Fabulous Friday (and some self-righteous blathering about food...)

Seriously don't wanna be at work today...arrived here and opened my e-mail to reveal a rather significant personal screw-up...nothing job-endangering, just embarassing because it was offered up as an example for the whole team to learn from, and I can't stand making mistakes like that. Have been dreaming of Starbucks Latte or end-of-day Budweiser.....gotta love emotional eating, or drinking, as the case may be.

And yet, the emotions have definitely shifted in the eating department. It's payday and instead of being lazy and hitting Zaxby's for the world's best fast-food chicken fingers, there's a salad of green leaf, navy beans, Bacos, and honey mustard waiting for me in the fridge. Made it last night, took all of 10 minutes. I'll need to step out for some healthy snack food to get me through the afternoon, because the desk drawer is bare, but the desire to cave and grab a Coke or a candy bar just ain't there.

And my desire for meat has been all but wiped out. Treating ourselves to some filet mignon tomorrow night, because it's our wedding anniversary, and the only reason I won't go organic on that is because Mom's offered to buy our dinner as a gift, sweet lady. But I'm hoping to hit Whole Foods this weekend, and get a better look at Publix's Greenwise offerings, do some price comparisons, because I just can't afford to buy more than produce at Native Sun. It's a lovely store and I like contributing to a family outfit, but when you're seeing the same things on Publix's shelves for 2/3rds the cost, there's no point, not at my salary. Plus, that's saying something, because Publix ain't the cheapest store in the area either...it's just infinitely nicer to shop in than Winn-Dixie.

But man, their produce is terrific (Native Sun's)...who knew that lettuce had flavor? I picked up some Publix romaine a couple of weeks ago, and it was bitter and nasty. Have been enjoying a peppery red leaf lettuce this week, and today's green leaf looks equally yummy. It requires being a very prudent shopper...with tomatoes out of season, they wanted $4.99 a pound for the hothouse variety, so I had to pass...but shouldn't food shopping be that way anyway? What a concept, not just grabbing what's easy, what's packaged to require the least effort...when you think of the effort required to create food that requires the least effort of the shopper...it's mindblowing. I'm not against the occasional frozen dinner or premade entree, but I'm sure going to be studying where it all came from more closely.

Can't believe it's taken me this long to wake up to this...and the knowledge that comes with this can be daunting. I'm not a fan of PETA's scare tactics to turn people vegan, but I also can't deny the hard truths...for example, that if a big-label egg outfit is offering a cage-free organic egg, it stands to reason that it's going to be made using the most minimal criteria to get that label, because the bulk of their business is the ordinary way. The bird that created your egg may not be jammed in a battery cage with 5 of her closest friends, but she's instead probably in a barn with 10,000 of her closest friends, broiler-style, dropping said eggs on the floor of a glorified ammonia factory, and her beak was probably still clipped because chickens in close quarters are cannibals by nature. I get that it has to be that way in order to feed America; I'm just choosing to no longer buy into it.

For the big outfits, their idea of free range is a doggie door leading to a corral, the threshold of which most chickens never think to cross. They're smart birds, but they're also pretty singular-minded. I want to laugh out loud at the notion that Walmart is green friendly, because they recently announced cage-free on all their Great Value brand eggs...I shudder to think of the conditions needed to supply that demand. So I'm opening my mind to substitutions as well...I thought I was going to be able to be lacto-ovo in this venture, but it's questionable right now. When I have my own chickens, I'll revisit the issue.

So I need to hit the library for some cookbooks, because salads and beans and rice are going to get old fast and I want to shed my fear of tofu, seitan, egg and meat substitutes, soy/almond milk, etc. This is going to require some research and organization, because Husby isn't going meat-free, so I'll need to engage him more in meal decisions and cook a little more initially, until I settle into a groove with this. I'm already feeling healthier, and I'm steering clear of the scale, because losing weight isn't the goal, it's a bonus.

As if that wasn't enough on my plate (lord, what a bad pun!), it's friggin' March already and I need to get cracking on the apartment and the move. Would like to write letters of intent this weekend, talk up potential cities with Husby, and dig into some boxes. Another full-of-promise Friday :)