Happy Place, Happy Space
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? … See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these… Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:26, 28, 34
A happy day is an Ugly Food pickup day. I love my food rescue grocer and the Surprise Bundles we get from them. This week, we had fancy string beans and momotaros.
This past week, I have been contemplating availability and accessibility in the quest for sustainability. Eggs have been on my mind. Singapore does not permit the rearing of free-range chickens, apparently for fear of outbreak of avian flu; we can only get cage-free eggs. There are free-range eggs imported from Australia, but that would be eating far from local. As a vegetarian, eggs play a big part in my weekly consumption. Do I give up/reduce egg intake in favour of vegan alternatives, like chickpea flour omelettes, flaxseed baked goods. What do you think?
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A Big Smile came in the mail – Laurie’s card has reached me – this lovely New Year’s greeting was “taken about 20 years ago, on a cold January day at one of our favourite beaches in Maine”.
And because there is no such thing as too many bookmarks, I have 3 from The Great Library series to add to my collection! Thank you Laurie!
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Reading your Joyful Posts brings me to my happy place. I hope having them in one place makes it easier for you to find when you need a bit of happy therapy, too.
If you would like to join in Happy Place, Happy Space, ping back to this post and I will include you next week
- Carol Ann Siciliano‘s Delights: finds stillness in raisins, teapots and warriors
- Donna at Wind Kisses’ Knowledge Lines: embraces celebrations, wrinkles & pink champagne cake
- Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland‘s Pick up sticks: embarks on spring cleaning
- Nancy Loderick‘s Reflections during a hike: enjoys a different pace around a favourite lake
- Natalie at Little Pieces of Me‘s Grateful Fridays: delivers a career planning lecture with university students
- Natalie the Explorer‘s What’s blooming at Allan Gardens: takes us inside Allan Gardens Conservatory
- Thistles and Kiwis’ This Week’s Small Pleasures: shares highlights in beautiful food and a visit from a kākā
- Trent’s World‘s The Weekly Smile: reads a news story that delights
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This post is my contribution to
- Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer
- What’s On Your Plate hosted by Deb at The Widow Badass & Donna at Retirement Reflections
Touring My Backyard 
I love eggs and they are an important and versatile ingredient in cooking. Great nutrition in small packages. We all do our best to buy local, to eat healthy and what’s best for the environment. If the worst thing you do is not buy local eggs, and you choose free range, you are doing good.
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Thanks for sharing your experience and for weighing in, Amanda. We have decided to stay local and use barn-laid eggs. What we’ve discovered is that these eggs are tastier than the regular ones we used to buy – bonus for us.
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Great outcome
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Can’t imagine life without eggs, so versatile. In the uk at the moment, the hens are having to be kept in doors for fear of flu. So the boxes are having new stickers applied. Barn safe. I do think eat local is better.
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Appreciate your weighing in …. there are so many different aspects to consider, it is helpful to hear from you and other BlogFriends. I think barn eggs are the way to go for me … locally sourced, of course 🙂
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Hi Ju-Lyn,
I’m not a vegetarian but in our home, we dearly love our fresh veggies. I think it is unnecessary to abandon eggs from your diet. They are tremendously healthy and pleasant to eat and no animal suffered for them. I don’t have any issues with caged hen eggs either so I may not fit with the demographic you want.
I love that you included a thought about bookmarks. Did you know that I produced one story with bookmarks as a running theme? It’s one of my more solid feel-good stories that I’d be pleased to share with you if interested.
I could ask who in the story is the most like you? Here’s the link if you’d like to read it and/or share it with your readers. You are always so kind about sharing my story links and want to make sure you know how much I appreciate you doing that for me / us.
Blessings.
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Appreciate your weighing in on the egg conundrum. I do think you are right – not everything has to be a difficult choice. I am at a place where I would like to make the best decisions possible, given the options available to me. Seeking yours & other BlogFriend’s thoughts often help me develop & clarify my own. I also like finding out what is happening in different parts of the world.
Thank you for sharing Ribbons & Remembrances…
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Your omelette meal looks amazing and I like how it has come together from the ‘ugly food’ pick up. Not eating eggs would be hard for me so I think I would probably go for the local caged eggs. Are there any suppliers near you that you can ask about how the birds are kept? Sometimes they can be kept inside but with some room to roam around a barn.
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It would be challenging for us to be without eggs as well – we bake too much with them as well as include them in our meals way too often not to be missed!
We can get barn eggs – that’s what we’ve been eating recently. We’ve discovered that barn eggs are tastier too!
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Your omelet looks so yummy! I never had chickpea flour omelet — I never even thought about it because I would have to look for chickpea flour. At my house, we always have to have eggs. I’m mostly vegetarian but it’s more for budget reasons. Eating meat is more of an occasional indulgence.
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You highlight issues I’ve been contemplating in my quest for a greener life – practicality & accessibility. It’s back to eating local.
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As a chicken keeper, I can’t imagine eggs not being a part of our diet and also appreciate you even raising the question. I do believe that locally sourced food is best, if it’s an option for you. Maybe there’s a middle ground 🙂 In the meantime, your omelet looks delicious and I love that you’re so passionate about ugly food ❤ May your week ahead be filled with more delicious meals and joyful moments!
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Thank you for weighing in with your perspective – I love that you rear & grow your food. This is rather unusual for us in Singapore as we are so dependant on imports.
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Thank you, Ju-Lyn, for the mention and for linking up with Weekend coffee share. Your omelette looks delicious. Lovely bookmarks, too. Eggs are so versatile, I’d go local.
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Thank you for weighing in Natalie. It looks like going local is a strong favourite …
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You know, I love the pairing of the Matthew passage and Ugly Food. We are all stained, bumped and bruised — and so dearly loved. And how nice that Laurie sent you such a lovely and appropriate gift! (I love that she penetrated the cyber web!)
Finally, many thanks for the mention and the elegant summary. I’m so grateful!
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Oh my goodness! I love your connecting of scripture to uglyfood – we are indeed loved despite our own imperfection. I am reading the book of Judges for the first time in a long while, and boy! is it a reminder that God does remain faithful to us despite all our blatant flaws.
P/s Have been meaning to ask for your postal address for a while. If you are inclined to give it, please email me at julyndee@gmail.com
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I’ve never heard of momotaros! Must google…
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They are sooooo delicious! We don’t eat them often at all because they are quite expensive! Thank you, Ugly Food, for access to yet another deliciousness!
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Wow! What a great bargain this Ugly Food is! Such a find!
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Wishing you joy this Palm Sunday, Ju-Lyn. Love the bookmarks.
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Thank you for the well-wishes Jo! May this Holy Week & Easter be a joyful celebration for you too!
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🤗💟
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So glad you finally got them! Three more for your collection.
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Eggs are so versatile and tasty that personally I would find them hard to give up. Sourcing local is the way to go though. The beans look great. Thanks for the mention!
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We are trying very hard to eat as close to home as possible – given that Singapore imports most of our meat & produce, it’s quite a challenge.
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Thank you for joining us at What’s On Your Plate. That is a great question about eggs. I primarily eat a vegetarian diet. Even though I love chickpeas, I never find that chickpea flour omelettes do the trick. Perhaps I am simply not making them correctly.
Beautiful card and bookmarks from Laurie!
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From what I can tell, the chickpea substitutes are seasoned quite heavily, to replicate colour as well as some degree of taste. One of the most interesting things I came across is something called black salt (a type of Himalayan salt) – it’s supposed to lend an “eggy” flavour to food.
https://koyuncusalt.com/en/salt-library/what-is-black-salt-benefits-and-harms-of-kala-namak
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I feel for those caged chickens
Nothing like a free range eggs
Hard decision
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I hear you Alison … enough to turn one vegan!
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That’s a tough one, Ju-Lyn. I think – for the planet – better to eat local even though the chickens are not allowed to range free. Eggs are a great source of protein that would be harder for a vegetarian to replace. That is something I will have to consider as well as the avian flu rages across the world, although I am not vegetarian. My daughter and son-in-law want to have egg-laying chickens once they move into their house – the bylaws say they can house up to 6 on their property…I wonder if that will still be allowed to happen. I was looking forward to fresh free-range eggs every day as I am moving to their property too, albeit in my own separate dwelling.
Deb
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What fabulous news about your upcoming move … love the idea of being in close proximity yet with your own private dwelling … so exciting. Hope you are able to have your own chickens & eggs – I am imagining the thrill of collecting the eggs and the yummies they will make.
Appreciate your weighing in … it’s quite challenging these days when considering one’s impact on our food chains: sustainability, carbon-footprint, food safety, so many factors go into it.
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