Becoming a Carnivore

I have been a relatively strict vegetarian for the last 10 years. I say "relatively," because I know there have likely been times I have consumed things made with chicken stock, or devoured eggs that grazed a piece of bacon on the brunch platter. I have never been that vegetarian who demands her food be cooked in a separate pan which has never touched an ounce of meat. I have never chosen an inferior Mexican restaurant simply because it is the only one in a 50 mile radius serving vegetarian refried beans. And I have certainly never been the vegetarian who refuses a home cooked meal from someone who has no clue I am a vegetarian, and who places a meat dish in front of me after slaving in the kitchen all day. On occasion, I am a vegetarian who eats meat.

Growing up, I was never too interested in the meat dishes served by my parents. Like all kids, I loved bacon and sausage for breakfast, and pepperoni pizza with pineapple was my meal of choice in high school. However, if mom put a chicken leg in front of me for dinner, I would lick off the barbeque sauce, then pick at the meat in disgust. After reading The Omnivore's Dilemma in college, I was pretty convinced that I needed to cut meat from my diet completely.

For a majority of the time, being a vegetarian is simple. Mark Bittman has an awesome vegetarian cookbook, and most meals you confront in the outside world are served with vegetarian sides. Almost every restaurant is willing to be flexible when you are looking for meat-free options, and some even specialize in this. However, it does get trickier with a kiddo. For one thing, meat and protein are an important part of the human diet. We vegetarians talk a lot about eating only natural things, but consuming meat is one of the most natural things I can think of (it's the way the animals are treated, butchered, and served that causes the problems). Children need protein, and animal protein cannot be replaced by un-animal things, no matter how many legumes it contains. I may have a personal cause, but I cannot let my cause affect the health and well-being of my offspring. Also, I kind of think that kids should choose for themselves. After all, they are human beings, and a basic human right is choice. I let Everett pick out his shoes, his toys, and his books. Why would I then dictate his nutritional choices?

Because of these reasons, since Everett was born I have been buying organic, free range meat to balance his diet. And because I do not wish to poison my child or give him something inedible, I test everything I serve to him before forcing it down his throat. Therefore, I consume a little meat whenever it is served to him.

Lately, I have been cooking meat on a larger scale. I have made a couple pots of pulled pork, tried my hand at braised beef, and made a superduper chuck roast. Cooking meat is the easiest way to have a lot of food for many meals - I am over vegetarian chili!

Then...

We have been frequenting the Kendall Yards Night Market, which is a farmer's market for Spokane area producers held every Wednesday night. One of the regular booths is from Spokane Family Farms. We get Everett's milk from them whenever possible, and they offer whole chickens at a reasonable price (among other meat options) at the market.

The meat sold by the family offered everything I was looking for: local, free range, natural, yada yada yada. So I bought a chicken. While I was waiting for one of the workers to grab my future dinner from the freezer, another gal offered to show me pictures of the animals at the farm. After nodding and smiling over the happy animals running through the green pastures, the worker deposited 4 pounds of frozen bird in my hands. I looked at the now petrified critter, and let me tell you, based on the pictures I saw, this animal lived the good life.

Since the next day was my #telecommuting day, I planned to research chicken preparation options over my morning cup of coffee. I put the bird in the refrigerator to thaw (because that's what Julia Child told me to do), then determined that my method of preparation would be roasting - in my fantastic Le Creuset Dutch oven.

A few hours later, it was time to start. I unwrapped the bird, laid it on my carefully prepared "meat" cutting board, then went to work. Unfortunately, it was still frozen solid after many hours in the refrigerator. After consulting websites, YouTube videos, and my food guru, Katelyn, I discovered that the little lady was still frozen because she was still fully intact - all internal organs were still attached and frozen solid to the cavity of the bird. Thus began my thawing of the bird in a bucket of water. Let me tell you how attractive THAT looks.

When the little lady was soft enough to manipulate, I was able to open up her...flaps(?)...and see the junk inside her trunk. Per Katelyn's suggestion ("Just yank them out.") I took off my rings, reached my hand up in her business, grabbed, and pulled as hard as I could. NOTHING. "Get a wooden spoon and stick it in there. That's what I do, then shake it over the sink." I tried, and tried, and tried again. The gizzards were stuck, and excuse my language, but that bird had a really tight ass, and nothing was penetrating that business. I wish I could say I was elbow-deep in chicken gizzards at this point, but I was not lucky enough to suffer such a fate. Instead, now I had a bird with a mutilated ass, sitting tits up in a bucket of bloody water in my kitchen sink.

