Gratitude

I read an article in the Toronto Star this week about something called Gratitude Journals . Oprah concept, but still, it gave me pause. Like most of us, I usually forget to catalogue the small and big things for which I'm thankful. This weekend, I broke character. I was very grateful for snow.

I've always hated winter. Those people who get excited about snow usually strike me as a bit suspect. It's a season of hibernation for me - sugar cravings and heavy duvets. I will even admit the embarrassing nugget that I take a hot water bottle to bed with me from pretty much September until May. This year though, I was determined to find the upside of winter.

We were invited to go winter camping this weekend at the Pinery. Not quite as hardcore as it sounds, it involved a heated hut (yurt) with bunkbeds. After some dithering, we finally agreed. Then we talked it up to the kids, and got excited about skiing, snowshoeing, skating, and tobogganing. Within days the trip however, the temperature soared and the snow all melted. So, not wanting to camp outside in slush with nothing to do, I found myself wishing for snow.

And as it turns out, I got lucky. The evening before our departure, it snowed. The morning of our departure, the ski trails reopened. And the whole time we were there we had sparkly fresh snow. The kids were giddy as they skied along the trails and shrieked down the toboggan hills. I had the chance to snowshoe along deserted trails, listen to the forest, spot a wild turkey, and go for a long solo ski (which justified the big bag of jalapeno kettle chips I polished off). And I caught myself many times this weekend being very thankful for the simplest parts of winter. It was lovely.

Now get me a box of chocolates, a duvet and a hot water bottle and wake me up when spring is here.

Sweet Potato Chews

I bought dog food. I don't have a dog. I bought it for me, 'cause I thought it was yummy locally grown whole food. For humans.

My initial thought was "Sweet Potato Chews? What a good idea!". The label on the front attracted me with the promise that it was "made from the finest Ontario grown sweet potatoes" with "no additives, preservatives or colors". The ingredients were simple. Just sweet potatoes. Yeah, I could make it myself, but I thought I'd give it a try and see if it was even worth bothering. Last night, feeling snacky (as usual), I prepared to crack into my new treat. Luckily I happened to notice in the small print that there was "less than 4.67% ash". Ash? Why would there be ash in my food? As I read more carefully, I noticed "Feeding Instructions: Feed to your dog as a healthy treat". Then I got suspicious.

Let me just say, I didn't think dogs ate sweet potatoes. Aren't dogs carnivores? Are there vegetarian dogs now? Hmmm. Weird. I don't really know what to take away from this curious development, except that my consumer literacy might need a bit of work...and that soon I might be wrestling dogs in the park for their treats.

Inspiration

I began this blog last year around this time. I managed 9 months of regular (OK, sporadic) blogging. Eventually I ran out of words. And out of interest I guess. But a few things have happened in the last few weeks that have got me typing again:
1) My seed catalogues arrived. As I browsed the "Thai Pink Egg" tomatoes, the "Bull's Blood" beets, and the "Tennis Ball" lettuce, I couldn't help but get excited at the prospect of starting the garden experiment all over again.
2) The world issues class I teach has begun it's exploration of the global food system. It's always a shocking unit for my students, particularly for the bright ones who have learned alot about digestion, enzymes and the Canada Food Guide, but not much about the political and social side of food. The best part of teaching is always to "see the lightbulb turn on" and we're just about at that point where I'm going to see alot of shining light! It's put me in wordy state of mind.
3) Our family started working with Lauren from GingerRoots Nutrition. Her blog has heaps of great recipe ideas and she is so full of energy and enthusiasm about food (and pretty much everything else) that it was contagious. We've had the good luck of sampling her lentil muffins, spicy salsa soup, coconut squash soup and a few other items. YUM.

Today I decided to try actually cooking Lauren's Spicy Salsa Soup recipe (it's a black bean soup with carrots, red pepper and onion) to see if it really was as easy-peasy as she claimed. Indeed it is - and only has to cook for 5-ish minutes! Now, it's not a pretty soup, it's brown...but with shake of salt on top, it was a major hit with my five year old. Who knew?