Da hell?

I missed this one a couple weeks ago: The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal the Country of Origin Labeling act, which mandates that meat is labeled with information on where the meat is sourced.

It appears the Senate has yet to consider the bill on its floor.

It also looks as though I need more education on this topic. But if our clothes and other food items are labeled, why can’t meat be?

See Bill Maher’s riff on the issue.

(You might never know it, but Bill Maher is a PETA supporter.)

No-new groceries check-in

I’m still three days away from pay day and I have bought zero new groceries, true to my goal.

Gotta say, I’m quite impressed with my own pantry-stocking skills. And the beginning of CSA season was admittedly a great help.

I cheated financially and went to dinner with a friend and got drinks with more friends last Friday night, but those were plans made before I knew I’d be strapped for cash. But because I’m using some creativity in the kitchen, I’ve still been spending very little.

Here are some highlights:

The no-new-grocery challenge

Budget- and mental health-wise, I hope the days are behind me of eating chips and leftover s’mores ingredients from an old camping trip for dinner.

But I’m still a writer trying to make rent in Seattle, where the cost of living and taxes are high (I love you so much Seattle, but you hurt me sometimes).

I got paid on Friday, but after going over my budget, I realized that I’d still have near-nothing left by the time my checks for rent, my CSA and a health insurance thing clear.

Not wanting to swim in more credit card debt (which is where I put my car repairs and birthday presents to loved ones), I challenged myself to not buy any more groceries until I get paid again June 13.

What are you doing not buying this book?

In the past year or so, I’ve had a beautiful culinary experience.

I mean, I love cooking just about all of the time, but I got to do something really special.

I recipe tested for Vegan Richa, a vegan recipe author you need to follow right now if you don’t already. She assembled her first cookbook full of Indian delights, pushing out recipes to the testers, copy editing, taking our feedback and committing the most beautiful acts of food photography.

And, now that her book is out, I can tell you about it!

All of the drool.

It was excruciatingly hard to keep it a secret on this blog. I was blowing my own mind with the dishes I was able to churn out in my tiny Seattle kitchen with Richa’s guidance. I never thought I would be able to make authentic homemade Indian food, but now I can! I wanted to post my crappy cell phone pictures up here every time I cranked out a Richa dish.

But now you’re going to make them, because you’re going to buy this book.

Admittedly, you’ll probably have to acquire some Indian staples over time, like fenugreek leaves, mustard and cumin seeds and mung dal if you don’t have those on hand already. But once you pick them up, you’ll be able to create Richa goodness forever. (Who knew I’d ever keep nigella seeds in my spice cabinet?)

Holy shitballs, it’s spring!

The most recent Vegetarian Times had two spring-o-rific pasta dishes within its pages and you pretty much need to try them or spring hasn’t started yet.

Like, you haven’t had enough green in your life until you’ve made these.

First, I was super jazzed to bring leeks and broccolini into this spring pasta primavera. (I used broccolini instead of broccoli rabe because that’s what I could find.) (I also used whole wheat fusilli instead of farfalle for the same reason.)

Spring into my face.

Date night

A couple weeks ago, I treated my man friend to dinner in.

Enter: Spring rolls.

Over-achievement for two.

Dunk some rice paper in hot water and it’s DIY dinner.

Best part: Aside from marinating and baking tofu, there was no cooking involved (and it was mostly rather passive).

Man friend liked it.

H/T to the Thug Kitchen cookbook for the bomb tofu marinade and the peanut slaw I made on the side. I’ve been meaning to review that book for the longest time and now it’s no longer timely, but whatever, I have so many shitty cell phone photos of Thug dishes to show you someday.

Also whipped up the Happy Herbivore Abroad peanut satay sauce. It’s my go-to peanut sauce, forever and ever amen.

What I ate today

Boom.

OK so this photo is really crappy – I’m pretty sure my phone’s camera lens is totally scratched up and jacked, but whatever.

But: Happy Herbivore Light and Lean Thai tacos with Vegan With a Vengeance garlic kale topped with tahini dressing. Made almost entirely from leftovers.

I even ate it at my kitchen table instead of on my couch.

Aziz Ansari on meat

Last week I watched Aziz Ansari’s Madison Square Garden special on Netflix.

I anticipated his feminist commentary because of the media coverage it attracted (and I read tons of feminist blogs), but the part that excited me the most was something that, afterward, I couldn’t find much coverage on at all.

He lampooned the meat and egg industry.

He starts by asking the audience to clap if they don’t eat meat … and then clap if they don’t eat meat because they read books or watched documentaries that turned them off of meat … and then to clap if they don’t eat meat because they saw factory farm footage that fucked up their ability to eat meat.

Then he continues:

Clap if you saw that (factory farm footage) and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, that’s disgusting, it’s cruel, it’s inhumane, the government definitely needs to properly regulate the meat industry, there’s no excuse for this – the government definitely needs to properly regulate the meat industry … but, in the meantime, I kinda still gotta eat meat, because I don’t wanna feel weird and hungry all the time.’

Isn’t that so frustrating? Because no one wants to support that stuff.

This is where most people I know are at. Like, they inherently know meat comes from a fucked up place, but they exist in willful denial because they don’t think they have the willpower to give up meat or they think humans were built to consume meat and so we should or they have no idea what they would eat in the alternative … whatever.

Wut

Interrupting my hiatus of laziness for this important message.

I cannot wait.

Vegan and dating

For the first time in my life, I’m vegan and single.

When I went vegan, I was in a long-term relationship with a man who didn’t really understand my transition, but supported it, anyway. It was all I could have asked for. We made it work. He kind of despaired when I moved miso and tofu into his fridge, but he let it happen. And I got him hooked on nooch.

Once I asked him if he’d have gone for me if I were vegan when we first met. Not sure if he was joking or not, but he expressed doubt that he would have continued pursuing me if I were vegan right off the bat.

Then again, he said he was only gonna give this chick who lived in Mount Vernon one date and end it, but I won him over with my charm.

Now I navigate the single life with this lifestyle. I don’t think it’s an integral part of my personality in that it’s something I’m going to talk about or use to rule out potential partners. It’s not important to me that I date another vegetarian or vegan because there are perfectly good people who can share the rest of my values and perhaps learn from what I have to bring to the relationship. I have ruled out a man whose dating profile read, “If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, I don’t understand you because you’re missing out on a lot in life.” I just ask for open-mindedness and in exchange I won’t try to convert you to my team.