A LadyLee 44th Birthday, Part II

My birthday was last Friday, and I spent the day with my best friend LadyTee.

The following day was a day set aside for time with my sister Kentucky.

"What do you want to do, Lisa?" she asked.

"Don't matter none to me, gal," I said. "I just want you to hook up my taxes."

My taxes. We've been talking about that for a couple of weeks. I was just waiting for a couple of forms to come in, and they were here, and I was ret to go. She gets the whole teacher discount thing and I get money off for preparation. And that's a good thing.

I had no idea what she planned for the rest of the day. As long as we got that done in the next couple of weeks, I was good. Saturday was as good a day as any.

She texted me Saturday morning and asked if I wanted to attend a "Dr. Joe" seminar.

My eyes lit up. Dr. Joe. He's a doctor she's interested in since she has started to eat better these days. He's a vegan, and she seems to be in to that. Me? I am what I am. I do what I can. And that's not much these days. I have reduced my meat intake by 90%. I get lazy beyond that.

She has to drag information out of me.

"I don't like kale, Lisa," she hollered a while back.

That afforded a trip to the local farmers market and a lesson on greens that are on a similar nutritional level as kale. She has definitely found some that she like.

I am ECSTATIC to see her doing some interesting things and getting the results she desires. Here was a girl who drank a couple of liters of soda a day and ate way too much fast food, changing up how she does things.  I am so proud of her.

And she admires Dr. Joe.

So I'd checked out Dr. Joe's radio show and he has some good ideas. Why not go to one of the two seminars he holds per month. Plus I wanted some information on making an appointment with him. That is one of my goals for 2014. He seems to have some good programs going.

So we went to the seminar. We got there an hour early, so we looked around the natural foods store where the seminar was being held. We even went next door to see the homeless dogs up for adoption.

Kentucky was laughing at me because I was singing The Sara McClaughlin song that comes on when the homeless pets commercial comes on.. "In the arms of an angel..."

I am looking for a cat, but they didn't have any. Well, they had one in the store. He was asleep in his cage and I woke him up by sticking my finger in through the cage rails and into his shoulder.

He bit me. Gently.

And we decided to leave him alone.

We finally went to the seminar and Dr. Joe came out.

"Look at him. There he go. There he is, Kentucky," I whispered. I nudged her with my elbow. "Go talk to him."

*kentucky kicks the hard eyeroll*

What a good seminar he gave. I like when folks delve into the "why" of why we have certain food addictions, etc. It was a really good seminar.

They even had food samples, samples of gluten-free and raw food. I especially liked the pomegrante sparkling cider.

I needed a whole glass of that. It was good. He was just coming up with suggestions of different beverages to drink instead of sodas and liquors.

We had some nice pasta with raw pesto. Turns out the pasta was brown rice pasta. I have had brown rice pasta before, It is as close to the flour pasta that I can get, but if it's cooked to long, it turns to something kin to porridge, something fit for the Goldilocks and The Three Bears. But this particular brand cooks up al dente with no falling apart. I definitely walked through the store and found some that. We also had some artichoke dip made with vegan mayonnaise and vegan parmesan cheese. I will make that one day. I already have vegan mayonnaise up in the fridge. Good stuff!

Afterwards, Kentucky and I went to one of her favorite vegan spots as of late over on the East side in Kirkwood, Dulce Vegan.

She has been constantly raving about this BLT sandwich that she's been having there over the past few months. If Kentucky likes something, especially something vegan, I know I better jump a fence to get to it.

And I ordered that sandwich.

Along with a cup of quinoa kale tabouleh.

Kentucky ordered the aame sandwich, along with a bowl of split pea soup.

There's an interesting idea: potatoes and carrots in a split pea soup. I'm going to have to try that recipe.

Back to that sandwich. That sandwich was better than any BLT I have ever had. You could not tell me that that wasn't real bacon. Look at it:

That is not bacon, that is tempeh. My sister asked me about it awhile back. It is fermented soybeans that is sold in blocks and strips. It can be used in recipes that call for meat. I have never cooked with it, but I have bought products that contain it.  Kentucky has tried to work with it and she didn't like the results. This is why I find places that make it taste good and go with that. And this was a GREAT sandwich.

Kentucky also had a cupcake.

I pinched off a little. It was good. I wish I knew how to do gluten free baking!

We came back to my house, and we watched a movie (The Avengers), and Kentucky did my taxes. Oh what a joy it was to sit next to her and call out different amounts and she entering them into the system. And I get my refund by Friday. Whooooo-Hooooo!! *cartwheels*

She even gave me a gift card: $25 to Pier1 imports.

I told her, she is gonna walk in my house and wonder where the big piece of furniture came from. I got it for $25 at the Pier1 Imports. LOL

I had such a lovely day with my sister. For once the sun was out and it was such a beautiful day.  And I am so proud of her and her efforts to eat better, and for her exposing me to new things.

Such a wonderful day.

This Oldgirl couldn't ask for anything more!