Nilla Wafer BonBons & a Book Plug

In the middle of my holiday cookie making frenzy, E asked what bonbons made with Nilla Wafers would taste like. I wasn't sure, but agreed to make some (they look deceptively like the chocolate-peanut butter buckeyes I used to always make at Christmas, in part because I coated them in dark chocolate). What?? A new type of cookie? One where I get to be inventive? Yes please.

The process is basically the same as making tuxedoed oreos -- but (to me) less satisfying. There's something about blending the chocolate wafer cookie with the cream filling that I love. I had to add a little extra liquid to account for the lack of cream filling and the filling didn't initially hold up as easily. I also managed to give myself a first degree burn on my index finger pulling a bowl from the microwave that was oven safe, but apparently (no note on it one way or the other) not microwave safe. Alas, the hazards of the kitchen.

E didn't care for them as much as the tuxedoed oreos (I imagine the nilla wafer version is moderately flavorless moderately flavorless) but was curious what they would have been like with white chocolate. It's an interesting question and a good suggestion. If someone tries them, please let me know what you think. I also think they could be interesting made into smaller balls and served atop frozen bananas (maybe with a dab of chocolate to hold them in place). But then, I think vanilla wafer cookies should really only be used for banana pudding, if they must be used at all. Or spread with PB and stuck together to make little sandwiches.

However, these would be incredibly kid friendly, both to make and eat, much like the tuxedoed oreos. Speaking of kids, Erica, over at Kinds of Honey, just published her juvenile fiction eBook, Riding the Neighbors' Horses. I haven't read it yet, but I hope to soon, because Erica's a talented writer (and crafter, and many other things). I wanted to make sure to pass this information along though, in case you were looking for the right gift-of-words for some young person in your life.

Nilla Wafer BonBons


1 12-ounce box nilla wafers
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1-3 tablespoons milk
Chocolate for coating (I used a little less than a cup)

Pulverize the nilla wafers using a food processor, or by placing them in a durable zip-top bag and pounding them with a rolling pin.

Combine cream cheese and wafer crumbs in a medium bowl, until well mixed. Add enough milk (if necessary) to help wafters and cheese form a very thick dough that isn't sticky and holds together when rolled in a ball between your hands.

Form balls (mine were a little smaller than ping pong balls) with the dough and place on plate covered with foil or waxed paper and then stick in the the freezer for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Melt the chocolate using a method of your choice either in a shallow bowl (or transfer to a shallow bowl once it is melted). Rolls the balls through the chocolate, using clean fingers or a spoon to guide the ball. Shake off any excess chocolate and then place back on the foil or waxed paper to set (this won't take long since the bonbons are cold). Store in the refrigerator until about 20 minutes before you are ready to serve.

Book Review: Cinderella Ate My Daughter

A mother I work with from time to time recently asked me if I'd read Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein. Then, a couple days later, I read about the book on NPR. How I missed this in February, when the article was originally published, I'm not sure. I was probably preoccupied with my graduate thesis defense, which was fast approaching.

I've taken a few (and yes, just a few) women's studies classes. My book explores paralleling stories of healing (eating disorder, serious injury) and growing up. I grew up feeling more comfortable with boys, and later men, than with girls and women. I'm torn between supporting the Hollaback movement and resenting that I need to/should support it--the equivalent of carrying a rape whistle or inserting the anti-rape condoms. In other words, street harassment, like rape, is something that happens. But I resent that I feel like I should have to defend myself against it at all--and that it's my responsibility to be prepared for that possibility and the emotional consequences.

The ideas presented in Cinderella Ate My Daughter are ideas I'm just beginning to explore--and simultaneously ideas that I've been exploring for a long time. I'm curious about the increasing number of eating disorders--and how they are beginning to appear in younger and younger children. I'm curious about the rise in make-up sales to children who haven't even reached double-digits. For that matter, I'm interested in knowing more about what I perceive as increasing consumerism/materialism not only as marketed to children, but as marketed to adults. I'd like to understand how the increasing pressure to read and know numbers up through 20 before a child starts kindergarten will affect both girls and and boys in the generation that's just starting school, and how this will define the haves from the have-nots. But more than that.

I'm curious about what it means to be female in America right now, and what it means to be female in general. I want to know if the division between girlie-girls and non-girlie-girls will cause a lasting division among women as this generation ages. I'm curious about why there's been the explosion of pink (and purple) in the girls' section of toy stores, shopping centers, and on the little girls I work with. And, I wonder about the messages we're sending girls--in an era when more women are taking science courses in college and entering the science field, but also in an era just before the generation of the girlie-girls Orenstein writes about.

