I Hit 4 - Twice!

Last week was somewhat of a milestone...and not in a good way.  I hit 4 meals of meat, whereas my previous high was 3.  I did it again this week.  Not a proud milestone, but I did give myself a ceiling of 5 for a reason.  I think the reason I got to where I was is because the past two weeks have been packed with plans, and when you go out to eat, are too embarrassed to ask about the sustainability of fish and don't generally eat traditional vegetarian options (mainly because they all consist of mushrooms as the main ingredient and I don't like mushrooms), you get yourself into a pickle.  


The week of the 13th I went to dinner at an Italian restaurant that is known for their meatballs - Lavo - and it was delicious (highly recommend - it just opened in the city)!  Then I wasn't feeling well the rest of the week, and sometimes comfort food has to come in the form of a chicken parm sandwich, or at least it does for me.  That weekend a bunch of us went up to Vermont and you can't be too picky about dinner on the way up on a Friday night.  The weekend before we went to a diner where I found a hair in my food, so that option was clearly out.  We went to a bar type place called The Penalty Box. Besides the slow service and the arcade games that slowed us down even more, it wasn't too bad.  By the time we ate though, we were all starving and the idea of asking for a salad without protein just made my stomach growl even more.  And then the following night we went to a steakhouse at the base of the mountain (the one attached to The Fat Spy, the location where we rang in 2011) and I'm pretty sure there were no options on the menu except for meat or non-sustainable fish, so I indulged in a burger.


And this week was no better.  I thought I had my meat meals planned out carefully - taco salad using leftovers from the weekend, a work dinner that was partially tapas style and a steakhouse for Aden's birthday.  I even refrained from eating the turkey tacos on Sunday night for dinner because I really wasn't hungry and it didn't seem worth wasting a meat meal on them when I wasn't going to eat too much at all.  But then last night happened and I found myself at Corner Bistro - home of arguably the best burger in Manhattan.  So, I saw 4 again.


The worst part about all of this is that I don't even have an interesting recipe to share!  I did not experiment once over these past two weeks on a good vegetarian recipe.  Luckily I have plans to change that this week, so hopefully I'll get my act together a bit and give you an update with a good recipe in a few days...


One question I have, Mike asked me this over the weekend and I didn't have a good response - anyone know of a good vegetarian cookbook?  I did go to William Sonoma yesterday to look for one, and they do have a lot of farm fresh cookbooks, but I couldn't find a vegetarian one.  Suggestions please!