Not only do I need to think up a menu for Thanksgiving dinner, but my son’s preschool is having a feast where we all bring food to share. What should I bring for a class of preschoolers and their parents to share at 2:15 in the afternoon? It’s a sweet idea and all, but terribly inconvenient considering I can be there all of 25 minutes before leaving to get my other son, then back to the preschool. Hmmmm~ I’m leaning towards carrots and hummus. Naturally gluten free and it’s the kind of food I like at 2:15PM. For Turkey day I want to make butternut squash soup and a quinoa dish. The quinoa is easy~ I toast the dry quinoa in a pot with olive oil for 2-3 minutes, then add the appropriate amount of water (or stock). While the pot works up to a boil I add chopped up onions and garlic. Once boiling, I turn it down and put a lid on it. About 5 minutes later I add the chopped broccoli (and sometimes tofu cubes)so they can steam. At that time I also add black pepper and whatever herbs I have, usually basil and oregano and thyme. When it is finished I add soy sauce. It is good warm and also cold~ straight from the fridge the next day. Nothing like Thanksgiving leftovers!

First of all let me say, I like cats, but I am not a ‘cat person’. The last few months or so, cats have been increasingly, popular. Not exactly popular, more like, ever-present. Almost everyday I hear a cat story on the radio or they pop up on my computer and I’m just starting to wonder if there’s some kind of feline conspiracy I should be aware of…? I used to take the bus every day and was often privy to the conversations of others, and was constantly surprised at how often they revolved around cats. I was reminded of this phenomena this week as I wasted time in a department store while my sons were at kindermusik and I heard these two women discussing what I took to be their grandchildren, but then realized they were their cats, but then, after listening further (seriously not trying to listen, it was a just quiet place and they were having a conversation better suited to a backyard barbie where an annoying neighbor was cutting the grass and a parade of firetrucks were racing by…) I realized they were indeed talking about grandchildren AND cats. All in the same breath and with the exact same passion, love, and pride. (Unless a cat really can be in 6th grade?) And it just made me kind of sad. It isn’t just cats, dog owners can be just as annoying only instead of discussing the brillance of their pets they are letting their dogs run at you and bark and smell you and jump on you all the while saying, “oh, he won’t bite….” Great, but maybe I don’t want my run to be interrupted by some crazed animal that I don’t know any more than I want some crazed human running right at me and trying to knock me out of the way or take my hand with their open moouth and pull me somewhere. But anyway, it just feels like a symptom of modern life~ this cat obsession. People are seperate now, so isolated in so many ways. Community refers to something online far more often than real life, families live all over the place, so people buy pets and pour into them all the human emotion that used to be shared among friends, families, and even frienly acquaitances. Maybe 200 years ago people were sitting around talking about their pets in the same way, but I kind of doubt it. I have the suspicion that they were too busy being with other people and living life to obsess on their pets. Maybe not.

We live a tad over a mile from my older son’s elementary school. He is only in first grade but has been going there for about 3.5 years already b/c he actually went to the preschool there. So, for 3.5 years I’ve noticed this extremely strange attitude towards walking as a means of getting places, which is especially odd b/c it’s a school and kids who live really close by are supposed to walk…no bus service supposedly within a mile’s distance. I say supposedly b/c it seems to have to do more with a certain busy road as the cut-off, not really a full mile. Anyway, whenever I’ve walked to school with the kids either biking or in a stroller type carrier, or even by myself, the staff and faculty react as if I’d just shot myself out of cannonball from our backyard. Seriously, the shocked looks I’ve gotten have made me stop in my tracks. They know where we live too, which as I said is only a bit over a mile away. Are we so far into a busing culture that walking a mile is considered crazy? The first time I noticed it was on the very first day my son went to preschool there. I rode the bus that day and planned on walking home after he was settled in. The bus driver could not get over it! He insisted on defying the rules and driving me home~ I had to say no until it got quite uncomfortable, but I really wanted the little morning walk. I think it may have been drizzling that day, but it isn’t like I was hiking across a tundra or anything! I’d love to see more kids walking/biking/scootering to school~ but if the faculty and staff at my son’s school are any indication, that probably won’t be happening any time soon.