Orenstein focuses, primarily, on cis-gendered (presumably) boys and girls, probably because that's her worldview. She nods, from time to time, to the idea that she'd still love her daughter, even if her daughter is a lesbian.Where this is inserted, it feels awkward, as though Orenstein is consciously trying to sound progressive. And, that being said, I think she is progressive. She wants her daughter to have sex before marriage. Long, long before marriage, in fact. But she's concerned about the early sexualization of girls, as well as the messages of "needing to be saved," or "being pretty," and that's what this book focuses on.

She cites one example of going to the Toy Fair and noticing that one particular banner (with pink script) says over, and over, and over, Beautiful, Pretty, Colorful. The other has the words Power, Energy, Heroes. Guess which one's for boys? She explores concern over pop-princesses and the exploitation of their girl-next-door wholesomeness especially as they get to the age where they try to step out of the pop starlet into young womanhood, possibly even starhood, over weight-issues and young women (and girls), over make-up and clothing and gender-associated playthings. Orenstein looks at the "harried, doing too much and none of it well" image of female superheroes as well as the hyper-sexualization of female superheroes when her daughter asks for a Wonder Woman costume for her sixth birthday.

And, I do give her kudos for exploring these issues as a mom of a young girl. I applaud her reading her daughter the Grimm fairy tales. I appreciate that she asked other moms for their opinions on the girlie-girl culture, and supports her writing with research (though some endnote markers would've been fantastic). I find her explorations more credible, and I'm more tolerant of the stumbles Orenstein takes as she works through these issues. In part, though I think the stumbles are intentional. She writes to impress a target demographic I'm not part of -- a part that wants to dismiss science (one Amazon reviewer blasts her for this early in the book after she talks about myelin sheaths and neural flushing, then in the same paragraph says, "Whatever that means."). But this also causes Orenstein to contradict some of her own thesis. We, as women (and men out there) should encourage the exploration of these terms if we don't understand them, rather than playing into a stereotype that talks down, at least to some extent to the audience.

This book seems particularly relevant to read right now, while fairy tale movies are coming out and/or are in post-production. The LA Times published a slideshow article in April on fairy tale movies for grownups. Included in the lineup: Red Riding Hood, Pan's Labyrinth, The Brothers Grimm, Snow White: A Tale of Terror. Movies coming out soon include Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror, Mirror; Jack the Giant Killer; and Dorothy of Oz. Orenstein even nods to the Twilight series and movies, which she calls (and I'd agree) a modern fairy tale. I would love to know why we're collectively seeking this immersion in fairy tale lands. It's not as though this is recent, exactly. Thanks to E, I could name off fairy tale based movies, TV shows, and mini-series that are current for a while. But I could also name a fair number from the past 20-ish years, notable only because the Disney Princess line, which inspires Orenstein's book, was only created in 2000. We were already moving in that direction. Someone just decided to capitalize on it (more).

Would I recommend this book to others? Yes. With reservations. I am not thrilled by the way Orenstein jumps to some of her conclusions unfounded. I'm also not thrilled with the lack of exploration of the other side of the girlie-girl culture, those girls who (for whatever reason) don't fall into that position. She begins to do that toward the end, as she notices her own daughter turning against women. Specifically Orenstein wonders if her messages have caused her daughter to see being a girl as a bad thing while being a boy--or at least liking boy things--is superior.

One of the major positive attributes of this book? I found it super-readable. Orenstein's style kept the book from seeming overly preachy and because she was exploring the topic as a mom and using a journalistic-style voice (more inviting, than say, an academic paper) I had a hard time putting the book down. I can't say that for most nonfiction books. But I would've liked to feel more depth, or at least seen more exploration. I wanted to keep reading.

What I would love to know if this book was longer: What is it about the girlie culture that these other girls reject, for instance? And what becomes of them as far as body image goes? As far as fitting in later in life? Or those people who don't fit the cis-gendered roles? Why, really, are these the messages we're sending to girls culturally now? What about girls who grow up poor and not white? What affect does culture this have on them, and are they affected in the same way?

