NYTimes Photo Essay

Perhaps even more than the message of this work, I love its composition. The photographs are stunning and it's easy to read. Nonetheless it held a choice thought around this gluttonous holiday that I took full part in, from cooking to eating. My favorite part of the article was when the author posed these questions:

"

Can giant agribusiness shrink while true organic farms grow? Can the elitism of a farmers market shift so that the organic farms can be subsidized and that prices are reasonable for all people? That would be the democracy of healthy eating."

What do you think?

My Thanksgiving was bittersweet this year. We're all aware this is the last holiday season for my mom's parents; even they know. My grandfather suffers from Parkinson's and my grandmother is addicted to pain pills. He lives at a rehab-to-assisted-living center and she lives alone in the hose they've shared for 50-plus years (at her choice). It's scary how quickly my grandpa went from coherent to comatose -- especially because I only saw him on holidays. Now my family has been given the opportunity to bond over their care. The ten of us first cousins are all right around college age and (almost) all of us are willing to stop by the center to feed him dinner and to hang out with him. If I lived in Columbus year-round I would definitely be there more often; as it is I go whenever I'm home for the weekend.

My grandpa knows it the end of his life. He's confident of where he's going afterward, but one thing holding him back is the well being of my grandmother. He worries who pays her bills and who waits on her hand-and-foot (as she has become accustomed to and now demands of the rest of the family). I love my mom's dad so much, and wish I could have been older to hear his stories and to learn from his experience.

Last night I realized that everything I know about him I've learned through other people. I do feel like he and I have an unspoken understanding, somehow. He fascinates me because he's such a strong and accomplished man. He's a WWII veteran, married for 59 years, raised four boys and one girl, provided for his family with a job as a airplane engeneer, and yet he has this peace about him. He is so incredibly loving, and from him and my dad I've obtained my view of God. I have those two men to thank for the life of peace and love that I am incredibly fortunate to experience. He's the only one of my grandparents I've really loved, because he's the only one of them I can respect.

I've never experienced the death of a family member -- or anyone closer than a high school friend. I'm just so thankful that I have such a supportive group of people! I saw last night that I can count on my mom's side of the family, who I've never had much of a relationship with before. Growing up my cousins were the "cool kids", they were intimidating and as much as a I loved them, I didn't dare trust them.

No more. My cousin Jen and I surrounded my grandma as her husband was ushered out of the house in a wheelchair. My cousin Ashley sat with one arm behind my aunt Melissa for nearly an hour as she composed herself after watching the scene. Earlier in the day, I sat with Ashley in her car for the same amount of time as she spilled her feelings about her parents' divorce -- the first in our big family. Even the three boys who are a year younger than me have become so warm and interesting. With a wiked sense of humor they round out the kind of people with whom I'm priveleged to share blood.

I could go on and on about how much I love my mom's side of the family. And like discovering a pearl in that old 'shell' you brought home from the beach, they've been on my dresser this whole time.

I'm Back!!

Hey y'all. My computer has been out-of-use for the past three weeks because my power cord broke. Right away I used my room mate's computer to order a new one on e-bay but, coming from Hong Kong, it took three weeks to get here. It arrived just a few hours ago, so I'm in the process of updating everything (including this blog).

Current food loves include the pumpkin bread my room mate adapted from AllRecipes. We baked four loaves and are on our last one. No one can eat just a slice! It's moist and deliciously spiced. Chocolate is great too. The Kroger value brand of chocolate chips don't have milk in them. Some carob chips are good too - but some are really gross - what's up with that??

Luckily I only have two exams this quarter, both next week, so I have very little to do this week. I'm trying to study some around working and babysitting. I'll be back in forth between Columbus and Athens for the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to the family time, and hopefully I'll have the time and motivation to try some new recipes! My mom is usually more cookbook-oriented than I and therefore I make legitamate meals when she's around. Otherwise I tend to bake squash, cook dried beans, and make things from boxes - none of which is interesting enough to publish online. I do have a few pictures for you. I'll publish them with my next post!

Secret Recipe Revealed

Here's my roommate's recipe for the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I featured in a post a bit ago. She has since made them twice (though probably just half of a batch - maybe 30 each time) and they never last 24 hours in my house.

This is Jane's mom's recipe. She makes a batch and passes them out to all of her neighbors. She's an art teacher and while her recipe isn't vegan, it's easily veganized:

I 30-oz (BIG) can of pumpkin

3 cups of sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking powder

3 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs replaced with Ener-G or other

6 cups flour

vegan chocolate chips

bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Jane says, "if you make this recipe in full it makes soooo many cookies, probably 100. so i suggest you halve it - i don't think i've made a full batch in a while. and if you're short on a few of the ingredients you should be okay - i always forget something." For half of a batch use one 15-oz can of pumpkin instead of one of the huge 30-oz cans.

