Child care shopping — food & diapers

The time has come to look for child care. Will needs the stimulation and I need to work. So, today Will and I toured a local child care center that is run by the city.

A few things that I was surprised by is that they were not open to cloth diapering but more importantly, they get their food from Sysco I am not sure on the specifics of the offerings this company has but I was told that there are no organic foods and that they use processed foods. Why are we serving sub-par foods to our children? Where ever I end up placing Will in day care I am will work to transition them over to serving healthy foods so that the children will be healthy and happy. When I was growing up, I ate pretty well but too much of the American Diet. When I found out that whole foods make me feel energized and happier I was thankful. I can’t believe how much of my life I was eating crap and feeling crappy. It doesn’t have to be like this. There are options. Just look for them. Make it happen. It is not as hard or expensive as you might thing. If you need ideas feel free to ask me but there are a ton of resources out there and an increasing awareness about this issue.

Don’t settle for sub-par food for yourself or for anyone. If you are addicted to them or just used to them, challenge yourself to make the switch to whole grains and fresh foods. I think you will find you will become addicted to feeling great. Your whole life will improve.

Christmas with Shipp Parrott Shipp

Its Will’s first Christmas!!

Billy, Will and I have been up to some good holiday adventuring and cooking this year. These have been our wonderful gifts this year.

As I type our Christmas dinner is cooking in the oven: Baked Chicken and Scalloped Potatoes. We just polished of an amazing, yet simple, salad with red lettuce, arugula, and mixed baby greens with a olive oil, salt, lemon dressing. Mmmm. So good.

Last night for Christmas Eve we cooked up half a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce. I had to have the corn because it is a tradition in my family. We love our corn! Mom had to make sure to make lots and lots because we hate to run out (especially my brother Lenny and me). I liked the cranberry sauce because of the whole cranberries in there. Usually I only have a tiny tiny taste just because it is a Christmas thing others seem to like.

I am really missing my family this year. I love being at my moms house and hearing and smelling her cooking. I love her cozy home she sets and the tree she decorates. I love how much she loves to make a warm and cozy home with the right lighting and music. I feel so loved and nurtured there.

Even though we are far from home and not doing all the things you would expect for the Christmas holiday, I feel happy and blessed because I have a beautiful little family with me here: Billy and Will.
The cooking helps a lot. Food is such a wonderful comfort and social and sustaining.

We aren’t giving gifts this year because of the financial state of things. I haven’t yet posted about the latest adventure we are on… but basically our home flooded and we had to move out a.s.a.p. That was about a month ago. We hope repairs will be done by mid-February… we shall see. Anyway, we are making the best of it.

Happy holidays to you! Here is a little video Billy and I shot and Billy edited. Our gift to you this holiday, enjoy!

love,
~Billy, Christine, & Will (Shipp Parrott Shipp)


Holiday MMVIII from Billy Shipp on Vimeo.

Portland Places I Need to Visit

How is that in my quest to learn more about food and cooking I have come across some amazing Portland business that I am dying to try out. Here I am in the Bay Area far away from them. Today would be a perfect day to head over to Sweet Pea Baking Company. Mmmm-a-licious. They are Portland’s first vegan cafĂ© and bakery. “Located at 1205 SE Stark Street, Porltand, OR, Sweet Pea will feature fresh gourmet vegan baked goods, Stumptown coffee/espresso and a light breakfast and lunch menu.” (click this to find out more.) I love vegan eats. I’m not even vegan. They just sit well in my stomach. And I am almost always happy and have energy after I eat a vegan desert. Not so with “normal” desserts (even some of the “healthier” ones). Vegans know how to do it. They have been practicing at it a while. Now, I don’t eat vegan that much but, let me tell you, I notice the difference. It just keeps getting better. All the faux desserts and other dishes they make are great alternatives.

Hm, maybe I SHOULD become vegan.
I’m not ready for that yet. Breastfeeding, money, effort, etc… But I think my life would be better. Anyway…

Here is another cool place I must check out:

Food Fight Grocery a vegan grocery at 1217 Stark St in SE Portland, Or.

ps. Check out these great deals on vegan pies from Sweet Pea.

*salivating*

Debate Pizza

Billy asked me to pick up a half-baked pizza at our local worker owned bakery Arizmendi so that we could eat it while we watched the vice president debate. I called Arizmendi ahead of time to see what the “pizza of the day” was (answer: artichoke, red onion, pesto)and learned that you could reserve a pizza, so I did. I figured it couldn’t hurt. I got there to pick it up at 5:23pm and saw the little chalk board sign that tells you what the pizza of the day is named and it said: SOLD OUT of Blame Sarah Palin. Ha. How’d they know we wanted it for our debate dinner?

While I was in there, briefly, 2 others strolled in and were disappointed to find that the pizzas were sold out. They too had planned to dine on pizza while watching the debate.

The pizza was good. The debate was, well, interesting.

Toad In the Hole



The other day Billy made me a breakfast that he called Toad In the Hole. It is a piece of bread with a circle cut out of the middle. In this hole goes an egg and the whole thing is fried an a pan. When I looked at it I thought it would be bland tasting but since he used butter on the bread before frying, it was delicious!

A few days after experiencing this curious breakfast I came across this article in Small Magazine (my new favorite online magazine) that tells the story about this very same meal from the words of one of the artists, Amy Karol. She gives her recipe as well as a sweet background history of how she came to love this and other foods her dad made her.