Juliana Day 3

Wow, I just looked at Amy's pictures of her dinner skewers! I'm going to start eating at her place I think...
So, I officially cannot eat plain oatmeal another day, I did today and I'm done, no more. I think I'll try to make a berry smoothie like Amy's been doing, I have local raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries frozen from this past summer. For lunch I did another stir fry with the usual suspects, lots of local veggies etc. I was so disappointed today because I got to the farmer's market at 1pm, thinking they were open until 3 or so, but they actually close at 1 so I missed it:(


For dinner I threw some things together in the crock pot and it turned out amazing. I took a recipe I have used before for Tuscan Beef Stew and made it into Kelowna Pork Stew. I used local garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, red wine, pork, onions, and basal. It was delicious:)

My husband made cookies today which was cruel, they smelled so good, but I abstained.  I also really wanted a cocktail after work so I visited the Old Train Station Pub where they have only local beers on tap, a local wine list, and even local vodka! (the vodka tastes like crap on its own but in a mixed drink you cant tell) The train station's bartender was amazing and showed me things on the menu that I could order which are local, the list was extensive, they even have ice cream from Carmelis, the goat farm in Kelowna.

One thing I've really noticed about doing this project is that it has made me aware of other things in my life that I could be reforming. I've been thinking about my decisions more carefully and seeking alternative choices. For example, I've been planning on surprising Jake with a trip to Vegas for his birthday this year, we all know that Vegas isn't best known for its environmental friendliness. I found however that many hotels even some of the larger ones have won awards for green practices and positive environmental choices. The Bellagio was one of them and they even have a special conservatory garden. I don't know if they grow food there I'll have to look into it more carefully. I was also extra sensitive to the amount of driving I've been doing lately and wondered if I should try doing a year without a car. So, my point is, is that doing something like the 100 mile diet has made me aware of other things in my life that I could change to promote a greener lifestyle.

Today in "April" of "The 100 Mile Diet" book, I really got into. This book is such a great read because its kind of like a diary of their lives not just an account of their food consumption. Alisa is quite humorous as well, she includes stories from her life that have shaped the way she eats, cooks, shops for food, etc. I started thinking about the way I've been raised on food...every meal had a vegetable or salad, a protein and a starch with a glass of milk. Some variation of this was what we ate almost every night. My mom used to can everything, jam every berry, dehydrate multiple fruits and occasionally make homemade bread. When I look at how they eat now, I don't think my mom even still has her canning pot. She hasn't made jam since the 90's and Sun Rype sells fruit snacks so why bother? For my mom it has become a convenience factor and as she has concentrated on her career she has stopped loving to preserve and plan with food. I'm in that stage of my life where I'd really like to learn to can and jam etc, I wonder if I'll lose that like she did? Can I keep local food a greater importance to me than convenience? The other change that led to the death of the canning, jamming, supermom is the move we did to a brand new house. We went from a house with hazel nut trees, a huge walnut tree, a massive cherry tree, an apple tree with over 10 varieties grafted onto it, a pear tree, an Asian pear tree, a nectarine tree, an apricot and a peach tree, a really big plum tree and a large space for a garden where my mom grew corn, sunflowers, beans, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, pumpkins, yellow watermelon and even popcorn! The new house has a lawn the size of a garage and you're only allowed to have a certain kind of tree in the yard. This is sad. One year after we moved, the new owners cut down almost all of our beautiful fruit trees, my mom cried. They had fed us for so many years, been part of our lunches, our gifts, our time together pruning and raking and making bonfires out of the prunings and it was hard to look inside the big backyard and see a flat space with a lot of grass but no character.

Alisa includes recipes throughout "The 100 Mile Diet" as well and emphasizes the difficulty it was adjusting to repetitive food and missing things she'd eaten almost everyday like bread. I could use some bread about now:)