Spaghetti Squash

I forgot to take pictures of the pumpkin pancakes because they didn't last long. Everything Jane bakes turns to delicious and disappears - just take her pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, for instance. This photo was taken 24 hours after she baked her nuggets of vegan gold:

I walked into the other room and it was gone when I returned.

Inspired by VeganMoFo madness, I've taken to photographing my meals more frequently. Unfortunately for you all, you will see what I eat. It's not very exciting and it's always cheap. I only buy things on sale - unless it's a staple item like cashews or broccoli.

Tonight I baked a spaghetti squash (79 cents a pound at Kroger- whud up) and prepared what I like to call "curry rice" (aka 2 cups of brown rice + 4 cups water + about 2 Tbsp red curry powder + about 2 tsp garam masala + about 1 Tbsp vegetable oil) in my handy dandy rice cooker. Check it:


Sorry I don't have a light box or anything. My pictures are sub-par. But wouldn't it be kind of ridiculous if I glorified brown rice and plain spaghetti squash? I could go on a tangent about how awesome s squared is, though. it GROWS like that. Just look at all of that fiber; eating the entire thing is probably the equivelent of taking like 2 laxatives. Fuck yes.

Another amazing freak of nature are pomegranites. Last week I discovered the joy of adding the seeds to my cereal (Kashi Heart to Heart Cinnamon, at the moment). SO GOOD. You have to try it.

BTW I got that Westsoy Plain Soymilk at Krog for about $3 and it's huge. I love sales. (Don't tell me how much it's actually worth. I have self esteem to protect and I get my self-worth from my sale-hunting skills.)

I added black pepper and some fresh basil to the squash. Yum.

I do cook,

contrary to what you may believe from the status of my blog. Guess I'm not cut out for blogging. I can live with that.


One of my room mates made these (vegan!) pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the return of canned pumpkin to our local Kroger. They are seriously the best cookies I've had in a LONG time. They're fluffy and sweet, with the perfect amount of chocolate to balance the earthiness of the pumpkin.

The Kroger in Athens only gets its pumpkin (and many other items) in-state and apparently Ohio did not produce enough of it last year. To celebrate the coming of nos amigos gordos y naranjas we've stocked up on enough pumpkin to sufficently theme the weekly post-church brunch that we host for all of our friends and acquaintances. Pumpkin pancake photos to come!! Hopefully they'll turn out as well as the paw paw pancakes.

I've been super busy with my job with an afterschool child care program, which I absolutely love. I should really work with kids as a career. Forget journalism. Once I stopped obsessing over Cosmo I haven't wanted to work for a magazine anyway. We shall see where I end up...I'll leave it up to God.

I'm really into Zooey Deschanel's band, She & Him. I blame my room mates. But really, she's a talented actress who doesn't take herself too seriously, she's a vegan, and she just married Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service. That's a celebrity I'm willing to respect.

Back in the Swing of Things

Classes started yesterday, and I only had two. I was in class from 9:30 to noon. If I get to do college like this, I want to stay here forever!! It's a whole different atmosphere when I have a house off campus and a car in case of emergencies.

We're decorating the house slowly, but nearly every box is unpacked at this point.

The walk to class is a bit taxing, which I love. Anyone who knows me knows that my only regular forms of exercise are walking and riding my bike. Yesterday I rode my bike to Kroger (there's a bike path along the river that goes straight past the back of the stores in Athens), but I over loaded myself...On the way home I dropped and ran over my big box of lettuce! I thought it was hilarious. The roller bladers who had to go through my mess thought differently.

That's basically as eventful as my life is these days. As far as food, I've shifted from cereal to salads. Still no pictures for you. I plan to start cooking recipes in the next couple of weeks.

We've already done a couple of dinner parties here at the house. The first featured eggplant parmesan, by Anna. The second was breakfast-for-dinner, by Jane. Jane has been a vegetarian for five years and we call Anna the 3/4 vegetarian. She doesn't buy or cook any meat herself. She makes a mean veggie burger and rocks out hummus on a regular basis. She still orders chicken at restaurants, but she plans to give that up in the name of animal rights.

So that's my life right now. I'm learning the quirks of this old house and starting a new semester at school. But I love my life and the amazing girls in it!!

Kashi cereal is sustaining my existance

I moved into my house in Athens last night YAAAAAAYYY :)

I don't have any furniture with me yet, so I'm sleeping on an air mattress and living out of a suitcase. It's kind of fun. My room is being painted right now, so I'm just chilling in the living room, setting up my empty picture frames. I'm not sure if it's creepier to have no decorations or a bunch of pictures of strangers posed in department store fashion.

There's nothing for me to show you because all I'm eating is Kashi cereal and raw cashews. Oh yeah and the occasional piece of dried mango.

I'm applying for jobs like crazy town. So far I have one interview on Thursday for a kids after school homework help position.

One major downside to my house is the odor from the KFC across the street. It keeps wafting in through the windows, ugh!!