Live Aesthetically

2011 Vernal Equinox

2011-03-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

Slowly, sleepily I am reviving all of my blogs as more than just a few of them are in my name. I admit that I have over the past little while become attached to the convenience of only communicating on facebook. After all, the purpose of my Internet communication beginning in 2003, was and is to connect with a community. Yet, out here in the blogosphere, other than the visibility of a site counter, I have no idea how many people are even interested in what I might find & link, share or even post, except for the occasional comments that are always positive.
The only time there hasn't been a positive comment was when a misguided blood relative decided to track me down online after many years without any communication at all_ but that is really not ancient history to share here.
That's just it; in a few sentences I have related that our inter-relational human world is way too complex. Are you afraid? This is not the correct response to have.
Dear reader, I am attempting to share here that I just discovered I missed the Spring Equinox this year! In my “smaller” cyber-world connections through facebook, no one has mentioned it! Out in the larger world via the news, in the physical surroundings where I reside and through my global blogs, the rhythms of the season almost crept in completely unnoticed! It is spring now!!

Yet, the waxing of the light begins early in February in this corner of the northern hemsisphere, with the advent of Imbolc, Candlemas or Brigid if you prefer. The time of lactation; of a wise woman, a goddess whom poets adore(d).
Pause here with me and take in my humble words, art and music of acknowledgement for this precious time of year:

Blessed be the earth, and all who dwell upon it.
We give thanks for the season now departing from us,
For the blessings it has bestowed upon us,
And upon those with whom we share this world.

Blessed be the new season.
We pray that it will be a time filled with peace,
With abundance, with prosperity,
With wisdom,
With love.

Blessed be all who share this feast.
Let us now prepare for the time ahead
By opening our hearts, and our minds, and our spirits.

Looking back I can say during Brigid, I was noticing loads of rainbows, new lambs in the local fields and the bald eagles returning to their local habitats.

Just three days ago, it was the time of the Vernal Equinox and by sheer grace it was via a local classical music station that I was informed of again another near miss. Where is my connection to the rhythms of Mother Nature?
No matter what the world of human struggle is about right now, to lose this sense of where one is on the wheel of the seasons is to be completely adrift, I feel. Therefore, I write my humble invitation, to take in a beautiful respite so as to begin the process of grounding and refreshing one's senses and awareness in the ancient rhythms of our Mother Earth. Blessed be!

Harvest dessert choices, just in time for Thanksgiving!

2010-11-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

Remember to use organic ingredients and to substitute unhealthy choices with more nutritionally balanced ones, for the sake of ease of digestion and integration in the body! Enjoy with a full & glad heart!!

Sweet Potato Pie, Pioneer Woman's Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, Chocolate Pudding Pie, Cranapple Crisp, Guinness Stout Ginger Bundt, Apple Upside-down Biscuits, Cardamom Vanilla Bundt, Old-Fashion Apple Pie, Pear Walnut Spice Cake, Pecan Crunch Cookies, Sweet Potato Cookies, Grand Marnier Bread Pudding, Pumpkin Cheesecake.
Beware! These are holiday recipes (though not a few are made any time of the year), so think organic nutrition as you prepare the ingredients list for your favorite choice(s) here! And have a Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

And an early snow forecast for this time of year!! The links for the rest of this traditional little video follow! Watch'em with the kids of all ages!

Tester-Hagens Amendment to S.510

2010-11-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

This call for action concerning state-controlled food safety regulations, is written by our own Rebecca Landis.

I have copy and pasted it here to help spread the word in order to drum up all the support we can muster to call our senators to take favorable action on this bill, and then some!

In the first person, these are Rebecca's own words: "I participated in a conference call yesterday with the organizations working to modify the federal food safety bill so that it is not such a burden on small farms and food processors. Sharon Thornberry, my co-chair on Issues and Advocacy, asked that I post a summary to this list so you’ll be ready to call your U.S. Senators next week. I’ll try to remind you on Sunday.

I know this is all both confusing and tedious, but it’s really important. Even people in Congress who say they support small farms and local agriculture are likely to vote the wrong way on this issue if they don’t get the message loud and clear that the Tester-Hagen amendments really matter to us.

Some in Congress think they have “fixed” the smaller folks’ problems with some nice words about making the FDA consider how to make things easier for small farms and processors. I don’t think the FDA would have the foggiest idea how to do that. Most small farms and processors now are regulated only by the state and not the FDA. Those that have found themselves under FDA jurisdiction have been treated poorly.

So the election is over, and the “lame duck” Congress is back in Washington DC is starting Monday Nov. 15. The best guess is that there will be what is called a cloture vote on Nov. 17 or 18. One Oklahoma senator, unless he has changed his mind recently, would block the bill from hitting the floor by the “unanimous consent” pathway. The cloture vote usually takes 60 get it moving. Whichever way it gets there, we want the Tester-Hagen amendment to be voted into the bill – and not messed with thereafter.

Tester-Hagen has opposition from United Fresh and from something called AMI that sounds like big ag and livestock. But most of our concern is focused on the Make Our Food Safe Coalition, which came out with lengthy and bad arguments against our amendments. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has rebutted these arguments in detail. I'm worried this group’s efforts will give our two senators an excuse to either not vote for our amendment or to go along with watering it down.

MOFS is looking for a senator to sponsor a secondary amendment, if we do get Tester-Hagen in, they will probably try to have it say that in case of an outbreak FDA could wipe out any exemptions that jeopardize the health of vulnerable populations. It's a victim-focused approach – each life matters so everyone must be made subject to the FDA. We can’t say lives don’t matter, but we can counter by saying: 1) we are not eliminating existing state and local regulation; 2) it's not likely that the FDA’s regulation will be the best mechanism to prevent outbreaks on small farms.

This MOFS coalition feels everything should be solely about whether the foods are high or low risk and not at all about how or by whom they are grown – even though small farms are not causing all the recalls and food scandals. An example would be spinach picked by hand on small farms by humans who can see if it has animal feces on it vs. 1,000+ acres of spinach picked by combine-like machines and going into huge processing plants commingled with many farms' spinach such that it take weeks or months to trace anything. So under this MOFS approach, once spinach is implicated, even if it's at a huge spinach operation, suddenly small farms are thrown in with larger farms under whatever approach FDA decides to take.

Our Sen. Jeff Merkley is a particular target, and I think Sen. Ron Wyden will be leaned on also. We need to have our voices heard too.

*****So on Nov. 15 or 16 (Monday or Tuesday), you should call both Oregon senators and those in any other state where you might have some sway.*****

PLEASE tell them you want Tester-Hagen amendment, and you do NOT want them modified by the Make Our Food Safe coalition’s proposals. Point out that Tester-Hagen does not exempt anyone from state and local regulation, and that adding another layer of government (the FDA) won’t improve the safety of small farms and processors, who are already doing a much better job than the larger food system."

Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Consumerism

2010-11-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

Recycling Yard #6, Seattle 2004, Chris Jordan, photographer

Turning it up!

2010-11-04T02:46:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Samhain

2010-10-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

Setting a place at the table for spirits and ancestors on Halloween

On Halloween night, when trick-or-treaters in peaked hats and green makeup roam the neighborhood streets, a roomful of real witches sit in silence at a dinner table illuminated by candlelight.

The witches, and members of the area Pagan Group gather in silence for "Dumb Supper," during which the hope is to summon up spirits.

During "Samhain," an ancient, pre-Christian celebration of honoring -- and hopefully reuniting -- with the dead, pagans gather with friends and family at home for the feast.

An extra place at the table will be set for the ancestors, who, in Silicon Valley, for example, might include such luminaries as Charles Babbage, the 19th-century inventor who originated the concept of the programmable computer. Pagans eat in silence and wait, watching for signs of the departed souls.
Pagans typically practice nature religions. Some seek connection with ancient African ancestors; others are witches or goddess worshipers, pagan revivalists and re-constructionists who study ancient texts to learn about the roots of pagan rituals and practices, she said.

On Halloween night, some pagans will go all out, planning to welcome costumed visitors with "lots of treats."

"A lot of pagan religions assume reincarnation. From the perspective of reincarnation, the child asking for treats is seen as the ancestor reborn. Halloween is the festival of ancestors, and it is also the festival of children."

The veil between worlds is thin at Halloween and children personify the trickster spirits. At Samhain, the supernatural is most likely to appear. Sometimes there is the sense of a presence, more like a thing seen with the mind's eye.

Sightings are relatively rare; some people have only one clear encounter with a deceased person during the dinner ritual. But the experience can be unmistakable. An ephemeral human form hovered in the darkness, for example.

"I had never seen a ghost or 'shade.' I looked to my friend who was sitting next to me. He was staring and pointing and nodding."

The ghost made a sound like bats do.

"You read Shakespeare, and he talks about the 'gibbering ghost.' I always thought that was a metaphorical phrase."

Far from gatherings over boiling cauldrons of foul-smelling brews, pagan groups meet to learn about pagan practice.

Some practitioners have a scholarly bent, sharing information about rituals and picking up practices or reviving others based on archeological transcriptions of ancient texts. When Greek papyri about ancient rituals were finally translated in the 1990s, they provided a gold mine.
On a recent weekend, some members gathered to make masks for Halloween. Such gatherings are often a family affair, including children.

"Pagan religion is about practice and values. It's unusual to say, 'What do you believe?' Everything changes. The assumptions you make change based on experience. It's more about, 'Do you value some things in common?'"

The bonds in the pagan community mirror the kinds of social benefits people get from churches and other groups, helping each other or volunteering.

"Many people work with and for our local community. Those are things that not only do good for the community but foster the more genuine bonds between people."

An excerpted article, to make the point in order to broaden horizons on All Hallows Eve, Samhain & Halloween! Have a happy & fulfilling one!

4 Ways to Regain Control of Your Food

2010-10-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

The egg recall taught us how little we know about the origins of our food—and how dangerous that can be. How can you find out where your food is coming from?

by Phil Howard
posted Oct 11, 2010

Where is your food is from? What happened to it before it reached your plate? More people are asking these questions, in large part because it is increasingly difficult to answer them. We now know so little about our food, particularly its ecological and social impacts, that it’s easy to feel like we’ve lost control over it.

The recent recall of eggs contaminated with Salmonella has underscored just how opaque the origins of our food have become. The accompanying diagram illustrates how eggs from just two farms in Iowa were sold in 22 states under more than 40 different brands. Other food recalls, such as peanuts contaminated with Salmonella in 2008-2009, and spinach contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 in 2006, revealed similar patterns: dozens of different brands packaged in one processing plant, which were then shipped across the country, or even internationally.

The number of firms responsible for producing most of the food consumed in the United States gets smaller every year.

Unfortunately, in the absence of a recall, we have no way of knowing who is really producing foods like these. Companies that own the brand names are becoming less involved in farming, processing, and packing. Like the shoe company Nike, these “virtual” food companies may contract out the production, focusing instead on the marketing aspects of their business. They frequently keep the name and location of the producers a trade secret to prevent competitors from learning where they source their products. This confidentiality could be considered excessive, when recalls illustrate that so few facilities are now responsible for producing so much of our food. Two companies control approximately 80 percent of the bagged salad market in the United States, for example, despite the appearance of many more “competing” brands on retailer shelves.

The challenge of consolidation

The number of firms responsible for producing most of the food consumed in the United States gets smaller every year.
This consolidation is a result of the largest companies buying out their closest competitors, with many of the remaining companies going out of business. The result is that markets become less competitive, giving dominant companies the power to artificially raise prices for consumers—or lower the prices they pay farmers and other suppliers.

In addition to this economic impact, consolidation gives a rapidly shrinking minority the power to determine other aspects of food production, such as how food is produced; how much is produced; where it is grown, processed, transported, and sold; and ultimately, who gets to eat. And, as the recent egg recall taught us, an overly consolidated food system makes the whole country vulnerable to the dangerous practices of just a few farms.
Animation: How the international seed market consolidated, 1996-2008:

There are alternatives to this highly consolidated food system, though some of the most successful are now threatened by consolidation, as well. Organic food, for example, is intended to promote more ecologically sustainable production practices. But as organic became more mainstream, it attracted the interest of multinational corporations. Scores of pioneering organic brands were acquired by these corporations, starting in the late 1990s, though very few make these ownership ties apparent on their labels. As a result, while “organic” remains a less chemical intensive alternative to conventional agriculture, the label may fall short for other ethical ideals. Organic foods may still be heavily packaged, highly processed, shipped thousands of miles, and produced by exploited laborers.

What can you do regain control of the food you eat?

There are many possibilities, ranging from becoming more informed about the products at your local supermarket to growing your own food.
Research the companies behind your food.

One tool for becoming more informed is GoodGuide. This searchable website has a large and growing database of food products, each one scored according to its health, environmental, and social impacts. There is even an application that allows you to scan a barcode with a mobile device to look up ratings on that product. GoodGuide also provides corporate ownership information for most items. Although this won’t necessarily tell you who really produced it, or where, it will let you know which companies you’re supporting with your purchases.

Another source of information on corporate ownership specifically for organic foods is a series of graphics that can be found on my website. They show the consolidation and “stealth ownership” that has occurred in the organic food processing industry, as well as the distribution and retail sectors. If you are interested in supporting independent organic food producers see the sidebar for a list of major North American brands. These companies are frequently presented with lucrative buyout offers, but have remained committed to maintaining control of their business.

