Bob Taylor on environmentalism, guitars, and food

I've cycled through a lot of different brands of guitars across the years. Although I currently have only one Taylor (a 355 that I bought in 1998), I really respect their history, designs and technologies, philosophy, and environmental positions. Here's an interesting conversation between Bob Taylor and foodie/author Alton Brown that moves from the history of Taylor Guitars to conservation, lutherie, and marketing, to vegan cooking and eating. If you've been reading my blog, you can see why these topics resonate with me right now. If you have 75 minutes, it's definitely worth a listen.

Taking stock at 6 months

I'm now 6 months + 1 week into the great vegetarian experiment. A couple of thoughts:

• Stock/broth is maybe the hardest part. Chicken stock is in lots of good stuff. And apparently "veggie stock sucks". :-)
• Although the goal of this experiment wasn't about health, and I'm not into measurements, my size 3X pants are definitely fitting more loosely now. I might even be at 3X-2 at this point. My guess this that this isn't explicitly caused by not eating meat, but is instead indirectly a function of the limited access to french fries that typically accompany hamburgers.

Entering month four...

Today marks month 4 or vegetarianism (see a few minor slip-ups here). I'm surprised that I don't miss burgers. I thought that would be the most difficult part of this adventure, but put enough barbeque sauce, onions, and a slice of cheese on it and a veggie patty is just as tasty as a beef burger. The hardest part has been the bacon and other such "side meats" that are slipped into stuff that I otherwise like to eat (e.g., Cobb salads). But overall, it hasn't been the major lifestyle disruption that I thought it would be. My next goal is 6 months; check back in on October 12th.

Slip-ups

1. & 2. Described here.

3. & 4. Described here.

5. Clam chowder; clams don't have faces so it's probably okay...

6. Was unaware of the bacon bits in the broccolli salad until it was too late.

7. Sauteed some chicken breast for my parents, and then made a wine, pear, and butter sauce in the pan. Sampled it just to make sure it tasted okay, which I thought was prudent given that I was making the recipe up as I went along...

(in case you're keeping track, that's 7 slip-ups in 11 weeks, which isn't too bad in my book!)

8. Mole sauce...pretty sure it had chicken stock in it.

(Update: September 13, 2013...8 slip-ups in 5 months...I'm getting better at this.)

9. Fish stock in the rice. (October 18, 2013)

Two months, meat-free*

A couple of weeks ago I reported on my first 50 days of vegetarianism, including the two slip-ups to date (a shrimp burrito and grilled trout sandwich). Now that I'm officially at two months, here are the subsequent questionable meals:*

• We made a really tasty carrot soup that called for chicken stock; we didn't have any veggie stock and were in the middle of cooking, so we went with the chicken stock.
• I tried really hard at Cracker Barrel (why we were at Cracker Barrel is a whole other story) and got a veggie plate. The green beans, however, were noted as not vegetarian. I assume there was some sort of bacon residue in there, because they were tasty!

50 days, meat-free

April 12th is the last day I ate meat, so today makes it 50 days meat-free. Of course, the definition of "meat" is a bit flexible here, with the following liberties taken:

1. April 24th-- A burrito with shrimp in it: I ordered my usual burrito at one of the local places, forgetting that it has a handful of little shrimp in there. Do shrimp count?
2. May 15th-- A grilled fish sandwich: We took some friends to our favorite BBQ place and I got a grilled trout sandwich. In the context of the rest of the menu (the beef brisket that I usually get there; rotisserie chicken, pulled pork), trout doesn't count as meat :-)

Number of beef burgers consumed in the last 50 days = 0; number of veggie burgers consumed in the last 50 days = 6. No steak, no bacon, no chicken.