After more consultations with my family and visits to more grocery stores, which is not a fun activity Thanksgiving week, I have to say, we've decided what's for dinner tomorrow night. A full typical (sort of - vegan and low fat) Thanksgiving meal (with tempah instead of turkey). And what does that mean for me today? Lots of cooking ahead.
We'll be having whole grain sourdough dinner rolls, which I've bought premade. The tempah just needs warming up. I'm making the mashed sweet potatoes today and they'll be warmed up tomorrow. Davan fell in love with some tiny potatoes, so we're having roasted tiny baby potatoes, which I've already roasted. Davan also insisted that green beans were needed to make a complete Thanksgiving meal, so I'll be preparing green beans with slivered almonds today, as well. Anthony is a big fan of stuffing and we found some whole grain spelt prepackaged stuffing that we'll be making like Stovetop tomorrow on site. Yeah, I could have made this, too, rather than buying packaged but I'm already feeling like I've got a lot to do today and I don't want to stress. Davan told me that she could live without pie, but it really did make it Thanksgiving, so, yeah, after being totally disgusted by what was in the pies at the stores (other than a vegan one at Whole Foods that cost $22!!!!), I'll be making a blueberry pie today, as well.
In light of all of that bounty, instead of baked beans for lunch the next day, it'll be leftovers. We'll have plenty.
Food plans are in place. As usual, I've ended up going back on my I'm-just-going-to-buy-stuff-to-keep-it-simple plan because I'll be busy and now have a day of food prep ahead, but that's okay. It's a good exchange for food I'll feel good about eating.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Food, Food, Food
We've been enjoying the offerings of fall with fresh apples and pears, abundant pumpkin related treats still lingering from two huge Hubbard squashes not to mention other savory squash dishes and plenty of sweet potatoes in various forms. In fact, I'm sitting here right now eating what is our stock breakfast for the season - steel cut oats cooked with pears, cinnamon, ginger and flax meal. Other than weekends, on which days we have pancakes with a choice of apple compote or creamy pumpkin, this has been breakfast for Davan and I for a couple of months and we still enjoy it, along with a mug of tea.
Now, though, that fall feast day is nearly upon us and, even at this late date, I'm at a loss for what to do for the big meal. The problem is compounded by the facts that we don't eat turkey or any meat, we've already been enjoying the special fall dishes to our heart's content, making sweet potato mash and pumpkin pudding less than special and we'll be at a fire lookout.
I'm really glad about the fire lookout part, but it does mean that whatever we take, we'll be carrying in 3 1/2 miles while on snowshoes and that, when we get there, we'll be limited by having only a small propane stove to work with for cooking. I've got all meals planned except Thursday's, which is also, incidentally, my birthday, making the call for a special meal that much more pressing.
Still, we do not want to eat a bunch of fat and sugar, so what's special? Frankly, I'm feeling stumped. We are having special stuff all weekend - one breakfast will be whole grain vegan pancakes and vegan prepared sausage (which we usually stay away from because it's a very processed food, even though it's vegan and low fat) while another will be a very rich breakfast of almond butter mixed with agave nectar, cinnamon and vegan, grain-sweetened chocolate chips in pita pockets. Lunches will be Dave's Peace Bombs, baby carrots and sugar snap peas with store bought hummus (which is also a treat food because of the added olive oil) two days and canned baked beans (also a treat because of all the added sugar) on the day we spend the whole day at the fire lookout. Friday's dinner is a dip of refried beans, salsa and sliced olives with veggies and baked tortilla chips to dip (again a treat because even baked tortilla chips have added oil).
So, what for Thursday night's meal? I don't know. I'm feeling like we're going to end up with Bocca burgers on whole grain buns and Sun Chips, which is a treat meal for sure, but not necessarily one I want to associate with Thanksgiving and my birthday. I'd rather have something tasty made with whole foods, but the treat of not having to prepare anything is sure appealing and the fuss over trying to make something gourmet within the constraints of the fire lookout feels a little daunting.
We're going to both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods this afternoon. Perhaps something will present itself. I do know it'll work out one way or the other and be fine.
