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March 25, 2013

Week Three- FINISHED

So...I'm eating meat again. You bet your hickory smoked ass I'm happy about it. I was not ready for the challenges that being vegan would bring.

It was like having food allergies, but by choice. I had to be careful to check the labels of everything I bought (not so easy in a foreign language) and ask about every little thing when I ordered out with friends (once was enough, we settled on fries and a fruit platter).
I did cave and have some wonderful pork belly with friends, but my week was still long and difficult.


Breakfast was, for the first time in a week, a win and then some. 3 eggs, several large handfuls of pork belly, and the remains of a can of Cheez Whiz...all fried up in grease and just barely fitting on my plate.

Breakfast.
Not pictured: toast with butter and honey. Also not pictured: the candybar or spoon of beef stock. Yes, I ate a spoon of beef stock, straight out of the container.


I learned a good bit last week, most of which involved me and my love of meat. I didn't eat a single salad, and only touched vegetables on the back end of the week when I started feeling like crap. I wanted a sandwich so badly...

Won't do it again...at least not voluntarily or anytime soon.















MEAT, DAIRY, EGGS, FISH...(even you, cheese...) I LOVE YOU. LET'S NEVER PART AGAIN

Vegan, Day 7

FINISHED.

At least almost. Yes, I'm writing this is post-dated, but oh well.

Sunday wasn't so bad. I didn't do much, but man was the temptation strong.

After a week of chili, pasta and oreos, my body was more than a little angry. I made a cereal of sorts: rice, canned raspberries, honey and soy/black bean milk. That was good and felt kinda nutritious. Then I had some wannabe OJ. It was called "Squash Orange!" but there was no squash in it and it tasted like Hi-C mixed with Sprite. It wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't really OJ.

Then for lunch, I had the rest of my potatoes and broccoli mixed with the remainder of my pasta sauce. Strange, I know, but I don't waste food and I didn't feel like spending money.

Then I went to church. I wanted a snack, but there's no vegan streetfood. I considered the ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes), but they're boiled in fish broth and cooked with fish paste.

I ended up just buying a pack of salted seaweed and eating cherry tomatoes. Yeah, r-e-a-l-l-y satisfying when you want the salty crunch of potato chips and the chewy savory goodness of squid jerky.

The end of the day came and went. As it got closer and closer to midnight, I got more and more excited about my next meal...

March 24, 2013

Detour...

Perhaps it's the clarity from not thinking about what kind of dead animal I'm going to eat next, but dang I've been doing some serious thinking. In a way, I really like it, but at the same time, I hate it.

For the longest time, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was never the kid who said "When I grow up, I wanna be a ____" and that's what I did. Even in university I had a bit of a panic when I realized that I was about to graduate from university and was still no closer to knowing what I wanted to do, despite pigeonholing myself into the dying corner that is journalism and public relations.

For a while, in University, I thought I'd be an exercise instructor. I mean, why not? I love working out and have a ton of energy. It also seemed logical, because at the time I was a group exercise instructor and loved every minute of it. But really, what kind of life goal is that for me? I don't really have the compassion required. I'll be the first, and most likely not the last, to admit that. If you suck I'll tell you. Don't come to me crying...suck it up and do it again. If you can't do it, that's your problem, not mine. Needless to say, I don't think I'd be a very popular trainer.

Then I got REALLY delusional, almost married my *second* ridiculously wrong boyfriend and made myself stay in West Virginia under the guise of "I want to study public affairs!" Yeah...big (expensive) mistake. I was miserable, to put it lightly. I hated my classes, boyfriend, school, the state of West Virginia as a whole....

Now that I look back on it, it was kind funny. The second I crossed the state line into West Virginia, it was like someone flipped a switch. I came up with some pretty..."colorful' statements. Most of them involved fire, death, homeless people and puppies. I was NOT a happy camper.

 Studying public affairs made me more than well aware of how good I am at rationalizing. I'd go to a class and leave fired up and angry at the government. I wanted to work in government because there was so much wrong and I wanted to fix it. I had the energy and the background and the heart of a volunteer to help those who needed it. I was willing to do what no one else was and work with the "undersirables" and be the crazy lady who stood on Capitol Hill with a sign decrying government waste and excess. Hah. I had it all figured out. Then, I'd go sit down to write 12 page paper and realize that if that's what I worked with for the rest of my life, I'd become a statistic. I'd be another accidental death. Death would come when I impaled my temple on a pencil in an attempt to keep my head up, or of blunt force trauma when, completely zombie-fied by data and the daily desk race, I'd faceplant onto my desk and crack my skull. So, when the semester was over, I ran like hell. I got out and never looked back. Half the time I forget I even took a semester of GradSchool because it was a such a waste of time and money. If I could have that back, I'd take it and RUN.

