Anyways, I’d been really starting to miss some of my old recipes, one of my favorites being Dominican style fried chicken akaChicharrones de Pollo. Well the flavor is phenomenal, chicken definitely isn’t what makes the recipe good. So I picked one of my favorite “fake meats” tempah and decided to use it as a replacement for the chicken.

This was my first time trying this and let me tell you, the resutls were FANTASTIC. Even my BF who isn’t vegan agreed it was tasty. “Crispy delicious flavor” is what he called it. He missed the texture of the meat but certainly didn’t mind the tempeh strips!

Here’s what you need:

1 (8-ounce) package tempeh
Oil for sauteeing

Marinade:
1 cup lime juice
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tsp rum (imitation rum is fine)
liquid smoke to taste

Seasoning:
1/4 cup Wheat Flower (or any kind you prefer)
2/3 teaspoons of the following seasonings:
garlic powder, onion powder, seasoning salt, curry, coriander, tumeric, pepper, (feel free to play around with these and add various seasoning to taste, i do this all the time)

Making something delicious:

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Do so in a bowl or a zip lock bag.
2. Rinse the tempeh in cool water (I hear this takes away a bitter taste it may have occassionally, I may just do this as a leftover habit from cooking meat, lol)
3. Slice the tempeh into thin 1/8th to 1/4th inch strips
4. Add tempeh strips and allow to marinate for a minimum of four hours (overnight is best if possible)
5. In a large seperate bag (a gallon zip lock bag is fine) mix all the spices together with the flour
6. Heat a  small amount of oil in the pan (I used Grapeseed Oil)
7. Coat the tempeh strips in the seasoning and saute lightly for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until brown
8. While the strips are cooking, get a plate and coat with paper towel (to drain the extra oil from the strips once done)
9. Remove strips and sit on paper towels until ready to eat

Serve with a side of veggies, rice and peas for something more authentic or potatoes.

ENJOY!

From the kitchen of a vegan Dominican

I’ve been having trouble with my hair, thought perhaps it needed more protein. Nope, wrong. I tried a few things that I won’t go into right now but they all made my hair woes worst.

I’ve been trying to find a product in the store to try as i’ve been having the WORST time receiving mail… as in not receicing it at all. I’d hate to spend so much money on products only to not receive them.

Well, i’ve seen a ton of commercials for the L’oreal ever pure with no sulfates, so I thought I’d give it a shot. This product is also Vegan and says so on the back. For only $7 how could I say no??

Bought the product, clarified my hair this morning and due to the fact that I was in a rush I applied only this conditioner to my hair instead of layering products like I normally do.

The consistency is runny and thin. A lot thinner than I like for my leave-in conditioners to be. But I was in a rush,  so I just applied all over, pulled my hair into a puff and left.

At the 50% dry mark I noticed I had little to no frizz (this is after driving with all windows and the sun roof open) this was IMPRESSIVE. However, I had a massive headache coming on but I wasn’t sure why. I run a few more errands and  realise I have a full

blown headache, hair is now about 80% with still little to no frizz. WTF is that smell??

And the reason for my headache becomes obvious.. the smell is ME! Oh my god, this stuff smells so horrible. The scent of all the products is supposed to be rosemary mint. It is extremely strong and smells like a flowery perfume created in the 60s that someone’s gram still owns and wears.

I came home to take a brief nap, I tied my hair back with a scarf hoping that would fix things. It didn’t, I kept catching whiffs of the stench that was my hair.. I couldn’t sleep.

So, I figured I’d get up and run a few errands. Hair was 95% dry now. It seems the dryer my hair became the more prominent the smell became. Every time the wind blew, or if I turned my head a certain way I caught a whiff of the old lady flowery stench. I was

embarrased to be seen with myself. The smell covered my perfume!!

I had to come home and rinse my hair. I checked in the mirror before doing so and my curlies? Flawless. Seriously, gorgeous. My hair was so soft and touchable. Very little frizz, lots of shine. *sigh*

I began rinsing my hair and gagging the entire time. I didn’t want to wash it because it gave my curls such wonderful results. I ran my

hair under cool water for about 5 minutes. Then applied another moisturizing conditioner that I had success with in the past.

I still lightly smell the stench of the conditioner. My dog sniffed my hair just now and sneezed. It’s not as strong as before and the coconutty fresh smell of my current conditioner seems to be overpowering the stench of the L’oreal conditioner.

I unfortunately can not recomnend this product. Had I been at work I would’ve left early because of stinky embarrasment. My head still hurts as I type this out.

Dear L’oreal,

Don’t try so hard, you have a terrific product, just give it to me unscented next time. Thanks.

In a non disclosed institution today, we’ll call it a Pirate Ship. I had an interesting conversation with the First Officer who is my direct superior.  This individual, asked if I was the person behind the blog behind a pseudonym that I use(d) frequently (as much as I loved it, I won’t be using it anymore). I cautiously admitted yes… wondering where this was going.

