~ Lin Yutang

Welcome to 2012!  You could call this first week of the year the "post" holiday season.  After the recent few weeks of frenzied buying, eating and celebrating, and after getting a whole bunch of new stuff, now is the perfect time to clean out your closets, cupboards, bodies and minds and lighten up for the new year ahead.

Open up those drawers and closets.  Pull out anything you haven't worn in the last year.  Let go of all those clothes, shoes and accessories that you've been meaning to wear "someday" and give them to a local charitable organization.  There are lots of folks who would love to have them right now.  Say goodbye to that favorite old shirt that has seen one too many weekends and put it to good use dusting off your shelves to make room for something new.

Go through your books and donate the ones you'll never read again to your local school or library.

Do the same with your CDs and DVDs.  Have any old vinyl records?  A local DJ would love to look through them.  Donate them to a local second-hand store like Goodwill or The Salvation Army.

Clean out your pantry cupboard.  Give those non-perishable food items that you've been meaning to try but never will to a local food bank.

If you're short on time, keep it simple:  Each day in January, throw out ten things you don't need.  You will be surprised how easy it is to find ten things each day, just lying around your house, that you don't really need.  This could mean papers, cosmetics, a lonely sock who never found its mate, an unfinished jar of something in the refrigerator or that mystery nut, bolt, firewire or power cord that you once found and put away "just in case it's something important".  

No matter how you decide to clean house, remember that we are also smack in the middle of winter, the quiet season.  If your weekend comes and all you want to do is relax, read a book, take a walk, or daydream about the summer, just make sure that the first item you throw out is your to-do list.

     ~ Ann Landers

~~~~~

If all of that rich holiday food has left you feeling a little bloated, make up a big pot of this simple Cleansing Kale Soup.  Full of detoxifying Kale and Butternut Squash, it's simple to prepare and simply delicious!

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

10 oz package (about 1 & 1/2 cups) organic butternut squash cubes

2 cups of water, divided

8 oz package of pre-washed, chopped organic kale (12 cups)

32 oz (4 cups) organic vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Pinch of cayenne

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly (do not burn garlic), about 1 minute.  Add squash cubes and stir to combine.  Sauté 3 or 4 minutes, add 1 cup of the water and stir again.  Add kale and cook, stirring until kale is wilted.  Add broth, thyme, cayenne, lemon juice and remaining cup of water.  Stir to combine, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

4 to 6 servings

     ~ From Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Early Monday evening,  I was driving to a friend's house when I looked up and saw something rare and wonderful in the sky.  The Moon appeared as a dark circle, perfectly outlined by a hint of iridescent blue.  On the lower portion of the Moon was a brilliant white crescent shape, the phenomenon known as earthshine.  Isn't that a cool term?  Earthshine is sunlight reflected by the Earth toward the Moon. It gives our closest neighbor an almost three dimensional appearance.

Directly to the left of our gorgeous earthshiny Moon was one of the brightest stars I had ever observed.  Stars have to shine pretty brightly to be seen by us city dwellers and this one glowed with so much brilliance and intensity it had the effect of an exclamation point hanging in the middle of the night sky.  I found out later that this bright white pinpoint of light keeping company with our Moon was not a star at all but the planet Venus.  According to the folks at NASA, Venus was shining that evening with 11 times the brilliance of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

This intense and brilliant light of Venus illuminating the sky on the night after Christmas reminded me of the story of the Three Wise Men or Magi who followed a star to the place where the child Jesus had just been born.  The term Magi comes from the Old Persian term magus, referring to a priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. A large part of Zoroastrianism involved the study of stars and planets, and these priests earned an international reputation as astrologers.  In those days astrology was a highly regarded science.

Currently, many do not consider astrology a science.  For the Magi, however, studying the movement of the stars in search of a miracle birth was as serious an endeavor as today's physicists searching for the Higgs particle in order to understand the birth of our Universe.

Miracles are born of possibility.  Our ancestors would have seen magic in our modern conveniences.  Carriages that move down the road without horses and boats that carry passengers across the sky are the cars and planes that we take for granted.  We see the fossil fuels that propel them as outdated.  A car or plane that is powered by thought would seem like magic to us, but can you say for sure that it would be impossible?  Just fifty years ago, the idea of humans landing on the moon was part of this nation's hope, rather than its history.

We listen to entire orchestras on little devices in our pockets.  On those same devices we can watch revolutions taking place halfway across the world in real time. Thanks to telescopes we can look back in time to what our Universe looked like just moments after the Big Bang.  We can fly to another continent in a matter of hours and, if a few hours is too much time, we can talk to or even see someone living on that continent in seconds by telephone or computer.

The last year has been both difficult and miraculous.  The year ahead is a blank canvas waiting for you to paint your vision into being.  If you could dream anything into reality, what would it be?  If you think your dream is impossible, stop and look at the wonder that is all around you.  Become aware of the miracles that power your life each and every day.  Cars on the street, food in a refrigerator, songs on an iPod, humans flying through the sky, me typing on this computer and you reading what I type: all these were once miracles that someone believed were possible to achieve.

As we say goodbye to 2011, give thanks for what already is.  Then, get busy imagining all the possibilities of what could be.

