Home cooking and more Daiya. A visit to Lemongrass.

I think one of the major reasons I’ve been vegan with ease for so many years is the fact that something simple like a bit of avocado, tomato and spinach thrown together can get me salivating. Food doesn’t have to be fancy to be delicious, but I’ll admit that sometimes the aesthetics of what I’m eating comes into play. If I go out to eat, the enjoyment increases tenfold if care and attention was put into the presentation. To me it just feels like it is an extension of the care and attention that (I hope) went into preparing a meal.

But if I’m eating at home, the colours that really effect me. Fresh bright leaves, ripe tomatoes, avocados, fruits, vibrant juices, just looking at them makes me feel good. I already know that love and care was put into cooking or preparing something, when I’m home, and cooking for myself, so I don’t necessarily need to see it in the final product.

This morning I had a hankering for a Mock Tuna Salad Sandwich (based on Neal Barnard’s recipe in Food For Life, which again, I am proud to mention, is my mother’s book, not mine. Vegan contagion win!) My night time work schedule has me existing in a different time zone, so my stomach operates on different hours. 4am is a perfectly reasonable time to be preparing a meal. It was, of course, delicious.

I melted up some more daiya cheese today for my mini snack of nachos (on my favourite set of plates.) The novelty of it is still strong and I’m going out of my way to get nonvegans to try it. Just to reiterate, it is an amazing invention. Great texture.

On Monday a friend and I went to Lemongrass Cafe (10417 51 Ave NW) and got a tofu noodle bowl (the #39). They have a vegetarian menu, but as my friend pointed out, everything on it is about a dollar more than the things on the regular menu. Vegetarian tax* strikes again! (*okay, this is mostly an inside joke, but having to pay extra for soy milk, extra for dairyfree cheese at pizza places, paying the same price for all vegetable meals as for steak dinners, etc is starting to grate on me a little.)
In any case, the noodle bowl was good, but I probably wont go there again anytime soon. Nothing to do with them, the atmosphere was fine, the service was great, but I’m making a greater effort in supporting mostly vegetarian businesses in the city, and trying new places with vegan options once or twice.