Hunkering Down w/ Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

The past week or so has been intense with school and work, etc. Eric went back to work last Monday and it’s been a kind of major adjustment for both us having him back to work. Teaching has been so great–the students are wonderful and thoughtful and they say things like “I don’t ever want this class to end!” which, of course, makes my heart sing. I’ve been exhausting myself, though, waking up each night/morning at 3 or 4am in a cold sweat worrying about how the class is going, if they’re learning enough, if the material is effective enough in challenging the status quo, if they’re enjoying the course, etc. We are on the quarter system, which means that we only have 10 weeks together to work through some pretty heavy and thought-provoking material and I’m constantly feeling the press of time and the end of the class looming.

On Saturday, I took four of the students from the class up to Pigs Peace Sanctuary to meet Judy, the pigs, do some work, and see what the sanctuary is all about. It rained for most of the time we were there, but they were all such troopers… shovelling gravel in the rain! Even in the rain and mud, Pigs Peace is a little bit of heaven. The students got to meet Ziggy, the three-legged pig; Maynard, the new piglet; Bailey, the sweetest blind big brown pig; and Allie, a pot-bellied pig who was abandoned on the side of the road in 20 degree weather. We also brought carrots and got to feed the whole herd of pigs, which is always such a treat (for them and for us!). I insisted that they all smell Bailey behind the ears. We just finished reading for class, An American Trilogy: Death, Slavery, and Dominion on the Cape Fear River by Steven Wise. It’s a great book and looks at Smithfield Foods’ pig slaughter facility in North Carolina which was built on land that was formerly a slave plantation and before that was the site of a major massacre of the indigenous community living in the area. One of the points in the book is that you can smell the pig factory farms for miles before you get to them. I wanted the students to smell the pigs living at Pigs Peace because they smell sweet and earthy and like hay–not smelly at all. I try to lean over and take a good long sniff of at least one pig every time I’m there. They each smell different and they each smell amazing.

Part of the reason things have been so stressful is that I’m leaving for New York this week. Poor Eric has to hold down the fort without me. I’m attending the annual Geography conference and presenting a talk called, “Animal Resistance and the Improprieties of Live Property”. I’ve been thinking about the talk for a while, but have not been able to sit down to write it, and so today I finally buckled down to try writing and it’s just not going as quickly as I’d hoped. After I go to NYC, I’m back to Seattle for a day to teach and then back off to Buffalo for the Institute for Critical Animal Studies conference. There, I’m presenting a talk called “Joining the Resistance: Farmed Animals Making History”. The travelling back and forth for these conferences is crazy, but they should both be pretty great. Plus, I’ve got some exciting things lined up on the side while I’m in NYC, which I’ll tell you about later on.

I reached a point in working today when I just couldn’t make myself sit in front of the computer anymore, so I went outside and the first thing I saw was that the moss on our driveway was the most amazing electric green color (see above). I walked to the store and got a few staples (including chocolate chips) and came back and baked some delicious chocolate chip cookies. I made this same recipe on Saturday to take to the pig sanctuary, and I wanted to make some more for eating at home. These are rich, chocolatey, and a good combination of chewy and crunchy. Plus, this would be an excellent time to try out one method of egg substitutes–this recipe uses the ground flax seed and water method.

The Recipe: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 10-12 medium/large cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup Earth Balance (or vegan shortening)

3/4 cup vegan sugar

1 Tbls ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbls water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips       

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl mix together the flax and water. In another mixing bowl or bowl for a stand mixer, cream together the shortening and sugar. Add the flax/water mixture and vanilla and mix. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix again. Shape the dough into flattened patties (about 3 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick for large cookies). Place on a greased or nonstick cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and try not to eat them all at once.