Fun with food

I meant to post an update last week, but with all the other things going on -- my attention to the food buying club, yoga, weaving, reading, and especially the additional time in the kitchen chopping vegetables -- it just didn't happen.

So, March roared in like a lion, right on schedule, resulting in the predictable crankiness about the staying power of winter. Right now it's thawing before it freezes again -- if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes. I did see an Amish farmer out in his field with his horses and plow over the weekend -- a sure sign of spring!

We've gotten through two weeks of the diet change, with very little slippage.  The goal is not to be perfect ( there's going to be a little chocolate here and there, count on it), but we're enjoying our healthier food choices rather than feeling constricted by them. We're actually eating a much larger variety of foods than before.  Salads have become much more interesting with the addition of nuts and seeds and sprouts. More fruit in the house means more fruit flies. Hey, the more the merrier!

I'll be overseeing my second distribution for the food buying club this week, and so far so good. It was fun meeting some of the other members for the first time, and getting new ideas about what to order in the future.  I took a big leap and added some tofu to my order this time. I've never been a big tofu fan, but I have to admit that the recipes I've tried from Dr. Fuhrman's book have been delicious, so I'm willing to try the tofu ones, just because.  In order to like certain foods (kale, for instance), you have to give them several tries and learn the best ways to prepare them.   I like having fun with my food.

Usually not THIS much fun, though:

















But if you feel inspired, go for it!

New Discoveries

It took me long enough, but I finally discovered that there is a church in Jamestown that has a fish fry every Friday during Lent. St. John's Church, at 270 Newton Ave., has been doing this for 16 years. Tom and I enjoyed going out for a good fish fry when we lived in Cleveland, and it's one of the things we've missed since moving here.

This brings me to a recurring problem we are always running into as we adjust from a metropolitan environment to a "small town in the middle of nowhere" environment: communication is different here. And some of our habits are hard to change.

There are no local TV stations. There are local radio stations. But my radio is usually set to NPR, and around here, the public radio station is out of Buffalo and the "local" news is Buffalo-centric. However, in the past year, I've become acquainted with Jason Sample of WRFA, the local low power "radio for the arts," and I do hear about lots of things via his Facebook postings. So, I guess this is a case of "whom you know."

The local daily newspaper leaves a lot to be desired, and I don't regularly scan the weeklies. I miss the Chautauqua Word, the indie paper that I loved, but it fell by the wayside after losing Steve Lafreniere as editor. 

There is no single website that serves as a "go-to" place for all things happening local. In fact, irritatingly enough, most websites here do not get updated in a timely manner and cannot be relied upon for correct information if you want it in a hurry.  In Cleveland, there was a regular collection of local blogs I could scan daily for important information. Not so much here. So, for people like me who have come to rely on being plugged into the information highway via the internet, a clunky and time-consuming process of surfing is required. And the result: "I find out about a lot of things I would have liked doing only after they happen."  Wish I had a quarter for every time I've heard somebody say this.

Anyway, now that I've discovered the fish fry, I'd like to go to one, but our new diet may pre-empt it. My interest in nutrition and health, and my friend Bonnie, have led me to Dr. Joel Fuhrman and EAT TO LIVE, a high-nutrient, high-fiber (mainly) plant-based way of eating that is touted as an answer to the obesity epidemic and remedy for other lifestyle diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. We've been trending veggie in our food choices for quite a while anyway, and I'm old enough and heavy enough to be motivated by a chance to throw away my blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications.  The bonus in this book is some great recipes for combining veggies in new and delicious ways!  I was always a sucker for new recipes.

After the first few days...it's great. I find myself spending a LOT of time in the kitchen right now...chopping veggies. There are frequent trips to the store for MORE GREENS, and the nightly soaking of the dried beans.  My food processor, seldom used until now, has become my new BFF. Eating involves a lot more CHEWING and savoring.  And this is the really cool part (and it doesn't necessarily happen this fast for everybody): I'm not having any cravings for the things that have always tended to bring me down: sweets, ice cream, mac and cheese (with white pasta).  I'm loving the new variety.  I'll let you know how it's going later. After all, this is Week 1, and the novelty hasn't worn off. But these foods MAKE SENSE. And I feel good.

