Vege Crazy

My decision to become a vegetarian wasn't done overnight nor was it done on a whim. It's taken me years to practice discipline and control to not just eat anything that's being put on my plate. Although I must admit, I do give in to the temptation of eating a nice and juicy chicken barbecue, a luscious hotdog, or a sumptuous siomai, etc... I try to give myself a kick on the stomach by fasting and by drinking phyto fiber (to get rid of all the toxins from the meat), then I'm back to my old vegetarian self again.

Keeping a vegetarian lifestyle, however, is not easy for me because I never cook. My dining areas are all restaurants that surround my boarding house such as Jollibee E. Lopez (my boarding house is just across it), Green Mango, Kusina Eskina, and even the food stalls in SM Hypermarket. For lunch, I usually eat in the school cafeteria.

Thus, I've decided right now and then that if I want to become a strict vegetarian, I must and should prepare my own meals!

I bought a rice cooker last Friday night and I bought an Indian Vegetarian cookbook. Yep, my journey with vegetarian cooking started yesterday during lunctime. I prepared a carrot and potato salad mixed with tomato sauce for my afternoon meal. It was a little bit oily but my friend named Au said it tasted just fine. Hah! And to think that it's my first vegetarian cooking. That gave me all the encouragement to try another recipe.

With all the excitement and enthusiasm in me, I cooked Vegetable Curry for lunch today. It didn't turn out the way I expected it. In fact, I'd call it a disaster. I didn't follow the instructions and I bought the wrong kinds of vegetables. The result? A total cost of P120.00 veggies went down the trash bin. I can't describe the taste here, but it's just something that gave me a headache. Oh, well, all this vegetarian cooking business can't be hurried. I won't be a chef overnight but I'm giving myself a pat on the back for being bold enough to be a vegetarian cook. It's going to be a trial and error venture for me but I'm an eager student. What's interesting is that I'm my own teacher and student. Someday, I'll be daring enough to let my colleagues in school try my vegetarian meals. That's still going to be light years away, though.

For the meantime, I'd better practice on that Vegetable Curry again.