new year. new start. new recipe.

so far i've been a very bad blogger in the year two.thousand.ten.
this is my first entry, and today is the last day of the month.

i guess i've been unmotivated. there are really no excuses to be made. because, we all know, you make time for the things that are important to you.

so i think i've decided that sharing lil' snippets of life in the form of thoughts, questions, quotes, photos, recipes, song lyrics, dance clips, and more is important to me.

sooo i'm resolving to be a better blogger. i'll try anyway. since it's important to me to share life with people all around the world, world, world, i figure this is one tool to do just that.

my housemates, which now include my parents and my two new sisters: fern & hanna (from bangkok and berlin, respectively), and i enjoyed this zucchini soup recipe, taken from my favorite cookbook: 'extending the table: recipes and stories from argentina to zambia in the spirit of more-with-less' this week.

it is wonderful. and easy. and comes from deutschland. which i'm missing quite a bit these days.

Zucchinisuppe

*This thick, mild soup can be served hot or cold. In winter, I'd go with the hot option... maybe as an appetizer or lunch soup?

Melt in saucepan:

• 1/4 c. margerine (50 ml)

Add and sauté:

• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  

Add:

• 2 & 1/4 c. zucchini, shredded (550 ml)
• 2 c. vegetable stock (500 ml)
  

Simmer 12 minutes. Add:

• 1/4 t. salt (1 ml) or to taste
• 1/4 t. basil (1 ml)
• dash of pepper
  

Add:

• 1/2 c. white wine (125 ml) (optional)

Place soup in blender and puree until creamy. Add:

• 1/2 c. plain yogurt (125 ml)

-- From: Maren Tyedmers: Minden, Germany

why go veggie?, dos.

vegetariantimes.com has a wonderful and compelling list that responds to the question, 'why go veg?' all good reasons; you should read the full list. but here are my main motivations:

• You’ll help reduce famine. About 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. “If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.

• You’ll save money. Meat accounts for 10 percent of Americans’ food spending. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each nonvegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

• You’ll help reduce pollution. Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having on the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.

really it's about solidarity. and it's about not contributing to these systems. one happy veg at a time. : )

fresh produce for all!

this is great. always happy to see the growing support for local, farmers' markets. but to see this pilot project developing makes me extra excited.

from npr:

The Obama administration wants Americans to buy more locally grown food. Problem is, the way we grow food today means that local is sometimes more expensive, so farmers markets can be cost-prohibitive for lower income families.

But the White House farmers market and a handful of others around the country are part of a pilot project. This market accepts food stamps — and those stamps are worth twice as much here as they would be elsewhere....

cool, yeah? no more 7-11 diets for those in inner-city areas! fresh produce should not be reserved for only the wealthy. let's rally to see more farmers markets accepting food stamps. it only makes sense.

full story linked below:

Farmers Markets: Fresh, Local, Government-Approved

by Guy Raz

crepes perfected.

if you want to enjoy some sweet or savory crepes, then follow this link below.

basic crepes, baby.

i've perfected this recipe in the last year, and the only substitution that i recommend is vanilla soy milk instead of dairy milk. it just gives it this subtle little yum! believe me.

i also like this recipe because you can adjust the measurements (u.s. or metric) based on which continent you're currently crepe-ing-it-up-on. in addition, you can adjust the servings amount, and it recalculates it all for you. easy-peasy.

for savory ingredients i typically go with: onions, garlic, mushrooms, & eggplant sautéd in olive oil (add some spice too!). then add to warm crepe, along with your favorite shredded cheese.

for sweet ingredients: nothing beats nutella and bananas. but jam, honey, peanut butter, or other fruit varieties are good too.

bon appétit!

meatless meals.

must give a shout-out to the september issue of real simple. they're featuring a story about the benefits of eating meat-free (such as: the health risks associated with meaty diets, how much money one family could save by replacing a meat-focused meal with beans, etc.) really yummy recipes are featured too. besides following the link below, be sure to check out the hard copy where they go into more detail about various protein sources for vegetarians. way.to.go real simple!

6 Meatless Meals for Meat Lovers
By Virginia Sole-Smith
Simple, hearty vegetarian dinners that will satisfy even steak-and-potato stalwarts.

the whites of their eyes.

there's this revolutionary war quote about 'not shooting until you can see the whites of their eyes.' know the one i'm talking about? well i recently heard a much better take on that idea. except i don't know the exact phrasing, and i've been waiting to write some sort of post on here about it, and i don't want to botch it up. but here it goes anyway.

while visiting san diego last week, my dear friend and one of my mentors from loma, syl, shared this quote with me. we had a heart-to-heart chat, an absolutely life-giving conversation, over con pane sandwiches. --> which i boldly stand by the claim that thier veggie cobb is my favorite sandwich (specifically in the category of cold eats) in the entire world [avocados, roasted roma tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese, bean sprouts, red onions, romaine lettuce, and yummy spread on either rosemary or whole wheat bread]. um, yum. it's to die for. i'm not exaggerating when i say it's my favorite cold sandwich in the whole wide world. if you're ever in san diego, pleeease try it.

but, back to the quote. syl told me something she had recently heard from one of her friends, and it has continued to resonate with me... i just don't remember how to phrase it properly and accurately. the gist of it is this:

we need people in our lives both who know us and who can see the whites of our eyes.

amen and amen. ...except that it was phrased much more eloquently than that. i will try to update this once i have the whole thought spelled out a little more richer. the principle of the idea is still there though.

as i travel through different states, visiting friends and family (and friends who really should just be called 'family'), i am reminded of how true this concept really is... i am very thankful for my life in the büs, but living so far from all of the people that i love can take its toll. skype is a wonderful invention, but i don't think we can really see the whites of one another's eyes through technology. we need people whom we are actively journeying with who will know when we are hurting because they can see it in our eyes. in person. that has largely been the gift of my six-week break in the states: being with people who know me, who get me, who can see where i am at, and how i am really doing, based on the whites of my eyes.

is this echoing with anyone else? because i think it largely defines true community and what the church is to be. to and with one another. sharing life.

so as i have been with family and friends in colorado, california, idaho, minneapolis, and soon on to wisconsin, all i have is gratitude. your hospitality, authenticity, and your willingness to both open your homes and your lives speaks of real sharing and real love. it is a gift, a true gift, to be able to really see the whites of your eyes. thank you for seeing mine as well.

-------------
an amendment to this post:

my aforementioned friend and mentor, sylvia cortez, had this fuller and richer statement to add when i asked her to remind me how this idea was spelled out...

"We all need people in our lives that we can go to when we are really struggling, when we need to process, or when we are not doing well. These people need to be friends whom we can trust, who won't be judgmental, or advice givers necessarily, but who will simply listen to us and who know us in deep ways. Given the transitory nature in most people these days, many of us have these kinds of friendships with people who live in different parts of the country or world even...not necessarily in our own community. However, it's essential that we have a person or two within our community -- we need to be in relationship with people whom we actually see on a regular basis -- people who can see the whites of our eyes and because they know us well, are able to know, before we even tell them, that something is going on, that we need to talk, or that we need their presence."

amen and amen. so be it. that is my desire for life... that wherever i may be, there too will be such friendships.

that is good stuff syl. thank you for your words, and thank you for your presence in my life. thank you that even though we live on different continents, when we are back together, it is so rich....

...there is a real sharing.
and seeing.
and being.

food for thought. pun intended.

today i woke up at 6:30am with no alarm. but this is actually an improvement from waking up at 4:30am yesterday and 5:00am the day before. oh the joys of jet-lag. actually, i kinda' like jet lag at this time of day when i feel super energized in the wee morning hours; my dad is already off to work, but the rest of the house is still asleep...

once i'm awake, it's hard for me to go back to sleep, so yesterday i enjoyed a colorado sunrise with my favorite morning treat: vanilla soy milk and 'special k fruit & yogurt'. the simple pleasures of life. today i warmed up (colorado has been rainy and cold so far -- not the july i was expecting after leaving the same rain and cold in the büs) to green tea and one of my favorite reads from last summer: 'take this bread' by sara miles. ahhh, so good. after i read a chapter or even just a page or paragraph or single sentence, i have to pause and reflect. her story woven into the greater story of sacrament and action gets me excited about life. about calling. about people. about food. about bodies. about sharing. about learning. about faith.

there are too many excerpts i would choose to include in this post, but here's one to savor for now, from the prologue (xv-xvi):

"...at the heart of Christianity is a power that continues to speak to and transform us. As I found to my surprise and alarm, it could speak even to me: not in the sappy, Jesus-and-cookies tone of mild-mannered liberal Christianity, or the blustering, blaming hellfire of the religious right. What I heard, and continue to hear, is a voice that can crack religious and political convictions open, that advocates for the least qualified, least official, least likely, that upsets established order and makes a joke of certainty. It proclaims against reason that the hungry will be fed, that those cast down will be raised up, and that all things, including my own failures, are being made new. It offers food without exception to the worthy and unworthy, the screwed-up and pious, and then commands everyone to do the same. It doesn't promise to solve or erase suffering but to transform it, pledging that by loving one another, even through pain, we will find more life. And it insists that by opening ourselves to strangers, the despised or frightening or unintelligible other, we will see more and more of the holy, since, without exception, all people are one body: God's.

This theology isn't mine alone. It comes from conversation with other believers, tradition, and Scripture; books and prayer and liturgy. It comes, even more, from my years outside church: from unbelieving and unbelievers, from doubt, from questions that still echo unanswered for me. Faith, for me, isn't an argument, a catechism, a philosophical "proof." It is instead a lens, a way of experiencing life, and a willingness to act."

whew. such good stuff. i affirm so much of this. i want to eat it up. and i presently am. miles' book centers on Eucharist: on food as gift. thanksgiving. of broken bread and poured wine. after walking into a church and joining in communion, miles' own life became embedded in the breaking of bread as well as the sharing of bread with her neighbor. in her mind and experience, the elements were inextricably linked to feeding people. She writes,

"The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer at all but actual food--indeed, the bread of life. In that shocking moment of communion, filled with a deep desire to reach for and become a part of a body, I realized that what I'd been doing with my life all along was what I was meant to do: feed people," (prologue, xi).

along the same thought-track, i've been researching everything i can about the 1987 danish film babettes gæstebud (known as babette's feast to english speakers). while enjoying npr in the car on tuesday, i caught a story titled food on film: the famished and the feasts. npr describes this film by saying,

"It's a French cook's extravagant "thank you" to a tiny church congregation that has sheltered her as a refugee in frigid Denmark for years. The problem is, the elderly congregation believes in self-denial — believes that pleasure must be reserved for the hereafter. So while they agree to eat the meal so as not to hurt Babette's feelings, they vow to each other that they will not enjoy the meal, or even talk about it.

This is much to the astonishment of a visitor, who can't believe what he's tasting — genuine turtle soup, great wine, and all around him, the congregation is silent. From the embarrassment in their expressions it's clear the others, despite their best efforts, are enjoying the meal, but no one in the congregation will admit it...."

... it's "all tied up in the spiritual: food as a gift, specifically Eucharistic in nature, for a religious community that has denied itself pleasure for decades.

And it is transformative: old loves are rekindled, long-simmering feuds are forgotten, redemption has a seat at the table."

npr says 'fabulous' and i agree. so has anyone seen babette's feast? tell me if you have. i can't wait to watch it soon and to keep thinking about food and the sharing of it as well as the savoring of it... with it all wrapped up in gift, gift, gift.

why go veggie?

Taken from Eating for Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh
"Mindful eating can help maintain compassion within our heart..."

"...UNESCO tells us that every day, forty thousand children in the world die because of a lack of nutrition, of food. Every day, forty thousand children. And the amount of grain that we grow in the West is mostly used to feed our cattle. Eighty percent of the corn grown in this country is to feed the cattle to make meat. Ninety-five percent of the oats produced in this country is not for us to eat, but for the animals raised for food. According to this recent report that we received of all the agricultural land in the US, eighty-seven percent is used to raise animals for food. That is forty-five percent of the total land mass in the US.

More than half of all the water consumed in the US whole purpose is to raise animals for food. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4000 gallons of water per day.

Raising animals for food causes more water pollution than any other industry in the US because animals raised for food produce one hundred thirty times the excrement of the entire human population. It means 87,000 pounds per second. Much of the waste from factory farms and slaughter houses flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources.

Each vegetarian can save one acre of trees per year. More than 260 million acres of US forests have been cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat. And another acre of trees disappears every eight seconds. The tropical rain forests are also being destroyed to create grazing land for cattle.

In the US, animals raised for food are fed more than eighty percent of the corn we grow and more than ninety-five percent of the oats. We are eating our country, we are eating our earth..."

...while many go hungry.