Category Archives: Sunday Reads

Sunday Reading 12-05-16 #78

December 5, 2016

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Vegan MOFO is over, and I feel like I can relax a little. This weekend was filled with fun as my husband and I got our Christmas tree. Then the next day I had Alexa and Justine over to decorate it and eat lots of vegan sushi. I thought today would be pretty laid back, which is has… but I am trying to tie up any loose ends since I am at week 39. In many ways this took forever and snuck up on me all at the same time.

Since Vegan MOFO took up so many of the posts last month, I have a little bit of a back log of articles to share (and read.) So sorry if these articles are pretty old. And I am trying to catch up on blog posts, which I may or may not get done before I go into labor. Who knows. Anyways, enjoy these reads.

7 Stunning Places Travelers Can’t Visit Because Of Politics

This was just a little light reading for fun. This is a short list of interesting places that look like they would be amazing to visit. I do think it is funny that I can’t visit it because of politics, when realistically my bank account wouldn’t allow it anyways. XD

Vegan Cheesemaking Guide – Vegan MoFo Day 6

Nichole from Vegan Nom Noms put together a vegan cheesemaking guide on her blog. I have to say, these new choices for fermented vegan cheeses have been amazing. For Thanksgiving Jon and I splurged and got a bit of Miyoko’s smoked cheese for an appetizer. We served it yesterday, and Alexa seemed to really like it as well (Justine can’t have cashews so she wasn’t able to taste it T__T) I would like to try making some, but right now isn’t too great.

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Of course PMS is “real.” The real question is why we don’t have a cure.

Another great article talking about how women’s health is ignored by the medical industry. Clearly PMS is real, and it is funny because I had less common symptoms and thought I might of been crazy. As gross as it is, every time I get my period I have major digestive issues and thought it was just in my head. Then sure enough one day my OBGYN asked if I get diarrhea as a symptom during my period it was a little bit of a sigh of relief. It wasn’t in my head and it wasn’t weird. Some symptoms might not be talked about in other cultures because they are simply taboo and not talked about.

I’ve heard some article posing that mood swings are not an actual symptom of PMS, and I can see that. I personally don’t get moodier but it makes sense that it would be a side effect from physical symptoms of PMS. If you cut your arm and it hurt, surely you would be irritable. So if you have cramping, why wouldn’t you be more emotional in the same way? I’ve talked about how some studies are showing that “pregnancy brain” might not be real, and honestly I think it is a way to play down any stress that a woman might have from a major life change. Same goes with saying mood swings are just part of PMS, whether real or not, it is used as way to ignore a person.

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Vegan Diets, As Long As They Are Well-Balanced, Are Good for Pregnant Women and Children

I was happy to see this article pop up on my news feed, especially because of the timing. I think many people forget how much of a omnivores diet is actually fortified with vitamins and nutrients. Think about mainstream cereals- lots of fortified vitamins. Milk has fortified vitamin D, and so on.

Has Hypnosis Finally Been Vindicated by Neuroscience?

This SciShow episode and Science of Us articles both came out relatively close to each other. It is pretty interesting and actually is slightly making me regret dismissing hypnobirthing as bullshit. I guess it could very well work, which seems crazy to me. I would love to find more scientific research on hypnosis.

SciShow: 9 Scientific Cooking Techniques

SciShow has released a series of food/cooking related videos and this one was a lot of fun. There are various techniques (mostly unconventional) to make food fun. Most are vegan, though there is a fairly weird and gross “meat glue.” But otherwise I would love to try out many of the vegan techniques at some point. Some I’ve seen already on other blogs.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: huffington post, science of us, scishow, sunday reading, sunday reads, vegan nom noms, Vox

3 comments

Sunday Reading 10-23-16 #77

October 24, 2016

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Oh boy this week has been crazy. I FINALLY updated all 400 posts to make sure all the images are working and optimized. Finally. The pictures should get bigger whenever I update the layout… if I ever do that. XD Last weekend Jon and I had our baby shower, and it was a lot of fun. We got lots of stuff and our nights have been putting together some of the gifts, and washing every single thing. Yup, I think I did a load of laundry every day of the week except for maybe one night. Yikes! We don’t do a several loads in one day since we air dry our laundry, but that probably won’t happen as often once the baby is born.

We also finished painting the baby’s room, and now we can really start to settle into that space. We are making sure everything is working (like having a closet door that fully closes) and organized. We ordered a new mattress for baby, all the cloth diapers, and I just found out about Once Upon a Child and got a bunch of newborn onesies for cheap. Thank god for second hand kids shops.

Annoyingly tonight I need to drop off my car to the car repair shop. For like the past year (or two) we’ve had a leak and therefore a bucket in the car. Well, a week ago the gas station attendant didn’t twist on the gas cap all they way, making the check engine light go off. We tightened it and it eventually went away, but made an appointment already. I wanted to cancel the appointment, but Jon wants to get the leak fixed. 9__9 I kind-of like my weird janky bucket. I always like the idea that it makes it less likely that the car will be stolen XD

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Cod May Have Regional “Accents” That Could Spawn Trouble When Breeding

I love reading about how complex animals are. To me it really re-enforces many aspects of veganism, particularly conserving the environment. There is also something very humbling that most of the things we think of as being “human” aren’t exclusive to just us. Well, this article pretty much points out that most cods can have issues with breeding with other cod fish that live far away. This gives bigger incentive to classify cod fish as a non-sustainable fish.

