Good News, Bad News

1. It was Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's.

2. They closed at 7, and I didn't get off until 7:15.

!!!!

I'm going to have to try to find a Baskin-Robbins tomorrow to make up for it! Did anybody make it for free ice cream today?

Sunday Trip Prep

It's been rainy today, but even so, we spent much of the day running errands on our folding bikes. It went really well. I'm less noticeably out of shape than I was a couple of weeks ago, and getting to our routine stops requires much less of an effort. Today we rode to CVS and Trader Joe's (also stopping by Whole Foods for a few sample-snacks), and the Reston Used Book Shop, then came home and started getting ready for our trip. Halfway through making a second batch of homemade energy bars, I realized we were out of butter (so that's where the "energy" comes from...)--so, while it crossed my mind for a split second to drive, we got back on the bikes and went out to Harris Teeter. 

It feels nice to be getting so much physical activity (though I'm also exhausted by the end of the day!) and to have it tied into the rest of each day's activities. Tomorrow I have a meeting at work around noon, and so I think I'll probably ride over and see how long that takes.

Here are two of the recipes we're hoping to take on the trail. They're cooling as we speak. 

These, because they're simple and looked easy:

Scotch Teas

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 cups quick cooking rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

In saucepan combine sugar and butter; cook and stir until the butter melts. Remove from heat and stir in oats, baking powder and salt. Mix well and put into a greased 8 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and cut into 24 bars. These will set and become hard as they cool. 

From the Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Cookies Cook Book. 

And these, because I had some graham crackers left over from who-knows-when:

No-Bake Peanut Butter Squares

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups graham cracker crumbs (approximately 40 squares)

1 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

1 12-oz. package semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

1/4 cup peanut butter

 Directions:

Line a 9x9x2 inch pan with aluminum foil. (Leave about 1 inch hanging over the opposite sides so you can lift the bars easily from the pan.)

In a large bowl, mix the powdered sugar, margarine, 1 cup peanut butter, and vanilla. Stir in the cracker crumbs and peanuts. (The mixture will be stiff.) Press mixture into the pan.

Over low heat stir together the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup peanut butter until smooth. Spread over the mixture in the pan. Cover and refrigerate about an hour or until the chocolate is set. Remove from the pan and cut the bars into 36 squares. Refrigerate uncovered about 2 hours or until firm.

Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

I added about a cup of oats and a little baking powder, and actually did bake them for about half an hour at 350 degrees in the hopes that they would hold together when not refrigerated. I also didn't bother putting the chocolate/peanut butter topping on, because I figured it would just get melty. So far, they seem to be firming up OK, and they taste awesome. As do the Scotch Teas--how could anything with that ratio of butter to sugar be bad?? Even if they have crumbled into granola. Oh, well.

We've also packed up our backpacks, with hopefully all of the clothing and foodstuffs and camping gear we'll need, and tonight will dehydrate a few trays of apples, bananas, and pineapple for snacks. We're getting closer!

This Weekend

The folding bikes have landed. Last night we went out and bought two green 2007 Dahon Speed D7's, brought them back to Reston, and tooled around on them for the evening.

While we were originally planning to test-ride a couple of Downtubes this weekend as well, the ones in stock didn't seem too promising, and the consensus seemed to be that these Dahons were the way to go. And the man who sold them to us, oddly enough, attended the University of Iowa (which we found out because, oddly enough, each time we went in I was wearing a different piece of Iowa clothing--a Hawkeye sweatshirt, and a UIHC T-shirt), so in addition to the 5% discount for buying two at a time, and the bags for packing them up which were included, he threw in a free rain cover. He intended to throw in two, but only had one, so he told us if we brought our bikes bike for the complimentary and highly-recommended 30-day tuneup, he'd give us the other one then. So, that was nice.  

