today was a good day

Do you ever have one of those days where everything just kind of works out really nicely? I know we've all had the other kind, where nothing works out, but I think it's important to stop and appreciate the days we do have where everything just flows.

I had some errands to run this morning, one of which included mailing a rather bulky, though not heavy box. I had some other errands to run afterwords that made walking out of the question, and I was a little nervous to try to balance this box and ride the bike, but I figured I'd give it a shot. So I did, and was so glad I didn't break down and drive, because it turns out I was able to finish all my errands in the strip mall where the post office is. So I decided to take advantage of the sudden free time and the fact that I was already out with the bike and go exploring.

There's a very cute neighborhood about 3.5 miles away from us with an adorable Main Street feel to it, and I've been meaning to go spend some time down there for about a year now. So I hopped on the bike and started pedaling. I didn't get lost, and I managed to avoid the expressway (a scary mistake I'd made once before!). I arrived at my destination a little sweaty but otherwise doing fine.

I immediately found an adorable little thrift store I'd never seen before. I popped in to see if ther was anything I needed. I found two wonderful books. The first, published in 1974, is titled "English Crewell Designs". I didn't really even know exactly what crewell was (it's a type of embroidery) until I opened the book, but I'd picked it up because the picture on the cover was so cool looking. I'm going to use this book for inspiration and guidance when I start designing my own patterns for hooked rugs. The other book I got is called "Homemade Bread" and is even older than the first, having been published in 1967 - but still in great condition. I was thinking I should buy it when I read on the inside flap "For everyone who is tired of 'instant living'", but I was convinced when I flipped open to a random page and found myself looking at a picture of the same Easter Egg Bread my mom used to make when I was little! There are a ton of other recipes in here, and I'm psyched that the book was written before bread machines were even invented! In total, I spent $1.62 on these two books!

I puttered around a while longer, popping into an independently owned bookstore that I try to support, having a snack at a small, locally owned deli, and finally hopping back on the bike and heading back home. When I was just over a mile from home, I noticed a sign I hadn't seen before, reading "India Mart" and I decided to investigate. Apparently they've just opened within the past month, and the woman working there was super nice! She was obviously very proud of her shop and took me on a tour of the small aisles, explaining all the items they planned on stocking in the future. They had a good assortment of all the basics needed for Indian cooking. She told me she wanted this to be a community shop and to please ask her if there were things we wanted her to stock that we didn't see and she'd order them for us. I bought a few things that I didn't necessarily need but knew we'd use eventually and went on my way, feeling like I'd made a new friend. I'll definitely be shopping there again!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better today, I arrived home, and in my mailbox was sitting the copy of "New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant" that I'd been waiting for several months to pop up on paperback swap (if you haven't checked it out yet, I can't recommend it highly enough!).

Now I'm off to make some sorbet and continue enjoying this wonderful day. By the way, don't forget to check out the APLS group on facebook if you haven't yet. There are some really wonderfully interesting discussions happening there, and we'd love to have you chime in!

On the menu...

I haven't written much about what we've been eating lately, but I've made a few good culinary discoveries of late.

First: Goat cheese, when mixed with hot pasta, veggies, and some fresh herbs and garlic, makes a wonderful sauce! The heat of the pasta should melt the cheese for a nice thick, creamy sauce. If the cheese is too thick, add some of the hot pasta boiling water to thin it a bit. We had this last night, using only basil (which smelled so good I almost ate all of it before it ever hit the pan), grape tomatoes, and sqaush (lightly sauteed first). I have a picky eater on my hands, so when he asked for a second serving I knew I'd done well! Credit for inspiration on this one goes to "Serving Up the Harvest" by Andrea Chesman.

Part of the aforementioned pickiness is a strong aversion to salad. This is balanced by a fierce love of any food that is Indian. So I thought I'd see which side of his personality would win by making this curried chick pea salad - the Indian food lover totally beat up the salad hater! Another victory! (Hint - my picky eater hates anything sweet in his meals, but the raisins really do add a nice touch in this dish. I used the golden raisins rather than the traditional dark ones...they blend right in with the chick peas and I don't even think he realized they were in there!)

I mention this salad not only because I am very proud that I have finally made a salad that somebody in this house besides myself will eat, but because it's a great example of how I've learned that recipes are suggestions, not laws. In this recipe, I substituted lemon juice for the lime, skipped the red peppers altogether, and used green onions instead of red. I also don't buy curry powder (this is sort of a made up thing, it's really just a combination of other spices) so I threw in some ground cumin, ground coriander, garam masala, and a touch of red chili and turmeric for good measure. Really, my recipe was fairly different, on paper, than what the site instructed - but the end product, I'd venture to guess, was substantially similar. What's more important, it was really good!

These culinary triumphs aside, what I'm surprised to find in the past few weeks is that I've run through my vegetarian repertoire, and since deciding to cut out most meat at home, I am scrambling to find more good vegetarian main course recipes. I guess I'd never realized how cooking meat once or twice a week really gave me a lot more variety of choice in my menu planning. I don't miss the meat itself, I miss the options it gave me in deciding what to cook, if that makes sense.

Breakfast and lunch are easy enough - I've never really eaten a lot of meat at breakfast anyway, and lunch is easy enough to eat salads with lots of nice eggs, nuts, and beans thrown in to make sure I'm getting enough protein so my mom won't worry about me. Dinner is where I'm struggling, though. I like a fair amount of variety in my diet, and I've made all the chili, tacos, eggplant parmesan, calzones, bean soups, and fritatta recipes that I know recently and feel like I've hit a bit of a wall.

I guess this is where I should confess I'm a bit picky too. When I eat meatless meals, I don't like to feel like I'm eating a large portion of a dish that should really be a side. I also don't like meat substitutes. Soy products really bother my stomach. So that leaves me with lentil or pea/bean based meals, for the most part.

So I need your help! My sister is sending along a recipe for black bean fritters, which sound awesome, but I'd like some other suggestions too. Please share! What is your favorite vegetarian main dish recipe that doesn't contain tofu? I'd love some creative ideas! Do you have a recipe laying around that you've been wanting to try but haven't found time for yet? Let me know...I'll test it out for you!

If you'd like to leave a comment with your favorite or just something you're curious to have tested, please do so, (or email me...the link is on the sidebar) and I'll try one each week and review it. I'm looking forward to everyone's ideas!

Secret Tip

Here's one of my favorite food shopping secrets - if you want to buy more things in bulk, but don't have a bulk food store in your area, check out ethnic grocery stores in your area. In the past, I've had good luck with Indian grocery stores here in CA as well as in NH with a sort of hybrid North African / Lebanese / Indian store.

These stores can be a great source for things like dried beans, lentils, nuts, and spices. Although they will probably not be from a bulk bin, they will likely be in a much larger package than what you are used to finding in the grocery store. Larger packages mean a reduction in total waste. For example, I spent about $8 for a bottle of ground cumin in the grocery store a few years back. I found it at the Indian grocery store, in a bag with probably five to ten times the quantity of cumin, for about $3. You'll have to supply your own pretty bottles for storage, but just reuse one next time you run out of something.

Other things I buy at my local Indian grocery store, Kumud, include turmeric, cumin seeds, whole coriander, ground coriander, cinnamon sticks, cloves, whole black pepper, red chili powder, sesame seeds, peanuts, cashews, and fennel seeds.

Make sure to do your homework first, though. I find that prices on dried beans actually tend to be cheaper at my local Whole Foods, and the organic option doesn't exist at Kumud. The other thing that is helpful to know is if the item you are looking for, especially if it is something like lentils, has more than one name as things are often labelled as something you might not be expecting - urad dal, black gram, and minapa pappu, for example, are all the same thing, so if you're using a recipe that calls for something that's new to you, do a quick search to see if it's known by any other name.

It's also fun to poke around and see what they have for sale that might be new to you. For example, I found a packet of pre-mixed spices for tea (tea masala). Before, when I had wanted an authentic masala tea, I'd roast cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon, then grind them all together (meaning I almost never actually made it!). Now I can buy it all ready to go - this is one of my favorite finds, but there have been lots of others.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help! Whenever I go into Kumud, the same five or six people are working there. After I had shopped there a few times, they remembered me and are always more than happy to help me with any questions I have, as is very often the case with small business owners and employees.

All around, it's a great option! I save money, save on packaging, find foods I've never tried before, and I get to support a store that's not a huge national chain.

India

Charminar Hyderabad
Originally uploaded by JustABoy

Before I say anything, let me forewarn you that this is likely to be my lengthiest post yet…but it’s the weekend so you’ll have lots of time to digest, if you’re not too bored.

The time I spent recently in India delivered all the contradictions and ironies I had been promised. It’s a wonderful place to visit, and I truly enjoyed my stay there. It was the first time in ten years I’d been outside of North America or Europe, and it reminded me of just how different life can be in different corners of the globe. The number of trees I need to plant to offset my travel notwithstanding, I do think it’s important from time to time, if possible, to interact in a deeply meaningful way with another culture.

I was there for the first of my two weddings (we’re doing it again in the US this fall for all our friends and family here), and spent five weeks, mainly in Hyderabad. I don’t mean to claim that I speak about all of India, and want to just put out the disclaimer that this is just my experience and observations that I’m sharing.

I think my relationship with material things is what I’ve reflected upon most since my return. This really surprised me. I thought before I left that the poverty and unequal distribution of wealth would be most difficult for me to stomach. There certainly were days that I had tears in my eyes, when the poverty was just overwhelming. I felt like throwing up more than once (separate from the times I felt like throwing up from the three or four stomach bugs I contracted).

For some reason, however, I was really slapped in the face by how much STUFF we have in North America…and how much of it is absurdly unnecessary. I don’t know why I didn’t notice this on my past travels. I suspect it’s due to my lack of maturity at the time. For whatever reason, it’s been a very heavy weight I’ve been carrying with me ever since my return.

I believe that simple is best, so I’ll try to summarize as briefly as possible, the ironies, from a simplicity/frugality/environmental standpoint, that I witnessed.

Here’s what was not cool:

1. There is trash everywhere. Public trashcans were difficult to find or non-existent. I asked the driver of our car one day what I should do with a gum wrapper and water bottle I had, and he told me he’d take care of them. I found them later on the street in front of the house. Not quite what I meant. So I started saving my trash and throwing it out in the house. Then I realized that the man who took care of the house was burning it all every morning. Not sure that’s super healthy. There was a super smelly impromptu landfill that had sprung up about 2 miles from where we were staying. The trash that was officially collected from that side of town was being dumped here because the official landfill was too far away, and well, nobody had complained.

2. I didn’t see a single way to recycle anything the entire time I was there.

3. Air pollution is a major problem. It was often hard to breath, and I could never get my face to feel clean for more than half an hour at a time.

Here’s what was awesome:

1. Everybody eats local. There’s not really much choice. Most people still buy their produce from vendors on the side of the road, and those guys only sell what they’ve harvested recently. I’m worried that as the middle class grows, this may begin to change. Grocery stores are just starting to spring up everywhere, and the huge conglomerate is not something that only exists in North America (check out Tata or Birla). I was glad to hear my MIL say that she still goes out of her way to buy things from the local shop owner when she can because she knows it’s getting more difficult for them to make it with big corporate competition. I hope more people feel the same way.

2. Everybody eats a lot of vegetarian food. I know we’ve been hearing lots in the media about how the increased demand for meat from India and China are driving up food prices and causing grain shortages. I do not dispute the accuracy of this argument. I would stress, however, that “increased demand” doesn’t mean that Chinese and Indian folks are now eating meat three times a day. I don’t know what the case is in China, but I imagine it’s similar – increased demand means that a lot of people now eat meat once or twice a week rather than once a twice a month. A lot of people are still totally vegetarian for religious reasons. I think that if the US demand per capita for meat was equal to that of an average Indian person, we’d be patting ourselves on the back for a job well done.

3. Lots of people have electricity, but very few of them expect it to function all the time. There are frequent power outages of varying lengths, some announced, and some not. The funniest part to me, is that the conversation never skips a beat, even when the lights go out, it’s totally dark, and everybody is fumbling to find candles and matches.

4. Water is trucked in and stored in tanks. Everybody is cognizant that there is a very finite supply, and uses it much more carefully than we do in the US. Showers, for example, are taken by filling a bucket (maybe four gallons or so) and using a smaller bucket to dump the water on yourself to wash and rinse with.

5. Nobody uses toilet paper. Actually I’m not sure if this is actually awesome or not, because they use water instead, so I guess it’s a matter of “dueling resources” at this point. Either way, I wasn’t brave enough to try this method - although I probably should have, because good luck finding anything other than single ply. What is awesome is that paper towels and facial tissue are also virtually non-existent.

6. Each power outlet has an on/off switch. I’ve heard this is also the case in Australia, and probably other places as well, but it makes it really easy to ensure that appliances are really off and not sucking energy. This is important because electricity is super expensive - so much so that despite the fact that it’s hotter and muggier (at least for parts of the year) than anywhere here in North America, almost nobody has air conditioning. There are fans, and “coolers” that work by somehow circulating water through this big thing that has some hay (I’m not a real technical person, if you can’t tell) but these both use much less energy than an air conditioner. Life without AC is possible!

7. Everybody squeezes in – everywhere. Fuel is expensive, so a van for ten people will somehow manage to accommodate twelve to fifteen people for a six hour trip. There are small little vehicles called autos – sort of like giant motorized tricycles with roofs – that look like they’d comfortably seat three passengers and a driver. I’ve seen them packed with seven and more passengers. Safety concerns, I know…I’m just saying that I’ll think next time before taking a second car somewhere just so somebody doesn’t have to sit in the middle seat. Buses are another story altogether. If you’re claustrophobic, you just wouldn’t make it. People literally ride the bus with one foot on the step, holding on to the door frame, because the buses are so crowded.

8. Along with the squeezing in theme, growing up and getting married is not automatically a reason to get your own house. Again, I’m not sure I’d like to do this, but lots of people live with parents and/or in-laws.

9. Because electricity is so expensive, people make do with smaller refrigerators. Humans originally started using spices for a reason, and lots of spices in the foods help them to stay edible without refrigeration.

10. Clothes are always dried on a line. I don’t think dryers are even readily available for purchase.

11. Packaging is much more minimal. Bulk purchase of many items is the only option – you can’t buy a box of rice; it comes in a large sack or you scoop it from a bin. Leftover food in restaurants is packed in folded newsprint rather than Styrofoam containers. Nearly everything you will find for sale has little to no packaging – and almost always, there is less packaging than you’d find for the same item in North America.

12. Stuff gets reused…even when it’s not in pristine condition. I sent my laundry out one day in a bag whose handle was about to break. I figured I’d get it back in a new bag, but I got it back in that same bag – with the handle taped back on. There’s a value placed on things that seems to be lacking in North American culture.

What worries me is that the reason why we don’t do some of these things here in the US seems to be simply a matter of financially not being forced to. For example, we have clothes dryers because we have inexpensive electricity. When I stopped looking at things in terms of dollars is when I started being able to appreciate the true value of how things are done elsewhere in the world, and when I started wanting to live less like a “typical” consumer.

I can't believe it IS butter!

Butter for Apple Crisp
Originally uploaded by madaise

I didn’t quite expect this news so soon, but wealthy, industrialized nations are running out of food. Japan has a severe shortage of butter – they’ve basically run out. This article explains some of the contributing factors. The scary news is, it seems like this is just further expansion of a trend we’ve seen in places like Haiti and Egypt in the past few weeks, and not an isolated incident to be brushed aside as irrelevant. In fact, as this article points out, Canada and the US are already seeing rationing and shortages, especially of rice (even Jay Leno mentioned it on his show tonight). I’ll admit we’ve been stocking up on 20 pound bags of rice, when we can. Each store will only allow us to purchase one or two bags at a time. We also haven’t been able to purchase fresh curry leaves (not related to curry powder, but still a staple of Indian cuisine) for over two months now. They’ve just become too expensive for the small shop where we buy our Indian groceries to even bother stocking them anymore.

So I’ll continue trying to grow stuff on my balcony, but this just reaffirms my belief that the more I can make and do for myself, the better able I’ll be to deal if and when I find myself facing a shortage of something more serious than curry leaves.

I was thinking about how I've been learning to make yogurt, sour cream, and assorted other dairy based products, and I realized that part of the problem with buying only processed, packaged, preservative laden foods is not just that they are unhealthy (which they are), but that they allow us to mentally separate from what we eat.

I was thinking some more today about chickens. I had to admit that if I ever had my own, I’m pretty sure they’d just be for eggs. I don’t know if I’ll explain this very well, but I don’t actually like animals all that much, to be honest. I have a cat that I adore, and believe to be the cutest feline ever born, but I don’t feel the need to pet dogs I see while I’m out walking, and in fact I go out of my way to avoid them. I don’t think I ever want a dog of my own, and I’m not sure I ever want another cat either. Anyway, point being, as much as I wouldn’t peg myself an animal lover, I also don’t think I could stomach killing a chicken. Buying the meat on a tray wrapped in plastic allows me to detach. This is the obvious, classic vegetarian argument.

What often gets overlooked, at least by me, however, is the mental and physical detachment we also have from other foods we eat. Like yogurt. As long as I’d only bought it in a tub in the store, I hadn’t really thought about what it was that made it yogurt. Now that I’ve made it, I actually understand what it is. I’ve made bread, and soda, so now I understand what makes the bubbles in each of them. It’s kind of like those cheesy public service announcements say: “The More You Know”…

Last week, I made butter! I know that the Japanese butter shortage is just a reflection of a general shortage of milk products, but I wonder if they’re still able to buy cream? Because that’s all that butter is!

I know that knowing how to make butter won’t help me in the event that my area experiences a serious shortage of milk products, but I think the more I know about how to make the foods that I eat, the better prepared I’ll be to deal with the sudden unavailability of products I’d previously taken for granted would always be on the shelves of my local store. I don’t know how it breaks down financially, but I’m pretty sure that if I don’t save money, it won’t cost me any more to make versus buying ready made butter…plus I’m reducing the amount of packaging I’m introducing to the landfill, and it's super easy for me to find local cream where I live.

I’ll direct you to Crunchy Chicken for the more specific instructions, but basically, it’s super easy, and goes something like this: put cream in a jar, making sure to leave plenty of air in the jar, and put the lid on. Shake like crazy till it solidifies (I shook for less time than Crunchy’s directions, I read others that said they shook longer…she describes the stages, though, so you’ll be able to figure it out). Use a spatula to squeeze the liquid out of the solid, pour it off (saving it for later use). Add a little salt, and enjoy!

what's for dinner?

South Indian Food
Originally uploaded by tracyhunter

I’ve been rather quiet on the subject of food. There are two reasons for this.

The first is the expense. I know it’s better for me to eat organic, and better for the planet for me to eat local, but it also seems really expensive. Buying in bulk definitely helps to alleviate some of the pinch, and buying local and in season helps with the produce expenses. I’ll have more to say on the financial aspect of eating organic and local later.

For now, I want to address the other struggle I’ve been having with eating locally and in season. It’s actually not an issue for me, but I live with somebody who spent the first twenty-one years of his life in India. He really likes (south) Indian food, including a whole variety of vegetables that not only are not grown in this area, but the English language doesn’t even have words for.

Most often, I buy these items frozen, and I have no idea how far they’ve traveled. But I am sure it’s pretty far.

So what to do? The short answer, thus far, is nothing. We often eat different meals anyhow. I don’t enjoy eating rice quite as many times in a week as he does. So he’ll sometimes make something for himself and I’ll do the same. I said at the beginning of this whole project that this was about me, and I did mean that. I’m not forcing my lifestyle changes on anybody, including my partner - I don't think asking him to completely change his dietary habits is a fair request.

It’s kind of a pain to cook two meals though, so we try to eat dinner together as often as possible. This means that sometimes he’ll eat quesadillas or eggplant parmigian with me, and sometimes I’ll eat sambhar, dal, and tindoor with him.

Since I do most of the shopping in the house, I’ve tried to provide better produce items for those items that can be gotten fresh, such as spinach, cilantro, potatoes, cabbage, and cauliflower. Others, I’ll keep buying frozen. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve started making my own yogurt from milk that’s local.

The thing is, the vegetables and the yogurt are just a small part of it. There are so many other spices, rice, lentils, pickles, and such that make up a well-rounded south Indian diet, and the majority of them have to be imported here.

On the other hand, a good portion of these items can be purchased in bulk. We get rice in 20 pound sacks, and just an fyi, but spices are much cheaper to buy a pound at a time in a bag at an Indian market than in those tiny bottles in the grocery store. I can usually get lentils, rice flour, some types of beans, and a few other items in bulk at the Indian grocery store as well.

I’ll confess to buying the pickles pre-made in a jar. Then again, I don’t actually know anybody in the area who can tell me how to make them. Even if I did, from what I do know about it, the tomatoes and mangoes sold in this country have a different enough flavor that if I tried to use them to make the pickles, I wouldn’t end up with the same end product anyway. The other produce that is used for making pickles in large part cannot be purchased fresh here.

I’m learning how to make more and more items, but it certainly is an art to make an entire Indian meal truly from scratch. It feels like I’m trying to write with my left hand every time I try a new recipe. This doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort, it just means I really have to pace myself so as not to get totally burnt out on the whole thing.

This is certainly an issue I’ll keep reflecting more on. I think what is important for me, again, is setting reasonable, attainable goals for myself and being conscious of the choices I am making.