Monthly Archives: October 2010

Day 122: patty melt and thoughts of gluten-free living

School Lunches, , , , , ,
At first I thought it was grilled cheese…
Wait, is that meat sticking out?
That’s a burger, folks!
Today’s menu: patty melt, baked beans, strawberry applesauce, goldfish
I put the tray down, took a picture and then noticed…it wasn’t a grilled cheese! This is the first time I’ve seen a pre-made burger instead of it being in its own little paper box. I think it might be an improvement because there is less waste. On the other hand it is heated in plastic… the jury is out…
I ate the patty and the beans, but I had trouble with the applesauce. The electric red gave me pause. It’s moments like these that I wish I had an ingredient list. I’d love to just double check the ingredients. If it’s apples and strawberries, I’d eat it (even though I would normally purchase organic for my consumption). But I can’t be sure it doesn’t have a red dye in there. Dyes worry me. I dipped my fingers in it to see how it tasted. I think there might have been real strawberries in there, but there had to be dye too. So I gave up on the applesauce.

Tough choice, but I threw most of it out
***
I went gluten-free yesterday as an experiment and I felt amazing all day in spite of not sleeping much this weekend. I also basically was gluten-free much of the weekend. That makes me wonder… I also chatted with Alison St. Sure about living gluten-free and how she was diagnosed.
You know, I have had major issues with gluten ever since I got serious Salmonella poisoning while abroad in 2002. I didn’t give it much thought — I just avoided too much fiber. In 2007 I had a little trouble getting pregnant so I went gluten free for one month in 2007. I felt good and was tested for Celiac at that time. It was negative so they told me it was IBS and prescribed an anti-spasmodic drug (I never filled the prescription… it seemed ludicrous to get on a med). I figured that if the test said I didn’t have Celiac and I went back on gluten. But this year I insisted on another blood test for Celiac. It was negative once more. Again I assumed that was the end of it and it must be in my head.
Alison told me that even though someone doesn’t get a positive on a Celiac blood test, it doesn’t mean they don’t have sensitivity to gluten. That blew me away. Using Dr. Google, I found that she is right. I’m thinking about ordering a test from EnteroLab or just simply go gluten-free at the end of the project. I’m already basically dairy-free since January (when the daily pint of milk in the school lunch upset my tummy). I hadn’t been drinking very much dairy and it finally clicked after I started the project.
I didn’t eat the bread from today’s lunch even though I know that it’s possible that the meat patty and the baked beans contain trace amounts of gluten. What next? Hmm, just thinking aloud. Please don’t try to convince me to stop the project. I’m determined to finishing out 2010. I have about two months to go. Then most likely I’ll go strictly gluten-free. Who would have thought? At the beginning of the project I was eating milk and bread and at the end I might be dairy-free and gluten-free!
Before I even chatted with Alison this weekend and found out about gluten sensitivity, I bought Gluten Free Girl and The Chef. Earlier that same day I had been chatting with Shauna and, you know, I just like her. So I bought her book. I can’t resist sharing the dedication page:
I might be doing a lot more cooking from it than I initially thought!
***
Resources:

News You Can Use: Resources to Help Turn Your Food Writing into a Powerful Voice for Change — In a word: AMAZING!

Articles:
School cafeterias to try psychology in lunch line – Ok, interesting…here’s my finding: they need more time to eat.
Kids, Most At Risk, Getting 40 Percent of Calories from Junk Food – Disgusts me.
***
I put the poll up for September’s Titanium Spork Award (upper right) — I called Kate Adamick a chef, not sure that’s correct. Sorry about the typo!
***

Revelations

Miscellaneous,
Went to a BlogHer Food in San Francisco.
I only took one picture on my cell and it’s not even of food!
(I took a couple other photos on my camera…hope they turned out)

I’m not a religious person. I grew up with a scientific father and a lapsed Catholic for a mom. When I was little I asked her why we didn’t go to church. Her reply was “I’ve had enough religion for the whole family!” I did go to Catholic mass with my grandparents twice a year and observed their curious rituals from a distance, especially after I was not allowed to eat “the cracker” everyone else got (I was just a child and didn’t know there was a higher meaning to what people were doing at the altar).

