Category Archives: Sunday Reads

Sunday Reading 07-04-15 #68

July 4, 2016

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Another day late to the game but I guess that is fine. I was getting a little bit of cabin fever last Saturday night, and maybe a little sad that we never did anything really special for my birthday or our anniversary (I said we were going to have a nice dinner together, but it ended up being an emergency at my hubs work and he pretty much worked all night T__T) So we headed into Philadelphia to go to the art museum not noticing there was a big event going on that night at the oval (the park right in front of the museum) or that it was the first Sunday of the month so admission was pay what you want, so there was a long line snaking around the museum. Luckily we are members and got to by pass the line *phew*

As for today, feels a little like I’m trapped. Most stores are closed for the 4th of July, and Jon’s back hurts too much to do much. But I guess I shouldn’t complain since tomorrow I will be driving all the way out to Intercourse, PA. Flattering name right? Well, it is very close to Lancaster, which means it has a very high Amish population. For international readers The Amish are a religous group that live a very simple life. From an outsiders point of view, they live in a time capsule, the don’t drive cars, they don’t use health insurance, don’t drink, still wear traditional clothing, etc, etc. But it isn’t as simple as they don’t use “modern technology.” Whenever new inventions come about, they often decided whether or not to adopt it by deciding how it can enrich or tear apart their community. ANYWAYS, this is a long way for me to say I need to buy some cheap fabric for a quilt I am working on. Normally good quality cotton fabric can sell for $14 a yard, and in Amish country you can get it for $6 a yard. Much cheaper right?

Anyways, hopefully I will post updates on my quilt making, because I think it should be fun. I haven’t made a quilt, like ever. But I figure how hard can it actually be? I mean it is just cutting and sewing straight lines right? Famous last words right? XD Anyways, here are some articles from this week.

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How Years of Macho Marketing is Killing Men

This is a nice article summarizing the concept of gendered foods. I posted one about how food targeted for women are pretty much made to starve us. While men get foods that are pretty much killing them. It is an interesting read, and I am sure most vegans have had that major eye roll moment when a man shuts down veganism because it isn’t macho enough.

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Samantha Bee is going where Jon Stewart and John Oliver never did

I think this article hits on the nail what I really like about Samantha Bee’s new show Full Frontal. At first I hated but loved what she was doing, but I argued it didn’t give an argument for people who apposed her views. But this article argues that Samantha Bee does alienate people with different views from her, but she holds her viewers to a higher standard. After watching some of her sketches I do feel much more motivated to actually do something about the situation at hand, or to at least get a conversation going with people I know. Not to mention, I feel a little like we don’t want to offend anyone with apposing political views that we never talk about it period. Maybe not giving a damn about how “neutral” you are shouldn’t matter? I am not sold on the idea that we should give up on trying to be impartial, but I am curious on what other readers think.

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The oldest library on Earth was started by a woman, and finally everyone can visit it

I just found this generally interesting. I love libraries. I love to browse, books, movies, whatever. And this looks like such a cool library, the place looks amazing, and hell, I would come there just to read a book I already own! And I found the history pretty interesting as well.

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What the Amish Can Teach Us About Modern Medicine

Since I talked a little about the Amish I thought of this article that I debated sharing a few weeks (months?) ago. Pretty much the article talks about how the Amish community survives with no health insurance in modern America. It is pretty interesting, using a mix of self sufficiency, maintaining good health, haggling, and community support.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: amish, digg, gendered foods, healthcare, libraries, New York Magazine, quartz, samantha bee, sunday reading, sunday reads, Vox

2 comments

Sunday Reading 06-27-15 #67

June 26, 2016

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Yesterday was VERY busy. Last week I threw out some chopped lettuce, some outer leaves of romaine, AND a whole head of lettuce! It was awful. The problem was that it frozen in my fridge. My produce drawers are so packed from my CSA I couldn’t fit the lettuce in it. Which is a big bummer because lettuce season is over for my CSA, we might get a head or two later in the summer. Feeling a little bad, and I thought I should try and get on top of my product and start cooking.

I didn’t scratch the surface of what I got from my CSA (1/2 bag of shelling peas, sugar snap peas, and snow peas combined, a big bag of kale, beets and beet greens, carrots with greens, garlic scapes, summer squash, slicing and pickling cucumber) So here is a quick break down of what I made yesterday:

Image Credit from Kittee’s Blog Cake Maker with her review of Protein Ninja by Terry Hope Romero

EDAMAME & PEA AVOCADO TOAST
I know I didn’t get any avocados or edamame from my CSA, but I did get a bunch of shelling peas. Which is a shame, because I still have some in my freezer from last year o____o How did that happen? I remember taking forever to go through a huge economy sized bag of peas from Wegman’s before touching the hand shelled peas. Oops. So I decided to go all out, double the recipe and use all the peas I got from my CSA (I assume I won’t be getting any next week). I skipped the pumpkin seeds and onion since I didn’t have any but holy moly was this good! I ate it on some Ezekiel Sprouted Bread with thin avocado slices. Perfect. The pumpkin seeds and onion would add even more amazing texture as well. I might have to freeze some of the spread to make it last, but I might be making some yummy sandwiches for lunch with this stuff. Aside from hand shelling, the recipe doesn’t take long at all. If you are using fresh peas, I suggest boiling them right away with the edamame to make sure they are fully cooked.

