Anne Buzzini

Oops, I forgot to turn off my computer yesterday. 

Technically my computer just died this weekend, so I suppose that counts as shutting down. And I made several meals, and they were all vegetarian. My love affair with beans and lentils is never ending. 

Turning off my computer, I have learned, means two things: 1) shutting down my computer when Outlook is open means I never receive emails when I turn my computer back on, even though it says it is open. 2) Gmail keeps adding ads to my inbox when I shut down, but not if I close Chrome and reopen it. 

These are okay things for saving carbon. 

Squash tonight, and I am very much enjoying the physical act of "powering down" when I leave the desk. 

Between soup group and being away from home, I've missed a lot of opportunities for home-cooked meals, so this weekend I enjoyed a trip to the farmer's market for veggies. I did put some ham in my soup, but all the rest of the meals this week are slated to be veggie, including a lentil bolognese that I am excited to try. 

I have been getting about a B+ on my challenge. I'm doing a good job of shutting down my computer, but I definitely ate meat at both meals yesterday. I was on the road and my options were a bit more limited than usual, and I passed up a free veggie sandwich because it looked very, very sad. 

However, the other night, I had grand plans to make a vegetarian dinner but I got too tired. So my boyfriend picked up Thai food for us, and since I put in the order, I ordered tofu for both of us. So that's kind of like eating an extra meatless meal since I foisted my challenge on someone else?

Yesterday, I had a nice broccoli cheddar soup for dinner, and today I plan on roasting some veggies with polenta for dinner. It's been a busy week, and I am so used to eating meat that it's definitely harder to eat vegetarian last minute. The soups in the fridge mostly have meat, snacks at work last night were meat and cheese. It's not impossible, but it definitely requires forethought. I'm sure it will get easier! 

This past weekend was a good weekend for my EcoChallenge. I did not prepare any meat (although I had a bowl of chicken soup from soup group), and I didn't use my laptop, which was powered down and unplugged all weekend. 

I also installed smart outlets at home, so I can switch lights off remotely in case I forget to turn them off. I did a lot of errands, but I was able to chain my driving trip in one circle around Portland. Most of my errands were also to reduce waste--I donated to Scrap, Goodwill, sold some books at Powell's, and some games/cds at CD/Game Exchange. Then I went home and made a veggie soup, which produced zero plastic waste--or waste of any kind of except food scraps. I ended Sunday by rescuing some figs from the brink by making a fig and honey jam. The figs came from a friend's house, and the honey from a friend's hive. Couldn't really get more local! 

All in all, it was a delightful weekend. 

Today is all veggie day. Leftover pasta and a potato soup from my soup group. Unrelated to my actual challenges, the soup group I am in makes for less food waste as everyone shares big meals. Leftovers, if they happen, can be easily frozen in the reusable jars we use to share. 

I do soup group every October, but next year, I might make it a challenge for others? A meal-sharing system of some kind to cut down on food waste, and also eat less meat. Soup is a very hearty and filling for a veggie meal!