Dani's Dirt

This past weekend My Someone came to Kansas.

Yes, that’s right my cattle ranching, chicken farming, cowboy boot wearing, team roping of a boyfriend came to visit smack dab in the middle of my vegan adventure.

I’m pretty sure he had a good idea what he was about to get himself into though, because not only does he get to hear me talk about it 24/7, David, as I’ve mentioned before, is My Someone’s brother, so he gets to hear both sides of Project Vegan… since the beginning… every day… all day… every little detail. Poor guy.

Anyway, back to the story. I was fully prepared to fix my vegan appropriate meals as well as food my carnivore boyfriend would approve of. Well he shot that idea down, like fish in a barrel. “I’ll eat whatever you eat,” he said. This is going to be interesting I thought to myself.

Upon leaving the airport, we headed to find lunch. “I have no idea where to go,” I grumbled. “P.F. Changs maybe, but that’ll take too long and I need to get back to work.” In the passenger seat I could see him typing away. “Okay, I have a list of vegan-friendly fast food options, along with exactly what you can eat from each one,” he said. So I picked Quizno’s and had the veggie guacamole sub without cheese and with balsamic dressing, and people let me tell you, It. Was. Awesome.

Happy to have hot water, but fed up with the Baking Soda and Vinegar hair routine, we headed later that evening to Walmart to find Loreal Ever Pure (100% vegan and inexpensive!) and groceries. I of course, was trying to stay in a vegan “safe-zone” of stereotypical foods I knew were, without a doubt, vegan. “You could have so much more than the type of foods you’re sticking too,” My Someone muttered while reading the label on a bag of Fritos. Next thing I know, Daniel, armed with his iPhone as his source checker, was putting name brand foods in the cart. We left with salsas, chips, ice cream and frozen vegetable spring rolls, all vegan-friendly. “See. There is no reason for you to be hungry during this,” he said matter-of-factly.

He was like having a real-life Siri, but good-looking… and without me having to actually say much, or having my Okie twang misunderstood. Winning.

However, the problem with my real-life Siri, was he was there to make sure my every move stayed vegan. So on Saturday when I reached for the hairspray I was intercepted with, “Is that Vegan?” “Nooooo,” was my sheepish reply. So back on the shelf went my hair products.

My vegan Siri, became my vegan prison guard. Don’t worry, I still haven’t cheated. It was a moment of weakness… and I was caught. *Sigh*

So let’s breakdown the food (just the life-changing meals, since I’m sure the rest is getting repetitive.) from this weekend with My Someone (a.k.a Vegan Nazi), who totally did not “eat whatever I ate,” but he tried. Kinda. Not really.

Second night he was in town we joined my family at no other than a local steakhouse. I had a salad and baked potato with salsa. He had a rib-eye *insert my muttering here*

Saturday night was dinner at my parents. They all had smoked ribs, coleslaw and other fixin’s… I ate the salad and potatoes of their meal, as well as the red beans & rice and sauteed (in olive oil) squash and zucchini my mom prepared for me. Who’s mother is awesome?! That’s right, mine!

And then last night we ordered pizza, partly because I was curious to try it as a vegan, but mainly because I was feeling lazy.

With the survival of week one, I’ve learned even in the rural-ist of places there are plenty of vegan-friendly options, you just have to be creative, resourceful and open-minded enough to search for them. Also, I have enjoyed the experimentation of cooking different vegan dishes and being able to analyze ways to make them taste even better (I’m a nerd, don’t judge.) With that being said, I really do miss my cowboy boots.

Alright week two, let’s do this!! David and I appreciate all of you following on our adventure so far and all the great advice you’ve left us on our blogs or on Twitter at #DandDgovegan. Be sure and check out his blog at Farmingamerica.org as he talks about the difficulties of being a traveling vegan, and milking turtles.