Yesterday I escaped from the craziness for a while and went with my good friend and neighbor, Elaine, to Flower World. Flower World is a 15 acre nursery near Woodinville, WA. It is huge and amazing! I had never heard of the place before, so when Elaine suggested an outing, I was delighted to check […]
Author Archives: serenityinthestorm
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Weekends: Of Pigs and Gardening
Normally, Eric and I keep our weekends relatively unscheduled and open so that we can have a chance to spend time together and catch up on stuff around the house. The work week gets so busy and hectic that we really need the weekends to regroup. These past few weekends have been busier than usual, […]
Thinking Animal Emotion in the Midst of Teaching
The quarter is in full swing, which means that teaching has completely absorbed my time and energy. Amazingly, the class has remained full and the students for the most part all seem engaged. It is so exciting to hear their ideas about the readings and watch as their thoughts shift and evolve with the material […]
Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup
It’s already that time of year again…coming into Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving can be a stressful time for vegans (and new vegans especially). For one, it is incredibly depressing to think about the 46 million turkeys slaughtered each year in the United States for Thanksgiving day alone. That is a lot of individual lives taken for one […]
Our Hen House Workshop at the UW
Today we have the pleasure of having Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan from Our Hen House here in Seattle to do a workshop at the University of Washington. It should be a fun and productive conversation! If you’re around and would like to join us, please do! Details here: When: Friday October 12, 2012; 12:00-2:00pm Where: […]
A Little House in the Big Woods
How many of you read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when you were growing up? The Little House books were one of my favorite parts of childhood. My mom read the books aloud to me and my sister when we were kids and I remember collecting the hardback copies of the books over the course […]
Enjoying Fall in the Midwest
This past week has been tremendously busy with teaching and other work and an exciting trip to the Midwest (Minnesota and Wisconsin). After class last Wednesday, I dashed home, grabbed my bags and jumped the lightrail to the airport to head to Minneapolis. My dear friend from college, Laura, lives in Minneapolis and I combined a research trip with a visit […]
Thoughts on Tradition
Yesterday, in class, I asked the students to shout out responses and we brainstormed on the board. First was…What constitutes home? comfort family love safety security bed food Next was… What constitutes food? taste nutrition comfort community satisfaction access Then I asked the class to think about familiar traditions that are centered on food: Barbeque […]
Comfort Food and Saying Goodbye to a Dear Friend
I know that chanterelle season is coming up soon and I was hoping against hope that there would be chanterelle mushrooms at the vegetable stand yesterday. But alas, they have not arrived yet. I had had my heart set on making a chanterelle and kale risotto. Instead, I found some shiitake mushrooms and spinach and whipped up […]
Teaching in Fall (and More Generally)
For as long as I can remember, my dad (a university English professor) has said that faculty in the English department stumble around in shock at the beginning of fall term — shock that (suddenly!) the school year has begun and shock that (suddenly!) the summer is over and there is a whole different set of responsibilities. When I was […]