The closest I ever got to spiritual was when I was out in nature. In high school (painful, hellish new-kid style), I would escape through cross-country skiing or snowshoeing away in thick snow to places only visited by small furry animals. The crunch of the snow under me, the heat of my breath crusting ice on my scarf, the open blue sky…. that’s where I met with the universe and cried soft tears about life. Summers were spent trudging through remote bogs and falling in them up to my chest in peet moss. Me and my blazing fast brandy-colored dog running together, getting wet and muddy… sometimes my sister would join me, but I preferred solitude + dog.

In December when I got the idea to start the school lunch project, it was an accidental whim that came out of solitary brainstorming sessions on my personal goals for 2010. I told my husband and he said forget it because we are busy and tired in our usual lives. I think about that moment when I thought, “He is right, we have so much going on…silly idea.” …but I couldn’t let it go…

I didn’t do the project for me. I did it for my students, but actually the project has changed my life, my relationship with food, and my relationship with the world. But the best part of the project for me is that I have met so many people who take my life to a new place. I keep thinking, “What if I had never done the project?” I transport myself back to that moment because it’s so easy to remember. I scream at myself, “Do it!” I should know I don’t have to send that message back in time. Part of me thinks I’m going to wake up and it will be December 2009 and I’ll get that choice again… I have to keep telling that person, “Go for it!”

The anonymity has made it easy for compartmentalizing my life. That’s why I think that whatever happens as Mrs. Q is a fantasy…because how could it be true for the real me? When Mrs. Q gets speaking invitations it marries all the parts of my life.

I spoke on a panel at BlogHer Food this past weekend and last month I was at Transform 2010 (I never blogged about my experience at Mayo because it was utterly indescribable with words). Both of these ephemeral meetings were soul enriching and just plain lovely. For me they have been the equivalent of church-style revival meetings: passion, issues, laughter, tears and tons and tons of talking and talking… In Rochester at Transform we talked about food = health and in San Francisco at BlogHer Food we talked about food = life. Every single minute added value to my life in a small or a big way. The discussion of food unite us all. Bloggers I chatted with in person at BlogHer Food:

What’s Cooking – A chef working inside schools to get salad bars going and outside to teach kids to cook, now a dear friend.
Lettuce Eat Kale – A scrappy yet zen food journalist of the best sort: friendly, kind, and wearing her shoes out to bring you the freshest news.
Eating Rules – Funny, sweet irreverent journalist dude who has amazing ideas (check out his #unprocessed challenge)
Dianasaur Dishes – (fellow panelist) Teaching low income families to cook with basic ingredients
What’s for dinner mom? – (fellow panelist) She has a micro-farm in Alaska, need I say more?
Hunter Angler Gardener Cook – Hilarious guy who shares some Midwestern similarities with me even though he’s from New Jersey!
Novel Eats – A thinker and vegan home chef.
Eat Local Challenge – Hip to food politics
Educated Palate – Chatted about school lunch reform
Ghost Town Farm – Urban farmer!
Naomi Starkman from Civil Eats – Food activist journalist with a wealth of information regarding food policy issues
Good Food Kristin – Fighting the good fight in food politics
Food Blogga – Sweet, fun and insightful
Midlife Celiac – Great comments during the values track presentations
Gluten Free Girl – Just as she appears: giving, friendly, perfect, I want more time to discuss life’s big issues
Sure Foods Living – Life-changing conversation about going gluten-free (it may be where I’m headed next).
Nourishing Meals – Roughly the same age as me, but with four children (you go!), great insight into food/health/gf issues with kids
Virgo Blue – Huge life similarities and all around darling person
Pioneer Woman – Approachable, caring, witty
Five Second Rule – Knowledgeable food writer
Penny De Los Santos – Perceptive and talented food photographer
Celiac Teen – Extremely smart about food at a young age
Wendolonia – Found my blog on Day 6!
Boxing Octopus – A follower who introduced herself!
Jennifer Perillo – Generous food writer
Michael Ruhlman – Passionate about food politics
Foodie Reflections – Midwestern food blogger
Stephanie O’Dea – Sweet chat about parenthood
and on and on (I’m sure I forgot someone so do please let me know! There were so many amazing people…)

About ten years ago I worked with an older petite Italian woman. She wore more rings than I have ever seen on one person, before or since, and talked about ricotta all the time. We hit it off because she was funny. One time I revealed to her that I wasn’t religious and she said neither was she. Then she leaned over and told me, “My religion is loving people.” So is mine.

