Getting cooking

I had offers and arrangements to do stuff this weekend. Some stuff I regretfully declined due to prior engagements, and then the prior engagements fell through, and I quietly rejoiced and planned an entire weekend at home. Shhhhhh ...

Don’t get me wrong – I would much prefer to hang out with my friends than go to the gym or clean my apartment, but leaving the latter things undone has left me with this nagging, uncomfortable feeling, and so this weekend will be one of organizing, prioritizing, and taking care of business (which, sadly, will take all weekend).

One of the things that I need to start doing is cooking for myself. And no, I don’t mean heating up a frozen dinner, dialing Spring Rolls for delivery, having toast with PB, or making one of the two or three vegetarian dishes I’ve been using for months.

When I was visiting Seattle last weekend, my sister-in-law inspired me with the simple but delicious potato soup that she made (kindly catering to my vegetarian preferences). She and I also ate a lot of salad and vegetables while I was there, which was excellent. I'm also keen on food right now because I am reading the wonderful, enthralling memoir Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I have just finished the section in which she evocatively writes about experiencing food in Italy. It made me want to nurture myself with food the way that she did.

Many people ask me what I, as a vegetarian, eat for protein. Since I’m also hypoglycemic with a quite fast metabolism (i.e., I get hungry often), protein is an important part of my diet. I often eat eggs (from free-run hens, and preferably organically-fed) for breakfast, which ensures I get all my essential amino acids and also that I’m not tempted to chew off my left arm by 10:00 AM. I also eat hemp seed, protein bars (mostly just to manage my appetite), almonds, lots of beans, etc. I’m not a big tofu eater, although at times I do find it utterly delicious and flavourful; my favourite is the silky “tubu” in Korean tofu stew (soon du pu jji geh), the gastronomical bliss of which I can only adequately describe with various “mmmm mmmm” sounds and guttural noises of pleasure.

However, back in September, when I attended the Vegetarian Food Fair at Toronto’s Harbourfront, I was overwhelmed – underwhelmed, actually – with all the various soya-based concoctions offered to simulate meat. First, I don’t really miss meat. Secondly, the best simulated meat product (which really did taste like chicken!) made me so bloated and gassy with its mystery synthesized protein that I have forever sworn I will never, never, ever eat it again. I would rather eat food as close to its original form as possible, with as few additives and chemicals as possible.

With winter here in effect (if not officially), my thoughts have turned to soups and stews. Tonight I browsed through a few vegetarian cookbooks I have on hand, and I’m very excited by the variety of flavours and all-around goodness that is available to me as a vegetarian. My goal is to make at least one large pot of soup or stew a week through this winter. By choosing different recipes and experimenting with different produce, hopefully I’ll build up a good repertoire of recipes.

So – any great vegetarian soup/stew recipes to share with yours truly? Send ‘em over! :)