Let's create a national "Write-a-Letter Day."

I recently posted a petition on whitehouse.gov encouraging the administration to establish a national "Write-a-Letter Day."

I hope you'll consider signing it and passing this on.

I am shocked that so many young people no longer know how to create and mail a handwritten correspondence. I believe the Post Office is a great institution that should be preserved. "Write-a-Letter Day" is meant to promote personal connections through handwritten correspondence and help the P.O. by increasing the number of first-class mailings.

You can view and sign the petition here: http://wh.gov/JPAD

Here's some more information about this petition: Create "Write a Letter Day." Teach youngsters to write and address a letter. Promote stamps and save the Post Office. The Post Office, one of our national treasures, is losing money due to declining first-class letter mailings. Many young people today have never written a letter by hand and do not know how to properly address an envelope. Our Post Office designs and prints many beautiful and meaningful stamps each year. Postal employees often offer amazing customer service. For these reasons, we should declare a national "Write-a-Letter Day." It should be sometime during the school year so teachers could incorporate it into their curriculum when appropriate. The tradition of handwritten cards and letters is quickly fading. This day would support the P.O. and this great tradition. It would encourage people to buy stamps and visit their local P.O. And it would promote connections with friends or relatives.

Concealed Carry in Kansas and US Gun Laws - Disturbing

I'm a recent Kansas transplant and admit to a bit of culture shock.

Yesterday I went to one of Topeka's prominent greenhouses. The place was overflowing with beautiful perennials, annuals, and veggies. Too many to choose from really. Out front you can get a bale of straw or a whimsical garden ornament made out of old tools and scrap metals. I browsed the plants for a long time and found some beautiful specimens. I then found the lush racks of seeds and picked out several packets. I was enjoying my experience but when I stepped up to the counter to pay I was confronted. Behind the counter they displayed several large metal yard ornaments. One was about 5 feet in length, with pistols jauntily adorning each end. The letters connecting these emblems spelled a chilling message: "We don't call 911."

I had reason today to visit the Shawnee County Sheriff's website. I noticed a pdf download of a no-gun sign. (It's an image of pistol with the familiar circular red strike-through placed over it.) Instinctively, I printed it out. I thought, I'll make one for my car, post it on my front door, and maybe even get a t-shirt made. Then, I thought, "whoa, this is Kansas. That kinda stuff just might get you shot."

Kelly Ayotte, seemingly mild-mannered Republican senator from New Hampshire, recently held a town hall. A daughter of one of the teachers massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School confronted her about her recent vote against the bill that would create universal background checks for gun purchases. Ayotte had a stumbling response. The daughter defiantly walked out and deliberately turned her back on the senator.

Ayotte should have just said: "I need NRA support to win reelection. I would be primaried by Tea Party candidates if I voted against this bill. I had no choice. Surely you understand."

No, Senator Ayotte and all you other weak-kneed senators. We do not understand. Strengthen your spines. Stand up straight for what is right.

Not only do we need universal background checks, and you know it. We also need to confiscate all military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. These instruments of massacre have no place in civil society and are not needed for self defense. Police officers don't even carry them.

Elected officials need to grow up and stand up for what is right. If the NRA abandons you the American people will be there to prop you up. Count on it.
Video of the Ayotte town hall: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/kelly-ayotte-gun-vote-90784.html

"Salt Sugar Fat" by Michael Moss is the first step

Michael Moss has written a terrific book, "Salt Sugar Fat," that exposes how the food industry has sucked us in with these three "bliss" ingredients. They have extensive scientific data that lets them manipulate us in unbelievable ways.

I haven't yet to read the book, but the interviews I have heard are very convincing. We all need to be better consumers. We need to read labels. We need to enter our supermarkets ready to do battle. We will look for the more nutritious products at the top and bottom shelves and not be sucked in by the salt-, sugar-, and fat-laden products at eye level.

