VEGETARIAN ANGST

The other night Peter, bless him, said he would make dinner for us.  He was going to make salad rolls...using rice paper.  He said he didn't need help, he was going to do this for us.  I thought he had made them before but as it turns out he hadn't.  And the poor fella had no idea how much work they are if you aren't practiced in salad rolling!

First you have to julienne a load of veggies.  Cook rice noodle.  Fry up delicious tofu.  Then set up a rolling station.  Well, two hours after he started, I was in my purple room reading, it dawned on me that it had been a pretty lengthy time since he had started.  So I went to investigate.  The poor guy was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by it all and actually said he had no idea how much was involved.  Poor Peter.  He was almost finished though. And he had several plates of beautiful rolls full of cucumber, carrots, lettuce, cilantro (on half of them), rice noodles, mango, tofu.  So I gave him a quick hand.  I had already made a delicious peanut sauce, at least to me it was, so we sat down to eat.  I so wish I had taken pics of it.  They were divine!!!!!!And amazingly filling!

Arnie sent me a very interesting recipe for peanut sauce.  Unfortunately I was missing several of the key ingredients.  So I made my own recipe.  Equal parts peanut butter and water, tablespoons of rice vinegar and tempura sauce, sombalac.  Yum yum!  It was so good and simple.  

I have failed royally in the dinner department lately.  I am having real trouble switching from planning a dinner around meat to not planning around meat.  My brain is so very hardwired, right from the time I was ten then later the major cooking classes I took in school, to have a meat, a starch and two veg or one veg and one salad.  And the two veg can't be the same colour.

  Arnie, bless her, sent me two seriously beautiful vegetarian cookbooks for my birthday, so I will start there.  I suspect there will be lots of cooked greens in our future!  At first I think I will make the starch the main dish.  Couscous or quinoa, potato or rice, pasta or cheesy something, then go from there.  Wish me luck...new brain patterns being developed!!!

So that being said, my first dinner as a vegetarian was this: mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, chard, Yorkshire pudding and a four bone massive prime rib roast from the butcher....WAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!  I need help!!!!  I'm addicted.  And the thing is I didn't eat even one bit of that meat.  I just don't like it enough.  I ate the gravy.  And that meat caused Pete to fall off the veg wagon:(. Grrrrrrr......  And now there is a tiny bit of meat left that I am beating boys off of so we can have a second dinner of leftovers tonight. Sigh.

Now it's a beautiful beautiful day outside.  Just talked to the neighbour and she told me where to go to get good cheap soil for the planter we have coming.  Must go and investigate!  Keep safe peeps!  TTYL