Contamination

Hummers offend me in a lot of ways. They offend my eyes, specifically my eye for design. They offend my nose with their fuel emissions. They offend my sense of safety, as even a fender bender with one of them could kill me. The list goes on.

But last week I saw the most obnoxious and offensive one to date. Oh how I wish I could've gotten to my camera! It was even more offensive than the H3 with the custom Burberry tire cover that I saw in Fort Worth. Yeah. For real.

Picture this:
Red H2. On the lower left-hand side of the back window there is a black "W: The President" sticker. Barf. It's the first "W" sticker I have seen in months. All of the Republicans I know would rather not draw attention to the fact that they voted for such an imbecile. But don't get me started on Bush...I digress. On the lower right-hand side of the back window was the very first McCain sticker I have seen in Texas. Lower your gaze to the license plate, and he has an SPCA plate. You know, the one that proves that he allegedly loves animals. But how can you truly love animals when you drive an animal-crushing machine? And how can you love animals when your H2 gets an estimated 13/17 mpg (and we all know that the "estimates" are always waaaay lower than what you actually get), and your gas emissions are choking the wildlife and giving your dog asthma? Hypocritical much? THE TOPPER was the personalized plates. If you know me, then you know that vanity plates drive me nuts. Like this one that I saw on I-30. They are very rarely clever or creative, and are most often just a way to show off and waste money and be obnoxious. Yet another manifestation of conspicuous consumption. I like to make fun of them. This guy's personalized plates said JOSH.

Wow, JOSH is taking being an asshole to a whole new level. JOSH is a bad representation of guys named JOSH. JOSH is compensating for A LOT. Poor JOSH has a teency tiny penis and has to do a significant amount of compensation to make himself feel better.

So if you see JOSH on the road, be sure to give him your favorite finger for me. Or tell him that you're sorry about how he was...shortchanged.

i am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner

I am a HUGE fan of Spiral Diner Fort Worth and Spiral Diner Dallas. And I'm not even vegan. I love it so much I wrote a glowing review on Yelp.com.

I've been trying to convince my mom to go with me but somehow every time I suggest it the conversation goes a little something like this:

mom: "What sounds good?"

me: "Let's go to Spiral Diner!"

mom: "But I'm hungry. You know, really hungry. I need protein."

me: "They have a huge menu, with lots of protein options - not just tofu."

mom: "But I need meat."

me: "Mom, protein is protein."

mom: (getting testy and annoyed) "You know what I mean."

me thinking: No, no I don't know what you mean. What you mean is that you don't want to try anything new and anything outside of a steakhouse freaks you out.

Well, Spiral Diner is earning more and more non-vegetarian, non-vegan fans. I keep telling her that their "ate layer burrito" is to die for, but she still refuses to go with me, citing "must eat animal protein" as the excuse.

For my final argument, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would like to quote a comment left on this GuideLive article:

Posted by Melody @ 3:43 PM Wed, Apr 30, 2008

"My daughter and I went last week for lunch. She's vegetarian and I raise cattle and definitely love meat. The menu was amazing. She had the wrap with hummus, roasted sweet potatoes, spinach, and other veggies and it was delicious. I had the "traditional" burger (patty was made of brown rice, nuts and ground veggies). If it had been a blind tasting test, I would have never believed I wasn't eating something beefy and with real life mayo and fixings! The place was very busy and most all were men--overalls, suits, etc. Location is very easy to get to and we will be regulars!"

I rest my case.

*****(Click here for the full Dallas Morning News article.)*****

:) I win!

Spiral Diner coming to Bishop Arts!

How excited am I that this small vegan restaurant in Fort Worth is expanding to Dallas? Words cannot express. I LOVE IT! Spiral Diner is consistently voted in the top 10 lists for vegan restaurants for the entire country (!) and it's hard to believe it's nestled inside "cow town." And now good news for Dallasites - Spiral Diner is coming to the Bishop Arts District in the OC in October. Hoorah! Rumor is that it might even be dog friendly. Yeah!

The menu is extensive, and even your hard core carnivore friends will find something delish to try. I have had the "Ate Layer Burrito," the "all day lunch plate," spaghetti, hummus appetizer, potato salad, and the McNut burger. They have all been delicious, and the price is oh-so-right. All of their ingredients are not only vegan but organic, and their mission extends beyond just the food.

Spiral Diner pledges to:
- Use only cruelty-free and environmentally friendly biodegradable cleaning products
- Only purchase recycled and un-bleached paper products (with the highest post-consumer content available)
- Always buy Certified Organic ingredients whenever possible with conventional only as a last resort
- Use environmentally friendly, biodegradable take-away containers and disposable cutlery (we also encourage our customers to bring their own reusable containers with them to help us reduce packaging waste)
- Recycle 100% of all the accepted materials that come through our kitchen
- Donate a portion of profit to local grassroots organizations that are fighting for human, animal, and environmental causes
- Reduce waste by purchasing in bulk as much as possible and donating excess food to local food banks and shelters

And their take on pricing:
"Spiral Diner's prices are set as low as they can possibly go. Our goal is not to make tons of profit; it is to provide the community with tasty vegan food at a reasonable cost. Our goal is also to pay everyone working at Spiral a decent wage. We will never charge more than we absolutely have to in order to pay the bills.
So when you eat at Spiral you know you are getting high quality food from happy employees.
Additionally, we will continually to adjust our prices to reflect food costs. As organic ingredients go down in price we adjust our menu prices accordingly. The more in demand organics become, the lower the price."

And if that wasn't enough, they also have vegan cooking classes, hip retro decor, and a bakery.

Who wants to go with me in October?