Well, a certain post of mine (one of my first from my previous blog that I’ve imported to this new site and new blog) was a rant about a random person. Let’s just say this person was 1st mate to a very important Captain. Someone (this is the great mystery) went through great many efforts to track my blog down for whatever reason. Once at my blog, they tried very hard to make connections between the blog’s pseudonym and the Ordinary Seaman that is I in real life.

Whoever this mystery individual is (perhaps the Flying Spaghetti Monster?) clearly had ill intentions. I’ll explain why.

1. I have several social networking sites: Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, All Voices, Blog Site, etc
2. None of these sites are listed under my real name
3. There are (were) a small amount of co-workers on my Facebook page (none on any of the others)
4. My Facebook page is NOT under the same name as any of my other sites
5. My Facebook page does not link to my blog
6. The person not only tracked down my blog, but they tracked down this specific posting as well
7. Once they read this post, they assumed it was about the 1st Mate and Captain that they knew
8. They then proceeded to show said posting to both the 1st Mate and Captain and the Ship’s HR rep
9. The HR rep (HR is evil per Michael Scott) NEVER mentioned anything to me, just to the 1st Officer, Captain and 1st Mate (why, this sounds a lot like gossiping and the type of behavior that HR would usually frown upon)

At this point, I feel stalked and it makes me uncomfortable and angry. I don’t care who reads whatever but to show it to some very important members of the ship under the assumption that you know who a post is about is unacceptable.

Furthermore, now people are apparently upset about something that they shouldn’t have knowledge of in the first place. This entire thing is so very petty, immature and ridiculous. I’m utterly appalled and disgusted with how it has been handled. I certainly want nothing more to do with anyone on this Pirate ship as I have no idea who the petty Pirate is so now I can’t trust ANY Pirate!

What’s the difference between my venting via a blog and someone calling their loved one or friend and veting to them? In this instance, the petty Pirate overhears the phone call but hears no names.  Then the Pirate goes and tells a ton of people about the phone call saying it was about whomever they choose to say it’s about. That would be considered petty gossip, but somehow this isn’t.

*sigh*

I’m a writer, this is how I express myself. I’m not petty, I’m not into drama and I’m not going to be censored because of individuals with different opinions/views stalking me to make trouble.

I moved everything to make sure I have no ties to old accounts. And to prove a point. To make the effort to show that i’m adamant about keeping personal and work life separate. And that if the person somehow finds THIS blog, then they are clearly stalking me and trying to cause trouble.

I hate feeling like I can’t trust anyone anymore, especially those who I thought I was close to.

Anyways, that’s the gist of things. Soon everything will be back to normal. Until then… thanks for following the new blog.

Peas!!

I’ve been natural for a teeny bit over a year now. I had a great routine that worked extremely well for me. A nice balance of 98% natural products with the tiny inclusion of some silicones in my leave-in. This was working GREAT. Well, since I’ve been eating a plant based diet, for some reason my hair has gone completely crazy!

There’s this layer of frizz that has sprouted up, literally over night, making my favorite wash/shake/go method of hair styling almost impossible. My hair (which is finally long enough to do something with since my BC last year!!) is now pushed back into a ponytail, but I feel nekkid without my big hair.

What do I do? New products i’m sure. Yet, I have no idea what type of products my hair needs. More moisture? A protein treatment? Some sort of styling aid to force it to behave? No to the latter of course, I have to maintain it’s health before worrying over it’s appearance.

Hmmm, i’m going to do some searching through natural hair sites and see if I can find a solution. I will definitely update once I and ready to move to Phase 2, Operation Research.

The consistency is similar to Whole Dairy Milk. It is slightly thicker/richer. I would say in between Whole Milk and Creamer. I tried the original and it was not annoyingly sweet. The flavor was definitely that of coconuts, however it wasn’t so strong that someone who is not a a HUGE fan of coconut wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. The color is the same as dairy. My boyfriend (non-vegan who I slipped this to) didn’t even know the difference! Although i’m still going to try other options. So far this is definitely going to be a staple replacement for me!

Nutritional Information:

Hi, I’m the person you assisted the other day. I would like to take this time to provide a friendly recap of our longer than brief supply/demand based interaction.

I came into your work space as I required something within your area of expertise. I waited until you decided I had waited long enough and proceeded to request my demand of your supplies once I was certain I had your full attention. But who are we kidding, I never had your full attention, did I?

Your attitude was less than desirable. Your tone of voice was rough with traces of annoyance and indignation at my requesting a demand that you are employed to supply. You took your time while attempting to look up my demand, to see if you had any idea of this outlandish thing I was requesting.

Eye rolling, this happened on many occasions often followed by a deep and heavy sigh. I get it, I annoy you. The thing is though, I need this. That is my only purpose for being in your workspace. I can assure you in my free time, I do not intend to hang out in your area of expertise.

