Friday, March 9, 2012

Sun, Salvaging Breakfast with Lunch, First Nasty Comment--Advice?

See how this little cabin floor is bathed in light and shadow? And those are my down booties, cast off for the first time in months, my feet anomalously toasty, and there are my sweaters too! Yes, I was down to a tank top--still below freezing and snow-bound outside, but with all our south-facing windows, it gets brightly warm in here when old Sol blazes.
I even made it out for a beach hike yesterday, and even better, with a writer friend. So beautiful, the beach, and different each time, constantly rearranging and being rearranged..
Speaking of in-person contact, thank you so much for the wonderful comments on my last post and my musings about the ease of communicating 'from behind the screen.' I don't know why, but that post also garnered the first "nasty" comment I've ever received. I'm not going to reproduce it: it's still up there if you want to see, and is basically a bunch of hateful obscenity that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Since it refers to my "wife" and "kids," it's hard for me to take personally--I have neither of those. On the other hand, some person came over to my blog and typed all that in there for me (and all my readers) to see--that seems somewhat personal.

So, should I delete that comment? I don't want to be the enforcer blogger who doesn't allow people to express themselves. On the other hand, that comment is so offensive and so...random that I'm not sure what's to be gained by leaving it up. I'd be so grateful for your experience and advice. Edit: thank you, everyone, for your fine and unanimous advice. I'm taking the comment down right now. Much love.

Time to Talk Breakfast again--or Ela Discovers that Texture Matters Too
Since I posted my carrot 'slaw recipe, I've been pretty obsessed with it, and with different permutations of dried fruit and protein powders, I've often eaten it for lunch and dinner too. However, as that post relates, I seem to need to vary my breakfasts. It's definitely an important meal--even more so with my tendency of late to skimp or skip dinner--but it's also the meal from which I'm most likely to feel uncomfortable even from normally "safe" foods. So, the 'slaw has undergone various avatars, featuring shredded parsnip or zucchini in place of carrot, and even shredded apple, thawed green beans, and spirulina, as here!
Ordinarily, I don't ever try a 'new' recipe at breakfast. I always feel like I'm in a rush, and I need something that'll work guaranteed. But for some reason, yesterday I got the idea that I wanted "pudding" instead of 'slaw, and that I wanted to make it with agar. I was a little tired of irish moss, and wanted to broaden the variety of sea veggies I consume, for their beneficial minerals and soothing polysaccharides.

So, I took
1.5 cups water
1 cup flax milk
2 tablespoons agar powder,
and a little vanilla extract, and simmered the whole thing together on the stove, stirring sporadically as I rushed around fixing Phil's breakfast and preparing food for him to take on his trip. 

The resulting slurry was a little runnier than I thought ideal, but I was ok with that. I put half a cup of it in my usual bowl, stirred in some slippery elm, spirulina, and mint extract, sprinkled a few goji berries on top.

And then, it set!
It really set, with white lumps of agar where I hadn't stirred well enough. It was so set, the part I didn't take for my breakfast popped out of the measuring cup in one piece, with the parts that were stuck to the side peeling off like latex.
I couldn't eat it. Just couldn't! And I'm the person who always claims I don't care too much about texture so long as something tastes good. Well, this was beyond gross, especially the isolated agar lumps staring white from the green. And between prepping goodies for Phil's trip and making this new food, it was already so late, I couldn't justify going and whizzing the whole thing in the blender with a little extra liquid, which is all it would have taken to fix it. I just picked, and ate fruit on the side.

But come lunchtime, it got a second turn, and became a very nice pudding.
I took the picked-at contents of the original bowl, goji berries and all, and put them in the blender.
I added 1/4 cup more flax milk, 1/3 cup frozen peas, a little slice of avocado, some stevia, and a couple drops of medicine flower chocolate extract. Sprinkled with mulberries and cacao nibs, with a carrot on the side as always, it was really a pleasant lunch.

I think the "set" agar mix is great as a base, but it needs blending and smoothing out before I can enjoy it. I've enjoyed it for two meals today too, in different forms that I'll share soon.
There's all kinds of metaphors for my writing for me to ponder in this. So you think you like all textures? Try this one for size!...

Have you snatched success out of what seemed like a failure many times?
I'd love your thoughts on the mean comment too.

18 comments:

  1. Lovely Ela, I believe strongly in non-censorship, as you know, however, along with freedom of speech goes the responsibility of propriety, consideration and non-profanity. I vote for you to delete the offensive post. It clearly has no basis in sanity and does not add to communication. I believe all your blog followers would not only understand this action but would support it wholeheartedly. Loving you. Tom I.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom. thank you so much for your clearly articulated suggestion. It seems that everyone who's said anything agrees with you, so I've taken it down.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  2. Love the down booties! I have some thinsulate booties that I wear when I go drysuit diving. I'm always tempted to wear them around the house, but since they don't have any special protection on the bottom, I'm afraid I'll just wear them out really fast.
    Here is my opinion on blog comments- I like to hear other people's opinions, especially those that are well researched and thought-out regardless of if they agree with me or not. However, I will not tolerate disrespect. As soon as someone disrespects you on your blog, they have lost the privilege to post comments. Your blog is your space and you set mood. If you invited someone into your home and they peed on your floor, you would kick them out of your house and clean up the mess. So, I vote for cleaning up the mess. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nicki--thanks so much for your input.
      My goodness--drysuit diving! I see some folks do it down here and I couldn't even imagine. I'm in awe.
      I like your analogy of cleaning up the mess.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  3. Oh, goodness Ela. That obscene message makes me think of crank phone calls from unsupervised kids or crazy people. I wouldn't even refer to that as a "comment". There's no question in my mind you should just get rid of it. Keeping it would be like not cleaning up a pile of trash that someone randomly dumped in your yard because you don't want to stifle the person's freedom of expression. This is a far cry from someone responding negatively to a post in a constructive fashion. Delete it, and if the individual starts to make a habit of it you may have to start moderating your comments. So many people do that. That's my take.

