It was been about two months since I stopped eating meat. I finished off the remaining frozen chicken ages ago and almost had to force myself to do that. I've been consciously trying to NOT make a big deal of things. I didn't jot down in my planner* the day I began, I didn't take a minute to memorize the last meat dish I cooked for posterity. It is just something I'm doing now, almost like I've been doing it all along.
In the past I was a bacon lover. Growing up, my family would have BLT's at least once a week in the summertime. I wasn't a huge fan, but I would definitely claim my fair share of the bacon whenever it was cooked. A few years ago I discovered just how well bacon and avocado go on a bagel and was quite obsessed for several months. Since then my bacon comsumption hasn't been quite so often, but I would still gobble it up whenever I could.
Bacon, or lack of it, didn't even cross my mind when I started out on this new way of eating and to be frank I don't think I even remembered it existed** until this weekend. I was visiting a friend in the San Mateo this weekend and we found ourselves at a small sandwich & coffee shop for lunch. I ordered a grilled ham & cheese on rye - minus the ham*** and on whole wheat bread - with a cup of clam chowder****. Except I got so caught up in making sure there would be no ham on my sandwich I forgot to tell the cashier no rye bread. I had no sooner sat down across from my friend when I remembered! I HATE rye bread. I would almost rather eat the ham than the rye, that's how much I hate it. So I caught the attention of someone in the kitchen and changed my order. Phew, crisis averted.
I was half way through my sandwich before I'd even tried my chowder. It looked good, slightly less creamy than you usually get in restaurants and strongly resembling my family's old recipe. I took the first spoonful... delicious. But wait! What is that flavor? BACON! Crap! There was bacon in my clam chowder! I looked across at Christy and silently debated if I wanted to indulge in the yummy deliciousness, but I must have made a face because she asked my what was wrong. She suggested that I just take it back and ask for another soup. I felt a little dumb after making a big deal over the rye vs. wheat bread but knew she was right. Also, the last time I just went ahead and ate something***** cooked with bacon I'd gotten violently ill.
Moral of this story, being vegetarian requires a lot more forethought and reading of ingredients, but I'm committed so bring it!
*I've attempted to use my many electronic devices to keep a schedule but find myself coming back to paper time and again.
**Hyperbole! I use it often.
***Why not just order grilled cheese you ask? 1. It wasn't in the menu. 2. The sandwich also came with tomato & grilled onion, yeah!
****I have decided that I can eat clams. I would have no problem digging up and killing it with my own hands. Sorry little clam :-/.
*****The pinto bean at Chipotle. It was super busy and the line was long so I opted to just more forward rather than mess up the assembly line and waste everything they'd already added since the person who added the beans to my fajita bowl hadn't mentioned the presence of meat in the beans and my whole bowl was only waiting to be put on a tray and paid for******.
******How's that for a run on sentence?
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