Since Last Time

1) I read Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture and though certain chapters were far more academic than I expected (by no means a bad thing), it was still a fast and validating read. Somewhat recently, I was thinking about cast iron skillets. My thoughtstream ended at: Why aren't more things - most things, everything - like a cast iron skillet? They're so simple and do their job perfectly; they are affordable and therefore available to everyone; they hold up over time. Boxy metal Swingline staplers are like this, Absolut Vodka is like this. (The Le Parfait jar I bought for Joel to stick his mess of loose change-batteries-lighters-old ID cards-stray screws and bolts-etc. in is like this.) Corporations want our things to be disposable – we now purchase items that flaunt “design without craftsmanship.” It's gross. It's also really overwhelming to start thinking about everything you currently own that's made in China: very nearly everything is. The eco-chic grocery bags I saw in a magazine two years ago and had to order! (which are fraying like crazy, about to unravel completely) come with this attempt to absolve potential consumer-guilt:

Laughable - but the Chico Bag FAQ page does a good job of outlining the attention they pay to their manufacturers. Cheap, on the other hand, guarantees that even the American companies actively striving for high factory standards aren't attaining them, that it's impossible to effectively audit sketchy labor practices in China. I can't tour Chinese Factories and decide for myself, but it seems safe to assume the system is outright heinous. How long have I intuitively known this? Forever. And yet it's so easy to forget when roaming the isles of Target on a Bellingham-sized paycheck. I will now think (even) harder before I buy stuff.

2) I can't imagine anything more spirited or more Bellingham than a sage-colored soup trailer.

I finally, last week, occasioned to try the turkey + brie baguette sandwich.

Fantastically delicious, but very, very heavy. I'm in love.

3) My first piece of real art - also the first thing Joel and I have put up on our walls. Thanks to Cameron; he's a genius.


4) A trip to the Pleasant Valley Dairy.

Joel and I sampled the Smoked Gouda, Jalapeno Gouda, Peppercorn Gouda, Farmstead, Mutschli, and a "Dessert" Gouda spiced with cloves, cumin and caraway. The Farmstead and Smoked Gouda were by far the best; we snagged a block of each for less than $6 total.

5) A lovely half-day vacation in Portland. Joel rode his bike from Seattle to Portland, and we spent the Monday after breakfasting at Bijou (so charming), browsing Powell's, and sipping Stumptown lattes. Portland's fine - it's nice. I've never understood the mass exodus down there, though. Perhaps because I'm so content right here? Yesterday I titled an e-mail to my friend Lawrence "Lotus Eaters" - it was the subject of my Page-a-Day desk calendar - not at first realizing it was a fitting allegory for my past two weeks. I've been a blissed-out, sleepy homebody consumed by the four books I'm in the middle of, cooking and organizing, not thinking about the past or future, not worrying, contentedly leaving things half-done. It's definitely a new gear for me, and I'm growing rather used to it.