lenting

i'm writing on a deliciously portland evening - finally, it's rainy and gray and it feels very northwest. my roommates are out of the house - and i'm resisting the urge to turn on anything with noise. so it's me, the ticking clocks and the rain.

i say delicious because i have been consumed with food lately. or maybe i've been consuming a lot of food? either way, all of my reading lately has inspired a compost bin, a csa (community supported agriculture) membership with my roommate, and some tasty treats like tomato jam with goat cheese, lynnie's roasted red pepper dip and valentine's day eggs in a nest :)

i have a few books in the hopper - exposed, about chemicals, our health and politics (scary!), the omnivore's dilemma (the prequel to "in defense of food" which was fantastic) and orthodoxy by g.k. chesterton. the last is one that i've been struggling to read (confession: i read it when i need to fall asleep). but i have faith that it will eventually get rolling and i will be as impressed as everyone else.

what else? i just watched "king corn" this weekend, an interesting documentary about how much corn we grow and eat and process here in the states. i am grimacing right now, partly because of how ubiquitous corn is and we don't even know it, and partly because i had greasy, butter popcorn this afternoon and loved it. anyway, it's a good film - rent it.

so, tomorrow is ash wednesday... and i'm debating whether or not to give up anything. two years ago i gave up coffee, then ended up visiting seattle for the first time (coffee capital!) in the middle of lent. i was there with a pastor, so i asked his professional opinion on whether or not i could break the fast. i mean, come on - i was in seattle. he kind of rolled his eyes, sighed, and asked me why i was fasting in the first place. and i really had no other answer than that i was doing what you're supposed to do at lent. two hours later, i was drinking coffee, strolling down the street towards pike place market - and then spilled all over my shirt. it was like getting the stink-eye from god. moral of the story? don't give up something unless you really mean it...

happy lent!