Several Things

I have been so busy lately, I think of things I want to write here, but I never quite make it to the keyboard before I am too tired to string together some coherent thoughts. Here are some of the things I have been thinking about lately:

The 100-Mile Diet

While I was reading about No Impact Man, a blog being written by a man who is undertaking a year-long experiment to radically reduce his family’s impact on the planet, I came across this website advocating a more local diet. While this is a great idea in theory, I just don’t know if I can do it. I am pretty addicted to a wide variety of spices, for instance. And wine. Also, I don’t think I could do enough canning in the summer and fall to make it through the winter with fruits and vegetables, at least at this point in my life. Still, I think it’s a great ideal to strive for. I attempt to go to the farmer’s market for my produce, and one of my favorite restaurants has a garden out back. They also try to buy local as often as they can. It’s nice to know that I can go out to a restaurant and eat local foods. This is one of those topics that I will definitely be thinking about more as time goes on, I can tell.

Burger King and animal welfare

Fast food is not something I usually think about a lot, but I couldn’t help but notice when Burger King announced that they were going to adopt animal welfare standards for the suppliers of their meat. Now, I am sure that this will only affect a small percentage of the animals that are supplied to the fast food industry as a whole, and Burger King in particular, but it is nice to see a big corporation stepping in the right direction on this issue. It also reminds me that, despite the focus on sandwiches with way too much meat (Triple Whoppers?!??!), they are the only major burger chain with a veggie burger.

Meatless Mondays

I have gotten onto a mailing list for Mambo Sprouts, which is some kind of marketing group with an emphasis on health-food store type products. Earlier this month, their newsletter featured a great link to the Meatless Mondays website. This website has lots of interesting meatless recipes, from entrees to snacks and from beans to tofu to all veggies to meat substitutes. The tips for eating meatless on the go look pretty useful, too.

Cooking and menu planning

I still haven’t been doing so well, here. I am taking a training class at work that requires me to stay late one or two nights every week, and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I am cooking tonight though—Coconut Curried Vegetable Stew from Nava Atlas’ Vegetarian Family Cookbook. I hope it tastes as good as it sounds!