(More BlogHer Food information to come in subsequent posts…)

Q and A with Jackie Schneider (UK’s Mrs. Q)

Guest Blogs,

When I was told that Jackie Schneider (Jackie’s School Food Blog and Twitter) was the British equivalent of Mrs Q (Jackie was eating school lunch with the kids too), I knew I had to contact her and learn her story. She eagerly replied to my Q and A and then gave me an update of what’s happening now that the new and improved meals that her school has been enjoying for years are under the threat of being axed due to budget cuts. (Note: in the UK, school lunches are called “school dinners.”)

Q and A:

1. Tell me a little about yourself

I am a mother of 3 boys. I teach in a primary school and I also work for a small charity, “The Children’s Food Campaign”

2. What grade do you teach?

I am currently teaching year 3 and year 4 classes

3. How did you become interested in school food?

I was outraged at the appalling quality of food that children at my school were getting. Many fellow teachers and my head teacher privately agreed with my criticism but there was a feeling that change was not possible. I complained using the correct channels but there were never any improvements. I found a number of others from neighbouring schools who also were complaining. Wewere all being told that everyone else was happy. The most common complaints were that the food often ran out with kids having paid in advance they were left hungry. The food differed from what was on the menu. I was not uncommon for there to be no vegetables, no salad, no fruit for days on end. Food was often burnt or cold. The quality of the food was very low – reconstituted meat, low quality fish fingers etc. There was an over reliance on breaded,shaped processed foods and oven chips. You can see a selection of the meals on our website.

4. What happened at your school?

We held a meeting for parents and staff of all 42 schools in our district. It was a very passionate meeting with staff and governors desperate to share tales of horrific meals that they felt no choild should be offered. We vowed to set up a parent group to campaign for better school food in EVERY school in our district. the local authority was horrified and completely dismissed our concerns claiming that there was no problem with school food. We set out to collect the evidence to prove them wrong. we collected photos and testimonies from staff. we got huge publicity and that council soon admitted they were wrong and asked our help in fixing the school meal service.

5. Were there critics of reform?

Some council staff were sceptical that kids would eat fruit or salad.

6. How did the kids respond?

Brilliantly! Some of them took part in the protests and public meetings. They were keen to talk to press. They greeted the new improved food with great enthusiasm

7. What happened with your job?

My job was fine. Initially I had been a little concerned that I would be vulnerable but this was not the case. I had a lot of support from parents, school governors and some head teachers. I tried very hard to behave responsibly and not to criticise individuals but the system

8. What is school food like today at your school?

Unrecognisable from the bad old days! There is always salad, fruit and and several veggies available. Have a look at photos on my blog for photographic evidence! We forced local government to builda new kitchen at each school, kicked out the old catering company and re wrote the specifications for the food. We raised the improtance of food with all of the head teachers and encouraged all schools to look at teaching cookery and food growing skills. We also promoted links with local farms. We have made less progress with secondary schools but we have recently helped choose a new catering company and are still working hard to improve the menus and dining room environments.

9. What are your recommendations for concerned parents and teachers?

Do something – don’t put up with it! Find a couple of parents or staff who share your concerns and draw up some practical improvements you can campaign for. We drew up a set of aims and objectives that characterised what we expected from our school food service (see below):

Aim — To ensure that school students are offered only good quality, healthy, appealing food, prepared and cooked from fresh ingredients on site in all our schools, served in a pleasant atmosphere

Specific Objectives:

  • Merton Council takes on the process of a robust management of change to guarantee that the schools are provided and continue to be provided with healthy fresh food.
  • A healthy balanced diet is offered at all schools.
  • All cooking and food preparation to be done on site.
  • Eating lunch is a pleasant experience for childrenPromotion of healthy food and eating habits becomes an integral part of the education offered in our schools.
  • The Council sets up an effective system for monitoring school dinners, to ensure that the standards above are met and continue to be met.
  • To agree a target date by which all of the above will be achieved and clear, specific measurable milestones (no more than 6 months apart) on the path to these ultimate goals.

