Meatless March

  Boo! I'd like to take the occasion of the spooky season to inquire whether you find tofu scary. I did, back before I came to terms with the impact of animal agriculture on the environment. I never chose tofu over a meat or dairy option. One of the best qualities of humans, however, is our adaptability. When I learned that animal agriculture is responsible for a large portion of methane emissions that are warming the planet (see, for example, this 2021 UN report ), I explored how I could reduce my consumption of foods that come from animals. One of my strategies is substituting tofu for meat or paneer (a cheese used in Indian cooking), and it turns out that tofu isn't scary at all. Mattar Tofu in the making You can use tofu in a recipe like " Mattar Paneer " (NYT Cooking), as its author acknowledges. I have found that tofu always turns out well when you press the water out of it gradually over half an hour or so, rather than just patting it dry. I use a tofu press th...

I am going to share something that's a little embarrassing: Reading the news in the morning very frequently brings tears to my eyes. Sometimes I even indulge in a few sobs before I start my day.  My companion when I read the morning news This is not new. These past couple weeks it's in response to what's happening in Israel and Gaza, but there's also Russia's war against Ukraine, and the Afghanistan earthquakes, and before that it was the flooding in Libya and the earthquake in Morocco and the Hawaii wildfires, and before that it was something else, going back forever. Sometimes the trigger for tears is on a smaller scale, like the gun violence that is almost constant, or the exploitation or abuse of a person. Yesterday, as I dried my eyes and blew my nose, I thought to myself, "Can this possibly be a normal response to simply reading the news?" But then I reasoned that I might have to be abnormal NOT to be gutted by the awful things that people experience...

You've missed a lot of action since I last posted . I went on two vacations. I experienced anaphylaxis after getting gel injections in my knees (I'm fine!). I hosted some wonderful friends from long ago and far away. I was in a car collision with a driver who ran a red light (again, I'm fine, thank goodness). Vacation With such stories to tell, why have I left you hanging since July? It's because this blog is to review vegetarian recipes, as an ongoing resource for me and you, too. I don't blog as often as I used to because these days, I'm usually making something I've already tried and liked.  Since becoming largely vegetarian in 2019 for environmental reasons, I've tried a boatload of new recipes. I record both the successes and failures here, but when I make a dish that works for my family, I note it on my calendar to repeat annually (or more often, if we really love it), with a link to the recipe. Even if I decide not to make a dish when it shows up ...