So far? We're really enjoying the bikes. They're smoother and more ergonomic than the old clunkers we've been riding around, and getting them in and out of the apartment is a breeze. (Plus, they're adorable, and they match--it's like having an official team bike!) It also looks like we should be able to fit them and our camping gear in the car, which will come in handy for our impending trip to the Smoky Mountains and to Georgia (next week!). We've even found someone to watch our cats that week, so things are falling into place!

With that in mind, today we're planning to ride to the thrift store to make some donations (and clear out some clutter), and possibly scoop up some free day-old Trader Joe's bread. We're also going to be test-driving some of our dried-food recipes and dehydrating some more ingredients to take backpacking. We're planning to get our backpacks mostly packed. And, we're reorganizing the storage closet where our former bikes were stored so that we can unclutter the apartment even further! I've agreed to give my bike to a nurse-anesthetist where I work, and I think we're going to donate Matt's to charity. I do feel a little pang of sadness at getting rid of the bike my parents bought me when I was 8 years old, but on the other hand, I think back to times I've considered hanging onto something for nostalgia's sake and my mom told me "Just take a picture of it and look at that." Wise words. Plus, we pretty much negate the (hefty) investment we just made in folding bikes if we're still hanging onto the old ones!

So, it should be a nice day. We sit here with a pot of espresso (which always makes me feel more like it's the weekend, since we don't have time to make it during the week) and a pan of hootenanny and a lovely spring breeze blowing in the window, plotting our strategy. And realizing that it's pretty much only nurses and farmers who spring out of bed at 7 in the morning, refreshed at having "slept in so late."

We Love These Guys.

Tamales!

I  made tamales the other day. I know I've mentioned them before--that they are, hands down, one of our very favorite foods, and one which always brings back happy honeymoon memories, when I realized that Matt still loved me in the morning, even after listening to the protests of my tortured bowels well into each night--but I realized I'd never documented the process before. Of making tamales, that is.

So I thought I'd lay it down for you.

Start with: shortening, masa (which should be nothing more than corn, lime [the mineral, not the fruit], and salt), baking powder, fresh or frozen corn, and a couple of jalapenos.

We make corn and jalapeno tamales. More common are pork and chicken tamales, made with lard instead of vegetable shortening. Take your pick. You can also fill them with cheese or about anything else.

And you'll want some cornhusks, which you need to soak in water until they're soft and pliable. It usually takes about an hour, and you have to weigh them down with something so they won't just float to the top. Plan on 1-2 per tamale.

About masa: we get our masa at a variety of places. This bag came from Aldi's! You can also get it at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, a variety of ethnic stores, and probably most other grocery stores these days. It's a couple of bucks a bag.

I was making a double batch, so I started with 4 cups of masa. (Because of the work involved in making and rolling them, you may as well make a batch for now and a batch for the freezer. Put the batch for the freezer in a ziplock bag, and take them down a day or two before you want them and thaw them in the fridge.) Then I added 2 teaspoons of baking powder. (I've forgotten this before, and in a panic I called Matt, who reminded me that this addition is probably a recent one in the several-hundred-year-long history of tamales. They turned out fine.) Plus a little salt.

Then add 4 cups of lukewarm broth or water. (Predictably, we use water.)

In a separate bowl, because I'm into that these days, whip 1-1/3 cups of shortening until it's fluffy. I like the KitchenAid for this, but handheld mixers work just as well.

In the masa bowl, mix together the dry mixture and the water with your hands. (I try to remember to take off my rings before I do this because I've found there's nothing like having somebody compliment your wedding jewelry, to look down and realize there's a little bread dough or something stuck in it. Classy, I know, and that's just how we roll.) This is one of the few kinds of food I can stand to have on my hands, and I actually think it feels really nice. It's warm and kind of spongy. And something about the masa just smells so fresh and clean and basic, and if you ate little bits of it off your hands, before or after you whipped in the shortening, well, who could know or blame you?

Once that's combined, whip it into the shortening until the texture is spongy--basically, until you've incorporated some air into the mix.

