Best Lunch Ever.

This is my favorite thing to make for lunch on days when I'm at home. It's just an everything bagel (the kind with dried onions and such inside), with cream cheese (1/3 less fat, of course), Classico Pesto sauce and fresh tomatoes. Put it in the oven for a few minutes and yay! Yummy lunch. It's not local, except for the tomatoes. But, it sure beats the hell out of Lean Cuisine. Right?

Food, Part 2: The Vegetannual

Here's a little guide from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It will help you become more aware of what's in season in your area.























































Also, Doug and I made this yummy dinner from farmers' market foods:

Jasmine rice grown in Fairhope, AL
Hickory Smoked Pork Sausage from Chickasaw, AL
Baldwin Co. bell peppers and onion

And Dessert:
Homemade pecan squares from Heavenly Creations in Fairhope, AL

Food

We went to see Food, Inc. this weekend. It was gross. Food, Inc. is a documentary about the American food industry...how our food is grown, processed, and distributed. This is a topic I've been reading and learning about since I first read Fast Food Nation about six years ago. Most of the startling info in the movie was not news to me, but seeing all the footage from inside factories and "farms" was really disturbing: moo cows standing knee deep in their own waste, chickens bred to grow so fat they can't stand up, ground beef soaked in ammonia. Ew. Even our produce is genetically altered to withstand traveling hundreds of miles and to resist common pests. And beyond these obvious issues of health and sanitation, you get into major issues of giant multi-national corporations controlling the food supply. Animals are mistreated (to say the least), workers are mistreated and underpaid, consumers are kept in the dark about what's in their food, and profit is the number one priority.....make more money, whatever the cost. Anywho, I could on for days here. Just wanted to tell everyone they should either watch Food, Inc. or read some books...or both, of course.
Some food books:

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
This one will gross you out, but is very informative and interesting. It will change the way you eat for sure. They made a movie from this book, but I haven't seen it.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
This one is a very pleasant, easy read. She's a novelist, so it reads much like a novel, which is nice. She and her family left their home in Arizona and moved to a New England farm where they vowed to eat only food that they had grown themselves (or that close neighbors had grown) for an entire year. Lots of good info in this one.

What to Eat by Marion Nestle
Marion Nestle is a nutrition professor at NYU (I think) and she realized people who learn all this information about the food industry and where food comes from and then don't know what they should actually be eating. This is her guide for buying food. I'm reading it now. Good so far.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
These are both on my need to read list. They're both well-recognized as very important reads for anything food/food industry related.

Let me know if you decide to read one or see the movie. In the meantime, shop at your local farmer's market. If you don't have a farmer's market close by, buy organic.

Home Decor.....it's better homemade.

This time of year, I always get into Martha Stewart mode. The weather is getting cooler, Halloween is coming soon (my favorite), and I start sprucing up the house and searching for pretty decor. This year, since we're in our first ever fall season in our new house, I wanted to get a nice wreath for the door. I used to think wreaths were only for grannies, but I have seen some pretty ones around, so I began looking for a nice natural-looking wreath for the front door. Well, I was in for a rude awakening about the price of wreaths. The cheapest ones I found were around $35 at Target. And they didn't look very nice...nor did they look like they would last more than one season. The nice looking ones that I came across in craft stores and home decorating stores were anywhere from $65 to $100. That's ridiculous!! I know... if you buy a good one that will last and last....blah, blah. What if next year you're tired of that wreath and want a new one? Doug and I could eat for at least a week on what it would cost us to buy a stupid-ass wreath. So, of course, I decided to make my own. Hobby Lobby had their fake flowers on sale 50% off, and grape-vine wreath forms are only $3.99 (regular price). Had there not been a sale, I would have bought some cheap berry garland for about $8 and wrapped it around the wreath form. But I got some nice things and made myself a wreath for $19, including tax. Hooray! And, I didn't use any glue...only wire. So, next year, if I've decided it's ugly, I can reuse the form. Ta-da!

Playtime

I've been making things lately, since I have some extra time on my hands. I recorded myself singing a song after listening to entirely too much Judy Garland: Myself singing a song

And, I drew a guy with a hat on!






















It's so nice (and good for my health and sanity levels) to have playtime. More people should have it.

Where is Bob Dylan?

