Kale and Hearty

Triumph!

2011-08-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

Something happened today that really meant a lot to me. Not an event on the level of, say, my sister delivering her babies in a couple of weeks, or next month celebrating the 1-year anniversary of dating my boyfriend, or [crossing fingers] someday getting a fabulous winemaking job. However, this was enough to make me cheer happily inside all day long.

I was able to donate blood. Because my blood was chock full of iron-rich red blood cells.

This hasn't happened in, oh, about seven years. Every time I went in, they'd check my hematocrit and it would be too low. Sometimes just barely too low, sometimes well below the limit. That pesky vegetarian-induced anemia.

Yesterday I received an email about the blood drive happening at work, and signed up for a donation appointment figuring I'd at least get an idea of my hematocrit before they sent me away. Instead I blasted past their donation threshold.

Amazing. Less than six months on a deliberate iron-rich-animal-product-including diet and I've fixed that anemia problem. Just goes to show that liver is more powerful than you could ever imagine. :) And clams.

I particularly feel warm and fuzzy when I donate blood because I'm O+, so a large proportion of the populace can receive from me, and I either lack or have a particular factor in my blood that enables me to donate to babies. Do you have healthy blood? Find your local donation center and give some of it away.

This week's surprising CSA haul

2011-08-24T21:19:00.001-07:00

Wow. Everything I pulled out of this week's CSA box was my favorite.

A basket of padrone peppers

A head of butter lettuce

A bunch of baby leeks

A bunch of carrots

Three kohlrabi, with leaves

Two baskets strawberries

A head of cauliflower (!)

A small bag of sun-dried tomatoes (!!)

Plus, of course, six amazing eggs

As I was carrying this load to the car, I thought about my sister's CSA, and the fact that she bought into half a share for her and her husband. They don't get through all their fruit and veg, and every week give something or another to our parents. It makes me wonder whether my Fifth Crow Farm CSA box was filled with the intention of it feeding two people over a week. If so, that just confirms that I am a vegetable eating machine, as the only things I've ever thrown out are the green tops of carrots, radishes and turnips.

I have so many leaves in my fridge right now. Let's see: beet greens, kohlrabi greens, red cabbage, red butter lettuce, green butter lettuce, mixed salad greens, swiss chard. The beet greens and chard need to be cooked next. I'm thinking of treating the chard more like spinach, and making a curry with lamb. I was all set to look up a recipe in my pan-asian cookbook when I realized that it was a *vegetarian* pan-asian cookbook, and likely not to have a recipe for lamb curry. Of course, all I really have to do is follow the recipe for potato and spinach curry and add the browned lamb to it....

This blog post is brought to you by the surge of energy that enabled me to make pesto out of the basil plant that's been sitting on my kitchen table for, oh, at least two weeks now. 2 C basil leaves, 4 cloves garlic, 1/2 C walnuts, 1/4 C parmesan cheese, and 2 T olive oil all mixed up in the food processor. Scoop into a jar and cover with a layer of olive oil to prevent oxidation. Store in the refrigerator. I haven't decided yet what to use the pesto on, as I don't eat pasta. Beans or potatoes are always options, or I could spread it over a burger.

Currently listening to The Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed". One song left, and then off to bed with me.

Taking a break

2011-08-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

I'm still alive, and still hale and hearty. What's awesome is that I'm working at a new job. A job that is engaging, satisfying, and leaves me no time for laziness on the computer during the day. I recently finished a very time-consuming sewing project; and I'm gearing up for the renaissance faire, rehearsals for which started this week. Busy, busy, busy.

So, in the name of my blood pressure, I'm going to take a break from blogging. Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Late and words only

2011-08-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

Aargh. I have a photo of this week's CSA box, but I can't find the cable that connects my camera to my computer for downloading images. I'll have to keep looking, because there are a lot of pictures I want to share.

I've been on a little summer vacation this week, which is partly to explain the lack of action here. Spent last weekend up in the Redwoods National Forest with a couple of my college chums. Camping, hiking, chatting, eating food cooked on sticks over the campfire, more chatting--just what one would expect from three outdoorsie ladies.

The forest itself was incredible. Like nothing I had ever seen before. The redwoods were so massive, so gargantuan, so brobdingnagian! I could have (and actually did, come to think of it, on Saturday) spent all day hiking on that soft trail, amidst the ferns and clean air, craning my neck to see the tops of the trees touching the sky. I think my favorite part was imagining a diplodocus walking through the thick ferns and trees.

Anyway, I am hoping to post photos at some later date.

Now for vegetables! My refrigerator, as usual, is bursting. This week I received:

3 golden beets

a bunch of turnips

a bunch of collards

a head of red butter lettuce

a head of red cabbage

2 yellow onions

2 baskets of strawberries

a half-dozen eggs

This time I am definitely eating the turnip greens. As for the turnips themselves, I am going to ferment them, middle-eastern style, with a bit of beet in there to give them a bright pink color. (Hah! I could break tradition and use a golden beet to give them a bright yellow-orange color!)

My fermented vegetable recipes come from Nourishing Traditions, by Fallon and Enig, and are based on lactic acid-producing bacterial fermentation using whey. One obtains the whey and bacteria the old-fashioned way (old-fashioned whey!) by separating yogurt. As it so happens, I have a quart of home-made yogurt in my fridge, and the resulting yogurt cheese is amazing with strawberries (or any kind of fruit, for that matter.) Time for me to go spend a few hours in the kitchen.

My CSA Farm Loves Me

2011-07-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Who has two thumbs and 15 pints of strawberries? This girl!

Yesterday's gorgeous CSA haul contained things in threes:

3 zucchini

3 beets

3 kohlrabi

3 baskets of strawberries

3 leeks

3 pairs of eggs :)

bag of salad mix

head of broccoli

All this, plus an entire flat (12 pints) of strawberries. Gorgeous, deliciously sweet, organic strawberries--at the amazing rate of $2 per basket. I normally don't snack on the drive home with my haul, but two berries met their end in my belly.

This extra flat of berries is all going in the freezer for winter consumption. Last night 6 pints were cleaned, hulled, and laid out in a single layer on a cookie sheet for overnight freezing. This morning they ended up in 3 quart-sized freezer bags. I will be repeating the procedure this evening.

Speaking of repeat procedures, the first batch of stock is cooling in my fridge. It had simmered in the crock pot for about a day, then strained into a stainless-steel bowl and popped into the fridge. While I ordered plain bones ("gelatinous bones") from my meat dealers, one of the bones contained a considerable amount of meat, and a considerable amount of fat, so this first batch of stock is particularly rich. I know, because I drank a bit of it last night. About a cup of stock + a cup of reconstituted vegetable bouillon = so much goodness I had to save half as leftovers. Silly me, too, for drinking hot soup on a hot July evening, but whenever I make something new I really want to try it right away. It has a pronounced flavor to which I am not accustomed, but I expect it will grow on me, especially if my body responds well to all the alleged nutrition. In any case, I've read that you can get more than one pot of stock out of a set of bones, so they're simmering for another day. My freezer is going to be so full!

Heading out on a weekend camping trip (ladies only!) early tomorrow morning, so I've been thinking about suitable food to take with me. Dense vegetables--carrots, beets, kohlrabi--will come, the latter one to eat raw for lunch and the former two to roast in the fire. I'm also bringing the salad mix, because it's fragile, needs to be eaten soon, and I can just nosh on the leaves straight from the bag. At least one pint of strawberries will also come out with me, to share with the girls.

I'm really excited about the trip. Aside from the fact that I love camping, we're going to be up in the Redwoods, which I've heard is gorgeous. Best of all, I'll get to enjoy the company of an old friend who I haven't see in more than ten years.

Adventures in Shopping

2011-07-26T12:20:00.001-07:00

I made a quick shopping expedition to my local Whole Foods Market yesterday after work. Here was my list: milk, tomatoes, dates, coconut, almond butter, cayenne pepper, dried basil. I added a pint of half-and-half, since I've been missing drinking coffee in the mornings. Over the course of the evening, the milk went into a batch of yogurt, while the tomatoes are now cooling their heels in a tasty marinara sauce.

While walking down the canned fish aisle (picked up some tinned sardines and kippered herring), I stopped and perused a snack. Unfortunately, the aisle which contains canned fish also contains most of the fried carbohydrate snacks: potato chips, tortilla chips, cheesy poofs. While they may be all-natural, that doesn't mean they're good for me. A package of Inka Chips made its way into my hand. The ingredient list is brief: plantains, palm olein, and sea salt. Achieves a snack trifecta: crunchy, salty, sweet.

I resisted. I had to. I feel as though I can't let any packaged food into my life right now, so that I can break the cycle of junk food. (Seriously, yesterday there were cookies, pastries, and pretzels all over the break room. I could have just grabbed three or four of the large cookies and eaten them in secret. No one would know, so no one would care. No one, except myself. It's still hard to pass up free carbs.)

These brief moments of struggle enable me to understand how hard it can be for most people to eat only real food. It takes so much time and energy.

Take the marinara sauce, for which I peeled and chopped seven tomatoes, one onion, and three cloves of garlic. Once it started simmering, I could walk away from the stove, but still had to come back periodically in order to stir. Tonight I'm going to pluck all the leaves off my basil plant, wash and chop, then mix them in. Compare this to the ease of buying a jar of sauce. To some people, it just doesn't make sense to cook. For me, it is all worth it. (Though I wish I could have bought the tomatoes at a farmers' market. Must plan ahead next time.)

Of course, now I'm thinking that I should find some plantains, slice them thinly, then roast them in my oven. I can have my chips and eat them, too! As an occasional (very occasional) treat.

Movie Review: Captain America

2011-07-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

After missing "Thor" and skipping "Green Lantern", yesterday I finally caught up with my comic superhero movie cravings and saw a matinee of "Captain America: The First Avenger". Quite simply, it was fun. There was one gaping plot hole, which I hope can be explained to me by someone in the know. Chris Evans was looking very fine as the strapping, blond Steve Rogers, providing a goodly dose of eye candy. Hugo Weaving was an excellent choice for the villain: brooding, scowling, grimacing, and generally chewing the scenery in a dastardly, sinister way. There are some excellent quips from minor characters, and of course a cameo by Stan Lee, which lets one know that the moviemakers are not taking themselves too seriously. I left the theater interested in the next Avengers installment, theoretically due next spring, and I'm planning to catch Thor once it comes out on DVD.

I have to say this, however: can I have a superhero movie wherein the main character portrayed is not a white male? While I understand that all of the original comics were written by white men, and "you write what you know", I'm feeling the effects of the Golden Age of American Patriarchy. Or perhaps that was simply the over-the-top propaganda machine omnipresent in Captain America.

My relationship with the classic superheroes is awkward. I prefer them in the modern reincarnations such as "Kingdom Come" and "Red Son"--wherein the heroes are enmeshed in a plot full of depth and character development. I like seeing Superman torn between the desire to always help people and the knowledge that he can't save us from ourselves. I've always been a fan of Batman at his most angst-ridden and brooding. The movie "Iron Man" has been the best of the Marvels for me so far because you see Tony Stark move from the devil-may-care genius playboy to a man who sees his duty to make the world a decent place. I've yet to see any depth to Captain America, but I hope it comes.

My most gleeful moment came before the movie, during the trailer for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". I have to say, it looks so fabulous ridiculous that I think it's going to be ridiculously fabulous. I had tears in my eyes, I was laughing so hard during the trailer.

Serious CSA Swag

2011-07-21T08:52:00.001-07:00

There's a photo that will be inserted later. I am impatient, so I wanted to post about yesterday's afternoon o' food.

First, the Fifth Crow Farm CSA box contained:

A bunch of lovely, stubby carrots

A big ol' bunch of spinach

Two heads of lovely lettuce

Two zucchini

A savoy cabbage

Some spring onions

A bag of dried beans

Two pints of strawberries (of all sizes)

Half a dozen lovely eggs

As usual, having to find space in my fridge for the new goods prompted me to work on consuming some of the previous stock. I cooked half a head of cabbage last night for dinner--a simple saute in coconut oil with some crushed red pepper and tamari sauce for seasoning. Half a broccoli went into this morning's breakfast. (I love vegetables for breakfast.) I currently have six beets, but I'm holding on to those for a dinner party on Sunday.

I'm really excited to make a salad tonight, using the olive oil and apricot lavender balsamic vinegar purchased during last Saturday's trip to the market. Plus it is liver and onions night! Yay liver!

Speaking of liver, I received my first CSA box from Marin Sun Farms:

2 pounds ground goat

3 pounds ground lamb

1 pound lamb stew meat

3 1/2 pound boneless pig leg

I added on to my regular order, and also obtained about 2 pounds of lamb's liver and 2 pounds of assorted cow bones. Liver is an important part of my diet, so I want to be sure of a good supply, and the Holding Ranch booth at the farmers' market only occasionally has liver available. I certainly haven't seen it at Whole Foods. I'm excited about making some batches of bone broth in my crock pot. (You can google it to read up on the purported health benefits.) Plus, this weekend I'm finally going to process up a batch of homemade vegetable bouillon.

So many things are on my to-do list for Saturday, it's almost scary. If I get most of them done, that will be fine by me.

Carrot Raisin Wheatberry Salad

2011-07-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

As part of my mother's birthday bash earlier this month, my sister prepared a traditional carrot-raisin salad. Its ingredients are simple: shredded or grated carrots, raisins, and peanuts with a sweetened mayonnaise-based dressing. My new way of eating means that I shy away from industrially-prepared mayo, but I was able to join in on the fun by chomping down on the raw carrots, raisins, and peanuts themselves.

For the potluck at yesterday's Fifth Crow Farm open house, of course I wanted to showcase one of the items grown at the farm. I also wanted to prepare something potluck friendly. My brain was set on carrot-raisin salad, but Fifth Crow currently offers neither carrots nor raisins. Then I rediscovered the bag of wheatberries which was part of my CSA several weeks back. After a little scoping around the interwebs for a mayo-free way of dressing the salad, I put together the following, which was completely eaten up at the potluck.

Carrot-Raisin-Wheatberry Salad

1 C wheatberries, cooked (preferably organic and heritage!)

2 large carrots, grated

1/2 C raisins

1/2 C peanuts

juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange

1-2 T olive oil

1 T sesame seeds, toasted

To cook the wheatberries, cover with lots of water and allow to soak for a day, or at least overnight. Drain and discard the water, and transfer the grain to a medium saucepan. Cover with purified water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the grains are as tender as you like them. Drain well and cool.

In a large bowl (or the large tupperware container you plan to serve the salad from at the potluck), combine the wheatberries, grated carrots, raisins and peanuts. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix together the lemon and orange juices with the olive oil. Pour over the salad. Add the sesame seeds and mix well. It can be prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight before serving.

[Photo used freely from SchoolPhotoProject.com]

Crock-pot of Doom!

2011-07-14T13:09:00.001-07:00

Last night I did something for the first time: made my own barbecue sauce. It was based on the recipe presented over at Mark's Daily Apple.

Naturally, since this is me we're talking about, there were some substitutions. First, since I didn't have any tomato paste, I instead peeled, chopped, and cooked down a couple of small heirloom tomatoes. I didn't have any hot sauce, so I threw in 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. I sweetened it with 1 T honey and about 1/2 T molasses. And my paprika was smoked.

Sweet Georgia Brown, that's some tasty stuff, at least the taste I took off the spoon last night.

Here's where the crock-pot comes in. This morning before work I browned a 1-lb chuck roast and stuck it in the pot with the bbq sauce, a small red onion, and a cup of soaked Christmas lima beans from Rancho Gordo (plus some water as needed for cooking the beans). Aw, yeah, I get bbq beef and beans for dinner tonight. Along with a heaping mess of sauteed greens and whatever other veggies tickle my fancy. It'll totally be the thing after the 6 mile hike I have planned for after work.

A special CSA post

2011-07-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

This week's CSA posting is extra-special. There's a photo!

Just check out the goodness. Radishes, bag of arugula, cabbage, two bunches of broccoli, two baskets of strawberries, three beets, four red onions, 6 eggs. And you see that bundle of leaves at the bottom? That's a basil plant. With its roots in water, I'll get fresh basil for the next two weeks.

Of course, trying to fit this haul into my fridge helped force me to find creative ways to eat some of last week's produce: both rainbow chard and kohlrabi leaves featured prominently in dinner. I've also finally finished the bunch of radishes from two weeks ago. While I've been reading that one can eat turnip and radish greens, I've yet to steel myself for the plunge into doing so. However, I dare say that it'll happen eventually, considering that I'm already eating beet and kohlrabi greens.

With now six beets and a head of cabbage residing in my fridge, plus the onions on the side, all I need is my Mom's special Christmas borscht recipe and I've got a fabulous soup ready for the simmering. Christmas in July!

Some sewing was performed this evening, after total laziness the past two days. I finally (after, seriously, about 10-12 months) hemmed a blue linen shift dress, so it is now finished. I also stitched the major seams in the bodice and lining of my practice Regency dress. Photos to follow.

I can see the moon through the tree branches outside my window. Definitely time to head towards bed. Good night!

Break time!

2011-07-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

About an hour ago, I walked from my work desk and down a short passage to what is the closest view of the outdoors. This glass door opens onto the little courtyard of our multi-company complex. There are a few water features, a stretch of grass, a couple of trees, and lots of flowering plants.

I arrived upon the view just in time to see two hummingbirds. One flew up and away, while the other went about her normal hummingbird activities. Sat perched on a the branch of a flowering shrub for 30 seconds, hovered around sucking nectar from the flowers for 25 seconds, and then perched for another 5 seconds, at which point I left the window. I know the durations because I was counting in my head, having given myself 1 minute for this window break.

Though short, it was exceedingly soothing. The sound of water falling, the summer sunlight, the verdant greenery, and an animal engaging in its natural activities. Enough to make me feel part of the world again, for a moment.

Have you taken a break from work today?

My Awesome Sister

2011-07-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

My sister (who, by the way, rules) did something really cool this past weekend. She walked a 5K. While being 7 months pregnant with twins. A few great pictures and a general recap are here. Feel inspired?

Anyway, I'd like to take this opportunity to share just how awesomely fabulous my sister is. In so many ways, she's helped make me the woman I am today. (This is an old photo, but there she is, on my left.)

Very early on, when I was old enough to speak, but not yet old enough to be understood, she translated the word "fwiss", which had been befuddling our parents for some time. The result of this adept communication? I scored the swiss cheese I'd been asking for. I also remember right when I was starting school, and I was worried about whether I'd be able to handle it. Sis and I were out in our backyard, playing on the swing set. She asked me spell a few words. Since I managed to do that just fine, she gave me all her sisterly assurance and support that I'd do just fine in school.

Then, of course, we had our teenage years, when we fought like, well, two teenage girls. Now that we're both capable adults, however, she's my best girlfriend. I can go to her for everything from relationship advice to fashion advice to career advice. I can borrow her makeup, or her clothes, or her money. She and I are definitely not alike in so many ways, but when people see the two of us together, they know that we're sisters.

Now, in a couple of months, she's going to make me an aunt, which is really rather cool. But as much as I'll love my little nieces or nephews (or one of each, if it turns out that way), I want to make sure that my sister knows how much I love her for her, now and always.

This week's CSA

2011-07-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday, therefore time for another edition of "what Melissa received in her CSA box". I can't go into too much detail, because the kind folks at Fifth Crow Farm did not send out an email this week telling us exactly what was in the box. Here we go:

Kohlrabi is back! 3 bulbs with leaves

Bag of spinach

A bunch of rainbow chard

A bunch of pink turnips? giant radishes? other edible roots?

A head of butter lettuce (and I just have to say, the silky texture of the leaves as I was moving it into the fridge made me figure out exactly why they call it butter lettuce)

6 assorted summer squash: three zucchini and three ridged squash I don't know the name of

2 baskets of strawberries

1 jar of strawberry jam

half dozen pastured-chicken eggs

With all this fresh produce in my fridge, what did I do for dinner last night? Not eat any of it. Silly. I'm still working my way through last week's vegetables. I was able to demolish one more head of baby lettuce and four radishes. I've been all out of olive oil for the past week at least, so all my salads have been dressed with sesame oil. I'll be buying more of the olive sort this weekend.

It was too hot in the house yesterday, so I enjoyed my dinner outside on my little back deck. (I do mean little--it's only about 4 feet wide.) I set up a stool with a board atop for a table, and sat cross-legged on a couple of rugs. Who needs fancy patio furniture?

