on baking

here's the deal. i've baked 5 times in the last two days and, frankly, i want to do it again tomorrow. so what i'm wondering is, is there something wrong with me? maybe. probably. but i LOVE my addiction.

things i love about baking:

• you can do it at any time of the day
• it makes your kitchen smell amazing
• it makes you feel creative
• you can "test" the cookies
• to save cleaning time, you can lick the bowl
• you can share your goodies with friends
• it's fun and relaxing
• i love sweets anyway!

there you have it. the reasons why i can't stop whipping out my cookie cookbook or browsing allrecipes.com for hours and hours finding new recipes. between yesterday and today, i made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, healthy banana cookies (for vegan jenny), chocolate pudding, brownies, and snickerdoodles. oh, i think it'd be great to own my own bakery one day. i don't know the slightest thing about business, but i have a set of parentals that do and lots of friends who are business majors. and if they can't help, well, i might just wander olin hall crying out "please help me start my own business!" i've never thought about making it my career; i've always thought that if i did have a bakery, it'd be an on-the-side kind of thing. however, now that i think about it, i don't think that owning your own business is really an "on-the-side" deal. can i be a counselor and own my own bakery? mmehhh. i'm just glad that i've found two things that i love to do, am passionate about, and can use to help others.

want me to bake something for you? i'd love to!

on food, inc.

okay, so i know i said i would write about each chapter of "everyday justice" as i read it, but i got lazy. i'm also finished with the book, so i think i'll just wait until i finish and then write about it collectively.

i watched this documentary the other day called food, inc. if you haven't watched it already, you definitely should. it opened my eyes to many things that i was unaware of about the food industry and generally made me feel guilty about my food choices and sad that i contribute to the growth of food injustices. the documentary talked to a few different farmers who work for large corporations like tyson and purdue (chicken). these companies pay their farmers VERY little to raise the chickens at their farms. the chickens are kept in deplorable conditions - dark, tunnel-like sheds where they are literally standing on top of each other. a lot of them can't even walk because their breasts are growing too fast for the rest of their bodies. hundreds of thousands of chickens live in these really crappy chicken houses, never seeing daylight. it's really quite disgusting. and this is all for the sake of big, cheap, and fast food for a consumer society. one farmer had her farm shut down by purdue because she refused to switch to the dark, tunnel chicken houses from the slightly more open-air version. i don't think i'm going to be buying any chicken from tyson or purdue.

the beef industry is just horrible, too. cows are raised in factory-like settings and forced to eat diets of corn, which fattens them up quicker. but corn is not what cows were made to eat. it has detrimental effects on the digestive system of the cow, causing them to release more methane gas into the air. EWW. cow farts that are harmful for the environment! the cows stand in their own manure all day. it's no wonder our meat often becomes contaminated. it's rare these days to find meat from cows that are grass-fed and allowed free range. the big companies producing most of the beef in the world are seeking to shut down the smaller scale farms which produce this grass-fed beef. now, i am a meat eater: hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, bacon, you name it. rarely do i think about where my meat is coming from. honestly, it's hard to know, especially when you're eating out. i've had friends tell me that i should be more conscious about this and i think i've finally realized that they are right.

i don't plan on becoming a vegetarian, but i want to make better food choices. i want to be a conscious consumer. i've decided to try to eat less meat. if i do eat meat, i should know where it's coming from. i want to support farms who raise grass-fed cows or free-range chickens. i realize that this decision is not going to be easy. sacrificing my favorite hamburger is really tough. but in order to care for creation, i need to make changes in my lifestyle. so here are a few of the things i plan on doing:

• buy more organic foods
• eat less meat (go one or two days a week w/o eating meat)
• cook from scratch more often
• go to farmer's markets
• plant a small garden
• be more conscious of where my food is coming from, how it's made, etc.

i'm learning more and more about sustainable living as i read "everyday justice" and watch documentaries like food, inc. we are stewards of God's creation. we are called to spread love in every aspect of our lives, including our food choices.

also, check out www.greenissexy.org for daily tips on how to live greener. the site is co-founded by one of my favorite actresses, Rachel McAdams. :)

on fair trade

i just started reading a book i purchased at urbana. it's called everyday justice by julie clawson. i bought it because urbana inspired and challenged me to change the way i live in order to further justice in this world. the book goes through many different lifestyle choices like what we eat, what we wear, and what we throw away and how our choices have a global effect on the well-being of others. reading the first couple of chapters has inspired me to write about what i've read, so i've decided to blog about each chapter.

