What I am eating
We are at peak stone fruit season in the U.S., so get your fresh cherries, plums, apricots, and peaches/nectarines. In my neck of the woods, the summer farmers markets start this week. I hope many of you have already been enjoying asparagus and green onions.
I move on to some processed plant-based foods. It has been many years since I have had a donut. I avoid them mainly because of an egg allergy, but they were always an occasional treat anyway. I just tried the chocolate variety of Drumroll donuts. They are plant-based (made with almond, sunflower seed, and pea products), low in sugar (stevia + monk fruit) and very high in protein and fiber. Most importantly, they are good. Sure, they are a highly processed food, but better for a person than a conventional donut. The high price point will help ensure that these are an occasional treat (much like Rainier cherries - definitely get yourself some of those).
We seem to be living in a time where there are (finally) a lot of really good sweet treats for people on vegan diets. Abe’s Mom’s muffins and Lindt Oatmilk chocolates top the list. I enjoy having some ready-made options so that I don’t need to make my own treats when the occasion arises (such as at holiday get-togethers). Yeah, these are ultra-processed, so of course they are not something anyone should have very often.
I believe I have mentioned Abbot’s plant-based meats before (their chorizo is awesome), but they now have some seasoned varieties of their chick’n. I strongly recommend their products. If you cannot find their chorizo but have access to Before the Butcher’s Uncut Taco Grounds, this is a comparable product. I just included both items in a recent HungryRoot delivery. I want to warn people about some of these grocery/meal kit services. I have had delayed shipments at times, and generally avoid ordering during the warm weather months because of this. My most recent delivery arrived two days late, but not all of the ice packs were completely melted because the box was coming from a nearby state and it was not hot over this past weekend. I have now cancelled service until the weather turns cold. Besides, I tend to focus much more on whole fruits and vegetables during the farmers market/CSA (community supported agriculture) months.
I am loving the Talenti non-dairy sorbettos, but must post a warning about the Cold Brew coffee one: it contains eggs! I was not expecting this, so wound up carelessly (carefree?) eating a little bit before reading the ingredients. I did not get sick to my stomach, but did break out in hives. Fortunately, I am well stocked with all variety of topical Benadryl. The strawberry, mango and raspberry varieties are all totes vegan. They are a little creamier than my other summer go-to, Luigi’s Italian Ice. If you are looking for something more akin to ice cream as a cool treat, I recommend both the non-dairy bars from Magnum and So Delicious. These rely heavily on tree nuts (almonds and coconut) for their creaminess. Another great option is Chloe’s Oat Milk Salted Caramel pops. They remind me of homemade butterscotch pudding pops (a treat I used to make myself fairly often along with homemade frozen hot chocolate). I think that the non-dairy Dilly bars at DQ actually taste better than the original. There is a hint of coconut flavor (not surprising since they are largely coconut based) and the chocolate coating is far less waxy than on the originals. I often found DQ’s confections to taste like sour milk, so even when I ate dairy, I seldom bought stuff from there despite living only three blocks from a walk-up stand.
What I am watching
Currently, I am engaging in some very cheesy nostalgic tv viewing via Tubi. I discovered that they have all the episodes of Facts of Life, including the entire first season (pre-Jo). The earliest shows I remember watching were M.A.S.H., Happy Days (which I really cannot stand, but I still sometimes watch Laverne & Shirley), and Facts of Life. For the first four years of my life, I lived in a house with my mom, grandparents, and my aunt Judy, who was like a big sister to me. I used to watch Facts of Life with her.
Anyway, there is a lot that I find fascinating about the show. It was the first tv series to have someone with a physical disability in a recurring role (Geri Jewell - whose book I’m Walking as Straight as I Can - named both in reference to her disability and queer identity - is my pick for Pride Month), and while some things about the show are cringey today (the pressure placed on Mindy Cohn to remain overweight while repeatedly sending Lisa Whelchel to fat farms to take weight off), the show was not afraid to tackle many “isms” on a regular basis. It is essentially comfort food tv.
I recently subscribed to both Netflix and Max for a couple of months. The best thing on Netflix right now is the miniseries All the Light We Cannot See. The best new content on Max right now are the latest seasons of We’re Here and Hacks. I have discontinued my subscription to Netflix and will be doing the same with Max soon, with plans to return to Netflix when Stranger Things returns for its final episodes, and to Max when the third season of Somebody Somewhere drops.
I also recently subscribed to MGM+ and binge-watched the first two seasons of From. Apocalyptic stories with a paranormal element have largely lost their thrill for me (there is no show I despise more than The Walking Dead), but From offers a complex array of characters and turns the survival spotlight on the challenges to one’s sanity and interpersonal relationships. Maybe it is just better because it is Canadian. Some of my favorite tv series have heralded from there (Road to Avonlea, Lost Girl, The Raccoons).