Last night I finished the 3rd book in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder: "On the Banks of Plum Creek". The Ingalls family has moved to Minnesota, where they first live in a dugout house before building a two-story home out of wooden planks, with "boughten" shingles, doors, hinges, and even glass windows. A plague of grasshoppers obliterates their first wheat crop and a winter blizzard nearly swallows up Pa, but the family comes through happily in the end. There is still food mentioned, but not as much as in the first two books, and definitely not as much as in "Farmer Boy". Because they live next to a creek, they eat a lot of fish for meat. Because the wheat harvest didn't come through, and they're rather poor, most of their meals are beans and cornbread, or bread and milk.

Of course, while I read, I am struck by their simple, what we would consider minimalist, life. As a girl of nearly 8 years old, Laura owns a couple of playthings: some paper dolls and a rag doll. She wears one dress every day but Sundays. Ma has a china shepherdess and Pa has a fiddle, and those are all the extraneous decorations mentioned in their house. All of the family possessions fit into a wagon. Could you fit even a third of your belongings in the back of a mini-van? Once again, I think I have way too much stuff.

Awkward Angle

2011-07-06T13:06:00.001-07:00

On the one hand, during my stay in Utah, it was very fun to be able to once again prance about outside in cute little sun dresses. On the other hand, I've decided that I need to do more strength training and tone my arms. I've just never been very interested in weightlifting. So I need to figure out other activities, especially real-world motions, that will tax my arm muscles.

Fortunately, there's something vaguely resembling a pull-up bar outside my house. (Actually, it's a piece of pipe that runs between two trees.) So I can do pull-ups and chin-ups. Push-ups are always good, too. I'm also thinking about doing handstands against a wall. All I need now is to find heavy things to lift frequently around the house.

Any advice on strength training exercises or how to maintain a weightlifting program?

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

2011-07-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

While it was hot hot hot in Salt Lake City this past weekend, the heat was mollified by staying indoors, in my parents' air-conditioned house. Returning home to the central peninsula, there was no escape from the >90 degree temperatures in my heat-trapping little cottage with no air circulation. What to do? Well, eventually I will buy a little electrical fan, but yesterday I decided to make ice cream.

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

1 pint organic strawberries, cleaned and hulled

1 extra-large banana

1 1/2 C cream

1 1/2 C milk

1-2 tablespoons honey

1-2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)

Blend the fruit and milk in a blender until the fruit is neatly pureed. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Process in an ice cream maker. Makes ~1 quart. Serve and beat the heat. Note: the small amount of honey combined with the fruit produces just a hint of sweetness, which is what I really enjoy these days. If you'd like a more traditionally sweeter ice cream, increase the honey to at least 1/4-1/3 cup. The rum need not be included, but having a little alcohol is handy to prevent the ice cream from freezing rock hard due to the lower sugar content.

Another great CSA box

2011-06-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

My 5th CSA shipment so far. I am totally loving how easy this is. It's almost as though the vegetables just magically appear in my refrigerator.

Yesterday the magic was:

2 baskets strawberries

3 heads baby lettuce

1 bag washed arugula

2 things of fennel

3 gorgeous beets w/ greens

3 stalks broccoli

half-dozen eggs

One of the stalks of broccoli is already gone--I steamed it to have as a side for dinner--and some of the arugula was eaten at breakfast this morning. The strawberries are going to come to Salt Lake City with me, so that my family and I can enjoy them while I'm on vacation. Some other veggies will probably have to come with me, too. Whatever will fit neatly in my carry-on. :) The root veg will survive until I get back.

The fennel this week is rather like the kohlrabi a fortnight ago: I've known that it existed as a food, but have never come across it or tried to eat it. I do like the anise/fennel flavor under certain conditions (such as black licorice, which I haven't had in months, since I've gone off sugar). I'm thinking that one bulb will need to be tried raw and the other cooked, since I've seen recipes for both salads and gratins using fennel.

I'm going on vacation for 3 1/2 days, staying at my parents' house. It is going to be an adventure and an undertaking to maintain my current eating habits there. Just because I'm on vacation, I don't want to slip into eating non-nutritious food. My plan is to get there, see how much of the fridge I can take over, and then go shopping for meat and vegetables. I'd really like to cook some fabulous meals for my family while I'm there, too. I think they'll be up for it.

O-zone Thai

2011-06-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

After work yesterday, I hopped on the train and headed up to the city to meet my boyfriend J for dinner and a walk. We strolled along the waterfront, there along the Embarcadero, up to the Ferry Building and then back towards the station. It was a typical June evening in San Francisco: damp, chilly, and windy enough that I was very thankful for my wool beret and shawl. Still, a beautiful evening to be strolling around with such pleasant company.

For dinner, we ended up at O-zone Thai Restaurant and Lounge. All the tables were empty when we first arrived, though all the bar stools were occupied with people taking advantage of happy hour. Our table was in the back corner of the restaurant, by the windows, which was nice.

J had us start off with the sweet corn patties (one of his favorites--seems to be at every Asian restaurant here in SF). They were very much like apple fritters, just with corn in place of apples. Not undelicious, but very starch- and oil-heavy. Not worth it, in my book, so I shan't be ordering them again. We split a green papaya salad, my entree was the special spicy clams, and J got the BBQ beef. The papaya salad had a lot of dressing, and all the ingredients were mixed up together. Tasted delicious.

I was given a gigantic plate full of clams, in their shells, with onions and peppers and Thai basil all in a spicy sauce. It was rather messy, scooping the clams out of the shells, but added a nice visceral element to the experience. I was rather worried, however: I've always read that when you cook shellfish, like clams or mussels, you should not serve any that do not open. About half of the clams on my plate were fully open, another quarter were open just a bit, and the final quarter were still well shut. Really, I don't think that last 25% should have been on my plate at all. I didn't eat those, and I was a little hesitant to eat the ones that were open enough to get my fork in. No signs of food poisoning, so it was all right in the end.

Our waitress had to struggle through the language barrier. It took a long time for J to get his drink from the bar, even though the joint was basically empty. The hot tea was a very bland green tea, though the waitress did check the hot water and bring me a refill without me having to ask. She was also correct in informing us that their "medium" spicy was the equivalent of "hot" spicy at other restaurants--medium turned out to be plenty spicy for us.

I won't go out of my way to return, but I wouldn't not go back again. Yes, the service lacked, but overall the food was very tasty and wonderfully spicy.

Dear Mom: I am enjoying myself at camp. The food is not good.

2011-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at a 3-day fiber arts workshop down in a boy scout camp in Southern California. There will be a more extensive write-up of the workshop in a later post, but first I wanted to talk about something that bothered me the entire weekend.

You guessed it: the food.

If you talked to attendees, the food this weekend was much better than they'd had at other, comparable retreats, and, in any case, they always eat well at this workshop. Hearing this made me realize just how extremely different my diet is from the Standard American Diet (SAD). Let me illustrate this by recalling the meals offered the first day:

Breakfast--cereal bar, waffles, granola & low-fat vanilla yogurt, scrambled eggs, sausages, fruit (apples, bananas, oranges)

Lunch--sandwich bar with bread, luncheon meats, sliced cheeses, baby carrots, lettuce, leftover fruit from breakfast, chips, store-bought potato salad

Afternoon snack--cookies, chips, crackers

Dinner--taco bar with corn and wheat tortillas, ground beef, chicken, refried beans, rice, shredded cheese, a tiny bowl of iceberg lettuce, one jar of salsa

In essence: a lot of carbohydrates. How very SAD.

Now, were there no vegetables being offered this weekend because it's just too difficult to buy, prep and cook veggies or because they would not be eaten if offered?

I was dying for vegetables. I could only thing longingly of my refrigerator at home, chock full of fresh baby lettuce, kale, radishes, leeks, onions, tomatoes, peas, kohlrabi and my crocks of fermented carrots, beets, cucumbers, and sauerkraut. Once I arrived home yesterday afternoon I enjoyed a snack of prunes and walnuts. For dinner that night, I cooked up some grass-fed beef with onions, with peas and kohlrabi greens on the side. Strawberries and raw milk cheddar for dessert. Bam--there's five servings of fruits and vegetables right there. For breakfast this morning, I had scrambled eggs with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. Bright yellow and delicious eggs--so yellow compared to the eggs last weekend that I could almost not believe it. But that's the difference between real food and industrial food.

This issue is not going to hold me back from potentially attending the workshop again next year, I just have to come better prepared in order to feed myself over the weekend.

CSA Swag!

2011-06-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

Another Wednesday, another fabulous bag of goodies from Fifth Crow Farm. When I open the big box, nigh-overflowing with farm-fresh goodness, I sometimes think to myself, "All this for only $25 a week?" Yesterday evening I picked up:

3 heads baby lettuce

1 giant bunch of lacinato (dinosaur!) kale

a bunch of little red radishes

3 yellow onions

2 baskets of strawberries

a bag (maybe a pound?) of wheatberries

4 baby zucchini

a basil plant

The basil came roots and all, which I've set in a jar of water so that it will stay alive for the next week or so and I can have fresh basil every day. Or, since I also get a 1/2 dozen eggs, I'm thinking of an omelette with sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini, and lots of fresh basil. If you've never had eggs from pastured chickens before, seriously--they're amazing. Factory-farmed eggs pale in comparison, literally. I should do some side-by-side photographs to show the difference between a bright yellow pastured egg, bursting with sunny goodness, and a plain factory egg, where the chickens are supplemented with beta carotene to get an artificial yellow color and it's still not enough.

Given that I have dino kale and cattle beans (from last week's CSA box), plus some fabulous goat cheese from Achadinha, it's time to make my favorite recipe for beans and greens. I have so many onions right now that it is a good thing most of my recipes for ordinary home cooking begin with "saute an onion". In order to get the most nutrition out of the wheatberries, I'm planning to sprout them. I've never sprouted a grain before, so it will be an experiment. Yay, experiment!

Jumped right out of bed when the alarm went off (didn't even hit snooze), put on some walking clothes, and headed out on my usual 2-mile route. Everything was lovely this morning--I think the neighborhood dog-walkers are more pleasant in the morning than the evening, at least most of them. Plus, I saw two young deer. They were obviously rather accustomed to humans, because they simply froze and watched me walk by, rather than bounding away at first glance. It's so amazing, being able to walk outside in my neighborhood and see deer. I can't get enough of it.

Delicious breakfast!

2011-06-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I created (and devoured!) what turned out to be a fantastic oatmeal parfait. The following ingredients were layered in a coconut oil jar:

1 diced aprium

1/2 serving of cooked oatmeal

spoonful of homemade almond butter

spoonful of chia seeds

the other 1/2 serving of cooked oatmeal

1 diced apricot

about 1/4 to 1/3 C homemade yogurt

The aprium (an apricot-plum cross, like a pluot, but more apricot than plum) and apricot were purchased yesterday after work at the Tuesday afternoon farmers' market. So fresh and sweet and delicious!

Eating across the layers was definitely fun. Like digging for pirate treasure!

Here's hoping that today is the tail end of the heat wave. My little house has no a/c and no air circulating system, so the heat just stays contained. Last night I had to open all the windows I could in order for it to be cool enough to sleep. The sudden and excessive afternoon heat has also limited my ability to go for long, vigorous hikes, though another contributor has been my need to run lots of errands right after work, like a busy little bee.

Fortunately, I was able to enjoy a nice walk yesterday evening with my boyfriend. We were out a little later than I'd intended, and did most of the 2nd mile in the dark. During the 1st mile, coming around a curve, I saw ahead of me a deer on the road. Not only a deer--a 3-point buck with a fantastic set of antlers. This was the first time I'd seen a mature buck in the area, and I thought it was particularly fitting to have seen it on the evening of the summer solstice.

The things you discover

2011-06-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

...when you plug your day's food into a calorie counter. I've been using FitDay off and on for the past few years. It was the first online calorie tracker I discovered, so I'm accustomed to the way it works, and it generally functions just fine for me.

Because I was curious, I decided to plug in my meals from yesterday. Wow. Unintentionally low-calorie and low-carb. Intentionally high-nutrient (what one gets from eating all real plant and animal foods). There's a function where you can see a bar graph of your various vitamin and mineral intakes, and I giggle a little inside whenever mine are off the charts. Because of what I ate, my intakes of Vitamins A, B, C, and D were all in the range of 300% of the RDA. A few minerals were in the 50-75% range, but most were well above 100%.

What surprised me about yesterday was how full I was on such little food. Breakfast was around 350 calories, lunch 450, and dinner 500. That's only 1300 calories, and I'm trying to figure out how I managed to get by on so few without feeling hungry at all, maintaining my normal activity at work and at home. I think it was a combination of the higher fat and protein content of my meals--both of which are so satiating--and the heat. It's easier to eat less when it seriously feels too hot to eat. Plus I'm sure my body said "I have all the nutrients I need today, thanks. I'll just burn some of this adipose tissue when your organs need feeding later." :)

Woke up early for a nice dawn walk. I felt that it was a necessary thing today, on the longest day of the year, to celebrate the sun as much as possible. Two miles in the cool morning sun, with all the birds singing their little hearts out. My favorite way to start the day. Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

This week's CSA haul

2011-06-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm a day late in posting my Fifth Crow Farm booty from Wednesday.

This week, my box contained:

a gorgeous head of red butter (?) lettuce

a bag of mixed baby greens

a bunch of little white turnips

three fabulous purple kohlrabi

two baskets of strawberries

two red onions

and a bag of blue cornmeal

I had feared that this time would come: kohlrabi in my CSA. Though I'd read about it through other food blogs, I'd never actually come across it myself. However, I showed no fear, perhaps because I discovered that kohlrabi was a staple amongst my ancestors in Eastern Europe. :)

After doing a little research into what could be done with kohlrabi, I decided to take the path of least resistance and just straight up eat it. I trimmed the leaves from a bulb, cut it in half, pared away the outside, then sliced it up and ate it raw with dinner. It's very crisp, very fresh, and, to me, is like a cross between broccoli stems and jicama. Like many raw vegetables, nutritionally it's a cell wall holding Vitamin C and small amounts of other vitamins and minerals. Low in calories, and most of those are fiber.

I'm very keen on eating the kohlrabi greens, along with some beet greens I also have in my fridge, and possibly even the turnip greens. I might be accustomed to the taste of greens, or I might be lacking certain taste buds, because they never seem bitter to me. Could be that I just acclimated my palate to sauteed kale back in my 20s and that was that. I'm thinking it would be tasty to do the greens in an asian style: steamed and mixed with sesame oil, sesame seeds, tamari and crushed red pepper.

The red onions, on the other hand, are going to be a problem. While I'm fine with white and yellow, I'm afraid that red onions have never treated me kindly. Possibly it's because they are most often served to me raw, and I just don't appreciate raw onions. However, this may be an excellent opportunity to make a real onion soup, with a mushroom broth base and perhaps a nice sprinkling of gruyere cheese.

All kinds of sweet things

2011-06-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

The first sweet treat I enjoyed today: a text message from a friend informing me that his wife, also my dear friend, had delivered their second son in the wee hours of the morning. I was in the delivery room throughout the labor of their eldest, and it was an amazing, energizing experience. That time labor ended in a caesarian section; this time my friend was able to have a vbac (vaginal birth after caesarian) just like she was hoping for. I'm so glad to hear that everyone involved is healthy and happy--most especially mama and her new baby. I can't wait to hear the story of the birth.

The second sweet treat was at lunch. In addition to the amazing salad--fresh baby lettuce topped with radishes, roasted beet, sauerkraut, home pickles and tuna--I also packed for myself some strawberries and my homemade yogurt cheese. Oh, so good I'm drooling just thinking about it. The creamy cheese was so rich and delicious, the strawberries so sweet and summery. I'm thinking that I could make up a nut crust, put down a layer of cream cheese, top with sliced strawberries and have the most amazing cheesecake a real-foods-eating girl could desire.

With any luck, the sweets won't let up for the rest of the day.

Another Farmers' Market

2011-06-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Due to an all-day recording session in San Francisco on Saturday, I was, yet again, unable to visit my usual Farmers' Market. While I do get a lot of goodies in my Wednesday CSA, there are lots of other veggies I like to have available on a regular basis. So I took the opportunity on Sunday morning to try out the market in Belmont. It's much smaller than the one in San Mateo, and with less advertised "organic" produce, but had everything I needed. I bought beets, carrots, tomatoes (first of the season for me!), walnuts, cherries, apricots, yellow plums, and pluots. Hooray for stone fruit!

I had an excellent and productive day at home yesterday. In the kitchen, I turned the remnants of my last batch of crock pot yogurt into yogurt cheese, saving the whey. I put up a quart of beets to ferment on the counter, following the recipe in Nourishing Traditions. Finally, as a treat, I made up some pudding, using real vanilla bean for flavor. I should say, however, that it is more of a honey vanilla pudding, since the honey I have is so strongly flavored. (Not a bad thing for a honey-lover like me.)

Before dinner I went on a nice 6-mile hike/run in the park. I had one of those moments where, emerging from the shade of the trees into the sun of the meadow, I just had to break into a sprint for the sheer joy of being alive and outside. I saw a doe and her fawn, which made me think of all the pregnant ladies I know, especially the one who is going to go into labor any minute now and soon get to nuzzle her new baby for the first time.

CSA Haul

2011-06-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what was waiting for me in my CSA box yesterday:

2 baskets strawberries

3 heads baby lettuce

1 bunch radishes (red, long and skinny)

1 bag spinach

1 bunch of giant collard greens

1 bunch of green garlic

a small bag of dried beans (I don't remember the type)

One head of lettuce and a couple of radishes ended up in my lunch box today. Most, if not all, of the spinach is going to be sauteed with garlic tonight, since my boyfriend will be over and that is one of his favorite dishes in all the world, second only perhaps to pumpkin pie. A few of the strawberries will get eaten tonight for dessert.

I think I'm going to cook the collard greens simply: sauteed and steamed in my cast iron pan with some garlic and onion plus crushed red pepper. Maybe with a bit of cardamom and ginger, too, to make them more like Ethiopian Ye'abesha Gomen.

Need to see what should be done with green garlic. I still have lots of kale and leeks left over from last week's CSA box, so all these green things must get eaten!

Did not sleep well last night. I kept dreaming that the auditions were happening for Dickens Christmas Fair and I was totally unprepared. Eventually, when the alarm went off at 6:15, instead of snoozing for an extra 20 minutes, I actually got out of bed, put some clothes on, and went for a dawn walk. It was lovely--the air so fresh, the birds all singing, the cocks crowing. (There is, in fact, one house nearby that keeps chickens, and that cock was really going at it.) I'm hoping to make this a regular occurrence throughout the warm days of summer.

What I love about my new diet

2011-06-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

I decided that I just had to throw up another post today, since obviously I'm really excited about this fact.

Several months ago, I started the transition from a strict vegetarian (though not vegan) to an omnivorous diet. Right now I eat more like my European ancestors did: meat, dairy, eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, some grains, honey & spices. Entirely real food, full of all the nutrients a body needs. All my meat (at this point, predominantly cow and lamb) is grass-fed, dairy comes from pastured cows, and eggs from pastured hens. Fruits & veg are as organic as possible. Basically everything I buy comes from my local farms.

What I love about this new way of eating--more protein and no sugar--is that I'm not hungry every few hours. Coming from a previous situation of eating upwards of six small meals a day, carefully distributing my calories, it's really amazing to me to eat just three meals a day and not really care about calories. My weight is stable, and the lowest it has been my adult life. I have a ton of energy. It's the ultimate in fabulous!

Produce Recap & Blueberry Ovencake Recipe

2011-06-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

Have I made it through all the produce from last week's CSA box? Nope. As I was rummaging around in the fridge Monday, gathering carrots and celery for stew, I noticed that the entire bunch of baby leeks was still there. Plus a great deal of kale. The last of the arugula and radishes went into today's salad. One egg is left, but that'll get used up quickly. I am looking forward to today's box of goodies. Hopefully there will be some different items in it, though I still want a basket of strawberries each week for as long as the season lasts.

The grain-related items--popcorn and pancake mix--are seeing some consumption. While I don't eat a lot of grains (maybe one serving a day, rarely two), I don't see the need to eliminate them completely from my diet. However, the grains I do consume are 1) whole and 2) typically prepared in a more traditional foodways fashion; that is, soaked or sourdough. Having popcorn is an exception.

