More on the Vegan transition

Well, it is the first month of my transition from vegetarian to mostly vegan. I say 'mostly' because I am not an absolutist and there are things I may not give up, like honey for my tea. we shall see. So far, to replace my daily snack of cheese and crackers, I have enjoyed pita bread and Sabra brand hummus; my favorite flavor is roasted pine nuts. I warm the pita bread for 50 seconds in the microwave and especially in this cold weather, it makes a very satisfying snack. I have tried other kinds of hummus and Sabra, to me, tastes the best.

For another alternative to cheese as a snack, there is peanut butter, walnut butter, and almond butter. I usually buy walnut butter because I love the flavor of walnuts, and for an extra taste boost, I add a little Nutella hazlenut butter which has cocoa in it. By the way, on another subject - SMOOTHIES - I make Nutella smoothies and you can heat a cup of it on low for 1 or 2 minutes and it makes a delicious hot drink! I have transitioned away from my favorite SIGGIES yoghurt to Silk, soy yoghurt. It is not an improvement. First of all Siggis has less sugar and a denser, thicker, creamier texture. The Silk hoghurt is kind of gluey and too sweet, but I only use it for smoothies so it isn't a big deal. I wouldn't eat it for a yoghurt choice though. To make a Nutella smoothie just throw a handful of walnuts into the blender, followed by two bananas, a cup of yoghurt and two heaping tablespoons of Nutella, then fill to an inch from the top with Almond Breeze extra creamy milk and hit the whip blender button. It makes three or four pint size glasses of smoothie, or two large glasses and a cup of hot smoothie. I tried the Bowl and Basket brand of hazlenut spread and it wasn't as good as Nutella - less flavor.

It takes time to make a transition like this so I am giving myself permission to take it slow and have an occasional dairy product if needed - such as on Sunday, I enjoyed a piece of cheesecake for a friend's birthday. For me, I believe it makes it easier to make the switch.

I hope you are having fairly good luck with your resolutions. My three - to review, were to read Quaker Practice, to transition to vegan from vegetarian, and to ride my exercycle a little each day. On point three I have not registered even one success yet, but I haven't given up hope. All I did so far, was get on it one day, to make sure I still could and turn the wheels a little to try it out. My back room, where the exercycle is, is super cold and to make it habitable, I would need to remember to turn on the wall heater in the morning when I let the dog out. The wall heater would have to run for about half a day to heat that room.

Now it is time for me to do my daily reading as it is too cold and too icy to do my usual daily routine which is to walk the dog. She hasn't had a walk for 3 days (counting today) It is too cold and I am afraid of slipping on snow and ice and falling. That's what happens when you get old and have fallen a time or two. The last time I fell, about a month ago, I lay in the drive-way until I could phone my neighbor and tell him it was an emergency. My neighbor across the street, Mark, is very kind to me and his elderly mother is a friend of mine. He came over and got me a chair from the porch to use to get myself up. It works better than any other method I have found. So now, I am afraid of falling and the driveway is very lumpy with frozen snow over ice. Fortunately, plenty to do in my beloved bungalow to keep me happy, reading and painting and my laptop. It is only my dog who feels the loss, but yesterday I took her for a ride in the car to the ShopRite, so at least she got out.

Happy trails, my friends! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Upcoming Art Show and a View of Progress 2024

Sometimes, especially if, as I am, you are a somewhat anxious person, you can get caught up in What's Wrong These Days! I was having a talk yesterday, on our snow day, via texting, with a neighbor about the proliferation of new beer distilleries and marijuana dispensaries in our Garden State. I was, half jokingly, asking the rhetorical questions: Isn't driving on our highways dangerous enough? Do we not have enough DUI's and acoholica and drug addicts on our streets and in our homes? And then suddenly, feeling a bit dragged down by the dark gloomy weather and the steady fall of little flakes of worry, I thought of an old song "Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative, latch on to the affirmative and Don't mess with Mr. In-between>"

Once, I made a little graphic design in my daily sketch/writing journal that showed outlook as something like a radio station where you could change the channel and get a whole different kind of music. Sure, there is plenty to worry about and you don't have to search far to find it. Every time I open my e-mail, I am bombarded with disasters: today there was a young woman who stabbed her mother to death in Mt. Laurel, a young man shot to death in Camden, clarion blasts about the crooked megalomaniac Trump's triumph in the GOP caucus in Iowa, entrenched divides between democrats and republicans over immigration and abortion, and the threat posed by the seemingly insoluble problems of homelessness and immigration, not to mention climate change. I have no answers for any of these deep problems. Personally, I am worried about how I am going to walk my dog on the icy, slick frozen snow of the sidewalks. My dog and I haven't had a walk in two days!

Well, here is a new station to turn the dial to. I have gathered the materials and started work on an art project for the upcoming annual Haddon Fortnightly and HMHS 50-50 Club March "Through a Woman's Eyes" Art Exhibition, the theme of which is MODERN WOMANHOOD.

You are probably familiar with those triangular pennants favored among colleges and sports teams and scenic vacation spots. I had bought some for my daughter when she was little and we visited various vacation spots. I think we had one for the Steam train in Stroudsburg and another for Shenandoah National Park. I have always loved these pennants - the flourish of the lettering, the colorful art. So I decided to pick a dozen categories of achievement and make a pennant for a woman who has gained fame and success in each. Here they are:

Art - Kara Walker, contemporary artist, famous works include her silhouettes depicting the cruelties of slavery and her huge sculpture of a sugar sphinx entitled 'The Subtlety'

Business - Sheryl Sandberg - successful CEO and author of best seller on success for women in business 'Lean In'

Entertainment - Oprah Winfrey, media mogul

Film - Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' set box office record as one of top grossing films of all time

Human Rights - Malala Yousefzaid, winner of Nobel Peace Prize for her activisim for female education

Journalism - Christiane Amanpour - Chief International anchor for CNN earned every major television journalism award

Music - Beyonce/Taylor Swift - two global music powerhouse billionaire businesswomen

Politics - Kamala Harris - First woman Vice-President of the United States

Religion - Nadia Bolz Weber - Influential Lutheran Pastor and author of three New York Times bestsellers

Science/Technology/Medicine- Emmanuelle Charpentiere and Jennifer Doudna Nobel Prize Winners for CRISPR - gene editing.

Sports - Serena Williams, won ore grand slam singles titles (23) than any other woman or man in the open era,

Writing - J. K. Rowling, richest author in the world (1 billion) and Harry Potter series best selling series in history (600 million copies)

So, working on this ART project really put progress in a new frame for me, as a woman in the world, because at my age, 78, I can remember when it was said that the public wouldn't pay attention to a female news anchor, and when I was in college, our survey of world literature didn't include a single female author. Hillary may not have become President, but progress is made in steady steps forward and Kamala Harris has achieved that.

Happy New Year! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

January 2024 - New Year's Resolutions and News

Increasingly as the years go by, my resolutions tend to focus on health, generally in the "Do More Eat Less' category, but this year, I am adapting my vegetarian lifestyle to become more vegan. Between 11% and 19% of gobal emissions come from animal agriculture. Sometimes addressing climate change can seem to large for the individual to make an impact but there are so many ways we each can change the world, one person, one idea, one meal at a time. We and use Brita intead of plastic bottles, and we can use materials made from recycled and we can buy less and waste less. Even more, we can protect our own health and help the planet by going vegetarian or vegan.

For me, the main obstacle to going full vegan was to give up chaeese. I have replaced most dairy successfully with alternatives such as almond milk and a very tasty butter substitute made from olive oil, but cheese was my downfall. I don't eat much cheese, jsut a coule of slices with cracketrs in the evening, so I decided to find an alternative and I did: humus with pine nuts topping and small pitas or pita chips - very tasty, very satisfying.

If you need inspiration, I found mine in "You Are What You Eat" series which was featured on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and which gave me the push I needed.

Here is another tip for inspiration: Lesbiveggies on Merchant Street in Audubon, NJ serves absolutely delectable vegan meals. I was there yesterday and had the Hungry Breakfast Meal of scrambled seasoned tofu, roasted potatoes and pancakes $13 and mint tea. One of my friends had roasted cauliflower tacos which she (a mostly meat eater) announced was Delicious! and a table over were three large boisterous "He-men' enjoying roasted cauliflower sandwichs. I know because their platters looked so hearty and delicious, I asked what they were having!

Lately, I have been making smoothies too. my usual is a handful of walnuts, two bananas, cup and a half of almond yoghurt and two cups of almond milk to which I add, depending on mood, 2 cups of blueberries or 3 heaping table spoons of Nutella hazlenut spread. By the way, you can heat a cup of the Nutella smoothy in the microwave in place of hot chocolate.

I will add to this post as I find more helpful tips, so keep posted!

Happy Trails! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com