I should probably also mention my germ phobias. I guess subconsciously one of the reasons I gave up meat was because I was hospitalized for e coli during college. I started getting terrible symptoms right after eating a chicken dish (of all things) from a Vietnamese restaurant in Spokane. Not to worry, this establishment closed shortly after a few other people got sick eating the same dish; we know this because we tried to have them cover my hospital bills, but the owners flew the coop (pun). Since this debacle, I am the psycho who runs around the kitchen bleaching things as I go. I kid you not, with all the reaching and ramming, then YouTube-ing and Google-ing, grabbing and mutilating, then texting Katelyn every 2 minutes, I went through half a bottle of hand soap by this point. And it was the expensive hand soap I bought in Iceland, too!

At this point in the process I was getting frustrated. I did the most logical thing I could think of and called Spokane Family Farms to complain about this farce. I found their number on the bloody bird wrapper and dialed. "They should know that they overcharged me for this bird! If I'm going to spend this much money, shouldn't they have at least gutted the bird?" They didn't answer the phone, which was probably for the best...

So I bugged Katelyn instead. Her next suggestion was to work the organs out from a different angle. This meant my next job was to cut out the bird's spine. After watching YouTube videos of successful removal of chicken organs, I knew that I was in danger of severing something disgusting, causing a bigger mess than what I was already dealing with. Nevertheless, this was my only option, so I set about cutting a creature's spine from its body.

Crackle, crackle, crunch, CRACK, crackle, crunch...

"Everything is normal...this is all normal...there is nothing weird at all happening right now." I coached myself through the process and ended in success. The bird was backless, I could see everything inside, and I was finally able to remove all the bits and pieces. It's a good thing the organs were still a little frozen, because I did all this without popping anything putrid. Success! I texted Katelyn a picture (poor Katelyn!) and she confirmed that everything was clean and ready to go.

I set the girl back on the cutting board, boob-side up, and pulled off a few rogue feathers. After catching my breath for a few seconds, I got started on the next task. I was to push firmly on the breast until it broke and lay flat on the cutting board. So I did as instructed (by Katelyn), performing chest compression CPR on the breast bone until CRUNCH, it popped down.

BTW this whole hulabaloo I just went through is called "spatchcocking." I cut off the bird's wings at the joint, and was officially done spatching the cock. Spatchcock.

The celebration party did not last long, as I realized 2 hours of my life had been wasted attempting to remove organs from a chicken. I had invested a lot of time preparing the bird, but I still had another 2 hours left of flavoring, browning, and cooking.

When Jeff returned home around 7, it was officially an hour after I usually feed Everett. The poor little guy was starving by then and in a foul mood. However, when I removed the chicken from the oven, it was so tender that the meat was literally melting off the bone. While I cut the chicken into servings, I told Jeff about my adventurous day. He also wanted to see the pictures I took of the carcass for some reason. We soon sat down for dinner as a family and dug in.

I cut off a morsel of chicken breast and slowly brought it to my mouth. I breathed in, and it smelled like heaven. I brought it to my mouth and set it gently on my tongue. It was flavored to perfection and seemed to dissolve before I had a chance to chew. "Mmmmmm...Yummy." We ate in silence.

I looked over at Jeff after a couple minutes. He was chewing slowly and staring at me sideways with a worried expression on his face. The last time I saw him eating in this manner was when we ordered oysters from a chain restaurant (spoiler alert: they were disgusting).

"You don't like it?" I asked.

"I am savoring every moment of this because I know you will never cook a chicken like this again."

And he is right. I do not have it in me to take a lovely creature from its happy home, then spend WAY too much money on something that caused so many negative feelings. At one point I asked myself why I didn't just buy a Foster Farms chicken. After all, isn't butchering the poor FF creatures saving them from a life of misery? Trapped in a cage, eating food that isn't natural, and getting pumped with hormones? Sounds like a favor to me! And they are so cheap! Win-win!

