Yikes - according to Carbon Zero, for Adam and I to fly to Calgary and back will create 1.65 tonnes of CO2. Gah! Instead of buying offsets, I used Carbon Zero's calculator to find out how much the offsets would have cost (just under $40) and I'm going to donate that much to the Ecology Action Centre for their ongoing work to create a more sustainable (or, as Sharon at Casaubon's Book prefers to say, "regenerative") society.

Battle of the Beasts

Bigfoot said:
TOMORROW. 3 PM. THE TUNDRA. WE PLAY MILLE BORNES. DECIDE WINNER ONCE AND FOR ALL!

Holy crap! It's a Japanese teen-girl ska band! And they're making a movie!

Freedom! Almost.

The last of the winter exams was Friday, which means that this lady has engaged in some high-quality brain rot over the weekend. I'm not out of the woods yet, however. The Christmas shopping has yet to begin in earnest.

What's a hipster to do when the consumer-whore season hits? Giving charity donations in lieu of gifts is fab, but it really depends on the person - and you can't do it ALL the time. I think a good strategy is to reserve that for the people who live far away, who will understand that you want to get them something more meaningful than a card but don't want to ship a bulky gift. And, of course, the treehuggers and social activists in your life will always appreciate it. But in terms of gift-gifts, there's lots of room for creativity. I happen to come from a really practical family - most years I'll ask my Mom and stepfather what they want, they'll tell me, and the surprise will be either a little something extra of a variation on the theme of whatever they wanted. For other people, it's generally a good bet to think of something they'd get for themselves anyway - soap, coffee, snack food, etc - and get them that, except of a higher quality than they'd normally get for themselves - and with a little hippie flair. The key to responsible gift-giving is quality over quantity. Most people have too much crap anyway, so if you get them a smaller gift that's obviously of high quality (bonus points if it's one-of-a-kind or has a neat story behind it), chances are they'll be just as happy, if not more so, than if you had gotten them a pile of cheap stuff.

Another option is something you know they could really use but won't get for themselves. This year my stepsister and I got our parents a digital camera (I can publish this now because we already gave it to them). For years Mom has been using disposable cameras, and she was totally thrilled to have a real one. As for me, the thought of all the plastic that will stay out of the landfills makes me want to dance.

And finally, I might be a little biased, being a member and all - but any chefs on your list might like a copy of the Ecology Action Centre's Food Action Committee cookbook. And your significant other would look fantastic in a pair of the EAC's brand-spankin'-new Radical Undies (get it? I said spankin'...and they're underwear...um, never mind).

The point is, have a wonderful and safe holiday season. Eat some pie for me!

Are you STILL checking back here? oh, my. So dedicated. Well, I should warn you that exams start tomorrow so there will be no new posts until at least the 15th. So save your time, get away from the computer and go have coffee with a friend, silly.

You know what's good? red wine, Italian food, chocolate and girl talk with your roommate. Not so good? Trying to do legal citations and make sense of finders' rights cases afterwards. Oy.

Correction

Re: my post of 15 October: The Chebucto Neighbourhood Association has until October 31 to drum up enough public support to STOP the (stupid, shortsighted, stupid, asinine, stupid) widening of Chebucto Road. Or at least to have it reconsidered by City Council. Please act. Seriously.

Post-Apocalyptic Skills Training

I'm learning to knit! My lovely amiga Angela has started a knitting club - we meet every week for beer and craftery...we had our first meeting last night. So now, if global climate change end up making it disastrously cold here, I'll be all set in my cozy socks and scarves and mittens and sweaters and legwarmers. Guess what you're all getting for Christmas...

It's that day when bloggers everywhere write about the environment - something that, you know, I definitely never do...

OK, first of all I want to call all Haligonians' attention to an urgent issue that's staring us in the face right now. The Chebucto Neighbourhood Association has until October 31 to drum up enough public support to start the (stupid, shortsighted, stupid, asinine, stupid) widening of Chebucto Road. In case you haven't heard of this issue, all the information is here. Basically, while other cities are responding to ecological realities by trying to DECREASE traffic in and out of their urban cores and to promote human-powered and public transportation, our illustrious Council wants to displace residents so that they can build more roads. So please, sign the petition on their website, and write to the mayor and your councillor to let them know what a colossally bad idea this is.

