We’re at the peak of strawberry season right now and I’ve been eating strawberries almost constantly — in my oatmeal, as a snack, as a topping for waffles, and now, in salads. The chickens who live in our backyard absolutely love when I cut the strawberry tops off and take them out for them to enjoy. They’re gone (red parts and green) in just a few minutes. Who doesn’t like a strawberry? Seriously.

This salad is extremely simple and very tasty. I made it last night and put together some little toaster oven gluten free pizzas with mushrooms, onion, artichoke hearts, and capers to go with it. The combination of the pizza and salad was lovely.

The Recipe (rough guidelines)

greens (I used mixed salad greens, but spinach alone would be quite nice, or whatever else you like)

a couple handfuls of strawberries, sliced

a large handful of pinenuts

equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil (I usually use slightly less oil than vinegar)

small handful (about 4 leaves) fresh basil, minced

salt and pepper to taste

In a salad bowl, mix up your vinegar and oil and add a pinch of salt and a generous grind of black pepper. Stir in basil and let sit. Toast pinenuts, either on the stovetop in a dry cast iron skillet or in a toaster oven until golden brown. Slice strawberries and add to the salad dressing mixture. Toss to coat. Add the greens and toss. Top with pinenuts.

How are you enjoying strawberries these days?

To back up a bit, I was so excited about VVC when I bought my ticket months and months ago, but felt less excited about going to VVC as the weekend approached. I’ve been finding blog writing really hard to keep up with lately because I’m doing *so* much other writing in my life. My days are literally filled with academic writing from the time I get up until I’m burnt out in the afternoon/evenings. And blog writing is the last thing I want to do on top of that. Even though it’s a very different kind of writing from the academic work I’m doing, the idea of sitting at my computer for one second longer than I have to is pretty unappealing. That being said, I think about the blog all the time and wish that I was being better at keeping up with it during this dissertation writing process. But I’m also trying to recognize that dissertation writing is a moment in time and I’ll come back around to being able to write more consistently on the blog when I’ve made some real headway through the dissertation process. We all have our ebbs and flows. I tried to go into the conference with that mindset — not apologetic for my decreased frequency posting, but open to potentially being inspired to blog more regularly again, and trying to be in acceptance of the ebb and flow of life, inspiration and time.

I went to lots of different sessions at VVC, but the ones that I found to be the best were interestingly photography-related. Attending the photography sessions made me think that photography might be a fun non-writing activity to focus on while writing the dissertation.

Food Styling with Hannah Kaminsky

This session by Hannah, of Bitter Sweet Blog, was so interesting. In real time, she styled a plate of pad thai. A lot of the food styling stuff is way beyond my patience — using eyedroppers to apply sauce to a cut-in-half sandwich, using a paint brush to brush soy sauce onto white/tan foods to make their color a little richer, throwing away and replacing wilted greens because the photo shoot has taken so long… I doubt that I’ll ever have the patience for that level of detail and time. I’m much more inclined to set up the shoot quickly (less than 5 minutes), take a bunch of photos (no more than 5 minutes), and EAT! That being said, it was amazing to see the amount of work and attention to detail that goes into a professional photo shoot to make the food look “just so.” One great take-away tip I got from this session was just how important it is to set up your scene well before hand, so that when the food is ready, you just have to add it and take the photos. Food generally starts to look less and less appetizing the longer it’s been sitting around, so timing is key. The other trick I thought I might actually use is to have a spray bottle to spritz water onto some foods to give them that fresh, just picked and washed look (for berries, etc.). I’ve followed Hannah’s blog for a long time, so it was so cool to see her in action!

Advanced Photography with Susan Voisin

This session was awesome. Susan Voisin writes the blog Fat Free Vegan Kitchen  and put together this PDF of her PowerPoint from the conference. So nice to have it all here in one spot.