CARROT TOP PESTO
I got a bunch of carrots with their tops in tact. I never know what to do with them, so I decided to make some pesto to make a savory bread. There is extra, naturally. I modified the recipe from Wholly Goodness, which means I used some sweet basil and garlic scapes in the recipe. In the past I made the mistake of chucking all the greens in the food processor AND THAT IS A BAD IDEA! Take the time to pull off the delicate whispy leaves from the tough stalks. Well worth time.

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SAVORY ZUCCHINI PESTO QUICK BREAD
So I made that pesto JUST for a half baked idea for zucchini bread. I am VERY sick of sweet things… well for the most part. Now that I am not drinking beer and much coffee most drinks other than water are sweet. And to make things worse, most shelf stable snacks are sweet as well. Ugh! So I grabbed a zucchini from last week shredded it and modified this recipe. It turned out really nice, except it probably could of baked just a little longer. Oops. I upped the pesto to a quarter of a cup, and I had some vegan yogurt in the fridge. I might want to see if I can make a super vegan version that uses something other than vegan yogurt. So you might see a recipe on the blog in the future!

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SAVORY MISO TAHINI OAT BALLS
Probably mid-stream in my sugar rant to my husband, I had a very duh moment. I apparently pinned these savory oat balls on my pinterest board awhile ago. It was a big face palm moment. They are quick to make, and doesn’t use a particularly large amount of any ingredient. And I have to say Laci NAILED it. They are super salty, full of umami flavors, and have a hint of sweet that isn’t overwhelming. I think I might try flattening them out to make a bar next time, as the balls tend to be crumbly. Oh and don’t think I am a complete sugar hater. I’ve been eating plenty of ice cream, nice cream, and I have a box of strawberry shortcake cookies at my work.

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HOMEMADE STOCK & BEET CARROT GINGER SOUP
Let’s talk OLD SCHOOL! Dinner was a recipe from The Vegetarian Planet, published in 1997. This was a book that my Mother had, who always had a thing for eating no meat meals, which didn’t go completely unnoticed by her daughters. My older sister Lindsay was vegetarian for a few years (but gave up when living in rural France), and I tried going total vegetarian a few times as kid. Anyways, this soup is very easy to make, just a pound of beets, a pound of carrots, onion, and lots of stock. I had to use up the veggie scraps I’d been saving in my freezer, so made a batch of stock. Well, it was a group effort as my husband filled the pot with water and brought it to a boil while I was grocery shopping. I strained the veggies out later. I strongly recommend making this soup, and just use some vegan sour cream or yogurt.

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Closest Thing to a Wonder Drug? Try Exercise

Why am I not surprised I liked this article? Oh because I later discovered that it was written by Aaron E. Carroll. I seem to pretty much like everything he writes. I think most readers aren’t too surprised by this- exercise is good. He peppers through many studies that show how much it helps us. What I like is that he doesn’t always advocate intensive exercise, which can be good. But sometimes just walking for 30 minutes, is PLENTY. I can’t stress that enough when so many people bum it on the couch all day and say how they aren’t “the exercise type.”

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You’ll Never Guess What this Rum is Made From!

Okay I hate this clickbait title, but I like this idea. Rum is made from Sugar cane right? Well why not sugar from beets? Well, that is what this distillery is doing! I am excited because this makes for a greener rum since it is made in the USA. Plus, there seems to be a big push for “100% sugar cane” on labels, which makes sugar beets less desirable. Plus I am unsure if rum is ever fully vegan since sugar from sugar cane uses non-vegan filters. Let’s cross our fingers that this company has a 100% vegan process!

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: avocado, beet, bright eyed baker, carrot top, edame, miso, oat balls, peas, pesto, produce, recipe roundup, shelling peas, soup, sunday reading, sunday reads, super strength health, tahini, vegetarian planet, washington post, zucchini

4 comments

Sunday Reading 06-21-15 #66

June 21, 2016

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Yes, I know this isn’t Sunday, it’s Tuesday. But most of these articles were about pregnancy which might of seemed fishy if I posted it before my formal announcement. If you missed it- I am 15 weeks pregnant and just hit my 2nd trimester. It is also the reason why I have been blogging much. But my energy levels are back, and I have the time as well, so it all works out.