Finally, without reasonable segue, a word about our local hockey team, the Ironmen.  I confess that we haven't been to any of the games. Tom and I rarely go out in the evening, but I hear lots of complaining about "nothing to do" in Jamestown, which is just wrong, and probably actually means, "I'm not getting laid." Whatever.  We have this minor league team that's WINNING, and an opportunity to watch some future stars of the NFL in action, tickets are reasonably priced, and yet they're having trouble filling up the seats in the arena.  What is wrong with this picture? There's still time to catch a game or two this season: they're playing on the road now, but will be back in town for the last two weekends in March.  So, gather up your friends and make it an outing. Do something different for a change.

We're going up to SUNY Fredonia this afternoon to hear Dr. Anthony Ingraffea from Cornell present some actual facts about fracking. Meanwhile comes the news that the Chinese Petrochemical Corp. is buying a 50% share of Chesapeake Energy assets. Any questions about who will benefit from the destruction of our environment?

Waiting for Spring

What I've learned about rug weaving so far: I'm still not ready for prime time. In fact, I'm not even actually weaving the rug yet. I am still correcting mistakes I made in threading the loom. Loom weaving is not for sissies.

We're having another cold snap here -- 7 degrees this morning. Tom has the day off for President's Day, and is out in the back yard in his tent, testing the performance of his really, really cold weather camping gear. Seriously.

I may go shopping  (!) today, just to see if I can find myself a new pair of boots on sale.

It seems like this winter is going by much faster than last winter. Maybe we're just busier now than we were last winter. I've started plotting out my garden (on paper). Square foot gardening worked well for me last summer,  and I'm going to stick with it.  Hanging strawberries might be fun to try, too.   Community gardens will be expanding this year as well, with the new project at JCC ready to go.

I've been added as a coordinator for the Furniture City Foods buying club, and I'm going to be exploring ways of using communication and customer service to improve the ordering process for members. As much as we love Wegman's, it feels really good to be tapped into a distribution system for locally and regionally sourced foods. There's peace of mind in knowing where your food comes from and how it is produced. Unless you don't mind poisoning yourself and your family, of course.

Speaking of which, we became aware last week of two sites across the lake in Ellery where fracking permits will be issued when the statewide moratorium is lifted. This is alarmingly close to one of the wells which provide the water for the city of Jamestown.  Reading through the comments on pro-fracking sites online, it is apparent that people are woefully ignorant of what fracking will mean for our area. This is NOT the same kind of well drilling that has been happening since 1947. This is a process that will industrialize what are now quiet rural areas and bring in an incredible amount of truck traffic, noise, and of course deadly pollution.  It is important for people to learn the facts.  There will be two opportunities next week when Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, shale oil expert from Cornell, presents facts at SUNY Fredonia and at the Cornell Extension Facilities in Portland. Do yourselves a favor and give him a listen.
 

An uneventful week

It's been an uneventful week. And when I say uneventful, I mean I've been in full couch potato mode.

Despite my best efforts to avoid illness, I came down with a cold. Since I rarely get colds (I think this one attached itself to Tom at school and snuck into our house to get me), I'd kind of forgotten how miserable they can be. So most of the past week has been a bendryl-induced haze. Good timing, really, because the outdoor temperatures haven't climbed out of the teens.  And the dog has been pretty patient with me, considering.  I finally came out of the fog, with the help of some homemade chicken soup, and this morning I think I'll go back out in the world, to my yoga class.  Props to my immune system, and the chicken,  for a job well done.

One of the things I observed over the past week is that when my mind is freed of all those "gotta do" messages (because my body put the brakes on, full stop, and declared it was not going anywhere or doing anything, and that was that!), my more creative thoughts come in and have a party. They've been creating an expanded children's program for the church, a plan for subgroups in the food buying club, writing the Great American Novel, and exploding with new craft ideas.

I even had some pretty profound thoughts about the advantages of small town living in a place like Jamestown in the kind of future we're heading into.  I wish I had written them down, because this is a theme that needs to be articulated until all of the people who live here appreciate the jewel they have in their hands. I am grateful to the people who understand this and work every day at nurturing and improving our community for ourselves and  future generations.

Of course, now that I have returned to able-bodied status, the "gotta do" voices are back, and my time for all the fun and profound stuff will be reduced, alas!  

Dinner for six in a two-person house

We had our first real sit down dinner party in this little house on Saturday, and it worked.

We've had family and out of town cycling friends here in the past, but those were mostly outdoor patio and lawn chair affairs with plates balanced on laps.

This time we were hosting the first of the church Little Dinners, with four guests who had never been in our home before, and no dining room.

