A Beautiful Sunday

Sunday I woke up in my new flat to a strange stillness. Having left my windows open the last few nights, I'm getting accustomed to waking up to honks, shouts, and a general morning buzz from the nearby thoroughfare. Aside from the overcast gray skies and the occasional church bells, something was off. Having already earmarked the day for checking out the flea market in St-Gilles, I got dressed and headed in the direction of the metro.

On the streets the stillness continued, punctuated by the occasional bicycle bell. In fact, when I looked around, I realized there were way more bicyclists than normal. Upon walking a little further, I realized that, actually, there were ONLY bicyclists. (Well, the occasional roller-blader.) Instead of taking my life in my hands every time I crossed the streets, I was one of a throng of pedestrians and non-motorists crowding the fashionable Avenue Louisa. I started to think I was in the middle of some kind of Critical Mass.

When I reached the metro station, I had the matter cleared up. The ticket counter informed me that metros were free all day, since across Brussels this was a day without cars,(Journée Sans Voitures)! Finally in on the joke, I grinned walking the foggy, spacious streets that were filled not with crazed cab-drivers and poor-park jobs, but little children on roller skates, parents carting babies in little bicycle cabs behind them, and old couples holding hands on bikes as they leisurely rode down a hill. What an amazing experience... confirmed proof that another world is possible!

By the time I was at the market, I was jubilant. And luckily, the market itself was no let-down. Stretching several blocks in a spiral around Gare Midi, the different stalls boasted all kinds of fruits, veggies, flowers and spices, as well as tons of clothing, suitcases, shoes, kitchen supplies, you name it. I was so relieved- a few days in posh Ixelles and I was starting to think I was going to have to live off lentils. There's a better solution: just save the shopping for Sundays! I found a bunch of spices (including the elusive black salt), some gorgeous plants, some kitchen stuff, even a jacket for 3 euros. (I'll learn how to barter later, for now just seeing some reasonable prices was thrilling enough.)

All the way home the streets were still filled with bikers of all ages, shapes and nationalities, lots of whom were eating ice cream, laughing with their friends, or waiting for small children to catch up. I wish this car holiday happened every Sunday...

St-Gilles Weekend Market- Sundays 6am until 2pm, streets surrounding Gare Midi Station

Song of the Day: Beta Band- Squares

Hungry and Poor

Holy Frying Pan, I have been SOOOO HUNGRY lately! Seemingly since the second I got back from Budapest I've been eating non-stop... and every second I'm not eating I'm plotting my next meal. Its like that scene in Rosemary's Baby where she's possessed by the urge to eat raw meat... except it would be, like, raw beets. (And also, I'm not carrying the child of Satan.)

Usually this surge in appetite would be a minor inconvenience, but at the moment I have exactly $.88 in my account since I'm still waiting for my loan check to come in, so its becoming sort of an issue... After the yummy tortilla stacks and vegan hot dogs I've been living on ran out, I started fantasizing about all sorts of concoctions with the remaining groceries and canned goods I have around. Which, truthfully, should be what I always do, not just when I'm broke.


Part of this, I submit, is related to my newly intensified work-out schedule. After a few weeks of practically nothing (unless you count walking up the Buda hill, pictured at right, which, come to think of it, was quite strenuous) I came back to a whole new schedule of classes, not to mention weather that permits (and compels!) bike riding. My (gorgeous and perfect) roomie M and I take Step class a few times a week, which is sort of a dancey cardio workout, plus a weight-training class and whatever we do on our own. This week we're also going to take a couple Bhangra dance classes, which I'm beyond stoked about. But it should make me even hungrier...

Anyways, one dish I dreamed about the other day was the Tamarind Chickpeas from The Healthy Hedonist by Myra Kornfeld. Its such a cheap and delicious dinner, and I decided my friend Karen and I should make it for a girls cooking night we had. Basically, its canned chickpeas, canned diced tomatoes, ground toasted cumin and a ton of ginger and garlic. On a given night I usually have all those ingredients! (I sub ginger for the tamarind, since its easier to find and I like it better.) And OH MAN. SO good with mango chutney and rice. Karen thought so too, and she is mega-picky so its saying sumthin. :) But alas, no pictures. However, if we start to cook weekly, like Karen says, then hopefully there will be pics to come.

