Good Food and Better Company

Hey everyone. I was debating whether I'd post this today but I figure why not. I'm still cycling through grief and it will take a while but I think it is time for me to come back and start posting again. I may not post every Tuesday and Friday but I will do the best that I can for now. As I've mentioned, I know he would want me to keep going out and to keep trying new places and new things.

I feel incredibly blessed to have such an amazing support system. I have a lot of amazing support online through my blog and through some groups that I participate in. I have wonderful people around me in person as well that have been really amazing about making sure that I am doing ok and listening to me. I was lucky enough to get together with two of my favorite people this weekend. I am so grateful to both of them for listening to me and for allowing me to introduce them to Doug the only way I can now… by letting me talk and tell them all about him and us and the whole story. I know that he would have loved them.

On Saturday night I got together with my best friend of 20 years. We decided to go to a restaurant called Little Fu's in Hewlett, NY. I put out a call for recommendations in the Vegan Long Island group on Facebook and Little Fu's was recommended a few times and Doug had mentioned it as well so we chose to go there. They had a large "Vegetarian" (mostly vegan) section that included tofu and veggie dishes but also a lot of mock meat dishes as well. I chose the Veg Sesame Chick'n dish after double checking that it was vegan and it was good you guys. So so good. I liked the texture of their mock meat and as you can tell it was a very generous portion. I actually the a solid portion of it here for lunch today as well. The service was great and we had to wait like 2 minutes for them to get the table ready at 6:45 on a Saturday night so it wasn't bad at all. I will definitely come back here to try more of their fun dishes. 

As great as the food was, the company was better. My friend does not live in NY anymore so we don't get to see each other as much as we would like but it's always so wonderful when we are able to get together. I feel incredibly grateful to have her in my life and lucky to be able to call her my friend.

Yesterday (Monday) afternoon I met up for lunch with another friend of mine. We decided to go to Bareburger in Great Neck, NY. They have quite a few locations but this one was pretty easy to get to so we chose this one. Bareburger has a full vegan menu in addition to their regular menu and includes all kinds of burgers, hot dogs/sausages, sides and milkshakes. I got "The Original" and swapped the Impossible Burger for the Beyond Burger. It also included Follow Your Heart American Cheese, pickles and sautéed onions. I opted out of the special sauce because I always assume it is mayo based and I just can't with that. We shared a small side of waffle fries as well. I love how they  specify the vegan burger with the cute little heart! The burger was awesome. I've actually never tried the Beyond or Impossible burger before but I wanted to try the Beyond Burger first, hence the switch. This was good you guys. I was really surprised by how authentic it tasted but not so authentic that it creeped me out. The waffle fries were also an awesome choice. I really wanted to try a vegan milkshake but I just knew I'd never be able to consume all of that and I'm not paying $8-$10 for a shake that I'm not going to drink. I will definitely go back when my appetite is better and try one though because the Mint Chocolate one is calling my name. 

Just like Saturday, as amazing as the meal was the company was even better. As I've mentioned time and time again, I'm so lucky to have really amazing friends. I may not have a wide circle but I prefer to have a few people that I'm very close with that a ton of acquaintances. We also spoke a lot about Doug and I was happy to be able to "introduce" him to her as best as I could. Seeing her was good for my soul and it reinforces my determination to continue to reach out and stay connected when sometimes all I want to do is withdraw and protect myself from further loss.

So what I assumed would be a short post turned into a fairly long winded one but I hope that you enjoyed seeing some great vegan food and reading a little bit about my weekend. I'd like to take another second to thank you all again for your continued kindness and support. It truly means the world to me and has really helped during a dark time. I am continuing to grieve but will also honor him as best as I can. 💚