The commercial store-bought Christmas is dying.
The recent downsizing of the economy has brought a new reality to the middle class that will probably never go back to where it once was. Poor folks have always known that if you can't afford it, you can't buy it, whereas middle class folks have lived a life of buy today and pay tomorrow. If you were fairly affluent, with a stable job and a modest home, there always seemed to be a better tomorrow on the horizon. Now that notion is beginning to crumble. A stable, long-term job is fragile and can disappear at any moment. Jobs tend to migrate to certain areas of the country, where the business climate is friendly. Other areas suffer (just look at Detroit!). Owning a home is both a blessing and a burden, and you may never re-coup what you paid for it. Borrowing money is almost impossible if you have a family, only poor people who've never applied for credit can get it---even though they can't afford the credit they qualify for! What have we done as a nation to stumble to this point? When the economy was rumbling along and things were booming, we weren't looking at the bottom line, saving for hard times that inevitably always come. We didn't do it as a nation, certainly. Many businesses and local governments did not save either, along with most of the population. Many people are broke and uncertain of their futures. Many people are looking to change their lives. Pay off credit debt. Save more money. Eat better, exercise more. Take better care of the things you own, as well as your personal relationships. Consume less.
And that's where the commercial store-bought Christmas comes in to play. Since the end of the recession in the 1930's, the Christmas season has always been a boon to retailers throughout the country. Many stores would not make a profit until December every year. Imagine an economic plan today where you tell a banker that your business model will loose money for about 320 days, but make a gigantic comeback in the last 32 days! Imagine the laughter! But, for years that was acceptable business practice for retailers and banks, because there was always progress and economic growth. After World War 2, the American economy exploded. Throughout the 50's and 60's, factories turned out more products than Americans and the world could buy with cash. We needed more people to buy more stuff. Hence, the beginning of the credit card! An amazing tool for buying more stuff than you previously could afford or need! Buying on Layaway was always options for poor families, but not quick enough. The credit card was perfect; buy now but pay later. Christmas shopping gradually became a season of excessive credit card use and over-buying. My wife and I used to charge 3, 4 or 5 thousand dollars a year buying Christmas toys for my kids, along with personalized gifts for every person we could think of in our immediate families. It would take us a year or more to pay off, before we would do it all over again next year! We would literally open gifts for 2 hours with our boys, if not longer. We would fill 3-4 giant lawn and leaf trash bags with boxes and wrapping paper. There would be so many toys around the house, it became difficult to walk without stepping on something (typically breaking said toy in the process!). It was really crazy, excessive and yes, even ridiculous.
But now Donna and I are re-thinking Christmas.
We think that it's more about enjoying the rare company of our grown sons, and their girlfriends if they choose to bring them. It's more about talking with my sister and brothers, and enjoying laughs with my cousins, aunts and uncles, more about seeing the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of the younger children in the family. It's more about cooking dinner with my mother, and wishing my father was still around, filming everything with his video camera.
I was recently grumbling about the fact that I had a beautiful Christmas tree with no money for gifts to put under it. Donna and I came up with the idea of giving each other gifts of things we would like to buy each other out of magazines or catalogs, and cut that image out, wrapping each item in its own box under the tree. On Christmas day we will exchange gifts, that I'm sure would make Tom Cruise's Christmas pale by comparison! There will be lots of laughs and surprises, and hopefully, memories that we will always look back on and treasure. I can't remember too many gifts that I received at Christmas, but I think I would always remember the year that Donna gave me a Ford F-350 Super Cab Truck with 4 wheel Drive, and a giant plow (hint hint!) I hope she likes the surprise I'm getting her from her favorite jewelry store! (The only problem with cut out Christmas presents is you can't return them! LOL)
So that's how we're rethinking Christmas in our house this year. We recommend that other people do it as well. We don't want to go into 12 months of debt for 1 day anymore. There's nothing that Donna and I need. We have love, and that trumps everything!
Merry Christmas to All!
Love, Rick and Donna
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Empty Nest Syndrome and the Vegan Diet
My wife and I recently became "Empty Nest" parents for the second time. I don't really count the first time, because my son Andrew was away at trade school in Conneticut. He frequently came home on weekends, or my wife and I would visit with him from time to time. He was only in school for a year, then he was back.
This time may be permanent.
While we were taking our middle son, Ben, to grad school in Georgia, Andrew decided to move out again. Fine. No problem. A little emotional for us at first, but we adjusted quickly. For the first time in a long time, my wife and I were free again--really, just like when we were first married. We quickly began plotting how we were going to rearrange everything in our lives. We began cleaning and sorting through the rubbish and old clothes in closets and basement. I made several trips to donate old clothes, excessive winter coats, unworn hats and gloves--all the accumulated STUFF that was slowly building up over 25 years (24 of them with kids!). I began to see a parallel between our old life of eating meats, chickens, fattening sauces, and junk foods, and comparing them to our present vegan diet. Like the clothes and discarded cd's and books, and old comics, the old way of eating was not healthy and needed to be discarded. Occasionally, I stray from my diet, I try hard not too, because the benefits to me outweigh the negatives. Even trying to be a 80% vegan is better than nothing.
We realized over the past few months that even the boys were trying to eat healthier, Andrew is even trying to follow a vegan diet! I laughed to myself when he came over recently (a few days after moving out). My wife gave him the remaining old food items from the freezer for his non-vegan room mates to eat, plus a few of our vegan things. I'm imagining now, that all my bananas won't be gone in two days, and my almond milk won't be empty when I go to eat my cereal. When Donna makes some of her outstanding vegan cookies, maybe I'll get to eat the whole batch over three days, instead of seeing the boys wife them out in a few hours! WHEN Donna and I go shopping at Whole Foods, maybe the stuff will last more than 4 days!
Or my son will come back for "a visit," and Mom will have a baggie of cookies for him, and give him the bunch of bananas I just bought. Isn't that what good Moms and Dads do?
I think about these things a lot right now to keep from getting depressed about this stage in my life, a feeling of not being needed anymore, a feeling that my kids are not kids anymore, but adults starting their own life journeys. When I begin to get depressed, I always come back to the food, and how it unites us as human beings, but more importantly, as families. I think of the shared meals and laughs around the kitchen table, eating spaghetti and meatballs, dinners at Chuck E Cheese's, Papa Gino's, and Gregg's. All the places that mattered to the kids when they were young. But we've all come a long way. We eat differently now. Local foods are important, and moving away from unhealthy trends is probably the next stage in our lives as well as many others.
I recently read an article in Time magazine that stated that more and more people were living vegan or vegetarian lives during the week, but going back to steak, and eggs, and bacon on the weekends. This trend is astounding to me, because more and more people are seeing the benefits of a plant-based diet, over an animal one. Veganism is slowly turning from an extreme lifestyle habit, into a life choice for heath. That's why my wife and I do it, and my kids will hopefully do the same.
But for right now, we continue to clean, de-clutter, and re organize. I don't feel unwanted anymore--especially when my kids call me for cooking advice, or come over to visit. I just don't want to give away ALL my bananas!
This time may be permanent.
While we were taking our middle son, Ben, to grad school in Georgia, Andrew decided to move out again. Fine. No problem. A little emotional for us at first, but we adjusted quickly. For the first time in a long time, my wife and I were free again--really, just like when we were first married. We quickly began plotting how we were going to rearrange everything in our lives. We began cleaning and sorting through the rubbish and old clothes in closets and basement. I made several trips to donate old clothes, excessive winter coats, unworn hats and gloves--all the accumulated STUFF that was slowly building up over 25 years (24 of them with kids!). I began to see a parallel between our old life of eating meats, chickens, fattening sauces, and junk foods, and comparing them to our present vegan diet. Like the clothes and discarded cd's and books, and old comics, the old way of eating was not healthy and needed to be discarded. Occasionally, I stray from my diet, I try hard not too, because the benefits to me outweigh the negatives. Even trying to be a 80% vegan is better than nothing.
We realized over the past few months that even the boys were trying to eat healthier, Andrew is even trying to follow a vegan diet! I laughed to myself when he came over recently (a few days after moving out). My wife gave him the remaining old food items from the freezer for his non-vegan room mates to eat, plus a few of our vegan things. I'm imagining now, that all my bananas won't be gone in two days, and my almond milk won't be empty when I go to eat my cereal. When Donna makes some of her outstanding vegan cookies, maybe I'll get to eat the whole batch over three days, instead of seeing the boys wife them out in a few hours! WHEN Donna and I go shopping at Whole Foods, maybe the stuff will last more than 4 days!
Or my son will come back for "a visit," and Mom will have a baggie of cookies for him, and give him the bunch of bananas I just bought. Isn't that what good Moms and Dads do?
I think about these things a lot right now to keep from getting depressed about this stage in my life, a feeling of not being needed anymore, a feeling that my kids are not kids anymore, but adults starting their own life journeys. When I begin to get depressed, I always come back to the food, and how it unites us as human beings, but more importantly, as families. I think of the shared meals and laughs around the kitchen table, eating spaghetti and meatballs, dinners at Chuck E Cheese's, Papa Gino's, and Gregg's. All the places that mattered to the kids when they were young. But we've all come a long way. We eat differently now. Local foods are important, and moving away from unhealthy trends is probably the next stage in our lives as well as many others.
I recently read an article in Time magazine that stated that more and more people were living vegan or vegetarian lives during the week, but going back to steak, and eggs, and bacon on the weekends. This trend is astounding to me, because more and more people are seeing the benefits of a plant-based diet, over an animal one. Veganism is slowly turning from an extreme lifestyle habit, into a life choice for heath. That's why my wife and I do it, and my kids will hopefully do the same.
But for right now, we continue to clean, de-clutter, and re organize. I don't feel unwanted anymore--especially when my kids call me for cooking advice, or come over to visit. I just don't want to give away ALL my bananas!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Why Fast Food Joints Are Killing Us
Americans are hopelessly addicted to fast food.