Alas, I do not see any chicken consumption in my future. I will continue to buy an organic breast or two for Everett, but I personally cannot do the whole roasted chicken thing at this phase of life. It will take some time for me to get over the horror of my last #telecommuting day. 

To add insult to injury, today was garbage day. Everything within a 10 foot radius of our garbage can currently smells like rotting chicken carcass. No amount of plastic bags will protect the world from raw chicken gizzards festering in a 90 degree garbage can.

Screw you, Delicious Chicken! Thank you for being delicious, but we are officially OVER.

Palouse

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Walla Walla with my mother- and sister-in-law. We drank all the wine, ate all the food, and soaked up all the sun. You can see a few of my pictures on Instagram. Given all components of the weekend's equation (wine, food, sun), it was obviously an incredible time. And I got to spend some time sans husband and child. 

Over the weekend the more populated vineyards seemed to be the ones south of town. It was definitely the most scenic, but we also enjoyed exploring the tasting rooms west of town. L'Ecole No 41 and Woodward Canyon were unique and beautiful venues, and they were quiet enough for us to enjoy a quick snack outside (read: sober up). My favorite is still Garrison Creek (south side of town), so be sure to schedule an appointment if you are going to be tasting in Walla Walla!

L'Ecole No 41

Beautiful field of mustard outside Amavi Cellars

Tasting at Basel Cellars

I have been getting a lot of compliments on my new clutch. Jeff's friend from home has an Etsy shop and she makes the cutest stuff. She works professionally with textiles, so she knows what the heck she is doing. This clutch was made out of real Pendleton wool - like, that she bought from the company. A few people have actually mistaken my bag for Pendleton, so that's a testament to the quality of her design. Anyway, I am going to buy another because I love it so much. 

Back to Walla Walla...

Everyone who knows me knows that brunch is my favorite pastime. We visited the two local hot spots for brunch: Bacon & Eggs and Maple Counter. Bacon & Eggs was theee best brunch I have ever had. The brioche french toast...mouth watering. And the vegetarian eggs benedict with pesto...bomb.

Driving through the Palouse during spring is breathtaking. Soon all the hills and farmland will be brown and dry. However, I caught the tail end of the Pacific Northwest's rainy season, so everything was still lush and the wildflowers were in bloom. Viewing this scenery was a great way to end a fantastic weekend.

When I pulled into the driveway, Jeff and Everett (pantless) came running out of house to greet me. It was so sweet that I started to cry. I wondered how I ever survived an entire weekend without them.

Restoring Old Flower Boxes

Hello, it's me. The girl who loves saving every penny she can.

Most people who own old flower pots/boxes are more than happy to invest in new ones every few years. We have owned our faithful planter boxes for six (6) years, which is probably too long, but when you consider how cheap I am it really does make sense.

These guys have seen quite a bit of dust, snow, rain, and sun in the last six years, and it is quite apparent. I think I paid about $15-$20 each for them back in the day, and I have been casually pricing new ones for this summer. The best price I could find was $30 each for similar color and quality. I found some cheaper, smaller, greener ones at WalMart, and these were more in my price range at $12 each.

However, I love the texture of the planters I have, and the classic terra cotta color matches our patio vibe. Also, I am getting older, which means I feel more and more uncomfortable with change as every year passes. My old pots are still structurally sound, so why not go the cheaper, comfortable, non-change route and restore what we already have to its old glory? Yeah, I will do that instead.

Materials needed:

• Old flower pots or planter boxes.
• Spray paint that is capable of binding to plastic. I used Rust-oleum.
• Safety equipment (because I'm overly cautious when it comes to chemical things).
• A cat companion.

1. First, wash the old boxes - inside and out - using a gentle, environmentally friendly soap.

2. Next, let the pots air dry (maybe while doing some weeding/reading).

3. Apply safety gloves, goggles, and a face mask to minimize exposure to paint fumes.

4. Stuff inside of the pots with newspaper to minimize the exposure of paint to the plants which will soon reside in the cozy old pots.

5. Shake the spray paint well and apply according to the directions on the can. Make sure to do multiple light coats, rather than one thick coat, to avoid dripping and uneven coverage.

6. Allow the paint to dry, and make sure you let it bind to the surface thoroughly - it can take up to a week for the spray paint to bind to plastic surfaces.

