Archive for February, 2007
February 28, 2007 at 5:29 pm · Filed under
All words and no pictures make a blog boring. So, here ya go. Me in May 2003 doing my signature nose-scrunch as I await preparation of the Best Salad I’ve Ever Eaten.
(photo by yelahneb)
When we were doing the tourist thing on our first trip to Seattle, Gravity Bar on Broadway was near the top of our restaurant list. But we left it to our last night and arrived late, just as they were shutting down. Thankfully, they were kind enough to make us salads to go. I couldn’t tell you what was in my salad, but I remember it being unbelievably good. Perhaps that can be attributed in part to the fact that we ate back at the hotel room while enjoying a final soak in the enormous clawfoot tub (#1 reason to stay at the Moore).
Imagine how bummed we were to move here and learn that Gravity Bar had closed. Although, according to Randy S. on Yelp!, there’s still some hope that it will re-open? Oh please! I never even got to try the RV1.
February 28, 2007 at 4:27 pm · Filed under , ,
Last night in my internet stumblings, I once again found myself on design*sponge. This hotbed of fresh home and product design always induces a kind of mildly tortured delirium in me. I waver madly between “oh, how lovely,” “oh, how clever,” and “what am i doing looking at all these $2000 chairs and fancy apartments?” Sometimes there are little affordable things, and there are always plenty of brilliant ideas to be gathered, but so much of it is expensive things for people who already have plenty of expensive things.
When it comes to design, I often experience the same struggle I face as a writer. How can socially conscious people make a living without compromising their values? It’s always, on some level, selling stuff. As long as it’s stuff that’s ethically conscionable and you’re selling it in ways that aren’t oppressive or dishonest, you’re probably not making things worse. But what about actually doing good? I have many many thoughts on this subject, but I don’t have time to write an essay right now. So, I’ll get to the point.
Last night I looked up a graphic designer I used to know in Richmond. You can read about how I met Noah here (it’s kind of a funny story), but you should definitely check out his blog, Another Limited Rebellion. I’ve always been a fan of his business philosophy and his work. Now (for the past year, apparently) he’s offering a steady stream of socially conscious design news. A couple of my new links are actually hijacked from his archives.
Also, Noah wants to be a girl.
February 28, 2007 at 2:02 pm · Filed under , ,
Lentils are super healthy and easy to cook. In our house, delicious lentil burgers are a staple lazy food. My original inspiration was the “Bye, Bye Ronald Anti-Mac” burgers in a little British vegan cooking zine called “Well Fed - Not an Animal Dead” by Graham Burnett.* I love this zine for being very sincere and rootsy, all handwritten and liberally illustrated with drawings that feature peace signs and people wearing patched clothing. I never refer to the recipe anymore, so the burgers are a little different every time. Here’s the gist of what I’ve been making lately, but I encourage you to experiment with whatever you have around.
Lentil Burgers
(makes 2 big burgers or 3-4 smaller ones)
Combine the following:
- 1 can lentils, drained (or about 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils if you prepare them yourself)
- 1/2 cup quick oats (add more if needed to make stiff mixture)
- 1/2 can of tomato paste (4oz) or a generous dollop of ketchup
- 1-2 TBSP soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp - 1 TBSP curry powder (this is entirely a matter of taste)
- 2 tsp onion flakes or 1/2 a finely minced fresh onion
Other things you might want to throw in:
- a finely chopped carrot
- a few chopped mushrooms
- 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce (make sure it’s veg if you don’t do anchovies)
- minced garlic or garlic powder
- a dash of cumin
Mush it all together, adding more oats or even some oat flour as needed to create a nice burgery consistency. Then just fry ‘em up with a little oil. You can brown them pretty quickly, but they tend to taste better if you let them cook for a good long while - at least 5 minutes per side.
You can minimize carbs by eating them like “steaks” or do them up like standard burgers with a toasty roll, lettuce, vegenaise, sprouts, or whatever you like.
* Sidenote: I’ve always wanted to try Burnett’s recipes for homemade wine - especially the white wine, which sounds super-simple if you have an appropriate tightly-sealed gallon jug and the patience to wait at least 3-4 months. I’m not much of a drinker, but I love the idea of throwing a party and serving hooch I made myself.