Get your filling ready.

Get out your cornhusks. Spread a big spoonful of masa onto the tamale and pile a little filling in the middle.

Then you have to fold them up. This is where it gets tricky. And, unfortunately, where I am unable to assist you with helpful pictures because it's impossible to do such things one-handed and thereby photograph oneself doing them. I was also trying to avoid the unfortunate scenario of getting jalapeno oils all over the camera, a place where I regularly put my eyes. (I did end up with it all over my hands, though, and had to keep testing them by putting them in my mouth to see if it was gone. This way I didn't inadvertently find out in my eyes, or elsewhere. What finally got it off was rinsing them in a little cream we had that had gone a little sour. The sourness probably wasn't strictly important, it was just the only cream we had that seemed expendable enough for handwashing.) But here's one way to do it, though there are others. (I agree that tying them shut is a waste of time, unless you like the way it looks.) What I do is to fold in the short ends of the rectangle, then roll it up the long way, like a burrito. If that makes sense. It ends up looking like this.

Repeat with the rest of the cornhusks and masa. I made about 12 tamales, using 2 cornhusks each. I find that bigger tamales are a better return for your energy than smaller ones. We each eat 2-3 at a sitting, covered with sour cream and salsa.

All at once now:

Vegetarian/Vegan Tamales

adapted from Azteca Mill Masa Bag

2 cups of Maseca/dry masa

2 cups lukewarm water

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup corn, frozen or fresh

1-2 chopped fresh jalapenos, mostly seeded

6-12 cornhusks

Place cornhusks in a bowl of warm water to soak. Combine Maseca, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Work in water until a soft dough is formed. In another bowl, beat the shortening until fluffy. Beat in the masa. In a separate bowl, mix corn and jalapenos. Spread on cornhusks and place a tablespoonful of filling in the center. Roll up and steam in a double boiler or steamer for an hour. Serve with salsa and sour cream if desired. Makes 6-12 tamales, depending on size.

I've Been A Bad Blogger.

I admit it. My updates have been pitifully scarce lately. If I had to pin down why, I'd say it's probably a combination of a few things: I've been working shorter days, but more of them--meaning that I spend a lot of my time (ie at work) doing things I can't blog about. And afterward, I either have time to get a few things done, or time to blog about them; but generally not both. Also, the weather has been nicer (meaning GORGEOUS) outside, meaning that we spend more of our time out and about than we do on our computers. But still, it's no excuse.

Today I'm off until 3:00, so I figure I should rectify the situation. Here are some odds and ends about what we've been up to.

In which we decide that a cleaner apartment is nicer

Spurred on by how nice the house looked after our improvisatory cleanup last weekend, we've been making even more of an effort to keep it that way. The dishes have always been a trouble spot of ours, mainly because we've never lived in an apartment with a decent dishwasher. They come out looking worse than they did when they went in, which is a discourage exercise especially since the grime has now been baked on. However, it's hard to swear off it completely, loving to cook as we do, because we're then left with a mountain of dishes to wash/dry by hand as they inescapably get away from us. (I don't know what people do who have less than a 1:1 ratio of messmakers to dish-washers, because we have a hard enough time as it is. The caption to the left reads "Most husbands help with dishes," and while I sincerely hope that is true, I have my doubts about whether it is.) Also, our drying rack was leaking water onto the counter and the counter underneath was starting to warp (not great, since it's not ours), so we decided that the new rule regarding dishes was to just wash it AND dry it AND put it away, as soon as you use it. So far, it's worked surprisingly well. Our main dishes get made around suppertime, so after supper I usually wash and Matt dries and puts away and then we're done. Our lunches get packed at the same time so don't create any additional dishes. For breakfast, we each wash/dry if we have time, or otherwise, the person who leaves later (Matt, if I'm working; me, if I'm not) picks up the slack and does it ASAP. As an added bonus, the dishes come clean a lot more easily when they've just been used; and it's interesting how the philosophy has sort of spread to the rest of the house: take something out, put it back away. We're both finding it really refreshing. We'll see how long it lasts...