7. After the paint has dried (I waited a week), plant your flowers and enjoy!

Compared to the picture from last summer (below) you can really see the difference in color. And of course the old image only reflects the best side of the 3 pots, because the internet is only for pretty things and I felt self conscious showing the other angles of the pots.  I cannot wait to share more pictures of the updated project when the geraniums decide to emerge. Until then, the above photo is good enough.

When it was all said and done, I only spent about $4 on this project, which was the cost of the spray paint from Ace. This saved us roughly $86. Winning!

Spring Cleaning Checklist

Staycation 2015 is officially over, and it proved to be a resounding success. Not only did I make huge strides in the garden, but I got our spring cleaning done for the year.

Spring and fall are the best times to deep clean a house. We turn the outdoor water spigots on when the frost finally decides to leave us. This presents a great opportunity to throw open the windows and air out the stuffy house, which has been closed off during the chilly winter months. We are finally able to air dry laundry outside, and the hose makes cleaning certain things (such as garbage cans and a shedding dog) much easier.

When the weather starts to turn cold again, I repeat my cleaning to-do list to remove the dust and grime that accumulated while the windows were open all summer. It is then time to turn the water off again, cozy up with a good book (read: watch The Vampire Diaries), and start drinking Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

But that talk is for later. In the present moment, late spring is a glorious time of year. It is also the time of year to take out my favorite cleaning solutions and get to work on the inside of the house.

CLICK HERE to view my Spring/Fall Cleaning Checklist PDF.

This list tends to grow every year, much to Jeff's dismay. Being a homeowner is a lot of work, but at least there is cake and wine when it is all said and done.

My little cleaning helper found my work goggles, which I used for a fun and easy outdoor project I will soon share!

Staycation 2015

It's my favorite week of the year: Emily's Annual Staycation Week. It has been a tradition of mine to take the week after Mother's Day off to get my life back in order after the crazy spring months at work. I have been keeping myself busy deep cleaning, gardening, and running errands all over town.

Everett was originally supposed to go to our nanny share to give me some extra time for chores, but the other family has a pinkeye/shingles/flu/cold situation happening right now. Since I'm over being sick, I decided to keep the little guy with me at home. And I am so happy to have him here. He has been an absolute joy to have around.

Yesterday, we spent the morning baking a rhubarb pie using fresh rhubarb from the garden. This was an awesome activity for a toddler, and a great way for him to experience firsthand how things go from the ground to his belly.

My pies are never very pretty, but it's the taste that matters.

After the oven was free, I made a delicious chuck roast with root vegetables for the family (this was during nap time - I did not let him handle raw meat). I love family-friendly "set it and forget it" recipes for days I'm at home. While it was cooking, I was able to do some spring cleaning and gardening. And the best part of all? My picky toddler ate every bite of food on his plate, then asked for more salad. The stars must be in alignment.

By the way, the Le Creuset Dutch Oven was one of my better life purchases. They are worth every penny.

Today is a rainy day here in Spokane, so no yard work for me. However, we are going to put on some rain boots and venture into the world anyway. The little guy has been asking for Grandpa for days.

Telecommuting (2)

May is here! This means I am officially telecommuting on Thursdays again! Woohoo! Look at all those exclamation marks! My brother would kill me if he knew I was using so many of them!

Here's a look at my telecommuting day in pictures:

Everett had his first dentist appointment yesterday. It seems kind of silly to take a child this young to the dentist, but I am paying for the insurance, so I figure I might as well. They basically brushed his teeth and put fluoride in his mouth, then gave him a new toothbrush.

Afterwards, I rewarded him with a little trip to Starbucks for a treat. (BTW the S'Mores Frappuccino is the best thing in the world. I highly recommend it.) Little man was conked out after all this. When we got home, I let him sleep in the car and grabbed the iPad to do some work until he woke up.

The trip to the dentist went pretty well, mostly because we talked it up for the couple days prior to his appointment. This was how we prepared him to sit in a stroller for 3+ hours for Bloomsday, too. You can make anything sound exciting to a toddler...After he woke up we went to Costco. This was my impulse buy of the week:

I have a little obsession with Julia Child. And it's embarrassing. The Costco cashier asked if I was trying to learn to cook like Julia and I awkwardly responded by saying, "Gaah...aahhhh..ummm NO! It's for my...friend..." Do you think he believed me?

