FLOWERS, FILM AND FOOD PHILOSOPHY

When it rains it pours around here, and I'm mirroring that weather pattern with my blogging. None for two weeks and then three in one day! Pace yourself if you like, I must write when my brain's working that way.

I linked to my friend Zeynep's blog before when she posted about our first political movie night. This time, it's because she's bothered to take pictures of Cardiff flowers this week. See them here:
http://butterfly-x.blogspot.com
Also, if you go down a post or two, there are pictures of our class celebrating our regeneration presentations. There's a shot of me with my new Northern Irish friend. He's a riot and he's off to Zanzibar working on some education project with his NGO this week. I'm hoping I'll someday get to work with him on something in Belize, another of their focus areas.

Even further down in her blog, Zeynep talks about our film night when we watched The Interpreter. (Yes, it was a drama, not particularly educational film night, but we were in the end of a hard semester and wanted some entertainment.) I happen to disagree about the performances of Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman, but wanted to mention that Zeynep made us a turkish dinner of "ripped stomach" and shepard's salad. I hadn't eaten beef in years, except for a taste here and there, having lost the taste for it after mostly going over to white meat (with a bacon exception) for so long. But when she pulled out the minced beef (hamburger meat to us Americans), I decided to just shut my mouth and eat it. "ripped stomach" is basically stuffed eggplant with yogurt sauce and I might just have to make it for you some time. It was truly amazing food.

Note about food:
I've never been too dogmatic about my eating habits, and mostly stay with birds and fish because I prefer them, but having reminded myself recently of the amount of land resources, water and energy that goes into most meat production compared to grain and vegetable based diets, I have a renewed commitment to eating in ways that are sustainable for the environment. What this boils down to is that I think I am now a "conscientious carnivore." I eat meat, but not frequently, and when I do, I buy locally raised, organically fed, free range animals whenever possible. And I try to buy fish that is certified from sustainable fisheries. Yep, it is more expensive, but I figure I make up for that by eating it so much less frequently. A pot of lentils, some veggie burritos and a stir fry and I've earned a plump juicy roast chicken from that cool guy at the farmer's market who talks so fast I can't understand him. Jason is cooking one now. Also Welsh lamb is a local specialty, generally sustainably farmed and good for the local rural economy, so it's practically my duty to eat some now and then. Mmmm. I bet welsh lamb would be good in ripped stomach. If you come visit me I'll give it a shot!