Another thing that has helped keep the apartment feeling spring-cleaned is that we've moved any odds and ends we don't quite have a place for into the bedroom, instead of the living room or the dining room or the kitchen (or a mixture of all three). That way, instead of generalized clutter everywhere, we've got a couple of cohesive piles, of, say, paperwork, and one of things to give to Goodwill. Since we're only ever in there when it's dark, we don't mind having it there, and we know exactly where to look for things when we want to find them. We used to use our spare bedroom (ie office) for this in Iowa City, but actually this is working almost as well. And being as our current housing costs are chokingly high, and likely to rise with each coming year, we're best off learning to deal with how to do more with less space.

In which we debate whether we can fold new bikes into our current budget

Which brings us to finance. 2008 is the first year I've kept a down-to-the-dollar record of our income and spending, and I've found it really helpful. Each month's spreadsheet covers from the 10th of each month to the ninth of the following month (because Matt gets paid once a month, always on the tenth; I get paid twice a month, on differing days of the month, which makes it much more difficult to consistently plan around). I put in whatever was left or negative from the previous month, and Matt's incoming paycheck. I also plug in last month's estimates (or our target estimates) for categories we know we'll be spending out of: rent, food, gas, car/student loan payments, and anything else (travel, for example) that will be coming out of the bank that cycle. That gives me a rough idea of what we have to work with that month, as well as how much I should shoot for in terms of picking up extra shifts. As money comes in and goes out, I keep a running tally of it--such as what we've spent on groceries, and how close that's getting to our target limit; however, I don't replace the "projected" total with the "actual" total in the budget until we've reached the limit or the end of the month. That way I'm not fooled into thinking there's more money in the pot than there actually is. The same goes for payments I know will come out, but which just haven't yet. So far, it's worked really well, and has kept a pretty tight rein on our spending: next month, we'll pay off one of our highest interest student loans, and we've been putting a little into savings every month as well. 

Next, I need to figure out the smartest thing to do with those savings: invest some, plunk it down for my first semester of school, hang onto it and pay for school as I go? These are all things we need to talk about and figure out.

Another talking point is the folding bikes. Both of our bikes are old and in what I would call fair shape. They get us from point A to point B, but neither is especially comfortable or pleasant to ride. You've heard the stories about getting them up and down the stairs, which is a royal pain in our butts, and combining them with public transportation (eg riding to the Metro station and taking the train into DC) is a non-option. So, as we mentioned, we're looking at folding bikes. A local store has a couple of 2007 Dahon D7's for $380 apiece. They ride smoothly, have a rack on back for errands, and fold up pretty decently. (26 lbs, nothing I'd want to carry all day, but doable in the short term.) Seems pretty pricey, except that's apparently what they're going for all over the internet, too, and if we stall until the year-old models are gone, we'd be out of luck or stuck paying $409 for the same model, year 2008. Downtube has what they claim is a similar model for $299, which we haven't test-ridden. Either way, we're looking at a pretty large (for us) cash layout for these mofos. Which means:

1) We should be consciously cutting our costs in other places (eg food and entertainment, since most other areas of our budget, like student loans and housing, are unfortunately pretty fixed)

2) We will absolutely need to utilize the crap out of these bikes in lieu of the car, in order to wring every last drop out of savings on gas money and benefit to the environment and our own bodies, which are all of our rationales for getting these in the first place. This means riding them even when the trip is long or the weather is crap or both. It may also mean rethinking how and where we shop for certain items. In the summer, farmer's markets will provide a good, close option, but what about in the fall and winter, when our willingness to be active outdoors is notoriously low?