I just ate dinner at 5 Guys Burgers, or whatever the hell its called. I knew what I was getting into when we went, but Donna and I were hungry, so we went. My son, Andrew, told us that the place had vegetable sandwiches (it did!) and veggie burgers (it didn't!). They had fries, and ketchup. Sodas, the usual things. We placed our orders and sat down. If you've never been there before, I think they cut their own fries. A dry erase board on the wall denotes where the potatoes come from. In today's case they were from Ripley, Idaho. I guess someone finds that to be necessary information. Maybe they should ask where the fryolator grease comes from. There are boxes with shell peanuts that you can munch on while you wait for your burgers. They even have dunnage racks in the middle of the dining area with 50 pound bags of potatoes on them. I guess they'd rather seat the potatoes, than add a few more tables for customers!
The place was busy, and very noisy. There was a mixed bag of people, senior citizen couples, families, boyfriends and girlfriends. There were lots of overweight people there as well. About 5 minutes after we ordered, a bus pulled up and dropped off 50 people it seemed. It was so noisy, I could barely hear myself think. But dinner wasn't too bad.
I ordered a veggie sandwich with Cajun fries. Donna ordered the same sandwich (sans jalapeno peppers!) and plain fries. About 15 minutes later we got our order in two brown paper bags. They called our number out like at a deli. Each bag had a sandwich and about 5 pounds of fries in the bottom of each one. Our sandwiches fell apart without cheese in them to hold everything together. I have to say I hated the Cajun fries. The seasoning mix was powdery with lots of cayenne pepper and not much else for flavor. I enjoyed Donna's plain fries much more. Those Ripley, Idaho fries were pretty tasty!
As I looked around, though, I couldn't believe how busy the place was. I mean, a whole bus load of patrons, for a hamburger joint??? There were more than several obese people there downing burgers and fries, and drinking giant Cokes. Other than the loud music and the wall of grills and fryers, there really wasn't much to the place. Just 4 or 5 guys cooking burgers and dogs. I remarked to Donna that next time we'll bring a few slices of vegan cheese to add to our sandwiches, and maybe some red pepper relish. We'll split a plain fry, and save 3 bucks. But, hell, that almost seems like work to me, to go to a fast food joint and have to customize the entree! I might as well go back home and make the same thing for a lot less money!
I remember when my kids were young, we hosted a young student named Geoffrey from Paris, France for a few weeks one summer. I remember the first thing he wanted to do, the very first thing he wanted, was to go to McDonald's for a hamburger. When he actually got one, he was repulsed by it. Apparently fast food in Paris is just a step down from bistro fare, very well prepared, just quicker than ordinary food. In this country it's all about timing and food cost. There is no quality. He could hardly believe that you get your food in 1 minute! But when he ate it he said, "I dislike this 'amburger!" That kid from France knew in 5 minutes what took me 25 years to learn; there are no healthy fast food options in America. And it's killing nearly all of us. Hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions, cancer, all are linked to foods served at many fast food operations. But as the economy slides little by little more, fast food restaurants are getting busier and busier, as evidenced by the restaurant we visited.
I don't know if I'll go back to 5 Boys Burgers or whatever the hell they call themselves. I'm getting sick eating at fast food joints. Not so much from the food, because Donna and I are getting good at requesting vegan options. I'm getting sick from watching what everyone else is shoving down their throats. Americans aren't very educated when it comes to the foods they eat.
I hope anyone who reads this will pause before they pull into a KFC or Micky D's. That pause may save your life!
I just ate dinner at 5 Guys Burgers, or whatever the hell its called. I knew what I was getting into when we went, but Donna and I were hungry, so we went. My son, Andrew, told us that the place had vegetable sandwiches (it did!) and veggie burgers (it didn't!). They had fries, and ketchup. Sodas, the usual things. We placed our orders and sat down. If you've never been there before, I think they cut their own fries. A dry erase board on the wall denotes where the potatoes come from. In today's case they were from Ripley, Idaho. I guess someone finds that to be necessary information. Maybe they should ask where the fryolator grease comes from. There are boxes with shell peanuts that you can munch on while you wait for your burgers. They even have dunnage racks in the middle of the dining area with 50 pound bags of potatoes on them. I guess they'd rather seat the potatoes, than add a few more tables for customers!
The place was busy, and very noisy. There was a mixed bag of people, senior citizen couples, families, boyfriends and girlfriends. There were lots of overweight people there as well. About 5 minutes after we ordered, a bus pulled up and dropped off 50 people it seemed. It was so noisy, I could barely hear myself think. But dinner wasn't too bad.
I ordered a veggie sandwich with Cajun fries. Donna ordered the same sandwich (sans jalapeno peppers!) and plain fries. About 15 minutes later we got our order in two brown paper bags. They called our number out like at a deli. Each bag had a sandwich and about 5 pounds of fries in the bottom of each one. Our sandwiches fell apart without cheese in them to hold everything together. I have to say I hated the Cajun fries. The seasoning mix was powdery with lots of cayenne pepper and not much else for flavor. I enjoyed Donna's plain fries much more. Those Ripley, Idaho fries were pretty tasty!
As I looked around, though, I couldn't believe how busy the place was. I mean, a whole bus load of patrons, for a hamburger joint??? There were more than several obese people there downing burgers and fries, and drinking giant Cokes. Other than the loud music and the wall of grills and fryers, there really wasn't much to the place. Just 4 or 5 guys cooking burgers and dogs. I remarked to Donna that next time we'll bring a few slices of vegan cheese to add to our sandwiches, and maybe some red pepper relish. We'll split a plain fry, and save 3 bucks. But, hell, that almost seems like work to me, to go to a fast food joint and have to customize the entree! I might as well go back home and make the same thing for a lot less money!
I remember when my kids were young, we hosted a young student named Geoffrey from Paris, France for a few weeks one summer. I remember the first thing he wanted to do, the very first thing he wanted, was to go to McDonald's for a hamburger. When he actually got one, he was repulsed by it. Apparently fast food in Paris is just a step down from bistro fare, very well prepared, just quicker than ordinary food. In this country it's all about timing and food cost. There is no quality. He could hardly believe that you get your food in 1 minute! But when he ate it he said, "I dislike this 'amburger!" That kid from France knew in 5 minutes what took me 25 years to learn; there are no healthy fast food options in America. And it's killing nearly all of us. Hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions, cancer, all are linked to foods served at many fast food operations. But as the economy slides little by little more, fast food restaurants are getting busier and busier, as evidenced by the restaurant we visited.
I don't know if I'll go back to 5 Boys Burgers or whatever the hell they call themselves. I'm getting sick eating at fast food joints. Not so much from the food, because Donna and I are getting good at requesting vegan options. I'm getting sick from watching what everyone else is shoving down their throats. Americans aren't very educated when it comes to the foods they eat.
I hope anyone who reads this will pause before they pull into a KFC or Micky D's. That pause may save your life!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Cholesterol and the Vegan Diet
"My name is Richard Goudreau, and I am a recovering carnivore. I haven't had a meat dinner since mid April."
That sentence sounds almost like the beginning of an AA meeting for vegans, if there was such a thing. When I started eating vegan, my initial goal was to get off the medicines I was taking to control my high blood pressure and diabetes. The side effects of the pills was worse than the afflictions brought forth by those illnesses, in my humble opinion. I HAD to get off these pills! Four months later, I have dropped about 25 pounds (exercising very infrequently), and managed to cut my blood pressure medicine down to 80mg per day instead of 160mg. I no longer have to take Prilosec for my acid reflux, bye bye!!! I rarely get heartburn any more. Before I began eating vegan, my doctor was seriously considering putting me on a low dose of cholesterol medicine, to battle my cholesterol levels which were creeping up. My most recent numbers were 148 down from 175 the previous year. My LDL (bad cholesterol ) numbers were down to, 65 from 107 the previous year. I am still battling my triglycerides which have always been high, now 250 from 171 last year. My HDL (good cholesterol) numbers are pretty close to last year's numbers, 33 from 35 (which is pretty good).
Obviously, if I exercised religiously every day, these numbers would probably be even better, but I am overall happy with them. It has been only 4 months on this diet after all! It took me 49 years of unhealthy eating to get to this state of calamity. I can't complain about my progress, the numbers don't lie, I am getting healthier!
Look, a scientist or a nutritionist could probably tell you in medical hyperbole why a vegan diet is good for you, but I will say it simply: "If you eat foods with no cholesterol in them, sooner or later you will not have cholesterol problems. If you avoid animal based fats, you will loose fat. If you stop using dairy products, your lactose intolerance will go away. " I am feeling better than ever right now. I am at 205 pounds (down from 230 in April), and I hope to be under 200 pounds by Christmas, if not sooner. My goal weight is about 175 pounds, and not so unrealistic as it was a few months ago...
So now I am going to celebrate with one of my wife's delicious vegan double chocolate espresso chip cookies and a glass of almond milk. And I don't even feel strange or upset about this snack. It's becoming more and more of a habit with me. It's comfort food--VEGAN STYLE!
That sentence sounds almost like the beginning of an AA meeting for vegans, if there was such a thing. When I started eating vegan, my initial goal was to get off the medicines I was taking to control my high blood pressure and diabetes. The side effects of the pills was worse than the afflictions brought forth by those illnesses, in my humble opinion. I HAD to get off these pills! Four months later, I have dropped about 25 pounds (exercising very infrequently), and managed to cut my blood pressure medicine down to 80mg per day instead of 160mg. I no longer have to take Prilosec for my acid reflux, bye bye!!! I rarely get heartburn any more. Before I began eating vegan, my doctor was seriously considering putting me on a low dose of cholesterol medicine, to battle my cholesterol levels which were creeping up. My most recent numbers were 148 down from 175 the previous year. My LDL (bad cholesterol ) numbers were down to, 65 from 107 the previous year. I am still battling my triglycerides which have always been high, now 250 from 171 last year. My HDL (good cholesterol) numbers are pretty close to last year's numbers, 33 from 35 (which is pretty good).
