Water Woes, Reflections on Mothering, and Raw Brownies

So, this entire past week our city has had a 'boil water advisory'.  It began on a Friday, yet we (and many others) didn't find out about it until last Sunday.  At that point, we had already been drinking and otherwise using water that was contaminated with e. coli.  Terribly disgusting.  Thankfully, no one has gotten sick from this water problem, and with three young children we are counting our blessings for that.  But, still, I am angered by the lack of notice we received as residents, and now feeling bitter about the matter not being resolved, or the problem even properly identified.  Plus, we are spending the better part of our days boiling water.  Boiling water.  Cooling water.  Boiling more water.  Cooling more water.  Buying bottled water.  Lots of bottled water.  Recycling bottles.  Boiling water again.

My husband has been a star through it all, and again, thankfully, had chosen this week for some vacation time.  I don't know how I'd manage it all if he wasn't here to help.  He is a boiling water super-hero I tell you!  Plus, a few days ago our garage looked like a landfill with the bottled waters ready for recycling, and he took care of all of that.  We aren't using our tap water for anything - other than to boil.  Hubby and I are taking showers, but we are using boiled/cooled water to sponge bathe the kids, because we don't want them ingesting water from the tap.  And, we aren't using our dishwasher because there isn't any clear indication that the heat cycles are effective to kill e.coli on all dishwashers.  Naturally, my food prep has been greatly affected this week.  It is a huge amount of work to hand wash a lot of dishes, especially food processors, blenders, pots/pans, etc, without your tap running - just think about it!  Actually, it makes you realize how much water we DO use on a daily basis.  How much water it takes to fill up a sink to wash some dishes - and we never fill it all the way - usually just about a 1/4 sinkful.  And, how much water it takes to rinse those dishes, and to do a sponge bath.  It's quite eye-opening.

I spoke to my mother about it yesterday, and she told me that in the early years of her childhood, her mother would have to boil water for everything, for cooking and bathing, and also washing clothes, and that it was pretty much full-time work.  It had to be.  My mother comes from a family of nine children.  It's hard to imagine how laborious mothering was in those days.  Our current day of mothering is busy and hectic, 'muli-tasked' to the heavens, but it's not heavily laborious beyond vacuuming, scrubbing bathrooms, and mopping floors (though, many days any one of those chores feels laborious enough).  The hectic nature of our mothering is based on how much we are trying to accomplish in a day with parenting, working, and social commitments, how much our children are 'under our watch' and not as able to run and play freely, and how much we are juggling activities because our children don't have that carefree play.  My mother had six children (all girls) herself, but didn't have her driver's license until she had me, the fifth in line.  We all played outside with our neighbour friends, roamed the streets on our bikes, played 'spotlight' in the summer, and our parents rarely worried.  Our parenting is so very different, and this week has made me reflect on how much we actually have to make our lives more convenient (WATER, heat, appliances, computers, cell phones and more), and yet how overwhelmed and overscheduled most of us still feel.  It shouldn't be.

Yeah, I'm having deep thoughts this morning.  But, that's what a week of water boiling and washing your hands with a cup next to the sink will do to you!  And, I'm itching to get back to some baking and proper cooking.  My fridge is pretty much cleared out with any food prep I have managed to squeeze in here and there.  There are a couple of these brownies sitting in a container that I made before the water woes struck.  These are my B-raw-nies (what did you expect, you knew I'd get geeky with the naming!).  Now, I did post the recipe on true/slant some months ago.  But, I've since tweaked the recipe, and I think they are much better in taste and texture with a different combination of nuts.  Also, I added a 'frosting', which really sends them over the top!  Our middle daughter LOVES these brownies, and how can I not love giving her a treat that is so healthful?  So, I think I'll post this recipe for you, so you can bliss out on healthy brownies too.

There, I'm feeling a bit better just thinking about these brownies.  It has distracted me, temporarily, from the water boiling that is about to begin...

Raw Talk

I've been wanting to do a post about some raw food topics for some time now. I really enjoy eating raw foods, and experimenting and developing raw recipes. I talk about more about my raw diet feelings in my new True/Slant post, and offer up a raw Chocolate Cherry Brownie recipe. Go get it!

In my article, I mention that I order raw ingredients from a local company. That company is Real Raw Food. I've been wanting to share their link with your for a while, because they supply wonderful raw raw nuts, dried fruits, and more. I buy raw cashews, brazil nuts, walnuts, goji berries, vanilla beans, coconut sugar - and more - from Real Raw Food. I have noticed a marked difference in the taste of their raw, organic nuts and raw nuts from a grocery store. Recently, I ran out of brazil nuts and picked some up at my local health food store. When I tasted them, I noticed a slightly rancid flavor coming through. Never with these raw nuts. They taste fresh and clean. The coconut sugar is my new favorite unrefined sugar. It has a caramel color and flavor, and is simply a beautiful sugar. I buy in bulk, and it is no more expensive than unrefined sugars at my health food store (in fact, it's often cheaper). Their goji berries and vanilla beans are also very reasonably priced, and both are softer and fresher than others I've tried. They also carry these pitted herbed olives which are freaking amazing! They are like a Moroccan dry olive - but far better. Very intense and pungent, and just a few chopped go a long, long way in a dish... if you like olives, you'll love these! Finally, their trail mix is a current obsession of mine. The walnuts in the mix taste particularly delicious, and with bitty pieces of mango, dried banana, and other fruits and nuts, it is not only healthy but entirely delicious. I don't know if orders will be economical if you live in the US, but if you are Canadian you should definitely check out Real Raw Food and stock up on some goodies.

And, the final bit of raw business I have is about a cookbook. I received a review copy of Raw for Desserts by Jennifer Cornbleet. Since raw desserts are particularly enticing to me, I was well chuffed to receive this cookbook! I don't have a full review to share with you, as I have only tried one recipe (and it was lovely). But, I can tell you that this is a tidy, appealing book that offers recipes that are not overly complex. At times, raw recipes can appear intimidating and laborious with required soaking, dehydrating, etc. Jennifer has a collection of sweet treats in this book that allow home cooks to dabble in raw cookery without feeling overwhelmed. Most recipes use just a handful of ingredients, many of which are quite common. Only a small number of recipes use less commonly known and used ingredients such as young coconut. These are raw recipes that can be prepared fairly quickly and without too much advanced preparation (apart from some soaking of dates and nuts in certain recipes). So, if you'd like to try out some healthful, simple, raw sweets, look into Jennifer's Raw for Dessert.

ta for now! :)