The Only living Girl in NY: Trump Taj Mahal

I loved the timing of this post. The blog The Only Living Girl in NY is similar to The Dainty Squid- lots of photos of random destinations ranging from nature to kitchy tourist traps. Which is why I kind-of love that she took photos of Trump’s Taj Mahal. It was technically opened when she visited but it might as well been closed. When I mentioned the irony to my boss, he was telling a story about how he took a friend to Atlantic City to check out all the casinos. What he found very odd about the Taj Mahal, which was their last stop, was how hard it was to actually FIND the slot machines. If anyone has been to Las Vegas, they know that the slot machines are the FIRST thing you see in the main entrances. It seems pretty obvious why the place was a flop.

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Hedi Gh Gorgeous Cosmic Donuts + Vegan Galaxy Salad Cakes

I have a confession- I am not a huge donut fan. I know, I’m in the minority. I also don’t really like bacon, even in the pre-vegan days. But I always CRAVE donuts because they always look so gosh darn pretty! Especially these new trendy cosmic donuts. I can’t even comprehend how people make them! Both recipes are vegan, but I recommend checking out the “salad cakes” from Vegan Doll House, since she sneaks a few veggies in there. I like cakier donuts anyways.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: atlantic city, cod, donuts, galaxy, smithsonian magazine, sunday reading, sunday reads, the only living girl in ny, trend land, trump taj mahal, vegan doll house

2 comments

Sunday Reading 10-08-16 #76

October 9, 2016

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Today is the day of reading and painting. Again, hubs and I are feeling that mad rush to get things done for the baby. Our shower is coming up next weekend and I got it in my head that we should finish painting the nursery before we lug a bunch of stuff in there. You know, so we can start actually setting things up. And then my husband really pointed out that I should start thinking and talking to my bosses about a post-delivery plan. So I have been reading all the chapters about post-delivery so I have a little bit more realistic expectation of what to expect when the baby comes. I have to think about these things since a lot of the things my husband was hoping for from is work isn’t working out. It is making us very frustrating for various reason we won’t go into.

But here is a collection of different articles and such for you guys to check out and read. Enjoy!

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Sesame Chai Latte & Pumpkin Spice Turmeric Latte

I am not kidding when I say I love a good latte. In fact, I’ve been going through some old posts updating images and stuff from the server transfer and it seems every time this year I post a bunch of latte recipes in the Sunday Reads. I would LOVE to try these two, but realistically, I probably won’t since I am obsessed with how easy my macaccino is. But these are high up on my list of recipes to try. Maybe I should start a new recipe roundup of coffee-free lattes?

This School Replaced Detention with Meditation

I think most people will find this idea weird, or counter intuitive. Surely if I kids acts poorly they should be punished. But I think sometimes there is core differences on how people view things. You can either punish bad behavior, or your can try and fix it. This school is try to fix the problem by giving kids an outlet to channel their frustrations. I think people underestimate how much kids can do.

IndieGoGo: Liberation Barbell

I’ve been a fan of Lacy Davis from her blog Super Strength Health. Then her podcast Rise and Resist, and even her podcast Adult Crash. She is now working towards starting a body positive gym. I think there needs to be more gyms focusing on this. Yes, I’ve been places where the coaches are not talking about flattening those tummies, or sculpting arms for the summer. But rarely are these attributes being advertised, leaving people who are afraid of judgement from stepping into a gym. Lacy’s gym will be based in Portland, soo…. I’ll probably never make… at least for awhile. But if you are in the Portland area, I recommend supporting this rad lady.

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Why Lime Crime is the Most Hated Make Company on the Internet

I am not a huge make up person. But oddly I really like seeing when people put on some crazy make up. Green lips? Yeah. Pink Hair? Rainbow Eyeshadow? Yes and yes. But I try and keep things vegan, even when supporting instagram accounts. Which is why I kind-of lurk on Doe Deere and Sugarpill/Shrinkle (not vegan people, but vegan/cruelty free brands.) Doe Deere owns the company Lime Crime and I’ve always wondered why so many people hated the company with a passion. It was hard to sift through all the general hate with legitimate complaints. This article does a good job summarizing the major controversies of the brand. I think it is important since it is now an all vegan brand, and I love their now discontinued nail polishes. Sadly though, their make up is getting a little too crazy for my personal use but it is worth a read if you are thinking about buying their gold lipstick. The whole thing makes me think about the Stuff Mom Never Told You episode about Lisa Frank. Both so colorful, both full of so much drama.