Next - and I'm not going to spend as much time on this as I had planned, because I am sleepy and also a little ill and still have 25 pages (legal size) of Public Law to read for tomorrow morning, and I'm also hoping to get some research done for my Pro Bono placement before I collapse. But I said i would blog about the environment today, and I like to think that I'm a woman of my word. So without further ado, allow me to introduce Sassy Tortuga's Guide to Saving the World for Poor Students and Cheapskates.

There has been a huge surge in interest in environmental issues lately, and that's fantastic. The problem is that, in adopting these fabulous new environmental values, we haven't questioned some of the social values that prevent us from making real progress - namely, the drive to consume. My understanding is this: during WWII, governments urged frugality so that resources would be available for the war effort. But once the war was over, capitalists needed to find another market to keep their businesses going, so they turned their gazes to Jane and Joe Everyperson. All of a sudden the frugality message was turned on its head, and modern-day consumerism was born. It's a tenacious ideology that has managed to subvert countercultures ever since (witness, for example, the pseudo-punk being sold at the mall). I've spoken to a lot of people who are discouraged about their ability to make a difference, because 'environmentally friendly' consumer products cost so much more than mainstream ones do.

The fallacy, of course, is the belief that we need most of these products to begin with - or even that they enrich our lives in any way. It's an attitude of "Buy the change you want to see in the world." And I'm sorry, but you're not saving the world by buying an organic t-shirt. It may be less polluting than a conventional one, but it most certainly has an ecological impact - there are still fossil fuels involved in the growing, harvesting, processing and shipping. It may be coloured using high-impact dyes, and it may be made in a sweatshop. Honestly, save your $50 and get a vintage one for $3.

The mistaken belief magical powers of consumption is the target of the "voluntary simplicity" movement. My favourite description of voluntary simplicity is that it aims for a "high joy-to-stuff ratio." Consuming less is not only better for the environment, it's better for your health, your sanity and your bank account. I didn't make a lot of money when I was working last year, but by curbing my spending I was able to take an entire month off at the end of the summer in which to do whatever struck my fancy. I spent some quality time with my Mom, went to the beach, got some fresh air on the South Shore and engaged in some high-quality sloth - and I still managed to keep a decent financial cushion to sit on. Voluntary simplicity isn't a doctrine of self-denial - it's a path towards freedom from the machine.

I promise to write some more about this later - I have some delicious and realistic ways of incorporating it into real life - but in the meantime I recommend the No Impact Man and San Francisco Compact blogs (see sidebar).

Nighty-night, greenyheads!

So. Yum.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

On the sidebar, click on "Baking Porn" and drool your face off.

Miscellany

I know! I've been so very neglectful, breaking promises to post about various subjects and just generally being MIA. It seems that vacation, and then law school, have gotten the best of me. I had planned a post about the scrumptulous Equinox fest that The Jenn and I made, but then reading, etc. happened. And I've been at Adam's for the past several days so I haven't gotten the photos on to my computer in order to show them to you. I'm still at the Boy's so we'll have to put off that gratification for a bit longer, but in the interim here are a few things for you to ponder.

First, a small tribute: if you haven't already heard either from me or from Jenn's blog, we lost out baby girl Kali. It was all very sudden - she had a particularly vicious and untreatable kitty disease which we just found out about recently, and the vet advised Jenn that the best thing to do was to have her put down so that she wouldn't suffer. Love and kisses, Buddha Kitten. I miss you.

Second, I've been reading Casaubon's Book faithfully, and Sharon has some fascinating insights into myriad issues such as the the environmental crisis and sustainability, feminism, religion, family, etc. etc. if you didn't explore her site after I posted that last link to it a little while ago, I strongly encourage you to do so. There's one recent post that made my heart stop, both in its imagery and its implications. So often we think of issues like, war, poverty and climate change as abstract issues with no real consequences in our own lives. But as a woman, I was actually physically pained to read this piece. It spells out, in brutally human terms, one of the consequences of our actions and inaction, of the choices we make to either remain complacent or to work for change and demand it of our elected representatives. Can we sit back and let these things happen to human beings? Can we stubbornly refuse to change our habits until they start happening to us, or to our loved ones? I'm suddenly compelled to DO SOMETHING, having let myself get lazy and comfortable for too long.