Obviously, if I exercised religiously every day, these numbers would probably be even better, but I am overall happy with them. It has been only 4 months on this diet after all! It took me 49 years of unhealthy eating to get to this state of calamity. I can't complain about my progress, the numbers don't lie, I am getting healthier!
Look, a scientist or a nutritionist could probably tell you in medical hyperbole why a vegan diet is good for you, but I will say it simply: "If you eat foods with no cholesterol in them, sooner or later you will not have cholesterol problems. If you avoid animal based fats, you will loose fat. If you stop using dairy products, your lactose intolerance will go away. " I am feeling better than ever right now. I am at 205 pounds (down from 230 in April), and I hope to be under 200 pounds by Christmas, if not sooner. My goal weight is about 175 pounds, and not so unrealistic as it was a few months ago...
So now I am going to celebrate with one of my wife's delicious vegan double chocolate espresso chip cookies and a glass of almond milk. And I don't even feel strange or upset about this snack. It's becoming more and more of a habit with me. It's comfort food--VEGAN STYLE!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Tomato Heaven
When I die, and hopefully go to heaven, I hope there is a garden full of sun-ripened beefsteak tomatoes waiting for me beyond the pearly gates! When I worked on the farm as a boy, I came to love farm-ripened tomatoes, still warm when I got home from the hot summer sun. In those days, I used to slice the tomatoes thickly, slather them with French's mustard, and place them between 2 slices of wonder bread. I still remember my eyes rolling back in my head as the sweet & sour flavors of the red tomato ran over my tongue. (They still do that to this day when I indulge in that very same sandwich). I remember buying cases of plum tomatoes from the farm, when my boys were young teens, and making tomato sauce with my wife, Donna. We always hoped that the 20 quarts of tomato sauce we made would last us until Spring, but invariably, we ran out every fall---the sauce was just too damn good! When yellow tomatoes first came out, I made a yellow tomato marinara sauce that I still use today. Recently, I've been impressed with the quality of grape tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes that are more and more readily available in markets across the country. I do find that the prices, though, are ridiculous---$5.95 for a pint of grape tomatoes! Are you kidding me??
This past November I had a colonoscopy. It was revealed to me that I have diverticulitus. To someone who loves raspberries, strawberries and farm tomatoes as much as I do, it was really almost like a curse. It's bad enough dealing with high blood pressure AND diabetes. Now this! When my doctor told me, I laughed and said, "Whatever." I'll just add it to my weak gene list!
Now, I am giving up crappy tomatoes forever. No more cellophane 3-packs in the plastic trays. No more orange tomatoes for 3 bucks a piece in January! No more overpriced cardboard-tasting tomatoes from Chile. Now, I will wait for the tomatoes of July and August, when the sun and the rain leave them full of flavor. Now I cut the tomatoes in half a squeeze out the seeds. See, you can't keep me away from a garden tomato!
I made the following recipe for dinner recently as an appetizer. It's simply a vegan take on the sliced tomatoes with mozzarella that everyone does in the summer. Hopefully, it will make you say, "Oh, yeah!" too! Try it out, and really savor those summer tomatoes, they aren't around for long!
Vegan Marinated Tomatoes and "Mozzarella"
10 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and pressed dry between several layers of paper towels.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Drain tofu preferably for 8 hours or so to extract most of the water. You may need to change the paper towels and drain any accumulated water that collects on the plate or bowl you drain the tofu in. When the tofu is dry, slice crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices. Cut each slice in half to make cracker-sized pieces of tofu. Place the cheese on a large platter and drizzle with olive oil. Season with a sprinkling of Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside to marinate for 1 hour at room temperature.
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
To make reduced balsamic vinegar, pour vinegar into a small, non reactive sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce by almost half. Add brown sugar to taste. The vinegar should be thick and syrupy with a sweet and sour flavor to it. Set aside at room temperature.
1 large vine ripe native red tomato
1 large vine ripe native yellow tomato (if available)
6 grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 small bunch fresh basil leaves
To finish the salad; remove cores from each tomato and slice about 1/2 inch thick with a serrated knife. Arrange alternating colors of tomato on serving platter, putting a slice of marinated tofu between each slice of tomato. When all the slices are arranged, go back and insert a fresh basil leave between each slice of tomato. Keep the tips of the basil leaves sticking out for presentation purposes. Drizzle the salad with the reduced balsamic vinegar, a little more olive oil, and more Kosher salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.
Serves 2-3 people as an appetizer before dinner.
10 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and pressed dry between several layers of paper towels.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Drain tofu preferably for 8 hours or so to extract most of the water. You may need to change the paper towels and drain any accumulated water that collects on the plate or bowl you drain the tofu in. When the tofu is dry, slice crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices. Cut each slice in half to make cracker-sized pieces of tofu. Place the cheese on a large platter and drizzle with olive oil. Season with a sprinkling of Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside to marinate for 1 hour at room temperature.
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
To make reduced balsamic vinegar, pour vinegar into a small, non reactive sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce by almost half. Add brown sugar to taste. The vinegar should be thick and syrupy with a sweet and sour flavor to it. Set aside at room temperature.
1 large vine ripe native red tomato
1 large vine ripe native yellow tomato (if available)
6 grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 small bunch fresh basil leaves
To finish the salad; remove cores from each tomato and slice about 1/2 inch thick with a serrated knife. Arrange alternating colors of tomato on serving platter, putting a slice of marinated tofu between each slice of tomato. When all the slices are arranged, go back and insert a fresh basil leave between each slice of tomato. Keep the tips of the basil leaves sticking out for presentation purposes. Drizzle the salad with the reduced balsamic vinegar, a little more olive oil, and more Kosher salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.
Serves 2-3 people as an appetizer before dinner.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Fresh From the Farm
There's nothing more exciting for a vegan than shopping at a local farm for an endless array of vegetables, berries, greens, and regional baked goods. I feel sorry for people living in a large city who can't get to a farm, even if they tried. In our area of southeast Massachusetts, we are blessed with many diverse, local farms. Because farm land in New England is so expensive, farms tend to be a lot smaller than mid western farms. Many of the farms in this area are beginning to experiment with certified organic produce, which can be an expensive venture. I remember attending a meeting with Dr. Henry Wainer from Sid Wainer and Sons Produce company. His company is very large and influential in the area, and his relationship with local farmers is a cornerstone of his overall success. He has tried for years to steer farmers away from low cash vegetables like zucchini, broccoli, and cabbage, and try unique vegetables that chefs like myself are always looking for: great tasting field greens, microgreens, unusual potatoes, baby vegetables, and hybrid berries. at work, we buy organic herbs, seasonal greens, and a myriad of miniature seasonal edible flowers. While I find the prices to be ridiculously high, the quality and shelf life of these items are unmatched by produce from a wholesale supplier.
When I was about 14, my best friend at the time was a kid named Kevin. His father owned a 40-acre farm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts (my hometown!). Kevin offered me a job working on his father's farm, and I accepted without hesitating. I recall the rate of pay being a whopping $2.50 per hour! I didn't take the job for the money (a theme that has haunted me just about every job I've ever had!), I was really interested in how food grows. The symbiosis between the weather, the land, the temperature, the sunlight. All of that fascinated me. What a sap I was, working on a farm proved to be extremely hard work! There was always something to do, whether it was feeding chickens, or weeding the spinach patch, or planting strawberries, zucchini, peppers, broccoli, onions, potatoes, and corn. I though it was cool that my friend Kevin, was allowed to drive a station wagon all over the property. It would be another two years before I could drive! But the station wagon was essential for getting us around the property. There was no time to waste! As soon as school let out, I was working 6 days a week from 6 am until 5 pm, with a 30 minute break for lunch. Kevin would always go in to the house to eat lunch with his parents and older brother Frank. I was left alone outside at the picnic table to eat my bag lunch. I was a fat kid in those days, very out of shape. Within a few weeks at the farm, I began losing weight, even though I was eating huge lunches. As the days got warmer, and we began harvesting the fruits and vegetables of our labor, the work got more and more grueling. I recruited my younger brother Steve to help us for a while, but as the middle of August approached, and the peppers and tomatoes were coming in, I had to quit. My Mother was becoming alarmed at how much weight I was loosing, and truth be told, I was getting sick of the long, hard days in the sun, dusty, always thirsty, and always tired. I think Steve quit a week after me. He was never one to sit in the sun for a long period of time! That ended my days on the farm, but not my love of food. It was enriching for my soul, even at that young age, to see the Old Man's truck loaded with cabbage, corn, potatoes, zucchini, and leeks. I remember cutting spinach with a knife the Old Man gave me. The handle was knurled and weather beaten, but the blade was sharp like a razor. I loved cutting big armloads of spinach at ground level and stuffing it into a wooden bushel crate. It was satisfying to take something from seed a few months earlier, and actually pick it for someone to buy and eat. That made me feel good as a young man.
Fast forward 35 years. Now I don't work in a farm, but I am more aware of the work that goes into quality produce, more so than many of the Chefs who work for me. I'm not sure if many of them would have lasted as long on the farm as I did, or even have any desire to see where a pepper comes from, or how painful picking zucchini and eggplant can be when you have to do a whole acre. I think I'm one of the last Chefs that I know of who can actually claim to have worked on a farm, and I'm proud of that.
