The other happy vegan and myself take our food very seriously. We also take our work pretty seriously as well. We tend not to socialize much during busy times, neither one of us goes out much. What we have in common at all times is our love of food. Granted I cook the majority of the food for us (and all the food for the guests), but it matters not, we both love to eat. That mostly explains my commitment to running and boot camp classes. When we get busy, we can get a bit crabby with each other. This includes issues with food. As I mentioned at the outset, we take our food very seriously.
I mentioned my brush with fame in meeting Diana Nyad. That trip to Key West resulted in one of my most favorite foods..... the tempeh reuben. That tempeh reuben came home with me and waited all day in the fridge for eating after boot camp. On my way home from boot camp that night, I swung by a convenience store and picked up an organic iced tea as well. I have cut back on prepared beverages, even though the tea is essentially sugar free. I can make my own, and hate to waste the packaging, recycling or not. But, I didn't have tea in the fridge that night, and I had that perfect sandwich waiting. I survived boot camp so I figured what the heck, make the celebration even better with an iced tea.
When I got home, I sat down to eat my sandwich and drink my tea. The other happy vegan had eaten something else while I was at the gym. I couldn't finish either the tea or the sandwich, so I wrapped my leftovers with loving care and stashed them back in the fridge. I left my tea on the table, and went off to do something else.
After a couple hours, I went back to the table to finish my tea. Imagine my surprise when I saw the bottle was gone. I located the bottle, empty, on the counter waiting to be deposited in the outside recycling. I had to stop and think for a moment... did I drink all that tea? No.... I did not. I marched into the bedroom where the other happy vegan was blissfully sleeping. I bounced on the bed to announce my arrival, and demanded to know if he drank my tea. He admitted it. He drank it. And, then he said "it wasn't that much." I fumed! He had 2 bottles of organic lemonade sitting in the fridge, especially for him. I don't go near that stuff... it's HIS lemonade. This was going to get ugly.
I think it's important to note that I have a pet peeve with the other happy vegan. When he eats or drinks something that is "mine" and subsequently gets "caught," he deflects and will semi-degrade whatever it was that he illegally ate or drank. Like the tea. Not that it was great, wonderful and blissful. Rather it was "not that much." When he eats a cookie I've saved, he'll say "it was stale" instead of admitting it was fabulous. As if saying something negative takes away from the theft of my food or drink.
When you live and work with someone, trust me, little things turn into big things. Like drinking someone else's tea.
As if the tea situation weren't bad enough, the next morning when I woke up and began rattling the pots and pans, I noticed that my leftovers were not where I left them in the fridge. I rummaged around thinking they were misplaced (we have a very large commercial fridge), but I couldn't locate my most favorite tempeh reuben leftovers. A thought almost too hard to believe crossed my mind, but I had to ask. "Did you eat the rest of my sandwich?" I said to the other happy vegan in the dark before I even had the muffin ingredients mixed in the bowl for breakfast. He admitted it. He ate my sandwich. My tempeh reuben leftovers. And then he said "it was only a little bit left."
AS IF!?!
There's an episode of Friends from years ago when Monica makes a sandwich for her brother Ross, with a "moist maker" in the middle (yes, the sandwich was made of dead, but the episode is hilarious anyway). Ross waits all year for the special sandwich with the "moist maker" (Thanksgiving leftovers), and cherishes that sandwich. He takes his special sandwich to work, puts it in the community fridge, but then someone else takes it and eats it. Worse yet, the thief doesn't finish the sandwich, saying "it was too big", so he throws the rest away. Ross finds all this out, and melts down to the extent that he is sent to the hospital, given sedatives, and put on leave from work. It's hilarious because I understand too well.
So it was with the tea drinking, sandwich eating thievery that I realized I needed a break. For two days and 2 nights, every opportunity I could, I reminded him he was a tea drinking, sandwich eating thief; I think he got the hint. Last night, the other happy vegan (aka the tea drinking, sandwich eating thief) went out to the movies with people other than me. Sure I was invited. I could have gone, but it was him doing me a favor by going and leaving me here. I had a 5 hour vacation while he and others went to the movies. Oh, it was divine, at least for me. Despite the fact that I spent part of my time vacuuming and washing the floor, I also spent part of my time making pesto (oh yeah....) and eating said pesto. And, then I snuggled in with multiple cats and blissfully fell asleep while the television flickered through my room. Five hours of peace; five hours of cats; five hours of flickering television with no one telling me to shut it off (which you already know is a constant issue for me, the insomniac vs. him, the non-insomniac).
When he returned from his night out, I woke up because I heard the door open and close. I asked him how was the movie. But, there was a more important question on his mind. He said "how was your vacation?" It was not until that moment I could confirm he knew I needed a break, as neither of us said it.
I couldn't help but squeak with glee "it was GREAT!"
Now, about that sandwich...
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