Last Sunday Reading I mentioned that I’ve been busy but couldn’t actually think of anything I was busy with. Looking back that is a BIG LIE! We have been very busy. Here is just a list of the many many things I’ve been busy with the past month or so

My friend Justine lived with us for about 2 weeks since she started a new job in Philly (she has happily found an apartment to stay in though)
A big summer thunder storm went by and ripped off our storm door so I had to take it down
My nieces had their first ever ballet recital which is a big deal for dancers
Hubs and I painted our bed rooms (colors are featured in my belly shots if you are wondering)
Went into Philly to visit my friend Chrissy to eat at Grindcore House for 3 hours!
Been busy brainstorming with my Mom about sewing quilts and clothing for my new tummy
Planning on redoing our third floor office/workout room to make room for a nursery. I might share details on the blog (mostly info on how to make a cheap desk)
Our CSA started up at the end of May so now every Saturday morning is occupied by picking our food share. Maybe I’ll start up a weekly food plans from it?
We got our first super adult purchase- A NEW FRIDGE!!! Actually Jon cared more about the specs but I have been enjoying the extra space. And we already spilled a bag of curry leaves in the freezer to make it very very dirty

With that being all shared and updated of my busy adult-life, on with links that almost exclusively involve stuff about babies and pregnancy. I think they are important to share even if you aren’t thinking about kids, as they are important social issues.

Why Women, and Doctors, Are Turning Away From The Bubble-Wrap Approach to Pregnancy

I think most people know that you aren’t suppose to drink when pregnant. But depending where you live, seeing a pregnant woman drink a glass of wine might seem not so odd, or it might send irks down your spine. I have mixed feelings. The research shows having a glass once in a while probably won’t do anything to the baby’s development, but most doctors (especially in the USA) will say to just avoid the stuff to be safe. Which might make sense, but pregnant women take socially okay risks all the time. Maybe scooping the cat litter while the husband is gone for a weekend, eating raw vegetables, or even driving the car (there is always the risk of getting hit by another car.) Pregnant women should weight the benefits with the risks, we need to get places so yeah, we will be driving a car. But what about booze? Some women end up binge drinking in the last trimester, which to me is a sign of stress. So wouldn’t it be best to balance it out and have a few drinks to take the edge off rather than binge drink which clearly shows to effect the fetus? But even still, the idea of me drinking a beer while pregnant still rubs me the wrong way. It is so embedded in our culture that I feel weird doing it. Or worse, I would be more afraid of what other people would think of it.

1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage. Why?

I wanted to first tell everyone on the blog when I got pregnant. I didn’t care about the idea of miscarriages. I figured I would be honest if it happened, even if it took a few weeks to be able to emotionally write something. They happen fairly often, though most people wouldn’t know that. I had a girl from my high school wrote about having a still born and the emotional toll. For anyone who doesn’t know the difference is that a miscarriage is defined as the termination of a fetus before week 16-28 (depending on state laws), anytime afterwards would be a still born. The article talks about how little we actually know about them, which can be very frustrating to the women who have repeated miscarriages.
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Why Whole Wheat Is Better Than White

This is a very horrible name for an article (stupid age of click bait titles!) as it never REALLY explains what makes whole wheat healthier than white. But it talks about a very interesting thing- the many different ways that wheat’s glycemic index varies. It kind-of blew my mind, and made me wonder if I just swallowed pasta whole if that would make the glycemic index even lower (which is probably a very very bad idea XD)

The weird history of vitamin D — and what it actually has to do with sun

Super interesting article about vitamin D and the history of it. What I love about learning about the history of vitamins, you learn about all the different foods that get fortified with vitamins that we kind-of assume are natural. Like I never knew that milk is fortified with vitamin D, I just kind-of assumed when I was younger it was just made that way.

The “parenting happiness gap” is real, new research confirms

Another interesting article about kids, parents, and social issues. There is the “parenting happiness gap” where people who don’t have kids are happier than parents. Some countries have this issue and others don’t. Apparently there is clear cut and easy data that shows that the gap can be explained by how much government and work support parents have. I am fairly certain many of the issues about reproductive rights with women revolve around the fear that women wouldn’t want to have children because well, there isn’t much help. No paid leave. Bad vacation time. And lots more. I joke with friends that there is no logical reason to have children since there are so many disadvantages when it comes to money.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: pregnancy, quartz, slate, sunday reading, sunday reads, the atlantic, washington post

4 comments

Sunday Reading 06-05-15 #65

June 5, 2016

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Hey everyone. I would love to say I had a busy week, but it is was mostly spent trying to stay cool or me trying to get over headaches all week. Since the weather has been all over the place this past week, my body just isn’t digging it. Luckily the temperature seems to be mellowing out a little more (keeping between 70 and 80) so I won’t be roasting all day. Though I am not sure if the humidity will be going down this week.

I am sure there was fun and exciting things I was going to share with everyone today, but I am more concerned with trying to get my to-do list done for today. So I will just jump into the links.

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A scientist’s love story with the eccentric and largely unknown peacock spider

This was a pretty interesting story about a man who has been filming and photographing the peacock spider, bringing it forward into popular science. He has even discovered new species, but isn’t being formally paid to do the research, talking about doing what you love.

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Most of us misunderstand metabolism. Here are 9 facts to clear that up.

I think these are great facts to commonly misunderstood concepts about metabolism. Some of which falls under the whole “speed up your metabolism” section that we hear often in blogs and fitness books. I am not going to say these are bad suggestions, like building more muscle, or eating more raw foods, but it isn’t altering your metabolism.