But Orenstein does explore a lot of topics I'm interested in, a lot of topics I wish people talked, and researched, and wrote about more. And that's the primary reason I would recommend the book. To push this type of conversation back off the Internet (where, to me, it seems more prevalent) and out of college classrooms, and back into places where moms and women and girls gather, talk, wonder why everything is just so pink.

Let me know your thoughts on these trends--even if you don't read the book. I love to hear from you.

Follower Drive & a Giveaway

I'm starting a follower drive. I'd like to get to 100+ followers by December 15 and so I'm announcing a follower drive. Here's the catch. If I don't get to 100, then no one gets the giveaway prize, a copy of Simply in Season or Supernatural Everyday (probably my choice, not yours, but we'll see). You can also opt out of this prize and instead I'll use that money to purchase ducks, chicken, or geese from Heifer International for a person in need. So, tell your friends! I'll select one follower, at random, to win (if you select the book, I will need your contact info to get this to you).

How to be entered to win:

1) Become a follower.
2) Comment on at least one post published between now and December 15.
3) Check back on December 16 to see who has been selected the winner.
4) If you are the winner, you must contact me by noon PST on December 17, with your contact info.

Restrictions:

Although I love my followers who are outside the US, I cannot ship things to you at this point. I'm sorry. So, know that I am very grateful to your loyalty and I hope to be able to include you in the giveaways soon. If outside the US and you're selected the winner, I will make a gift to Heifer International of Ducks, Chicken, or Geese in your name (your choice of animal).

Gluten-Free Yeasted Bread (Oat, Brown Rice, & Quinoa))

Multigrain Bread with Cream Cheese

When E wanted to make a creamy artichoke pasta with garlic bread, and I made her a French-style bread, I wanted to make myself bread also. I haven't done much with gluten-free yeast breads, but I do get tired of buying them, because most seem far too expensive and often don't taste that great.

In my current town, the GF bread options are better (and tastier), but still pretty expensive for the size loaves I get. I figured, if an attempt at GF bread didn't work, I could go buy one of these breads (or, more likely, go without garlic bread). But, I miss trying GF baking experiments and I'd been keeping my eye on a gluten-free bread recipe from Moosewood Daily Special for a while. Since I had some non-wheat flours on hand, I decided to give it a try--making a LOT of substitutions.

I think it turned out fairly well, and what I found interesting was that because I didn't stick it in the refrigerator for the first two days, it developed a nice sourdough flavor. It slices easily and is better toasted (much better toasted, in my opinion). Many gluten-free breads seem to be that way--better toasted. It still stays pretty moist after it's toasted, unless I leave it in our toaster oven for a long time.

The first time I made this bread, I didn't include quinoa and as you'll see here, there still isn't much--quinoa flour is expensive (about $11 for 1.5 lbs online through two different companies)! I like both ways, but the variety of grains is fun and adds complexity to the flavor. This bread is easy to make--you literally mix all the ingredients in one bowl at the same time, toss it in a greased pan and let it rise in a warm place before baking--which I appreciate, especially with a busy schedule. It doesn't feel (too) inconvenient to make myself a loaf of bread after work that will last me for a week (or more!).

I use a base of rice and oat flour here, but I know some people are sensitive to oats (use certified GF oat flour and if it bothers you, using millet works out pretty well too--but lends a very different flavor) and rice. If you have a rice allergy, check out my friend Victoria who is creating GF bread-y recipes that are also rice-free.

Multigrain Gluten-Free Bread
1 cup oat flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour or corn starch
1 tablespoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon light brown cane sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon dry yeast (or, if you don't buy it in bulk, 1 package, close enough)
2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Loaf, close-up

Using a wooden spoon, combine all the ingredients. Mix pretty well--you could also do this with an electric mixer, but I think the dough is too thick if you only have a hand-held mixer. Scoop the dough into an oiled 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and smooth the top. Spray or brush the top with a light coating of vegetable oil (not imperative if you're using foil or plastic to cover the dough while it rises, definitely necessary if you're using a tea towel). Loosely cover the pan and set aside, in a warm place, to rise until the dough is even with the top of the pan, about 1 1/2 hours.

After the dough has risen for 1 1/4 hours, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the covering from the bread and bake the bread until golden brown, about 45 minutes. It's done when it sounds hollow, when tapped. Remove from the oven, invert onto a rack, and cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Look at that paleness. Toast it first!

Again, this bread tastes fine if you eat it as slices, but is much better toasted. If you don't eat much bread, it also freezes well (slice it first and toast to warm up).

