Vegetarian Week

I'm trying to make my husband a healthier eater, so I declared this week would host only vegetarian lunches. He wasn't too excited about it. However, on day two of this experiment, he's starting to come around. At least he didn't subconsciously wrinkle his nose at the Zucchini Rissoto (from Rachael Ray's vegetarian cookbook) I made him. Seriously, though, I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday morning and picked up all the necessities for only $5. Sure, I had quite a few items on-hand, like spinach, rice, pasta, and crushed tomatoes, but still. I'm sure it all totals about $15 for a week's worth of meals. Not bad, not bad at all. Plus, I've really enjoyed cooking new things.

I love the NC State Farmer's Market here in Raleigh. I'm really going to miss it when we have to move next year. It's got everything: freshly baked German sweets, fruit, veggies, grass-fed/non-hormone meat, and wines. It's great to support local farmers and to eat fresh. My kids snack on all the watermelon, cantaloupe, berry, and tomato samples, making the shopping experience much more pleasant.

While cleaning yesterday, I was thinking about race and the issues associated with it here in the US. Does it make any sense for anyone to be racial in these times? Seriously. Sure, some generalizations will hold true for people groups, i.e., Hispanics eat a lot of rice and beans or Japanese eat lots of seafood. But to characterize entire people groups based on what the media (news, music, and movies) shoves in our faces all the time is just silly. Make your own generalizations based on your neighbors, co-workers, and friends. I'm sure a majority of them rise far above what the mainstream would have you believe. I sure hope I represent my race (too mixed-if I decided to hate any one people group, I'd hate myself) positively. Wasn't America supposed to be all about acceptance and judgement based on merit? Just tired of hearing black, white, and Hispanic references being tossed around the news like we're all a bunch of ignorant imbeciles.

Domestic Goddess out.