And finally, not to end things on such a gloomy note...Gala Darling's blog is my daily fluff, and this post cheered me up somewhat after reading Sharon's dire warnings. I don't see myself going out and buying any Disney accessories, but maybe a whimsical trip to Frenchy's (or even just to the dark recesses of my own closet) might be in order...

How to explain Peak Oil to anyone

"More beer good. Beer comes from oil. Must. Save. Beer."

(big sigh of relief)

Hey everyone, thanks for sticking with me and checking back here despite my dismal failure at regular blogging. That may or may not change now that I'm on vacation - yes, for a whole month! Plans include beach bumming, Frenchy's shopping, family visiting and a combination of general productivity and utter sloth. Because as of September 4th I won't have time for any of the above for a good long time. If you think that's an exaggeration, there is actually a new-student guide on my school's website that pretty much says, "there is no such thing as 'after law school.' You won't have time for anything ever again." maybe not in so many words. But you have to read between the lines, y'know?

Anyway, Adam is partially moved in to his new place and it rocks my world. If anyone knows where I can find some fabulous art that is (a) big enough to fill most of a 12-foot-high wall, (b) suitable for a 20-something man-with-a-girlfriend's condo and (c) cheap, please let me know.

My mother has recruited me to help with her home repairs. The first stage is to get rid of anything she doesn't use, and today was Kitchen Day. To really understand the scope of this project, please consider that Mom has been hanging on to shower gifts from when she married my Dad in the late '70s. I came home with three boxes of stuff that may or may not fit in my closet-sized kitchen...

And that's all the news for today from the lazy and disjointed mind of a vacationing Hipster. I have a hankering to write some future posts about libraries, red currants, voluntary simplicity, how I ended up buying soap that looks suspiciously like hashish, my new lunchbox and other miscellany. In the meantime, please enjoy the new links!

Holy crap

I just got Scientology propaganda in the mail. No joke. I was about to put it in the recycle bin by the mailbox when I realized that it was in fact an offer for a consultation with the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation. Now I'm keeping it on the fridge so we can laugh at the perverse awesomeness of it all.

Still alive!

This is gonna be pretty much the most pointless post ever. But I wanted all (five or six)of my readers to know that I WILL be updating soon - with links, photos, more food porn, a little wisdom and a whole lot of stickin' it to the man! Don't worry, my vacation starts next Friday and then you might get more Tortuga than you can handle.

Love and bunny food,

A.

Photos, farmers, food porn and more!

My only observation of the Solstice on Thursday was to look out the window and say, "When's it going to LOOK like summer?" SO here are a few celebratory items to compensate for that oversight.


This is a photo I've been meaning to share for a while now - from back in May when Mark and I went hiking in Hemlock Ravine. The magic of this little nook, clearly inhabited by faeries, took my breath away. Mark was sensitive enough not to laugh at my delight.


two delicious events to check out:


"Musicians for Farmers" is the brainchild of a member of FAC who is also a local musician. It's happening next Thursday and proceeds go to Heliotrust, a wonderful organization run by the lovely Jen Scott. It's mandate is, quite simply, to keep traditional farming wisdom, heritage food varieties and small, local farms alive. For more details, please visit the website or better yet, come to the concert! There will be delish, local, organic food (included in the $10 cover price)and live music.


I'm also thrilled to be finally fulfilling my dream of learning to build a yurt! Selene and Alex at Little Foot Yurts are bringing their yurt-building workshop to Halifax in order to accommodate those of us who are without transportation of the car-like persuasion. Adam gracefully endured much teasing from his colleagues to get the weekend off work so that he could attend with me. I am one lucky girl.


