(no subject)
11/5
Alyssa and I reunited after the longest amount of time we’ve spent apart in over a year. We celebrated by finally getting a dinner at the 518’s newest (and best) burrito spot, Burrito Burrito, and then seeing The Lighthouse.
At Burrito Burrito, we got the Tex Mex Seitan burrito (seitan, housemade Fritos, house oat queso, and of course beans and rice and lettuce) and the Buffalo Chickpea burrito (fried chickpea patty, pickled celery relish, housemade cholula buffalo sauce, and ranch), as well as some soy steak empanadas and an apple cider doughnut! We cannot stress enough how fucking good this place is.
11/6
Since Alyssa and I are together in the 518 this week, we absolutely had to eat at our favorite hidden Albany gem, Sichuan Fairy-sautéed green beans, braised tofu, and a potato hot pot. The portions here are huge and nowhere else has mastered the art of spice and flavor like they have.
Yesterday was Michelle’s birthday, so Alyssa made her a chocolate peanut butter cake. After two restaurants of choice in a row turned out to be closed, we settled on Impossible sliders in Troy. Very grateful to know Michelle and all that she has done for us; happy she’s survived another year.
11/8
Two years ago yesterday, I met Alyssa Gallagher. She came alone to a tofu cooking class I was helping with at a rural library and later inserted herself into a conversation I was having about the ethics of secondhand leather. Later that night, I totally sifted through the event page RSVPs to find her on Facebook so I could invite her to more events and maybe make another new vegan friend.
Life is composed of little, seemingly trivial moments, and some of those moments unexpectedly set off a series of events that change your life significantly. There was no way to know that I was meeting a girl who would change my life in so many profound and positive ways that night, but I had. She broke the cycle I’d gotten myself into of toxic relationships with people who neglected and mistreated me. She patiently waited for me to let down my walls because she for some reason thought I was worth it. I’m so glad she did and I’m so glad I took a chance on her at a time when I didn’t think I was capable of loving or trusting again.
Since then, we’ve attended and/or organized 86+ events together (according to Facebook), helped thousands of people in need, rescued approximately one ton of garbage from the landfill, made it into two local newspapers, made a couple vegans, raised thousands of dollars for other local organizations, temporarily lived in like a dozen other peoples’ homes, haven’t paid rent in over a year, and have been across the country and back. Alyssa is my best friend and I love her so much. I’m so grateful to veganism, activism, tofu, and chance for bringing us together.
Very much into these Beyond sausage patties now available nationally at Dunkin’. I added hash browns like all the cool kids are since mainstream veganism hasn’t yet gotten vegan egg and cheese into international chains just yet.
11/9
Congratulations
to Alyssa for exercising agency over her own body by having her tubes removed, thus permanently preventing pregnancy! So proud of her!
I’m here in Manchester, taking care of her as she recovers. Here’s her happy as ever shortly after coming out of surgery. It’s okay to not have children, and I highly suggest anyone interested reach out to her with any questions you may have.
11/11
Alyssa and I made our own buffalo seitan wings tonight-baked, not deep-fried-with homemade ranch and smoky collards! Making seitan is so much fun.
11/13
Alyssa made a strawberry cheesecake!
11/16
Gospel of Deceit
This Lifetime film is the craziest movie I’ve ever seen and everyone should see it so we can all talk about it later.
We went to Burrito Burrito again tonight to finally try their namesake, the “Burrito Burrito”: a burrito the length of Alyssa’s forearm double wrapped in a cheddar quesadilla. We chose their soy steak to be burrito squared.
Not only is it the biggest burrito in the capital region, it’s also just the best burrito either of us have ever had here-honestly, their burritos might be the best I’ve had in the whole country. Look at that thick wall of tortilla and mozzarella cheese. And still ends up being $2 cheaper than the most expensive burrito I’ve ever had (at Mexican Radio for $17). Holy fuck, we love this place.
11/20
Very unhappy with my current set of circumstances. Stuck in the 518 for an unknown period of time and three and a half hours away from Alyssa. Feeling very lost and hopeless. Not feeling great about myself. The suffocation of capitalism is too much to bear a lot of the time. Grateful to have somewhere stable to live during winter and for a partner as perfect as Alyssa, but otherwise not very interested in being alive.
Alyssa isn’t super into all-you-can-eat sushi and I am such a wonderful and accommodating boyfriend that I no longer drag her kicking and screaming to sushi places-so being apart means I’m out having sushi by myself.
11/21
If it’s any indication of how this month has been for me: I have watched 51 movies, been to the DMV five times, the dentist twice, and have otherwise not left a bed.
11/22
I decided I needed to create SOMETHING today because I just feel so lost and pathetic and worthless lately, so I made baked buffalo seitan pieces, sautéed collards and spinach, and ranch.
