Avoid food-borne diseases, limit fossil fuel consumption, save money, have the joy of getting in the dirt, learn to balance preparation and planning with going with the flow, and have tastier food.
Still have a lawn? Put a few container beds on it. Live in an apartment? Grow some herbs on a windowsill.
I woke up woozy and sore this morning and went back to sleep for about 45 minutes after I was done with my morning practice. Although it is atypical for me to need more sleep after I have practiced, I knew that I was not sick. I was just experiencing side effects from the flu shot.
I have only gotten the flu shot once before. The side effects felt like I had the flu (albeit a mild case), and I got the flu any way that year. As I haven’t gotten the flu in the past several years, I have not gotten the shot in subsequent years. (Note: The vaccine has been very effective 17 of the past 25 years, and not particularly effective for three of the other years. It was suggested to me that I should not continue basing my decision on having, by coincidence, only gotten the shot during one of the ineffective years–2003-2005).
I was strongly advised to get the flu shot this year as a precaution for the trip to India. The plane travel, regardless of how much healthy living I do otherwise, will both tax my immune system and put me in contact with a host of viruses, etc. Also, and perhaps more important, I know I will be visiting loved ones in the hospital this flu season. Going through a little discomfort now is worth it to minimize the risk to those I will be visiting.
Have you gotten your flu shot?
Below: Workers line up to get the flu shot at the Health Unit.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Why did it make me feel better to think it could have been worse? Hurricane Irene revealed a place that probably would not have leaked (into the living room) if mortar had not been shaken loose by the earthquake earlier this week. As I was doing another check early this morning of the house and perimeter to see if I needed to do anything to prevent worse damage from late discovery, I thought that it probably would have been a lot worse for the earthquake to have revealed stresses from the hurricane than having had them do the reverse. I guess it would depend on how the two impacted something to know which sequence would have been easier to weather.
I am appreciating my good fortune in having seen the wind and the rain and come out having no tangible material impact other than memories and relatively minor repairs that need to be done in a hurry. Holding all in the path in the light.
I admit it. A couple of years ago, when a friend was waxing poetic about the virtues of pressure cooking, I was skeptical. Shortly after the second or third conversation on the topic in a short space of time, I came across Lorna Sass’s “Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure” at the Lantern (used bookshop). Seeing it as a sign, I bought the book and a pressure cooker (an Aeternum — pricey, but sturdy and easy to use).
What I like best about the pressure cooker is that it cuts the cooking time of beans or soup from 1-3 hours to 20-35 minutes. Kitcheree (indian rice and lentils) cooks in 15 minutes. I’d estimate that in the two and half years I’ve had my cooker, I have saved over 200 hours of cooking with gas time. Not sure how much cooking gas I’ll have to save before I’ve made up for the energy to manufacture and ship the pot to me, but I should cross that at some point in the life of the pot. Even better is that I can come home after a full day at work and cook dishes with dried beans or slow to cook grains without staying up all night.
Once you put the cooking ingredients in the pot, get it up to pressure, turn down the flame, and set the timer, there is no need to watch the pot. So today, for lunch, with only about five or ten minutes of prep time, I have rice (with saffron and amaranth made in the rice cooker) and pot beans (coco rubico from the Dupont Farm market, seasoned with celery, onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, dried chiles brought back from Tucson, and dried bay leaf, epazote, and mexican oregano from my own garden). Start to finish about a half hour (I did presoak the beans). Able to continue working except for the minor prep time. Wonderfully content to have nourishing, delicious food to warm and inspire my day. I do better work (I do work better) when I eat well.
