Spring Reading List 2010

The City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau ***

The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis ****

The Wayfarer Redemption, Sara Douglass ***

Enchanter, Sara Douglas ****

Down the Rabbit Hole, Peter Abrahams ***

Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris ***

Hungry Moon, Ramsey Campbell ***

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008, Paul Krugman ***

Black House, Stephen King and Peter Straub ***

Julia, Peter Straub ****

Feasting on Raw Foods, Charles Gerras, ed. ****

Starman, Sara Douglass ****

Freaks: Alive on the Inside!, Annette Curtis Klause ***

Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, Joseph E. Stiglitz ****

All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, Maya Angelou ****

Museum Pieces, Elizabeth Tallent *****

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald ****

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, Barbara Ehrenreich ****

The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler ****

Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir, Daniel Tammet ***

Bamboo & Butterflies, Joan D. Criddle ***

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. *****

Club Dead, Charlaine Harris ***

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit, Brenda Ueland ****

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, 3rd edition, Syd Field ***

Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris ***

Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell ***

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell ***

May 2010

Our first CSA delivery is scheduled for June 10th and we are eager for the produce. One distinct disadvantage of our location has really come to the foreground over the past few months as I've paid closer attention to our food. There are no good sources of fresh goods. Thankfully, it is California; even our local market stocks several organic options. But not fresh produce. And sorry, but I'm just not interested in "food" that's been sprayed with poisons, nurtured with chemicals, and stored until its a mere ghost of its potential self before being transported to our frontier town for consumption. Frustrating. I am considering some kind of container garden mini-greenhouse for the next winter. I have a "brown thumb," but I'm willing to make the effort to enjoy things like winter kale, cabbage, and dandelion greens.

Produce problems aside, it's time to check up on our goals.

Reduce debt and expenses. Yes. The debt is going down. Expenses are a little harder. We have stayed in budget (yay!), but we are also expecting to pay for more chef classes I want to take this summer and fall. We've saved up $1000, which is wonderful, but again, my classes are coming up and we'll probably have to spend the savings. I have trouble justifying the expense, but Ecaep insists that investing in education is one of the best ways to spend our money. Maybe I just have trouble with the idea because the money will be spent on me. Fun, fun, as all those self-esteem issues keep burbling to the surface. But in any case, we are living comfortably in a time of societal economic woe. This goal looks good.

Eat nutritious meals. We've been slipping on this one, mostly because once we began limiting our weekend trips out of town to places that have co-ops and natural food stores, we've had to rely on local shops. Which means more packaged foods, and low-quality organic produce or non-organic produce from chain markets. Ecaep gave up on the no-soda-pop rule, and I gave up on the no-cheese. Again, our CSA share is supposed to drastically improve this situation, and hopefully I'll be able to set aside some of this food for the winter. That way, we won't be in the same fix next year. So this goal needs some work, but should be easier to accomplish next month.

Exercise together. Alas, we have failed miserably with this goal. A work project ate my husband's life, illnesses precluded physical improvements, my insomnia drained my own energy reserves, an untidy winter cabin diminished work out space, and weather discouraged outdoor activity. Yeah: excuses, excuses. But added up together, we simply didn't exercise regularly, and certainly not together. Maybe now that it's stopped snowing (yes, we had snow in April!) we can get our act together on this one. Goal not met.

Bring our professional work and our home life into balance. It's a tightrope balance, but I think we've done as best as we can with this one. We are behind on chores, but not so much that a round of spring cleaning won't spruce up the place quickly. Our biggest challenge has been knowing when to stop working and just be home. Also, we haven't emptied our storage unit, but we have created new storage space in our cabin. After that spring cleaning I mentioned, we should have the space to begin sorting through the stored stuff. We're hoping a lot of things can go and we're hoping a lot of our stored papers can go. So we're moving this strategy into a summer project. Goal solidly pursued but not quite met.

Engage in a variety of fun, creative projects. Yes. Warhammer, writing projects, stitching projects, cat training, board game extravaganzas. Whatever else we're doing, we're definitely having fun. Goal: check.

Looking at our current standing, I want to especially focus on four specific areas this month: spirituality, exercise, nutrition, and celebration. I think the celebration of successes is what we need most to keep moving in the right direction.

Checking In: Early April 2010

Not too much to report, except that I've maintained my new weight, I can now do the first level workout in my exercise program without trouble, and getting fresh produce worth eating in our town is really difficult. So: time to work on actively losing again, time to move on to workout two, and boy are we looking forward to the goods we intend to receive from a local CSA this season. I'm also looking forward to better weather so we can go hiking again. Nothing like tackling steep mountain trails to improve one's cardiovascular health! Onward.

Winter Reading List 2010

How to Store Your Garden Produce: The Key to Self-Sufficiency, Piers Warren ***

Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces: A Layering System for Big Results in Small Gardens and Containers, Patricia Lanza ***

Blaze, Stephen King as Richard Bachman **

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp & Camille Kingsolver *****

The End of Food, Paul Roberts ****

Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory, Edward J. Larson ***

The Sermon on the Mount: Its Old Testament Roots, Roland H. Worth, Jr. ***

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen *****

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen *****

Manta's Gift, Timothy Zahn ****

The Other End of Time, Frederik Pohl * (Um. Yeah. Can I have my 12 hours back?)

