So you know how I’ve been blabbing about going to Madison to apartment hunt? Well, I went, I met my new roommate, we looked at lots of apartments, and we eventually filled out an application. Exciting! It was a great weekend which provided me with fodder for a list of Things I Learned in Madison:

1. Afghan food is really yummy.
2. Afghan food is really yummy except also kind of evil when it hides egg yolks in a salad dressing.
3. The best way to convince hardcore omnis that being vegan isn’t so difficult might very well be to assent to lunch at McDonald’s, then eat a surprisingly filling salad and prove that finding vegan food is not actually all that difficult.
4. Being in a McDonald’s after not entering a fast food joint for years is sort of depressing.
5. I am an inveterate people-pleaser.

Number five was the sort of revelation that shouldn’t have been revelatory. The apartment we chose isn’t in downtown Madison; it’s much more on the outskirts of the city, practically in farmland. This is what my roommate wanted, and although I’d have preferred something smaller and more centrally located, I’d rather have her be happy and content with a larger apartment than make a fuss and have her be dissatisfied later. I don’t know if that’s a good quality or if it has something to do with my history of low self-esteem and desire to please everybody without becoming a hassle, but there it is. At least the place we chose is right on the bus line, so my carless self will have easy access to downtown. Hooray for that.

Anyway, enough pseudo-introspection – onto the food! I tried Vega Whole Food Smoothie Infusion for the first time today, since there was a packet included in the drink mix giveaway I won a few weeks ago. I decided to just add it to my normal Green Monster, which resulted in an Extra Green Green Monster. Heh.

Mmm, green.

You may notice that my smoothie seems rather diminutive. This is because we only had half a banana left, so I had to scale down my Green Monster. I used less kale and soy milk than usual, but I still dumped in the entire Vega packet. This is probably why my smoothie seemed a little grainy and powdery; I’m sure if I’d had more liquid, it would’ve worked out better. But the taste didn’t disgust me and I had no problem finishing it, so that’s good, right? I’d love to try Vega with an all-fruit smoothie – maybe next time! All in all, I approve. :)

I wanted to say that I needed this infusion of greenery to make up for unhealthy eating while in Madison this weekend, but then I realized that it wasn’t actually true! I ate pretty healthily in Madison, in part because I always travel with a stash of raw food and/or granola bars. Something like a Raw Revolution bar makes a great hotel breakfast and fills me up for a few hours. I also got to experience a small taste of Madison’s wonderful restaurants when I had dinner at an Afghan place and had a tasty spinach, potato, and carrot stew. I can’t wait to try more restaurants when I move out there for good IN TWO WEEKS.

…AHH!