February 26, 2007 at 7:50 pm · Filed under
This is Owlie. He’s 31 years old, just like me. He was my first and favorite stuffed animal, and my love for him inspired my family to give me many years of owl-themed gifts. Somewhere in my parents’ attic, basement, or barn there are several boxes full of macrame, ceramic, and fabric owls that rival these delightful finds.
All this is to say that, in spite of a brief early high school attempt to get away from the “owl thing” and switch my loyalty to elephants, I was into owls way before they became the hottest DIY-hipster fad. I was on the owl bandwagon back in the 70s, the first time they were cool!
I’m working on a couple owl-themed crafty projects right now, but I have nothing to show you yet. So, here are some inspirational owl crafts and creations I’ve noticed in the past few months:
If you really want to go crazy, check out 89 pages of owl fabulousness on Etsy. (Elephants only get 50 pages, but cats win out with over 300 pages - somewhat inflated by the prevalence of “cats eye” items.)
February 26, 2007 at 6:45 pm · Filed under
One of my friends and readers recently confessed sheepishly that he doesn’t know what I mean by “sustainability.” I, in turn, felt a little sheepish for casually batting around what has been widely acknowledged as a leading buzz word without a clear definition.
For the record, I’ve been using the term very loosely as a catchall for efforts to create a livable future for our planet and its inhabitants. Living sustainably is the opposite of gobbling up resources without thinking about what’s going to happen to the next generation and the ones after that. For that matter, some would argue that decades of unsustainable fossil fuel consumption have already doomed us to face dire consequences within many of our lifetimes.
(photo by yelahneb)
Wikipedia, as usual, offers a nice write-up with plenty of links for further reading. For a nitty-gritty analysis that also addresses academic debate over the term, check out Brian Kermath’s What is Sustainability? Yeah, I couldn’t read the whole thing either, but I liked this part:
In the present context, sustainability represents an idealized societal state where people live long, dignified, comfortable, and productive lives, satisfying their needs in environmentally sound and socially just ways so as to not compromise the ability of other human beings from doing the same now and into the distant future. It is, in effect, an attempt to merge development and nature conservation efforts in a mutually beneficial way for the common good of the planet’s present and future generations alike. In practice, achieving sustainability occurs through the process of sustainable development — discovering, adopting, implementing, establishing, and adjusting appropriate institutions, policies, strategies, and technologies to produce a just transition that moves society toward the envisioned idealized state of existence. Democracy is often viewed in the same way, as a process of working toward the ideal.
February 26, 2007 at 12:19 pm · Filed under ,
In light of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown this year, my home state has issued a formal apology for slavery. The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution of “profound regret” for “the involuntary servitude of Africans and the exploitation of Native Americans.” From today’s Guardian article:
The collective expression of remorse is believed to be the first of its kind to recognise that the foundations of America were built on exploitation. Its symbolism was underlined by its delivery from Richmond, the former capital of the confederacy and home at the outset of the civil war in 1861 to half a million of the four million African-Americans living in slavery.
The word “sorry” was left out of the resolution to ward off any requests for reparations. More in this USA Today article .
I guess better late than never is the only thing to be said here, but I’m also wondering if this will have any impact on the struggle of Virginia Indians to achieve federal recognition. The eight surviving Virginia tribes, about 17,000 individuals, weren’t formally recognized by the state until the 1980s, and they are still being denied federal education, housing, and economic development benefits.
Rep. Jim Moran vowed to re-introduce the issue in the House of Representatives this session, but as far as I can tell he hasn’t gotten around to it yet. He did, however, speak on the matter at this Senate hearing last June. His statement is a pretty good summary of the issue and all the ugly racist history attached to it, but there’s lots more in the Indian Country archives.
February 23, 2007 at 6:26 pm · Filed under
Perhaps you’re reading this blog through a feed reader. Or perhaps your eyes are glued to these riveting posts I’ve been writing. If for these or any other reasons you have not yet noticed the link roll I’ve added in the left-hand column, I hereby point it out to you as evidence that in spite of my monumental laziness, I sometimes keep my promises. Since I’m posting the links through de.lici.ous, they have a separate feed.
