Charlotte’s Web. Again.

Posted on 19 January 2010 | 1 comment

My English 204 students can now say they have read Charlotte’s Web. Again. I didn’t realize how strange that book is when I read it as a child. Two things are insanely weird about it:

  1. Fern’s mother is worried that, at the age of 8, Fern spends more time with her animal friends than she does with boys. She is so worried, in fact, that she talks with their family doctor about it. Eventually, still at the age of 8, her mother rejoices when Fern goes for a Ferris wheel ride with a boy, and for some reason Fern lingers over that moment for the rest of the story. Heteronormativity anyone?
  2. In the opening scene of the book Avery, Fern’s brother, takes a toy gun and a toy knife with him to school. When I was younger, I suppose several of my friends did the same thing, but having taught in a school where a first grader brought a real gun to school, I have to say that I am not for Avery carrying weapons with him on the bus.

It is definitely interesting to see how drastically children’s literature has changed in just the past 50 years, and the one thing I like about our textbook is that it shows how writing for children has evolved from non-existence to high-quality books written especially with children of different developmental levels in mind.

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I am thankful for my students and the ways they challenge me and each other.

Food: banana, juice, pure bar, chocolate milk, vegan lasagna, apple, cheese, almonds, decaf americano, Tootsie rolls, frozen pablano pepper thingies, ice cream with strawberries

Exercise: ran three miles and walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, Running, School, Teaching

Swimming

Posted on 18 January 2010 | 3 comments

I went swimming tonight. Just for good measure and to reassure myself that I could still do it, I went to the diving well and fished a diving brick up from the bottom. Yes, I can still dive to the bottom, and yes, I can still tread water for a minute with the bastard held out of the water. I am tired, and I have to get up early to run. Hence, the short post and the fact that my eyelids are getting heavy.

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I am thankful for being able to get a bunch of work finished today.

Exercise: swam a mile and walked dogs

Food: banana, juice, soy milk, Pure bar, pad thai, vegan lasagna, decaf americano

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Posted in Food, Swimming

Let ‘er rip.

Posted on 17 January 2010 | Leave a comment

This week begins 16 weeks of mini-marathon training. I typically run 3-4 times a week, but starting on Tuesday, I will run five times a week, building my mileage until I finally run 13.1 miles on May 8. In case you can’t tell by my excessive posts on this topic, I am more excited about this than my friend, Ed, is about his trip to Disney World! I just hope that my joints hold up for this wild ride, and that I can lose some weight in the process. If all goes well with the mini, I may go ahead and attempt that first marathon in the fall. I have my eyes set on two different possibilities right now: The Whistle Stop Marathon in Northern Wisconsin and The Chicago Marathon. While the one in Wisconsin looks great, I might save it for a second or third attempt because it looks much smaller. I hate coming in last, and I am pretty sure that won’t happen in Chicago. Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend a weekend in Chicago. We’ll see.

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I am thankful for days of doing nothing mixed in with ones of working nonstop.

Food: too many pancakes, juice, vegan lasagna, popcorn and cheese and apple, chocolate milk

Exercise: walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, Running

Vegan Lasagna

Posted on 16 January 2010 | Leave a comment

We went grocery shopping today, and I decided I wanted to try to make vegan lasagna, but not for any particular reason. My desire to do so was prompted by Meijer’s 10 for $10 sale, which included whole wheat pasta. Besides buying multiple boxes of other types of pasta, we bought lasagna noodles and because I was feeling up for a challenge, I put together the following recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 8 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked
  • two packages frozen spinach, thawed
  • one package frozen winter squash, thawed
  • one package of crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • half a head of cabbage, shredded or chopped
  • one package of tofu
  • one can of tomato sauce
  • one can of diced tomatoes
  • a couple of cloves of garlic, minced
  • some onion to taste
  • crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and other herbs to taste (If anything, put in more than you think will be necessary. Mine was a little bland.)

