Christmas Summary and Happy New Year!

Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted. Holidays make it hard to keep up with this kind of thing.

Well, I've had several food adventures, one being that I tried making Creamy Red Pepper Lentil Lasagna. It turned out fine, except that the only nondairy milk we had in the house was vanilla soy milk, and I made the ghastly mistake of using that to make the cheesy sauce for the top. The sauce tasted like vanilla frosting or something... it was really ... odd. But everybody seemed to like it anyway, so no worries I guess. Just don't try that at home; your family might not be as chill with it as mine.

So on Christmas Eve I stayed up baking so I'd have some nummies for the next day that I could eat. I tried Marbled Banana Bread which has mild chocolateyness in it, and also made an Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie, but the only problem was I scalded the chocolate pudding stuff and so I thought it turned out kind of gross. However, my sister, who is not LDS, says that it just tasted like a mocha pie and she liked it a lot. So apparently mocha = scalded chocolate?? I found that a little amusing. But my mom also liked it once she had put crumbled mint Oreos on top (Oreos are generally vegan btw). The banana bread turned out awesome.

Also the graham cracker crust I made was pretty crumbly...

My family always has a big Christmas Breakfast. At my house, normal breakfast is fruit and toast, and always has been, maybe with a little bit of cereal. But on Christmas day we have waffles or pancakes, hash browns, eggs, bacon and/or ham, etc. The works. It's also a tradition that we drink eggnog with ginger ale in it. So Dad was wondering what I could eat and drink for Christmas breakfast. Bisquick actually seems to be vegan if you just mix it with water and no eggs or milk, so the waffles were no problem. Hash browns were no problem once fried in olive oil or Earth Balance. I also got some Tofurkey Italian Sausage and cut them up and fried them too. I didn't have any vegan eggnog (the stuff I've tried isn't very good... anybody have recommendations?) but I had some cranberry and black cherry juice with ginger ale instead. All in all I was stuffed by the end of it, especially since I had some banana bread too.

I like my hash browns crispy.

Then recently, my mom and I made some impromptu pizza, using bisquick to make the crust. We baked the crust before putting the stuff on it. So we had three rectangular pizzas, and she made the smallest one with real cheese on it for the picky young'uns, and I made the middle one an alfredo-y pizza and the largest one had tomato sauce with globs of leftover alfredo-y sauce. Both the middle and largest also had crumbled tofu, and all the pizzas had sauteed red onion, yellow squash, and red bell peppers on them. I used one red onion, one small yellow squash, and four red bell peppers. Oh and a can of olives.

For the tomato sauce we just used some canned Hunts sauce, one of the ones without meat or cheese in it. I think it was garlic and herb? And for the alfredo, we bought a carton of MimicCreme which is vegan and made from cashews and almonds etc. I put 3 tablespoons of earth balance in a deep pan and melted it on medium-low heat, then put in two tablespoons of flour and whisked until it made a paste, then poured in a cup of MimicCreme and put in a ton of chopped garlic, probably around 6 big cloves... then whisked it until it was thick (the creme was already pretty thick!) and then added another cup and stirred again on low heat. Just kinda let it sit there on low heat for a little while, stirring occasionally, and added garlic salt until it tasted right. Also a little bit of No Chicken Better than Bouillon, which gave it more flavor.

Pretty awesome. We baked them each at about 400 or 450 F, just until they looked and felt done... kind of a vague recipe, I'm sorry. But maybe I can perfect it later.

In general, it's been a pretty good Christmas, food-wise. The kids still don't like the stuff I make half the time, and there were still a lot of uncomfortable moments of going caroling to someone's house and getting smacked in the face with the bleghy smell of a roasting turkey, and watching my family eat meat, especially my dad's family up in northern Utah at their annual get-together, and listening to my uncles joke about hunting. There will always be hard moments like that. But it has meant a lot to me that my parents are supportive of my choices and willing to try the food I make or even help me make it.