Sitting in a comfy leather chair, wrapped in a fluffy down blanket while the rain falls this early Sunday morning, and all I can feel is the unasked for restlessness that seems to seep into the most unexpected moments. The kids have been unusually quiet this morning, drawing, cutting, creating, which is perhaps why I am able to feel what is always there but drowned out by the general chaos of everyday life with loud little boys. Sitting here so snugly I have to wonder how I could want anything else though~ what is it that bubbles so relentlessly, so familiarly, that makes me want to be somewhere else so permanently…? I read a blog of my friend’s today who is living in some African nation, alone, teaching English and experiencing life in the way that makes so much sense to me. He spoke beautifully of the isolation he feels and it made me realize that I feel that exact same isolation almost all the time, but when I travel it is far more interesting and real. I long to travel, not just travel but live other places for periods of time. The friends I made while traveling always seemed so much more real than the ones I’ve met in conventional lifestyles. Why is that? The similar situations of travelers? The common needs? The fact that people are not settled into a certain life and assuming that certainty will continue forever. People nestled into their suburban existence and believing that the job they have, or the kind of car they have, or what their children do are the most important things in their lives. It is such a hard thing for me, to go along with this act when really my soul is not into it. It pulls at me because yes, I do worry about the boys’ schooling and jobs, (though I truly despise cars) it just seems so…silly really in the grand scheme of things. But I get sucked in, even this past week finally succumbing to the bombardment of “must get flu shot” mania and have been sick ever since. Still, I think, should I get the boys shots? Lemming-thoughts. It is all such a game. I remember how desperately I missed individualism when I lived in Prague. Everyone looked the same, dressed the same, discussed the same ideas. Now I see there are just pockets of sameness in America~ the eastside may be different from the westside but everyone needs to feel like they fit in. Maybe that is all it is, the only times I felt like I really fit in were times I was traveling. Maybe that is all I miss. Maybe that is all that is really important in life after all. Trivial? Or not? I know this comfortable-ness will not last.

Our friends had us over for pizza the other night and the one that was made for me was gluten free and made with goat cheese. It was delicious and the first time I have had pizza in years. It inspired my breakfast this morning~ udi’s whole grain bread, goat cheese brie, fresh basil and sliced tomatoes. The brie was from Trader Joe’s and I owe it to another friend for introducing it to me. For one of my sons I excitedly made graham crackers with neufchatel cheese and sliced strawberries on top. He picked off the berries because they weren’t crunchy enough so I was disappointed. It looked so good to me! Oh well, back to cereal for him I guess.

Back to rain could be another title for this time of year. Luckily my oldest son’s first week of first grade has gone well and my younger son will be starting his new preschool next week. It will be a very busy fall. To start it off right I made some miso soup with broccoli, garlic, tofu and onions. Not traditional, but very yummy and healthy. My sons actually eat it too, which is a major plus. Here’s the quick and dirty: Warm a big pot with olive oil inside. Add about 3/4 of a big onion, then add about one head of broccoli cut into little pieces. Tofu and garlic go in next along with about a T of balsamic vinegar and a T of tamari (wheat free). Saute about 4 or minutes, until the broccoli is bright green, then add 4 cups of veggie stock. I know most people put fish oil in their miso, but the name alone turns me off so I don’t. I always add basil, oregano, and black pepper along with some mediteranean salt. When the pot is about to boil I add about 1-2 T of miso into the soup by holding a wire strainer barely in the soup and whisking the miso in. Then I add rice noodles, turn off the burner, squeeze some lemon, and put a lid on it. Delicious and nutritious and definitely a cold weather meal.

