Read Me

Plastic Ocean: Our Oceans Are Turning Into Plastic... Are We, by Susan Casey

--Erika

Link of the week...

This is a great place to find local food!

I've just finished reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. Mr. Pollan defines several items that make up what we should eat. Food, as it turns out, isn't quite the same as it used to be (duh!), so he makes the suggestion to eat only things your great-grandmother would recognize as "food." He expands on this by defining where you might find this in a grocery store (outside rim versus the inner isles), and then expanding to mention that maybe, just maybe, instead of including a middle man, we should just go see the farmer to get our food.

This is where Erika's Random Link of the Week comes in. Local Harvest, in their own words, "...allows consumers all over the country to search for local farmers' markets, community supported agriculture farms, U-pick farms and farm stands, and to view an extensive listing for each market or farm that matches their search criteria." The only problem I've had with the website, isn't really even with the website. It's the fact that some of the farms haven't updated their information. My goal, this week, is to find a few, local, CSAs.

Happy surfing.

--Erika

Erika's Random Link of the Week

This week we have a departure from green links. This week's link is to a VERY COOL teaching resource for Language Arts! Ever wonder where the apostrophe goes? Ever wonder what kind of grammar you "learned" but forgot? Just check here!

-Erika

So, B and I Watched An Inconvenient Truth...

I have always loved driving manual transmission vehicles. I don't really know why. I do know that they tend to have slightly better fuel economy. What I recently learned here, is that my manual transmission vehicle (versus the same car, but with an automatic transmission) reduces my CO2 output TEN PERCENT! TEN PERCENT! If I switched to a Prius, my CO2 output would decrease by 41%!!!!

So, Erika's Random Link of the Week is this. It's the companion site to An Inconvenient Truth. I will admit something... For a guy with a lousy, no-good, make-me-want-to-wash-my-hands-in-bleach handshake, Al Gore presents a pretty water-tight case.

Check out my "Ya' Gotta Watch This" section. I have never been as disgusted as I was watching the link to a certain animal rights organization's video about where meat comes from. Unfortunately, the same story is corroborated in several other places. On a happy note... Places like this treat their animals appropriately and sell very nummy milk, cheese, and butter!

--Erika

Eat...

I have been spending a lot of time thinking, learning, practicing, and otherwise contemplating the process of eating. Let me clarify; I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, he talks about where our food really comes from, and what processes it goes through before we unconsciously chow down. I've been thinking about what I choose to eat (my anti-resolution-resolution is no more high fructose corn syrup (or high maltose corn syrup for that matter) in anything I purchase), where it comes from, how it's produced, what I do that takes a plant from the ground into my mouth, etc. Tonight, I came upon an amazing and articulate post over at Casaubon's Book. She really articulated the thoughts I have on cooking, I am certainly not one of those people who would go hungry if I were given dried beans and no instructions, and I am definitely adventurous when it comes to making substitutions, but I'm not nearly as fluent in "food" as she discusses (and is). Quit reading my blog, and go read hers!

--Erika

Time Flies

Well, so much for my posting two or three times a week. Since my last post I've been deep in mid-terms. I have a mid-term conference next week, but other than that, I think all the midterm projects are behind me. (yeah!) I'll take this time to brag on another great coffee shop!

Ristretto Coffee Lounge is located at the corner of College Way and Martin/Waugh Rd in Mount Vernon - east of Skagit Valley Community College. As of this posting, they're open M-F 5AM 'til 10 PM, Saturday from 6 'til 10, and Sundays 6 'til 8. With FREE WiFi (ask for the encryption code when you order your coffee), great semi-local coffee (49th parallel), and a relaxed environment, it's quickly becoming my second home - a welcome alternative to the green mermaid.

In other news, I've finished reading The Queen's Fool by Philipa Gregory. I've abandoned it a couple times, the beginning of the book makes it out to be in the "trashy-romance-novel" genre, but after getting past the first chapter, I was drawn into this wonderful historical fiction novel about a young Jewish girl who escaped the Spanish Inquisition by fleeing Spain, traveling across Europe, and finding herself in the court of England in the 1550's. Philipa Gregory's writing is inviting and vivid, painting wonderful pictures with each paragraph. Definitely an author I will revisit!

Another finished novel, Autumn Blue, by Karen Harter was wonderful! Autumn Blue is the story of a single mom with a teenage son and two younger girls. Her son finds himself on the wrong side of the law, and she finds herself struggling to see what to do next. The setting really drew me in, trying to decide for myself - where EXACTLY is Ham Bone, WA? This was Karen's second book, and when the time comes, I'll be off to find her first book, Where Mercy Flows!

I'm currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Both are marvelous so far. I actually chose to read them based on Crunchy Chicken's "book club."

I'm sure there's more news (I'm sure I need to post about Sequim), but I need to get back to homework!).

"Why the cow?" you ask, well, she's cute. Need I say more?

--Erika

It's FAST!

I'm posting this picture just because I can. Previous pictures took more than 20 minutes to upload, this took less than 7 seconds! Thank you mom, for high speed internet!


I called B from the bus station today... and our cable modem came today! I was so excited the whole ride home... I talked to H and we planned on chatting at the "watering" hole at nine tonight... well, let's just say that B and my first experience with high speed was amazing... we were giggling like small children, completely unaware of the time. When H called at 8:58, I felt awful, but then she told me she wasn't there yet either.





Anyway, B and I had SO much fun on youtube.com, I really liked the pit bull video - explaining how pit bulls are what you make of them - if you treat them like any other dog, they'll be as sweet as can be, but if you abuse them and teach them to fight, they'll do just that - respond to abuse by fighting. If you know Mrs. Wigglesnort, you also may see glimpses of her in the pit bull video... something we should watch on the days when we doubt her make up. Anyway... check it out here.





In other news... I just started another book, Autumn Blue by Karen Harter. Heather is letting me borrow her copy (got it tonight). I read the first four pages (out loud), and after the first paragraph, I knew I'd be up all night reading it... I can already see myself standing at the kitchen sink, washing a cereal bowl, looking longingly out the window past the grasses behind the trailer...





I've gotta get back to one/some/all of the following: sleep, shower, book, youtube, homework, etc. :-)





--Erika