And it has been a good Christmas in other ways too. I have been completely spoiled this year. I asked people not to get me presents, because I was too poor to get presents other than cards for anyone but my mom and one of my brothers (and I wasn't even spending my own money) but by various twists of fate I have ended up with almost an entire wardrobe of clothes both new and used, an e-reader, a fantasy book, a used graphics tablet, a cute winnie-the-pooh mug, and a beautiful necklace. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things....

We always watch a movie on Christmas Eve and this year it was Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Aslan is an important symbol for me, and I went to bed hoping I could learn to see God more like how I see and adore Aslan. Lo and behold, the necklace I got the next day.

In general Christmas was very spiritually filling and emotionally draining. This whole trip has required me to reevaluate a lot of things.There have been miniature crises and long talks and crying spells. It's always hard going out of your comfort zone, but I'm grateful for the chance I've had to spend time with my family and my friends, especially to get to know one of my sisters better and her two precious kids.

Life is so precious....

And this world is so beautiful....

From the drive up north (I drove part of the way!)

And all the beautiful music from/with my family and the choirs they've been in, it really helped me to think again about what Christ's life really meant and what kind of person he really was and is. Something I'd like to share is parts of the 2nd and 3rd verses of O Holy Night, because most people don't sing those, but they are really beautiful especially when sung by a choir.

 The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

So... I would always get emotional listening to these lyrics, especially "He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger" and "in his name all oppression shall cease". I would really like for that to be true. As much as we sing peace on earth and good will to men, it is easy to see that the world is not at peace. But God still loves us anyway and would like for us to get there someday. I guess all we can do is trust that Jesus will be there with us to lead us toward that better world, that little child who was born among the animals of the field and grew up to heal all people and give up his life out of love. And we can try to be that kind of person to those around us who are not at peace, and who are suffering either emotionally or physically.
This post has been pretty long and rambly and I probably should have divided it into two, but whatever. To round it all off, here's a tentative list of new year's resolutions.

-Draw more (one finished picture a month)
-Pray more, and with greater sincerity
-GET A JOB.
-Do some kind of garden again
-Publish at least one article (I already submitted one to Sunstone Magazine just yesterday!)
-Stay in touch with my family and friends
-Write to Alma (my brother on a mission in Korea) weekly
-Do better at my blog

I hope 2012 is an awesome year for everyone! And don't believe those silly people who totally misinterpreted the Mayan calendar. If you ask the Mayans they'll tell you it's a load of bullhonky (not sure if that's a real word).

Why VEGAN?

I've been feeling like I should write a post about why I am Vegan, rather than just Vegetarian or an Organic-loving Locavore. Why give up dairy and eggs altogether, when I could get some from a nice little family farm where the animals are treated well? For that matter, why give up meat when I could get it from a nice little family farm where the animal lived a long and happy life?

Well, first of all, when it comes to meat, I believe that no matter how nicely it's done, killing is killing, and it's wrong. Violence harms the soul of the perpetrator, making them distant from God and hardening them to suffering, making it harder for them to feel compassion. Killing something or someone unnecessarily is even worse. Since I don't need to eat meat to survive, it's completely unnecessary for an animal to die for me. How selfish would it be of me to have an animal give up its life just because I like how it tastes? My own personal feeling is also that my life is no more or less valuable than an animal's... they want to live just as much as I do, so what gives me the right to kill them or support their deaths by consuming their flesh?

It's true that milk and eggs are not created directly through killing like meat is, but that doesn't mean that death is not a part of the process. Let's start with milk.

In order for a cow to give milk, she must be impregnated. Once the baby is born, it needs the first, fattiest, and best part of the milk in order to get the right start on a healthy life. Now, some farms deny the calves this (especially factory farms, which drag the calves away from their mothers basically as soon as they're born) while others don't. The mother will only keep giving milk for 2 years after the birth of her baby, and then she must be impregnated again. So, in order to keep getting milk from a mother cow, a farmer will inevitably end up with multiple baby cows. You may think, well that's just fine, he'll just let them grow up and add them to his herd and milk them too. Well what if someday he doesn't have enough land or feed for those cows? And what if a good number of them turn out to be male? What happens to them? For most farms, even smaller ones, it is common practice for "unprofitable" babies and grown males to be killed for veal or beef. Even if that farm doesn't do it themselves, they will probably sell the babies to someone else to be killed or exploited.

