Vegetarian no Mas!

Vegetarianism.... Noble, interesting, advanced, evolved... and I'm sorry, sooooo bloody dull. Maybe it's me. I just can't find (after years of doing it) any excitement in the many different ways to braise, blanche, broil and otherwise bring Tofu/Seitan/Tempeh to some sort of delightful frenzy of taste.
Yes, of course, the cruelty in factory farming is utterly Shoah-like, which is why I don't buy meat that has been dispatched as such--and yes I check--AND yes, I know what I am looking for.

I am sure there is a way to do it right and my hat goes off and heart goes out to successful vegetarians and vegans... Fruitarians just bugger off. I have no time for you... "I only eat the fruit once it's fallen from the tree", they say to you when they sneer away the plated meat during a catered event--peering at your tray-laden hands, as though there was some roadkill remnant in them, through their stringy hair- through their mole-like eyes as they TRY to offer an expression that comes off nothing more than utterly condescending. Of course it's probably not a pleasant face.... surely just colitis making itself seen and not (yet) heard. Yes.... this is something that will make your cater waiter plot your death through his/her servile smile...
Point is, we seem to DEFINE ourselves and our progressing evolution through what we swallow. And here's the bottom line; I'm not swallowing the BS about vegetarianism any longer... "a HOST of flavour, as long as you KNOW what to DOOOO!" Oh just bite me right now. Wait you can't! You're a vegetarian!!!! Mwah ha ha haha... ahem...

Julia Child said it best, "I feel sorry for Vegetarians... they have nothing to look forward to." Hear, hear! I ended my foray up in Saugerties, NY by making Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon. I knew as I began to brown the bacon and it's comforting and layered scent filled the kitchen that I was back.... and I mean back to stay. It was the first meat I tasted in years... Browned bacon... My God... The world was suddenly reeling and I had to grasp the counter top as my eyes rolled back into my head and I murmured something utterly unintelligible, but utterly joyous!

Also-- I don't think it is possible to be a Vegetarian and a Flamenco Dancer. Class tonight was wonderful! I felt better, I was connected to the material and once that guitar started I was tapping into musical subtleties and playing with movement like I hadn't done in years

Because of meat? Possibly... LIKELY. Or maybe I was just in a damned good mood.

Moo.
Me.