Thanksgiving

Devin and I drove up to the San Francisco area, like we have done for the past couple Thanksgiving holidays, to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Alameda. With both of us having classes on Wednesday, we left Tustin at 1:30am on Thursday morning, arriving into Alameda at 7:30am Thanksgiving morning. After a two-hour nap, I had to make Eggplant Bake as my contribution to the potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily, at this Thanksgiving meal was my cousin's boyfriend, a vegetarian, so I knew ahead of time that with my Eggplant Bake contribution, there would be at least two vegetarian-friendly main dishes for me to assemble my meal instead of relying on vegetable side dishes.

The fare included: deep-fried turkey, pineapple-glazed ham, butternut squash lasagna, eggplant bake, spinach salad, garlic bread, herbed mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, leek and red potato au gratin, sweet potatoes, wild rice and mushroom stuffing, collard greens, cranberry and orange relish, buttery garlic green beans, sup merah (Indonesian "red soup"), tomalito, homemade coffee and Heath bar ice cream, pumpkin ice cream, young coconut ice cream, apple and pear crisp, cinnamon streusel cake, and fresh fruit.


Top Row from Left to Right: Wild Rice and Mushroom Stuffing, Pineapple-Glazed Ham, and Collard Greens. Devin said the ham as very tender and juicy. He seemed to enjoy it more than the turkey!

Bottom Row from Left to Right: Green Beans, Eggplant Bake, and Harvest Spinach Salad. That salad was amazing. I love red onions and the ones on the Harvest Spinach Salad were very delicately cut on a mandoline.


Zack's contribution was Butternut Squash Lasagna.


Right Row from Top of picture to Bottom: Wild Rice and Mushroom Stuffing, Pineapple-Glazed Ham, Collard Greens, Leek and Red Potato au Gratin, and Tomalito.

Left Row from Top of picture to Bottom: Green Beans, Eggplant Bake, Harvest Spinach Salad, Herbed Mashed Potatoes, and Deep-Fried Turkey.


Carving the Deep-Fried Turkey. At the corner of the turkey is the yellow-corn tomalito.


My cousin Clarice made Pear and Apple Crisp.


One of my cousins brought Cinnamon Streusel Cake (I also ate this for breakfast the next day). The ice cream scoop was used for the homemade coffee and Heath bar ice cream, young coconut ice cream, and pumpkin ice cream.


Fresh Fruit.


The day after Thanksgiving, Devin and I drove to Napa.


Our trip was very spontaneous, so we didn't know if any vineyards would be open for tours or tastings. Fortunately, we chanced upon Copia, the American Center for Wine Food and the Arts. Here we were given wine glasses and purchased a prepaid card to sample local and international wines. Devin and I sampled about five or six total, finding that we both preferred the red wines.


The United States of Wine. A wine bottle from every state in the country.


This device was found in Copia's very interactive museum called Forks in the Road. The instructions indicated to put your nose near the end of a tube and push the button underneath the tube. A scent emits from the tube and the objective is to guess the scent. Then you lift the panel to see whether your guess was correct. I didn't guess any of them correctly.


With a stomach full of wine, I wanted to eat whatever we could find first. The first restaurant we found was Filippi's Pizza Grotto. Unfortunately, ten of Filippi's eleven locations are in San Diego County, where I spent eighteen years of my life. I have already eaten at two different Filippi's, so Devin suggested going to a restaurant unique to Napa instead of somewhere I already know and enjoy, regardless of my increasingly draining energy level. All in the name of blogging...


As we continued to explore Napa on foot to find a meal, I noticed this beautiful mural. Wait a minute... !


Oh Bear, PEPPERONI pizza?! I would have stuck with the salmon.


Finding ourselves in a small outdoor shopping center, we decided to stop for a meal in GillWoods Cafe. My review of GillWoods Cafe is located here.


My Veggie Omelet with Home Fried Potatoes and wheat toast.


Devin's Club Sandwich on wheat with french fries.


On the way back to Alameda, we made a detour through San Francisco. View of Golden Gate Bridge from Marin Headlands.


So, after tasting wines, Devin and I ended our trip to Copia with a stop into the gift shop. The dachshund salt and pepper shakers were purchased as a Christmas present and not as a result of the wine's effects on my better judgment. This photo was taken when we had already arrived back home in Tustin.