Jane Austen: A Collection of Critical Essays, Ian Watt, ed. ***

Montana 1948, Larry Watson ****

Cooking the Whole Foods Way, Christina Pirello ****

A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, David Tanis ****

Briar Rose, Jane Yolen *****

Practical Money Making, Kim Isaac Greenblatt *

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream, Adam Shepard ***

Dragon Rider, Cornelia Funke ***

Mysterious Journey to the North Sea, Part Two, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Kevin Leahy, trans. ***

Dating Hamlet, Lisa Fiedler ***

The Memory of Running, Ron McLarty ****

The Bridge at the End of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, James Gustave Speth ***

Foundling Gourmet

I've always been the kind of person who reads cookbooks cover to cover. I look at my shelf of cooking books (yes, I am determined to limit this collection to a single shelf; this requires painful cullings from time to time) and I see the two books that have accompanied from my childhood. There's the very worn Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls, and there's Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Cookbook: Favorite Recipes from Mickey and His Friends, complete with 1970s images of Disney characters cooking up a storm on every page. Also on that shelf is a book I treasure because it was my grandmother's: the 1936 edition of All About Home Baking with its stained and splattered pages and a few hand-written recipes on the final flyleaves. I also have the requisite binder-like copy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook, a book I watched my mother refer to throughout my childhood. There's other assorted tomes on that shelf, the main emphasis of my collection currently being vegetarian/vegan/raw vegan fare.

But none of my books contain recipes for what I'd call gourmet food (well, except my student binder from the courses I took at Living Light, but that's kind of a special case). I never thought, growing up in a meatloaf and potatoes home--wandering through my child's cookbook from time to time to discover how to make Shere Khan's Orange Floats or Piglet's Pizza Muffins--that gourmet would be on my mind. Gourmet belonged to the world of televised cooking shows (which I enjoyed watching, even so), or movies set in New York.

And yet gourmet sounds good to me these days. Gourmet: adj. "of or characteristic of a gourmet, esp. in involving or purporting to involve high-quality or exotic ingredients and skilled preparation: gourmet meals; gourmet cooking." I'm all over the high-quality ingredients and some of the things I keep in my pantry now as a matter of course were once exotic items I'd never heard of before. On the table beside my computer sits A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, by David Tanis, open to page 210 (yes, I'm reading it cover to cover), and from which I derived our dinner last night. I can accept Tanis's philosophy of quality ingredients and skilled preparation united by simplicity. Not fancy food, or pretty food, or fussy food. Fine, beautiful, gourmet food.

I can't get over how weird it is to come from a place where my favorite foods were Creamy Broccoli Tuna Helper, Totino's Canadian Style Bacon Party Pizza, and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. No negative moral judgment here, just bemusement at how one's tastes change. Favorite foods today? Fresh yellow curry with tofu and brown rice and mango slices for dessert. Apple fennel pomegranate salad over spring greens with orange poppy seed dressing. Raw vegan blackberry cobbler with rose-scented cashew cream. Sea palm, straight up, or in a sea palm carrot cucumber sesame salad (sea palm is a seaweed native to northern California. Yeah. I munch seaweed like popcorn!). Pasta in a vegan lemon cream sauce from scratch with sliced mushrooms, olives, freshly ground black pepper, and capers. Steamed asparagus (asparagus!) and red bell peppers with a drizzle of maple-mustard glaze.

Okay, I'm hungry now.

The dichotomy is crazy. Does it take more time and effort to concoct all this gourmet food rather than reach for the boxed macaroni and cheese? Well, yes, and no. There's a lot more planning involved, a lot more attention must be given to finding the best ingredients at the store. I can't just scan a shelf for a favored brand name and toss it in my shopping basket. Also, because I prefer organic foods, I'm limited by seasonal availability. Pomegranates simply aren't available in March, for example. At meal time, though, I've discovered the value of practice and sequencing. Since my wedding, when I began to cook for two, I've generally allotted an hour to prepare dinner each day. Yeah, it takes a little longer to cook new recipes or try new techniques I've never used at home before, but I find that the hour it took me to get dinner on the table when we were eating frozen pizzas and packaged salads is the same hour it takes me today to set out a Thai vegetable stir-fry with spicy peanut sauce over rice noodles, and a little pineapple mango orange coconut salad on the side.

The book I'm reading made me sit back and think about this because I'm looking at menus like:

Fava Bean Salad with Mountain Ham and Mint
Roasted Veal with Morel Mushrooms and Saffron Carrots
Hazelnut Sponge Cake

and

Spinach Cake with Herb Salad
Mustard Rabbit in the Oven
Parsnips Epiphany-Style
Apple Tart

and

Provençal Toasts
Melon and Figs with Prosciutto and Mint
Deconstructed Salade Niçoise
Lavender Honey Ice Cream

I'm looking at menus like this in a gourmet cookbook and not only am I undaunted, but I am considering as I read how to adapt the recipes to my own vegetarian tastes and my own regional resources. Yes, chef school pays off! As does a long-term passion for real food. But I just think it is so freaking cool to look back over my shoulder and see how much I've learned and how much I've changed over the past eight years or so.