Also, what happens to the female cow when she is too old to be a profitable milk cow? In most cases she will be killed rather than allowed to live out her life, because keeping her is a drain on resources.

While there may be a few places which will keep unprofitable cows, bulls, etc, they would definitely be rare and not the norm. Just try to find one.

Let's talk about eggs. Hens will continue to lay eggs even without a rooster around, so there shouldn't be any violence involved, right? Well... when a hen stops laying, will she be killed? If some of your hens end up dying (and it happens often enough because of predators and other things), and you want more eggs, you will have to get more hens. If you choose to get some fertile eggs and hatch them, some will turn out to be male. Roosters are unproductive compared to hens, only one being needed for each bunch of hens, and multiple roosters will often fight with each other over dominance in the flock. So then you are faced with the choice of what to do with the rooster. Even if you go and adopt some hens and bypass the choice of what to do with male chicks, those hens came from a batch of eggs that likely produced some roosters which may have been butchered, discarded as unprofitable or too much trouble to keep around. There are people who will give their roosters away for free on craigslist to people who want one for their flock of hens, but the reason they're giving them away for free is because people who actually want roosters are not nearly as common as unwanted roosters are.

I would eat eggs from hens which were treated like pets, meaning that they were valued for more than their egg-producing capabilities, and therefore guaranteed to be cared for even after they become unprofitable. Any roosters in the flock would also have to be treated in a similar way. I would only eat eggs under these conditions because hens do simply continue to lay eggs even without human intervention and in that case the eggs may as well be eaten. But as soon as I saw any hint of the chickens involved being treated as mere egg-producing machines instead of living beings who have a value separate from their usefulness to humans, I would not eat those eggs anymore.

Milk is more complicated because it is meant for the cow's baby. I really do not feel comfortable taking that milk from her and her baby, and I especially don't feel comfortable viewing milk as something which should be constantly available because it comes at the price of bringing new lives into the world, babies with an uncertain future, babies that will probably grow up to be exploited or killed and not valued as the individuals they are. With so many good milk alternatives I would feel very selfish if I insisted on taking a cow's milk, or a goat's milk, or any animal's milk. Humans weren't really meant to drink milk anyway... most people are at least slightly lactose intolerant and find that they get more congested when they drink milk, or have digestive issues.

Many of the other things that I try to avoid as a vegan should be obvious. Leather and fur comes at the price of an animal's life... It's kind of grotesque to wear someone else's skin when there are so many good plant and synthetic fibers.Why is it alright to wear a cow's skin, and yet the thought of killing one's dog or cat and wearing their fur is repulsive (at least for people with a heart)? Feathers are only okay to wear or use if they're just found rather than plucked from the animal. Anywhere feathers are packaged and sold, especially in large amounts, I'm sure that a bird or many birds had to die somewhere along the way. Gathering them from live birds is just not efficient enough; it doesn't make good business sense.

Beauty products and other things which are tested on animals or contain animal products are also unacceptable because if I pay for them, I am giving money to an organization which exploits animals and sees them as objects instead of living beings.

Honey is something I need to learn more about, because I don't know all the details of how it is harvested, but all the same I want to avoid exploiting even honey bees if I can. There are so many other good sweeteners. They made that honey for themselves... it's pretty selfish of us to let them do all the hard work and then take their food from them.

Wool is something I have been asked about once or twice. If shearing a sheep is really good for the sheep like some people have told me, and the sheep were kept as pets rather than money-makers, then that wool would be acceptable to use. I have heard of some farms that sell wool from rescued sheep in order to help fund their sanctuary. I would probably be fine with using wool from a place like that.

For me, it comes down to our attitude toward animals. They are not objects, they are living beings with a will to survive and a desire for love and safety and happiness. Even if I bought "cage-free" eggs (which doesn't even mean they're treated well, just not treated in the worst way) or milk from a "pasture-fed" cow, I would most likely be giving my money to someone who saw those animals primarily as economic units, money-makers. Even if those animals lived a relatively great life, if they were not loved by their owners enough that their owners would keep them even when they stopped producing, I wouldn't want to support that.

