Chased by Chickens! Welcome to Malaysia.

On Monday morning I went for a jog and decided to take another route I used to take with Frank. As I was coming up on some houses there is a house that has exceptionally strange feathered friends (not just the usual chickens or even turkeys at other houses). They have pheasants and these strange dwarf chickens (I forgot the name of them). They look like cartoon chickens in a sense their bodies are small and roundish, have small necks, but are covered in adult feathers and stuff. So, it's like a grown chicken but shrunken slightly. Anyways, on my run I came across one, who was slightly away from his house. He started running with me, like a lot of them do when we come around, but usually away from us due to fear. This one was running for with me for a while, I thought he was running towards his house, but after a few seconds and passing his house I dawned on me that we might be running partners (or I was being chased). He was very vocal about something and kept a 5 foot distance from me (we were side by side). I couldn't tell if he was for or against this jog! I started sprinting slightly because, well, I wasn't sure what was happening! I was both laughing and a bit concerned too. He stopped as I got to the street and did a final yell "gggggoolgoglalgaaaadoooo!" Which either meant "great run!" or "that's right human! run from the greatest chicken samurai of all!"  As a vegan I felt almost betrayed, "I don't even eat you!" I've decided to keep my usual route to just around the neighborhood... we have cats, not fierce samurai chickens. 

gggggoolgoglalgaaaadoooo!

Besides the chicken chase I've been on YouTube a lot. Listening to NutrionalFacts.org as well as watching the usual social media stuff happening. I won't talk too much about it, this blog is not for controversy, but yes a lion named Cecil was killed, along with thousands of other named and nameless animals this week.  Good things and bad things came from this senseless killing. The bad of course was that an animal died that people care about dearly and was important to all. Vegans also became quite vocal about their opinions on how could one life mean so much (Cecils) but no other animal (let along humans sometimes) get this kind of attention? It's weird, hypocritical, and almost socially unacceptable that some were so concerned about this one life and don't say anything else when other animals suffer or do anything daily to help prevent needless suffering.... That was one side of this. So, what could be good about this, well... a lot of large protected animals are losing their fight to survive in this world. However, long ago hunting like this was something of a norm but now so many are against this and fighting for these animals. If we all fought loudly for all animals; indited, arrested, posted on social media, and basically made a huge stink about this like we did Cecil, it may discourage a lot more from doing this kind of behavior. I want to help---aiming my pointer finger at China and will slowly point back to Africa towards that group of elephants, tigers, and hundreds of other endangered animals hanging out minding there own business. Just saying.... point point.... there.

All right. Exercise picked up this week. A lot more running and a few classes of home zumba along with actual zumba. Good news is that more zumba classes will happen because the gym in which it was originally held is now fully renovated and ready to be opened! So at least two or three zumba classes a week and hopefully an aerobics class or two. This week I lost two pounds, even though I was concerned I ate a lot of carbs-- however, I ran more and tried to eat a lot of fresh veggies! This week was a fun week for food.

Breakfast Pancake Surprise!

I did make my groats a couple of times this week. However, I wanted some more oats and bran in me so I made my usual pancakes BUT I added peanut butter and jelly. The jelly I made myself. There are a lot of different ways to make jelly, but I used fresh strawberries cooked in pot with a little bit of agave. When it was a liquid I added some chia seeds for a natural thickening agent. It was all nom noms!

Sambal Heaven!

Hazza gave me some more sambal, but I didn't have tofu. I added potatoes, onions, and tomatoes to it and made brown rice with a tbsp of glutinous rice. This helped the rice to be more sticky. So sambal again is, well, what I think it is, blended peppers or tomatoes (not sure exactly) with sugar, oil, onions, and stuff. Like a spicy sauce-a bit oily too. I don't think it's the most healthy thing to eat but it does produce the most happiness! 

Vegetarian Corner!

Our little place is going to going through a renovation for two or three weeks!!! :( Nooooo!!!!! So this was the last meal for a while. Vegan zhongzi and the usual noms. Zhongzi's tend to come out during Dragon Boat season, however I wasn't sure what was going on and why we saw them. Again, they are cooked rice in a banana leave with other ingredients in them. Mine was mushrooms.






Nacho Cheese!!!!! Say what what?!
A link with BuzzFeedYellow yielded me to a website on how to make nacho cheese: Vegan Junk Food  The nacho cheese ended up being a bit watery so I did what I would do with my moxerella cheese, and placed it in a sauce pan with 2 tsbp of tapioca starch and cooked it down until it was thicker. I didn't have paprika but I had Mexican spice and it really made the house smell like Taco Bell. Frank said it even tasted like Taco Bell cheese!!! However, I'm unsure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Eating this is definitely a good thing. Cashews, spices, water, garlic, and tapioca starch are a lot more healthy for you instead of synthesized questionable cheese sauce like ingredients. I was not at all feeling guilty while eating this.
Seitan and Zucchini covered in Nacho Sauce of Dreams
I baked up some of my seitan and zucchini. Added beans and onions to my nacho sauce and was very happy.
Nacho Cheese Wrap Salad Magic!
I made a salad with the nacho cheese. Added cooked zucchini and onions. After consuming a few bites I realized it wasn't too awesome so I added a wrap to it and then all awesome magic broke loose!!! Tap Tap!

















Sweet Potato Roti
Oh this one was a good one!! From Veganlovlie Sweet Potato Flatbread (Roti) was awesome and easy and inspiring. 1 cup cooked and mashed (without skin) sweet potato with one cup all purpose flour; roll, shape, form, and pan cook. Bammmmmma!!! Deliciousness!

Seitan Sweet Potato Roti
I used up my last piece of seitan, added veggies, nacho cheese, and threw (could you imagine me throwing it....just thought how intense that would be) into my sweet potato roti.
















Leftovers
I can't remember the dish (on the right) that Hazza made for me. It's coconut and tomatoes in a curry like salsa. It taste like it sounds both coconuty and tomatoy.... so pairing it with leftover rice and my roti was odd but not a bad odd. If there is such a thing.








Falafels!
Well not exactly. I grilled some veggies (until the stupid grill broke and then ovened the rest) and made falafels from a mix. It's ingredients weren't bad at all, very natural stuff. However it was super dry and I ovened them instead of deep fried. Maybe that was the issue. Anyways used my last two tortillas and added some tahini sauce and BAAAAM! It was yummy. It's nice to taste some different flavors from time to time. Ever since becoming a vegan I've tried more new and interesting flavors I haven't run into before. So interesting.

Raspberry-Strawberry-Banana Coconut Smoothie

Just another healthy snack filled with chia seeds before we went for a walk. Nice to have raspberries... even if they are fricken $6!! Ridiculous!

Well, this week was a looong one! But now it's time to have some fun. In August I have no food plans though I was thinking of trying to make some Malaysian staples into a vegan version.... but I have food in the house I need to use up.... that reminds me... I need to figure out what to do with my quinoa! Maybe a breakfast food? Unsure yet. It's a weird taste.

Take care and love the animals around you.