Monday, January 28, 2008

Beef stew with vegan memories

It's Monday evening and dinner turned out to be a beef stew. I hadn't planned for it, but when I looked into the fridge ... there was the leftover tri tip roast staring back at me. In retrospect, the roast was kinda big for only two people so I should have known I'd be eating red meat for a few days.

Maybe it's the weather which inspires me to make heavy, comforting foods -- it seems to be my theme this past week. Maybe it's that my parents have been visiting us since December and I know there visit is nearing an end. Maybe, I'm secretly craving and seeking out the heavy meat and potato dishes of childhood. When I was young, not a day went by without fluffy white bread, meat, potato, and some sort of veg (optional, of course ... I did not like veggies as a kid).

And, the fact I eat meat at all has a history of its own that I tend to forget about. In high school I protested the slaughter of animals on our farm and declared, "I will not eat meat!". My mother consulted the family doctor, since such a declaration had not been made in those parts. He told her the phase would pass and I would be fine, assuming I took vitamin supplement.

I took the vitamins and avoided meat for nearly two years until college. I returned to my meat eating ways once I left my parents house, but I had made my point and was ready to move on. It wasn't until grad school that my veggie ways returned, more for health reasons this time. I became a strict vegan this time and the effects were noticeable. I felt more energetic and healthy. Oddly, this wave of vegan-ism occurred while I went to school in Texas (yeeeehaw, ya'll!).

It wasn't until I moved to California that I dropped the it for a second time. Most people come to California to be vegetarians, not the other way around. I'm not sure when the urge will strike me again -- for now, at least tonight, I will be having my veggies in a rich and hearty beef stew.

You might also like these posts:
Olive oil crackers
Spice rubbed tri tip roast



3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Watch this and be healthy :)
http://meat.org

Payton said...

You're right, this is so backwards! You eat meat in TX and no meat in CA. Everyone knows that!

Allen of EOL said...

Yes, I've been Bass Ackwards all my life :-)