It looks innocent enough.
When I first realized that not only were some of my childhood food allergies back, but that I had also gained some new ones, I considered going raw. I was thinking that, particularly in the case of gluten, raw might really work for me. But then I contemplated that 50% of raw recipes contain sesames or tahini and wondered what it would be like paying $3000 a month for produce in the middle of winter. I quickly abandoned that plan. I still enjoy a good raw meal from time to time, though, which is why I was kind of excited that my friend wanted to check out Bonobos for dinner last night. That, and because if you have a brownie for breakfast you have to do penance at dinner by eating nothing but vegetables and fruit. (You didn’t expect me to freeze them all did you?) I quickly selected a nutmeat patty on a nice platter of veggies and some coconut water.
Raw vegetable goodness.
While I was waiting for my friend to decide what he wanted to eat, I overheard another woman behind the counter talking about their ice cream. This peaked my interest. And then I saw it . . . the elusive durian in ice cream form. She offered me a spoon to taste. I took in the heady aroma of gasoline and still put it in my mouth. It was delicious and creamy. So, of course, I had to get a bowl full. And I left the bowl for last. My poor friend was stuck smelling the noxious fumes all through dinner. He tried a bite and almost lost his cookies. It’s nice to have friends who are good sports, especially when they’re not vegans and are eating cold, slightly expensive food in a rather utilitarian restaurant on a brisk, nearly winter night.
* * *
I think I failed MoFo. These are the objectives I set for myself and the pitiful results.
- Blog every week day. Ooops. I was doing well until work interfered.
- Make injera. Moldy disaster I flushed down the toilet.
- Veganize lumpia. I scouted around for omni recipes online. I’d almost say it’s inexcusable that I didn’t get around to this one as, apart from the fact that I will have to make my own wrappers, veganizing this recipe should be a breeze. I think what it really comes down to is that I know that I’m really in need of a crepe pan. There’s just no way that the destroyed, banged up hand-me-down that is supposed to be serving as a my non-stick pan would make it through a load of paper thing lumpia wrappers. The problem is, I’m supposed to be ending this year by purging objects from my life, not taking yet more on. I still think I’d like to take a whack at these before Christmas, though, because I think it would be nice to have them with my Grandma around for the taste test. Of course, if she really likes my vegan version she’ll probably just get confused and think I’ve started to eat pork and I’d really like to let her keep her bacon joke as she enjoys it so much. (“Poyo. You want some bacon? Oh, wait. You can’t have any. You’re a vegetarian.” Cackle. Cackle. She’s adorable and always eats my food without a complaint, so I don’t mind that she missed the vegan transition nearly a decade ago and that she still makes fun of the fact that I can’t eat bacon.)
- Break out the ice cream maker. I actually did this. I made the pumpkin ice cream from A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise. The mix was tasty, but apparently I have no idea how to use my ice cream maker because after watching it whir around for nearly an hour with no freezing to be seen, I decided it was time to go to bed so I just threw the entire insert into the freezer. It froze and didn’t crystallize oddly or anything, but it’s rock hard and difficult to serve so I’ve got no pictures because every bowl I’ve had looks more like shaved ice.
- Follow other people’s cookbook recipes. I did do two Veganomicon recipes plus Isa’s blog paprikas, so there’s that. And had mediocre Very Vegetarian sauerbraten results. I’m not sure if four recipes count as a pass or a fail, but it’s always a good thing when I finish anything on my to-do lists, so I’m trying to be kind to myself here.
