this and that: post-Labour Day wrap-up
Aw, fuckitall... I just discovered that Nestle owns Green & Blacks. Fuck fuck fuck. Guess it's down to Cocoa Camino and ChocoSol for me now.
This weekend was way less stressful than I had anticipated. We went up to L's parents to fetch my kayaks and take them to N's parents' place. 17 hours in the car, about 1500km, two nights spent driving. We saw dragonflies, chipmunks, foxes, bats, a toad, caterpillars, spiders, hummingbirds, chickadees, fish, swans, hawks, and a beautiful sky full of stars. A got to swim a little and N and I spent some time kayaking and soaking in the hot tub. And we got back in time to actually relax a bit. Sweet.
A has started signing 'outside', 'water', and 'apple'. He said squirrel yesterday when he saw one at the park: duhyel. He's starting to add the 't' at the end of cat, so it sounds like dat, instead of just dah... nearly everything starts with a 'd' these days. I have no idea what happened to bah bah bah bah bah. He's all about the d's with a few m's in there for good measure. He drives us crazy at times because he never really stops moving, but even still he's an absolute pleasure to be around. I swoon even more with every new development. I told him I loved him earlier today and his response was to wrap his arms around my neck and hug me with all his little might. *omgdies*
Finished Omnivore's Dilemma and have discovered that eating animal is beginning to feel like a seasonal sort of thing for me. Quasi-vegan in the spring/summer and less so in the cooler months. I've realised that I'm more concerned with the quality of life the animal had before it ends up on my plate than I am about abstaining entirely from animal products. As such, I will potentially be adding in such things as butter (the only dairy product I truly miss -- but only when it's cool/cold out), more eggs, fish and meat, with the stipulation that the fish is wild-caught, the diary cows, laying hens, and other meat animals actually get to be cows and chickens, etc. Not production units, but actual animals who live as quality a life as any domesticated animal could.
In addition, I've happily spent the last several months eating less animal product than most North Americans eat in half a week, so I'm not looking to jump on the meat meat meat bandwagon. Ugh. I will do as I have been training myself to do for the past several months: pay attention to my body and eat what it tells me to eat... as long as it's in season. My body wants a little bit of butter to go with the wild-foraged mushrooms, and the occasional small bit of meat or egg. Not industrial egg replacer or pseudo-meat. Not factory-farmed, antibiotic-ridden, misery-drenched, corn-by-product saturated animal. I want the real thing: pastured, grass-fed ruminants (the grazing beasties), grain-fed free-range (in its TRUE sense -- what we picture, not what free-range actually means when you get bureaucrats rules lawyering the phrase into meaningless drivel) bird, free-swimming fishies, etc.
I've also discovered in the last little while that my mycophobia has all but vanished. I'm so excited to try whatever edible mushrooms come my way.
Little by little, I'm learning what food means to me and it's a fantastic journey.
This weekend was way less stressful than I had anticipated. We went up to L's parents to fetch my kayaks and take them to N's parents' place. 17 hours in the car, about 1500km, two nights spent driving. We saw dragonflies, chipmunks, foxes, bats, a toad, caterpillars, spiders, hummingbirds, chickadees, fish, swans, hawks, and a beautiful sky full of stars. A got to swim a little and N and I spent some time kayaking and soaking in the hot tub. And we got back in time to actually relax a bit. Sweet.
A has started signing 'outside', 'water', and 'apple'. He said squirrel yesterday when he saw one at the park: duhyel. He's starting to add the 't' at the end of cat, so it sounds like dat, instead of just dah... nearly everything starts with a 'd' these days. I have no idea what happened to bah bah bah bah bah. He's all about the d's with a few m's in there for good measure. He drives us crazy at times because he never really stops moving, but even still he's an absolute pleasure to be around. I swoon even more with every new development. I told him I loved him earlier today and his response was to wrap his arms around my neck and hug me with all his little might. *omgdies*
Finished Omnivore's Dilemma and have discovered that eating animal is beginning to feel like a seasonal sort of thing for me. Quasi-vegan in the spring/summer and less so in the cooler months. I've realised that I'm more concerned with the quality of life the animal had before it ends up on my plate than I am about abstaining entirely from animal products. As such, I will potentially be adding in such things as butter (the only dairy product I truly miss -- but only when it's cool/cold out), more eggs, fish and meat, with the stipulation that the fish is wild-caught, the diary cows, laying hens, and other meat animals actually get to be cows and chickens, etc. Not production units, but actual animals who live as quality a life as any domesticated animal could.
In addition, I've happily spent the last several months eating less animal product than most North Americans eat in half a week, so I'm not looking to jump on the meat meat meat bandwagon. Ugh. I will do as I have been training myself to do for the past several months: pay attention to my body and eat what it tells me to eat... as long as it's in season. My body wants a little bit of butter to go with the wild-foraged mushrooms, and the occasional small bit of meat or egg. Not industrial egg replacer or pseudo-meat. Not factory-farmed, antibiotic-ridden, misery-drenched, corn-by-product saturated animal. I want the real thing: pastured, grass-fed ruminants (the grazing beasties), grain-fed free-range (in its TRUE sense -- what we picture, not what free-range actually means when you get bureaucrats rules lawyering the phrase into meaningless drivel) bird, free-swimming fishies, etc.
I've also discovered in the last little while that my mycophobia has all but vanished. I'm so excited to try whatever edible mushrooms come my way.
Little by little, I'm learning what food means to me and it's a fantastic journey.