Now, though, that fall feast day is nearly upon us and, even at this late date, I'm at a loss for what to do for the big meal. The problem is compounded by the facts that we don't eat turkey or any meat, we've already been enjoying the special fall dishes to our heart's content, making sweet potato mash and pumpkin pudding less than special and we'll be at a fire lookout.
I'm really glad about the fire lookout part, but it does mean that whatever we take, we'll be carrying in 3 1/2 miles while on snowshoes and that, when we get there, we'll be limited by having only a small propane stove to work with for cooking. I've got all meals planned except Thursday's, which is also, incidentally, my birthday, making the call for a special meal that much more pressing.
Still, we do not want to eat a bunch of fat and sugar, so what's special? Frankly, I'm feeling stumped. We are having special stuff all weekend - one breakfast will be whole grain vegan pancakes and vegan prepared sausage (which we usually stay away from because it's a very processed food, even though it's vegan and low fat) while another will be a very rich breakfast of almond butter mixed with agave nectar, cinnamon and vegan, grain-sweetened chocolate chips in pita pockets. Lunches will be Dave's Peace Bombs, baby carrots and sugar snap peas with store bought hummus (which is also a treat food because of the added olive oil) two days and canned baked beans (also a treat because of all the added sugar) on the day we spend the whole day at the fire lookout. Friday's dinner is a dip of refried beans, salsa and sliced olives with veggies and baked tortilla chips to dip (again a treat because even baked tortilla chips have added oil).
So, what for Thursday night's meal? I don't know. I'm feeling like we're going to end up with Bocca burgers on whole grain buns and Sun Chips, which is a treat meal for sure, but not necessarily one I want to associate with Thanksgiving and my birthday. I'd rather have something tasty made with whole foods, but the treat of not having to prepare anything is sure appealing and the fuss over trying to make something gourmet within the constraints of the fire lookout feels a little daunting.
We're going to both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods this afternoon. Perhaps something will present itself. I do know it'll work out one way or the other and be fine.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Book Review: In Defense of Food by Micheal Pollan
I've been spending a lot of time listening to books in the last week or so because I've been walking quite a bit, but even more so because I'm working on a Christmas present for Davan. I'm making a rag rug, my first ever attempt to do so. It's going...okay. She'll like it just because she appreciates homemade gifts and the effort put into them, but it's not overly pretty, there are parts that have more gaps than they should and it's still very small for all the hours I've put into it. I shall keep plugging along, though. Yesterday's endeavors allowed me to finish up In Defense of Food.
The audio book version is read by Scott Brick, whom I did not like. He seems to be trying way too hard to force emotion and drama into the reading.
In Defense of Food is the story of how we got to our current beliefs about food, what is wrong with that and some ideas on how to correct it. The basic idea is that we have allowed government interpretation of science all lead by big business to become the corner stone of our ideas about food. On top of that, the science is often flawed due to a variety of factors, including, primarily, concentrating too much on single nutrients.
I agree with a lot of what Pollan has to say, but disagree with him on a couple of points. One of those points is the importance of a low fat diet, which was what prompted a recent post of mine. Still, I think he has a lot to say that is of value, especially about processed foods and about the history of government food recommendations.
He has some good ideas about rules for food, although, I think he'd be the first to say that we only need these rules because we, Americans, particularly, are really out of touch with what is a good and healthy way to eat. And I don't agree with some food specifics. Butter, no matter how untainted by the production line, is not good for you.
In Defense of Food is a well written and interesting book, which would score even higher for me if I agreed with several of his key conclusions and I liked the reader. Still, I give it an 8.
The audio book version is read by Scott Brick, whom I did not like. He seems to be trying way too hard to force emotion and drama into the reading.
In Defense of Food is the story of how we got to our current beliefs about food, what is wrong with that and some ideas on how to correct it. The basic idea is that we have allowed government interpretation of science all lead by big business to become the corner stone of our ideas about food. On top of that, the science is often flawed due to a variety of factors, including, primarily, concentrating too much on single nutrients.
