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syncope at 09:24am on 25/06/2008
syncope at 09:24am on 25/06/2008I'm a pretty serious cook. By that I mean, I know how to. At some point in my adult life I realized that cooking is kind of a intuitive thing. Some people can follow a recipe and produce a pretty competent flan or souffle, but that's analogous to following the directions for programming your DVD player or replacing the hard drive on your computer. I sometimes look at recipes, but mostly to get inspiration for things I've never thought of myself--caramelized fig and goat cheese cookies? Hm, intriguing. I'm only even pointing this out as an advisory.
I've gone vegetarian again. Yeah. ME. (I bathe in bacon grease normally, for those who don't know me.)
In the last year or so I've gotten sort of self righteously political again. A big part of that is being back in the States and feeling as though because the government is so against doing anything right for humanity I need to do it myself. This is an odd feeling. In Canada I always felt like even if the government was fucking shit up, they had my best interests at heart. This is sort of the divide between Americans and Canadians. Canada has a collectivist outlook (that is, the society is based on doing what's right for the entire community and sacrificing personal goals for the collective good) and America...I think we all know collective = communist here still. Both systems have their own valuable qualities (I'm pretty kneejerk on the nanny state shit still and will never agree with bicycle helmet laws and the like no matter how much I agree with socialized medicine), but the big problem with America is that you're free to do what you want.
What, that's a problem?? Yeah, mostly because people are lazy assholes who drive two blocks to the Publix to buy shrink wrapped pork knuckles. What most people want to do is sit on their asses in their air conditioned houses watching Direct TV while talking on their cell phones about their stock dipping. That's all well and good, but come the fuck on for a second.
When I moved back to the States I started buying local and started carrying my own grocery bags and walked places instead of driving. The whole semi-hippie shebang. For people who live in an urban environment that sounds par for the course. In the rest of America, it's fucking not. Think past your urban arrogance for a second and consider how hard it is to make those choices if you live in Mobile or Boise or all the tiny places in between. We're reliant on shipped food and our cars. When you live in NYC, Boston, or Chicago, it's easy to take public transport and to shop at Whole Foods. When you live anywhere else, not so much. That's troubling and something we should all take into consideration when being self-righteous douchebags. However, that doesn't let the rest of the country off the hook. If you live in the middle of the country, you can shop at farmers markets and buy local because you live where the food comes from. Give it a whirl. You'd be surprised how much better the food tastes. The "food crisis" is everywhere on the news, but what's sort of lost in all the chicken-little-ing is that we're responsible for the choices we make. It's more expensive to buy fresh produce IN THE GROCERY STORE, but hie your ass to the farmers market and bargain. Tell the Mennonite lady you're on a fixed in-come and had five kids. You think she's gonna begrudge you that squash? Get to know the people selling the food and when you're between jobs you can buy a sack of apples for a buck. You know how on TV in the old days people who sold food and people who bought it seemed to know each other? Omg, that can still happen!
At any rate, I decided when I moved to LA I would give up meat and go on the 100 mile diet because I live where the food comes from. This is a major sacrifice for me since I'm Southern and eat the fuck out of some pork (hahaha, now I could potentially be all *eyebrow raise* "Mom, I don't eat pork any more. PWN!" but then I might have to go home for High Holy Days, so probs not).
I'm not really all that crazy about the environment or a hippie. I think I've just gotten to a place where I feel like I need to be part of the solution rather than just so cynical I think there isn't a solution. So, I live in LA and I still walk as long as it's under five miles and I gave up the pure joy that's bbq because I'm a pollyanna. I'm having to relearn to cook because the secret ingredient in everything is chicken broth. And it looks like I'm a proselytizer. That's the state of me, what's up with you?
I've gone vegetarian again. Yeah. ME. (I bathe in bacon grease normally, for those who don't know me.)
In the last year or so I've gotten sort of self righteously political again. A big part of that is being back in the States and feeling as though because the government is so against doing anything right for humanity I need to do it myself. This is an odd feeling. In Canada I always felt like even if the government was fucking shit up, they had my best interests at heart. This is sort of the divide between Americans and Canadians. Canada has a collectivist outlook (that is, the society is based on doing what's right for the entire community and sacrificing personal goals for the collective good) and America...I think we all know collective = communist here still. Both systems have their own valuable qualities (I'm pretty kneejerk on the nanny state shit still and will never agree with bicycle helmet laws and the like no matter how much I agree with socialized medicine), but the big problem with America is that you're free to do what you want.
What, that's a problem?? Yeah, mostly because people are lazy assholes who drive two blocks to the Publix to buy shrink wrapped pork knuckles. What most people want to do is sit on their asses in their air conditioned houses watching Direct TV while talking on their cell phones about their stock dipping. That's all well and good, but come the fuck on for a second.
When I moved back to the States I started buying local and started carrying my own grocery bags and walked places instead of driving. The whole semi-hippie shebang. For people who live in an urban environment that sounds par for the course. In the rest of America, it's fucking not. Think past your urban arrogance for a second and consider how hard it is to make those choices if you live in Mobile or Boise or all the tiny places in between. We're reliant on shipped food and our cars. When you live in NYC, Boston, or Chicago, it's easy to take public transport and to shop at Whole Foods. When you live anywhere else, not so much. That's troubling and something we should all take into consideration when being self-righteous douchebags. However, that doesn't let the rest of the country off the hook. If you live in the middle of the country, you can shop at farmers markets and buy local because you live where the food comes from. Give it a whirl. You'd be surprised how much better the food tastes. The "food crisis" is everywhere on the news, but what's sort of lost in all the chicken-little-ing is that we're responsible for the choices we make. It's more expensive to buy fresh produce IN THE GROCERY STORE, but hie your ass to the farmers market and bargain. Tell the Mennonite lady you're on a fixed in-come and had five kids. You think she's gonna begrudge you that squash? Get to know the people selling the food and when you're between jobs you can buy a sack of apples for a buck. You know how on TV in the old days people who sold food and people who bought it seemed to know each other? Omg, that can still happen!
At any rate, I decided when I moved to LA I would give up meat and go on the 100 mile diet because I live where the food comes from. This is a major sacrifice for me since I'm Southern and eat the fuck out of some pork (hahaha, now I could potentially be all *eyebrow raise* "Mom, I don't eat pork any more. PWN!" but then I might have to go home for High Holy Days, so probs not).
I'm not really all that crazy about the environment or a hippie. I think I've just gotten to a place where I feel like I need to be part of the solution rather than just so cynical I think there isn't a solution. So, I live in LA and I still walk as long as it's under five miles and I gave up the pure joy that's bbq because I'm a pollyanna. I'm having to relearn to cook because the secret ingredient in everything is chicken broth. And it looks like I'm a proselytizer. That's the state of me, what's up with you?
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