I never imagined this culinary state of being for myself, but now that I'm here, I find that I am pleased with the journey.

Food Plan Details

Looking at what I have accomplished and what I would like to work on, I've returned to my food plan and examined it with a critical eye. As with any plan based upon goals and strategies for achieving those goals, the food plan I explained in my earlier post has its share of appendices and addendums. These mostly concern habits I am amending and good choices I am trying to turn into habits. I have done my best to address my known weaknesses when it comes to food, and to offer myself solutions to social dining situations that allow me to self-reinforce positive behaviors and minimize temptations to break faith with myself over menu matters. I have particularly relied upon information from The End of Overeating to build guidelines for myself that will help me break old habits and forge new ones.

Supplements: as needed, as scheduled, or as available

daily-type multivitamin (I like Alive! capsules, protein shake powder, and effervescent powder)
algae supplement
probiotic
psyllium seeds, flax seeds, or fiber blend
edible clays

Beverages:

purified water
lemon or cucumber water
herbal tea
fresh juice
soy or nut milk

Occasional Treats:

sorbet
homemade frozen yogurt or non-dairy ice cream
vegan jerky (Primal Strips!)
raw candy
raw tartlets
dark chocolate
homemade hot cocoa
potatoes
commercial juice blends or juice from concentrate

Menu Staples:

soups and stews
fruit salads
vegetable salads with organic or homemade dressings, + dried fruits and seeds as toppings
frozen vegetables for stir fries, sautes, steamed side dishes, or recipe components
frozen fruits for smoothies, baking, desserts, toppings and salads
fresh fruits
fresh fruit smoothies, green smoothies
lentils, beans, chili, peas
whole grain cereals, oats, various whole grains for soups, stews, and hot cereal
soy and nut milks
soy and nut yogurt
whole grain and/or sprouted breads, especially home-baked or dehydrated
peanut butter, almond butter, preserves
homemade nut cheeses
ice cubes

The Yucky List:

fast food
soda pop, diet or otherwise
salty snack foods
commercial sweets and candies
most commerially packaged foods, especially those containing:

unpronounceable ingredients

monosodium glutamate

aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium, etc.

high fructose corn syrup

sugar, dextrose, sucrose, fructose

maltodextrin

"natural and artificial flavors"

"spices"

soy protein isolate

"artificial color"

textured vegetable protein

enriched bleached flour, whether wheat or white

Foods I Tend to Crave and Overeat, and Thus Want to Limit/Avoid:

potato chips
bread
dairy cheese
dairy ice creams
frozen or restaurant pizzas
pasta
cookies
popcorn
cereal with marshmallows in it
tortillas and tortilla chips
butter and margarine
doughnuts and pastries
cake
dairy dips and dressings
stuffing
cheesecake
banana cream pie
banana pudding
caramel
chocolate truffles
commercial crackers (Ritz, Wheat Thins, etc.)
bagels
muffins
mashed potatoes

Settings in which I'm Likely to Make Poor Food Choices:

1. Anywhere there's no vegan options other than plain ol' salad.
2. Relatives' homes.
3. Home, when I'm watching videos, reading, or playing games.
4. Some restaurants with especially tasty food.
5. Buffets, parties, and potlucks.
6. Whenever my blood sugar levels drop.
7. Whenever I am, or afraid I'll soon be, very hungry.
8. Holiday meals.

Positive Food Choice Solutions:

1. Bring a stash of salad condiments to spice up the best option: hemp seeds, almond flour croutons, seasoned kale chip crumbles. Ask for salad enhancements like lemon, cucumber, or tomato slices.
2. Bring travel staples and ask for or buy fresh produce.
3. Only eat foods while sitting at a table. (Exceptions: picnics and roadtrips.)
4. Eat half of what's served and take home the rest to enjoy later.
5. Bring good things to eat and share and eat only produce-intensive dishes otherwise.
6 & 7. Carry water, dried fruit, and a food bar at all times. Rely on this stash rather than junk foods.
8. Eat a big, beautiful salad before or with the holiday meal, then sample other dishes to enjoy their flavors rather than fill up.

Primary Food Defense Strategy for Any Difficult Situation: Slowly drink a healthy beverage.

Travel Pack Staples:

flax meal
vegan bread
box of silken firm tofu
small carton soy or nut milk
homemade biscuits or muffins
dehydrated fruit snacks
Primal Strips
vegan spread
soy or nut yogurt
nut cheese
vegan sweetener
hemp seeds
raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds
Tamari
lentils
soup mixes
salad dressing
nutritional yeast
seaweed
vegetable stock powder or cubes

And that's the long (!) and short of the food plan details.