Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 33 - I Got Nothing

I've got nothing to post today.  I just dropped B off at her friend's high school to get on a bus for New York.  She will be having a choreography workshop this evening with someone from the original Hamilton cast.  She's excited!  I think she is supposed to see 4 different Broadway musicals while up there.  She comes home late Sunday night.

I need to get ready to take S, two other high school guys, V and little D into Washington D.C. today.  S and his government classmates are getting a tour of the capitol.  The rest of us are going to hang out somewhere.  Unfortunately, the weather is a tad cool and a little rainy (nothing like yesterday's storms and tornado warnings though!).

So today, I will just remember to bring my handy dandy eating utensil kit,* my water bottle and my travel mug.  And that's about all I've got for today!

*Darn!  Out of stock!  Check back later.  I just bought mine at the beginning of Lent.  Maybe I took the last one!  Sorry!

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 32 - The Zero Waste Chef

The benefit of giving up plastic for Lent is that even though it is hard and my whole family is really annoyed with me for harping on it all the time (hey, it's their Lent too!) it has really made me focus on simple things like cleaning dishes, shopping carefully, looking at packaging, looking at costs, looking at where food comes from and which companies have best practices when it comes to pollution.  It has given me a nesting feeling about being home, and cooking for my family.  Currently, there's a bestselling book out there about hygge, and I think I get a sort of hygge feeling. (I haven't read the book though!)  But that sort of comfort feeling is kind of an unexpected blessing from trying to avoid plastic.  Giving up plastic has made me feel more intentional and at the same time made me step back and really think about the consequences of my everyday choices.

In that spirit, I discovered this inspiring blog, The Zero Waste Chef.  I aspire to cook and organize my kitchen like this.  I am lightyears away but this blog will help me there!

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 31 - Joshua's Birthday Dinner

I made dinner for my son's birthday last night.  He turned 22.   He had to work all day, but I made him a birthday dinner.  Since he loves anything with tomato sauce but he'd given up meat for Lent, I made tomatoes with pine nuts over bow tie pasta.

The sauce turned out well (I was trying to recreate a recipe from a long time ago) but it wasn't enough.  I should have bought 2 jars of tomatoes to feed six people.

I got the pasta at Mom's organic.  I think it was $1.99 a lb.  The olive oil is a new brand to me.  I picked it up somewhere, not sure where.  I usually buy the medium priced olive oils.  The parmesan cheese in a jar (front left) is one I bought weeks ago at Harris Teeter.  I think it was something like $4.99 but it has lasted us a while now.  I am surprised at how much grated parmesan cheese is in that jar!  The little bottle of pignoli or pine nuts, I got from the international market section of Bed, Bath and Beyond, also a few weeks ago, and the jar of tomatoes I picked up at Whole Foods.  It was the only jar of chopped tomatoes.  The other brands were canned or in those plastic vacuum boxes.

This bread was the biggest hit!  DELICIOUS!

I bought this lovely parmesan bread at a local bakery.  The boy behind the counter thinks I'm a little looney because I bring in my own bag.  He is very industrious in making sure all the loaves are bagged asap after they come in to him from the original bakery (they don't really bake them at this store but in another town about 20 minutes away.)  You have to make sure you get there pretty soon after it opens, in order to get bread that hasn't already been bagged!

I made a green salad to go with the pasta and bread.  I found that nice netted bag when cleaning out one of my kitchen drawers!  It is perfect for greens.  I have a little cotton bag I used for the bulk mushrooms.  The carrots, green onions and green pepper all were loose in the produce section.

This cake looks a little sad.  We did add some candles for Josh to blow out!

And for dessert we had lemon cake.  Since Josh doesn't care for icing, I just dusted it with powdered sugar.

So the plastic that went into this meal:

-The jar lids probably have plastic, but the glass itself is pretty much 100% recyclable.  I think some places recycle the lids for the metal content.  I can't tell if my recycling company does.  It looks like they probably do because they don't explicitly forbid them.  They just say they recycle glass jars.  No mention of lids.

-the tomato jar had a plastic seal around the top
- the inside plastic bag for the cake mix
- the inside plastic bag for the powdered sugar
- salad dressing included:  olive oil, balsamic red wine vinegar, chopped garlic from a jar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  All these bottles/jars probably came with little plastic seals around the top.