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Chill Out: Stress Can Override Benefits Of Healthful Eating

This was a pretty interesting study, which found that stress really can override many benefits of eating healthfully. It is worth noting that the way the study was set up all participants were given high fat diets, just one got one full of more healthful fats. So it isn’t something that you should look at stress as something to would completely override all your healthful eating.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: indie go go, indiegogo, lacy davis, latte, liberation barbell, lime crime, npr, racked, sunday reading, sunday reads, upworthy, vegan richa, will frolic for food

4 comments

Sunday Reading 10-02-15 #75

October 2, 2016

It’s officially October! I already busted out my Halloween gear and thinking about where to hang all my vintage paper decorations. I cleaned my witch glasses, so I might think of an alcohol free cocktail that is a little spooky to serve with them. I’ve been thinking, but falling a little short. Hard decisions. This year we got invited to a Halloween party, so I might even get dressed up. We’ve even already watched one horror film, so I will probably do my film reviews for the month again. I hope people like them because I at least enjoy making them. XD

Aside from Halloween I’ve been brainstorming some ideas for posts for Vegan Mofo 2016. I am hoping to post each day of the month, though I will obviously not keep to each prompt. Especially with the pregnancy. And I will be crossing my fingers there will be no early delivery that would cut my blogging short. If any readers have already signed up leave a comment! I will make sure I add you to my feedly log so we can all interact.

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Seitan is My Motor: Santana Apple Cake

I saw this recipe and thought it might be a good thing to make. Our local orchard is starting to get some good produce in (AMAZING Asian peas BTW) after a horrible season. I asked my husband if he wanted to make this… and he gave a very weird “uh… I don’t know.” Usually he get pretty excited about recipes with apples. Maybe it is because it isn’t a pie. *rolls eyes* But I thought she had a cool technique with cutting the apples to make them look pretty.

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The Tonka Bean: An Ingredient So Good It Has to Be Illegal

And the cake recipe made me interested in trying to find information on one of the ingredients- the tonka bean. This article was really interesting since it explains why it is illegal in the United States, and REALLY makes me want to try it. Apparently according to the article, there are some blackmarkets that sell the bean, so maybe I can get lucky trying to find a source but probably better not the break the law. XD

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Food By Mars: Pumpkin Spice Turmeric Latte

I love lattes, or rather warm milk based drinks. I have a bunch on the blog and I am always interested in making new ones. Heck I will hopefully have a new one posted this week even! So I might give this guy a try when I roast another pumpkin. I think the turmeric can help balance out the sweetness that most people get from Pumpkin Spice Syrups.

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Tooth Be Told: Do Natural Toothpastes Keep Your Breath Fresh?

There are lots of vegan toothpastes on the market, but many are very er… hippie dippie. I have been SLOWLY trying to move our toiletries to all vegan, but my husband is a loyalist to certain brands. He loves his soap that sucks out all the moisture in his body, mouth numbing toothpastes, and gelled shaving creams. But some of the brands that he liked made it on this list. No, this isn’t a list of vegan toothpastes- just natural ones.
Vegan Brands in Review: Desert Essence Natural Toothpaste, Earthpaste, Jason NutriSmile Toothpaste, Nature’s Gate Natural Toothpaste, The Honest Co. Toothpaste, Kiss My Face Gel Toothpaste
Unknown for Animal Testing: Himalaya Neem and Pomegranate Toothpaste, Spry Toothpaste, Weleda Natural Salt Toothpaste

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Keepin It Kind: Not About Food- A Real Character

Kristi from Keeping It Kind wrote a post recently about her issues with trying to come up with her three fictional character that characterize her. I had a similar experience where I had hard time picking out the third character then regretting it almost immediately. I ended up thinking about it, and the third character still represents me, but I only to a certain degree. So who did I pick? Susan from Bringing Up Baby. She has a great sense of fashion, a love of animals, and doesn’t take much very seriously. I also love how direct she was with men, which I think I was fairly direct with boys in high school.

I then picked Daria because I think she was my idol in high school. I wore boots with a pleated skirt and a quirky t-shirt almost every single day. I kept my hair largely un-styled. I also had the same attitude of making jokes, even if the people I knew didn’t get them. I think I still would have that attitude, but it seems that I am surrounded by more educated people. Maybe? I do think I am a little less cynical now than I was in high school though.

My third person was originally Elaine Bennett from Seinfeld because I think deep down inside I have a lot of similar qualities as her. Mostly the I’m secretly a terrible person part. XD I have a few issues with how Seinfeld presents Elaine (the cool girl who is a guy’s type of girl- essentially not REALLY a woman) but ignoring that, she is such a fabulous character. And at the time it was very different representation of females.

But I then I then remembered I am totally Linda Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. My husband always jokes how I am really Linda. I sing made up songs, I love a good drink, I’m loud, tacky, and secretly I think I am the cool mom (or will be.) Is it a little odd that I picked all character that are brunettes? And three of them wear glasses (or occasionally in Elaine’s case)? I think all are pretty educated (except Linda) but are constantly making an ass of themselves. Yup, sounds like me.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: apartment therapy, apples, bob's burgers, bringing up baby, daria, elaine, food by mars, Keepin It Kind, latte, linda, pumpkin spice, seinfeld, seitan is my motor, sunday reading, sunday reads, susan, the atlantic, Tonka Bean

5 comments

Sunday Reading 09-18-15 #74

September 18, 2016

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These past two weeks…. oh man have they’ve been something. My blog was being hosted by my lovely friend Jamie. Sadly she decided that she wouldn’t be able to keep her hosting services since of various things including money and poor hosting service. I stress the poor hosting service because it has been causing a headache for me. The company she used is slow to reply to help requests, goes down often (which I think more international readers have been at the end of that stick), and general crumminess. The server went down, no big deal, except I freaked out that it was 100% gone forever since Jamie mentioned getting rid of the hosting service (I know I was being irrational, but couldn’t shake that thought.) Then when I came back up, I backed my XML posts, and tried to connect to the FTP… and just couldn’t get it to connect. Turns out, my password was wrong, and the program I used wasn’t compatible. So my IP was blocked, and I couldn’t see anything from my computer. Worse it seemed all Mac FTPs were being blocked as well. So weird. So I had to ask so many favors from Jamie about backing up my files, sending them over, etc. And I felt bad because I had over 2 GB of images for the blog!