A Little Medusa's What I Need (Garlicky Swiss Chard with Raisins)

Pan Muerto...well, kinda, not really

When I was a the Growers Market the other day, I couldn't resist taking pictures of a few of the more innovative Halloween-ish decorations. The bread coffins above were one of my favorites though and could turn into an easy Halloween decoration if you needed something last minute--or just something to help you get a little more in the spirit (I'md definitely in that category).

Also as regular readers know, the other day, I blogged about my little crocheted devil. I've also crocheted a tiny medusa, using the same yarns and the same book. She was a little more difficult to put together, mostly because of her snake hair and placing her head on her body. I think my medusa might be looking downward a bit much -- just look at this picture!

But, that's okay. She was a good project to work on during Knit at Nite and she went together quickly, which I appreciate in a project. It's nice, sometimes, to be able to sit down and finish the majority of a project during an evening knitting at a local bar with friends. Yes, really. As a friend I ran into on my way to the bar pointed out, "what a wild night." I think he realized how this sounded because he continued by telling me that he learned, when he lived in Norway, a woman wasn't a real woman until she could knit. Nice save, friend. Nice save.

Something about Medusa--probably her greenness and my vague sense of guilt about buying greens and then not eating them right away--did inspire me to cook up the chard I bought the other night though. This is a pretty simple recipe, perfect for a quick dish after a day at work. It's inspired from a favorite tapas that I first had when I was 13. If you're serving this to kids around Halloween, you could call it Medusa-hair (green snakey swiss chard with raisin eyes!).

This dish goes well with steamed brown rice drizzled with just a touch of tamari, or with roasted butternut squash. Or, if you're me and you don't have either of those on hand or easily prepared, you can also pair this with a nice bread (I used gluten-free, spread with a little bit of Tofutti cream cheese) and an heirloom apple, bought from my favorite farmers at the Growers Market, sliced.

Garlicky Swiss Chard with Raisins
Olive Oil (about 1 teaspoon)

3 medium cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

1 bunch Swiss chard, thoroughly washed and chiffonaded 

Salt
Red pepper flakes, to taste (I used about 1/4 teaspoon)
1/4 cup raisins

Heat a small amount of oil in a pan over medium-low heat and add the garlic.

Uncaramelized garlic

Stir frequently, until the garlic has just begun to caramelize. It should only be a light golden color.

Caramelized Garlic

Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the Swiss chard and saute 4-5 minutes, until the chard begins to will.

Chard, just before I add it -- I don't remove the stems unless they seem particularly tough

 Add the salt and red pepper flakes, cook another minute. Add the raisins and cook 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.

Garlicky Swiss Chard with Raisins

Little Devil (Crochet) + Book Review

E and her friends (becoming my friends) have a weekly knitting group, Knit at Night, and during the past knitting group session, I crocheted this little devil from Creepy Cute. This fellow seems super-appropriate for Halloween. He's supposed to be done with terra cotta colored yarn, but since I didn't have that I went for green (better than a variegated devil!).

He might go sit in the store window at E's yarn shop, but today he went to work with me so my co-workers could see. I'm rather fond of him, especially since I embroidered the face--something I've never actually be taught to do--but easier (in my mind) than sewing felt onto his face for his little triangle mouth, nose/mustache, and eyes. Name suggestions, anyone?

The most confusing part of this pattern -- the cape. I'm still not sure I did it right. Alas. If that's my biggest issue, that's not too bad. And it's not the fault of the author--the book is complete with a little illustrated pattern about how the crocheted cape (not to mention everything else) should look. The pictures, in addition to the pattern, make this a very user-friendly book and for that reason alone, I'd recommend it to people who are looking to crochet small toys, beginning crocheters or advanced. For this book, you mostly need to know:

SC - single crochet
Sl st - slip stitch
Dec - decrease
Inc - increase

My devil also used double and treble crochet, but if you've got those four above, you can make almost any pattern in the book. Perfect for quick (if you're an experienced crocheter) Halloween decorations, or a nice starter with manageable projects for someone who is newer.

Other creepy cute critters include:

Medusa
Corporate Zombie
Cthulhu
Grim Reaper
Ninja

and much more. If you click the link above, you can look at the table of contents on Amazon.

As for me, Medusa is next.

French-Style Bread

Not too long ago, my roommate told me she wanted to make a creamy Italian dish with garlic, artichoke, and pasta. With it, she wanted garlic bread.