The first step toward violence is seeing the other person/animal/creature/whatever as an object. That's why racism happens, that's why war happens, that's why sexual, physical, verbal abuse happens and all other kinds of violence. Because most people can't bring themselves to feel okay about hurting another living thing unless they see it/him/her/them as completely different from themselves... they see it/her/him/them as something or someone that doesn't matter. As long as we see animals or people as objects, and think they're only valuable if they're doing something which profits us, we are making it easier for ourselves to hurt those animals or people. That attitude in itself is a form of violence.

Finally, as a side note, I'd like to mention that there are many studies which have been done that show that our planet cannot sustain itself if everyone keeps eating animal products every day. It takes so much more resources and energy to produce it, especially milk and meat, and animal products produce so much more waste and pollution than plant foods and products. Eating animal products also contributes to world hunger. So much grain is used in animal agriculture that there is not enough left over to sell at fair prices to starving people in other countries. Our apathy toward animals is causing suffering for other people as well. For myself, since I know about this connection, I feel that it would be a form of violence against both people and animals for me to continue to harm the earth in this way.

I Stand Corrected!

Today me and my youngest sister walked to the nearest grocery store, called Farmer's Market. A year and a half ago, when I first came home after turning Vegan in Hawaii, I had a sad incident involving having to buy someone yogurt  that was almost certainly made from factory farm milk because there was nothing else. So, I was bracing myself to be disappointed again, but I needed garlic today and I knew they had to at least have garlic.

Boy, was I surprised! Things are getting better. The produce section was actually quite impressive... they had a big long thing full of what I suppose you would call specialty items, and the prices of everything were pretty comparable to what I paid in Bellingham, except the organic stuff was slightly more expensive than at the Co-Op.

Brace yourself for an onslaught of Rae-fanning-over-vegetables!

Kale, Chard, Leek, Beets, Celery/Celery Root!

Note the tiny amount of Yukon Gold potatoes. But at least they're there! xD ALSO... if you click on this photo to enlarge it, there ARE Kaffir lime leaves! There was also a sign for lemongrass but I didn't see any lemongrass anywhere. Hmmm.

LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL PURPLE KALE. OMG.

This is mainly because of the (2) Daikon.

My sister was making fun of me for taking pictures of everything xP Oh well... it wasn't in a mean way, we just teased each other.

Our cart. Note the lovely SMALL/cheap bottle of cooking sherry.

I was also very very pleased to see the large array of nondairy milks and also a section of the freezers devoted to Amy's products.

We bought about $40 worth of stuff and I went home determined to cook 3 different things for dinner that night. So, I made a double batch of this Leek and Potato Soup, some Black Bean Salad with Corn from vegweb, and a bunch of baked asparagus with garlic salt and rosemary (I didn't use any other herbs or normal salt).

It was exhausting. But, everybody seemed to like everything, so I was happy. I made the asparagus especially because it's one of the only vegetables my youngest sister ADORES... and thus she ate about half the tray before I could take a picture.

Stupid yellow tint...

 Somehow the soup didn't turn out as green as it usually does... I wonder if it's because I didn't use the actual blender but instead used the handheld/immersion blender my mom has. The consistency wasn't as nice that way.

This was the smallest pot I could find that wouldn't be full to the brim with a double-batch.

I forgot to add cilantro.

My 2-year-old nephew LOVED the salad... he ate a lot of it. So did my sister / his mom.

Two people in my family are having digestive issues since the stew last night. I'm not sure why, since nobody else who ate it is having problems... but now my brother is leery of curry and lentils, so I figure I'll take a break from both for the next few days if possible.

Soup Success... and stats!

Well, my to-do list for today didn't go completely as planned. My laundry wasn't done yesterday so I didn't have anything to wear to the grocery store this morning, so I had to make do with whatever was in the house. Therefore, I took a shot at a Vegweb recipe I've never tried before (which is always a risk) called Lentil and Kale Curry Stew.