We got head of council, local public health, head teachers etc to sign up then we set about to make it a reality. My advice – you are NOT alone. Contact other parent/campaigners for advice/ideas. Evidence is critical to change policy. Take photos, collect testimonials, interview kids on video if possible. Present current school food to politicians and challenge them to eat it!

Update:
Since 2005 there have been huge improvements with school food in England. Following reforms in the 1980s which had seen minimum nutritional standards abolished, many kitchens closed, a move to a self service snack service and a switch away from freshly prepared food to reheating processed food school food deteriorated.
Many campaigners complained and tried hard to draw attention to the poor quality food we were serving our children. The Soil Association and campaigning school cook Jeanette Orrey worked tirelessly. in 2005 Jeanette had been able to bring this matter to the attention of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver who imemediately begun investigating. Jamie made a sensational TV series called “Jamies School Dinners” which shone a spotlight on the appalling state of school food. It got the attention of parents, the press and the politicians. It allowed my own campaigning group – merton parents for Better Food in Schools to get national coverage for our locally based campaign.
The government moved quickly. They set up a task force and included high profile campaigners such as Jeanette Orrey. This group recommended the establishment of basic nutritional standards to become law. It removed fizzy drinks, confectionery and daily junk food from all school menus. It placed severe restrictions on the amount of fried foods schools could serve and insisted every meal must include fruit and vegetables. A public body called The School Food Trust was set up to administer and regulate. Since 2009 I have been appointed as a board member and I continue to act as a trustee.
Although there was initial reluctance from many children who missed their daily dose of junk but new improved food has become popular. Teachers have reported better behaviour and concentration in lessons in the afternoon. parents reported that children were becoming less fussy at home and more willing to try new fruit and vegetables. Many schools begun introducing cooking clubs and school gardens. public health experts have become excited aand seen this as a real way to get behaviour change. interest grew in running free school dinner schemes.
In 2011 there was a change of government and a bitter row broke out about the state of the economy. The new coalition government has argued that the debt of the national state is so huge that the country can no longer afford to support such a large welfare state. The new health minister in a speech to the British Medical Association declared Jamie Olivers school meal revolution to have “failed” as the number of students eating school meals had fallen. In fact he was wrong – the number of students eating the new improved meals is steadlily if slowly rising as annual take up figures show. There have been reports of leaked documents claiming that the School Food Trust is to be closed down. A number of trials set up to investigate the impact of giving away free school meals have been shut down.
Everyone is now anxiously awaiting the result of the comprehensive spending review at the end of this October. The government will be announcing their spending plans and we will see if they will continue the support for school meals or if as has been leaked the School Food Trust will be closed down.
A number of school food campaigners, ( The Soil Association, the Children’s Food Campaign and Merton Parents for Better food in School) have got together to set up a petition. We are determined not to go back to the bad old days of appalling school food. No matter how tough times are we cant afford to give our children poor quality junk.
It has been a real roller coaster for me – ” it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” as Dickens famously said. I have seen the most sensational improvements in food and educational professionals start to get the difference improving the food makes. I have also seen ignorant politicians unwilling to look beyond a few vested interests. Whatever happens at the spending review there will be no going back. Good school food is now embedded in Merton schools and I will to shout long and hard if I see attempts by schools to cut corners and save a few pennies. there is still terrific press interest in this and the majority of parents are keen to see good quality school food remain.
Like you I will continue to eat a school meal once a week and will put the pictures up on my blog.
Here’s how to find Jackie:

Jackie’s School Food Blog
Jackie on Twitter
Children’s Food Trust
Children’s Food on Twitter

Open thread: What is the worst processed food in your opinion?

Open threads,

The Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Community asked the question this week:

What is the worst processed food?

What a great question! What are your thoughts? And in case you missed this earlier this week, many, many, many of you sent me this link: Pre-Chicken Nugget Meat Paste, AKA Mechanically Separated Chicken WARNING: It’s a gross photo and there are some informative videos on the post too.

You know how I feel about nuggets, but are chicken nuggets the worst processed food? I think there are worse foods….

Grocery shopping with recipes in mind (and a giveaway!)

