Category Archives: Sunday Reads

Sunday Reading 08-16-15 #49

August 16, 2015

Got an old comforter from the basement, and Toulouse is quick to nap on it.

This week has been pretty busy. Lots of cooking and prepping, and I’ve been working longer hours at the frame shop. Then this weekend I thought I would catch up on posts, but I have a busy k.o. punch- my husband’s birthday. We aren’t the type of people to do lots of things for our birthdays. It is pretty simple, choose a dessert and choose a dinner whether it be eating out or a specific meal. Well, then my in-laws thought it was a good weekend to hand off a bunch of Jon’s stuff they’ve been keeping in their basement. It is helpful, but it feels like taking a step back in the moving process. So we have tons of new stuff to figure out what to do with, and I am not very sentimental so I am looking at half this stuff and thinking “my god this needs to be thrown out.” So this should be interesting to see what Jon doesn’t with half this stuff.

The good news for Alexa is that we have been collecting all the “doubles” of things so she might get some freebies when she moves out her house, like an iron, espresso machine, air conditioner, and maybe a pot or two. Oh and wrestling action figures. Jon apparently kept all his old 90s action figures.

Things at the farm are really going. I think this is the time of the year where I get my biggest bang for my buck. I think I remember last you figuring out that I pay something like $27 each week for my share at the farm. It has gone up since then. But the price of some this produce that’s organic is insane. Jeff, one of the farmers, said he had a friend who sold an organic heirloom tomato that was $15 because it was so big and heavy. Wow. I saw that regular tomatillos were $3 a pound, so that means those tomatillos would of cost me $12 in the supermarket alone! I can’t even begin to think how much I would be paying for all the tomatoes!

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1 quart sungold tomatoes
1 pint blackberries
2 large cantaloups
1 spaghetti squash
1 lb red plums
1 lb MacIntosh apples
13 lb yellow peaches
oregano, basil, cilanto, mint
4 lbs tomatillos
5 lbs cherry tomatoes
1 quart ground cherries with husks
1 quart green beans
10.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
2 roma tomatoes
2 heads of lettuce
1 eggplant
1 yellow onion
1 bunch of radishes with greens
2 poblano peppers

What I’m cooking:
Tomato Sauce for future cooking
Tomatillo and Berry Crisp
Freezing peaches for storage
Yogurt, granola, and ground cherry/blackberry bowls
Grilled “Cheese” and Tomato Sandwiches
Side salads with sungold tomatoes and radishes
Jungle Curry with Seitan Curry
Sri Lankan Red Lentil Curry (using the roma tomatoes) from Vegan Eats World
Spaghetti Squash Yakisoba Style

Reading for the Week:

Apparently the old living cat is 26 years old?!

I am sure many of you have heard about the Animas river turning yellow. Wall Street Journal has more details.

I really want to read this comic, but it isn’t actually released yet!

I like this guide on how to order vegan at any restaurant. There is a really great break down of what to look for and what to ask. From my experience working in the food industry, if you are nice, the servers will be nice back. Also, keep in mind accendents happens. It might not be your waiters fault so don’t flip out on them.

Apparently there is a book written about why millennials so foodies. I liked this interview on The Atlantic, but I think there are some points missing. One is yes, millennials have less money, but I think that is why we spend money on food. It is a short term reward that might not cost a lot right now. And another point that I think is missing is that there is a lot of political statements being said about the food we eat, and in some ways a revolt against the system we are forced to get jobs in (aka big corp America)

And this one is for any tattoo junkies- a 2,500 tattooed Siberian princess is found. Still reading the article, but the tattoo design is amazing!

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: animas river, comics, Good Ok Bad, Graphic Novel., it doesn't taste like chicken, new york times, Siberian times, sunday reading, sunday reads, the atlantic, wall street journal

1 comment

Sunday Reading 08-09-15 #48

August 9, 2015

Alexa is going a little cray-cray with the little bub app

Yesterday was a really good day. We woke up early, drove to the farm and picked up our share. We also picked up our parent’s share which meant I took some double shares for the food they normally don’t eat- like ground cherries and tomatillos. So that was pretty nice. We also then drove to the orchard and picked up some (okay a lot) of peaches. We also picked up some shiro plums, but they are SUPER ripe. I was so distracted about them being ripe I didn’t even think to make anything fancy with them until I was trying to find a page about them. Well, it looks like I am up to my neck in ripe fruit. Cantaloupe, blackberries, ground cherries, peaches and plums. Mmm…

Then we ended the night by hanging out with my friend Chrissy. She was house sitting for her sister, who lives in the burbs like us. So we made some burritos, she supplied the drinks, and talked for 5-6 hours. It was really nice considering we don’t hang out with people our age that often (at least when they aren’t related to us)

