Punk Rock People

My punk rock herb garden with our punk rock Pup. Grow rosemary grow! I'd love to read some comments offering creative uses of fresh rosemary. I love the smell of this stuff! (the brown in the left lower corner is dead cilantros, I uprooted and moved it... it didn't like that very much).

I have been reading the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook by Isa M again. I was a teenager during the relatively peaceful 80's, listened to "poison" and looked at what the cat drag in as we poured on a little more sugar. I owned a pair of black parachute pants and even had green hair for a few days (note to self: green food coloring does not wash out the first washing or even the seventh washing). I grew up in Brooklyn for pete's sake and even had many friends on the south side. Just because the Brooklyn I grew up in was in Iowa and the south side meant the 1/2 of the town on the "other side" of the railroad tracks that separated the 1500 residents doesn't mean I'm not just as punk rock as Isa who rode around New York in her dad's cab on the weekends.

I'm feeling a soapbox moment coming on . . . .

Here are some important "key elements" of describing punk that I see in the book intro:
1. "I was not yet sure yet where my political affinities lay, but I knew that I respected what the activist and punks were doing: taking old decrepit buildings and turning them into homes, creating community gardens, making their own newspapers and zines, and just generally giving a damn." 2. " I already knew that I did not want to be a part of a system of oppression; changing my diet was an easy and practical form of activism." 3. If punk rock taught me anything, it's that we can create our own forms of entertainment. We don't have to sit back idly and wait for something to happen - we can make it happen."

Punk Rock Dave
Sure she later goes on to describe the kind of life she lived at thirty was something that her 18 year old self would hate her for, but the just is - punks are creative, active, and do-it yourselfers and so my dear one here shows just how punk he can be building a addition to the side of our garage to store the lawnmower and other wonderful tools. I wish we had a more green way to mow our lawns, but we mow over an acre of property and I don't have several days to lose doing that with a garden and everything else.

Punk Rock Matt
He's even dyed his hair, can you tell .... it's burgandy now. What is he eating, you might ask. Ethiopian Seitan and peppers recipe inspired from p. 167 of VwaV ... Another great episode of Matt's kitchen adventures. I have to say inspired because by the time we were done with it, very little was like the recipe in the book. I broiled tofu chunks in a little soy sauce instead of seitan for him to use and I was very impressed how well they came out.

After broiling the tofu w/ soy sauce chunks brown in the oven we added all the veggies and the seasoned puree. The little red here is the tiny tom's I pictured previously cut in half. I know ethiopia dishes use tomatoes so I thought this would lend a pretty and flavorful addition to this dish. We also are mild on the heat index and used 1/2 C yellow bell pepper with 1/4 tsp red hot pepper flakes to substitute the 6 serrano chiles called for in the recipe. We also have a combo of green and yellow peppers. After combining all the veggies, puree, and tofu the pan was broiled for 6 minutes, stir 1/2 way through.

Here's my plate. We served the completed veggie fry over salted bulghur with a side of fresh garden corn wheels and sliced tomato. Dishes like this inspire me. Several years ago when I resigned from my full-time american dream position to come home and be full-time active in the life I have now I had a little dream. When I would go to the library to learn how to stretch a $40 weekly family of 4 food budget including toiletries (it was super tight back then too!) I was inspired by what people of other nations ate. Not only was I inspired, but I also began to love the people of other cultures of the world.

As I taught my kids geography we always did an in depth exploration of the foods of the region, for example one day they woke up to a living room set up like a market place in a middle eastern city. We had hot "wadas" for breakfast, just like the ones we could have purchased from a street vendor at the market. All of our stuff was vegan of course and I found a wonderful selection of cookbooks that helped me accomplish my teaching goals. I loved this aspect of teaching my kids, to love and respect all people and cultures. I grew to hate the standard amercian culture (SAD!) and the kinds of stereotyping and intolerance that went on in even "good" small town public schools. My dream was that I would be able to go to any nation in the world with knowledge of nutrition to cook or eat that culture's (vegan) food and to raise two children who would have the openess never to judge a culture by minor differences and be able to adapt to the cultural foods and ways.

Anger is a powerful emotion full of potential energy. Harnessed in the right way it can take a person far and when used in a way that will have a postitive impact on another living being the end will result in joy for both involved. Some people have harnessed their anger and lead entire nations into freedom from oppresive forces that caused horrible poverty and unhuman treatment. I am not in a position to lead a nation ...... no maybe I am. I with my husband have raised two children to the best of our ability (well almost raised - age 18 and 15 in less than two weeks), fed a great many visitors from many countries at our dining room table, teach home school moms how to garden, bake, can and generally how to maintain sanity because of my anger. I do this at no charge because I care and I am angry.

I learned something about forgiveness along the way also. I hate many of the practices in the world today. I hate little girls showing all of their starving naked bodies hoping that someone will "love" them, I hate when these little girls get the "love" that makes them pregnant and then they must kill life in order to "exercise their rights"... I am not expressing my views of abortion I am expressing my view for the practices I hate. I hate that a family in America is considered at a poverty level and ramen noodles and white rice are given in food boxes... not skills to teach them, not a friend who will walk with them. I hate when young parents feel so much stress in this modern life that they hurt their children. I hate these things and I had many sleepless nights wrestling with the nightmares these things have given me. I have been clinically depressed, I have been angry, and now I choose to do something about it.

When I was able to forgive wrongs of people I didn't know, who had also been wronged by people who had been wronged by people who had been wronged (etc) ... I realized a prisoner was set free. I didn't excuse those actions, but I did free myself ... I was the prisoner unable to enjoy and live the gift of life that was given to me. If life is precious and the cause is freedom from oppression or animal rights, ect .... then this CANNOT be changed by doing and being the very thing we hate. (Wrongs = the ozone layer, the animals treated cruelly and sacrified to the "idols", the abused and chosing to dress naked little girls, the dead human babies, the hurting families of those who were killed because some one decided to make an impact on the world by killing humans and fear.) I hate it and I am angry about these things ... but I have skills and I am free to choose, free to love, free to eat what I wish and when I wish. I could not do this dead, nor in prison. The thing that makes this cycle all worth it is that I am loved in return... it all comes back to me. Weird I know, but it does. I cannot help, I cannot make a difference, I cannot fix all wrongs if I do not have the solution.... the answer to which is not throwing away my gift. If I can multiply my gift I can share it with others, sure maybe one by one ... but still ONE by ONE and that matters! I am glad I am one that mattered. I am glad I had the freedom to say this.