I think I’m going back to veg. Disgusted with meat, dairy OK. Blueberries and strawberries, how lucky in February. Uh oh critter’s idiotic tariffs. So maybe not.
It’s March 23. 2025. I am back to veg. About six weeks now. I did like that sliced rare roast beef, and on Saint Patrick’s Day oh the yum corned beef. Didn’t do it and was jealous. Discipline.
My Mother’s helper (and mine) bought me some tofu and we were ready to put it on parchment and a tray and stick it in the oven. Surprise. Neither the oven nor the stove are working. More maintenance.
Seasoned right, baked tofu is really delicious. Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Add sauce and leaf on rice. It works. And a veggie burger can do the trick otherwise.
So Googled how to tofu in a microwave. I really recommend roasting in oven with peppers, definitely basic salt, definitely black pepper, sesame oil, sauce, then cilantro and scallions on top when it’s done. Right now I don’t have a functional oven. But my microwave is working. And there are microwave tofu recipes. I would never have guessed.
Plus points. The microwave gets the water out so not a bazillion paper towels squeezing.
Yay for now I can cook my tofu in the microwave. Rice, asparagus, tomato soup, mushroom soup, oatmeal cups, can do in the microwave. And be patient. Stuff here is broke but the good guys fix it. I want an oven and stove that work and don’t spray gas smell, which they were. We turned them off. You don’t want to smell gas. Scary.
I still have copies of The Vegetarian Epicure in my kitchen, even now. Vintage.
(After decades of being a vegetarian, broke while living with someone who liked hamburgers and fries and shakes, not the best ones. I could not finish. I was concerned about getting sick but yay that did not happen. I did make some pretty good backyard social spacing dinners during the summer of COVID. Which included roast beef. Good salads and lots of asparagus also. And twice baked potatoes. But too many bugs in the backyard. All over the food. And afterwards oatmeal baths to make the itching go away. Oh gosh.)
I can cook, have done, and with people, like the sharing. I’m seriously great at salads and a rubbed roast beef and baked mac and cheese…only do baked mac and cheese, ever. Baked. Today I asked the family friend who checks on me if she’d ever made twice baked potatoes and she hasn’t. When she comes by tomorrow, I’m going to explain how easy it is. Her family will love. Now I’m thinking hey twice baked yams. Or just crunchy sliced roasted yams. Good snack while streaming.
I’ve lost more weight, BMI most would envy, well, if they were not stuffing themselves. I have a hard time eating, for decades, unless I’m in good company. Then I can eat.
I plugged in to Max Miller’s channel a few years ago because he is so likeable, and history and food together is interesting. More kitchen work than I’m doing right now at home. But for sure joyful person and it keeps coming into my feed.
Now, not sure why, I’m getting on my feed Julia Child. Also very likeable, vintage. I love how she throws things on the floor over her back. The mayonnaise and the endive shows, oh no. I have a memory of someone serving me mayo on iceberg. Don’t touch that. Yuck. Vegetables for birds. I don’t like headless birds. The raw beef is so disgusting a sight. Long ago I have made her Coq au Vin and her Boeuf Bourguignon. With friends. Probably never again. More kitchen work than I’m doing right now at home. But Julia is charming and so is the film. Still, one year of cooking Julia Child, SMH. Better things to do.
Now what pops up today. This professor from England Dr. Kat. Katrina Marchant. Another who knows how it found me question. But her video on English tea showed this morning. What a terrific tradition. Tea and little bites.
In Austin I did jasmine iced tea. All day. Good summer.
(How does some algorithm keep popping Stella Artois. I don’t drink beer, but the last one I had was a Stella at the restaurant in Millennium Park maybe 15 years ago, maybe longer. Who knows my family is from Belgium. Being watched.)
I have two food rules. One. Don’t eat when not hungry. And I most of the time not hungry. Two. Avoid processed. Read the labels. So simple.
I am hungry now at last. Go get that yogurt and those berries. Which a lot of farmers and planters and pickers and drivers made possible for recovering broken bones me.
Related. Need to every day check my very low blood pressure. It’s safe zone right now. To stay on watch, I do need to eat, but clean as possible.
And kitten Quinn adorable with his wet food, good manners, licking his paws. He eats. He cleans up. No apologies.
Dayna Finet 