What Are We Made Of?

Snips and snails,
And puppy dog tails?

Sugar and spice,
And everything nice?

Nope...corn!

Monday Movie Review

King Corn
This is a great documentary on what we eat and how we farm. Both Rob and I have grandparents who were farmers (mine in the Midwest and his in the South) and although we both grew up in town, we are still tied to our farming roots. Of course, farming effects us all and I am hopeful for our future since people seem to be more and more interested in where their food is coming from and what they are putting in their bodies. Two friends recently graduated from college decide to find out why statistically they will not live as long as their parents. In the beginning of the movie, the two young men have their hair tested and find out that their bodies are pretty much made of corn. Rob thinks we would have less corn in our hair than most people since we don't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup or eat fast food. We mostly eat whole organic foods made at home, but I still think we would have the same results in our hair. We both grew up on a SAD (standard American diet) and any time we eat out, we have less control over what is actually in the food. It would be fun (possibly alarming) to find out what our hair says about us. I highly suggest watching King Corn. I think food and food policy is extremely important and will become more and more important over the lifetime of our children.Speaking of food, here is Sunday breakfast. We were supposed to have our friends Ricky and Katharine and their kids over for brunch, but Ricky was busy doing a local talk on the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Oh, I guess that is more important than eating brunch with us. *sigh* Seriously, Ricky is amazing labor activist and this is an important topic so we'll reschedule on a day when our house isn't a rain forest (hot and humid folks, hot and humid). Thankfully, Rob was eager to make breakfast after being in California for work all week and I was happy to let him. He made the pancakes from The Joy of Vegan Baking and added some of our fresh blueberries. Yum! We topped them with a little flax seed oil and localish maple syrup. I made a smoothie (which Dema wanted in a bowl instead of a glass) with more fresh blueberries, banana, cashews, mixed greens, frozen raspberries, frozen strawberries, and some soymilk (almost a meal in itself).

Our friend, Jenny, took pity on us hot and humid people and invited us over while Rob helped a friend move and then Rob came to pick us up and stayed for a beer and some lunch. We could have, and almost did, stayed all day in her cool house eating her lovely farmer's market tomatoes and chili mac. I don't have a picture, but the sliced tomatoes alone were beautiful!
Dinner was Vegan Dad's Creamy Mac and Cheeze (quickly becoming Parker's favorite cheeze sauce...it is great served over steamed broccoli) with peas, carrots, and broccoli with garlic bread topping, fried tofu (sprayed with Bragg's amino acids and covered with nutritional yeast). I like making fried tofu into sandwiches on a whole wheat bun with a little Vegenaise, pickles, and mixed greens. It is even better with avocado, but we didn't have any which were ripe. (What is up with this picture? The sandwich looks like some sort of monster trying to eat the Creamy Mac and Cheeze...I guess it is that good. I need to take more time with my photos.)