Quick Gift, Take Two!

 Christmas is bearing down on us like a runaway train!

Augh!!!  Is Macy's still open!? 

But if you live close to a Trader Joe's

(and if you don't, I'm sorry, because it's FANTASTIC)

then an easy gift is a Trader Joe's gift bag!

What makes this gift bag super-cool is I filled it with goodies I knew the recipient would like,

and

I made it a "Trader Joe's" gift bag by cutting out the TJ's logo from one of their bags,

and gluing it to a pretty holiday craft bag.

The tags, btw, are from one of my favorite charities:  Heifer International.

If you've waited too long and want to get me something for Christmas,

you could buy a goat (or part of a goat) for a little girl in Africa.

Because, how awesome are goats?

The answer is LOTS.

Goats are LOTS awesome.

One of These Things Is Just Like The Other

I recently watched the documentary Forks Over Knives.

I am horribly susceptible to documentary talking heads,

so as I watched the credits I vowed I was going to

CHANGE ALL MY EATING HABITS.

The light of day and some internet sleuthing made me realize that no, I wasn't giving up

dairy and eggs, among the meeeellion other foods the doctors said I should

if I wanted to make it to my next birthday.

However...

One guy did point out that both milk-making cows and

meat-producing cows are "factory-raised," i.e. treated as food-producing widgets

instead of brown-eyed, sweet-faced moo-ers.

(How could I be mean to that sweet beastie?)

My research turned up that organic yogurt is generally made from "pasture-fed" cows, but, boooo, my favorite Trader Joe's yogurt is NOT organic.

So I went looking for organic yogurt, since I eat yogurt like other people eat,

I dunno, potato chips?  Point is, I eat a lot of yogurt.

And look!

(That's Minnie's brother, Jack, btw, supervising my photo shoot.)

Notice anything?  The tasty (but more expensive) organic Wallaby yogurt looks pretty similar to the tasty (and less expensive) Trader Joe's brand vanilla yogurt!  It turns out that they are the same, just in different packaging!

Yay!  I can still eat Trader Joe's yogurt!

Now I just need to find a vegetarian*-friendly cheese, and I'll be golden!

*For the record, I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat beef.  

Traditional rennet-based cheese is made from calf's stomach.