Life, Thanksgiving, post-vegetarianism
I saw HP7.1, with several of you & later with my parents. (Sometimes I forget that some of the folks I spend lots of time with locally I originally met here, because of HP - that's the gift JKR gave far beyond the books themselves.) In general I quite liked it and found it very well done. It may be my favorite apart from PoA, which is in a separate class really. Some aspects were less awesome than others, but overall I was pleased. One small observation I haven't already seen in everyone else's reaction posts yet: Tom Felton has finally aged into the degree of pointy-facedness I expected of Draco from the beginning. I'd disliked his casting, way back when, because he was so baby-faced, but maybe they were going off older male relatives of his or something, because the guy is finally much closer to my own mental picture of Draco. So that was a big plus, and almost made up for the travesty of Narcissa's hair :D.
We did Thanksgiving at my brother's condo near NYC - for the first time this year not going to my parents but rather having my parents be the ones making the longest trip! It was a nice way to shake things up. My mum is often sad if it's "just" the 4 of us at Thanksgiving but this way she saw it for the increasingly rare and special thing it is. I also realized that even during the years one of my older (half)sisters lived in the same city as us, I don't think I ever spent a Thanksgiving with her, which now feels really odd and makes me want to make sure I do that sometime. My sisters live in Arizona with their kids and partners and spend Thanksgiving at their mum and stepfather's; their stepfather is Mexican and they like to have holiday meals early, so they tend to do something bizarre like turkey fajitas for breakfast. But I'd still go.
My brother and I planned a lot of the menu and finally took some of the stress (and control!) off my mother. She appreciated it and I think our point that a holiday need not mean she spends it all in a frantic craze of work was made and well taken.
I also ate some of the turkey. I'd been thinking of stopping being vegetarian for quite some time now, for reasons I may eventually elaborate in a longer post of its own, once I've seen how this experiment in omnivority works out, but that boil down to health (desire to minimize dairy & carbs, need/desire to minimize gluten which rules out seitan, need to avoid soy for thyroid reasons, need to maintain better-balanced blood sugar, desire to avoid processed food like fake meats, even the few non-soy ones) and environment (turns out legume farming is more environmentally destructive, as practiced now, than local sustainable pasturing of free range organic meat & birds). I felt that I was looking at a diet of mostly non-local, unsustainably farmed legumes, nuts, and eggs, as my protein, and that just wasn't going to cut it for a life. Nevermind that as a vegetarian, though I've never talked about it, I've never really felt un-hungry after a meal unless I ate more than I thought I ought to have needed, and only ever felt satisfied if I'd had a mass helping of carbs. Which, while I've also never spoken about it, is something I've suspected contributed a lot to my constant gradual weight gain as an adult.
A recent wave of coming-out of being newly omnivorous in the vegan blogosphere, and many very intelligent posts about why, helped support me in making the leap. Especially Tasha of Voracious Eats, whose post was the first I saw and which really encapsulated it all for me. And she's been chatting with me on Twitter now too (she is @redfeminist) which is awesome and great for moral support. For the record, I plan on only eating meat & fish that I feel has been raised and prepared ethically & environmentally, so when eating out it'll be mostly veggie still, with maybe more fish depending what the Monterey Bay Aquarium says (they have an iPhone app!). My brother and I also watched Food, Inc., in the middle of my discussing all this with him the night before Thanksgiving, which solidified my resolve on the whole thing.
So my brother bought a free range organic etc. turkey breast, I helped prepare it, and after much (much!) wibbling, I ate a few bites. It was weird. I didn't *enjoy* it per se but it wasn't bad either. It tasted *exactly* as I remember it, despite not having eaten turkey since 1995. It did settle better in my stomach than most anything else in my recent diet has, which was what I'd hoped. Earlier this week I ate some salmon, which those of you on Facebook may have caught the pic of being posted. It was good but very intense and rich and heavy, and I think maybe a little more than I'm ready for as yet. I tried to eat the leftovers later and couldn't make myself get through more than a token amount. I'm going to stick to poultry for a while I think, or less rich fish. I've no idea if or when I'll be up to red meat. I always enjoyed ham but not steak. I do miss lamb and always have so I will likely try that again if I can find a local enough and free range etc enough supplier.
In other news, I am not panicked but am trying not to think about my pending loss of both unemployment benefits and COBRA health insurance at the end of the month. I should be able to get onto the Massachusetts basic health plan, but it may mean I can't see my normal doctors til I do find a job where I can go back to my normal insurance. I am working on piecing together contract work to get me through the interim. I actually have made some great contacts (including one in NYC over Thanksgiving weekend) that give me a lot of hope, but it's daunting nonetheless, and something I'm rather exhausted of doing.
A related and timely video from the AFL-CIO that everyone in the US should share around. And then talk to their congresscritters.