Now when I go to a local farm stand, I am amazed at the varieties of produce the local growers are selling. Pattypan squashes in greens and yellows, zucchini shaped like small bowling balls. Yellow and purple heirloom tomatoes, ruby red baby carrots, red spinach, pea shoots, and microgreens, all available for big bucks. As I bring my selections to the counter, I think about the road I've traveled to get to this blog site. I think about eating a large warm strawberry that I just picked at my friend's farm, the sweet red juice running down my face and neck. I think about how my eyes rolled back in my head and said, "Oh my God, this is so good!" That's what keeps me going as a chef today, when the flavors of something unexpected explode in your mouth, and the experience brings you back to a time when you were younger and everything was simple pleasure. Today, when I visit a farm for organic produce, I think back to the summer of 1975, when my journey with food as a profession began.
Next article, farm recipes anyone can do, Vegan style!
When I was about 14, my best friend at the time was a kid named Kevin. His father owned a 40-acre farm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts (my hometown!). Kevin offered me a job working on his father's farm, and I accepted without hesitating. I recall the rate of pay being a whopping $2.50 per hour! I didn't take the job for the money (a theme that has haunted me just about every job I've ever had!), I was really interested in how food grows. The symbiosis between the weather, the land, the temperature, the sunlight. All of that fascinated me. What a sap I was, working on a farm proved to be extremely hard work! There was always something to do, whether it was feeding chickens, or weeding the spinach patch, or planting strawberries, zucchini, peppers, broccoli, onions, potatoes, and corn. I though it was cool that my friend Kevin, was allowed to drive a station wagon all over the property. It would be another two years before I could drive! But the station wagon was essential for getting us around the property. There was no time to waste! As soon as school let out, I was working 6 days a week from 6 am until 5 pm, with a 30 minute break for lunch. Kevin would always go in to the house to eat lunch with his parents and older brother Frank. I was left alone outside at the picnic table to eat my bag lunch. I was a fat kid in those days, very out of shape. Within a few weeks at the farm, I began losing weight, even though I was eating huge lunches. As the days got warmer, and we began harvesting the fruits and vegetables of our labor, the work got more and more grueling. I recruited my younger brother Steve to help us for a while, but as the middle of August approached, and the peppers and tomatoes were coming in, I had to quit. My Mother was becoming alarmed at how much weight I was loosing, and truth be told, I was getting sick of the long, hard days in the sun, dusty, always thirsty, and always tired. I think Steve quit a week after me. He was never one to sit in the sun for a long period of time! That ended my days on the farm, but not my love of food. It was enriching for my soul, even at that young age, to see the Old Man's truck loaded with cabbage, corn, potatoes, zucchini, and leeks. I remember cutting spinach with a knife the Old Man gave me. The handle was knurled and weather beaten, but the blade was sharp like a razor. I loved cutting big armloads of spinach at ground level and stuffing it into a wooden bushel crate. It was satisfying to take something from seed a few months earlier, and actually pick it for someone to buy and eat. That made me feel good as a young man.
Fast forward 35 years. Now I don't work in a farm, but I am more aware of the work that goes into quality produce, more so than many of the Chefs who work for me. I'm not sure if many of them would have lasted as long on the farm as I did, or even have any desire to see where a pepper comes from, or how painful picking zucchini and eggplant can be when you have to do a whole acre. I think I'm one of the last Chefs that I know of who can actually claim to have worked on a farm, and I'm proud of that.
Now when I go to a local farm stand, I am amazed at the varieties of produce the local growers are selling. Pattypan squashes in greens and yellows, zucchini shaped like small bowling balls. Yellow and purple heirloom tomatoes, ruby red baby carrots, red spinach, pea shoots, and microgreens, all available for big bucks. As I bring my selections to the counter, I think about the road I've traveled to get to this blog site. I think about eating a large warm strawberry that I just picked at my friend's farm, the sweet red juice running down my face and neck. I think about how my eyes rolled back in my head and said, "Oh my God, this is so good!" That's what keeps me going as a chef today, when the flavors of something unexpected explode in your mouth, and the experience brings you back to a time when you were younger and everything was simple pleasure. Today, when I visit a farm for organic produce, I think back to the summer of 1975, when my journey with food as a profession began.
Next article, farm recipes anyone can do, Vegan style!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
A New Kind of Breakfast
TOFU "SCRAMBLED EGGS"
Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day.
I miss cooking a full corned beef brisket for St. Patrick's Day. Not so much for the corned beef and cabbage, but for the five pounds of corned beef hash and poached eggs I make the next day. (That stuff you buy in the cans at the supermarket? That can't be corned beef! That's not something anyone on earth would make if they tasted mine!) I miss Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise sauce and a Western omlette with cheese from the Ritz Diner. Bickford's Baby Dutch Apple pancakes, Morin's banana praline waffles and Coco Lopez banana bread french toast with pineapple sauce (yummy!!!). My sour cream and pumpkin pancakes in the fall with warm Mrs. Butterworth's pouring over the edges. Danish made from scratch. Warm blueberry scones and cinnamon buns. Homemade crepes with brown sugar that my grandmother showed me how to make. Buttered toast, french toast, toast points dipped in egg yolks! All the thousands of breakfasts I've cooked, prepared and served, as well as the ones I've made at home. I miss all of it--and yet I had to move on. My weight was beginning to approach critical mass. I was having trouble completing a sentence without losing my breath. My blood pressure was high and on the rise again. I was getting beet red climbing a flight of stairs! My doctor was prescribing more pills. More quick fixes. I was already spending about $150 dollars a month on pills. I had to make a fundamental change in the way I approached the things I could eat for breakfast. I felt like I was primed and ready for a heart attack.
Donna and I decided that going vegan for breakfast would be a good start. But where to begin???
We started buying vegan cookbooks, but the breakfast sections are the smallest chapters. Many of the breads and muffins are dry, and get stale quickly (properties that real eggs prevent in the normal baking process.)
I was actually already a big fan of oatmeal. Whenever I ate it, I was never hungry until lunch time. I never snacked or felt the urge to nibble, until about 12 noon. Oatmeal seemed a logical first choice. So Donna and I began eating oatmeal every morning. I had to say goodbye to the light cream I used to use with it, now we were using soy milk. I came to find that soy products in some forms (like soy milk) kill me with gas, so I switched to rice milk. Bingo! I was still no longer hungry until lunch time, but we felt like we were eating healthier already. On a jaunt to Trader Joe's, we picked up some of their dried blueberries. They are simply the best on the market, even better than what I can buy wholesale. We started adding them to granola, and heating them with our oatmeal in the microwave. It gave a whole new character to the oatmeal, fruity, but still healthy. In time, we would experiment with sauteed apples, pears, and other fruits. But the blueberry oatmeal helped our taste buds progress to a point where we could begin trying other dishes. But after a few weeks of oatmeal, we were getting bored. We began experimenting with cream of wheat, cream of rice, and granola with soy yogurt (pass the Beano first !!!) . These items were satisfying, but lacking in the excitement category.
On a trip to Manhattan to visit our oldest son, Rick, we visited a vegan restaurant called The Candle Cafe. The menu was an eye-opener for us because they combined traditional lunch and dinner items with tofu scrambled eggs in a breakfast wrap. I was intrigued with the Southwest Scramble with peppers, onions, salsa, and cilantro, along with the Tofu "scrambled eggs" pictured above. They had Italian wraps with vegan "meats" , Indian platters with hummus and taboule--for breakfast?!? Miso soup and soba noodle salad at 9 am ??? Wheatgrass shakes? Tazo Raspberry Iced Tea instead of coffee? The place was packed with thin people (we looked enormous compared to most of the patrons) . They have been doing vegan food for a long time, so they were as comfortable producing their fare, as I am catering a menu I've done for 20 years. Obviously, to get some enjoyment out of our breakfasts, they were going to have to be a little out of the ordinary. Donna and I were energized again with new ideas.
We returned home and enthusiastically began frying tofu "eggs." I recreated my version of the southwest tofu scramble with a toasted bagel and tri-color homefries. A new passion was born. Sure, I can't quite turn them into a classical French omlette, but I have done versions with vine ripe tomatoes and spinach, mushrooms and vegan swiss cheese, and a curried version which was quite satisfying.
Every now and then, I still miss my western omelette with cheese, but the temptation to make it is fading like nicotine from an ex-smoker. Now we look forward to toasted bagels with tofu cream cheese, sliced vine ripe tomatoes, and basil chiffonade over the top. We never would have eaten a breakfast like that 5 years ago, but today we're game to try almost anything.
It really is a new kind of breakfast!
The Best Father's Day Gift for a Chef
The best Father's Day gift for a Chef like myself is not something you would expect! Oh sure, It's nice to get a gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma, or a nice restaurant. Maybe money, or my favorite beer, or something like that. No, I got what many father's aren't able to get.
I got to work with all three of my sons in the kitchen where I work.
How many fathers can say that they worked side by side with ALL of their kids in their jobs? Probably not a big percentage. Sure, many fathers have brought at least one interested child to work, either for some kind of career day, or because Mommy was sick, or for some other reason. (Hopefully, air traffic controllers don't bring their kids to the towers anymore, like one goofball did a few months back!) But I got to watch my kids grow up when I worked a lot, and really get to know and love them. A chef works long hours (unless he's a "Prima Donna Chef" as I call them--lazy chefs who make everyone else work while they do nothing.), its easy to miss your kids growing up while you are working 60-80 hours a week!
But I was lucky. I got to work for a company that values kids as entry level workers. Sure they make mistakes, and never seem to remember their doctor and dentist appointments until the last second, but kids who are interested in cooking are the future chefs of the world. They need to be encouraged all the time.
I always told my kids, "You don't have to do a job like this forever, but you need to learn how to cook for yourself. If you're down on your luck, you can always find a job cooking, no matter where you are in the country." I believe in that advice.
As Executive Chef, I could not favor my kids over other workers. Sometimes I would have to be hard on them, sometimes I would have to correct their mistakes so that they would not be criticized by others. Sometimes, I would give them more attention than I would to others in a similar role. I don't know if that was the father in my or the chef in me, but that was my approach to working with my sons.
