Friday, November 23, 2007

Buy Nothing Day

Way-ell, I didn't buy nothing. I bought lunch for me and Z., and I bought McVitie's chocolate biscuits, sold at the corner store in my in-laws largely Irish immigrant neighborhood. (Alas, they only had milk chocolate, not plain. But I'll manage.)

However, the store was closed today. The Co-op on the Corner is closed the Friday after Thanksgiving, and so is everything else on the corner, so after two years of dismal sales we put up an Adbusters flyer in the window and decided to call it a celebration.

Thanksgiving at the in-laws--well, I had some kind of stomach upset that kept me from enjoying the morning, but A. valiantly braved the local supermarket chain just before it closed and got me ginger tea, which made a big difference. I did manage to eat some small portions of the meal. I'm much improved but not all the way better today--could be stress. I do okay with A.'s immediate family but I kind of shut down when her extended family is involved. I realized that I often need to just retreat from the scene--sometimes my body comes up with some physical thing, sometimes something else overwhelms me. Anyhow, worth keeping track of, I guess.


Here is what we veggie folks ate last night--this is my recipe, and I've made it in four states, the District of Columbia, and Mexico City.

Thanksgiving casserole:

Layer one:
1 1/2 c. lentils
1/2 tsp. ground sage, bay leaf
salt and pepper

Layer two:
olive oil
1 tsp ground sage
2 clove(s) garlic
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 apples (Fuji, Gala, etc.), diced
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
1/2-1 c. dried cranberry
1/2 small jicama, diced (optional)

Layer three:
2 cups grated sharp cheddar

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook lentils w/ bay leaf until just tender.

While lentils are cooking, saute all ingredients for layer two, beginning with garlic and onion. Apple should go last.

Remove bay leaf from lentils, drain well, add sage and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread layers in a large, lidded casserole, in order indicated. End with cheese. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, then remove lid and cook for 5-10 minutes, just so cheese looks more finished.

You can make this vegan by leaving out the cheese, but it's better with cheese. Though in my opinion, everything is better with cheese.

12 comments:

niobe said...

Hope you're feeling better.

I've never heard of buy nothing day. I bought a latte today, but I'm pretty sure that's it. Oh, and I ordered some stuff online for my Christmas-celebrating relatives. Does that count?

Magpie said...

Hmm...I bought lunch today too. :)

Your casserole looks good, and tasty. Yes, everything is better with cheese.

Safe travels tomorrow.

susan said...

I bought a lot of groceries, and a Hanukkah present for CG that I spotted at the store of groceries.

Your casserole sounds great! I didn't realize you were vegetarian, too. Our Thanksgiving standard is a mushroom/tofu/leek phyllo pastry.

Jody said...

I bought stuff, and I'm fine with that. Except that most of what I bought was photo frames, and I wasn't paying attention, and none of them are the correct sizes, so they all have to be returned. That's not so fine.

Mostly I wanted to say, though, that I think it's not just opinion but fact: everything really IS better with cheese.

elswhere said...

I bought lunch, because the still-under-construction library where I was working was so cold that I had to go out to the blessedly warm mall and get some soup. And some chocolates afterwards.

But it wasn't Buy Nothing day up here, it was Just Another Friday in November, so I'm not sure if that counts.

Also: Cheese, mmmmm...

Lo said...

I think that it is great to have Buy Nothing Day, but really, it shouldn't be Black Friday. Black Friday makes the consumer world so happy that they just aren't going to notice if the lefties choose not to shop that day.

(Especially if we all end up buying lunch. We did, too. It was at Junior's, and we had cheesecake.)

Anonymous said...

Ginger tea is a marvelous thing! Sorry to hear you were ill though. That casserole is a recipe I'll be bookmarking for future reference.

Oh, and you're tagged. Though you've probably already done it, in which case, well, that was easy, wasn't it?

kathy a. said...

that casserole looks yummy. hope you are feeling better!

my brain starts rotting if i spend much time in big stores or malls, and i can no longer tolerate lines and crowds. so black friday is out for reasons in addition to curtailing consumer overload.

Phantom Scribbler said...

We didn't buy anything, not even gasoline, which, uh, we kind of needed. That was more laziness than political principle, though. Story of my life, really.

I'm not sure I'm willing to make a global statement about cheese, but cheddar... yum.

S. said...

Wow, who knew everyone would feel so strongly about buying things and eating cheese?

Niobe, thanks, I'm feeling considerably improved. I'm pretty sure Adbusters would say you bought something, but they're pretty hard-core. I, for one, absolve you. But I bought those cookies, so I'm biased.

Magpie--smiling back at you! And a good lunch it was!

Susan, as of this year, I've spent more of my life veg than not, since I stopped eating meat two months' shy of my 18th birthday. I'm impressed with anything that involves phyllo dough!

Jody, I follow you on the fine and the not-fine, and I'm impressed that you were buying frames at all. We have a collection of not-quite-right ones we've been given as gifts that we never fill, but since we have them we never go buy ones that would actually work with our pictures.

Elswhere, not being in the States, and since it was a matter of avoiding hypothermia, you are completely absolved!

Lo, Z. and my lunch involved both warm brie (in my crepe) and a cappuccino and meringue cupcake (for Z.). I think that ties with cheesecake.

(un)relaxeddad, does it count if I already did the 8-facts version?

kathy a., I go into mall overload extremely quickly, too, glazed eyes and everything.

Phantom, welcome back, and I think you can still count it, even if it was accidental.

I'm pleased as punch with the wide agreement on the culinary value of cheese. I knew I liked youall for a reason.

kathy a. said...

life is not worth living without cheese. that's my story, and i'm sticking to it.

Julia said...

We bought souvenirs at the Kennedy space center. But we would've bought them any day we were there. Did we fail?

Casserole sounds yum. One of those days.