In need of a better diet

It's been awful quiet around here, I know. There are a couple of reasons for that:

1. My tonsils are still rebelling against me and my body. I'm now pulling out the equivalent of an atomic bomb on them in hopes of getting them unswollen. And praying I don't have to have a tonsillectomy.

2. There is no number two except to say that side effects from the treatment of my tonsils continues to render most food inedible or unappetizing.

I did manage to go out to dinner last night with some friends to Rumba on West End. It's been a couple of months since I've been there (I used to be a regular), so it was good to indulge on all of my favorites: rosemary naan, roasted red pepper flatbread and the tempura haricot verts. The fried green beans are topped with a little soy sauce and some sesame seeds and, as my dining companions noted, "totally addictive."

Aside from that, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the vegetarian meetup we had Saturday afternoon. We started off with a potluck lunch (I refuse to say what ill-executed dish I took with me--it didn't taste bad, but it didn't taste like it was supposed to) in conjunction with the raw food meetup group. There were several dishes from the raw foods section that I really enjoyed. I hope that they post their recipes for us all. I ate lunch with Yvonne Smith, The Traveling Vegetarian, who has pretty much convinced me that my next road trip must be to Asheville, North Carolina. I spent Sunday catching up on the latest installments of her show. You should check it out, too.

After lunch, we listened to Will Tuttle talk about his new book, The World Peace Diet. What an engaging speaker Dr. Tuttle is. I already knew most of what he said during his talk, but it's good to be reminded of things that are easy and convenient to forget regarding the food choices we make. Though it's hard to imagine that I'll ever go completely vegan, I did at least eat a vegan meal Saturday night.

On a rather amusing side note, one of the friends I had dinner with last night lives in London. She said that since she's been there, she's eaten mostly vegetarian Indian food. She doesn't eat chicken anyway and she said the beef tastes really bad and "gamey"; ostensibly due to the fact that they eat grass instead of corn. I thought that was funny given this post and comment thread over at Music City Bloggers.

Vegetarian Meetup

If you're not familiar with meetup.com, it's a website that lets people with similar interests (usually in the same geographic area) connect with each other. There are tons of meetup groups for every topic you can imagine. I'm a member of the Nashville Vegetarian Meetup Group. I've met some very interesting and wonderful people through this group and learned a lot and it usually gives me an inspiration boost to get back in the kitchen when we have potlucks.

The next meeting, though is not only a potluck, but will also feature a speaker, Will Tuttle, author of "The World Peace Diet."

It's a book that makes, "explicit the invisible connections between our meals and our broad range of problems - psychological, social, spiritual, as well as health and environmental. It offers powerful ways we can all experience healing and peace and contribute to a positive transformation of human consciousness."

If you're a vegetarian (or "veg-curious"--ha!), I recommend signing up with the group and/or attending this event.

Event Info:
Saturday, November 17, 2007, 1:00 PM
First Unity Church of Nashville
5125 Franklin Road Nashville, TN 37220
For more information, call Sharon: 615-556-1152

This event has been listed in other meetup groups as a vegetarian potluck (no meat/fish or animal broth, gelatin, etc) , but I have also seen it written that there will likely be plenty of food, so if you'd like to attend but do not necessarily want to join one of the meetup group or may be a little challenged in the kitchen, if you contact Sharon at the number above, she'll be able to give you more information. More than likely, though I'd say that attendance is open. As long as you're not planning on bringing a rack of lamb or ribs!