Pay attention to labels

In addition to organic, there are other ecolabels that represent standards less typically embodied in food production. Some of these include Fair Trade, Biodynamic, American Grassfed, and several third-party certified humane labels. Although not all of these standards preclude large-scale operations, they will provide you with more information about some of the ethical implications of your purchases.

Join a food co-op

A good place to find ecolabeled foods is a retail food cooperative, or cooperative buying club. While some of the products they carry have ties to multinational corporations, as a member-owner of your cooperative you have more control over what is sold, as well as a greater voice when communicating with food producers than you would on your own.

“Local” is not as carefully monitored as some other ecolabels, so maintain a healthy degree of skepticism and ask for more details when such claims are vague.

Cooperatives have historically supported local food producers, and remain some of the best places to find products made by small farmers and food processors. Recently, however, more mainstream retailers have started emphasizing their supply of local foods. Even Wal-Mart is joining this trend. The demand for local foods is rising for many reasons, including interest in freshness, taste, supporting local economies, protecting green space, reducing fossil fuel consumption, and simply knowing more about where our food is from. But “local” is not as carefully monitored as some other ecolabels, so maintain a healthy degree of skepticism and ask for more details when such claims are vague.

Know (or be) your farmer

To find out even more about your food, talk directly to the producer. Ways to do this include buying a share of a farm (Community Supported Agriculture), shopping at farmers’ markets or roadside stands, or picking the produce yourself. Two great sources for finding these types of farms or markets in your area are LocalHarvest and PickYourOwn.

Everybody Eats How a community food system works.

The surest way to know how your food was produced is to grow your own. Even the smallest indoor spaces can grow sprouts or a small herb garden. Of course, the seed industry has also become highly consolidated, but you can find lists of independent companies, or companies that have pledged not to buy or sell genetically engineered seeds.

In our current food system, finding out where your food is from is not easy. In fact, some journalists and documentary filmmakers have made successful careers of becoming “food detectives,” and informing their audiences of the stories behind the food on their plates. You may not want to go that far yourself. But taking small steps to learn more, buy directly from food producers, or even grow some of your own food, can add up to quite a bit more control.

Egg recall infographic:

Phil HowardPhil Howard wrote this article for /">YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Phil Howard is assistant professor at Michigan State University, where he teaches and conducts research on community, food, and agriculture. His visual representations of our changing food system have been featured in numerous outlets, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Sierra Magazine.

Interested?

* A Month Without Monsanto: April Dávila wondered what it would take to cut the GMO giant out of her family’s life. She found that it was far more entrenched than she’d ever realized.
* My 10-Mile Diet: Vicki Robin blogs as she spends the month eating only locally grown food.
* 3 Pillars of a Food Revolution: As marketers learn to fake climate-friendly food, how do we spot the real thing? Anna Lappé says it's a question of values.

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

FREE CLEAN WATER EVERYWHERE_ BLOG for ACTIONhttp://blogactionday.change.org/

2010-10-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK on CHANGE.ORG
What causes more death than war?

This summer, the United Nations voted to make access to clean water a recognized human right. This was welcome news to those fighting the disturbing reality that more people die each year from contaminated water than all forms of violence and war combined.

But the UN vote is just the beginning. We now need to make good on the commitment to provide access to clean water to the nearly 1 billion people worldwide who currently rely on bacteria-infested water that causes everything from diarrhea to dysentery.

To generate support for this effort, this week Change.org is mobilizing thousands of bloggers from more than 100 countries to write about the water crisis as a part of our annual Blog Action Day, held every October 15th.

Petitions by Change.orgStart a Petition »

The goal of Blog Action Day is to take a single day out of the year to focus the world's attention on one important issue. This year's participants include leading tech blogs like The Official Google Blog, international blogs like Global Voices, and government blogs such as The White House blog. We have also partnered with organizations on the front lines of the water crisis, including UNICEF, charity: water, and Water.org.

But beyond these prominent voices and organizations, the success of Blog Action Day depends on people like you and the millions of others dedicated to a world without unnecessary suffering. Here are three easy steps you can take to get involved and help make Blog Action Day 2010 the largest event ever to increase awareness about the water crisis:

1. Register your blog or website: Are you a blogger or website owner? Then we need your help - register your blog or site today, and don't forget to grab an action widget to get your readers involved.
2. Sign the petition: Together with US Fund for UNICEF, we're helping to build a movement of people across the world calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the UN's work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest populations. Help grow this movement by adding your name.
3. Raise funds for water: Raise money to provide clean drinking water to those in need through charity: water, which allows you to create a fundraising page to raise money to build wells in Africa, or Water.org, where a $25 donation provides clean water for a lifetime for one person.

In the three minutes it took you to read this email, 12 people have died from unsafe water. Please join us in fighting this tragedy by supporting Blog Action Day 2010: Water.

Watch this video, too!

2010-10-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

OH! WOW ! You Gotta Watch THIS TED Talk!

2010-10-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

Lions for Lambs

2010-09-27T23:52:00.000-07:00

Minimalist story-telling. It is an approach to conveying a story that presumes intelligence in others; the kind of intelligence that can finish the thought being explored in the story! An intelligence that requires a life of exposure, of desire to learn, to know one's own self better. A story for those who believe and live following through on those beliefs; not a place that attracts identification with ego in all it's tired and small forms!

I watched this movie for the first time tonight. Yeah, I have been tucked away fighting the good fight for many years_ call me sheltered from a lot that has happened in popular culture for a while now!
The decision to watch it in the first place was to see how many films my local library has with Meryl Streep... ever seen "Alice in the Palace?"

The Great Turning; a synopsis

2010-09-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

'The Great Turning: the work of an entire species shifting its entire historic human mindset of who and what we are in relation to the entire planet; recognizing deeply that we are a species that is A LIVING PART OF a LIVING PLANET.' (paraphrased) _ Joanna Macy

Ratatouille's Ratatouille!

2010-08-31T00:52:00.000-07:00

Tell me I’m not alone in this: You saw Ratatouille, fell in love with Remy (though you still jumped a foot in the air when you saw a significantly less-charming rodent scamper across your path on the way home) and found yourself with a pressing craving, not for the heavy and too-often soggy traditional Provençal ratatouille, but that kaleidoscope of spiraled colors they served to the haughty and (spoiler!) soon-humbled restaurant critic.

I can’t believe how well this worked out. I also can’t believe I cooked a cartoon dish created by an imaginary rat. But I can believe I’ll be making this again tomorrow, because it’s delicious, seasonal, and an incredible cinch to make.

We’re just getting to the point in the summer where all of the vegetables are readying themselves for their farmers’ market close-up, so the timing couldn’t be better. And aside from some needling parchment paper origami and fine-slicing of vegetables (which, as we well know, with my new BFF is frighteningly easy, although the rankings are more like Deb’s thumbnail: 0, Mandoline: 1 right now), you need a minimum of dishes and time to get this together. Not bad for something showy enough for a dinner party ta-da, right?