And now for the much-anticipated food porn, I present to you my crowning achievement in the risotto category:


The recipe is from The Complete Vegan and the risotto is more Asian- than Italian-style. It's made with asparagus and oyster mushrooms, both readily available at the Halifax Farmer's Market. The red pepper was imported - I just had to make the splurge. This risotto was absolutely delightful - the flavours blended well, and the mushrooms were so tender they would practically melt on your tongue. *sigh*

And my fresh-fruit dilemma is finally solved. Just take a look at these beauties:



That's right, the year's first strawberries. Sooo luscious. I have other things to talk about here, but they'll have to wait because I need to go stuff my belly...

Straight from the Muppet's mouth

Seymour Green's new blog

Love in my tummy, vol. 2

Have you heard of The 100-Mile Diet? These two people spent a year eating only food that was grown, caught or produced within a 100-mile radius of their home. In an era where tomatoes from Mexico and apples from New Zealand are the norm in our grocery stores and refrigerators, that's a really remarkable thing - but please don't be scared off by the idea of it. Eating locally is getting trendier by the day, and the beauty of it (aside from the joy of really fresh, healthy food and the experience of living within nature's rhythms) is that "local" is open to interpretation. It might be 100 miles, it might be your community, it might be your backyard. Or, it could be bigger. I personally consider food to be at least relatively local if it was grown within the Atlantic provinces, although I try to opt for things grown closer to home when possible. I don't compare myself unfavourably to the 100-milers because most of my 100-mile radius is ocean and I'm not ready to go back to eating fish. And, after about a year of striving to eat primarily Maritime-grown food from the farmers' market, I've found that that these boundaries offer a stunning variety of flavours and textures. That's why I've started the Love in My Tummy segments: to celebrate local foods and the many glorious things one can do with them.

So, we're used to the usual four-seasons-in-a-year thing. But the truth is, there are seasons within seasons. Strawberries and blueberries both grow during the summer, for example, but not at the same time. Get my drift? Similarly, in the spring you start with the winter hangover - the last of the coarse, starchy produce like potatoes, onions and apples, plus a taste of the season's first hardy greens. Then you get to where we are now, surrounded by a smorgasbord of tender green foods that clean the winter out of your body and get you ready for the warm days of summer. These include asparagus, fiddleheads, green onions and beet greens. They're heaven if you've been living on a local diet all winter, but there is a slight conundrum: where's the fruit? Apples, which have been my default sweet food since October, have all but disappeared from the market. Rhubarb performs a solo as THE fruit of the season, and while I adore rhubarb I'm not about to start chewing on a raw stalk of it after dinner (but I won't judge you if you do). Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of modern refrigeration I was able to combine some free 'barb from my Mom's garden with last summer's frozen strawberries into a luscious strawberry-rhubarb crumble.



My photography leaves something to be desired but I am proud to say that my desserts do not.

If you have any local food recipes to share or if you have any special requests for LIMT reviews, please post! I love to hear from you all.

P.S. For more local-food porn, check out Slow Food Nova Scotia or the EAC's Food Action Committee - the latter website is slightly out of date at the moment but is soon to be updated by moi.

Following yesterday's ridiculous hotness, Adam suggested that we have a picnic in the Public Gardens today. We took some samosas, fiddleheads, rice and fruit downtown and lay on my recently-unearthed picnic blanket in the sunshine. Then we went to Dio Mio for some trendy douple-scoop frozen desserts ensconced in waffle cone - he had Cappuccino and Chocolate & Vanilla gelato, I had Green Tea gelato with Pear & Cardamom sorbetto.

Life is tasty.

Let's all wave to Mark in Scottishland!

Just opted myself out of the Canadian Marketing Association's mailing lists.

Link

I'll let you know if it actually cuts down on my junk mail.

I'm also considering this

Love in my tummy

Nothing says "FINALLY, winter's OVER!" like the lowly fiddlehead (photo from New Brunswick Tourism). Yes, they look like alien appendages but they're SO delicious and made even more so by the fact that they're only available for a few weeks out of the year - after that they turn into full-grown ferns and are no longer tender and delectable.

I developed a taste for these suckers when I was a wee little tot living in backwoods New Brunswick and they grew all around my home. Now I gleefully shell out $5 a pound and patiently stand at the sink rinsing off the weird brown stuff for the privilege of eating wild green stuff at the end of a winter full of squash and potatoes.

If you live in Atlantic Canada and have never tried them, I command you to get thyself to a farmers' market (the ones at the grocery store just DON'T COMPARE) and pick some up. They don't need any fancy seasonings - just steam them and add some olive oil, lemon juice and salt to let the flavours shine through. They're good on linguini (that's my plan for tomorrow's supper) or served alongside a light entree, but for the purist (or anyone, really) nothing beats a big plate of lightly-seasoned fiddleheads at the beginning of the season. They're a feast in their own right and will proudly stand alone in all their alien-appendage-y glory

Do you feel pretty?

For all the harping I do about excessive consumption, I'm addicted to Gala Darling and her fabulous dressing-up blog. I guess we're both just trying to make the world a more beautiful place, in our own ways. Plus, you have to dig that she's all about finding your personal style and using it to enhance - not define - your life (which should be satisfying in and of itself).

I'm inspired to see what I can create with the items I already own, and maybe a few vintage finds for good measure. Oh, and maybe something from Maha Devi because I could easily spend upwards of $500 on their hemp-and-bamboo, LOTR-inspired fantasy designs and yogawear. At heart, I'm really just a geek and a girly-girl.

If there's any interest in seeing it, I might finally figure out how to use my camera and take some photos!

Documentary about Dr. Bronner! Everybody celebrate by taking a bath and practicing the Moral ABCs!

I have found my American counterpart. She hugs trees, refuses to use disposable coffee cups, anthropomorphises her cat and has an unholy love for Martha Stewart and argyle socks.

New and Different

Spring is slowly returning to my little corner of the world, even though the weather is being even more of a tease than most girls I knew in high school. I felt it was time for a new look - to hold us all over until such time as we can finally put our winter clothes in storage. I've actually spent some time lately doing this strange girly activity called shopping. I got some brightly-coloured work clothes from Twice-Shy and "American Apparel. They're so summery and fun, I can't wait for the warm weather to come back so that I can show off my pasty legs.

No amount of retail therapy, however, can ever beat the thrill of a clothing swap...getting together with the girls, bringing a bunch of old clothes and dumping them into a pile. Everybody jumps in and takes what they want - absolutely free - and the leftovers go to charity. One of my friends had one recently and while I couldn't go, she invited me over the next night and I scored bigbigbig just from the castoffs. I got a gorgeous, earthy scarf that made a perfect cover for my computer desk, a nearly-new purse, two shirts, a pair of jeans that fit my ass perfectly, and best of all - a fab fedora-type pink hat. All free, all second-hand (and thus without the ecological and social costs of manufacturing)...and my old stuff will be loved once again.

In other news, after about two years of saying "hey we should join the Grainery Jenny and I finally did just that. I had my first shift at the Farmers' Market last weekend and it was such a blast. I got freebies from the other vendors (and this girl LOVES freebies) and saw a bunch of my friends who are market regulars but who I somehow never manage to run into. As a result of this socializing I have a potential biking buddy (for when I finally get my bike) and maybe, possibly, I'll get my guaro and my copy of The Lorax back from the person who's had them since 2004.

Life is good good good.

Famous

This is KC. He is two years old and lives in Halifax with his two Mommies.

KC is hot stuff and he knows it. He likes to accessorize with shoes and bags. He also likes to perform spirited musical numbers in the wee hours of the morning while everyone else is trying to sleep.

Of course, celebrity has not come without its costs. Being adored by millions has led to an embarrassing nip habit, but so far KC has been successful at keeping any incriminating photographs out of the tabloids.

If you love KC, feel free to send cards, gifts or money.

Proof that you really can find anything at all on the Internet

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Maybe I'll let my bangs get really long

I'm having an emo day today, and obviously I can't let that go by without sharing my imaginary, middle-class-white-girl anguish with the rest of the world. I'm looking forward to this long weekend as a welcome respite from dress pants, makeup, email and the general 9-5 gig that seems to be slowly sucking my soul out of my body.