My oldest, Rick, used to hate working with me, because I was critical of what he was always working on. I just didn't want him to fail in the eyes of everyone else in the kitchen. Ricky used to always tell me, "I'm going to make movies, so I never have to do work like this ever again!" After graduating from film school in Florida, he is now a Sous Chef for an upscale bowling lane and restaurant complex near Times Square. Unfortunately, he seems to be working for one of those Prima Donna Chefs that I despise, and is never able to get days off that he wants, but he seems to like what he is doing, and his fellow workers get along with him. He seems to have the ability to solve problems and fix things. Hmmm, where did he learn that ???
My middle son Ben is working with me right now. He has logged more time in the kitchen with me than the other two, and he has developed into a good seasonal worker who has the ability to motivate and work with younger kids, as well as fitting in with the seasoned veterans. His time with us may be coming to an end this fall when he goes to grad school. He is well on his way towards his goal of becoming a chiropractor. I like having Ben there in the kitchen with me. He sees things from a young person's perceptive vision, that I don't always see. His insights help me connect with kids who seem to be having problems working with others. He's kind of like my consigliere (remember when Al Pacino was consigliere for his father, Marlon Brando, in The Godfather ?) Well, not quite as dramatic as that. We're not blowing people away, or plotting revenges on dishwashers, we just chat every now and then. It's all good.
My youngest son, Andrew, always marched to his own drum. When he was little, he would get bored and refused to work with me for periods of time, but if I was ever really in the weeds, he would always come in to help me. From time to time, Andrew drops by my work with a cold iced tea, or a bag lunch. When I'm shorthanded, he'll help me for a few hours after his work. He'll help me with errands or personal things I don't have time to do (like cutting the grass). He sends me silly text messages that make me laugh and forget the pressures of the day. These things have been important to me too, and as he gets ready to enter the armed services, I know these special "treats" will come to an end. But I am not sad.
I recently got to work a party with Ben and Andrew at the Glen manor in Portsmouth, RI. It was fun working with both of them, helping them set up hors d'oeuvres, and explaining how to do this or that. It's a small, but nice place to work. The menu was easy. We worked hard for a while, but most of the night for me was fun and nostalgic. I think we all had a good night. (The big tip was nice too!!!) Donna and I have helped raised three great young men in a world filled with many young men who are decidedly NOT great. Many men who find it easy to kill or hurt others.
As a chef, and father, I will soon be an empty-nester. I don't know where the next chapter in our lives will take us, but as a father and chef, I will always remember cooking and working with my sons.
Happy Father's Day to all Chefs out there! Get cooking with your kids!
I got to work with all three of my sons in the kitchen where I work.
How many fathers can say that they worked side by side with ALL of their kids in their jobs? Probably not a big percentage. Sure, many fathers have brought at least one interested child to work, either for some kind of career day, or because Mommy was sick, or for some other reason. (Hopefully, air traffic controllers don't bring their kids to the towers anymore, like one goofball did a few months back!) But I got to watch my kids grow up when I worked a lot, and really get to know and love them. A chef works long hours (unless he's a "Prima Donna Chef" as I call them--lazy chefs who make everyone else work while they do nothing.), its easy to miss your kids growing up while you are working 60-80 hours a week!
But I was lucky. I got to work for a company that values kids as entry level workers. Sure they make mistakes, and never seem to remember their doctor and dentist appointments until the last second, but kids who are interested in cooking are the future chefs of the world. They need to be encouraged all the time.
I always told my kids, "You don't have to do a job like this forever, but you need to learn how to cook for yourself. If you're down on your luck, you can always find a job cooking, no matter where you are in the country." I believe in that advice.
As Executive Chef, I could not favor my kids over other workers. Sometimes I would have to be hard on them, sometimes I would have to correct their mistakes so that they would not be criticized by others. Sometimes, I would give them more attention than I would to others in a similar role. I don't know if that was the father in my or the chef in me, but that was my approach to working with my sons.
My oldest, Rick, used to hate working with me, because I was critical of what he was always working on. I just didn't want him to fail in the eyes of everyone else in the kitchen. Ricky used to always tell me, "I'm going to make movies, so I never have to do work like this ever again!" After graduating from film school in Florida, he is now a Sous Chef for an upscale bowling lane and restaurant complex near Times Square. Unfortunately, he seems to be working for one of those Prima Donna Chefs that I despise, and is never able to get days off that he wants, but he seems to like what he is doing, and his fellow workers get along with him. He seems to have the ability to solve problems and fix things. Hmmm, where did he learn that ???
My middle son Ben is working with me right now. He has logged more time in the kitchen with me than the other two, and he has developed into a good seasonal worker who has the ability to motivate and work with younger kids, as well as fitting in with the seasoned veterans. His time with us may be coming to an end this fall when he goes to grad school. He is well on his way towards his goal of becoming a chiropractor. I like having Ben there in the kitchen with me. He sees things from a young person's perceptive vision, that I don't always see. His insights help me connect with kids who seem to be having problems working with others. He's kind of like my consigliere (remember when Al Pacino was consigliere for his father, Marlon Brando, in The Godfather ?) Well, not quite as dramatic as that. We're not blowing people away, or plotting revenges on dishwashers, we just chat every now and then. It's all good.
My youngest son, Andrew, always marched to his own drum. When he was little, he would get bored and refused to work with me for periods of time, but if I was ever really in the weeds, he would always come in to help me. From time to time, Andrew drops by my work with a cold iced tea, or a bag lunch. When I'm shorthanded, he'll help me for a few hours after his work. He'll help me with errands or personal things I don't have time to do (like cutting the grass). He sends me silly text messages that make me laugh and forget the pressures of the day. These things have been important to me too, and as he gets ready to enter the armed services, I know these special "treats" will come to an end. But I am not sad.
I recently got to work a party with Ben and Andrew at the Glen manor in Portsmouth, RI. It was fun working with both of them, helping them set up hors d'oeuvres, and explaining how to do this or that. It's a small, but nice place to work. The menu was easy. We worked hard for a while, but most of the night for me was fun and nostalgic. I think we all had a good night. (The big tip was nice too!!!) Donna and I have helped raised three great young men in a world filled with many young men who are decidedly NOT great. Many men who find it easy to kill or hurt others.
As a chef, and father, I will soon be an empty-nester. I don't know where the next chapter in our lives will take us, but as a father and chef, I will always remember cooking and working with my sons.
Happy Father's Day to all Chefs out there! Get cooking with your kids!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Night of the Living Vegan--Surviving Ruth's Chris!
Donna and I survived our Sunday night journey into the Carnivore's Haven, Ruth's Chris!
I felt a little strange ordering wines off a wine list and a baked potato with steamed asparagus, but I did it. Donna smuggled in some soy "butter" and soy cream for our coffee. That was the funny part. My family made more traditional choices. Steaks, shrimp, lamb chops, the good stuff! The hard part was smelling all those grilled meats and sauteed wild mushrooms with demi glace and mashed potatoes with roasted garlic. I can't complain. Donna and I chose the only vegetarian option in the place, the "choose 3 sides" entree plate. I got asparagus, broccoli, and a baked potato. Donna had the same, except she got sauteed spinach instead of the broccoli. My vegetables were cooked perfectly, and arrived to the table hot and green. My baked potato was the size of a small island, and cooked just right. With the addition of a slab of soy butter, it almost tasted normal.
Our waiter was a fellow named Joe. He was very courteous and knowledgeable about the menu. His service was impeccable. He was always there, but he was never intrusive. He seemed genuinely interested in helping Donna and I with our selections. I ordered Thai onion rings with a dipping sauce. I forgot that the dip had honey in it, but I used some anyways. It was quite good--the first honey I've had in 11 weeks or so. I could taste it right away. Donna and I had their house salad with oil and balsamic vinegar. That was good too. Dinner was surprisingly filling. Did I mention the baked potato was about 10 pounds? Dessert was a simple glass of seasonal berries shared between Donna and myself.
It was good to see my mother, uncle, brother, sister in law, and sister with her boyfriend, all together again. I realize that being with them is a little strange for me. We are all going in different directions, and I am not really involved in any of their lives in any real way. I have drifted away, carried away by my crazy workload, and the needs of my wife and kids. My family is my focus right now. My boys are getting to their end of their relationships with Donna and I, as far as needing us as everyday parents. We're beginning to see the writing on the wall that their lives are moving on and ours are starting the process of stepping aside. I realized that while I was eating, watching my sons Ben and Andrew carrying on an endless conversation that only close brothers can have.
I feel that what Donna and I eat sometimes makes us adrift when it comes to our relationships with our families. No one says it ( our families really loves us), but it's not "normal" to eat the way we do. Eating vegan food is still considered to be strange around here. Food and sharing meals brings people closer together. When all else is gone, people will share their last bit of food, hold hands, and pray for hope and better times. If everyone is sharing a meat dish, except for 2 people who won't eat it, chances are those people will be left out over time. (Or starve!) Do vegans share their last asparagus and baked potato in times of trouble? Probably--but it does lack a little romantic flair.
When my father was sick, we shared meals as a family. My wife would cook for 2 days to make a variety of things that would entice my father's waning appetite. We would come together as a family and enjoy the words and wisdom that he bestowed upon us in those painful days. My family doesn't seem to get together like that much anymore. I miss it a little.
So as I nibbled on my asparagus, I appreciated the happiness of my family. The food was good, the wine was good, the service was good. There were no ill feelings, only good ones, and I felt a calm come over me like I haven't felt in a few years. I felt like my father was there telling me it was ok to be me, to eat vegan in the Mecca of Meat. Even vegans can share a meal and some wisdom. I smiled for him, and thought how happy he would have been to see his grandsons graduating from college, with cool girlfriends, and the promise of good lives ahead of them. He would have been in his glory. He lived for dinners like that.