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The FDA just made the most significant changes to the nutrition label in years

I love the idea about listing sugar in two ways- added sugar and natural sugars. I hear so many people who get confused about the idea of sugars, like me explaining to my boss on several occasions that you don’t need sugar for bread to rise since there is natural sugars in the flour for the yeast. I don’t eat too many pre-packaged foods, but it is always something good to be paying attention to.

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Exercise Research is Ignoring Female Athletes

Add this to stats I just don’t get. I feel like women are more likely to fit exercise in their daily routines than men. But I guess when we look at athletic research we think the people who are going to benefit are professional athletes, which makes majority of the population think of men. This is bad.

11 Angriest Cities in America

Okay so this is a fairly click-baity article but I couldn’t help but love it. I just that I am from New Jersey so I have a lot of anger, or that my humor is fueled by irritability. My life has centered around two major cities- New York City and Philadelphia and surprise! Both cities have ranked on this list. I do have to say the “anger” is different from both cities, though I feel like Philadelphia is clearly the worst as it seems almost completely sports based (hello Phillie riots!)

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: metabolism, New York Magazine, peacock spider, quartz, science of us, sunday reading, sunday reads, thrillist, Vox

4 comments

Sunday Reading 05-16-15 #64

May 16, 2016

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Hello everyone! I am a little late for posting my Sunday Reading post, but oh well. I am good at ignoring self made schedules. I’ve slowly gaining some control in my life again. The last two months have felt a little bit like I had been running in slow motion. I would try my hardest to get certain things done but next thing I would know, hours would go by and I didn’t seem to get much done. But I am finally working on some posts that I started drafts of a while ago, and reading tons of books that has been on my to read list for awhile.

Tomorrow is my birthday and this weekend my Mother and Father in Law invited my husband and I over for dinner. I might of specifically requested for certain vegan meals, and my Father in Law made me the pad thai dish from The PPK. It was pretty yummy, and made the perfect amount for 4 people. My Mother in Law surprised me with vegan chocolate cupcakes. Apparently she found out of the recipe from Mayim Bialik‘s appearance on The Rachel Ray Show. The cupcakes were pretty yummy, and what I like about them is that it is easy for non-vegans to make. You can check out the recipe over here. There was some confusion from her end of which tofu to use (which took awhile for me to figure out too) but the frosting still worked out.

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What’s Behind Slovenia’s Love Affair with a Salamander?

I forget where I’ve first heard about the olm, but it is a cave dwelling salamander that has no eyes, and is only found in a cave system in Slovenia. They are really interesting and beautiful looking. So when I saw this article on my news feed I got pretty excited. The New Yorker talks about the cultural investment the Slovenian people have with this salamander, along with their folklore.

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33 Rescued Circus Lions Airlifted from Peru to South Africa

Here is some happy vegan news! A lot of people argue what would happen to all the animals if we adopted a vegan diet. Although it seems unlikely that the world would go vegan overnight (causing an over population of farm animals) some more complicated cases are wild animals bred in captivity. It is nice to see wild animals get closest to living in the wild that they can. It takes time, money, and effort from humans, but I think the results are worth it.

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Are Humans Smarter Than Animals? Honestly Who Knows?

I love this article. I get very frustrated when we talk about animals and intelligence, because it gets complicated. I remember joking about my cat was smarter than my nieces when they were little tiny babies. Yeah humans are suppose to be smart, but my cat has object permanence, does your baby? Joking aside, there are many things that animals do everyday that is amazing. There is even a squid that can change it’s color AND control it’s shadows. We might not be able to comprehend what that would feel like, how much active thought process does a squid go through to control it’s color changing? It is hard for us to think of walking as something we need to learn since we learned it at such a young age, but it is part of our intelligence.

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After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

This article is one that sums up most of the body love movement. I have heard some crazy fat-phobic people say things like “just eat less food,” and hey I understand where some people come from. Weight and health are two things that are deeply embedded in our minds. But one thing is for sure, weight is more complicated than we think. We are finding that weight can be controlled by more than just calories, including epigenetic, gut flora, and much more. We get so set into the mindset that our weight is “our fault” that when I tell some people about these studies they defend their original thoughts on other things. I remember citing a study that said that people from the 80s were thinner with the same amount of exercise and calories than people today. What did I hear? About whole fucking grains. Really? I then asked that person if they ate more whole grains in the 80s than they do today, answer no. So this is a much more high profile study that shows that rapid weight loss might be more complicated than “sucking it up” and having lots of willpower.

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Making an Informed Transition to Veganism

I am a little bad about helping people with nutritional information. Veganism is easy, really, but it does require us to rethink the rules of nutrition. We have so much programed in our minds as kids- x amount of protein (meat), x amount of grains, x amount of dairy, x amount of fruit, etc. But things get really complicated with a plant based diet. This might partly because a lot of these foods merge into the different categories. And I think since long time vegans get so use to this new way of thinking we tend to ignore newbies, who might not know all the basics. I am always stressing that I still taking vitamins, largely vitamin B12, but still pointing out that meat eaters can be low on the vitamin since animals don’t make the vitamin. It’s created by bacteria.