Good news? We are moved to our server, and has given my husband a boost in interest to help my blog out more. He is helping me compress my photo files, which means faster loading times for you guys. I am also hoping to improve my search engine crap and work on a new layout that won’t be too boring, but a little more mainstream. Bad news? If you go into our older posts you might find some broken images. I am slowly fixing that

But since it has been so long, I have a bunch of links to share. Some are quick reads, some are opinion pieces, and some are total fluff. Hope you guys enjoy them and I will have more new posts coming up soon next week.

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Laura Izumikawa on Instagram

Let’s start with the fluff! I am not going to be one of those people who will flood you with ooey-gooey Mom stuff, but I need to share this. Even if you don’t like kids, you’ll love these photos. Laura Izumikawa takes photos of her cute baby while she’s asleep. There are some athletes, cartoon characters, anime, nerdy stuff, and pop stars. If you haven’t already seen all the news articles featuring her photos, check out her instagram.

Black Health Matters

Nothing makes my blood boil more than hearing people make gross racist remarks like “oh black people don’t exercise” or “people on welfare just eat garbage.” What makes it worse is they never seem to care to make a change about that. So when I read about grassroots movements of trying to get free exercise and wellness programs for low income or people of color, I get really excited. If you want more inspirational reads you can check out this Mosaic Podcast episode about the diabetes epidemic in Harlem.

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The best 100 films of the 21st century, according to 177 film critics around the world

I don’t talk too much about it but I am a film nerd. I love movies, and I rarely get off my butt to watch them. Why? I am not interested in blockbusters… like at all. In fact my husband and I have lots of debates over stuff because I think his “greatest films” are kind-of just fluff. *cough* steven spielberg *cough* If you didn’t already picked up that I am pretentious art school ~~student~~ graduate, you now officially know. Anyways, even people who love blockbusters are getting sick of all these sequels and “reboots.” So if you are looking for something new but different, check out this list. I am wanting to watch the ones we haven’t seen before… which is a lot. I’ve only seen about a quarter of the list but here are the films I think everyone should check out (when you have night to really watch a movie) Note- these are my favorites from the list or ones I think that are a little less known, so you know keep that in mind.

Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

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Vegan Mofo 2016 Returns

Vegan Mofo will be returning this year! The announcement was made while I was blocked from my server and transferring files so at first I was overwhelmed with the thought of doing it again. I think I will be trying it out again this year with Alexa’s help. But truthfully we will see how often a post since it will be during the 9th month of pregnancy (yikes!) But I had so much fun doing it in 2015 and 2014 that I just had to.

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These Folks Went Vegetarian Back When It Was Way Uncool

This is a brief look at the first vegetarians restaurants in the world. It is interesting to see how vegetarianism have evolved over the years, and how Hitl has stayed the same. I would love to visit it sometimes, but I wonder if they have many vegan options (it seems to have a lot of eggs and dairy in the recipes). Still a fun slice of history.

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Exercising Regularly Saves You Money, Assuming You Don’t Have ClassPass

I’ve always been one to recommend people go out and get some exercise. I don’t think you need to go to a gym, but I know some people thrive with the direction (especially early on.) This study shows that maybe health insurance companies should cover gym classes. It does show to save some money. Even still, walking 30 minutes a day still does the body some good.

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Women Who Eat Full-Fat Yogurt Are Happier, So Don’t Believe the Smug Lady in Yoplait-Light Commercials

Okay, so I find the title of this article more interesting than anything else. A quick summary is that women who eat full fat yogurt have less depression than women who eat the light stuff. There isn’t any direct correlation with fat consumption and depression. It could be because there is more sugar added to the low-fat stuff or could be that women who are depressed are more concerned about weight gain. I take it as better body image equals better mind.

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Why Fidgeting Is Good Medicine

And if you made this far- congrats! This is a surprising article about fidgeting. We all know sitting down for long periods of time can be bad for our bodies. So scientists wanted to see if fidgeting would help counter the negative effects. And it kind-of does! Sure it better to not sit down for several hours, but it is a great way to counteract it if you have no choice.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: laura Izumikawa, new york times, npr, quartz, science of us, sunday reading, sunday reads, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2016

