How do you feel after a week of plant-based eating, someone asked me.
Honestly? Pretty depressed.
I have no energy. I don't feel any different physically and I am craving food.
Am I eating enough? Yep. Am I eating the right things? Yep.
But this is all new to me. I can cook just about anything and I can figure out the spices that I need to use in order to enhance that particular food. But this type of eating is completely new to me; completely foreign. And if I'm being honest, I don't enjoy it. I enjoy cooking but I don't enjoy any of this the last seven days. Food excites me. This type of eating does not.
It wasn't disgusting. In fact, it was pretty good but it was lacking. What was it lacking? Substance. Shrimp, scallops or even grilled chicken with freshly shaven parmesan cheese on top. It's not that it was bad; it just wasn't delicious and I like delicious food. I make delicious food.
I made French Green lentil salad the other day with fresh parsley, tomatoes, celery, shallots and a homemade Dijon mustard, garlic, red wine vinegar and Herbs de Provence dressing. It looks like tabbouleh and I love tabbouleh but it didn't taste like tabbouleh. In fact, it didn't taste like much of anything at all.
I threw together sautéed Portobello mushrooms and onions in garlic, added black beans, wilted baby spinach and fresh made salsa on top with crushed red pepper for lunch one day. It was ok. I ate it. But I've never been one to just EAT food. I ENJOY food. I haven't once found a dish these last seven days that I have made that I have actually enjoyed and said, "Wow! I could eat a ton of this stuff!!!"
Last week was eye opening, frustrating and demoralizing. I never thought this was going to be easy but it's so time consuming too. It's not like we have a plethora of options in which to grocery shop in the Outer Banks - Walmart, Food Lion, Harris Teeter and a new Publix. I love Fresh Market but it is really only for my specialty items. I have to go to three different stores in one day and still can't get everything I need. I miss Wegmans so much I could scream.
So tonight, Hubs and I went to our favorite place to eat on the Outer Banks - The Salt Box. It's really the only "safe" place for me to go during this challenge because Chef Amanda "gets me". She always has a vegan dish on the menu and the menu often changes from week to week. I saw the menu on the restaurant's Facebook page and the vegan dish sounded interesting. Of course, so did the prawns and pork belly and I was drooling just thinking about that dish. Sigh. Hubs would get that delicious dish and I'd at least get to smell it and maybe even lick it. Oh hell yeah, I was gonna lick it.
Off to Salt Box we go, in the pouring rain, and I'm hopeful. If it were anywhere else, I wouldn't be but Chef Amanda is a food genius. I have chosen vegan dishes off the menu before simply because of the flavor. I went to the Salt Box vegan wine dinner a few months ago and enjoyed every single dish. I don't know if I'd choose vegan dishes every time but I still enjoyed it and was blown away by the creativity.
We sit down and look at the menu and what appears? Something that wasn't listed on the Facebook menu. Lump crab and bacon tortellini with smoked gouda cream sauce. Seriously? You've got to be kidding me. Could you throw anymore of my favorite things together into one dish when I can't have them? I almost burst into tears. On any normal night, I would have gotten that dish and Hubs would have gotten the prawns and pork belly dish and we would have shared and had the best of both worlds. If there ever was a time that I would cheat, this should have been it, but I didn't. I was really fighting myself internally though. Chef Amanda had informed her sister, April, who also works there and was our server, that I was "going vegan" so there was no way that I'd be able to change my mind now. That was probably a blessing.
The curry sauce was absolutely divine.
Off to Salt Box we go, in the pouring rain, and I'm hopeful. If it were anywhere else, I wouldn't be but Chef Amanda is a food genius. I have chosen vegan dishes off the menu before simply because of the flavor. I went to the Salt Box vegan wine dinner a few months ago and enjoyed every single dish. I don't know if I'd choose vegan dishes every time but I still enjoyed it and was blown away by the creativity.
We sit down and look at the menu and what appears? Something that wasn't listed on the Facebook menu. Lump crab and bacon tortellini with smoked gouda cream sauce. Seriously? You've got to be kidding me. Could you throw anymore of my favorite things together into one dish when I can't have them? I almost burst into tears. On any normal night, I would have gotten that dish and Hubs would have gotten the prawns and pork belly dish and we would have shared and had the best of both worlds. If there ever was a time that I would cheat, this should have been it, but I didn't. I was really fighting myself internally though. Chef Amanda had informed her sister, April, who also works there and was our server, that I was "going vegan" so there was no way that I'd be able to change my mind now. That was probably a blessing.
Even though this shot is blurry, it's still beautiful and I can still smell it. It's probably out of focus because I was shaking for lack of delicious food in my life the last seven days. I did take a tiny piece of crab and a tortellini. It was heavenly. Personally, I would have liked more crab.
Come on, I was trying to find SOMETHING wrong it.....
My Thai green curry noodle bowl came out and I was in awe of its presence. Incredibly beautiful.
A dish with strategically placed glass noodles, peanuts, chickpeas, pickled avocado, sweetie drops (a Peruvian pepper in the shape of a teardrop) and just the right combination of spices.
The curry sauce was absolutely divine.
As I've said before, if all vegan food tasted like Chef Amanda's, I'd turn vegan instantly.
Now, with that in mind, I'm not vegan. I'm doing whole food, plant based. Closest thing to get to at a restaurant with this is a vegan dish. Also, I did ask if there was any oil in this dish and Amanda said MAYBE a tablespoon in the entire pot of curry so basically I may have had what amounts to a spritz of oil in my bowl. Seriously, if anyone wants to fight me over this, have at it. I could have caved and gotten anything else on this menu - including the ribeye - but I didn't. So cut me some slack.
Earlier, I mentioned to Hubs that I was going to just go jump in the ocean.
For those who don't know, I can't swim.
Yeah, I wasn't in a good place.
While Hubs had the coconut cream pie for dessert, I was super excited about my vegan chocolate avocado pudding.
Incredibly thick and luscious in a champagne glass with crushed up nuts on top, I sighed with every slow mouthful. I've only had vegan desserts that Chef Amanda has made and I have been in awe at each one. The chocolate and avocado torte was the first one Hubs and I shared a few months ago and I still have dreams about that one.
This is the happiest I've been in the last week. Chef Amanda gives me hope. I figure if I go to Salt Box for dinner each night for the next 23 days, I can definitely power through breakfast and lunch on my own. If only it were that easy.
One bit of confidence though was Chef Amanda agreeing that changing my eating habits into this lifestyle is definitely not easy and no doubt time consuming. She gave me some helpful advice and tips and I also am going to try to recreate her green curry noodle bowl on my own soon. It obviously won't taste like hers but at least I know the ingredients and where to start.
How do I feel after a week of whole food, plant-based eating?
Better now that I had dinner at my favorite little café in Colington.
Yeah, let's just leave it at that for now.
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