Susan was such an inspiration. She is self-taught, takes wonderful photos, and is such a warm and friendly public speaker. It was an absolute joy to attend her session. And I learned so much, too! The fact that Susan is self-taught was inspiring to many in the room, I think. I know I felt a rush of possibility for my own growth as a photographer when she shared that she had not had formal training. I took a few photography classes back in high school, but that was in the days of dark rooms and I honestly couldn’t tell you a single thing I learned in those high school classes (because I can’t remember, not because they weren’t great! ). During her session, she showed us some of her photos when she first started photographing food, and then some of her recent shots. It made me want to look back at some of my first blog photos. Here’s a shot from the very beginning of the blog in 2011, when I was using my Android smartphone to take all the pictures in our kitchen (which has pretty bad lighting) for the blog:

And then there’s this one from last week that I shot with a Canon Rebel T3i in the lightbox:

Both foods — the soup and the cinnamon roll — are really monochromatic and not pretty at all on their own, so I thought they might be an interesting comparison. Amazing what a difference the colorful background makes in the cinnamon roll photo, don’t you think? Now here are two that are literally the exact same recipe for Cranberry Orange Bread. First with the phone camera in the kitchen:

Second, in the lightbox with the Canon:

And another way to photograph a loaf of bread which I like a bit better:

After the photography tips I brought home from VVC, I can see that each of the lightbox/Canon photos still have A LOT of room for improvement, but it’s so fun to look back at the improvement over the last couple of years, just through trial and error, and imagine next steps in exploring food photography.

Expert Corner with Marika Collins and Kate Lewis

The Expert Corner at VVC is such a great thing — basically there was a schedule of individual experts on various subjects available for blocks of time throughout the conference. You could just walk up, sit down, and have one-on-one time to ask questions/talk. I ended up chatting with Marika Collins, whose website is Marika Collins Photography  and her blog is Mad Cap Cupcake, and Kate Lewis, whose website is Kate Lewis Photography and whose blog is Le Chou Sauvage, for probably close to 45 minutes and they were so helpful. I pulled out my camera and they gave me tips on everything from different settings to try, to lighting, to what lens I might want to invest in next (and what was the best deal in terms of what you get for the price). In case you’re interested, for the Canon Rebel T3i, they recommended the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. I plan to squirrel that info away for a rainy day! Thanks for the time, info and inspiration, ladies!

Take Away Tips from VVC Photo Sessions

There was so much great information from these various photo experts that I’m not going to recap here, mostly because I have unfortunately lost (hopefully just misplaced) my notebook with my notes in it from VVC. Damn! Anyway, here are the things I remember:

• Lighting. When I first started the blog, we had these terrible yellowish lights in the kitchen (our kitchen has almost no natural light), so I quickly changed those to full-spectrum daylight energy saving bulbs. Then the next step in lighting was the lightbox, which made huge improvements. What I took away from VVC, though, was to get out of the lightbox and into the natural light. Marika and Kate suggested finding one window (even if it’s in the bedroom or the bathroom) that gets good natural light. Susan showed us her set up, which is a cart on wheels that she positions in front of her dining room window. She added window film sticky stuff from Home Depot to the windows to diffuse the light, but you can use anything from a sheer curtain to something sheer held up in front of the window just for the photo shoot. There’s a great picture of her set up in the PDF I mentioned above. Check it out.
• Reflectors. To reflect the light coming in the window and get some light coming in on the back of the food, you can position reflectors opposite the window. You can buy silvery reflectors with stands, etc. Or you can just use white foam board propped up near the food.
• Tripod. I actually already have a tripod (an awesome Goodwill score — $20 for a practically brand-new $200 tripod), but I rarely use it. After VVC, I’m definitely going to pull out the tripod more often and try it out. If you don’t have a tripod, you can improvise with a stack of books, or by resting it on any stable thing you can find.
• Backgrounds. Backgrounds can really help make a photo special. You should think carefully about what kind of background will work. If the food is really colorful and textured, you might want a much more plain background and, perhaps, a white plate. If the food is monochromatic and lacks interesting texture and color, you might want a plate or background with a colorful print or texture. Backgrounds can include placemats, linens, handmade paper, old fence boards, wood, metal, etc. Susan has a series of wood panels that she has painted and treated to give her lots of options for “table tops.” She also snagged some fence boards when an old wood fence was being torn down. These were especially beautiful with the treated wood. Lots of times, backgrounds can be found for free or at thrift shops or salvage yards for not very much money at all.
• Photo-a-Day Challenges. Marika and Kate suggested this as a way to improve your photography immensely. Taking a photo every day for a year and posting it as a photo journal sounds like such a fun project. 365 photos in 365 days would really force you to try out new things with the camera and get creative with photo shoots. I would love to try this. Has anyone done one of these challenges before?
• Props. Along with backgrounds, props can really liven up a photo. Interesting utensils, cake plates, pitchers, etc. Any food related items that make sense with the photo. These can be collected over time at thrift shops, Goodwill, antique shops, etc. Ideally, you would use them for your day-to-day life, too!
• Storytelling. Your photo should tell a story. What do you want the viewers to feel? What do you want them to take away? Is that piece of cake part of a birthday party or celebration? Is that dinner your 20th anniversary meal, made at home for the person you love? Is that iced tea enjoyed on a lazy summer afternoon in the backyard?
• Editing. Before the conference, I hadn’t really understood the level of improvement you can get by editing a photo using editing software. It’s amazing! I’m definitely going to consider checking out an editing program like Lightroom or Photoshop.