Process:

  1. Saute seasonings and garlic in some olive oil.
  2. Add in mushrooms, spinach, diced tomatoes and cook until mushrooms are tender.
  3. In a blender combine squash, tomato sauce, and tofu.
  4. Cover the bottom of a 9″x13″ glass casserole dish with nonstick spray, then spoon in some of the blender mix and a bit of the saute mix. You will want to use a slotted spoon for the saute mix, because it will be really juicy. Layer four noodles over the mix.
  5. On top of the noodles add half of the cabbage, pour over half of the remaining blender mix, spoon on half of the remaining saute mix, and then add the rest of the cabbage.
  6. Next layer on four more noodles, then the rest of the saute mix, and top it all with the left over blender mix, spreading it all over the top.
  7. Cover the whole pan with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Place it all in the oven at 350º for 60 minutes. Voila!

I thought the tofu in the tomato sauce and squash mix made it taste cheesy even without the cheese. I bought some vegan cheese to use, but I decided to do it without it once I tasted the heartiness of the mix. And, vegan cheese is always sketchy. If it wasn’t for the weird look of the mix on the top once it cooked, I think most people would think there was cheese inside. It looks like a creamy marina at the least, but it’s unsettling to see lasagna with a naked top and no gooey cheesy goodness. Except for the crunchiness of the cabbage, this tastes quite a bit like regular vegetarian lasagna.

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I am thankful for imagination and innovation in the kitchen.

Food: caramel corn from Christmas, vegan lasagna, sunflower seed bread with soy-peanut butter, bread and olive oil dip, soy milk, leftover pancake, banana, tea

Exercise: walked the dogs

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Posted in Food, PBJ, Vegetarian or Vegan

Commenting on Papers and Americanos.

Posted on 15 January 2010 | 1 comment

You can read the history of the Americano here, though the explanation is not very good. Coffee lore tells that the Americano, shots of espresso watered down with hot water thus resulting in something similar to drip coffee, was so named after European baristas, or coffeehouse employees, who thought American soldiers were strange for desiring brewed coffee over their preferred espresso began calling watered down espresso Americanos. Essentially, I think my favorite coffee drink is named after men like my grandfather who were perceived as wusses by Europeans. I can drink shots of espresso, but why would you want to when you can prolong the enjoyment with a little hot water, a splash of soy milk, and a dab of honey or raw sugar.

I enjoy the decaf variety, so I don’t get heart palpitations, which have only begun since I started running, not drinking beer, and cutting out caffeine and soda. I shudder when I think about what I did to my body before I began caring about what I was doing to my body. Apparently, I have to experience a clean body before I can really begin to appreciate how good it is to be healthy. I don’t like it when my heart races, I can’t imagine what it was like with 40 more pounds, and I much appreciate the lack of animal products in my veins. I feel good. At 35, I feel better than I have for most of my life.

I am sitting here at Starbucks, commenting on papers from last semester, so I can give them back to my students on Monday. I feel bad because they have been waiting for them for two weeks now, and I should have had them finished when break was over. I procrastinated, though, and I am just now finishing them up. It is challenging to force myself to comment on papers that I have already graded. I made a note to myself not to do that again. I think I really won’t, too.

On a totally unrelated note, I have been eating several things in the past few days that are advertised as raw food. I love it. I can say that if I didn’t love a nice hot piece of pizza or a nice hot plate of pasta, I could easily be a raw foodist. Since that diet is inherently vegan, it would be excellent for me. I just feel better when I don’t eat things that come from animals, and I can see the benefit of not cooking all the goodness out of food. I saw a good quote the other day that said, “If you aren’t vegan, you aren’t vegetarian.” I hadn’t thought of it that way. Interesting, but not entirely convincing.

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I am thankful for Abbie, Ed, and Iz. On an unrelated note, I am also thankful for reconciliation.

Exercise: walked the dogs twice, ran 3 miles

Food: banana, juice, Pure bar, soy milk, decaf chai tea, sloppy jane with cheese on a wheat bun, salad with strawberries and honey mustard, decaf americano, green tea, Two Moms in the Raw granola, pasta with veggies and edamame, ice cream

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Posted in Coffee, Fat, Food, Running, School, Teaching