What we're finding in small house living is that often things have multiple purposes. We managed to pull together enough seating from all through the house. My large desk moved to the center of the whatever room and dressed with a tablecloth served as the table (with warnings to our guests to watch their knees). The food and the company were very enjoyable. The dog almost behaved.  (He is accustomed to quiet evenings and having his parents to himself, so his patience with "invaders" wears thin after a while.) We may even do this again!  I may even decide to swap out the desk for a table that also serves as a desk, who knows! We really haven't figured out what that room is anyway. It was the bedroom before we added the second story, and now it is the room next to the living room.

We're about to have our second "January thaw,"  so I'm having a last look at the pretty white snow before it turns to slop this afternoon. I'm seeing a predicted high of 57 degrees on Wednesday, followed by a drop back into the teens on Thursday. Strapping on my seatbelt now for the wild barometric roller coaster ride!  Looks like the snow will be back in time for the Audubon center's annual Snowflake Festival on Saturday, whew.  I go just to see the sled dogs. If the snow is good, we may pack our snowshoes.

I'm enjoying the quiet today.  My only immediate plan is to tear an old sheet into strips, which will be repurposed into a rug at my weaving class starting this week.  Banzai!

Back on the Planet Hoth

Globally speaking, this may be the warmest winter on record, but at any given time, some of us find ourselves caught in the extremes of this whole climate weirding process. Australia's Bureau of Meterology has added two brand new colors to their temperature maps to reflect the record-breaking heat. The brushfires are so widespread that they can be seen from space. 

Here in western NY, we're on the not-quite-so-extreme other end at the moment. We're talking single digits and wind chills in the minus territory.  Mr. Winter Outdoor Adventurer caught a ride with the neighbor instead of walking to work (or even walking to wait for the bus) this morning. It's actually warmer today ("warmer" being a relative term) than earlier this week, when the whole town basically shut down, but I guess he wanted to get to work earlier than usual.

He had some  adventures this past weekend, backpacking with a couple of buddies on the Westside Overland Trail.  Here, I'll let him tell the story:

Hiking through the hurricane. The Westside Overland Trail is usually a placid, gently rolling trail running for 24 miles north to south in western Chautauqua County linking several state forests with private woodlots and fields. The only hills to speak of are the valleys into and out of the small stream crossings like the Brokenstraw, Wing, and Prendergast Creeks. This is usually a quite hike. Usually.

Three of us, Marion from Canada, Garrett from Buffalo, and I camped at the southern end Friday night planning to hike north for 20 miles over Saturday and Sunday. There was a high wind warning and it started howling around 7. By 8 we were snug in our tents thinking the huge hemlocks we were under had seen many storms and were not going to fall. It was cold with a light coating of snow and despite the noise, we slept well. The wind was still raging in the morning, ripping through the trees, but with no alternative, off we went.

The winds dropped throughout the day and by afternoon it could only be called breezy and the temp had risen into the upper 30. Our camp for the night was in a deep glade of old growth hemlocks on Prendergast Creek. The evening was quiet and the sky showed moon and stars. I warned the others to expect snow by morning. We fell asleep listening the the brook.

At 3AM the wind started raging again, more ferocious then the day before. It was obvious that we had passed through the eye of the storm overnight and were now on the backside. Unzipping the tent, I shined my light up into the trees overhead and watched them twist and sway under the starry sky until icy pellets started falling. I zipped back up and snuggled deep into my nylon and down cocoon. I never did hear that creek, flowing right next to the tent, again.

The wind increased still more, screaming through the trees and battering the tent. At one point I rolled onto my side, one ear pressed into the stuff sack of spare clothes I used for a pillow and that pressed hard into the ground. I heard the wind screaming in the upper ear and a strange wailing sub-tone, fainter and in a higher key, but in tempo with the raging noise above. I don't know what caused it, maybe my air mattress was picking up the vibrations but is seemed like the earth itself was wailing and it was spooky.

I got up at 6 and in the dark and began to boil water for breakfast. By 6:30 I started to wake the other two when Mother Nature gave us a wake up call. A nearby tree, we could not see where in the dark, succumbed to the wind and came thundering down. We broke camp quickly, ate a fast breakfast and were off by 7:30 but not before another nearby tree came crashing down. Our pace was pretty quick. We had to climb over or around several other new windfalls.

