pumkpin on a pedestal.

on the way home from the camping trip, we stopped at a pumpkin patch. so exciting. pumpkins of all shapes and sizes and colors. yes, just when you thought you could only get orange ones, there are striped pumpkins.

mine is the white one. i carved it today, choosing the child-like process of freehand. yes, i did it without drawing the face on it first. it's silly and funny and perfect. and has great eyebrows.

the whole process is so rewarding: choosing a pumpkin, carving and decorating it yourself, roasting the seeds. i love eating pumpkin seeds. and they are easy.

1. clean the seeds of any goop. rinse off all that stringy stuff.
2. put them on a baking sheet and lightly coat them in olive oil and salt. you can add other things, like tamari or garlic or, really, just about anything you want.
3. bake at 325 for 25 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until they are roasted.
4. let them cool.
5. eat. so tasty.
yes, my pumpkin is posing next to a peacock. liz found it the other day.

farm-to-market

you know, all those roads labeled "FM" are for farm-to-market. they are not described this way in new york, but there are a bunch of them in texas. i used to live nearest to FM 1092.

anyhow, these are roads by which the farmers used to take their goods to the marketplace to sell them, to connect the rural and urban areas. but my guess is that it has been many, many years since FM 1092 was used in that fashion. there are gas stations and supermarkets and things, but a farmers' market? doubtful.

but, what if i wanted to figure out the location of the closest farmers' market? i would use this website. it's pretty cool; you can check out CSAs, markets, actual farms. and then you can visit them. and buy their food. and eat it.

ugh. and right after the olympics, too.

the united states finally has a pretty decent relationship with china. (can we thank richard nixon for breaking ground there? doubtful, it seems.) the world gathered for the olympics and it all seemed to go so well, even with the "enhanced" fireworks on tv and the potentially underage gymnasts. whatever. we got over all of it.

americans buy a ton of chinese-manufactured goods. they are cheap, and seemingly hold up alright. we are supportive of their confusing communist-capitalist economy. americans have continued to buy the chinese toys even after it was found that they are toxic.

and now, the milk. (and herbal medicine, but the media has not focused on that.) there's melanine in chinese milk products. what is melanine?

i did some reserarch. it's an organic compound mixed with formaldahyde. yes, the stuff that dead animals are kept in biology class so one can dissect them. it produces a resin that makes it heat tolerant and fire resistant. it's not shocking to discoer that it is typically found in whiteboards, tiles, kitchenware, fabrics, and filters--things that are inedible. why is it in food products? unsure. in 2007, it killed 1000s of animals because it was in the pet food and livestock feed. we don't learn.

what has the fda done? recalled some products.

and? well, they can't force stores to remove the products from the shelves. they can just recall it.

apparently, in america, it's mostly in chinese candies. but in china, it's in the baby formula, the one item america apparently does not import. 1000s of chinese babies are sick, have acute kidney failure. 53,000 people have fallen ill. i read today that a malaysian company has been found to have melamine in their biscuits.

shouldn't something be done? shouldn't there be inspectors of the goods we import? what the hell is happening? what is the point of the fda if people keep getting sick from their food?

today, such a good breakfast.

i woke up way too early today, but the good thing is that i had the kitchen to myself. forever. as i typically do on the weekends, i decided to fry an egg. perfect.
i then cut up some chili peppers that i got from the farmers market. they are, far and away, the hottest peppers that i have purchased since i have lived in new york. i chopped some onion and garlic and sauteed them in safflower oil. i added some black beans. i love black beans with my eggs.
obviously, a meal is not a meal without chips. we have a bag of organic blue corn chips, and i threw a bit of hell on the red salsa over them. (this is the salsa that reminds me of home. tina sent me two jars this week!) i added some carrots for vitamins. and color. as expected, i ate it all. yes, that's a pumpkin next to my plate. yes, that is the fork april stole and gave to me.

dedicated to me.

the nytimes sunday magazine has been created in my honor.
check it out.

but, really, the picture says it all.

favorite food.

i announced to the roommates today that my favorite food is chips. i prefer potato or corn, but i could probably eat any of the chip varieties.

blake and i ate a lot of herr's chips in harlem; he likes the rippled ones. i love love love jalapeno chips, especially the ones that came in the red and white striped bag that i ate as a kid. i have no idea the brand. in new york, i eat dirty's "jalapeno heat." i also love to put chips inside the sandwich, for both crunch and flavor. i think blake hit the nail on the head when he wistfully mentioned that "the sandwich shops should have chips as a topping." yes, sir, i agree.

AN ADDENDUM, october 10: blake mentioned that we mostly ate utz chips. it's true. i was confused in my chip-eating frenzy.

HOT DAMN. ANOTHER ADDENDUM. there is one memory that stands out with the jalapeno chips. i am in the van, a 1986 gmc safari, the car my father loved more than anything, and eating handfuls of the chips and i can't stop because then my mouth will be on fire. (the key was to keep eating them.) we are on our way to port aransas or south padre island for the weekend. it must have been in 5th or 6th grade.

the genius.

i have visions that, one day, i will win a macarthur genius grant. you don't essentially win one for a certain project, but for being an overall genius. you get to do whatever you want with the funds; it's not for a specific project. having spent most of my adult life studying history, i guess that is the field for which i would be nominated.

but, today, there is an article in the nytimes about a farmer who won the grant. he created a program, Growing Power, to grow fresh foods in urban, economically-distressed areas. he plans to use his funds to take it all "off the grid." it's so awesome that i feel like a jerk for wanting a genius grant at all.

eden is lovely.

it's often hard for me to want to drink milk from cows. or goats, for that matter. it's a bizarre concept that humans might want to drink the milk of another animal. i don't think there are other animals that do such things. i am not vegan, and certainly eat foods (especially cheese) made from cow's milk, but i was never a fan of drinking milk. (interestingly, i was allergic to it as a baby, and was fed soy.) i typically bake with the so-called "regular" milk, though. for flavor.

i am a fan of soy milk. lately, my roommate, liz, has been experimenting with different milk products. we currently have almond milk and rice-soy milk, but she's also tried hemp, and probably some other things.

i love the rice-soy milk by eden foods. it's tasty and has a good consistency. and, eden foods is that "oldest natural food company in North America." it was started by a group of friends in 1968 who decided to produce goods that they could not find in stores. none of their products are made with things that have been genetically-engineered. none of their foods (except for the fish flakes, obviously) have dairy or animal derivatives, including gelatin or eggs. even the teabags are not glued, but crimp-sealed.

gotta love that.