You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world....

Rewind. Post started back in July sometime:

I have a coworker who is somewhat of an astrology expert. He has informed me that the stars are indicating that we are in a time of turbulence and change that will continue through about mid-August. I have mixed feelings about such things, but turbulence is certainly here and doesn't seem to be fading any time soon. Celebrities are dying left and right, but that is nothing compared to what is going on in the world. Election violence in Iran, ethnic violence in China, a coup in Honduras, the health care debate is moving more and more to the forefront of our collective consciousness, a governor has resigned for no apparent reason, what is going on?!

I don't have an answer to all these questions, but I do know that part of the turbulence I've noticed is that our communities and our lives are falling apart! We've forgotten what's important to us! I'm pretty sure I've hinted at this before, but it's so true so I'm saying it again. In addition, I've always felt that it is important to give back to the community and get involved. While I was home at my parents' house for 4th of July, the local newspaper had a 3-page long obituary for a former resident who had had a significant impact on the city during his life. He hadn't even lived in Cypress for the last 3 years of his life, and yet he had been important enough to warrant a 3-page obituary! I remember him from playing soccer w/ his daughter, but he was involved in practically every aspect of the community that didn't involve election. Soccer, grad nite, the Cypress Community Festival, various organizational boards--what an inspiration! Very few people would have the ability to be so involved in their community, but couldn't we all aspire to have an impact? I tip my hat off to you, Nick Eighmy. Our President is also encouraging us to all become more involved in our communities, and why shouldn't we? All of us who have experienced success of any kind in life owe that success to the various opportunities we've been exposed to, which we owe in large part to the people in our lives.

Fast forward to today:

I started this post many months ago, and couldn't finish it for some unknown reason. A lot has changed since then. I no longer have a coworker who is an astrology expert, seeing as I was laid off 2 months ago. The health care debate is now practically all-consuming. There's been additional election turmoil in Afghanistan. And politicians never cease to amaze. But the idea of "revolution" has still been on my mind quite frequently. For anybody who cares, Wikipedia has revolution down as "a fundamental change in power or organization structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time." Bingo. I think it turned out that I think everything we've come to know about the world is being turned upside down, and the whole idea just seemed too big. Let it be known that I don't necessarily think a little revolution is a bad thing. I've been saying for a while now that we are going through a "re-set" in the way we shop, the way we interact with our communities, the way we sell, in the same sort of way that economists talk about markets re-setting. And then this guy, John Gerzema, came along and did a talk at TEDxKC, essentially on this very topic, but he said it so much better than I could ever hope to!

So now I realize that I can't simply write a post about this, because this is essentially what my whole blog is about! And hopefully I'll post things more frequently now that I'm past this particular hurdle.

Please watch the video and enjoy, and explore other TED talks as well. Truly inspiring.

(Not-so-secretly hoping I can figure out a way to get invited to TED and pay the $4400 price tag so I can experience this brilliance live and in-person...)

Tonight's dinner: Gnocchi mish-mash!

I was sitting here tonight pondering what to eat, knowing I have plenty of food in the house but nothing that was planned to go together. I did a little soul (aka food blog) searching and came up with this, made entirely of ingredients I had sitting around.

I write recipes "grandma-style" rather than "cookbook" style, so hang in there!

Boil a lot of water in a big pot. You're going to throw in about a pound of gnocchi and a whole bunch of asparagus in there, so make sure there's room! Cut up a bunch (like a pre-bound bunch from the market) of asparagus into bite-size pieces. Mine were skinny little guys, so I cut them into thirds.
While the water's boiling, saute some bacon that's been cut into small bite-size pieces (maybe 2-3 slices? I don't know since I pre-cut mine and keep it in the freezer for occasions such as these). Not too hot, you don't want it to cook too fast!
Dice up some tomatoes (I used 2 medium-sized heirlooms), and add those to the bacon once it's starting to look cooked but just shy of crispy, followed by about 2 cloves of minced garlic. Let it simmer, and check the gnocchi water--it's probably close to boiling by now.
Salt the water, and add the gnocchi and let it start floating. Season the tomatoes/bacon with some fresh black pepper, a big pinch of Italian seasoning, and a little pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. More or less, to your taste. There's probably no need for salt, because there's plenty in the bacon. About a minute after the gnocchi start to float, add the asparagus to the water and cook for another minute before draining. Add a touch (3/4 Tbsp?) of some kind of soft creamy cheese to the sauce and let it get all melty, though I'm sure it would taste just fine without the cheese. Put the gnocchi and asparagus back in the pot and pour the sauce over it. Give it a stir and enjoy!
My guess is this would be about 4 servings. Probably 6 if you're eating it with other things as well or as a side-dish.

