The Christening

As thrilled as I am to be back in New York after three months away, I may be even more excited about the fact that I now have a kitchen to come home to. Not only does it make vegan living a hell of a lot tastier than relying on my university's dining hall, but I find cooking an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable way to end the day.

To celebrate my newfound ability to cook for myself here at school, I went down to the Union Square Greenmarket and picked up some baby beets, red chard, plums, yellow cherry tomatoes, and peppers and eggplants in assorted and unusual colors. Behold, the result of my opening foray into preparing my own food:

A roasted orange pepper stuffed with lentils, quinoa, onions, garlic, and jalapeño and sauteed chard with red wine vinegar.

It wasn't quite as spiced as I might have liked and I turned our small kitchen into a disaster, but overall I was quite pleased. As the year goes on I plan to amass a much greater collection of spices and sauces as well as learn how to take up less space while I'm cooking (an invaluable skill when you're sharing a tiny kitchen with four other people).

Stay tuned as I document my vegan cooking and living adventures, with a little bit of kvetching thrown in just for good measure.