I agree with a lot of what Pollan has to say, but disagree with him on a couple of points. One of those points is the importance of a low fat diet, which was what prompted a recent post of mine. Still, I think he has a lot to say that is of value, especially about processed foods and about the history of government food recommendations.
He has some good ideas about rules for food, although, I think he'd be the first to say that we only need these rules because we, Americans, particularly, are really out of touch with what is a good and healthy way to eat. And I don't agree with some food specifics. Butter, no matter how untainted by the production line, is not good for you.
In Defense of Food is a well written and interesting book, which would score even higher for me if I agreed with several of his key conclusions and I liked the reader. Still, I give it an 8.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Book Review: Louder than Words by Jenny McCarthy
Let me start by saying that I had absolutely no idea that Jenny McCarthy was a celebrity when I picked this book up. I picked it up out of interest in autism, particularly personal family stories of autism. It wasn't until I started listening that I realized she was a celebrity and, even then, I didn't recognize her. I looked her up after I finished the book and, sure enough, I've never seen the woman in anything before on TV or in movies or in Playboy. We seem to travel in different circles, Jenny and I.
Onto the book itself. I listened to Louder than Words, which was narrated by Tavia Gilbert, who did such a good job of reading it that I was thinking it was McCarthy herself who'd read it.
One morning McCarthy's son, Evan, goes into seizure and, thus, starts her journey. It takes a while before the mystery of what's wrong with Evan is discovered and, as a reader, you get a real sense of the struggle Jenny goes through as a mother trying to figure it out and, then, doing what she can to pull Evan "through the window," a metaphor for healing autism.
McCarthy is a devoted mother and, frankly, has the financial situation to pull off some amazing things for her son. She says in the book that she isn't rich, and, no, she's probably not fabulously rich, but she can afford a part time nanny, a heart rate monitor for her son so she feels comfortable leaving him alone at night, $3000 a week in out of pocket costs for therapy and other treatment and a private jet (sometimes) to fly back and forth in emergencies just to give you a feel. I don't care how how much we stretched our personal finances, we couldn't manage all that.
McCarthy is adamant about vaccines with mercury causing autism. This may or may not be true. I believe that the jury is still out on this one. If you feel strongly that vaccines are safe, you will become pissed off reading this book and I'd avoid it.
McCarthy is strongly religious and relies heavily on her beliefs to get her through these rough times. I didn't have a problem with religion in this book, as it was simply her story and not overly preachy, but it is definitely there. Likewise, if you aren't a fan of swearing, I'd avoid McCarthy's books in general.
Overall, I thought the book was interesting, but that McCarthy is somewhat self absorbed in her world view. While that's probably true of most of us, when you encounter it in another who's world view is different, it can be a little grating. I give Louder than Words a 6.5.
Onto the book itself. I listened to Louder than Words, which was narrated by Tavia Gilbert, who did such a good job of reading it that I was thinking it was McCarthy herself who'd read it.
One morning McCarthy's son, Evan, goes into seizure and, thus, starts her journey. It takes a while before the mystery of what's wrong with Evan is discovered and, as a reader, you get a real sense of the struggle Jenny goes through as a mother trying to figure it out and, then, doing what she can to pull Evan "through the window," a metaphor for healing autism.
McCarthy is a devoted mother and, frankly, has the financial situation to pull off some amazing things for her son. She says in the book that she isn't rich, and, no, she's probably not fabulously rich, but she can afford a part time nanny, a heart rate monitor for her son so she feels comfortable leaving him alone at night, $3000 a week in out of pocket costs for therapy and other treatment and a private jet (sometimes) to fly back and forth in emergencies just to give you a feel. I don't care how how much we stretched our personal finances, we couldn't manage all that.
McCarthy is adamant about vaccines with mercury causing autism. This may or may not be true. I believe that the jury is still out on this one. If you feel strongly that vaccines are safe, you will become pissed off reading this book and I'd avoid it.
McCarthy is strongly religious and relies heavily on her beliefs to get her through these rough times. I didn't have a problem with religion in this book, as it was simply her story and not overly preachy, but it is definitely there. Likewise, if you aren't a fan of swearing, I'd avoid McCarthy's books in general.