"I'll stop by the co-op and pick some up. Monday night sound okay for Italian?"
"Sure," I replied. A couple days later, on Sunday, at work, I was talking with co-workers about baking when I was struck by the urge to make bread. A gluten-free bread for me and regular bread for E.

When I got home that evening, I asked E if she would be okay with homemade bread instead, and when she said yes, I made sure she didn't mind me using her flour.

The next morning, I started to work making bread. I had a guest in town who sat companionably at the kitchen table, on the computer, while I flipped through my Beard on Bread cookbook (inherited from my grandmother) looking for a simple bread recipe for E's bread. I settled on the French-style bread because it seemed straight-forward, and as far as yeasted glutinous (non-overnight/no-knead, I might add) breads go, not too time-intensive.

All seemed to go well at first. The dough mixed up nicely and smoothed into supple elastic under my hands. It rose beautifully. And then I couldn't get it to shape into logs quite the way I wanted it to. Okay, I told myself, so it won't be beautiful. That's okay. So I baked it and it turned crispy on the outside like a good French loaf should. Except it seemed almost tough on the bottom. Okay, too. I've had otherwise perfectly good French loaves that are tough to slice (and on which the bottom crust is hard to chew). But when I sliced it, it didn't have those lovely holes French bread seems to have. And it wasn't chewy like baguettes and French loaves often are.

Hm. I went back to the cookbook, thinking maybe I'd missed a rising (there isn't one after you create the free-form loaf). Nope. Okay. I read the front of the book where Beard troubleshoots. No answer. I went to the folks at The Fresh Loaf and re-read (for the upteenth time) their primer on bread-making. Nothing relevant. The problem, I think was how wet (or, in this case dry) my bread dough was. To make a free-form loaf, you need fairly firm dough otherwise it spreads out the way you'd expect from ciabatta. However, these firm loaves weigh more and provide less opportunity for the little yeasties to make big bubbles. Figuring out how to do this with a French style bread will be a project for another day--perhaps after I've quizzed Jake, one of the bakers assistants at a local bakery co-op.

Okay, so from what I understand the bread didn't taste bad--I didn't actually get much feedback from E or my guest on how it tasted at all. Therefore, I conclude it wasn't anything to write home about either. But, that's kinda what I expected from a basic loaf (really basic, look at these ingredients) that was created with the purpose of being turned into garlic bread. It's a little denser than I might like it to be, but on the other hand, it doesn't have those irritating (though I love them) holes that things fall through.

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 packages active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon salt
5-6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal (I didn't have this and substituted garbanzo bean flour, which got dark but served the same purpose)
1 tablespoon egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water (so you don't cook the egg!)

Combine the yeast with sugar and water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the proofed yeast mixture 1 cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into two long, French bread-style leaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal, but not buttered. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in 2 or 3 places and brush with the egg wash. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400 degrees, and bake 35 minutes or until browned and hollow sounding when tapped.

Food Security - A Thrift Store Fronted Food Pantry

Depression-Era Photo (but what
should we call ourselves?),
Australia (I think)

My grandmother grew up during the Great Depression. Her father, fortunately, was a doctor and people always figured out a way to pay--or barter--for his services. They got chickens, or pies, or fresh bread in exchange for services. I'm sure it made my great-grandfather's life difficult from time-to-time--medical supplies, after all, cost money. But people were going hungry and my great-grandmother, as family legend has it, couldn't turn the people who came to her door asking for food away. We're all familiar with pictures of the long lines of men (and families and schoolchildren) standing, waiting for a bowl of soup. There was a system in place to help them that was much more public than the system in place now (namely, "food stamps," SNAP). But if someone came to most of our doors now and asked for food, we wouldn't think twice about turning them away. And possibly calling the police. There are exceptions of course, and I met one of these exceptions over the summer at the National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa, a woman--this year's Hobo Queen--who goes by the name Minneapolis Jewel. Yes, there are still hobos. Most are rubber tramps, it seemed, but there were a few leather tramps and a few who still ride the rails. MPLS Jewel apparently hosts hobos at her home, provides them meals, looks them in the eye when she passes them on the street. In other words, she allows herself to see people--and to help those in need, particularly those who are hungry.

So the fact that people are going hungry isn't exactly news to most people. The math is pretty simple: the economy is down, more people are unemployed or underemployed, food costs have been going steadily up thanks, in part, to increased gas costs, and a multitude of other factors. 1 in 5 American children live in poverty.  Globally, the number of children living in poverty is 1 in 4. We have more people who are going hungry now than a few years ago, no real surprise there, either.

