Try New Things

Me, my mom, and my sister

Mother's Day was last weekend, and I reflected on some of the wisdom my mom passed down to me. Sure, she was wrong when she warned me that "if you watch too much TV, your eyes will turn square," although I actually believed it for a short while when I was little. On the other hand, her insistence that "you can't know whether you'll like something unless you try it" has stood the test of time.

I was finding life to be a little stale at the end of last year, so I decided to try new things. I began learning French, and I took an upholstery class. I went to a free conference on "Health and Climate Change," where I knew no one, and introduced myself to strangers. I even started a new video series on YouTube, called "South Orange Is My Best Color," in which my friends and I talk about our clothing choices.

Cluelessly attempting upholstery

Make no mistake: All of these efforts have involved some degree of discomfort. On the first day of upholstery class, for example, while a dozen other people merrily attacked their wingback chairs and the like, I sat stupidly in front of my basic piece of furniture with the wrong tools and no idea what I was doing. And French? After four months of instruction, it still takes me an excruciatingly long time to form a spoken sentence, full of mispronunciations. And even for an extrovert like me, it takes a lot of nerve to walk up to a group of people who already know each other and ask whether I can please join them.

But when you get past the discomfort, trying new things brings satisfaction and even joy. That's what I was seeking, and that's what I have found...well, with the exception of upholstery. I feel no urge to ever upholster anything again. But like Mom always said, you don't know that unless you've tried it!

My very basic upholstery project, completed

You might find gratification by changing up your diet to include more plant-based foods—a journey I started five years ago—and you'd be entitled to the bonus satisfaction that comes with confronting the climate crisis. Government and corporate leaders must enact large-scale policies curbing greenhouse gas emissions in order to minimize the effects of global warming, but that doesn't mean that we can't do our part as individuals, including with our food choices. Animal agriculture is a significant driver of climate change, accounting for 12–20% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, according to some researchers.

Trying something new doesn't have to be radical. I don't believe it's necessary for everyone to completely stop eating meat and dairy, just as I don't see the need to stop speaking English while I learn French, or quit my day job now that I'm a YouTube star.* But every new thing we try gives us the potential for growth.

I've gotten great results from trying a few new vegetarian recipes recently. I felt my usual irrational dread of cabbage creep over me when I started preparing "Vegetarian Reuben Sandwiches" (NYT Cooking), but as always, the cabbage won me over. I used homemade gluten-free sandwich bread, and the sandwiches were terrific.

Just when you think you've explored every way to serve potatoes, "Herbed Potato Stacks" (Southern Living) will swoop in and delight (just make sure you grease your muffin tins really well!). The stacks are a cinch to make if have a food processor to slice your taters. I bet the recipe would work for sweet potatoes, too, and next time I'm going to eschew the real butter for oil or fake butter, to make this recipe vegan.

Herbed potato stacks

"Cheese-Topped Cauliflower Steaks" (NYT Cooking) were good and easy, although I'll acknowledge uneasiness about so much cheese, from health and climate perspectives, even when I substituted Violife fake cheese slices for the real provolone. 

Cauliflower steaks served with asparagus and biscuits

I contributed "Grilled Cabbage with Romesco Sauce" (left) to a festive dinner with friends

Finally, cabbage proves itself once again with "Grilled Cabbage with Romesco Sauce" (Pistachio Doughnut). The sauce was fantastic on the cabbage and on everything else to which I applied the leftovers in the following days, including crackers, and plain rice. And it's vegan! Here's a tip: you can use long threads of thyme to hold together your cabbage slices in the oven. Another of my innovations was to use the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes to brush onto the cabbage. 

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today" was another sage piece of advice from my mom, so try some new vegetarian recipes the next time you cook. Adoptez de nouvelles choses!

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*I am kidding, of course. The audience for "South Orange Is My Best Color" will probably never fill a stadium. It will probably never even fill a canoe. The point is personal growth through trying something new!