every month has a name

I'm not talking about the names they print at the top of the calendar, either. Have you noticed that every month is National [insert worthy cause here] Month? They all have their specifically colored ribbons, too. I'm starting to lose track - pink ribbons are for breast cancer, blue for prostate, yellow for soldiers...and Lance Armstrong, but didn't he have prostate cancer? Also, because there are more than 12 worthy causes, a month might actually have multiple names and corresponding ribbons, walks, and other fund- and awareness-raising activities.

We started simply enough - February was Black History month, a whole 28 days devoted to recognizing the countless valuable contributions black people of varying ethnicities (not always African) have made to this country. In June we have a Race for the Cure complete with blue ribbons, held around Father's day, to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, even though we had the breast cancer run-walk in May because of Mother's day (non-mothers don't get cancer). They even change the lights on the Philadelphia skyline to be pink in honor of this month. October 1 is also World Vegetarian Day and kicked off the Vegan Month of Food. November is Diabetes Awareness month - I think those ribbons are red - but we had our Diabetes walk in October....you get the point.

Or do you? A blog I read more or less daily named October Hug-A-Carb month and devoted the whole month to the worship of grains and bananas and all those other things that are so bad for you and make you fat. Oops, that's overeating - I confused myself. Moving on then, at the close of Hug-A-Carb month, she wanted to keep the love flowing and in a decidedly against-the-grain move, she has made November a month devoted to kindness. She is paid a certain amount of money based on visits to her site and in return for people trying to click to and through her blog more this month, she will be donating every last cent to charity. For more details about Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness, please read her wonderful blog.

Trying to do my part, I want to share about my breakfast this morning - it was amazing. I had read on Katie's blog about melting a banana to put in your oatmeal and I thought to myself, "Silly girl - bananas don't melt!" Guess what - if you cut them into smallish pieces and microwave them for a minute, they sure do! It was one of the most amazing things I've woken up to, short of my parents' Christmas tree on Christmas morning when I was a child. To sum it up:

melted banana + oatmeal + vanilla soygurt = breakfast bliss

Try it - you won't regret it.

Finally, dinner tonight was Miso-Ginger Red Beans with Broccoli. I think I needed more broccoli or less sauce, because there was definitely a disparity between their volumes. It was still very, very good, though, because miso is awesome. In addition to tasting really good, it has a ton of health benefits (as long as you don't boil it - that kills the friendly enzymes), which might explain why there are so many Japanese centenarians. The smell is a little strange and it doesn't really look like something you would want to eat out of the container, but once you taste it, it's well worth all the courage-gathering it took to try it. Just don't read the ingredients.