Giving: Green, Awareness & Thanks

As I read my favorite blogs this morning, I observed a prevailing desire to emphasize the positive aspects of the holiday. Today most people in the USA will gather and eat, celebrating family and togetherness, with perhaps a nod to the "discovery" of a gracious Grandmother Earth offering plenty, enough for all. If contemporary wisdom holds, tomorrow most USAmericans with means will shop. Whether one regards this day as the beginning of the Winter Season of Lights or more simply as the celebration of the autumnal harvest, the easy slide from one holiday season to another, literally, pivots on giving.

My meditation on the positive side of this holiday nexus notes that the culture of giving seems to be on the rise. Charities, foundations, even businesses returning profits to causes, everyone wants to harness the spirit of giving. As we become increasingly aware of our global interconnectedness, we have myriad opportunities, then, to consider how what we produce and consume, I mean give, impacts other communities, the environment, and our collective psyche. The general feeling that giving is a social good challenges us to recuperate the relationships implied in the act, by truly giving Thanks, and consciously giving gifts that reflect the Native North American principles of harmony and balance.

The Periodically Popular "Lemon-Aid Cleanse"

8 oz water
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp maple syrup (Grade B is best!)
pinch of cayenne
----------------------
As we shopped this weekend for the ingredients, everyone here in San Diego ascertained what we were up to, which led to various commentaries and inquiries. I thought perhaps blogging about it, would encourage me to make a record of how it really feels.

Preparation. This week we got the box and proceeded to devour everything within it, in two days. We were very hungry and felt slightly underprepared. (Avocadoes provided the most calorific comfort!)

The worst thing about yesterday was the lack of coffee. I've drunk white tea since Sunday, and today we're on solely the mixture. We made three gallons of the stuff last night. We were up late, squeezin'. (We had our minds made up, so when we found out organic lemons were out of season, we decided to go ahead with conventional. . .bummer.)

Tastes pretty good. They say you should be full sail by the second day. (If so I'll add it to my PMS remedies, since very little seems to brighten the second day of my dark moon, which happens to coincide.)

At noon, I received a chat from my counterpart, who seemed to be pretty perky, especially when compared to me, but he mentioned being 'a little tired'. . .He reported having consumed half of the gallon in the last three and one-half hours.

Good, looks like he'll be sure to leave work on time!

Setting Your "Sites" on Organic

With Indian Summer on us full force in San Diego and all of the fruits at their peak, we've been craving mostly simple fare these days. When salad takes center stage with perfect tomatoes and scrummy avocado, we like to add a grain, like soba noodles, cracked bulgar wheat, or quinoa. We also enjoy a simple stirfry with tofu and onion, celebrating the sprig of kale that made it's fall debut in this week's box.

If, however, there's cooking weather brewing in your kitchen, here are two sites that wax organic and might just inspire a culinary storm:

A Slow Food Journey via "101 Cookbooks"

Power to the Conscious Cook: "Mighty Foods"

Is Bird-Friendly Coffee Fair to Latin American Farmers?

With so many of our favorite stores and big-name coffee-houses offering Fair Trade Coffees that signal living wages and safe working conditions, and even some with additional environmental certifications, you'd think these coffees would amount to more than 2% of what's out there. Guess not. A lot of farmers are struggling to hold onto the ideal, while everyone else catches up.

Here's a link to an article that lays out some of the issues confronted by the families who belong to a growing cooperative in Chanmagua, Guatemala.

"Farmers Question Value of Responsible Coffee" (Reuters)

Let's All Sing "Ratatouille"!

Adding to the peace of mind one attains when subscribing to a CSA, the weekly box of local organic produce has an especial virtue: Seasonal dishes that sing the harmonies of veggies peaking simultaneously. As the summer heightens to its crescendo, the tomatoes are plentiful and di-vine; the squashes twinkle like bursting stars; and the respelendent, young eggplants (aubergine = berenjena = brinjal = garden egg = egg apple = patlican = melongene = melanzane = Guinea squash) are regal, not bitter.

What dish most vibrates life and produce at summer's denouement? Why RATATOUILLE, of course! The name draws on the French alteration of toillier (or touiller), which means to stir, or to mix. Also related to "toil," what finer way to celebrate the labor of our local farmers, who have tilled the earth for us!

The following recipe is inspired variously, dating back beyond memory, but I hope to impart a wisdom here drawn from The Voluptuous Vegan-- a cookbook so coveted that it vanished with some so-called friend of food, give it back!!! -- that is, a respect for each ingredient's singular properties, which refines the vegan palate and elevates the vegan plate.

Ingredients
As is my way, I allow you to choose your quantities. (Mine are usually dictated by what's in the box!)

Onion
Eggplant
Tomato
Squash
Fresh Basil
Olive oil
Polenta
Music and conversation

Proceedings:
I suggest music, so you remember that this process is about each loving minute you spend ratatouill-ing these beautiful veggies. Reliable helpers are always welcome to skip ahead and start cutting!