So that’s my VVC recap for this year. It was great to meet new people, see people whose blogs I follow, and learn new things about taking my food photography to the next level!

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and/or Twitter.

First things first — I joined Instagram, and have to say (somewhat embarrassingly) that I’m loving seeing other people’s pictures and sharing some of my own. I’d love it if you wanted to follow me on Instagram! And Facebook, too! ANYWAY, the other day, I saw a post by The Gay Vegans about their favorite cinnamon roll recipe. The cinnamon rolls looked and sounded delicious. But of course I’ve been on this gluten-free train lately and not able to just whip up a batch of gluteny goodness. So I decided to start from their recipe and develop a gluten-free version. I also subbed in coconut oil for the shortening because I’m trying not to use Earth Balance as much these days and made a few other random tweaks as needed to the recipe. In retrospect, it probably would have been good to look up a gluten free cinnamon roll recipe and see if I was missing critical steps/ingredients. But I didn’t think of that at the time. All I could think was, “Those look delicious! I want those, gluten free!” and, less articulately, “CINNAMON ROLLS!!!!!”

The process was a bit haphazard and I had a sinking feeling as they were rising (or not rising as much as I hoped they would) that they were going to be very, very bad. But they actually weren’t bad at all and so I’m sharing this recipe with the following caveats. They’re very soft and kind of doughy — like the whole thing is kind of like the center of a normal cinnamon roll. These are not fluffy – in fact, they are very dense — just a warning. But they’ve maintained their softness on the second day, too. I would definitely recommend making the frosting to go with them. And they really are best right out of the oven.

The Recipe

Makes 8-10 cinnamon rolls

For the Dough:

1 1/2 cups vanilla coconut milk beverage, like So Delicious (or other nondairy milk)

1 1/2 Tbls apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup warm water (110 F)

2 heaping Tbls active dry yeast

2 Tbls coconut oil

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 1/2 cup GF oat flour (maybe more)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

For the filling:

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the Frosting:

1/4 cup coconut oil (or vegan margarine)

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp nondairy milk (I used the vanilla coconut)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (vegan)

FOR THE CINNAMON ROLLS: In a saucepan, mix the milk and apple cider vinegar and let stand 10 minutes. In a separate mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast and let rise for 10 minutes or so. Be careful that the water is not too hot or it will kill the yeast. In the meantime, mix the dry ingredients — flour, salt, baking soda, xanthan gum — in a separate bowl and set aside. Heat the milk and vinegar in the pot until just warm to the touch (again make sure it’s not too hot — it should not be hotter than 110 F). Stir in coconut oil and vegetable oil. Add to the yeast mixture and combine well.  Add in dry mixture 1 cup at a time and stir until fully combined. A nice dough should form. If it’s too wet, you can add more flour to make it less sticky. Dust some oat flour on a dry surface and knead (about 20 times or less). Place in a bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 15-20 minutes. While rising, mix the filling ingredients thoroughly together in a bowl. Roll dough out in a large rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick. Spread filling evenly over the dough. Now comes the tricky part. These do not roll as nicely as a gluten dough, so you have to sort of patch and smooth out the dough as you roll it, because it has a tendency to crack. Roll it lengthwise, so you have a big, long roll to cut. When you’ve got it rolled nicely, use a sharp knife to slice the cinnamon rolls (about 1 1/2 inches thick). Place these next to each other in a greased pan and cover with a clean dish towel to let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Preheat the oven to 400F and bake for 20-25 minutes (I did 25). Let cool for a few minutes and then cover with frosting and enjoy!