The seitan is made using Bob’s Red Mill vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, onion powder, chicken seasoning, and vegetable broth, kneaded and cut up into chunks before being simmered in vegetable broth for 20 minutes and then coated in flour before being baked at 450 for 20 minutes. The greens were sautéed in liquid aminos, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, and black pepper. The ranch was a mix of Just mayo, unsweetened plain almond milk, apple cider vinegar, dill, garlic powder, and black pepper.
With the exception of the Just mayo and Frank’s buffalo sauce, this is an oil-free meal. Almost all of the ingredients were organic. It made so much food, too: over 20 pieces of seitan wings, almost an entire squeeze bottle’s worth of ranch, and three servings of greens. More importantly, shopping for ingredients and making it kept me occupied and out of bed.
This year marks a new journey for me into improved dental hygiene after a lifetime of not going to a dentist. Finally being forced into seeing one by two broken teeth thanks to decay, I wound up finding out the teeth I just assumed were too far gone are actually somehow doing far better than I could have ever expected. I’ve gotten two cavities filled and have two more to go, as well as wisdom teeth that need to be pulled. I was genuinely shocked to hear I only had four cavities. After that, I’m in the clear.
I really honestly thought losing my teeth was an inevitability; that the damage had been done and it was only a matter of time. I brush my teeth every day, but it’s mostly so I can kiss Alyssa. So I see this as a dodging a bullet; a second chance at dying with all my teeth still in my head. I’m not gonna fuck around with my teeth anymore from this point forward.
So I guess I’m finally gonna start flossing, too. Did you know most floss isn’t vegan because it’s coated in beeswax? Thankfully, I was able to find this brand offering an entirely vegan and organic floss not tested on animals nor owned by a parent company that does.
11/24
Sometimes I’m terrified that the world is literally ending. Other times, I’m relieved. I just wish I weren’t spending my final days on this dying planet doing absolutely nothing fun or fulfilling.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering?fbclid=IwAR1tAb0irmp20YIFUW48Vgtd8bVfOOyoKzAB_QlNidKtaDbi4RKaDT_rZ6Q
11/28
Spent all day in the kitchen putting together a huge feast all on my own! It was so much fun. Chopped a big pile of cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, sweet potato, and butternut squash to serve as a bed for the four different kinds of roasts I got (Vegetarian Plus, Tofurky, Gardein, and Field Roast). I drizzled some basil olive oil on the veggies and seasoned them with nooch, smoked paprika, rosemary, thyme, and black pepper. Heated up two boxes of Stove Top stuffing, some of which was shoved into the anal cavity of the creepy hyper realistic turkey I got this year. Mashed an entire bag’s worth of russet potatoes. Baked dinner rolls and Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits. Made a scratch green bean casserole. Made a bowl of scratch mushroom gravy. Cracked open two cans of cranberry sauce.
It took me only three hours to make everything. Almost every ingredient was organic, and it cost me nothing because I stole everything. Being vegan is so easy and I’m so stoked on how many options we have for seasonal roasts now, though I will forever favor the classic Tofurky. There is absolutely no fucking excuse to still be killing animals.
To be clear, I obviously don’t support anything the Thanksgiving holiday represents. I do however like cooking food for people, and I like taking advantage of all the seasonal vegan roasts that come out. Fuck America, fuck nations, fuck colonialism, fuck speciesism. But good food with good people in your life is pretty cool regardless of the day.
I wasn’t sure who I’d be spending this day with a few weeks ago, but I’m happy with who I wound up surrounding myself with. It was my brother and his partner, and Michelle and her daughter Joelle.
This was Michelle and Joelle’s first Thanksgiving as vegans and it was so cool to be responsible for cooking it for them and showing them being vegan doesn’t have to mean abandoning old traditions and meals. Everything came out so good and I was really proud of myself for being able to put it all together and see people enjoy eating it.
After years of wanting to and missing it, I was finally able to get the notorious hyper realistic turkey roast, which is put out by a Taiwanese company called Vegetarian Plus and sold at Whole Foods for a whopping $60. It’s four pounds of vegan meat and tastes a lot like what I vaguely remember turkey tasting like. The skin of it is nice and thick. It also has that gross anal cavity for stuffing, which I felt totally evil doing. I ate a leg. Of the four roasts, it was Michelle’s favorite. Joelle preferred Field Roast.
For dessert, we had pumpkin pie topped in almond Reddi Wip and almond nog. There is an obscene amount of food leftover that I look forward to chipping away at for the next couple of days.
11/29
Part of me wants to implore you all to resist participating in the disgusting and mindless frenzy of consumerism that is taking place today. But then I remember the damage has been done and the world is ending, so it doesn’t really matter anymore. So I guess go out and waste your money on the bullshit that is in large part the reason why our world is going to end in our lifetimes. At least when your homes become your coffins they’ll be filled with lotsa stuff, right???
Alyssa and I reunited after the longest amount of time we’ve spent apart in over a year. We celebrated by finally getting a dinner at the 518’s newest (and best) burrito spot, Burrito Burrito, and then seeing The Lighthouse.
At Burrito Burrito, we got the Tex Mex Seitan burrito (seitan, housemade Fritos, house oat queso, and of course beans and rice and lettuce) and the Buffalo Chickpea burrito (fried chickpea patty, pickled celery relish, housemade cholula buffalo sauce, and ranch), as well as some soy steak empanadas and an apple cider doughnut! We cannot stress enough how fucking good this place is.
11/6
Since Alyssa and I are together in the 518 this week, we absolutely had to eat at our favorite hidden Albany gem, Sichuan Fairy-sautéed green beans, braised tofu, and a potato hot pot. The portions here are huge and nowhere else has mastered the art of spice and flavor like they have.
Yesterday was Michelle’s birthday, so Alyssa made her a chocolate peanut butter cake. After two restaurants of choice in a row turned out to be closed, we settled on Impossible sliders in Troy. Very grateful to know Michelle and all that she has done for us; happy she’s survived another year.
11/8
Two years ago yesterday, I met Alyssa Gallagher. She came alone to a tofu cooking class I was helping with at a rural library and later inserted herself into a conversation I was having about the ethics of secondhand leather. Later that night, I totally sifted through the event page RSVPs to find her on Facebook so I could invite her to more events and maybe make another new vegan friend.
Life is composed of little, seemingly trivial moments, and some of those moments unexpectedly set off a series of events that change your life significantly. There was no way to know that I was meeting a girl who would change my life in so many profound and positive ways that night, but I had. She broke the cycle I’d gotten myself into of toxic relationships with people who neglected and mistreated me. She patiently waited for me to let down my walls because she for some reason thought I was worth it. I’m so glad she did and I’m so glad I took a chance on her at a time when I didn’t think I was capable of loving or trusting again.
Since then, we’ve attended and/or organized 86+ events together (according to Facebook), helped thousands of people in need, rescued approximately one ton of garbage from the landfill, made it into two local newspapers, made a couple vegans, raised thousands of dollars for other local organizations, temporarily lived in like a dozen other peoples’ homes, haven’t paid rent in over a year, and have been across the country and back. Alyssa is my best friend and I love her so much. I’m so grateful to veganism, activism, tofu, and chance for bringing us together.
Very much into these Beyond sausage patties now available nationally at Dunkin’. I added hash browns like all the cool kids are since mainstream veganism hasn’t yet gotten vegan egg and cheese into international chains just yet.
11/9
Congratulations
to Alyssa for exercising agency over her own body by having her tubes removed, thus permanently preventing pregnancy! So proud of her!
I’m here in Manchester, taking care of her as she recovers. Here’s her happy as ever shortly after coming out of surgery. It’s okay to not have children, and I highly suggest anyone interested reach out to her with any questions you may have.
11/11
Alyssa and I made our own buffalo seitan wings tonight-baked, not deep-fried-with homemade ranch and smoky collards! Making seitan is so much fun.
11/13
Alyssa made a strawberry cheesecake!
11/16
Gospel of Deceit
This Lifetime film is the craziest movie I’ve ever seen and everyone should see it so we can all talk about it later.
We went to Burrito Burrito again tonight to finally try their namesake, the “Burrito Burrito”: a burrito the length of Alyssa’s forearm double wrapped in a cheddar quesadilla. We chose their soy steak to be burrito squared.
Not only is it the biggest burrito in the capital region, it’s also just the best burrito either of us have ever had here-honestly, their burritos might be the best I’ve had in the whole country. Look at that thick wall of tortilla and mozzarella cheese. And still ends up being $2 cheaper than the most expensive burrito I’ve ever had (at Mexican Radio for $17). Holy fuck, we love this place.
11/20
Very unhappy with my current set of circumstances. Stuck in the 518 for an unknown period of time and three and a half hours away from Alyssa. Feeling very lost and hopeless. Not feeling great about myself. The suffocation of capitalism is too much to bear a lot of the time. Grateful to have somewhere stable to live during winter and for a partner as perfect as Alyssa, but otherwise not very interested in being alive.
Alyssa isn’t super into all-you-can-eat sushi and I am such a wonderful and accommodating boyfriend that I no longer drag her kicking and screaming to sushi places-so being apart means I’m out having sushi by myself.
11/21
If it’s any indication of how this month has been for me: I have watched 51 movies, been to the DMV five times, the dentist twice, and have otherwise not left a bed.
11/22
I decided I needed to create SOMETHING today because I just feel so lost and pathetic and worthless lately, so I made baked buffalo seitan pieces, sautéed collards and spinach, and ranch.
