On Locavores, Or How Bananas May Be Destroying the Earth

A new catchphrase has arisen in the past decade, the result of books such as Michael Pollen’s "The Omnivore’s Dilemma" and Barbara Kingsolver’s "Animal Vegetable Miracle". The word is locavore, meaning someone who eats locally grown food, generally within a 100 mile radius of their home. The reasons for doing so are:

1) Superior taste. When it comes to most fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meats, the fresher the food, the better the taste. Asparagus tastes better freshly picked and eaten 2 days later than it does when flown in from Chile and eaten 10 days later by an American in Arizona.

2) Environmental conscientiousness. Food that is flown or shipped in from other countries has a negative effect on the environment. Take for example, bananas. I will venture to say that every grocery store in America that carries produce sells bananas, nearly all of which are flown here from Latin America. Think of all the fossil fuel used in shipping that many bananas to us, not to mention the gas emissions by the planes or boats that bring them.

3) It’s economically savvy. Buying locally grown food supports local farmers and the overall local economy. It may be cheaper as well, as the price you pay does not include the cost of shipping that product from another country.

Even with this knowledge, at times it’s hard to be a strict locavore when you’re standing in the grocery store in December (after the farmer’s markets have closed until the spring), so I think of it more as a stop light. If I see something was grown locally, it’s a green light - I try to build my meals around such foods. If it was grown in the US, it’s a yellow light - I buy it if I need it. If I see it was shipped here from New Zealand, it’s a red light - I only buy it if I really need to.

Eating locally may be particularly difficult in the winter, when the options tend to be less plentiful than during the summer. Barbara Kingsolver suggests that this is the purpose of canning and freezing the bountiful foods in the summer, to sustain one through the time of cold. It is also helpful to know what is available in the wintertime, so here is a list of foods that are seasonal in the month of December:

VEGETABLES
broccoli broccolini brussels sprouts butternut squash cauliflower celery root collards fennel leeks mache potatoes (maincrop) pumpkin rutabaga salsify sweet potatoes sunchoke turnips

FRUIT & NUTS
chestnuts cranberries kiwi fruit oranges persimmon pomegranate tamarillo tangerines

MEAT
duck goose partridge pheasant quail rabbit venison

FISH & SEAFOOD
clams crab mussels oysters scallops

Also check out the web site Eat the Seasons for monthly lists of seasonal food and recipes!
http://www.eattheseasons.com/

How to Eat A Healthy Breakfast Every Day

Breakfast: The most important meal of the day. Also the most disregarded and least heralded meal of the day, because everybody wants a few more hours of sleep. One of my solutions is to bake a big batch of muffins one night and freeze them. Then, on a busy weekday morning, I take out one or two muffins, heat ‘em up, spread them with some butter (or butter spread) and enjoy with a glass of soy milk/herbal tea.

Here is the best recipe I’ve ever tried for bran muffins. They’re delicious and good for you, what with the rolled oats (note: old-fashioned, NOT quick), wheat bran and whole wheat flour! I like to experiment with it, though it's perfect as it is, to try to boost the nutrition even more. Last night, I made a batch but added shredded carrot for added vitamin A and some ground flaxseed meal for extra Omega 3's, lignans, and fiber. Yum!

Bran Muffins

2 ½ tsp. baking soda
½ c. hot water
1 c. rolled oats
1 c. wheat bran
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. unbleached flour
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
½ c. oil
1 c. brown sugar
2 ½ c. buttermilk
handful of raisins (optional)
handful of toasted walnut (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 24 muffins tins with oil and set aside (or line with muffin liners). Combine the hot water and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.

Whisk oats, bran, wheat flour, unbleached flour, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl to blend. In a separate large bowl, mix oil, brown sugar, buttermilk and eggs lightly. Add the hot water mixture and flour mixture, as well as raisins and walnuts if desired, and stir to incorporate.

Divide muffins into 24 muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Cool in a rack for five minutes.

My Tribute to Whole Foods Market

A lunchtime run to the local Whole Foods Market inspired this, my tribute to this indulgent treat of a store.

Things I Love About Whole Foods Market:

1) The amazing prepared food section. From the deli, I love their all-natural chicken tenders and delicious couscous salad with seasonal veggie and dried fruit. Whether you're looking for Mexican, BBQ, Hanukkah specialities, soup, panini, speciality baked goods, or salads, Whole Foods has it ready to take out!

2) Holistic healing magazines and their own store magazine, which features recipes such as vegan pumpkin pie. I don't know who makes and eats that stuff but it's fascinating nonetheless. Gotta love it!

3) Cute reusable bags and quirky cards and gifts for sale

4) Organic... everything! From fresh fruits and veggies to canned fire-roasted tomatoes to whole wheat bread, you'll find it here. Plus sustainably harvested fish, humanely raised meat, and a staggering offering of health foods that can be hard to find elsewhere. Quinoa, flaxseed meal, and soy cheese, oh my!

5) Non-dairy options, even including soy eggnog, which I bought today! Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! My Christmas just got a whole lot merrier.

6) Edgy-looking but nice employees. Also, most of them seem to be Asian. I don't know why.

7) The ambiance itself seems to radiate good karma. I feel that I'm doing the earth and my body a good turn every time I visit. Or is it just me?

How To Not Be A Scrooge

Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rosetti depicts the Nativity

Today, noting that the month of December had arrived, I began to brainstorm my favorite ways to get into the spirit of Christmas.

1) Spend an evening baking cookies, then give them away... But not before tasting a few (or a lot!) myself.

2) Watch the ultimate Christmas movie, in my opinion - "It's A Wonderful Life"! That Jimmy Stewart - such a sweetheart. I cry my eyes out every time I watch it, starting when the mean druggist boxes his ears. Jimmy also stars in my second favorite Christmas film, "Mr. Kreugar's Christmas". My third favorite one is probably Elf, but Will Farrell is no Jimmay Shtewart.

3) Pick a family and do the 12 Days of Christmas for them. Leave little gifts on their doorstep each of the 12 days preceding Christmas. Still trying to pick our family - let me know if you want to volunteer. ;-)

4) Indulge in the beautiful arts. Thus far, we are planning on attending the Sacramento Master Singers' performance at St. Francis cathedral for some classical seasonal music, the Sacramento Ballet's "Nutcracker", our church charity choir concert/canned food drive, and my little siblings' Galena Street East performance. I need to fit some Handel in there somewhere too- my absolute favorite.

5) Drive through a festive neighborhood and enjoy the lights. I'm not sure where I'll go - maybe the Fab 40's? Ideas?

6) We bought a tree and decorated it. I even have my husband's presents wrapped and underneath, half for the sake of festivity and half to give him something to anticipate.

7) Today our bishop challenged each member of our congregation to read the 4 Gospels prior to Christmas. That is going to take a lot of time each day, but we started tonight. As I prepared dinner, Paul read 6 chapters aloud to me. I am excited to attempt to do this, because even tonight's reading served to remind me how much I love the stories and parables in the Bible!

8) Wrapping Christmas presents while listening to Christmas songs on the radio. Most despised: "Christmas Shoes". Too contrived and melodramatic. Favorite: Mostly the older stuff, before modern singers decided to add more runs to their holiday songs than a marathon trainer. I also like to do a sort of one-woman congo line to "Let It Snow" by Gloria Estefan. You know the part - in the bridge, where the brass comes in, "Buh, buh duh duh duh duh duh duh.... BUH!"

Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated! Merry Christmas to all!

Why I Want to Quit My Job and Explore Asia

The author in Bangkok at ancient temple

The travel itch has resolutely lodged itself within my being again. Growing up, my family finally found financial security, but perhaps due to our humble beginnings as my dad struggled through law school, my parents never spent money on things ordinarily wealthy people would indulge in. Expensive clothes, the newest electronics, fine home decor were not of value to them, and I thank them for teaching their children frugality and shunning materialism.

Travel was our main indulgence. We went on at least one family vacation every year, and so as a child I was blessed to visit most of the United States, the Bahamas, Mexico, the Caribbean, Switzerland, Disney World. We visited Disneyland, and Hawaii many times, and every year we always rented a beach house up on the North Coast of California.

Personally, I have also had many opportunities to travel. As an adolescent I participated in a touring performing arts group that took me to New York City, Washington D.C., Hawaii, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. In college, I studied abroad one spring term in France, where I got to live in Paris and see much of that beautiful city, as well as Normandy in the north, the Loire Valley in central France, and Nice, Monaco and the more rural southern coast. I took a weekend trip to London, where I developed a lifelong loathing of and aversion to youth hostels (horrid, dirty hovels!).

My church mission took me to Hong Kong, and I later got to visit Beijing, and Bangkok, where I fell in love with Thailand. Our family took a cruise to Tahiti and the surrounding islands in 2008, and in March of this year, we visited South Africa in order to pick up my brother from his church mission.

The author on a private motu off the coast of Nuku Hiva

You would think this would be enough for me, but the trouble with traveling is, the more I do it, the more desire I have to do so again. It’s embarrassing to admit that I just took a week-long cruise to Mexico 6 weeks ago, and I’m already aching to hop on a plane again. Since foreign travel isn’t in the cards for the time being, I decided to reflect on what traveling I have done, so as to satiate my desire with the memories of and gratitude for the places I have gone.

But India, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, New Zealand, and others are still calling ... Who's with me?

Collecting Old Books - My Newest Fetish

Last summer, while exploring a small, quaint town (one of my favorite hobbies), I chanced upon a used bookstore. I spent hours there, exploring the rooms and categories of wonderful used books. Most were fairly recent titles; of these, I bought a few popular cheap novels for summer reading.

Then, I saw it - a blue 1929 Depression-era copy of one of my favorite British novels, Jane Eyre. It was in good condition and even boasted a few interesting illustrations. On the inside cover, I found an inscription: "From Auntie Lucy, Christmas 1930". I imagined a nameless young girl, now an old woman or even deceased, gleefully unwrapping this classic book from her aunt, thanking her for her gift, and devouring it through the cold winters before television.

This book told a story, and not just that of Jane Eyre, but of the former owners. I had to have it, and thus began my recent interest in collecting old books. Be it in thrift stores, used book stores, or Ebay, I have started a very modest collection of old books. A 1893 version of Cranford; a 1907 edition of The House of Seven Gables; and a beautiful 1884 copy of poems by Longfellow. To me, they're treasures, and I eagerly await my next purchase (although budget demands I continue to wait until the holidays are over).

Do you collect books, or anything else?

"I Yam What I Yam!" -Popeye

Food has been my lifelong passion. Baking is my favorite, but I enjoy cooking in general. As a single women, however, upon arriving home after a full day’s work, after dealing with clients and answering phones and typing till my fingers were numb and trying to placate my boss, I wasn’t always motivated to whip up a gourmet meal on ordinary weeknight. A dinner of a hot dog or a Lean Cuisine or takeout was a fairly regular occurrence.

However, now that I’m married, I feel a renewed desire to be in the kitchen. When I make dinner, I'm not just serving myself but the person I love most in the world, and cooking is one of the main ways in which I express love for people. I try to maintain a balance between cooking food that will make my husband happy and food that will keep him healthy, convincing him to consume as many phytonutrients as possible by making them as palatable as possible.

I also have to take into consideration Paul's allergy to mushrooms and my IBS, which rules out dairy, food with a high fat content, some vegetables, articifical sweeteners, and any fried foods. (Basically, anything that makes life worth living is out.) Entrees are usually easier for me to decide upon than side dishes. If anyone has any favorite recipes, by all means, please share! As for me, I decided to share with you my favorite easy, non-dairy, healthy side dish: Whipped Yams.

A note on yams: Remember, sweet potato flesh is yellow, paler, and dry in texture. Yam's flesh is darker and closer to an orange hue, and naturally sweeter and moister than sweet potatoes. Yams aren’t the famous superfood that sweet potatoes are, but they are still rich in vitamin A and contain more Omega-3 fatty acids than sweet potatoes. If you’d like to substitute sweet potatoes for yams, you may, but you will probably need to add more brown sugar and liquid to achieve the desired flavor. You may also need to use a hand mixer to achieve the smooth texture.

Stacy’s Whipped Yams (serves 2):

Take 2 small yams, or one large, halved yam, wash and pat dry.

Bake at 400F for about an hour, or until the flesh becomes soft to the touch. (This will make it easy to whip by hand.)

In a medium bowl, place ½ T. Butter, 1 T. Brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon.

Slice open yams and scoop out flesh into the bowl. Using a fork, whip together until smooth, adding 1-2 T. Vanilla soymilk, rice milk, or almond milk to add moisture. (This imparts a delicious vanilla flavor and aroma.) Excellent served with ham or pork!