Yummy yummy!

Now, why on earth is this hob-nob worthy of being added to a blog about sustainability? Well, a few reasons! For starters, the tomatoes and asparagus were organic and locally grown, so there's your environmentally friendly, and all the other ingredients could easily be acquired in such a fashion. But really, I think the most important reason is that this whole thing was literally whipped together from idea to in my belly in about 20 minutes, using ingredients I already had, and it is versatile enough that it can be sort of mixed and matched with whatever else might be on hand on any other day. How are we supposed to sustain ourselves if we make life so complicated all the time?? I've begun to notice that I might be developing a bit of food snobbery, and that's not good! I just want myself and others to take a more active role in what comes into and goes out of our lives, and one of the most basic ways of doing that is preparing our own meals. Yes, I prefer organic/local, but I think it would be far superior for a family (or friends!) to sit down together with a meal that took care and attention (even if it didn't take time) that wasn't organic, rather than to sit down to something brought home from a fancy organic restaurant. Not that I don't love restaurants, but hopefully you get my point: the kind of meal I put together tonight was easy, inexpensive, healthy yet just rich enough (less than 1 slice of bacon/serving, and no other oil!), and didn't take all night. I'd call all that sustainability in action!

Busy busy busy!!

What a busy time this is!  School is out for summer, and yet I seem to be busier than ever.  I chalk it up to the wonders of late spring/early summer.  I visited my friends Rachel and Mark in Kansas City, MO, over Memorial Day, and my little brother graduates from high school in just about a week, so I'm getting ready for that visit home, and I've had several people over to visit and see the new apartment.  Meanwhile, we are gearing up to move our office at work.  In addition, I have discovered baking and yogurt making.  The baking is still a work in progress, as I have yet to produce an actual loaf of risen bread (attempt #2 in progress at the moment!), however I have a very active sourdough starter that makes wonderful muffins and crescent rolls, and absolutely the best waffles I've EVER had, so things are coming along nicely.  The yogurt process isn't quite perfected just yet, but it is really too easy and inexpensive to not do on a regular basis.  I'm honestly not sure I'll ever buy yogurt again!  I'm also doing some planning for an office veggie garden, as well as planning ahead for all the delicious fruits about to hit the market that will take well to preservation in various forms.  Much to do!

I talked to my mom tonight about all these little "projects" I have going on, and we laughed a little at how silly I am for doing all this stuff.  As I was eating a tamale for dinner and had the brief thought of "maybe I could make tamales to use up all the cornmeal I have...," it dawned on my WHY I do these things.  The tamale moment was brief because I quickly acknowledged just how much work they take and how I just don't have that kind of time.  However, with most other "processed" whole foods (such as bread and yogurt), I find myself so removed from the process of how to produce them, and lacking the necessary appreciation of the time and work involved.  Even if this bread works out great, I highly doubt I'll never again buy a loaf of bread.  But it serves as a reminder of the work that goes into my food, and helps me to better gauge value.  For example, I've decided that even my beloved Straus yogurt is a bit expensive, as I can produce nearly the same product for just the cost of their milk (about a third less for the same quantity).  (Mind you, yogurt takes time, so I definitely think they are charging a fair price, just that I can do the same myself for less)  At the same time, I've decided that a good loaf of bread is a miraculous thing, and wonder at people who make real, fresh, whole bread on a daily basis.  This stuff takes patience and major planning!  

