Vegatarian Son...anything but that

It's a mother's worse nightmare. The son dates a girl whose is a vegan and becomes a vegetarian. I don't have a lot of vegetarian recipes in my repertoire and am feeling challenged. Restaurants also pose a challenge.

Last night we ate the Falafel Hut in Upper Montclair. Middle eastern food and restaurants make vegetarian choices easy. This was a great place: we got a completely veg platter for $9 , hummous, baba gannoush, two salads, falafel and white sauce with a basket of pita. It took me a while to remember what it like to be in a middle eastern shop. I asked for tea and we got a fresh brewed black tea. Cinnamon scented, it came in tall glasses with sugar on the side. My son and I had a great time mixing the platter contents in the pitas and warming our hands on the glasses of tea. The TV was tuned to a station that was possibly Lebanese and there were men sitting relaxing drinking tea. It reminded me of the falafel shops in Manhattan although cleaner and more serene. everyone there was very warm to us: this could be a new favorite place for us.

When dining out with a vegetarian, there can be tension. A Mediterranean restaurant can be a great choice especially because the veg cuisine is authentic, not pretending to be a substitute for "real food". This place has all the common grilled and marinated meats as well: the shwarma etc. I hope this is helpful; I know it can be tough to balance carnivores and vegetarians in one household, one table or one restaurant.

In my future blog entries, I'll share my few recipes from this cuisine. For me , it is time to learn more.