~~~~~~~~~

Ring in 2012 with a bowl of Hoppin' John Hummus, a delicious dip based on the traditional New Year's dish.  Hoppin' John is an African-American-inspired recipe made with black eyed peas that is traditionally eaten on New Year's Day to bring luck and prosperity to the year ahead.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling 

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1 (15 oz) can of black eyed peas, drained

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Hot sauce to serve (optional)

In a small, heavy saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil.  Sauté garlic and chives over medium heat, 1 or 2 minutes, stirring constantly (you don't want garlic to burn).

Add beans, water, cumin, oregano and paprika.  Stir to combine until heated through.  Turn off heat and mash with a potato masher until mostly smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed.

Serve in a pretty bowl, with extra olive oil drizzled over the top and a few drops of hot sauce, if desired.

Makes enough for two.  Recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc. for more guests.

     ~ William Shakespeare

Happy Winter Solstice!  Depending on what time zone you live in, the Solstice happens either Wednesday or Thursday.  Here in California, the annual mark of the shortest day of the year occurred Wednesday evening at 9:30 p.m.  For those living south of the equator,  summer and winter are reversed and this time of year brings their longest day.  In fact, locations in the Antarctic Polar Circle receive 24 hours of daylight now.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice represents the quiet season.  It is a time for moving indoors.  It is a time to look inward, both into our homes and into our hearts and minds.  Now is the time for curling up on the couch with a good book or watching an old movie as the wind blows cold and the rain pours down from the clouds outside.  The winter season is also the perfect time for quiet meditation.

Problem is, the start of the winter season coincides with the busy and sometimes downright chaotic holiday season.  It can be tough to find any time or place to quiet the mind when there is so much to do and so many demands on our time and attention.  With all of the to-do lists, social occasions and emotional triggers that the holidays bring, our minds can seem as crowded as a shopping center parking lot on Christmas Eve.  

When too many thoughts are swirling around my head, when the problem is not that I can't hear myself think, but that I can hear nothing but the chaotic conversations of my inner dialog, I know it is time to use an old trick I learned from Samantha Stevens.

When I was a little girl, I would come home from school every day and watch reruns of Bewitched, an old comedy show about Darren Stevens, an regular-guy-type advertising executive and his wife Samantha, who happened to be a witch. Samantha had made a promise to Darren that she would not use her magical skills and try to behave like an everyday housewife, but every once in awhile she cheated and cooked up dinner in a matter of seconds or made the nosey lady across the street disappear.

One of Samantha's best skills was her ability to stop time for a few seconds.  If things got crazy or out of control she would wiggle her nose (the source of her power) and stop everyone and everything in the room in its tracks.  This would give her a few moments of peace and quiet and then she would scrunch her nose up once more and everyone would return to whatever they had been doing.  I like to employ this very method when I need to quiet the noise in my head.

