all things truly wicked start from an innocence March 31, 2007
Posted by deepali in misc, women.add a comment
what was that about the love of food… March 30, 2007
Posted by deepali in food, refugees, school.add a comment
So here is this weekend’s assignment for class: cook and eat a day’s worth of rations, and then report back. While I like the hands-on approach to understanding refugee health, I’m not so ecstatic about the 400 grams of maize flour and the chunk of sweet potato sitting on my countertop. At least I got coffee…. it’s nice to know refugees get to maintain some measure of comfort.
I haven’t cooked it up yet, but I have a few ideas. Generally speaking, maize flour is used to make porridge (to which sugar and oil are added for palatability and weight gain in children). That just sounds revolting to me, so I’m going to try for something polenta-esque, or maybe even some corn tortillas. The sweet potato will go begrudgingly into the lentil stew I concoct (with the 200 g of lentils included).
I should submit this to Heidi at 101 Cookbooks and see what she would come up with.
a glitch in the system March 20, 2007
Posted by deepali in corporate america, misc, women.1 comment so far
Are you a woman experiencing a decrease in sexual desire? Did you know that hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is the most common form of female sexual dysfunction? Do they really expect me to believe this crap? And what glitch in the system is sending this to me?
Look, you can fool men with that viagra/ED business, but I’m not an idiot. If a woman’s got “HSDD”, she doesn’t need a pill to fix it. She needs to stop dating pansy boys who aren’t giving her what she needs. In short, she needs a real man…. wait, she may have better luck with that pill.
Anyway, I gave the questionnaire a shot to see if I might qualify. I had to stop at the question asking if I’d be willing to engage in sexual activity at least once a month. This study is definitely not for me.
there is no love sincerer than the love of food March 18, 2007
Posted by deepali in budget, food, weight loss.1 comment so far
After a few weeks of eating nothing but mediocre delivery and Chipotle, I’ve started cooking again. The main reason is because it’s wreaking havoc on my budget… But really, the motivating factor is my waistline. It really comes down to this: I’m getting fat. Like seriously, I’m putting on like 5 pounds a month. Yuck.
So I made idli and sambar today (yum) and an experiment in veggie burgers. Sadly, the veggie burgers were a little dry, but I’ll try adding oil and maybe more soy milk next time? In the meantime, I’ll just slather on a ton of honey mustard, mushrooms and other yummies.
The best part? I spent approximately $10 at the grocery store for the entire week!
by the way March 13, 2007
Posted by deepali in food, school.add a comment
The paper got done. And if I do say so myself, it was pretty awesome. I think I may turn it into a real project and see about getting some funding… next year. Um, maybe after I get my projects in Chad and Nicaragua funded.
Sigh.
the randomest thing March 12, 2007
Posted by deepali in misc.add a comment
Sometimes people ask me for advice and actually listen like I know what I’m talking about.
thoughts on vegetarianism March 12, 2007
Posted by deepali in environment, food.2 comments
People always ask me why I’m a vegetarian, as if the reasons are so radically different between people. While most people are well-meaning or genuinely curious, I know some people ask so they can start a discussion/argument.
The usual comment I get is, “Is it political?” At almost-30, I think I’m too old to be making statements. No, it isn’t political. It just is. The same way I don’t eat eggplant or bean sprouts, or I do eat edamame and bananas. It just is.
That being said, I do have a conscious reason for not eating meat (for the most part), and it’s really simple:
I don’t want my kids living in a shithole.
The environmental impact of industrial food animal production is astronomically devastating, and we’ll start seeing the direct effects of this in a few decades. That means our kids will have to deal with the shit we’re putting into the environment. And I’m not willing to put my future kids through that.
in light, in fire, in fragrance, and in love March 9, 2007
Posted by deepali in nicaragua, travel.add a comment
In January of 2007, I took a 2-week trip to Nicaragua to work on a few health promotion projects. It was, in a word, amazing. We spent most of that time in a small-ish town (Ocotal) in the northern part of the country, near the border with Honduras.
Ocotal, and the state it is located in, Nueva Segovia, is an interesting place. It has a frontier-town feel, but with the beginnings of urbanicity (is that a word?). Just an hour out, and we were in the backwaters of Nica (including coffee plantations). Ocotal also lies on the Panamerica, so in addition to undereducated farmers, migrant workers, and small-town residents, a lot of passers-through and truckers swing through. Add to this the conservative social structure (dominated by machismo and Catholicism), and we’ve got the makings of an HIV epidemic.
HIV hasn’t presented its ugly face too openly yet in Nicaragua, but it’s only a matter of time. Thus, one of the projects we worked on involved HIV/AIDS awareness, with the unique twist of targetting youth and promoting comprehensive prevention techniques (ie, safe and monogamy in addition to the usual). This project involved an evaluation of videos created by various youth from high-risk groups. For a country not yet in the grips of an HIV epidemic and without comprehensive sex education in its school, these youth showed a remarkable grasp of sexual disease transmission, and risk and prevention factors. Further proof, I think, that our goverment’s backwards policy on abstinence-only a) isn’t enough, and b) falls on deaf ears.
first post… March 8, 2007
Posted by deepali in misc.3 comments
…is always a test! So here it is… attempt #78656752 at maintaining a blog. At any given moment, I have a gazillion things to say… but not actually over the long-run. Here’s hoping for something different!
I think I figured out the key though – blogs make good procrastinating tools. So, expect a post everytime I have a paper to write or an exam to study for. Like, right now. I should be writing about my gardening project in Nepalese refugee camps. And instead I’m being dazzled by the many options WordPress has for backgrounds.
Sigh. This does not bode well for global poverty reduction.