Go out and buy yourself a loaf of fresh artisan bread!  Trust me, it's worth it!

Blogger...why am I suddenly computer illiterate?

So I've come to the conclusion that I don't post much not for lack of material, but because for some reason I don't really like the blogger interface and adding pictures and such isn't quite as intuitive as I'd like. Or maybe I should just take some time to actually figure it out? Either way, I've got a ton of stuff on my mind that I should really put down, and it's just not happening!

I'll try to get a post up soon, and then really work on either figuring this thing out, or figuring out how to use the blog tool on my Mac but posting it here since I don't really want to get a different website.

For all the 2 people that read this thing, I appreciate your patience! ;)

The Obamas are planting a garden!

Whoohoo!!!  White House veggie garden, here we come!

It's a new world, adjust. (warning: mild rant) (but there's hope)

Maybe it's because I used to be in sales, but in the last week I have been annoyed by salespeople who don't have a grasp of the very basics, and I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.

First, let me list the two instances in particular that I'm thinking of.
1) A (very sketchy looking) guy comes into the office last week wanting to get me to lease filtered water coolers (no bottles). So before asking me anything he launches into how it's a much greener option than using bottles. Yes, I know the benefits, as we currently have this type of system in our office. I tell him this. He keeps going on about how green it is to not use bottles, and hands me a brochure detailing why filtered water systems are better than bottled. He leaves me a message today reminding me of our chat and wanting to tell me more about how filtered water systems are so green, and so much better than bottles.

2) A guy comes in today saying, "Hi, I have a citric cleaner, who's the right person to talk to?" Now granted, even though I'm pretty sure I know what he's getting at, I don't like to make assumptions, so I say, "the right person to talk to...for what?" He basically repeats his previous statement/question, but also pulls out the bottle to show me. Alright, we'll go with the assumption, "I'm the right person to talk to, and we use a janitorial service," as I'm sure most other offices do (I leave out the last part). He informs me that we surely must clean sometimes, like our windows and such, and that his product is "green" and non-toxic! I tell him we use Simple Green to clean our counters between janitorial services, and he goes away without a fight.

Here's my beef(s): LISTEN TO YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER!!! Or, alternatively, use common sense before you even approach your target customer! Why is the water guy still trying to sell me on how filtered water systems are better than bottles after I told him we weren't using a bottled water system to begin with? Why is the green cleaner guy coming up to a Berkeley business with a Certified Green Business sticker in the window, and telling us about his green cleaner, without having a way to tell us how it's any better than any of the many other non-toxic and/or biodegradable cleaners out there? (Note to anybody selling a non-toxic/"green"/ biodegradable cleaner to customers who may already be well-versed in this sort of thing: Non-toxic cleaners are not new. Ever heard of vinegar?)

These guys are not alone here. The solar company I work for (and the one I worked for before they sold us off) makes the same mistake. Their marketing materials do a great job of selling solar, but do a terrible job of differentiating themselves from their competitors. What's that, you say, that's a job for the sales people? Indeed it is! But they're not prepared.

Why is this happening? I have a couple theories and recommendations.
a) Times are tough. The economy is in the crapper. It's hard to make a sale. Doom and gloom, blah blah blah. But are people/companies really getting so desperate that they're forgetting the fundamentals? It's kind of like Maslow's hierarchy: in order to make a tougher sale, you've got to have a solid foundation and build off that, and you won't get anywhere without those fundamentals. Now here's the sucky part for the water guy: I'm sure he goes around all day long and people tell him they're not looking for a water cooler. But I AM looking for a water cooler! One without bottles! That filters water straight out of the tap! Basically, exactly the product he offers! Am I going to lease from him? Not a chance in hell, thanks to his awesome listening skills.
b) (and here's the good news) More people and businesses are aware of their impact on the environment than ever before, and are already taking steps to reduce it! Therefore, the idea of a product being environmentally friendly is losing it's cache as a selling point. As customers become more savvy regarding a certain product, the approach has to change.