There are a lot of things not traditional about this version of ratatouille–the lack of herbes de province, that it’s baked and that we ate it with both couscous and a dollop of soft goat cheese–but if you’re like me, and the chunkier authentic stuff has never done it for you, it’s time for this re-creation.

And here is where I will introduce you to d’oh!-moment number two-thousand-seventy-four: Guess what the New York Times ran in their Dining section last month? The recipe for Thomas Keller’s Confit Byaldi, the accordion-fanned version of ratatouille used in the movie! It’s available on their website, looks gorgeous, but although it’s fairly simple for a French Laundry recipe, it’s a bit more involved than my recipe. Though I am sure I will try it one day, I’m almost glad I didn’t see it first as I might not have gone out on my own to find my layered ratatouille nirvana. And wasn’t that the whole theme of the movie in the first place?

Ratatouille’s Ratatouille
As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

Modest Needs, can you help?

2010-07-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of Modest Needs?

Even though the link I have provided takes you straight to my particular grant request, you can go to the homepage to check out the whole Modest Needs story from the "Start Here" section on the menu bar, or really, from the top of any page_ including mine.

My own grant request is modest, as I transition back into new employment, after a recession lay-off 10 months ago. Your donation, of any size to my request, will be ever so appreciated! Just click on the link below and thank-you, very much!!

Application 159557: New Job - Rent Help - Modest Needs®

*Be sure to pass this information on to those you know who may need the kind of help available through a Modest Needs grant!!

Choosing Not to Anticipate; Enjoying the Surprise

2010-04-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

The Fedex delivery-person just knocked on the door with a package for me in exchange for a signature; it was from The Crown Publishing Group, as it was so stamped on a Random House mailing label.
I had been looking for this package when first notified that my name had been selected randomly, in response to an article posted about the author and her book, on one of my currently favorite foodie blogs. This kind of news really is unexpected, then the promised prize becomes secretly hoped for, and overall the experience is an exciting little lift!

After the initial news, days of waiting passed that seemed to turn into "weeks of anticipation." I contacted the prize-giver to be sure there hadn't been some mistake, some delay of which I was unaware. I was reassured that proper notification had been followed-up, and the item was on its way to the address I had provided.

More days passed; I wasn't really obsessing about the material proof of this luck in my life. Intermittently, I was just 'noticing' that the promised item wasn't coming! Finally yesterday however, I woke up realizing that I had let go of any further anticipation of it arriving all together. If and when it came was fine, if it didn't, that was also fine.

This morning I woke up with a fleeting thought that the 'package' was arriving today. So fleeting that I decided not to pay attention to the thought, because I am committed to living a life free of thinking habits centered in anxiety. A practice of conscious attention that lately I am learning the least little bit to practice more adroitly.

After breakfast, my attention thoroughly engrossed in the morning computer roamings for jobs, and completing all daily correspondence, there was an assertive knock at the front door.

As I said, and to my unexpected surprise, there was the randomly selected prize made manifest in the delivery hands of the Fedex driver!! After thanking the efficient delivery-person for wishing me a good rest of the day, I closed the door looking over the cover of the sturdy envelop, in which this weighted prize lay waiting. Waiting to be unwrapped and discovered.

Parting the adhered flap on the back side of the envelop, I reached in and pulled out a bright and shiny hardbound book. A brand new book whose glossy jacket was only slightly worn, from a nine-day by ground, journey from New York City, to Oregon!
Opening the front cover of the new book, I discovered the formal note card with the CPG logo and printed directly under it, a note: "With compliments"!

I have a new friend; a new cookbook is always treated this way once it arrives in my kitchen!! This one written by founding chef of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, Deborah Madison. It is titled: "Seasonal Fruit DESSERTS, From Orchard, Farm and Market"!! Woo! Hoo!

With a daughter about to graduate from college, this surprising gift is going to see a lot of action and joy this spring and summer! A big THANK-YOU to the folks hosting the foodblog Culinate, for randomly selecting mine as one of the names to recieve what is soon to become, a well-used source of memory-making with family and friends, in the kitchen and on the back deck of this seasoned and passionate home cook!

Peggy Markel's Culinary Adventures hosts, Ruth of Gourmet Magazine's Adventures

2010-03-31T23:49:00.000-07:00

The video format used for this vid is not very reliable, but the video on the food of North Africa, is a nice introduction to a part of the world where I went to kindergarten! Yes, it's true!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution- This entire series of 8 videos, is dedicated with love, to all of my obese friends & family members!

2010-02-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

Mom, Dan, Brian, Professeur Krause_ eating issues are eating issues, whether you are too skinny or too fat. Please change your eating habits.

Philip K. Howard: Four ways to fix a broken legal system | Video on TED.com

2010-02-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Such an IMPORTANT presentation first, to listen to (20 well invested minutes!), then share EVERYWHERE, and finally to discuss with everyone! You'll hear why from the very beginning of the presentation: Philip K. Howard: Four ways to fix a broken legal system | Video on TED.com

This Mardi Gras_ do as the Haïtians do, epicuriously!

2010-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

Soupe Joumou
Haiti’s pot of gold
By Ellen Kanner
February 2, 2010

(Editor’s note: This piece first appeared on the Huffington Post.)

When a man pours you his soup, he pours you his soul, even when it’s soup cooked up on a hot plate. Maybe especially then. My friend Marcel celebrated New Year’s Day by making Soupe Joumou, the beloved soup with which Haitians start the new year. For Marcel, it was not enough to make soup — he had to feed everyone he knew.

When I arrived, his tiny apartment was flooded with afternoon light and was so jammed, I couldn’t see the host for all the guests clustered around, cradling soup bowls, talking, eating, laughing.
Featured recipe

* Vegan Soupe Joumou

Finally, I found Marcel his makeshift kitchen, holding court and presiding over the soup pot.

I gave him a kiss and picked up a bowl.

“It has meat,” he warned, remembering I’m a meat-free kind of girl.

“I’ll eat around it.”

Vegan Soupe Joumou
We looked at each other. He beamed and ladled it up from a battered aluminum pot, rich and golden, like liquid sunshine.

Soupe joumou is the triumph of spirit over tyranny, heart over privation and a damn fine way to warm body and soul. This is a soup tapping into the collective unconscious of a people, evoking stronger feelings than Proust’s Madeleine. I wasn’t going to let some bits of beef get in the way of that.

We all love to ring in the new year with its promise of new beginnings, but in Haiti, it’s especially cause for joy. New Year’s Day is Independence Day, the celebration of that New Year’s Day in 1804, when Haitians ended over a century of bloody rule by the French and were no longer colonial slaves but a free people in their own homeland.

Haitians celebrated by eating what had been forbidden them — meat, cabbage and squash, the latter two grown on their own island. Haitian slaves had cooked these foods for their French masters, while they themselves had survived solely on rations of salt cod and lemonade.

