Breakfast: The morning came too soon. With my flight from Chicago delayed 4 hours, we got to sleep around 3am. My plan was to wake up at 11am to get my necessary 8 hours of sleep. That didn’t happen. The sun pours in from the top window with no shade at around 6:30am. I tried to get a few more hours sleep when the sun moved higher in the sky. Still, I couldn’t make it until 11. Gary got up around 8:30am. After a few minutes of trying to get back to sleep I gave up and got up too. We had Earl Grey tea to get going.
Lunch: We were looking forward to a family dinner gathering over at Gary’s brother Mark’s home so lunch would be light. We were also going to be finishing up our house sitting assignment in San Jose in a few days so it was time to finish up the remaining food. I took out the Lemon Sherbert I had made a few days before and let it defrost, since it was hard as a rock. Once softened Gary blended it up into a wonderful smoothie. This mix of Lemons, Green Grapes, Cashews, Vanilla and water was not the successful sherbert I was dreaming of in terms of texture but it tasted great and was a winner as a smoothie.
A little later on I had some of the Tofu Zucchini Stir Fry Gary had made while I was in Chicago, along with a few almonds.
Dinner: Gary had bought Beyond Meat’s Beast Burger to grill at the family barbecue in Monte Sereno. I have tried Beyond Meat’s Chicken Strips before when going to the Whole Foods Salad Bar. I never liked them. I don’t know what flavors I tried but they never tasted very good and there was always an unpleasant aftertaste. But I support any company that makes products to get people off meat. With all the hype (i.e. expensive marketing) behind the Beast Burger we thought it was a good time to try it. I was hesitant thinking it might actually taste like meat, since that was what all the advertising made us believe. I have not eaten meat in over 40 years. Taste is dependent on smell, and unfortunately I have smelled plenty of cooked meat in my life; I still know its flavor and don’t like it.
We had picked up a gorgeous Organic Purple Cauliflower at Whole Foods the other day and Gary got to roasting it with Organic Sweet Potatoes and a Broccoli/Cauliflower Mix, tightly sealed on the grilled. Gary is the Roasted Vegetable King! They always come out mouth-wateringly delicious. I was looking forward to this dish!
Gary grilled the Beast Burgers, and topped them with Tomato Cayenne Chao Slices which melted perfectly and he served them on Organic Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns.
I filled my plate with a Green Salad tossed with Balsamic Vinegar, Roasted Vegetables and the Beast Burger with a little Just Mayo Chipotle on my Burger Bun. The entire family went to sit outside to eat. Almost as soon as everyone sat down at the table, the bees came. One by one, almost everyone jumped up and went back indoors. “Bees! Bees! Run from the bees!”
Bees have never bothered me even though I have been stung a couple of times when I was a child. The first time was when I was 5 years old. My friend Elyse’s dad took us on a special outing to a new hamburger joint called Mr. B’s. This kind of fast-food restaurant was a novelty back in 1963 and we were excited to try it. We sat on a ledge on the side of the restaurant to eat our burgers. I put my hand down on a bee and was stung; I was stung by a bee at Mr. B’s! Fortunately, I was not traumatized by this event. Today I believe that if I don’t bother them they won’t bother me. Gary’s nephew Josh felt the same way and the two of us stuck it out, eating outside. The bees would come and go and if they got too close we’d fan them with our napkins.
We noticed that these bees, there were three, were only interested in Josh’s steak. Then I realized – they weren’t bees, they were Yellow Jackets, which are actually wasps and carnivores. Josh went back in and dumped his steak and came back out to join me. We left a small piece of steak away from our plates as an offering to the wasps, to leave us alone.
Now back to the Beast Burger. I like to eat one thing at a time. I ate my salad first which was light, fresh and crunchy. Then I moved on to the Roasted Vegetables. I adored the Purple Cauliflower, which was so flavorful and the Sweet Potatoes were sweet enough to be considered dessert. Next it was time for the Beast Burger. I was disappointed at the first bite. The texture was okay but the flavor was not. It didn’t have a lot of flavor but what it did have I didn’t like. And it wasn’t a meaty flavor either. It just wasn’t good. It wasn’t horrible though and I continue to try it to see if it would get better. It didn’t. The Just Mayo Chipotle, Chao Slice and Bread were what made it palatable. The Beast Burger was my first, and my last. The carnivorous wasps weren’t interested in my burger either.
The next time I want a burger, it’s going to be this one – our Healthy World Burger with Gary’s Chipotle Sauce which I love and is so much better than Just Mayo’s (which is pretty good). Life is short, and I believe every bite of food we eat should be nourishing AND enjoyable. That may mean going into the kitchen and preparing food yourself.
I am reminded of my interview with artist Tom Lieber when he said, “How lazy do you want to get? How uninvolved do you want to be with your life? So, not only is cooking food and shopping for the right food enriching for the food but it enriches your soul.” I can’t agree more! I’ll pass on the methyl cellulose and isolated pea protein in the convenient Beast Burger, and take the time to make truly delicious and nutritious Healthy World Burgers with whole grains like millet, red and black rices and turanicum.
Evening:
Back “home” at the house we are staying at in San Jose, we enjoyed a little Vanilla Soy Creamy with a lot of Organic Blueberries.