I think the overall crazy thing about keeping track of what I got from my CSA share is that I am very aware I eat it all. I never would of expected that. It also makes sense, I mean I am slashing out usually $30 from our grocery bills every week from all this produce. But we do eat things that don’t use farm produce, like bagels and oatmeal. So I wonder if I can eat everything up this week again. Though the red onion we got just looks too perfect to use.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
11 tomatoes
1 large spaghetti squash
3 jalapenos
2 green bell peppers
14 beets
1 red onion
1 cantaloupe
1 pint blackberries
1 quarts green beans
1 quart ground cherries w/ husks
2 quarts purple tomatillos
1 quart sungold tomatoes
2 quarts cherry tomatoes
2 eggplants
16 pounds peaches
2 pounds shiro plums

What I’m cooking:
Kung Pao Style Beyond Chicken
Burritos with black beans, brown rice, baked tomatillo tofu, and salsa verde
Veganized spaghetti squash bake
Eggplant “Mac & Cheese”
Spaghetti and homemade cherry tomato sauce
Beet Bistro Burgers aka Quarter Pounder Beet Burgers
Possibly a peach pie or cobbler
Peach Smoothies
Shiro Plum Rye Smash

Reading for the Week:

So I’ve been looking for a fun Ghost Town to check out and found this story of Ong’s Hat. I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE these type of stories, urban legends. Do I believe it? Uh… not really, especially after reading the Wikipedia page about Ong’s Hat.

I tend not to love these “I’m a vegan hear my roar shirts” (should that be made into a shirt?) But I really like this Vegans are Magical Unicorn shirt.

Jezebel teaches us about types of nipples. Puffy winkie nipples represent!

A friend posted this article about a couple who are saving up majority of their income for retirement. I have to say, many things they do we do, and I find the article a nice reminder that we all don’t need so much “stuff.” Granted, they aren’t really “retiring” just saving up to pursue a slower lifestyle.

Speaking of spending money, I recently just bought some air plants for my wedding gift (air plant planters!) They shipped, so I am pumped to get them in the mail!

I love hearing about how different cultures are from each other. I guess it reminds us that we aren’t as globally connected as we like to think, I mean even within small communities age differences even creates cultural gaps. So I found this blog post about raising a baby in Spain really interesting.

Oh resting bitch face…

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: feminism, forbes, new york times, NYT, RBF, Resting Bitch Face, sunday reading

1 comment

Sunday Reading 08-02-15 #47

August 2, 2015

Kiba the 2 kewl Shiba

This week has kept me unexpectedly busy. I guess I am still trying to get into a certain groove with the new house. I remember it taking awhile for me to get use to the old apartment and find things “natural” to do. I’ve also fallen off my workout routine. My foot was a little tender and I though “I’m running too much, I’ll just take it easy before the move.” Then I found I had no time to work out, anyways. Then while moving a dropped a very heavy duty poster roll on my foot and bruised it pretty badly. But I pretty much moved boxes up and down two flights of stairs the next day, and continued moving things and painting, and I even walked 2-3 miles in the city with a very soar foot. It probably would of been fine by now it I took care of it originally. So because of my foot and moving I haven’t worked out in THREE WEEKS! I did a light workout today and man did it suck. I took lots of breaks but I think I feel better overall.

I am now feeling pretty pooped. I went to a cousin’s first birthday party and it was outside. There was a nice pavilion to provide shade and it wasn’t too humid. But I think the heat was getting to me, and I am now ready for a nap. I hope everyone like the reading material this week.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 quart sungold tomatoes
1 quart tomatillos
1 pint blackberries
1 quart green beans
2 heads garlic
1/2 bag swiss chard
3 asian eggplants
5 small tomatoes
18 small beets
2 bell peppers
1 small yellow squash
3 jalapenos
1 small cucumber
2 small onions
1 lb carrots
1 bunch of green onions

What I’m cooking:
Cherry Tomato Cobbler
Black Bean Tempeh and Squash Stir-fry
Spicy Dragon Noodle Salad
Roasted Beets as Lunch Side
Black Bean and Salsa Verde Tacos
Swiss Chard and white beans in a tahini dressing
Tofu Mapo from Vegan Eats World

Reading for the Week:

This kick-ass women is going to be the first female assistant coach in the NFL. Other cool stuff about her? She is the first women with a non-kicking position to play in the Indoor Football League.

Guys, I know that it is sad that Cecil the Lion died, but I have to agree with this article, it is time to stop harassing Walter Palmer. Yeah, he did a horrible thing, but he isn’t only guy who has killed a living thing in a dishonorable way. This should bring everyone attention to a terrible hobby that still exists today. There are better ways to use your rage, like signing a petition making it illegal to transport “trophies” on major airlines. Walter Palmer is a dick, but there are lots of other assholes killing innocent animals.

Apparently there is a pizza chain that will be offering daiya cheese! Sadly all the pizza places that offered daiya we moved further away from (Blackbird Pizzeria and Bricco) so I was excited to see that Mod Pizza will be opening a location 10 minutes away from our house!

These waffle photos make me think of dutch still life oils. o___o Can I buy a print?

This art installation is super cray! I would love to see this in person.

Videos of the week:

I am not sure why I found this video so interesting. Maybe it is because most artists know that blue is the hardest color to dye, which is pretty much the reason why you don’t see it often in ancient paintings or clothing. It is also interesting to read about how reptiles and amphibians gets that green color.

I am going to make a very controversial statement on the health food blogging sphere- I don’t think non-organic food and GMOs make us sick. There I said it! But I think what is being said in this is less about whether organic is better than conventionally grown food, and more about the ideas of “clean” and “dirty” foods. I think it is a great thing to be aware of because it can be really damaging psychologically. I also like to point out that some people were saying “isn’t organic food dirtier?” which is kind-of true. But I think people still lean towards the beautiful pristine specimens in supermarkets. There is a huge difference between the organic carrots I buy in the supermarket (just peel and go!) compared to the carrots from my CSA (wash, peel under running water, rinse again, and go- oh wait shit there is still dirt on them, damn it!). This is why I think the organic movement is so much stronger than the local movement.

Going with this theme of organic and GMOs aren’t bad for your health, I share this video from SciShow. I am glad that they address, what I think, is the big issues of GMO farming. Cross contamination, lawsuits, big corporations, environmental impact. Although I don’t like how Hank Green pulls the “BUT WE HAVE BEEN MANIPULATING PLANTS FOREVER!” argument, really very different from selective breeding and DNA guns. I still avoid GMOs, but it is more for ethics than health.

And last is a pick from both Alexa and I. When I tell people I had friends who dumpster dived they always think it is gross, but it kind-of wasn’t. They were pretty much just picking out crackers and such that were individually wrapped from the back of super markets. Sure they did it because it was cheap (but I think technically illegal) but also because many were aware of how much food is wasted in America. I know I am pretty good about eating and buying what I need. Rarely do I throw out old food. But even still, a lot of food gets wasted in grocery stores or on farms.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: cecil the lion, D news, idea channel, nfl, sci show, scishow, sports, sunday reading, sunday reads, veg news, vegnews, wildlife preservation

2 comments

Sunday Reading 07-27-15 #46

July 27, 2015

Alexa keeps eating awesome vegan foods, this one is from the new Seed to Sprout in Fair Haven.

Hey guys! So I, Jennifer, am kind-of back from my moving hiatus. Alexa has posted her favorite vegans/vegetarians post for inspiration, and helped out with the Sunday Reads from last week. Saturday I posted two weeks worth of photos for my 365 project. But I haven’t had much time for any sort of posts really. In fact this is a day late since I was so busy this weekend finishing up cleaning my old apartment. It took forever to prime the walls, clean the kitchen, bathroom, take out the air conditioner, just tons of little things. And to make it worse, we didn’t pack adequate lunches. We should of really taken a break and grab lunches, but we didn’t. So we had a bad case of the hangries, and there was shouting and crying. (oh wait the crying was because of the pain in my food)

So by 3 o’clock I was starving and dehydrated and stopped by whole foods and guzzled a cacao coconut water, moo shu burrito, and some nori sheets. It was an awesome lunch, especially when all you ate all day was a shake, a builders bar, and a very small apple. By the time I got home and unloaded the car I didn’t want to do anything. It was amazing that I even bother making dinner. (which was TJ orange chicken, green beans, and brown rice, btw) It is weird because I joked with Jon that we’ve been eating like “normal people.” We have been eating fairly simple or from frozen dinners since we have been busy with unpacking. Heck, I’ve been eating SANDWICHES with field roast deli slices, which I really liked the mushroom slices. There has been lots of protein, a grain and a veggie sort of deal going on as well. It is all so weird for me.

Anyways, I still have a big to-do list today. One being handing in my apartment keys! HORRAY! Finally done with my apartment. We stayed WAY too long in that small space. We probably wouldn’t do anything different with our apartment situation. I mean priming sucked, but we did stay in that place for three years. Yes it was dusty, yes it was small, but we probably would of been saving in a bigger newer place for a house for a longer amount of time. I am getting side tracked, here are the reads for the week. They are probably fairly fluffy since I’ve been so busy this week. But hey we all need to take a break sometimes right?

Foods

So I told my Mom to make me this side for my sister’s birthday (it was right after the move, otherwise I would be making the vegan meals) It was really delicious, and I am pretty sure it will be a staple in our house. It is easy to make and very flavorful. We left out the feta, though you could make a vegan feta to put in it.

Now that I am closer to Trader Joes, I might be able to get cheap freeze dried strawberries and make these yummy energy balls.

Only Emily could get away talking about her mensural cycle in a sponsored post. And man, do I want to make this ice cream cake. (too bad I have like 4 different kinds of ice cream in the freezer)

Just found out about “zoats.” Thinking about maybe making a curry zucchini, oat, and red lentil savory breakfast.

