going bananas. oops, i mean i'm going plantains.

i've lost my mind. i have gone bananas. forking bananas.
wait--those aren't bananas, they're plantains! SCORE!
once again, the local food pantry came through with an awesome gem i could otherwise not afford. the local grocery sells plantains for anywhere from .79 to .99 cents a pound! these were ignored by most of the patrons and dismissed as overripe bananas. although the skins were really black, the plantains were super firm. i read through viva vegan, fried some up and made some wingin' it tostadas with green chiles, kidney beans, plantains, daiya cheddar-(NOW AT KROGER!) louisiana hot sauce, and topped with a little cilantro. i had so many to go through, i made a cinnamony-nutty fried version for breakfast the next day. paired with a good belly shot-(also through the food bank!), i was feisty, fueled, and frolicking through my work day with reckless abandon.

i so needed it. i'm feeling a little down about this whole vida vegan con contest thingy. once again, i didn't win the coveted tickets, but jessica rose western did, and it was well deserved. congrats, jessica! i won't lie, i'm really bummed and trying to not have a pity party about the whole thing. i know many people want to go, and boy oh boy how i've tried! i've submitted for the scholarship because i'm poor-(*and i'm not talking about that kind of working student poor, i'm talking here's the water level and here is my nose), i couldn't afford the half off ticket rate, couldn't afford the reduced ticket rate, and by the time the rate was full price, we got our tax refund, but i had to set my VVC dreams aside because my family and pets needed the money more than i needed to go. so i entered contests. i entered the CB contest and jess's contest. i didn't know about tami's contest at vegan appetite or i would have been movin' and shakin' to enter that one too.

i have an amount of pride in being a vegan on a shoestring budget, but holla to ya honey when events like this come along. being poor really, really, really sucks. i also have an awesome amount of perspective and realize that all of my problems, even the dilemma of being a working class american is a first world human problem. i have a home. it is not foreclosed. i have a family that is healthy. i have food to eat and clean drinking water. i am not an animal in a factory farm. i am not even an animal at some "free range" or "happy" farm. i am a human with an enormous amount of luxuries.

okay, end of pity party. back to cooking. back to the drawing board.

i'm dusting my hiney off and hopping back on the contest horse by entering vegtastic voyage's no talent contest and will create an edible self portrait. i finally have my idea nailed down, and have been busily preparing the work. i'm crossing my fingers on this one--i have just got to win. if i do, it will be the biggest underdog vegan blogging achievement ever.

eat well, be happy, have some perspective, and for the love of plantains, stay vegan!