Megan’s Neighborhood

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The soft glow of a million fluorescent lights

Byrne
Yesterday
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The soft glow of a million fluorescent lights

Eating by myself @ Smack. Heaven.

Byrne
Yesterday
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Eating by myself @ Smack. Heaven.

Subway men - can you tell me what station?

Byrne
Yesterday
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Subway men - can you tell me what station?

Great post form Vegan Soapbox: Truly, you can eat vegan anywhere

Elisa
Yesterday
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Eccentric Vegan isn't too happy with how a NY Times writer (and author of a new guide to being a vegan in NYC) answers someone's question about how to eat out as vegan other than actually going to a veg restaurant. Eccentric Vegan comes up with a much better answer, which boils down to:

Ask for what you want and explain why.

It is far more common for me to encounter restaurants and wait staff who are happy to help than it is for me to encounter pretentious dicks who don't care if you ever come back to their restaurant.

Sure I tell you every time I encounter one of the bad 'uns, but I hope I also make clear that 90% of the time I am accommodated...when I'm traveling, when I'm ordering room service, when I'm at a cheap diner and when I'm at a fancy restaurant that isn't built around catering to my needs.

but you really do have to be unafraid of asking the questions, and of telling the waiter why you're asking. Telling them helps them to be proactive and anticipate your needs. And most of them will really try to do that.

They really well.

Snotty NY Times guy's response was find a veg. restaurant or brown bag it.

Silly, silly NY Times guy.

B-I-N-G-O

Maggie
2 days ago
3 comments

I was going to wait until I had time to take a picture of my metallic ~~purple~~ grape dauber and my first ever Bingo sheet, but I just couldn't resist Voxing anymore. Maybe I'll add them later on...

On Sunday, D, the D-units, and I went to play Bingo. That's right - you heard me. I said Bingo and if I said I'd never experienced anything like it before...well, that would probably be a near truth.

I wanted to take a picture of the experience, but there was something about the glares that we got when we fudged up several bingo games that told me bringing out a camera to capture the moment probably wasn't the best idea. In fact, making any noise that distracted others was a no-no. There was a fine list of rules all set out for the new-comers, but that didn't seem to help us understand the unwritten rules of the game...like no giggling. Or annoying sounds if your bingo computer effs up. But in fairness - the giggles were minimal and the computer effed up on it's own...sort of.

Since I couldn't bring the bingo hall to you, here's a pic I found online that resembles it quite a bit....

BINGO!

Just add more smoke from all the ciggies and mean glares cast down on M, D, & the D-units for not quite fitting in. LOL - but who cares. It was fun or I at least thought it was. D won't be going back I'm sure of it, but I can't possibly let my dauber go to waste. That little puppy cost $1! While I could paint a poster or provide touch ups to a purple painted statue, I think I'll have another go at a game of bingo! Afterall, I was pretty darn close at least 3 times! Who knows - maybe I'll even get one of thost handy Bingo bags so I can tote around my colorful daubers. ;-)

Things on Tuesday - 8/26

Maggie
2 days ago
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Things I loathe

Achey muscles
Headaches
Not having enough hours in the day to watch Prison Break

Things I love

Bingo with D and the p-units
Workouts
Play time with kittehs
Labor Day weekend plans! :)
Prison Break - zomg! Yes, I know I'm late to the show
Happy hours
Bar Louie & their delish burger in a bowl!
Upcoming happy hours
New adventures
Prison Break
Getting excited about vacays
Preparing for Scotland in Sept (for workies!)
Did I mention Prison Break?
Time with D :)

Vox Hunt: Peace and Quiet

Show us your favorite place to relax.

to the beach

1 comment

Sometimes restaurants surprise you

Elisa
2 days ago
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Recently I had two restaurant experiences where my expectations were low, but my satisfaction level was high. In both cases I learned 1) not to judge a book by its cover, and 2) Ask and sometimes you really do receive.

The first occasion was weekend before last when I went over the hill to Santa Cruz to meet some family who was in town for a week. We were a big group with a bunch of kids and, much to my anal retentive chagrin, there was no plan. So when dinner time rolled around suddenly (because of the kids and their limited ability to cope with no dinner and late hours) it became urgent to find a place to go to dinner.

But finding a place to accommodate 14 of us on short notice in a town known way more for little hole in the wall places than restaurants that can easily accommodate large parties was not an easy feat. We actually flirted with going to the Saturn Cafe (a veg place) but they couldn't guarantee when we'd actually get seated, so we nixed that. Finally my cousin found a little pizzeria who said they could take us "right now" and we jumped on it.

Now, I wasn't too happy about it...pizzerias aren't exactly the friendliest locales for vegans. I hoped they would have some pasta in addition to pizza, so I could maybe have that trusty, but boring, standby spaghetti marinara. Off we headed to Mangiamo.

Mangiamo ended up being a pizza joint in a strip mall, one where the Safeway grocery store was the anchor tenant. They also had a guy set up in the corner singing lounge songs with a karaoke machine providing the accompaniment. And, they didn't have pasta on their menu...only pizza and calzones, laden with cheese.

It was not promising for me.

One of my cousins felt a little bad about the last minute and very non-veg-friendly choice, so he started the ball rolling by asking if the dough for the pizzas was vegan. That started the ball rolling of the wait staff going way out of their way to figure out what I could eat and accommodate me. They did have a vegetable pizza, complete with "Creamy Ranch and Garlic Sauce", so I asked if I could get said pizza with no sauce at all. They came back to make sure I understood that the ranch and the garlic sauce were two separate things, and that, in fact, the garlic sauce was just olive oil and garlic, and didn't I still want that? Of course I did.

The waiter called her manager at home to inquire about the recipe for their foccacia bread and make sure it was vegan, so she could bring me some.

I'll be honest, I filled up mostly on the focaccia (also served with a little bowl of garlic and olive oil) and mostly picked the vegetable toppings off the pizza and ate them, but the point is that this little place definitely took it upon themselves to find a way to accommodate the pesky vegan, and I appreciated the effort.I went from feeling a little disgruntled, to feeling like very welcome and like an appreciated customer, not a pain in their ass.

So, kudos to Mangiamo in Santa Cruz, CA for making the effort for the Pesky Vegan.

Stay tuned for surprising restaurant experience #2 tomorrow.