Gena has written a great outline of things to look for in a vegan diet. You might need to think about your protein sources for the first year, but it’ll become second nature. Concerned about calcium? Pay attention and you will eventually learn enough information that you won’t need to think twice about your daily choices.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: New York Magazine, new york times, olm, science of us, sunday reading, sunday reads, the full helping, the new yorker

8 comments

Sunday Reading 05-01-15 #63

May 1, 2016

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Hi everyone! Sorry I’ve been a bit of a bum lately. I have been pretty busy… sort of. It is mostly a case of I haven’t had much a chance to be on the computer, and when I did, I wouldn’t be in the mood. I am much more interested in snuggling with a blanket on the couch, which has really given me lots of reading time. If I had a laptop, I probably would be blogging just as much as I did before. But until the day someone just hands me their laptop, I will be using the one I have in my office.

I’ve fallen behind with my links for reading, so some of these article might seem pretty old, so sorry guys! XD I am rarely on top of these things lol. Well hopefully I will be writing more again this week and will get back into the swing of things.

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Members of the U.S Women’s National Team File Federal Equal Pay Complaint

It is about time this happens. I really enjoyed the recent women’s world cup, but I was also a little sad hearing about how little these women were being paid. When complaining, someone replied with “well these girls won’t have to worry anymore with all their endorsement deals” like that solves the root of the problem. My biggest regret is not being able to support the Women’s Soccer League more since there aren’t any teams nearby.

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What I Learned From Tickling Apes

I have been finding a lot of article lately about animals and how science treat their emotions. I get why scientists are so hesitant to say if animals feel pain, have emotions, and have similar problem solving skills to humans, but it seems equally naive that they wouldn’t have any.

Consumer Reports in the Age of the Amazon Review

I first was introduced to Consumer Reports by my Father in Law. He suscribed to the magazine, and I liked their rating system. They didn’t just go with the “best” they also took in practical things like money into consideration. In fact, a lot of the time the Walmart brand foods often would be ranked the best for the price (for things like ketchup.) I now rarely pick it up since the subscription is a hefty chunk. Instead I learned to use online product reviews, whether it be Amazon, Modcloth, or Target. This article brings up some great points like online reviewers are only reviewing one item. For example the person probably bought one TV, not 12 different ones to compare to each other. And they point out something I wasn’t aware of, which make sense, people being given free products to review on Amazon. The person still can say they live the product, but overall are less likely to take price into consideration.

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Do Insects Have a Consciousness Ego?

Bugs get the short end of vegan stick. I sometimes have a hard time getting the warm and fuzzies for a fly. But it seems science is slowly starting to defend bugs as conscious creatures that deserve a little more respect. Although the article isn’t claiming much, it is an interesting step in the field to assume bugs are running on a little more than 100% automated instinct.

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How the Media Got a Study About Vegetarianism Really, Really Wrong

Another case of bad journalism snowballing out of control. Apparently articles about how adopting a vegetarian diet put you at risk for heart disease and colon cancer. It’s udder crap. How much crap is it? Well apparently the authors of the study had to release a statement saying that wasn’t what they found in their study. To put it simply, the scientists found that societies who had adopted a vegetarian or near vegetarian diet developed a way to produce their own omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. If they then adopt a meat eating diet, their bodies will be flooded with too many fats, and will have health issues. Most writer confused hundreds of years of a vegetarian diet with a few years within ones lifetime. Nor does producing your own omega-3 and omega-6 make you sick, if you stick to a vegetarian diet.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: amazon, consumer reports, motherboard, new york times, npr, opinion, smithsonian magazine, soccer, sunday reading, sunday reads, the atlantic, women's soccer, women's sports

5 comments

Sunday Reading 04-03-15 #62

April 3, 2016

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Hey guys. This week I am all thrown off. Last weekend I went to Ocean City with my husband since we got invited to a friends beach house. We went on Monday and came back Tuesday, for a little mini vacation. Then we went into Brooklyn to visit my sister on Friday night and came home late Saturday night. I have a bunch of cool posts to do about Brooklyn, a little tour guide of things to do in Williamsburg/Bushwick if you will. I went to Ocean City during the off season… so I really don’t have many good vegan tips of places to go there. I don’t know guys, the Jersey Shore isn’t my thing. Maybe I will make a travel guide about the beaches near Fair Haven where I grew up (and where Alexa is now).

It is really windy here. Some of the smaller trees have been uprooted, and the power went out while shopping! It was very weird going shopping at Target and Wegman’s with only the emergency lights on. There were also weird little things that weren’t working. Espresso machines were down, the conveyer belts at the registers weren’t working. And I feel like everyone was in a panic because of the power being out, at least I felt a little bit like there was something severely bad going on. Oddly my power is doing just fine so I can make this post of the top reads for your Sunday.