9 comments

Sunday Reading 08-21-15 #73

August 21, 2016

Boy I am pooped this weekend. I haven’t really done THAT much but again, the heat. Thank goodness it is going to start cooling down a little again. I am most excited about it being cool enough to open the windows at night. Jon and I had a crib sitting in our living room, but we took it apart and now we are painting my dresser since it got all dinged up during the move. So we now have a big blue dresser in the living room. We are also in the process of figuring out our fire alarms…. which might need to be replaced. Ugh. I just can’t wait to get our new office and nursery set up and have some organization back in my life.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
2 cantaloupe (FINALLY!)
1 watermelon (either yellow or orange fleshed)
1 pint blackberries
9 oz green beans
7lb 4oz cherry tomatoes (golf ball sized)
10lb 8oz slicing tomatoes
1lb green peppers
1lb 8oz poblano peppers
3 red italia peppers
2 small eggplant
5 white onions (very small)

What I’m cooking:
BBQ Sauce (9lbs of tomatoes cooked down and frozen for future use)
blanche green beans and save in freezer
Blackberry Muffins (modified from Protein Ninja)
Chickpea Eggplant Hemp Veggie Balls in a Tomato Sauce (from Protein Ninja)
Bhindi Masala from Isa Does It (to use up the rest of the okra from last week)
Stuffed Poblano Peppers (using up the peppers mostly)
Tomatillo Tofu Burritos (using up tomatillos from last week)
Jajangmyeon Spaghetti Squash (cuz I never made this last week so I still have spaghetti squash)

Most of the meal planning this week was trying to use up things from the week before. This week was light on veggies, but man we have so many tomatoes still. It’ll only get worse because next weekend we will picking up our in-law’s share from the farm. o____o I will probably ask if my friend Justine wants to come with us and take whatever she wants. I just have a hard time saying no to things. XD But I know I will be eating all that melon IN THE RAW!

Why running is the world’s most egalitarian sport

I am not a huge fan of watching running parts of the olympics. I did enjoy watching the women’s 10,000 meter when I was sick last Friday, but otherwise I get bored with all the heats and such. But I am trying to watch it regardless after reading this article. I have noticed the largest range of nations being represented by running events. The Olympics is a pretty white sporting event, but it is awesome to see it start to diversify.

Vegan Eats and Treats: Olympics Kickoff Party!

I love reading Amy’s blog, which I am a little surprised about. She rarely features recipes, but instead usually posts recipes from various cookbooks. And she loves to throw a party. I love this idea of an Olympics Kickoff Party where there are foods made from different countries and “sports” for everyone to compete in. Maybe this is something fun to do next summer Olympics.

Rio 2016: how British athletes are challenging the Olympic tradition of junk food peddling

I thought this was pretty interesting. Junk food gets lots of advertising because there is a specific brand. For blueberries to get a commercial it involves several farmers banding together for form an advertising committee. So it is nice to see another way to get publicity for fresh produce! Especially when being promoted by athletes.

Gastropod – Kombucha Culture

I love the podcast Gastropod. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it is a podcast all about food usually talking about it from a scientific and historical context. Their most recent episode is all about kombucha. It is really interesting to hear about it’s roots in the United States, and I can safely say I would NOT be drinking kombucha in the 90s… way too pseudosciencey. But it is interesting to hear how kombucha has changed over the years, and it is nice to hear about safe it is to make. It really makes me wish I still had my old mother culture to start brewing again.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: gastropod, quartz, sunday reading, sunday reads, Vegan Eats and Treats, Vox

6 comments

Sunday Reading 08-15-15 #72

August 15, 2016

Dear god it has been hot. It has been in the 90s all week, and the humidity has been high. It isn’t helping that I’ve been making BBQ sauce downstairs and it has been boiling/cooking down for the last 3 1/2 hours. Yup, that is what happens when you make BBQ sauce from fresh tomatoes. The plus is that I now have a bunch of sauce that I can freeze and pull out as I need it over the winter. But it is making my house really warm.

I noticed something I’ve stopped doing. I use to keep a log of all the produce I got from my CSA and made a list of meals I was making with it. For example I got 16+ lbs of tomatoes and only used 9 of those pounds for that BBQ sauce. More mind boggling is that for the average price of organic tomatoes is about $4 per pound, that makes my BBQ sauce $36 for 3 jars! I have to say the tomatoes alone is the main reason why my CSA pays for itself.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1 quart of purple tomatillos
1 quart of green beans
1/2 pint blackberries
1 large spaghetti squash
8 lbs slicing tomatoes (about 12)
8 lbs big ass cherry tomatoes (more like tennis tomatoes)
3 asian eggplant
3 bell peppers (2 green, 1 mostly red)
3 red italia peppers
2 poblano peppers
4 white onions (very small)
1 lb 4oz okra

What I’m cooking:
BBQ Sauce (9lbs of tomatoes cooked down and frozen for future use)
Tomatillo Coconut Ice Cream (working on a new recipe)
Black Bean & Tomatillo Soup (using a few tomatillos, more tomatoes, and a poblano pepper)
Bhindi Masala from Isa Does It (tomatoes and okra)
Black Bean Tacos with roasted peppers and fresh salsa (peppers and tomatoes)
Jajangmyeon Spaghetti Squash (spaghetti squash, older zucchini, and maybe peppers)
Eggplant Stir-Fry with Green Beans and Cashews (eggplant and green beans)
Maple Cupcakes for Jon’s Birthday (using absolutely no produce ^__~)

What really stinks is that I was originally planning on making some Nacho Tots with some peppers and maybe tomatillos on top. Then as I started to make this list I saw that I never wrote down the planned recipe for the eggplant and green beans. *cries* I keep seeing photos of roasted potatoes and french fries and have a weird desire for them. Actually, I’ve been really craving processed starchy comfort foods but keep knowing that I should really be eating all this great produce. *sigh* I guess I shouldn’t complain. We got 16lbs of organic tomatoes, which at retail prices would of been $64! Better start eating.