Like Hoppin’ John, the new year’s dish invented by slaves in the south, Soupe Joumou is a dish that sustains and is sustainable. It’s made from what is local and available. The Haitians adapted the soup from their French masters, heating it up with habaneros and ginger and making their own. Like hopping john, some eat it on New Year’s Day for good luck. Others, like Marcel, eat and serve it knowing — and honoring — its history. And as with all things Haitian, there is some myth. The soup is said to honor Papa Loko, the Vodou god of the ancient African spirit. Yellow is the color that honors him. In any case, Soupe Joumou is belly-filling and soul-lifting all at once.
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Since Haiti’s earthquake, Marcel, our gracious host of just a few weeks ago, looks crumpled, hollowed out. Most of us in Miami do. Haiti is but 700 miles away. Or it is literally next door. Haitians make up a rich part of our community and though we may not personally have lost family, as Marcel has, we all have Haitian friends, Haitian ties. People burst into tears on the street. Co-workers who once barely got past, “Hi, how’s it going?” now embrace. There has been an outpouring of relief effort here, along with an outpouring of grief. Those efforts will be all the more important in the coming weeks and months, when the rest of the world might be inclined to forget or suffer compassion fatigue. As if caring could ever tire you.

Soupe Joumou epitomizes for me Marcel and all the people of Haiti, who take what little they have, make it delicious and offer it to you with all their heart. It’s time for us, who have so much, to do the same.

At this time of crisis, as President Obama said, “We are reminded of our common humanity.” Please donate to Partners in Health, the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders or whatever relief organization moves you.

Think Like A Genius

2010-01-26T22:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I discover things and feel really late! Yet, I am discovering the things I find right on time_ in the big picture, it's all ok! This is someone with whom I would like to study!

NASA Base is Most Sustainable Federal Building Project in America

2010-01-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

This article via Inhabitat Design

by Evelyn Lee, 08/28/09

NASA has planted its flag on planet Earth (for a change) with the groundbreaking of their “Sustainability Base” this week. The new endeavor is located on their Ames campus in Moffett Field, CA just outside of Silicon Valley and has specs that are pushing green building to new limits. In order to deliver in true sustainable style, NASA recruited Inhabitat favorite, William McDonough + Partners, to take on the 50,000-square foot collaborative support facility.

Determined to go beyond LEED Platinum in performance, NASA set two additional requirements for the building’s architect: to showcase NASA’s culture of innovation and to integrate the surrounding context acting as an icon for the Ames campus. The intensive three month design process helped establish targets to accomplish all three goals.

Going beyond Platinum includes a near zero net energy consumption and the use of 90 percent less potable water than buildings that are similar in size. The use of natural ventilation is the primary contributor to the buildings performance that is complemented by a geothermal system, high performance lighting, radiant cooling, intelligent building systems and on-site photovoltaic energy generation. Optimization of the water comes from use of natural landscape, non-potable irrigation systems, and on-site water-water treatment by an Eco-Machine.

In addition, the large column-free spans on the interior of the building allows the flexibility to easily adapt the building to the changing needs of the program, and a structural exo-skeleton even makes for easier repairs following earthquakes. The end result is not only a showcase of NASA’s innovation, but a show of their commitment to sustainable efforts on planet Earth. To date, the Sustainability Base is the most sustainable federal building project in all 50 states.

Homemade Boullion!

2010-01-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

I am cutting and pasting this article from 101 Cookbooks because I love this site with its beautiful images of food! The whole article is marked in quotations as it comes from 101 Cookbooks, the recipe journal of: Heidi Swanson

"This is a thank-you note to Pam Corbin. Pam wrote the lovely River Cottage Preserves Handbook. And in the very back of this exquisite little book, long past the rhubarb relish, and well beyond the piccalilli and winter fruit compote, she proposes a simple idea: make your own bouillon blend. I'm not sure why this never occurred to me, but until I reached page 207, it hadn't. She outlines a list of ingredients that are pureed into a concentrated paste of vegetables and herbs, preserved with salt. I've been cooking with a version of it all week, and it is infinitely better than any canned vegetable stock I've tasted. And the best part about it? I can build on the general idea and tweak it based on what is in season and my own personal preferences - which is what I did.

Technically a bouillon cube is a dehydrated cube or powder used to create an instant vegetable stock. Pam calls her version "souper mix"....but you use it in a way similar to bouillon cubes. To make quick, flavorful broth, for example when cooking soups, risottos, curries, whatever really. Just keep in mind it is quite salty and concentrated - I mention in the recipe I've been using 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of water/liquid to start. This first batch was made primarily with ingredients from my refrigerator, but I'm really excited to try other versions using different herbs and ratios of the base ingredients. In fact, if you have any suggestions or ideas give a shout in the comments - I'd love to hear them :).

Homemade Bouillon

This recipe requires a food processor. I have a 8-cup / 2 liter / 2 quart model, and needed every cubic inch of it. I found the best approach if you are tight for space in your food processor is to add a few of the ingredients, then pulse a few times. The ingredients collapse and free up more space for the next few ingredients. Also, it is worth noting, Pam suggests preserving the bouillon in sterilized jars for up to six-months, but I was too lazy to do any sterilizing, and opted for the freezer.

5 ounces / 150 g leeks, sliced and well-washed
7 ounces / 200g fennel bulb, chopped
7 ounces / 200g carrot, well scrubbed and chopped
3.5 ounces / 100 g celery
3.5 ounces / 100g celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped
1 ounce / 30g sun-dried tomatoes
3.5 ounces / 100g shallots, peeled
3 medium garlic cloves
9 ounces / 250g fine grain sea salt
1.5 ounces / 40 g flat-leaf parsley, loosely chopped
2 ounces / 60g cilantro (coriander), loosely chopped

Place the first four ingredients in your food processor and pulse about twenty times. Add the next four ingredients, and pulse again. Add the salt, pulse some more. Then add the parsley and cilantro. You may need to scoop some of the chopped vegetables on top of the herbs, so they get chopped. Mine tended to want to stay on top of everything else, initially escaping the blades.

You should end up with a moist, loose paste of sorts. Keep 1/4th of it in a jar in the refrigerator for easy access, and freeze the remaining 3/4 for use later. Because of all the salt it never actually solidifies making it easy to spoon directly from the freezer if needed.

Start by using 1 teaspoon of bouillon per 1 cup (250 ml), and adjust from there based on your personal preference.

Makes roughly 3 1/2 cups.

Inspired by The River Cottage Preserves Handbook by Pam Corbin."

One more link on the foodie adventures of Heidi Swanson!

Hans Rosling

2009-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

THIS IS IMPORTANT!! Click on this TED Link, NOW!! The embed code isn't even up yet!

Design Thinking! Whew!