The next time your mind is full of too many chaotic thoughts, simply imagine all of them freezing in place.  Hold that image of the contents of your mind suspended motionless within the space between your ears.  Take a few deep, slow breaths. Take a look around you and become aware of the present moment.  Feel the connection you share with everyone and everything.  Now close your eyes and take a look inside your mind at the frozen images that represent your thoughts. Imagine yourself walking around them, as if in a museum.  The things your thoughts depict are probably not as overwhelming when you realize that you can control the speed and direction of their activity in your mind.

Celebrate the quiet season.  Freeze the hectic activity in your head.  Enjoy some chill time.

~~~~~~~~~

Celebrate the holiday season by whipping up a Candy Cane Semifreddo. Semifreddo is a yummy Italian dessert that is chilled or frozen.  The name means "half frozen" or "partially frozen" but it is totally delicious!  It tastes like a wonderful peppermint ice cream but no ice cream maker is necessary to make this holiday treat.

2/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup of crushed candy cane pieces (8 candy canes or 4oz)

To crush candy canes: place in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin, mallet or heavy jar to crush.

Line two 8" x 4" x 2 1/2" loaf pans with plastic wrap.  Set aside

Whisk the eggs with the sugar in a medium bowl until well-combined and lightened in color.  Over medium heat, warm the milk in a small heavy sauce pan (do not boil).  When the milk just begins to bubble a little, pour the milk very slowly into the egg/sugar mixture, whisking constantly.  Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat slowly until thickened, stirring constantly (mixture will be the consistency of runny pudding).  Let cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extract.  Cover and chill in fridge for a few hours.

Whip the cream to stiff peaks.  Gently fold whipped cream and candy cane pieces into the custard mixture until completely combined.  Pour into plastic-lined loaf pans.  Cover with plastic wrap, then foil.  Freeze at least four hours.

Remove semi-freddo from loaf pan, peel off any plastic wrap and cut into slices.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

     ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Finally the Iraq war is coming to an end.  President Obama has ordered all of our soldiers out of Iraq by year's end.  In his October announcement he told the country, "Our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays."

The idea of being home for the holidays resonates with so many people because the holiday season is a nostalgic one, filled with memories of childhood wonder, family traditions, special sweets and treats.  It is a time when we desire to reunite with friends and loved ones, to spend time with those we care about.  The Christmas season is also a time of giving to others and, in spite of the gross commercialism this gift-giving tradition encourages, in giving to others, in thinking of someone else's needs rather than our own, we open our hearts and the coordinating chakra.

A popular way to gather friends together in recent years has been to give a "Cookie Exchange Party."  Here's how it works:  Each guest brings 2 dozen cookies to share. The host provides beverages, plates, napkins and to-go bags.  The guests sample cookies and enjoy each other's company.  At the end of the evening each guest leaves with 1 dozen cookies of their choice.

In a year when so many people are out of work and so many families are in need, why not take your cookie exchange party to an extra level of goodness by collecting items to help others?  Give a cookie party full of kindness.  Ask your guests to bring an extra item in addition to their cookies.  Here are some suggestions:

Cookies and Cans Party:  Each guest brings one canned food item, such as vegetables, soup, beans, tuna, juice, etc.  Don't forget dog or cat food to help families with furry members.  The host takes all the collected food to a local church, food bank or other organization for distribution to local people in need.

Cookies and Coats Party:  Each guest brings one warm winter clothing item, such as coats, sweaters, gloves, hats, socks, scarves, sweat pants or rain ponchos.  The host takes the collected items to a local homeless shelter for distribution to people in need of protection from the elements this season.

Cookies and Christmas Toys Party:  Each guest brings a new toy, game, stuffed animal, etc.  You can specify age groups, if you like.  The host takes all the donated toys to a local Toys for Tots drop-off or similar toy drive charity for distribution to local families.

Home is where the heart is.  Make yours warm and cozy.  Hanging out with friends, family and loved ones can warm the heart even more when you come together to help your fellow beings here on earth. 