The instructions for the Fifth Crow Farm pancake mix are basic: mix with milk, buttermilk, egg, and oil, then cook up. I've instead been using it more like regular flour, mixing it with my sourdough starter, and letting it sit overnight. Here's what I cooked up for breakfast this morning:

Blueberry Ovencake (A Pancake Baked in the Oven)

The night before, mix 1/3 C sourdough starter with 1 C flour (a mixture of whole dark rye and whole wheat pancake mix) and 2/3 C water in a medium non-reactive mixing bowl. Cover and let sit in a warm, or at least room-temperature place overnight. In the morning, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Add to the flour mixture 1 egg, 1 T fat (olive oil, melted butter, coconut oil, etc.), 1 T honey or maple syrup, a dash of salt and about 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Mix well, then fold in 1 C blueberries. Spread in greased 9" cake pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the top is browned and a skewer comes out clean. Makes 4 servings.

I've been experimenting with baking pancake recipes in the oven just so I don't have to stand at the stove for a long time.

Each serving provides 200 calories, 5 g fat, 34.5 g carbohydrates, 8 g fiber, 6.5 g protein, and 10.5% RDA for iron. All that iron and fiber is there thanks to the whole grain flour. However, just because the iron is present doesn't mean that your body can absorb it. The soaking/fermenting step is to help neutralize the phytic acid that likes to bind iron and keep it out of your system. Also, the fact that I ate my cake with a bit of homemade lamb (grass-fed) sausage, which contains some heme iron, means that the non-heme iron from the grains will be better assimilated. At least according to my nutrition textbook.

Currently there is a bag of sugar cookies in my freezer. I baked them on Sunday, and my dear boyfriend forgot to take them away with him. Last night they tempted me--for how bad would it be, really, to have just a couple cookies?--but only for a moment. Yes, I dare say that a cookie or two would not hurt me too much, especially coming after a very healthy dinner, but if I give myself an inch I am worried that I'll take a mile. Better to just ignore them completely and enjoy a lovely cup of herbal tea, and a handful of almonds or a bit of cheese for dessert.

Oh, and I had an awesome hike in the park yesterday: 4 1/4 miles, strenuous uphill sections with a lot of good running on the flat. The lizards were out in force on the path; I'm always afraid that one will take a wrong turn and scurry right under my foot. No deer this time. Very much looking forward to my hike tomorrow, too.

Whatcha got?

2011-06-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know who said it first, but here's how it goes.

"What should we have for dinner?"

"How about a stew?"

"Well, what are you going to put in the stew?"

"Well, whatcha got?"

Thus coining the title of Whatchagot stew. Or, in today's case, Whatchagot salad.

I joined my dear boyfriend for dinner at a German restaurant in SF on Friday. After the framboise lembic (like drinking a jam sandwich!), my favorite dish of the evening was a mixed salad: lettuce topped with potatoes, pickled cabbage, carrots, and beets all in their independent sections. You could eat each vegetable independently or mix and match.

Today's lunch salad (just consumed with a bowl of yogurt and a tasty navel orange) was formed along the same lines. I started by shredding the last of my CSA butter lettuce, giving it a drizzle of sesame oil. Atop that I arranged a sliced white radish, a scoop of sauerkraut, and a bit of ginger carrot. The sour fermented cabbage and carrots melded excellently with the sweet lettuce and the radish. I loved this whatchagot salad all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

Having crocks of fermented veggies in my fridge is an excellent way, I've discovered, to get more variety of vegetables in my day. They have a very addictive flavor. Makes me want to get some beets asap and start some of those pickling, too, for an extra color and flavor option next time.

After a busy week with too many other activities and no formal exercise, my body was totally craving movement! By Friday I was feeling my muscles going completely flaccid, while fat just started splurging in new colonies. Thankfully Saturday evening was full of dance and Sunday afternoon full of hiking. Three evenings this week I must set aside my own activities in order to drive north and meet with some ladies for music rehearsal, but Tuesday and Thursday I'm going to make a point of hitting the trail and hitting it hard. (Though not literally, I hope. I'm still finishing up healing from the last time that happened.) My boyfriend has even been bit by the physical activity bug: he agreed that fresh air and exercise were better than sitting indoors playing video games, for the purpose of improving mood and general disposition.

First CSA Box

2011-06-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last night I picked up my first box of goodies from Fifth Crow Farm. In it was: a small bag of popcorn, 1 pound of pancake mix from their home-ground flour, a basket of strawberries, a bunch of baby leeks, a bunch of white radishes, a bag of arugula, a head of butter lettuce, and a bunch of huge kale leaves. Plus 1/2 dozen eggs, an optional extra I decided to include, since their pastured eggs are so fantastic.

The salad I made for lunch has some of the arugula and one of the radishes. I think the kale will be fabulous for making chips in the oven. The pancake mix will require some experimentation: because it already contains baking soda or powder, I'll have to see how that changes the acid-base equilibrium for producing sourdough or soaking overnight in yogurt. I'm trying not to devour all the strawberries before my boyfriend can come over and enjoy them with me. I did eat one last night.

Today the USDA unveiled it's new visual representation for the dietary guidelines: www.choosemyplate.gov. It's triggering memories of my elementary school cafeteria, and a poster of the old 4-square guidelines. Why is nutrition so complicated in this country? In other places they just eat food. In the US, we have to have elaborate systems dictated to us by the government in order to eat "healthy".

It's interesting to see the biases present in the information on the website. There's the usual talk about eating only lean meat and avoiding whole milk and egg yolks because of "bad" cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. They consider butter having no nutrients, and as a "solid fat" it must be avoided, but soybean oil is in there with all the other "vegetable" oils, so it gets cleared through. No mention is made of GMOs. Despite the rampant diabetes in this country, there is no information on the grains page about how constant carbohydrate (especially processed carbohydrates) consumption can lead to diabetes. Of course they say that you should "limit" your intake of sugars, but they don't actually link it to disease.

In case I didn't post this before, here's an article from the journal Nutrition, from 2010, which discusses the scientific limitations of the dietary guidelines. Very interesting reading.

What I love about spinning

2011-05-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about spinning is the feeling when the fibers are all neatly lined up and drawing smoothly from your hand and you give the spindle a nice firm twist and it feels as though it could just twirl around forever and the mass of wool is just getting eaten up into thread. Rumpelstiltskin, eat your heart out.

Functional Exercise

2011-05-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

So you've got to go grocery shopping. However, you also need to go exercise. Both take time--and you only have so much of that. What to do?

Combine the two!

Yesterday, after work, I hitched my backpack onto my shoulders and headed down the hill to my local grocery store. I only bought a few things--rye flour, pistachios, swiss cheese--so the load was not too heavy on the way back. The walk was over 4 3/4 miles of variable terrain, so my legs got to experience hills, stepping up and down curbs, stopping and starting at traffic corners. In addition, my brain got to experience some new scenery, and trying to remember the residential street map so I could avoid the high-traffic streets. As an interesting bonus to this all, I got to enjoy a little music to see me on the way home: the area high school marching band was giving a little concert outside the grocery store.

The only disadvantage was walking on pavement. I would step off onto dirt whenever I could. My feet are so much more energized walking on actual earth.

Since I didn't own a car until I was in graduate school, for all of college I walked around to whatever shops I needed to visit. Sometimes the load in my backpack was excessive--especially since it was filled with more canned goods than fresh foods. However, even now that I can transport myself quickly and easily in my car, it makes sense sometimes to just walk, or ride my bike. After all, I like to exercise, and I like to be efficient.

Once home, I cooked up and enjoyed a fabulous dinner: pesto mashed potatoes, leeks, peas, asparagus, salmon and a little pinot grigio. Plus a few crispy almonds for dessert.

Strange Thought

2011-05-24T14:49:00.001-07:00

I was just over on Facebook, looking at some recently posted photos of people I know. Looking at one woman's picture, I thought to myself, "She's so pretty." This turned into, "She's so much prettier than I am. Geez--I'm so plain. Not just plain--malformed. I wish I was beautiful! Waaahhh!"

It was a surprising progression, to say the least, moving from looking at one particular woman (who was, in the photo, highly made-up, coiffed, and wearing a particularly flattering outfit, in addition to blond not being her natural hair color) to thinking that I had no visual value whatsoever. Where did this come from?

Well, visual modes of expression are the norm for determining a woman's "beauty". Whether it is a photo, a painting, or a sculpture, we've been taught over the years to look at things and identify those as beautiful. However, all of these involve artifice. What with airbrushing rampant on magazine covers and lighting/makeup/post-production in movies, we can't look at any modern visual clues to determine what a person really looks like. I'd be more inclined to trust an ancient Greek marble statue as a true depiction of what a woman looks like, even though the stone is a little too smooth to adequately express cellulite. So why constantly compare oneself with others?

In the short term, I soothed my sad feelings by going onto my own Facebook profile and checking out some pictures of myself in which I had been caught in good lighting by a professional photographer and looked particularly pretty. In the medium term, I've blogged about this event, so feel free to comment. In the long term, I've got a great sense of self-esteem, and I know that good looks aren't necessary to be a good person. I just need to work on not comparing myself to others, and making sure that other women don't fall prey to this downward spiral, either.

Farmer's Market Haul

2011-05-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday, another bag stuffed with fresh, fabulous food! First, let's talk fruit. I purchased my first apricots and peaches of the year, along with some more cherries, plus a few navel oranges and kumquats. The apples are almost gone (since their heyday is in the fall, winter, and early spring) but I picked up a couple pounds of seconds for making applesauce. I bought eggs, as usual. Then there were the necessary veggies: leeks, kale, potatoes, asparagus, and peas. Fresh English peas, still in their pods, so sweet and flavorful--just shell, boil briefly to heat through, and melt a pat of butter over the top. Heavenly.

My boyfriend is continuing to make me proud out there at the market, by expanding his tastes to include a lot of new produce. It was so much fun to see the look of amazement that spread over his face when I popped a kumquat in his mouth--he has a new fruit to enjoy! Plus, once summer gets here and the market is overflowing with tomatoes and peppers, I know he's going to become a salsa-making machine.

After the market, we headed over to the park to hit the trail for a nice hike--a good 6 miles all told. No deer sightings, which was not surprising, considering it was the middle of the day. I soaked up a lot of sun, becoming saturated with it in fact, which necessitated the application of a little aloe vera gel later in the afternoon. As we hiked and talked over cooking plans, we discussed additional sorbet possibilities. In addition to the blackberry cabernet sorbet, which was already in the works, we came up with blueberry merlot, blood orange zinfandel, and peaches with brandy. I wonder if I could do something with cherries and kirschwasser?

Have you ever had freshly shelled peas? What's your favorite seasonal item from the farmers' market?

Weighing in the Balance

2011-05-22T14:09:00.001-07:00

Quick! Everyone come over to my boyfriends apartment. The bathroom scale is handing out really low numbers!

It's interesting: I first lost a lot of weight (25-30 pounds) back in high school, when I became a vegetarian. Now I've been losing weight since I started eating more traditional, simple foods, eliminating sugar and refined carbohydrates. I haven't seen today's number (141 pounds) since college, when I would eat only undressed salad for dinner and went to the gym at least five days a week.

Here's the results of a great food experiment conducted yesterday:

Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet

Mix 1 package frozen blackberries (about a pint), 1/2 C honey, and 1 1/2 C cabernet (of a decent quality--don't cook with any wine you wouldn't drink!) in a small saucepan. Heat on low for about 45 - 60 minutes, squashing the blackberries against the side of the pan. Cool to room temperature and strain through a sieve, once again crushing the berries as much as you can to extract all the juicy goodness. (I saved the leftover pulp to mix with yogurt.) Chill the strained liquid in the refrigerator, then process in an ice cream maker.

The flavor was really intense. It tasted so good that I almost didn't want to share it with my darling boyfriend, who requested it in the first place, but I saved a cup for myself in my freezer and gave him the rest for his. It does not freeze very solid--there's obviously a lot of alcohol still left in the wine--so perhaps next time I will let it simmer longer. And double the recipe.

Yogurt Success!

2011-05-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

You can google it yourself, but some links to various "yogurt in a crockpot" recipes are here, here, and here. Most of them have instructions along the lines of "put milk in crockpot, heat on low for 2 1/2 hours, unplug and cool for 3 hours, add yogurt cultures, wrap the crockpot and let stand for 8 - 12 hours."

The initial heating step is to bring the milk up to 180 F, a sort of follow-up pasteurization step. The cooling period is to bring the milk back down to 110 F, where the bacterial strains of yogurt do their magic. Any hotter and you'll chance killing them, any cooler and they won't be as active so your yogurt probably won't get as cultured.

Since I bend towards science and numbers, I preferred to be a little more precise in finding the right temperatures. Also, since this was the first time I used the crockpot, I thought it would be prudent.

2 hours of heating on low netted me about 160 F; I switched to to high for the next 30 minutes in order to even reach 178 F. I figured that was okay. Good thing I was measuring the cooling process: with the lid off and periodic stirring, my milk cooled to 115 F in under 2 hours. Mixing in 1/3 C of plain yogurt as the culture starter dropped the temperature down to 111 F. That's where I stopped everything, placed a double-thickness hand towel over the lid, and draped a double-thickness fleece blanket over all. When I checked this morning, it was a nice consistency and tasted deeelicious. It's sitting with the lid on in the fridge today, to chill and thicken as far as it likes. Tomorrow I'm going to set up some cloth to make a little yogurt cheese, and get some whey for other purposes.

Milk started heating at 5:20, turned off at about 7:50, added culture around 9:40, checked results a little after 7 this morning. Really easy.

While I was telling my boyfriend about the process of making yogurt, he made a comment along the lines of it being disturbing to have milk hanging out at a high temperature. Isn't that was spoils milk? I find it interesting that we, in our modern lives, are so surrounded by carefully processed, refrigerated, and frozen food that the idea of the natural food preparation and preservation methods are so foreign and strange. In my mind, certainly, eggs and milk have to be refrigerated, otherwise they will explode or strangle you. :) It's been an interesting educational experience to play with food, out at room temperature for days to ferment, and be able to then move it into the fridge to consume over months. I'm certainly not prepared to go without electronically-powered cold storage yet, but I see how it could be an option under certain circumstances.

One Hundred

2011-05-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

According to Blogger, this is my 100th post! Envision, if you will, cannons shooting confetti and streamers. I wish I had something fabulous to say, but I must instead report a failed food experiment. I won't gross you out with the details except for this one: too many anchovies. Enough said.

I have a cunning plan for tonight. The yogurt I like best to buy from Whole Foods comes in nice quart glass jars. It also costs about $6 a quart. They rarely have it, I think because they don't get a large stock in the first place and because other, more frequent, shoppers get in their first and buy it all ahead of me. I love dairy products, especially yogurt, and I want to experiment more in making my own yogurt cheese, fruit-sweetened frozen yogurt, and so forth.

On Monday I had the clever idea: purchase a yogurt maker! Three stores and no yogurt maker later, I had the next clever idea: purchase a yogurt maker online! After reading product reviews, I wondered whether it was really worth it. Then I started thinking about how to hold something (milk) at a moderately hot temperature (110 F). Enter the google search for "make yogurt in a crockpot".

Yep, lots of people have had success making yogurt in a crockpot. I want to be one of them. Plus I can then use the crockpot for many other things, as opposed to a yogurt maker which really has only one. I'm headed out for another shopping expedition after work today. Wish me luck! Of course you'll hear about the results of my experiments.

Farmers' Market Haul

2011-05-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was yet another good day for shopping. I started as usual with Fifth Crow Farm, for pastured eggs and baby lettuces. Then it was down to the citrus pusher (long story) where I picked up navel oranges and a couple of avocados. In the next aisle I bought sauerkraut, a 4-lb bag of raw almonds (for making almond butter! and because it is more economical to buy them in bulk and just store in the freezer), and grass-fed cow and lamb parts. Eventually I finished filling up my bag with potatoes, onions, cilantro, asparagus, cucumbers, dill, cherries, and salmon. A very diverse collection, which required two trips around the entire market to find everything and compare prices.

I was actually very proud of my boyfriend. On his earliest visits to the market he would come home with salsa, pumpkin bread, ravioli, etc. That is, all prepared foods, and basically no vegetables. This time he bought for himself some strawberries, bell pepper, onions, potatoes, and asparagus. To be healthier, he's cooking for himself. Apparently there were a few glitches in the actual cooking plan last night, but yay for him for eating his own, fresh food instead of ordering pizza.

We watched the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet "Sense and Sensibility" on Saturday night, and now my brain is filled with simple empire-waisted dresses. It's already thinking about which fabrics in my stash would be suitable. Of course, I've got a lot of sewing already on my list before I can branch off into the Regency styles, but I expect they will begin to get worked on later on this summer.

Yesterday was the "Bay to Breakers" race in San Francisco. Normally it registers in my boyfriend's brain as "can't drive north today", but since he has a newcomer, me, to show everything off to, we ended up heading down to the park to witness the race aftermath. Tons of people, in very silly costumes, and sometimes no clothes at all, turn out to see and be seen. Fortunately it was a very pleasant, sunny day, and I can think of no better way to spend a Sunday than strolling through a park. We even saw five bison down in their paddock. All told, it was 2 3/4 hours of strolling, covering 6.7 miles.

Trying not to stick my oar in--A Rant

2011-05-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

A group of friends and I are engaging in a typical activity for us: playing pretend. What it is, is an imaginary pilgrimage. We're walking from London to Holywell as on a medieval pilgrimage. There is actual walking involved, everyone keeps a tab on their distance, and we can share stories of what we see along the way, pictures of various churches, warnings of danger to the pilgrims walking behind us, etc. A sort of living history activity, all being coordinated on a Facebook group.

The other reason for it is to give a number of people, mostly ladies, who are generally overweight and not physically fit, a way to make exercise "fun" and to also give them a goal to work towards. 248 miles of walking between May 11th and Dec 31st. Many of the participants have pedometers, so that any walking they do during the day will count towards the total mileage. Since I typically walk at least 12 miles a week just for fun, I'm only counting my actual outdoor exercise walks.

So far two of the ladies have expressed how they want this activity to help them lose weight and gain fitness, and have even gone so far as to post hard, honest facts as to their weight, body fat %, etc. (Incidentally, I'm 5' 7", weighed in at 142.5 lbs last Sunday, don't know my body fat %, but my measurements are about 35 - 28 - 39, and I'm happy with my body. I still wear push-up bras on occasion, though.)

Quite often, when a group of women get together and talk, they mostly want to share things and get support in return, rather than have anyone pipe up and tell them exactly how to solve their problems. This is why I haven't posted anything to the group list along the lines of, "You know, exercise is only a minor, but relevant, contributor to actual weight loss. Diet is much more important, so if you really want to lose weight you're probably going to have to make major changes in your eating habits." I think it would be unwanted interference. But I do want these ladies to succeed in their health goals, and to have access to all the information they might need as to nutrition.

[Warning--rant ahead.]

I just get frustrated at some people's foolishness sometimes. (Not these individuals, but people in general.) The ones who look at me and what I bring for lunch and say something along the lines of, "Oh, I totally need to lose weight; I should eat what you eat" while continuing to eat junk day after day. Or the ones who "go on a diet", lose pounds, go back to their previous eating habits, and gain the weight back. Yes, "diets" fail. However, a diet in the sense of proper and healthy relationship with food, eating normal portions of actual food, and adding to that regular physical activity as our bodies were meant to perform, that works.

The reason that I lost weight in the first place (from my high of around 185-190 lbs as a teenager) and have maintained my healthy weight all these years is because I don't go back to bad habits. Yes, I spend what some people would consider a lot of time exercising and cooking good food in my kitchen. Those are priorities to me, to facilitate continuing good health. It's not really that much time, however. One could sit down and watch an hour-long prime time television special, or one could go for a lovely 3-4 mile walk outside. Or compare a 1/2-hour television show to the time that it takes to prep some veggies and protein and get them cooking in a tasty soup. To keep going with this, I could make a multi-course dinner and dessert for 6 in the time that some people spend on computer games. Because it's my priority.

This pet peeve extends over the range of anyone who is constantly saying, "I should do X." or "I really want to do Y." and then never does it. Whether it is weight loss, or swordfighting classes, or meeting up with me for a coffee. I'm fine if they don't every do it--I just don't want to constantly hear about how they keep meaning to do it. If you really want something, you can make it a priority and you can make it happen. But it requires you.

Celebrity Carbohydrate Smackdown!

2011-05-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

(Note: this was yesterday's post, stored in TextEdit all day long until blogger.com was back in business. I didn't actually end up cooking for my boyfriend last night; he wanted to go out. So we headed down to a local overpriced gastropub and dined on warm asparagus salad, golden beet and baby lettuce salad, and fish and chips with plenty of vinegar. Plus cocktails.)

