vegan vacay.

After an eventful flight from Logan to Fort Meyers -- (note to those traveling with small children: allowing your seven-year-old to fling himself against his neighbor's seat while gleefully listing similarities between the mind-scrambling turbulence that has rocked the aircraft uninterrupted for the past hour and his favorite "rollah coastah" is decidedly not okay. Particularly not when said neighbor is huddled in a fetal ball, white-knuckling the armrests and imagining a number of Castaway-style scenarios, sure to end in a swift plummet into the Florida swampland below) -- I am here in sunny Naples with my oldest friend Lauren and approximately three-quarters of the retired population of the universe.

Lauren is a vegan with a capital Very Very Vegan. It's a relatively new part of her life and has led to only positive things, and, as such, I am Very Very Happy For Her.

It also makes shopping at even the most organic of suburban South Florida supermarkets a challenge, one we met not-exactly prepared yesterday evening after somersaulting our way down the Eastern seaboard and mentally drawing up our wills.

We managed to spend two hours and $150 on mostly produce (two or three of just about every green, leafy or peel-able item available), four varieties of grain, three cans of beans, tofu (both firm and extra firm), curry powder, tamari sauce, almond milk, peanuts, dark chocolate and -- after reading every ingredient on every box and finally locating the only egg/milk/honey/xantham gum-free option -- pumpkin and flax seed granola.

Oh, and wine. All red, and all for me.

So here's to six days of fiberful, flesh-free feasting, mild hangovers, daily treks to Walmart and Target, both located just across the twelve-laned street, and an even suntan.