Strawberries!

Picked these from our backyard this afternoon. Gardening ain’t so hard.

More on the flood

I think this graph from the USGS says it all:

That’s the water level of the Cumberland River since May 1st. Notice in the stats at the bottom, the max was 27.25. The river peaked at 51.86 feet late yesterday, practically double the max for the past 7 years. The water came within .64 feet of taking out Nashville’s second and only remaining water treatment facility, according to this article. From what I’ve heard, the entire region is about to be declared a federal disaster area, which is a good thing for the people there.

In addition to the terrible losses so many individuals have suffered, many of Nashville’s most beloved landmarks are also in bad shape. The Grand Ole Opry was flooded, the extent of the damage there isn’t really known yet. Here’s a video taken inside the Opryland Hotel, which is just hard to believe:

The Schermerhorn Symphony Center had its performance hall spared, but the basement where they kept all of their instruments, including many grand pianos and their organ, was flooded. The Country Music Hall Of Fame, also flooded. It’s a sad time to for my favorite city, but stories of neighbors helping neighbors have been truly inspiring! Nashville, I’m coming your way in two weeks, and I’m excited to see all of you and help in any way I can.

If you would like to help, there are many ways to do so. You can text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Nashville Flood Recovery. If you’d like to check out some other options for donating your money or time, Nashvillest has a great post where they are keeping a list of ways to help. Feel free to share these links and information wherever you’d like, the more exposure the better!

The Flood of 2010

In case you haven’t heard, Nashville is underwater. It’s sort of infuriating that the media has completely ignored the disaster that is happening there because it is really terrible from what we’re seeing on the internet. The entire city is flooded, and we have many friends that have basements full of water and extensive damage. Many people completely lost their homes, and Interstate 24 was a river until this morning, under at least five feet of water. In case you haven’t seen this clip:

That was my route to work when I lived in Nashville. It is hard to believe some of the pictures we’re seeing from our friends.

Anyway, if you are in Nashville right now, we are thinking of  you and hope you are safe! I can safely say I’ve never felt more homesick for Nashville than I do right now, and I wish we were there to help. If you’re not in Nashville, you should know what’s up there. It is not just a little bit of rain, the entire city is underwater. The Cumberland River is at 48 feet right now (11 feet would be high enough to cause some flooding), and it’s still rising. The rain has stopped and the creeks are starting to recede, but they are all dumping into the Cumberland, so it continues to rise at this point. I can’t figure out how to embed this on WordPress, but just click here to see some pictures of downtown Nashville.

Depressing.

Hopefully though, in the long run, Nashville will emerge from this just fine, and the greatest legacy of the Flood of 2010 will be the Nashville Weather Penis:

Stay classy, Nashville. And seriously, be safe out there, we hope you’re all okay.

Lazy Sunday

Sunday:

• Breakfast: Steel cut oats with dried cranberries, brown sugar and walnuts
• Lunch: Leftover Brussels sprouts and brown rice
• Dinner: Vegan veggie burgers and leftover sweet potato fries
• Snacks: Pita chips and hummus
• Drinks: Coffee, water, beer

Just food

• Breakfast: Granola bar
• Lunch: More asparagus and rice dish
• Dinner: Ginger-Sesame Tofu bowl at Venti’s
• Snacks: Almonds, blue corn chips and salsa
• Drinks: Coffee, water, beer

Sunday food

Light day of eating yesterday for some reason. I’ll try to make up for it today.

• Breakfast: Granola bar, half a banana
• Lunch: Veggies, pita and hummus
• Dinner: Peanut butter and banana sandwich
• Snacks: more hummus with pita and carrots
• Drinks: Water, coffee

Marco Polo

Last night, we decided to try a new place for us here in Salem called Marco Polo. Now, we’ve heard people talk about this place, but I wasn’t terribly into checking it out for one simple reason: their menu is too large. Generally, I think that if restaurants have really large menus, that probably means they don’t make any of their food very well. Marco Polo not only has many dishes, but many types of food (Asian, European, American, Indian…it’s crazy). Because of this, I didn’t have high hopes.

It turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong. This was one of the best meals we’ve had in Salem, and it was easily the best vegan meal I’ve eaten out since I’ve started this diet. They have a full vegetarian menu (that doesn’t work on their site, unfortunately), and the vegan items are clearly marked. Our waitress, possibly the owner, realized immediately that I was ordering vegan and made some suggestions throughout the meal for me. Through the course of conversation, we told her it was our first time eating there, and at the end of the meal, she brought us each a vegan cookie to go to say thanks for trying them out. We tried them and they were so good we ate them before we even paid for the meal. She came back by and asked how they were, to which I replied, “We were going to take them home with us, but they were too good!” Two minutes later, she was back with two more cookies for us to take home.

Needless to say, we’ll be going back. The food was amazing, the service was great, and that sort of customer care is not something you see very often. Since taking a job in customer service where we try to be that amazing to all of our clients, I appreciate it all the more now when I see it. And this place is proof positive that vegan meals can be delicious in a restaurant setting. Two thumbs up!

Friday:

• Breakfast: Granola bar
• Lunch: Beans and rice (man, I’m getting tired of beans and rice this week)
• Dinner: Marco Polo. We had samosas as an appetizer and I had a vegan yellow curry with lots of different veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onions, mushroom, etc). We also got a vegan cookie for dessert!
• Snacks: Blue corn chips and jalapeno hummus, apple
• Drinks: Coffee, water, beer at dinner

Saturday:

• Breakfast: Granola bar
• Lunch: Leftover yellow curry dish and some extra brown rice
• Dinner: Vegan pizza from Garlic Jim’s
• Snacks: Veggies, pita chips and hummus
• Drinks: Coffee, water, beer

Video day

For your viewing pleasure, here are my two favorite internet videos of the day.

When The Colbert Report first started on Comedy Central, I didn’t really think it was that funny, nor did I much see the point of the show at all. And while I don’t watch it as often as I do The Daily Show, Colbert really hit his stride during the election coverage and never looked back. The Daily Show is the best at lampooning the news, but Colbert has corned the market on political satire these days. This video is nothing short of perfect:

I sincerely hope she’s the nominee in 2012 for the Republicans. Not only will she be an easy out, it will be one hilarious ride.

This next video is in honor of the big game tonight. I know UNC’s chances are slim, so I’m just taking solace in this awesome YouTube clip:

Go Heels!

Friday food

• Breakfast: Banana and a Kashi bar
• Lunch: That penne pasta stuff from yesterday
• Dinner: Vegan pizza from Garlic Jim’s
• Snacks: Some pita chips
• Drinks: Coffee, water, beer

Remember when I said I had a bigger post brewin’ for tonight? Yeah, that’s going to have to wait until the weekend. But I will say that this has been a good first week for February. More tomorrow.

LOST Day

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with brown sugar, dried cranberries and walnuts
• Lunch: Miso soup with egg noodles
• Dinner: Two vegan veggie burgers and tater tots
• Snacks: Hummus with veggies and pita chips
• Drinks: Water, coffee, Early Times whiskey and Pepsi (made with real sugar!)

That’s three good days in a row for all of you that are keeping count.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I do happen to be a fan of a certain TV show that began its final season tonight, and it did not disappoint. As per the LOST formula, a few questions have been answered and many more more posed, but I assume that at some point, they have to start answering questions pretty quickly, right? RIGHT?!?!

Anyway, a good day for sure. That Pepsi was pretty good, and was the first soft drink I remember having in a long time. I’ve had maybe one or two mixed drinks this month that included a splash of a soft drink (that drink at Ram the other night had a little 7-Up, I think), but that’s easily the most I’ve had in quite a while. This was what they are calling a throwback Pepsi, which just means it’s made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I do think it tastes different, and in this case, better. I know they say it’s all the same, but I really don’t believe that. If you drink soda, I’d recommend trying the real sugar stuff.

Tomorrow is officially one month of this new way of eating! I’ll try to post a look back of some sort to celebrate.