After a couple of miles the snow began in earnest, not falling, but flowing sideways. We left the woods for an open field and I commented to Garrett that it was good to get away from the trees. He replied, "yeah, but now we might get hit by a cow." It was a crosswind and with the packs kept blowing us sideways. Within an hour it was all white and visibility was quite low, the temp had dropped 10 degrees since breakfast to 21. My wife, Susan, was to pick me up at the hike's end but we all agreed to call her and pick us up a couple of miles short of our planned destination. As they headed toward Buffalo, Sue and I turned toward home and had to drive around several road closures and accidents.

He had a blast. Clearly, he loves this stuff. I had two white-knuckled drives: avoiding deer and Amish buggies, in the dark, in the middle of freaking nowhere, on the way home from dropping him off Friday night.  And again on Sunday morning, in 60 mph wind gusts and white-out conditions. I guess you could say we both had winter weekend adventures.

It wasn't enough for him.  Monday he went out there again to ski. I stayed home. I wasn't worried. The LAKE EFFECT WINTER STORM WARNING wasn't in effect till that evening. There were flurries when he arrived back home--immediaitely snagged as he got out of the car by our elderly next door neighbor, who was frantic: her daughter and grandson, returning home from a weekend in Canada, had been in a bad accident on the Thruway.  The daughter had borrowed a phone long enough to say they were okay, despite her head slamming into the door, but we had to wait for details on the situation. Tom got on the phone to the state police, but they were busy sorting things out--accidents were shutting down the Thruway from just west of Buffalo all the way to the PA state line.

We finally got the news that Catherine and Ian had been taken by ambulance to the hospital in Irving (about an hour from here in GOOD weather) to be evaluated for her concussion. Around 7:30, she was judged good to go...nowhere. The waiting room. The car had been totalled, hit from behind by a semi and spun around into other cars for a 6-vehicle pileup that looked like this:

Almost miraculously, there were only minor injuries. But Catherine and her 10-yr-old son were still an hour away, and the weather situation was seriously deteriorating. So, on a night when normal people stayed home, Tom and I got back in the car for another adventure. We had the good fortune of getting behind a plow in both directions over the treacherous ridge. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to know where the road was. Happy ending for all concerned.

Tuesday, we stayed home and Tom baked bread.

 
It's cold. It's snowing. It's winter. It's okay.

January Thaw

It seemed like a normal winter around here for a while. Lots of snow, followed by a thaw.

But the "thaw" was unusually warm, and all of the snow (except for the big piles left by the plows) went away. Temps were in the 60's yesterday. It was comfortable to go out without a coat -- I even had a window open for a bit -- and the birds were singing like it was springtime.

Which it wasn't, of course. Overnight, the cold front blew through and the temperature dropped by 30 degrees. It's still dropping.  Back to the illusion of normalcy, for now.

I thought it might be fun during the winter months for our congregation to hold a series of Little Dinners. We did these all the time when we lived in Erie (many years ago) and it's a great opportunity for small groups (6-8 people) who normally only see one another at church to meet at someone's home for a potluck style dinner and get to know one another a little better over good food and conversation. Well, enough people agreed it was a good idea and I am now in the process of setting these up.  The first dinners will be on the 26th. We'll be hosting one here, which may require some rearranging of the furniture, but we're looking forward to it. Our church attendance is up this year, and we've welcomed several new members and regular visitors, so there are many more good conversations to be had!

The seed and flower catalogs are arriving, which always gets me excited. I haven't sat down to draw up my new garden plans yet (there's still plenty of time!), but I have lots of new material to get my imagination working productively.  I read earlier in the week that, properly motivated, Americans grew 40% of their own food in their backyard "victory gardens" during WWII. So why on earth do we accept produce out of season from other continents, picked too soon because it has to be shipped thousands of miles, and it ends up tasting like crap? Are humans getting dumber as time goes on? There are some difficulties with our less than year-old food buying club (an effort to buy more regionally produced, and better quality, foods at bulk prices) because of the need for people to change and coordinate their buying habits. I really hope that members will hang in there because the food really is better and it makes more sense to plan and shop this way. For those of you who live in and around Jamestown and who still are not aware, this is Furniture City Foods I am talking about. C'mon and get on board! Everybody wins when we work together.

My adventures in cooking with new recipes will continue this week.  I have learned that rolled oats and shredded zucchini are good additions to meatloaf, and I've discovered several winning recipes for quinoa-stuffed peppers. (I actually did a mash-up of three different recipes.) I'm looking for more recipes with quinoa and some new ones for lentils because I have a lot of both on hand.