Giveaways, , ,
Korean grocery store/mall all in one!
Massive fruit and veggie area through and to the right;
to the left it’s a regular mall area with Korean products
They are really into cooking up samples with their products
There are five to ten chef stations where they cook food samples
including meats in various sauce, samples of something you could make at home.
Two other chef stations, must have been about seven that day,
sometimes there are at least ten!
The grocery store has a housewares section in the back;
Notice: I put a rectangle around the women’s grocery cart (right, at bottom),
she bought tons of greens and meat.
That’s what almost everyone’s cart looks like…

I love to shop for groceries. My husband and I always shopped together before we had our kid and it was just fun to take our time and buy fun things. We don’t really have a favorite or “usual” grocery store as we just go where we please (“Trader Joe’s today?” “Great!”).

But sometimes we’ll make a special trip to the Korean grocery store/mall called Assi (sort of an unfortunate name — I don’t even know how to say it!) or to the Japanese equivalent Mitsuwa. I spent most of my twenties obsessed with Mitsuwa. It feels like entering Japan, which is just plain cool. In both “grocery malls” everyone is Asian and there also are restaurants set up in a little mini-food courts with many types of Asian food (only). I like to eat and shop, what can I say!

I am learning how to shop with recipes in mind. I’m a decent cook, but I’m not the kind of person who can “wing it.” I need to sit down and plan out meals (sometimes opening a cookbook, sometimes just writing out a meal plan with my standard meals) and then look through the fridge and cupboards to see what I have on hand.

I think what is telling about the last shot (above) is that the grocery cart is full of greens and meat — whole foods. My cart has boxes and packaging in it — I aspire to a cart full of basically greens and meat. Everyone who shops at Assi has a cart like that, especially if they are on the older side. These shoppers are probably fantastic home cooks who can throw together great meals with basic ingredients. It’s no wonder than Asian people who stick to a traditional diet (non-Western foods) have lower incidences of cancer and obesity.

Additionally, I like how Assi has chef’s stations with mini-demonstrations of how to prepare food. American grocery stores have stopped offering samples and when there are samples it’s usually “little smokies” or a similar convenience food. At Assi there is real cooking at the stations (although Mitsuwa does not do that to the same degree) and there are many, many different stations.

Finally, there is a housewares section in Assi. So you can buy a pot to cook the food you are also buying at the same store. Basic but brilliant, no? We have elevated cooking to something regular people can’t do and so to get our housewares we have to go to department stores or stand alone shops like Crate and Barrel (love it though). At the grocery store, food and cooking should be connected.

***
In the spirit of grocery shopping with recipes in mind, I’m giving away three brand-new cloth-like reusable grocery bags. I think they are adorable! Next week I’ll randomly choose three lucky readers to receive one of the below who comment on this post with tips, thoughts, or questions about grocery shopping:

Day 121: tex-mex (and a lunch packing update)

School Lunches, , , , ,

Today’s menu: tex-mex over brown rice, green beans, a cookie, a banana (and I somehow grabbed a muffin — it’s not on the menu)

So as I was going down the line today, I grabbed everything and I got an extra grain — the corn muffin. It wasn’t on the menu and I’m not sure why it was there. But anyway, there you go.

I’ve mentioned before I like the tex-mex and I’m really pleased that this year the menu contains more descriptive words so that I know a little more about what I’m digging into. Today the menu informed me that the meat was turkey and that the rice was brown.

I was able to eat the tex-mex bowl, the green beans, the cookie, and half my banana over the lunch (there was a mushy spot in the middle and I couldn’t go any farther). I saved the muffin for after school. I didn’t feel the need for an after school snack today, which is not typical. I usually indulge in a Kind bar while driving home (my favorite is the Kind Plus Strawberry Nut Delight).

There is always a lot of trash

***

Packing my son’s lunch and snacks for daycare took an unusual turn when the director asked me to write a letter explaining that my son gets his own food and then getting a doctor’s note saying it’s ok.

I was floored. I need to have a doctor’s note to provide meals for my son? I’m assuming it’s a liability concern. I still was a little peeved. I wrote the letter they wanted for their file and I have messaged my doctor for a note. I wonder if he’s going to think it’s a weird request…

Packing my son’s lunch has been a great choice from him and the family. The menu got weird this week: one day it was nuggets, a blueberry muffin, pineapple bits and peas. I have been trying to mimic their lunches just with healthier options from home. I never realized how many pre-packaged muffins they ate at daycare. I have been getting up early and baking muffins for his lunch. I thought it would be a hassle, but it’s kind of fun and the side bonus is that I get a fresh muffin for breakfast.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to imitate the daycare’s lunches, but sometimes it gets ridiculous. This week was  nuggets twice!! I just can’t endorse nuggets twice even if they are sent from home. So I sent pasta with sauce and broccoli. I slice up a fresh piece of fruit so that he doesn’t get something out of a can. This week I chopped up fresh pineapple, asian pears, and fresh mango and sent it along.

