Absinthia Returns, Part 1

Shopping mall in Toronto, 2008  (photo by Benson Kua)

Living a Simple Life

My Swedish friend, Absinthia, has kindly agreed to have another conversation with me for this blog.  In 2011, we posted an 8-part series of emails, starting here.  The current series is about living a simple life, and I think you'll enjoy her perspective.

Dear Absinthia,

I have been thinking about you a lot, lately, and I hope we can have another conversation--this time about simple, basic living. As humans, we must start making the transition. Global warming is happening faster than we expected, and we’ve just got to take swift, major steps to correct the way we are living on this Earth.

- amanda

Hello!

I wanted to think if I have something to say and share about simple living, and I think I do :-) We have been living a small simple life for some years now so I have learned quite a lot, remembered lessons my granny and grandfather taught me, read some, heard some, realised some and thought some too ;-)

I am now a teacher fiber crafts, and I also do commission work.  It may sound strange, but I am much happier and feel physically much better now, even though we have approximately a third as much money as we did before.

I hear and read that many people think that Christmas is a very stressful time. I think that may be because they are focused on the material stuff “Buying, buying, buying!!!” instead of making an experience “let´s have a lovely holiday together: read, tumble around in the snow, and drink hot cocoa!”

And this is the core of the climate-disaster in the making, don´t you think? If we stop the “buying, buying, buying,” then the big businesses cannot enslave the poor countries into child labour, and then the international traders will no longer get rich from all those poisonous mass-producing industries that contaminate the water and the earth, and all the cheap stuff will no longer be transported hence and forth, bought by us and then hardly get any use before we exchange it with some new cheap bad-quality stuff, and then get thrown away at the junk heaps everywhere.

We have completely stopped buying Christmas gifts. We buy trees in an agroforestry-project and send their gift-cards as Christmas cards :-) It saves the earth and gives the growers and their families a way to support themselves. I am happy to have found such a nice project to support. We have supported them for more than 10 years now :-D

- Absinthia

The conversation is continued here:

  Absinthia Returns, Part 2.

Got Salad?

This is the stuff of life.  Every day we have at least one meal with a big salad as the main dish.  Thanks to Joel Fuhrman (Eat to Live), our diet has taken a quantum leap in the right direction.  Probably the most important part of it is to eat salad, and LOTS of it.  The key is to eat as much leafy-green and fresh-veggie food as you can.  Every day.

BASIC SALAD PLAN

serves 1

Romaine lettuce

fresh veggie pieces

cottage cheese or avocado

vinaigrette dressing

seeds

Fill a 1 to 2 qt. bowl about halfway up with bite-sized pieces of Romaine lettuce.  Top with halved cherry tomatoes, or whatever you like.  Add a dollop of cottage cheese or a cut-up avocado half, drizzle about 1 Tbsp. of balsamic vinaigrette on top.  Add 1 Tbsp. of pumpkin, sunflower, or freshly ground flax seeds.

Fruit Variation:

Spinach leaves

Orange segments cut in bite-sized pieces

Jack cheese cubes

Pecan or walnut halves

Marinated Variation:

Romaine lettuce

Carrot pieces marinated in vinaigrette

Sweet pickles, cut into 1/2" pieces

Gouda or cheddar cheese cubes

Pine nuts

If you have some whole-grain crackers, they're nice with this type of salad, but don't fill up on them.  We like to add a little fruit dessert to this meal, like warmed peaches or berries from the freezer, topped with a touch of cinnamon, brown sugar, or even sour cream.  In the summer, we make "ice cream" made with fruit, rice milk, and honey.

Use your imagination, but don't go crazy with the fats.  We eat this kind of salad pretty much every other day.  On the in-between days, we have denser salads like pea salad, corn salad, avocado salad--all on a bed of lettuce.

Time to Get Serious...

There's definitely something powerful in having comrades-in-arms, and my blogger friend, A Polish Granddaughter, has inspired me to get serious about improving my health habits this year.  Last year, Hubbie and I dramatically improved our diet, but this year I need to stop playing around with it and finish the job.  That means more salads and less chocolate.

It also means getting seriously regular with yoga, walking, and weights.  I am now too old to be haphazard about it.  Anything like the flu or a trip, and I'm back to weakling status.  Must do better!

So this year, expect more healthy vegetarian recipes here on the blog.  Everyone needs to work out their own exercise habits, and mine are pretty mundane... when I do them.  Nothing blog-worthy there. But I am working on a new conversation with my Swedish friend, Absinthia, about the basics of living--green, clean, and who needs money, anyway?