altairaeats

After realizing that I was posting quite a few food posts on my regular Instagram, I recently decided to make a little branch off account of only foods – @altairaeats. I meant to follow this up immediately with more blog posting about food, but didn’t end up getting around to it until just now. So here we go. Food pooooooooost.

This week’s food post is a quick overview of the meal shown above. Let’s break it down by item!

The green stuff – it’s kale! here I used black kale (otherwise known as dino kale), and I prepared it in the simplest way possible. Basically, clean the kale, then cut into very fine strips. Finely dice a clove (or two) of garlic.

In a cast iron pan set to medium heat (the type of pan doesn’t actually matter, but cast iron on the stove will give you dietary iron so it is the best), melt the appropriate amount of butter (a tsp?) and toss in the garlic. Shortly thereafter, toss in the kale. Stir regularly with a spatula or whatever. The thing about kale is that it is VERY difficult to ruin. Just keep stirring it around in the pan every once in a while until it reaches the consistency you’d like. Prefer it a little chewy? Cook it for less time. Like it crispy? Keep it on the stove a little longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I also like to add a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, but it’s up to you.

Tofu and mushrooms!

My go to marinade for tofu is roughly… 1-2 cloves of garlic finely chopped, 2 tbsp of tamari, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp maple syrup, Sriracha to your desired spiciness, a dash of liquid smoke. Mix up the marinade, cube a block of firm tofu, add the marinade, and let sit for as long as you have (ten minutes to overnight). In this case, I chopped up some cremini mushrooms, preheated the oven to 350, then once the oven was ready, tossed the mushrooms onto a pan, and tossed the tofu over it, making sure that the extra marinade coated the mushrooms. THROW IT ALL IN THE OVEN. Again, timing is what you want it to be. Check on your tofu and mushrooms after about ten minutes, stirring. Then peak into the oven and give everything a stir every few minutes until the mushrooms reach the consistency you desire.

Butternut Squash!

This recipe is lifted directly from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, so don’t feel comfortable posting it here (though you might be able to find it with a google search). I have to say, this cookbook is just the best. The butternut squash is roasted with cinnamon, and then topped with a cilantro mixture, and a spicy yogurt mixture. I would never have thought of this combo on my own, and it is a serious delight. Any guest in your home will be pleasantly surprised by this incredibly fragrant dish that is filled with all sorts of wonderful flavours.

I had also planned to add rice to this dinner, but I didn’t time things properly. Womp womp.

That’s all! Expect more food posts in the future, and check out @altairaeats on Instagram if you’re just interested in the photos. Woo!

 

 

the 100 day project – day 57-60 – labels

I don’t know if it’s the best time for me to write this post, because it’s actually been kind of a long day, and I’m all nestled up in my bedroom, and I kind of just want to read for a bit and then drift off to sleep. But I’ve been thinking about labels a lot lately – how others label us, and how we label ourselves – and how sometimes we cling to old labels when they are no longer serving us.

When I was younger, and hung out with people who judged me a lot more, and also had less control over my anxiety, I accepted the label of “she’s just crazy”.

I carry with me the label of “bisexual”, which by the way is a word that I LOATHE. Bisexuals get a bad rep from gay and straight people alike, and having “sexual” right there in the label just further perpetuates the stereotype that we’re just out there to fuck anyyooooooone, and we’re completely non-discerning. Noone takes bisexuals seriously. And I really don’t think that the label is helping our case.

“Loud” is one that is either good or bad, depending on who is in the room. For those who love me, it’s endearing, and for those who don’t it showcases what a crass human I am.

The ones that have been giving me grief this year are both “vegetarian” and “scientist”. Caveat – I am NOT an actual scientist. But I work in the sciences. And it’s a deeply engrained part of my self-identity. It’s what makes me feel smart. Which is great. I love the sciences. But sometimes I wonder if clinging to this identity, and needing it be part of my career path is actually serving me, or if I’m just holding on because of self imposed beliefs that I am not intelligent without it.

Also “vegetarian”. This is the contentious one. I have been a vegetarian for 12 years, and I recently revealed that because of my chronic anemia, which I have tried every possible avenue to resolve, I am going to start eating meat again – once a month. ONCE A MONTH. I have been struggling with this decision for over a year. How can I say that I care about the environment if I eat meat? Did I try hard enough to increase my iron stores? Am I a failure? What am I without vegetarianism?

And here’s the thing. I will still be a vegetarian 97% of the time. Outside of my one teeny tiny pasture raised ethically sourced steak. But somehow, this was such a struggle. And while many of the reactions that I received were supportive, there were also quite a few that were so filled with judgement and shaming. Writing this, I am also fully aware that there is a very high chance that I will receive a slew of comments of “Have you tried floradix?” “I tried this other method, and I didn’t have a problem.” “You’re lazy, and you don’t care about animals.” Ok so noone that I know sent me that last one, but I would not be surprised if I got it here. Also, I DO know that many of the attempts to let me know about other sources of iron come from a place of love and not judgement, but they still added to me further questioning my decision, whether it was the right one, and whether I was “giving up”.

And here lies to the problem with this label. Even if I have been chronically anemic for ten years, and have recently been getting sick twice a month due to lowered immune function and fatigue… even if I have tried every other iron supplementation scheme I can think of, I will still get some grief. When I was a vegan, it was even worse. God forbid someone identifying publicly as vegan make a post about using a teaspoon of honey. Lest they subject themselves to name-calling and swearing and the solid affirmation from others in the community that they were not, and would never be a “vegan”. I truly believe that this sort of behaviour prevents so many people who would otherwise eat a more animal and planet friendly diet from exploring this avenue. Why try at all if you’ll get shit on for anything less than a complete dietary and lifestyle overhaul? It’s just too much.

Anyways. So here I go. One piece of meat. Once a month. I feel weird about it, and I feel sad for the loss of this part of my identity. But I can’t continue to feel sick and fatigued for the sake of a label. And even though I will probably get all sorts of shit for posting this, I felt the need to do it anyways, in case another person out there who is feeling the same way just needed a tiny bit of support. I am not my labels. You are not your labels. And even the good ones, if left unchecked, can start to stifle.

The end.