Overall, I thought the book was interesting, but that McCarthy is somewhat self absorbed in her world view. While that's probably true of most of us, when you encounter it in another who's world view is different, it can be a little grating. I give Louder than Words a 6.5.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Is Low-Fat/No-Fat Good for You?
The answer to this question is yes. And no. There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what it means to eat low fat or no fat. Sure, there are lots of products out there claiming "No-Fat!" or "Low-Fat!" but these are not, generally speaking, health food. Most of these products are food like substances rather than actual food. Snackwells, for instance, are not good for you, even if they are low in fat content. So, in this respect, the answer is no. Low-Fat isn't good for you.
However, you should eat a low fat diet. Is this contradictory? No. Even more important than worrying about the fat content is thinking about if it's a real food. How can you tell if a food is real food? One of the best ways is by noting the ingredients. Ideally, there should only be one. The food itself. Thus, produce, for example, is real food. Also falling in the real food category is brown rice, beans, and whole wheat flour among other things. Sometimes, if the ingredient list is short, multiple ingredient foods can be real foods, too. Some breads fall into this category.
Added fat should be avoided. So, even though olive oil is a single ingredient food, it isn't health food. Even more so, meat isn't a health food and should be avoided. Not only does it contain fat, but it also contains cholesterol and, unavoidably, animal protein, which has been shown to have a negative effect on health.
Plus, in this day and age, we have to consider, is meat a real food? Certainly, when people eat what they've hunted, it is. This isn't to say that it doesn't have negative attributes, but it is a real food. However, the slab of meat you get at the super market...well, that's a result of food processing. The animal has been feed grains, antibiotics and growth hormone rather than it's intended diet of grass. It no longer has any redeeming health value unless you are, literally, starving, at which point, any source of calories is good.
As a population, though, we are not starving for calories, but for nutrients. We fill up on stuff like Snackwells, thinking we're making a good Low-Fat choice, but it's not real food. Besides the chemicals and general junk added in the processing, these items are loaded up with sweetener, and not sugar, as a rule, but corn syrup. Neither corn syrup nor sugar is an ideal food for humans. It's calories with nothing good. No fiber or antioxidants, which are both abundant in real food.
A lot of people these days will tell you that the whole idea of low fat eating is a bust. The health of Americans has just gotten worse from the beginning of the advice to eat low fat, so fat wasn't the issue, right? Not so. The fact is that people haven't started eating less fat. From the beginning of the low fat craze, the overall caloric intake has increased dramatically, which does mean that, percentage wise, there fat intake is slightly down, but, listen, this part is important; we, as a population, are eating more calories from fat then ever before. We're just eating so much other crap - mostly refined sugars, which are their whole own health problem - that the percentage is down a bit.
So, yes, it's still good advice to eat low fat. It will help protect you from heart disease and diabetes. Just do not, under any circumstance, look for packaged Low-Fat! foods. They are not your friends.
However, you should eat a low fat diet. Is this contradictory? No. Even more important than worrying about the fat content is thinking about if it's a real food. How can you tell if a food is real food? One of the best ways is by noting the ingredients. Ideally, there should only be one. The food itself. Thus, produce, for example, is real food. Also falling in the real food category is brown rice, beans, and whole wheat flour among other things. Sometimes, if the ingredient list is short, multiple ingredient foods can be real foods, too. Some breads fall into this category.
Added fat should be avoided. So, even though olive oil is a single ingredient food, it isn't health food. Even more so, meat isn't a health food and should be avoided. Not only does it contain fat, but it also contains cholesterol and, unavoidably, animal protein, which has been shown to have a negative effect on health.
Plus, in this day and age, we have to consider, is meat a real food? Certainly, when people eat what they've hunted, it is. This isn't to say that it doesn't have negative attributes, but it is a real food. However, the slab of meat you get at the super market...well, that's a result of food processing. The animal has been feed grains, antibiotics and growth hormone rather than it's intended diet of grass. It no longer has any redeeming health value unless you are, literally, starving, at which point, any source of calories is good.