FOR THE FROSTING: Place all ingredients except the sugar in a bowl and blend together with an electric mixer until smooth. Blend in the sugar a half cup at a time until you have a smooth, creamy consistency. Top cinnamon rolls generously with this frosting.

Do you have a vegan, gluten free cinnamon roll recipe you like? I’d love to try it!

Our garden is a little haven of joy and beauty and pollination right now. I posted a week or two ago pictures of the current garden blooms. This week, we’ve got a whole new array of blooms to celebrate. That orange beauty (above) is a somewhat unusual type of butterfly bush. We planted 3 different types of butterfly bush in the garden last year in the hopes of attracting more pollinators (the other two are later bloomers, so I’ll share pictures of those when they come into bloom). And guess what? The bees and hummingbirds already love it. Another popular feeding spot for the hummingbirds and bees is this fuschia. Every spring/summer, Eric and I treat ourselves to a gorgeous hanging fuschia for the front porch. We have two hanging fuschia elsewhere that actually wintered over really well last year and I’m hoping to winter over this new one we got, too.

Don’t those blooms make you happy just looking at them? Even fallen on the sidewalk they’re beautiful.

And they are still beautiful, wilting and dying after they’ve fallen.

There are also a few different roses in bloom right now. This one:

And this one comes from the same plant:

And then this different variety is practically glowing, it’s such a bright pink!

I’m afraid I kind of missed the peak of these allium for the photo, but they’re still pretty.

And here’s the butterfly bush, along with an azalea and calla lilies in the background. The callas are pretty stunning — they just keep multiplying every year.

The irises sure are nice this year, too.

And then, finally, this one is a California wild lilac, a plant I had never seen until I moved out here to Seattle. One of my favorites.

That’s it for now! Just a little glimpse into this week’s garden. Hope everyone is having a good week!

I went back to the naturopath on Monday and was graduated from a no-grains-except-brown-rice diet to a gluten-free diet. This opened up another world of grains and flours and I celebrated this week by experimenting with a gluten-free coffee cake. I have to say, I haven’t had a ton of gluten-free vegan baked goods that are actually good. Gluten-free baking is usually augmented by tons and tons of eggs. My brother- and sister-in-law’s wedding cake, for instance, was gluten-free and was made with 85 eggs. Yikes. Vegan, gluten-free baking requires a good binder and the right combination of gluten-free flours or it comes out pretty sandy. The other trick with GF baking is to keep the ratio of bean flours to a minimum — garbanzo bean flour is a common GF go-to option, and can taste, well, a bit *beany.* Rice flours, corn flours, etc. mixed in can help balance out the flavors. The picture may not be ‘all that’, but this coffee cake turned out to be pretty damn delicious. I’m sure you could sub in wheat flour instead, though I haven’t tried that.

The Recipe

Makes 1 8-inch round cake

Streusel/Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 1/3 cup gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour)

Cake: 

1/2 cup gluten-free flour (like Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose)

1/2 cup corn flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbls baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup nondairy yogurt (I used vanilla coconut milk yogurt)

1/8 tsp lemon zest (or more to taste)

~1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 325F and grease an 8-inch round cake pan (or a square pan — whatever you’ve got about that size). Make the streusel topping first. In a bowl, combine all streusel ingredients except for the flour. Stir well until fully combined. Stir in the flour and then pack down firmly in the bowl and set aside. This process helps you get nice chunks of crumble topping instead of just dusty crumble on top.

For the cake, mix the flours, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, coconut oil, and yogurt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until fully combined. Stir in the blueberries at the end. Spread batter into the pan. Using a spoon or your fingers, crumble the topping on top, keeping the chunks about 1/2 inch – 3/4 inch in size. Bake for 45-55 minutes — just until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy for dessert or for breakfast with a nice hot cup of coffee or tea. Yum!

Have you had much experience with gluten-free, vegan baking? Any wild successes out there that we should know about in the form of recipes?