Eggplant Bake

This year's Thanksgiving attendees included myself, a pescetarian, and my cousin's boyfriend, a vegetarian. Since Thanksgiving dinner was a potluck, I had the task of finding a substantial vegetarian main course. I knew in advance that my cousin's boyfriend was making Butternut Squash Lasagna, so I wanted to stay away from pasta dishes that I thought may be too similar to his lasagna.

With the positive reviews from both vegetarians and omnivores on the All Recipes submission for Eggplant Bake, I had found my vegetarian Thanksgiving contribution! The trouble was that I had never made this dish, so I didn't know how it tasted and didn't know how much work would go into making this dish.

Thus I began my eggplant adventure.


I began by salting the eggplant slices for 30 minutes and then rinsed them to draw out moisture and bitterness. I only made half of the recipe since this was a trial that only Devin and I would be eating.


This recipe is quite easy, except I chose to make my own Italian breadcrumbs by using store bought sourdough bread and both fresh and dried herbs. I baked slices of the sourdough at 250 degrees for 30 minutes and then allowed the slices to cool. Since I don't have a food processor, I used a rolling pin to crush the slices into crumbs. During this process, I learned that I need to cut the bread slices thinner to prevent large pieces of bread that refuse to crumble and to use a blender to crush the bread when I made the recipe again the next day.


The fresh herbs included sage, rosemary, parsley, and marjoram. I also used dried basil, dried oregano, crushed garlic, and cracked pepper.


Combining the breadcrumbs with the herbs.


Beaten egg to adhere the breadcrumbs to the eggplant slices.


The large pieces of breadcrumb proved to be a problem because they had trouble sticking to the eggplant and also resulted in uneven browning when I pan-fried the eggplant.


Sliced tomatoes to layer on top of the eggplant.


I altered the recipe by sauteing the onions before layering them in the baking dish. This gave the onions a mild and sweet taste.


I used as little olive oil as possible to fry the breaded eggplant, but this resulted in some eggplant slices being too hard and tough even after baking.


Letting the fried eggplant drain excess oil onto paper towels.


Layered from the bottom was the breaded and fried eggplant, tomato slices, sauted onions, shredded parmesan cheese, crumbled feta, and strips of Muenster cheese. The dish was then baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I thought the dish would be dry, but the tomatoes provided moisture and the cheeses really made the dish taste great. Devin's only other taste of eggplant has been eggplant parmesan and he really enjoyed this dish, so I decided to use this recipe for Thanksgiving. I did do one more trial run the next day, just to perfect my process.

Stigma of Restricted Diets

When I found out that the Thanksgiving dinner I was invited to this year was a potluck dinner, I went on a search for an equivalent vegetarian substitute for turkey. On Yahoo! Answers, Love is... asked "What is your vegetarian thanksgiving menu? I need ideas!?", to which Mildred S replied:

"a twenty pound turkey
pork sausage sage stuffing
prime rib
double stuffed potatoes with bacon bits and cheese"

As a pescetarian, I have been told (jokingly) that I don't deserve to partake in the Thanksgiving celebrations, Thanksgiving being a meat-fest holiday. The first time I met Devin's mother was on Thanksgiving day three years ago and he had forgotten to tell her that I don't eat turkey, so she has never again forgotten my diet restrictions, as she felt obligated to concoct me something to eat while everyone was already digging into their meat-laden meal. It can sometimes feel like having a restricted diet is a burden to oneself and an inconvenience to others, as a post by Pleasley on the SparkPeople "Calling all Vegetarians (and Vegans)!" team forum shows:

"I just got home from a friends house, her and her husband invited us over for a BBQ. The only thing she had without meat in it was potato salad. The potato salad was good but I am glad I decided to eat before I went to her house. I told them that I wasn't hungry when they asked why I wasn't eating, I didn't know what to do. I have only been vegetarian for about a month. How do you handle a situation like that without offending the hostess? I offered to bring a dish with me and I was told that everything was covered, I almost took something anyway. I need to know haw to handle this without offending anyone and without always having to eat before I go."

To this post, I replied:

"I have been to a couple BBQs lately and am invited to a couple more. Whenever I find out that a gathering will have food, I always ask if I can bring something because I'm vegetarian. I end up feeling kind of bad because usually after I say "Should I bring something because I'm vegetarian?", the host/hostess will insist that they can cover vegetarian food for me. It makes me feel bad because I know I will probably be the only one eating it and then the host/hostess will then have to deal with the leftovers I don't finish! The hostess at the last BBQ I went to bought an entire package of Gardenburgers AND Tofudogs just for me!

