Breakfast – oatmeal, raisins, banana and little honey
Lunch – vegetable soup, wheat thins and some peanut
butter
Dinner – cereal with almond milk
Yes, you read that right:
cereal for dinner. It dawns on me
I know nothing about vegan meal preparation and I have planned poorly. This morning I put a large pork butt in the
slow cooker to make sliders for the family tonight. I thought I would eat coleslaw (with dairy-free dressing) and make
mashed cauliflower. Pork has never been
my favorite and I love side dishes, so I thought this work. I did not factor in the exhaustion I felt
when I finally walked through the door.
As my family munched on the sliders, sans cole slaw or
cauliflower, I was left standing in front of the open refrigerator gazing
aimlessly inside. It occurred to me that
for the first time in a very long time, cereal was on the menu. Yippee -- Carbs! I reached for the almond milk and, suddenly, I had
a flashback to law school. Note that
that there is no one poorer than a grad student. I could never afford meat, much less red
meat. Often I would come home and find a
refrigerator with little more than a tomato, an apple, some bread and piece of
cheese (if it was on sale)….. and beer.
There was always at least one beer. (Hey, better to always be ready.) Dinner could be a bowl of cereal or a simple sandwich. To date, one of my favorite sandwiches is a
tomato, cheese and avocado sandwich. I
guess I was a poverty-imposed vegetarian for a good part of my law school
years.
I remember when I started dating this very cute Cuban boy
and I invited him to dinner. I was proud
of the “gourmet” meal I had prepared: pasta with mushrooms and spinach in a
light white wine sauce. I placed the
beautiful plate in front of him, smiling with pride. He gingerly lifted a few strands of pasta and
looked underneath. Not the reaction I
expected. So I asked what was
wrong. He quickly said nothing but his
forced smile gave him away. He finally
said he was looking for the meat. On our
next date, he took me to Steak and Ale. It
appears that my foolishness in serving a non-meat meal to a Cuban led to discovering
a way around my reluctant vegetarianism.
Two years later, we were married... and served prime rib at the reception.