Do I dare make this? I know Jon isn’t a big raspberry or cauliflower fan, but damn it, it looks so tasty! *crosses fingers that there is a good raspberry crop this year at my CSA*

If my CSA grows watermelons like they did last year, I am totally going to make this watermelon coconut ice cream.

I love this article going in depth about how carrot tops are not toxic. I never knew about it until I googled up way to use carrot greens (I mean they have to leave them there if they are edible right?) I’ve made carrot top pesto and carrot top tabbouleh with good results. So give it a try guys!

I love rice paper rolls. My husband does not. But baking them? Might be a great compromise! I saw the idea from Little Vegan Bear with the Baked Paper Rolls with Cashew Dipping Sauce. Probably nothing groundbreaking and probably has been done all over the place, but it is NEW TO ME!

Bacon seaweed? Sounds perfect for me! I never liked the fattiness of bacon, but seaweed. I’m down with that.

Not Foods- Sort of

So we moved and our kitchen is a SUPER upgrade from the last, but realistically it is still small and not full of nice equipment. They are older and lower grade, not total bottom line things. Anyways, this article from the Kitchn was nice, as it makes me appreciate all I did in my tiny (and still small kitchen) Homemade Bagels? No problem. Making cookies each week, why not? Rarely did the kitchen size stop me from making whatever I wanted.

Found this website and is making me rethink of all the landmarks near me. I should check out more of these places and appreciate them. Some I can’t believe I missed so many campy and weird places.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: Garden Betty, kin folk, Little Vegan Bear, Roadside Attractions, sunday reading, sunday reads, super strength health, The Fitnessista, the kitchn, This Rawsome Vegan, this rawsome vegan life

2 comments

Sunday Reading 07-19-15 #45

July 20, 2015

Jen’s Sunday Unpacking Tunez: Stryper

Hey everyone! Jen and her husband moved from their apartment into their new house! It’s adorable and I am beyond excited for them. This week for the Sunday reads Jen posted what she could while she still had internet, and there were a few things I had wanted to share as well, hope you all like! – Alexa

Food:

OMG, I think I died a little when I saw that someone made an adult vegan choco taco. This was the ice cream dessert for kings (at least when you were a kid)

I’ve never been fussy about my vegan butters. I use it so little, I never really used real butter that much. But this recipe for vegan butter is making me wonder if I should try it out.

Here is a brief history of the vanilla bean.

Fashion/Visuals:

So Kate from Scathingly Brilliant started to scan her old copies of Delia’s Catalogues. I thought why would anyone possibly need that?! But it is a great reflection of how much I have changed. First I never noticed how “boyish” and boxy all the styles were. I remember them being very “adult” and therefore sexy, for some reason. I also remember how bold the clothing was, and now I am like “I would wear that and not even think twice about it. EVEN the dress with the open field photo, which I remember wanting SOO bad when I was little but was afraid of how many people would STARE at me. I’ve definitely changed over the years, and am so much more confident about myself. I liked my high school (well, enough anyways) but I do think since it was so small the need to blend or disappear completely was strong. Sure I rocked a Daria look (no seriously, it was all about knee high boots, plaid skirts, and quirky shirts) but there was a line that shouldn’t be crossed. I already knew I was different, and I couldn’t wear my vintage clothing unless it was halloween, or look too goth or something. So much has changed. BTW I am pretty sure my sister or I had these dyed shirts.

I love this cute little travel video on The Cat You and Us. I want to do some videos for YouTube about veganism and traveling. But I will have to wait until I get a new computer so I can process the video. Ugh. But this video gave me hope to keep the dream.

This outfit gave me chills. Perfect hair-dress combo.

Sports

Alexa here! It’s been a really exciting week for women’s sports, and I want to talk about it some more! I unfortunately did not get to watch the Women’s World Cup, but I do think it’s fantastic that the whole event has been getting a lot of press and opening up doorways for other women’s athletics to get more notoriety.

I really enjoyed this article about how women need to start supporting women’s sports. It’s something I’ve noticed but never really thought about until now. I’ve only recently gotten into sports recently, and it’s mostly been wrestling or UFC but I have grown to love the women’s divisions more than the men’s in some cases. Which leads me into my next link…

Why I’m Done Defending Women’s Sports. I legitimately love watching women’s wrestling. People who don’t already love wrestling don’t seem to understand ( I could say that about wrestling itself but when I mention that all my favorites are ladies I get a weird look). I too, am done with defending them, because they shouldn’t need it.

And finally…

3 of the top women of WWE’s developmental division (NXT) debuted on RAW last Monday. The Divas division has been stale recently and I’m really hoping that this is the start of something great. While I personally think the division is full of talent the writing for the Monday night show has not done any favors for the women. Story lines are started and dropped for no reason, characters aren’t cohesive, and they don’t get a lot of time devoted to their matches. NXT is a very well written show with good character development and great athletes, and while I think it’s great to add new blood to the Divas locker room I can only hope the influence reaches high up to whoever gets a say as to how everything shakes out. I have hope…but it’s not like WWE hasn’t flopped in the department before. Only time will tell.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, delia's, fork and beans, morsels and moonshine, npr, Professional Wrestling, Sasha Banks, scathingly brilliant, sports, sunday reading, sunday reads, The Cat You and Us, the dainty squid, women's sports, Wrestling, WWE

Sunday Reading 07-10-15 #44

July 12, 2015

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Alexa is crushing it— though I am not sure what she is doing.

Hello everyone. My apartment is chaos. Packing has begun in our apartment, and there isn’t much room for boxes. It is like a puzzle of moving some boxes to make room for more boxes, then emptying boxes, partially filling others, and then emptying it out again because space is such an issue. Last night my husband and I sat down, ate dinner, watched some TV, and I got up and had a flash of deja vu from when we first moved in. I think the only thing worse than boxing stuff is dealing with my very delicate husband. I haven’t moved often when I was younger, but I lived in a very small house. In fact the house we are buying is BIGGER than the house I grew up in. Okay, there are less rooms, and no yard, but square foot by square foot it is larger. My husband has already thrown his hands up in the air and declared the apartments officially “too full” for anymore boxes. And I have to keep calm and try and make it manageable for him while still getting the job done.

I am also so scared of boxing the wrong things too early. Like we broke down our hutch that we holding booze, stemware, kitchen appliances, and office/art supplies. So we have a bunch of art and office supplies in the living room, and I keep looking at scissors thinking “I know we need these… but I am not sure why I would need it for the move” It stumped me all day what I would need the scissors for and then sudden it hit me this morning, OPENING BOXED WHEN WE MOVE! Duh! Everything in the kitchen I am stumped about which we should pack up, or what we will need the day of closing. Shit, if I could I would just have someone pack my stuff and I would happily just move boxes all day. The heavy lifting is the EASY part.

Well, with all the moving I might not be on that much this week. I already moved my photo post from Saturday to Monday (expect that tomorrow) since we were just so busy. This will be an unpleasant week. Mostly with mediocre food as we plan on just trying to get things cleaned out. Though we will have lots of beer seeing as we keep picking up more beer boxes to pack books (they are the perfect size, just big enough to hold a lot, but not too big to be unbearable heavy). So I will try and enjoy my sweaty days and drunken nights.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
2 quart of green beans
1 large summer squash
A few small kohlrabi
Garlic Scapes
2 small spring onions
3 asian eggplants
1 small bunch of carrots and greens
1 small bunch of collard greens
1 almost quart of blackberries (oops we were only suppose to have 1/2 pint)

What I’m cooking:
Nappa Cabbage Stir-fry (yeah I still have nappa cabbage from the end of may)
Collards Greens & Black Beans with a tahini dressing
Kohlrabi, squash, pea, and pasta casserole
Green Bean & Eggplant Stir-fry
Carrot greens in shakes (btw this actually tastes bad! Don’t do it!)
Handfuls of blackberries for dessert- maybe served over strawberry Daiya Cheesecake

Food:
I’m always trying to brainstorm ways to use my CSA produce in new ways. I get in the habit of making the same thing over and over again (like that eggplant and green bean stir-fry I linked, it’s good btw). One such dish are cherry tomatoes. I toss them in a salad, and that’s yummy but can be boring. So I was happy to see this Polenta Tart with Garlicky White Bean Spread. *drooling*

My old roommate from college is FINALLY getting married. I am so happy for them, as we were all (bride and groom, me and hubby) friends in college. So I was looking at the town near the reception and found this awesome vegan restaurant called Glory Doughnuts. Now I am not sure which I am more excited about- the wedding or the food?

Important Reads:
Apparently airplanes can use farm waste and animal fats to power engines. Although I am not loving the idea of using animal by-products, it is interesting to hear that planes are trying to use more environmentally friendly ways for fuel.

A short article about Killer Whales or Orcas that challenges what SeaWorld claims about orcas. Basically spotlighting an 103 year old orca grandmother.

I’ve been following the US soccer team in the Women’s World Cup, and it has been very exciting. Apparently the game was the most watched soccer game in the United States to date. Which brings up an issue to the world, why aren’t equal pay in sports a feminist issue?

There is a huge stigma with miscarriages and stillborns. I’ve linked this article by NPR about the issue before. But I bring it up again because I’ve read a moving blog post by author Katie Coyle. I think we need to talk about all the awkward parts of miscarriages and still borns because it is currently a secret club. Sure things have gotten better over the years. I have slowly been learning more about my Uncle Timmy. He was a still born. My Nanna and Pappy have some regrets. My Pappy said he wished he took a photo of him, my Nanna was never allowed to see or hold the baby. They were young, going through their first birth so I am sure it was especially traumatizing. With that said, I’ve gone through a miscarriage, and I am trying to be more open about it. My experience has been VERY different from Katie and grandparents, and maybe I will write about it on the blog in the future.