Sorry, the splatters in this picture make it look extremely unappetizing, I know....

Since my family has varying levels of spicy tolerance, I only put in half the cayenne and left out the dry mustard powder entirely (though we didn't even have dry mustard powder, I could have subbed 3 Tbsp wet mustard or a little less than a tablespoon of horseradish or something if I wanted it hotter). I think I put in a tiny bit extra curry powder too, and only used half the kale because the whole bunch wouldn't fit.

It was a success! Everybody liked it, although my youngest brother's eyes were watering a little. Best of all, it made enough for everyone to have at least one bowl, and my youngest sister who is the biggest carnivore of all of us said that the texture of the lentils made her feel like she was eating a meaty stew and she liked it a lot.

I still need garlic if I'm going to make anything in the next few days though.

On a different note... I have a small announcement to make! Today I received my first comment from someone I didn't already know! It was kind of a big surprise for me because I wasn't sure if this blog would ever be of interest to anyone who didn't know me, but I hope that as a fellow LDS Vegan some of what I say will be of benefit to her. Her comment was really kind and made my day.

I went and looked at my pageview stats for the first time today, out of curiosity, to see if I could figure out how this commenter found my blog, but it didn't really give me any answers, although it did reveal the interesting fact that I have had 30 pageviews from Russia and 11 from Germany since my blog started. That's nothing compared to the 239 from the United States, but the internet really is amazing, isn't it? I daydream about being able to reach wide audiences of people, but at the same time I am a little intimidated even just knowing that anyone can read my thoughts here if they want to.

In any case, thanks to the commenter and to everyone who reads this blog. I hope you find some value in it, and feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, or advice with me as well!

It's Easy... In Some Places

I'm home for Christmas, for a month, meaning that I have flown back to Utah to spend time with my parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews as well as my Utah friends. It is back to Mormonville, and more than one kind of culture shock. I almost wish I had a photo of the massive table covered in dutch-oven-cooked meat at the ward Christmas dinner last night.

I came with more confidence this time, considering that I actually know how to make some good food rather than subsisting mainly on homemade burritos, Amy's microwavable burritos and enchiladas, spaghetti, fruit smoothies, cheerios with soymilk, and sandwiches with Vegenaise. Not that those things aren't good, but they're hardly the way to impress upon one's loved ones that Vegan eating is full of exciting variety and homemade deliciousness.

My first impression after coming back was... man, I really took Bellingham for granted. You can get any ingredient you want at either the co-op, the asian store, or Trader Joe's or Haggen or something. The point is, if you want it, you can find it, and it will usually be good, and fresh, and maybe even local. But here, it's just not like that...you can't find some things anywhere. My sister Faith said she couldn't get fresh lemongrass or kaffir lime anywhere when she wanted to make good Thai food... she had to buy them on the internet. Now, that's definitely one option... I will have to start looking into that if certain missing things start to be essential.Thank goodness for the internet (without it, I would not know how to cook...). I am also wondering if there is anywhere within reasonable distance which might sell nutritional yeast. I'm thinking probably not... it's kind of an obscure thing.

So my main option right now is to try and adapt to my surroundings and make whatever recipes don't call for really exotic ingredients. Luckily that probably won't be too much of a problem... and we have an abundance of spices in our spice cabinet, which is great too. I did buy some turmeric and cumin though since Dad thought we probably didn't have any (we didn't).

Today was encouraging though... I decided to just make the usual Me-and-Danielle sized portion of the Creamy Lentil Soup (Dal Shorva) and let everybody have a little bit just to see if they liked it. Everybody did, although my youngest sister who is notoriously picky didn't like the onion topping or the cilantro. But the fact she liked the soup at all was amazing since she doesn't like tomatoes... she may not have realized there were any in there though, hahaha.

So I will be making that again sometime soon, in a larger quantity.

