)

Look how smooth and pretty!

Well, Cody’s mission was a huge success, and I hope yours is too!

PLEASE spread the word about Farm Sanctuary so they can find homes for their rescued animals. PLEASE don’t just click away without taking action. PLEASE tell your friends, family, strangers, blog readers, co-workers – anyone!

PLEASE be the change you wish to see in the world!

Actually, where in the world are you? It might be fun to find out how scattered across the globe we all are – leave a comment saying what country you are in, and what country [...]]]> Hello all of you lovely people! I hope you are having a great day, wherever in the world you are.

Actually, where in the world are you? It might be fun to find out how scattered across the globe we all are – leave a comment saying what country you are in, and what country you are from!

Things here in the Land of Sand are peachy keen, except for this heat. It is much hotter, much sooner, than it was last year. We are already up to 118F with a hefty helping of humidity. This weather means I’m trapped inside all day long, only venturing outside to walk the dogs, hike, or ride my horse in the early morning or late evening. And it is only June which means there is 4 more months of this to go!

Even though we are trapped inside, our Insanity workouts are still going strong! You know what’s even crazier? I’m just adding them on to my regular workout schedule! Let’s see if I can take it. All this Insanity means I need lots of yummy food to power me through the day. Here is what I’ve been noshing -

Breakfast – I have a green smoothie almost every day. It is hearty enough to get me through my workout that follows my morning meal, but light enough not to weigh me down. I blend up chard with bananas, frozen strawberries and frozen blueberries, with enough soy or rice milk to smooth it out. Always yummy!

While sipping on breakfast I start my day by reading and answering all my emails and getting my work plan started for the day. Lately I have been getting so many hateful and ugly comments on my blog I just can’t believe it.

Of course, I instantly delete them and I have trained myself never to take the bait and respond, no matter how badly I want to. I used to think I should reply to every message and maybe be a good advocate for veganism, or feminism, but I have finally come to realize that if people start out the exchange by spewing hateful idiocy, then they will never be reached by anything I say.

Why people waste the time to leave half coherent poorly thought out criticisms of the way I look, my feminist ethics, or my vegan food, I will never know. Folks, if you don’t like what you see here, move along – click away!

After sifting through my mail and slurping away on my green smoothie I skedaddled to the gym and spent 20 minutes on the treadmill loosening up – Insanity has my muscles so tight – before moving onto 20 minutes on the elliptical (my favorite!) and 20 minutes on the summit climber. It was one of those great days where I could really push myself to my absolute limit and still feel strong and energetic. Love those!

Lunch – Remember that yummy cilantro and lime tofu I made the other day? Well, I piled the leftovers on toast with lots of vegan mayo and spicy mustard and I was in sandwich heaven. For some reason, bread and mustard and mayo makes everything even better! I really loved this simple meal!

In the afternoon I picked back up my writing work and got a few articles polished and finished up. While starting a piece is difficult, sometimes finishing them is even harder! I am always so reluctant to send them off to be published because I keep thinking I can make them just a little bit better. I passed the time while agonizing for ages over tiny differences in grammar or word choice by munching on a snack plate that looked a little something like this -

After enjoying my snack of spicy cashews, sundried tomato pesto, bell peppers, zucchini and orange slices I was feeling much more relaxed and mellow. I called it quits on my writing for the day and waited eagerly for Cody to get home so we could continue our Insanity workouts.

Insanity is CRAZY! All the hopping and bouncing and jumping and leaping gets my heart pounding and turns my legs into pure jell-o. I love love love this workout series; it is motivating and a lot of fun. You also don’t need any weights or special equipment, just some room to groove. Have you tried the Insanity workouts yet? How much do you love them?

After we wrapped up our workout and caught our breath we took our unruly dingo herd for our usual 45+ minute walk. This time we stuck close to our neighborhood, after all the excercise we weren’t sure we could make it too far! Polly and Lobi (our little dogs) love our daily walks, but Jack (our young, big dog) needs them for his sanity. He is almost 4 years old now but is still in puppy mode mentally, and if he didn’t get his daily constitutional he might pop!

Dinner – was a pot of pinto beans that I had been simmering away for about 4 hours with lots of onions and garlic. I love beans. They are so cheap and easy to make, super healthy, and always delicious. I like mine with a lot of broth, that is my favorite part! I also had some roasted broccoli (broccoli is magical when roasted) and some of my dad’s fresh baked rosemary garlic bread. Ohhhh soooo gooood!