Videos:

So several weeks, maybe even months ago, Alexa sent me this video and I was like “I’m at work, I’ll check it out later” SO after a few weeks I checked it out. This makes me so happy. Side note I loved this interview with her as well. Oddly, what she was going for works on an international level. Mindless animal talks that makes people happy.

How have I not seen this video before? Although cat park is also pretty good too.

If you are like me, the economy is confusing. No matter how many times people explain it I am left a big “huh?!” I mean I know how to deal with my money responsibly but I have no idea how it fits in the larger economy. Point is that John Green explains the whole Greece issue pretty well and everyone should watch it to know what is going on.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: Amy Schumer, choosing raw, glory doughnuts, greece, John Green, miscarriage, new york times, still born, sunday reading, sunday reads, the atlantic, the dodo, vlogbrothers

Sunday Reading 07-05-15 #43

July 5, 2015

Alexa meets her dream man- Daniel Bryan <3

Hey guys, I had a HUGE scare this weekend. So on Friday night my husband and I were talking about what we were planning on doing since my computer is 8 years old, and it isn’t fast enough to process up to date browsers. To put in perspective, to have chrome and firefox open at the same time, it uses up HALF of our processing speed. Ouch. That is how my husband and I function, I use Chrome, he uses Firefox. So after coming up with a replacement plan, the computer crashes the next day. UGH! I freaked out, shouted, then came up with an emergency plan, then magically the computer started working again. I backed our harddrive up and I am just waiting for our computer to crash again, you know at some point. Oh and when the computer WASN’T working I managed to spill hot coffee on me, freak out if the mac store would be open on the 4th of July (it is BTW), cut my thumb badly, and almost hit a deer. It was a great morning. DX

But I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July (or Canada day, or good weekend) I got to see two fireworks, one from our apartment window on the 3rd and the other in person. There are so many places doing fireworks within a 2 mile radius from our apartment, hell you could even hear the fireworks going off in the next town WHILE watching the fireworks.

We are also going to watch the Women’s World Cup Game because USA is awesome. If you need a little refresher before watching the game, here is a little preview of the game. Honestly, I don’t know if it will be nearly satisfying as it was to watch the US beat Germany. I love seeing upsets. But really how did Sausage miss that kick?! Well, I am glad they got eliminated since it was so hard to hear the announcers say sausage so many times. Side note- google WANTED me to add sausage at the end of the search “Célia Šašić.” I betcha she HATES sausages.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
2 quart of green beans
A handful of snow peas
buttload of sweet basil & parsley
1 large yellow squash
A few beets with greens
A few radishes with greens
1 small bunch of carrots with greens
1 small bunch of collard greens
garlic scapes

What I’m cooking:
Snow Pea + Nappa Cabbage Stir-fry
Buffalo Hummus Wraps with lettuce cucumber and radishes
Carrot Top + Parsley Tabbouleh
Summer Garden Pasta (for company BBQ)

History:

My friend who is an art history buff (and has a masters in it) found this interesting article that has proof of same sex marriage in 100 AD! Okay so it isn’t quite the same being that they only have males and that can marry each other and it seems less about love and more about legally joining bank accounts. But still very interesting regardless.

I found this article about the history of the tampon really interesting. I think we should all be a little open about periods and all the embarrassing stuff. I was so engrossed by the article that by the end of it I felt like I should be watching lifetime and eating some yogurt.

Food:

Bryant Terry has contributed some recipes to the Kitchn, and I am drooling! I seriously need to pick up his cookbooks. It is past the 4th of July but maybe some other day for a cookout.

These baked cauliflower in a manchurian gravy looks amazing. Just enough crunchy to match the tender cauliflower and flavorful sauce. Mmmm..

These banana nut muffins are probably the best gluten-free muffin I’ve ever made. They are slightly gritty (a little much flax egg) but still super yummy. Totally recommend making these.

I was never a chicken and waffles fan, but these would want me to give it a second chance.

Franklin Fountain is doing a dairy free BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM! BRB I’m just going to run into Philly to get a cone. Alton Brown also named them as one of his top ten restaurants in the US! Wow.

