Food for thought: Fiction, the body, Acedia, and Food (January’s books)

Hello 2009.  

So I finished up my Master’s degree in Theology from this fine institution, and then I was part of a home birth (no kidding.), got sick for a few days, and went to Austin for a couple of weeks or so.  After an intense and often lethargically death-defying year, I had a bit of a sabbatical.  And, as you can see, I had a blog-atical as well.  

So if anyone is left out there, hello again.  

A great thing about finishing all my must-read-300-pages-in-the-next-three-days-for-school reading is that I have been able to reach for some books that I just feel like reading so I’ll tell you about them here:

(in no particular order)

(1) Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis- This is the 2nd time I’m reading this book, and I do not often reread books.  It is that good.  I may even make it a yearly advent tradition to start this book (and a yearly epiphany tradition to finish it).  I think that it is Lewis’s best fiction and an absolute must-read.  It has been in my “top 5 of all time” and it remains there for me.  I find bits of myself in every character in this book.  Its keen insight into human nature and magical, old-world rust make me feel like I discovered an old abandoned tool-shed or secret hide-out where I can rummage through and discover wonky old cast offs and the sort of treasures that you keep with you as you go.  The best part of this book is that it wrestles more profoundly or, closer to the point, more humanly, with theodicy than any book I’ve come across (if you are wanting theodicy in fiction, skip The Shack and go for this book!)

(2) Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler- I never knew this much about my body.  I wish I would have had this book 5 years ago.  The information in it would have saved me much distress.  If you are a woman,  please read this book.  If you know a woman, buy her this book. Wherever you land in your thinking about fertility and birth control, that’s not exactly the point.  The point is getting at an understanding of yourself and your body.  Totally helpful.  And by the way, because of this book, I am even more amazed at women’s bodies. It’s incredible what goes on in us. Miraculous. 

(3) To continue the body theme, Eve’s Revenge by Lilian Calles Barger.  The subtitle of this book is Women and a Spirituality of the Body.  I’m 2 chapters in.  So far, it’s quite good.  I’ll write more as I progress.

(4) Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer’s Life by Kathleen Norris- I have wanted this book for months now, so when I found it right after Christmas at Half Price books  (for 1/2 the price!) I spent all my January coffee money budget for it.  So the bad news is, I can’t read it while getting a cup of coffee and a chocolate walnut cookie from the place up the street, the good news is, that I can at least  read it now.  Why did I spend all my coffee money on this book ?  Because from the first moment I heard about the Christian concept of Acedia (at Papa fest last summer during a seminar), I felt I’d named a giant part of my story.  I found a name for my nemesis.  I haven’t finished this book yet either, but thus far, Norris’s description of her own struggle and discovery of Acedia are helpful and insightful.  Reading this book is like reading my journal, except way WAY better written and much clearer.  

(5) Lastly, a cook book.  Beyond the Moon Cookbook.  A friend loaned it to me (and I promise I’ll eventually give it back!) by Ginny Callan.  If you get your hands on it, you will not be disappointed.  It is all vegetarian recipes, and I am not a vegetarian, but this isn’t a vegetarian cookbook–this is a really  GOOD cookbook that happens to be vegetarian.  Ya dig it?
The best part of this cookbook is it’s recipes for cakes, muffins, and desserty things.  I love them because many of them use honey or fruit as a sweetener and not sugar.  So if you are trying to avoid refined sugar (even if you are just trying a little bit) and you like cooking, buy this cookbook and send me muffins! I’m baking Beyond the Moon’s carrot-raison-walnut muffins (honey-sweetened) as I write, and they are ready, so I’m gonna go eat.  You stay here and read all these books (& tell me what you think!)

Bwefess-my breakfast journey

So, breakfast has always been a problem for me.

Apparently, when I was a wee child, I couldn’t say the word. Always, “bwefess”–that was the best I could do.  But besides that, I never know what to eat for it.  My tummy doesn’t really wake up until about 10 am, so food before that sounds gross, but, if I don’t eat, I get all shaky and headachey and bitchy.  So I want something small, but filling, that sort of gently coaxes my tummy to awaken.  And I want something that happens quickly. None of this 10 minutes of pancake stirring/oatmeal making for me.  I also am picky and am a human that is oddly addicted to variety- in food, location, whatever- I don’t even like to sleep on the same side of the bed every night, which drives the gnome crazy.  
Anyway, I think 99% of the planet eats the same thing for breakfast almost every day. So I’ve been in search of my perfect breakfast for years now.  MY breakfast. What I can eat almost everyday (I’ll never get to everyday about anything, not even teeth-brushing).

I’ve found some things I like a lot before, but they didn’t make the cut. I could eat Eggos ™ everyday and did from age 9-11, but with all its genetic modification and irreconizable ingrediants, it seems more science experiment than food (but, as Homer would say, “mmm… science experiment”).  I also love-with-a-capital-E chick-fil-a chicken biscuits, but if I had one every morning, by the end of week one, I, myself, would be a science experiment. So the clencher is, it had to be healthful on top of it all.

And I believe, after years of searching, I have found it.  
Here it is: 
A green tea and berry smoothie. Because, like me, it is half grassy/half sassy. 
I take a half cup of green tea* (just the perfect amount of caffeine and all the anti-oxidants, because I am strongly against oxidants–Does any one know if either candidate is anti-oxidant?), put in two tablespoons of organic plain yogurt and half a bag of organic frozen mixed berries (about 5 oz) and blend.  It is portable and so good. If I want a bit more, I microwave some turkey bacon for a pleasing combo.  It’s good, you should try it.
 
* I got tired of brewing two cups of tea in the morning (I drink “every woman’s tea” with nettles and raspberry leaves and other stuff that is good for women every morning too-they should add chocolate and foot rubs to it- ) so I brew a pot of green tea and store it in the fridge all week (If anyone reads this far-I’m trying to find out if this in any way lessens the nutrient value of it).