racje’s Recent Comments

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  I've been pretty disappointed with imitation turkeys--even the best of them cannot be more turkey-like than the real dead deal. Thanksgiving tradition seems to include a large protein centerpiece that stands up high when it's brought to the table for carving. Preferably golden and crispy on the outside. (Carving in the kitchen before the meal is cheating.) So rather than slavishly imitating the turkey, come up with something that is tall, savory, and labor-intensive, but not fake anything. One could try an Italian-style Timpano/Timballo, a free-standing pastry-wrapped pasta dish named after the biggest brass drum. Vegans will fiddle with the sauces and glorious ingredients--how about chestnuts, walnuts, olives, mushrooms, and peas, in Chinese bean vermicelli, bound in an almond-based white sauce and wrapped in vegan pastry, brushed with a savory honey glaze and baked to golden perfection? http://www.tipsycook.com/2007/07/20/timpano-step-by-step-to-a-big-night/ (This would seem to require a dress rehearsal--especially because of so many substitutions--perhaps too late for this year.) One could try a multi-layer tower of ring-shaped biscuits, with stuffing inside, a la Norwegian Kransekake but savory rather than sweet: http://scandinavianfood.about.com/od/cakerecipes/r/basickransekake.htm. This year, I'm planning to make Buddhist "mock duck" made of yuba sheets, stuffed with lily buds, mushrooms and chestnuts--it doesn't stand up, but it's golden, crispy, and savory. http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/buddhas-roast-duck-with-yuba.htmlOn A tasting of four meatless "turkeys" for the holiday table posted 3 hours, 26 minutes ago 14 Responses

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  Pjrotary, You can't neutralize your carbon emissions by buying offsets. That's what Umbra tells us: just think of the "offsets" as a charitable contribution to make a little bit of green energy someplace. It won't erase your emissions. They will still be there in the atmosphere, warming it up. So, go ahead and offset your guilt--it will do some good--but don't think your emissions are compensated for. The only way to remove the effect of your emissions is not to emit them.On Ask Umbra on buying carbon offsets posted 1 month, 1 week ago 11 Responses

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  Urine contains urea, a component of nitrogen fertilizers. A little bit is good for plants; a lot creates nitrogen burn. Carnivores' pee is more nitrogenous than omnivores or herbivores, so if you are vegan, your urine is more benign than a meat-eating dog.

  Highly fertilized lawns are more vulnerable to nitrogen overload than unfertilized lawns.

  The best place to pee outside would be your compost pile, especially if it is low in nitrogen. The composting process will even out the nitrogen content as well as destroy the odd hantavirus, and you can regulate how much you put on various parts of your garden.

  Or dilute, as the above poster suggests--but then, you're probably not actually peeing outside, are you?

  Putting waste matter into drinking water and flushing it away is insane. The recovery period is likely to be rocky. Meantime, avoid grossing everybody out: do as your hosts do.

  On Ask Umbra on public peeing posted 5 months, 4 weeks ago 20 Responses

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  If we all eat a lot less meat, eggs and dairy, the demand for corn, soy, and other grains in the food chain will go way down. Then, perhaps, the land the corn was grown on will be available to grow biofuels, with no demand to raze forests in the tropics.

  I don't know that meat consumption necessarily rises with affluence. It's a taste, a fashion, a class marker. It used to be desirable for rich folks to be soft, pale, and plump, to show they did not do physical labor, stayed indoors, and had enough to eat. Now the rich have time to tone themselves in the gym, tan in the tropics, and diet with personal coaches at elite spas, while the poor are pasty, corn-fed couch potatoes.

  Similarly, the idea that a slab of red meat shows wealth and status may soon wane, to be replaced with artisanal bread, hand-weeded arugula, dry-farmed tomatoes, and twelve-dollar-a-basket berries, while the animal-eating lower classes suffer from clogged arteries, hormonal derangement, and excess protein disorders. 

  Farmers will continue to work hard and earn little.

   

  On The EPA holds corn ethanol accountable ... sort of posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago 18 Responses

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  I don't own a dishwasher; there is no room for one in my kitchen.

   

  I also don't leave the water running while I'm washing dishes. I use a wash pan and a rinse pan, each with about one and a half gallons of water. I scrape the dishes, pre-rinse them if necessary, replace the pre-rinse water with clean rinse water, wash in soapy water, rinse, and air dry. This (4.5 gallons total) is enough for a day's worth of dishes.

   

  The statistics Umbra cites come from a dishwasher manufacturer. They are biased. I don't think most people just leave the water running while they are doing the dishes. I wish Umbra would be more careful with her sources.

  On Umbra dishes on dishwashers vs washing by hand posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago 7 Responses