My friends and family know for the most part that I've been vegetarian for several years, but they just don't think about it and I really can't blame them. Once, at a surprise birthday party thrown in my honor, the host almost forgot to provide vegetarian food because I was the only vegetarian present! I would rather remind the host/hostess upon the invitation that I'm vegetarian, that way I won't feel left out at the party and the host/hostess won't be embarrassed that they forgot."

The host at the surprise party I mentioned above was Devin and we have been eating together since circa 2004, so I understand when my pescetarianism just isn't on everyone's list of priorities! And as a lover of food, I won't stand to be left out while everyone is digging into their meat dishes, so I have no qualms of reminding a host/hostess upfront of my diet restrictions and therefore have had no problems. I find it's pretty reciprocal that a host/hostess wants to accommodate his/her guests as much as I want to find things to eat.

Unfortunately, some others with restricted diets have not had as easy a time as I have had. I'm sure it helps that I do eat some flesh (seafood) and am very relaxed about animal by-products (cheese, eggs, honey, butter, milk, etc.), but certain posts on the Serious Eats discussion forum show the dark side to restricted diets:

When srphayre asked "Is it impolite to tell your food preferences your hosts?", some comments included:
"The vegan thing I do not accommodate. I am always honest and say to the vegan folks, I am sorry but maybe my food is not for you" from JerzeeTomato.

"I personally don't accommodate [veganism] because I have... philosophical issues with the practice, and because [of] vegans who cannot stand to have the same cookware, knives or dishes used for their food that are used for meat, ...and there are no circumstances under which I'm willing to deal with that" by thepictsie.

For lemons, it's the "self-proclaimed vegetarians who dive into the meat, saying 'Well, yeah, I'm a vegetarian, but I eat duck. And I just love seafood, don't you?'" that leave her "speechless".

Irohner believes "it is horribly rude [to tell the host your food preferences] unless there is a medical condition (allergy, diabetes, etc.) or religious belief involved".

JerzeeTomato had more to add, writing "I will not serve tofu. I just do not. I also like KDBlue will not make vegan food. It is not because I don't know how, it is because I won't. If you have that many reservations with food you need to make your own food or go to a place where you are appreciated. It is great to live in a time of plenty and be able to have so many choices. We are truely blessed."

choc_puddin, a vegan, suggests "Why not try giving up meat for one meal? People eat too much meat anyways."

The "point is," chefman writes, "big food pussies should let their hosts know."

Fellow pescetarian KarynMC believes "If I invited someone with a food allergy or another food restriction, I would make a meal they could eat. That's what hospitality is, folks."

thepictsie provides the last post in the discussion, responding to choc_puddin's post with "I don't enjoy beans, and I don't function well without meat (yes, I have tried). Trying to tell omnivores not to eat meat is just as obnoxious as omnivores trying to tell you to eat it."

Some of the responses to the discussion topic "Is it impolite to tell your food preferences your hosts?" are very heated because restricted diets tend to carry a stigma, which is addressed in another Serious Eats discussion topic titled "Why the hostility toward restricted diets?"

On a website such as Serious Eats, people tend to be very serious about food, eating it, cooking it, and seeing other people enjoy or dislike it. Devin and I get into huge arguments when he makes a disgusted facial expression or comment about the food that I eat. I went into a silent fury once when I put a piece of pickled ginger in my mouth and my friend simultaneously commented "I don't see how anyone can eat that pink stuff. It's disgusting". Wow, well that's rude. I feel that these comments should be kept private, especially when you see that someone nearby does in fact enjoy the food in question.

I recognize that my passion for food is not necessarily something that everyone can or even should understand. We all have different reasons for appreciating the foods we love or rejecting those which are not compatible with our palates. These are things that should be respected, just as differences in other personal beliefs, and not imposed upon others. Many times I do feel like an inconvenience to the people I eat with, but I alleviate most tension by being truthful and specific about my diet restrictions and offering to contribute a dish.

Obviously, I cannot associate myself with organizations like PETA, because I do eat some flesh and most animal by-products. But I also refrain from fully supporting militant and fanatical organizations like PETA because I believe that their strategy for spreading the vegetarian cause is counterproductive. Like JerzeeTomato says, we have the power of choice, but unfortunately, neither PETA or JerzeeTomato seem to realize that the power of choice involves the choice to eat meat OR to not eat meat.