But in these interviews Moss doesn't address a point I feel strongly about: we must also realize that the meat and dairy industries are also doing us in. They have convinced us that 1) if we don't eat meat we won't get enough protein and 2) if we don't eat dairy we will lack calcium. The truth is that these products are unhealthy and contribute to heart disease, diabetes, and, probably, cancer. They contain much more fat than is healthy for any human being. Cost-effective production means torturing the animals by keeping them in confined spaces and pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones that we then ingest.

What happens to them once they are transported to and reach the slaughterhouse is beyond civil discussion. The accounts I have read describe hideous, sadistic torture. I can't imagine that most workers in these slaughterhouses would abuse animals, but apparently some do and their actions have drawn attention to a crisis that we must address. If we continue to consume chicken, beef, and pork, we are condoning torture.

I have recently tried to eat a diet that is meat and dairy free. I guess you could say I'm a vegan, but even more extreme I try to avoid any added oils. Proponents of this type of diet prefer the term "plant based." I don't get too hung up on names and just prefer to think of it as a diet that makes sense for me.

This basically means I can't eat out unless 1) I am willing to compromise a little or 2) I have a dialogue with my cook and my server. I usually go for the first choice. We also eat many home-made meals of beans and rice, with added veggies.

I have learned to love kale, collard greens, chard, and rapini. I came to love broccoli and spinach years ago. Potatoes are one of my favorite foods.

We usually just chop the greens up and eat them in salad. Husband Andy can just douse them in vinegar and be happy. I am still loving ranch dressing, which is an aberration for a vegan diet. Oh well! I figure if I eat lots of vitamin- and mineral-rich greens in the process I am doing good things. Potatoes can be cooked a thousand different ways. One of my favorites is to take cooked whole potatoes and slice them into "steak fry" sized pieces. I heat the oven and my baking stone to about 450, while I sprinkle the potatoes with seasoning. My favorite is garlic pepper. Chilli powder is also good. Once the stone is good and hot I put the fries on and cook till they are crispy brown. Delicious with a nice black bean burger!

We have also purchased Calphalon non-stick pans that let us sautee veggies without adding any oil. It works. Every chef will tell you to add oil but they are wrong. You can make delicious dishes without adding oil. Follow the recipe, use a non-stick pan, and skip the oil. If things get "sticky" keep some water or vegetable broth on stand by. Add as needed. You'll be fine.

crispy chips with no oil

I often buy those large packages of corn tortilla circles with no oil. I heat up the oven to 400–450 and put in my baking stone. You could also use a cookie sheet I believe or put them right on the racks. If using a baking stone (your best bet) make sure it gets really hot—leave at the high temp for 10 minutes.

I rinse the tortillas under water, sprinkle with salt, and slice into fourths. I put the slices on the stone and bake until crisp. Watch that they don't burn, cause they'll taste nasty.

Nicely toasted, they are yummy to eat with chili or dip in salsa.

I also use a similar method to make potato chips/crisps.

I slice Russet potatoes thin in my Cuisinart or by hand with a long sharp knife. Put them in a bowl and slather in sea salt and maybe some Mrs. Dash or garlic pepper.

Place them on the baking stone (thoroughly heated to 400–450) in a single layer and cook until they are crispy with a few brown spots. With potatoes, heating the stone is especially important, because otherwise they will stick like glue. I have never tried these on a baking sheet and don't know that they'd do well.

They are a delicious accompaniment to a tempeh sloppy joe or bean burger.

Cat up a Tree

Our kitty Blaze got out.

More accurately, I let him out. He has escaped a few times in recent months and since I was staying out anyway and he was staying close, all was well.

So, with beautiful weather Sunday, I let him out and vowed to keep an eye on him, while I played ball with the dogs.

But, Blaze gave me the slip.

Blazer used to go out every day, but, in the process, acquired Feline AIDS So, the vet advised keeping him inside to avoid exposure to germs.

In the meantime, our neighbors have acquired a dog.

Blaze escaped next door and confronted the little terrier. Blaze ran up a tree. And went high. And then higher.

Oh Blaze. A whole community of cat lovers looked up, prayed, and hoped for the best.