~~~~~~~~~

Cardamom cookies are a popular Iraqi treat.  Celebrate Peace on Earth by taking a batch of these yummy butter cookies to your next holiday party.

Kindness toward the animals that provide us with food is good for your heart in more ways than one.  Organic Valley believes that "Healthy milk from healthy cows makes healthy butter for healthy families."  Their Organic Pasture Butter is made from cream from the milk of cows that graze on fresh May-September pasture grasses, just as nature intended.  This results in a butter that is rich in beneficial fatty acids - CLA, Omega 3 and 6 others, as well as beta-carotene (a benefit of the fresh summer grasses the cows graze on). I used Organic Valley Organic Pasture Butter to make these cookies; it's my new favorite!

3/4 cup organic sugar

2 sticks of butter, softened but not melted

2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Seeds from six cardamom pods

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Your choice of either: 

1/4 cup lightly crushed, unsalted pistachios or 3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Optional: zest of one orange

Preheat oven to 350° F

Finely crush cardamom seeds with a mortar and pestle.  You can also place seeds in a plastic baggy and crush them using a rolling pin or heavy glass jar.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, along with the zest (if using).  Set bowl aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix flour, baking powder and crushed cardamom seeds.  Add the flour mixture to the bowl with the butter mixture.  Mix well using a large fork, wooden spoon or clean hands.

The dough will be crumbly.  I find it easiest to use a round 2 tablespoon-sized measuring spoon to shape the cookies.  I pack the dough into the spoon and then gently tap out the formed cookie onto an ungreased baking sheet.  You can also use the traditional method of shaping the cookies:  Gather up a walnut-sized (2 Tbl) amount of dough and use the palms of your hands to make a small ball.  Place the ball onto the baking sheet and press down gently to flatten slightly.

Bake these about an inch apart for 15 to 20 minutes.  Let cool for a minute on the baking sheet, then use a spatula to slide cookies onto a rack or foil-lined counter to cool completely.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

     ~ John Muir

Most people are familiar with the Hawaiian greeting of Aloha.  However, Aloha contains within its meaning much more than just hello or goodbye.  

Those of you who practice yoga are familiar with the word, Namaste, spoken at the end of every yoga practice.  Namaste represents the belief that there is a divine spark within each of us.  The gesture of namaste (bringing the hands together at the heart chakra, closing the eyes and bowing the head) is more than a mere salutation; offering namaste symbolizes the recognition of the soul in one to the soul in the other.  Similarly, Aloha is a recognition of the divine in all people, places and things.  To native Hawaiians, Aloha is a way of life referred to as, "The Spirit of Aloha" or "The Way of Aloha".  The concept taught to Hawaiian children of long ago went something like this:

The Aloha Spirit is such an integral part of being Hawaiian that it has been made into law.   Meant to be a guide for public officials when performing their duties, The Law of Aloha can be found in the Hawaii Revised Statutes section 575:

The statute ends with this direction:  

How lovely would it be if, within the laws of all states, all countries and all people there was a recognition of the divine spirit in all things?

In keeping with this holiday season, I would like to wish everyone on earth a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Solstice, As-Salaam Alaikum, Namaste and Aloha!