This old YA novel shows us how far women’s gymnastics has come — and how far it hasn’t

This is an interesting review of an old 70s book targeted for teenage girls. It talks about how much the sport of gymnastics have changed in pop culture and how the pressures on girls have changed. What I find funny is that the main character criticizes the Russian team for being TOO athletic, while today, Russian athletes have criticized the team USA for taking the grace out of the sport. I am all for taking some of the “dance” and “grace” aspects out of the sport, as they are starting to look a little silly. Don’t agree? Watch the men’s floor exercises and then watch the women’s. What is with all the these weird octopus arms ladies?

The Secret Lives of Cadavers

My work is a little weird. I work with two people who are pretty open about death. We have talked a few times about how we would like be buried. Yes, I know what I would like done with my dead body, and Jon knows this too. It is his fault for making me watch Six Feet Under and made me aware of the funeral business. I am not 100% what I want to have done, but I am considering donating my body to be a cadaver after reading this article.

Simone Biles’s adoption defies a foster care system that punishes black families

This is a nice article talking about how the foster care system in the USA is broken and racially bias. They talk about Simone Biles because she was very lucky to be adopted by her Grandparents, as appose to being placed in the foster system. I’ve heard a lot of shady things about the foster system, and I remember reading a memoir about being placed in the system for school.

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This “wacky wallpaper house” in Minnesota will assault your eyes with patterns galore

Totally a fluff piece but I am loving this. Offbeat Home features a house that is just so beyond matchy matchy. Would I want to decorate my house like this? Uh no. I actually was a little dizzy the day I read this post and just felt more sick from looking at all that pattern! But there is something admirable about being so over the top that it works.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: gymnastics, national geographic, olympics, sunday reading, sunday reads, Vox

7 comments

Sunday Reading 08-08-15 #71

August 8, 2016

Hey guys! Another Sunday Reading list that didn’t get out for Sunday. Surprise! There are lots of reasons for this, the main two being really busy and then my husband had to work some over the weekend so I spent more of my free time looking up information about baby mattresses. Enthralling right? I know you are dying to know more about how to buy a baby mattress, but I won’t go into the those details today. I’ll just jump right into the posts. Oh, and for anyone who wants more food posts, there should be three restaurant reviews coming up and possible *crosses fingers* a recipe! Yeah, I think I might of finally nailed the savory zucchini muffin.

Oh, I am also curious, would you guys be interested if I wrote a series about framing? This blog has never been so much about DIY nor have I really talked much about my job as a framer. I mean, did any of your guys know that? I really don’t know how many times the word “framer” has been typed on this blog. XD I have been talking a lot with my bosses about how our customers are largely people who have had their parents teach them to go to custom framing shops, or serious art collectors. I might do a few posts about what to look for in a framer, how to do your own frames/shadow boxes, and how save money on framing.

Millions of Women are Injured During Childbirth. What Aren’t Doctors Diagnosing Them?

I’m kind-of glad to be pregnant during the age of the internet since there are a growing numbers of personal blogs talking about the complications about pregnancy. I can also quickly google a bunch of wives tales like not raising your arms up too high because the umbilical cord will choke your baby. BTW that is total bullshit. Oddly Cosmopolitan (you know that magazine giving all those hot sex tips) wrote a pretty intense article about how little we treat postpartum injuries.

This is clearly a problem with the medical industry in general where we treat injuries with surgeries before doing physical therapies. What makes this case a little more interesting is that the side effects here might be so embarrassing that it would prevent women from seeking the help they need. Or they get dismissed as just normal post pregnancy stuff like Sayward from Bonzai Aphrodite has written about.

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The world’s most expensive coffee is a nightmare for the animals who produce it

When you go vegan you get asked a lot of silly questions. You mean you don’t eat meat? Not even chicken? Well, what about fish? Reptiles? Bugs? Not even silk? When I get asked these questions I usually talk about poop coffee or kopi luwak. If you aren’t familiar it is an expensive coffee fruit that is eaten by the Asian Palm Civit (an animal in the Feliformia suborder aka related to cats, ferrets, weasels, hyenas, and meercats) then pooped out and brewed. It is a product that seems to not hurt the animal to get, I mean the civits aren’t needing that poop, right? But it is hard to find enough of this poop to fill a bag to sell. So people cram these animals into cages like how we cram chickens into cages. Pretty much, it is an example that if there is a market for it, the animals will get exploited.

I am glad that a news outlet is picking up this bit of information. But even the picture they used is pretty misleading. Most companies put the animals in worse conditions. Some companies outright lie and say they “forage” for the beans, which should be a big old red flag of bullshit- or civitshit.