2009-11-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

The Omo People

2009-10-17T00:10:00.000-07:00

True living poetry...
Growing up in multiple cultures, I remember as a young child realizing that wisdom, in what our societies have always referred to as primitive_ the wisdom one can find in primitive cultures has much to teach us all, if we are open to recognizing this truth.
Beautiful pigments, beautiful life in nature, beautiful art full identity with one's environment; what good reason is there to grow up?

Veritable Vegetable

2009-10-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

The cultural roots to which I refer in creating a variety-centered cuisine, come from influences having grown up living world-wide. Even so, my commitment to healthy foods no matter the cultural influence on the cuisine, remains consistent. For me, its organic all the way. This is just common-sense choice-making where choosing foods, and taking care of one's health in a nutritionally-centered approach is concerned. From the time I was very young, remembering rural neighbors and even our very own gardener tend to the gardens where we lived, it has always seemed very obvious. The less one puts into the soil that isn't already naturally there, the more alive one's foods taste! In fact, it was very common to hear one of the local community members identify the town where a baguette had been baked because the tastes of the soil were obvious in the grain used to make that bread!

Now as an adult in this country, when I find a company whose business practices go beyond alternative practices standards to include values close to my own heart, they are going to get my attention and more than likely, my business! That is Veritable Vegetable. Now that I know about them, and if I cannot find a local connection to them and their products then, their model will frame my more informed choices as I seek local businesses that I can access that practice standards of food quality, growing practices and employee care/empowerment, in like-manner!

Folks, the U.S. economy is in breakdown mode and this is actually very cool! It means everyone can let go of illusion once and for all, and return to simple steps that contribute to new breakthroughs. Breakthroughs for which we all on a soul-level, are really ready!

This IS what I love & miss about the South!

2009-10-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Eat Or We Both Starve from Joe York on Vimeo.

It has been thirty years since I lived there and about half as long since I've visted, but this video has it all in there. (That right: visted!)
It's the food, the people, the country-side and the music, NOT the humidity, the bugs OR the politics!

A Declaration of Interdependence!

2009-10-04T22:50:00.000-07:00

Tiffany Shlain, Who Does She Think She Is?

No ONE is saying be LESS Materialistic!! Though, SOME Addicitons die HARD.

2009-10-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Materialists WILL and are decry/(ing) this movie, like well-trained DOGS!! Yet, if materialists will go here and learn about the cycle of reusing materials in more healthy ways that ARE being developed, then maybe slowly, the average materialist will begin to understand stuff is still possible to attain, just the way your little pavlovic-driven unconscious is addicted!! WooHoo!! Sorry, I couldn't stop myself from the initial criticism of the reactionary...! Get over it and LISTEN until your neuro-transmitters make the connection!! Sorry!

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

These stories of stewarding national consumerist habituation, are NOT perfect, yet, they ARE beginning the change for the better! Can YOU help? Add to this? Come up with a BETTER way?? Then DO IT! The world needs your contributions too, NOT reactionsm which is so CHEAP anyway!! Listen to your own fundamental human values and learn to recognize them in other people "across the isle" from you. We aren't in a competition to win! What? Life on the planet... you stay... you go...?!! Whose death panels? Whose grandmother gets it in the chest?!! Come on, CHEAP, HABITUAL REACTIONISM IS what is DEAD!

Life in Transition

2009-07-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

Wow! Some amazing resources to venture out into the world of adventure are crossing my field of attention these days; dreams of experiences that I had put a hold on many years ago_ as those I want to try in my lifetime! The personal whys and wherefores may get posted online, but most likely I will just journal all that privately over time until I accomplish them one by one.

Meanwhile to get the juices flowing, in this post I am making a list of the women-centered businesses doing those adventures I particularly like, as their work_ women entrepreneur/adventurers who are sharing their passions with everyone else in some pretty wonderful ways! Check it out: Women-centered Sailing, families, couples, singles, as well as, mother-daughter, father-son combos are all also possible!

Feel the freedom of flying in your own body through hang gliding! I think these schools are found nation-wide. There are even world-wide championship competitions for this sport/activity, so I am certain there is a hang gliding organization near you!

Then there is the ultimate (which one isn't?!) adventure, for me: Mount Everest! But right now I think, will I ever make it? Must keep trying to accomplish the small internal goals for a little while longer...

Even so, while dreaming about the possibilities, I stumbled upon this site while googling for other resources for women primarily. It is a good link to a ton of outdoor opportunities all over the world!

I think that covers it, right? Land, sea and air!!!

Persevere like hell, has been my motto through life so far; particularly now, at what is traditionally referred to as mid-life, I must keep going!!

Good luck in all your adventures while you live each moment alive and awake, the biggest adventure of which_ is life herself!

Making Stuffed Falafels To Arabic Music!

2009-07-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

فلافل

Anti-Gravitational Sculptures

2009-07-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Cacao Nibs_ A Little Context!

2009-07-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

Raw Cacao

Many people consider eating chocolate a “guilty pleasure.” But the reputation of chocolate as a junk food should more accurately be attributed to the harmful effects of commercial processing and refining techniques, and the other ingredients commonly added, most notably white sugar. All chocolate is made from the cacao (cocoa) bean, and cacao beans in their natural, unprocessed, unadulterated state are rich in nutrients and beneficial to health.

Cacao nibs can come from Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional, a well-fermented cacao with lots of delicate high notes.

Cacao beans are protected by a paper-thin shell, which you remove before eating. When the shell is removed, the bean often breaks into small pieces, called nibs.

Nibs share all the nutritional benefits of the whole bean with the added convenience of having the shell removed.

Why Unprocessed Chocolate is Good for You

Antioxidants: Cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than any food tested so far, including blueberries, red wine, and black and green teas. In fact, it has up to four times the quantity of antioxidants found in green tea. Health benefits of these antioxidants include:

Promote cardiovascular health - Help dilate bloods vessels, reduce blood clotting, improve circulation, help regulate heartbeat and blood pressure, lower LDL cholesterol, and reduce the risk of stroke and heart attacks.
Protect from environmental and metabolic toxins - Help repair and resist damage caused by free radicals, and may reduce risk of certain cancers.

Neurotransmitters: By increasing the levels of specific neurotransmitters in our brains, cacao promotes positive outlook, facilitates rejuvenation and simply helps us feel good.

Serotonin - Cacao raises the level of serotonin in the brain; thus acts as an anti-depressant, helps reduce PMS systems, and promotes a sense of well-being.
Endorphins - Cacao stimulates the secretion of endorphins, producing a pleasurable sensation similar to the “runner’s high” a jogger feels after running several miles.
Phenylethylamine - Found in chocolate, phenylethylamine is also created within the brain and released when we are in love. Acts as mild mood elevator and anti-depressant, and helps increase focus and alertness.
Anandamide - Anandamide is known as the “bliss chemical” because it is released by the brain when we are feeling great. Cacao contains both N-acylethanolamines, believed to temporarily increase the levels of anandamide in the brain, and enzyme inhibitors that slow its breakdown. Promotes relaxation, and helps us feel good longer.

Essential Minerals: Cacao beans are rich in a number of essential minerals, including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese.

Magnesium - Cacao seems to be the #1 source of magnesium of any food. Magnesium balances brain chemistry, builds strong bones, and helps regulate heartbeat and blood pressure. Magnesium deficiency, present in 80% of Americans, is linked with PMT, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and joint problems.
Sulfur - Cacao is high in the beauty mineral sulfur. Sulfur builds strong nails and hair, promotes beautiful skin, detoxifies the liver, and supports healthy pancreas functioning.

Essential fats: There is a misperception that chocolate is fattening. In truth, the fats in cocoa butter are healthy fats. Cacao contains oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, also found in olive oil, that may raise good cholesterol. Also, substances found in cacao are known to help reduce appetite.

Important note- To fully benefit from chocolate’s wide array of nutrients, eat chocolate that is as close to its natural state as possible. Whole cacao beans and nibs are best. You lose many of the health benefits when you eat commercially produced chocolate.

Cacao: Its History and Use From the Time of the Aztecs to Today

The cacao tree has been cultivated in Mexico and Central and South America for thousands of years, and it has been so highly valued that some Native peoples once used its seed, or bean, as currency. The Aztecs believed cacao to be of divine origin, and both they and the Mayans used the roasted bean in the famous beverage Chocolatl, together with vanilla and other flavorings.

In the early 16th century, Columbus brought sacks of cacao back to Europe, but he did not realize its economic value. Then, in 1519, Cortez brought cacao back to Spain, and it was soon made into a luxury drink for the upper classes. By the 17th and early 18th centuries, chocolate was considered a cure for many illnesses, as well as a catalyst for provoking passion, although it was still too expensive for the general populace. Finally, in the 18th century, chocolate houses were established in London, making chocolate available to a broader spectrum of society, and their popularity quickly surpassed that of the coffee houses.

Today cacao is planted on over 43,000 square miles worldwide. Forty percent of production is from Cote d’Ivoire, while Ghana and Indonesia produce about 15% each, and Brazil, Nigeria, and Cameroon provide smaller quantities.

How Cacao is Harvested

Cacao beans are harvested today in much the same way as they were by the Aztecs. After the pods ripen, which takes 5 to 6 months, they are removed from the tree and carefully cut open with a machete, and the cacao beans are extracted.

After harvesting, the beans are placed on banana leaves in large wooden boxes and left to ferment for several days. During fermentation, complex chemical changes take place. The bitterness of the bean is reduced and the rich chocolate flavor begins to develop. The beans are dried after fermentation, and during this drying process, the brown color develops and further flavor development occurs.

The Different Varieties of Cacao

There are three main cultivar groups of cacao beans grown today:

The Criollo group, which was used by the Maya, is the most rare and expensive of the three. Only 10 to 15% of cacao trees are Criollo, and they are small and difficult to grow. The chocolate made from the Criollo bean has a delicate and complex array of flavors. Often referred to as the “King of Cacao,” Criollo is highly prized and is used by many of the new “micro chocolate makers.”
The Forastero group makes up about 70% of the cacao grown today. Forastero trees are easier to grow and significantly hardier than Criollo, resulting in more affordable beans. Well-prepared Forastero is what most of us are used to eating in chocolate.
Trinitario is a hybrid of Criollo and Forastero, and it makes up about 20% of the cacao beans produced today.

Our cacao beans and nibs are Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional, a well-fermented Criollo with lots of delicate high notes. The Nacional is the type of cocoa bean that gave Criollo its reputation. It has a tangy berry note integrated with a delicate chocolate flavor.

Different Kinds of Chocolate

Many types of chocolate are made from the cacao bean:

Chocolate liquor is made from roasted, ground cacao nibs (the meat of the cacao bean)
Cocoa butter is the fat of the cacao bean, and is solid at room temperature
Cocoa powder is made by separating most of the cocoa butter from the liquor
Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor, containing about 50% cocoa butter
Bittersweet chocolate contains at least 35% liquor, along with cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla
Semisweet chocolate contains the same ingredients as bittersweet but has a greater sugar content
Milk chocolate has only about 10% chocolate liquor, and also contains about 12% milk solids
White chocolate does not contain any chocolate liquor; it gets its flavor from cocoa butter

Using Cacao Beans and Nibs at Home

If you are using whole beans, simply crunch them between your fingers to loosen and remove the peel. You can use the beans whole or grind them in a spice mill/coffee grinder or food processor. Then add them to smoothies, teas, desserts, raw food bars or any dish that calls for the delicious flavor of chocolate. They are especially good when used in recipes with our vanilla beans. Here are some more detailed suggestions for enjoying the exquisite flavor of cacao:

1. Try eating them straight, a tablespoon at a time. Chew thoroughly and experience the taste extravaganza of raw (or roasted) chocolate.
2. Sprinkle on yogurt, granola, desserts, etc.
3. Make a delicious chocolate shake with dairy or nut milk, coconut oil, a frozen banana, agave nectar, and cacao beans.
4. Add agave nectar, yacon sweetener, or honey to the raw cacao nibs and chew!
5. Freeze cacao nibs with sweeteners (agave nectar or honey is fantastic). Eat cold.
6. Blend powdered cacao into herbal teas with the Peruvian superfood maca.
7. Add cacao nibs to ice creams for the healthiest chocolate chip ice cream in the world.
8. Create a raw chocolate bar! Blend the following raw ingredients together: cacao, agave nectar, carob powder, maca, coconut oil, and cashews. Pour into a mold and freeze. Eat cold and experience the truth about the food of the gods!
9. Grind whole beans or nibs into a powder and combine with coconut oil to make a chocolate sauce. Use in cookies, brownies or other raw or baked desserts.
10. If you have a Champion juicer, you can make unsweetened baker’s chocolate by running the nibs or unpeeled whole beans through it. To make a “liquor” run the powder through the Champion several more times until it separates into powder and liquid.
11. Make a scrumptious chocolate nut fudge. In a food processor or blender, start with your favorite nut (cashews or almonds are particularly good) and add coconut oil, agave nectar or honey, coconut flakes, cacao beans, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

Cacao beans keep well in cool, dry conditions.

Article from: Live Superfoods!

An Artist with Life

2009-06-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Wolfgang Laib creates what I call, meditation in motion made visual.

Hiberation Responses, i.e.; Job Hunting in A Chilly Economy

2008-12-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

Let this be a winter of creative resourcefulness. The down-turned economy is a good opportunity to move away from the corporate paradigm, into work that holds meaning and emphasizes craft. Ways of using the brain, the eyes and the hands that feels better, more intelligent_ natural.
Like a monk practicing sitting meditation, the most radical ways to continue to wear away at the ownership by the elites moving one's inner life toward conscious freedom, is to quietly do what brings each one true "Happyness!"

I am an artist, and I have always approached the world of work laterally; cultivating work skills by taking on new areas of employment that also fuel my art interests. After three decades, I have a skills-rich résumé that reveals a plethora of discipline, thus providing me multi-directional opportunity in the market-place. I can use this hand-built foundation fluidly, depending on what is going on in the marketplace. Course, I have a solid center to my varied expertise: that of a visual artist. Meaning, I keep focused on how any job opportunity may feed my artistic skills, as I venture out into the big world of employment-search "buffets." All employment is much more choice-centered!

Health-wise, to there more successfully this winter, I am yearning for more soaking time! Today, I am posting about making one's own bath salts and enjoying what this blogger has to say, about making various possible "job-hunting relief" recipes.

Here's to more healthfully steaming out, all those job hunting aches and pains, as we move forward into a new year, a new administration in Washington and renewed changes-for-the better for-all, in this country... ah-h-h-h-h.

Unctuously Good Taste Or Good Marketing? Does it Really Matter? You decide!

2008-12-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world's most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you.

Benjamin Wallace is a journalist and author of The Billionaire's Vinegar, the true story of the world's most expensive bottle of (possibly phony?) wine. He's been a contributor to GQ. About Benjamin Wallace

The Ginger Path Back

2008-08-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

I seem to be making steps back from the abyss of homelessness; a hard lesson in beginning to own other neglected facets of my own personal power. I am not quite 100% back on my feet, yet simultaneously amazing acts of kindness and generosity keep showing up each time I renew my commitment to this developing stage of conscious attention to my own life. This has included a stay in the rural-side to doggy-sit my commission portrait subject, "Rufus." Yes, I have painted and made more progress on his portrait! I will upload photos of this stage in the painting when I can get a camera to do so. Meanwhile you can visit my main art blog here.

I will add that my life is ready to face my needs for engaged, meaningful, healthy friendships, and indeed online, this past year has seen some of that develop. I have traveled a long way on my own for way long enough now. Some of this history reflects flat-out wrong choices I made in earnestness and naïveté. I can say that I am more than ready to change this now. Stay tuned. Make contact. Do let me hear from you, won't you?

A New Design Assignment & The New Aesthetics

2008-06-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

EPEA Vision

The Cradle to Cradle Principles:

1) Waste equals food
2) Use current solar income
3) Celebrate diversity

Cradle to Cradle Vision

Imagine a world where human industry operates exactly like a blossoming cherry tree: Every factory, every building and every product is as giving as a cherry tree with its flowers.

Imagine a world where our buildings are like trees: They cover their energy needs by harvesting solar power, produce food and oxygen, create habitat for other species and change with the seasons.

Imagine a world without pollution and waste: Products are made from materials that are beneficial for humans and their surroundings.

Imagine a world where humans can be glad that their actions benefit those around them and the constraints to reduce, minimize, and decrease according to the current "Cradle to Grave" paradigm are a distant memory.

This is the world that Cradle to Cradle offers. And it is a matter of design that starts with the intention to apply conventions found in Nature:

* Waste equals food
* Use current solar income, and
* Celebrate diversity

Forget reactionary doubts like: That's too expensive. That's idealistic. That would never happen. Because it is happening as these examples show:

* Product cases

* Service cases

***Between my love for healthy, organically grown food and all things aesthetically conscientiously made_ ever since I listened to the Monticello Dialogues on New Dimensions Radio, I have been completely won over by what Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart are up to!

I HAD to...

2008-04-25T17:34:00.001-07:00

Borrowing from my newest food blog find here, I had to post this image for those of us pure of dietary intention, and those of us who struggle from time-to-time say, with money!

How would you reproduce THIS luscious recipe in the raw? I know it can be done!
This sort of a treat occasionally, is near perfect!

Andy Goldworthy: "Rivers and Tides"

2008-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Over a long period of time I have occasionally sat with a Zen sangha in the town that has been my home for twenty-eight years. Over nearly the same number of years sitting, the group has become progressively more connected to one another via the Internet_ sighing, I call this contradiction, spirit in the technological age.
What I am grateful for today, is the arrival of a newsletter item announcing the sangha's showing of a documentary film on the ephemeral nature-centered artwork as created by the artist, Andy Goldworthy.
I add here the clips of this documentary as found on 'YouTube,' in order to share and talk about what many artists do_ particularly the artist writing this blog. In each one's unique way, to utilize all media around an artist to create a person's whole life, is tantamount to one's engagement with reality however that may be possible. One small example, is how I use the Internet to share my current life-transition in a 'web of blogs' of my own organic design as a bridge for now, to what my life as spirit, female, artist, single-mother, etc., is to become after child-rearing!
For my part, there have been years of preparation, thinking and seeing in holistic models, ways of being, experiencing and expressing what constitutes a healthy life for me as individual. Now, I embark on how I might effectively express as artist out in the world in order to hold up examples as it were, of what a healthy lifestyle might 'look' like. My preparations have been laterally-centered, anticipating what material, social, and financial navigation of the forces of change and resistance we all are currently living in. My web-building/networking skills to other people, are still taking on connection and clarity after many years living in specifically-focused social isolation!
Watch the clips on the artwork created by this artist, and listen to the timbre of his voice as he speaks in the present moment, what living/creating now is for him.
My impressions of his working process are that they are rich with what reality can be when one chooses to wake up, see and understand the true nature of self_ then, consciously live one's own life moment to moment!

This step in the cleansing/transition to better health, is too well presented not to include!

2007-11-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

Acid/Alkaline balance in a Raw Food Diet

2007-11-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

2 GREAT Ambassadors for Raw Food Health!

2007-11-23T14:38:00.001-08:00

Some thoughts on transitioning to principally raw food

2007-11-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

Comparing nutrients values in raw and cooked foods!

2007-11-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

Raw Foods resources:

2007-11-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

Raw Food Chef, Ani Phyo:

Kitchen Rhythms

2007-04-24T19:21:00.001-07:00

Mt. Angel Abbey Library image

2007-04-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

Alvar Aalto a Finnish architect I first learned about, from wonderful Finns I had the pleasure of getting to know when they were in my hometown as visiting scholars.
I also learned that an area Abby quietly features one of only two examples of his work here in the states. This is a famous interior image of the ceiling windows above the main stacks and checkout desk in the Mt. Angel Abby Library. Its interior lines are sweeping with an open floor plan wrapped by administrative work spaces!
Natural light is an ever present detail throughout Aalto's later works and this entire library! I also learned that his name means "wave," an architectural and visual aesthetic theme very evident in the design of this beautiful building. An international treasure, just up the road from here!