Just Don't Do It

Don't eat the last juice sickle and put the empty carton back in the freezer. Just don't do it.

Some Sort of Succatash

Last night I was given great quantities of zucchini; this morning I hurried up to Tacoma from Eatonville with less than an hour to make lunch: succatash. At least, a dish reminiscent of what we called succatash.

Succatash

One ample zucchini [1-2 lbs], diced
two slices onion, chopped
two medium fresh tomatoes, diced
one ear of corn, divested of the kernels [put in the kernels]
sliced mushrooms--I forgot to put these in, but they would have been good
one can beans such as pinto or kidney beans, drained & rinsed
Seasonings: about an ounce of grated turmeric root, two cloves garlic
A shake each of cumin, coriander, dill
leaves from a sprig of fresh basil

Place virgin olive oil in bottom of wok [I never mentioned this, but I make most dishes in the wok]
Saute seasonings in olive oil. Stir in zucchini, corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, onion & stir fry until beginning to soften. Before they brown, stir in one cup water, basil and beans, cover and simmer about ten minutes. Serve with slices of polenta sauteed in olive oil and seasonings of choice.

Yum!

One Day Off

One day off is not enough.

I had my day sort of planned, had my rolled oats, ground up pecans and raisins soaking in soy milk ready to nuke for oatmeal, and was getting psyched up to exercise, when my husband called from downtown Tacoma, inviting me to lunch at the India Mahal buffet on Pacific and Ninth. I ate the oatmeal anyway, then headed down town, as that was an offer I couldn't refuse. [I never did get around to the exercise.]

My husband lives in Eatonville and I live in Tacoma, where my work and my house are, as I've never gotten around to moving, so we sort of see each other on dates.

We were sitting enjoying the vegetarian buffet food, talking about many things, and wound up on the subject of "All You Can Eat." I remembered a fictional cop show episode where a man was rolling on a stool up and down in front of an all-you-can-eat salad bar with a fork, rapidly eating directly from the bar, shoveling in astonishing amounts of food. I think this was before sneeze guards. The restaurant called the cops, and was told, "hey, it's all you can eat."

Enayat remembered a Hari Krishna buffet restaurant that said, "All You Care to Eat." That makes much more sense, putting your brain in between your mouth and your stomach. This American "eat all you can eat" thing can go too far. We started laughing about how the restaurants ought to make you pay up front in case, in the course of overeating, you expire!

Later I went to McLendon's Hardware for items to assemble a bricks-and-boards bookshelf. The pressed-board shelves were expensive, and there were no bricks per se. [I was thinking of these tall terra-cotta deals.] I ended up buying pairs of large flowerpots and about a 12-foot naturally purple board which I had them cut up; at home I stacked up the shelves by placing pots upside down in pairs and placing the boards on top. Weird but decorative. [I just didn't want to worry about assembling or transporting a conventional bookcase.]

Spent some time at the Thursday devotional meeting talking about [among many other things] fractals and spirals inherent in nature. That is, to me, mathematics and therefore the expression of mathematics in equations, [i.e. the equations giving rise to fractals and the Fibonacci Number System graphed as a spiral] as well as the physical form which those mathematical equations represent, and physical flora and fauna reflecting those shapes, are all a part of the natural world. I found that the new participant, Lee, and myself, were equally passionate and fascinated with this subject.

"How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop." ~~ Baha'u'llah

One day off is not enough.

Cream of Spinach Soup

The other night I found some leftover soup with carrots and potatoes and a soy milk base in the fridge. Although it did not look familiar, I'd been away for a couple of days and thought I'd made it before and forgotten about it, so I heated it up and ate it. It was pretty good. Today Pearl told me that she'd made the soup, and regretted to inform me that there was beef broth in it. I said, oh, well, it won't kill me outright, and anyway, caveat emptor.

Pearl's friend Nick was over and informed me that by watching me, he's become inspired to cook with vegetables a lot more, and described some roasted vegetables he made. I need to get the recipe.

Today I had some oatmeal, exercised, showered, and decided to use up my two bags of spinach, since I haven't had leafy greens for a few days.

Cream of Spinach Soup

Grate up two large cloves of garlic, some turmeric root, and ginger root; chop up a couple slices of onion, and saute them in some extra virgin olive oil [on medium heat because of the olive oil.]
Throw in two bags fresh spinach leaves and a cup of water, cover and come back and stir it in about five minutes, after the spinach softens up. Stir in about a pint of soy milk, and add a healthy shake of nutmeg and another of coriander, simmer to blend flavors.

Belly Laugh

I've made it a goal to try to have at least one good belly-laugh a day, in the interest of better mental and physical health.

Last evening at work we were expecting one admission for sure, and another tentatively. So while I was assessing our first admission, and away from the desk, one of my medication nurses left me a note that the second admission was not coming in.

This morning I had a call from my supervisor asking if I was planning to come to work today? They had found a post-it note floating around the nurses station with the following scribbled on it:

Arlene
not coming today.

The New Moon

What were you doing on July 20, 1969?

