Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

All around the town

The wheels on our bikes completed lots of rounds over the weekend.  After much debate (Will we get there in time?  Is it too windy?), we opted to bike to the veggie potluck on Friday night.  As soon as we set out, I knew we had made a great decision — gorgeous early November night, good route with relatively little traffic . . . . Our contribution was nestled snugly in the milk crate on my hubby’s bike.

We dined on delicious food with “A Very Veggie Thanksgiving” theme.  I tasted my first ever Tofurky (a couple of years ago,  I made my own version out of tofu) and a Quorn roast.  We usually avoid fake meats (AKA [at least in my head] “feat”) in favor of less-processed sources of protein, like beans and nuts, but they are fun on occasion.

Sunday, I visited Cafe Ventana for the first time.  The cafe gives every biker a free beignet, served hot out of the fryer.  They reminded me of funnel cake, which I haven’t had in forever.  I only had a few bites before I hit my quota of fried for the day, but it was tasty!

Dirty coal

Let’s call it what it is, people.  Coal companies are now marketing to children.  You can read about it by clicking here.  Disgusting, but not terribly surprising.

If you are like me, you might think that a symposium titled “America’s Energy Future” would be about sources of renewable energy, like wind and solar . . . and you would be wrong.   Instead, Washington University in St. Louis recently hosted a symposium by that name that focused on coal.  My blood pressure shot through the roof when I initially read about the symposium.  I wanted to attend and speak my mind, but I was busy breathing second-hand smoke that day.  (Thank you, St. Louis City Uncivil Court House.)

I was thrilled to discover a grassroots student movement opposing the cozy relationship between the university and coal industry execs.  They organized a flash mob demonstration during the reception following the symposium, which you can read about here.  Love it!

 

Squashed

In our quest to extend our local diet into winter, we purchased some winter squash from a farmer friend.  Our purchase included two of these big beauties*:

Musque de Provence
Musque de Provence Squash

On Tuesday night, I brought one up from our basement storage, poked a few holes in it, and stuck it in the oven.  The roasting took longer than I expected, but when it was finally tender to the touch, I pulled it out and let it cool.  I cut it in half, and was greeted with amazingly bright orange flesh — so rich and vibrant!

In addition to being gorgeous and photogenic, the Musque de Provence is delicious.  We will be bringing some to our Good Eats vegetarian potluck tonight.

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*Photo courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange, “a non-profit, member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage,” based in none other than the great state of Iowa.

Fall back

By now, you should all have set your clocks back an hour, seeing as Daylight Saving Time officially ended on Sunday, which was four days ago.  Or maybe you somehow missed that occurrence and are reading this thinking, “OH! So that’s why I was ridiculously early to all of my meetings this week!”

Anyway, we had not driven anywhere since before our trip to Chicago.  Due to an unusual situation, I drove this morning (no, pigs are not flying, at least not yet), and as I pulled away from the curb, I noticed that it was 8:30am instead of 7:30am.  After bringing the car up-to-date on the time change, I filled up with gas for the first time in I don’t know how long.

I found the drive to be less horrid than I expected, although, as further incentive to ride my bike, the trunk seems to be leaking and has not aired out or dried completely, so the car has a special aroma that I would describe as Rotten Milk.  Somehow, I don’t see that being the next new scent trend in car air fresheners. 

 

Not made for TV

A couple of weeks ago, we attended the monthly St. Louis Greendrinks gathering.  Some representatives from Repower America were also in attendance, recording individual statements of support for action on clean energy and climate for their Repower Wall, a digital video collection of thousands of Americans voicing their support.

We signed up to participate, and the Repower team recorded our statements on the spot.  Yesterday, I discovered that our vidoes are now on the Repower site, as well as on YouTube.  I was going to post a link to my video here, but for some reason the audio cut out after 10 seconds in my recording.  Also, it is not a very flattering depiction of yours truly.  Apparently, when I step in front of a video camera, I develop a strange eye condition wherein I blink, but only with my left eye.  Very weird.  If you want to witness the strangeness, you will have to hunt it down for yourself.  After witnessing this, I’ll stick with blogging.