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Thanksgiving 
Mon Nov 29, 2010 at 12:29:20 PM PST
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If you ever want to be REALLY thankful at Thanksgiving, spend your holidays with peasants in the Global South.
Today I woke up at home, in my bed (which I felt lucky to sleep in), and looked at my clock (which I am lucky to have), and saw that it was 11am. I felt lucky that I could sleep in so late and I didn't have to wake up before dawn to make beans and tortillas from scratch for breakfast over an open fire that I had to build myself. It's freezing here in San Diego, but our house had the heat turned on, and I felt lucky for that too.
I pet my cats (who have no idea how lucky they are) and snoozed for a while, and then got up and took a hot shower, feeling thankful for the running, potable, and hot water, as well as the bathtub and the fact that, had I wanted, I could have taken a nice, hot bath instead. I saw some showers in Mexico but I don't think anyone I met has the privilege of soaking in a hot bath. And forget the fancy aromatherapy bath products.
I shaved my legs for the first time in a week (I lost my razor blade in Mexico), knowing what a silly, frivolous thing it was to do, since after all, hairless legs are not essential in life. I'm lucky that it's nothing to me to be able to afford razors and blades and that I can drive my 2009 Toyota Prius to the store (which is nearby on paved roads) to go get them.
I felt lucky for my organic, handcrafted bath products, which the people I spent the last week with in Mexico would not be able to afford if they could get to a store that sold them, which they can't. They've got only a limited choice of cheap and probably somewhat toxic brands of cleaning and personal care products.
After my shower, I put on my glasses, which I am REALLY lucky to have. I was lucky to go to the eye doctor for a new, updated prescription before I left for my trip, and I am lucky that I have fashionable Kate Spade frames that I barely had to pay anything for because I had insurance when I got them (a few years ago). I would have severe headaches all the time were it not for my glasses, not to mention my prescription drugs and the doctors who prescribed them.
Then I went for my spray-on Benadryl to treat my mosquito bites with, feeling lucky that I had it, as well as the neem oil I had during my trip, that prevented me from getting even MORE mosquito bites. And I followed it up with the organic, fancy lotion I love to use, feeling very lucky that I have it and can afford it.
After I got dressed in clothes I feel lucky to easily afford, I did something that made me feel even luckier: I got my organic Chiapas coffee out of the freezer (that I am lucky to have) and put some of it in the coffee grinder (that I am lucky to have), and then put it plus some water in the coffee maker (that I am lucky to have). And while it was brewing, I put all of my dirty clothes from the trip in the washing machine (which I am REALLY lucky to have) along with some organic, non-toxic soap (that I am lucky to have).
Then I got my fresh, organic, non-homogenized milk from grass fed cows that I am REALLY REALLY REALLY lucky to have from the fridge (that I am lucky to have), to put some of it in my coffee. The people I met in Mexico often drink ultra high temperature pasteurized milk that can sit on the shelves for a long time without refrigeration (which many don't have), or they drink powdered milk.
Last of all, I took my coffee back to my bedroom, and hopped on my laptop (which I am lucky to have), using electricity (that I am lucky to have), to post this on the internet, which I am also lucky to have. And the next thing I should probably do is brush my teeth. And you know what? I am going to feel really, really lucky when I rinse my mouth out with the potable water that comes out of the tap after I am done.
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Wed Nov 24, 2010 at 06:28:34 AM PST
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( - promoted by JayinPortland)
This is re-post of my thoughts on Thanksgiving in a giant family. Sorry for the lack of originality but when I sat down to talk about Thanksgiving I found I could not say it any better than I already had. Cheers B-
The winter holidays are nearly upon us. This time of year always makes me think of my childhood holidays. Most people feel that way, but I am pretty sure I has a relatively unique set of memories. This is not a knock at your families or your traditions, not by a long shot, but when you come from a family where your Mom is the oldest of thirteen kids and your Dad is the youngest of thirteen, well, the sheer scope of the holidays is an order of magnitude bigger than most. So, I thought I'd share what Thanksgiving was like in a sprawling, brawling Irish family, so others might have a piece of this experience.
"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"
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Mon Nov 22, 2010 at 06:00:00 AM PST
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This article was originally published on Alternet on November 19. It was a lot of fun to research, since I got to dig into the history of Thanksgiving and into Americans' history of eating turkey. Did you know that the turkey we eat comes from Mexico? That's where it was domesticated. It went from there, to Europe, and then to the U.S. The Pilgrims would have hunted wild turkeys, but Americans didn't really have domesticated turkeys on their farms until the 1840s.