It's an interesting trap that we get ourselves into, the attitude of "my life would be perfect if I just had x" where x = money, a car, a significant other, chocolate cake, hot girl-on-girl action, beer or, in my case, a vacation. I tend ridicule that attitude, but here it is invading my consciousness. There's no reason to be exhausted, cranky and useless, except that I'm focusing too much on what's "out there" and not enough on how I choose to engage with it.

Lately I've been (slowly) doing a big, multifaceted Spring clean-and-purge in the interest of maintaining my sanity and lowering my ecological footrpint. I think I'll be putting a greater emphasis on the mental and emotional overhaul that is part of that process.

The fabulous lives of the keen and nerdy

George Bailey wanted to travel the world. Sassy Tortuga wanted to move across the country. Neither accomplished said goals. But while one was stymied by family tragedy, the other was wooed by a certain nnearby and highly reputable law school offering freedom from shoddy part-time employment and student loans. Said school also offers exchange programs to trendy overseas locations so as to satisfy Sassy Tortuga's wanderlust. And she'll be around to see a certain two little girls start school.

The future looks very different now than it did just a few short months ago. This is me not complaining! I plan to use this freedom to mount an opposition to Facebook. I have yet to join Facebook. I am a Luddite and became highly distressed when Blogger forced me to switch over to Google just now. I might start etching my blog onto scraps of birchbark and tacking it up on a building somewhere rather than posting online. The geeks in my life would go into convulsions. But they'd get lots of exercise.

Snow days

How did Australians get so good at making candy?

Lately I've felt very...blah...and I made no secret of that fact. When I was in school and swamped with work, I remember still having the ehergy to do more, more, more. Now that I have a day job that I can actually leave at the office, I'm mysteriously too exhausted to even handle my usual stuff, let alone to take on more. I recently had this conversation with a friend of mine, a fellow overachiever who is experiencing a similar post-degree slump. We lamented our respective lack of zeal and wondered when we had gotten old.

I had an epiphany at the bus stop on Sunday. It's winter. it may not have looked or felt particularly wintery in these parts, but it is undoubtedly winter. In the wintertime, we are told as children, the trees lose their leaves but they are not dead - only resting. Similarly, the cold and dark have driven me indoors and into a dormant state...a time for reflection, recuperation and re-evaluation. There arebig decisions to be made and big changes for which to prepare. And nobody can be "on" all the time - as much as I try to be.

I hereby command everyone to give themselves permission to be a turtle for the winter. What's the fun in always being fun?

As mentioned, Nova Scotia's weather thus far has been decidedly un-wintery As if the Earth herself couldn't decide whether or not it was really time to go into Pod Mode. Chalk this up to conicidence, psychology, divine intervention or whatever strikes your fancy, but by the time I got off another bus later that day, snow was blanketing the ground. I put down my hood, lifted my face to the sky and felt the soft kisses of the fluffy white flakes. Somebody else seemed to have shared in my decision...

It's almost my birthday. Wish me lots of fair-trade, vegan chocolate cake with fudgy icing.

So I suppose I should update...

It has been a most busy time, what with agonizing over law school decisions, doing the Christmas thing and working at a Big-Girl Job. I really shouldn't complain about the first, seeing as how there are lots of people who would be thrilled to get into just ONE law school...but it's ridiculous how a couple of the registrars' offices want my $200 deposit at a ludicrously early date, far too early for me to make a truly informed decision. The life of a smart chick is so hard. Can't they take pity on me for being socially inept, having demanding parents and approxiamting the social life of a monk throughout my undergrad just so that I could get into their esteemed institutions? Can't they at least let me extort big scholarships from all of them BEFORE I hand over my own money?

Chrismas was nice despite my bizarre illness (it's like a cold except that I've been getting one symptom at a time and staying sick for unusually long). We did the colossal 20-pounds-of-mashed-potatoes family thing and I ate some tofurkey. All of my gifts were useful, which makes me immensely happy and relieved. There's nothing like Christmas to undermine year-long efforts to simplify one's life and reduce clutter and consumerism, but my family and friends seem to know me by now.

And now - try to contain your excitement - I have a new desk by a window. Life is good.