As a population, though, we are not starving for calories, but for nutrients. We fill up on stuff like Snackwells, thinking we're making a good Low-Fat choice, but it's not real food. Besides the chemicals and general junk added in the processing, these items are loaded up with sweetener, and not sugar, as a rule, but corn syrup. Neither corn syrup nor sugar is an ideal food for humans. It's calories with nothing good. No fiber or antioxidants, which are both abundant in real food.
A lot of people these days will tell you that the whole idea of low fat eating is a bust. The health of Americans has just gotten worse from the beginning of the advice to eat low fat, so fat wasn't the issue, right? Not so. The fact is that people haven't started eating less fat. From the beginning of the low fat craze, the overall caloric intake has increased dramatically, which does mean that, percentage wise, there fat intake is slightly down, but, listen, this part is important; we, as a population, are eating more calories from fat then ever before. We're just eating so much other crap - mostly refined sugars, which are their whole own health problem - that the percentage is down a bit.
So, yes, it's still good advice to eat low fat. It will help protect you from heart disease and diabetes. Just do not, under any circumstance, look for packaged Low-Fat! foods. They are not your friends.
Friday, November 20, 2009
My Daughter-in-Lawly Duties
A few years back, my parents were looking for a new home for a computer they were replacing. It's actually a bit better of a computer than the one we have currently, which was also a hand me down from them, but, what with having all of our stuff on it and everything, we opted to just keep it. The computer found a home with my mother-in-law. She likes it for email and for ordering her Avon (she's an Avon lady).
Over the years, Anthony and I have been her tech support. To be fair, she hasn't needed all that much tech support, really. Not like my grandmother, but that's another story. Really, there's only been the odd problem to solve (which seems to be my job) and a few installations to do (which seems to be mostly Anthony's job).
In the last few weeks, a problem has sprouted up. From what my MIL was saying, I had no idea what was wrong. I did suggest that she uninstall and reinstall Juno, which is what she uses to connect, and which my SIL did. Still, she was having internet troubles and could I come fix it? Honestly, I don't think I can is what I replied. I don't know what's wrong and I don't know all that much about computers, really, regardless of my now 11 year old computer engineering degree that I haven't kept up at all, pretty much sticking to surfing the web in my own computer forays.
We did give her Mozilla to install, or, more accurately, have my SIL who is at her house twice daily on school days install, as it seemed to be IE that was causing her troubles. That was tried and it failed. She asked if Anthony could come by.
Now, poor Anthony has been working overtime for most of the last three weeks, staying late and going in most Saturdays. He doesn't really have the energy to tackle her computer problems just now, but was feeling a sonly duty to go over when he could. So, I stepped up and said I would go over and have a look to see what I could do.
Today, in spite of the all day drizzle, I mounted up Jack (my touring/commuter work donkey type bike with fenders) in my rain gear and sloshed out to her house. At first, it seemed that Mozilla was working fine, so what the heck!?!?! But, that proved to be short lived.
Updates were certainly needed and were happening automatically, slowing things down. But, the problem went deeper and I didn't know if I could fix it. What I was able to do was solve the issue of access to her pictures by putting a short cut on the desktop. Then, I sat there and waited for the virus program to update.
What I eventually realized, though, was that the virus program had gone rouge and was what was actually causing the problems. It was constantly running a scan, breaking down and dumping it's data, hogging the CPU and quickly using up memory. I uninstalled it and, viola, everything worked just fine, or as fine as everything can work with slow as molasses dial up.
Of course, we can't just leave her computer unprotected from viruses, so I started the install of a new version of her anti-virus program. After ten minutes, it was 1% done and the downloading of Microsoft updates had gotten up to a whopping 11%, having been working on it for about an hour.
I decided not to hang around while those finished up. I hope either my MIL or my SIL is able to take it from there with the information on the note I left. Thus concludes my DIL-ly duties for today, no?
Over the years, Anthony and I have been her tech support. To be fair, she hasn't needed all that much tech support, really. Not like my grandmother, but that's another story. Really, there's only been the odd problem to solve (which seems to be my job) and a few installations to do (which seems to be mostly Anthony's job).
