If I Could Do Anything: I Would Eat.

I've been thinking about food quite frequently, probably because I enjoy eating large quantities of it. But mainly i've been thinking about our ancestors and I just want to thank them for figuring out how to plant, grow, cook and eat all of these amazing foods. It's pretty weird some of the stuff we do to food. I don't know if I would have ever been creative enough to invent half of the stuff that's out there today (and I'm pretty inventive, hello mini-martini).

But at the same time I'm thanking my ancestors I also am bored. Unsatisfied. Listless. Going to the store and picking out stuff other people (or companies) have gathered for me doesn't cut it anymore.

Of course the solution would be to start my own garden--but living in an apartment complex with barely a yard makes it difficult. I could join one of those community gardens but now I fear it's too late in the season.

Obviously the store is convenient and for most people with day jobs it's vital. I think buying everything from the store cuts out the enjoyment in the cycle of life; cuts off our connection to the food we put in our bodies. And in a way, shuts off an important part of discovery and creativity we could explore if we grew the food ourselves.

But I'm dreaming of living in the countryside, planting and gathering, working in my garden day after day instead of the 9 to 5. If only I won the lottery so I could pay off my student loan debt, buy a cabin with some land, a tiller and a bunch of seeds.

(Option #1 of what to do with my life)

That Leaves a Bitter Taste in my Mouth.

In a recent New Yorker article titled, "Snacks for a Fat Planet," John Seabrook writes,

"The overriding impression I carried away from my Hawthorne [pepsi research lab] visit was that, although it all comes back to taste at PepsiCo, the physical sensation of tasting has been so thoroughly mediated by advertising and packaging that no one knows anymore where the physiological experience ends and the aspirational experience begins."

Now I've thought this way for a long time about beauty ideals but after reading this article I realized the parallel between the two.

Not only does advertising and marketing tell us what we like to look at but also what we like to eat.

I mean, that's pretty obvious; we're bombarded with food commercials, ads etc. but I guess I never considered that it make have an actual mental impact on my taste buds. That I may be more of a product of corporate campaigns than I want to believe.

And that food and what we're convinced is "good" has a direct parallel to beauty and what we think is sexy to the point where we are constantly surrounded in contradictions.

Eat this beautiful fatty salty cheeseburger than buy diet pills and ab shapers and spanx to look like this skinny beautiful sexy model.

It is just really weird for me to think that even my taste buds have been conditioned to enjoy certain flavors over others. It's weird for me to imagine and comprehend that I have been so totally programmed by outside forces that I may not ever do anything based on my own personal well being. It's not like we can separate ourselves from that which we already learned. It's not like I can un-socialize myself. I can perhaps re-train my taste buds, but what bases am I doing that? How do I know I'm not just being re-programmed from another corporate source?

How do I really know that what is "healthy" is really healthy?

That what is tasty is really tasty?

That what is true is really true?

Ahhhhh.

Fun Fri(Food)Day: My First Tofu Scramble.

I know. It's strange that I have never made one before until this week, but I am now on a scramble roll. This one was made from the Post Punk Kitchen recipe found here.

I added asparagus, broccoli, carrots, and onions.

I also added the potatoes into the scramble, from here on out I'll just cook them on the side. And I will never again add nearly as much turmeric--it was a bit too tingy for my taste buds. But other than that it was pretty darn good.

Think for the next one I'm going to try a scramble I saw on the Watercourse menu with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, and basil, yum. Or maybe I'll just go in there and have them make it for me. (perhaps when I get a job...)

Fun Fri(Food)Day: Fajitas and GMOs.

Last night I tried cooking portobello and vegetable fajitas for the first time.

And they turned out amazingly.

So simple.

When I served them to Ryan he of course, had to ask me what the difference between a fajita and a burrito was. According to wikipedia, the root word is "faja" meaning belt or girdle. Orignially the fajita was made from skirt steak, which is an area of meat on the cow, that aptly named, is like a belt. Anyhoo, being vegan and such, no cows had to die so I could eat their belts. Ha.

Here's the recipe. Though it can really be your own thing.

In one pan with some olive oil cook your favorite veggies in order of thickness adding a bit of salt with each round.

I used onions, jalapenos, broccoli, bell pepper, portobellos, zucchini and at the last minute I threw in my secret ingredient, bits of pineapple.

In the other pan, I heated up just a bit of the onion and jalapeno. When they were cooked I added tomato (I used canned diced but a fresh one would be better), black beans, pinto beans and a little bit of quinoa I had left over (optional, can also use rice or no grains at all). For the seasoning: A half a handful of ancho chili powder and oregano, a full handful of chili powder and cumin. A pinch of cayenne and a pinch of salt.

Once cooked top whole wheat tortillas with the two mixtures, plus lettuce and cilantro. (If you have a lime, I'd squeeze it over the top).

Then eat away!

Also, since it's Food Friday, I must make a comment on my recent grocery store adventure. Strawberries were on sale. Which made me so excited. But then, when I came to them every package seemed to be riddled with steroid-stuffed berries. I mean, they were monstrous. I turned to Ryan and said, "like these aren't genetically modified."

We bought them anyway.

And of course I feel a little bit guilty.

But it's been freaking months and I love them. Plus they were so cheap and so am I.

