MMWS: Day 4 – My First Failure

Beautiful day here yesterday.  So nice, in fact, that we all went down to the local elementary school just to putz around on the playground for a while.  As is her style, wifey brought snacks.  When I showed up a few minutes after everyone else, they were all munching down shrimp crackers… my son brought me a couple.  Munch, munch… mun… ch… uh oh…

Sure as hell, there on the bag, sugar.  In shrimp chips?!  Oh, COME ON!  So, there you go, I have failed.  I’m sorry.

Nah, not really.  Actually, I don’t care that much.  Let’s not get all weird about this.

It nicely reinforces the idea, though, that the only way I’m safe is by just avoiding packaged food altogether.  I’ve definitely been eating a whole lot better since this started.  Normally, I bake something sweet a couple of times a week– cookies, brownies, muffins, etc.– and snack on that for the next couple of days.  I’ve already described my TJ’s snack habit.  And it’s not just “sweet” stuff.  I keep getting reminded that nearly everything packaged is sweetened.  So, I’ve also dropped all sorts of things like shrimp chips (now), pita chips, and cereal (almost all sweetened).  Even my coffee habit’s been affected since I normally add a teaspoon of honey.  I’m surprised how easily I’ve adapted to most of it.

People keep asking me if I’m going into withdrawal– not as far as I can tell.  In fact, the only real difficulty I’ve had is with daily patterns.  I miss baking sweet, gooey stuff for my family.  We all used to eat dessert before bed, and that’s sort of imploded because of me.  You’d think that would violate my “not inconveniencing” rule, but it seems to have gone mostly unnoticed.  Still, it’s something I enjoy(ed), so I’m having a bit of… what?  mourning?  remorse?  Luckily, this is a 30-day deal.  On November 5th, I can take a bath with my family in hot fudge if we’re so inclined.

The scary part, though, is that, as I’m learning that I can do perfectly well without that stuff, I’m starting to think I shouldn’t go back.  That’s not to say that I shouldn’t ever eat sweeteners again but that there’s nothing wrong with just not eating so much of what I have.  We’re pounded with the presence of all this “convenience” and “snack” food.  It’s so present that people genuinely react as though I’ve gone over the edge for just saying “I don’t want any.”  They look at me like I must be some kind of born-again zealot.  It’s everywhere, and therefore, it must be normal.  That being the case, not eating it is abnormal.

And yet, from the perspective of my impulsive and random experiment, things look a little different.  It’s become obvious how frequently and mindlessly I ate sweeteners before.  If not, I wouldn’t find myself standing in the kitchen so often thinking “ok, well, what can I eat then?”  As a result, I do find myself there less often.  And I guess my point is that I kind of like that.  On the other hand, we’re on Day 4.  Who knows if I’ll be sneaking yogurt raisins out of the kids’ lunch boxes in a week or two, but for now, I’m just mindlessly ransacking the kitchen for boredom snacks a lot less.

Instead, if I’m feeling a little hungry, I’ll often go out to see what’s edible in the yard… like FIGS!

It Tastes Much Better Than It Looks

I know, it’s somewhere on the pornographic, grotesque side of fruit photography, but our surprise late crop of figs is ripening, just under the wire, and, boy howdy, are they ever good.  These particular martian vaginas are called ‘Oregon Prolific’ figs.  I have read that these are the same as the ‘Marseilles’ fig that was reported to be Thomas Jefferson’s favorite.  Why they’ve got different names is beyond me; I’d have to assume it’s a result of our old friend, marketing.

In any case, they are sweet (which comes in handy right now) like honey, soft, and relatively small as compared to our neighbor’s monstrosities.  They also ripen quite late, obviously.  This year, we had two ripening flushes.  I’d be thrilled if she’d keep it up.

We also had a strange late crop of raspberries that we’ve mostly let drop.  It’s like everyone thought “no, that’s not when raspberries show up…” and have just ignored them.

Other than that, things are looking pretty slim out there.  I’ve got a few Northern Spy apples on the new tree but no others.  Given that I have five apple trees, that’s a little weird, but they’re all pretty young, so I’ll try not to fret about it.  Everything else– all the grapes, asian pears, peaches, plums, berries, and cherries– are all long gone.  This weekend’s the apple festival at Portland Nursery.  That’s always kind of fun, but it’s also a clear milepost that we’re well into fall and on our way to… w… win… w-win-win…

I just can’t.