In the last few weeks, a problem has sprouted up. From what my MIL was saying, I had no idea what was wrong. I did suggest that she uninstall and reinstall Juno, which is what she uses to connect, and which my SIL did. Still, she was having internet troubles and could I come fix it? Honestly, I don't think I can is what I replied. I don't know what's wrong and I don't know all that much about computers, really, regardless of my now 11 year old computer engineering degree that I haven't kept up at all, pretty much sticking to surfing the web in my own computer forays.
We did give her Mozilla to install, or, more accurately, have my SIL who is at her house twice daily on school days install, as it seemed to be IE that was causing her troubles. That was tried and it failed. She asked if Anthony could come by.
Now, poor Anthony has been working overtime for most of the last three weeks, staying late and going in most Saturdays. He doesn't really have the energy to tackle her computer problems just now, but was feeling a sonly duty to go over when he could. So, I stepped up and said I would go over and have a look to see what I could do.
Today, in spite of the all day drizzle, I mounted up Jack (my touring/commuter work donkey type bike with fenders) in my rain gear and sloshed out to her house. At first, it seemed that Mozilla was working fine, so what the heck!?!?! But, that proved to be short lived.
Updates were certainly needed and were happening automatically, slowing things down. But, the problem went deeper and I didn't know if I could fix it. What I was able to do was solve the issue of access to her pictures by putting a short cut on the desktop. Then, I sat there and waited for the virus program to update.
What I eventually realized, though, was that the virus program had gone rouge and was what was actually causing the problems. It was constantly running a scan, breaking down and dumping it's data, hogging the CPU and quickly using up memory. I uninstalled it and, viola, everything worked just fine, or as fine as everything can work with slow as molasses dial up.
Of course, we can't just leave her computer unprotected from viruses, so I started the install of a new version of her anti-virus program. After ten minutes, it was 1% done and the downloading of Microsoft updates had gotten up to a whopping 11%, having been working on it for about an hour.
I decided not to hang around while those finished up. I hope either my MIL or my SIL is able to take it from there with the information on the note I left. Thus concludes my DIL-ly duties for today, no?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
To the Snow!
Anthony and I skied together a lot when we were first dating and living in Germany. When we moved back to the states, I skied a lot the first winter I was here, having gotten a job at one of the local ski resorts. Then I was in school and was poor. Then Anthony was in school and were were even poorer. Skiing was out. It was even more out once Davan came along.
However, when Davan was five, we decided to introduce her to the thrills of skiing. It went pretty well and we skied a lot over the next five years. We did a variety of pass options and got screaming deals on gear for Davan (and Max when he was here), keeping the costs down to just expensive. Each year, it was Anthony's and my Christmas present to each other to get passes.
Last year, we decided to take a year off. Davan was getting done with skiing earlier and earlier in the season and getting more picky about what sort of weather she was willing to ski in. Anthony had a year or two that he didn't get his money's worth out of his pass. We figured, we'll take a year off, save a little money, then everyone will be excited to ski again.
This year, as the ski season approached, we started discussing options. Do we want to ski this year? Do we want to buy passes? Which passes at which resort, if so? Davan had definitely outgrown her ski boots, but could we stretch her skis for another year? We nearly bought midweek passes at Timberline, which is about the cheapest option possible, but we finally came to a different decision and here it is. This will shock and astound you, but here it goes:
Skiing is a rich man's sport and we're not rich.
Yup. We managed it for a good run by not having vacations or Christmas presents, but, even with passes that cost a total of $600 for all three of us, it's a lot of money to ski. Gear needs to be replaced occasionally, especially for the growing one, and it's not cheap, either. We may come back to skiing again sometime, perhaps when Davan is a teenager and super gung ho to go (she's into it now, just not overwhelmingly so) or perhaps when Davan moves out and we have more play in the budget.
For now, though, we all still wanted a way to go be in the snow. Yeah, there's sledding and that's fine, but Anthony and I were looking for something else. We started talking snowshoeing vrs cross country skiing. Both are activities where, after an initial investment, you can go for free. Sure, you can pay to cross country ski on groomed tracks, but you don't have to go that route and, even if you do, it's a lot cheaper than downhill.