(Those of you who have been encouraging me to get on de.lici.ous are warned not to get too excited. I’ve only added a handful of links so far, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll use it for much else beyond simplifying my link roll on this blog.)
February 23, 2007 at 5:18 pm · Filed under , ,
I loved this interview with activist Marisa Handler, and I’m psyched to read her book Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist. Of course I’m frequently psyched to read non-fiction books and yet somehow I usually end up reading novels. They’re usually novels with some degree of depth or social conscience, rather than fluffy entertainment, but I still feel that I’m rather lazy on that account.
Which reminds me of these classic words, which appeared a couple weeks ago on dooce. I hereby adopt them as my standing explanation for any shortcomings on this blog:
I am very busy being lazy, and generally if you want to know why anything is the way it is, I’ll get around to answering you once I have recovered from all this blinking I have to do.
Enough about me and Heather Armstrong. Here are a few encouraging quotes from the not-so-lazy Marisa Handler:
I think there’s this concept of activists as these holier-than-thou people who stand in the streets yelling. That’s really not true. I think activism can be cliquey and exclusive, and that’s really a downfall. I think as activists, we really need to look at the kind of culture we’re creating and whether it’s open — whether people feel welcomed, because that’s the only way we’re going to build it.
It’s a matter of figuring out where you can take a stand, how you can take a stand, and how you can try to do good even when things begin to look a little murky.
I actually think the answers need to be small. To me, the most effective counter to imperialist government and massive transnational corporations is smallness and diversity. Unfortunately we don’t necessarily always hear about the good news because it’s small. But [the overall effect] is not small, because it’s happening in a lot of places.
February 22, 2007 at 7:42 pm · Filed under ,
This painting by Marta Sanchez is part of an exhibit opening next week in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Art of Surviving collection is “an important opportunity for survivors of sexual violence to tell their stories and experience healing publicly through artistic expression and written narrative.”
I’m so impressed by this project, which is being coordinated by a long-time friend of mine through my former employer, the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance. Y’all east-coasters can go have a look at at your leisure between March 2 and April 30. More information here.
In other “art of surviving” news, I went to see a powerful film today. Seattle’s CARA (Communities Against Rape and Abuse) coordinated a screening of NO!, an amazing documentary about sexual violence in the African-American community. The filmmaker, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, was there and the discussion afterwards was thought-provoking and heartfelt. I also had an experience on my way home that I’ll probably write about, but it needs a little more time to settle in my mind.
February 22, 2007 at 7:19 pm · Filed under , ,
Sweetie’s on a diet, so I’ve been trying to cook extra light and healthy. Last night we had a big salad of red leaf lettuce, carrot pulp (left over from juicing), and sprouts. I topped it with tempeh (see recipe below), a generous sprinkling of seaweed gomashio, and hemp seed oil. Sound like weird vegan rabbit food? It was actually quite delicious.
Those last two ingredients probably sound fancy and indulgent. Gomashio isn’t really—it’s just sesame seeds and sea salt ground together. The hempseed oil, on the other hand, is very expensive ($8.50 for 8 organic ounces), but I rationalized it because my naturopath recommended that and flaxseed oil (also expensive) as good Omega 3 fatty acid sources that could help with the eczema I sometimes get on my hands and legs.
Honey-fried Tempeh
- Cut a package of tempeh (usually 6-8 oz) into bite-sized pieces.
- Saute with oil and minced garlic over medium heat until garlic starts to brown.
- Add tamari, soy sauce, or Braggs (approx. 1 1/2 TBSP), honey (approx. 2 TBSP), and water (approx. 1/4 cup).
- Simmer vigorously until liquid evaporates and tempeh is evenly brown and tender.
I’ll do some proper research at some point, but it’s my understanding that fermented soy products like tempeh and miso are much better for you than non-fermented products like soy milk and tofu. So, if you haven’t cooked tempeh before, this might be an easy way to give it a go. This tempeh would also be great over any kind of stir fry or potato/veggie combo.
Next entries »
