The Countdown Begins

I always look forward to Wednesday’s paper because of the Taste section.  Looking over the recipes and suggestions today, I realized that Thanksgiving is only eight days away.  Before you make some sort of comment about the box I’ve been living in, let me explain my apparent cluelessness about the upcoming day of ingestion (or indigestion).  Thanksgiving, as a vegetarian, as a very odd holiday.  So much of it is centered around a bird that’s stupid enough to drown in rain, a bird that we don’t eat.  The weeks of preparation and anticipation are somewhat lost on us.  Yes, it is a family day.  I have often felt, though, that being a veggie at a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner is a bit of an imposition.  “This is like cooking Kosher!” my mom has, on more than one occasion, exclaimed as she juggles turkey stuffing and veggie-friendly stuffing, and crams whatever vegetarian main course I’ve provided into an already over-crowded oven.

I have hosted my own Thanksgiving dinner, once.  I participated in the days of planning, shopping, chopping.  Since I love cooking, I had a blast, though the fact that my kitchen is minuscule created some planning headaches.  In the end, though, I couldn’t help feeling that my guests were missing their beloved bird.  And before you ask, no, I did NOT serve them Tofurkey.  I braised a bunch of vegetables and served them over sliced portabellos, which allowed me do some some of the traditional sides (twice baked potatoes, yams, broccoli), and of course, the requisite pumpkin pie.  There was definitely more than enough food.  But there was something about the allure of that bird….

So as we enter into the week that heralds the start of the holiday season, and turkeys begin to lose to lose their heads (not that they have much of one to begin with), I send my respect to those who are just now starting the massive job of preparing your meal.  I will be joining friends this year in what will be, I’m sure, a wonderful and anything but traditional Thanksgiving meal, turkey or no turkey.  So, fear not, Mom, the Kosher cooking can wait until next year.  Cheers!

Please Define “Weird”

I have come to realization that my coworkers think that my food is “weird”.  This is very odd to me.   I am a vegetarian.  I am not vegan; I do not subscribe to the “raw food” diet.  I simply do not eat anything with a face (and the folks that call themselves “vegetarians” but still eat fish and chicken are not).  My point is that I do not, as a general rule, bring soy burgers on gluten-free bread for lunch (in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted gluten-free bread).  When this discussion came up, I started listing the items in my lunch to see what, precisely, they considered “weird”, and everything passed muster.  This has left me even more confused.  So, I am going to provide a list of what I have planned for meals for this week.  Please define the “weird”.   I’m also perfectly happy to accept that I work with a bunch of philistines, but since all twelve people in my office is in agreement, that seems a bit extreme.  Here goes….

Breakfast: Coffee with vanilla soy milk (milk gives me a headache), or a soy caramel macchiato; oatmeal (I am a HUGE fan of the new Simple Harvest hot cereals) with flaxseed meal (doctor’s orders), and an apple.

Snack: carrots

Lunch:  This week: vichyssoie (recipe from Simply Vegetarian) and crackers, grapefruit or orange OR Salad of Many Colors (my attempt to put every color in the rainbow in a tossed salad) – which one coworker said looked like the circus was in town - and crackers, grapefruit or orange

Dinner: Either salad or vichyssoie – whatever I didn’t eat for lunch, whole grain toast or roll with Laughing Cow spread, pear

I do tend to plan my menus on a weekly basis, though this week is a bit extreme because I’m in tech week, which means I have NO time to cook.  So, I made the soup on Sunday to eat through the week (and I do this quite a bit – I hate coming home from work and facing the stove).  It saves me from fast food, which, let’s face it, have very few veggie friendly options – unfortunately one of the options is right on the corner to my street.  Since I live singley, one batch (6 servings)  serves that purpose well.

Please help me see the weird!