Hillary Clinton’s husband wore a fetching pantsuit to honor her nomination for US president

I thought this article was pretty funny. It goes through all the details of Mr. Clinton’s outfit in the same way we talk about the First Lady’s outfits. And if you are like my husband who said “I don’t get it, what’s a pantsuit? Don’t all suits have pants?” well I read up a little bit of the history of the term “pantsuit.” The term was first used for little boys who would wear blazers with shorts. As that style started to go out of fashion, women started to work more white collar jobs. Traditionally women would wear suits composed of a blazer and skirt, but slowly started to wear pants instead of skirts. To make a distinction from the traditional “suit” (read: skirt) from the newer ones with pants, they called them pantsuits (since they were already in the English vernacular.) So yes, pantsuits are just suits with a name that is more fun to say.

Is Watching Gymnastics Worse Than Being an NFL Fan?

Hands down my favorite part of the olympics is the women’s gymnastics. I loved it when I was a little girl and vaguely remember begging my mom to let me take up gymnastics. I wasn’t allowed to because of the whole stunts your growth thing, but I am sure a large portion was because of money. I remember always not wanting to go to my dance classes when I had them, sorry Mom for wasting your money! I did like the classes, I am just a little brat about time management ^__~. But there is something different about gymnastics than some of the other sports I liked to watch when younger like rhythmic gymnastics and ice skating- it’s the muscle.

Now that I am more about some light weight training (though I plan on amping up my game post baby) I have a lot more respect for these girls. I find myself like more sports like Football (er.. American Football), soccer, and yes, embarrassingly enough American Ninja Warrior. Heck, I’ve even started to get into watching the men’s gymnastics, even it means there aren’t any lamé or rhinestones on anything. WTF guys? Jazz it up a little!

What I don’t like about this article is that it doesn’t go too much in depth. You would think by the end of the article everything is perfect in the gymnastics world. Plus they criticize the femininity of the sport as being anti-feminist… which might be true for 2nd wave feminism. 3rd wave feminists would argue that the pink and sparkles aren’t preventing the girls from being their physical best, so therefore the only thing preventing their respect is that the idea that femininity is bad.

I will be rooting for team USA, duh. But I am pretty excited to see Oksana Chusovitina who qualified to compete for the vault exercise for Uzbekistan. This is her 7th Olympics, and she is 41 years old. There is also Cătălina Ponor (Romania) who is 28 and has qualified for beam. I am excited to see these older women compete.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: Cosmopolitan, gymnastics, New York Magazine, olympics, quartz, sunday reading, sunday reads

4 comments

Sunday Reading 07-25-15 #70

July 25, 2016

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Another week has gone by and I feel like nothing has gotten done. I blame the weather. I’ve just been so unmotivated. I just want to stay glued to the first floor where the air is the coolest. At some point it will get cooler and I won’t have that excuse anymore. Bummer.

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Actually my husband has been busy working on our new computer table. He and his Father have been working together on making a custom desk for our oddly shaped third floor (or rather our normal room with an oddly shaped exercise equipment). Our current desk is 43 inches (109 cm) by 20 inches (50 cm), and doesn’t have much space for our computer. The monitor takes up 25 inches, which is pretty much half the length of the desk top, leaving little room for office stuff. So we are making a desk that is 6 feet (72 inches/182 cm) by 24 inches (60 cm), so MUCH bigger. We are most likely to stain the desk, and are looking for some matching shelving so we can get a pinterest worthy work area (yeah right.) Naturally I will be making some posts about our home updates of our finally finished bedroom, office/workout room, and hopefully nursery. Why? Because I assume you guys are just as interested as I am about looking into other people’s homes, best part of looking for a new house btw.

Anyways, I forgot to post this yesterday, so I hope everyone enjoys these articles for the week.

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When Community-Supported Agriculture Is Not What It Seems

I’ve written about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) before, and if you aren’t familiar with the idea, I recommend you quickly read my post before this article. To do a quick summary, it is when the consumer has a direct connection with the farmer, and pretty much pays a share/pays up front for the produce for the year. This New York Times article talks about how the term CSA is being used in situations that is very far from the original definition. If you are thinking about joining a “CSA” it is important to read this article as it helps educate people about what they are actually signing up for.

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Go Fund Me for Hillary Lawson

I’ve been reading Hillary’s blog My Cat Loves Daiya for awhile now. She is very active on many vegan blogs, usually commenting under the name Vegan Peace. Basically, after a bunch of circumstances, Hillary found herself loosing her apartment, and having to share space with a person who doesn’t want to keep her cats around. She brought her cats to an animal shelter and is scrambling to find money for a new apartment (you know, down deposit, first and last months rent, all that stuff.) She has a great connection with her cats, and have been writing about them on her blog. Basically, she took in a stray cat who was pregnant, and kept all the kittens. If you have a few bucks spare, that would be great. Hillary has already been overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity.

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Beer Bottles Will Soon Include A Reality Check: A Calorie Count

I’ve got so many emotions about this. I love booze. I love the history and complexity of the flavors. I know so much about alcohol that I think many people who meet me think I drink often (not really, more like 3 drinks a week overall? usually less.) As a vegan, I get really annoyed by the government’s viewpoint that alcohol shouldn’t be required to list nutritional information as that would imply it is food. Well, that makes for a lot of confusion for people with dietary restrictions. I had a friend who was allergic to hops, and drinking new beers was a little bit of Russian roulette. But it seems that focus is just on calories, and I don’t like that. It really doesn’t paint a full picture of people are drinking, and unlike hard liquor, beers can have nutritional benefits. Am I saying you should have a beer just to get some b vitamins? No. But there is probably more in a beer than a Kool Aid.

