I guess I should change the name of the blog to I Married a Vegan but since we still live together, we’ll call it good.
I’m married! Yea!
I don’t have to plan any more weddings! Yea!
Back to real life (yea?), which means spending some quality time with my much-neglected blog.
In all seriousness, our wedding was wonderful. Friends, family, a best man in a vest with no sleeves — don’t ask — and an amazing vegan reception dinner which I am told was very good but don’t actually remember eating. Hoda’s Middle Eastern Cuisine offers a vegetarian menu that is 90 percent vegan and the food is amazing. Mujadra, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, grilled vegetables with tahini, stuffed eggplant: The menu goes on and on.
In a guest list of 23, including Bob and I, we had a celiac, a dairy allergy, my dad who can’t eat hot food, spicy food, aged cheese, caffeine, chocolate or much fat, five vegans, my sister who can’t have gluten, anything from the cabbage family or dairy and my mom, who has to have her gallbladder out and couldn’t eat any animal products.
And yet — everyone was able to have a great meal at our reception. It was phenomenal. Hoda has kebabs and whatnot but skipping meat there doesn’t make you feel like you’ve missed anything.
Mother of the Bride
I’d been worried about my mom before the wedding day. She was diagnosed with gallbladder problems about two weeks before the wedding. I had my gallbladder out in 2001, and it was a horrible experience. Pain for months before diagnosis and then trying to eat on an extremely restricted diet until surgery was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I lost 30-plus pounds in six weeks.
It was not a good look on me.
Once the doctor diagnoses the gallbladder issue, they tell you to lay off fats. In simple terms — because I am a copy editor not a doctor — the gallbladder processes cholesterol. Cholesterol comes from animal products. If your gallbladder doesn’t work and you take in cholesterol, you end up laying on the bathroom floor feeling like you want to die. For both mom and I, eliminating that pain meant no animal products of any kind. In 2001, living in Albany, Ore., I was down to eating Subway vegetarian sandwiches daily. I’ve never been much of a cook and it got even harder when the three basic meals I lived on — burritos, grilled cheese and chicken parm — were completely off the table.
That was then.
A few days after my mom was diagnosed, Bob and I took her a vegan care package: kale, Tofurkey kielbasa, soy yogurt, mushrooms, nutritional yeast and vegan cupcakes. (The best prices on Tofurkey are at Trader Joe’s and Chuck’s Produce and Street Market. New Seasons has the largest selection of soy yogurt that I’ve seen pretty much anywhere.).
And after finding a few more things to eat — she’d already started on Boca Burgers and quinoa — her spirits lifted. I know she to have been to be thinking about how miserable I’d was before I had surgery — how sick and pathetic and tired all the time because I had no idea how to get protein without eating meat.
When the wedding day rolled around, Mom wasn’t 100 percent, but she wasn’t hampered by the dietary restrictions. She had energy and was pain free. She glowed, she was so happy for Bob and I. She remembers dinner better than I do and said it was amazing — including the vegan cupcakes. (Sweet Pea Bakery, how I love thee.)
Once she has surgery, she’ll be back to eating her regular diet. But she already told me she’s found some of recipes she wants to try, vegan or not. And she likes some of the stuff she’s already eaten. But she also wants fish and chips for her birthday dinner in October. So, not really a convert. But that’s OK.
Still, there are kale chips on the counter whenever I come over now. Score.
I live with a vegan 