For maybe two year my parents had a strawberry patch and I never recall them being bigger than an inch all around. Now I can find strawberries almost as big as apples. WTF? It's crazy. And I know some of the other foods have been treated equally in regards to gmo's but the strawberry seems the easiest to spot. Will try to go organic only from now on.

(Being jobless doesn't really help in the all-organic world, btw.)

Real Convenience Food, Right in Your Backyard.

I just watched the documentary Food Matters. I actually wasn't planning to watch it as I felt I had seen plenty of other food docs, but I went for it anyway and I'm glad I did.

Well, not overly glad, often when I finish watching documentaries like that I often feel overwhelmed. I think, OMG, I'm doing everything wrong! I'll never be able to fix myself let alone help out the world etc. etc.

But. I'm slowly getting over that idea. And though I'm not going to go "raw" I am for sure going to get better about eating more raw fruits and veges--which won't be as difficult now that I have a blender.

There were several interesting tidbits of knowledge in the film such as eating a couple of handfuls of cashews can help ease depression. Or taking 3000 milligrams of niacin can actually cure depression.

They also showed pictures of cancer patients before and after going on Gerson Therapy; their recovery was shocking, I never would have imagined that diet could cure diseases like lymphoma.

Anyhoo, what I'm been wondering about a lot recently as I've gone for walks around town is why people don't plant more fruit trees and bushes. Why doesn't our city parks have apple trees or lemon trees or whatever grows locally?

I mean obviously because of capitalism and lawsuits, but if we disregarded that for a moment; wouldn't it be amazing to go for a walk and grab an orange or some cherries along the way?

It just seems to make sense to me.

If I had my own house I'd plant all sorts of fruit and nut trees not just for myself but for anyone who wanted them. And if everyone did that we wouldn't have to rely so heavily on groceries stores, we wouldn't have to worry about where to food came from because it would literally come from our backyards.

Personally, I think it's one of my best ideas--though it's not really an idea as much as an observation. But still.

If city landscapers planted tomatoes instead of flowers wouldn't that make more sense? It would not only be visibly appealing but edible. Everyone would win. (Except when teenagers decide to throw them at people/buildings/things instead, but that's a different situation).

Nothing against flowers, but what about planting more edible plants instead of just planting stuff for visual appeal? I think it would be so amazing to have this happen.

Who wants to help me get it started?

Food v. Sex: What's a Woman to Choose?

Sometimes I get really sad when I'm eating because I realize that the food will soon be gone and the deliciousness that is happening in my mouth will all be over.

And when I say sad, I mean I honestly think about not eating it. To save it. To savor it. When I was a child I used to store food in my cheeks like a chipmunk. I don't think my mom thought it was cute.

I believe this sadness is why I often have candy left over from halloween in December. Or an Easter bunny chilling in the freezer in August. Or why I'm so picky about when to eat the cupcakes I just made. Or the amount of my mom's homemade pickles I can eat every day (1).

my vegan homemade marble swirl cupcakes with "buttercream" frosting.

I hear people say that they plow through bags of cookies...or eat a whole bag of chips at once. I can't do this. I eat a small amount and then put them away because I want to have them again and again.

Perhaps this is why I am appalled by the way Ryan eats. (He knows this by now so I assure you he shouldn't be offended.) He takes mega-big bites and I swear he swallows the food before he even tastes it---though he claims that he just likes the flavors to fill his whole mouth. Whatever. I know everyone does their own food thing, but seriously, how can people eat that fast?

And how come I'm not fatter? I mean, you would think I'd be popping food in my mouth every second if my tongue enjoys tastes so much. It must be that fear of the tastes being there for one moment and then never being there again...so I don't even bother.

I saw a post once that said women think about food more than sex.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

There are just so many different types of foods out there and different ways you can cook them. Why wouldn't we? Food is not as risky as sex. Most food doesn't have the potential to give us transmitted diseases (minus ecoli etc). And food will never get us pregnant.

Of course if we eat too much food fewer people will think about having sex with us...so there's that downfall. And another potential reason why women think more about food than sex--they're not thinking about eating it, they're thinking about not eating it so people will find them more attractive. And that is fucked up.

But that's not how I think about food. I like to have a healthy relationship with it, where it likes me and I like it and we're in a beautiful egalitarian relationship with each other.

And food and I work together on me getting over my random bouts of sadness when I take the last bite. (Knowing that I will eventually get another last bite the next time I eat).

New Twist on Za

It sounds weird, but this sweet potato and curried red lentil pizza was amazing.
Check out the recipe here.

Bagel Schmagels

I couldn’t find any bagels at the store that I wanted or could afford so I made them myself. I have never before made bagels and it was actually way easier than I had imagined.

I used my bread machine recipe; once the dough was done I shaped them into balls, flattened them and put a hole in the middle. Then I let them sit for ten minutes. Once they had gotten enough rest I threw them in hot boiling water for a minute so they'd plump up nice and big for me. Once fully plump and pretty I took them out of the pot, glazed them with seeds and popped them in the oven until brown.

Then I ate them all up. They were delicious and much better than anything at a regular ole grocery store. (okay I didn't eat them all at once, but they will be gone soon, especially with Ryan around.)

And that is what I have done with my day.