A pair of robins built a nest in our backyard this spring and we have been watching as a baby has hatched and grown up in the nest (no pictures because I didn’t want to get too close). The parents fly out and bring back food for the baby and we’ve been able to see, from a safe distance, meal time and the process of this little guy growing up. This last week, the baby has been learning to fly. I always get so stressed out watching baby birds learning to fly because I’m afraid they’re going to get caught by a cat or hurt themselves or get scooped up by a hawk or taken by a well-meaning-but-misdirected human. With so many odds against them, it’s really amazing that they are able to make it at all. I think this little guy, though, is going to make it. Our backyard is fenced and cats don’t really go back there much, and there are lots of places for birds to hide, so it makes for a pretty safe bird sanctuary. What a treat it’s been to watch this whole process.

I’ve been really trying to stay positive lately. It’s definitely a struggle to stay positive when you’ve opened your heart and mind to the suffering in the world. But I’ve been trying to appreciate the beauty and positive things in the world in the hopes of keeping my stress levels down so that I can ultimately be a more effective advocate for animals and other marginalized groups. Sometimes (okay, maybe most of the time) I forget how important self-care is and how much of a difference it can make to spend some time appreciating all the good things in the world. 

I tend to find this kind of positivity most in the natural world. The last week in Seattle has been like middle-of-summer weather — in the 70s and 80s, sunny, light breeze, etc. Our garden has been overwhelmed with blooms and I walk outside and sigh a little from the beauty of the garden. The garden smells sweet, mostly because of these guys:

I love lilacs.  When we moved in 6+ years ago, one of the first things we did was to plant a tiny lilac bush right out front. Since then, it has grown into quite a *large* lilac bush and gets bigger every year. That’s fine by me though. It sure is pretty. Last fall I mentioned here on the blog that I planted 50 tulip bulbs (pinks and purples with crinkly edges). Miraculously (and I say miraculously because I’ve always had terrible luck planting bulbs), they came up this spring and I’ve been waiting eagerly since I saw their first green shoots pop up in February for this:

And this:

And then of course, there’s this one:

And this one:

When my mom was here in March, we added to our front garden (dug out some of the grass and added more garden space) and planted these anenomes, among other things:

These have literally been blooming continuously for about 6 weeks. Amazing. Eric and I did massive gardening and spending time outside this weekend. The animals got lots of time outside, too. We all got lots of Vitamin D (except for Eden who likes to stay inside these days — too many scary noises outside).

We went to the dog park several days last week where Maizy got to swim and Saoirse got to wander around smelling stuff. And we all spent some time sitting around in the grass. This is Maizy’s “Please won’t you play with me, please…?!” look (it’s hard to get a non-blurry shot of this pose for some reason):

And here’s Saoirse’s:

Of course, then they realized they could play with each other.

I haven’t posted an update on Saoirse in a while. The short of it is that she’s doing really well. She’s adapting more and more to life outside the lab. We’ve been trying to take her out on adventures so she gets used to different places and people and dogs. One of her favorite outings is to Eric’s mom’s house. They have a fenced-in yard and Maizy and Saoirse and Mally, have a great time. She’s also getting to like the dog park more and more. And, as always, she loves Maizy so much.

These last couple of days have been quite hot and we all have enjoyed cool afternoon snacks of watermelon. Maizy has always loved watermelon and now Saoirse loves it too. It’s hard not to feel happy hanging out with these guys.

What do you do to try to stay positive? How did you all spend the weekend?

Source: Brooke Ashley Photography

Happy Friday! I hope you all have something fun planned for the weekend. Here in Seattle we’re on a streak of perfect spring weather. It’s been sunny and in the 70s all week. Eric and I have made two trips to the dog park this week, done some yard work and plan to do more this weekend. The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing…all around it’s just really nice out.

I’m going to admit to a somewhat embarrassing problem I have. I buy maternity clothes like they’re going out of style. Nope, not pregnant. I just unintentionally come home from thrifting with maternity clothes. Sometimes, I notice in the store that an item is maternity and decide to buy it anyway. Other times I don’t notice until I get home. It’s become a joke with my family and friends. If I ever do get pregnant, my wardrobe is SO prepared! All this to say that today I have a guest post over at The Kind Life on maternity fashion. Check it out. And have a wonderful weekend!

