Your Vegan Mom

Mark Reinfeld's Raw Pear (or Plum!) Tart

I should have listened.  The recipe called for one cup of finely chopped pitted dates.  I did not do that.  Instead I threw a big rounded cup of somewhat dry whole pitted dates into the food processor along with the raw pecans and a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg to make the crust for Mark Reinfeld's raw tart.  I did this despite the fact that I had never made a raw tart before and the author of the well-tested recipe has cooked professionally for twenty years, founding a much loved restaurant that I always wanted to visit.  He has co-authored five cookbooks and recieved many honors and awards for his vegan cuisine, and still, I decided that I probably knew better.  

Zucchini Salad

My current obsession with raw zucchini dates back to that weekend that Paul and I didn't go to Palm Springs.  I was rallying, remember?  That Sunday afternoon, with the resilient two-year-old having completely recovered from the gungarunga, we took our children to the most kid-friendly bar in town, Golden Road Brewing.  There, between witnessing a spontaneous toddler dance party spring up on the huge patio, watching enormous (and louder than my youngest child!) trains barrel by, sipping a beer, admiring the hats on hip dads patiently escorting fledgling walkers up and down the ramp out front while stylish moms sat in the shade, and marveling at how well-behaved our children were as they enjoyed their vegan kid's meals, Paul and I shared a young coconut noodle salad in a spicy creamy coconut milk dressing.  It was just excellent - the perfect thing to eat with a beer on a patio in the summer.  We rallied.  

And then I went home and experimented with the only thing I could find in my fridge that would pass for a raw noodle - zucchini.

Party Snacks for Super Heroes

 

I took an informal poll recently of a few friends and family members gathered around the table.  The results surprised me.  So I'm putting the question to you a bit more guardedly.  My expectations are lowered, but still I have to ask -   

When you were a kid, were you pretty sure you could fly if you just ran fast enough or really, really tried?