So, we've been listening to lots of Bob Dylan lately. As I listen, a couple of things enter my mind: 1. I really like this music. 2. Why don't people make music like this anymore? People have told me before that I have the musical taste of a fifty year old man. What I listen to most while I'm alone is music that was made quite a long time ago: Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, etc. And the new music that I do listen to sounds like old music: Norah Jones, Nickel Creek, Mason Jennings, The Black Keys, Ryan Adams. What's going on here? People do tell me that I'm an old soul, so maybe that's it. Maybe it's because my parents grew up during the fifties and sixties, and that's the music I grew up listening to. But it's kind of strange, right? Anywho, while I was listening to Bob Dylan I was thinking about how musicians nowadays rarely write lyrics that broadcast their deeply held opinions about what's going on in the world. I mean, Bob Dylan just comes right out and tells us he thinks war is stupid and that all the people up in Washington are responsible and should rot in hell. Gee, Bob, tell us what you really think. And he wasn't talking about war in general, either. Everyone knew he was talking about Vietnam, and he was so popular and well known, and if any bureaucrat every tried to tell him he had to keep his mouth shut, there would have been some kind of uprising. Nowadays, people just keep their mouths shut, even without being told to do so. Why? Do we just not care? Do we think no one else feels the same way we do? Are we afraid of being shut up by some far off Man in charge? When even our musicians and artists and writers aren't speaking up, you know it's bad. Obviously, there are people here and there who are talking about tough issues and raising questions. But it seems like even those people are doing so in a very general, "big-picture" sort of way. Do you know what I mean? People don't just say what they think anymore. Part of it is that people aren't thinking. Our education system and our technology-driven, money hungry culture have trained us very well in how to follow orders blindly and keep our freethinking to a minimum. But there are those who have survived the education system with their thinking parts in tact. What about them? Many have been convinced that they can do nothing, change nothing, that speaking up is pointless and a waste of time. The issues are too big, too complicated, too abstract. There's so much going on that we don't know about. This is how they want us to feel...like we're too small to do anything about it. And they're doing a very good job. So, I guess what I'm saying is....where is Bob Dylan? We need to speak up, speak out.....even if at first no one listens but a handful of friends and family. We need to share our thoughts and opinions, even when it means offending a neighbor or making a coworker feel very uncomfortable. We could all use a little more discomfort, if you ask me. Because when it comes down to it, what's the point of life if you're just a cog in the wheel. Don't you want to do something that matters? that means something, if only to you? Don't you want to look back and know that you lived a full life and that you swam upstream because you stood for something? Don't you want to raise children who care about ideals, values, principles? instead of money and power? I do. Let's talk more. And play more music.

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

Church & Monies

Doug and I received a letter and pledge card in the mail from our local church. We hardly ever go to church anymore, but my parents were still going to church there. The church recently built a brand new Life Center, which is humongous and fancy, full of classrooms, meeting space, and a lovely basketball court with pecan floors (the kind you're not supposed to wear street shoes on). I realize that building these types of shiny new places is not uncommon in churches, so let me give you some back story on this particular congregation. My parents (in their late fifties) are among the youngest people in the congregation. There is a handful of 40-somethings, but most of the people in this church are well into their retirement. The congregation obviously needs to work on their outreach to young people, including their children's programs (Sunday school, preschool, etc.). So, this new building project was initiated out of that "Build it and they will Come" mentality. The capital campaigning began, and lots of money was raised. The original project plans included three buildings, to be constructed over the course of several years. Of course, it would make sense to start with the smallest, least expensive building, but that's not what happened. The finance committee decided to build the largest, most expensive building first. This building would cost four times the amount that had been raised during the campaign. Four times! My dad, an accountant, was on the finance committee and warned the other committee members that the housing market bubble was on the brink of bursting, and that this project would put the church in way over its head financially. No one listened, and dad was actually made to feel like he didn't have enough faith in God....that he needed to trust that God would lead them all through this project. Well, they went ahead with the 4.5 million dollar building. And then the economy took a harsh nosedive, as we all know. Parishioners were and still are losing their jobs left and right, and are struggling to pay their bills, and of course, their pledge amounts. Then we all get the letter stating that we need to do what we can to give more money, because the monthly note is $28,ooo (interest only). $28,000. A MONTH! That's more than I've been making in a year, people. And this is a really small church...no Joel Osteen mega-church. And not only are they begging for money, they're telling us that we need to give up our Starbucks and our eating out so that we can give more. No, thank you. You were irresponsible with the money we gave you, we're not giving up our earned indulgences so that you can have more money. There's a story in the letter about how, were it not for the people who continued to tithe during the Great Depression, the orphans at Wilmer Hall would have been cold and hungry. WTF? We're not talking about people's lives here. We're not talking about giving more money so that children can have food and clothing. Hello? We're talking about unnecessary basketball courts with pecan floors and classrooms that are hardly being used, and building a Life Center that we don't need. Don't pull the orphan card on me, sir. So now, all the other annual church fundraisers have to give the money they raise (that should go to missions) to the building fund. Way to set an example. I am so disappointed and downright disgusted that this has happened. The church should be teaching people about managing their money responsibly, and now that the economy has gone to shit, we should be offering free spaghetti dinners once a week or something to help families who've lost part of their income. But no. We're asking people to give what little they have left so that we don't drown in this ridiculous debt. I'm sick over it.