Flash forward six years (wow...six years already), and I'm finally starting to think about what I really want to do. I've always been a traveler at heart, and I never wanted to be a desk jockey. I wanted to be in entertainment. I did PR because I liked doing the promotions. But I didn't (and still don't) wanna be behind the scenes. I want to be the one to bring it to life.

 I want to....be voice over talent. There. I said it. Laugh if you want. I know it's a long shot. It's not even because of anime (though if I could voice an anime character, my life would be complete). It's more that I want to be the one to bring something to life. Without a voice, they're just pictures on a screen. The voices make or break the characters or show.

So, when I go home (for however long that is), I am planning on taking lessons from a voice coach. I will be looking around at anything I can get my hands on. I'm thinking about starting to take online lessons while I'm still here. I know, it's a pipe dream, but I want to at least try. This is the clearest and closest thing I've had to a dream for as long as I can remember.

I've got nothing to lose except time and money, and they'd both be gone in the end, anyways, so I might as well go for it.

My name is KiteGirl. I'm 26. I still love video games, staying up late reading cheesy shoujou comics and watching kid's shows. My hobbies are working out, dancing, singing, and going to the arcade. I'm painfully immature and love a good fart joke. And you know what? I'm pretty freakin' awesome because of all that.

March 23, 2013

Vegan Day 5 and 6

I got lazy and didn't feel like writing, so I didn't. It was nice, though. I woke up and decided to go to the gym and hammer it out, lack of energy be damned.

A friend suggested that I eat more beans, but for reasons related to the well-known camp song ("Beans, beans. They're good for your heart...) I will NOT be doing that.

I made it through the day okay...packed a TON of snacks, though. Half an Asian Pear (which is not a small fruit), chili peppers and pepper paste, Oreos and more tea than I ever thought I'd need. Ate them all within an hour of arriving at work. I eat because it's there....


Now, I went out for the night, and THAT was a learning experience. I figured "it's okay, I'll just pick over whatever we order. I'll be fine." Yeah, not so much. EVERYTHING had meat or cheese or fish or a combination of the three. We finally settled on a fruit and yogurt fondue platter and bacon cheese fries *tears of sadness*. FRIES ARE NOT GOOD PRE-DRINKING FOOD. THEY ARE NOT FOOD. THEY ARE APPETIZERS!!!  I wasn't thinking about that, of course. I was just looking forward to the night and imbibing at my usual pace...

Flash forward a few hours and we hit my favorite bar for my favorite drink: a Faust. ( 151 Rum, Jagermeister and Yukon Jack)
Why hello there, my vegan friend
Two Fausts and a G&T later and my brain's all fuzzy. There wasn't nearly enough alcohol for that to happen. I'm gonna blame it on the lack of substantial food and water (I can't remember the last time I drank water...just not a fan of the stuff) Anyways, the moral of the story is that only eating a handful of french fries and fruit before getting cozy with Faust and friends is not a good idea. It's 9.30 and my head still kills...


The week is almost over. Yes! I want food. I definitely took the ease of omnivorous life for granted. I want to go to the store and grab a bag of chips, but right now I can't. Candy has gelatin, chips have meat powder in the flavoring, cookies have eggs, bread has eggs/milk, beer has bone char...even the vegetables have meat in them for flavoring or coloring! Definitely learned a lot, most likely won't do this again.

March 21, 2013

Vegan, Day 4

No Energy. That about sums me up right now. I woke up and didn't want to get out of bed. I don't know if it's because of the change in diet, or the lousy workouts, but man am I tired.

I rarely feel tired, I tend to do the toddler thing- Go go go go go go go go SLAM hit the "sleep wall" and drop where I am...Doing that has led to several impromptu naps at the whiteboard and mid-meal faceplants.

I'm glad this week is almost over. I'm bored with my food. I switched up breakfast, but seeing as how the week is almost over, going shopping to buy ingredients seems a bit of a waste. Here's to Friday, where the test continues. Bar food isn't vegan and neither is beer. I love steamed tofu with kimchi and pork...and rolled omelets with tuna fish....and steamed eggs with beef chunks...and salted rock shrimp.

Almost Done!!!

