Category Archives: Essays

An Ode to Kale

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When I want to pump iron – I choose kale.

Calcium?  I choose kale without fail.

Fiber, flavonoids, omega-threes,

Potassium, antioxidants – all of these,

For other veggies, I will chop and sauté,

For kale, I’ll massage till its cares are away,

Into a smoothie, a salad, and side,

Its nutrient properties are bona fide.

With a cashew dressing or squeezed with citrus,

Kale, I could never ever forget this.

Whether purple, dinosaur, or lacinato,

To the store to get it – I’ve just got to.

And once I’ve swallowed its vitamins – k, a, and c,

I’ll absorb all its iron (unless I enjoy it with tea).

Happiness and Waffles

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I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  At the beginning of the non-fiction book, the reader learns that while Rubin is not unhappy, she thinks that she could be happier.  By trying out different ideas, theories, and belief systems around happiness she strives to find what makes her day-to-day better and what makes her appreciate the moment of now.  She plots goals and resolutions for each month of the year, devises a chart to track her progress, and pushes herself outside of her own comfort zone.  During the course of the book, she also began a blog about her happiness project and now has a sister site for people who want to develop their own.  It’s an interesting idea, and who couldn’t use more happiness?

There were a few take-aways from the book that I liked.  One theme that she kept coming back to was the idea to “Be Gretchen.”  For example, if someone really likes the song stylings of Rick Astley, why not embrace it?  She claims that people can get so caught up in the idea of what they feel they’re supposed to be or supposed to enjoy, they miss out on fully giving into what will actually inspire them.  (It reminded me of something I heard about Netflix a while back.  I don’t know if it’s true; I think my Google is broken.  Anyway, the story goes that when people are putting movies into their queue they pick a combination of high-minded films and popcorn movies.  The movies people choose to watch now are mostly the latter, and the high-minded films are continually pushed to the back of the queue to watch at a later date.  People think they should watch those “better” films, but what they really want to see is something more fun.)

A touchstone Rubin suggests is remembering what you enjoyed as a child and revisiting it.  For myself, I loved mail, acting out my own cooking shows in the kitchen, taking dance classes, and writing a magazine that I mailed out to other kids called, “Pen Pals International.”  (The “international” part was a bit of a stretch since outside of a few strangers around the country, the main readers were my best friend and my cousin, Susie.)  I realized that Rubin’s idea tracked since I still love mail, and I’m still writing and acting out cooking shows in my kitchen by way of this blog.  As for the dance classes, Rubin’s reminder is getting my wheels turning about looking for one in my area.

She talked about how buying something we desire can seem like it will bring happiness, but most of the time, that happiness is short-lived.  For a bit of time the attained object is something new and exciting, but that feeling is quickly absorbed and that thing becomes just a part of “everyday normal.”  One thing that bucks that trend is buying something that brings repeated, everyday happiness, like getting a gadget or plaything like a bike or boat that brings happiness every time a person uses it.  She pointed to her own experience making daily smoothies in a high speed blender.  I’ve noticed it for myself with the camera I received for Christmas, my juicer, and dresses that perk me up whenever I wear them.  It’s interesting to consider as we add to our wish lists if those things will be treasured, clutter, or just objects in the background in a few months’ time.  (That’s a reason I’ve been loving the library this past year.  I can buy books all day long, but for the most part after I read them, I don’t need to look them over again.  It’s such a savings of space and money to check them out of the library, enjoy them for a couple of weeks, and then pass them on to another library-goer.)

Another idea she points to is that things are more fun and more appreciated when they’re a novelty.  For example, when birthdays and holidays come around they’re exciting and special because they only come once a year.  When the figs are ripe in the grocery store, or persimmons, or cherries, delicata squash, watermelon, or asparagus it feels more exciting because we know those fruits and vegetables won’t be here for long.  I savor every cherry, because it will be a long time before they’re back again.  Or when you go away on vacation it feels like a fun novelty to sleep in a hotel room in a different city with amenities that are different than in your own home.  Then when you come home again, it’s wonderful to be in your own space, cuddling your companion animals in your own bed with loads of greens in the refrigerator.  It’s like that cliché – absence makes the heart grow fonder.

(Segue to cooking blog section of this post…)  I suppose that’s what makes the weekend so special.  I need work and order, and of course, money too.  But when the weekend comes and I can lounge in bed reading a book, checking email, sipping on a cup of coffee made just the way I like it, it feels so fabulously indulgent.  Then when breakfast time is quickly becoming lunchtime, I can pull out the weekends-only waffle maker, slice bananas, and spoon peanut butter for topping.  Lately I’ve been using the recipe for Chelsea Waffles from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch.  Isa calls for a combination of all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and cornmeal.  I’ve used just whole wheat pastry flour and cornmeal, and that’s worked fine as well.  I had to add a little bit more liquid to the batter for easier spreading, and they taste “healthier” than the original but they’re still good.  (They’d be especially good that way as a start to a savory waffle.)  She also uses barley malt syrup in the recipe, and I never have that.  So I just use agave syrup instead.  Also, I’ve found that my waffle maker doesn’t require non-stick spray or any extra oil, and so I put the batter on without adding any of that.

