The Way To My Husband's Heart

My husband is one of those men who loves to have food cooked for him. Knowing how to play my heart strings better than the devil can play a fiddle, he says "It makes me feel special and loved."

I love cooking, so no worries, right?

Husband, there is a problem.

I had assumed that vegan cooking would be straightforward -- no complex ingredients, simple recipes, and little fear of food poising. But that's not how it's been for me as I mountaineer up the towering learning curve of vegan cooking. I have to spend more time than I ever anticipated in planning, shopping, chopping, baking, and boiling to keep his restless belly happy.

Part of the problem right now is that we're in Ireland and there's no such thing as Whole Foods. I have to scavenge ingredients from multiple grocery and health food stores because not only is there no one-stop shop, no one here apparently believes in keeping inventory. Who ever heard of a health food store that ran out of tofu?! It's a vegan travesty!

I guess the other problem is that I'm cooking recipes out of a cookbook called the Veganomicon. This is like arriving in a foreign language immersion program without having even learned how to say "cerveza". I should have started with one of those Vegan for Dummies books, not a book that sounds like it's supposed to be worshiped. Recipes in this book are never easy. Even if it looks like there's only four ingredients, it turns out that one of the ingredients is another recipe in the book. I swear I've cooked Shabbat meals that took less time than making a salad in this thing.

Another challenge is that my husband craves variety. It's like he's redirected all of his girlfriend-rotating angst towards food now that the music has stopped. I am desperate to make his meals appetizing and diverse, so I feel like I can't repeat a dish. It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on me, and I fear the day that I get through the 40,000 recipes in the Veganomicon.

My husband will probably deny this, but I can read his stomach even better than his mind. Although he survived for many years on canned black beans and frozen Trader Joe's burritos, I know that he doesn't want to return to those days now that he's tasted paradise.

Lastly, Alex's appetite is unquenchable. It seems like no matter how much I cook, there is never enough. I can double a recipe and double it again, but his appetite seems to expand as well. I just can't seem to keep up! In spite of all these challenges, I will continue to wrestle with the Veganomicon and my husband's appetite because it's worth every effort when I see his face light up and know that he and his stomach are happy.

Vegan Lasagna - if only I could get Daiya in Ireland!

Miso Eggplant