Normally, there is a lag before changing customer knowledge and attitudes hit the sales approach, and we're still used playing catch-up mode. But we can't afford that right lag right now. Companies have got to be ahead of the curve if they expect to survive, let alone thrive. We need to make a giant leap forward if we're going to have any kind of control over this economic situation. The companies that can bridge the lag gap are going to come out on top, and we'll all have better products and services for it.

Now, can you guys please hurry it up already??

What a great food day!

Despite not having a stove, we are making it work...

  Today I ate locally-produced yogurt from Strauss Family Creamery w/ granola, leftover lentil barley soup (which was made with almost all the fresh ingredients being either organic or local or both), a FFTY apple and natural peanut butter, and vegetarian chili, again with all the yummy fresh stuff (though the beans and tomatoes were canned).  Makin' strides!  It's so nice to have real home-cooked food again, even if I didn't do much to get it there.  The food is good for my body, good for my soul (aided by eating w/ the roomies rather than alone), better for the environment than what most people eat (including myself at times), and totally delicious (even if my stomach kind of hates me for making it deal with all these legumes when I'm not really used to them...)!

  This is kind of what its all about, although I would prefer to cook something myself on the stove rather than leave an appliance on all day.  We do what we can, and try to be healthy about it in as many ways as possible.  It will be a lot easier when I can cook for real, but for now, this will do.

  Roomie Maike also pointed out that planning meals for the week ahead will help me to save time and money, and eat better at the same time.  Boy is she right!  This is going to be a must with school, so I'd better get it down in the next couple weeks while I still have some time for flexibility.

  Also, I really should stop writing in the blog right before I go to bed as I would like it to be a good writing exercise for me, but for now please be patient with the lameness of my posts and the inevitable spelling and grammar errors...

Crock Pot: The Stove-less Wonder

Nearly a week later and our stove is still not back to functionality.  Grr!  On the bright side, our landlady does have "tips" for us to "get it back on its feet."  Right...

So the roommates are back and we are left to fend for our selves without the benefit of stove or oven.  Out comes the Crock Pot!  I found a great recipe for lentil barley soup online, and it was amazingly delicious and super easy!  I've never really had lentils or barley much before, but let me tell you...  And, to top it off, this meal was very inexpensive!  Dried lentils and barley cost I think about $1 a pound each, throw in some onions and carrots from my FFTY box, some spices and whatnot, supplement with some celery from the store, and greens from the garden, and voila!  A delicious and ridiculously nutritious meal!  And it only took about 2 hours, which in slow-cooker time is basically instant.

The whole thing got me thinking about how I'm going to manage preparing meals for myself once school starts so that I'm not chowing down at the Bloomingdale's food court twice a week.  The food is good and really should not be considered fast food at all as it is of pretty darn decent quality, but you pay for it through the nose and I just don't need that.  Despite the fact that it was brought down from the top of the cabinets due to a lack of alternative methods of cooking, the slow cooker could really help me out here as well.  I've tended to shy away from using it much because it just makes so damn MUCH food--but maybe this is exactly what I need right now!  I can prepare a big batch of something and since I'd be eating it for lunch and dinner the next day or two, it will go by much faster than my eating habits in the past would likely allow.  Perfect.

I've also been thinking about nutrition, and a co-worker friend sent me a vegetarian bean recipe that sounds absolutely amazing.  I'd planned to make it this weekend but there was the issue with the stove, yet it led me to realize that I don't eat beans very often, and wonder why.  Part of this, I'm sure, is due to the fact that I'm not hog wild about beans, but I certainly don't dislike them.  I guess they are one of those foods that I didn't really grow up with much, and therefore I'm just not all that familiar with.  But dried beans come in so many varieties, are cheap as hell, and are nutritional powerhouses.  What's not to love?  Oh right, they work great in the slow cooker, too.  =)

I'm thinking this could be the start of something great...

Tough to eat well when your stove breaks...