Next, Everett played outside while I did some work in the sunshine. Seriously, telecommuting is the best.

Everett then helped me make dinner: pesto pasta with heirloom tomatoes. If you haven't tried Costco's pesto you are missing out. It is very delicious and the price is right. Everett's job for dinner was to rinse the tomatoes (he couldn't be convinced that they were not potatoes). This was what happened when I threw them in the pan to roast:

Poor kid really liked looking at those. It was a sad and sweet meltdown. Also, please ignore all those dishes, which also got done on my telecommuting day.

For all you full time workers of the world, I highly recommend that you propose a work-from-home day to your boss. Of course, teachers might have a hard time with this, but you guys get shafted in everything else, so what more could you expect...also you get summers.

A couple years ago, I was really struggling with working full time and being a new mom. My lack of sanity was getting to the point where I was seriously considering quitting my job. Then as a last resort, I went on a suicide mission to my bosses and asked for a more flexible schedule. My proposal worked.

Here's how I did it:

For a couple weeks, I kept very close track of what I was doing every 10 minutes of the day. I counted time I was on the phone, writing emails, reading emails, in meetings, taking breaks, being interrupted by coworkers, shooting the breeze with people in the halls, pumping, etc. Literally every minute of my day was accounted for.  

At the end, I was able to show that the majority of my "job" is done on the computer, either running processes, composing letters to be sent to large populations, or reading and responding to emails. I only had an average of 6 phone calls and face-to-face meetings a day, and all of these people could have left a message and been happy with a response 24 hours later. In addition, a huge portion of my time was swallowed up by external distractions - people coming into my office to chat, me walking down the hall for a quick break, not to mention my pumping for over an hour a day. Almost all of my real job could be done at home. In my pajamas.

In my proposal, I chose Thursdays as my day at home. This is because Thursdays and Fridays tend to be the quietest days in our office. I did not want to ask for Fridays, as this would make it appear that I always had 3-day weekends, and this did not seem fair to the rest of my colleagues.

I also went to my bosses with a list of my everyday job duties. Having a long list of responsibilities makes a supervisor see that you are more than a replaceable commodity. The alternative of you quitting over their flexibility will seem like a very big deal when they have to consider training and shuffling job responsibilities.

Most importantly, tell them how much you will appreciate their willingness to be flexible. A happy employee is less likely to constantly be looking for other employment opportunities. And if they say yes, never take advantage of their generosity, and show appreciation by always being a good employee. No one likes to work with someone who is given flexibility, but does not do their job well. This will only create animosity.

If being out of the office for a day seems like a stretch, you could try and find a coworker with similar job duties who is willing to cover for you while you are out. This usually works well when you have two people in your office proposing a flex schedule. You must both be willing to take on more responsibilities when the other person is not physically there, but you should be happy to do so because it means you have more flexibility in your job, and no duties get left undone! Winning!

Finally, be prepared to hear "No." Most leaders/managers these days know that job flexibility is key for employee satisfaction, but many are hesitant to change (Baby Boomers are the worst when it comes to change in the workplace). However, know that if I had proposed this new schedule even a year before I did, the outcome would have been different. You asking in the first place opens up the dialogue for change and flexibility. Give it time and do not be afraid to try again. Also, do not threaten to leave your job unless you are serious. No one likes an empty threat, and this will only foster distrust.

Good luck! And hopefully this advice doesn't get you fired.

Spring Awakening

We are lucky to live in a world of springs. This is one of my favorite times of year. The trees, which appeared dead for months, are coming back to life. I am always filled with wonder when this happens, and I am thankful when the moment arrives.

I have felt ill for many weeks, but hopefully the round of antibiotics I just got from the doctor will soon bring wellness. In the meantime, I am doing my best to enjoy this time of year - even if this means simply opening the window and listening to the birds while resting on the couch.

Beautiful peonies from Trader Joe's to brighten the house and welcome the spring.

The in-laws came this past weekend for the annual Bloomsday tradition. Everett finished his 3rd Bloomsday race with Grandma, and he was a total champ for sitting in the stroller that long. I am so proud of him! My race finish time was not what I wanted, but I have been feeling so crummy that I am simply grateful my body took me to the finish.

The month of May in our house will feature balance, wellness, gardening, spring cleaning, and celebrations.