Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

International flavors, locally

In case I failed to make it clear already, my husband and I really like to cook (and eat).  We spend a significant amount of our time in the kitchen.  When we are not cooking or eating, we are often thinking about what we will be cooking or eating next.  Some people make fun of me for this.  Here are some recent creations, including two experiments: Ethiopian and sushi.

  • Ethiopian vegetable dish with potatoes*, carrots*, green beans*, and onions**.  (Served on homemade injera, which is a work in progress.  My first attempt was in the “not edible” category, which, fortunately, is a rare occurrence.)
  • Baba ghanoush, a delicious Middle Eastern eggplant** dish, that was super easy to make
  • Green beans*, black beans**, and broccoli** in peanut sauce
  • Sushi with carrots*, green beans*, and avocado
  • Curry with sweet potatoes**, green beans*, potatoes*, yellow squash**, and eggplant**
  • Soba noodles with purple cabbage*, sweet potatoes**, green pepper*, broccoli**, and yellow squash**

* Food we grew.

** Food grown locally that we purchased from the farmer’s market or farmer.

Fall maintenance

Most people are aware that an oil change every “3 months or 3,000 miles” is overkill for today’s cars.  A quick glance in your owner’s manual will most likely reveal the manufacturer’s recommendation of every 5,000 miles or so.  We made the executive decision that if the mileage to an oil change could be extended, the time could be extended as well, to every 6 months.  (There are sources that back me up on this.)

When six months rolled around, we had not even hit 3,000 miles, much less 5,000 miles, so we let things slide.  Monday night, still under the 3,000 mile mark, but past the 6 month mark, we dropped the car off at the shop and jogged home.

But bikes need maintenance, too!  (Free tune-ups for the life of the bike are a major advantage of purchasing a brand new bike from a local bike shop.  This weighed heavily in my new vs. used debate.)  We managed to convince our bike shop, that, no, we cannot drop the bikes off and leave them there for A WEEK, we ride these bikes to work every day and is there any way you can get them done in a day or evening if we schedule it ahead of time?  Pretty please with a bike helmet on top?

Now both the bikes and the car are ready to roll.  We plan to do more rolling on the bikes than in the car in this beautiful fall weather!

At first it was thin and wispy . . .

On Wednesday, I rode to work wearing real gloves, not my fingerless biking gloves. The morning was just a bit nippy. As I topped the hill approaching the park, a foggy scene greeted me. No fog anywhere else, but the park was covered in it. I’m sure my husband would be more than happy to give you a detailed scientific explanation for this, with lots of details. Did I mention it would include science and details?

Lacking his scientific expertise, I debated whether or not to ride into the fog. Would I enter some strange alternate reality? Was it just harmless fog, or was it toxic, the result of an inversion, like in London in 1952? How was I to know? Throwing caution to the wind (or perhaps to the fog), I plunged into the abyss. I emerged on the other side of the park, with no ill effects, feeling warm enough to switch back to the bike gloves and unzip my jacket.

The transition was a bit abrupt, one week I’m biking in shorts, the next I’ve switched to capri exercise pants, but this fall weather makes for perfect biking.  I don’t mind the slightly chilly mornings, and the afternoons are glorious.  Welcome, autumn!

Stop and stare

I have run out of fingers to count the number of awkward stop sign encounters (ASSEs) I have endured in the past week.  An ASSE occurs when I am approaching a 4-way stop, and a driver on the intersecting street has already come to a stop.  Clearly, he/she has the right-of-way, since I am still approaching.

Instead of continuing through the intersection, as would be appropriate and normal, the driver is overcome by great confusion: Is that an alien life form approaching?  What is that crazy, futuristic transportation device with two wheels and pedals?  I have never seen such a thing!  What should I do???  I think I will just sit here and watch it approach, thereby completely confusing the issue of who goes next.

Do you have affluenza?

Read Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic* and find out.  This book contains some pretty amazing and sobering statistics and stories that call our priorities into question:

“. . . we have more than twice as many shopping centers as high schools.”

I will not go into too many details about the book here, because I don’t want to give anything away.  I like to think I have, at worst, a very mild case of affluenza.  Even so, this book was helpful as push back against the constant message of buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume.

I think the authors will forgive me if I encourage you to check your local public library for the book instead of buying it.  If you do have to buy it, pass it on when you’re finished reading.

* By John De Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor