GladRags Gab

I'll be making Walnut-Cheddar Harvest Loaf, vegetarian gravy, brussel sprouts, and cabbage salad to take to Thanksgiving this year.  The Harvest Loaf is from the really old cookbook, Diet for a Small Planet . My copy was used when I bought it and now it is totally ratty because of all the use I've given it. The loaf makes a great entree for those of us not indulging in the big bird.  When I've got time and want to impress friends I wrap it in phyllo and it's quite a presentation. 

While I'm cooking I'll be thinking about all the things I'm thankful for this year.  My healthy family, my wonderful friends, the chance to have had three art exhibits this year, and all the wonderful women I know though working at GladRags - customers, co-workers, store buyers, brokers, suppliers, competitiors/compatriots.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe, happy holiday.

-Brenda 

 Walnut-Cheddar Loaf

45 min 15 min prep
2     tablespoons olive oil
2     cups yellow onions, chopped
1     cup black walnuts, coarsely ground
1     cup cheddar cheese, grated
2     tablespoons lemon juice
2     eggs, beaten
2     tablespoons nutritional yeast
1     teaspoon caraway seeds
1 1/4 cups cooked brown rice (1/2 cup uncooked)
    salt
    pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350.
   2. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent.
   3. Mix with remaining ingredients, salt and pepper to taste and put in an oiled loaf pan.
   4. Bake for 30 minutes.

Tonight while my husband and I were cooking dinner we got on the subject of a recent opinion piece in our local paper,The Oregonian, in which our local right wing Bush sycophant columnist, David Reinhard,  was discussing whether or not waterboarding was torture. We both got so upset talking about it we had to calm ourselves down with some deep breaths and a beer. Fortunately the music we were playing was Michael Franti's most recent album "Yellfire". Bruce said, thank goodness for Michael Franti and we went back to making potato-leek soup knowing we aren't alone in this world of craziness we now live in.  

If anything ever happens to Bruce (perish the thought), I am going to hunt down Michael Franti and make him my own! If you don't know his music, find it, listen to it. He is a radical voice for truth and accountability and you can dance like crazy too. His song "To the East, to the West" could solve most of the world's problems. I looooovvvve him! 

 -Brenda

i just read Jenny Rose Ryan's post about her grandmother's rag bag. My own two grannies grew up poor in Oklahoma and they were scrimpers, what we would now call masters of frugal living. Granny Mallory, with an ever present thimble on her finger, sat sewing a quilt nearly every night and I still use potholders she made from my uncle's old jeans. My Granny B could bake like an angel but if there was a morsel left it was thrown over the fence to feed the chickens - no edible ever went into her trash. And because she grew up having to draw water from a well, she was an absolute water miser. Dishwater was thrown on the flowers by the door and rainwater collected to wash her hair (long after running water was a fixture in her house). I sort of dreaded when she stayed over to take care of my sister and me because our nighttime bath was only an inch deep. No room for rubber ducky entertainment in that tub!

My niece, who works at the EPA doing research on sustainable stormwater systems thinks Granny B's graywater usage and rainwater conservation passion might have influenced her career choice. And I know the saving ways of my grandmothers have influenced my artmaking career and my work at GladRags. Thanks, Grannies, for passing on your green livin' ways.

-Brenda 

As the founder and owner of GladRags, I want to thank you for being part of the GladRags community, a community dedicated to empowering women and fostering healthy and sustainable lifestyles.  You might have been using GladRags products for years, or you might have started using them last week. Whatever your level of involvement with GladRags products, I'd like to learn about your recent experience.     

I hope you will  invest 10 minutes to share some information with me. I'm interested in learning about the type of people who purchase GladRags and how GladRags products are used.  Your feedback is critical to the company's success and will help me and my team better anticipate and respond to your needs.

Everyone who completes our online survey will receive a coupon toward their next GladRags purchase.

To take our survey, please go to: www.surveymonkey.com/gladrags

I really appreciate your participation in this project. Thank you so much.

Brenda Mallory

Founder and Owner, GladRags

We've always wanted a celebrity spokesperson for GladRags. I always thought it would be a woman but I'm pretty happy with Bob Dylan. Check out his video for us. Ok, well, it's not really for us. He'll sing for you too. 

Have fun,

Brenda 

Last week I wrote about having lunch with our neighbors at Bitch Magazine. The section on their site where they talk about their name really strikes a chord with me. I've had more than a few not-so-pleasant conversations with people who find the name GladRags offensive. They can't quite make the leap and see that we are taking the derogatory slang term for menstruation "on the rag" and turning it on its head. The dictionary definition of "gladrags" is one's finest clothes or party clothes. And that's the positive light in which we view our cycles and the products we make. Therefore, we take a demeaning term and take the sting out of it.

Over at Bitch Magazine, they discuss this issue much more eloquently (they are in the writing business after all) and I'm pasting an except below. But I hope you'll go to their site and read it in its entirety. It's an important thing for all women to hear.

"The writer Rebecca West, back in the day, said, "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." We'd argue that the word "bitch" is usually deployed for the same purpose. When it's being used as an insult, "bitch" is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don't shy away from expressing them, and who don't sit by and smile uncomfortably if they're bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we'll take that as a compliment, thanks."

 Well said, neighbors. Thank you.

 -Brenda

Bitch Magazine moved its offices to Portland recently. They are located about a mile down the street from the GladRags office so we took them out to lunch to say welcome. They are a great bunch of women doing important work. I encourage you to take a look at the magazine and to check out the writings on thier blog. I especially love their mission page.

-Brenda 

I think breastfeeding is one of the most rewarding, important, and wonderful things that happens between a mother and her child. Here's a dismaying article reported in the Washington Post about how the politically powerful formula industry toned down some intense and provocative ads produced by the Health and Human Services Department to increase historically low breastfeeding rates in the U.S.

While these ads were blunt and used scare tactics like showing an insulin syringe or an asthma inhaler with a nipple, the facts are that breastfed children suffer significantly lower rates of conditions like type 1 diabetes and asthma. But with $8 Billion in worldwide annual sales, those formula makers have some clout and they know how to use it.

-Brenda 

Labor Day always signals to me that summer is over. But it really isn't over, because here in Oregon, September is a wonderful warm, dry month. I’m getting amazing vegetables in my weekly basket from Pumpkin Ridge Farms. I’ve belonged to this CSA for over twelve years and without a doubt, my family and I are healthier people because of it  - I would never actually buy the vast amounts of dark, green leafies I am forced into cooking! It feels great knowing I’m eating an organically-grown morsel picked that very morning and that I’m helping local farmers Polly and James make a go of farm life. In every delivery, they include a note with recipes and a report of how the sun, the rain, the wind, and the bugs are effecting the crops. It’s great to be in touch with nature through your food.  Check out the CSA in your area.

Happy eating,

Brenda 

I read this article on Sunday and it made me so depressed. It's about the Supreme Court's decision to support the interests of businesses over workers. It's the story of Lilly Ledbetter, an employee who file suit against Goodyear Tire and Rubber for wage discrimination.  She was clearly discriminated against but the Supreme Court decided to a enforce a strict time requirement for challenges to be made within 180 days of the first unequal paycheck.  Lily Ledbetter didn't even know she was being unfairly paid for years. This is a ruling that hurts not only women but all unfairly treated workers. Here's the link to the article by Oregonian writer Susan Nielsen.

-Brenda