no regrets on a perfect weekend

I have sinned. Properly. I had a Schnitzel on Saturday evening. It was good. Obviously. So no more “I am a vegetarian” bullshit. I will have to look for a new definition of my eating habits.

When I started with the whole idea of eating vegetarian a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know why I was doing it or for how long. I was getting bored with eating lots of grilled chicken and steaks and wanted to see if I could actually live without meat. The beginning was quite interesting and enjoyable but I also had my difficulties adjusting when on my second day I casually threw some chorizos in my mouth at an exhibition opening and only after a couple of seconds of chewing those delicious pieces did I realize what I have done. A couple of weeks later in France I decided not to be anal about it and gave up teaching the French about this stupidity called vegetarianism and simply ordered meat (the tourist menu in Tours contained nine different main dishes, none were vegetarian).

In the meantime I have bought some new cooking books with some fantastic recipes. I now know how to cook green asparagus in two different ways – one more delicious than the other, I have substituted meat with aubergines for Schnitzel and fish (the expensive tuna and the cheaper salmon), cooked soups and different kinds of vegetables with rice and potatoes that I never knew existed before. But I also had my weak moments. About two weeks ago after coming home late in the morning after a great karaoke night – having been slightly intoxicated to be honest – those disgusting hotdogs in the fridge started flirting with me and the weak man as I am, I couldn’t say no. Only the next morning did I realize what I have done. All those weeks of acting vegetarian and dreaming of that particular first steak and then the first pieces of meat have to be sausages made of unidentified parts of pigs and cows?

I came home from Bristol last Thursday evening and was pretty tired. Friday was great, didn’t go to fitness centre but we went to see the new James Bond movie. (I really liked it, although I hate the fact that they didn’t give us the full story about Quantum). After that we went to Waxy’s for a drink, bumped into Noel and had a couple of more drinks. Then on Saturday morning we met up at Jacks place and said goodbye to the baby-shower weekend participants, then fitness centre, hairdresser (great fun as always, getting a head massage and all) and a very productive shopping trip (a book on Photoshop, a new suit because my older one got ruined by a smoker colleague last week, a very nice shirt & some shampoo). Met up with the very cute and very pregnant Blanca for coffee, met Jack, did some more shopping, got kicked out of Leib & Seele AND Schöneberger because they were totally full. In the end we went to a place called “Solzer” or something.

And this is where I return to the whole vegetarian theme. So once there, I decided to commit a sin. And this time I was prepared to do it properly. It was business time!!! So I ordered a Schweinshaxe. Well as it turned out, the gods wanted to signal me something because I was told that the guy at the neighbouring table got the last one they had. So I hesitated a moment trying to figure out the message of the gods. Could it be a sign? Shall I order a salad? It was a split-second decision and it was the right one. The Schnitzel was sooooooooooooo delicious that I didn’t have any regrets in the end.

I also managed to go to the Yoga lesson on Sunday, which was amazing. It is totally empowering and I feel completely energized afterwards. So much that I have thoroughly cleaned my room. As the weather was not the best, we didn’t do too much in the city, only met Blanca and Johanees for a nice afternoon cup of tea and spent the rest of the evening at home watching the first 8 episodes of Stromberg (I bought the DVD from Amazon together with the photoshop elements software a week ago).

So where do we go from here? I don’t know exactly. I am sitting on the airplane on my way to Bristol and will for sure continue living my vegetarian-like life. The days in Bristol will be fun as the canteen is amazing – I only fear the weekend ahead when I go visit Helen and Paul in London. I am pretty sure we will go for steak and I will be put to a test. But whatever the coming weeks may bring, one thing is for sure – I am looking forward to being at home for the holidays and being fed the best Schnitzel in the world - with a big smile on my face.