No one describes days like today better than Joni Mitchell:
"I awoke today to find the frost perched on the town.
It hovered in a frozen sky and gobbled summer down.
When the sun turns traitor cold and all the trees stand shivering in a naked row,
I get the urge for going, but I never seem to go.
"I get the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown,
summertime is falling down, and winter is closing in.
"I had me man in summertime; he had summer-colored skin,
and not another girl in town, my darling's heart could win.
But when the leaves fell trembling down,
and bully winds did rub their faces in the snow,
he got the urge for going, and I had to let him go.
"He got the urge for going when the meadow grass was turning brown,
summertime was falling down, and winter was closing in.
"The warriors of winter they give a cold, triumphant shout.
All the stays is dying; all the lives is getting out.
See the geese in chevron flight, flapping and a-racing on before the snow.
They got the urge for going, and they had the wings so they could go.
"They get the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown,
summertime is falling down, and winter is closing in.
"I'll ply the fire with kindling and pull the blankets up to my chin.
I'll lock the vagrant winter out and bind my wandering in.
I'd like to call back summertime and have her stay for just another month or so,
but she's got the urge for going, and I guess she'll have to go.
"She gets the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown,
and all her empire's falling down, and winter is closing in."
November 9, 2011
November 5, 2011
Meeting Meat
Since I've been living with my parents, I've begun to cook a lot. Most days, I don't work and they do, so I cook dinner for them. I enjoy cooking and experimenting with new recipes. Cooking for other people has been a good lesson for me because when I cook for just myself, I often end up throwing things together and calling it a meal. Cooking for others has also pushed me into new areas. Not every one wants to eat lentils and goat cheese for dinner -- though add some red onions and cilantro and people might reconsider. Occasionally, I have to let my own personal preferences go in consideration of other diners. Thus, I have been shoved into cooking a food group I've been leaving out: meat.
I keep a mostly vegetarian diet, a "flexitarian" diet. There's a book about it. Look it up. When I cook for myself, I never buy or cook meat of any kind, even fish. If other people cook meat for me, I feel bad refusing their hospitality, so I eat it. When I cook for other people, I often cook vegetarian meals. Many people don't miss the meat for one meal. After tricking my parents into eating vegetarian for over a week straight, my mom admitted she hadn't missed the meat at all. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that my dad missed his meat. He never said so, but I suspect it.
On top of that, there was a feature in Real Simple Magazine in October that was a month of easy dinners. I wanted to try it. I followed the first week: salmon, pork chops, roast beef paninis, and chicken included. I ate the salmon, and cooked other options for myself for the rest. Sometimes the meat tempts me, mostly out of curiosity -- did I make something good? However, the process of cooking meat... not so tantalizing. In fact, it makes me gag. Although I've (mostly) overcome the bloody sight of meat, the drippage and the stink of meat still disgusts me. I'm paranoid of getting raw meat juice on the counter or in the sink and spreading fleshy bacteria all over. While the completely cooked meat smells okay, there's a certain point mid-cooking that smells rank to me. Bluck.
Even though I don't really like cooking meat, I think it's good life skill. I might need to know how to cook meat someday. For instance, if I were stranded in the wilderness and got lucky enough to hunt an animal, I would need to cook it for survival. Plus, what if I fall in love with a meat eater someday? I hear compromise is important for marriage and making "meat eater" a deal breaker severely limits the selection of eligible bachelors (which already seems rather small).
There are plenty of ethical and health reasons to go vegetarian, all of which influenced my decision to reduce my consumption of meat in the first place. But, sometimes serving meat is the best way to serve people, so I'll make it... occasionally... when other people pay... if I can tell they really, really want it.
I keep a mostly vegetarian diet, a "flexitarian" diet. There's a book about it. Look it up. When I cook for myself, I never buy or cook meat of any kind, even fish. If other people cook meat for me, I feel bad refusing their hospitality, so I eat it. When I cook for other people, I often cook vegetarian meals. Many people don't miss the meat for one meal. After tricking my parents into eating vegetarian for over a week straight, my mom admitted she hadn't missed the meat at all. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that my dad missed his meat. He never said so, but I suspect it.
On top of that, there was a feature in Real Simple Magazine in October that was a month of easy dinners. I wanted to try it. I followed the first week: salmon, pork chops, roast beef paninis, and chicken included. I ate the salmon, and cooked other options for myself for the rest. Sometimes the meat tempts me, mostly out of curiosity -- did I make something good? However, the process of cooking meat... not so tantalizing. In fact, it makes me gag. Although I've (mostly) overcome the bloody sight of meat, the drippage and the stink of meat still disgusts me. I'm paranoid of getting raw meat juice on the counter or in the sink and spreading fleshy bacteria all over. While the completely cooked meat smells okay, there's a certain point mid-cooking that smells rank to me. Bluck.
Even though I don't really like cooking meat, I think it's good life skill. I might need to know how to cook meat someday. For instance, if I were stranded in the wilderness and got lucky enough to hunt an animal, I would need to cook it for survival. Plus, what if I fall in love with a meat eater someday? I hear compromise is important for marriage and making "meat eater" a deal breaker severely limits the selection of eligible bachelors (which already seems rather small).
There are plenty of ethical and health reasons to go vegetarian, all of which influenced my decision to reduce my consumption of meat in the first place. But, sometimes serving meat is the best way to serve people, so I'll make it... occasionally... when other people pay... if I can tell they really, really want it.
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