1. Boil the polenta right away, with cracked pepper and a little salt. Let it stand as you proceed with everything else.
2. Peel long stripes off your eggplant, and then cube it small-ish-ly. Salt these cubes, somewhat liberally, and put them in a colander over a bowl of water. Watch them sweat for an half-hour, while you attend to other things.
3. Put enough oil in your castiron skillet to slow cook your onion/s until they glow pellucid (translucent). Transfer the cooked onion to a side dish, and wipe out your skillet with a paper towel or its dry equivalent. (I know, paper towels are precious, but wiping removes little bits of things that create grease-fire and smoke, while allowing you to build flavor in your skillet.)
4. Cube your squash.
5. Cube your tomatoes.
6. Mince your basil. I like to wash it, pick off the leaves, stack them, roll them , and then cut them into fine long slices with scissors. (My clumsy modification of the chiffonade française.)
7. Put your skillet back on medium low heat and return the onions to the fire. (If you intend to add any spices that you might be addicted to, such as herbs provencal, go ahead, since this dish harks from that region, now is the time, if any. Wait to the end to add salt, though.) Now, add your basil.
8. Add your squash cubes. Cook, stirring gently until slightly underdone. (Retain its firmness and your mouth will be happy!) Transfer. Wipe.
9. Add your tomatoes and turn up the heat for a brief ten seconds, if your tomatoes are super juicy. Return to medium/low heat.
10. Transfer everyone to the side dish again, and prepare your skillet appropriately to receive the eggplant. Cook it until it is done, not soggy.
11. Return all ingredients to the skillet and mix everything gently. Add salt and pepper, if needed "To taste" is your operative phrase here, since the eggplant might have enought salt, and the polenta might have enough pepper.
12. On the side or on top of your polenta, your ratatouille should incite a symphony among your most critical taste buds!

Just listen, you'll hear a sweet "Bon appétit! Buen provecho! Buon Appetito!"

The Politics of Flavor: Stick to Real Butter (or Go Vegan)!

The Sacramento Bee reported the "recent discovery of a life-threatening disease among former workers of flavoring factories, including two in Southern California, and a backdrop of dozens of similarly disabled workers who inhaled the buttery vapors at microwave popcorn plants in the Midwest." Bronchiolitis obliterans is a :rare condition that literally obliterates the bronchioles." (The crucial airways branching like twigs at the ends of the respiratory tree, where oxygen enters the blood.)

Diacetyl, a naturally occurring chemical in butter that is synthesized and highly concentrated to be used as butter flavoring has caused at least three deaths among (mostly un-unionized) flavoring plant workers and two others are candidates for double lung transplants.

See the rest of the article. . .

Look for:
Food plant safety faulted
Worker lung disease linked to additive.
By Chris Bowman -- Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:01 am PDT Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Story appeared on Page A1 of The Bee

25 Ways to Get (and Give) What You Want Without Money

(Reprinted from www.coopamerica.org)

NOURISHMENT
1 Hold a home-baked bread or dessert swap.
2 Grow your own fruits and vegetables to give away.
3 Share seeds, plants and clippings from your garden.
4 Buy food or supplies in bulk and share with friends.
5 Start a dinner co-op.
6 Arrange a cooking day among friends to prepare food like next weeks' dinners, pasta sauces or granola in bulk.
7 Start a dinner program in your neighborhood. When something momentous happens to a family (having a baby, losing a loved one, illness, etc.) form a neighborhood team to provide dinners on a rotating basis until the family is back on its feet.

CARE
8 Start a babysitting or childcare co-op.
9 Start a pet-sitting co-op.
10 Arrange to look after a sick friend with neighbors.

HOME HELP
11 Form a home-repair team. Give and get services from painting to putting up a fence or fixing the roof.
12 Share infrequently used tools and garden supplies.
13 Collect partially used or unused cans of paint to share and exchange. It saves money and cuts down

GOODS
14 Hold a clothes swap at work, church or in your neighborhood. Have a fashion show and clothes swap with friends.
15 Hold toy or sporting goods swaps/exchanges for kids so they can learn new sports and games.

KNOWLEDGE
16 Exchange lessons, like oil painting for guitar playing.
17 Ask a 12-year-old how to get onto the Internet.

SERVICES
18 Start a skills exchange in your community.
19 Start a carpool in your neighborhood or office.
20 Swap your skills for accommodation. Provide accounting, housework, nursing care, childcare or other skills in return for a room in a house. Alternatively, provide accommodations in your house to get the services you need and help a student or young person get started.

CURRENCY
21 Make your own money.

COMMUNITY
22 Adopt a stream or a highway to restore or improve it.
23 Give a traveler a place to stay.
24 Set up an area at a community center, apartment building, church/synagogue where people can leave items they no longer need for others. Give what's left to a charity.
25 Volunteer your time and energy, in your neighborhood, city, town or region.


Also Consider bartering...

* If you're interested in saving money
* If you'd like to get to know others in your community
* If you'd like to learn a new talent or skill
* If you're not interested in performing certain tasks yourself
* If you'd like to feel good about helping others