Gone Walkabout

More than ten days have lapsed since last we were together on this blog. What do I have to show for it, where have I been? Looking back over these last few days, I can honestly say I have no idea for the most part.

I got swallowed by my kitchen for days on end. As I slid down that vortex, I had epic highs and epic lows. I had a stack of recipes I wanted to try, and all of my new cookbooks came within the last week or so as well. Adding to that situation were the already existing stack of recipes I need to work through. I have worked with no less then 20 new recipes since I last posted. Of them, I would say roughly 5 are keepers. That's about average for me. Most people have no idea how much research and development goes into the food here, truth be told even I am constantly surprised by how much work it takes to get a recipe to the table in suitable form. One night this week after roughly 16 hours in the kitchen, I collapsed into bed. I decided to take 2 minutes to put lotion on my hands and arms, an innocent enough idea. I got back up and stumbled to the closet... found the bottle of lotion in the dark (too lazy to turn the light on), collapsed back into bed, flipped the lid and gave it a good squeeze.... only to have half a bottle of shower gel come flying out onto me, the cat, the blanket, and anything else within firing distance. Word: when looking for hand lotion and you're tired, don't be too lazy to turn the light on to confirm lotion is lotion, and not shower gel.

I made another epic discovery in the last week or so.... coconut bacon. I'm really late to the party on this one. How could this invention have arrived in the world without me knowing puzzles me. Apparently coconut bacon took the veg world by storm a year or two again, while I've been completely oblivious. Somehow I stumbled upon a mention of it on the internet last week and was intrigued, so I whipped up a batch. Instantly I was addicted, and I am not kidding. I have sprinkled coconut bacon into my oatmeal, onto my kale, over a sandwich, and into my quinoa. I made quiche with it, and tossed it into some scramble. I've baked with it, and sautéed with it. There is NOTHING you cannot do with coconut bacon. My life will never be the same!

I think more than anything though, what's happened here, actually what IS happening here, is that we are at a crossroads. There comes a time when you have to decide what is the best use of your time, this includes of course what we do for work. Both of us happy vegans are united in that feeling, and unfortunately that seems to mean that there will be things happening that neither of us really planned on. Yet, we are both optimistic that no matter how things are when we tumble out the other side, we will of course be dedicated to helping animals, living compassionately, and moving constantly in the direction of activism.

I really am a bit spent, I think that's my main reason for having gone walkabout on you. The other happy vegan and I have made some hard business decisions in the last week or so. It has not been pleasant. It's very rare that either of us here have regrets about things, especially when it comes to business and work. We thankfully share the same work ethic, and the same philosophy of "we can do it" if there's something either of us wants to accomplish. Yet, we've come to admit that sometimes the constant fight it takes to actually exist and "be" what we are here might not be the best use of our time and money. If things cannot be resolved realistically and economically, we've got to wonder why are we even doing what we're doing when there is so much more in the world that needs our attention, so much more that we can do.  And, so this is where we are as of now.

I never did well with change, it's a source of anxiety for me. But in the last 10 years or so, my life has been a series of constant changes so I've learned to adapt far better than in the past. Change is once again in the air. Being at a crossroads is never a perfect place to be, but once I've made a decision which path to take I find myself being able to regroup, refocus, and just do it. We've never been the type of people to roll over and be quiet about anything; don't bet on it now either.