In The Beginning

In a small dive bar set in Brooklyn on a chilly January evening I sat down with a Schaefer and a shot and started talking to a cute English teacher from Philadelphia. He was smart and interesting and played guitar, very cool...and then I found out he was vegan. To an average American of similar age this is not completely unusual but is certainly often met with some amount of criticism. However, due to the common lifestyle of the urban American (one whose diet often consists of processed, pre-made, packaged, and ready to eat food) it is generally merely an inconvenience or a target for jibes about ones' masculinity or sexual preference. Let there be no mistake, my vegan teacher has a beard and is at least 95% heterosexual. I am not an average American, however. I grew up in a home where, regardless of the fact that my mother was single, employed full time, and going to college full time, she made dinner every night for my brother and me. I may not have appreciated that act of selflessness at the time, but now that I'm a 20ahem year old who's too poor and too fucking interesting to have someone cook every meal for me, I'm pretty grateful to my mother for teaching me the value of cooking and sharing food. In short, I love everything about food except dishes and I particularly love cooking ridiculously elaborate meals and treats for those I love.
So brings me to the subject of this blog. Seven months after that fateful day in New York I have found myself living in Philadelphia and trying to feed not just myself, but my new vegan roommate. Rather than give up on cooking, or on my sweet boyfriend, I have decided to embrace the challenge and try my hand at vegan dining. Do not misread me though, I am in no way becoming vegan. My meat and dairy consumption will continue, which is perhaps more a challenge than actually switching my diet. I'm trying my hand at cooking for a wonderful (and luckily, not picky) metal head while fulfilling my need for a little heavy cream or rare steak.
How will I do this, you might ask. Well, that's for this blog to find out. So far, there's been a few bumps in the road, but over all I'm managing thus far. I plan on posting not just what I cooked or baked, but also the recipe and how it turned out or if I'd make any modifications.
My hope is that this is not only entertaining for myself, but also informative for those who may be in a similar situation. Not to mention, torturing you all with pictures of incredible foods. So enjoy and let the challenge begin.