The event was well-attended. Three hundred and fifty guests, at a rough estimate. Some [...]]]> I had indicated that my meal choice was “vegetarian” when I first registered for the event. There was no way to inform the host of the choice on the registration form, so it was contained in the email – Vegetarian meal, please!

The event was well-attended. Three hundred and fifty guests, at a rough estimate. Some speeches were made, while many guests salivated at the sight of the slices of luscious chocolate cake awaiting them after the entree. We were one of the last tables to be served, and – when presented with a roasted chicken breast on lettuce with croutons and two slices of tomato – my table-mate two seats to my left requested a vegetarian meal. I raised my hand slightly and mentioned to the server that I, too, had requested a vegetarian meal. When she said “OK, two with no chicken”, I had an idea of what was to come.

The server reappeared a couple of minutes later, with the identical meal, minus the chicken!

Now – my friends in the catering field – am I wrong when I assume that a vegetarian meal is not prepared simply by taking off the meat? Surely you replace the missing protein with something! In the past I’ve been served replacements such as portobello mushrooms, stuffed tomatoes, pasta, rice, even extra salad would have been nice. But, my meal consisted of a plate of lettuce, 2 tomato slices and a handful of croutons.

So – is it sheer laziness? Unfamiliarity with vegetarianism? Bad planning on behalf of the caterer? Bad planning on behalf of the organizer?

I’m just glad the chocolate cake was good.

So, is it a coincidence that this is the Year of the Ox, and my chinese astrological sign is the ox? [...]]]> It didn’t come at the beginning of the year, this feeling. At least not at the start of the calendar year. This little mini-phenomenon, I believe, came at the start of the Chinese New Year.

So, is it a coincidence that this is the Year of the Ox, and my chinese astrological sign is the ox? Is this how it is supposed to work? You are lucky when the actual year and your birth sign collide? That would explain it, I guess.

It started off when I “found” both my brother and sister. I had noticed someone who may have been my sister on Facebook, so I took a punt and sent a friend request. The next day, I had an email from my brother, Simon, saying “Sarah can’t get on Facebook from work so she asked me to contact you” – and just like that, I was reconnected with a brother and sister I haven’t been in communication with for at least 10 years!

In the past 2 days I’ve accomplished a lot (for me!). It started off with a conversation about home-made laundry detergent. So, I thought I’d try it. I got all the ingredients together and spent some time at the stove making laundry detergent. It seems to do the job just fine, and it smells just how I want laundry detergent to smell! Ylang ylang and woodrose – yum!

Of course I wasn’t done there, then I needed to know how to make fabric softener. Vinegar, baking soda and hot water – who knew!

Another friend, Shawnette, had noticed a post of mine where I had been talking about using pink lotion on Ciel’s hair. Shawnetter sent me a recipe for an alternative. I was only missing glycerine, so I went ang bought that at lunchtime, and whipped up a batch before we went to the library.

My latest accomplishment was pho. There used to be a little restaurant (if you can call it that) in Normal run by a Vietnamese couple. They had a fairly limited menu, but it did include the essential Vietnamese food – pho. Then downtown Normal became “Uptown” Normal, and this little shop was bought by the Coffee Hound – thus went the pho. And the restaurant. There is no other Vietnamese restaurant in Bloomington-Normal, and Peoria is a bit of a hike for a bowl of soup, so I thought I’d better learn to make it on my own. And I did.

Now, there is a challenge with pho for me. I’m 98% vegan, so I couldn’t make the traditional pho with beef stock and beef, I had to sacrifice – so I did manage to find a vegetarian version, which is essentially vegan. I was short two ingredients … star anise and cloves. So my broth wasn’t so traditional. But it still tasted SO good! Wanna see?

Now, I’m off to search for a moisturizer recipe