Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Great Hazard Challenge

Alright, so I'm kinda in the swing of things again with balance of work and life. (Going to sleep at 9.30 pm lastnight was a very good decision. Kudos to me.) I was able to work all day, have Midgie play and feed time, cook dinner, and have a little me time whilst hubby runs to grab a bottle of prosecco. Did I mention what I made for dinner? Spring garlic and faux chicken sauteed in a little rice vinegar w sliced fennel and cucumbers in a dijon vinaigrette. It was delish.

Ok, so now that Hazard has her groove back it's time for a few challenges.

Challenge #1: Get yr lazy ass back into the gym. I've been so bad. Every day I make an excuse, however, TOMORROW I AM GOING. If I don't go tomorrow, I'm not allowed to have a glass of wine when I come home. I was doing so good, you don't even know...I was there 3 times a week! I was a cardio and pilates machine! My arms are the most perfect (without truly being perfect) that they've ever been and I am a whole lot less of a jiggle. I get dirty looks when I tell ppl I just had a kid THIS YEAR. So, back to the gym we go!

Challenge #2: Stop eating processed food. No, for serious. I know I talk a lot of paranoid schmack due to my readings, but....it's really so awful. So unless it naturally exists in nature, I aren't eating it. No more faux chicken. But seitan is okay. Seitan's gotta be okay. I hope seitan's okay. Okay, I'm not quite sure about it, but we'll say yes for now. Regardless, if it needs to be processed by an excess of chemicals or acids...my body will not compute it. And, I'm only eating corn if it's in kernels off a cob. No high fructose corn syrup, or dextrose, or fructose or glucose, or any other derivative! For your information, wine is okay because it's processed without chemicals. It's fine. Really. Shut up, I'm drinking it anyways.

I'm sure those challenges will be in full effect and mastered by the end of the month. So I'll need new challenges. I challenge to challenge myself monthly. I am open to suggestion. Handle that, would you? Thx.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Guilty

I must say, as much as I love my new job, I do hate that I'm away from Auden so much. Last Tuesday, I was away from him for 12 hours. That's the longest I've ever been away from him. It was heartbreaking. As much as my old job sucked, I at least got to hang out with the Midge.

I must commend my husband. He's Mr. Mom right now. He works all day AND takes care of Midgie, sometimes even having to go to DJ right afterwards. And he never complains. I've been up since 5:30 this morning, when I made his bottle, was at work by 7 am, and didn't come home till 5 pm. I took over Midgie duties as soon as I got home. Poor thing is teething...I see 2 more on the way. I have to cook dinner. I have to mop. I have to go pick up the laundry. But all I want to do is sit on the couch. Husband is still working.

I don't feel like being local and I'm completely unsustainable at this point. I want pizza. Ok, McDonald's, I understand why you exist.

I'm a bad, bad mommy. No, I'm not gonna give in. But I can daydream about it, ok? It's allowed. It's in the rules.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

local? organic? sustainable? huh?

I've been reading too many books about food lately. And magazines. And blogs. I'm food obsessed, for sure. But the more I read, the more paranoid I get. I've mentioned my concern for the plight of the dairy farmer after reading It's a Long Road to a Tomato. Now I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and I'm angry at corn. High fructose corn syrup is the secret devil and the government is conspiring to fatten us with surplus hybrid demon corn.

As much as possible, I want to eat as locally and organically as possible. Unfortunately, I don't have a limitless income, nor can I devote a full day just for food shopping, due to the fact that I already have a full time job, and am a full time mommy too. Also, I have a life.

Here's my attempt at local sustainability:

Yesterday, we had lattes from Crest Cafe, the new coffee joint near our house, which exclusively sells a Williamsburg coffee brand. I have to research and see if the coffee is farmed by 12 y/o Mexicans or if it's Fair Trade. Then, we went to Urban Rustic to buy Saratoga sparkling water for our trip to the McCarren Greenmarket. Saratoga is in the state...kinda local. At the Greenmarket, purchased spring garlic, leeks and gorgeous radishes. (Apparently, ramp season is over. GAH!) I noticed that Ronnybrook farms was there, and I felt guilty that my Fresh Direct delivery that morning included my Organic Valley milk that's from Wisconsin. Note to self: stop buying Fresh Direct milk and support the local dairy farmer, his distress made you sad, remember, fool? Then, I got really inspired and decided we should go to Marlow and Sons, cos I heard they have Rancho Gordo beans there and I'm out of damn flageolets. (Do I sound like a jackass yet? It seems as though I do, but I digress.) Marlow and Sons market is WAY smaller than I had previously anticipated, and while, they do have some really great finds there, and they do have RG beans...they were out of flageolet. Bastards. We bought some ciabatta, then it started raining and we headed home. As a snack, we ate a platter of radishes with some parsley garlic butter I had just made and the ciabatta. Effing awesome.

While I was home, I realized that I had purchased $150 of crap from FD (granted, this includes baby formula, baby cereal, baby food and diapers), $20 of assorted goods from Greenmarket and M&S, and I barely had enough to make dinner. So, off to Sunac I went to buy some non local peppers (there were none at the GM) and non local but organic bananas. I got inspired again, and decided we should visit the fish monger because Gerald has been craving oysters for like a year, and it's time he had some. So we bought some semi local oysters. At $8 for a dozen and $2 for shucking, Gerald almost peed his pants with joy.

So, what did I have for dinner? I roasted some non local peppers, mushrooms and garlic and cooked some frozen gnocchi that's probably from another planet and secretly has the government surplus demon corn somehow someway in it. It was super delicious, but my attempt to eat local/organic/sustainable got fucked along the way.

There's always next week. Sigh.