"To gain the kingdom of heaven is to learn what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable; that is Aloha."  ~ Queen Lili`uokalani

~~~~~~~~~

      ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt 

6 oz of humanely-raised Canadian-style bacon 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 shallots, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 (15 oz) can organic tomato sauce

2 (15 oz) cans cannellini beans, drained

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

32 oz carton of organic vegetable broth

2 teaspoons real maple syrup

Dice bacon into small chunks.  In a heavy 5 quart soup pot, over medium-high heat, fry bacon in the olive oil, stirring frequently, until fat melts and bacon browns (2 to 3 minutes).

Add shallots and reduce heat to medium.  Stir until shallots are translucent (1 to 2 minutes).

Add tomato sauce and use a spoon to loosen any crispy bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add beans, salt and pepper.  Stir well.  Using a potato masher, mash the beans but not completely (leave at least a third whole).  Add broth and maple syrup and stir again well.

Increase heat and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until soup has thickened.

Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.

6 to 8 servings

     ~ An example of a piem (author unknown)

Recently, the public and the media were caught up in the fascination of 11-11-11. People even planned their weddings to take place on this easy to remember date. Yesterday it occurred to me that the date 11-22-11 was even more powerful, being in actuality, 11-11+11-11.

As you may have guessed, I am somewhat obsessed with number.  In particular, I cannot look at a group of multiple digits without adding the numbers together quickly in my head and reducing them to a single digit.  For instance, you may see tomorrow's Thanksgiving date as 11-24-11;  I see it as a one (11+ 24 +11 = 22 + 24 = 46 = 10 = 1).

I have a special fondness for the number represented by π.  π, or pi,  is an infinitely interesting number that relates to circles because π = C/d.  In other words, pi is equal to the circumference (distance around) a circle divided by its diameter (distance across).  This is true no matter what size the circle is.  So π is known to be a mathematical constant; you can depend on it.  However, π is also an irrational number because it cannot be written as a fraction of numbers like 1/3 or 3/4.  Therefore, in decimal form, π never repeats and never ends.  So far, with the help of supercomputers, the decimal representation of π has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits.  Dependable and irrational, pi is like creation itself (and most of my friends).  

Recently, I discovered another surprise in pi: piphilology.  Piphilology is the art of creating mnemonic (memorization) techniques for remembering the digits in π. One way to memorize π is to create a piem.  A piem is a poem whose words each represent a digit in π.  For example, here are the first 49 digits in π:  3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 375...

Now, here are some examples of piems:

Thank you.

Here is a similar, more adult version:

prevent recalling any of pi's sequence more simply.

(Notice how I censored the salty dialog using the correct number of dashes)

Piems are a world-wide art form.  Here is one in French:

Translation:

How I like to teach this number useful to the wise.

immortal Archimedes, artist, engineer,

in your opinion who could estimate its value?

Here is a Spanish piem (rounded to 10 decimal places):

Translation:

Sun and moon and world proclaim the eternal Author of the Cosmos.

I decided to try my hand at writing a piem to 23 digits of π (not rounded):

So, now it is your turn.  I would love some of you to try your hand at writing a piem, a poem out of π.  Use any language you prefer.  Just employ the correct number of letters in each word to correspond to the digits in π.

~~~~~~~~~

Here is a recipe for Cranberry Pear Crostata and Cranberry Blueberry Crostata, two perfectly delicious desserts who are not only circular, but poetically delicious!

1 single pie crust for a 10" pie (22 oz) thawed

1 & 1/2 pears, cored, peeled and sliced 1/8" thick

1/2 cup fresh whole cranberries

3 tablespoons sugar

1 & 1/2 tablespoons of cold butter, cut into small pieces

Zest of 1/2 a lemon or 1/2 an orange

1 egg, beaten with a little water (to brush pastry)

1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, for sprinkling on crust

Preheat oven to 400°F

Place thawed crust on a large baking sheet.  Using a floured rolling pin, roll crust out a bit more until it is about 13" across.

Leaving about 2 inches at the border, fan the pear slices out from the center in a spiral pattern.  Scatter the cranberries among the pear slices.  Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of sugar and the zest over the fruit and scatter the bits of butter evenly over that.

Fold the border into the center of the crostata, partially covering the outer part of the fruit area.  Make a few pleats with the dough to make the circle neat.  Brush edge of pastry with the beaten egg (you won't need all of it) and sprinkle it with 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown.  Let cool on a rack.

Best served the same day or next day.

Serves 8

Omit pears.