I've been so good and have cooked for myself for like the last 4 days in a row now!  And then tonight I go to make a pizza but it seems the oven won't get past "moderately warm." So my buddy Neil suggest I pan fry the pizza (which is already fully assembled and also "moderately warm").  Where has the idea of pan fried pizza been all my life??!!?  And I say the idea because apparently the stove doesn't want to work at all!  Good thing I'd bought groceries for pizza and also buttermilk for soda bread...  Somebody'd better get out here quick to fix it so I don't waste more food than I already have with the pizza!

Enough dilly dallying!

Time to finally put some of these "resolution" (cringe...r word!) things down more officially!  Nothing major, I know myself well enough to know that I'd probably cheat if anything was overly specific--isn't that the opposite of how most people do it?  Anyways....

The first 2 I already mentioned:

-Quit soda.  So far, so good.  I didn't get a SodaClub machine.  Some things are just better. (ahem...new Mac!)  So I might give myself one for my birthday.  For the record, I don't consider flavored mineral water soda.  I do consider those fruity flavor things that Safeway makes and displays next to the SODAS to be soda.  Duh.

-Quit driving.  I'll be honest--not off to a great start here.  To be fair, I've been sick since NYE, and hate the idea of taking public transit while ill, and haven't really gone anywhere anyway... Excuses, excuses, right?  The idea is to drive as little as possible, by considering before each trip if there is an alternative way to get there.  Can I walk, bike, or take PT?  I have a sweet bike and rain gear, so this really shouldn't be an issue...We shall see!  I've already experienced some of the benefits to myself, and I know that society would just be so much better off!  Some lady honked and was screaming at me inside her car the other day because I refused to make a turn into oncoming traffic.  Would a person EVER consider screaming at another individual if not for this idea of being inside their own little bubble??  I briefly considered getting out of my car and going to have a little chat with her and kill her with kindness--see if she feels like screaming to a perfectly nice smiling individual who is curious about her anger issues!  Haha!  But...I was sick, so I'll save that for another day.  Sadly, I'm sure it will happen again.

-Food!  This is a big one.  I have so many ideas!  Still, my main resolution (ugh) strategy is to take things day by day, one decision at a time, rather than have major earth-shattering goals.  Step one is to waste less of what I buy.  I get a produce box every other week from Farm Fresh to You (see link to the right--they are great!), and generally use it all, but sometimes I just don't get around to it.  It's really all a matter of planning, and I definitely got worse at this when school started in August.  So first I'm going to try to make sure I have time to use what I have and throw less away.  Hopefully this way I'll also rely less on crappy pre-prepared things, even if they aren't that crappy.  I'd like to make my own bread every now and again as well.  My roommates have a breadmaker that gets far too little use for how easy it is, and I also like Irish soda bread--which doesn't even require a breadmaker!  (http://www.sodabread.us/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm)  It's ridiculously easy, tasty, cheap, and so much better for me!  Slow Food USA is an organization that is pretty much about everything I'm into these days, so I'm going to join them as soon as I figure out what chapter I want to be a part of (moving in June).  I'm going to quit eating beef altogether, unless it is locally raised, grass fed, and humanely slaughtered.  I'm not that into beef anyway aside from a good homemade burger every now and then, so I don't even know when this will come up.  I will continue what I've already been doing for much of the last year when it comes to meat--eating so much less of it that my visit home for the holidays left me feeling totally heavy and gross from all the meat.  We just don't need that much!  When cooking for myself, I've always steered towards a mostly vegetarian diet, mostly for fear I'm going to mess the chicken up or something, so that's fine.  Eating out will be interesting--and sandwiches.  Oh how I love me a turkey sandwich!  But, I'm not cutting them out entirely, just contemplating if I really need to eat a bunch more meat at that given moment in time.  Other than that, I just plan to be really choosey about what and where I eat.  Is it local?  Is it organic?  Are the workers treated well?

So yeah, that pretty much sums it up!  Any other ideas or suggestions are absolutely welcome!  (Again, I say this as though I have readers!)

Not gon' do it...

I have so many thoughts on starting a new year, but already feel the lag to write them down.  Perhaps the fact that my nose won't stop running and my skin is too raw to feel it has something to do with it?