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Here's an article about a neat idea!  Someone has invented a small reactor that can fit on ships that uses plastic as fuel!  I am confused about how much the reactor pollutes as it burns the plastic?  I guess I need to read the article again more closely! But what struck me is all the garbage floating in the waters in the photos.  So disgusting!  Here in our country we do have the infrastructure to somewhat maintain some level of cleanliness but since I've become more aware of plastic pollution, I have noticed more and more litter.  Our trash could easily get out of control.

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 30 - No More Disposable Tablecloths

I bought a tablecloth!  It was only $6.99 at a nearby thrift shop and it is definitely long enough.  It might be partly polyester, but it isn't one of those new microfiber ones that don't absorb liquids.    As wonderfully stain resistant as those may be, they are made with plastic.

The important thing for me was finding a tablecloth big enough.  The table is 108 inches long with all the leaves in.  Most long table cloths are 108 inches, which means they just barely cover the top of my table with no 'drop' which I've learned is the technical word for the amount of cloth that hangs down on the sides of the table.   It is hard to find a tablecloth for a table that long and when you do it is expensive.  For years I've been buying disposable 'tablecloths,' that is, paper with plastic coating.  We usually use our dining room for homeschooling (you can see I've tucked the books that were on the table on the chairs in the photo).  But for certain holidays we get all formal and eat here:  Rosh Hashanah, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and now Passover and Easter are coming up.

I really needed a tablecloth!

It is a kind of neutral pale green, which I think works with the room.

I think the lacy embossed pattern is lovely.

You can see Dylan's cardboard castle he got from Christmas.  It lives in the living room.

Of course, the beauty of disposable tablecloths is if someone knocks over a glass of red wine, you can just chuck it in the trash and be done with it.  This tablecloth will have to be stain treated and washed.  I do think it will fit in my washer.  I mean if king size sheets fit, this surely will.  But even if the stain doesn't come out . . . . well. I only spent $6.99!  Though then I'll have the same problem of needing a tablecloth!


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I just thought Monday's dinner looked pretty.

Plastic free dinner!  Sweet potato hash and corn muffins

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 29 - Shameless Plug

I love this art by John F Quirk

My son wrote a musical fairy tale that features a land of garbage.  Complete with monster!  (And I named this Lenten series about giving up plastic - Slaying the Plastic Dragon.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!)

Also, it turns out that Somerdale cheese is a seasonal item at Whole Foods.  I went back to buy another wheel and they didn't have anything.  The only wheels I could get had things like mustard seed in them or cranberries.  I am in mourning.   We'll have to wait until the holiday season starts up again next fall.

In the meantime, I am just going to get cheese over the deli counter.  If you bring your own container, the person waiting on you just puts the slices in there instead of in a plastic bag.*

End of this month of April and beginning of next month, May means farmers' markets will start opening up.  It looks like I might be able to get cheese there.  I'll be checking out that possibility.


*Dh wanted to grill for dinner last night, so he ran to Whole Foods to get some ground beef.  I think the freezer paper WF uses is compostable.  I think.  You have to take the plastic price sticker off first.  He also picked up some sliced cheddar cheese for cheeseburgers.  He asked for no plastic so they put it in a cardboard carry out box.  I looked those up and they are for sure compostable.

VeteranCompost.com

Have I talked about composting here?  (I fear I am repeating myself; though it bears repeating!)  It doesn't really involve plastic, of course, but once you try to reduce your plastic, you kind of move on to trying to reduce the amount of overall trash you produce.  I've been using a composting company for a over a year now.   My issue was all the food I was wasting.  At least now I'm composting the shriveled up carrots and decomposing lettuce that gets left in the fridge too long!  I am not a home composter, which comforts me in a way.  You have to be dedicated to it to keep it in such a way that a variety of things actually compost.  A professional composter very likely does a much better and more thorough job than I could do.

One important thing I've learned is that you MUST take the plastic stickers off fruit peels, etc before you put it in your compost.  I had been sloppy about this before, but I read it really messes things up, so no plastic, even a tiny bit, in the compost, please!

Ten Minutes a Day to Heaven - Book 12 (and Children's Lit and Bingo Update!)

Ten Minutes a Day to Heaven has been my morning meditation book since the beginning of the new year.  I think I only skipped a couple of mornings.  Looking back I am pretty impressed at how consistent I've been. Woot!  Consistency is a problem I have maintaining.  I enjoyed this book.  It was written in 1938 by a English priest.  It consists of short chapters that each talk about a particular theme to contemplate.  These chapters are separated into more overarching themes like "Center Your Life on God" or "Love Your Neighbor."  There are many references to scripture and to the saints. Father Arendzen writes in a high style but also in a direct and practical one too.  He sometimes scolds a bit, but I often feel I could use a scolding now and again.  