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Watch: Bubbles and balloons pop at 10,000 frames per second

And now for something fun and visually awesome. There is a short video of scientists filming different kind-of bubbles being popped with a high speed camera. Yeah I guess there are facts in there, but let’s face it- it is mostly just cool to watch.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: beer, csa, go fun me, my cat loves daiya, new york times, npr, quartz, sunday reading, sunday reads

2 comments

Sunday Reading 07-17-15 #69

July 17, 2016

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It is too early for the nesting bug to be biting? I have a large urge to plan and move things around in the house. See, we are planning on moving our office to the third floor and using the second floor bedroom as a nursery. Problem is that we hate our crummy Target desk and we have a huge workout machine that is oddly shaped. So there has been a lot of arguing about how big we can build a new desk (we want real wood guys, and we have budget) while still having space for this monster. Once we actually get the 3rd floor painted, and desk built we need to move our stuff and organize it, paint my dresser, rebuild the baby’s crib (taking my sister’s old one) and possibly paint it, paint the nursery, and… geez there is a lot to do XD

I think the sudden motivation comes from the fact that we have lived in our house for an ENTIRE YEAR NOW! A year ago Alexa took over the Sunday Reading post, since I was spending the days unboxing stuff and eating pizza almost everyday. That is pretty crazy, and I am probably feeling bad that our house is largely a big, generic, boring mess. We only painted our bedroom, and we haven’t gotten too much furniture. It would be nice to get a few personal touches before the baby comes, which yeah, we have until December, but I have a feeling that will roll by much faster than what I am expecting.

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Nettie Stevens discovered XY sex chromosomes. She didn’t get credit because she had two X’s.

I love learning about the many women who have contributed to science. I use to love science class, but hated doing the experiments (which ultimately discouraged me from continuing with it in college.) Some people might of seen the nod to Nettie Stevens on google and if so, here is the whole story, and the reason why she often isn’t credited for her discovery.

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Tens of Thousands of Artifacts Have Been Found in Colonial Philadelphia Toilets

Okay, I’m not going to lie, I might of clicked on this link because of the funny title. But it makes TOTAL sense. Major cities had big pits to dispose of human waste, and everyone used them as their own personal landfills. I am finding historical trash REALLY interesting. We like to think waste is a modern problem, but there has been waste disposal issues in the past as well. Just check out this podcast on Victorian horse poop disaster (which is similar to the factory farming waste issues.) Apparently thowing out perfectly good items isn’t completely new either. Many of the items found for Philadelphia’s new museum were thrown out items.

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The Mind-Boggling Bullshit of Health and Fitness

Never read anything from this blogger until now. And I LOVE this article. She pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with the fitness industry, and many things people get confused about. Finding great fitness bloggers and instructors can be hard. Hell, I recently found out a fitness personality who has done some videos I liked had their own YouTube channel. I checked it out… and man was I disappointed. The workouts were fine, she was fun and motivational, but she had lots of pseudo science to share. T_T And don’t even get me started on the lack of body positivity in the fitness industry! Weight and body shape is complicated. When I got weighed at the doctors it was a little adorable seeing the nurses try and weight me at around 120lbs. They inches so slowly up the scale I almost blurted out my weight so they could just jump to 140. I mean I am not THAT muscular, I got fat on me but BMI isn’t so straight forward.

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Understanding Hillary: Why the Clinton America See Isn’t the Clinton Colleagues Know

Yup politics guys. I am a firm believer that we need to talk more about politics with people, and I try not to be obnoxious about it. I found this article interesting since I am clueless about why so many people hate Hillary! I am not saying you aren’t justified to not like her, or not to vote for her, but when I hear liberals say they will vote Trump because they will never vote Hillary… I just can’t. WTF guys, vote Jill Stein not Trump. I am perplexed why fiscally conservative republicans don’t like Clinton either, since she is obviously the better choice over Trump. I mean her tax plan pretty much stays the same, meaning we won’t go in the red. And voting libertarian is just a vote for slashing government involvement, not making better financial decisions. Plus, didn’t Bill Clinton say he would work to boost the economy as First Man?

Anyways, this article goes into why so many politicians like Hillary. They also talk about the shift candidates made once the people started to vote for party candidates. It really opens up some interesting issues, and really makes me like Hillary more. I do think many people who don’t know much about the political system tend to not like Hillary because she is woman (or are influenced by media coverage that is skewed because of her sex), whether they are conscious about it or not. The article is a long read, but still important.

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We asked hundreds of scientists what they’d change about science. Here are 33 of our favorite responses.

If you aren’t reading lots of scientific articles, this might be a great summary of the issues with science today. We read lots of articles about nutritional science, and most of it can be ignored. This article sums up why, no one is replicating experiments, no one is publishing negative results, and there is such pressure scientists are fishing for results. What is interesting is that some scientists give their own recommendations on how to fix these issues as well.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: dna, Hillary Clinton, nia shanks, science, smithsonian magazine, sunday reading, sunday reads, Vox

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