Confessions of a Former Vegetarian

We share a car around here. I'm proud to be different than the average American household in this way, particularly since it's not that big of a deal since we can walk to most places and our one car is a reliable one. Mike had various engagements outside of our normal 1-mile perimeter this week, so he took the car most days. Since he left it home today, I decided to live it up and drive to Trader Joe's for a few grocery items. I do my major grocery trip every other Monday, so towards the end of the second week, things can be sparse. This is easily remedied without using the car since there is a Harris Teeter a few blocks away, but HT is expensive and not nearly as exciting as TJs. Our favorite curry sauce is at TJs! Other things are too. Anyway, this story isn't that exciting so I should stop dragging it out.

When I pulled into the parking lot at TJs, I was surprised to see that a fun friend had just parked in the spot next to ours! She had gotten out for the morning by herself, but she had the pleasure of walking with small children anyway since she ran into us. As we walked through the aisles, I was intrigued by some of the items she selected -- she's a vegetarian, which was my former way of life. I fell off that wagon almost 5 years ago when I fell in love with someone who orders meat lovers pizza and only likes BLTs if they have turkey on them, too. It occurred to me this morning that I could eat vegetarian for lunch with Kathryn from now on and my meat-loving husband would never know! I do this often anyway, but in a boring peanut butter or pasta kind of way. My friend was buying hardcore stuff like Tofu and a blend of Israeli Style Couscous, Orzo, Baby Garbonzo Beans, and Red Quinoa. I didn't even know what Quinoa was. I decided to buy some, too. I also picked up some tofu for Jonathan.

Upon our arrival home, I immediately sat Jonathan up with some tofu pieces while I made some "Harvest Grain Blend" for Kathryn and me. In the meantime, Kathryn asked me if Jonathan was eating toe food, and said she wanted to try some. I told her that it's best cooked with other stuff, but she said she wanted some like Jonathan's. Tickled with former vegetarian delight, I gave her a slice. "I want this out of my mouth," she told me. "It's not my favorite!" I was only mildly disappointed, because who likes plain tofu? Besides, we were about to enjoy some Harvest Grain delight.

The Harvest Grain was less than delightful. It started out okay, but after about a third of it, I just felt like something was missing. It was flavorful enough, but didn't quite seem right. I realized then that it needed some chicken or something.

When I was in high school, a few years into my vegetarianism, some friends of my older brother's were at my parent's house playing video games and talking about meat. This girl was there who was a vegetarian too, and she was trying to convince the guys that it was better. This one guy kept answering everything she said with, "But people like meat." I was annoyed by this at the time, but somehow it doesn't seem like such a bad reply anymore.