My boyfriend will be joining me for dinner tonight. I like to at least attempt to take his food preferences into consideration when I'm cooking for him. I wanted to include my fava leaf pesto in tonight's meal. (Did I tell you I made pesto out of the fava leaves? 2 cloves garlic, 1/3 C walnuts, 1/3 C grated parmesan cheese, 2 big handfuls leaves, all whirred around in my food processor with olive oil.) Pesto tends to be companioned with bland carbohydrate-rich foods, like bread, pasta, or potatoes.

Bread is out; I don't have any in the house. I do, however, have both whole wheat penne pasta and small red potatoes. Boyfriend likes both. I prefer potatoes. However, I decided to put them head to head in the nutrition ring, using the nutritional information located at http://nutritiondata.self.com. May the best carb win!

In this corner, we have cooked potatoes, flesh and skin. Weighing in at 100 g, with a predicted glycemic load of 10, these pack 93 calories, 0.1 g fat, 21 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, and 3 g protein. The left hook comes in with RDAs of Vitamin C 16%, Iron 6%, and Calcium 1%, plus respectable amounts of Vitamin B6, Potassium, Manganese, and Folate.

And in the other corner we have cooked whole wheat pasta. Weighing in also at 100 g, with a slightly higher predicted glycemic load of 12, this comes a swingin' with 124 calories, 0.5 g fat, 27 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, and 5 g protein. It's got a right jab of RDAs of Iron 6%, Thiamin 7% and Calcium 1%, plus Magnesium, Phosphorus, Manganese, and Selenium.

It's rough; the two are rather evenly matched. However, the potatoes just scored a lucky hit, because their Omega 3:Omega 6 ratio is 0.30 compared to pasta's puny 0.05. My grandmother has a better 3:6 ratio!

The final haymaker comes in, knocking whole wheat pasta to the ground in a scattered penne pile, because the mighty potato is dug out of the earth whereas pasta is an industrial creation.

My sister will agree with me here: Potatoes Win!

In other news, if you check the postings from late March you'll find a recipe for fruit & nut balls--an all-natural treat. Back then I had hopes of modifying things to provide a fantabulous alternative to traditional rum balls, made from such avoidable ingredients as powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla wafer crumbs. That is, refined sugar in a multitude of disturbing forms. I have once again succeeded! Here's the recipe:

Rum Raisin Balls

1 C raisins soaked in 1/4 C rum

1/2 C almond meal

1/2 C flaked unsweetened coconut

2 T cocoa powder

Additional coconut, almond meal, or cocoa powder for rolling

Using your food processor, process the raisins and any leftover soaking liquid into a paste. Add the almond meal, coconut, and cocoa powder and pulse a few times to combine. Roll tablespoon-sized portions into balls between your palms, and coat with whatever you like. (I used coconut.) Place in a single layer on parchment paper and stick in the freezer to firm up before removing to an airtight container. I'm storing them in the fridge, just to keep the rummy goodness from evaporating away. Makes about 12-14 balls, depending on how generous you are with your tablespoonfuls.

Nettle soup!

2011-05-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

Just finished a delicious lunch of soup and salad, and wanted to report in on my first experience eating nettles. Fabulous! I was worried at first, when I was prepping the nettles, because they smelled so bitter and strange. In soup, however, they toned down to a pleasant earthiness and a fun texture. Here's how the recipe went together last night:

1 onion

2 ribs celery

1 large carrot

1 large clove garlic

1 can diced tomatoes, 15 oz.

bay leaf

large canellini beans, about 2 cups cooked

white wine (red would also work)

crushed red pepper (optional)

6-8 cups nettles (leaves and stems, see prepping note below)

1-2 teaspoons tamari sauce (to taste)

Heat the lipid of your choice (olive oil, butter, etc.) in a large saucepan over medium heat. Chop up the first four ingredients into nicely diced pieces and saute the mirepoix until it is fragrant and starting to become golden. Add enough wine to cover the vegetables and simmer to cook down. Add the can of diced tomatoes and a can full of water. Add the bay leaf and crushed red pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender. Add the cooked beans, the prepped nettles tamari sauce. Add more water, or broth, as desired to reach your favorite level of stew/soupiness. Simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes.

This made four hearty servings. Two are currently in my freezer, so that I have the makings of a quick lunch some work day in the future.

After being forewarned by the lady at the farmers' market regarding the stinging power of nettles, even after they've been picked, I decided to give them a little extra prep work. You could, of course, just wear gloves and skip this step. What I did was place a towel-lined colander in my sink, dump in the nettles from their bag, and then pour boiling water over everything. I let it cool for a bit, then picked up the ends of the towel to wrap around the greenery and wrung it out. Then the nettles went on the cutting board and got chopped up. The stems were relatively tender and edible, but were not the most wonderful textural addition ever. If you feel so inclined, with your gloves on, strip the leaves from the stems while raw and discard the latter. Then you can just add the leaves to the pot.

My lunch today was a fantastic example of the glories of my farmers' market. The onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and nettles for the soup all came fresh from there. My salad consisted of baby greens, grated carrot, sliced radishes, a hardboiled pastured egg, plus olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, and only the vinegar came from the grocery store. I'm just tickled by all the whole, real foods I am able to eat.

New Leaves!

2011-05-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

Had an excellent trip to the farmers' market on Saturday. Not only did I stock up on dried fruit (raisins, apricots, white nectarines, peaches, cherries) and pick up my usual mainstays of potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, salad greens and eggs, I found some new foodstuffs tucked away--actually in bold display--in one of the back corner organic farm booths.

You're familiar with fava beans, but take a gander at fava leaves:

Plus, if you've every been exposed to stinging nettles (as I was as a child), you know how much they hurt! Would you ever want to eat them? What if I told you they were incredibly nutritious:

My plan is to try some of the fava leaves in my latest favoritest beans and greens recipe (involving walnuts, garlic, lemon, and giant beans) and test out the nettles in pesto and in garlic mashed potatoes. I decided that I haven't been eating enough garlic lately, so I bought a fresh head to use liberally.

My wine collection has more than doubled in size. Hurrah! First, my sweet and generous boyfriend gifted me with a bottle on Friday--a red from Greece which is wonderful to drink because it has minimal tannins. Then on Sunday we made a quick stop at the beverage store, where I purchased a lovely riesling and a chenin blanc. These plus the bottles of sauvignon blanc and a French red mean that I can cover just about any wine requirements.

A big box of coconut macaroons has shown up in the break room. As I was in there getting tea out of my lunch bag, I was struck by the fact that I'm going to have to wage an ongoing battle with sugar. It's everywhere, it's accessible, and I am addicted. The battles are not too hard to win, however, especially when the macaroons look as lifeless and dull as these ones. Plus I'm already devising a recipe in my head, for tasty treats made from coconut, almond meal, and raisins.

Raisins and Cinnamon and Peanuts--Oh My!

2011-05-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

You should have eaten my breakfast this morning. Or, rather, you should have asked me to double my breakfast and give you half, because if you ate my breakfast then where would I be?

To make a long story even longer, last weekend I forced my boyfriend to clear the old food out of his cupboard. This included a box of irish oatmeal, which was purchased years back under the auspices of: "I should eat healthy. Oatmeal is healthy. Therefore, I should eat oatmeal." So he cooked the oatmeal, ate it, found it boring and undelicious, and left the box to sit in his cupboard for years.

Getting back to my breakfast, my dear boyfriend probably didn't enjoy his oatmeal so much because he cooked it up as just oats and water--not very exciting for the taste buds. My breakfast oats were so tasty! Here was the overall scheme:

1/4 C steel-cut oats soaked overnight in 1/2 C water

Add 1/4 C milk in the morning and cook

Mix in 1/4 C raisins, a liberal shake of cinnamon, and another of chia seeds

Top with two spoonfuls of peanut butter

Now, here's why this breakfast was particularly awesome. Check out this article, free from the journal Pediatrics. High Glycemic Index Foods, Overeating, and Obesity. In brief, twelve obese teenage boys were evaluated on three separate occasions. They were fed a breakfast specially engineered to have either a high, a medium, or a low glycemic index but the same overall caloric content. Their hunger rating and various blood parameters and were measured for the next 5 hours. Then they were fed lunch, the same as their breakfast. For the 5 hours after lunch, they had access to snacks and their food choices were monitored.

It's a very interesting study and not difficult to comprehend, so, really, go give it a read-through. The results were: the boys reported being hungrier during the 5 hours after the high-GI breakfast, and they consumed much more snacks during the 5 hours after the same high-GI meal for lunch. Even though a whole grain (oatmeal) was a major constituent of both the high- and medium-GI meal, the difference between instant and steel-cut oats led to a significant difference in reaction by the body. Having a meal higher in fat and protein and lower in carbohydrates (an omelet) was even better at keeping insulin, hunger, and overall calorie consumption low.

Steel-cut oats have a GI value of 42, rolled oats 50, while instant oats are 66. Raisins are high at 64, but better those than brown or white sugar (both 70) since raisins also contribute fiber and iron, plus other fruity micronutrients. The overall glycemic load of my breakfast was lowered by the addition of milk (glycemic index 27) and peanut butter (40), in a sort of gestalt effect.

So all those times as a child that I enjoyed a nice piece of swiss cheese with my morning porridge at grandmother's house, I was doing something beneficial by getting a little extra protein and fat with my cereal grains.

Ah, the devil you know

2011-05-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

There's a pocket on the back of my lunch bag. I stuff tea bags into it, so I have some nice homey tea to drink at work. (There's tea in the break room, but I don't know how old it is, and so often I find bagged tea to be way too tannic, since it's made from tea sweepings, so I stick to the bags that I do like.) As I was rummaging through it for tea, I found at the very bottom a square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate with raspberry filling.

Ever since that Wednesday, way back in March, I've been so good about not eating any refined sugar. I slipped up, once, and discovered how much it wasn't worth it to have a body full of sugar. Blech. But this was chocolate. Dark chocolate. And raspberry. The temptation was great. After all, it was just one square. Just this once.

I overcame the temptation. After all, it's just not worth it. Into the garbage it was going.

I happened to flip it over and read this on the ingredient list: partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

Into the garbage it went, without any guilt whatsoever. I might have to fight sugar, but anything with the words "partially hydrogenated" or "high fructose" are not going to pass my lips voluntarily. This rule makes it a lot easier to fight against the convenient packaged foods that my body has been suckered into enjoying.

Perhaps instead of tagging this "sugar-free", I should now declare myself "free from sugar". :)

Functional Exercise

2011-05-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

There you are, Monday after work, thinking about how you really should go exercise, but feeling fatigued, sleepy, recovering from your weekend. At least, that's how I am on some Mondays. However, this past Sunday I was reflecting to my boyfriend that I hadn't done anything of particular exertion that day, so I would have no excuses not to go exercise after work the next day.

I had a choice: bike over to the park and go hiking, or bike downtown and take care of some errands. The choice depended entirely on one variable: whether I received, during the course of the day, a paycheck to deposit at the bank. Once that piece of paper was in my hands, it was final.

Biking downtown made for a very nice trip. I didn't have to deal with the other drivers, or finding and paying for parking. There's a sturdy bike rack outside the library, and I was able to walk my bike right into the post office and up to the atm. The trip to downtown was a cinch: it was downhill the entire way. The return trip was what I knew would be a chore. I am not, nor have I ever been, a strong cyclist. Sure, it was easy to do 10 mile pleasure trips around Long Beach because that's all flat. Maybe there's one hill, or an overpass. This trip kicked my butt the first time I tried it, way back last winter.

Enter: actual use of the gears on my bicycle! Made things much easier. I nearly made it all the way home. The last rise to the stop sign close to my house was just too much, so I stepped off and pushed the bike the rest of the way. Still, success! I exercised, I got things done, I saved some gas. I was even home earlier than I expected. Productive leisure at its finest.

I made some ice cream this weekend, since it was warm and I wanted a tasty dessert. It was an experiment in flavorings, though: 1 C milk, 1 C cream, and 1 C half and half mixed up with 1 egg yolk and 1/4 C honey. Added 1 rounded T cocoa powder, 1 rounded t cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla. The sweetness level is good, and the flavor is slightly reminiscent of a malted milkshake. A win, in my books.

Totally full!

2011-05-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

Just finished lunch, and I feel so full. In fact, the fullness seems out of proportion to what I actually consumed. Here's the list:

Roasted sweet potatoes and leeks, about 1/3 C of the former and 1/4 C of the latter

Peas and carrots (like Mom used to make), about 1/3 C

Inner romaine lettuce leaves, about 5 small

1 hardboiled egg

1 hunk sourdough rye bread, about 2 x 2 x 3 inches

1 navel orange

Good mix of protein, fruits, veggies, and carbohydrates. And apparently very filling!

My schedule did not allow me to go to the farmers' market on Saturday, so I don't have an awesome haul to report. I've got a lot of onions and potatoes in my kitchen right now. The potatoes have already been roasted in the oven, to save time later. There's still some greens and a red cabbage in my fridge, plus a few carrots and celery stalks left. What's seriously low right now is fruit. My entire fruit supply is in the cupboard, dried: raisins, dates, and cherries. I'll see how this state of affairs works over the next few days, 'cause I think I'll be able to make it through to Saturday without the need for grocery shopping.

What I did do this weekend was visit the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco. Not only is the Isabelle de Borchgrave "Pulp Fashion" exhibit there (for another month, in case you still want to visit!), but a gorgeous Roman mosaic from Israel is set up in one of the back galleries. Plus there's the ongoing collection of art, sculpture, furniture, and architecture from many different countries and periods. Visiting the museum involved a lovely walk through Lincoln Park, on a trail along the coast, so I was able to enjoy a beautiful day in many different ways.

Clam Chowders

2011-04-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

On Monday or Tuesday, I came across CheeseSlave's post on Manhattan Clam Chowder. Growing up, I had only ever eaten Boston clam chowder, and that pretty much always from a can. Since I had all the ingredients for the Manhattan version, and it was definitely time for more clams (iron!), I gave it a whirl last night.

Things I did differently: no bacon, no stock, thyme instead of oregano, and 1 red potato in place of the 1 1/2 - 2 pounds russet potatoes. (Doesn't that seem like a lot of potatoes?) I used 1 pound of chopped, frozen clams. The end result was simply lovely. A light tomato broth with lots of nice bits to chew. Even though the body is able to absorb heme iron easily, I like the complimentary Vitamin C from the tomatoes just to give my intestines a little extra encouragement. Since it's not a stick-to-the-ribs creamy soup, this chowder is a nice lighter version good for spring. My meal was rounded out with a bit of sourdough rye bread topped with peanut butter and a scoop of sauerkraut. And a glass of white wine.

Sometimes it's very hard being me. For instance, last night I had to eat a nice bowl of strawberries and cream for dessert, so that the last of the berries wouldn't go bad. :) These were spring strawberries, somewhat forced into ripeness, so now I'm really looking forward to summer. Deep red strawberries, ripe peaches and apricots, sweet-tart cherries, cantaloupe. Delicious.

Last night's dinner came after some fabulous exercise over at the park. Rode my bike to and from (2.6 miles), then enjoyed a nice hike/jog on the trail (about 4 miles). Saw one deer, two rabbits, a number of new birds, and tons of insects. Something has changed, so now there are swarms of bugs all over the place, where there were none before. Increases the chances that a bug will decide to fly into my eye or nostril and die there, which is so annoying. However, it's a price that I have to pay for my outdoor adventures.

Don't Make This--Make These Instead!

2011-04-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

I found a somewhat disturbing "recipe" on the back of a brand-name cracker box. Don't make this! It has you mix equal amounts of creamy peanut butter and marshmallow creme, spread that on a cracker, then top with a slice of banana and a slice of strawberry. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Really, I feel like the cracker people are pushing it.

Get this: "If serving at breakfast, replace marshmallow creme with cream cheese."

Would anyone actually consider making this for breakfast? Spreading sugary artificial goo on a piece of partially-hydrogenated cottonseed oil, starch, and more sugar, then giving it to a loved one? If the answer is "yes", please read the rest of the entries in my blog and then ask the question again.

There are ways that we can turn this frown upside-down. Here are some snack examples I've just come up with off the top of my head. Make these!

1. Spread a real graham cracker with nefuchatel cheese, top with sliced strawberries

2. Spread a real graham cracker with peanut butter, top with sliced banana, and sprinkle with cinnamon

3. Spread a homemade sunflower seed cracker with homemade ricotta cheese, a drizzle of honey, and a few smashed blueberries

4. Slice a carrot in half, spread with peanut butter, and dot with raisins

5. Steam some broccoli. Top with butter.

Okay, the last one is not so much in the "snack" vein, but it sounds delicious to me! In any case, the take-home point is that one can easily prepare snacks out of whole foods and things reasonably close to whole foods. Raw fruits and veggies go with a variety of tasty toppings, and you can experiment to make nutritious alternatives. When you go shopping, always check the labels. If you see the words "high fructose" or "partially hydrogenated" or anything your great-grandmother didn't have access to at the market, put that product back, 'cause it's not food. It might be calories, but it's not food.

How about you? What sort of easy whole-food treats do you enjoy?

Pastoral Living

2011-04-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

You know how Marie Antoinette had a little village built so she could go out and play milkmaid? Ever read "Heidi"? For many people who live in highly urban areas, there is a pastoral idea--a great appeal to the thought of getting back to a simpler way of living. The trend of "urban home-steading" is an modern example of this. Some of what I do is definitely driven by the belief that simpler = better.

Of course, some of what I do is entirely driven by curiosity.

Friday afternoon, I was given the afternoon off from work as a sort of Good Friday holiday. I used this time to do two important things:

1) Clean my kitchen sink. (It's now white and gleaming!)

2) Try making cheese. (Do or do not--there is no try.)

The cheese recipe came from here. It's the bare-bones, farmer's cheese, queso fresco-style of curdled milk. Basically all one has to do is heat milk to a simmer, add acid while gently stirring, let it rest and cool, then strain. I carefully followed the instructions to the letter--using 1 quart of milk instead of 1 gallon--and was rewarded with success. The recipe produces a rather bland cheese, but that simplicity means there are plenty of things to do with it. So far I've had it on chili, on salad, and eaten plain with bread & honey. I could certainly see mixing it with honey and fruit and whatever it takes to make an old-style cheese cake, or using it in a homemade vegetable lasagna, or whipping it smooth with herbs for a kind of spread or potato topping. I also saved the whey, which contains some proteins not curdled in this process, and plan to use it in a variety of fashions.

If you want to try making cheese at home, the key word is: clean. Because you're dealing with hot, but not boiling, temperatures, there is the chance of creating a good breeding ground for unwelcome species. As a precaution, I sterilized everything I would be working with (pot, measuring cup, cheesecloth, utensils) by boiling in water for 15 minutes.

What goes famously with cheese? Bread! On Saturday I baked my best loaf of sourdough rye bread yet. (Of course, having baked only one loaf prior, this is not the grandiose accomplishment it might sound like.) Put a cup or so of sourdough starter in a bowl, added enough flour to make a dough (plus a dash of salt and caraway seeds), kneaded for a few minutes, then shaped a loaf and placed it in a greased loaf pan. Since I'm only baking for me, and this was an experiment, I used one of my mini loaf pans, which are about 3 by 6 inches. The dough was left at room temperature for most of the day, then went into the oven to bake. It almost doubled in volume, I think, but I was still left with a very dense bread.

I had to hold myself back to not cut into it fresh from the oven, but still ate a couple of slices warm. Sour, dense, very satisfying. I'll definitely be doing this again, probably next weekend.

Organs!

2011-04-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

More specifically, one organ. You all know what I'm talking about: the liver.

On Wednesday, I ate part of a dead cow for the first time in approximately sixteen years. Did I love it? No, because liver is not typically a beloved part of the cow to eat. However, it is full of iron, Vitamin A, and assorted B vitamins, plus protein, so it can be a very good thing to include in one's diet. In the past I have worried that I would lose the ability to digest flesh products after so many years of excluding them from my diet, but such was not the case. I can report no digestive problems after two consecutive days of eating some liver, so it seems my organs are doing just fine.

For those of you who ask, doesn't the liver play a major role in the body's processing of toxins? And wouldn't that make it unhealthy to eat? The answers are yes and no. The liver processes toxins so they can be eliminated from the body--it doesn't store them. Liver has been consumed by humans for thousands of years, and is often more prized than the muscles for its nutritional capabilities.

