Victory kale and froyo self-sabotage

I accidentally ate an enormous frozen yogurt at Costco yesterday -- shown in this picture I found on line. Note the two spoons, barely visible, but suggesting it is enormous enough for two. I ate it myself, thoroughly sabotaging my detox-ish vegan/no processed foods thing. Amy was not impressed, and is kicking ass on her own detox-ish diet (she's going all raw!). Granted, I have no clear rationale for pursuing it other than wanting to know that I can walk away from cake if I choose to, but so it goes.

Now I'm back on the horse in a big way, and doing better with it today. So far, a kiwi, an apple with almond butter (natural, nothing added and all that), kale salad, and some pumpkin seeds. Plus coffee and soy milk, of course. I plan on keeping it up until I feel sufficiently cleansed and/or satisfied with myself and/or bored.

Victory on the kale salad front is giving me confidence: I found a recipe on line that somewhat mimicked what my neighbor Sarah came up with and shared with me. I would have used her recipe exactly, except that she told it to me and I then forgot it. She gave me a way to remember the proportions of the ingredients ("just remember two-two-one"), but I then forgot which ingredient got what and couldn't remember the third ingredient. I think she said she uses tamari, lemon, and Bragg's vinegar. So I googled and found the cutely-named I Heart Kale blog, with a good-looking marinade (a couple of them, if you poke around on the blog a bit), albeit with a lot more stuff in it than Sarah's. I didn't have all of the ingredients so I winged it--here's what I did, adapted from theirs and Sarah's:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tamari
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Lemon
Salt and pepper

Remove the stems and thinly chop a bunch of kale (the more raggedy looking kind--Lacinato?) ,and toss it in the dressing. Let it sit for at least an hour -- my neighbor says overnight sometimes, depending on the temperature and the type of kale ... just let it sit until it gets soft. I had it with cherry tomatoes and tofu last night and it was great--some grated carrots would be great too. Any add-ons would be great, really. Amy gave me a promising recipe for collard greens which I'll try tonight, just to make sure I have greens at the ready for the next few days.

As I was looking for an image of the frozen yogurt, I noticed a headline on my Seattle news feed about the University of Washington in Seattle not accepting new students for the Spring semester, in an effort to save money. Not a huge surprise--it's been floated as a likely step. About 300 kids affected. Jesus. It's in part, apparently, because they are over-enrolled by about 1000 students.

As background, Washington State, which has no income tax, is facing something like a $5 to $6 billion budget deficit. The Governor put together a budget that cuts vital services for the poor (think housing, health care, and the cash subsidy for people with no income and no ability to generate income), and just about everything else. UW Seattle is facing something like a 15% budget cut -- and already receives less than its due from the state. It's really pathetic. UW is the state's premier institution, and in bad economies it should be easier, not harder, for people to go to school--particularly their state school. My mom has spent her career in the public university system, so the buckets of Kool Aid I have been fed on the importance of public education to both individuals and the public good inevitably taints my views on this stuff. But come on, they can't figure out a way to let 300 more kids start this spring? The nine or so months before they can start in the fall can be an eternity to someone who is struggling to make the school thing work. Yes, UW and everyone else is looking a big, ugly, cuts -- but even on a shoestring budget they should prioritize keeping kids in classes.

Ok, rant over -- I'm off to have coffee with a friend of a friend. I'll bring a snack so I don't get tempted by the baked goods, and hope for the best. Happy Saturday!