    I don't know about some of these breakfast concoctions of yours, Ela. :) I've been doing green juices for breakfast lately and really loving it. If I always had time, there is no doubt I would have them every morning. Green smoothies are faster, and if I can't juice I try to have those. Failing that, I just eat a plain banana and maybe a few pumpkin seeds or something - no goji's, spirulina or gelling agents of any kind. So dull, I know. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mindy--great analogies, it is just like teenagers making crank calls. I've deleted the comment.

      Thanks for your skepticism about my breakfast concoctions--I know you've pointed out to me before that they get complicated! I know I'm just trying to do something that'll work for my belly and that last the longest for the least amount of calories. Since I saw your comment, I've simplified a bit, which has also cut some calories out, but I don't seem to be missing them, so all is good! I can't eat bananas at the moment, otherwise I agree they're a good, easy bet.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  4. Hi Ela, I don't think theres anything wrong about deleting a mean comment. its just not something you have to live with (I was born in a catholic environment and themes of guilt and martydom just dragged me down to too many issues) and if you consider your blog as your space, a space you create, an environment thats meant for you to thrive (I'm guessing) then its good to weed out the things that don't serve its purpose. thats just me. also, I used agar agar as an alternative to butter frosting. yum

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Kat--yes, I get the guilt thing too, and you're right that it's a good thing to ditch! Weeding out things that don't serve their purpose--thank you so much for this. I appreciate your clarity and wisdom.

      Agar is awesome--I'm really liking it.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  5. I love when the sun shines in and warms up the house on an otherwise chilly day. Then, reality hits when I step outside. Brrr ...

    So sad to hear about your first negative comment. I don't know why people do such things. I used to leave up every comment, until the incident I had a month or so ago. This person was attacking and filling up all the commenting space. Now, I have the policy that I'll only keep nice comments.

    I checked the negative comment you received and I think it is totally random. I've seen similar comments on other blogs. Some people just get a kick out typing such things. I say delete it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Shannonmarie--it is deleted! Yes, I feel grateful that it is random. I actually thought your pest-commenter was kinda random too, in that he'd clearly picked you as a 'straw man' and had no clue about what kind of person you really are, but I still shuddered for you through the trauma of it.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  6. That comment is almost certainly a random spam attack. It makes no sense. I say delete it - any spam filter, such as the one my blog has, would've automatically caught it and put it in the trash anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Amber--I've taken it down. You're right, it does seem kinda random.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  7. I agree with what everyone else has said, it's spam not a real comment. The person hasn't directed it to anything you really even wrote. Sorry it got through.

    I haven't' played around much with agar agar but it does seem like it could get overly gelatinous since that is what it's designed to be. I am glad you made it more palatable.

    The beach looks so pretty, glad you made some time to enjoy it and your friend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, bitt--yes, I think you're right.

      Agar is fun and kind of easy to work with. I'm curious to see if it'll work without actually simmering, just warming slightly. we'll see.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  8. wow that comment does sound really random! we say delete it as you are right it is weird and does nothing for you or your readers! We delete comments that do nothing for us or our blog, even if it pushes our buttons. we believe in good discussions and hearing everyone sides, but with a comment like that...no. delete :)
    xoxo
    L&M
    pure2raw twins

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey loves, thanks for the perspective! It's a good distinction between having a discussion and getting rid of stuff that does nothing for anyone.
      love
      Ela

      Delete
  9. Hey love..I did not see the comment..but is it possible, its just spam...i had to give in and opt to "monitor" my comments on my blog. I was getting so much crap from 3rd parties, trying to lure my readers to another site, using my blog to place some random, auto generated comment..i finally decided that rather than subject readers to so much crap..and my having to go in and delete every day..i added the feature that allows me to accept a comment before it's published. That has helped alot. I also started tracing some of the comments back to the link and found out that companies PAY 3rd parties to drive traffic to their site. many have made this a business..and basically start dumping nonsense into blogs...hoping people will randomly click...taking them to the preferred site. Companies paying for this service see their click rate to up and think the 3rd party is successful. After writing to a few and letting them know that someone was dumping crap on my blog...a few took the time to apologize and let me know this was not their intent and they FIRED the 3rd party. Sadly more and more people are getting away with this practice. By implementing the monitoring feature...I've eliminated a lot of this...sometimes you have to actually publish the comment on your blog in order to see the LINK that is embedded in their message..but by looking at the link you can determine if its a real comment or just spam. Hope that helps..xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbara, wow, it sounds like you really had to do your homework on that I appreciate that you were so diligent, and I think it's awesome that you got some apologies as a result.

      Thanks for your input.
      love
      Ela

      Delete

I greatly appreciate any and all comments, and endeavor to respond to each one individually. Until I have figured out a fully automated comment platform, I try to 'hand-deliver' responses to comments to your email address. If I don't know your email address, please check back here within two days for your response!