My son has been sick constantly ever since he started in a daycare center (around age one — we had a different childcare arrangement previously). We have a home nebulizer and he is on a daily medication for possible asthma. After getting very strict on his diet a few week ago, removing (not just reducing) processed food, reducing cow’s milk dairy products to almost nothing, and substituting fresh, organic foods, I cautiously think these changes are making a small difference just after a few weeks…. Fingers crossed!

***

I’m going to BlogHer Food and I will be speaking on a panel. I’m excited and nervous. They have promised to protect my identity. I will receive no payment (I’m taking paid time off to attend for myself, not trying to “double dip” by taking a vacation day and getting paid for outside activities. It’s on the up and up!). You can follow what I’m up to on my Twitter stream as well as what people are tweeting using the hashtag #blogherfood. If you are going, make sure to say hi to me!

Day 120: hamburger, real potatoes! (and a bit about blogging)

School Lunches, , , , , ,
Today’s menu: hamburger, real potatoes(!!!), apple, whole wheat buns
Can you spot the TWO whole foods that I ate for lunch today? I ate real potatoes and an apple! I cannot believe it. I almost feel out of my chair when I saw that the potatoes had PEELS! Amazing to me…. They were great!! (Peels have the nutritive properties)
To anyone in power reading this — THANK YOU!
I can’t help looking at the meat and thinking “Food, Inc” thoughts, but I ate it anyway….with a lot of ketchup!
I wonder if this blog is having an effect? It seems remarkable that there have been many little changes for the better in the lunches this fall. I notice and appreciate every one.
***
A reader wrote to me and told me that she was inspired to start writing a blog because of this blog. I was touched! I enjoy blogging and if you feel like it could be something fun for you to do, you should go for it. Then she said that part of her inspiration was that I was upfront about being new to blogging.
I should tell you that I have a personal blog that I started about six years ago. My most consistent readers were my mother, my sister, and the friend who introduced me to the concept of a blog. I wrote about lots of personal stuff under an alias (some things never change, eh?). Oddly never about food, but about my family, my work, my life. I was lucky if I got 10 pageviews a week. But that was fine with me: I was not writing for anyone but myself and my family & friends. So technically I was not brand new to blogging when I started Fed Up With Lunch. I knew about the power of blogs because I had my own personal blog.
So just so it’s clear, Fed Up With Lunch didn’t come out of a vacuum. But the decision to blog my journey eating school lunch every day was basically made on a whim. Late in 2009 I thought about other people doing yearlong projects (mostly the 365 photo blogs) and I liked that idea, but wanted something a little more meaningful than just random photos of my life. I thought about my work and my students and this idea literally just came to me. POP! Fed Up With Lunch was born. (I’m actually not religious, but I gotta wonder about a higher power…)
Going back to 2004 when a friend told me about her blog, I thought it was great. Every day I checked her blog to see what she was thinking about and doing. She suggested I start my own personal blog so I did. Weirdly, she ended up stopping blogging two years later, but I found it to be a great outlet for me and kept it up until I had a baby and then I only blogged about once a month.
I have NEVER been into writing journals, but I loved buying cute little notebooks and trying to write in them. It started around 3rd grade, when my family moved cross-country (one of the bigger moves) and I wanted to document the trip. I had a small, Mary Cassatt or Degas pink bound book and while I sat in the back of my parents’ station wagon, I would note things that I saw on the trip. Some journal entries were as long as a few sentences, but there was a lot of “cute farm house, exit 93 in Nebraska” (primitive tweets!). My intent was to go back one day and visit the cool spots that whizzed by me. Kids can’t control very much especially kids who move a lot and that was my way of hanging on to the neat things I saw.

