All Grown Up?
According to his adoption papers, this is the 1st birthday of Hobbes the B.O.B.cat (B.O.B. stands for Big Orange Boy). Since he is technically no longer a kitten, we are trying to persuade him that it’s time for him to stop with the zoomies and getting into absolutely everything.
I think this may be a bit of a hard sell.
A big birthday is always an occasion for a dinner party, albeit one in which the guest of honor can’t participate. So we invited neighbors Sharon and Susan, Hobbes’ honorary aunts, over for a feast that featured my first try at the Skillet Lasagna from Lidia’s A Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl, the latest by Lidia Bastianich, one of favorite cookbook authors.
While lasagna is always a construction project, this version is a little less so because it uses no-boil noodles. I made a couple of rookie goofs: I should have used a bigger pan (this one was just big enough and there was some sauce overflow), and I accidentally finished it with too much cheese (which is also known as a good problem). It was just delicious, and I think I have just enough noodles left in the package to make another panful.
Register for Next Week’s Food Justice Summit
If you are one of our many readers who is very concerned about issues such as equitable food access, food sovereignty and greater opportunities for urban agriculture, you do not want to miss the 18th Annual Food Justice Summit coming up next week.
The summit, with its theme of Future-Proofing Our Food System, will take place online on February 8 and 9, with a live, in-person final session on February 10 at the University of Illinois at Chicago Student Center East (750 S. Halsted St.). The event is produced by Chicago Food Policy Action Council and co-presented by Cook County Department of Public Health and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
The following is information from the organizers to help you register and prepare for this important event.
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Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC) is excited to announce the completely free, hybrid, 18th Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit on February 8-10! Support in the reflection and brainstorm of…
What steps can you take and what steps are other organizations taking to help future-proof our food system?
What are some environmental, policy-focused, and/or business model innovations that are helping to future-proof the food system?
How can we deconstruct the root causes of food inequity while ensuring Chicagoland communities are protected in the future?
You will be able to connect with food workers, farmers, vendors and local leaders all over Chicago and Cook County.
Click below to register for free — all are welcome to attend!
Study Connecting Regenerative Ag to Human Health Gets NPR Attention
A shoutout to Erin Meyer at the Basil’s Harvest non-profit, whose recently released study showing a statistical relationship between regenerative agriculture and human health is the subject of a lengthy article on NPR Illinois’ website.
Says the article, “Basil Harvest’s study, while largely technical in nature, breaks down the modern science behind what agriculturists have known for decades: healthy soils produce healthy foods, and the key to healthier soils lies in maintaining or increasing a farm’s soil organic matter (SOM).”
Click the button below to read the full article.