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Sun Nov 21, 2010 at 06:54:32 AM PST
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I am so used to cooking mix and match vegan, that I forgot the ONLY ft time vegan (my daughter) is in Alexandria Egypt.
Since there was chatter and interest in Veganaise, I decided to veganfy one of my favorite dips.I'll be serving it with cut up veggies and bread.
Vegan Artichoke dip
4 frozen artichokes or canned. I used the ones I had, the frozen ones from Trader Joes. Thaw and add a little evoo (or not)
chopped garlic
1/2 cup Veganaise
put in food processor and blend.
that's it
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 12:13:19 PM PST
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On November 30, federal unemployment insurance is set to expire. Yet millions of families are relying on extended federal unemployment insurance to stay afloat financially.
To keep the spotlight on the need to extend unemployment insurance, MomsRising.org, the National Employment Law Project and Unemployedworkers.org are hosting coordinated Unemployment Insurance Blog Carnivals/Blog-a-Thons this week. Mom bloggers, policy analysts and many others are sharing personal stories, compelling data and resources.
On a personal note, I have many family members and friends who are really struggling during the Great Recession. Among those who contributed stories were my mom, Elisanta Batista, and my childhood friend "Tigger".
Here is what my mom wrote: "The loss of my husband's job could not have come at a worst time for us. I work part-time at a supermarket, and the way the economy is my hours were further cut....
"Right now we are taking care of my mother-in-law who has Alzheimer's and had a stroke last year. She lives with us, and we are paying out of our own pockets all her medicines and personal items she needs to live. We could certainly use an extension in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation fund. To Congress I say, PLEASE HELP US!"
From my friend Tigger: "Times are tough. We had to go to a food bank the other day in order to have enough food in the house. As far as the kids, we would love to take them to a movie or out to dinner. We both know that this is currently unfeasible. The kids seem to understand and don't ask to go, but I can see the desire in their faces when we go past the mall or a restaurant. But, I am very grateful for the unemployment that I am currently receiving. Without an unemployment check, the power and phone wouldn't get paid."
Their faith and resilience inspire me every day. I am sure I am not alone when I say I will not let up until I have done everything in my power to keep as many families fed this Thanksgiving.
And it is not too late to add your voice to the mix. If you are as passionate about this as I am, please drop a comment in one of our many compelling stories and/or contribute your own story to either myself, Elisa Batista (elisa at mothertalkers dot com), or Anita Jackson at MomsRising (anita at momsrising dot org).
Many thanks all!
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Sat Nov 13, 2010 at 04:05:51 AM PST
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Dani's my daughter. She's became a vegetarian at age 9 because" God didn't want her to eat anything with a face". Went off the vegetarian band wagon at 10 due to chicken wings at a bbq. Back to being a vegetarian at 12, then vegan at age 14.She's been a vegan ever since (she's almost 21)
She loves to cook We have our Thanksgiving rituals. My sister and I make the Turkey. Dani the stuffing.And at noon we all listen to Alice's Restaurant on the radio in the kitchen.I'm a little teary eyed right now because this because is the first Thanksgiving she won't be here.She's taken the semester off to travel the world.Right now she's in Luxor, then off to India.
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Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 14:05:56 PM PST
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We've just about polished off all the leftovers from Thanksgiving this year. I tried to keep them to a minimum by not cooking the things most people in my family don't eat (stuffing, gravy) and cooking moderate portions of everything else. We had just the right amount of mashed potatoes and only one serving left of the salad, curried butternut squash soup and apricot-glazed beets.
Tonight we'll finish the last of the turkey soup. I made the broth with the carcass and cut up the last bits of meat, along with some carrots.
I had more than a cup of cranberry sauce leftover, so I mixed it with a couple of diced apples and poured it into a frozen pie crust. I made a crumbly topping with oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon, spread it over the pie and baked it for about 35 minutes at 350 F.
Share your own leftover ideas in this thread. In the past I've used mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes, which was tasty.
UPDATE: I forgot that I have most of a jar of applesauce left, and no one in my family likes to eat it plain. Anyone have any good cake or quickbread recipes that use a lot of applesauce?
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Thu Nov 05, 2009 at 14:37:54 PM PST
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I can't remember how long I have been doing Thanksgiving. I love it, although I have to admit it was hard after my husband died 2 years ago. But life goes on and we carry on the traditions. Now that my daughter is in college, she brings friends from school. Her roomate is from Peru and she joined us last year and will be back again this year. And in addition to people, we also have Gabbie my dog, Bambino my NYC sisers mutt and Kafka my local sisters dog. My sister who lives in NYC usually arrives Wed with Bambino. I buy the turkey from my local coop and my daughter now in college usually meets me there to shop Wed night dinner is quick and we sit down and catch up over food and wine. Thurs..The cooking of the turkey is shared between my sister and I..My daughter likes to cook alone. This year it will only be her kick ass stuffing/dressing..Around noon the radio station WXPN plays Alices Restaurant and we all come together in the kitchen to listen.Speaking of my daughter.. Here's my daughter being carted away last Fri to jail. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20091101_Monica_Yant_Kinney__They_won_t_burn_Rx_cards__but______.html And yep thats me ...being interviewed. Politics and food go hand in hand in our family and Thanksgiving is no exception. Here's my daughter recipe for seitan stuffing/dressing. As my mother would say its a bissel ( yiddish for a little) of this and a bissel of that... short grain organic brown rice..we usually cook 2 cups 1 small container of seitan onions carrots celery dates apricots herbs of your choice. We usually use sage, but rosemary cook rice til tender...while rice is cooking saute onions, til tnder and carmelized. Add the seitan to the carmelized onions and cook for about 5-6 minutes on low. Add carrots, celery and cook til everything is soft. Add chopped dates and chopped apricots. When rice is done add above to cooked rice and add your herb of choice. Cook everything together for about 5 minutes or til dates and apricots have melted slightly into the rice We use some of this in the turkey and then have a casserole of the stuffing for my daughter... <!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data--><!--Session data-->
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 11:03:21 AM PST
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Thanksgiving is almost upon us and that means bad luck for about 46 million turkeys. Sherrie Rosenblatt, spokeswoman for the National Turkey Federation, says "That's basically most Americans having turkey at the center of their plate." And I'm sorry, but this is a particular pet peeve of mine. I find the turkey obsession a bit disgusting. Here's why:
The conventional Thanksgiving turkey purchased at the grocery store is a Broad Breasted White. These turkeys are bred to have so much breast meat, that they are often unable to physically support themselves or breed. That means that without human help, these birds would die out in just one generation. Talk about a franken-turkey!
Thanksgiving, which I love for being the one day a year in which we celebrate local food indigenous American food, is instead of celebration of these unnatural factory farmed turkeys. From what I hear, as we developed the Broad Breasted White for its efficient conversion of grain to breast meat, we lost flavor.
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 at 09:38:30 AM PST
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A new USDA report on hunger just came out - but unfortunately, they don't even show the full extent of the problem. The numbers are from 2007, pre-economic-shit-hitting-fan.
Overall, 11.1% of Americans lived in "food insecure" households during 2007. That is 36.2 million people, or a little less than the entire population of California. Can you imagine? An entire California of hungry people? The government calls that number "essentially unchanged" from 2006 but in reality even if the percentage change is low, it means there are an additional 700,000 people who were food insecure in 2007.
Of those "food insecure" households, over one third have "very low food security" - which I believe, translated into English, means HUNGRY. We're close enough to Thanksgiving that Sarah Palin is doing photo ops next to turkey executions, so I think now is a good time to talk about the state of hunger in America.
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Fri Nov 14, 2008 at 20:31:35 PM PST
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MY happy story this week is a new effort by two groups I strongly support: Eat Well Guide and Consumers Union's Thanksgiving Eat Local Challenge! Participating is easy: Find one local food and include it in your Thanksgiving dinner.
So that everyone can participate, Eat Well Guide and Consumers Union are giving out a number of tools to help. Starting with, of course, Eat Well Guide itself. It's a website I rely on as a Google (and Google Maps) of food. Put in your zip code, and it returns where you can buy local, organic food. Or, use their travel tool: enter where you are and where you're going, and they will tell you where to eat along the way.
Then, anyone who participates is encouraged to share their recipes and stories. I've already entered in my recipe for baked delicata squash, which I first made when I received a delicata squash from my CSA a few years ago.
Celebrity chefs have kicked off the recipe-sharing by sharing a few of their own. Alice Waters shared a chard gratin recipe. Scroll down on the page to see recipes from Dan Barber (brussel sprouts) and Mario Batali (butternut squash). Below, I've included a pumpkin soup recipe from my friend Destin, director of Eat Well Guide.
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