Faux Milk & Herbal Tea: no vice, alotta virtue?

It's important for you to know that I am sipping black tea as I type this entry for VegaMOFO  because it proves I'm either a hypocrite, weak-willed, or just plain human.  You can decide.

Over three years ago, I quit caffeine, which was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, but it transformed my well-being dramatically.  I've written about it a lot, and if you want the sordid details, you can read this and this.  However, in the last six months or so, I've started to slip:  decaf mochas, green tea, black tea, and once a real coffee because I let myself believe the barista said "decaf" when she reported my drink order back to me when I knew she hadn't.  

Two weeks ago, I suffered a day-long headache and marveled to my colleagues that I am such a wimp that having ONE green or black cup of tea each day for three days in a row, caused caffeine withdrawal when I didn't have any tea the fourth day.  

That's where my drawing comes in.  I woke up with the headache on the fifth day, knew I should not let myself have caffeine, and made something herbal expecting to feel disappointed, like a carob brownie when you're really craving the gooey dark chocolate blueberry one from Veganomicon.  

To my surprise, totally satisfying:  thick and creamy, a little sweet, and a strong scent that cleaned out the remains of the cobwebs in my brain.  A simple but perfect replacement for caffeinated tea:  mint tea, three tiny leaves from my peppermint plant, and, what makes it as good as a treat from any tea or coffee shop, a good pour of Pacific or Tempt vanilla faux milk (that's where the tiny bit of sweet comes from).   

I loved it so much, I drew its portrait!  (And yet, I sip black tea today.  Human?  Weak-willed?  Hypocrite?) 


PS to the techies out there:  I am taking photos of my illustrations because I can't scan.  Our router died, we set up a new one, and we can't figure out how to get the printer online.  Alas.  So, I'm making do; in fact, maybe photos could be more original ... here's a second approach to posting drawings: