Adopt a Turkey

In direct response to Sarah Palin's unfortunate choice of where she chose to stand while pardonning Turkey's in Alaska, I thought now is as good a time as any to remind you that one of the best gifts you can give this year is life. In case you didn't see it, and I urge those who are sensitive to animal cruelty to simply take my word for it, as it was horrifying; Mrs. Palin stood in front of a turkey grinder so that all the world could watch live turkeys getting shoved down a bloody grinder shoot while she stood on a pedestal and spared the life of just a few. First of all, how insensitive. And haven't we had enough of her already?

Adopting a turkey is easy and there are more than a few places to do it. The Farm Sanctuary is a great place to start and you can even visit the turkey you chose to sponser so you can see your dollars at work. Last year, when I visited, all the turkeys, although extrememly breast-heavy thanks to genetic modifications, were so happy to see humans that cared. The turkeys were probably one of the best parts of my visit to the sanctuary.

So while you watch your friends and family shove turkey down their gullet over the next week or so, at least you can have the piece of mind that you helped save the life of a helpless creature. Want to stir up a little trouble over the holidays? Sponsor one for an insenstive family member as a holiday gift this year.

Heard on the radio

The secret is out of the bag. Vegetarianism helps the planet!
On NPR today, just in time for the glutinous holidays, an impressive chunk of time was devoted to a show about vegetarianism, health and global warming. The segment was called, Healthy Planet, Healthy People, and focused on how what is good for the planet is actually good for us too. They discuss how going vegetarian is the easiest thing you can do to counteract global warming. At least on privately-funded radio we can still seek the truth. I hope they do this every Sunday.
Included in the segment are interviews with vegetarians and their personal experience as to why they chose that path. Even though animal cruelty is a big motivator for some of us, sometimes health and science are also factors. It's interesting to hear other points of view and a wide range of topics all converging around my favorite subject: Vegetarianism. The show also offers advice to those who are interested in changing their eating habits, so I recommend it to newbies. I must add my two cents, however. They recommend taking it slow, like cut out bacon this month, sausage the next, and so on 'til you're meat free. I recommend cold tofurky. I understand maybe eliminating red meat, then chicken and fish, and perhaps that might be an option for you, but try to nip that bad habit in the bud and just end your relationship with the burger. Meat will probably end up grossing you out before you know it anyway.
Think about what you eat this Thursday on Thanksgiving, and bring a veg option to dinner, just in case. Remember, Mother Earth will thank you.

Staying fit over the holidays

This is usually the time of year that I notice a couple extra pounds on my body with a shrug, oh well, I'll lose it after the holidays. I'm not alone in this response.
Here are some veg-friendly tips for staying fit over the next few months.

If you do the cooking, you have more control over what you eat. Have dinner at your house. Opt for steamed greens and squash with cold-pressed oils and fresh herbs, in lieu of rich casseroles or complicated dishes. The flavor and simplicity of the veggies outweighs those complicated, fattening recipes. This is the time of year you can splurge on high-quality exotic oils like macadamia and avocado to add extra flavor. I like to sprinkle veggies with raw sesame seeds for an extra crunch. If you are visiting family, bring your own healthy dish or two so you can enjoy those while eating just a taste of the others. My favorite: steamed kabocha squash with parsley, olive oil and sesame. It's a hit!

Bring a meat alternative: Last year I brought vegetable pot pie to my carnivorous "in-laws'". I made a spelt crust and filled the pie with loads of fresh veggies. I was more than surprised to see nearly everyone take a helping and hearing the oohs and ahhs. Some people even took two helpings. Make a lot, you'll be surprised how willing people are to try the veg option.

Stay away from soy margarine and stick with heart-healthy oils and herbs. Make mashed potatoes with olive oil; even soy milk and soy butter will add extra calories. I like to place a dish of oil mixed with salt and herbs in the fridge until it turns hard and use this as a delicious buttery spread.

Say no to the roll. Offer baskets of pita wedges or homemade flax bread. If you are eating stuffing this holiday, then all the more reason to avoid that bread, there is no need to double-down. Keep in mind, oftentimes at Thanksgiving, stuffing is prepared inside the turkey. Gross! This year I'm going to take a stab at a raw nut-based stuffing with flax seeds and seasonings. I'll keep you posted with a recipe following the holiday.

Be inventive with cranberry sauce. One year my friend arrived at Thanksgiving with the most delicious homemade cranberry sauce made with spears of fresh rosemary and chunks of mandarin oranges. It was the best cranberry sauce I ever tasted and inspired me to never open that can of sugary jello-like sauce. Make your own being creative and use your sweetener preference, like agave or date syrups.

Don't shirk the salad! I was always given salad duty on the holidays for my knack of putting extraordinary ingredients into one giant bowl. Start with a mix of organic greens and go nuts. Sprouts, radish, shredded carrots, along with dried fruit and nuts always make a great base. Add an unusual veg like artichokes or avocado to make it that much better. Don't offer heavy dressings. Make a simple olive oil and lemon vinaigrette and no one will go without a huge helping of salad.

Egg Nog: For those of you who indulge in the typical eggnog, lighten it up with some soy milk. Yesterday at Whole Foods, I noticed that Rice Dream is making an eggnog for the holidays, that would be a better option than the rich-soy-based version. You can always water it down with some plain rice milk and don't forget the nutmeg for added energy!

Crudite: Avoid the rich cream-based dips, and load up on raw veggies. Make some flax chips to replace those fattening potato chips, served toasted pita wedges. Make your own vegan pate, by using a combination of veggies, nuts and spices, this also makes filling for tomorrow's sandwich. This year, I'm going to make a raw cashew-based sour cream and chive dip. Salsa, though not typically festive for these holidays, offers a refreshing flavor. Today, you can get all types of fruit salsas. Check out your local natural grocer to see what they have.

Dessert: Go easy. Have just one slice of pie. There's no need to deny yourself that delicious pecan pie after carefully saving calories all dinner. Opt for a homemade version, if you can. Eat fresh fruit also. It may seem lame to eat only one, but you'll be the only one with energy after mealtime.

Go for a walk. Holidays are a great time to catch up with that long lost relative. Offer to go for a walk around the block, play an active game with your niece or nephew. Alone in the big city? T-Day is great time to go window shopping! Keep off those extra pounds and spark your metabolism.

Have just two. Holidays are the time of year when we like to drink. Unfortunately, alcohol is loaded with empty calories. Have just two drinks, enjoy them, savor them, but say no to a third. Bring a high-quality wine to enjoy and when it is done, say no to more.

Most of all, have fun. Embrace the flavors of the harvest, sit back and laugh and eats lots of good food.

Living Local in the City

After lamenting over high-priced, imported tomatoes at Whole Foods (see Animal Vegetable Miracle post), I took the day off yesterday to check out Reading Terminal Market. Iovine's Produce stand offers a lot of organic produce, but not one sign tells you where the veggies originated, in fact a sign saying "produce from all over the world", sent a shiver down my spine.
I remembered the Fair Food Farmstand, in the North-East corner of the market, and decided to press my luck and see what I could turn up.
I was surprised to even find them open, because in the past, when I've visited on a weekday, they are often closed by the time I make the trek. I was expecting crates and crates of potatoes, which they surely had, but they also had a lot of other great items that I didn't imagine to find.
Yesterday, the Fair Food Farmstand was stocked with everything I could possible want to make a delicious dinner. Albeit a bit more expensive, the local purple kale blows conventional kale out of the water. Tomatoes, you got 'em and heirloom varieties too! Lettuce, yep, an oak leaf lettuce fresh from a farm. Mushrooms, many varieties, a rainbow offering of squash, peppers, radishes, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, apples. I've already started lining up my produce picks for a very raw Thanksgiving meal, and the Fair Food Farmstand has pretty much everything I could want. Every item here is local and organic, from small farms all over Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Each item has a little sign so you know exactly what you are getting. Is it more expensive? Well, maybe. I spent 13 dollars on three very necessary items, kabocha squash, purple kale and some awesome-looking spinach. Then I went to Iovine's and spent the same amount on 4 other organic items. Maybe eating local does cost slightly more, but remember you are helping the small farming industry and not some stupid conglomerate who has no clue about tasty food.
So, just when I thought the going for local produce was getting tough, the Fair Food Farmstand saved the day. Check out your local city market for a similar stand, if it doesn't exist, press for it by contacting local farmers and co-ops into making it happen for your locality.

friends helping friends

Philadelphia's relatively new mayor, Michael Nutter, announced plans to cut funding for many arts-based projects and programs in Philadelphia in a desperate measure to curb spending. Like many American cities, Philadelphia is sinking fast.
One place where Nutter wants to implement cuts is libraries, and if all goes according to plan, 11 libraries will close in the city. It may not seem vital to you, who are reading this blog from the comfort of your office, or home, or better yet home office, but there are millions of Americans who rely on the actuality of a library to be their information hub. Libraries provide free Internet service to those who can't afford a computer (or a home!). They assist with research, provide guidance and help you get the answers you need. Libraries provide countless books to patrons every year, and in this economy it has been proven that circulation of loaned books through libraries is on the rise
The library also furnishes programs for kids. Especially inner-city kids whose parents count on the safety and educational promise that a library brings. In this city, especially, with the crime rate on a constant rise, the last place I want my child to be is on the streets after school. In Philadelphia, the library hosts poetry readings, book signings and a whole host of other programs keep kids interested and involved. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I was always at the library. My mother was a working mother and I was a ravenous reader and she knew I would be quite at home with a book and a place to read.
So, what can we do, other then be outraged? A good place to start is a donation of $10 to the Friends of the Library. Ten dollars from every Philadelphian is enough to keep these libraries open for a short time while they hustle to find a lasting solution. I won't forget to mention the people who will be out of a job. How is this helping us? Mayor Nutter's preposterous budget cuts leaves us with more unemployed people on the street and the chance that a future poet might become a thug instead. Oh, did I mention that I've worked in the Free Library of Philadelphia before and that I have my masters' degree in library science?
Budget cuts always fall in places that hit hardest. Libraries are not day care centers but they do foster ingenuity and a healthy mind. Think this won't affect you? Think again. and donate 10 bucks, please.

Here's a link to the FLP's website: http://www.library.phila.gov/
Check it out for weekly events, sign up for a library card and utilize their databases. Think Google can answer all your questions? You are sadly mistaken.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I have to admit, Barbara Kingsolver was one of my favorite authors for a long time, so when her most-recent book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was loaned to me by an Epicurean co-worker, I dove in, ravenous for what she had to offer.
The premise of the book is a hot topic in today's' green-minded culture. Eat local, eat only what you can raise yourself or what's in season, and relish the treasures of your community. Kingsolver and her clan moved to the Southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains with the goal of raising her family on the fruits of the land. She is not a vegetarian and I cringed when I read the part about her raising her own turkeys for food, but I'm also inclined to doff my hat to her; that she can raise her own food and feed her family. She is adamant about the sources of other meats, insisting on locally, grass-fed varieties, so that's all I'm going to mention about the meat-eating, but still, her approach is a noble one, ensuring that at least the animals she does consume, led a decent life eating good food too!
I haven't finished the book yet, but I am already under the influence. For years I tried to eat locally, (I think it's called macro-biotic), and with the exception of bananas or citrus fruit, managed to subsist fairly well. Today, I know a lot more than I did then.
Now, when I go to Whole Foods, because the farmer's markets have ended for the year, I scan the tags looking for locally grown food. Tomatoes, forget about it. The closest tomato I can find is shipped from Florida. Luckily I still have some growing on my back porch, but I've harvested the last few before the frost and dread life without tomatoes. Avocados? Lettuce? It all comes from California, and this is Kingsolver's main contention. We've been spoiled by luxurious produce shipped from all over the world, oblivious as to what the cost on our environment is. I spotted these lovely oranges that looked great for juicing, bu when I saw they were from South Africa, I quietly passed them by. Kingsolver, equates calories with gas mileage, and in one instance, says that eating an apple from Washington State for someone on the East Coast is similar to driving 3 hours to walk 3 miles on a treadmill. Kind of counter-productive. In a time when global warming is directly linked to issues such as these, I want to take my part in this mission and try not to eat something, just because it's exotic, looks delicious or I need it for my recipe. Chances are that that red, delicious apple, might not taste as tasty as it looks. My boyfriend thinks I'm crazy, but I put my foot down at unnecessary items that have been shipped across the ocean.
For a raw foodist like myself, it is especially difficult. We subsist on nuts, that are primarily grown in places like Thailand, and while I grapple with that issue, I must remember to choose other items that haven't travelled as far for the rest of the meal.
Right now, I'm really digging squash, all types, simply steamed and topped with my own fresh-grown parsley. You can also make a nice squash mash, with steamed squash processed with olive oil and herbs. In the northeast, pickings are slim, but this is also the time of year when home-cooked foods, like root vegetables and onions can make a great meal. Stews really benefit from local produce. Can't live without that avocado? Well neither can I, but at least if we take small steps in passing by those delicious fruits from South Africa, we are making a difference.

XM/Sirius merger

In our household, XM is on all the time. Whether it's talk radio, classic blues, dance or new wave and everything in between. It has been approximately one day since the XM merger with Sirius became final. What do we get? Well, for XM users, we get a lesser quality of music. I'm lost, all the stations changed names and the music is not what I get with XM> So, while Sirius users are reveling in all their music glory. I am cringing every other song, saying Fred would never play this.

One step forward, two steps back

Proposition 2 was a victory for farm animals. The day after the election, when I learned that Californians had voted for more humane farming techniques, I wasn't surprised, but I was pleased. I know how long it had taken PETA to convince KFC to stop debeaking their birds, and while some don't see it as a victory, baby steps, all the way. Nothing gets done over night, especially the big battle with corporate, greedy farmers who do see animals as dollar signs and not as sentient beings.
However, one week after Prop 2, the Supreme Court has ruled against the welfare of whales in the name of national security. The US Navy uses sonar off the coast of California to train their recruits and insist that sonar is a vital part of the training. You know, just in case Russia decided to invade us with submarines. Sonar is said to be damaging to whales, causing disorientation and other catastrophic effects.
So whales, our vital marine life mammals, who are slowly going extinct thanks to global warming and illegal fishing, have lost against the US Navy.

you can read an article about whales and sonar here, or just do a google search.

If you are interested in saving whales, think about joining an organization that makes that its mission. Click here for more details about volunteering to help bring attention to whales plight. It's a global problem and they were here before we were.

Coincidence? I think not.

This week, three major networks unveiled a similar type of comedy-news, each anchored by a prominent black comedian. Last week, if you recall, our country's first black president was also elected.
Was the media aware that Obama was to become our next president, or were they taking a gamble. Is making fun of black people more acceptable when a black person does it? Because, judging on what I've seen so far, that is exactly where they are taking this. Sometimes I really, truly believe that it is the media that runs this country.
CNN has the very un-funny D.L. Hughley anchoring, D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, and Bill Bellamy has a new show on BET. But the creme de la creme lies with the very talented David Alan Grier's new show Chocolate News.
I tried to watch DL Hughley last night, but it's a snoozer. He's never been very funny and I'm not sure what CNN is trying to do by hiring a half-rate comic to anchor a comedy show on a news channel. Perhaps they want a piece of the John Stewart pie. The only thing that kept me riveted to Hughley's show for the ten minutes I could last, was looking at his train-wreck of a face. DL Hugley has gotten some major face-work and has ended up looking like a cross between Diana Ross and a billy goat. You can plainly see the eye-tuck, the cheek implants and the botoxed forehead, so if you like looking at future disasters then this could be a very interesting show for you.
I probably won't give Bill Bellamy the time of day. I never watched any of those Rush Hour movies and don't think I would even get most of his references.
But David Alan Grier! I've been waiting for him to come out with his own show since the days of Living Color and finally it's has arrived. David Alan Grier's skits are so wrong they're right and I cannot tell you how hard I laughed during his latest post-election show. Highly recommended.
So that sums up the weekly review of all the recent 'news-comedy' shows that have emerged with the new president. Even if Barack doesn't take this country in a new direction, at least the media is attempting to do their part.

Whales back on top

Now that this whole election is over and the right man won, my efforts can be turned back to things that matter most. Whales!
Tune in tomorrow to Animal Planet's Whale Wars to watch American environmentalists battle those evil Japanese whalers.
Japan wants to turn whaling back into a successful, viable industry, while the rest of the world disagrees. (except for some backward countries like Iceland. Hey Iceland, maybe if you abandon your whaling, your economy might come back. Ain't karma a bitch?)
Whale Wars. watch it!

The Flight of the salmon

Attempting to leave town on Friday, the day of the Phillies parade, was much like a salmon swimming upstream, against the current. I felt I was battling ages and ages of tradition and at one point thought it would be easier just to join the revelling masses. However, much like a determined salmon, I got the hell out of Philadelphia, and after viewing the sea of Ugg-clad girls in sweatpants and Phillies gear with their drunkard loser boyfriends I couldn't have been happier with my decision to head upstream.
When they won the World Series, I was in my living room, alone, surrounded by the yelps of a million fans. Minutes later, Broad Street was flooded with hundreds of thousands of ignorant fans, looting stores and toppling shrubbery. Why the destruction, Philly fans? Is this the way you show love for your city and your team. I've never understood this whole sports thing. Why does one think that some guy who was not born in Philadelphia and is making millions more per year than most do in a lifetime, is doing this for them? But what I really don't understand is why they had to topple and uproot my favorite statue in the city, the man with the umbrella, and why they felt the need to loot businesses.
I'm not on board with this whole revelry, this spirit of destruction. But if there is one thing that will make the world notice Philadelphia, I guess this was it. Thanks a lot. The Phillies team may be world champions, but its fans are a whole bunch of losers.