Use or Trade

I’m continuing to go through the house, cleaning out where I can and getting rid of things I no longer need or want. Next up was the media cabinet. It was getting to the point where I couldn’t fit much more in it without messy stacking that threatened to tumble out eat time you opened the cabinet.

I checked the trade-in requirements for my local used video/games/music/book store before starting because anything that can go will go there for now. I do have some items that don’t meet the requirements and I will keep them for now, but I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for options for getting rids of those.

My media cabinet went from this…



to this…



I didn’t count my totals but I have an assortment of VHS, DVD and CDs ready for trade. The place I am going has the option for cash buy or trade, but since I am a regular customer I will be going for the trade as it is much more valuable.



I added my used first generation e-ink Kindle to the pile and walked away with $159.85 in store credit. Only 5 items were rejected and returned to my media cabinet

How is your cleaning going? Have you tackled your media collection?

Coffee Chat-Race and Hunger

I should be cleaning my mess of a dining room table, but I just had to take a few moments to continue discussing race. People’s true views always seem to come out at times when you just want to shake your head and say, “REALLY”. So, let’s talk about The Hunger Games.

Let me just say that I have not read the books nor seen the first movie (yet). I have a lot of friends that have been raving about the books and now that the frenzy seems to be growing, I will put them on my to-read list. This morning, I was perusing Facebook and someone linked this this article. Apparently, there is a lot of backlash over the casting of two black characters in the movie. One of these is Lenny Kravitz. Lenny Kravitz! I thought white people loved Lenny! It seems you are not so liked when you step off your stage and into the pages of someone’s favorite book.

I too have often been surprised at the casting of characters in a movie from a book that I have read. I am a very visual person so when I read a description of someone, I immediately have a picture of them in my head. A lot of times, Hollywood’s rendition and mine do not match. It takes a bit to get used to but I can honestly say I’ve never had an objection over color. Sometimes I object with the body style of the actor not matching the book’s description or even the actor’s personality, but never their skin color. In most cases (when you look at the kind of movie-from-book adaptations that are happening these days), color doesn’t even matter (Alabaster, sparkly skinned vampires aside). Alas, a mass of Hungry movie-goers do not agree with me.

Some have even gone so far as to say they weren’t upset about one of the characters being killed when they found out she was cast as a black woman. That hurt a bit. It hurt because its such a typical Hollywood thing to have the black actors cast as the expendable characters. It’s like watching the old Star Trek episodes. Based on the color of the uniform, you know who is going to get killed on an away mission. The same is true in many Hollywood movies. I’m always shocked when a black man or woman makes it to the end of the movie. I’m still surprised LL Cool J made it to the end of Deep Blue Sea. Once Samuel Jackson was killed in such grand fashion, I just knew LL was next. But, he made it. That is rare my friends. Very rare indeed.

And now I have to wonder if this backlash points at a bigger issue. Lately, books that I have read have had very loose descriptions when it comes to black characters. Even Suzanne Collins writes the Hunger Games characters as dark skinned rather than flat-out calling them black or African American. Do editors encourage writers to be loosy-goosy with black people. Will a book with no black characters or easily exchangeable characters be more likely to be optioned into film or tv?If you are a writer (published or not) or avid book-to-movie buff, I would like to know what you think. Do you shy away from black characters?

Picking Up Subsitutions

Ignore the boiling pot in the background. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I am prone to make batches of soup in the middle of the night.

I wanted to make sure I followed up on my migraine diagnosis that I received last year. I am still learning to live dairy free, but I’m happy to say that I am finding some really good alternatives to the dairy products that I love and miss so dearly.

Last month, I attended a healthy cooking class in Hixson, TN that was sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist Church whose members are primarily vegan. Even though I don’t have plans to go fully vegan, I do think we should eat more meat-free meals than we do and because of my dairy-migraine issue, I need to learn to cook dairy free. There is no better place to learn that than in a vegan kitchen.

So, let me run through with you some of the dairy substitutes that I have either already tried or am about to try.

• Milk--I gave up regular milk years ago and started drinking Soy Milk. For the past few months, I have preferred Almond Milk. Both are great alternatives. I have had no problem substituting them in recipes other than having to account for the sweeter taste. Regardless of which I pick up, I always go for the Silk brand.
• Cheese--When I was in Virginia, I discovered a pizza place that had vegan pizzas. I fell in love with the cheese they used and by calling the restaurant and researching through Google, I found that I could buy this cheese in the store. The brand is Daiya and it melts so perfectly. I have used it for everything, including grilled cheese sandwiches.
• Vegan cream cheese--This particular brand is the best that I have tried and I am loving it on everything. Remember my sexy breakfast?
• Sour cream--I have not tried this Better Than Sour Cream yet, but I have a couple of recipes that recommend it so I will be trying this soon. I have the Tofutti brand.
• Ricotta Cheese--this is also made by Tofutti and I have yet to try it. A friend bought it for me to try after I was talking about finding substitutes to allow me to make my favorite lasagna roll recipe.--more on that in a bit.
• Tofu--During the healthy cooking class, the instructor showed us exactly how to use Tofu as a substitute for ricotta cheese. This was the first thing that I tried following the class and it worked perfectly. My favorite lasagna rolls are back on my frequent meal list.
• Yogurt--So Delicious is the best brand for dairy free ice creams and yogurts. I was thrilled when I ran across this greek style version in the store. I ate some of the plain this morning with some of my homemade granola. love, love, love!

Learning to cook with a food restriction is difficult but it is doable and the results can be oh-so delicious. And just so you know I’m not kidding--yea, you!--below is a pan of my favorite lasagna rolls, made with tofu in place of ricotta cheese and topped with Daiya mozzarella style shreds. yum!



Even if dairy is not an issue for you, try a few of these substitutions for a healthier eating option.