Dessert – Peanut Butter Bombshell Ice Cream from Bittersweet’s e-book A la Mode.

There are no words. None. Not even one that could possibly describe the immense perfection of this ice cream. It is a scientifically proven fact that the combination of chocolate and peanut butter is the best thing on earth and this ice cream marries the two perfectly. The taste is amazing – salty and super sweet, a rich peanut butter caramel flavor spiked with lots of dark chocolate chunks.

But the texture, oh the texture. I omitted the peanuts that the recipe calls for because I knew I wanted it as luscious as possible – jackpot! This ice cream is my favorite EVER because of the soft, rich texture, more like a very firm frozen yogurt than an ice cream. I never like ice cream that has ice crystals or is too hard, so this soft and rich, almost chewy consistency was PERFECT for me.

I have to go have another bowl right now…..

Oh SO delicious! A sundried tomato tortilla, filled with sliced avocados and hot sauce, fried till crisp and served with a side of sea salted edamame, and raw veggies with a nut cheese pate. This was one of my favorite lunches ever!

Finding [...]]]> Over the past few days several things have put a smile on my face…

Oh SO delicious! A sundried tomato tortilla, filled with sliced avocados and hot sauce, fried till crisp and served with a side of sea salted edamame, and raw veggies with a nut cheese pate. This was one of my favorite lunches ever!

Finding yummy new products in our commissary always makes me smile….even though I know they’ll be permanently out of stock in a week. These Yogi Chips were tasty and I could pronounce everything in the ingredient list. That’s not a must for me, because I like myself some junk food every now and again, but it is a bonus for sure!

When Polly yawns I don’t just smile, my heart melts!

My latest OBSESSION is so simple but I just can’t get enough. I eat a version of this almost every single day, sometimes twice! Rice and beans and veggies, piled into a tortilla, topped with avocados and lots of hot sauce. YUM! This time I served a vegan butter filled tortilla and a raw veggie salad on the side. Perfection.

Speaking of salads, my new favorite thing to add to the mix is lots and lots of chopped chives. I love the mild onion flavor. To me, raw red or white onions are too strong in a salad, but chives have the right amount of onion punch without being too overwhelming. Try it!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Blondies from Bittersweet’s brilliant new e-book Blondies and Brownies! These made everyone smile, look how insanely moist they are! These are powerful peanut buttery treats, perfectly accented with a hefty serving of chocolate. The original recipe calls for dark chocolate and white chocolate chips but since vegan white chocolate doesn’t exist here I just added more dark chocolate. Is there a better combination in the world than peanut butter and chocolate? I think not!

If you haven’t bought Bittersweet’s new e-book Blondies and Brownies, what are you waiting for? I’m slowly cooking my way through the whole thing and every recipe I’ve tried so far is just out of this world delicious.

Dozing kitties always make me smile! Twilah’s little pink nose is cute enough to cheer me up even on the bleakest of days. And look at those whiskers! Isn’t she regal? Twilah barely tolerates me, she is Cody’s cat through and through, but she lets me worship her from afar. I’m the dog’s favorite, they follow me around the house from room to room, so it is good that Cody has his own little side-kick…even if it is a persnickety cat!

A simple pasta dish topped with roasted veggies will always make me smile. Pure tasty comfort food, and just the thing after a long and tiring day. I made a quick basil, tomato, and cashew pesto coated pasta and simply piled on a mix of oven roasted broccoli, zucchini, and bell peppers. It was so great!

But out of all the things that put a smile on my face this was the absolute best.

A few days ago the cops actually found my stolen car! Sure, it was busted up and had missing license plates but they found it! It was on the side of the road in Dammam, the city right outside of our compound. No one can believe it was actually found, not even the police.

But the whole thing gets even weirder because a note of apology from the thief himself was slipped under our neighbour’s door! I guess the thief was mistaken about who actually owned the car, but our neighbour (who just got back from vacation today) brought the note over a while ago and none of us could stop smiling or laughing. Isn’t it crazy?