I was watching TV for the first time in our house. My parents, born in 1919 and 1921, growing up in the country during the depression, saw no need for television. They didn't really talk about it much, but they probably just thought that with silly commercials and generally a lack of intellectual content, and their goals of teaching their children to read, who needed it?

To tell the truth, I grew up knowing there is no better entertainment than a book, and no better toy than a stick or a cardboard box. Add in a tree to climb, and we were rich. Even better: a long rope swing, with a seat of plywood cut in a circle, tied high above to the limb of a tree, so we could swing in great circles.

Anyway, my parents broke down and bought an eleven-inch black and white TV so my father, who had, not only numerous posters of rocket launches, but even a barometer in his room, could watch humans take their first steps on the moon. The reception was terrible, and in grainy black and white it was hard to discern the appearance of moon dust, or even the outline of the lunar module as it sat on the surface, but we were all thrilled.

I remember thinking that looking up at the romantic moon would never be the same, now that we had walked on it.

How strange it was in a college class circa 1990 when a young student piped up with the certain knowledge that the moon landings had all been elaborate fakes. I didn't know which was weirder: her opinion, or the fact that a child born since the moon landing was old enough to be in college.

Health Care For Caring People

I just have to say this. Leave behind political parties, stop pushing for one point of view to prevail. We're talking about taking care of people here:

Why is it okay to pay to educate our neighbors' children; why is it okay to pay to put out the fire in our neighbors' house; but it's not okay to pay for our neighbor to visit the doctor?

Moving On

I know, the Weanerpigmobile crashed, but actually I moved on down the road. Stress, heat, a chaotic day at work and the prolific abundance of foods I had stayed away from for quite awhile temporarily overcame my commitment to health. At work it isn't easy to find a calm place, or the time, to renew one's spiritual and emotional strength and center. Excellence, not perfection. So, onwards.

I'm still feeling tired and sluggish from whatever animal fat, sodium, nitrites and so on were in those hot dogs. I used to feel that way all the time. Now I don't have to. Yesterday I went back to rice and lentils; today I opened the day with an orange-flesh honeydew melon, supposed to be cleansing. Then I spent some time exercising.

I made a porridge with red lentils, a yam and oatmeal, plus the usual seasonings. It turned out thick and almost burned on the bottom, so I placed the ok part [most of the porridge] into another bowl, cleaned the burned part out of my wok where I cook most dishes, replaced the porridge and thinned it with soy milk.

Now to try to replace two hours of sleep I missed by waking early this morning.

Get Thee Behind Me, Seitan

There was a barbecue at work. I at two hot dogs and a chicken part--thigh?

The Meat and Potatoes Vegan

I used to be a real meat-and-potatoes person. Now I'm just potatoes.

When I launched myself into a plant-based, whole foods diet in April, it felt like jumping off a cliff, abandoning my friendly staple foods, fearful because I needed to learn a whole new way of eating. Like a toddler in a non-childproof house, all my psyche heard for weeks was "No. No. No. No! Get off that! Don't touch that! Get out of there." I entered upon what was for me a very steep learning curve.

I used to be an excellent cook for things like chicken and dumplings. Your basic meat and potatoes fare. So I started checking out vegan cookbooks in the library: The Asian Vegan, The Vegan Mediterranean Diet, Vegans Go to School, that sort of thing. My library fines have gone way up as I stare at the lists of ingredients in bafflement. There are literally hundreds of cooking ingredients I have never heard of, new staples in each type of cuisine that I really have no idea where to obtain.

My husband is a lifelong vegetarian and his favorite food is rice and lentils. I haven't even seen that in a cookbook. It's too easy.

I just mainly shop at Fred Meyer. About five hundred square feet in the corner of Fred Meyers is devoted to health foods, right next to the produce section, where I buy ninety percent of the foods I eat. I can get whole wheat bread without that horrible caramel coloring or raisin juice that is often used to give bread a uniform fake brown color and unpleasant flavor. I can get all you can eat nuts, seeds, dried fruits, quinoa, oats, and so forth from the bins. I can get freshly ground peanut butter and Mori-Nu tofu and Silk plain soy milk in aseptic packaging.

But I don't know where to get all these weird foods. I guess I'll learn, like I've learned everything else, step by step. In the meantime, there's always rice and lentils. And potatoes.

No Sense of Irony in Iran

During the events leading up to the 1979 revolution in Iran against the Shah, people would stand on the rooftops and call out, "Allah-u-Akbar, Allah-u-Akbar!" in defiance of the regime.

Currently there are many people with opinions against the current regime, gathering in numbers on the rooftops again and calling out of the windows, again shouting, "Allah-u-Akbar!" For some reason the Islamic Republic takes exception to this, arresting whoever they can catch, for imprisonment, possibly for execution.

How can these power-corrupted "Islamic" officials possibly object to the Name of God, "God is Most Great," in the mouths of anyone?

Creamavera Soup

Generally I need one hour minimum of cooking to feed myself each day. Preparing meals from fresh, whole foods takes more time [not counting if you cook ahead.] It also takes more creativity. Today, an hour was all I had, having done my errands on the way from Eatonville to Tacoma before going to work.

