I Am Still Here!

Hi friends and readers, yes, I am still here, yes, I am still gluten-free, and yes, I am most certainly STILL EATING. Who knew that moving across the country will suck up all of your time, money, and blogging energy? Every time I sit down at my computer, I look at my Google calendar and my stomach takes a nose dive toward my feet. Countdown: 25 Days until Iowa.

But I'm not being totally honest. There is something else that has been keeping me from blogging...something relatively controversial and difficult to admit.

I've become... a vegetarian.

OK, wait! That's not entirely true. I am still eating fish. I am definitely eating eggs, from the man in the overalls at the farmer's market. And I accidentally ordered something with fried beef all over it and then ate it anyway.

It's been a long time coming, this vegetarian thing. I was one before, for about... three years? Five? Eight? I don't remember. I started eating meat again when I imagined my study abroad trip in college would take me to places far and wide, and I didn't want to be limited. Little did I know, I would soon discover just what "limited" meant.

My travels brought me to Ireland, where the meat (and cheese, and milkandbutterandeverythingomg) were super-fresh and SUPER-local and super delicious. They also had one tiny portion of one tiny aisle in the Tesco dedicated to gluten-free soda bread. Hmm, I thought. Maybe no more Guinness for me...

Anyway. Every time I thought about what eating meat meant, I would shush myself. Tiny lies, tiny lies, that's what it felt like. Sure, at home I would only prepare (and rarely, at that) "free-range" chicken from Whole Foods but when eating out, those morals just flew out the window. Why? Why would I eat something in a restaurant I'd never eat at home? Weird, right?

We all know the status of meat in this country. We ALL know about the environmental consequences. I am definitely not even trying to look down my nose. I am just trying to do small things that I know are right, as best I can.

Will I eat meat again? Yes, probably. At Christmas, from the farmer's market, at a dinner party with no other (gluten-free) option. At the New World Bistro, when I get so excited about the gluten-free menu I forget that I am trying to be a vegetarian.

So, I am here to accept suggestions—how to be an energetic gluten-free vegetarian? Tonight's menu is Indian food from a bag. For lunch I made a smoked trout salad with balsamic cucumbers. I have green tea ice cream mochi balls in the freezer. Not. Bad.

xoxox

Olivia