Later, in a fit of hunger with very little actual food remaining save for some old potatoes, I also felt compelled to recreate a childhood classic, potatoes aux gratin. My Mom used to make this to accompany some meaty dinner, and its basically an ultra creamy potato dish that can be as fancy or homey as you like it. It has a ton of milk and usually a ton of cheese, but I think it actually can be quite marvelously veganized! I adopted the Joy of Cooking Recipe, but I think it needs some work to make it truly delectable so I'll wait until I've improved upon it a bit.

Not that this wasn't fabulous, but I felt it was a little too sweet (too much nutmeg?) and needed something other than nooch on top to get brown and crispy. Next time I'll try it with a mixture of teese and breadcrumbs I think. And did I mention this dish reheats really well? That works for one of my resolutions.

So until the loan check comes in I think I'm reduced to more hot dogs and oatmeal, which, to be fair, is not a fate worse than death. Let's just hope I go back to my normal, non-crazed appetite sometime soon.

Song of the Day: Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts- Wolf Parade

Veggies, Seeds, and Wheels

So we have a new(-ish) radio station in the DC Metro area called 94.7- "The Globe". I kind of like it, which I guess is a sign of being finally weaned off of Album 88.5, Atlanta's college station that was just as likely to play Ugly Duckling or the Fiery Furnaces as Gregorian Chant.(Oh how I miss that!) "The Globe" isn't quite as musically diverse, but it is distinctively upbeat, in contrast to the other dominant local station DC 101, which has a brash, frequently sexist, and Lincoln Park-loving style that makes me crazy. The Globe is way calmer: along with chirpy deejays and nostalgic alt-rock, there are occasional tips on how to save the planet, one tiny action at a time.

Having this blast at me right before the new R.E.M. song always leads me to thinking (angst-fully) about my daily actions and their potential impact.

For all the millions of ideas about how YOU! can save the planet from our inevitable descent into a climate change disaster, its very difficult to actually gather a comprehensive plan for living wisely. Well, its not that its difficult- more like, contradictory and confusing. For instance, you could unplug all of your appliances at night, but turning on a desktop computer everyday is enough to undo all that hard work. You could try to use cold water washing dishes, but doesn't it seem to take longer and defeat the purpose? And using re-usable napkins and diapers seems like a good idea, but aren't washing machines huge energy-drainers?

...And on the other side of the spectrum are the rich-people ideas. I'm thrilled for people that can afford install solar-powered toilets and bamboo kitchen flooring, but unless its IKEA-priced and fit for a rental, its not coming to my abode.

The problem with these kinds of actions isn't that they don't work, but that they seem to require expert intervention to make it work. I'm of the opinion that you don't need a PhD in Environmental studies to make a difference. Isn't it possible that just doing a few things, consistently, could make a huge difference if done on a large scale? In my opinion, and I'm no expert, 3 moderately sized life-style changes could make a huge impact that would negate the little fuck-ups we all make everyday when forgetting to unplug the toaster.

1. Biking
2. Gardening/ composting
3. Going vegan

I have done all three of these things, but I never seem to do them at the same time. Its kind of funny, because they feed into each other a bit, don't they? Biking requires healthy, high energy food, the likes of which a vegan diet is well-equipped to offer. Gardening and composting are both well suited to vegetarians, since after all, you can't grow animals on your patio like you can zucchini, and second, you can't (or shouldn't) compost dairy and meat products.

All of these tactics target major polluters and energy wasters- cars, the factory farming industry, the produce industry- but they are all also personally exciting and fun. (Somewhat unlike, say, not wearing socks for a year or replacing all your lightbulbs.) And the bottom line is, these practices get you outside (or at least to a farmers market) and interacting with the world around you to the extent that you can no longer ignore it.

And isn't that kind of the point?