I am not sure how I got this book to begin with.  I think it might have been a bonus book I got for ordering a certain number of books from Sophia Institute Press.  I don't think I would ever have picked it out myself and, truth be told, it has sat unread for many years on my shelf.  I am glad I finally picked it up and read it.  There are many memorable lines and it does make a great morning meditation type book; something to read to inspire one's day.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

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 April is Children's Literature Month!  April is a great month anyway:  spring, my birthday (don't know if I appreciate this as much as I used to though), one of my son's birthdays, usually Passover and Easter as well!  On top of all that, children's literature!  Here is what I plan to read this month for this challenge:

101 Dalmatians - in progress.  I've only ever seen the old Disney animated version.  The book is charming and simple and funny.

The Wonderful Adventure of Nils - I bought this book at a library sale a few years ago and haven't read it yet.

The Children of the New Forest - I just read my first Frederick Marryat novel, Mr. Midshipman Easy.  He also wrote this popular children's novel.  

I am sure I had another children's book in mind to read for this challenge, but now I can't think of it. Simpler Pastimes is also hosting a read along of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.  I might revisit those books.

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I thought I'd update on my bingo book challenge so far.  Looks like I have a lot of reading to do!  

101 Dalmatians  -in progress- (Prime Number)	(Science Fiction)	(Western)	(Translated)	City of God  -in progress- (Over 500 pages)
(Flufferton)	Particles of Faith -in progress- (Your name in the title)	(Ancient-up to 100A.D.)	(Outer Space)	(Local Author)
(Eastern Europe)	(Short Stories)	Free Space!	(Finance)	(Female Adventure)
(Best seller written in spouse’s birth year)	Mr. Midshipman Easy (Seaworthy)	(Dystopian)	(One word title)	Waverley (Classic)
(Steampunk)	Simon the Coldheart Middle Ages	One, Two Buckle My Shoe (Mystery)	Laurus   *favorite!* (Debut Author)	(Selected by a friend)

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 28 - Updates and Plastic Shoes!

We finished the  huge wax wheel of cheese!  It lasted 28 days.  It cost me $66, so that's about $2.35 a day.  Might not be the least expensive cheese ever, but it was completely plastic free and it was delicious!  We never got tired of it and it never went bad.  We ate every crumb.  If you want to splurge on cheese, I highly recommend Somerdale.

I went back to Mom's Organic and discovered it sells pasta in bulk!  I hadn't noticed the first time I went.  Now I am thinking my shopping should be Whole Foods/Bakery/Fresh Market on Saturdays and Mom's Organic on Wednesday.  Mom's is on the way back from my daughter's voice lesson if I don't take the faster toll road route.  I think she'd be up for shopping with me briefly to catch up on midweek shopping.  My thing is I can only seem to plan for half a week at a time.  My third weekly shopping is from the CSA on Sunday afternoons.  Then there are the various runs to Giant for pet food, etc.  I can't seem to simplify as much as I'd like.  Too much running around!  Must work on that.

Back to the cheese!   The last time we ate the champagne cheddar was when V made a mac and cheese variation with shells from Mom's, cheese from the big wax wheel and ground beef from Fresh Market.  It was delicious and I am planning on eating the leftovers for lunch.

In other news:

So far my switch to the Liggett's shampoo bar is going well.  I now rinse my hair with apple cider vinegar afterwards and I do think my hair is softer as a result.  However, I don't like the lingering smell of vinegar.

Using cloth napkins is going splendidly!  It is really working.  I still haven't found a big enough tablecloth that has no microfibers.  Microfibers are my next big thing to avoid.  Passover/Easter is approaching soon.  Not sure what I will do instead!

This weekend I must buy my 15 year old daughter some athletic shoes.  She wants ones that are good for walking/running.  She's going away to New York next weekend on a great field trip to Broadway.  She needs to be able to walk around the city!  Right now she's got Tom's and hiking boots.  She needs something in between.

In my studies on plastic, I found that our shoes are made from it!   One wonders how mankind fought wars, worked the fields, went on pilgrimages and explored new continents without plastic shoes.  I mean when did this become a prime ingredient in shoes?

But I also discovered that Adidas is apparently trying to help solve the problem of plastic pollution and is downcycling ocean plastic debris into some of its shoes.

So that's all for now!