Cook an entire holiday meal, check.

This was my vegan/vegetarian version of a turkey. Stuffed Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin).


Soy-brined citrus turkey. It turned out a little undercooked, but delicious after 45 more minutes in the oven. Yay. Turkey for days! Turkey porridge, turkey sandwiches, turkey salads.


Apple-chestnut/walnut stuffing. I made it with a mix of whole wheat and challah breads. It was great.


Mashed potatoes and gravy (neither from a powder mix), and buttery Brussel sprouts with pine nuts.


Vegetable ratatouille (not a winner), mushroom couscous.

I did not have the time or energy to get the apple pie out for Thanksgiving Dinner, and I was relieved when my cousin came bearing a pumpkin pie for dessert! Heroism is still appreciated even if it is unintentional.

Distracted

I'm in the middle of prepping to cook my TG feast, but my mind wanders. Black Friday is the day after. Maybe I should not overexert myself while cooking so I can have energy to hit the Midnight Madness sales at the outlets. Or, maybe I should add this to my "If I wasn't saving money" list.

Desert Hills outlets in Cabazon are 1hr away
Carlsbad outlets are 1hr 30min away

They are owned by the same company so ... they should have the same items, right? I think I could use 30mins less time driving. And the 10 fwy will probably be less congested than the 5 fwy. Cabazon it is. I wonder if Morongo will be a temptation. Nah. Shopping, here I come!

Revolving Door - This Thursday!

While my parents' house is not quite a prison (reference 1988 presidential campaign), and not quite a modern skyscraper, I would like to invite people through the figurative revolving door. I am making a Thanksgiving feast for my family in Chino Hills. And since I'm making a meat dish and dishes with onions and garlic in them, my parents will need help eating it from more than just my brothers. Even if it's just to make a plate and run or if you need a place to hang out, I'd love to see you. Starting at 4pm, stop on by if you happen to be in the area... before your next party or after your seventh Thanksgiving meal, it doesn't matter.

After Thursday, I get to cross off one more item from my List- to cook an entire holiday meal. I'm usually good in the kitchen so the food should turn out ok.

Tentative Menu
Soy Brined Citrus Turkey
Squash/Pumpkin with veggie stuffing
Vegetable Ratatouille
Brown-Butter Green Beans with Pine Nuts
Sweet Potato French Fries
Mushroom Couscous
Jasmine rice
Homemade Apple pie (yes, folks homemade)

Wines and beer
Soda


I'll make sure to have the board games out, except I think I'm missing my Scrabble set(s).

Aunty Kim (?)

She's a cute little pink thing! My dad says babies all look the same when they're newborn. Chung feels in his heart that this baby girl is his... she kind of looks like a Ta. My cousin says she looks exactly like my Grandma.

If I wasn't saving money...

It would have been nice to go to the Caetano Veloso concert last night in Pasadena. The Brazilian composer and singer is apparently rockin out with some youngsters on his new album. Could have used the adrenaline boost from live and loud drums and guitars.

My friend, who is teaching English in Japan, wants to provide me shelter, take me to really cool thrift stores (including one in Harajuku), and teach me some Japanese words if I visit her.

It's sunny again and my car could use a tint job.

Yikes! I have only today to use my Spend $50, get $25 off coupon for Express. What a deal...

There are several dozen things on my list that lie within my reach.

ALAS!

I need to plan for an impending drop in income and change in status- back to being a poor student. Hey, the LA fitness job now becomes prefect for me! (See previous post)

Sweet Home Alabama?

I really cannot understand how anyone could sing this line. Though steeped in Civil Rights history including the Montgmery Bus Strikes, Montgomery definitely does not have the answer.

Usually when I travel to different cities I look into things to do, sites to see and food to eat. All the excitement builds up and I end up really liking the place (Chicago, New York, Bozeman, San Jose) and can imagine living there if I ended up there. Montgomery definitely does not have that effect on me. Not sure what Lynard Skynard saw in Alabama, but I guess it's as expected as a non-white, non-black person who's used to living a multicultural life in a major metropolitan area.

Buying Local

While visiting Montana, I was lucky to be exposed to this organization called Bioneers and its annual conference. Bozeman hosted a satellite beaming site for the main conference held in San Rafael, CA. My friend and her friends were all about it--volunteering, attending talks via satellite and live workshops generally about Environmental Justice and Social Change, and specifically about issues of sustainability.

The Buy Local movement involves consuming food sources that can be obtained from anywhere within 200 or so miles from home. Some reasons why you may want to buy local:
- support local farmers, ranchers, restaurants
- keep food grown in other countries for feeding people who live in that country
- reduce # of rainforests chopped down to make farms feedng industrialized nations (this one might be bit stretching it)
- since food is coming from nearby, it can be more ripe, nutritious and delicious (shipped from afar, most food grown overseas is picked before it's ripe so it may ripen en route to its destination)
- food is subject to USDA and FDA regulations (this could be good and bad)- wait, isn't this down already.
- encouraging the food/farm industry to diversifiy their local production. we don't need more corn here.
- can anyone think of more?

The November issue of Los Angeles Magazine outlines sources of food grown, raised, made, or laid within 200 miles of Los Angeles. Local Meat, dairy, fruit & vegetable sources can be found at most Farmer's Markets. Aparently, LA Mag's favorite farmer's market happens Wednesday in Santa Monica.

My questions is whether buying local is as feasible as I think it is. Climates are changing in many parts of the world. Can everything we need and want to eat be found here? How does LA air and water pollution affect local sources of food? Is it economical to shop only at specialty grocery stores and farmer's markets? Are we all time efficient enough to manage this lifestyle change? Do stores and restaurants know where their food comes from?

This is what I know. I've recently driven around parts of the Pacific Northwest and I'm now in Alabama--if I don't end up exclusively buying local anytime soon, as least I will be staying local for while. I love LA!