Am I in Chuckie Cheese?
Today is Valentine’s Day. Since my weekend plans to visit my siblings in NJ were vaporized by being sick all week (I’ve got to play catch up at work now) we decided to venture into DC and do something fun. Of course, this was fun by our standards, so we planned on going to the National Archives to see the Emancipation Proclamation, which is only on display 5 days a year. By the time we got there, the line was atrocious, so we decided to go to the remodeled American History museum instead, which I’d never been to before. Then, it was off to a restaurant I was very interested in trying out, a Mexican antojitos place called Oyamel (www.oyamel.com). It’s one of Chef Jose Andres’ restaurants, and considering we’ve been to two of his other restaurants in DC and loved them (Jaleo and Zaytinya) I had high hopes for Oyamel.
Having made it to Oyamel (www.oyamel.com) and ready to partake in the yumminess, I was amazed to see the number of children there. I’m not talking about teens or close-to-teens. No, I’m talking smaller children, less than 10 years of age. This really took me aback – this is a more refined, upscale restaurant, the kind of place that even in my early 20s I wasn’t sure I could appreciate like I do now, with prices to match. Why would people bring kids of that age here and pay that kind of money?
Now, before people come after me with pitchforks or tar and feathers for being mean to kids or whatever, I’m not saying kids shouldn’t ever go out to anything other than McDonalds, but I truly can’t understand why parents would bring them to a place like this. This is the kind of food that you really have to savor to appreciate, and I can’t imagine the chicken nuggets crowd is equipped to really get it. If anything, I could easily see them (the kids) being somewhat disappointed. I would have been at their age. Why pay that kind of money for the kids to not even get it? I’m sure some would argue that this is how you might develop a child’s palate, but I’m not convinced that’s feasible for younger kids. Sure, it makes sense for them as they get older, but not when they are young.
Notice that my first complaint wasnt’t that the kids were misbehaving, though a few were running between the tables, which was indeed inappropriate and for which I again call out the parents. Kids shouldn’t have to sit in a crowded, tight restaurants first waiting for a table, filled with people paying a lot for their meal and any of us be surprised when they do not behave. They are kids!
So yeah, some restaurants are not Chuckie Cheese.
Happy livestock for my crock pot!
More and more, that’s what I want to start buying – lambs, pigs, and cows that got the opportunity to play and eat the food they are designed to eat before I eat them. You know, animals that got to be happy animals before the executioner showed up one day.
For a long time, I’ve getting more conscious about what I am eating and where it comes from. There are a few reasons for this – one of them being that I read an interesting book called ‘Pandemoniom’ that really shed some eerie light on huge commercial animal operations and how those operations really contribute to livestock epidemics and afflictions like avian flu and Mad Cow. I’m not trying to be alarmist – it’s just that it made good common sense that cramming thousands of near-identical (meaning, same genetic profile) animals into small areas was a bad idea.
While such light reading might make some people vegetarian (and indeed, one vegetarian I know expected it would), that wasn’t the case with me. I’m the sort of girl that believes if Bessy the Cow could eat you, she would. Plus, I really like meat. Especially lamb. Nope, it didn’t turn me vegetarian, but it did make me much more interested in other options, such as grass-fed livestock.
Unfortunately, this desire to venture into grass-fed and humanely raised beef, pork, etc is tempered by my uber-frugal grocery shopping and my rather measley annual household budget. Besides, I am not enamored of Whole Foods. It’s nice enough, but there is something about Whole Paycheck which is a bit pretentious.
No, what I would really like to do – some day – is buy my meat from the farm. I’d love to have an extra freezer, and be able to buy half-cows direct from the farm. Not only could I buy meat that is raised under better conditions, but this would also directly support small farmers, who I think often have a hard time competing against corporate farms. My husband and I are both very supportive of buying direct from local farmers – this year, we have joined a local farm’s CSA, and will be getting 20 weekly shares of veggies and fruits – and if this CSA experience is positive, it’ll definitely motivate us (or at least me) to make the grass-fed switch at some point.
I’ll just need to find a way to get over the sticker shock. But for now, it’ll be the regular grocery store for me.
Let the market sort it out! (oh wait, maybe not)
I’m pissed. Seriously pissed off. So pissed I can feel my already high blood pressure soaring to new heights as I type this.
Why am I so mad? Is that I am upset about the inequity that exists in the world? Or that babies die from preventable disease? That I never get a seat on Metro anymore? Well yes, I am mad about all those things, but not today… not for this post anyway.
Nope, its the new stimulus package being debated in Congress is what has me ready to spit nails. Specifically – the housing market provisions (I don’t know enough about the rest of what is suggested to comment on it).