Blaze was steadfast in his position, refusing to budge. So it was clear we would have to climb up to retrieve him.

Our neighbors have an industrial-strength extension ladder, but it takes a strong young man to lift it into place.

Their son, Brett, was busy caring for a woman whom he feeds, cleans, and puts to bed each night. He is the only one among us who can wrangle the ladder into place. He was running late. It was getting dark.

He finally got home and positioned the ladder into place. I am not afraid of heights and was ready to climb up and rescue the cat. Andy, who does hate heights, decided he should be the one to climb up. Blaze is a big cat, after all, and I have a bad spine. Whatever.

Blaze was rescued. Once inside, he ate a huge meal of cat food and turkey and fell sound asleep.

Life is good.

Plant Strong

Years ago, I read an article written by a doctor who believed that we needed to abandon all meat in our diet. I remember him saying that "even low-fat turkey had way too much fat for the human body to deal with."

Unfortunately I ignored him.

Since then, a friend has died of clogged arteries and another has been hospitalized and had a stent implanted because of them.

I am listening now.

Andy and I have adopted a plant-strong low- to no-oil diet.

It is hard. No meat, no dairy, and no oil. Eliminating meat is the easy part. No kidding. Cheese, not so easy. But do you know you can make fake cheese out of cashews, garlic, miso, nutritional yeast, etc.?

Soy milk is a wonderful substitute for dairy in soups, breads, and on cereal.

Vanilla almond milk, which has some sugar, is like a milkshake.

Our friend who had the stent turned us on to this diet, sorta by accident. He visited for a weekend and I was challenged to cook for him. The challenge turned into a mission.

Now, several other friends and family members, after hearing me talk at length about its benefits, have adopted a plant-strong diet.

I just have to say, meekly, "yeah."

Keep it up. Grow a garden. Do the best you can every day.

Creamy Asparagus Soup (vegan)

Does anything shout "spring" like bright green, skinny asparagus stalks? They grew wild (or were a holdover from an old kitchen garden) in the ditch across the street from our house. We would harvest them in spring, and, as the weeks wore on, I enjoyed watching the plants sprout into bouquets of dainty fronds.

Any more, asparagus is available year round, but in early spring it becomes less expensive and has wonderful flavor. This weekend I made a creamy soup from a bundle I purchased at the supermarket. I left out milk and cheese, so we thoroughly enjoyed the grassy, earthy flavor of the stalks. In Vegetable Heaven, Mollie Katzen describes tarragon's affinity for asparagus. So, I added lots of this herb to the soup, to wonderful effect.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds asparagus
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 medium Russet potato
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I like Pacific or Wolfgang Puck brands if I don't have homemade)
1/2 to 3/4 cup soy milk*
salt and pepper to taste
generous sprinkling of dried tarragon

Chop the onion and garlic. The size of the pieces isn't important as they will be pureed. Saute them in a medium-sized pan with a pinch salt. Once they start to brown, deglaze the pan with a little of the broth. Then, add the remaining broth.

Rinse the asparagus. Chop off the woody stems. Remove the tips and set aside.  Cut the stalks into 2–3 inch pieces and add them to the pan. Keep on medium heat.

Use a grater to shred the potato into the pan. (The potato will add flavor and give the soup a creamy texture.)

Once the asparagus is tender (about 10 minutes), puree the entire mixture with the soy milk.  I use either a food processor or a stick blender.

Steam the asparagus tips. I usually do this in a cup, with a small amount of water, in the microwave for a couple of minutes. They are done when they turn bright green.

If you've pureed in a processor or blender, return the mixture to the pan. Add the steamed tips. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the generous sprinkling of tarragon.

Serve immediately. This soup makes a great first course before a meal of a heartier fare.

I've given approximations for the amounts of asparagus and milk, since bundles of asparagus in the supermarket can vary in weight. If you are unsure about how much milk to add, just add it slowly until the texture seems somewhat thick and pleasing.

*If you avoid soy, use dairy, almond, or hemp milk.