What I am playing
The funnest and cutest video game to be released in a long time: Little Kitty, Big City. Like so many games that I adore, this offers a glimpse into Japanese culture. My cat often watched over my shoulder as I played, so I think the developers have reasonably captured what is interesting for little kitties in cities of all sizes ;)
The other game I have been playing off and on is The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which is really just more interactive fiction. It is an open-world game where you play the part of a paranormal investigator who has been called upon to unravel the mystery of what happened to the titular character in an abandoned fictional town in Wisconsin. I was drawn to this game because of the genre and setting, but it is slow-moving. It earns the description of a cozy game, and would definitely be a good choice to play to pass the hours while traveling. It is not a game that motivates the player to move through it quickly.
What I am reading
I think rather than focus on specific books and periodicals, I would prefer to focus more on the topics and themes I am reading about. I am reading more and more about all aspects of degrowth; its potential as a solution, as well as how unlikely it is to be embraced. I think we will get to a place where we will have no choice but to do what we have needed to for such a long time because we will run out of options. We are going to run out of oil. The meat and dairy industries will implode due to the culmination of a perfect storm that involves the spread of zoonotic illnesses, the tamping down of immigration, worker shortages, and my personal lord and savior, the lone star tick. Yes, it was the alpha-gal allergy I developed due to a tick bite that lead me to the kidney-saving/life-saving diet I now embrace. But I digress.
I also read a lot about the extreme energy consumption of both AI and carbon capture. I do see promise in both, and there are good uses for both along with some ridiculous uses. Precaution is needed with everything, along with a lot of renewable energy. Both are much more worthy of our energy (in all respects) than crypto-currency.
I also read a lot about the plight is sex workers. I turn to PM Press for books I cannot find through the local library system. I keep trying to find answers to the problems we face. The most existential problems involve climate change and terrorism. I think that the most fervent breeding ground for terrorists are the online communities for the involuntarily celibate. Too often, men who are driven by loneliness get sucked into these communities and are then radicalized, becoming misogynistic, racist, nihilistic and very dangerous people. We need to see sex work as essential to a healthy society, and achieve acceptance and safe work environments for the people engaging in the world’s oldest profession. I basically identify as an asexual, but I can see the need for this. I wish to remind Christians that Jesus befriended tax collectors and prostitutes. We desperately need both to make society work!
I will recommend one specific title, because it is the most enjoyable read I have had in a long time: This Won’t Help: Modest Proposals For a More Enjoyable Apocalypse by Eli Grober. What not to read? Ministry For the Future. Yes, it is well-written, but it was too realistic and too depressing for me to finish. It came highly recommended, but good grief! I don’t need this! I already have nightmares about drowning in flaming plastic, so yeah… and the people recommending this have no idea what poverty is like, so maybe they need something like this to stoke empathy for the global poor who suffer the most from a problem created by the global elite. I just don’t. I know that currently I experience quite a bit of privilege even though I am low-income. But I have experienced much worse situations.
The ultimate in privileged consumption?
Anti-consumption consumption. I just bought a Trashie bag to really recycle all the clothing that thrift stores will not take. The link I posted talks about what they will and will not take. For example, included in the bag we are shipping out are an old pair of Will’s sneakers and two pair of my old flip flops. Not included are the shit/mud encrusted shoes we used to wear when we helped out on a local farm. I packed up my first Trashie bag as I wrote this. But let’s face it, this is mainly for old clothes with bleach stains, holes and rips. We both get a lot of claw holes from kittehs. Those holes only get bigger with time.
I am considering buying a TerraCycle box to help me recycle all the supposedly recyclable items that the MRF (Material Recovery Facility) my curbside recycling goes to will not take. However, I have found new garden uses for some things. Those containers mushrooms come in are great for doing plant starts, and I am now using clamshell containers that bakery and lettuce often come in (two very different items in very similar packaging) in the garden (cutting them apart to place under pots, or taping them together to create insulating walls for tomato plants). I did, however, throw out some #6 plastic items (Oreo trays) as I decided I would not use them for a Shrinky Dink project. Despite developing a fondness for lemon Oreos (most lemon desserts are totally off limits for those with egg allergies, and lemon is just my favorite flavor of all time), I have vowed to avoid buying them again. I cannot deal with the guilt or hoarding, and the TerraCycle boxes are currently out of my price range. But if I won the lottery, I would probably spend it all on TerraCycle boxes for my community… or build a better MRF! Anyway, there is something so decadently meta about spending money on disposal. It is more than just doing the right thing. I think influencers need to post videos about this. It is the new haul. Hauling out the trash!
Abbot’s meat substitutes are also gluten free.
Gluten breaks me out in hives, so I'm both gluten free and vegan. A lot of fake meats contain gluten, and it's nearly impossible to find pre-made baked goods that are both GF and vegan (it's usually either/or). The baked goods that are both also expensive and bad--just not worth it. I bake my own on special occasions. In Japan, I baked my own bread because the GF bread sold in stores was just so awful. I haven't baked bread since moving back, but maybe I will. I liked the bread I made. Here, I've found a few go-to processed items. Luckily, I don't have a severe gluten allergy, so a few trace amounts are fine (it doesn't need to be certified GF), but I prefer to stick to whole foods, anyway.
I just finished reading a book you might like. It's called Enchantment by Katherine May. It's a memoir, but it contains a lot of thoughts about our relationship to the natural world. I really enjoyed it.