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Kathryn's Journal

kathryn
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01/12/2009 00:42 #47374

The Omnivore's Dilemma
So, here I am. It is midnight on a lovely Sunday evening and I am up reading.

My lovely girlfriend is sleeping and I am sitting on the couch in our living room reading with fascination (and a bit of horror) The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

I made the "Pledge to go Veg for 30 days" in October on the PETA website. I just kept eating veg. I like the way I feel and the health benefits are there, so I have been meat free for 3.5 months. I often get chided by my lady because she said that PETA got me to drink the "kool-aide" so to speak. Well, they may have but I can honestly say I am happier than before. I was a horrible vegetarian on High School. I am a bit better at things now:)

So, this book in just simply incredible. I have never been so enthralled with food!! I check his book "The Botany of Desire" out of the library and devoured it in one night! I had wanted to read this but it was ALWAYS checked out! So, I sucked it up and bought it (even though was trying to cut back on buying books due to my over indulgence in that area due to having worked in bookstores during college). It is really great in a relatively nerdy sort of way.

I am more and more interested in the locavore movement. I am a Co-Op shopper and a weekly regular at the farmers market (when it is open obv). My girlfriend had lived in Ithaca for 6 years prior to moving here 2 years ago. Ithaca is a wonderful area and very progressive in terms of their co-op and whatnot. She has made our home even more organic-y friendly with her food choices and such.

This book has made me look at the produce a little closer. For example, I was in the mood for corn on the cob and I saw some organic ones at the co-op. I was excited, then I saw they were from a farm in California. I stopped and thought about the amount of time and waste that came from getting the corn from Cali to the Buff. I was just interested if anyone has experimented with the locavore thing here in buffalo? Has anyone had much success? I have a good friend who is lived in Portland, OR and she primarily (70% of the time she says) eats local. That is very easy to do there because of the amount of farms and the climate of the area. Oh Portland, is there anything progressive you can't do?

That is all! On a side note: the Tea-vana store in the mall is very prtty but the sales people are so incredibly pushy and intense! I did fall in love with the Happy Buddha tea pot! It was so cute I rubbed the Buddha's belly like a million times before my friend ushered me out of the store.

I also received for my own anniversary gift the COOLEST thing for the coffee and tea drinker on the go! It is a Joemo Coffee and Teabrew togo mug! I am so madly in love with it! It stays hot for 6 hours!

I will now finish the book or try to sleep. Best to all!
james - 01/12/09 18:57
A blog I have been enjoying is Buffalo Locavore :::link:::


pmrk - 01/12/09 12:27
If already haven't might want to read copy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover. It details her year of local eating.

In my house, we eat local as much as possible. I find it much easier in the summer when the farmers markets are in full swing. I am going to make an attempt to can more things summer so we can enjoy them all winter long.
tinypliny - 01/12/09 10:04
I just re-read my comment and thought of something else. It's interesting that I have migrated from a tropical country but my food habits haven't changed all that much. I am still eating pretty much "local" to my place of origin.

Crazy, but true.
tinypliny - 01/12/09 09:59
For a while I tried eating exclusively local but it became increasingly tough to eat in a balanced way. I had to drop citrus fruits from my diet and my cooking gradually became more and more uninspired. In the end, I gave up in favour of better mental health and balanced eating. I think its an attractive idea but very tough to see through if you are used to cooking and eating with abandon (like I, unfortunately am). A lot of what I cook with can never be even produced locally (and comes all the way from the Caribbean or India). :(
matthew - 01/12/09 09:40
Happy anniversary!

01/06/2009 20:29 #47313

Tea Pot-gate 2009
WELL! I did it!

Thank you so much to everyone's help! I got a cute one at Tru Teas (and some AMAZING Pommegrante Green Tea!) for a nice price. It was by a local artist, as well! YAY!!!!
I also got the most adorable cow milk container! All is well and I hope she likes it very much.

On a side note: OMG Jon Stewart is actually talking about the Gaza Strip problem as something that is more complex than Palestine Bad:Isreal Good. Wow. Why is he the only one talking about it like that? I swear, if it weren't for Rachel Maddow or Mr Stewart I would cry a lot more:)
metalpeter - 01/07/09 19:25
I haven't heard what Stewart said. But the thing you have to understand is that most news isn't about the news anymore, it is about money and ratings. So often they have talking points and people might give there view but no one goes into any depth anymore (that is why I don't watch national news).
heidi - 01/06/09 23:27
Teapot pix, please??? :-)
kathryn - 01/06/09 20:59
I had the HARDEST time remembering what it was...enter wikipedia! :)
james - 01/06/09 20:55
Is that a pun on tea pot dome?

<3

01/06/2009 08:05 #47302

Quest for Teapot Day #2
Thanks so much for the advice! I think those beehouse ones are soooo adorable! I am going to see what I can get in town but I will definately buy one in the future!

I am going to check out Peir 1 and that Cafe on Elmwood. Thanks so much!
jenks - 01/06/09 16:03
Oh yeah, and there's a tea store on elmwood... sort of across from the coop? Tru-teas I think it's called? I think they have stuff (ceramics etc) made by local artists etc. but again probably not <$10.
jenks - 01/06/09 16:00
Not super cheap, but there's a Teavana store in the galleria that has about a gazillion teapots (and some really yummy tea)...
joshua - 01/06/09 15:26
Today I'm going w/my brother to TJ Maxx - if we happen to see one there I'll speak up. I'm sorry that I don't know where you can find one locally right away - the ceramic dripper they make is super hard to find. I thought for a while it was a rumor that they even made one.

01/05/2009 16:02 #47290

Quest for a Teapot!!!
Hello! I have a few questions to ask of the lovely e-strip-pers (hehe)

I am on the look out for a cute little tea pot for the little lady. I was hoping to find one of those tea pots with the tea cup on the bottom of it, but I am lost!

I went to Blue Mountain but it was all like a bah-zillion dollars. I was hoping to stay in the $25- $30 range.

Also, I went bowling recently and it was so freaking fun! I felt very much like I was in an episode of Rosanne, but in a really good way. Let's face it everybody, Rosanne was the shit!

Thank you and good night!
libertad - 01/05/09 22:05
It looks as if you came to the right place to ask your teapot question.
tinypliny - 01/05/09 19:54
Try the Pier One store - (e:imk)'s mom gave me a most beautiful little teapot with the teacup this christmas. It has a snowman on it (head and muffle on the teapot and its torso on the teacup). She said they were all on a big sale at Pier One. (Definitely more in $7 - $10 range and very very pretty.)
joshua - 01/05/09 19:33
Oh, I just noticed that the bigger Beehouse teapot (22oz, as opposed to 15oz) is on sale and is cheaper on Amazon than the smaller one, by like a buck. Personally though I think the small round one is cute though, and there are more colors (and more expensive finishes, if you want to get a little fancier one) to choose from apparently.
joshua - 01/05/09 19:28
Oh, I own one like you are talking about Janelle - it's a white ceramic mug with a ceramic perforated insert, along with a matching lid. All with cool nature painting on the outside, basic leaves and stuff. I got it for $5 at a Chinese store in SF. I like it a lot - I don't have to boil a lot of water and I can use any type of tea I like.

This is a teapot made by the same company that makes my favorite ceramic dripper for coffee, and also happens to be one of the teapots alot of hipster cool kids like and is definitely in your price range (e:kathryn). :::link::: Beehouse teapots, handmade in Japan, $22 on Amazon (probably $25-$28 locally), and comes with a stainless steel mesh infuser that you can remove. The teapot itself sans steel part is dishwasher and microwave safe.
theecarey - 01/05/09 17:59
Agreed.Roseanne was the shit.

I loved when it was played episode after episode on some cable channel. It was all I would watch. No more cable, so no more Roseanne, sadly.

janelle - 01/05/09 16:33
Try the Asian Grocery Store on Sheridan. I think it's called, "Oriental Groceries" or something similar.

It has some household wares and might have the specific one you want. What I really like at Asian stores is they have ceramic mugs for tea/coffee with like a ceramic lid that you put on it to keep your beverage warm.

Also stop by comfort zone cafe because they serve tea in that kind of teapot/cup thing and they might sell them at their store too. They're on Elmwood.

Good luck in your searches.

09/10/2008 15:22 #45626

I got gripes.
So, I got gripes. Not really, but why not?!?

I had a wonderful conversation with a friend Amanda. She was telling me that I should go to my 10 year High School reunion. I am not interested in going. Does that make me seem like a stick in the mud?

Also, to all you liberals out there in "e-strip" land have you checked out my new favorite show on msnbc??! The Rachel Maddow Show? I love her. She is the butch dyke of my dreams! Much to my girlfriends chagrin I have been walking on air since I found out it was on! YAY! I think it is everyday at 9pm. I heart her!

Lastly, I got my Ani tickets for her show in Babeville on 11/29. I am very excited cuz I like her a lot! Also, because I am just not enough of a lesbian, I am volunteering for the Melissa Ferrick show in the 23rd. I get a free ticket! Huzzah! So, if anyone is going to the show I will be there possibly selling stuff.


paul - 10/14/08 09:28
I didn't go to mine. Then I saw the pictures online and I kind of regretted it a little bit.
heidi - 09/10/08 20:46
<grin> I got tix for the ani concert, too!!!! I haven't been to one of her shows in at least six years, so I'm excited.

Thanks for pointing out Rachel... wow, she's hot... and according to wikipedia, smart too. :::link::: Too bad I don't watch tv...

tinypliny - 09/10/08 20:21
I don't think any of us had school spirit enough. We were so sick of the school, the teachers and each other that we couldn't wait to get out and I think it might be safe to say that (save a small handful of overzealous schoolsters or inadvertent neighbours), none of us is even in contact with anyone else from high school.

If we ever virtually planned a 10 year reunion, I guess it would have been this year. But well, I didn't even think of the concept till this post. Talk about reunion spirit!

Oh, and a bunch of intentionally didn't go to the prom (or "Farewell" as its called back home) either.
jbeatty - 09/10/08 18:57
I skipped mine this year. I didn't have a whole lot of friends in my grade level, and I figure I lost touch with ones I did have for a reason.
zobar - 09/10/08 16:17
Eh, I went to my 10-year and it was a waste, except to reassure myself that I had only lost touch with people I didn't care about. It's a good thing too, because the people I hung out with could hardly be bothered to come to school when they were enrolled, much less ten years later when it's optional.

Also: the people who have enough school spirit to come back in ten years? Totally lame. Fuck'm.

- Z
matthew - 09/10/08 15:33
I'll go if you go. You can wear your old prom dress!