March 20, 2013

Vegan, Day 3

So about all that self-control and not eating and saying I'd already eaten (which I did). FAIL. I didn't go for it on my own, I really didn't. But as soon as I sat down, my friend's husband prepared food porn-worthy samgyeopsal covered in pepper paste and stuck it in my hand. No way was that going to waste.  So I ate it. And then I ate some more, just to be polite.


YOU FAILURE!!!! HOW COULD YOU?!?!...I know I know, I'm a traitor to the "cause" and veganism and blah blah blah. I thought about extending it an extra day, but decided against it. I'm doing this for myself, not for anyone else. Yes, I ate meat, yes it was freaking amazing, yes I ate kimchi (which was made with salted shrimp) and even had a lollipop this morning (which contains gelatin). Big deal.

I wish I could have done it, but ah well. I can still save the rest of the week.

Today has been an off day, anyways. I woke up around 2am and spent the next 5 hours feeling like a warm squishy balloon full of tapioca (I love tapioca, by the way, but I don't love feeling like a balloon full of it) (NOT a good feeling). One nice long bathroom floor nap later and all was *almost* right with the world. Except that I didn't go to the gym. Or eat breakfast. Or watch TV. I just laid in bed, existing next to the furry ball of demon that is my friend's beagle, hoping the squishy balloon feeling wouldn't come back.

I've already noticed that I'm saving money, just because I can't really grab instant food before work. Shrimp chips, stuffed bread, chicken on a stick, candy bars, triangle rice rolls, fish cakes, potato chips, dried squid....things I don't need but routinely grab before work just so I have something to chew on...

I'll admit that I'm also already bored. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this, but pasta and chili can only go so far. Maybe I'll buy some mushrooms tonight and fry them up with onions and tofu...I miss the chewing that meat requires...

Dinner at work...We don't usually get the roasted fish *sadness*

March 19, 2013

Vegan, Day 2

So I survived the first day, nice.

I didn't even crack, though I'll admit that at the end of the day I really wanted to. I woke up around 3am, jonesin for my usually mid-sleep snack of tuna and kimchi...Yeah, SO not vegan. So I had to settle for a roll of Oreos and some soy milk. (definitely didn't hit the spot, but it was better than nothing, I suppose)

I had another strange dream. This time, I was at a beach-type place. I had delicious squid, and it was gigantic, bigger than my face (and I have a pretty big face). Anyways, long story short, the squid came to life when I put it on the fire (reminiscent of the "odori-don" videos I watched last week) and ATE MY LOBSTER. THE SQUID ATE MY FREAKIN' LOBSTER AND RAN OFF INTO THE OCEAN! THAT DELICIOUS JERKFACE STOLE MY LOBSTER! Then I woke up.

But today wasn't so bad. Breakfast wasn't bad, lunch (my sweet potato chili) was amazing. And then I came to work. Again, this is where the temptation comes in. I had more people offer me stuff and wonder why I turned it down when I'm "always hungry". They served kimchi stew with pork, stir fried anchovies (my favorite side dish), and soy sauce marinated quail eggs. I was dying inside...

Then I got a text message from a friend reminding me that I was supposed to go to her house tonight for samgyeopsal (pork belly) and beer...neither of those things are vegan. I love samgyeopsal. I love beer. WHY?!?!?!

Then, a coworker invited me out for gopchang with her her boyfriend. Gopchang (beef intestine) is amazing, and rarely if ever do I get a chance to eat it, as most people refuse to touch it.

I. Want. To. Cry.

But I won't quit. I'll go to dinner and not touch the meat. I'll eat side dishes. I'll stuff my face at home with pasta and rice and corn silk tea. Then I can go and say that I'm just not hungry (even though it's a dirty dirty lie).

I'm not cut out for this in the long run, but I can make it a week!


March 18, 2013

Vegan, Day 1

I had a dream about a hot dog stuffed sausage, battered, fried and covered with ketchup and Cheez Whiz.


That should tell you, on the evening of Day Fricking ONE how I'm doing.

I love to cook, which is likely my saving grace in all of this. I had a lot of fun filtering my food porn to see what kind of vegan dishes there were that didn't require too much money (I like not spending money). I came across a few different things that piqued my interest: Fusili with tomato sauce, wweet potato chili, grilled miso marinated tofu, mushroom "risotto"...


I had a great time on Saturday making the pasta sauce. Something about crushing tomatoes with your hands and ripping spinach just makes me so fricking happy. I also went ahead and did the prep for my chili. I love chopping. A nice uniform dice is always welcome.

But enough about that...

