Adventures With Food

It's a new record: for just over ten months I've been on a pescetarian diet, and with a few exceptions I've stuck to it. In fact, there have been four times in the past ten months that I've eaten land-based meat: the accidental meatball (mentioned in the comments here, my Olive Garden memory lapse*, the surprise potatoes**, and last Thanksgiving (which was the only one of these that was premeditated). I've never been able to do this for more than a couple days before, and I think that my success this time is due to taking it in small steps. Allowing myself fish and seafood has made the transition easier.

Another thing that's made this easier is Asian food. We've improvised a lot of our meals, altered them from the way we've eaten our whole lives: spaghetti with no meat, chili with a lot of beans, grilled veggie sandwiches. More helpful, though, has been our increasing reliance on East Asian and South Asian food, especially Indian.

Some time ago Anskov suggested a cookbook written by his friend Suvir Saran. I used some of my birthday money to pick up a copy last week, because when we looked through it in the store we liked the recipes and it seemed like something even I could use (read: simple).
Last night I made the Simple Lentil Dal with Cumin and Dried Red Chiles*** on page 27. It turned out pretty well, even though I'm a three-assed monkey in the kitchen, and even though I did some things that endangered the project's success.

First of all, I didn't include the chilies because a) Michele can't eat really spicy stuff and I wanted to start safe, and b) we didn't see any dried red chilies in any of the stores we were in yesterday. Also, I used ancho pepper instead of cayenne due to a miscommunication Michele and I had a few weeks ago. As a result, the dish was much blander than Mr. Saran must have intended. It was still good, though, and as soon as I stop sabotoging the recipe I'm sure it will turn out better.

The second problem I had derives from my multi-ass monkitude. I burned the tarka before mixing it in, so I'm sure that threw the flavor off. Char instead of spice, and all that. In my defense, there's very little time to think when the tarka is cooking, so it's easy for a three-assed monkey to mess it up.

It's good that I'm figuring this out now, because in two months it will have been a year since I gave up land meat. On that anniversary I plan to go full vegetarian. If my actions can match my convictions as well this time around, that is.

* I ordered the potato soup with my meal, forgetting it has sausage in it. I ate it anyway, because I didn't want it to go to waste, and I didn't want to hassle the waitress for my screw-up.

** For Michele's birthday we went to a German restaurant that had almost no veggie options. I got mushroom soup and an order of home fries. The soup was great and the potatoes were phenomenal--and included bacon crumbles. I didn't realize until three bites in, and again didn't want to waste it.

*** I know that's spelled wrong, but that's the way it is in the book. I know he doesn't want me to mix in South American countries.

As 2008 Begins

Since the year started with me away from my computer and my home (important, probably, in that order) I haven't said much here. Because of that the thoughts in my head are backed up like this:

I have a lot of things to say in a lot of different directions. I'll forget a bunch right now and then remember later, so the next few days may be a string of bulleted posts with no coherent order, theme, or purpose. I'll just have to find a way to live with that.

• I've removed the "Dubya's Victims" ticker from the sidebar. Not that I'm less enraged about it than I was, but because its constant presence made me stop actively thinking about it. Dubya's idiotic war of choice deserves my attention and my anger, and the ticker allowed me the illusion of keeping it in mind while, in fact, I gave it less thought than before.
• In place of DV I've put up a picture of the book I'm currently reading and a link to the "Video of the Week." The first is because I just like to share what I'm reading in case it jogs some interest in someone else. The second is for fun. I'm just saying, "Hey, look at this," or "Remember this?" or "What the hell is this?"
• I'm starting Phase Two of Building a Better Jason. I've managed five months of successful pescetarianism, and now I need to change something else. I'm going to start excercising. I've never been good at regular exercise--even for the five years I was in the navy. Unless someone has compelled me with threats of bodily harm, I've never bothered, but considering my family's history of cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and clinical insanity, I should try to be as healthy as possible.
• I need to write more. I should just have that tattooed onto my forehead.
• The two weeks we just spent in Minnesota seemed to yeild less free time than the five days we were there in November. Didn't see enough of some friends, and didn't see any of others. That sucks. We'll have to come up during the summer at a time not dominated by holidays or celebrations.
• My other blog will see more action in the near future. In the spirit of Dodge's annual book project and Matt's new Agatha Christie blog, I'm going to focus my reading this year. I need to narrow my scope, though, so I'm going to spend the year reading and reading about Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. I'll explain in greater detail on the other blog soon.
• I also need to re-read Elaine N. Aron's The Highly Sensitive Person. I don't buy everything she proposes, but it's become more clear to me over the last year how important it is to my mental health to moderate my sensory stimulation. It helped a decade ago when I first read it, and I hope it will again. I can't keep freaking out. It makes me unendurable.

That's all for now. More to come soon.

Happy Halloween

Boo.

I didn't wear a costume today, but I told my Logic students that I was dressed as my own evil twin. Then they asked me if my evil twin would be nicer to them than I am.

Rotten skunks. Hehe.

On another note: Still not eating meat, seventy-two days later. It's gotten to the point now that I don't even consider that during the course of my day. We discuss what we're going to eat, we pick something, and we make it. The fact that meat isn't included in the conversation becomes less noticeable all the time.

Weird.

Tomorrow starts NaNoWriMo. I think I'm ready. I need something to kick me in the ass and make me keep at it.

I got confirmation today that I'll be teaching two sections of Comp I at OCCC next semester. I'll also be teaching two sections of Fundamentals of English and one section of Comp II at Rose. That's more like a real workload. Should be fun.

We'll be driving to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure how many days we'll be up, but we'll have time to see many of you in the Twin Cities area (those of you not traveling to other places, that is). That's only three weeks away. Yikes.

I'm Still Here!

I'm almost through with the grading lump, so I thought I'd take a moment and let you know I'm still alive. Sometimes, no matter how smoothly I'd like the semester to go, these things happen in spurts. Like when a boa constrictor eats a rabbit here and a squirrel there, and then realizes it can have a goat. And it eats the goat, but then the snake lies around digesting for a while.

I've been digesting. And I'm almost done.

Some updates, though:

• Forty-eight days into the pescetarian thing I'm still going strong. Sure, I've had a few blips, like that first week when we visited a spice store owned by some acquaintances and they needed someone to try their barbecue beef. I did it, and it was good. Then I had the accidental meatball at a party. I also wound up eating meat in soup two times at restaurants. And then we went to a physics function and Michele mistakenly scooped up some meat in a bean dish on the table. I ate it for her. So, five slips in forty-eight days. And I haven't really craved meat like I thought I would. And, even though I didn't do this for health reasons, I'm down to 217 pounds. That's 28 pounds lighter than I was in August.
• I interviewed at Rose State College on Friday. I'll be teaching there in the Spring in addition to my sections at OCCC. Probably just Comp, but maybe Comp II as well. That would be new and fun.
• We've been invited to a Halloween party, so today we bought our costumes. I'm not going to say what they are--I'll leave that to Michele, because she's really excited about them--but think Terry Pratchett.
• I like teaching Logic more every day. I might not get too many more chances to teach it, as there are a few people at OCCC who want to but couldn't this semester, but I love taking a tough subject and making people understand it. I get more epiphanies in a week of Logic than I do in a semester of Comp.
• The temperature is still in the 90s here.

And I'm still keeping up on the quizzes:
Your results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 70% Wash (Ship Pilot) 60% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 60% Alliance 60% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 50% River (Stowaway) 45% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 45% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 35% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 20% A Reaver (Cannibal) 15% Inara Serra (Companion) 10%

Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

And:
Your results:
You are Jack O'Neill

Jack O'Neill 78% Daniel Jackson 72% General Hammond 60% Thor 52% Samantha Carter 49% Teal'c 41% A Goa'uld 38% Dr. Frasier 20%

You are a born leader. You are often cynical. You are loyal to the end but you are no brainiac.

Click here to take the StarGate SG-1 Personality Test

There was another I saw about political alignment here, but I can't get the graphics to work. Let's just say I make Gandhi look like Hitler. And the farthest person away from me on the graph? Dubya. I'm way down in the anarcho-syndicalist bottom-left corner.

Anyway--I'll have more of substance to say soon. I just needed to send up a flare, because my brother says my five minutes are up.

Update

A. I seem to be doing fine without meat. This is unexpected, because I'm a life-long carnivore. But here I am, thirty-five days in and twenty pounds down. I can't say I don't drool a little when I see a Wendy's commercial, but I haven't felt the need to break the program.

B. Teaching is fun, even if today I had the second confrontation in three weeks with a student who has no idea how the power is distributed in the educational system.

C. Tom Maltman's book is good. Even if you don't know him, it should be a good read. I'm transported, and I don't say that lightly.

Not Happy With Me

I don't like to be negative, regardless of what the title of this blog might lead you to believe. But I recognize that I tend toward the snarky remark, the wisecrack, the offensive take. I'm just not happy with my recent frame of mind.

I mentioned this the other morning and Michele said, "You realize you do this every three months."

"Huh?" I said. Mostly because I didn't hear her, but partly, I'm sure, because I was being negative about something else already.

"You always say you're too negative," she said, "and then you're upbeat for a while, and then you get negative again."

And she's right. I don't know what causes this. I know I don't like it, though. What I do know is that I don't want it to continue.

Like the "not eating meat" thing. I'm trying. Ugh.

Some Random Thoughts

1. Other than a barbecue sandwich I had two and a half weeks ago, I haven’t eaten meat (other than fish or shrimp) in twenty-one days. In those three weeks I’ve lost fifteen pounds.
2. Football is huge in Norman. Saturday was the first home game of the season (first game overall, too), and traffic was clogged up for a mile around campus three hours before kickoff. We’ll be staying home on game day from here on out. (And whoever created that website needs to review the spelling of "memorial.")
3. Pandora has been educational, at least in that it teaches me about me. What I’ve found is that “pretty” music bores me more often than not. While I can admire piano ballads and folk tunes, I need some dynamic element to keep my interest, whether that’s Tom Waits’s growly voice and quirky lyrics or the backbeat tension of a John Lee Hooker. Most often I’ll settle for a driving drum beat and rampaging bank of distorted guitars, but Tori Amos makes me want to drown myself.
4. If you can stand the heat, Oklahoma’s weather is almost uniformly beautiful. Except for the odd flash flood that washes out roads and kills half a dozen people. But they have that in Minnesota, too.
5. Whenever I read John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction I am both elated and despondent. Elated because I become convinced I’ve just discovered what my current (novel/short story/essay/ screenplay) is lacking, and despondent because my discovery means that all of my work to that point is preparation.

Where's the Beef?

When I started to take a serious interest in philosophy, sometime in the mid-nineties, my focus wasn’t all that good. I didn’t know where to start reading, or even what my specific interests within philosophy were. I tried reading about religion, language, logic, ethics, and politics. I found that I was interested enough in all of the fields that I could pick any and read until I knew everything. That kind of naïveté is also an indication of how much I needed to read. Know everything. Heh.

One of the books that made an impact on me early on was Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics:

Singer’s an Australian ethicist and animal-rights activist who has become infamous in America for taking some startling positions regarding abortion, such as the idea that any country (such as the U.S.) that routinely advocates the slaughter of animals for food can’t make coherent anti-abortion laws, since animals are more person-like than fetuses are.

Whether I agreed with Singer or not, he got me thinking. Two of the most fundamental parts of what I considered my identity were the simplicity of my meat-and-potatoes upbringing (heavy on the meat, please) and my love for animals. You’d think these two inclinations would clash, but until reading Singer I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that a hamburger was shredded cow muscle. I knew it, intellectually, like I know the capitol of Minnesota is St. Paul, but I hadn’t considered the implications carefully. Once I read Singer, though, I was forced to take responsibility for that awareness.

From that point on I’ve been considering vegetarianism. I’ve never taken a serious stab at it because of that other fundamental component of my identity: I’m a carnivore. Not only was I raised a meat-eater, I enjoy it. Something about the texture, the moisture, the flavor excites me on a primal level. Even full of knowledge, the idea of tearing muscle fibers with my teeth, liquefied animal fat running down my chin as I grind the flesh in my molars and swallow it in a thick gob, satisfies me in a way that chewing a mouthful of corn never can.

But it’s still just a matter of preference. I can survive without eating meat, and my conscience has been unsettled since I first considered this. So I’ve tried on occasion, halfheartedly, to avoid meat. Every time, though, the cravings have become so intense they’ve overridden my conscience and my consciousness, and I’ve gorged myself as only a dedicated gourmand can.

A couple of weeks ago Jess emailed me with news about a wedding she attended, and she told me about the people she saw there. One of those people was Greg, another Mankato MFA who’d relocated to Michigan. She said he’d gone vegan. That shocked me, because Greg and I used to sit in the office and talk about food instead of getting work done. Greg was more serious about food than I was, more gourmet than gourmand, and he wasn’t shy about meat. And now he was vegan, and had been so long enough to have dropped about fifty pounds. I could never be vegan, giving up eggs and milk and cheese, but that kind of dedication really impresses me.

Jess’s email was the last trigger I needed, I guess. Michele has also been trying to avoid meat (for some of the same reasons, and for others that I don’t share), so we decided to try a version of vegetarianism: pescetarianism. It’s like vegetarianism, but the diet includes fish and shellfish.

For the last couple of weeks we've bought no meat and prepared no meat-based meals. I finished the last of the sliced turkey yesterday, and now we have no meat in the apartment.

I don’t see pescetarianism as ethically superior to eating meat—it’s morally indistinguishable from it, as far as I’m concerned. But it is a step in a more ethically-coherent direction. If I can handle this, it should be a short step to eliminating meat altogether. And then my conscience can rest.

All I can do is try, right?