***

Understanding Anarchism

You may or may not have heard about the May Day events here in Seattle yesterday. May Day is a global day of action and solidarity for worker and immigration rights and there were events planned around the world to peacefully demonstrate in the spirit of social justice. Media coverage, of course, has not focused on the peaceful demonstrations or the politics surrounding labor and immigration issues. Mainstream media coverage is certainly not focused on the root causes of inequality or the reasons why such demonstrations are necessary in the first place. Mainstream media coverage tends to sensationalize essentialized bits of the protests and ignore the rest, deflecting attention away from the real issues at hand. This is demonstrated nicely in the local KING5 coverage of an incident at yesterday’s May Day in Seattle. I was not at the demonstration yesterday (I was travelling back from Pittsburgh), but what the media is reporting is that a group of ‘self-proclaimed anarchists’ broke windows and spray-painted corporate businesses downtown. The footage harkens back to the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, where peaceful protesters effectively shut down the WTO negotiations and a small group performed similar property destruction in downtown Seattle. The Seattle Police Department cracked down violently on large groups of peaceful protesters in 1999. For an excellent documentary on what happened in Seattle in 1999, watch This is What Democracy Looks Like. The video at this link is yesterday’s reporting of May Day.

There are so many issues to discuss relating to the way this story is reported. For instance–what makes it into the video and what doesn’t, the lines it draws between various factions (the media reporters as ‘innocent bystanders’, the ‘good Samaritans’, the ‘vandals’ or ‘anarchists’, the ‘demonstrators’, the ‘riot police’, etc). There is a lot of work being done in this short video (and in much of the mainstream media coverage of yesterday’s events) to focus on the property destruction performed by a few people and villainize them while simultaneously sidelining the important work the demonstrations around the world were trying to accomplish. This is all extremely frustrating. But what frustrates me especially and nagged at me as I was sitting in airports yesterday reading the coverage online, is the co-optation of ‘anarchism’ and the near-seamless association of anarchism, property destruction, ‘violence,’ youth dressed all in black with face-masks, and (more and more) the insistence that ‘anarchist’ is synonymous with ‘terrorist’. I put these words–’anarchist’, ‘violence’, ‘terrorist’–in quotes to acknowledge the need for real debate about these terms and what they mean. How do we define violence and terrorism? How do we understand anarchism?

As I’ve expressed, the media coverage of this event is disappointing to say the least. But I am also disappointed in the actions of those describing themselves as ‘anarchists’ because of the negative impact of this kind of property destruction and ensuing aftermath on the true agenda of a peaceful demonstration for labor and immigration rights. Moreover, I’m also frustrated because this is not what I understand true anarchism to be about.

Teaching the Animals, Ethics, and Food class last quarter, students came in with their own ideas about anarchists–namely, the black hoodies with white anarchy symbols, face masks or cloths concealing identities, etc. We read together some chapters from Making a Killing: the Political Economy of Animal Rights, by Bob Torres. Torres describes himself as a Marxist social anarchist and the book itself is an analysis of the exploitation of animals under capitalism. A Marxist critique of capitalism, in short, argues that the nature of capitalism is to exploit a large underpaid (or in animals’ case unpaid) working class in order to keep the machine that produces capital running smoothly. Animals in the food system are a uniquely exploited group because they are, in turns, both laborers (in the case of milk, eggs, and semen) and they are literally the raw materials/inputs themselves (in the case of meat). In order for capital to accumulate (to make a profit and sustain growth and production under capitalism), a capitalist economic system features a pressure that drives down the cost of production in order to minimize the costs of inputs and maximize the profits/outputs from the goods and services produced.

Torres describes the central tennant of social anarchism:

Living principles matter today, right now, in the present. We cannot sacrifice what we believe is right in a principled trade-off for a better world in some distant tomorrow that may never come. Or, to put it another way, the means of revolution are absolutely and inextricably connected to its ends… [Social anarchism] denies that we can achieve equality in either the long-term or short-term by force or outright domination of any kind.

My unease with the co-optation of anarchism by those who have engaged in this property destruction is that it seems to replicate forms of domination with which we are familiar from oppressive regimes both today and throughout history.

Like other forms of oppression, the problem of our domination over animals and other humans is social relations rooted in the emergence of hierarchy and extended and deepened through modern capitalism. There can be no real challenge to this system of domination without a simultaneous challenge to relations of domination that come to us through capitalism, in the form of the commodity relation and of property.

He emphasizes the importance of understanding social relations and he rejects what he calls ‘self-centered, individualist lifestyle anarchism’:

We must reject what Bookchin calls ”lifestyle anarchism,” or an anarchism merely premised on “culturally defiant behavior,” which slides easily into “ad hoc adventurism, personal bravura,” and a ”basically apolitical and anti-organizational commitment to imaginations, desire, and ecstasy.” This kind of resistance (can it even be called that) is readily transformed into “constellations of self-indulgence, inchoateness, indiscipline, and incoherence” within a bourgeois reality “whose economic harshness grows starker and crasser with every passing day.”

And he continues:

So while this individualist, lifestyle anarchism and a sort of pop-punk anarchism are ascendant in today’s postmodern ego-orgy, more important is the seemingly old-fashioned and possibly passe work of social connection-building, and exposing, uprooting, and challenging the processes of domination. Considering this, social anarchism provides what is clearly the most fertile ground for rooting a broad-based struggle against domination at all levels of the social spectrum. Driven by a collectivist perspective that also respects the rights of the individual, social anarchism is anti-authoritarian, and puts anti-hierarchical theory into practice.

According to Torres, social anarchism is about resisting all forms of hierarchy and domination and making the means look like the ends we want.

Social anarchism recognizes that the processes of capital accumulation limit human potential, alter the ecosystem, and transform our relations with each other and the natural world. As a truly radical approach to domination and the problems of society’s organization, social anarchism can provide the theoretical and practical tools for attacking human and animal oppressions the world over. This perspective eschews reforming a system that is ultimately incapable of reform, requires that we have means that look like our ends, and recognizes human potential as a potentially positive and transformative force in the social. Moreover [...] anarchism even provides the tools for analyzing itself critically and reflexively, which is key if it is going to remain true to its own principles.

Torres’ book is excellent and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a primer on animal rights, political economy, and the unique alternative mode of thinking and living that he outlines through his social anarchist perspective. In contrast to the vision of anarchism we get from this May Day reporting, I find Torres’ vision of anarchism to be inspiring, intelligent, and a way forward. We have to live the future we want.

Happy Earth Day! And a reminder that Earth Day should be EVERY DAY! As (vegan) cheesy as that might sound, one day a year to celebrate/protect/think about the environment is just not going to cut it. Not even close. Following up on the “Top Ten” lists I promised to start posting regularly, I decided to post the top ten ways I try to be mindful of living more lightly on the planet. There are hundreds of others, but these are some of things that are top on my mind on a daily basis. I’d love to hear yours!

1. Be vegan. Eating a plant-based diet cuts more CO2 emissions than stopping driving a car.

2. Cut down on car use. I try to use the public buses, lightrail, and good old fashioned feet for walking!

3. Composting. Seattle, luckily, has a city compost/yard waste program and so, in addition to our garbage can and recycling bin, we also get a yard waste bin which takes all yard refuse and food scraps. Eric and I for now put our kitchen scraps in the yard waste, and try to compost most of our yard waste at home in our own composting box. Until we can get a rat-proof worm bin set up for our yard, we just can’t have food composting in the yard. If your city doesn’t have a compost program, see what you can do to get one started and in the meantime, the best thing you can do is compost at home anyway. It’s even possible to have a small worm bin in an apartment for composting.

4. Stop using plastic. Every time you think about buying something packaged in plastic, don’t. See if there is a less packaged option. For instance, try to buy heads of lettuce instead of prewashed plastic boxes of lettuce. If your favorite companies use plastic packaging, write or call them and request that they switch to a more biodegradable option. Buy condiments/sauces/etc that are packaged in glass jars that you can reuse instead of buying the one bottled in plastic.

5. Bring your bags. Now every time I go to the store and grab my cloth bags, I think of the Portlandia skit above about forgetting your bag at the grocery store. Seattle outlawed plastic grocery bags, and now charges for paper bags, which has been a great way to encourage people to bring bags from home and cut down on the mindless consumption of plastic and paper.

6. Buy in bulk. Bulk food buying can reduce packaging, especially if you use cloth bulk sacks to buy things like beans, grains, etc. Just remember the tare weight of your bag for when you check out so you don’t get charged for the weight of the cloth.

