Jane and I were out and about today, running errands, as we usually do on Saturdays. We talked about lunch and decided to eat at Grassroots in South Pasadena. Grassroots has rapidly become our favorite restaurant. We've eaten there three times in the past three weeks. The food is delicious and they're less than ten minutes from home. You can't beat that.

Grassroots is actually a health food store, with a small prepared-food service counter inside. They serve healthy, organic meals. And although they're not exclusively vegetarian, you can always get a great vegan meal there, not a feat easily accomplished so close to home.

On the way over, Jane was reading the menu out loud and we were discussing the merits of our various choices. Would I have the Cuban Bowl again, or would I try the one of their wraps? Or maybe a Vegan Plate with their entree du jour. Jane was thinking the Taco Salad.

We turned into the empty parking lot and looked at each other with panic in our eyes. Wire fencing barricaded us from the storefronts in the strip mall where Grassroots lives. Apparently there was a fire last week and our beloved restaurant is closed indefinitely. Jane spent the next two hours grieving the loss of this restaurant. I kept reminding her that the owner's losses were greater than our own - and of course, we feel very badly for them. Hopefully they've got sufficient insurance and will be able to re-open and soon.

In the meantime, now where will we eat?

Jane often gets the urge to bake when it cools down. Our vegan diet has kept that pretty much in check. The first week we were vegans she made the chocolate cake out of the Real Food Daily Cookbook. It's amazing what you can do with tofu.

Anyway, the cake cost about $20 to make (and that's not including electricity), and Jane didn't love it, so we haven't had much in the way of prepared desserts. It's mostly been cut up fruit and the occasional soy dessert from Trader Joe's. Nice summer desserts that we really enjoy.

But it's been unseasonably cold here. We're actually experiencing autumn! OK, not a real New England type of Autumn, but there's been a nip in the air and it's great to crawl into bed at night - perfect sleeping weather. So tonight, Jane broke out the vegan cookbooks and made a pear cobbler. Normally I love her cobbler. She's always having to dole it out so I don't eat the whole thing in one night. But I've got to say, this wasn't spectacular. I missed the butter. Or maybe I didn't care for the ginger in this recipe. In any event, this one wasn't a winner, although it looks good!

That's 14 pounds, gone without really trying.

Sometime in June Jane, my wife, decided we were going vegan. Since we're not billionaires, we decided that we'd finish off all the animal product in the house first. We also had a trip planned for the end of June, and didn't want to start our new lifestyle on the road. Nor did we want to have struggle with a new way of eating upon first coming home, so we settled on 7-7-7 -- an auspicious date.

I have to admit, I was a little reluctant, although I didn't say much since Jane is the primary food preparer in our household. And she said the literature promised all kinds of health benefits, which sounds great when you're middle aged. (I mean really, who cares when you're 20's, a bag of Doritos and a few beers makes a great dinner then.)

We've been doing OK, there are the occasional moments when one of us will look at the other and say "I could really go for a _____ right about now." But it not too often. Cheese and desserts are the toughest things. But we're doing OK being vegan.

So, this morning when I weighed myself and realized -- I've lost 14 pounds, without doing a thing!!!! -- I proudly proclaimed myself a vegan. I'm still the couch potato I've been for the last few years. I didn't take any magic pills or have any surgery. And half of the weight I wanted to lose just fell off all by itself. The vegan diet is magic!

Woo hoo!

Lane

So, we went from brutal summer heat to winter overnight. We even had over an inch of rain (that's slightly less rain than we had all of last year!), which is highly unusual in that we normally don't have rain between April and October.

It's been like winter here. That was enough for us to break out the flannel house-pants and hearty winter recipes. Jane made a recipe called Lebanese Style Lentils with Pasta for dinner the other night. It's from the Dr. Neal Barnard Book on being a vegan. The pasta seems a little weird to me, but it all tasted yummy. It's got lentils and spinach and onions, etc. Next time, Jane said she'll skip the pasta and have a loaf of some crusty whole grain bread along with the dish.