Jazz singer Nina Simone is shown in London on Dec. 5, 1968, photo. Simone’s deep, raspy, forceful voice made her a unique figure in jazz and later helped define the civil rights movement. (AP Photo)

Nina Simone’s Face

I might be a little late in the game with posting this article, but it is still something good to read. Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a great article about why we should care about the casting choice for Nina Simone. Many people who read about social justice is probably aware of the issue already, but Coates write beautifully and I think explains the situation that is understandable to anyone new the topic.

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Fitness Trackers Reveal the Damaging Pitfalls of the Modern Approach to Self Improvemnt

As someone who loves to track their health stats, I found this article interesting. I use MapMyRun, Ovia, and have downloaded a pedometer app in the past. Then I like to combine them all together in my Apple Health app because I love graphs. But the article points out that you can’t keep topping yourself, and that might drive some people nuts. I don’t want to say FitBit and other fitness trackers are pointless, but we need to be careful about how to we sell them.

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Excessively Candid FoodNetwork.com Recipe Reviews

Am I outing myself as a New Yorker fan? You betcha I am. I found these hilarious, and plausibly real.

Controversial Post: Who Can Clap for That Wrap?

Emileigh from Flashback Summer has really been crushing it lately. Some of you may not know, but I love vintage clothing. I’ve largely stopped blogging about fashion mostly since I haven’t been spending much on new clothes. But I’ve showcased some vintage articles of clothing on the blog (both dresses, vintage hat, and dress). As many may know, vintage clothing has a lot of styles that might be called out today for cultural appropriation- the squaw dress, the tiki bar craze, blackamoor jewelry, and now Emileigh breaks down whether or not is culturally appropriate to wear a wrap. I like how she quotes various people with different ethnicities and background and does some historical research, and urges that if you aren’t doing the research yourself, don’t wear it.

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Arsenic & Old Lace

I rarely make cocktails from Gastronomista, mostly because I am cheap and have a poorly stocked liquor collection. But the photos of the Arsenic & Old Lace is amazing. Naturally I don’t have any of those liquors- and finding creme de violette might be hard but I will keep it in the back of my mind when looking around.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: cocktails, cultural appropriation, flashback summer, gastronomista, nina simone, quartz, sunday reading, sunday reads, ta-nehisi coates, the atlantic, the new yorker, vintage

4 comments

Sunday Reading 03-20-15 #61

March 21, 2016

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Hey guys! It has been weird. I think most everyone has been experiencing some warmer weather… and now snow. Well, it isn’t that big of deal, it snowed a little in the evening, but nothing really stuck except for a few flakes on some cars that were sitting in a shadow. Nothing huge, but I was getting use to not having to bundle up on runs. I don’t mind the cold as much as I hate the time it takes to get all the layers on. But yesterday I drove out to my Grandmother’s for “easter dinner” with the family. I am not a religious person, but still use certain holidays to make my way out to visit family members. I mean I love my Grandma but I hate Long Island, I even wrote a post about it 2 years ago. I made spinach florentine casserole, roasted chickpeas, cauliflower, and olives, and peanut butter blondies for the meal, and everything seemed to be good.

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Anyone using the Dysh app? It is a fun new app where you take a photo of what you are eating, rate it, and post it. I think it can be a fun way to see what vegan food people are ordering at restaurants, though it isn’t an exclusively vegan app. I started to post old dishes I’ve eaten overtime, and Alexa signed up as well. If you want to follow us check us out at ONERAWBITE and MEOWLEXA. I’m vegan, Alexa is pescitarian, so we can help you cut to the chance of what to eat at restaurants (mostly in NJ ^__~).

So what is really rad right now? Well, lots of cool YouTube video, but also PERFUME IS COMING TO NEW YORK CITY! I am excited! I’ve talked about my love of Nakata Yasutaka before (back when we did fashion posts.) Alexa and I went to see Kyayu Pamyu Pamyu in concert and she is a little crazy. But now we can see Perfume… who is a little more mature. You might of seen Perfume before, they are in the iPhone commercial and the beginning of the OK GO’s I Won’t Let You Down (which I recommend watching because it is a great video.) Along with the tour they will be releasing their first full length album in over 3 years!

Anyways I thought I would share my favorite music video by them- Natural ni Koi Shite (Fall in Love Naturally) which was released in 2010. I think it is their most unique video, since most videos is kind-of mostly special effects with singing girls. This one I find to be a bit of a jab at high end shopping culture in Japan. When we think of Japanese fashion you will probably think of Fruits, but there fashion there is pretty basic. And there is a big culture for expensive western brands, particularly the Ginza district which has all the top Western brands that we know of. Pretty much the girls shop and drop, and then reveal they are in an artifical setting, perhaps with an artificial happiness? Maybe I am reading too much into it, but technology and optical illusions is their thing… hell, their new album cover is an optical illusion! I’ve been a fan since Sweet Donuts, so I am excited about that. But truthfully I am excited for FUCKING AWESOME SHOW!

