Day 26: Understand This Now, Prepare For It & Save Yourself the Annoyance - NonVegan Restaurants Don't Always Have Vegan Options

Today's vegan bites include:

1.) Earl Grey soy tea latte

2.) Plate of fresh fruit with honey - strawberries, pineapples, honeydew, papaya, canteloupe, watermelon

3.) Onion rings & french fries

4.) Veggie burger wrap & a Mangotini

5.) Dinner rolls (2), a Lemon Grass Ginger Cocktail & a vegetable coconut curry with jasmine rice

(*no scale to weigh or "body fat percent" myself)

There was nothing vegan on the standard menu at Hai'ileMaile General Store. This wasn't a surprise because while on the mainland, I checked their menu out in advance. I knew I wanted to show my friends this restaurant so I figured I find out what I could have and sadly, nothing listed was vegan. When we arrived, we waited for a table at the bar and I used this time to see if there were any entrees I can turn into a vegan plate. Nothing. I figured I'd turn to my trusty staple - french fries - but they didn't have 'em! What? Huh? No french fries? Garcon, ou est les frites?!!

Before allowing myself to get irritated (again!) and huffy, I kindly asked the hostess if there's a special vegan entree the chef keeps in his back pocket for the occasional vegan patron. Turns out they had a separate vegetarian menu!! This was very exciting. But I was soon reminded of a very valuable lesson I learned earlier on in the pledge: vegetarian does not equal vegan. Not at all. The two are, at best, only slightly similar. It's almost as different as a vegetarian diet is different from an omnivore diet.

The special vegetarian menu had this yummy sounding mushroom broth but it had a cream base. There was this great brie and grape quesadilla with a pesto & avocado filling but they couldn't remove the brie because this filling was made in advance. Vegetarian, yes. Vegan, no. I opted for the vegetable coconut curry which was vegan, aromatic and flavorful. (By the way, I'm finding that I'm a big fan of curry sauce and rice and just that. No vegetables, please. I still haven't come to enjoy vegetables yet - except the ones at Izaka-ya by Katsu-ya.