So I grabbed my steak knife and cut my Titanic-sized baked potato. There are always good times in life, even when things are tough. I look forward to the times when I can impart my wisdom on others. Even if I'm eating steamed broccoli and asparagus when everyone else is eating steak. Someday, maybe, being a vegan will be considered normal. I hope I will be there to share some fine dinners with my grandkids.
I felt a little strange ordering wines off a wine list and a baked potato with steamed asparagus, but I did it. Donna smuggled in some soy "butter" and soy cream for our coffee. That was the funny part. My family made more traditional choices. Steaks, shrimp, lamb chops, the good stuff! The hard part was smelling all those grilled meats and sauteed wild mushrooms with demi glace and mashed potatoes with roasted garlic. I can't complain. Donna and I chose the only vegetarian option in the place, the "choose 3 sides" entree plate. I got asparagus, broccoli, and a baked potato. Donna had the same, except she got sauteed spinach instead of the broccoli. My vegetables were cooked perfectly, and arrived to the table hot and green. My baked potato was the size of a small island, and cooked just right. With the addition of a slab of soy butter, it almost tasted normal.
Our waiter was a fellow named Joe. He was very courteous and knowledgeable about the menu. His service was impeccable. He was always there, but he was never intrusive. He seemed genuinely interested in helping Donna and I with our selections. I ordered Thai onion rings with a dipping sauce. I forgot that the dip had honey in it, but I used some anyways. It was quite good--the first honey I've had in 11 weeks or so. I could taste it right away. Donna and I had their house salad with oil and balsamic vinegar. That was good too. Dinner was surprisingly filling. Did I mention the baked potato was about 10 pounds? Dessert was a simple glass of seasonal berries shared between Donna and myself.
It was good to see my mother, uncle, brother, sister in law, and sister with her boyfriend, all together again. I realize that being with them is a little strange for me. We are all going in different directions, and I am not really involved in any of their lives in any real way. I have drifted away, carried away by my crazy workload, and the needs of my wife and kids. My family is my focus right now. My boys are getting to their end of their relationships with Donna and I, as far as needing us as everyday parents. We're beginning to see the writing on the wall that their lives are moving on and ours are starting the process of stepping aside. I realized that while I was eating, watching my sons Ben and Andrew carrying on an endless conversation that only close brothers can have.
I feel that what Donna and I eat sometimes makes us adrift when it comes to our relationships with our families. No one says it ( our families really loves us), but it's not "normal" to eat the way we do. Eating vegan food is still considered to be strange around here. Food and sharing meals brings people closer together. When all else is gone, people will share their last bit of food, hold hands, and pray for hope and better times. If everyone is sharing a meat dish, except for 2 people who won't eat it, chances are those people will be left out over time. (Or starve!) Do vegans share their last asparagus and baked potato in times of trouble? Probably--but it does lack a little romantic flair.
When my father was sick, we shared meals as a family. My wife would cook for 2 days to make a variety of things that would entice my father's waning appetite. We would come together as a family and enjoy the words and wisdom that he bestowed upon us in those painful days. My family doesn't seem to get together like that much anymore. I miss it a little.
So as I nibbled on my asparagus, I appreciated the happiness of my family. The food was good, the wine was good, the service was good. There were no ill feelings, only good ones, and I felt a calm come over me like I haven't felt in a few years. I felt like my father was there telling me it was ok to be me, to eat vegan in the Mecca of Meat. Even vegans can share a meal and some wisdom. I smiled for him, and thought how happy he would have been to see his grandsons graduating from college, with cool girlfriends, and the promise of good lives ahead of them. He would have been in his glory. He lived for dinners like that.
So I grabbed my steak knife and cut my Titanic-sized baked potato. There are always good times in life, even when things are tough. I look forward to the times when I can impart my wisdom on others. Even if I'm eating steamed broccoli and asparagus when everyone else is eating steak. Someday, maybe, being a vegan will be considered normal. I hope I will be there to share some fine dinners with my grandkids.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Going to the Mecca of Meat
Tonight is a special night. My mother has invited a big group of my family to Ruth's Chris restaurant in Providence to celebrate my son Ben's graduation from college. He is continuing on to grad school in the fall, but for right now, there will be most of our immediate family, going to this restaurant that is synonymous with prime beef steaks and chops. They have a porterhouse steak for two! A cowboy rib chop with a foot long rib bone attached to it (we call it a tomahawk chop in the industry--you can imagine what that looks like just by the name!) 10-ounce filet mignons, and 14-ounce sirloin steaks. Sides of vegetables with tons of butter and cream sauces. Potatoes with mountains of sour cream and blue cheese. Sweet potato casserole with a buttered pecan crust. If you are a carnivore, you must be drooling by now.
But my wife and I are vegans. Tonight will be a hard night for both of us. I would love to dive into some of those items above, but my brain is telling me I'm doing well right now. Donna is doing very well. She continues to drop weight.
At work, I have to taste soups, and meats, and salads, cheeses, desserts because I have to give my honest appraisal of them to the people who work for me. But most of my meals are vegan. I just feel better eating that way. Like quitting cigarettes, the longer you stop, the more some desires seem to fade. My desire to eat steaks and chops is still there, but diminished a little.
Tonight I will feel like a bible thumper being dragged into an X-rated film. This place is the Mecca of Meat, the Pinnacle of Pork, the Largesse of Lamb! And while my relatives are slicing away at huge steaks and chops, lathered in A-1 sauce or Bearnaise sauce, my wife and I will be eating steamed spinach and asparagus (no hollandaise sauce please!), with a plain baked potato. Maybe I will splurge and sneak a stick of margarine in for our potatoes. I doubt they have vegan cream cheese, or any type of vegan cheese there. No point in asking for coffee, they won't have soy creamer. No need for dessert, there's noting a vegan would eat there. In fact, we may be the first vegans who freely enter this Bounty of Beef. What a paradox that is!
But Donna and I will do it for my son Ben, because we are proud of him and love him, and want to be there to celebrate that love. For us, it's another typical example of how restaurants ignore vegans. We are a special group of diners, and preparing for us is a bit out of the ordinary, yes. But would it be too much to ask restaurants to offer veggie burgers or steamed fresh vegetables? Vegetarian options slathered with thick cheese and cream sauces are no longer healthy for anyone--let alone a vegan. Time to begin thinking outside the box. Everywhere I look, I see huge enormous people barely able to walk, they are so big! I don't recall seeing that spectacle very often when I was a kid. Yet we all see it everywhere. Go to a Wal-Mart for an hour, you'll see what I mean.
Donna and I went to The Garden Grill restaurant in Pawtucket recently. Everyone who was in there appeared healthy and thin. (We were the biggest people in there--but hey! we're working on that!) The staff were all young and pleasant. We liked looking over the menu and specials. It was nice to be in a place where the food was healthy and looked good. I wouldn't say the place was as good as The Candle Cafe in Manhattan, but they are trying hard to do their best, and the place was pretty busy. I hope they make it, because my wife and I will go back. I may even bring them a copy of The Candle Cafe's cookbook to give them some ideas that taste really good, that can be done cheaply, if I can do that without insulting them.
So tonight when I am eating a pile of plain spinach and a plain baked potato, I will smile for my son Ben and wish him good luck with his future. While I am doing that, I will be thinking about a vegan burrito with homemade salsa, and dairy-free quesadillas with homemade guacamole. I will be daydreaming in the Mecca of Meat.
But my wife and I are vegans. Tonight will be a hard night for both of us. I would love to dive into some of those items above, but my brain is telling me I'm doing well right now. Donna is doing very well. She continues to drop weight.
At work, I have to taste soups, and meats, and salads, cheeses, desserts because I have to give my honest appraisal of them to the people who work for me. But most of my meals are vegan. I just feel better eating that way. Like quitting cigarettes, the longer you stop, the more some desires seem to fade. My desire to eat steaks and chops is still there, but diminished a little.
Tonight I will feel like a bible thumper being dragged into an X-rated film. This place is the Mecca of Meat, the Pinnacle of Pork, the Largesse of Lamb! And while my relatives are slicing away at huge steaks and chops, lathered in A-1 sauce or Bearnaise sauce, my wife and I will be eating steamed spinach and asparagus (no hollandaise sauce please!), with a plain baked potato. Maybe I will splurge and sneak a stick of margarine in for our potatoes. I doubt they have vegan cream cheese, or any type of vegan cheese there. No point in asking for coffee, they won't have soy creamer. No need for dessert, there's noting a vegan would eat there. In fact, we may be the first vegans who freely enter this Bounty of Beef. What a paradox that is!
But Donna and I will do it for my son Ben, because we are proud of him and love him, and want to be there to celebrate that love. For us, it's another typical example of how restaurants ignore vegans. We are a special group of diners, and preparing for us is a bit out of the ordinary, yes. But would it be too much to ask restaurants to offer veggie burgers or steamed fresh vegetables? Vegetarian options slathered with thick cheese and cream sauces are no longer healthy for anyone--let alone a vegan. Time to begin thinking outside the box. Everywhere I look, I see huge enormous people barely able to walk, they are so big! I don't recall seeing that spectacle very often when I was a kid. Yet we all see it everywhere. Go to a Wal-Mart for an hour, you'll see what I mean.
Donna and I went to The Garden Grill restaurant in Pawtucket recently. Everyone who was in there appeared healthy and thin. (We were the biggest people in there--but hey! we're working on that!) The staff were all young and pleasant. We liked looking over the menu and specials. It was nice to be in a place where the food was healthy and looked good. I wouldn't say the place was as good as The Candle Cafe in Manhattan, but they are trying hard to do their best, and the place was pretty busy. I hope they make it, because my wife and I will go back. I may even bring them a copy of The Candle Cafe's cookbook to give them some ideas that taste really good, that can be done cheaply, if I can do that without insulting them.
