I live just down the road from the Winners! I work at the medical clinic close to Billings Bridge! Very cool. What do you do?
i have the recipe book from the Green Door. I'm very impressed the owner does so much himself. It shows it the quality and the taste of the food.

Yep, the one Kilborn. I'm at Carleton as well, doing a my Masters in psych. How many cats do you have? I have two: Sam and Nina. They are my babies. Such personalities they have.

Free tuition is cool. I did my undergrad at Carleton. I like it there. I've lived in Ottawa my whole life, just moving from one end of the city to the other.
Your cats sound adorable. I hope the kitten is healthy. My cat Sam is about 18 months. The story of how he came to us is kind of cute. My husband heard a little scratching at the door of our apartment. He opened the door and found this little orange kitten. He went up and down the hall to find out who it belonged to. The woman a couple of doors down said it was hers. Her friend got it for her but her boyfriend didn't want it. Her little daughter had opened the door and the cat snuck out. My husband asked her if they were going to keep it. The woman said if my husband wanted it, he could have it. So he took it home. When I got home from work, he surprised me with it! Nina, the other cat is from the humane society. She was quite sick when we got her but we nursed her back to health and she is a wonderful pet.

Are there any restaurants in Ottawa, besides the Green Door that you really like?

I'm sorry you haven't liked Ottawa so far. People can definitely be rude. Where are you originally from?
If I knew people who owned the Green Door, I'd be there for every meal! Gabriel's Pizza is the best. Nothing quite compares. I'll have to try their fetuccine alfredo. I love trying new foods. A couple of months ago, I tried ethiopian food at a place on Rideau street. It was really food and very cheap. There's a really good Thai place on Dalhousie street and a place on Booth st has really good but cheap Vietnamese food.
I understand what it's like to be a broke student. My husband works full-time now but we're saving up for a house.
I think the charity of "Friends to abondned Pets" does great work. If I could, I'd have a house full of of abandoned animals! My heart is just too big sometimes!

Belleville is a beautiful town. It must be hard to get use to Ottawa. I would have a hard time if I had to move to Toronto. I'm definitely not a big city girl.
How long ago did you go vegetarian?
I started in January but the desire as been there for awhile. I just didn't know what to substitute for meat. A girl I work with was vegetarian and loaned me all these great books that made it so much easier. I always love trying new things. I'm slowly getting use to the taste and texture of beans as I never had them growing up.
Have you ever been to the Mongolie Grill in Bell's Corners?

My husband is an omnivore and I don't think that will ever change. We have a good agreement right now and respect each others choices.
I know what you mean about people picking the animals they eat. I know someone who has a cuteness factor for each animal and won't eat the cute ones. I think they are all cute. I'm learning more about the animal rights aspects of vegetarianism. I find I can only learn so much before my heart and mind have a hard time dealing with the suffering. I became a vegetarian mainly for health reasons plus I've never really liked the taste of meat.
It's funny how you say that your upbrinding made you afraid of ethnic food. It was the same way with me. My family is a meat and potato family where you don't eat anything different. It wasn't until university where I met a girl who was shocked I had never eaten any ethnic food. She took me down to Chinatown for Dim Sum and I was hooked. My husband really likes Vietnamese or Thai food. It's a great adventure to try something new.

What a busy busy day. I feel like I worked my butt off, but accomplished nothing. I will probably keep working until 11pm.

That is too bad that your husband will not convert. Give it time, you never know. I didn't think my sweetie had it in him. He actually really surprised me with it; he converted quietly without even telling me. I was (am) so pleased and proud. Now the thought of hamburger or any meat makes us shudder. It is good that you can live with each other's choices, but in all honestly I can never "respect" the choice to eat meat. Maybe that is terribly judgemental but while I can deal with it, I don't think I could find it in me to respect it.
Did you notice the City of Ottawa had a huge free hamburger bbq at lunch, and then at various locations this evening? I read about it in the Citizen. Sick.
As for food... I won't even eat onions, I'm so picky. I don't know if there is hope for me. :cry:

My husband is making small steps. Right now I'm now more concerned that he eats healthy. I'm really trying to encourage him to eat more fruits and veggies since the only ones he ate before were corn and potatoes. Yes, it would be wonderful and more convenient if he converted. He's a real animal lover too so maybe I'll try to educate him about the animal rights aspect of it. Regardless, he is very supportive of my choice.
I went to dinner with my cousin who's in town from the US last night. We went for Thai food on Dalhousie street. Yummy! I had tofu and veggies in a delicious sauce.

Corn and Potatoes.... yup, that's what I was more or less limited to!

I am still fairly limited. I will eat quite a few fruits (well, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, cantelope, peach, apples, watermelon, honeydew, oranges/tangerines, grapefruit, lemon etc.) but veggies are another story. And some of the veggies I do like, such as carrots, I will not touch with a ten foot pole if they are cooked. I don't like peppers, cauliflower. broccoli, onions, mushrooms, cooked celery, squash, you name it. I do like salad greens, tomatoes, corn, peas, potatoes, uncooked celery, spinach, uncooked carrots, etc. One of my favorite things is twice a day, I make myself a smoothie in my mini-chopper with strawberries, raspberries, peach, and banana. And some milk so I can drink it.

I have really tried with tofu, but I don't think I have found a way to eat it so I can like it. I try and try, but never seem to get it right. I want to like it, but so far I don't. I know, it is like I am the scourge of the veg world-- a veg who doesn't like TOFU!? I love beans, if that makes any difference.

I think the animal rights aspect is probably a good way to approach it. If you don't own Fast Food Nation already to let him read, let me know and we can figure out a way for you to borrow my copy! There are a lot of "repressed" vegetarians. My fiance was one, and never gave an indication of any interest in being veg until he actually converted. Never hassled me about it, but never showed an interest.

When I became vegetarian, I decided that I had to eat more fruits and veggies. One way I tried to do this was to introduce myself to a new fruit or veggie each week. Don't worry about the tofu. I still can't prepare it right myself but I love it at restaurants. I actually know several other vegetarians who don't like tofu. I also now some omnivores who love it!
I'd really like to read the Fast Food Nation. Who is the author? I think it would just affirm my beliefs. I think my husband would rather believe that all farms are good places. Denial and repression.
I find that I can only learn so much about the animal rights issues before i feel overwhelmed and depressed about the whole situation. Then I stop, reflect and start again. It's a journey.
How has your family been about you being vegetarian? Mine has been pretty good. My sister was an unhealthy vegetarian but I think it was more that she was covering up an eating disorder. I had dinner with a friend tonight and she made a wonderful vegetarian spaghetti dinner. It was very very nice of her. I find people are usually pretty good when they find out I"m veggie. I haven't been hassled about it.

My family has been ok with it, but mostly I think because they know they don't really get a say in my life. I put myself through school, and since they didn't bother to feed me growing up, they know that they can't say much. My dad is, and always has been, worried about my health, but him and his girlfriend are like, ultra-organic and health food store types... but NOT veg. He also runs 6 kms a day. My mom doesn't say anything about it, but I am not overly close to her. I don't think she cares one way or the other. She smokes and eats most of her meals in gaggy restaurants, so I think she knows she isn't in a position to judge. Friends think it is weird, and sometimes outright forget that I am vegetarian. No one really gets "grossed out" by it, but by and large, they don't seem to *get* it. A few of them used to challenge me on my vegetarian and environmental beliefs, but I refuse to get into it with them. They tell me how they just love steak and could never give it up.... I mean, what am I supposed to say to that, that won't sound 100% judgemental?
Some people find it interesting, but I have a hard time talking about it with people who aren't veg because no matter what you say the fact is I am veg for ethical reasons and explaining them essentially equates to calling the other person inethical.
Fast Food Nation-- by Eric Schlosser (or something like that). He focuses a little too much on the parts about how meat eating hurts humans and not enough on the animals, but it gets the point across about how abhorrent the meat industry is. If people didn't care about slave labour in Nike factories, I can't see them caring about bad labour situations in slaughterhouses. I was disturbed by the description of how a cow is murdered.... but I want every omni to read it. I become very upset when I read and see things about animal abuse. I started watching a PETA thing online and I had to stop because it was so upsetting. But I feel that I have a right to stop watching, because I am not culpable in what is happening. IMO, meat-eaters need to watch it and don't have a right not to. Maybe that sounds harsh, but I think people need to face the reality of what their actions are doing to others, including the animals.

I agree that omnivores need to be aware of what is happening. I think it would change the mind of a lot of people but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. I've always loved animals and I guess I just rationalized eating meat as that you have to do it because I didn't know of the alternatives. I would usually just pretend that meat grew up trees or something. I felt like my beliefs and my actions didn't match. After switching to vegetarianism, I feel like my beliefs and actions match and it's a great feeling.
I think it may take another generation before people are serious about changing their eating habits. It seems like the next generation is going to be so obese that it's going to be hard not to have things change. We'll have teens having heart attacks and more Type II Diabetes than ever before.
I'm going to check out that book of the Fast Food Nation. Have you read Diet for A Small Planet or Diet for a New America?

I saw pictures of your kittens on another thread. Very very cute. I hope all is well with them. It took Sammy about a day of hissing at Nina before he stopped. Now they are best buddies.
Things are busy here. It's my first wedding anniversary today. We're going away to the Laurentians next week.
I'll pick up a copy of that book soon. My husband is eating more vegetables and I'm very happy about that. I'll read the book first and may pass it along to him.
On the weekend we got together with his family for my sister in law's birthday. They ordered KFC but ordered a nice big salad for me. I'm happy about that. Small steps.
I'm looking forward to going back to school. It will be nice to see my friends again. The cafetaria switched management so we'll see how many veggie options there are now.

