stuDYING!

No I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth....yet! The last week of class's are here for the fall semester and this means a lot of cramming and late nights. This week I have found myself ordering a lot of take out from the Thirsty Moose Pub and stocking up on baked good from the University Farmers Market and the tasty delights at Degree's Coffee supplied by Home Sweet Home (Maple Yumbar is amazing!) At least I have lovely local options to get me through this week, wish me luck!

XX Melanie 

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey

Cracked!

I'd like to think I take care of my stuff. I've had my laptop going on 5 years, I still have cloths from high school and I've been wearing the same winter jacket since 2006. My motto has always been if it ain't broke don't fix it, so I am not frequently replacing things even when they have minor defects (like my iPod that doesn't have an on button anymore). My cell phone is a 6 year old iPhone 3g, for our 5th anniversary I bought it a new case even though it hasn't done the internet for the past 3 years so it hardly deserved it. It has definitely fallen before, survived 2 dips in the toilet (and subsequent rice baths), countless slip and falls and who knows how many times its been roughed up, but it still makes calls so I keep it around. So you can imagine I was quite upset when it fell out of my pocket last week while I was biking and the screen cracked! As if it wasn't enough of an issue reading the screen with lines all across it (I probably could have lived with that), the glass is now falling off in little pieces...I am thinking finally something has to be done. Hence the problem, if I replace the screen the parts can be purchased from a local business but will obviously be straight from China OR I can buy a used phone. I usually like to fix what I have instead of buying something new, but what is more local? HELP!!!!???

I've also been thinking about batteries lately, I will eventually need them, what do I do? What happens when Angela needs new bike parts? Some things you just can't get used... can you? This is where the limitations of a local lifestyle come into play, it's go big or go home in my house right now but I am not sure how long that will/can last!

XX Melanie

"To find better means of fixing the brain, we first need to achieve something more fundamental. We must understand how it works." -Sebastian Seung

What I ate for dinner this week

Just to prove I don't live off of Kale and carrots, this week I kept track of my dinners to show you all how delicious local really is. After all, eating local is not about eating less good food but about eating more good food.

Monday- Spaghetti Squash with tomato and peppers, here is the recipe

Monday 

• BC spaghetti squash that I got in my Good Food Box last week. 
• Peppers I got from Marlin Spikes Organics at the PG Farmers Market a few weeks ago 
• Tomatoes Sauce, a can that I reclaimed from the trash having been past the best before date (it tasted fine to me) 
• I skipped on the cheese and used whatever spices I had in my cupboard 

Tuesday

Tuesday- A had a late night at school so I made a quick egg sandwich at 10pm when I got home. 

• Egg- Purchased from PG PIRG who orders in free run farm fresh eggs weekly. 
• Bread- from Brenda's Bread at the University Farmers Market
• Goat Cheese- free from a friend who was away for a few weeks and had to get rid of food in his fridge 
• Sweet Relish- from Tuppy's that was at the Studio Fair at UNBC (that I am obsessed with, I wish I bought more!)

Wednesday

Wednesday- Soup & Salad at the Thirsty Moose Pub

• Tomato Basil soup made in house
• Spring Salad- Lettuce sourced from the SGU Dome Greenhouse on campus (can hardly get more local then that!)
• Garlic Toast
• A hand full of those sweet potato fries from the top of the photo
• PWB Canterbury Lager

Thursday- Eggs scramble and toast

• Eggs with more peppers and green onions from the Good Food Box
• Toast with bread from the University Farmers Market



Friday

• Red Pepper Jelly from Bertha Miller at the University Farmers Market

Friday- Leftover spaghetti squash from Monday and Leftover mashed potatoes with Mushroom gravy from Sunday 

• Potatoes come from Cariboo Growers in Prince George
• I made mushroom gravy from an expired can of mushrooms I saved from the trash
• Lot's and lot's of Cariboo beers at the SGU Electro-Swing Pub night at the Thirsty Moose 

Saturday

Saturday- Veggie Burger and Salad at Nancy O's 

• They make the best almond based veggie patty in house, any of the toppings are delicious but I had the truffle burger with brie cheese, died! 
• Side salad uses greens from the local aquaponics 

Sunday- Rutabaga Fries (recipe here) & Veg-Potato Hash

Sunday

• Rutabaga from a friends garden
• Potatoes from Cariboo Growers with onions, peppers, garlic and dried basil from my own garden. 
• I also pre-cooked potatoes and lots of extra Rutabaga fries for the week so the cycle of leftovers can continue. 

As you will notice from this weeks menu things often repeat like the bread I used, it was the same loaf all week. As I only shop once a week at the University Farmers Market, I need to plan a little a head to ensure I will have enough to last the week. I don't always follow recipe's exactly and heavily substitute with local goodies, reclaimed and expired foods and things that were given to me. As you have seen eating local not only feels good but is good for your wallet and tastes delicious! So get out there and see what you can incorporate into your dinner this week. 

In good food,

Melanie

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are." - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Trick or eat!

Mary Poppins & Bert

This Halloween was a little different than others for me, for a few reasons. Firstly, my Halloween costume was more DIY then it has ever been before. Because I have vowed to not shop commercially this year, buying pieces for my costume was not as simple as popping into Wal-Mart or Value Village. Instead, I used what I had at home and sifted through the variety of thrift stores in downtown Prince George to find tid-bits I could use. Not being able to find the perfect Mary Poppins hat, I crafted accessories out of buttons and elastic I found at St. Vincent De Paul's thrift store.  It may have taken a little more time than convenience shopping but I was thrilled with the end result, I also saved money and wasted less by using things I already had. Definitely keeping this up for next year!

#TrickOrEat 2014 

With my costume all set my next project was collecting food donations with my friends at Meal Exchange for Trick Or Eat. The concept is simple, go door to door like the kids do, but instead of collecting treats we collected food for our local food banks! This year we collected food for the UNBC Campus Food Bank as well as St. Vincent De Paul's in downtown Prince George. We have already collected over 1300 lbs of food in Prince George but it's not too late to help, if you would like to donate please visit my page HERE and help me reach my modest goal of $50.00 that will go towards foods banks locally.

David Suzuki at UNBC

What seemed like a great week already was made even better by what I am unofficially dubbing David Suzuki day (otherwise known as Saturday). The morning after Halloween a few of us dragged ourselves out of bed, wiped off the leftover costume makeup and made it up to the University to attend a lunch with David Suzuki as part of the Blue Dot Tour. As a volunteer I helped with the set up and took tickets in exchange for a sweet t-shirt and a photo-op with the man himself. We then got to listen to him talk about the movement he is starting to have the right to a healthy environment entrenched in the Canadian constitution and talk to community members about what we can do in Prince George. Later in the evening we saw him again at the main event at Vanier Hall with other guests like Roy Henry Vickers . It was a day full of inspiration and learning and it gave be butterflies to think of people working together towards the common goal of helping our planet. My favourite part of the evening was a poem 'Shoulders' by Shane Koyczan that you can see here, once you start it you will not be able to stop! (It gave me goosebumps).

Here's to a week of feeling inspired and giving back!

Melanie

"My heart is a protest that I let rally against my ribs"- Shane Koyczan