Toss together with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch:

1 cup frozen blueberries (not thawed)

1/2 cup fresh whole cranberries

Omit zest and substitute 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

     ~ Frederick Keonig

Thanksgiving is approaching and, in anticipation of the traditional celebratory meal, grocery stores are stocking up on turkeys.  About 99.99% of the turkeys sold in grocery stores are industrialized birds, bred to grow rapidly and produce a lot of meat.  This breeding produces cheaper turkeys for consumers and higher profits for producers, but makes for a miserable existence for the birds.  As adults, these commercially bred turkeys are so heavy that they have difficulty walking, moving and even mating.  Like other factory-farmed birds, they are kept in crowded, filthy conditions.

On a day intended for giving thanks for the many blessings we receive, why not show our appreciation for all forms of life, and especially for those whose lives provide us with life?

This Thanksgiving, say no to factory-farmed, over-bred and cruelly-raised birds and choose a heritage turkey.  Like the turkeys eaten by our forefathers, heritage turkey breeds have been created over many generations.  They are properly proportioned and can therefore move around comfortably.  Because they grow naturally and take longer to mature, they have a juicier, richer flavor.  They are breeds that might otherwise go extinct because they are not ideal for large-scale industrial production.  Heritage turkeys are raised humanely on small family farms, so buying a heritage turkey also gives you the opportunity to support local farmers.

Slow Food USA has plenty of links and information on where to buy heritage turkeys in your area in their seasonal online resource, Have a Slow Food Thanksgiving (Click on the Slow Food USA link to the right, under Elaborations).

If you can't find a heritage turkey in your area, other humanely-raised choices include Pastured (raised in the sunshine with plenty of space to move around), Organic and Free Range.

This Thanksgiving, show your gratitude to all the plants, animals and people who give their lives, time and energy to provide you with the food that nourishes you, sustains you and brings you life.  Slow down and take some time to learn where the turkey at the center of your Thanksgiving table came from and how it was raised.   You are what you eat.   Choose healthy, happy and humane.

~~~~~~~~~

Slow down this Thanksgiving and make some Super Easy Homemade Bread. 

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons organic sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter at room temperature

1 organic egg

1/2 cup milk

1 egg, beaten (to brush top of loaf)

Choice of topping (see below)

Toppings:

2 tablespoons of any combination of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and/or anise seeds.

2 teaspoons of your choice: dried dill, dried crumbled rosemary, dried oregano or dried thyme.

Cheesy 

1/4 cup of grated sharp cheddar or parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°

Grease a 9" cake pan with butter and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Add butter and mix well into flour mixture using a long fork.  Add egg and milk.  Mix until a sticky dough forms, then knead in the bowl using your hands until dough is smooth and formed into a ball.

Press dough into greased cake pan so that bottom of pan is evenly covered.  Brush surface of bread with beaten egg (you won't use all of it).  Sprinkle topping evenly over surface.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until top is golden.  Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove loaf from pan, cut into wedges and serve warm.  Or, if not eating immediately, let loaf cool completely on wire rack and wrap cooled bread tightly in plastic wrap.

Makes 12 servings.

     ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Can you imagine a bicycle built for charging batteries?  Keegan Stephan, a bike mechanic and environmental activist, built one about a year ago that he pedals in his apartment to power his refrigerator.  The device consists of a Schwinn bike which is connected to a fly-wheel that is then connected to a dynamo.  Energy created by the dynamo flows through a motor and something called a diode, ultimately charging a black marine battery. 

The Occupy Wall Street protesters have been persistently camped out in Zuccotti Park near New York's financial district since September 17, using gas-powered generators to provide heat and to charge devices.  On October 28, citing safety concerns, the NYC fire department confiscated several of the generators that provided power to the occupants in the park.  

Mr. Stephan saw this moment as the perfect opportunity to both help the OWS camp as winter approaches and to demonstrate to the public how people can produce pollution-free energy.  Several volunteers helped to transport the energy-producing bikes down to the park and assemble them.  Now the bikes are attracting crowds of onlookers and one volunteer is even considering asking tourists to help pedal.

It is estimated that 6 hours of pedaling will provide 100 hours of laptop and cell-phone use. These human-powered, energy-producing bicycles have all kinds of potential, not just for the protesters, but for communities, organizations and entrepreneurs.

Imagine a spinning class that raises power by pedaling to help the less fortunate heat their homes for the winter or cool them for the summer.

Or how about a public park equipped with these battery bikes that provides a great exercise opportunity while lighting the park?

Some imaginative entrepreneur could develop a chain of bike gym/internet cafes whose customer's workouts would help keep overhead low.

There is no limit to the power of the human imagination.  All that is needed is an open mind and a willingness to try and try again.  Keep pedaling, even when the road gets bumpy.  You never know what you will find at the top of the hill.

Power from the people!

