Experiment #1 is complete! Josh and I went out to Candle 79, a fancy schmancy vegan restaurant, to celebrate last night. Here’s what we had (the photos aren’t ours, but are the same dishes we had):
APPETIZERS
NY STATE SQUASH RAVIOLI
whole wheat pasta, sauteĢed truffled wild
mushrooms, sage, crispy capers, cashew cream
ROOT VEGETABLE SOUP
blended root vegetables, with truffle oil
ENTREES
SEITAN PICCATA
creamed spinach, grilled potato cake,
oyster mushrooms, lemon-caper sauce
ROSEMARY BAKED TOFU
horseradish mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts,
haricots verts, porcini-vegetable reduction,
cranberry-fennel-pecan salad
DESSERTS
CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER BLISS
chocolate mousse, peanut butter mousse,
chocolate shell, berry coulis
VANILLA ICE CREAM
It was quite a treat. We’re both very glad we did it. Things we learned and/or accomplished:
- Cooking every meal takes a lot of time. Most nights, dinner wasn’t on the table before 10:30 or 11, and we washed dishes until the wee hours of the morning.
- We can totally keep this going (though perhaps with a few changes; being able to use a little olive oil tonight as I made us pizza was great).
- The modern dishwasher is the greatest invention of the 20th Century.
- We each lost some weight. (Yay!)
- We like making self-improvements together
That last one is perhaps the most important. I did, optimistically, call this Experiment #1, but I did so knowing full well that it might be both the first and last one we did. But it seems like this 28-Day cycle is something we can stick to, and Experiment #2 has already begun…
I moved to New York in 2007, nearly two decades after I first said I'd do it. (Give me a break, though; I was only four then, after all.)
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If it’s reassuring at all: you’ll probably find that cooking meals takes a *lot* less time, with practice. As you may recall, I cook most of my meals at home, and have since I graduated, because I’m cheap and a food snob and a diabetic, and I like to cook (it’s relaxing!). Cooking dinner took *forever* when I first started doing it, and I really don’t remember why…I actually remember that it was sort of a problem at first, especially when Tyler was still in school that last semester. I don’t know when or how it changed (I didn’t notice, in any case, until I read your post and thought about it), but I know that it’s not that I used to make stupidly complicated things and now I don’t anymore…though it’s definitely worth learning a few ridiculously quick things to do on days when you just can’t be bothered/are running late to derby practice. I’ll grant that this is probably harder when cooking vegan; in my case, when I’m hungry and rushed, I can just sautee some fish, reduce some soy sauce, steam some asparagus and make some dijon vinaigrette and be eating literally within 20 minutes of walking into the kitchen. Similarly, I can do a kick-ass pot of kale in 20 minutes, and any number of meats + pan sauces can be done in that amount of time…but I digress. I still take time a couple-to-a-few days a week to make more time intensive stuff, especially on the weekends, but even when I’m not deliberately making stupidly-fast food, I don’t find all my time taken up by cooking anymore. So: soldier on! It gets easier, and it’s so much cheaper/healthier it’s ridiculous!
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