Farmer's market always makes me happy.

Chris and I went to the farmer's market today. We almost didn't go because of the Rose Parade shenanigans, but I made my sad face. When we got down to PSU Chris was stressed out because he had so much to do today, but then we ate a breakfast burrito with bacon and everything was looking up.

We got some of our market faves: Ancient Heritage 'Adelle', a fresh soft cheese made from sheep's and cow's milk, and Old Irish flavor smoked salmon from The Smokery.

We also discovered some new favorites-tiny cookies from Two Tarts Bakery. These cookies were super small, about the size of a half-dollar, but packed full of flavor and richness. They didn't need to be much bigger. What a great antidote to the supersize giant cookie trend of the past decade.

Sure, the farmer's market is expensive, and it would be impractical to make it my main source of groceries, but I look at it more as a shopping excursion. I can get out all that pent-up consumer frustration without bringing home a pile of made-in-china crap, and at the end of the day it's not nearly as expensive as a trip to Anthropologie. All the money I spend will stay in the community.

One of the interesting things about sustainable food is that the prices have not risen as far or as fast as that of conventional food. The energy squeeze raises the price of chemical fertilizer, and makes it more expensive to truck food from far away. But not so much the organic summer squash from Sauvie Island. The rising cost of staple foods has caused the price of grain-fed meat and dairy products to skyrocket, but has had little effect on the price of grass-fed sheep's milk cheese like the kind we purchased. So even though, in all fairness, most of the food at the farmer's market qualifies as overpriced 'yuppie food', it's starting to look more reasonable every day as the conventional agricultural system begins to fail. If food and oil prices continue to rise, the folks at the farmer's market will become an integral part of the food supply chain.

Magic Moments

I guess this is a wedding party that includes some celebrities. They didn't want paparazzi taking their photos so they masked up. Love it! I hope this becomes a huge trend and Us magazine is filled with photos of strange masked beings.

Chris Stamm

This Chris Stamm is the only Chris Stamm that matters.

The Way We Eat

One of the things I miss most about my house in Portland is the kitchen. I used to cook wholesome meals on a regular basis, grilled veggies in the summertime, kale and baked squash in the fall. Now I don't have the means for that kind of eating.

I've always been fond of cooking from scratch, but lately, as in the past few years, the level of scrutiny my food undergoes has reached a fever pitch. What is it, what is it made of, what kind of essential nutrients does it contain? Where did it come from, what has been done to it, what has it been sprayed with? I'm obsessed with the content of my meals, and I know I'm not the only one. All over America, Whole Foods and Wild Oats are rising up to replace Safeways and QFCs. There are a dozen farmers' markets in Portland alone. I have to wonder if all this obsession with something we can control is a result of being exposed to so many aspects of life we CAN'T control, like being spied upon by the Department of Homeland Security.

Is it a coincidence that all this interest in the quality and origin of our foods has come about at a time when we truly have so little control over the acts being perpetrated in our name by the government, indeed over the nature and composition of the government itself? And is it a coincidence that America's obsession with the content, origin, and quality of its food has originated with the same group of Americans most likely to feel disenfranchised? I guess time will tell...maybe by this time in 2009 I'll be enjoying a Big Mac.

Saddest Man Ever

Yesterday I had a really depressing lunch experience. I didn't have time to go home for lunch. I didn't know where to go so I wandered around for a while looking at the places around campus. I saw a little Mediterranean place and I got all excited because it seemed so collegiate, you know, cheap falafel and all.

The place was totally empty, and the guy behind the counter was literally the saddest man I have ever ordered a falafel sandwich from. I wanted to ask him about some of the other menu items, but he was too sad looking. I think he might need prozac. Or a hug.

So I sat there waiting for my falafel, and the sadness of the guy is infecting the whole restaurant. The walls are painted Beaver orange, and they have designs and words formed by placing masking tape over the darker paint underneath. The words say "OSU" and "GO BEAVS" but, like, in masking tape writing. If the place had been full of rambunctious college students, eating falafel made by the happiest man on earth, I can't say for sure if the walls would have been so depressing.

Anyways, my falafel arrived, and it had too much cumin. I don't like too much cumin. Also, the tahini tasted like mayonnaise, and that's just not right. Otherwise than that it was pretty good. But the whole situation was so depressing that it was awkward. Also it wasn't that cheap. It's too bad because sometimes those little hole-in-the-wall places have the best food. There is a little Pho place I'm going to try next.

Don't stop the rock

Today I went to the 7-11 and there was a dude sitting in his car in the parking lot, rocking out to "Lady In Red" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack at full volume. It was awesome. Anyways, just thought I'd share.

Classes and Asses

Most of my classes are combined graduate and undergraduate, but as a graduate student I have an additional work load, as well as some additional meetings with the other grad students. This means that most of my experience so far has been with very large class sizes. Most of my professors seem nice, though.
The student populace is of a sort that I have rarely had occasion to come in contact with. People here wear a lot of makeup, even at eight in the morning. Today as I walked through the common square there were students at work on a large chalk mural on the ground. Free Mumia? Free Palestine? U.S. out of Iraq? No, in festive 6-foot letters they had written "MTV!!", "XBOX", and "FUN!", accompanied by various hearts and smiley faces. Olympia it ain't. I'm trying not to let the culture shock get to me, but I have my moments.