You know you're a veg type when a lot of what you eat comes in quotation marks. For example, I just broke fast on some "bacon", "buttered" toast and coffee with "cream". Not that I'm complaining. That Morning Star fake-on (facon? fakon? I don't know, man) was good enough to make me rethink my policy on meat substitutes and Earth Balance tastes butterier than the butteriest butter. And neither is full of things that will kill me from the outside. In fact, I've recently come to the conclusion that vegan junk food is the best kind, because you can gorge on frozen burritos and "ice cream" and not feel like a molten ball of grease after the fact.

That being said, I still have some problems with constructing a vegetarian or vegan diet from reconstructed meat-eaters' menus. The social constructs regarding what, when and how we eat tend to obstruct the whole foods, plant-based diet that's not only compassionate toward other sentient life, but also much healthier than the norm. 

Well, our winter finally bit. It toyed with us for a little while there, doing a convincing Bay Area dance around 50 with a healthy dose of showers, when suddenly Mother Nature slammed on the brakes and froze us over with the midwestern chill we know so well. I've been going out in my big cocoon coat with four layers underneath and to tell you the truth I'm a little relieved. At least the seasons are revolving more or less as they should be, even if the freeze is a little tardy.

Of course, this newly arrived arctic ambiance means that I've been reaching for the warm and toasty comforts. I've been drinking boatloads of tea, taking plenty more hot showers than usual, and running to the corner of my living room to curl up in front of the furnace every time it goes on. I'm a simple, rather feline creature, and I like my warm things. 

I also like my wintry comfort foods, but my new resolution to keep my eats on the vegan and super-frugal side of things means that such seasonal classics as baked mac and cheese are no longer on the table. Instead, I've got to find ways to make fruits and veggies into comfort foods. This challenge has mostly resulted in my nuking up a whole lot of lard-free refried beans, but in an effort to get some real, whole plants into my system, I recently went ahead and bought a cabbage. It felt right. It's a winter vegetable, it's green and leafy, it's round and sturdy like a bowling ball. I don't think I'd ever cooked it to satisfaction before this time, but I went ahead with it despite the follies of my past. And by God, I was going to turn that plant into a warm and sticky comfort food fit for the bitterest of winter nights.