I woke up and didn't want to get out of bed. I was already dreading my post-workout smoothie, sans milk, yogurt and the peanut butter sandwich on the side.  But it wasn't so bad. The black bean milk and soymilk gave it an interesting depth. And Oreos...HECK YEAH. OREOS ARE FRICKIN VEGAN! (I will NOT argue with anyone about that. According to the website, they no longer contain whey or bone char. Considering that this is a week long experiment, I really don't care if there are microscopic traces of dehydrated bone char in my cookies)

Lunch was good too, I tried my pasta and sauce. Spilled a good bit on my bed, but that has nothing to do with trying vegan and everything to do with the fact that I'm messy and not terribly graceful.

The problem came in with work. My kids usually bring me some kind of snack food or candy. Crab chips are delicious. My one girl left a few on my desk for me....travesty. Then there's dinner at work. Usually soup and side dishes, most of which are meat/fish broth based or have little bits in them. Looks like I'm sticking to rice, seaweed and marinated sesame for the next few days...

Apparently many beers aren't vegan, either...looks like it's gonna be a cocktail week for me. Oh darn...

What's this? Many common mixers aren't vegan either?!?!
OH NO! I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DRINK MY LIQUOR STRAIGHT, AS THE GREAT MAKERS INTENDED!!!!!

 *party at Club Royal this week!*

(by Club Royal, I mean my apartment. They give them such lovely names here)

Week 3- Let's go Vegan

So, midnight tonight starts it. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to it. But then again, I'm quite the sucker for punishment.

Here's the Deal: I'm switching to a completely vegan diet. Just with food, not lifestyle though. (There's no way I'm abandoning my beloved fleece hoodie!)

Say What?!
Yeap, passing on meat, animal products, and those really irritating (and ever-present) hidden animal by-products.

Why
Because I freaking love meat. (But KiteGirl...if you love meat so much, why would you want to do that to yourself?!?!) I want a challenge. That, and you know that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I'm already planning how I can have fried chicken, pork belly, sausage and beef fit in a single culinary vehicle...

March 15, 2013

Decision Made.

So I'm quickly running out of time in March, as well. The months are just flying by...oh man.

What to do, what to do...

So I've decided, after much consideration and research (read: poring over pictures of food), to go vegan for a week.

Yes. Abso-frickin-loutely vegan. No bread, meat, eggs, cheese, fish, ham, cheez wiz, dried squid, shrimp flavored chips, lollipops *gelatin*, or post workout milkshakes with yogurt.


 It'll be hard! I know because being being vegetarian in South Korea is difficult enough, let alone full-on vegan. I remember how hard it was go find a meal out with friends when one was a vegetarian. They'd order a rice roll and say "no meat", only to find fishcakes and ham in them, because "ham isn't meat". (Korean ham isn't really ham as far as I'm concerned, but it's still got dead animal bits in it. Dead animal=meat).  Going vegan would mean meat, fish and all associated products. Landmines ahoy! Most food is started with a fish based broth or has bits of ground meat or baby fish in it.

Then there's the whole idea of not eating meat. Speak life, speak success, blah blah blah...I know, I know. I also know that I FRICKING LOVE MEAT! I wake up in the middle of the night just to cook and eat steak or fried egg (I've never been big on ice cream as a midnight snack. Midnight steak= great sleep). I went vegetarian for Lent last year and was miserable. At one point, I found myself having a meal of Utz Cheez Balls (amazing snack food goodness) and barbecue sauce.

I would like to see if I can actually do it, though. and if I AM going to do it, then I'd best get on it before barbecue and picnic season is in full swing. I can't imagine passing up beer and pork belly on principle *True Story*

I know there are plenty of "iffy" things and technical "no-foods" that I shouldn't be eating, but I'm not gonna go totally crazy, here. If it turns out that my kimchi isn't vegan, my bad. I'm doing this as a challenge, not because I really think that veganism is the way to go....I'm def looking forward to the oversized serving of pork, eggs and cheez wiz that will inevitably follow...

March 6, 2013

Look Back

So I went to HongKong over the weekend and it gave me a lot of time to think. Did I think? Of course I did. Did I "dwell"...HELL NO!

I guess I have changed a bit. I was fine not packing my laptop.The painfully slow internet access didn't kill me either. Hong Kong has decent enough internet speed, but the wifi in my guesthouse was crap, to put it nicely.

I only checked a few times, and even then, I didn't spend a lot of time refreshing. I was disappointed to see that I had missed a message from a good friend who'd moved away, but oh well.


So far,I'm happy to say that the whole "week of change dealie" (though only two weeks have been completed) has been a good idea.