Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Easy Holiday Appetizers

I’ve had many comments from readers who thought the idea of knowing how to prepare one easy appetizer really well was a great idea. It’s that time of year when we’re invited out and it’s nice to take something along to share. So, I sat out to make a list for us with the rule being that I can’t link to a recipe. Rather if it’s truly simple, I can explain it in a few words and you can replicate it.

flickr.com/photos/ceanandjen/3133691882

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Food Stamp Fail?

If I didn’t call this failure, it would be hypocritical. That said, I,m reporting back on the outcomes of our food stamp challenge. Challenge – it was. As a full-time working mom, could I feed my family of five, nutritious meals on a food stamp allocation of $30 per person per week?

flickr.creativecommons/photos/millsbaker/3568168515/

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And Then We Gave Thanks

There was nothing vegan about it. My boys planned the Thanksgiving menu. They took a somewhat traditional path; turkey, green chili cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry frappe, sweet potatoes, red cabbage and carrot salad, braised greens and pie. My husband took them shopping and I agreed to one convenience – the pies. I’ve never been much of a baker and with everything else I was asking them to do, ready-made pie might seem like a vacation.

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Sensible like a Woman

When I saw this recent photo of my brother in law, I instantly knew that it deserved a spot on my blog. But, in what context?

Men invoking Natural Tendencies

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Looking at the World through a Rose-Colored Glass

Optimism, joy, chuckles, bliss. It seems that so many places we turn, people are talking about the elusive concept of happiness. We can speculate at the reasons; a tormented economy, the sandwich generation, increasing social pressures.  I’ve read unfortunate tales about the increase in the use of antidepressants in adults and in children. Frankly, I think happiness is a difficult thing to calculate. How do we really know of its existence or its intensity unless we’ve measured it against sadness?

Rose Colored Smoothie

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There’s No Inflation Unless You Eat

My brother in law is a cracker jack financial advisor who has been helping hundreds of fortunate clients manage the recession. The title of his blog this week was “No Inflation Unless You Eat“. Apparently, the Fed omits the price of food when calculating the Core CPI but as Jay points out, “most of us don’t live in a core world.” I can appreciate his issue with the numbers and the underlying increase in food costs but it also caused me to think about all sorts of food and income related issues.

Bloomberg Inflation Chart

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Do You Have the Huevos?

Our eggs were delivered on Thursday. We received 3 dozen precious eggs of varying sizes and colors in unmatching recycled cartons. Actually, our egg lady delivers to one of my company offices and colleagues on their way to my building for a meeting are kind enough to schlep them along. They put them in the fridge and someone always puts a sticky note on my light switch that says DON’T FORGET EGGS.

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Telling Our Stories

“When a community loses its memory, its members no longer know one another. How can they know one another if they have forgotten or never learned one another’s stories? If they do not know one another’s stories, how can they know whether or not to trust one another? People who do not trust one another do not help one another, and moreover, they fear one another.” (Wendell Berry, What Are People For)

 

Wendell Berry: Farmer, Writer, Academic - photo courtesy of thebridgepai.com

 

 

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Where Actions Speak Louder than Words

I think Mark Twain had something to do with that title quote but I’m unable to find a source for the saying “do as I say and not as I do”. The latter is often referred to as a statement in hypocrisy. Yet Dr. Samuel Johnson, a moralist and great contributor to English literature in the 1700s cautioned readers to  tread lightly when charging others with hypocrisy.

flickr.cc.jcoterhals

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Reasons to Become a Vegetarian

“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” Albert Einstein

 

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