At the Coronation Ceremony, 2011 Hobo Convention

That's a lot of hungry people (about 925 million, about 3x as many people as live in the US), especially in a world that produces more than 2,700 calories per person per day. And to be honest, there aren't a lot of options for hungry people in most parts of the world (for various reasons, chief among them food distribution and food equity issues). Some areas of the world have been deforested for corn and soybeans, displacing local agriculture. Some places, communal land has been bought by large multinationals which "are putting the land to better use"--at least in their humble opinions. And in some places, people now live in areas they didn't historically either because of social/political strife (we've done that in the US as well) or because of overcrowding.

In the US, soup kitchens and the like can supply a lot of calories to the hungry--but many are forced to supply very empty calories by way of highly processed foods (ding dongs, fruit cocktail in heavy syrup, and American cheese anyone?). A friend who volunteered at a soup kitchen in Austin, Minnesota (home of Hormel) bemoaned the lack of fresh food--of non-processed food in general--during his stint volunteering there. But figuring out how to change a system that's already in place isn't easy either, especially when you only have a limited amount of time per week to dedicate to the process--and a limited amount of time to spend in a particular community.

I've had the opportunity to volunteer in food pantries and soup kitchens across the United States. One large food pantry I volunteered in as part of a corporate-style "team building" exercise surprised me (and not just because it was the first time I'd volunteered in a food pantry) due to the sheer quantity of junk foods and severely damaged products that were being given out. This particular pantry relied primarily on canned and non-perishable goods supplemented by bread and other carb-intensive goods. I did my time, got my hands grimy on dirty/dusty/leaked on canned goods, and got out.

As an adult, my friend Rachael guided me to a local soup kitchen she'd volunteered at in the past. The chef that day, a regular volunteer for the previous 4 years, made me want to come back. I watched as he, and another regular volunteer, greeted the guests by name, used fresh ingredients, and navigated  around the church kitchen like pros. And I did go back, several days a week, for most of a year (until moving). I started to fall in love with  being there--being part of a community of people that cared about making a difference--even as I felt frustrated by seeing the same people week after week, people who weren't being given the resources to help themselves. How, a friend and I wondered, could we give people the tools to get them out of the cycle of poverty? We researched and talked about soup kitchens that provided various types of OJT. We talked about soup kitchens partnering with people in the community who could help out (let's review your resume, let's work on building your resume together, oh you do handy work? Funny, I have a leaky...) in various ways. And we volunteered under a woman who reminded us that sometimes what a person really needed was just someone who would listen. We didn't need to problem solve all the time. Sometimes we just needed to sit, to hear a story, to say "thank you for sharing."

Organic produce from a CSA share I inherited earlier this year

Later, at a Catholic Worker Farm (which donates most of the food it harvests to people and organizations in need) in central Iowa, Mustard Seed, I had the opportunity to go through this exercise again. We had one minute to talk with another person and our partner wasn't allowed to say anything, except "thank you" at the end. We could talk about anything we wanted. The experience, because I felt safe in the environment, was liberating. We should, perhaps, listen to each other more. A lot more. But part of what I loved about this exercise was that it came after sharing a meal together--with some people who started off the evening as strangers to one another. We ate together, we built a community of trust over food--and some of the food came straight off the farm. This experience, and experiences like it on this farm, made me more interested in the Catholic Worker movement (which began during the Great Depression) and in interning or volunteering on organic farms, perhaps by WWOOFing.

When I moved, I wanted to stay involved with local food, with food accessibility, with food security. I mentioned this to one of the first people I met in my new town and she connected me with a thrift store/food pantry. The thrift store helps support the food pantry and people can sign up for a very low bi-annual fee. In exchange the person who signs up is given at least 40 pounds of food each month, often more. There's a mix of canned and fresh goods, with a couple of local companies making major donations (and getting, I'm guessing, major tax write-offs a couple times a year). My first day volunteering at the thrift store, two people came in to pay their dues to join this organization and receive food. When you join, you take home a box of food--and when one of the dock-volunteers brought out the goods, one of the recipients started crying--out of joy.

This doesn't solve the problem of people who can't afford food in our country, not really. But maybe it's a start. For about $4 a month, the recipients get 40 pounds of food minimum, food that would otherwise be thrown out. Americans, just for the record, toss about 25% of domestically produced food. This, of course, says nothing about the food we import--and we do import a lot of food.

I also got involved with the local growers market, helping a friend who has a pie-business, and by talking to the local producers to find out not only what they produce, but how they produce it and when things in my new part of the country come into season. Part of the key to understanding food issues in a community is understanding how food moves within a community and how people do (or don't) have access to this food. Urban foraging happens a fair amount in this area and many people have chickens or roosters in their yards, not to mention produce-bearing lawns and trees. And it's not hard to find local and organic here, which is nice--but not true in many places.

And that's--the difficulty in finding local and organic food--where part of the problem lies. There are mixed messages about whether it's better to buy local or organic, given the choice of only one or the other for a product. I mentioned this in a recent post as well, but have since read more of Anna Lappe's Diet for a Hot Planet. Lappe outlines how much carbon dioxide--not to mention methane, ammonia, and other chemicals/gases--is released through the current food system (by the way, news to me, Cargill not only turned a profit when the 2008 food riots were going on around the world, but continues to turn a profit now, even as many are going hungry. A huge profit. The second quarter of this fiscal year their earnings tripled. I could rant longer--I could actually start to rant, but that's a different post, and maybe on my other blog.) and how the changes proposed by many of the major food companies (in which Cargill ranks high) that would, in theory, better the environment are actually little more than spin. Local, but non-organic, can still leave a large footprint according to Lappe--maybe larger than we think since we've been trained to focus on the transportation aspect of our food system (which Lappe argues is smaller than many of the other segments as far as environmental degradation is concerned). Organic but shipped from elsewhere? Well, you then factor in the (probable) decreased freshness, the transportation costs (immediate and deferred), and everything else that goes along with non-local foods. And don't even start on meat. Meat's a story all it's own--and Lappe spends plenty of time telling that story, if you're interested. It can leave a person overwhelmed.

Serving Stew for the Masses

If we factored in more of the deferred costs, yes, eating would be more expensive. Maybe fewer people could afford it than can afford it now. That's certainly what major players in the food system would like you to believe. "America feeds the world." I can't tell you how often I've heard this from farmers and students of agriculture. But what about all that food we throw out? What about the people going hungry right in our own neighborhoods?

That's where we need to get innovative. Maybe it's not a food pantry fronted by a thrift shop. Maybe it's a non-profit restaurant. Or restaurants and grocers giving leftovers and overstock/run to soup kitchens. Maybe  its like the stories my grandmother told me of being a girl during the Great Depression--when hobos would come to her parents' house looking for food because my great-grandmother always had something for them, even if it was just a sandwich or stone soup. Maybe it's remembering what it means to be a good neighbor. Or just remembering to leave everything a little better than we found it.

After the Ark by Luke Johnson, Poems

A man I used to know, Luke Johnson, recently published his first book of poetry, After the Ark, with NYQ Press. I'm a bit biased toward the book, of course, since I knew Luke a few years ago, but I found a lot to love about the poems in this book and the arc of the poems as a whole. Luke plays with formal poetry (often breaking the rules) and the poems in the book create an elegy to his mother.

On Luke's blog, you can find links to several of the poems which appeared in journals with an online component. My personal favorite of the ones available online might be "Laundromat," but ask me on a different day and my answer could change. This one, however, I've printed and taped in my kitchen, along with other favorite poems (including poems by Ted Kooser, Natasha Tretheway, Ander Monson, Sharon Olds, and Philip Levine) so I see them when I'm cooking or baking.

My friend Annie, from Simple Gifts, and I talk about poetry fairly often--what we've read, what we like about particular poems or collections, what we're experimenting with, the poets or collections we currently love. One of the things we talk about is that conversations about poetry rarely happen and that a lot of people can't name contemporary poets. This makes me a little sad and so I asked a non-writer friend why he felt uncomfortable talking about poetry, even when he's read it (which he did willingly enough in a book club, but might not do on his own). He said he didn't know where to start with a book of poems -- that whenever he'd talked about poetry in the past he'd talked about individual poems, rather than a collection.

So this is my remedy to some of that. I'm flexitarian writer, after all, and it only seems appropriate to talk about books from time to time -- or at the very least, poems in the public domain, such as those from Poetry Daily. I hope you'll join me in talking about books -- and about poetry.

Check out the Facebook page for After the Ark.