So tonight when I am eating a pile of plain spinach and a plain baked potato, I will smile for my son Ben and wish him good luck with his future. While I am doing that, I will be thinking about a vegan burrito with homemade salsa, and dairy-free quesadillas with homemade guacamole. I will be daydreaming in the Mecca of Meat.
All Vegetable Minestrone
All Vegetable Minestrone SoupThere's nothing new about Minestrone soup. This soup is a staple of Italian and Mediterranean cooking, and has been for more than a hundred years. I have read that the soup was originated as a way to utilize garden vegetables and pantry goods to create a cheap dinner that was both healthy and delicious. The ingredient list has to contain tomatoes and pasta at least, but I think the more vegetables you can add, the better it gets.
I had a day off recently, and made this version for dinner. I pretty much cleaned up a bunch of stuff that we had on hand, but I did have to buy some canned tomatoes and cannelini beans. At work, we've been making this soup since the day I started. We usually follow a set recipe that works for us. One of my chefs at work, Joe Rodrigues, makes it the best. I always complain to him that there's too much "stuff" in it and not enough broth, but I think that's what's good about it. My vegan version is based on the version we make at work, only no meat products.
So if you try this recipe, open some Italian wine like a pinot grigio or chianti, play some Frank Sinatra, and get into the history of this soup. It's more than a meal, it's food for the soul. Buon Appetito!
All Vegetable Minestrone Soup
Serving Size : 20
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium onions -- diced small
8 stalks celery -- diced small
3 carrots peeled and diced
1 green bell pepper -- diced small
1 red bell pepper -- diced small
2 tablespoons garlic -- chopped fine
2 bay leaf
1 medium zucchini -- diced small
2 cans stewed red ripe tomatoes -- coarsely chopped
2 packages vegetable broth, ready-to-serve
8 ounces v-8® vegetable juice
1 can cannelini beans -- drained
8 ounces frozen corn
6 ounces orzo
1 box frozen spinach -- coarsely chopped
sea salt
black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, and both peppers, and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are sweated. Add chopped garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Add bay leaves, and zucchini and cook for a minute. Add vegetable broth and V-8 or tomato juice and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
While soup is simmering, put a small pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Cook orzo until "al dente," and drain. Cool off the pasta with cold water, and set aside.
When vegetables begin to soften, add the stewed tomatoes with their juice, and the canned beans. Add frozen corn. Return to a simmer and cook until all the vegetables are cooked. Add the spinach and orzo and stir well. Add additional vegetable stock if you think you need more liquid. Season to taste with sea salt, black pepper,
oregano, and basil. Serve in large bowls with Italian bread.
Yield:
"5 quarts"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOTES : This soup can be frozen in batches, but the vegetables do get a little mushy. You can substitute almost any pasta you have on hand; elbows, small penne, ditalini, linguini broken into 2-inch pieces, etc. You can also add mushrooms, summer squash, green beans, or green peas. If you have fresh herbs, fresh basil, oregano, are better than dried.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Homemade Maple Granola with Dried Fruits
When I'm working on a banquet, and I'm running behind, I always tell the nervous event supervisor, "Good food always takes time!" It never makes them feel better, but it is true.
The same thing can be said about making granola. To make it right takes a little time, and for me it's a little labor of love.
The wonderful thing about making granola is its versatility with ingredients on hand. I made a batch recently that called for banana chips and dried apples. I thought I had those ingredients on hand, but couldn't find them. No biggie, I increased the raisins and added diced dried apricots, and it was my best batch yet, according to my son Andrew (a recently converted health nut!). I try to make it every now and then for family and a few friends. Here is my most resent version. This is a fairly large batch, good for a family of older people who will eat it. I recommend cutting the recipe in half if you don't want almost 3 quarts of granola. This will store for up to 3-4 weeks in a cool dry area. Any longer than that, well I don't know. It's never lasted me that long!
Homemade Vegan Maple Cinnamon Granola
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup walnuts -- chopped
1/2 cup pecans --chopped
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
pan spray
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup dried blueberries
1 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups dried apricots, diced
1 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 250*F.
Combine oats, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, oil, maple syrup, and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Mix well by hand.
Spray two rimmed sheet pans with Pam or pan coating, and divide granola evenly between two sheet pans. Spread granola out with a spoon into an even layer.
Place trays on a shelf set in the middle of the oven. Bake granola in in 15-minute intervals for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. At every 15 minute interval, mix granola from the outside of the pan towards the center. Spread out in an even layer again, and return to the oven. Set a timer between each stirring. If you think the granola looks like it is getting too dark, too quickly, lower oven temperature to 225*F.
When granola is evenly browned, remove from the oven and cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Spoon cinnamon over granola as evenly as possible. Grate nutmeg over granola evenly.
When granola is cool, scrape the mixture into a very large bowl. Pour dried fruits over the granola and mix gently with 2 spoons, stirring from the bottom of the bowl towards the top. Taste granola, and adjust cinnamon and nutmeg to your taste.
When granola is done, store in ziplock freezer bags in a cool dry area.
Yield:
"11 cups"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Serving Ideas : Serve with plain or vanilla yogurt. Especially good with thicker Greek-style yogurts. Goes well with warm breakfast cereals.
NOTES : 1) The first time you make granola, expect to spend over 50 dollars on all the ingredients. Buy the freshest nuts and dried fruits you can afford. Every new batch you make will cost less and less as you go along.
2) Trader Joe's has the best dried fruits and nuts on the market, for a good price. Whole Foods has superior products too, but they are a lot more money.
3) Good granola is made with fresh, good ingredients. Poor quality granola is made with stale nuts and old fruits.
4) You can substitute other dried fruits if you like: dried cherries, mangoes, strawberries, dates, apricots, currants. You can also use pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, and whole almonds if you prefer.
The same thing can be said about making granola. To make it right takes a little time, and for me it's a little labor of love.
The wonderful thing about making granola is its versatility with ingredients on hand. I made a batch recently that called for banana chips and dried apples. I thought I had those ingredients on hand, but couldn't find them. No biggie, I increased the raisins and added diced dried apricots, and it was my best batch yet, according to my son Andrew (a recently converted health nut!). I try to make it every now and then for family and a few friends. Here is my most resent version. This is a fairly large batch, good for a family of older people who will eat it. I recommend cutting the recipe in half if you don't want almost 3 quarts of granola. This will store for up to 3-4 weeks in a cool dry area. Any longer than that, well I don't know. It's never lasted me that long!
Homemade Vegan Maple Cinnamon Granola
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup walnuts -- chopped
1/2 cup pecans --chopped
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
pan spray
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup dried blueberries
1 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups dried apricots, diced
1 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 250*F.
Combine oats, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, oil, maple syrup, and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Mix well by hand.
Spray two rimmed sheet pans with Pam or pan coating, and divide granola evenly between two sheet pans. Spread granola out with a spoon into an even layer.
Place trays on a shelf set in the middle of the oven. Bake granola in in 15-minute intervals for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. At every 15 minute interval, mix granola from the outside of the pan towards the center. Spread out in an even layer again, and return to the oven. Set a timer between each stirring. If you think the granola looks like it is getting too dark, too quickly, lower oven temperature to 225*F.
When granola is evenly browned, remove from the oven and cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Spoon cinnamon over granola as evenly as possible. Grate nutmeg over granola evenly.
When granola is cool, scrape the mixture into a very large bowl. Pour dried fruits over the granola and mix gently with 2 spoons, stirring from the bottom of the bowl towards the top. Taste granola, and adjust cinnamon and nutmeg to your taste.
When granola is done, store in ziplock freezer bags in a cool dry area.
Yield:
"11 cups"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Serving Ideas : Serve with plain or vanilla yogurt. Especially good with thicker Greek-style yogurts. Goes well with warm breakfast cereals.
NOTES : 1) The first time you make granola, expect to spend over 50 dollars on all the ingredients. Buy the freshest nuts and dried fruits you can afford. Every new batch you make will cost less and less as you go along.
2) Trader Joe's has the best dried fruits and nuts on the market, for a good price. Whole Foods has superior products too, but they are a lot more money.
3) Good granola is made with fresh, good ingredients. Poor quality granola is made with stale nuts and old fruits.
4) You can substitute other dried fruits if you like: dried cherries, mangoes, strawberries, dates, apricots, currants. You can also use pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, and whole almonds if you prefer.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Where I'm At
There's nothing harder than being around tons of great food, and telling myself not to indulge in anything.
I work with a very talented pastry chef. His work is amazing, but it is also tasty! I can't tell you how many times my stomach grumbles when he removes a batch of apple cinnamon coffee cakes from the oven, or when a batch of blonde brownies are ready to cut, still warm and intoxicating. I keep telling myself, "You've had those brownies a hundred times," or stuff like that. Usually it works for me. Sometimes, I come close to breaking down.
I frequently have people ask me, "How can you be eating vegan, and still be chef of a normal kitchen?" I wonder the same thing almost every day. I've been eating vegan for about 10 weeks. The owner of the company I work for is probably oblivious to the fact that I do my job every day, working with many talented and passionate chefs, who cook many great things all the time, and I don't sample any more than I have to. It's do-able, but it is hard. One of my chefs, Dotty, was preparing short ribs today. I think she makes the best short ribs I have ever tasted. She was making a batch today, and gave me a piece to try. I studied the morsel of meat for a minute, while she talked to me about what she was working on. I felt no desire to wolf down this little morsel of heaven. For the first time I can remember, I did not want to try it. It looked brown and fatty to me, kind of unhealthy, even if it was only about 2 ounces of meat. I didn't need to sample this entree anymore. Dotty is competent, and an excellent cook. I knew the short ribs would be perfect, so I told her as much, and moved on. I am still struggling to avoid non-vegan temptations on an almost hourly basis, but the process is becoming a little easier.
My wife, Donna, tries to create different dishes all the time at home, to keep herself motivated, but to also help keep me on track. I keep trying to get her to eat Indian food, which has a multitude of vegan options. The Indian spices kill her digestive system, but she is at least trying these things (I think just to make me happy.) We won't be going to Kebob and Curry restaurant any time soon, but I can still experiment with chana masala and 5 lentil dals for the time being at home.
Speaking of restaurants, we haven't gone out too often recently. It's tough to go to a "normal" restaurant and ask for vegan options. Most of the time, the server will look at you like you're from another planet. I'm a chef! I like to be waited on and eat in other people's restaurants! A new joint opened up near our house, about 5 minutes away. We went there as a family to celebrate the restaurant opening after the building had been vacant for 4 years. The menu was devoid of vegan options, except for spaghetti or ziti. Donna had the ziti, I had the spaghetti. (I ask for spaghetti with plain sauce a lot. It's a pretty safe option anywhere we go!) She asked for hers with NO cheese, and received it WITH cheese. (I almost knew that would happen!) Donna told the general manager that we lived close by, but that we're vegans. Would there be any way they could do veggie burgers? The manager said he would definitely have them on hand the next time we came. Great! That will be boring after 3 or 4 weeks! That's kind of why we have stopped going out.
We did find out about a vegetarian restaurant on the Pawtucket/Providence line called The Garden Grille. We went by it once, very crowded and very small. We'll try it again soon however.
It shouldn't be so hard for a vegan to find a restaurant meal. I think more of them will open as people realize how much fun they can be to try, and how different the menus are. I mean, really, how many restaurant open with 80% of the same things that someone down the road has? So for right now, I appreciate what I do as chef in a kitchen with "normal" foods. At least the smells are interesting!
I work with a very talented pastry chef. His work is amazing, but it is also tasty! I can't tell you how many times my stomach grumbles when he removes a batch of apple cinnamon coffee cakes from the oven, or when a batch of blonde brownies are ready to cut, still warm and intoxicating. I keep telling myself, "You've had those brownies a hundred times," or stuff like that. Usually it works for me. Sometimes, I come close to breaking down.
I frequently have people ask me, "How can you be eating vegan, and still be chef of a normal kitchen?" I wonder the same thing almost every day. I've been eating vegan for about 10 weeks. The owner of the company I work for is probably oblivious to the fact that I do my job every day, working with many talented and passionate chefs, who cook many great things all the time, and I don't sample any more than I have to. It's do-able, but it is hard. One of my chefs, Dotty, was preparing short ribs today. I think she makes the best short ribs I have ever tasted. She was making a batch today, and gave me a piece to try. I studied the morsel of meat for a minute, while she talked to me about what she was working on. I felt no desire to wolf down this little morsel of heaven. For the first time I can remember, I did not want to try it. It looked brown and fatty to me, kind of unhealthy, even if it was only about 2 ounces of meat. I didn't need to sample this entree anymore. Dotty is competent, and an excellent cook. I knew the short ribs would be perfect, so I told her as much, and moved on. I am still struggling to avoid non-vegan temptations on an almost hourly basis, but the process is becoming a little easier.
My wife, Donna, tries to create different dishes all the time at home, to keep herself motivated, but to also help keep me on track. I keep trying to get her to eat Indian food, which has a multitude of vegan options. The Indian spices kill her digestive system, but she is at least trying these things (I think just to make me happy.) We won't be going to Kebob and Curry restaurant any time soon, but I can still experiment with chana masala and 5 lentil dals for the time being at home.
Speaking of restaurants, we haven't gone out too often recently. It's tough to go to a "normal" restaurant and ask for vegan options. Most of the time, the server will look at you like you're from another planet. I'm a chef! I like to be waited on and eat in other people's restaurants! A new joint opened up near our house, about 5 minutes away. We went there as a family to celebrate the restaurant opening after the building had been vacant for 4 years. The menu was devoid of vegan options, except for spaghetti or ziti. Donna had the ziti, I had the spaghetti. (I ask for spaghetti with plain sauce a lot. It's a pretty safe option anywhere we go!) She asked for hers with NO cheese, and received it WITH cheese. (I almost knew that would happen!) Donna told the general manager that we lived close by, but that we're vegans. Would there be any way they could do veggie burgers? The manager said he would definitely have them on hand the next time we came. Great! That will be boring after 3 or 4 weeks! That's kind of why we have stopped going out.
We did find out about a vegetarian restaurant on the Pawtucket/Providence line called The Garden Grille. We went by it once, very crowded and very small. We'll try it again soon however.
It shouldn't be so hard for a vegan to find a restaurant meal. I think more of them will open as people realize how much fun they can be to try, and how different the menus are. I mean, really, how many restaurant open with 80% of the same things that someone down the road has? So for right now, I appreciate what I do as chef in a kitchen with "normal" foods. At least the smells are interesting!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The First Posting--Who, What, & Why
It all started for me with a cupcake.
My wife purchased a book by a doctor who offered proof that you can overcome Type II diabetes by following a vegan diet. (Yes, I have diabetes) I laughed at first. I always looked at vegans as a semi-crazed small group of people on the outer fringes of the eating world. Why wouldn't I? I am Executive Chef of a large catering company. I work on menus with lots of beef, chicken, sea foods, cream sauces, desserts, etc. I work with chefs who LOVE food. I LOVE food! (you get the picture?) I still do that job every day, but my wife and I switched to a vegan diet about 10 weeks ago. I had to do something. All my numbers were on the rise; weight, blood sugar; blood pressure. Not a pretty prognosis at age 49. My wife had problems breathing and sleeping through the night, and a twisted ankle in February was not getting any better. Her weight was going the wrong way too.
Getting back to the book. After a stressful day where nothing seemed to go right, I came home one Sunday, and my wife, Donna, had decided to begin following some of the recipes in this book. I don't remember the dinner in particular, but I remember feeling that I had just eaten the most healthy meal I had had in a while, but I was a little unsatisfied. I was too used to following dinners with ice cream or cake or pies. Fruit wasn't doing it for me. Especially New England fruit in April ! But we quietly carried on. We went to Whole Foods and spent $225 dollars buying stuff I had never purchased before: dried chick peas, flax seeds, arrowroot powder, vegan pop corn and snacks. Vegan "deli meats" and tons of organic produce, rices, grains, mixes. There was almost no end to what we were buying. Going through the bakery, we noticed a small selection of 4 or 5 vegan baked items, alongside organic cheesecakes and $30 dollar fruit tarts. Donna spotted a blackberry frosted vegan cup cake. It was simple, but it called out to us! It was the last thing we threw in our carriage. We rushed out of the store and raced home. We wanted to try everything (I wanted the cupcake!). When we finished emptying our groceries, we split the cup cake. It was not as good as a cupcake made with eggs, it was a little drier, but the frosting was sublime. Lightly flavored with blackberry, I savored every bite. I knew I was beginning a new journey when I shook the container crumbs into my mouth. Some things would not be as they were. Some dishes we were going to create would resemble "normal" food, but would be free of cheese, and meat, and poultry. I would struggle to continue to be a "normal" chef by day and a VEGAN chef by night. This is the beginning of the journey for Donna and I. Where it ends? Who knows. For right now, I want to perfect that damn Blackberry Cupcake!
Recipes and pictures to follow soon!
Peace
My wife purchased a book by a doctor who offered proof that you can overcome Type II diabetes by following a vegan diet. (Yes, I have diabetes) I laughed at first. I always looked at vegans as a semi-crazed small group of people on the outer fringes of the eating world. Why wouldn't I? I am Executive Chef of a large catering company. I work on menus with lots of beef, chicken, sea foods, cream sauces, desserts, etc. I work with chefs who LOVE food. I LOVE food! (you get the picture?) I still do that job every day, but my wife and I switched to a vegan diet about 10 weeks ago. I had to do something. All my numbers were on the rise; weight, blood sugar; blood pressure. Not a pretty prognosis at age 49. My wife had problems breathing and sleeping through the night, and a twisted ankle in February was not getting any better. Her weight was going the wrong way too.
Getting back to the book. After a stressful day where nothing seemed to go right, I came home one Sunday, and my wife, Donna, had decided to begin following some of the recipes in this book. I don't remember the dinner in particular, but I remember feeling that I had just eaten the most healthy meal I had had in a while, but I was a little unsatisfied. I was too used to following dinners with ice cream or cake or pies. Fruit wasn't doing it for me. Especially New England fruit in April ! But we quietly carried on. We went to Whole Foods and spent $225 dollars buying stuff I had never purchased before: dried chick peas, flax seeds, arrowroot powder, vegan pop corn and snacks. Vegan "deli meats" and tons of organic produce, rices, grains, mixes. There was almost no end to what we were buying. Going through the bakery, we noticed a small selection of 4 or 5 vegan baked items, alongside organic cheesecakes and $30 dollar fruit tarts. Donna spotted a blackberry frosted vegan cup cake. It was simple, but it called out to us! It was the last thing we threw in our carriage. We rushed out of the store and raced home. We wanted to try everything (I wanted the cupcake!). When we finished emptying our groceries, we split the cup cake. It was not as good as a cupcake made with eggs, it was a little drier, but the frosting was sublime. Lightly flavored with blackberry, I savored every bite. I knew I was beginning a new journey when I shook the container crumbs into my mouth. Some things would not be as they were. Some dishes we were going to create would resemble "normal" food, but would be free of cheese, and meat, and poultry. I would struggle to continue to be a "normal" chef by day and a VEGAN chef by night. This is the beginning of the journey for Donna and I. Where it ends? Who knows. For right now, I want to perfect that damn Blackberry Cupcake!
Recipes and pictures to follow soon!
Peace
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