The seitan is made using Bob’s Red Mill vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, onion powder, chicken seasoning, and vegetable broth, kneaded and cut up into chunks before being simmered in vegetable broth for 20 minutes and then coated in flour before being baked at 450 for 20 minutes. The greens were sautéed in liquid aminos, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, and black pepper. The ranch was a mix of Just mayo, unsweetened plain almond milk, apple cider vinegar, dill, garlic powder, and black pepper.
With the exception of the Just mayo and Frank’s buffalo sauce, this is an oil-free meal. Almost all of the ingredients were organic. It made so much food, too: over 20 pieces of seitan wings, almost an entire squeeze bottle’s worth of ranch, and three servings of greens. More importantly, shopping for ingredients and making it kept me occupied and out of bed.
This year marks a new journey for me into improved dental hygiene after a lifetime of not going to a dentist. Finally being forced into seeing one by two broken teeth thanks to decay, I wound up finding out the teeth I just assumed were too far gone are actually somehow doing far better than I could have ever expected. I’ve gotten two cavities filled and have two more to go, as well as wisdom teeth that need to be pulled. I was genuinely shocked to hear I only had four cavities. After that, I’m in the clear.
I really honestly thought losing my teeth was an inevitability; that the damage had been done and it was only a matter of time. I brush my teeth every day, but it’s mostly so I can kiss Alyssa. So I see this as a dodging a bullet; a second chance at dying with all my teeth still in my head. I’m not gonna fuck around with my teeth anymore from this point forward.
So I guess I’m finally gonna start flossing, too. Did you know most floss isn’t vegan because it’s coated in beeswax? Thankfully, I was able to find this brand offering an entirely vegan and organic floss not tested on animals nor owned by a parent company that does.
11/24
Sometimes I’m terrified that the world is literally ending. Other times, I’m relieved. I just wish I weren’t spending my final days on this dying planet doing absolutely nothing fun or fulfilling.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering?fbclid=IwAR1tAb0irmp20YIFUW48Vgtd8bVfOOyoKzAB_QlNidKtaDbi4RKaDT_rZ6Q
11/28
Spent all day in the kitchen putting together a huge feast all on my own! It was so much fun. Chopped a big pile of cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, sweet potato, and butternut squash to serve as a bed for the four different kinds of roasts I got (Vegetarian Plus, Tofurky, Gardein, and Field Roast). I drizzled some basil olive oil on the veggies and seasoned them with nooch, smoked paprika, rosemary, thyme, and black pepper. Heated up two boxes of Stove Top stuffing, some of which was shoved into the anal cavity of the creepy hyper realistic turkey I got this year. Mashed an entire bag’s worth of russet potatoes. Baked dinner rolls and Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits. Made a scratch green bean casserole. Made a bowl of scratch mushroom gravy. Cracked open two cans of cranberry sauce.
It took me only three hours to make everything. Almost every ingredient was organic, and it cost me nothing because I stole everything. Being vegan is so easy and I’m so stoked on how many options we have for seasonal roasts now, though I will forever favor the classic Tofurky. There is absolutely no fucking excuse to still be killing animals.
To be clear, I obviously don’t support anything the Thanksgiving holiday represents. I do however like cooking food for people, and I like taking advantage of all the seasonal vegan roasts that come out. Fuck America, fuck nations, fuck colonialism, fuck speciesism. But good food with good people in your life is pretty cool regardless of the day.
I wasn’t sure who I’d be spending this day with a few weeks ago, but I’m happy with who I wound up surrounding myself with. It was my brother and his partner, and Michelle and her daughter Joelle.
This was Michelle and Joelle’s first Thanksgiving as vegans and it was so cool to be responsible for cooking it for them and showing them being vegan doesn’t have to mean abandoning old traditions and meals. Everything came out so good and I was really proud of myself for being able to put it all together and see people enjoy eating it.
After years of wanting to and missing it, I was finally able to get the notorious hyper realistic turkey roast, which is put out by a Taiwanese company called Vegetarian Plus and sold at Whole Foods for a whopping $60. It’s four pounds of vegan meat and tastes a lot like what I vaguely remember turkey tasting like. The skin of it is nice and thick. It also has that gross anal cavity for stuffing, which I felt totally evil doing. I ate a leg. Of the four roasts, it was Michelle’s favorite. Joelle preferred Field Roast.
For dessert, we had pumpkin pie topped in almond Reddi Wip and almond nog. There is an obscene amount of food leftover that I look forward to chipping away at for the next couple of days.
11/29
Part of me wants to implore you all to resist participating in the disgusting and mindless frenzy of consumerism that is taking place today. But then I remember the damage has been done and the world is ending, so it doesn’t really matter anymore. So I guess go out and waste your money on the bullshit that is in large part the reason why our world is going to end in our lifetimes. At least when your homes become your coffins they’ll be filled with lotsa stuff, right???