today's chapter: coffee, fair trade and the daily latte

i have been aware of fair trade coffee for a while. it came to my attention when usd announced that they were gonna sell fair trade coffee at all the dining places on campus. of course it sounded like a great idea, but i don't drink coffee so i wasn't really concerned about changing my buying habits. what i didn't know is that fair trade also applies to things like herbs and tea, sugar, vanilla, spices, rice, and fruits or nuts. it makes sense because all of these things are farm grown in countries all across the world. but i'd never seen advertising for fair trade vanilla or fair trade cinnamon...that, or i just wasn't paying attention. the hard thing is that most of the time these items are labeled "fair trade" so it's hard to tell what you are buying. next time i shop at trader joe's, henry's, or even ralph's, i'm gonna check to see if any of these items are labeled "fair trade". it's amazing how ignorant most people are about these kinds of things. i know i am. i hear about them off and on, but i decide to ignore the issue and do nothing about it. i go on consuming and in the process i support injustice. but i'm slowly realizing that jesus' command to "love your neighbor as youself" is so much greater than the clothes i wear or the food i eat. if i'm supporting systems that treat other people as less important, then i am not loving my neighbor. if i worship jesus but buy sugar from companies that did not give the farmers fair wages, i am not loving my neighbor.

i want to encourage everyone to think about the everyday consumer choices they make and how that might effect others. make good choices. ;)

on the homeless

there's something that's been on my mind a lot recently. and i'm not sure what to do about it. where i live (close to sports arena and rosecrans) there are many homeless people standing on the street corners with their cardboard signs. every day i pass them on my way to and from home. i sit at the red light and feel guilty as they walk past my car and i try not to make eye contact. i always wish that i had something to give them - not necessarily money, but maybe an extra blanket or a bag of chips. but i don't. i just stare at them and my heart melts. these people have no one to love them, no one to turn to for help. many homeless people have mental disorders that keep them from having a steady job. the people most in need don't get the help they deserve. why? who knows. for me, i think i'm scared. homeless people are dirty, have ragged clothes, and are unpredictable. but they are PEOPLE. and those are ridiculous excuses for not helping them.

jesus set a great example for us. he lived and ate with these kind of people all the time. he saw that they were most in need and he came to them. he saw past their ragged exterior and looked into their hearts. the same kind of heart that every person on this world has beating inside their body. i think homeless people just want someone to listen. they need someone to talk to, someone who will give them the time of day. 1000s of cars pass by them every day. maybe one person sticks their arm out the window and gives them their change. jesus didn't just hand out money. nor did he do all his work "behind the scenes" when no one else was watching. jesus didn't do charity. he did justice. and there's no reason why i can't do justice, too.

"the blessings of God are too good to keep for ourselves"

Shane Claiborne

on music and lyrics

good lyrics are, well, GOOD. good lyrics speak the depths of your heart. and the best part is, someone else has done it for you. we are blessed by someone else's gift. it's amazing how some song lyrics seem to say exactly what i'd like to say, but hadn't found a way to say it yet. some song lyrics can be so powerful that you just want to listen to or write them over and over again. or at least i do. passion. that's where i feel it. in music.

some songs whose lyrics i absolutely love:

. slipped away -- avril lavigne

. blood bank -- bon iver

. fix you -- coldplay

. yellow -- coldplay

. the scientist -- coldplay

. here with me -- dido

. so are you to me -- eastmountainsouth

. your song -- elton john

. livin' our love song -- jason michael carroll

. edge of desire -- john mayer

. split screen sadness -- john mayer

. stupid boy -- keith urban

. i run to you -- lady antebellum

. everything -- lifehouse

. take me away -- lifehouse

. storm -- lifehouse

. every single snow patrol song

. i dare you to move -- switchfoot

. fearless -- taylor swift

i've never tried to write a song and i don't know how to play any musical instruments. i wish i could. it's one of the things i'm going to do before i die. for sure. guitar or piano, maybe.

on the new year

i've never been good at new year's resolutions. most of the time they involve working on my fitness more often or cutting back on a certain sweet. most of the time my resolutions involve me. and that's all fine and dandy because of course it's good to be concerned about your own health and happiness, but i think i'm gonna try something new this year. this year, my resolutions are going to be about others: praying for others, spending more time with others, sharing my blessings for others, giving of my time for others. i haven't exactly figured out what these specific things are, but i'm excited to discover them.

because i think that this world has a giant problem of selfishness. it's what causes so many of the other problems we have. and i came to this revelation while talking with some guy that i sat next to on the plane back to san diego. who would have thought random strangers can inspire such revelatory thoughts? okay, so the problem of selfishness may not come as news to you, but it is giving me a better understanding of how i can make a difference in this world. be selfless. in EVERYTHING.

so there's my overarching new year's resolution for all to see: be selfless.

i'm so ready for this year. bring on the new.

oh, p.s. one of my resolutions is to blog more often. :)