Wednesday was basic liver and onions. Just to make my Dad jealous. Liver was soaked in lemon juice for 2 hours, then rinsed well and trimmed. I coated the pieces in a mixture of whole wheat flour, salt, and pepper, then cooked them in melted butter. I think it got a little overcooked, as it browned so fast. Then I smothered the liver in caramelized onions, and ate it with some sauerkraut and sauteed kale.

Last night, since I couldn't face the prospect of cold leftover liver, I chopped it into bits and stirred it into chili. To make the chili, I chopped up an onion, a carrot, and a sweet potato and started cooking them in a bit of coconut oil. In went a can of diced tomatoes and my spices: chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and cocoa powder (since I was going for a bit of a mole kick). After things had simmered for about 30 minutes, I mixed in some cooked rio zape beans (from Rancho Gordo) and the leftover liver and onions, which I had chopped into small bits. Tasty. Plus, I learned in my nutrition class that consuming heme iron (from animal sources) along with non-heme iron (from vegetable sources) will enhance the absorption of the non-heme iron, especially if there's also some Vitamin C around.

Carb Blahs

2011-04-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Due to various circumstances yesterday, I was not able to consume my usual diet, and instead ended up subsisting largely on refined flour. Bread at breakfast, bread and cheese for snack, rice and curry at lunch, and bread with sandwich toppings for dinner. It did not feel good, compared to days when I get all nutrient-dense whole foods. I had zero energy, was in a mood funk all day, and I know I ate a lot more calories than usual, because it's so easy to eat a lot of bread. I was a slug all evening--reading and dozing in bed--but thankfully turned out the lights early and got lots of sleep.

Today is an intermittent fast day, not for weight loss or to punish myself for yesterday's less than stellar food consumption, but simply because I had it already scheduled. I'm sticking to tea during the day, then going home to cook a nice vegetable-filled dinner before heading off to renaissance dance class this evening.

Farmers' Market Haul

2011-04-18T15:20:00.001-07:00

Another Saturday, another successful trip to my local farmers' market. This was a quick trip, mostly because I had done so much stocking up the previous weekend, but also because I was at the start of a busy day.

First big bit of news: I handed over my paperwork to join in on the CSA over at Fifth Crow Farm. For less than $30 a week, I get a nice-sized box of fresh, local produce and a half-dozen eggs. This will be my very first experience in a CSA, and I was slightly hesitant at first, after some of my friends' experiences. What cinched it for me was the reasonable amount of produce being offered in the box--definitely an amount I can eat in a week, considering my love of vegetables and the fact that I cook a lot--and the nice people I've talked to at their market booth. They're really excited about the food they offer, so I want to help them to have a successful farm.

Then I went around the market for some of the usual suspects: greens and nuts. One bunch of collards and two of lacinato kale; then one pound of almonds and two of walnuts. At the almond booth, the lady asked if I wouldn't rather get four pounds for $20 (to save a dollar per pound), and I'm seriously thinking about doing that for next time. Just think--I could make my own almond butter. Here's a link to a recipe by Angela over at "Oh She Glows". I might need to do a bit of math to determine whether it makes $ense to grind up my own almond butter. Way I figure, though, storing the nuts in the freezer means that they'll keep for a long time, and they're definitely a staple in my kitchen, so they'll all get eaten.

Also purchased: limes and dried cherries and . . . liver. From a grass-fed cow.

Time for another n=1 experiment. (Meaning that the experiment is being performed on myself, and I'm the only data point being represented.) In all the years that I was a vegetarian, every time I would complain that my hands were cold, Dad would say that I needed to eat some liver and onions. I mean, it's top on the list of foods recommended to improve your hematocrit. I would know: I've seen that list every time I've tried to donate blood for the past six years. After doing a bit of research, I should have gone for the lamb's liver instead, just because it allegedly has a more mild flavor, so maybe I'll try that next time if this experiment goes well. Needless to say, I will be trying every trick in the book to make the liver as palatable as possible. Plus, it will be smothered, I say, smothered in caramelized onions and possibly a balsamic vinegar reduction as well.

Spring Cleaning Urge

2011-04-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

I've had the urge recently to do some thorough cleaning at home. Really scrubbing down the sinks, vacuum the floors, maybe even rearrange the furniture. Haven't had a chance to actually do it yet, but perhaps Saturday will give me an hour to devote to the cleaning that ordinarily gets shrugged off.

Today I've had a major feeling that my house is too cluttered. I have too much stuff; it's getting in my way. I want to take a look at those boxes of papers and projects that "I'll get around to" and decide whether I really want to. I mean, it would be tons of fun to do my own bookbinding, but am I actually going to do it? If not, should I really be holding on to all those masses of printed sheets I could just recycle instead of them taking space all over my living room?

I think I need my former roommate to come up and visit me so that she can help hold an intervention, like we've done with each other before. I'll even hold off until Passover week, so we can have a little seder together. :)

Of course, part of my desire to clean up the clutter is so that I'll have more room for working on projects. I haven't done any costuming in a while, and I've got a list of things I want to make. Some are for Pirate Fest, some are for balls, some are for my sweetie. My sewing setup as it is right now is rather cramped. Having a more open, welcoming space would be very conducive to more sewing.

I've also been thinking about spinning wheels. Actually fabulous visions of me sitting down to a spinning wheel in a nice homey room and getting a lot of meditative spinning done. :) First I want a book that explains to me how all the components of the spinning wheel work together, so I understand it better. That way there's a chance I could find an "antique" wheel on craigslist and know whether it could be operational or not. Then I can start in on the bags of fiber I have appropriated through the years.

How about you? Does the spring make you want to clean or start all kinds of new projects?

Simple pumpkin custard

2011-04-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I got to enjoy an evening with friends. After a dinner of tasty Burmese food, we retired to our friends' house for socializing and a really fun movie. However, as it was also a birthday party, the house was full of cake, chocolate-chip cookies, and lots of movie-style candy. It was serious temptation. I am able to devour sweets like a starving, rapacious beast.

I came prepared, and while everyone else was indulging in the buffet of sugar, I enjoyed my movie snack of walnuts and raisins. However, a psychological need was still present. I wanted dessert, and I was not going to be satisfied until I obtained it. Fortunately, I knew just what to do.

Pumpkin Custard

1 C pureed pumpkin*

1/4 C honey

3/4 C milk

1 egg

scant 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Have four 1-cup glass custard cups handy. (Mine fit nicely into an 8 x 8 square pan, which means I can transport them easily all at once to and from the oven.)

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Divide equally among the four cups. Bake until the edges are firm (middle can be still a little bit liquid), about 25 to 30 minutes. Can be served warm (if you're impatient, like me) or cool.

*Try making your own pumpkin puree the next time sugar pumpkins are available. They're called sugar or pie pumpkins to distinguish them from the large jack-o'-lantern style ones. Cooked pumpkin can be pureed in your blender or food processor and stored as 1-cup servings in plastic bags in the freezer. Any time you want it for cooking, just defrost a bag or two and you're good to go.

This recipe was modified from the pumpkin pie recipe in my old Betty Crocker cookbook. In general, honey can be substituted for sugar in recipes, but you have to account for 1) the more concentrated sweetness in honey and 2) the additional liquid. So 1/3 C brown sugar + 1 T white sugar turned into 1/4 C honey, and I reduced the stated amount of milk.

A cup of pumpkin custard really hit the spot! Of course, now I'm thinking it would go really well with some whipped cream.

Dinner like a Pauper

2011-04-08T09:43:00.001-07:00

Have you ever heard the expression, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper"? The way I see it, one doesn't expend many calories by sleeping, so a heavy dinner will be converted to fat rather than expended as energy. On the other hand, your body can only burn so many calories at a time (unless you're exercising or performing strenuous physical labor all day), so any huge meal is going to be stored. Better, I think, to eat moderately and consistently.

Anyway, my boyfriend is occasionally irked by my use of the word "peasant". As in "yummy peasant foods", because he thinks that, perhaps, peasants didn't really have access to what I'm eating. I could say "yummy traditional indigenous people's foods", but that's rather a mouthful.

However, I wonder whether he could really find fault in describing my dinner last night as "peasant food". I had to stay over two hours late at work, dropping me at home at 7:30 and ravenous. No time to plan and cook a complicated meal. Plus, I'm letting my supplies run down ahead of visiting the farmers' market tomorrow morning, so there's not so much food in the house. So I consumed:

goat milk kefir

green beans

homemade sourdough rye bread and butter

Can I get a consensus on whether a European peasant might have had all of these at a meal? :) After dinner, I made myself a little dessert plate with dried fruit, walnuts, and a bit of dark, dark chocolate. Yes, it was food therapy, but I'm not ashamed. I treat myself right!

No Sugar = No Hunger?

2011-04-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've noticed something interesting over the past little while. I'm down to eating only three meals a day. Sometimes I'll have a snack in the afternoon, but this is a far cry from the constant eating I did before. Remember just a little while back, when I posted about eating five or six meals a day since my belly would frustrate me with hunger otherwise? That's not happening anymore.

I can easily go from breakfast at 7:30 to lunch at 12:30 without feeling tired or shaky. Monday I was so busy I forgot about an afternoon snack at all, then proceeded to hike 4 miles after work before cooking supper. Yesterday I cooked and ate dinner right after work, went to a 90-minute dance class, then came home and went to bed without doing any late-night snacking. Even though my belly was empty, I just didn't feel any particular need to put food in it.

What's the cause of this physiological change? I attribute it to the lack of refined sugar and minimal refined carbs. I have a sprouted wheat bread at home, I'm baking rye sourdough bread after work, both sweet and white potatoes are in my diet, and I'm not limiting myself as to beans or fruit. Obviously, I'm still getting plenty of carbohydrates--more than 50% of my calories.

However, because all my calories are coming from nutrient-dense foods, I think my body is able to say, "Hey, I'm well-fueled. Got everything I need to get through the day. Oh, and here's plenty of energy for those long hikes you're so fond of. Let's go on another one."

Much to my boyfriend's chagrin (once he finds out), I'm not planning to go back to my former way of eating once Lent is over. Dessert can be just for special occasions, not every time we go out. Honey makes a great sweetener for when I need to bake things, and it's expensive enough that I won't be using it liberally over everything.

This is awesome!

Great-Grandmother's Food

2011-04-05T13:52:00.001-07:00

Have you heard recently the statement, "Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"? I agree in principle, but in practice there appears to be some conflict.

There does not appear to be a good consensus on what the Victorians (England, 1850 to 1900) consumed. One source has their daily calories at 2100, another says 4000-5000 for men, and 3000 for women. The latter also states that the typical breakfast for a poor man was, "two chunks of stoneground bread smeared with dripping, accompanied by a large bunch of watercress", whereas another article states that the standard fare for poor people was "bread, butter, potatoes, beer and tea, with some bacon for those earning higher wages." Did they really consume 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, especially in the winter months? Wouldn't you think that all that boiling meat and vegetables were subjected to in order to make them "wholesome" would prevent any shadow of a water-soluble vitamin from coming through?

In any case, there are some lessons that can be learned from the cookery of over a century ago. (Shall we say, that of my great-great-grandmother.) Have some brown bread. An egg. Some milk and peas. Watercress and cherries. Mutton, if you like it. Drink a cup of tea. Be too poor to afford sugar.

The Girls' Own Paper from 1880 has a few recipes for "economical and wholesome dishes made without meat." White bean soup, red bean soup, lentil soup, pea soup, Italian macaroni, cauliflower au gratin, and rice and cheese. Check them out!

Awesome Sweet Snack Recipe

2011-04-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Combining a couple of recipes in my brain last night, I came up with the following:

Fruit-Nut Balls

1/2 C walnuts

1/2 C almonds

1/2 C prunes (sliced in half)

1/2 C dates (pits removed and quartered)

2 T cocoa powder

2 T shredded coconut (plus extra for rolling)

1/2 t cinnamon

~1 T coconut oil

1: assemble your ingredients. Make sure they're the best-quality ingredients you can find, such as nuts and fruits purchased at your local farmers' market. :) And in case you were wondering, that's unsweetened coconut. Get your food processor down from the top of the fridge.

2: process the almonds and walnuts until they're a crumbly meal. They don't need to be powder, but there shouldn't be too many large chunks. Remove from the processor into a small bowl.

3: process the dates and prunes until they're finely ground. Since I used very dry dates and prunes, this was more of a fruity crumbly meal than a paste. It'll be okay in the end. Just make sure that you have only fine pieces.

4: add the cinnamon, cocoa, and coconut and pulse a few times. Add the nuts and coconut oil and mix well to blend. With the addition of the oil, the texture becomes more like a crumbly paste. Check to see whether it will hold together in a ball. If so, you're good. If not, add a little more coconut oil until a cohesive texture is reached.

5: form heaping tablespoons into balls, compacting well with your hands. Roll in coconut to coat. The balls can be eaten directly, or stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

I've got some ideas for the next time I give this a try. Chia seeds would be a good add-in. I'm wondering whether I could also grind some cacao nibs with the nuts. At some point, a tablespoon or two of dark rum is going to be added to this. I love the idea of rum balls based on fruits & nuts rather than vanilla wafers and sugar. The possibilities are nigh-endless: apricot for the prunes and macadamia nuts for the almonds. Pecans. Hazelnuts. Entirely almonds. A bit of orange peel in with the fruits. Or some ginger and a touch of molasses. Mold the mixture using dinosaur-shaped cookie cutters instead of simply into spheres. :) Give it a go, and tell me how your experiment comes out!

(And, yes, my brain keeps harkening back to South Park on this, and perhaps someday I'll be able to come up with a better title than "Fruit-Nut Balls".)

ADHD and Diet

2011-03-31T13:20:00.001-07:00

Check out this interesting article on the relationship between ADHD and diet. (Disclaimer: I was so excited about blogging about this, I haven't done a thorough check on all the sources or read all the studies myself.) Here is a link to the abstract of the Lancet study. There was also an interview with NPR.

From the grist.org article: 'In the NPR interview, Dr. Pessler did not mince words, "Food is the main cause of ADHD," she said adding, "After the diet, they were just normal children with normal behavior. They were no longer more easily distracted, they were no more forgetful, there were no more temper-tantrums." The study found that in 64 percent of children with ADHD, the symptoms were caused by food. "It's a hypersensitivity reaction to food," Pessler said.'

In the world of food, cosmetic, and pharmaceuticals, the FDA has a long list of chemicals that are "generally regarded as safe" or GRAS. These can typically be freely used in formulations for food or drugs, even if extensive long-term studies have not been performed on them.

I remember reading, in a book by Jane Goodall, the case study of a prison system, where all the inmates were switched over to a diet of whole foods rather than the white bread and grade-F meat and junk food that had been available previously. There was a significantly marked decrease in violent behavior amongst the prisoners.

I love this quote, too: "Call me old-fashioned, but changing your child's diet seems a lot "simpler" than altering his or her brain chemistry with a daily dose of pharmaceuticals.". I agree that ADHD is a complex condition, and not all children are going to respond the same way. Also, it is the American way to consider a magic bullet approach to treating disease. But wouldn't you want to try the most natural approach for your children before resorting to the brain-altering chemicals?

A Good Time for Soup

2011-03-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend was sick last week; I refused to not spend time with him, so now I've come down with whatever virus he had. Blah! What I hate the most is the first couple of days, when my throat becomes totally inflamed and it hurts to eat, drink, or perform any ordinary swallowing of any kind. I can tell that I'm fairly ill, too, because I'm not eating. This morning I managed a clementine and two bites of egg, then I just couldn't stomach any more.

Thank goodness for leftover soup! Typically when I make a batch (because any soup recipe is going to make much more than a single person can consume in a few days) I will put at least one serving in the freezer. It's so handy for those occasions when I don't have the time or ingredients to pack a lunch in the morning. I'm hoping that when midday comes around, I'll be able to handle a little lentil & chard stew.

The virus has also gotten to my brain, since I forgot my purse this morning. D'oh! The most immediate annoyance is that I don't have any lip balm. The secondary annoyance is that I'll have to drive past the grocery store to get home in order to obtain my wallet so that I can drive back to the grocery store in order to buy juice. I'm thinking now that, likely, I'll drive home and take a nap, and then take care of business once I've had a little rest. At least I'm not completely useless at work today.

Related to soup, I've discovered another food blog to follow: Heartland Renaissance. I was lured in by a recipe for Homemade Vegetable Bouillon. Totally on my list of things to try, especially since the ingredient list is so simple. Then it would be ready, in the fridge, for the next time boyfriend or I have a cold.

Farmers' Market Haul

2011-03-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

Had a great trip to the Farmers' Market in San Mateo on Saturday. I had to do some tricky driving and scheduling to get it done, but I wanted my farm-fresh produce! It was so totally worth it.

Eggs, kale, lacinato kale, chard, cilantro, potatoes, carrots, asparagus, dates, raisins, mixed dried fruit, almonds and walnuts. My bag was overflowing with goodness.

An exciting surprise: Aryeh Frankfurter was performing out there! I stalk him, wherever I find him with his nyckelharpa. He's a fantastic musician and a nice guy, and he gets bonus points for playing traditional Swedish tunes when I ask him to. (You see, the nyckelharpa is the instrument of Sweden.) Now all he has to do is remember my name.

Sugar and Your Neutrophils

2011-03-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

What are neutrophils, you ask? From Wikipedia, "Neutrophils are the most abundant type of white blood cells in mammals and form an essential part of the innate immune system. ... During the beggining (acute) phase of inflammation, particularly as a result of bacterial infection, environmental exposure, and some cancers, neutrophils are one of the first-responders of inflammatory cells to migrate towards the site of inflammation. ... Neutrophils have three strategies for directly attacking micro-organisms: phagocytosis (ingestion), release of soluble anti-microbials (including granule proteins) and generation of neutrophil extracellular traps." Considering the essential role they play in the body's immune defense, you'd rather not have them impaired, eh?

Enter the "Role of sugars in human neutrophil phagocytosis". This paper was published in 1973 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Volunteer subjects were dosed with 100 grams of carbohydrate following a 12-hour fast (basically not eating overnight), then blood samples were taken at intervals afterwards and examined. While a number of blood conditions did not change, most notably the number of white blood cells present in the samples, there was one interesting change. Here's a sentence from the abstract giving you the result:

"Oral 100-g portions of carbohydrate from glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey, or orange juice all significantly decreased the capacity of neutrophils to engulf bacteria as measured by the slide technique." Also, "The greatest effects occurred 1 and 2 hr postprandial, but the values were still significantly below the fasting control values 5 hr after feeding."

Blood sugar has an effect on your immune system? This is not news for diabetics, but these volunteers were all healthy individuals. Now, this was a small sample size (about 10 people), being fed carbohydrates in an isolated form, and with the exception of honey or orange juice, presumably a form not to be found in nature. As with a number of nutritional studies, these factors must be taken into account when interpreting the results in a real-world setting. However, I find these results very interesting.

Variety!

2011-03-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

As I was packing my lunch this morning, I looked at it and thought about how fortunate I am to eat so well. There's an issue in the SAD which relates to the varieties of food consumed in one day--most people tend to eat the same few ingredients every day. I decided to break down my last four meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack) into their components to see what sort of variety I'm eating. Divided into logical categories, here we go:

Nut and legume--peanut, almond, walnut, lentil, lima bean

Grain--oat, rye, wheat

Fruit--date, raisin, apple, pear, clementine

Vegetable--onion, garlic, carrot, celery, tomato, collard green, red cabbage, beet, pumpkin

Dairy--cow milk, butter, yogurt; egg; goat cheese

Other--cinnamon, clove, honey, chia seeds, herbes de provance, thyme, bay leaf, baking powder, sea salt

Some good variety, I think. Of course, I wasn't eating massive quantities of all of these. When you break down a pumpkin cookie, for instance, there's only a tablespoon of actual pumpkin in it. When you use a bay leaf for flavor in a stew, you don't end up eating the actual leaf. However, that small amount is still providing essential goodness, doing its job for your overall nutrition.

Give this a try! Think back over your last day's meals and separate things out into their original components. See whether you have as much variety as you'd like, and think about which categories could use a few additions.

Regarding the no sugar challenge I'm on, I have noticed one of the typical side effects of not eating refined sugar: I'm not having the usual problems with my complexion. Even with my current hormonal roller coaster, my face hasn't broken out lately. It's so nice. Maybe there's some truth after all, in the old wives' saying along the lines of "don't eat junk food--it'll make your face break out."

Scarf knitting project is moving right along. One yarn has gone from black to gray to black, while the other is moving from purple to bright blue slowly back to purple. Sometimes knitting does this to me: I want to keep going and going just to see how the color change/lace pattern/two-color pattern will turn out.

Really looking forward to the farmers' market tomorrow!

Like a Deer in a Puddle

2011-03-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

In case you don't live in or near the Bay Area, it's been cloudy, cold, and raining for the past week. The next interval of merely being "partly cloudy" is not until Sunday. (It's going to be "mostly sunny" on Monday. Hurrah!) Since I am a bit of a cold wuss, I have not been able to get out for my usual running around after work in many days. However, after reading an article about how adults need to play more (thanks, Sarah!) combined with a few rays of actual sunshine while I was driving home from work, I was bound and determined yesterday to get outside for a hike.

I love hiking. I love it. I get out on the trail, and I suffer from prolonged, spontaneous intervals of grinning. I love to swivel my head around, looking up at the trees all around me, listening for animals as they move through the underbrush. My boyfriend has nicknamed me "Walks-on-dirt".

I arrive home, change into some suitable clothes, pump air into my bicycle tires, strap my Amphipod around my waist, and I'm out the door. Then, after wrangling my bicycle through my tiny house, along the narrow walkway, and down the steep driveway, I'm actually on my way to the park.

My thinking was, "It hasn't rained since this morning. The ground will have had all day long to drain, so it won't be muddy." In actuality, since there was 1) a lot of rain and 2) very clayey soil, the result was that the ground had been draining all day, and hadn't let up yet. It was quite muddy. But no matter! I was on the trail, hiking up at a fast pace, running whenever I felt like it.

A little over a mile out, it started sprinkling. No matter! It was but a little water, gently dropping from the sky. That was, until I headed over a rise, and the cold wind buffeted me, determined to show its might. I simply laughed in its face and kept on running down the path. As the trail curved around to head back, it started really raining. Okay, not so bad, I was mostly under the trees by then. About 50 yards from the end, it started really pouring. I ran for the nature center building and huddled under the overhang, taking this opportunity to stretch my calves. (Always take any opportunity given to stretch your calves. Or your pecs. Seriously.) Five or six minutes later, it had tapered off enough that I could run for my bike and begin the cold journey home. Thankfully my blood was pumping enough that my hands didn't freeze to the brake levers.

Of course, battling the elements just made me feel more unbeatable, so all the wet and cold was a bonus. However, like all bonuses, better to have too few than too many, just so you don't get tired of them. :)

I whipped up a delicious iron and protein-rich dinner: sauteed onions, garlic, clams and green beans in lemon butter, with a side of roasted sweet potato and a glass of white wine. One of my honey-sweetened pumpkin cookies rounded things out for dessert. Mmmm.

Looking at my diet right now, where basically everything I eat confers some real nutrition, I am amazed to think about the SAD (standard American diet), where at least 25-50% of calories are "empty", from refined sugar and carbohydrates. Just like any machine, I think the body can only run so well on inferior fuel.

So I challenge you, gentle readers, to make something new and nutritious. Actually try out that recipe that you marked, thinking at the time "this sounds good". It could be anything, from a stew to a salad to a fruit compote. Maybe use an ingredient you've never tasted before, or a new herb, or a new cooking method. Caramelize those onions! Roast that corn! Mince some fresh rosemary! Then tell me all about what you made and how fabulous it was to eat.

Stew and porridge

2011-03-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

Stew was last night's dinner, porridge was this morning's breakfast.

Since I had the wherewithall to get the beans soaking the previous evening, when I arrived home from work last night I was all set to make Chard and White Bean Stew, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. (If you've not been to that blog before, go check it out. It's methodical food porn. I love it.) Naturally, as I was the one cooking, there were many deviations from the printed recipe. I used collard greens instead of chard, a combination of lima beans and lentils cooked from dry instead of the canned white beans, regular white onion instead of shallots, and a can of Trader Joe's tomato sauce in place of the 1 C pureed tomatoes. And I don't think my white wine was very dry.

In any case, the results are delicious! I topped it with a bit of strong, hard goat cheese, so there was no need for additional salt. Now that I've made this recipe twice, I can cook it up without really thinking, and it's going to be my go-to stew. My favorite part is cooking the mirepoix in white wine--adds a certain depth of flavor. I'm thinking that there are many ways to do variations, such as red wine and a few mushrooms with red beans.

My bowl of oat porridge this morning was especially tasty. You'll soon find out why. As you might expect, it all started with a mixture of 1/2 C oats, 1/2 C milk, and 1/2 C water. As this was simmering on the stove, I thought, "chocolate cherry coconut!" The triple threat! So I mixed in 1 T cocoa, about 3 T chopped dried cherries, 1 chopped date, 1 T coconut, 1/2 T chia seeds, and about 1/2 T peanut butter. Boy, was it energy-dense. All the ingredients brought their own nutrition, so even though there was a significant amount of calories, it was all from real foods.

I noted in my journal yesterday that there are people out there who probably can conceive of spending one to two hours in the kitchen every night, doing food prep and cooking. Yes, it takes time, but I get something very significant out of it: wholesome, nourishing food. These generic people probably spend at least one to two hours watching television every evening--something I, lacking a TV, do not do. What is gained from spending hours that way?

As for the knitting I mentioned yesterday, how I wasn't sure the two purples would work together, I looked at it in natural light and decided it wasn't what I wanted. Since I'd only knitted a few inches, it was the work of minutes to take it out and start over. It's awkward because one skein is being knitted from the inside out, the other from the outside in, so I have to do more yarn wrangling. However, now I get a purple and black combination, that is transitioning into bright blue and gray, so it's pleasing me.

Red Cabbage

2011-03-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

After mentioning rotkohl yesterday, I actually went home and made some! At least I cooked up a dish in which the main ingredient was red cabbage. The recipe came from the back of The Jungle Effect, by Dr. Daphne Miller. Many of the recipes for cooked red cabbage are very similar: cabbage, vinegar, apple, onion, spice. Mine lacked onion, however as I was reaching in the fridge for the cabbage, I came across some forgotten beets. In they went! Leery as I was at first, using ground cloves in the dish, once I stirred everything and started cooking, all the flavors came together and cloves really were the right thing to do. Here's how it ended up:

1 small head red cabbage, shredded

1 mealy Fuji apple, diced

3 small beets, chopped

1 Cup apple cider

3 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 Tablespoon butter

Put everything except the butter in a medium to large saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 45 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the butter as it melts.

I like things more sour, so next time I'll use a bit more vinegar, or my stronger red wine vinegar. Since my butter was lightly salted, I didn't find any need to add any salt to the dish. I think a little freshly ground pepper on top would also be a great addition. This was an excellent side to my sardine salad and a glass of white wine. Plus it was exceptionally filling! (Though I did find room for a honey-sweetened pumpkin cookie square.)

Started a new knitting project last night: a Noro silk garden scarf. There's a trick you can do, using two balls at once, alternating two rows of each, so two color changes are happening at once. I made something similar for my brother once, in a 1x1 rib, but this one is more of a 2x2 seed stitch, as I want a thin fabric. I'll have to check the layout of the colors--right now I've got two purples going at once--to make sure that I like the contrast.

Things I want to make

2011-03-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Polish in me is itching to bake this: Deb's Black Bread. Then I want to make my own yogurt cheese, blend it up with dill, and spread it on the bread. Then I think a side of Rotkohl will finish things off nicely. There might have to be just a tiny glass of vodka involved.

Thinking of these foods makes me miss my Grandma. She passed away in '03. She grew up in New York--one of many Polish-American Catholics there. Of course, when I knew her, out in Southern California, traditional Polish foods were not a big part of her life. :) When she was living with my parents for a couple years at the end, we noticed the way she'd put a thick layer of butter on her bread. I remember visiting her at one point, I must have been a young teenager, and she made macaroni and cheese from scratch. Having grown up with only the boxed version, mac 'n' cheese made from actual macaroni and cheese was so amazing! She loved to play cards, and taught us kids so many different poker variations.

Oh, the cravings!

2011-03-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

As the afternoon progressed yesterday, I noticed that the clouds were moving away and there was actual sunlight outside. Joy! I bolted out of work right at 5 o'clock, raced home to take care of a couple of things, then hopped on my bike to head for the park. My tires were a little low, I'm not a strong cyclist, it's basically all uphill to the park, but, darn it, I was going to get some hiking in. After searching all over for a place to lock up my bike (incidentally, it's past all the parking lots towards the picnic area), I finally was able to get on the trail. One mile up, dodging mud, and one mile back, dodging the same mud. Then the easy ride home. Ahhhh.

Like I've said before, I've given up refined sugars for Lent. With the exception of girly drinks last Saturday ('cause, yeah, fruity girly cocktails at mainstream Southern California restaurants tend to be sweet), I've really been sticking to it.

Yesterday evening I met up with a friend for dinner, at a little mini-mall Mediterranean place in San Bruno. It's called Cafe Grillades. I had the spinach salad, "baby spinach with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted bell pepper, goat cheese, artichokes, and toasted walnuts" in a balsamic vinagrette. Plus a pot of pear-flavored green tea. The salad was very nice: plenty of roasted peppers on mine, not too much dressing, the spinach was fresh, and all the flavors blended together quite nicely. I would go back there to try some of the other things on the menu.

(Incidentally, the table right next to ours ordered various dessert crepes, so I had to wait for my salad while sitting next to a plate of delicious sweet crepes, caramel sauce, and whipped cream.)

When I arrived home, my body decided to tell me that it really wasn't satisfied, and wanted more food. Okay, here you go, have some almonds and cacao nibs.

"No," it said, after nomming the nuts, "I want sugar."

Well, I said, you're not going to get any sugar. Even though I have a ziploc bag full of oatmeal raisin cookies in the freezer, which I am going to give away to my boyfriend so they don't tempt me further, I'm not going to give you any cookies. Or any sweet chocolate. Or even any more dried fruit.

"Wahhh!" my body cried.

Okay, I said, here's half a cup of apple cider. And that was all it took. Hopefully the desire for sugar truly will diminish over time. I'll just have to wait and see and make sure I always have healthy options for sweetness at home.

The Vegan R.D.

2011-03-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share the link to a post written in Nov 2010, by a woman and registered dietician named Ginny Messina. Do Ex-Vegans' Stories Make the Case Against Vegan Diets? It was written in response to the apparently viral post, A Vegan No More, which I wrote on some weeks ago. Ms. Messina calls attention to the attention-grabbing aspects of the other post and it's vehement language in lauding animal flesh. I agree. And I think I really agree for the following reason.

After hearing for years, "you should at least have some fish now and then", and reading for years about the beneficial Omega-3s found in fish, and really wanting to experiment with naturally treating my fatigue with real foods, I ate some sardines last night. I ate some canned, cooked, headless, gutless, finless little fish bodies. Fish that had, at some point, been swimming around in the ocean, living like little fishies do.

I felt guilty. My body wasn't suddenly suffused with a bright light, I didn't feel the power of meat flooding my veins. It's far too soon to tell the overall health effects of this dietary change.

While I ate my sardine salad, on red leaf lettuce dressed with a little mustard vinagrette and some grated carrot, I said, "Thank you, little fishes, for allowing me to eat you so that I can be as healthy as I can." I said this more than once. Because I am thankful. I am thankful for all the good food that I eat, whether it is cheese from goats, honey from bees, greens from the dirt, or clams from the seas. All of these foods are working to nourish me so that I can run out on the trails, knit baby hats for my friends, or just cuddle up on the couch with my boyfriend.

It's interesting the way that people are so adamant about their diets, especially the alternative ones. Vegans, Paleos, both ends of the spectrum. Look at religious converts--sometimes they turn into the staunchest proselytizers. Just you watch me: soon I'm going to be the die-hardest Locavore you ever did see. :) Or maybe I'll start decrying sugar as White Death.

Thing is, I can't agree with anyone who says that a vegan diet is natural for humans. Why? Because no historical culture followed one. Look at any native peoples around the world throughout history. Guess what? They're omnivores. And I think there's a reason for it. Yes, people can be healthy and happy on a properly planned vegan diet, blending up their spinach and banana smoothies, taking those Vitamin B12 supplements. More power to them for doing something they believe in. I don't want to take industrially-produced supplements. So I'm going to do what I believe in, as I've always done.

Water is Life

2011-03-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

While driving to work this morning, I saw a van pull out from a McDonald's parking lot. It was a commercial truck for some company called "Skinny Water". Of course, this concept irked me, so I had to find out more about it. I'm not going to link to their corporate website, because that would be acknowledging their existence. Feel free to search for it on your own.

It's just like all the other "diet" water drinks out there: purified water mixed with electrolytes, some vitamins or phytochemicals, flavors, colors and presumably artificial sweeteners. Different flavors offer different "benefits", such as "antioxidants", "natural energy", and, get this, "appetite control". My favorite bit is a quote from Emily Mitchell, MS RD CSSD CDE. "After reviewing the ingredients, I believe Skinny Water is an excellent, sugar-free and healthy alternative to traditional, high-calorie carbonated soft drinks."

I appreciate her qualification here, that this brand of colored water is a better alternative than soda. Likely she would agree with me, that ordinary clean water is the best option of all. Why pay someone for the privilege of drinking a bunch of chemicals when you can drink purified water for nearly free? (Yes, figuring in the cost of tap water and a Brita filter.) Why think that a freakishly pink drink is going to hydrate you better than water?

Ah, but you say, "I just don't like the taste of normal water." Then you have a couple of great, all-natural options. Do like my clever former roommate and add a splash of juice to your water. Cran-grape, apple, orange--they'll all add just a touch of flavor and some natural electrolytes while providing just a few calories. If a post-workout recovery drink is what you need, there's a great recipe over at No Meat Athlete, based on dates (great source of potassium), citrus fruit, and sea salt. Or tea. Black, green, or herbal: all have been drunk for centuries, and provide all kinds of interesting phytochemicals. Check for organic varieties.

Totally Off-Topic Rant

2011-03-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's my blog, so I can say what I want. Before I go nuts, however, just a quick status report on the no sugar thing. It's going pretty much okay so far. I totally broke it in order to have fruity drinks with the girls on Saturday, but now I'm convinced that I can make a better cocktail using straight-up mango juice and alcohol of choice, rather than anything involving syrups. I don't mind my cocktails a bit fruit-sweet, but I can't stand them totally syrupy-sweet. Yesterday was a very fruity day: raisins and dates in my breakfast, an apple at lunch, dried cherries for a snack, and applesauce after dinner.

Now for the rant. According to FB, my cousin's wife gave birth to a baby girl and they named her Logan. Logan is a boy's name. In fact, my own brother is named Logan. How can our mutual cousin give his daughter the same name as my burly, hairy, manly brother? Would they name their son Melissa?

I am prejudiced against strange masculine names for girls. Names like Sydney, Mackenzie, Schuyler, Taylor, and now Logan. I actually have less of a problem with anachronistic names (not surprising, given my predilection for historical pursuits) than crazy names. And the Mormons are well known for crazy names. Just look it up on Google.

Oranges and Sunshine

2011-03-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely dessert last night, courtesy of Dr. Daphne Miller's book, The Jungle Effect.

Peel an orange (using a knife or your fingers) and cut crosswise into rounds. Arrange these prettily on a plate. Drizzle with honey (maybe 1 teaspoon) and sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill, if desired. I added a sprinkle of unsweetened flaked coconut, which was another layer of delicious. I also used one orange and one tangerine, and alternated the fruits on the plate. A blood orange would be a wonderful striking contrast. Really, use any variations on oranges you like. Sweet, spicy, and refreshing!

I've been thinking a bit about many of the women amongst my circle of friends. Some are on their way to being happily married, some are on their way to being mothers (for the first or second time.) I don't want to be married or pregnant, but at the same time I feel as though I'm missing something special, and their lives are so much better than mine. They're living the perfect feminine dream.

Then I think about how utterly awesome my life is. For example, after work yesterday I got to enjoy a vigorous hike in the nearby county park--spotting not one, but two hawks, and a rabbit, plus a deer. Then I got to share a delicious and tasty meal--dinner, wine, and dessert--with the dear, supportive man in my life. Tonight I'm headed down to Los Angeles to enjoy a weekend with friends I haven't seen in months. Keeping my hands warm are little wristers that I knit myself, using yarn left over from a pair of socks I knitted years ago for my mum. Despite one or two little projects (I'm working on them), I'm enjoying very good health.

A very wise woman (who is one of the friends I will get to see tomorrow) once told me that you can't judge other people's lives according to your own impression of them. One man may be in a marriage that seems perfectly happy, yet he's sometimes afraid that his strong, independent wife doesn't approve of his alternative career choice. One woman may appear to have her entire life perfectly ordered: neat job, great apartment, international travel, yet she's afraid of the fact that she doesn't own a house and doesn't have a nest egg for retirement.

And, of course, the glowing, shining pregnant ladies will have to deal with poop and spit-up while I get to kick back after a long day's hiking and have a handsome man bring me custom cocktails and rub my feet. Yep; it's great to be me.

Just something I noticed

2011-03-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

I find it interesting that fruits and vegetables are widely used in advertising, as they symbolize "healthy". Just now, at the Journal of Nutrition website, there's two pomegranates, two acorn squash, four tangerines, and a bunch of red grapes. At the CalTrain station in downtown San Fran, there's a place to buy Subway sandwiches, the lower counter of which is covered with a banner full of peppers, tomatoes, heads of lettuce, etc.

Of course, fruits and veg are bright and shiny and colorful and highly photogenic. You never see a pile of wheatberries, or a big pyramid of flour or cane sugar, or a bowl full of corn syrup.

I think someone should do a photo shoot reflecting the raw materials in an average American's daily diet. There's something vaguely resembling an interesting infographic contained in a blog here, but I can't trace it back to the origin. And what's all that dairy doing there, in a population that allegedly doesn't drink milk anymore? I think, also, that the chart should be corrected for water content, as a pound of lettuce has a lot fewer calories (less than 100) than a pound of sugar (almost 2000).

I'm just ranting today, especially since I've been reading a lot of dietary studies, and am highly skeptical of many of them. Too small a population, too short a time, too much averaging. While you don't want to look at individual data points necessarily, they can indicate interesting things. For example, on a study of mice who had access to different % fat diets, there were individual mice on a 6% fat diet who had a body composition of 25% fat, while there were individuals on a 75% fat diet who had a body composition of 10% fat. Scroll through a bit. So while you can make general, sweeping conclusions, it's still important to check out the raw data. After all, I'm an individual, not an average.

Synchronicity

2011-03-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

In light of one of my recent posts (A Necessary Evil?), it was an interesting turn of events that I came upon this blog entry: A Vegan No More.

She is much better than I am at writing, so go there and partake of her words if you like. As I read it, my brain was in total agreement. Certainly, I'm having none of the severe health effects that she had, and I haven't transitioned to eating a fully omnivorous diet, but it was just so reassuring to read that someone, somewhere out there has had to deal with the same ethical dilemma that I've been dealing with.

Last Monday, I made some clam chowder. Onion and celery, potatoes, clams, and soymilk. There was enough for dinner Monday and lunch for the next two days. Has the amount of heme iron I picked up in those three days made a difference? It's too soon to tell, I think. I have been feeling more upbeat and energetic over the past few days, though this past weekend I was all tuckered out after a 2 hour hike on Saturday and a 1 hour walk on Sunday.

What is most difficult, on any subject matter, is to come to the realization that what you've been told (or what you've been telling yourself) all your life is not correct. The concept, for me, that a grain-based vegetarian diet is not the healthiest thing for myself or for the planet. If I were to eat locally, using the food that is available at my local farmers' market, I would be eating the foods that are laid out in the popular "Paleo" diets: fruits, vegetables, tubers, honey, nuts, eggs, pasture-fed meat and seafood. The only grains that show up are processed into bread, cookies, pies, and pastries. I stand corrected: one farm does offer wheat berries and their own milled flour. That is one booth out of four rows of them in a college parking lot.

Right now I've added some things to my diet: butter, yogurt, cottage cheese from pasture-fed cows; cheese from pasture-fed goats; and eggs from free-range local chickens. Plus I'm working to reduce my consumption of refined grains, increasing my consumption of potatoes and sweet potatoes to satisfy my carbohydrate needs. For Lent this year, I will be repeating what I did last year, giving up refined sweeteners. (Honey I do not consider to be a refined sweetener, since it's a product of bees rather than an industrial process.) The only exception will be dark chocolate, and since I tend to eat the darkest of dark chocolate, that amount of sugar is minimized.

Let's see how this works for me over the next many months.

Quote of the Day

2011-03-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Just found a new blog that I'd like to read more of: Whole Health Source. Today's quote comes from an old post, from June 2009, discussing studies on the Mediterranean Diet.

Stephan writes, "Mediterranean countries don't need industrial goop to avoid a heart attack, and neither do you."

I think this could be carried over to the concept that you don't need industrial goop to lose weight. Quite the contrary. I remember an acquaintance who was trying to lose weight, and on a particular day she was snacking on some kind of Atkins-style commercial drink. (Incidentally, on that same day, I decided to eat 12 servings of fruits and vegetables.) The drink had a long, long list of ingredients, all of them artificial and processed. How can your body do anything good with those?

As always, I feel it's whole foods for the win.

A Necessary Evil?

2011-02-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about my iron content lately. The blood work at my checkup in 2009 showed me as borderline iron-deficient, and the one from 2010 put me right in the range of real iron deficiency. I feel cold all the time. When I exercise, I feel tired more quickly than a year ago, and sometimes it just feels difficult to get enough oxygen.

I am disposed towards iron-deficiency anemia because I am both vegetarian and female. Naturally, women lose iron out of their bodies every month, so we have to have proportionally more in our diets.

Supplements are not the same as getting nutrients from nature. An iron supplement will never be as well absorbed by the body as heme iron obtained by eating animal flesh.

Is this the end of vegetarian Melissa? After 16 years, I don't even know whether I can easily digest flesh foods any more. Also, it rather disgusts me to think about it. I don't want to feel as though I've "failed" as a vegetarian, or consider myself a "traitor".

On the other hand, this is my health and well-being I'm talking about! Am I crazy? Why would I not have most nutritious, health-promoting, natural diet I can find? If having some clams or oysters or sardines now and then gives me not only Iron, but also Vitamin B12 and Omega-3 fatty acids, promoting goodness throughout my body, what's holding me back? An outdated identity of myself as a true vegetarian?

I've always maintained that if I were starving, I would kill other animals for food. If my plane crashed in the Andes and I had to turn cannibal until we figured out a way down the mountain, I would. (And then I'd write a book about it.)

But the identity is hard to let go of. It's something that's been with me for over half my life. I can keep trying the vegetarian route: lentils, beans, blackstrap molasses, cooking in cast iron, taking supplements. However, history indicates that these just don't go far enough.

I'm tormented by this. I don't know what to do yet. Part of me doesn't want to make a big deal about it, 'cause I feel like people will understand. "You had to change your diet in order to be healthy? Makes sense." Heck, all the people that actually care about me should be fine. So why am I so emotionally caught up in this?

Eat Right, Whoever You Are!

2011-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

In January, Whole Foods was offering little slips of paper with a code to become a member of and take the "Eat Right America 28-day Challenge". Did I sign up? Yes. Did I get on board with the challenge? No. Have I found individual days of the challenge particularly irritating and against my dietary needs? Yep, otherwise I would hardly have mentioned it.

I just started writing in my little food & exercise journal the following. "Here's what I don't want in my healthy diet: excessive instructed consumption of blended foods like smoothies or--ick--"blended salads." A smoothie can be fine as a quick delivery system on occasion, but 1) I don't have the ingredients, especially bananas, 2) I don't have a high-powered blender, and 3) I get hungry soon after, so I'd like to chew my food. I don't want any dietician warning me about the horrors of olive oil. 120 calories per tablespoon! Egad! Hide the children!" I plan to go on and say that I don't want to be assigned an eating plan that tells me at the same time to:

1) Eat only when I'm hungry.

2) Eat only three meals a day.

Spouting that the digestive system needs to rest, without citing any actual medical info to support this, the chief medical officer of the Eat Right America website states that six meals a day is utterly wrong and horrible for you! Three are the number of meals you should eat in a day, and the number of meals you eat shall be three.

I've been keeping track of when I'm actually hungry--when I feel actual uncomfortable pains gnawing at my belly.

6:45 Wake up, hungry.

7:20 Eat a reasonable breakfast, like coffee w/ soymilk and happy oatmeal, or PB&J

9:30 Hungry

11:00 or so Eat a reasonable lunch, consisting of a filling portion of vegetarian protein, carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables

3:00 Hungry

3:30 Have a snack, such as nuts & fruit, or a salad of lettuce & beans

5:30 Hungry

6:30 Eat dinner, such as kale & hearty

8:30 Hungry. Eat dark chocolate.

10:30 Hungry. Go to bed.

I am literally stomach-growling, belly-gnawing hungry every 3-4 hours. More frequently as the day goes on. Eating a reasonable amount (i.e. doesn't make me feel stuffed) of food at a meal only lasts to hold me for this amount of time. There are magical people out there who don't feel hunger the way I do. They don't lose focus because of the fact that their stomach is growling. They can go all day without feeling the need to eat, until it hits them in the evening. They can eat three meals a day.

I will continue to eat five. And maintain my healthy weight and fitness levels.

Is there any peer-reviewed medical evidence that snacking or mini-meals causes pathological damage to the digestive system? If so, please pass it along for my consideration.

Rice in Almond Milk

2011-02-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to the Gode Cookery version. It's listed as English, 15th century. I'm trying to find an Italian version as well, which dates from the early 16th century, I think.

I like the way the original receipt reads. "Take a porcyoun of Rys, & pyke hem clene, & sethe hem welle, & late hem kele; then take gode Mylke of Almaundys & do ther-to, & sethe & stere wyl; & do ther-to Sugre an honey, & serue forth." Helps if you know that "sethe" means "boil". The Italian version has units of measurement, and is very heavy on the sugar.

Way back in my college days in the vegetarian co-op, I started making something like this using leftover brown rice, soy milk, and brown sugar. All you do is put some brown rice in a saucepan, add enough non-dairy milk to cover, add sweetener to taste, bring to a boil and simmer. There's two thickening actions going on: boiling off of water from the liquid phase and expansion of the rice in the solid phase. The final pudding can be eaten warm or cold, and I think it's especially good for breakfast.

Hmm...methinks I need to make more examples of medieval cookery.

Tea for the win!

2011-02-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

I've received regular visits from the hunger fairy today. Seems that every 3 hours she decides to come by and check in. Breakfast was at 8, lunch at 11:30, snack at 2:45. When she stops by again, between 5:30 and 6, she will find me not at home, since I'll be out running. Good thing that the exercise gnome can fend off the hunger fairy, at least for a little while, so I'll have time to put together something vaguely nutritious for dinner before I become ravenous. I'm thinking a salad with artichoke hearts, grated carrot, and sunflower seeds plus some baked mochi on the side. Colorful veggies, protein, and good carbs.

According to some very vague articles I read online today (Livestrong.com, I'm looking in your direction), Bikram yoga is up there next to Zumba in the ability to burn 1000 CALORIES PER HOUR!!! The emphasis is mine, and used in an entirely facetious fashion.

Really, the number of calories burned depends entirely on the individual. Bigger people burn more calories for the same exercise than a tiny person. Unless you are monitored, there's no way to really determine exactly how many calories you burn during exercise. One can only estimate.

My favorite exercise for seriously burning the maximum calories per hour? Rowing. Either for real (if you can) or on a machine. It uses muscles throughout your entire body, from head to toe, and is incredibly aerobic. Try doing fast-paced squats while at the same time lifting a weight from the ground up to your chin for two solid minutes. Now multiply that by 30. Yeah, it's hard core. Now do it while running around like a soccer player. (Naw, I'm just kidding about that.)

Anyway, I think the room was extra hot during yoga last night because the sweat was coming off me in disgusting, salty waterfalls. Strange thing was that I was also completely relaxed most of the time. I'm hoping my leg muscles catch up to this new level of exertion quickly, because I'm getting tired of being this sore all the time. Or I need to find a nice massage therapist cabana boy to work on me every evening.

Better Living Through Chemistry?

2011-02-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

There is a story in the December 6, 2010 issue of Chemical & Engineering News entitled "New Fibers for Foods". (I wish I could post a link to the online article, but it is not free.) It addresses the need for fiber in a diet, some historical sources of soluble and insoluble fiber and their health benefits, and then moves on to the way that food researchers and manufacturers are developing artificial starches which cannot be digested, thus mimicking fiber.

Needless to say, I'm against it. Why go to all the trouble making chemically-enhanced ingredients, thus adding a new level of processing to processed food and potentially causing unfortunate interactions with the body (remember the highly-publicized side effects of Olestra?) when people can just eat real food?

Of course, it's the real food portion of the concept that modern humans are apparently against. The article states, "Many people have trouble adjusting to the taste, texture, and color of a whole-grain, high-fiber pasta, for example." Also, "People do not consume enough fruits and vegetables to do it [meet dietary fiber needs] alone, and for that matter, agriculture can't produce enough fruits and vegetables to meet the need."

Addressing the second issue first, fruits and vegetables are not the only sources of dietary fiber out there. It's important to have a balance of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and legumes to both get adequate vitamins & minerals and cover the spectrum of soluble & insoluble fiber. An issue with agricultural production is not that the capacity is so limited, but that it's not well-distributed. Everything I read says that agriculture produces enough calories to feed everyone, but the grain in silos in the United States is not going to help someone starving in Sierra Leone, for instance. Also, there's a lot that could be done if the extensive fields of corn & soybeans across the US used as animal feed were converted to polyculture fields for vegetarian human foods.

As for the issue of the average person not liking whole-grain pasta, well, I think they're just going to have to suck it up. Do what's good for you. Retrain your palate. Don't expect technology to cater to your every whim.

As for me, I'm off to eat some bean-filled chili on top of a baked sweet potato with a side of mandarin orange. Fiberlicious!

Sore, Yet Determined

2011-02-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

When starting a new strength-training regimen, I'm always more sore on the second day after exercising than on the first day. Right now my hamstrings are making themselves known. Problem is, I'm scheduled to run 5K with speed training after work today, and I'm not sure whether that plan will actually come together.

What I am going to do, though, is get home, put on the rest of my exercise clothes, and walk out the door. (See, I'm wearing a sports bra and workout tank top under my long sleeved shirt, so all I need to do is swap my jeans and shoes for their running equivalents and I'll be nearly ready to go.) Once I actually get going down the road, I'll be better able to judge what my body is capable of doing this afternoon.

I realized about 45 minutes after lunch just how well fiber can contribute to a feeling of fullness. Lunch today was half a sweet potato topped with about a cup of black-eyed peas, plus a mandarin. While it was of reasonable theoretical volume, in my belly it felt like I would never need to eat again. :) Of course, as that was nearly four hours ago, I am, in fact, a little bit hungry right now, but that's just my own personal need to eat every 3-4 hours.

How about you--when you're not sure whether you're up to exercising, how do you approach the dilemma?

Holy Hot Yoga, Batman!

2011-02-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I survived my first Bikram yoga class. 90 minutes in a very hot, humid room going through 26ish different postures. I did have to pause about halfway through, during the first set of tree pose, and just sit down for a little while because I was starting to faint. Other than that, everything went really well and I am excited to go again. At the studio close to work, you can do a one month introductory period with unlimited classes for $30. I already have plans for the weekend, so my next class won't be until Monday, but I'm hoping to try out all the different instructors for the convenient time slots so I can decide what will work best for me.

I'm glad I have something to do in addition to running. There are a few upper-body weight lifting exercises, of the push-up and pull-up variety, that I'm hoping to include in my regular workouts, and then I should have the entire body covered. All the activities are weight-bearing, too, which gives me a boost towards preventing osteoporosis.

One thing I did notice about my body's needs today: salt is my friend. Chinese food for lunch tasted extra tasty. I stay well hydrated all day, as the constant trips to both the bathroom and the water cooler can attest, so I'm not drinking significantly more water today than I do normally. It helps that I have a general rule following any sort of serious exertion, whether it is a hot day at the renaissance faire or a hot yoga class: keep drinking water at a reasonable rate until I have to pee.

Personally, one of the other things that Bikram has going for it is the fact that I don't have to wear a lot of clothes. I can go in a sports bra and shortie shorts. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate to work out in bulky clothes. Of course, now I need to spend a little time and money shopping for some new sports bras, which I needed anyway, since some of mine are well past retirement age.

ANDI 1000

2011-02-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

Had some original kale and hearty for supper last night. I'd like to think that I started eating kale before it was cool. Last night I had it with some cinnamon-raisin mochi squares on the side.

Kale and Hearty (the original recipe)

1/2 lb tofu, cut into slabs or bite-sized pieces

a bunch of kale, ends discarded, leaves cut into bite-sized pieces

olive oil

tamari sauce

Heat a little olive oil (about 1 - 2 teaspoons) in a frying pan over medium heat and swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the tofu and brown on both sides. Add the kale. At this point, you can cover the frying pan and allow the kale to steam cook; this is especially useful if your kale is not so young and tender. Once everything is cooked, season with a splash of tamari sauce. Serves two. You can put it over brown rice or whole wheat pasta.

In case you've been to Whole Foods lately and seen the ANDI scores liberally sprinkled around the produce and bulk sections, you may have noticed that kale scores 1000. It's tops for packing nutrients with few calories. In fact, basically all the leafy cooked greens score this way, which is good because I'm afraid that my love of kale has been surpassed by my love of mustard greens. Mmmm...mustard greens. You can cook and eat them just the same way--they have a slightly piquant, nutty flavor that I just can't describe. Alas! I'm a vegetarian scientist, not a poet.

Had a good run after work yesterday, though I wasn't flying quite as easily as I did last Friday. I did manage about 4.3 - 4.4 miles, with just a couple of short 50-100 yard sections uphill that were walked. When I was lagging at the 3.2 mile point, I told myself that I could walk a short section just to relax and give my muscles a break, and that gave me exactly what I needed to finish strong the last mile. I'm going to remember this, especially as I get into the longer and longer runs training for my half marathon.

Saw three deer last night! Plus, since they didn't really move from the yard where they were noshing, I saw them all three times I ran past the same place. Even though it was well past dusk and almost full dark, I was able to spot them because of silhouette and recognizing the lighter patches of fur on their faces and undersides. None of them had antlers, so we've got a pack of does running around the neighborhood after dark, exercising their girl power.

I've been disappointed with my dance options here. After taking two tap and a ballet at the closest studio, I finally realized that I'm just not having fun there. The teaching is certainly adequate and gives my body what it needs, but I get no joy from it. The other ballet studio close to work only has adult classes at 9:20 AM--I guess they don't get much business from working women. The other other dance studio barely has any adult classes at all, and not what I'm interested in.

So tonight I'm all set to head over to a local bikram yoga studio and give that a try instead. I'll let you know how that goes.

Flowers

2011-01-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Did a little something different for yesterday’s run (~3.6 miles). I left the iPod at home and focused instead on just enjoying the lovely evening. The sun is setting later and later, giving me just a few more minutes of light each time I go out. Last night there was, here and there, a cool evening breeze bringing me the scents of burning leaves (blech), early spring flowers (mmmm), and even hot spiced cider (tasty).

Note to self: buy some apple cider at the farmers’ market this weekend, and track down some cinnamon sticks.

I have no idea how much I weigh right now, since I haven’t stepped on a scale in about four months. Even though all my clothes fit okay, I look pudgier in the mirror, the result of winter’s excesses. While I don’t feel an overwhelming compulsion to lose weight in order to fit some outer ideal, I do feel the need to ensure that I’m at an efficient weight for all the physical activities I want to do. Face it: the less weight I’m carrying around, the easier I’ll be able to run. However, it’s all about good nutrition, eating whole foods, and listening to my body.

Looking at a half marathon trail run near Santa Cruz, CA in late August. The altitude changes scare me a little, because there’s nothing quite like running up a steep incline, but I like running on dirt, out in the trees.

A good hike, a bad run

2011-01-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

I discovered a notebook that I'd been using last year to keep track of my running and nutrition. In one of the entries, I mentioned how I wasn't feeling well during a run, so I did just 2 miles instead of my usual three, and I was okay with that, because I'd rather have an okay run of 2 miles than a sucky one of three.

This afternoon I ate a rather late lunch. A burrito, about as big as a baby. Then I tried to run about 90 minutes later. My body just wasn't having it. So I let myself walk, albeit briskly and uphill, and then ran on the easy parts. I still got a great workout. Even got some extra core-strengthening exercise in, what with the constant tripping over tree roots and flailing about around my center of mass, which was rapidly moving forward, in order not to hit the dirt.

I'm excited to hit the trail again tomorrow, this time just a hike with my boyfriend, and I know that my next run will go much better. Especially since I won't try to do it after eating a giant tortilla filled with beans, rice, and grilled veggies.

Grocery dilemma

2011-01-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

Good runs on Tuesday and Thursday this week. First was just about 3 miles, second was about 3 1/2. I should keep track of them on mapmyrun.com or similar. Tomorrow morning is the long adventure run, since I'm able to do it in full daylight. I'm heading out to the local county park, which might have some actual dirt trails for fabulous earth running. There's a 2.2 mile loop, plus the mileage on the streets to get there, so my run should be about 4 miles.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's visit to my local farmers' market. I haven't been out to buy real fruits and vegetables in ages, so it should be a good time. After reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and discovering the existence of huge, monoculture organic farms, I had a tough time buying spinach at Whole Foods the other night, because it came from Cal-Organic. Still, but slightly less, mentally and emotionally wracking was trying not to buy anything in packaging. I wandered up and down the aisles, seeing for myself what a huge market has been formed for organic processed foods. That evening, I think I left with carrots and apples from the produce section, brown rice and black-eyed peas from the bulk foods (in bags I'd brought myself), a pot scrubber, a quart of enriched unsweetened almond milk, and two whole-wheat rolls from the bakery. There may have been more items in my basket, but I can't remember. Shopping's tough when you care so much about what you buy! I'll have to see where I'm willing to compromise.

Feeling totally fat and bloated today; I'm hoping it's hormone-related water retention and will all go away after next week. At least until it cycles around again.

Hoping to start up with ballet and tap at a local dance studio. I need to take "placement" classes, so they know what to do with me, I suppose. I mean, I could tell them: beginning ballet, beginning tap. It's been so long since I've done either. They have a strict dress code, too, which makes me wonder whether it'll be the right combination of discipline and fun for me.

New Year's Resolution!

2011-01-14T16:36:00.001-08:00

I don't bother much with massive, life-changing resolutions. I believe in taking small steps. There was some real soul-searching involved in my resolution for this year, since I wanted to make it a real, meaningful accomplishment.

For 2011, I resolve to floss every day.

I made this resolution on Wednesday the 12th. So far I'm two for two. :)

Going for a run this afternoon. Did 3 miles on Wednesday (it was rough!) and planning another 3 miles for today. This time with the iPod, just so I have a distraction and mood-booster. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed my quiet 5K on Weds, I was just really dragging by the end. Gotta keep up with training for that half-marathon this year.

Read about Paleo and Fruititarian diets these days, both from blogs wherein it changed the person's life, so it's the diet they think everyone should be on. I, of course, find it interesting that one person can (allegedly) thrive eating a ton of meat while the other (allegedly) thrives on eating a ton of fruit. Just goes to show me that no one way of eating is for everyone, except the general caveat of "eat real food". I'm sticking with that concept, working on eliminating anything that goes through a massive chemo-industrial process in order to render it fit for consumption.

I could use more restful sleep at night, but otherwise, life is good! Especially since I had kale for lunch, and that kale was lacinato, a.k.a. "dinosaur" kale. Rawr!

A Birthday Card

2010-10-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry, roommate--I used all the ice

2010-09-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Nothing out of the ordinary to report today. Oh, wait: I ran on a Wednesday. That's different. Packed in 4 miles: 2.33 at the park and 1.72 doing an out and back to the main street. Thankfully it wasn't too hot, as a well-meaning woman decided to dump out my water and throw the plastic bottle away while cleaning up the park after the children's soccer practice. I saw her pick it up and pour the water out before I was close enough to shout, "Oi! That's mine!" Oh, well.

I also mixed it up a bit during stretches, by doing push-ups in between stretching my major muscle groups. From my knees, I did three sets: 8, 7, and 6, with a minute's rest in between.

Silly me--I was so focused on icing my ankles after the run that I forgot to listen to my victory song. So I've got "Fanfare for the Common Man" playing in the background right now.

I felt just fine after today's 4 miles, so I think I will be in good shape for my 10K, what with four more weeks to keep training and all.

Tonight's dinner was yesterday's leftover potato salad, plus a serving of garbanzo beans for good luck! Nah, they were for extra protein. Add to that a few nuts for dessert and I'm sitting pretty on my protein for the day, what with having 1/2 C of yogurt, 1 C of garbanzos, 1/2 C of edamame, plus about 3/4 C of millet. Add this to other various minimal sources of protein in today's variety-filled eating--it all adds up!