Next on the list... well... I have to go shopping. I am missing some important stuff which would be necessary to make the 10-ish recipes I have listed so far... I need to buy a ton of fresh garlic, some lemons and limes, CASHEWS, coconut milk, lots of LEEK, coriander, bread I can eat, some cooking sherry or wine, some sweet potatoes, possibly some squash, and vanilla extract... and couscous and fresh mint because me and Faith might make Tabbouleh... and more I'm sure if I actually look at the specific recipes I picked out...

To end I'd just like to say I've already been humbled in a few different ways.

One is... okay, for those of us who don't live in a super awesome granola-y town, being vegan, or just eating healthy in general, is not as easy. My hat is off to you... your job is harder than mine.

Secondly, it is definitely more difficult to feed a large family, especially when everybody has different likes and dislikes. I am amazed at how well my mom has managed to do it over the years. Somehow the thought of making a meal for a busy family is much more intimidating than making a meal to share with a busy fellow college student.

Gandhi and the Spirit of Christ

You might ask what Gandhi has to do with being a Vegan Mormon, since he was Hindu. Well, first of all, Gandhi apparently wrote a whole book about the morals of vegetarianism, and he is attributed with some of my favorite quotes, including: "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." He is also a worldwide symbol of the principle of nonviolence, a concept which has been behind every choice I've made concerning how far I was willing to go in my non-cooperation with evil. That concept, of non-cooperation with evil, is at the root of why I became vegan.


I've been having a hard time connecting with God lately, because of various questions I've been pondering and also because of being busy with schoolwork. But today I decided to sit down and watch the Gandhi movie for the second time in my life. The first time I watched it was 3 or 4 years ago, and it was a turning point in my life, where I realized that the use of violence for any cause is not going to produce good results. Violence only begets more violence. You can go on a crusade, and you may be bringing Christianity to the heathen, but you are also bringing violence and an elimination of freedom, which is the opposite of Christianity. You may believe gay people are sinners and tell them they are being tricked by the devil, or disown them as a friend or family member, or refuse to give them your full love, trust, and acceptance unless they "repent", but even if you are right about homosexuality being forbidden by Christianity or  Mormonism, you are still using psychological and emotional violence on others, and that is the opposite of Christianity. I realized that while, like Gandhi, there might be some things I could be willing to die for, I should have no cause which I am willing to kill or harm others for.


Now, the line is fuzzy sometimes with emotional violence, but I still have to try my best, which is why I catch myself whenever I find I might be making others feel guilty when I talk about Veganism, because I don't want to use guilt (emotional violence) to manipulate someone into changing. The change should be their own choice, and I can continue my non-cooperation with evil without having to coerce anyone else to join me.


So anyway, today, I watched it again, and I had forgotten just how painful a movie it is to watch. In some ways it is very depressing because of how many times the masses fail, or turn against Gandhi, and how long it takes the British rulers to see that their attempts at domination are unjust and futile. People are massacred, and India no sooner gains her independence when she begins to fall into civil war along religious lines. Gandhi is heartbroken that all he has worked for can be upset so easily by fear and revenge, and in the end he is assassinated. In a way it seems like evil had the last say, and humanity is a hopeless wreck of insane, violent fools. But Gandhi never saw it that way, and he said himself that we must never lose our faith in humanity. This was something I needed to hear, because with all the history I've been studying, and all the ways in which I am constantly surrounded by violence against the innocent, humans and animals alike, I often find it hard to keep faith in humanity at all.


The scriptures talk about the Spirit of Christ dwelling in people. Somehow I found myself seeing Jesus in Gandhi even more than the first time I watched the film. Even just on a superficial level, look at these two pictures... the similarities in clothing, posture, and demeanor are striking.

The descriptions throughout the film, of Gandhi as a man without formal title, without riches, and yet beloved for the way he gave people power through humility, courage, and a strong sense of love and morals, are so similar to how Christ is described. There are many scenes of Gandhi sitting in nothing but a loincloth, a white wrapping about his waist very similar to what Christ is depicted wearing while hanging on the cross. The way Gandhi traveled throughout India and did whatever he could to help the poor also resonated. And the pain he felt at the divisions between his people echoed Jesus' mourning over Jerusalem. 


And then there's the simple fact that Gandhi spoke of how we are all children of God, and referred to the teachings of Jesus repeatedly throughout the film. Love thy neighbor as thyself, and turn the other cheek. 


Tonight, I saw Christ in Gandhi, a man suffused with God's spirit of love for his children, walking among them again, loving them, encouraging them, and shedding tears for them. Of course, Gandhi was human like everyone, not a literal incarnation of God like Christ, but through him I suddenly saw again why I want to be like Jesus. 


Both were murdered because they taught that love goes beyond borders of religious creed, nationality, gender, class position, or any of the other things which separate us. I like to think their teachings also included other divisions such as species, sexual orientation, you name it....


I couldn't stop thinking about how much Christ must have been like Gandhi. But then, it's really that Gandhi was like Christ. The two reflected each other and helped me to see the most important attributes of both, more clearly, and I came to love them both, and to trust, at least for a moment, that God really is active in the world, and humanity is capable of listening to the messages he sends them through people like Gandhi and Jesus. I hope I can be a messenger for him some day, in my own small way.


Moroni 7:16 16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

Post-Thanksgiving and Finals Week

Hey! It's Final's Week and as I've been trying to beat back the stress, it has been hard to find time to write about how well Thanksgiving went.

Here's a picture, since I know everybody likes pictures.

Lookit the pretty table and nice food! Fruit salad, pea salad, squash, mashed potatoes and thick mushroomy gravy,  stuffing, cranberry sauce... I feel like I'm forgetting something... and it's not the turkey because we didn't have any! YEAH! Oh yeah there was a green bean casserole for the nonvegans, but it was vegetarian... it just had cream in it.

Here's a picture of the pretty candles and the mountain of stuffing that took us 3 days to eat the leftovers of. Mmm they were so good...

And here are the two desserts me and Danielle made via recipes from the Post Punk Kitchen: Pumpkin Cheesecake and Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf.

We were really scared the cheesecake wasn't going to turn out because we used soft tofu rather than extra-firm and halfway through we realized OMG there is no vanilla extract in this house!! So we rummaged and rummaged in the cupboards and found a bottle of vanilla beans which apparently you can make your own vanilla extract out of, except it takes like 7 months or something. So we just chopped up bits of the bean and blended it up. Ehehehe. But it turned out! Everybody liked it.

I felt especially grateful this Thanksgiving to be having it with my second family. Even more so because I found out over that weekend that I no longer have to worry about getting back up to Bellingham after Christmas break. I will be flying back in January and then the job search commences. I am truly blessed to know such generous people. I hope someday I can pay it forward.


Actually, life is going well in general, especially food-wise! I find that eating well has made a big difference in how I feel... even though it kind stresses me out to take extra time to make food, I have stopped stressing as much since I've realized I get stressed even more easily if I don't eat well. That was brought home to me last Thursday when I woke up after a day of nothing but applesauce, cereal, and Newman-Os, and my school stress suddenly seemed absolutely unmanageable. Once I had a good meal everything looked about ten times easier to handle. Ah, the simple lessons of life.

 I've been trying a lot of recipes with curry paste lately, and predictably, the best one I've tried so far has been from the Post Punk Kitchen: Red Curry Soup with Rice & Purple Kale. It was delicious... the lime juice is an absolute must though, it really changed the flavor and made it awesome.

Another quick shout-out to Brother and Sister Mumford for taking such good care of me at the last Friday Forum I went to. We sang Christmas Carols and everyone else was having taco soup, but they made a pot of black and pinto beans with tomatoes and green peppers, and I made my own taco salad with it plus a veggie burger. Was stuffed by the end!

Today we made some Ayurvedic dish with mung beans and cauliflower which was pretty good once we added some stock. I don't know what I'd do without Better Than Bouillon. It's become a kitchen staple for sure.

Later this week we plan to make onion rings, possibly some nacho sauce, and have a reprise of the creamy red chard linguine, except with kale. Just the thought of all that yummy food makes Finals Week look a little less daunting.

Six days until I fly home for Christmas! I hope to do a lot of cooking while I'm home... I feel a lot better this time around, like I actually know some things.