We just got back from a ten day trip visiting my family in Louisville. The boys had the time of their lives despite one immediate care run and two ER runs. It was a good time, but vacationing with a food intolerances and being vegetarian is not easy, especially while staying with family who eat very differently and do not fully get the whole gluten intolerant thing. I ate a lot of salad and a lot of nut thins, which is all good, but the day after returning home I was eager to make some food! Despite the 94 degree heat in a house that traps heat and refuses to let it go like a toddler and his favorite toy, I turned on the stove and cooked throughout the afternoon. And actually, I felt kind of sick the rest of the evening, so maybe it was not the best idea, but on the plus side I made a delicious spaghetti sauce for a family dinner (I put mine on brown rice noodles), pasta salad and quinoa salad for the next day, as I saw the need for cold food coming up. The quinoa salad is the clear winner. I cooked the quinoa first (I only had about 1/2 cup left, otherwise I would have cooked a full cup.) While that cooked I sauted onion, garlic, broccoli and a heap of cut up leak all together in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, wheat free tamari, black pepper and herbs. (Oregano, basil, and herbs d’ Provence). Then I combined them all and can attest that it is good warm or cold, especially with about a quarter of a lemon squeezed on top. It is another 90+ degree day here so I’m glad for the food waiting in the fridge today.

For a couple of weeks earlier this month I had some tummy issues, which put a damper on my experimenting in the kitchen. Then my sons started swim lessons which turns out to be a whole-day affair most days complete with picnic and heading back to the pool for the open swim. Coming home sun-soaked and exhausted doesn’t exactly lend itself to turning on the oven and busting out the baking tools. One day was so hot that when we were finally home and resting I was truly shocked that my children wanted some food for dinner. I wanted to ask, who can eat in this heat? I think I gave them some fruit and yogurt and called it good. That said, I have tried a couple of gluten free items lately. First, Montana’s chocolate chip cookies are delicious. They are light and the perfect texture, not too chewy and not too crispy. WOW makes some good cookies too, but are the moist, chewier kind. This texture works particularly well with their ginger molasses. I also tried some cut up muffins by Udi’s that were samples at Whole Foods. I have to say that I was unimpressed. But, in their defense my friend says she loves their bagels (though she admits it is a gluten free kind of love, not for the gluten eaters out there) and I do love their granolas. After trying to make my own and feeling as though I were eating gluten, it is lovely to be able to trust that the granola isn’t going to make me feel sick and tired. I’ve officially worked through all the baked goods in my freezer that I had made with the Flying Apron cookbook and the heat has abated a bit so I might just take up the wooden spoon again today. I really want to make a decent loaf of bread but feel it is impossible considering I’ve never had a gluten free bread I have really liked that doesn’t make my stomach hurt. It must exist, I just need to keep trying and experimenting. Gluten free baking is not for the weak of heart.

It has been so long that I sometimes forget being vegetarian is not the norm, especially here in the Seattle area where vegetarians seem to make up nearly half the population. Therefore, most of my food issues at restaurants have to do with ensuring I’m not inadvertently eating gluten, not a stray chicken leg or pig remnant. That’s why I was so caught off guard last night when we went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and I was brought a beef burrito (with cheese) instead of a plain bean burrito, though it was indeed on a corn tortilla. The thought of nearly putting the beef in my mouth makes my throat tighten and my stomach nauseous, therefore a new meal was not ordered. Needless to say, the next time we have a family hankering for Mexican food, we’ll be headed somewhere else.

Shopping at PCC today I was amazed at the explosion of gluten free foods available. Udi’s alone had so many new items in the store that I realized I had chosen to try their most boring product by far by picking up their white bread at Whole Foods last weekend. They have granola, cinnamon rolls, frozen pizza crusts and more. I didn’t buy anything though because I am trying to make things from scratch as much as possible. Gluten free food is generally expensive, and it is healthier to make your own food anyway. It was just surprising how much there is to choose from now. Everyone seems to be far more aware of gluten issues than even just a few years ago. It is great for us gf eaters, but it also is a sign of the times that people are becoming aware that what we have considered normal for so long is actually quite gluttonous. I’m not just talking about the size of a restaurant dinner plate either, I mean the gluttonous cars which are finally downsizing, the gluttonous oil usage which is prompting more bike-commuters, the gluttonous globalization which has spawned the living local movements. We are entering an age of awareness that is going to entail massive scaling back in many facets of life. It at times intimidates me, but it also is exhilarating to be on the edge of a new movement. Food is such an integral aspect of who we are as humans. The grocery store is speaking to me in a new language, one I am grateful and ready to hear.