BRRRR it's finally winter

for Christmas, my sister gave me the Flexitarian diet book in an attempt to help me lose weight and facilitate my conversion to vegetarianism.  in the spirit of the new year, i decided to go for its 5-week diet menu with as much gusto as i can physically and monetarily accomplish.

which is how i found myself at Rego Park Center on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. worst mistake ever.  no surprise that the place was completely packed, as most people would think to go grocery shopping on Sunday, before the week starts. but when you team a Costco and an Aldi's in the same shopping complex, expect chaos to reign. Aldi's is on the 1st floor and Costco is on the basement level. if you make the unfortunate decision to park in the basement level and would like a shopping cart for your Aldi's shopping needs, be prepared to wait for an elevator.  there was actually a ridiculous line for the 1 working elevator. and of course, as happens all the time, there will always be assholes who attempt to cut the line, as if the rules of society and civilization don't apply to them. 

after surviving the hell and nightmare of that ordeal, we headed over to Trader Joe's in Forest Hills. because i like to make myself suffer. our entire trip was probably 35 minutes. 20 minutes to get there. 15 minutes inside the poorly laid out store, where the lines are outrageous, and because of the exorbitantly long lines, it's impossible to shop for anything in the aisles. i grabbed a free turkey chili sample and bolted out of there. it made me deeply appreciate the Trader Joe's on Atlantic near my apartment for the efficiency of their layout.

since we were in Forest Hills, Sandlot was clamoring for a stop at Eddie's Sweet Shop, the oldest ice cream shop in New York. however, since Sandlot's lactose intolerant, he needed to fortify his stomach before he filled it with lactose. luckily, there was a pizzeria just down the block so we stopped in for lunner/dinch. 

Dante's Pizza is clearly a local pizzeria. sparse decoration, the old school orange plastic booths and tables. clearly most of their business is delivery and take-out. the regular cheese slice had a layer of glistening grease on top, so i opted for the spinach mushroom slice instead, extra crispy. the mushrooms were canned (which i secretly like more than fresh) and the toppings were abundant, covering every inch of the slice. aside from a wish for more sauce, i was pretty satisfied with it overall. and they did the extra crispy request perfectly.

Sandlot got a meatball hero (no cheese), which was good if not generic. he also felt they were a little stingy with the sauce. but otherwise, no complaints about the food.

my only really complaint is that our entire meal was $14. the hero was $7 and my bottle of diet dr. pepper was $2. which made my slice $4-5. yikes.

next we walked over to a completely empty Eddie's Sweet Shop. the decor borders between nostalgic and old-like-it-needs-to-be-renovated. 3 teenage kids were hanging out behind the counter. friendly and attentive enough, although their presence seems contrary to the nostalgia of the place.  especially as they played songs from their iPod over the speakers i.e. hotline bling.

full from our prior meal, we each ordered a single scoop sundae: strawberry with hot fudge and vanilla with hot fudge and walnuts. the strawberry ice cream was average, without the frozen strawberries or homemade taste i tend to like. the color was that processed bright pink that blares unnatural. the vanilla on the other hand was pretty good, as was the hot fudge, although based on the yelp pictures i had expected some more of it. the walnuts were finely chopped, which was a nice touch. and the whip cream was definitely abundant. although by the end i was feeling a little whip-creamed out.

$13.75 for 2 scoops and 3 toppings is a little steep, but i guess it's worth it to sit in a part of history. once.

getting vegucated about the cowspiracy

i recently watched 2 documentaries on Netflix: Vegucated, about 3 New Yorkers attempting a vegan diet for 6 weeks and the education provided by the documentarian about the environmental and humanity reasons for the lifestyle; and Cowspiracy, an environmentalist documentary about the huge detrimental impact animal husbandry and fishing has on our environment.

both documentaries shed a lot of light on how much of a detrimental impact humans make to sustain an omnivorous diet.  ultimately, both documentaries conclude that a vegan lifestyle, wherein animals are not raised in mass quantities for human consumption, including milk and eggs, is the best solution.

like the participants in Vegucated, i've never been able to understand vegans. vegetarians, i get (a little) but veganism seemed so extreme.  however, these documentaries point out how little we, at the top of the food chain, have to do in order to help the environment by embracing a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. our only sacrifice is what we ingest. it's really not that hard when you weight the benefit to the environment vs. my sacrifice to not eat delicious yummy proteins.

so, beginning November, Sandlot and i decided to give vegetarianism a try. it's week one, but we've already gone all-in with commitment. the only animal items we're allowed to eat are eggs and dairy and we went on a massive grocery shop in order to feed our new diet and avoid temptations.

Sandlot likes Aldi's vs. Trader Joe's, and since they're technically related companies (owned by brothers, each running one entity), i decided to give it a shot. Trader Joe's has an abundance of vegetarian and vegan options, primarily in the frozen foods section, but still a very varied selection. alternatively, Aldi's doesn't really have a lot of vegetarian/vegan meat alternatives, although their gluten-free options are very abundant.  we left with lots of beans varieties and cheeses.

to supplement our choices, we stopped into Costco, located in the same shopping complex.  although i was expecting more options, Costco's choices weren't disappointing. in terms of ethnic vegetarian food e.g. hummus, stuffed grape leaves, cheeses, tofu, there's definitely a lot of choice.  in the frozen foods section, there were some choices e.g. vegetarian quiches, edamame, vegetable ravioli, but the big ticket items i was hoping for like tempeh and soy hot dogs were sorely missed. we did pick up some Morningstar Chipotle Black Bean Burgers, which i have yet to try but which Sandlot says is surprisingly tasty. still tastes like a veggie burger, but the chipotle aspect helps to add some nice smoky flavor.

so far, we've been making most of our meals and lunches at home and have been doing well with options and variety. but then again, it's been less than a week so far....