The note says:

“I am sorry I stole your car yesterday and I went outside Aramco and now the right arm is broken. I’m so contrite and I’m so sorry. Please forgive me I really don’t know why did I do this stupid thing. It’s a white mustang GT 1991. I am 14 years old and I don’t want to get in trouble. My name is Fadi. I wish that you forgive me. The car is in Dammam.”

(And at the bottom is a map where to find our car.)

Can you believe it!?! That note definitely put a smile on my face…although my grin would have been a lot bigger had it been accompanied by a pile of money to pay to repair all the done to the car!

Cody is working full time and going to grad school, and I’ve been busier than ever with my [...]]]> What a great week we’ve been having here in the Land of Sand. Our weekends here are Thursday and Friday, so this one is almost over but we packed in lots of good food and good fun!

Cody is working full time and going to grad school, and I’ve been busier than ever with my writing and activism, so we decided to put all that aside for the past few days and just relax! (Speaking of writing, the last post of my world hunger Souljourn has been published on Conducive Chronicle. Check it out!)

Even the dogs got in on the relaxation action.

I also spent a lot of time outside soaking up the gorgeous sun, my nose buried in a book, as usual. I have to get all the yummy sun while I can, it is already in the 100s during the day, soon it will be hitting 125F with 99% humidity and we won’t even be able to go outside during the day.

See? Us freckle-faced, red heads love the sun, too. After a lifetime of living in the Saudi desert I’m pretty used to the heat, but don’t worry, I never stay out for too long!

Polly loves to sunbathe with me! My sweet soul mate is never far from my side.

And it wouldn’t be a week worth blogging about if there weren’t some delicious eats! And this is Voracious Vegan headquarters, we’ve always got tasty food.

I can’t wake up and start my day with one of these power packed green smoothies. YUMMMM!

Asparagus and cashew pesto piled on top of lots of fresh pasta- SO GOOD! It was so rich and creamy, I love this stuff.

This one bag is illusion. Multiply it by about 4 and that is how many bags of salt and vinegar chips I’ve eaten. Best flavor EVER!

You know me, I adore my snack plates. Isn’t this one a beauty?

We took a break from all this eating and lounging to take our dogs to the Spray Fields, large grassy pastures on our compound…I’m not sure what purpose they serve exactly, but the dogs love them!

While we were there Jack made a new best friend – Nelly! They hit it off immediately and romped hard! Aren’t they the cutest pair?

Awwww! They love each other!

We also went to spend some time with my sweet boy Ender and his best friend Cyprus. That is Suhail, their groom, in the middle, trying to keep the two big boys under control.

They decided to team up and attack him for carrots!

After lots of fun romping with the dingos and with the horses out in the heat we headed home for more relaxation. And  lots more food, of course!

Chimichangas stuffed with black beans, rice, bell peppers, onions, garlic, avocado and TONS of hot sauce. This is my favorite thing to eat lately, I can’t get enough.

Spicy Cuban potatoes make a great side dish. These little bites are hot, zesty, and oh so addicting!

In this heat, I’ve been making plenty of room in my diet for lots of simple, leafy green salads. I love the fresh and cooling crunch of the lettuce, and making big salads is a great way to use up any veggie odds and ends you have lying around.

And after a fantastic week of fun, family, friends, and lots of great food, you know I need a special dessert!

Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream fits the bill! It tastes like the coldest, creamiest, richest pumpkin pie imaginable. Don’t worry, recipe coming soon!

And on that sweet note, it is time for me to get back to my place in the sun, with my book and my sweet Polly. I hope you are all having a great week, too!

Life must go on and we all needed our strength [...]]]> I woke up yesterday a bundle of nerves. After breakfast Cody was going to take Volvo to the vet and as much as I kept telling myself he would be fine, in my heart I knew we weren’t going to get the news that we wanted.

Life must go on and we all needed our strength so I made towering frothy green smoothies and toast topped with peanut butter.

A little while after breakfast Cody loaded Volvo into the car and drove him to the vet. I tried to wait patiently and focus on the work that I needed to get done. I played with my other dogs, did some research for my book, and even went to the gym for an hour of weight training. I love weight training even more than cardio. Nothing makes me feel more invincible than lifting a huge stack of weights that would have been too heavy for me just a few months ago.

I came home and called Cody to see what was happening. The vet hadn’t diagnosed anything yet and had sent Volvo for a round of xrays. Poor Volvo was so nervous and scared that he had to be sedated.

