Meatless March

My gosh, what a world we live in. When the pandemic hit hard nine months ago and we all retreated into our homes, I honestly feared that I had already seen some of the elderly people I knew for the last time, prior to March, without even knowing it at the time. That horror, that sadness - it was crushing and unspeakable then. I'm voicing it now because I am blown away that my mom, who lives in a care home in London, got vaccinated today. It's a turning point. I can scarcely believe we got here, and I'm emotional. I'm going to try to let this be a moment to forget about the large swath of humanity that seemed to be working against keeping us going as a species since March: the people who were careless, clueless, or callous. I'm going to focus instead on the amazing GOODNESS that happened alongside the awfulness: the people who kept doing their jobs when society would have crumbled if they'd stopped; the people who arranged ways to safely cheer us all up with free...

We had about seven or eight inches of snow overnight, and since we've no place to go (for the past nine unholy months), let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, right? Despite the fact that our school district has been operating entirely remotely since March, nonetheless they declared a "snow day." So we took our cue and headed to the town's premier sledding hill. I was a little dismayed at how many people were there, but the vast majority of them were wearing masks, and we were never close to any particular person for more than a minute or so. Sledding is fun, no question, but today I decided that my very favorite part is seeing people literally leaping out of the way left and right as my sled veers erratically down the hill. I'm afraid I have no footage of that, but here's my backup dancer coasting down: A nice warming dinner after a sledding outing is "Fettucine with Artichoke Sauce," which I copied out of a cookbook sometime in the Paleolithic Age,...

My sister made " Wild Rice Stuffing Balls " (Wholehearted Eats) for Thanksgiving, and recommended the recipe. Stuffing fairly screams "Thanksgiving," but if you're looking for a special alternative to a meat entree for Hanukkah or Christmas or New Year's or Arbor Day or whatever the kids are celebrating nowadays, this could be it. Around these parts, we're prepping for Christmas.  We make gingerbread cookies every year. The Stuffing Balls are quite a lot of work, so don't be a fool like me, and make them on a random Monday. By the time I got all those darned ingredients mixed together, I was wholly unenthusiastic about shaping them into rather slimy balls. There should actually be a name for that point at the end of the cooking process when I've lost whatever positive spirit I started out with, and I become convinced that the final result won't even taste good.  But fear not, they really did turn out well! I served them with a vegan gravy th...

I just read a New Yorker piece that perfectly captured my current feelings about cooking. Helen Rosner wrote so beautifully about something I will put very bluntly: I am SICK OF COOKING. I would just give up altogether right now and eat cheese and crackers for every meal, if I wasn't responsible for nourishing a growing backup dancer. And a (mostly) vegetarian diet is limiting for a cook like me. It used to be so easy to plan delicious dishes when I was wasn't giving a second thought to meat as an ingredient. Obviously there are wonderful vegetarian dishes, but I have cut myself off to half the food options by reducing my meat consumption for the sake of the environment. I am committed to it, but it makes planning meals more fatiguing. We get takeout a couple days a week, and that's a relief, but I'm conscious that the takeout options that appeal to us aren't particularly healthy, and I also feel guilty about the billion plastic containers piling up in my cupboard....