My sweetie is now reading Fast Food Nation. He tells me he isn't looking forward to the slaughterhouse chapter. It is a very bad chapter.

I'm in SW Ontario.. does anyone know where to buy Seitan? I've tried the HFS & a few different grocery stores.. but no luck. I just really want to try it.

whereabouts are you? the HFS here in Stratford has it, so i'm sure you must be able to find it somewhere. Stratford is a hole so your odds are good. or else you can order it online. have you tried putting in a request at your HFS to start carrying it?

wow.. Stratford has it? Jeez.. I'm in London and I can't find it anywhere. Hmm.. maybe I'll have to take a drive to Stratford this weekend.. I always need an excuse to go to Watson's. hehehe
btw.. what's the name of the store?

the health food store is called Gentle Rain, it's on Rebecca Street. it's an awesome store but they overcharge. only real health food store in town though, there's one other around the corner but the owner is an older guy and his wife was sick or something, they had very little of anything in stock when i went in last. like, the shelves were almost all empty, and what they do stock is mainly supplements. bah. i buy my supplements at Nutrition House but all my wierdo vegan food items i get at Gentle Rain or at Zehr's (which has a surprisingly good health food section but not sure if they have seitan)

you could try Guelph though, it's a pretty vegetarian friendly city, they even have a couple of vegan restaurants.

Meatless: I've been away. I was sick this week with a cold and cough and my ears were popping. Thanks for the anniversary wishes. We had a nice quiet evening in. We are going away this week to the Laurentians.
I hope your kittens are doing well.
I've always gone to school full-time. During my undergrad I didn't work part-time but now in grad school I do work part-time. It's usually about 12 hours a week. I also work as a teaching assistant. While I marking midterms and finals I will put in about 20 hours a week depeding on the exam and how many in the class. I've also prepared and delivered lectures a couple of times for various classes. Once was even for ITV so it was being taped. That was a bit initimdating at first. Have you ever done a course through ITV?
I think I will pick up a copy of the Fast Food Nation and start reading although I know I will have a very hard time getting through the chapter on Slaughterhouses. I have noticed a lot of people swearing off beef right now with the tainted beef scare in the Ontario town of Aylmer (spelling?) Maybe it will make them think twice about where there food is coming from!

I have been ridiculously busy this week.

As much as I welcome anyone dropping meat, or at least lessening its consumption, it is discouraging to me that quite often it is more related to their own health concerns than concern for the welfare of animals. But at least getting them thinking is a start.....

I hope you are getting some time to relax this weekend after such a busy weekend.
I love ITV. It's a great alternative, especially with a difficult course or a professor who speaks very quickly! I know what you mean about getting more than one degree. If I won the lottery, I would stay in school for the rest of my life. I'd love to take more philosophy, history, law, sociology etc courses.
Have you ever eaten at Mike's? It's in the unicentre on the floor where the cafetaria is. It has great Indian food and quite a bit of it is vegetarian. I'd highly recommend in if you're in the mood for trying something different.

question for everyone, do you find it's hard to order vegan items online because they're all american sites? do you know of any canadian sites for ordering vegan food and other items? if not, if i told you about one that's canadian would you be likely to go order things from it?
just wondering, thanks.

I would love to find a Canadian site for some hard to find things. I'm having trouble finding red star nutritional yeast and tempeh. I know I'm missing out on a lot of cool products. Please share. I don't want to spend a lot on shipping and handling though.

i don't know of any canadian sites myself, reason i ask is that i might try to start one of my own. i'm just wondering if there's a big demand for it.
the shipping costs are the main reason i don't order vegan items online, it costs too much to ship from the US, especially in american dollars.

Lady Faile: I would love a Canadian site to buy things. I'm sure a lot of other Canadians are tired of paying too much in American funds. You should pursue it and see if there is enough demand

Meatless: I'm back from my trip. It was so relaxing. Our cabin was right on the lake. We just relaxed, rented movies, read (leisure reading, not school!), took walks. I didn't want to leave! I started back to school today. I can't believe how busy the campus is. It's so different from when I went in the summer and it was deserted. Thanks for the info about the residence campus. A salad bar and bake potato bar sounds fabulous. I saw today that Harvey's has been replaced by A&W and I know they don't have a veggie burger so that sucks. I'm not sure what else is in that cafetaria in the unicentre. I'm probably just end up bringing my own lunch or going to Mike's for the Vegetarian Curry Rice. Mike's is a nice place. You should check it out. It is a grad hangout but anyone can eat there.
Do you belong to a gym around town? Just curious.