Totally stumbled upon this video. Samantha Bee talking about how if it isn’t Trump, we are still fucked with Cruz. Ugh. Yes, it is a scary time to be an American. And frankly I do get why so many people HATE Hilary Clinton. I prefer Bernie (with like 90% of the 30 year old and youngers in the USA) but I am more concerned about Trump or Cruz, and I do hear a few people say that Hilary is “worse” than them. What? How?! Anyways, I just need to get a few laughs from this dismal situation.

What a video of cocktails AND glassware?! Sign me up. I remember LOVING the idea of having my own adult home bar, probably just to own tons of pretty glasses. Do I need to mention how much I love cocktails? Part of my problem of trying new drinks is figuring out which glass. I love makgeolli but I find drinking it out of a bowl weird. So I finally found my perfect glass- a champagne flute. As a Western drinker I think it makes sense to have it for the light carbonation, and the long flute helps slosh the rice sentiment back up in between drinks.

The Brain Scoop explores what species means. She explains the version you have probably heard in school, but goes into the various ways people in the scientific field define or try to “prove” an animal is their own species. This can be important for understanding animal behaviors better or trying to conserve certain areas and animals. This is something that I’ve read articles about before, but it is nice to have all the information together in one video.

I love hearing good news about younger generations. One thing I want to try and not do as I get older is talk about how the “youths” today are going to shit. I am always hearing my bosses complain that kids don’t get outside enough or don’t know cursive, but they don’t actually know any kids directly that have this to be the case (you know, just hearing it from a customer who’s daughter told them that their grandchild isn’t taking gym *rolls eyes*) This is a quick video reading into some studies that show kids get the same amount of exercise as in the past, do less drugs, drink less, and are in general more awesome people. Yes, there is hope for the planet.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: cocktails, dysh, full frontal, healthcare triage, idea channel, nakata yasutaka, perfume, samantha bee, sunday reading, sunday reads, the brain scoop

1 comment

Sunday Reading 03-13-15 #60

March 13, 2016

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So our computer turned off and wouldn’t turn back on last week. So my husband was extremely stressed by this since we could technically afford a new computer, but it wouldn’t be the best thing for our wallets. Not to mention the computer we currently have is really sweet. Luckily it wasn’t that bad, we just had a bad memory stick and the wonderful Mac Store scanned all our memory to find out which ones were the bad ones. So we have half the RAM… but we still have 16 gigs, and I don’t notice any difference in speed. So I’ve been spending most of the week trying to catch up on blogs and articles that I’ve been wanting to read from earlier.

I am also starting to feel the spring cleaning bug. I am cleaning out my garden of all the stones so we can start planting some flowers. It might take awhile though, we have SO MANY stones in our small garden space. I am also wanting to start painting out bedroom. It was suppose to be the first room we redo along with our powder room. And now we have settled down and probably will have the time to actually start making our house FEEL like ours. And maybe even start to organize our framed art in a manner that makes sense. Most of the stuff is just smacked on random walls, partly because I was trying to wait until we painted the rooms. So maybe there will be pretty pictures of the newly decorated house in the future.

I also was able to hang out with Alexa last Monday and we will be having THREE new vegan restaurants to feature. Two in central Jersey and one from Delaware. And I just found out of a new all vegan restaurant in Collingswood, so I am pumped to try that out sometimes soon with Alexa or my beau. But Alexa started talking about how she is trying hit certain macros and I thought I would try as well. Well, I am never as close to the protein requirements that the one website calculated for me, but it has been getting me thinking about my calorie intake and protein intake. I definitely do not think this is a way of eating I would enjoy continuing, but it is an interesting way to think since I know there are some people trying to hit a large amount of proteins.

Anyways, I’ve been keeping all these articles in the same post draft to share with you guys. I hope you’ll find them as interesting as I did.

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Mermaid Ivory Stirs Controversy Over How Extinct Species are Studied

This is an interesting article talking about how a scientist who could of possibly discovered expanded territory of an extinct species. How? Well he used DNA from a knife handle that was made from mermaid ivory. I found this article really interesting as it talks about a old animal product that I’ve never heard the term for. Mermaid ivory is the tusks and bones of sea mammals like walruses and the like. It is an interesting article about the flaws in this man’s methods.

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Chow Down on a Plastic Eating Fungus

Part art insulation, part science. This is an interesting look at a potential answer to the question of what to do with all the plastic. This fungus breaks down the plastic, but the scientists took it a step further, they make meals from them. The article has two videos but has a link to their website to show some of the special tools they made to eat these fungi eggs.

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Gastropod: The Maple Boom

Gastropod is starting to become my favorite podcast. Yes, I like many others but I love how much research and technical skills go into their podcasts. But remember that review of maple water I did in the past? I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but I wouldn’t help but think there IS a bunch of benefits of maple water over coconut water (mostly economical and environmental). But at the end it made me want to pick up some more for a cocktail! This is a great episode about the all American maple tree with interesting insight for the future of the maple industry.

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In Flint, Mich., Moving The Farmers Market Drew More Poor Shoppers

A great NPR article about how a farmers market moved in Flint. It moved to a lower income area that was closer to a bus stop and surprise, people started to come. I hear a lot of people complain poor people eat garbage, and that is an unfair judgement. I’ve been to low priced markets, and sometimes they just don’t have many fresh foods. This is proof that lower income families are happy to get healthy fresh foods.