At this point I was feeling shaky, both from nervous anticipation and the strenuous workout I had just been through. I needed food to recharge my trembling muscles and to keep me going for the rest of the day.

I had more raw Baja cashew cheeze on crackers, leftover roasted veggies with black beans and quinoa, and also muhammara bread and zataar bread that Cody brought back from his business trip to Bahrain.

The restaurant that makes this bread is a tiny little hole in the wall but completely famous for the amazing quality of their bread. It is so soft and light and the fillings are incredibly delicious. Muhammara is roasted onions and red peppers with kalonji black onion sees, spicy and sweet, definitely my favorite. Zataar is a mixture of herbs like oregano, basil, thyme, mint, sesame seeds and olive oil, and much loved in the Middle East. This part of the world takes its bread seriously, so when I tell you that this is GOOD bread, you better know it is really exceptional.

After I finished eating lunch Cody called me with the bad news. The vet diagnosed Volvo with hip dysplasia, a genetic condition very common in German Shepherds. Basically, his hip joints have completely deteriorated, there is no cartialage left to cushion the bones and the bones are brittle and shattered and rubbing against each other.

The only treatment is hip replacement surgery which is not available in Saudi Arabia. Also, Volvo’s age wouldn’t make him a good candidate for surgery anyway. The vet gave us pain medication with glucosamine and told us to keep him as comfortable as possible and not to walk him around or force him to stand because that would put him in more pain. And when the time comes, to call him and he will come to our house and we can put Volvo to sleep surrounded by his friends and family in the shady part of our garden that he loves.

I had to hang up on Cody because my throat closed up with tears and I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t imagine the pain that Volvo must be feeling. I hated myself for letting him go through something like this, and felt like I was drowning in guilt. Why hadn’t we taken him to the vet yesterday, last week, last month?

And how could I ever decide when the time was right to put him to sleep? My parents have had to make that decision before, for dogs and horses, but I’ve never had to do it. How in the world do you decide how long another being has to live?

When Cody got home we settled Volvo in the yard on his nice cushioned mat and sat around him and patted him. But he was pretty drowsy from the sedation and understandably grumpy and wanted to be left alone.

Cody and I talked and cried. We decided to take it day by day. Right now Volvo seems to be enjoying his life. He is a ravenous eater, gets excited whenever he hangs out with my other dogs, and is still desperately in love with Polly.

We understand the need to keep a clear head about all this. We can’t let our selfish desire to keep him around force him to live in pain and misery. We know that and we will keep constantly reappraising the situation to make sure his life really is happy and comfortable. For now, the pain killers are working wonders and he is so relaxed and alert. We plan to spoil him rotten and love him for all the time he has left. The vet said that in cases like this the dogs tend to go downhill fast so we are prepared. But we are also hopeful that we still have time for lots of fun, cuddles and treats.

In the face of devastating news my inner Italian grandmother comes out and I am overwhelmed with a desire to feed people. I bustle around my kitchen cooking up comfort food and decadent desserts, insisting that everyone ‘Eat! EAT!’

Last night was no exception. I made Ethiopian lentils and rice with caramelized onions, the ultimate creamy, rich and hearty comfort food. It tastes buttery and salty, savory and deep, one of the world’s most perfect meals. On the side I served lots of bread and creamy, garlicky hummus.

So. That was my day of bad news and good food. Like I said, we are going to take it day by day and keep Volvo as comfortable and as happy as we can…until we can’t anymore. I’m dreading this and I just wish I could bury my head under my pillow and wake up to find this was all a bad dream.

Any advice would be welcome.

I’m a light sleeper so my eyes are open instantly and I’m out of [...]]]> 6:00 am – Polly wakes up and shakes her head, flopping her ears loudly from side to side. She does this every morning at this time from her bed right at the side of my bed, and it is my wakeup call.

I’m a light sleeper so my eyes are open instantly and I’m out of bed. I first brush my teeth, wash my face, and brush my hair. Then I’ve got to take the dogs outside and feed them and the cats. Not a small task when there are 6 critters demanding their breakfast NOW. Usually I stay in bed and Cody handles all of this, but he had to take a short business trip to Bahrain yesterday so the task falls to me today.

6:20 am – Dogs are fed, cats are fed, time to tend to Volvo.

