Elina Grace Edwin: January 2010

I love lamb. Lamb and fish are the only two meats that I eat.

Fifteen years ago this past September 1st, I gave up eating chicken and beef. It all started when I ate a Licks Burger that tasted very not ok. Honestly, it did not taste like beef at all. Whatever was wrong with it that day, it stopped me cold from eating ground beef until an accidental ingestion at South Street Burger a couple of months ago…a full fifteen years later. Until that moment back in 1994, I loved red meat. While we never really had steak growing up as my mother said it was too expensive, I loved hamburgers. We also ate lots of “mince”, a Scottish dinner meal of ground beef browned and mixed with beef stock and also containing onion, carrots and boiled potatoes.

Soon after being so turned off hamburger, I could not even eat a steak and then by the end of 1994 I had stopped eating meat altogether, including lamb. I never gave up eating fish and while I did not consider myself a vegetarian, many people referred to me as one. I believe I was what is called a pesco- vegetarian.

Looking back on it now, I can honestly say that it was a good decision. I learned to love vegetables and even though I now, as of a couple of years ago, eat lamb again, I still adore vegetables in way I would not have otherwise.

A couple of years ago I emailed the New Zealand Lamb Company with a number of questions. A few months later, I bought my first loin chops. I now love lamb loin chops grilled medium rare.

Since starting to eat lamb again, I have also eaten two Ontario Certified Organic steaks and once even eaten chicken at Swiss Chalet. I won’t soon forget each of those moments. When you have not eaten beef or chicken for fourteen years, you forget what they taste like.

In the case of the steak, it was almost like eating something brand new. My brain did not seem to remember the taste of beef. While it was fine, I concluded that I much…much…prefer lamb over beef.

Then last Christmas, after shopping for Advent Calendar treats for my nieces & nephews, I was both exhausted and hungry. I found myself steps away from a Swiss Chalet. Before I continue, I should say that I LOVED Swiss Chalet as a child. It was one of two family restaurants we ate at when I was a child. The other was surprise surprise…McDonalds. I can remember the Swiss Chalet chicken tastes and smells even now. That being said, when I ordered a white quarter festive special last Christmas, I was really disappointed that it did not taste like my memories. I do not know if my palate has changed or if Swiss Chalet chicken has, but I ate half a quarter chicken dinner and concluded that I likely would never eat chicken again. If Swiss Chalet could not entice me back to eating chicken, then there was no hope. Frankly, I also concluded that tofu had more flavour. I have eaten a great deal of tofu since my no longer eating meat days began and it tastes better to me than that Swiss Chalet did. I feel like I have committed a unpatriotic sin saying that. I really really wanted it to taste like my memories, but found that chicken kind of tastes like nothing really.

So back to Lamb. I could eat medium rare loin chops far too often, but they are expensive, so I went looking for less expensive cuts of meat, so I could eat lamb more often. The first thing I noticed is that there aren’t as many lamb options in the grocers as there are beef options. I noticed ground lamb…out; various roasts…just for me, so out. The only other cut at my local grocers was lamb shanks.

It is now one hour before New Year's. Most are out reveling. I have just finished eating a delicious dinner, which brings me to the first thing I am grateful for as 2010 approaches:

Enough to eat.

I have been very careful to try and not waste even half a lemon since I moved into the apartment. When I have half a lemon left, I buy an avocado and make guacamole. I did very well for a couple of months and then my sister kindly gave me some apples she obtained apple picking. I am allergic to apples but I can eat them well cooked. My allergist explained, “you may be able to eat them cooked because it denatures the protein”. So I made my first apple crumble with the gifted apples and ate it over several days. I had two apples leftover. I realized after they went bad…and it does take apples a while to go bad…that I should have just stuck them in the oven and baked them like I had eaten apples long ago on an open camp fire. But I didn’t and they were wasted.

I decided at some point after I moved here that I would make myself a nice meal on any holidays that I was alone or not with my family. Tonight, for New Year’s Eve, I made myself a sort of Moroccan inspired lamb dish. I am calling it Elina’s New Year’s Lamb. I measured and recorded my ingredients in case it turned out well and I wanted to make it again. It was very tasty. I will make it again. Here is the recipe, in case you want to try it too.