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Maybe It’s Time to Take Animal Feelings Seriously

I would say I am very interested in science. In fact sometimes I wonder why I didn’t try and study more biology, then I remember it is because I just didn’t feel like dealing with animal poop. Granted there are lots of questionable way to deal with animals to research them, but this opinion piece is pleading for scientists to start accepting animals have feelings. It seems pretty silly but I am always a little shocked to hear scientists dismiss animal behaviors, saying it is naive to assume animal think like humans. I always think it would be naive to think they are completely void of feelings.

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Women’s products cost more. Here’s how to avoid the “pink tax.”

There is a lot in this article I already knew, but it introduced me to the term “pink tax.” I do get comments from my husband how some of the things I buy are so expensive, which is funny since I don’t think I buy particularly expensive things it is just expensive compared to what he gets. It is a great article that makes you stop and think before you buy something.

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What no one talks about when they extol the benefits of fasting

Love, love, loving this article! If you are half aware of the body love movement or are aware of various eating disorders you might of read a bunch of people who are totally against fasting. And I know where they are coming from, and mostly agree. But there are various studies that show that fasting limiting calorie intake could be good for our health. This article does a great job explaining what fasting is, what type of fasting they are talking about, the short comings of the studies. A nice read for anyone who is interested in dietary health but don’t want all the worthless hype of fasting.

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SNAP Challenge Recap

Gena from The Full Helping had to take the SNAP challenge for her nutrition class. The SNAP challenge is to live off of $40 for a week per person to simulate relying on food stamps. Gena does a great job talking about the challenges other people faced, and talks about how the challenge isn’t accurate. It is very much worth the read and it thoughtfully written.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: gastropod, npr, NY Mag, science of us, smithsonian magazine, sunday reading, sunday reads, the full helping, Vox

2 comments

Sunday Reading 02-21-15 #59

February 21, 2016

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I hope everyone is enjoying themselves! It is unseasonably warm over here and I am loving it. Our windows are open giving the house much needed fresh air. My husband and I replaced our old fluorescent lights that were in the kitchen and replaced it with cool/neutral toned lights. It is so nice and bright now. I have no clue why people keep using warm toned bulbs because the daylight colored bulbs just give a nice fresh breath of air in our house. I think it is now making Jon think about replacing our lights throughout the house, since the last owner had pretty much all the cheapest fixtures up.

Also I want brag just a little about how I was able to get the new Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavors! So far my husband and I tried two of them, tonight we will try the other two and I will try and get a review up. So far my husband says it is his favorite vegan ice cream out there. The previous champ was Trader Joe’s chocolate cherry soy ice cream.

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Mimi no Kaidan / Junji Ito Index

As you might of seen in my book reviews, I am a huge Junji Ito fan. I was such a big fan I couldn’t wait until his newest releases to be translated and bought a copy of Mimi no Kaidan that was in Japanese. I haven’t been able to do anything other than look at the drawings, until now. I found a website that fansubs Junji Ito’s entire work. I am not one to really like reading fan subs other than when there is no legal way to read the story in your native tongue. I for one am just excited to read what I bought so many years ago.

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Expiration Dates on Your Food Mean Nothing

I always gripe when I see people toss food out because their food is past the expiration date. I mean BEFORE even opening it up. In fact in an episode of Dear Hank and John, the question of “I ate boxed powder mac and cheese that is a year past expiration date am I okay?” resulted in two different responses. Hank said yeah it’s fine, John was pretty avid about saying it would be bad. Whether or not John was joking I think it is really wasteful, and this article backs up Hank’s response, it might not taste as great, but it is totally fine.

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Ravi DeRossi Is Expanding Avant Garden and Going Meat-Free at Other Restaurants

This is super exciting to hear someone placing their ethics to their business. Ravi DeRossi has several restaurants in New York City and went vegan. He thought that the demand for vegan food wasn’t enough and went through many years of having his business conflict with his ethics. He finally said enough is enough and is converting all his shops vegan. He is doing it one at a time, so I am excited and would love to try all 15!

Period pain can be “almost as bad as a heart attack.” Why aren’t we researching how to treat it?

This is a great article spotlighting how the medical industry is a little male bias. Many women face painful periods and are often ignored. The scarier truth is that there are some diseases that are linked with period pain and we have no reason why periods are painful for some people but not for others. Periods are pretty taboo to talk about with most people, and especially with men. I have heard stories of guys who didn’t understand why we didn’t just “hold it in,” thinking it is something similar to peeing, and I have personally had a friend who didn’t know that girls had “three holes.” Point is that we need to be more open about this stuff.

Sex is Hard

If you had a crummy Valentines Day, maybe this will cheer you up. At least you don’t have guys stabbing your abdomen because they don’t have time finding your lady parts and you know how to have sex.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: eater, expiration dates, food, junji ito, life hacker, menstruation, pantry, periods, quartz, ravi derossi, scishow, sunday reading, sunday reads