The bottom line is, we've tightened our belts consciously enough that we can probably get these bikes. The question is, should we? As I've talked about before, our overall financial goals all lean toward the idea of freedom: from debt, from obligation, and from worry. Are these bikes going to be a lasting investment that align with our overall goals and motivations, or will we look back on them as a gimmicky impulse buy?

While some people might be tempted to answer the latter, I'm starting to lean toward the former. We care about our physical health and activity, and we want to reduce the amount we drive the car. This will have positive implications for the environment and our wallets. The cost of the bikes is stable, as of this point, and won't be affected by things like rising gas prices. Too, as I look at our overall life goals, freedom of mobility and a reliable source of alternative transportation seem like a pretty integral part of that package, too--and being as we are renters for the foreseeable future, and our current bikes are in questionable condition, they don't seem poised to fulfill that challenge for very much longer.

So the question now is which. We want quality for our money, but we also don't want to spend more than we have to. Enter Saturday, on which we plan to head out to Maryland and test-drive them both.

In which my bathroom routine goes completely edible

Not what you think it is, I promise! Despite a faithful regimen of tea tree oil shampoo and vinegar, my scalp has still been red and irritated some of the time. (It often gets worse in warmer weather.) So I've wondered whether it isn't the chemicals (yes, I mean you, sodium laureth sulfate, the same canker-causing-culprit found in toothpaste) in the so-called "natural" shampoo I'm using which are still irritating to this obviously sensitive bit of skin. So naturally, I've started washing my hair with--wait for it--baking soda. Don't worry if you think you'd miss the foaming action of shampoo; that comes when you pour on the vinegar. And if you think your hair or scalp feels a little dry afterward? Well, rub in a little olive oil, of course! The Misto sprayer from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (is this the "beyond"?) works great for dispensing just the right amount.

How does it work? I've only done it once so far, so the jury is still out. But I'll let you know. 

That said, I'll leave you with a song that we've found strangely beautiful and addictive lately.

Ice Cream, You Scream

Twice now we've made really good mocha ice cream in our $4 ice cream maker. The second time, when there were actually others around to witness it, I didn't chill the mix long enough before pouring it in the churn and so they had gone home by the time it actually froze. However, the ice cream was awesome, and we're excited to spend the summer experimenting with other flavors (and elastic waistbands). Here's how we made the mocha, using the recipe given in the booklet that came with the ice cream maker.

Whisk together two eggs and 1/3 cup sugar.

Whisk in 1-1/4 cups milk over low heat.

Chop 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate and melt it into the mixture but DO NOT BOIL (or your ice cream will have bits of scrambled egg in it, says the voice of experience). 

Add 1-1/2 teaspoons of instant coffee which have been dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water (or, if you're us, a couple of teaspoons of strong espresso). 

Cool. 

When cool, add 1-1/4 cups heavy/whipping cream. 

Whisk until smooth.

Refrigerate until cold, then churn in the ice cream maker (2-3 clockwise turns every 5 minutes for about 30 minutes).

For whatever reason, I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but you can imagine what chocolate ice cream looks like. The color of the above mixture, only frozen. Delicious! Next on the list: vanilla custard, coffee walnut, and anything else we can think of...

Yummy Banana Bread

Lately, we've been loving this banana bread. I have a batch in the oven right now. I've flirted with other banana bread recipes, particularly ones that use all whole wheat, but it seems like they always end up either excessively dense or overly...wet...okay fresh out of the oven, but less than desirable a day or two later. This one uses just a little more whole-wheat flour than white (and we've switched to unbleached, at least, though I'm not all that sure how much of a difference it makes) and also represents the first time I've ever made an effort to really follow the directions when I make banana bread--you know, two separate bowls, mixing the dry ingredients thoroughly before combining with the wet, etc. I'd always that that was kind of an overly fussy waste of time, but now I'm thinking maybe it's not. 

I was also excited to find at the thrift store for 50 cents a taller, narrower bread pan than the standard loaf size. Food blogger Tammy, whose banana bread recipe we used, was once asked by a reader what her secret was for such high-rising loaves of bread. She honestly answered that it was just because she used a narrower pan! Thanks to her candor, we have been enjoying proudly risen loaves at our house, too.

Weekend Update: Little Devil's Stairs Hike

Yesterday Matt and I got up early and served as race marshals for the 5k Fund Run in Reston. We had a fun time goofing around in the woods until the racers started coming by (managing to embarrass  a number of power-walking old people who caught us kissing on a bridge; then, that was topped off by my saying loudly, "Boy, there are a lot of OLD people out today!" as Matt muttered under his breath, "Yes there are, and there's one right behind you"). Then we had a great time cheering on the racers--anytime I feel a little awkward about interacting with strangers, I just ask myself what my sister would do. Voila--"Keep it up, gals, looking good! Almost there! WHOOOO!" Matt was at the station after mine and he told me a lot of people came around the corner with silly grins on their faces, so it must have worked!

After that, we decided it was too nice of a day NOT to be hiking, especially since Sunday was forecast to be rainy and cool. So we packed up some leftovers and our hiking gear and hit the road, hoping to hike the trail we weren't able to a couple of weeks ago.

Well, boy, was somebody looking out for us when we weren't able to hike it that week. As you'll recall, the trail was closed for search and rescue activities (more sad details here). Given that after the first mile of straight uphill scrambling, I was pretty sure they were going to find my body next, it's a reeeally good thing we didn't attempt this with backpacks and in the rain. We would have slipped right down to the bottom. As it was, it was a pretty punishing hike through an incredibly steep gorge--I sat down a little less than halfway through and told Matt I thought we should turn back. My legs felt like jello and I couldn't imagine how I was even going to backtrack what we'd done already, let alone go the rest of the five miles. He hedged, saying, "Here, sit down for at least fifteen minutes and have something to eat, and then we can figure out the easiest way to get back." I told him I wasn't hungry, but inhaled a banana anyway, and then he tried the angle of "I think the second half will really be easier than having to climb all the way back down these steep rocks." 

He ended up being right. Once we got to the top, the trail leveled off, and the rest was, literally, all downhill from there. There was a fascinating little pioneer cemetery, which including a lot of headstones from the 1800's-1900's as well as many graves marked just with fieldstones, and it also had a plaque which outlined the rather sad history of Shenandoah National Park which was previously unbeknownst to us. Read it--it's very interesting.

We were having another couple over to dinner in the evening, but that didn't stop us from hiking late and even stopping off at our favorite winery on the way back. As a result, we got back with about an hour to wash the trail off, clean up the apartment (which looked like a bomb went off), and make dinner (44-clove garlic soup, gnocchi with pesto, homemade bread, and homemade ice cream). We pulled out all the stops and used every shortcut we could--washing up at the sink with a washcloth, piling everything in the bedroom and closing the door, stashing the dirty dishes in the bathtub. The soup and the gnocchi turned out great, the bread pretty well, and the ice cream like chocolate soup--so we didn't even mention it, just offered them an espresso after dinner. All in all, we congratulated each other on pulling off a pretty successful approximation of a dinner party!

Today, it was indeed rainy and so we spent most of the day backtracking over the cleaning shortcuts we used yesterday, to get things actually clean and put in their places. We have three Netflix movies to catch up on and so we'll probably take in one or two of those. And our trip to Georgia and the Smokies is in less than two weeks, so we've got plenty of planning to do!

Growing Things

Spring has sprung in northern Virginia, and it couldn't be prettier. (My apologies to those of you still looking out your windows at a midwestern winter.) Here are some pictures from walking Matt to work this morning (the first one is right outside our apartment):

We have the best commute ever! Did I mention I've been ecstatic lately because it's actually light out when I leave for work at 6:10 in the morning?

Things are growing inside, as well. Here's a side-by-side comparison of our herbs when we first got them, compared to now:

 

They were just babies, and now they're HUGE! The lavender and thyme have especially taken off. (Unfortunately, so has the population of--gnats? fruit flies?--roosting in the soil.) The basil has stopped being wilty and is now strong enough to stand on its own without my staking it up with dental floss. And now they have neighbors outside:

Cherry tomatoes, Early Girl Tomatoes, Sage, and the strawberries, which you knew about, and which are failing to blossom. Oh, well.

We ourselves have also gravitated toward a lot more outdoor activity lately. Our Netflix rotation, which was getting refreshed a good 2-4 times a week during the colder months, has seen the same 3 movies getting stale on the coffee table for the past couple of weeks because we've been spending our free time walking, biking, or hiking. Lots of fun! We're hoping to do most of our errands on bike or foot while the weather is nice, and so far we've been off to a promising start.

And lastly, a picture I took this morning and had fun with in Picasa:

Knowing When to Fold

...your bike, that is. Just something we're considering, in light of the fact that our bikes currently live in a storage closet two floors up from us, and nothing feels like grim punishment more than climbing those stairs, on legs shaky from a long bike ride, while you bang your bike into the railing and other people's doors and your own shins and everything else in between. And we're also both riding bikes that predate our relationship by a good number of years--in my case, 15 years, to be exact (making the bike, yes, 17 years old), and so we're thinking it's time for a change anyway--so something that would make our commuter lifestyles simpler (and for under $200 a pop) seems pretty appealing.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Mushroom-Sage Gravy

2 cups of mushrooms, chopped small

5-8 Tbsp. butter

2-4 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. dried sage

1/2 cup or so of milk

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a frying pan. Saute mushrooms until golden brown. Add sage. Scrape mushrooms to one side of the pan and melt remaining butter. Whisk in flour until desired consistency is reached; do the same for milk. Incorporate mushrooms and make any adjustments with flour or milk.

SO GOOD over biscuits or toast! Here it is, in context, with eggs and biscuits and homemade hash browns:

And here's me, squeezing past-their-prime citrus fruits into juice. Because half the fun of Sunday breakfast is making it!

Book Reviews: Voluntary Simplicity & The Omnivore's Dilemma

(AKA, where I get support for some of my crazy ideas.)

Voluntary Simplicity: as you  might have been able to predict from the title, I loved this book. It has clean, simple writing; appropriate and credible sources; and an appealing balance of reality check and hope. The basic premise is to examine the lives of people who are living lives of voluntary simplicity; to appreciate the significance this has in a larger global context; and to present a vision for the future in which a life of voluntary simplicity can be part of a larger community effort toward meaningful, sustainable existence. Wow, this was right up our alley!

One section I especially liked contained a quote from Ghandi:

"As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should  keep it. If you were to give it up in a mood of self-sacrifice or out of a stern sense of duty, you would continue to want it back, and that unsatisfied want would make trouble for you. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you."[emphasis added] -Voluntary Simplicity, p. 32.

This really sums up our sentiments toward a lot of the changes we've recently been making. While there are many people who look at what we do and say "I could never live without [meat or paper towels or cable TV]," the truth of the matter is that it would probably be a lot less appealing to us, too, if there wasn't an alternate vision that is abundantly more attractive to us. The idea of being debt-free and able to self-determine how we spend much of our time; the opportunity to be engaged in lifework that is creative and meaningful to us; and the idea that we could die tomorrow and not regret how we've spent our time and money--these are the kinds of ideals that fuel the fact that we live our lives somewhat on the fringe. So I found that particular quote very meaningful and validating.

One of the other aspects about the book that was so interesting was the author's take on the life cycle of civilizations, which he likens to the seasons of the year: High Growth (spring), Full Blossoming (summer), Initial Decline (autumn), Breakdown (winter) (p. 166). He takes this further by saying that in a season of decline or breakdown, there are three options which face us. The first is collapse, in which people (by retreating from or denying the current circumstances) fail to change the direction of a society before it's too late. The second option is stagnation, which is actually a dynamic interplay between the forces of breakdown on the one hand, and renewed efforts by bureacracies on the other--which, however, only occur along old patterns of thought and behavior and serve merely to reinforce the status quo. The most dynamic option is regeneration, which is characterized by increased activity and creativity at the personal and grassroots level, leading to community-based innovations and a greater sense of personal involvement. It's obvious which of the three is the most desirable, and I'm encouraged to see that, ten years after the book was written, it seems like an increased number of people are using technology to connect with other like-minded individuals and form communities (even virtual ones) that are linked based on shared beliefs: ecological awareness, or homeschooling, or natural childbirth. 

Along the same lines is the book The Omnivore's Dilemma. One could argue that it's more food-based than Voluntary Simplicity, which is whole-life-based, but as far as I could tell that isn't really true. A theme running through the whole book is that "everything is connected," meaning you can't separate yourself from your food or your food from where it came from. (One of the farmers he speaks to states repeatedly that "You can't do just one thing," ie, everything is interrelated.) In an era where food is inextricably tied to issues of global proportions such as climate change and ethics and dependence on fossil fuels, Michael Pollan has taken the time to trace the origins of a variety of foods (to an industrial feedlot, a corn farm in Iowa, a large-scale organic grower, and a family farm in Virginia which disdains the "organic" label but is instead intensively committed to sustainability and ethics), and what he finds is eye-opening. He also weighs extensively the pros and cons of each, considering the benefit-detriment effect on the growers, on the consumers, and on the environment. I haven't finished the book yet, but it lends support to ideas that we have instinctively felt about food and also heightened my commitment to using our purchasing power as a kind of political act. (It's also interesting how much of the book is set within miles of either my home in Iowa, or our home here in Virginia.) Coming from small-business families, as I've mentioned before, we feel a lot better spending a few more cents on something that's healthy for us and directly benefits various small operations as opposed to, say, the executives at Whole Foods. 

Thinking about the origins of food and cooking most of it from scratch, for us, has also had the opposite effect on consumption patterns as does buying things in extreme bulk (ie Costco, although we do still do some of that). I've noticed that when we can get large amounts of foods extremely cheaply (ie eggs, or cheese, or bread), I tend to take a "we need to use this up" attitude-- using a little more than we need at each meal, serving bigger portions, being less careful about waste, etc. I also think that there's a certain kind of health-food consumption in our culture that encourages the mass consumption of certain foods (such as skim milk or prewashed lettuce or other "free" diet foods) to the exclusion of others, which leads to a certain numbness about what it takes to get those foods onto your plate. Instead, buying ingredients that are perhaps a little more expensive (Pollan would say more accurately priced) to begin with begets a certain carefulness with how one uses them. This morning, for example, we had eggs--but not our usual mindless 2-3 eggs apiece, since the eggs we buy in town here are more expensive than those we used to buy 5 cartons a month at Aldi. Instead, we each had an egg, homemade hashbrowns from a grated potato, a biscuit, and--because mushrooms are cheaper and healthier than sausage--the most amazing gravy I've ever had, sage and mushroom gravy, which oh my goodness you are missing out on if you don't make it SOON. Recipe to follow. We have also stopped buying juice, since it's somewhat expensive and more or less unnecessary, but we did have a number of tangelos and oranges that were getting a little wrinkly for the lunchboxes and so we squeezed up six or seven of those into two very respectable (and hard-won) glasses of juice. By diversifying what was on our plates a little bit, we were able to balance out the price of the higher-cost ingredients and also bring our consumption in line with what seems reasonable based on the effort involved to make it. Our container gardens have taught me a similar lesson, just how much effort it takes to grow, say, a single tomato or basil plant, and when one considers all that, the amount and variety of food we eat in a single day seems truly staggering and not a little miraculous. And all of that is what this book helped reinforce for me.