Volvo is our ancient German Sheperd and he hasn’t been doing too well lately. We rescued him in Bahrain 2 years ago in the most disgusting condition I’ve ever seen. He was living at a stables, surrounded by horses imported from Europe that were in pristine condition, but he was literally starving too death because his nails had been allowed to grow so long he couldn’t walk. He had no skin on his back because of an infection and his eyes and ears were bloody and swollen shut from flies.

When we rescued him and took him to the vet he was given only 2 weeks to live. So, we made him comfortable and tended to his infections and his nails and gave him plenty of food and water and medicine. He completely recovered from his sicknesses; his skin healed and hair grew back, he gained weight and started walking again. He was a very old dog to begin with (the vet estimates he is around 13) so his hips were never quite right, he couldn’t really run or move too quickly so we kept him on joint treatments and arthritis medications. But he was happy. We walked him and he would relax in the grass while our other dogs ran and played. He loved his food, he even made reluctant friends with our cats.

After about a year he lost the ability to control his bowels, but we just cleaned him up and bathed him all the time and he still seemed happy. He lives outside in our beautiful and shady garden most of the time, only being brought inside during the hottest part of the day or coldest part of the night. We put his bed on plastic tarping to catch any ‘accidents’. (Just so you know, we are not ‘outside dog’ kind of people, we are very much ‘inside dog’ people. Dogs belong inside with their people at all times! Our beds, couches, everything we own is our dogs’ property and they are totally the bosses of the house. But we just can’t keep Volvo inside full time anymore after he started pooping on himself.)

About 5 months ago he lost most of his ability to control his bladder, so we just cleaned him up even more. But about a month ago he started losing the ability to stand up on his own and get around. It seems like his back legs are completely gone. They’ve always been weak but now they don’t even function. We pick him up and help support him as he walks around the yard, we turn him every few hours so he doesn’t get sore, and we massage him several times a day to keep the blood flowing. But unfortunately, nothing has helped. We are taking him to the vet tomorrow to see what can be done. Please keep him in your thoughts, hopefully he can be helped.

The difficult thing is that I am not sure what he wants. Even though we have had him for 2 years now I still don’t feel like I really know him. This is shocking to me since I am the world’s foremost dog lover. 5 minutes after meeting a dog I can read them like a book and I am always head over heels in love with them. But while Volvo recovered from his physical ailments he never really interacted with us too much. He always kept to himself, preferring to watch our dogs while barely acknowledging me or Cody. He is not scared of us at all but he doesn’t make eye contact or ever seek out our affection. I love him and want the best for him but since I don’t really know him I feel like it is an impossible decision to make.

So, after all the dogs and cats were fed I went out into the yard, washed Volvo off, cleaned his face, stood him up for a while, supporting his weight completely, walked him around the yard a bit. Found a nice shady spot and settled him down and gave him a short massage. When I was done I went inside and washed up.

6:45am – Start feeling sorry for myself. Cody and I are pathetically, overwhelmingly, completely enraptured with each other so being apart for even one day affects us both pretty hard. I feel like a piece of me is missing when he isn’t around and even though we have been together for 5 years this doesn’t seem to be fading. Luckily business trips are a very rare occurrence and when they do come up it is only for one of two nights. We have it easy, I know. I don’t see how people handle long distance relationships or having a spouse in the  military. The thought of those endless deployments just sends shivers down my spine!

Cody and I talked for hours on the phone last night but I still can’t get enough. I give him a call to wake him up and we talk and laugh. He feels the same way as I do so our conversations get a little melodramatic and ridiculous. He will be home tonight – I can’t wait!

7:00 am – Time to check my email. And answer email. Lots of email. I need an assistant to check and answer my email for me. I will pay you in cupcakes and sambusa.

7:30 am – Check all of my favorite news sites and save the stories I want or need to read later.

8:00 am – It’s Green Smoothie Time! I can’t start my day without one of these; I just love them so much. I take my dogs outside, relax on my lounge chair and sip my smoothie while listening to the birds chirping. After I’m done I go move Volvo around again and give his back legs a stretch.

8:30 am – Work. Which means research and writing. I’m currently writing a book that combines all of my favorite things: politics, feminism, veganism, consumerism, anti-globalization, etc. Right now I’m in the research and preliminary outline/sparse writing stage, which means that I get distracted constantly. In doing the research I have to use the web a lot, which means there are a zillion different chances for me to get sidetracked. MUST FOCUS.