Lastly, Happy Chanukah! I found some really great candles at Whole Foods of all places this year, and they're really brightening my evenings.
Two fun Chanukah songs that have been in my head & you've probably already seen: Matisyahu's "Miracle" and the Maccabeats' "Candlelight". And a bonus completely unrelated kitten cuddling a teddy bear as your reward for reading this far!
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth at http://elements.dreamwidth.org/25644.html. You can read comments there and add your own using OpenID.
We did Thanksgiving at my brother's condo near NYC - for the first time this year not going to my parents but rather having my parents be the ones making the longest trip! It was a nice way to shake things up. My mum is often sad if it's "just" the 4 of us at Thanksgiving but this way she saw it for the increasingly rare and special thing it is. I also realized that even during the years one of my older (half)sisters lived in the same city as us, I don't think I ever spent a Thanksgiving with her, which now feels really odd and makes me want to make sure I do that sometime. My sisters live in Arizona with their kids and partners and spend Thanksgiving at their mum and stepfather's; their stepfather is Mexican and they like to have holiday meals early, so they tend to do something bizarre like turkey fajitas for breakfast. But I'd still go.
My brother and I planned a lot of the menu and finally took some of the stress (and control!) off my mother. She appreciated it and I think our point that a holiday need not mean she spends it all in a frantic craze of work was made and well taken.
I also ate some of the turkey. I'd been thinking of stopping being vegetarian for quite some time now, for reasons I may eventually elaborate in a longer post of its own, once I've seen how this experiment in omnivority works out, but that boil down to health (desire to minimize dairy & carbs, need/desire to minimize gluten which rules out seitan, need to avoid soy for thyroid reasons, need to maintain better-balanced blood sugar, desire to avoid processed food like fake meats, even the few non-soy ones) and environment (turns out legume farming is more environmentally destructive, as practiced now, than local sustainable pasturing of free range organic meat & birds). I felt that I was looking at a diet of mostly non-local, unsustainably farmed legumes, nuts, and eggs, as my protein, and that just wasn't going to cut it for a life. Nevermind that as a vegetarian, though I've never talked about it, I've never really felt un-hungry after a meal unless I ate more than I thought I ought to have needed, and only ever felt satisfied if I'd had a mass helping of carbs. Which, while I've also never spoken about it, is something I've suspected contributed a lot to my constant gradual weight gain as an adult.
A recent wave of coming-out of being newly omnivorous in the vegan blogosphere, and many very intelligent posts about why, helped support me in making the leap. Especially Tasha of Voracious Eats, whose post was the first I saw and which really encapsulated it all for me. And she's been chatting with me on Twitter now too (she is @redfeminist) which is awesome and great for moral support. For the record, I plan on only eating meat & fish that I feel has been raised and prepared ethically & environmentally, so when eating out it'll be mostly veggie still, with maybe more fish depending what the Monterey Bay Aquarium says (they have an iPhone app!). My brother and I also watched Food, Inc., in the middle of my discussing all this with him the night before Thanksgiving, which solidified my resolve on the whole thing.
So my brother bought a free range organic etc. turkey breast, I helped prepare it, and after much (much!) wibbling, I ate a few bites. It was weird. I didn't *enjoy* it per se but it wasn't bad either. It tasted *exactly* as I remember it, despite not having eaten turkey since 1995. It did settle better in my stomach than most anything else in my recent diet has, which was what I'd hoped. Earlier this week I ate some salmon, which those of you on Facebook may have caught the pic of being posted. It was good but very intense and rich and heavy, and I think maybe a little more than I'm ready for as yet. I tried to eat the leftovers later and couldn't make myself get through more than a token amount. I'm going to stick to poultry for a while I think, or less rich fish. I've no idea if or when I'll be up to red meat. I always enjoyed ham but not steak. I do miss lamb and always have so I will likely try that again if I can find a local enough and free range etc enough supplier.
In other news, I am not panicked but am trying not to think about my pending loss of both unemployment benefits and COBRA health insurance at the end of the month. I should be able to get onto the Massachusetts basic health plan, but it may mean I can't see my normal doctors til I do find a job where I can go back to my normal insurance. I am working on piecing together contract work to get me through the interim. I actually have made some great contacts (including one in NYC over Thanksgiving weekend) that give me a lot of hope, but it's daunting nonetheless, and something I'm rather exhausted of doing.
A related and timely video from the AFL-CIO that everyone in the US should share around. And then talk to their congresscritters.
Lastly, Happy Chanukah! I found some really great candles at Whole Foods of all places this year, and they're really brightening my evenings.
Two fun Chanukah songs that have been in my head & you've probably already seen: Matisyahu's "Miracle" and the Maccabeats' "Candlelight". And a bonus completely unrelated kitten cuddling a teddy bear as your reward for reading this far!
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth at http://elements.dreamwidth.org/25644.html. You can read comments there and add your own using OpenID.