One thing that I love about waffles is that they freeze so well.  When I make the recipe for waffles, I make the whole batch, even though there’s only two of us eating them.  Then I take the remaining waffles, put them in Pyrex, and save them in the freezer for another day.  When a random Monday or Wednesday comes and I’m wishing I could have a little taste of the weekend, I put a couple of waffles into the toaster, and they come up just as crispy and delicious (if not more so) than they were when they were just made.  It feels like a little weekday treat.

Anyway, the Happiness Project returns to the library today, and while it was here, I enjoyed considering new ways to grow happiness and make more of every moment.  You know what they say, take time to stop and smell the waffles.

I’d love to know: What brought you happiness as a child that still makes you happy today?  Or what activity did you used to enjoy that you’d like to revisit?

Why My Grocery Store Is Carrying Fewer “Vegan” Items

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Does this look "vegan-y" to you?

I’m very lucky in that where I live we have a wonderful natural grocery store with lots of vegan options.  Organic produce abounds.  There’s an enviable bulk section, including bulk spices, a deli with several vegan sandwiches, and a case of baked goods with many that are free of animal products.  I don’t often purchase a cinnamon roll or cookie from their bakery, but when there’s a special occasion, party, or cinnamon related-emergency, it’s convenient to have a place to go to fulfill these needs.

So I was surprised recently when I noticed a decline in the amount of labeled vegan offerings in the bakery.  Upon closer examination, I noticed that while the listed ingredients remained the same, the “vegan” designation on many of the items had disappeared.  At first, I thought it was a fluke, but then the signs stayed that way.  Then I noticed at the store’s second location, “vegan” was omitted there as well.  Wondering if they’d switched to a non-vegan non-dairy margarine or a non-vegan egg replacer, I shot them an email.  Here’s what I heard back:

Thanks for your question. Yes, the cinnamon rolls are still vegan. I’m not sure why the Vegan label was dropped. It may have simply been an accidental omission when making new signs.

As a side note: I do know in the past, particularly with cookies, applying the vegan label tended to diminish the sales. When we put the same cookie out with the same ingredients, only not listed as “vegan”, we tended to sell more. This is why we stopped labeling our cookies as vegan. I guess when it comes to sweets, some people really want their butter. There are also some people who aren’t familiar with the term and it scares them off because they think it must mean healthy and thereby not as good.

After getting the email, I felt conflicted.  On the one hand, I’m glad that people are eating more foods that are vegan.  I’m glad for a decrease in the consumption of animal-based foods, however that happens.  On the other hand, I was disappointed that the people buying the cookies were never put in the position to have their presumptions about “vegan food” changed.  The bakery case and baked good containers already list the ingredients on top, but it makes me wish that underneath the cookies and pastries that there was a little note like one might leave at the bottom of a May Basket.  After the person had eaten and enjoyed the baked good it would say, “Hey, what you just finished eating was deliciously vegan.  It was made with plant-based ingredients.”  Or perhaps there could be a guy whispering in the background like those old coffee commercials.  “These people don’t know that the cookies they’re eating are completely plant based…”  Then afterward we could get a crew to film their reactions.  It would be golden.

In the email I was told, “This is why we stopped labeling our cookies as vegan. I guess when it comes to sweets, some people really want their butter.”  But really, those sweets didn’t have butter in them.  People bought them and presumably liked them when they didn’t know there wasn’t any butter in them.  So what that tells me is that people just think that they want their butter.  It’s not really about the flavor, it’s about the idea of the flavor.

Silly humans, cows milk is for calves.

And when you think about it, it’s kind of funny that as a society we’ve all bought into the idea that for something to be delicious, an animal product has to be involved.  When you break it down, it doesn’t sound that appetizing.  Eggs drop out of chickens from the same hole as their feces.  It’s a product of their menstrual cycle.  It sounds kind of silly when you think of it like that to say, “Oh, my gosh, this just popped out of a chicken’s butt!  We have to put it in our cupcakes.  Only then will they be delicious!”  If someone wanted to add a human’s lactation fluid into baked goods, it would sound like a publicity stunt.  But it’s just as strange when you think about it to say, “Hey, we impregnated this cow, and she gave birth.  Instead of having her baby drink that milk, let’s take the baby, churn the milk, and spread it on our pancakes.  It will be fantastic.”  These things only seem normal, because as a society we generally don’t question our day-to-day behavior.  It’s just the way we do things.  But that doesn’t mean it’s the only way or optimum way.

Mouth-watering cherry pie with a dollop of coconut milk-based ice cream

People eat vegan foods all the time.  They eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.  They’re just everyday, ordinary foods.  Hopefully as more people become aware of the word “vegan,” what it means, and that vegan food can be healthy or not, and indulgent or not their perceptions around the word will change.  Sure, sometimes making vegan baked goods means using slightly different ingredients than animal product-based goods, but so what?

I’ve had the pleasure of feeding more kids lately, and you know, children can be really wonderful examples of this.  People always say that kids are so picky, and of course, they can be.  But when a child gets a cookie, he or she rarely asks, “Now, what are the ingredients in this cookie, so that I can decide ahead of time if or if not I will like it?”  So when the same quality can be achieved without animal products, why cause the harm then?  Why not choose the peaceful option?

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