8:37am – Oh no. Cody is on-line too and now we are chatting. He seems to be missing me even more than I miss him. Poor guy! I distract him by telling him silly stories of what our goofy dogs have been up to since he left yesterday.

9:00 am – Force myself to say goodbye to Cody and focus on my work. Research, read, write, delete, contemplate throwing my computer out the window, this is not going well and I am incapable of writing a word. Wait, now I’ve got an idea….oh this is good…okay, here we go….

11:00 am – Wrap up my writing, take the dogs outside for a bathroom break, give Volvo a walk around the yard, feed all of the dogs lunch, then head to the gym. (Call Cody on the way there to tell him I love him and miss him.)

11:30 am – 30 minutes on the elliptical. I love this machine because it is easy on my knees but it seems to strain my lower back a bit.

12:00 pm – 30 minutes on the summit climber. I love this thing! Makes me feel so strong! The last five minutes are pretty hellacious as the women who starts working out next to me has apparently spent the past week bathing in the stinkiest perfume I’ve ever smelled. Seriously, my eyes were watering.

12:30 pm – 12:31 pm – Stretching. I know, I KNOW I need to do more stretching. I just hate it so much. Any tips out there for how I can easily incorporate it into my routine?

12: 45 pm – Home from the gym, time for SHOWER.

1:15 pm – eat my delicious lunch (raw cashew cheeze pate on crackers topped with avocado and hot sauce and a big raw veg salad with basil balsamic dressing) and relax with my sweet dingos. Answer more emails and accept a writing assignment for a short article with an option for a short series. Cody calls and we chat for a few minutes just to say hi and I send a few emails to friends and family.

2:00 pm – Back to work. Luckily I manage to pick up my train of thought from earlier and I’m on a roll. The time flies by and I can’t believe it when I check the clock.

3:30 pm – Take the dogs outside for a bathroom break, walk Volvo around and rub his legs. Spot our cat Twilah lounging in the grass. She thinks we can’t see her so she bats at us every time we walk by. Cats are so weird, and Twilah seems to be even weirder than the average cat.

3:45 pm – Head out to the stables to ride my sweet horse Ender. I love love love him desperately, it is unreal. We have a blast going for a nice ramble through the desert and a lazy gallop through the grass. He is loving life here in horsey paradise, and I’m so happy he is happy. Being out in the beautiful sunshine with the wind on my face feels so amazing!

5:00 pm – Home, feed the dogs their dinner, harness them up and take them for a long walk. Usually Cody and I do this together, just like everything else in our lives, and we laugh and talk the whole time. I miss him so, so, so much. We must be psychic because he calls me during the middle of the walk and even though it is hard to juggle a phone and 3 dogs all pulling in different directions, I manage.

6:00 pm – Home from our walk, the dogs are tuckered out. Time for my dinner now. I roasted up a ton of veggies with lots of sea salt and garlic, added some black beans and piled it all on top of a bit of quinoa. And I had to have more of that cashew cheese pate, of course!

6:30 pm – After my feast I take all the dogs outside so we can enjoy the beautiful evening. I walk Volvo around and massage him as I watch the sun set. This is the hardest part of the day for me to be away from Cody and I can’t wait to see him in a few hours. I miss my best friend!

7:00 pm – Check up on all of my favorite feminist, vegan and political blogs, make comments, and brainstorm about future articles. Snack on a delicious homemade pomegranate blueberry juice and fresh strawberry popsicles. Yum!

8:00 pm – Head to the kitchen to make a green smoothie for Cody. I make him one every day to drink as soon as he gets home from work. Usually he is home by 5:45pm but his business trip has thrown him off schedule and he will be home a few hours late today. Can’t wait till he walks through the door and I can hug him and kiss him!

8:15 pm – Green smoothie done, time to relax and read the books currently sitting on my bedside table. I am an insatiable reader, a veritable book fiend, I plow through at least 2 or 3 a week. This week it is: The Essential Chomsky, and Feminism without Borders. I love both of these books, they are essentials for any politically minded feminist and I highly recommend them.

9:00 pm – CODY IS HOME! Gotta go, 24 hours is way too long for these lovebirds to be apart. Hope you are having a great day wherever in the world you are!