So far, this month hasn't been too challenging at all. I have noticed a few things:

1. Being semi-vego helps me to make decisions with regards to eating. The rules are so simple - no dairy; no meat; some fish; whole grains where possible (challenging in Japan). So, instead of the usual conversation I have with myself:

Hana: Should I have some chocolate?
Hana: No, it's not healthy and you want to lose weight.
Hana: But, I deserve it.
Hana: Okay, just a little.
Hana: Man, I'm hungry.
Hana: Okay, a little more because you walked to work.

Blah blah blah.

Now, it's like:

Hana: Does chocolate fit the rules?
Hana: No.
Hana: Okay, I'll have some fruit.

2. I feel like I'm having a lot more salt - but probably because I'm cooking from scratch more, or using salad dressings / soy sauce, which seem to be high in salt.

3. I don't get cravings like I used to. Also, I don't get food-caused mood swings.

4. I feel healthier and have lost about 1/2 kilo.

Anyway, I do still get urges for sweet things and I was thinking about that delicious orange almond cake that I saw in all the cafes in NZ when I was last there. I found a recipe, but it has eggs, so then I found a list of egg substitutes and came up with this recipe.

1 cup almond flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 orange boiled for 2 hours or nuked for 20 minutes (I cut it up and put it in a bowl with a little water)
A pinch of salt
1/2 cup of soy milk (egg replacement)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (also egg replacement)

Blend orange until liquid, add other ingredients, put into greased cake tin and put into oven. I'm trying 180C for 20 minutes at first. It's like the easiest recipe I've ever seen. Hope it works!

UPDATE: Baked the cake for 40 minutes in the end. It came out very moist, but gorgeous.

I also baked bread for the first time in a very, very long time, using this recipe - perhaps the easiest bread recipe in the world. Mix, leave for 12 hours, bake. I didn't bother with any extra rests / kneading. It was delish with this potato soup (adapted to be vegan - oil in stead of butter, fish stock instead of chicken, well, yes, that isn't vegan, and soy milk instead of milk). Fantastic dinner!

Vegan for a month challenge

Just for fun (ha ha) I'm going vegan (well, actually, pescetarian, also known as a peskitarian) for a month. So far, actually very fun. I went to the local Mitsukoshi department store, which has an organic foods section, bought some soy milk and a few other things. Then I went to Mujirushi (MUJI), which has a very fun range of meal sets - I got Tom Yum Kun (spicy Thai soup), spring rolls (Vietnamese?) and Pad Thai (Thai fried noodles) and a whole lot of frozen shrimps to put in them all. Couldn't resist the do-it-yourself tiramisu kit as well - will try it with soy milk : )

Cooked gorgeous banana and blueberry whole-wheat pancakes this morning.

What's all this in aid of? Well, I just read two books:

"Skinny Bitch"

and

"The China Study"

Both very compelling. I also want to extend my cooking repertoire, and this seems a good way to do it (limits release creativity and all that).