A couple years later I found that journal and I was so embarrassed by how “little kid” it was. “Oh my god, what was I trying to write! My handwriting was terrible. You are sooo dumb!” I was critical of myself and vowed not to write anything again. Of course I wrote a lot of things (mostly about boys) that would appear in the first two to three pages of blank books that were abandoned only to be found later by an older, wiser me who couldn’t believe how stupid I used to be.

The worst criticism I ever gave myself was after I read an eighth grade journal in high school. I had been gaga over a boy in eighth grade. I mean, crazy-out-of-my-mind about this boy who was actually quite mean to me (It turns out he was gay! Poor thing probably was just trying to get away from me. My “gaydar” still sucks by the way) Middle school is basically a terrible time for everyone and I moved twice if you can imagine!

Anyway, I just tore into myself when I read my little scribbles about my unrequited love. “You were so silly and just stupid.” I may have even thrown it away because I don’t have clue where that journal went. Anyway, I basically didn’t keep a journal after that. It’s really a shame how hard we can be on ourselves.

Thankfully that friend introduced me to blogging. I found the experience to be very different than writing in a journal. The pros to blogging are that it’s much easier to see how you change over time, it’s easy to share, it’s searchable, and it’s fun to do something online. The big con for me was that I missed writing by hand. I have distinctive handwriting and I like to write things by hand (that’s why I have always been a letter writer). It sounds vain to say I like my handwriting, but it’s true. I also like to read something written by my loved ones in their own handwriting. Everyone in my life has handwriting that suits them. For example, my husband has deliberate printing and never does cursive, which suits him perfectly as he is a logical, mathematical thinker. I just like looking at words written by my husband or my mother or my sister. They could write the phonebook and I’d enjoy it.

Well, that was a tangent!

***

Tips on starting a blog

1) Decide what you want out of a blog — personal, political, food, cooking, issue-based (adoption, infertility, etc) There are zillions of great blogs out there. I love following people’s journeys.

2) Start it up without telling too many people — I started up my personal blog and emailed the URL to my entire address book. A few months later I realized that I wanted to talk about people who had received the link by email. Don’t make that newbie mistake! Start blogging with a small audience and widen slowly.

3) Don’t worry about posting daily — I’m only posting this much because of being in the middle of this amazing project.

4) Consider micro-blogging if blogging is too much of a time commitment — Tumblr and Twitter are great!

5) Choose wisely — Blogger (blogspot) is a great platform if you, like me, don’t know that you are doing. WordPress is another option but I think you have to be a little more savvy with plug-ins for designs, etc. Blogger takes care of the “behind the scenes” stuff.

Any other tips that I’ve forgotten?

Day 119: guesses?

School Lunches, , , , ,

Can you guess what this is? I looked at the main course through the plastic and I was like, “What the…”

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Chicken tenders

Today’s menu: chicken “tenders,” bread, fresh carrots, fruit cup

I was so pressed for time today that I didn’t even get a chance to grab the bbq sauce. Luckily I had a small package of honey in my desk and I dipped the tenders/nuggets into the honey. I didn’t have time to eat the bread, carrots, or fruit cup today because I was called to a meeting. I ate the carrots as an after school snack, but by the time I got around to the bread, it was already a little hard on the outside.

One group of kids arrived so, so late to the cafeteria today. I couldn’t believe how late they were and I don’t have a clue what happened. In fact, I thought that they were early for the following lunch period. I happened to be standing by the lunch ladies and one of them muttered, “The kids will only have five minutes to eat now and then they blame us!” If you are a lunch lady, you never get told you are doing a good job, but only get called out when there is a problem. That’s a such a shame for them and for those students too.

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The reason I put the word “tenders” in quotes is that it doesn’t look like actual chicken that was breaded, but the same filler as what is inside the nuggets. In case you forgot what is inside chicken nuggets, here’s a reminder. Is getting chicken nuggets off the menu the solution? Or using real chicken in place of the nuggets? Or is that too costly?

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Check out what happened in Brazil: Lula’s Legacy Looms As Brazil’s Voters Weigh Choice. The article is about how they reformed school lunch. Here’s one quote — “As of this year, all school lunch programs are required to buy 30 percent of their products from local producers.” Whoa.

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Lastly, here is 11 year olf Birke Baehr speaking at TEDx: “What’s wrong with our food system.” I like what he has to say for himself: