#rice for health

[s0fter-sin]

something people just don’t think about is how often chronically ill and disabled people just don’t have access to good food. not healthy food, good food; well made, tasty meals that don’t come from a jar or a freezer. how many of us are housebound or can’t drive? delivery services only offer within certain distances, if you live outside a city they aren’t an option. many people don’t have the energy or ability to cook for themselves if they have the skill to begin with. many certainly don’t have the ability to learn how. it’s something that goes completely unnoticed, just the opportunity to have a good meal and how much that wears you down

[zkaus]

At the back of my copy of The Vampire Armand, there's an old interview with Anne Rice talking about creating that novel. I've never forgotten her answer to one of the questions... It haunted me for years.

It gives incredible insight into how and why she wrote such beautiful, brutal and broken characters, and what she endured in the creation process.

BUT before you read this, I'm going to STRONGLY warn you, it goes to very very DARK places

Q: What are your work habits for a novel?

A: Once I truly begin to write, I work obsessively, in twelve-hour days, punctuated by days of long sleep and vivid dreaming. Starting time and ending time are no longer important. I might begin at 9 A.M., or after noon or at eight in the evening. I go from there. I turn on the computer and write, write, write.

My room is a mess. Notes are scribbled on the walls so that I can look up at them at the appropriate moments and insert the date, the name, whatever, when I need it. Books are stacked so high that people have to search for me when they come into the room. Opened books with marked-up pages are stacked on top of one another.

I become suicidal. I go through a horrid despair some time or other before the final page, during which everything seems meaningless—from the dawn of history to the very hour in which I am writing.

I’m intolerable to live with. But I spread myself thin over a number of loved ones and staff members so that no one person has to put up with how intense, hysterical, and miserable I am.

When I get elated and talk fast and furiously about wonderful aspects of history or the characters, or good developments in the story, people run away from me. I don’t blame them.

While the novel is being written, I try to avoid dressing for outdoors. No one can make you go out if you don’t have shoes on. Not even in the south. I wear long velvet robes and soft velvet slippers. I refuse to go out. All food is brought in. I eat hamburgers because they are easy to hold with one hand while reading and holding the book with the other hand.

In the middle of the night I read, sometimes on the carpeted floor of the bathroom, just because it’s warm. I am wretched. I don’t care anymore about being abnormal. Writing is everything. Everything. It seems impossible to write the book. It seems impossible to lift a hairbrush to brush my hair. But I do it. I put on mascara every day that I write.

This period of intense work lasts about six weeks. It’s best that way. My imagination is overheated, and my memory clogged with data of varying importance. If I go over six weeks, I begin to forget things; I feel the loss of intensity and information and I become all the more self-destructive and obsessed.

The end of the book is a big event for me. A big event. I start screaming. I put the hour and the date at the end of the last page. I expect everybody to understand, at least a little. It’s a triumph! The darkness of destiny has been driven back for a brief while. I celebrate. I scream, eat chocolate, and sleep.

Right near the end of writing The Vampire Armand, I realized I had to return to Italy, especially to Florence, and at once I began to make preparations for the trip. As soon as the novel was finished and off to the publisher’s, as soon as it could be accomplished, I flew to Italy. That gave me hope, a way out of a life threatening darkness that often follows the climax of a book. But I still ate chocolate and screamed.

While writing, I don’t want to rest. I don’t want to sleep. Why sleep? It seems stupid, except when weariness overcomes me like a giant cloud of poisonous vapor. Then I sleep fifteen to twenty hours. I tell people to go in and out of the bedroom and ignore me lying there, as if I were dead. I won’t talk on the phone. I won’t open my eyes if I don’t have to. I dream terrible, upsetting dreams.

I want to kill myself. But I can’t. I can’t do it to other people, and I have work that must be done, novels that must be written. So I don’t kill myself. Besides, I don’t think it’s good to kill oneself. It’s a horrible idea. It has a horrible effect even on acquaintances.

I think a lot about people I loved who are dead. I think of how dead they are, year after year, ever more dead.

[thebibliosphere]

Huh. I think I can eat Walkers gluten-free shortbread again.

[vegan-nom-noms]

Tempeh Burritos

[droughtofapathy]

Earlier today, several of Sarah Rice's close personal friends announced her death on social media. Sarah, the original Joanna in Sweeney Todd, was also a regular performer at the monthly Sondheim Unplugged cabaret series up until a little over a year ago. To celebrate this incredible actress, please enjoy a few of my audio clips from her time with Sondheim Unplugged, including her final performance of "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," a hilarious story about the late Angela Lansbury, and a sadly appropriate farewell song.

[colourfulfoodnutrition]

[hekateinhell]

Anne Rice on depression and writing:

"I get feelings of total defeat. I get feelings of total nihilism. I get so depressed sometimes that I look at my hands and I think why even lift them off the table...why turn on the computer...why touch the keys...why write anything? But what I do then is write about that. If nothing else, I turn it on and I write about despair, and I try to write my way through it. I think the most important thing, more than anything in the world, is to write, and use any excuse in your mind that you can to write. Don't ever let despair or depression stop you.

Remember this, that if you don't write it, it isn't going to be there. It's that simple. And, if you are really down and out and really sad, look at it this way--decide that you are going to write it, and if you don't like it, you are going to throw it away. I've done that quite a few times, and l've never wound up throwing the book away."

[silverskye13]

If your friends give you some good ways to get iron back besides supplements, please share with the class 😅 only realized i was anemic recently after dealing with it for years :') no pressure! just thought i might ask since i don't know anyone anemic myself

I have been told! High iron foods are your friends. Red meat [though chicken also has a decent iron content], and organ meat specifically [liver, heart, tongue] are high in iron. Leafy greens like spinach and collard greens, as well as broccoli and peas. There are also high iron cereals you can buy. They tend to be on the more bland end of the cereal spectrum, but still good.

[I personally like the frosted mini wheaties. The crunch... So good...]

Also, sometimes the issue is less iron intake, and more your iron absorption. Vitamin C can sometimes help with that. Citrus fruits are a good pick. I'm thinking about grabbing some nectarines since they keep for ages. They get expensive this time of year though, which sucks >:/

Multivitamins are always a choice as well, if you don't wanna change your diet, or have food problems and can't/don't like the new foods. [I know you said you don't like supplements, but I am sharing everything I've learned with the class.]

I personally don't like how expensive they are, but the convenience is nice. I've been told iron pills can make your stomach upset though, and vitamins in general have mixed results for people. I would do your own reading on that.

That's! All I got! Good luck with your blood!

[nelegance]

Everyone: OMG it’s the Emmy awards! Peace and love! Schitt’s Creek!

Me: …anyway, so can we talk about that time Lestat had a breakdown over a sudden realization that death may be the actual end? And that he won’t know when he died because he’ll be dead? Does anyone have my therapists phone number because when I didn’t sleep for months when I had an ego death and death anxiety issue caused by…stuff I was taking, she didn’t understand. I’d like to send her these photocopies of book pages that I have also highlighted. Also also, is religion the answer? I’m on a spiritual quest. Woo! Schitt’s Creek!

[chicago-geniza]

Thrilling thunderstorm. Giddy from lack of sleep. Doing as little work as humanly possible. Buying a book on della Francesca for $1. Coworker brought donuts for the whole union to celebrate bargaining. Got an OSHA poster for free. Four more hours till I can go HOME and drink BRANDY out of a CRYSTAL GLASS and watch DOWNTON ABBEY

At the register I read a blog post by an antique carpet expert who identified all the antique carpets on the Downton set and provided historical + material-culture background on each piece, it was awesome

[b0nychick]

how crazy am i on a scale of 1-10

[stlamb]

i'm eating the best i've ever eaten for the best value by figuring out a few small tricks and im surprised by how easy it is to eat healthy fresh food with almost no preparation time... this sounds like an ad lol but i'm just impressed with myself (used to be the type of person to eat fast food multiple dinners in a row fyi.) going to do more research then share with every adhd queen who can't cook what i know.

[bioaccumulation]

You should be able to order loose cigarettes at cafes

[vegan-nom-noms]

Jerk Tempeh Bowls with Mango-Tahini Sauce

[ejunkiet]

😭

[colourfulfoodnutrition]

Veggie Rice Paper Rolls

Ingredients:

avocado

tempeh (16g protein per serve)

carrot

capsicum

cucumber

baby spinach / lettuce

rice paper

rice noodles

sesame seeds