Meatless March

At this point in the pandemic, even February feels like a great many years ago, but it truly was a great many years ago when I copied this spinach pesto recipe out of one of my mom's 37 cookbooks. It was during a period of my life so distant that I had extremely neat handwriting, and the leisure to consider how much monounsaturated fat vs. polyunsaturated fat was in my food, rather than whether the ingredients had been packaged by someone in whom a deadly virus might be incubating. Ah, those were the days. Side note: I sometimes use the number 37 when I am exaggerating, as in "there were like 37 grammatical errors in that email," or "I drank 37 cups of coffee, give or take," but in this case I once counted the cookbooks, and there really were 37. This recipe has at least three advantages over my standard basil pesto recipe : The spinach makes it healthier, and yet it does not taste spinachy One of my backup dancers is not wild about the al...

We are minimizing the frequency of getting groceries, to avoid person-to-person interaction and touching things as much as possible, to slow the spread of coronavirus. Presumably, you are doing the same. If not, please start doing it, for the sake of humanity. I used to shop for groceries in a variety of haphazard ways, multiple times a week - a FreshDirect delivery on a Tuesday, say, with a stop by Trader Joe's for my favorite peanut butter on my way home from a Wednesday appointment, followed by a Friday trip to Stop-and-Shop after I decided what I'd cook for the weekend. I almost never planned more than a few days ahead. Now it's just FreshDirect, once a week. I think about groceries constantly, and update my order multiple times a day, as new things become available (lots of stuff is sold out) and as I work out what my family going to eat for an entire week. The whole process makes me very anxious, but it is working as planned. Another way to minimize grocery pro...

I've been cooking. I have also been going for walks, imposing schoolwork on my backup dancer, stalking foods and toilet paper on FreshDirect, drinking a lot of alcohol, and connecting with friends through email and video and text. I have been gloomy. Zoom happy hour with our friends I've been cooking, yes, but not posting about it. I have disappointed myself by abandoning my commitment to Meatless March. I started to slide a couple days ago with a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich. and then yesterday a friend texted that a local restaurant, Turtle + The Wolf , was offering their irresistible fried chicken as takeout. I texted back "GUCK MEATLESS MARCH." Only I didn't type guck. Nobody is shooting at me. I'm not deprived of vital supplies. The people I love are healthy right now, and I can reach all of them. I am one of the privileged whose family income does not look threatened. It is spring, and daffodils and hyacinths are blooming in my garde...

A very "happy" St. Patrick's Day to you. Remember last year , when fun was had on this holiday? This morning, in contrast, I didn't even remember to put on green when I stared at my closet and chose an outfit based on its potential to make me feel most human during another absurdly abnormal day (bright red pants; off-white sweater with bell sleeves). I'm holding on to my March Meatlessness, but at some point I imagine I will relax my vegetarian intent. A person needs comfort where she can find it in these dark days. Sometimes, that's smoked salmon, or a burger. We'll see. Tonight, meanwhile, I jazzed up " Quiche With Herbs and Goat Cheese " (NYT Cooking) with about half a bunch of fresh spinach, steamed then squeezed then chopped, to make it both healthy and green . The quiche turned out perfectly. How often do you read THAT in this blog?! I almost always screw up SOMETHING! I'm taking my victories where I can get them. I used ...

I don't need to tell you, Dear Reader, that Meatless March has collided with contagion, but I'm recording it here for posterity. Someday, when we have conquered coronavirus and put a stop to climate change, we can look back on this unique point in history and marvel at this turning point - the moment when we learned that we could and must take action to save ourselves. Or the robots from Planet Blarg will mine this blog for info on how one woman tried and failed to prevent the collapse of civilization, before we all perished. School has been closed for my backup dancer for at least the next 2 weeks. I've cancelled playdates. I don't anticipate going anywhere for at least a week, except for walks (thank goodness the pandemic hit in spring). Today I planned an entire week's worth of (meatless!) meals - believe it or not, I am pretty sure I have never in my whole life planned a whole week of meals at once! - and I placed an order for grocery delivery. The...

If you want to be seen in a whole new light at this current, fraught moment in history, I found out today how to accomplish that: have a coughing fit in public. It came out of nowhere; I have not been feeling sick. I just got a tickle in my throat. But if I were one of the coronavirus-panicking onlookers watching someone cough so much that her eyes watered and she couldn't speak, I would want to run for the hills, too! It was mortifying. And you never know, do you? While I think probably I just walked into some dust or pollen, maybe I have been infected with the virus. A lot of us COULD get infected. Let's keep our heads, either way. And fear not, I have worked in public health for a long time, so I have always been high on hygiene. #HighOnHygiene. I'm a branding genius. I like the argument in a new Fast Company piece: "What would happen if the world reacted to climate change like it’s reacting to the coronavirus?" It's moving on a slower time scale, b...

The great thing about Meatless March, I think, is that is offers a path for individuals to immediately and unilaterally reduce their environmental impact. You don't need to learn any new skills (cooking is helpful, but feel free to go to a restaurant and order a vegetarian dish). You don't need to wait for a government official to change a law or policy, or for a retailer to start offering a particular item. All you need to do is eat less meat, and you're making a difference. Gratuitous photo of crocuses in my garden. Spring is coming! I'm pleased when I find other solutions that similarly give me a quick environmental win, and I almost can't believe what I did yesterday: I darned a sock! Just like, I don't know, Ma Ingalls or something! (Any Little House on the Prairie fans out there?) Or Father McKenzie! (Beatles, anyone? My pseudo-band covered "Eleanor Rigby" for our terrible first album back in '07). The sock had a hole in t...

I have always resisted giving up occasional sushi, even as I have cut down on eating meat generally over the past year. I love sushi. But a couple months ago, I decided to try a "shiitake and avocado roll," and much to my surprise, it was great. Tonight, uninterested in going to the store to buy something to cook for dinner, I requested that my backup dancer order sushi, and add a "shiitake and avocado roll" as well as a "sweet tofu and avocado roll" to the order for me. I liked the looks of this tofu roll when it arrived, and I liked the flavor, too. I was deeply impressed by how much the tasted like fish. "It has a little heat, too," I effused to my backup dancers. Meanwhile, my small and spice-fearing backup dancer was avoiding three pieces of California roll that she felt had brushed up against the ginger that they always stick in the sushi containers. She was irrationally certain that some spiciness had contaminated those pieces. ...

A year ago, I took a stab at Meatless March. It was not so hard. So we're doing it again, people, although I'm going to be perfectly honest and let you know that I did not finish a tub of smoked salmon in my fridge before Mar. 1, and I fully intend to finish it during this otherwise meatless month. Over-consuming animal products is an environmental problem, but so is food waste ( seriously ). You won't be seeing a new recipe from me every day because I've been largely vegetarian for a year, and when I need an idea for a meal, I often look back at my own blog posts. Tonight, for example, I made a grain bowl, just like I first did on November 12 . Roasted brussels sprouts, broccolini, and chickpeas; homemade pickled carrots; quinoa; sauce. Mmmmmmm. And healthy! This is a loose recipe for deliciousness. It was particularly rewarding because I had some leftover kale and cilantro in my fridge from a previous recipe. It only takes 4 large kale leaves to make a packe...