7. Change up your cleaning and beauty routine. Household cleaners and beauty products can contain some pretty gnarly ingredients and even the more eco-friendly options are often packaged in plastic. Looking under our kitchen sink is like a forest of plastic bottles — gross. As we use things up, I’ve been trying to switch to simpler options. Not the least of which is vinegar and baking soda (the miracle combo for cleaning and, surprisingly, hair care as well). Check out Sonnet’s recommendations and great recipes for skin/beauty care products.

8. Eat in season for your region. Eating out of season produce can use up an awful lot of fossil fuels. But even when you’re eating in-season foods, be mindful of where they come from. Asparagus might be in season in Washington, but the stuff at the grocery store might still have been shipped from halfway around the world. Read labels and ask questions.

9. Pick up garbage that’s not yours. When you’re out and about, allow yourself to see the garbage around you and pick it up. I realized on my walks with the dogs that I have trained myself to tune out garbage that I see. Instead, I should just pick it up. It doesn’t take much effort. My mom is great at this. Every weekend she goes out into her neighborhood with her gardening gloves and a bag and picks up all the garbage. This doesn’t necessarily solve the problem in number 10, but it does reduce the amount of garbage that wildlife local to your neighborhood is eating and the stuff is polluting your immediate vicinity.

10. Reduce waste. This one is a bit repetitive with some of the earlier ones, but it is probably one of the most important. When we throw things “away,” we have to remember that they don’t go “away” — they go somewhere else. I visited Nicaragua when I was 18 and was brought to a landfill. There was a large community of people living at the landfill in makeshift tents and structures. That reality is seared in my mind forever both because of that example of extreme poverty, and because of the way in which the well-off around the world don’t have to think about how their actions (and waste) impact poor communities around the globe. I’ve been trying lately to be mindful about imagining the garbage I throw away piling up around me. What if we had to KEEP our waste? Also, each time I throw something away, I try to be mindful of the animals who might encounter it. What will this mesh plastic bag that held onions do to a bird or fish that encounters it?  

In general, each of these small steps is centered on being more mindful and compassionate. Thinking of how our actions not only impact the air, water, and soil, but also how waste impacts other humans around the world and animals who share the planet with us.

What are your top ways for living lighter on the earth?

After a visit to the naturopath earlier this week, I’ve been assigned to do an elimination diet. First step: eliminate ALL grains, except for rice for three weeks. Today is day 4 and, honestly, once I hid all the bread items in the house in the freezer so they weren’t staring at me every time I opened the cupboard, it’s not been so bad. We always have cooked brown rice in the fridge for the dogs, so that’s an easy go-to base for a meal. And I bought some rice cakes and some fresh rice noodles from Trader Joe’s. I find that I most often eat grains/breads/gluten when I’m looking for something quick and easy or when I’ve gone too long without eating, so the rice cakes have been a great substitute for that. I generally really like to eat soup at night. I find something hot and brothy really comforting at the end of a long day. The past couple of nights I’ve improvised with some shiitake soup with rice noodles and vegetables. We have a bucket of dried shiitake mushrooms, which make for a really nice, rich broth. Each night has turned out a little differently, so this is more of a rough guideline than a true recipe. Adjust the flavorings to taste.

Shiitake Noodle Soup

Serves 1

Handful of dried shiitake mushroom slices

1 serving of rice noodles

1+ tsp tamari or soy sauce

1+tsp ginger juice of grated fresh ginger

1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

2-3 baby bok choy, sliced in half

2 scallions, chopped

2 full slices of onion, thinly sliced

If you have time ahead of making the soup, soak the mushrooms in approximately 2 cups of water in the pot you’re going to use for the soup. Add the tamari, ginger, and sesame oil and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a separate pot of water to boil. Drop the bok choy in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and run under cold water. Using the same pot of boiling water, repeat this step with the sliced onion and then finally the rice noodles (cook the rice noodles according to instructions on package and then rinse with cold water). While the broth is still simmering, prepare your bowl. In a large soup bowl, add the cooked noodles, the bok choy, onions, and scallions. Pour the broth with the mushrooms into the bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed (e.g., add hot sauce, more tamari or soy sauce, etc.) and enjoy!

Do you have any favorite recipes that don’t involve grains? I’d love to hear them!