We have a trip coming up that will require us to have one or the other for three days. We looked into rental costs...to rent snowshoes for three days would cost us a little over half the price of buying snowshoes. Well. Gee. Cross country skis are a lot more expensive to gear up for and requires more skill. I'm not adverse to the whole skill acquisition thing, but Davan has to be able to do the activity for two miles next week. Not to mention that there is still the whole gear replacement cost for Davan as she grows.
We starting thinking snowshoes were the way to go. We discovered that the same snowshoes I was thinking of for myself would work for Davan. We should never have to replace them for her as she grows because of that. Who-hoo! We plunked down the cash for three sets of snowshoes, nearly the cheapest that REI carries, totaling less than half what we'd have paid for ski passes.
Davan and I went out for a trial run today. It was fun. Hard work, yes, but fun. Davan loves being in the snow and might like snowshoeing better than skiing, it seems. There was more time to just fall over and play in the snow than when we ski, I guess. The snowshoes work fine and the learning curve was easy. We're all set for our trip next week.
I'm happy about our choice and I'm looking forward to a lot of snowshoeing this winter!
However, when Davan was five, we decided to introduce her to the thrills of skiing. It went pretty well and we skied a lot over the next five years. We did a variety of pass options and got screaming deals on gear for Davan (and Max when he was here), keeping the costs down to just expensive. Each year, it was Anthony's and my Christmas present to each other to get passes.
Last year, we decided to take a year off. Davan was getting done with skiing earlier and earlier in the season and getting more picky about what sort of weather she was willing to ski in. Anthony had a year or two that he didn't get his money's worth out of his pass. We figured, we'll take a year off, save a little money, then everyone will be excited to ski again.
This year, as the ski season approached, we started discussing options. Do we want to ski this year? Do we want to buy passes? Which passes at which resort, if so? Davan had definitely outgrown her ski boots, but could we stretch her skis for another year? We nearly bought midweek passes at Timberline, which is about the cheapest option possible, but we finally came to a different decision and here it is. This will shock and astound you, but here it goes:
Skiing is a rich man's sport and we're not rich.
Yup. We managed it for a good run by not having vacations or Christmas presents, but, even with passes that cost a total of $600 for all three of us, it's a lot of money to ski. Gear needs to be replaced occasionally, especially for the growing one, and it's not cheap, either. We may come back to skiing again sometime, perhaps when Davan is a teenager and super gung ho to go (she's into it now, just not overwhelmingly so) or perhaps when Davan moves out and we have more play in the budget.
For now, though, we all still wanted a way to go be in the snow. Yeah, there's sledding and that's fine, but Anthony and I were looking for something else. We started talking snowshoeing vrs cross country skiing. Both are activities where, after an initial investment, you can go for free. Sure, you can pay to cross country ski on groomed tracks, but you don't have to go that route and, even if you do, it's a lot cheaper than downhill.
We have a trip coming up that will require us to have one or the other for three days. We looked into rental costs...to rent snowshoes for three days would cost us a little over half the price of buying snowshoes. Well. Gee. Cross country skis are a lot more expensive to gear up for and requires more skill. I'm not adverse to the whole skill acquisition thing, but Davan has to be able to do the activity for two miles next week. Not to mention that there is still the whole gear replacement cost for Davan as she grows.
We starting thinking snowshoes were the way to go. We discovered that the same snowshoes I was thinking of for myself would work for Davan. We should never have to replace them for her as she grows because of that. Who-hoo! We plunked down the cash for three sets of snowshoes, nearly the cheapest that REI carries, totaling less than half what we'd have paid for ski passes.
Davan and I went out for a trial run today. It was fun. Hard work, yes, but fun. Davan loves being in the snow and might like snowshoeing better than skiing, it seems. There was more time to just fall over and play in the snow than when we ski, I guess. The snowshoes work fine and the learning curve was easy. We're all set for our trip next week.
I'm happy about our choice and I'm looking forward to a lot of snowshoeing this winter!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