With one hour before I needed to leave for work, I invented this soup, inspired by a package of fresh basil leaves that were not quite as fresh as when I bought them. [That's the danger of splurging on exceptional produce such as fresh basil--it's too special to use, so it can go bad.]

Creamavera Soup:

8 small red potatoes, eyes removed, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 slices onion, chopped
1 large package fresh basil leaves, chopped up
1 lemon: cut up and squeeze juice into soup at the appropriate time
1 large tomato, diced
1 bag fresh spinach leaves
1 can beans such as navy or pinto [but not black beans]*
2-3 cups plain Silk soy milk
1 cubic inch turmeric root, ditto ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
a healthy shake of each: oregano leaves, ground cumin, dill, ground coriander, sea salt to taste

In two cups boiling water, cook diced carrots, potatoes and onion until soft. Meanwhile back at the ranch, grate turmeric, ginger, and garlic with a palm-sized grater. Stir into cooking vegetables. Chop fresh basil and stir in. With a potato masher, mash cooked vegetables in pot until some are mushy. Stir in rinsed can of beans. Stir in soy milk, seasonings, squeeze in lemon juice, and add spinach leaves. Simmer some more until flavors have blended and spinach has softened to a bright green. Serve garnished with raw diced tomatoes. Yum!

* If you previously had the time to have already cooked your own beans, instead of opening a can, great!

A Light Cast Into the Heart

I have been studying the Kitab-i-Iqan, the Book of Certitude, by Baha'u'llah, and reflecting on the different types of knowledge. A lot of knowledge is obtained by drudgery, by book learning; some by the school of hard knocks; but sometimes one receives a sort of sudden illumination, a sense of certainty. One hears a statement and knows it is true.

This happened to me the day I was listening to my friends Jay and Kristina talk about their switch to a vegan diet. My thoughts were protesting, reminding me of my deep emotional attachment to meat and dairy foods, and I voiced the opinion that I could never give them up. I think that to continue spending a lifetime saying goodbye to each of my favorite foods in turn, as if they were my closest friends, would have been emotionally painful and have made me very ill, indeed.

I think that is when I had this illuminating flash, this realization that I was allowing mere emotional attachment, however compelling and powerful, bar me from acknowledging what I knew at heart was true. I thought: "this is ridiculous!" and the next morning, in a state of near terror, I began putting my new understanding into practice.

Many mornings after that, fiercely and doggedly cutting vegetables for a stir-fry [all I ate in the first two weeks was stir-fry] I mentally chanted this verse:

"Hal min mufarajin, qayrullah. Qol sobhanullah, hovallah. Kollon abadon lahu, va kollon be amrahi qaymun," each silent syllable an emphatic flash of the knife as I desperately sliced up carrots, celery, and any vegetation I could think of.

"Is there any Remover of Difficulties save God? Say: Praised by God! He is God! All are His servants, and all abide by His Bidding." ~ The Bab.

Every stroke of the knife valiantly striving to sever my attachments to food.

Quoted in the Kitab-i-Iqan: "Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth." ~ Baha'u'llah.

Food, Fellowship and the Fourth

One of my prime unacknowledged concerns on changing to a whole-foods, plant-based diet, was actually lack of fellowship. A fear of being left out. There is a fellowship in sharing food. I stopped looking forward to potlucks: I was afraid of being tempted to eat non-healthy food, concerned about having to pick through food to see if it contained meat, and no telling about dairy foods. Worried about having to defend my newly-discovered truth.

An image occurs from potlucks at Neah Bay, at the United Spiritual Gathering Councilfire: people picking at food, "does this have meat in it?" I thought vegetarians must be the ultimate Picky Eaters. When I was growing up, we were encouraged to eat whatever my mother made, to accept anything from tripe to fried smelt, even during the period my mom decided fish don't need to be cleaned. [Darn good thing my mom could cook, most of the time.]

Now I've separated myself from the vast majority of humankind, not by something such as language or race or hair color that I can't help, but by something I had the audacity to choose: diet. I think anticipation of this was one reason I resisted becoming vegetarian for so long.

Pearl and I decided to have a barbecue today, so we went to the store and stocked up, mostly on vegetables, and fired up the barbecue. My favorite fire-starters made from an egg carton filled with sawdust and then melted parafin, are in Eatonville, but we got by. I started the coals, put on water for corn and made coleslaw with red cabbage, carrots, onion, shredded turmeric root, the juice from a small lemon, coriander, and vegenaise.

We had a huge tray of prepared fruit which Pearl swears she will finish, sliced up an English cucumber and a tomato, got out the whole wheat buns, and she threw on her meat burger. I decided to try grilling a large Portobello mushroom, and I wasn't disappointed. I had to change my shirt, it was so juicy. Ample food, a stunning view of Mount Rainier from our deck, which is shaded in the afternoon, mutual respect for our different diets, and plenty of fellowship.

Happy Independence Day.