During the boom years – when dead goats could get $500k loans over the phone – Congress was no where to be found. Nearly everyone argued that the market was king, and you couldn’t possibly restrain it. That would be UNAMERICAN! That would be DISASTROUS! Nope, must not tamper with the market, for it knows best. And so it continued – housing prices spiraling higher, people taking out stranger and stranger loans in order to be able to pay those high prices, which of course continued to shove the prices upward – you get the picture. It was all about the market. We musn’t touch the market. So no one tried to keep those goats from getting loans they had no hopes of paying off if anything went wrong.
Fast forward a few years – the bottom falls out, and all those goats are screwed.
Suddenly, that once-sacred market just can’t survive on its own anymore. Nope, now Congress is giving money out left and right to try and save it, bailing out banks, trying to bail out those who never should have bought to begin with, and now trying to save the housing market with all sorts of ideas to ‘spur buying.’ Nevermind that Americans as a whole NEED to save more, to pay off their debts before taking on new debt.
Apparently, in America, when the going gets tough in the market… the market no longer is allowed to sort itself out. Whatever happened to laissez faire economics? I’m not saying letting the market sort itself out would be fun – I think it would hurt most of us quite a bit, but it needs to happen. Besides, either you believe in it, or you don’t. And I do.
January Recipe and Book Roundup
Part of the point of this blog is to keep track of my goals for the year, so what better way to track it than to do it monthly. So here is my January wrap up!
Recipes
I’d been hoping to try 5 recipes this month, but only managed to do 4 (unless I am forgetting one!) I think a few of these recipes will find their way into our usual repertoire, in particulat the three delicious casserole-type recipes we made. I truly am a fan of the casserole – often, these recipes can be prepared ahead of time and refridgerated or frozen, making it much easier to have a nice home-cooked meal even on a weeknight when time is scarce. I can’t wait until I have an extra freezer I can fill with pre-made meals!
Chicken Tamale Casserole – from Cooking Light. Delicious Mexican-food inspired casserole. I found the recipe and bought the ingrediants, while the husband cooked it. A true team effort!
Pasta with Butternut Squash and Bacon – from Cooking Light. Taste wise, this was great – the bacon and squash really were good with the pasta and sauce. I do have to admit – the appearance of the dish wasn’t as nice as in the recipe, though that may have been b/c I double the recipe and used a much bigger pan.
Turkey Tetrazzini – from Cooking Light (though I think this may have been a Chicken Tetrazzini recipe initially. This was delicious! It made a HUGE pan since the recipe was originally meant to make two small pans for freezing – it fed us for dinner twice, not to mention lunches. A definite keeper.
Hoisin Pork and Snow Pea Stir Fry – from Cooking Light. This was a good stir fry recipe, though on the sweet side (which I like). Definitely something I might keep on my quick evening dinner ideas list.
Books
I managed to make and exceed my reading goal this month, though I’ll admit that I started one of the books in December and didn’t finish it until this month. But it still counts. I can’t complain about any of the books I read this month – all of them were fairly good and represented a variety of topics.
Madness: A Bipolar Life – I really enjoyed this book, a memoire written by a bipolar woman. The writing style may not appeal to all, but it really is a startling illustration of what life is like for a severely bipolar individual. I’m very interested in this author’s other works, and will be reading more of her work.
Taking Charge of Your Fertility – I’d heard a lot about this book, which many women use to learn about charting and maximizing their chances of getting pregnant. Well, after reading it, I think all women should read it. It is amazing and full of fascinating information useful not only if you are looking to get pregnant, but also if you are avoiding – or just want to understand your body better.
The Life of the World to Come by Kage Baker – I’ve been on the search for a new sci fi/fantasy author, and I think I have found her. After reading a compilation of short stories by Ms. Baker, I took a chance and read my first full length story by her. I definitely think she is a keeper, and I am already on the road toward reading more of her books.
Sarah by Marek Halter – A fictional story about Sarah (biblical Sarah, wife of Abraham). It was a nice weekend read, and I’ll be looking into the author’s other works about biblical women.
Gardens of Water by Alan Drew – I picked this book up on a whim, and am glad I did. Set in Turkey, and focused on a Kurdish family. It never quite went how I expected, and it is not a happy book, but it is good nevertheless.
A Free Life by Ha Jin – I’m finishing this up today. While I don’t love it like some of the other books this month, it was a nice book to read before bed. It’s a bit slow and not a lot of action, but sometimes that is a good thing.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell – Interesting, albeit startling book. Makes me glad to be a woman in today’s world. I liked it though!
Exercise
This didn’t go so well this month. Started out strong, but got out of my ‘beginning groove’ when we went to Arizona, and never got back with it. But, I will look forward and do better in February. I am eying a 4 mile walk at the end of April called the ‘March for Babies.’ That could help keep me on track since I would have a specific goal.
The Pointy Stick 