“Hold on!” you bark at me roughly causing me to cringe. “Sure, no problem” is my polite and airy reply, hoping it’ll speed up this interaction which has now become much, much longer than brief. You answer your phone and are suddenly all smiles. This person makes your day. Perhaps he/she is the reason you are at this job you so obviously loathe, making the work day longer for both I and you. After a brief sun filled interaction with the person on the phone, my presence looms in the background like a darkening storm cloud, destroying your mood. I didn’t know how terrible of a person I am! I’m glad I’m doing this recap.

“I have to go, I’ll call you later.” This is the dry response I’ve caused you to give the person that only a few moments ago lightened your entire existence.

“Hey, if it’s a problem, I can come back…” I trail off as you give me another of your patented looks of disgust. I hush up and wonder if you realize how much faster this could be if you would just DO YOUR JOB. You do get that, don’t you? You hate me, but I can’t leave because YOU won’t let ME.

I lean against an object large enough to support my weight or sit back in my chair and check my text, tweet, e-mail and wait.

Eventually, FINALLY, you have the supply that I demanded originally. THANK YOU. This has taken so much longer than I expected.

I receive the supply only to find that it’s wrong. So close, but so very wrong. Is this possibly because I never had your full attention to begin with?

I remain calm, the economy is bad. You’re lucky to have a job, you can’t be concerned with what it is you do and how you do it. You just need the money, yes? Perhaps to care for the person who made the sun shine in your stormy world.

I sigh, wait for you to acknowledge my presence in your world once again.. so that we can do the same dance of supply and demand.

Well, first after several tests and doctor visits, it’s been guessed at that I may have PCOS. Well, that means I can’t have kids.. which for right now I’m absolutely fine with, lol, for now at least. Still battling through the Sickle Cell issues which always suck.. but other than that I seem to luckily be kinda sorta healthy.

Anyways, because of this I’ve not had a chance to do anything with my hair as I wanted.. my 1 year has come and gone.

I don’t know much about this whole PCOS shananigan, but I’ll update as I figure it out. Have another follow up appointment on the 29th.. not sure what the outcome of this is intended to be.. they’re still testing and not working towards a cure yet.. or a treatment plan which is frustrating.

I’ve bought some Castor Oil, haven’t had a chance to try it out yet though. Been rocking a pony tail mostly, (Yes, I can finally get a ponytail of a decent length after hacking my hair off a year ago May 1!!!!)

I also have some cool hair accessories i’ll post about later, they work great.

That’s all for now, sorry to be so boring world.

Peasy

Anways, I will have several posts dedicated to the countdown to May 1 and what i’m doing to my hair from now to then.

April 19-22, 2009

From Sunday through Wednesday I’ve had my hair in a protective style. The style I chose was several small twists pulled back into a bun. My hair while twisted was saturated in Giovanni Deep Moisture Conditioner as a leave-in, Wild Growth Hair Oil and Yellow Natural Raw Shea Butter to assist with the retention of moisture.

April 22, 2009

I took down all of the twists. Next I used the shea butter mentioned above and emulsified it between my hands. Then, I rubbed this on the last 3 inches or so of my ends to soften them as they were a bit hard from the bun. I wrapped my hair up in, yup, good ole fashioned saran wrap to maintain the moisture and use the heat from my body to assist the shea butter in easy penetration of the hair shaft.

I also sent an e-mail to XEX salon (an Aveda salon) to inquired as to whether their Director of Color, Tracy, would be able to handle my hair. (Not everyone knows what to do with curly, let alone 4A/3C curly hair!)

April 23, 2009

Now it’s time to get rid of those scraggily ends.

I unwrapped my hair which was still in the seperate sections from the twists. I literally took one section at a time, wet the ends to assist in smoothing them out, combed them around the curve of my finger to straighten them, and snipped off all that was raggedy (not more than 1/8th of an inch in most instances). This took care of all split ends (very few) and those darn fairy knots that appear and are soo annoying.

After my “dusting”, I rinsed my hair in cold water. Co-washed with the Giovanni and styled with several conditioners (since i’m planning to dye my hair, I want to make sure i’m conditioning as much as possible as the dye will dry out my hair and if that happens.. breakage can occur!)

While my hair was dripping wet, I added HE Hydralicious Reconditioning Conditioner. Hair is still really wet at this point. Next I added a tiny amount of NOW Vegetable Glycerine. I emulsified in my hands and then just lightly patted it onto my hair. Then, I layered HEHH.
After this I seperated my hair into four different sections and finger combed Aveda Be Curly Conditioner into my hair. That’s all of the products I used, lol.

After this, I finger combed my hair back so that I can double band my head band around my hair. Lastly, I shake and wrap a satin scarf around the part that is pushed back so that it will stay flat. Then I went to work

Tonight i’ll be deep conditioning! And hopefully i’ll hear back from the salon today as well!