Italian Flair Potato Salad

2010-09-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

I played the "whatchagot" game in putting together tonight's supper. It turned out to be delicious! Of course, how could it not be, considering the ingredients. :)

Potato Salad with an Italian Flair

3 red potatoes, scrubbed

3 zucchini, sliced (I used green and yellow)

about 1/3 C julienne sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil

1/4 diced red bell pepper

3 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Boil the potatoes until tender. Let cool, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Roast the zucchini until tender and browned, or if it's unbearably hot out, just saute them. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and season to taste (salt, pepper, garlic spice blend, etc.) Serves 3 as mini-meals or 2 as main course.

I'm interested to see how well the flavors blend overnight in the fridge.

I've noticed something interesting over the past couple of days: I'm filled with a great deal of positivity as I eat my morning salad. (Baby greens w/ a half cup of beans dressed with oil & vinegar or salsa, depending on the beans.) Just munching on the tasty tupperware of nutrition makes me feel good. Apparently, it's a comfort food, and a plenty healthy one at that.

I can definitely use all the comfort and nutrition I can get, as northern faire is kicking my butt! This past weekend my sleep was very interrupted (Who know that crickets could be so loud?) so Friday through Sunday nights I think I got about 5-6 hours of actual sleep per night, which is so not good for me. However, I was very geared up for my run on Sunday morning, and did my 9 laps around the faire site. I'm adding one lap per weekend, so that final Sunday will be 12, over highly variable terrain, which I think will be adequate training for the 10K I'm running on Oct 30th. I postponed today's run to tomorrow, as the heat wave will have finished breaking by then.

Bloggus Interruptus

2010-09-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

Look at the archives. Notice that huge, gaping hole during April and May? That's because all my energy was sucked away by this thing called the "Renaissance Faire." Even though it only takes place on the weekends, it's like having a second full-time job.

Well, it's happening again, this time not even locally, so imagine how much more exhausted I might end up being after driving 6 hours Friday evening, sleeping on the ground, performing all weekend, then driving back home Sunday night and getting up for work the next day. Despite the fact that I really enjoy playing my violin and I love many of the people, I am really not looking forward to this season.

Can we say, "burnout"?

In any case, I'm trying to be as healthy as I can. I've packed some fairly healthy instant soups (split pea and black bean), along with nuts, dried fruits, Lara bars, and Annie's Naturals cheese crackers. (They're in the shape of little birds. I love birds. The second faire dress I made is in a color that can only be described as "baby duck yellow". Contrast that with my third dress, colloquially known as "emergency traffic sign yellow".) I've also got a gallon of water and some nice ginger lemongrass green tea. I'm hoping to minimize as much as possible the fast food that I'll be eating; we'll see how well that works out.

Sunday mornings will be devoted to running around the site. A good 3-4 miles, out under the trees, on reasonably natural dirt, with hills. Really looking forward to it, even though I know the hills are going to kick my butt.

So, just a warning that there may not be any updates for a while. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Animal Instinct

2010-09-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

That run was exhausting! 1 mile to the track, 3 miles of added speed laps, 1 extra lap plain ol' jogging to make sure that I ran for at least 30 mins, then 1 mile back home. Instead of running for endurance, I was trying to add some speed by running one straight leg of the quarter mile just about as fast as I could run. Run, that is; not sprint. Lap 10 I let myself just run at my normal pace, I was so tired, telling myself that I could have a little rest as long as I pushed myself on the last two laps. After each mile I took a short pause for a swallow or two of water.

I was definitely working harder than usual. Normally my breathing is just barely elevated--this evening I was panting during and after each fast-paced straight leg. I employed a technique I've used since the first time I ran for exercise, way back in high school. Visualizing animals running, and pretending to be one. Tonight I invoked horses, cheetahs, ostriches, and, naturally, dinosaurs.

There was an interesting comment to a recent posting on Marion Nestle's blog, Food Politics. "It has always mystified me that many of the same people who don’t want to pay $3 or $4 for eggs that are produced under much better (but still fairly large concentrations) conditions are fine with $4 coffee or $3 to rent a movie and other such elective spending." It's so true: a person has no problem going out for a $9 omelette for breakfast, but would balk at spending $4 (instead of around $1.50 - $2.00, which is what eggs are going for in my area) for a dozen eggs. Certainly conditions in the egg industry are appalling across the board--of course, I'm thinking more about the chickens than possible diseases present in the eggs. I'm now expanding my imaginary dream house to include a chicken coop.

Basic Tuesday

2010-08-31T19:53:00.001-07:00

Ran my go-to 4 miles this evening. Imported some 80s & 90s music to help me out. I'd have to say that the second mile was the hardest; I think I was running at a quicker pace for the first two miles, and at my normal pace for the last two. Because of my post-vacation respiratory infection, I haven't run since last Tuesday, so I'm really glad that I'm well enough to get back to my regularly scheduled workout.

Dinner is straight out of The Front Burner: millet cooked with half water, half vegetable broth topped with sauteed green beans, seasoned with a tsp of coconut oil and some fiery crushed red pepper. Plus some mystery melon for dessert!

Still trying to use up all the strawberries. I've got a batch cleaned and hulled and ready for use.

Strawberry fields

2010-08-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

On vacation for a week, sick for a week. Still finishing up the illness, in fact, though I can tell I'm on the mend because I'm being productive once again. Especially in the kitchen.

After reading Tartelette's recent post about blueberry sorbet-filled macarons, I was in the mood to try my hand at homemade sorbet. Alas! I live in a land where blueberries are not laying in flats around every corner. There were a few baskets still available at the farmers' market, but in nothing even close to my price range. So I went with the old So Cal standby this time of year: strawberries. Pesticide free!

Three baskets were $4. A half flat of six baskets was $5. I bought the half flat, thinking, "I'm going to need a lot of berries for sorbet."

Eh...not so much. Here's the recipe I went with, out of my Cuisinart ice cream maker recipe book: 1 C sugar + 1 C water to make a simple syrup, 1/4 C corn syrup, 1 quart strawberries, hulled, pureed, and shoved through a strainer. Mix well, chill, and then process in the maker. Currently everything is at the "chilling" stage. I do, however, have a delightfully red goo taking up space in my fridge, which is always a plus.

So I used up 2 pints. Which leaves me with four. What am I going to do with four pints of strawberries? Yes, I know: eat them. However, I know they're not going to keep in the fridge for that long, which means I may have to tip into the recipe in a section at the back of the book, which specializes in boozy frozen drinks.

Strawberry daquiris, anyone?

So now I have four pints left.

And the number 5.

2010-08-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Today's run was brought to you by the letter V. For Vasen Street.

Like most people, I have many different types of music on my iPod, including one album by these three fabulous string players. It was very pleasant to listen to, and actually helped me be a little bit more playful on the second half of the run. Somewhere during mile four, I thought to myself, "Okay, I'm doing five miles. That's about one-fifth of a marathon. Could I do this five miles five times? I think so." Somehow five times 5.2 miles doesn't seem nearly as daunting as 26.2 miles.

I dunked my feet in a bucket of ice water after I finished stretching. I was chatting on the phone with my sister (she rules!), and making all kinds of "oh, freezing!" sound effects. Eventually I realized that I didn't have a towel nearby, so after I hung up I got to toddle through the house with wet, numb feet to the linen closet. Left ankle was still not so happy, so I've got it wrapped up for a bit in an elastic bandage. (FYI, left leg has suffered some nerve damage, so it has, shall we say, "special needs".)

Today was also brought to you by the letter Z. For zucchini!

Anyone who has ever planted zucchini before knows the the slightly fuzzy-prickly outside of a ripe young zucchini. See, if you don't get them while they're young, they turn into mutant monster gigantic zucchini that threaten to take over your neighborhood. The only solution is to foist them off on people; the zuc I broke into this evening came all the way from friends in Ventura.

Zucchini is mostly water and a cell wall, i.e. it doesn't have many calories. Half a cup provides but 13 or so, nearly all from carbohydrates. Like most vegetables, it provides Vitamins A and C in respectable amounts, along with some Potassium and Folate.

A great way to get your zucchini is in the form of tasty bread. I decided to try this recipe, because I wanted to use whole wheat flour. I substituted applesauce for the coconut oil and honey for half of the maple syrup. It baked up in one large and three small loaf pans, so I have some to wrap up and share with friends. What I like best about zucchini bread, especially the recipes with so much of the vegetable in them, is that they're so moist it's almost half-pudding, half-bread. I would totally add nuts (walnuts or pecans) to the recipe next time. I only left them out this time because I want to share with my nut-allergy friends, and only want them to die from deliciousness.

Frankenstein Shoes & Strange Fruit

2010-08-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

Looking at the pile of laundry, list of chores, and list of currently sore, potentially unstable muscles led me to make an executive decision on the way home from work to not go to yoga this afternoon and instead take today as my rest day. I can greet tomorrow morning with a little warm-up walk and personal yoga session, and give my muscles an extra day to recuperate.

Yesterday's run was an easy 3 miles in 32 minutes around the college track. This plan was approved by my unofficial running coach, who said I should definitely take an easy run after the rigors of my 5 miles on Tuesday.

NPR was a font of great radio stories this afternoon. I'd like to talk first about Frankenstein shoes. (Technically, Frankenstein's monster's shoes.) These are the new, rounded-sole toning shoes that have been purchased by a number of my coworkers, and I saw on two girls walking around the track last night. You can read it here, which also has a link for listening to the story. Scroll down a bit so that you can also check out the studies. Or let me lead you directly to that of the American Council on Exercise, the one on the Masai barefoot technology, and the one on walking in negative heeled shoes.

Always, always, always check the sources of claims by a commercial organization. Always check the sources of claims by anyone, really. I read the studies. I analyzed the charts. I sifted through the language. The end result is that the two studies specifically on new shoe technology said that the shoes could be used in a therapeutic fashion to strengthen the legs. It might be considered good training for the enhancement of the lower leg muscles.

All of the studies had small sample groups (12 or 13 individuals) and the study was conducted over a short period of time. In order to conclusively show that these shoes are more effective than ordinary athletic shoes, you'd need to have a larger population of individuals and conduct the study with people exercising in a controlled fashion over a long period of time, so that you can accurately measure actual muscle tone changes.

I'd throw in some barefoot walkers, too, just as an added study.

I agree with the spokesman for the ACE study, in that these shoes cause one's gait to be altered. That alteration forces you to use muscles in a different way to stabilize. This alteration would be caused by any different kind of shoe. Improvements in physique are mostly likely caused by people simply exercising more in order to get the most benefit out of their fancy, expensive shoes. Like my friend (a trainer of personal trainers) said, anything that gets people out exercising is a good thing.

Now on to the other story. It involves something emotional, rather than physical. NPR also presented a very moving story on the August 1930 lynching of two young black men in Marion, Indiana, a photograph of which inspired Abel Meeropol to write the poem and song "Strange Fruit". You can read about it and listen to the full story here. I'll give you the same warning that I was given by All Things Considered: it contains language and images that some people may find disturbing. They certainly disturbed me--I started weeping three times.

Earlier today, I read a story posted on my brother-in-law's blog about what it's like being a nerd of color, so race was definitely in my mind this afternoon. I find it interesting to note that, now that my sister has married interracially, I really am much more aware of matters of race. Growing up white in Salt Lake City, racial issues were definitely something that happened other places. Now that I live in Southern California, I go back to SLC and am shocked that everyone looks the same. We've made some progress in this country since that lynching 80 years ago, but really: fourscore years and we still don't have real equality. I can be upset at that, I can weep at the atrocities that were committed in our country's past, but all I can do myself is work every day to show each individual on this planet the same equal treatment and compassion.

Change the Way You See

2010-08-05T17:51:00.001-07:00

I'm too late to be on the official bandwagon for this, but I thought I'd do my own personal post in honor of Operation Beautiful Week.

The mission of Operation Beautiful is to end "negative self-talk", partly through awareness and partly through extending that awareness to other people through anonymous notes posted in public places. Caitlin has been posting the personal stories of health and wellness bloggers across the country. I've been reading them over the past few days, and have decided to write about about what this means to me.

But first I want to put on a little avant-garde jazz.

I was the fat girl in my elementary school class. There was one fat boy, too, so the class had a matched set. I wasn't pretty, either. I was picked on as a child because of my size and my brains and my introverted ways. I stood up for myself now and then, but what's a kid to do? It's tough. It sucks to be the fat kid. To this day I haven't let go of some of the bad experiences. Things were a bit better in junior high school, and a bit better still in high school. It was funny: all I had going for me, really, was my academic prowess, so I worked hard and practiced at physical education just because I wanted to get a good grade in gym class.

Health class in 10th or 11th grade (I forget now) made me start thinking more about nutrition. I stopped eating red meat, and then in the fall of '95 I became a vegetarian. Not that I was a particularly healthy vegetarian, mind you, but I started being more mindful of what I was eating. Then we had this test for gym class, where we were supposed to run 1 1/2 miles. First time I did it, I ran the first half lap, and then walked the rest. Again, I wanted to get a good grade, so I was over at the track practically every evening, jogging where I could, walking the rest, to the point where I could run a very slow 12-minute mile. (I think I got an A on the test just because I showed such improvement and dedication.)

The highest weight I ever remember seeing on the scale was 190 pounds. This was when I was fourteen or so, at my full height of 5' 7". When I became vegetarian, I started to lose some weight, down to 170, 175 or so. My senior year of high school, I wrote down in a steno notebook the calories and fat in everything I ate (my sister will remember this), working off of a calorie chart in an old diet book we had in the house. I remember that I had three meals and two snacks even back then. I was also back at the track three or four nights a week, walking and jogging.

Even though it seems crazy in retrospect, that food diary was a great thing for me. I went away to college, where we had three meals a day in the cafeteria, everything paid for in our residence fees. There was a great big salad bar in the center, next to the dessert tables. Burgers & sandwiches & pizza on one side, hot foods (vegetarian & non) on the other side. Sometimes I would go nuts on Sunday sundae occasions, where I would have a little ice cream with my caramel sauce and sprinkles, but often I would eat as well as I knew how: fresh vegetable salads, pasta with tomato sauce and carrots on the side, roasted mushrooms with polenta and a side of broccoli, oatmeal and melon for breakfast, and fat-free frozen yogurt. Combine this with the fact that there was a gym I could go to regularly meant that, for me, the freshman 15 was an imaginary thing that happened to some other people. I exercised, I ate well, and I got down to my normal fit weight: mid 140s.

However, being at an average weight (still not skinny) didn't do jack for my social life. It didn't guarantee that I had a boyfriend, or that guys even paid attention to me at parties. Even now I feel like the last girl in the group to get any attention. So the shape doesn't really matter. How you approach the world does. I never expected that losing weight would solve all my problems, I just thought it would be a good thing to do for myself.

I know that if I want to receive anything, first I should give it to the world. It won't necessarily come back to me, but I'm fine with that. If I want to be social, if I want attention, maybe I should go out and ask for it, nicely. I'll have a party and invite all kinds of people. I'll find people doing stuff and ask them about it. I'll just make eye contact and start interacting with someone. I'll be a good listener, fair and open and non-judgemental. All the qualities that really matter in yourself and other people, none of them depend on height or weight or hair color or shoe size.

All the running I've been doing has really made me think about my thighs. My body has its fat deposits in the upper portions of the extremities. I'm certain that my upper arms will never be skinny and there's an 11 inch difference between my waist and hips that makes it impossible to find pants that fit. My thighs, though, they might have muscle definition at the bottom, but they're definitely soft and comfy pillows at the top. Badunkadunk does not even begin to describe my booty. I think the fat is here to stay, and really, I'm all right with that. It's the way that I'm made, obviously; it's all natural. So why hate on what's natural? And, you know, one of these days, my thighs and I are going to run a 10K. Then my thighs and I are going to run a half-marathon. Then my thighs and I are going to run a full marathon. Because that's also the way I'm made.

Aftermath

2010-08-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, gentle reader, I have to say that 5 miles yesterday has not been particularly kind to me. Ankles, the left one especially, have been grousing all day. There were definitely some interesting sensations just now during yoga class. Everything else has been fine. I think maybe it was just a little too much pavement. However, I am looking forward to tomorrow's run: 30-35 minutes of intervals over at the track.

In general, I am not a fan of Aaron Copland's music. However, there is one piece which speaks to me, and that piece I love. I am speaking of "Fanfare for the Common Man". Listened to it just now to celebrate my victory over a rigorous yoga class with plenty of new moves. In my imagination, as I race towards the finish line of my first marathon, I take a moment to turn my iPod over to this song, so I can cross to the bright notes of brass.

I played "Whatchagot?" with stuff on pasta tonight. I needed to use up some assorted vegetables, so I threw them all together. Here's what I did:

1 red bell pepper

1 bunch of broccoli

1/2 lb brown mushrooms

sun-dried tomatoes (in olive oil)

fresh basil

whole wheat pasta

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut the pepper and the broccoli into bite-sized pieces and place in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet. Stick in the oven. Next, clean your mushrooms and slice into bite-sized pieces. Place these in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet. Stick this in the oven as well. (Mushrooms generally take less time to cook, which is why I put them in second.) Cook for 30-45 minutes.

Boil some water and cook two servings of pasta. (I used the spiral type, what is it? Rotelle? Ah--rotini. That's it. At least according to Wikipedia's handy-dandy chart.) When it is cooked to your liking, drain. Add some sun-dried tomatoes and a bit of the oil and mix well. Throw in all the vegetables. Chop up a bunch of basil and stir that in, too. Season to taste. I like to add a good grind of crushed red pepper, 'cause I'm fiery that way.

If you want a little more protein, crumble in some feta or chevre, or add a can of garbanzo beans.

Out and back

2010-08-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! It's Super-Me!

I ran FIVE miles.

I didn't time it, because there were lights where I had to jog in place, and I did a lap around the block for cool-down before I was able to check the clock (running into the VP of my department, and you know how it's always kinda weird seeing work people outside of the company. Not as weird as the time I ran into my Japanese professor in the showers at the pool and we were both naked and I had to have a short conversation with her, but still a little unusual. I mean, heck, he was in a t-shirt.) Anyway, a nifty watch/timer/lap tracker sort of device is on my list of things I want for training.

Had a serving of chocolate soymilk right after the run, while I was soaking my feet & ankles in a bath of ice water. Dinner is imminent: tofu, frozen veggies (string beans and carrots) and vegetable gyoza, all from Trader Joe's. I'll be cooking more later: an experiment of roasted mushrooms and peppers, to go with some sun-dried tomatoes and basil, all over pasta. Should make a tasty lunch for tomorrow.

Normally I'm good at math

2010-08-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Somehow I thought that today's biathlon would only take 45 minutes. Yeah, I don't know where I came up with that. I left the house around 8:45 this morning, and came back through the door at 10:30. I was shocked, until I actually thought about it. This morning I did:

10 1/2 miles biking

3 miles running (on the sand)

Add in waiting for numerous traffic lights, stopping to watch the start of a dragon boat race, getting slightly lost and confused when I discovered I was in Naples instead of Belmont Shore, and, yes, that can all add up to 1 hour and 45 minutes of exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

I felt myself inexplicably drawn to the beach this morning. Plus, I wanted to see how it would be to ride my bike over to Belmont Shore instead of driving as usual. It worked out rather well, except when I finally got to the beach there was technically no place to lock up my bike. Rather discourages one to use the bike as a form of transportation, don't you think?

I'm really glad I did it, though. I discovered the aforementioned dragon boat race. It looked just like this, except without Hong Kong in the background. Watching the people at the paddles really made me think of the two types of muscle fibers: Type I (red, good for endurance) and Type II (white, good for bursts of speed and power). I could see the rowers start to slow down after a little while--it would definitely be hard, continually beating at the waters with that short little paddle.

Also, the sand at the beach was perfect for running. I think they flattened it recently, so it was nice and smooth and able to be packed down. I didn't do the full 4 miles (pier to jetty and back) because the last 1/2 next to the jetty was really soft and inclined, as usual, and full of surf fishermen, and I didn't want to have to dodge all the lines. Plus a three mile run was just fine for this morning, especially since I totally had to pee for most of it. That was the worst part of the run, especially since the beach there has a really nice restroom right in the middle of it. 12 individual, separate toilets, each one of them locked up tight. *Sigh* I just got a little extra workout for my pelvic floor muscles, right?