Think Pieces:

I love Raechel’s Mindfulness Mondays. I like her newest post about leaving things better condition than when you found them. I personally find this mindset relaxing, taking care of what you own. And she goes even further and talks about leaving your friends and family in a better mindset

So my husband and I started to watch the women’s world cup (yes! tonight USA vs Japan!) and it got me thinking, why don’t we watch more women’s soccer? I know the WNBA is fairly popular, and I feel like soccer is just as interesting with women as it is with men. I got even more confused when I read this article about why the USA always has a solid female soccer team. It is a really interesting read, but it is a shame there isn’t more recognition for the female soccer leagues overall.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: Fannetastic Food, five thirty eight, franklin fountain, io9, oh my veggies, olives for dinner, rebel grrl kitchen, sunday reading, sunday reads, super strength health, the atlantic, the kitchn

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Sunday Reading 06-28-15 #42

June 28, 2015

My goodness this has been a super busy week. Monday I was so annoyed at my apartment that I had to get out, so I went into Philadelphia and walked around. So I figured Tuesday afterwork would be when I make a post. Midway through a HUGE storm came in and I had to shut the computer off since the lights kept going out. Then the next day I found out that the storm was super awful. There were tornado warnings, heck there WAS a tornado. Apparently my husband drove home from work during the height of the storm, which wasn’t cool. The next morning my husband finds out his work didn’t have power, I find out my gym class was canceled because of power outages, and so I called my work, which luckily had power.

Anyways, my husband ~~hogged~~ needed the computer for his work the next two days since it took so long to get the power back up. So I couldn’t work on the site. I also had my best friend who is currently living in Portland come to visit so we spent a day in Philly. Which was pretty cool. Then the next day I went out to dinner with my Mom, oh and got to watch the USA play against China. So I am PUMPED for the Germany vs US game, but I’m a little scared. It will be an intense game.

Anyways, I’m pooped today. I ran 5.3 miles and thought “Yeah today would be another great day to walk a lot in Philadelphia.” So I proceeded to walk 4 more miles in Philly with my husband. We originally were going to see the tall ships and the rubber ducky but the lines were crazy. And decided that it wasn’t going to be fun in the end. Oh well. Here are reads we picked this week and my list of produce:

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1 quart of green beans
1/3 bag snow and snap peas
buttload of lemon & purple basil
nappa cabbage
1/2 bag bok choy
scallions
1 large kohlrabi
1 bunch beets + greens
2 large summer squash

What I’m cooking:
Black Bean Tempeh + Snow Pea + Nappa Cabbage Stir-fry
Bok choy + Tofu Stir-fry with vermicelli noodles
Kohlrabi + Red Lentil Curry
Purple Basil Ice Cream
Pickled Peas in a lemon and basil brine (recipe will be posted)
Chili with squash
Lentil Burgers with a side of green beans

Fun:

This was an interesting article about the richest witches in Romania. The photos are just simply an interesting look into a world that virtually unknown in the US.

We all know that technically tomatoes are fruit, but did you know blackberries aren’t berries? My mind got blown away from this SciShow video.

These photos of the Mermaid parade really put a smile on my face.

This tea mix sounds super tasty for the summer. If only my fridge was packed with greens.

Kaylah managed to find so many animals in the desert. How did I mess that up when I would visit my parents in Utah?!

I am excited that they are reopening the pop-up park near the art museum! That means one night will be beer after the art museum!

Political:

Emily from Bite Size Vegan interviews a man who is vegan and in the military. It is pretty interesting and brings up and important issue about how the military can support vegans better.

Ted wrote a really interesting post about a local restaurant, but it isn’t vegan. In fact it might make a vegan’s stomach turn, or maybe not at all. What the difference between cooking pig’s head and a pig’s belly? But then he takes a big turn and starts talking about illegal immigration, and I think brings up lots of great points. It is a great story that everyone should read, skip the first few paragraphs if you don’t want to read about stewing meats.

Living in an apartment in Philadelphia we had mice and cockroaches. The mice didn’t bother me as much as the cockroaches and house centipedes (I don’t know small things that go fast, mice are just big enough to not bother me.) Traps had been set, and I feel a little bad about it. Which is why I loved this article reflecting on all the housemates the author had over the years.

I loved this post about a guy who tries to eat all “women food” for a month. Which I like since I’ve had some guys who refused to eat something because it was targeted for women.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: 101 cookbooks, bite size vegan, huffington post, Modern Girl Blitz, new york times, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, scishow, sunday reading, sunday reads, ted nghiem, the dainty squid, vice

Sunday Reading: 06-21-15 #41

June 21, 2015

Who is this moody hawt babe? It’s Alexa enjoying her friends wedding. Lately Alexa has been super busy helping with the planning as she is part of the wedding party. And I know from my wedding, if Alexa is part of the party, she helps out a buttload. I am sure her friend Tara got a kick ass wedding, and got tons of help from this lovely lady.

