I have been vegan for about 8 months now, and being a fan of eating out at least twice a week I must say that it has not been easy finding places that are vegan friendly here in Boston MA.

One of the places I used to always go out with friends and family is TGI Friday's. But after going vegan, I realized there are very few plates you can convert to vegan friendly there, which is very disappointing.  They put cheese on almost everything and the dressings I'm sure have some kind of dairy in them, that I have no choice but to order a plain salad with an Italian light dressing, or the pasta with tomato sauce on it, making sure you say "no cheese on it, please"  I once had the fried green beans, but I'm sure the batter is made with egg whites, so I decided to not ever order it again.

Insalata

Another place I like going is Bertuccis, I of course loved their Pizza! And so you know, pizza used to be my favorite food in the whole wide world! I know... Many people I told this fact used to raise their eyebrows as in saying... "How can you like Pizza? Why not steak or some exotic Latin food." But I'm sorry to be deceiving, but nothing used to entice me as much as Pizza did. The anticipation of that first bite, with the melted cheese and the tomato sauce blend together gave way more satisfaction than any other food would. So Bertuccis Pizza had in my view one of the best available. But now since I no longer indulge in cheese, I order a pasta dish, making sure I tell the waiter my preferences, which I must say they usually are happy to accommodate.
Most other places like Dennis, Friendly's and any other restaurant I have to stick with ordering a salad or minestrone soup, or making my own dish based on their sides.
In Dennis I once ordered the oatmeal with blueberry's on it for breakfast, and you can also do this in Starbucks except here you would order it with the granola and brown sugar, which I have to say is delish and so much better than having a egg, ham and cheese on a plain bagel, and healthier!

Friday's Pasta with Alfredo Sauce. No Meat.

In most places they really, truly, need to add more vegan friendly items to their menus. Which is why I wrote a letter to each place I normally eat at to ask them to do just that! ;) Here is a copy of this letter, you may choose to use it too if you wish, just change the name of the restaurant:

Dear Friday's

Me and my friends and family have been choosing your restaurant for many years over any other restaurant. We like the atmosphere and the good, affordable food you offer. However, since I became Vegan I have to choose to eat at home more often due to the fact that you have so very little options in your menu. Would you please consider adding some vegan or vegetarian friendly items?
I would love to be able to order a veggie burger with fries, rice with tofu instead of chicken, and  a plain salad without cheese on it and a good dairy free dessert.
With so many people choosing a healthy vegetarian and vegan lifestyle, I think this would be a great thing for you to offer! Please do consider my suggestion.


Thank You!

Home made Vegan Chili with rice and strawberry lemonade. 

Of course Boston has a few good vegan restaurants, so I'm grateful to be able to go out with friends and have a good option available for me. Hopefully someday every restaurant will add more friendly and meatless options to their menus or they will be losing big time! 

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Winter is by far my least favorite season of the year.

I guess the reasons are obvious, is too cold, it snows, skin goes dry and you get the winter blues.

This last one is probably the one that gives me the most trouble, because it is really hard to handle being depressed and of course with the holidays coming it's just even worse.

The good thing is that being vegan in winter seems to be a lot easier! For instance, I found out there are a couple of nice restaurants close to me that I can indulge on.

The newest one in the Boston Area is True Bistro , which will open this Tuesday! I really can't wait to go, I did try to make a reservation when the Boston Vegetarian Association went this Saturday to a soft opening but all the spots were taken really fast! There is this other place I have been dying to go, Piece of pie for Vegan Pizza! I saw the pictures and it really looks delicious! They were selling this pizza at the Vegetarian festival last weekend, but when I went around their table all the pizza was gone! I overheard some guy there saying "I can't help it if my pizza is so damn good!" which I thought it was kind of rude. But I guess he's only telling the truth. I will experience it soon since I'm going to a book signing on November 18th! The book is called: The Vegan girls guide to life. I follow the author on Twitter and she seems like a cool down to earth girl and can't wait to meet her! And try the Pizza ;)

Another thing I will like to do this month is go to one of the meetings the Boston Vegan Association gives on Fridays at the Karma Yoga Studio. It seems like a good way to meet other vegans around here. So I will be posting on any of these experiences when I do go to either or better yet all of them!

Sounds like a lot when I write it, but it's really not much I guess.

I always try to commit to too much and at the end don't really do it, which is disappointing :( I don't know if it's the Gemini in me because I seem to always start two or three projects at the same time and then I get overwhelmed when I have to finish them! So I guess we'll see! I will also commit to write more often on my blogs, I really want to! Is a need to express myself that I take away when not feeling motivated enough, but is something I really really will like to commit!

I truly hope everyone is having an awesome vegan/vegetarian winter!

See you in the next post...

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