Has anyone been watching the women’s world cup? Whenever they have their games aired on TV my husband and I watch, even when it is in spanish. Thank goodness for Telemundo. I kind-of want to watch it with my nieces since one of them is playing soccer right now. But I am also aware she is just going into kindergarden, so you know, she only kind-of interested in soccer.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
5 cucumbers
1/2 bag shelling peas
1 quart strawberries (last of the summer)
1 bunch of beets & greens
1 bunch of collard greens
1 bunch purple kale
2 heads of lettuce
1 head nappa cabbage
1 head spring cabbage
4 small squash
garlic scapes

What I’m cooking:
Pickles (some kombucha pickles, other brined)
Shelled Peas and went straight into the freezer
Banana Ice Cream with Strawberries
Beets Chips (beet greens for smoothies)
Buffalo Collards & Chickpeas (will be on the blog Monday!)
Kale, black beans, and rice with a tahini dressing
Chickpea salad wraps stuffed with kohlrabi (last week) and lettuce
Stir-fry with nappa cabbage and kohlrabi (last week)

Food:

1) I am usually not into cutesy food recipes and 2) these are totally not vegan, BUT I find these cute bacon shortbread cookies a great idea for vegans baking for omni-dads. I try not to buy non-vegan products as gifts for people, but my Dad is uh… stubborn about his meats. But he sure love sweets. I would love to try making these vegan for maybe his birthday?

These lentil and roasted cherry tomato dumplings are making me drool on my keyboard. I hope the tomatoes are strong this year from the farm.

I would LOVE to try out this new Vietnamese restaurant Same Same. Hopefully they mean vegan when they write vegetarian.

Fashion:

If I lived in Philly I would buy this dress in a heartbeat for night biking!

This outfit.

Need more cats in your wardrobe? Here is a great tutorial on how to make cat socks.

Other:

I love how Lacy writes, it is to the point and has a lot of meaning. Her recent post talks about “eating clean” and hits so many topics on the nail. I love eating well, I like eating things that make me feel good. But I don’t like some of the culture as it gets over analytical and therefore damaging. When I talk to people there is a lot of confusion of what is healthy and what isn’t, and a lot of it have to do with “clean eating” concepts.

I think is honestly the best Daily Show episode ever recorded.

Talking about the Daily Show, there is an interesting article asking where is the conservative Jon Stewart?

Find all the sheep on google maps!

National geographic has a great article talking about the structure of a dolphin’s brain. Really interesting for all those animal nerds out there.

And here it is, your moment of zen.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: 101 cookbooks, advanced style, crystal meth, crystal pepsi, mental floss, national geographic, nora finds, sheep, sprinkle bakes, sunday reading, sunday reads, super strength health, ted nghiem, the atlantic, the daily show, the pineneedle collective, vespertine

Sunday Reading 06-14-15 #40

June 14, 2015

This has been a crazy busy week. Alexa has been up to her neck in bridesmaids duties. And I have been in one of those so busy but I don’t know why sort of weeks. Well, truthfully I think a lot of my “business” is simply working longer hours. Suddenly there is a surge in frame jobs coming in, which is great. One cool thing that come in were Hardy Boys original paintings. They were from the books rereleases from the 90s. We got the painting from Sky Sabotage and The Voodoo Plot. The customer says he has a bunch of paintings he bought and never framed, so that is something I am looking forward to at work.

I think since I’ve been so busy I think I picked out more fun reads and such for the blog. I hope it cheers you guys up.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch radishes with greens
1 large kolhrabi with greens
2 small summer squash
1 bunch garlic scapes
3/4 bag of mixed greens (spinach, lettuce, arugala)
2 quarts strawberries
1 quart shelling peas
1 pint snow peas

What I’m cooking:
Buffalo Collard Greens
Kimchi Tofu Salad Sandwichs with Radish greens & slices
Jap Chae with snow peas & kolhrabi
Tempeh Helper with Peas
Lunch Wraps with hummus and mixed greens
Acai Bowls topped with Strawberries & Blueberries
Very Berry Chocolate Chip Cobbler

Recipes:

I am thinking about jackfruit a lot lately, and this jackfruit sandwich with tahini slaw looks bitchin.

This looks so yummy, and I am not the type of person who particularly likes making their own nut butters.

Happy Corner:

These chalkboard drawings are a lovely little slice of Americana.

I need to get that “Life…uh…finds a way” brooch.

Eat Your Kimchi really cheered me up with their new pantyhose challenge game.

Kaylah captures some great photos from a party supply rental warehouse. It really is haunting and a great visual of the worthlessness of our material crap.

Veganism:

I love when I find articles defending the almond industry. Yes they suck up lots of water, but cows use lots more from the food they eat.

This is an old article but a good one, 5 reasons for why animal activism is a feminist issue.

Ever hear people say veganism is white? I never fully thought that. Working at Animo I remember there being a few black vegan customers, which made me wonder why aren’t there more black vegans in the media? Well, there is a great post with 100 Black Vegans, helping bring some of these people out and in the public. I am surprised how many of the people are on the list have restaurants! So many I now would love to check out in a road trip.

Posted by Jennifer in Sunday Reads Tags: black vegans, eat your kimchi, everyday feminism, Fragrant Vanilla Cake, jurassic park, kate gabrielle, mental floss, oh my veggies, Sundary Reading, sunday reads, the dainty squid

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