~~~~~~~~~

Check out a short video demonstrating the bike on the TIME'S UP! website (see link under Elaborations, up and to the right).  Then make some people-powered Pumpkin Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce.

1 cup organic pumpkin (from a 15 oz can)

Pinch of salt

2 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

1 organic egg

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots, minced

1 clove of garlic, minced

Scant 1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary

8 oz carton of mushrooms, wiped clean, trimmed and sliced thin

1 cup organic heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for pasta water

Freshly grated parmesan cheese 

Make Pasta:

Put pumpkin in a large bowl, along with a pinch of salt.  Add flour and egg and mix well with a fork (mixture will be crumbly).  Using your hands (and arms!), knead pasta into a ball of dough.  Keep kneading until flour disappears and dough is uniform in color.  Let dough rest 5 to 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough ball using a rolling pin into a thin circle (approximately 15" in diameter).  Cut circle into 4 equal sections, then cut each section into 4 equal strips.  You should now have 16 strips.  Roll each strip a little more to make them thinner and even out their shapes.  Don't worry about making them look perfect, though, as their rustic, imperfect appearance is part of the charm.

You can now cover the pasta strips tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate them until you are ready to cook (up to 8 hours).

Cook pasta:

In a 5 quart pot, bring 3 & 1/2 quarts of water to a boil.  While water is heating, make sauce.

Make sauce:

Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Add shallots and garlic and sauté, stirring constantly, until shallots are translucent (about 1 minute).  Add mushrooms, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often until mushrooms soften (about 5 to 7 minutes).  Add a pinch of salt and the rosemary, stir.  Add 1 cup of water, stir well and heat 5 minutes.  Add cream and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes more or until sauce has thickened.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Reduce heat to low and keep warm until pasta is done.

Once pasta water is boiling, add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and a generous amount of salt to the pasta water.  Add pasta and cook al dente (2 to 4 minutes). Make sure you taste the pasta for doneness, you don't want to overcook it!  

Drain cooked pasta well and add it to the pan with the sauce.  Stir a minute or two and serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Baked version:

Preheat oven to 400°

Butter an oven-proof dish.  Layer cooked pasta strips with the mushroom sauce and top with parmesan cheese.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Serve hot.

Serves 4

     ~ From The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

When I was a little girl, my mother and I often spent Saturday evenings watching a local TV program called Fright Night, featuring old, low-budget horror movies and hosted by a character named Seymour, played by actor Larry Vincent.  Just before the movie started, my mom would make popcorn the old-fashioned way, in a big heavy aluminum pan, and empty all of it into a bowl which we would, of course, top with real melted butter.  In later years, Seymour was replaced by a female host in a low-cut dress who called herself, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.  I loved watching those old, spooky, often silly movies that my mom referred to as, "campy".

When I became a teenager, the place to see old movies became the local vintage movie house.  Back then there were a great many of the movie palaces from the 1920's and 30's still operating.  Multiplexes were not everywhere yet and dvd's didn't even exist.  These single-screen movie theaters would stay in business by showing older movies at a discounted admission price.  Every weekend they would feature a midnight movie that usually attracted crowds of teenagers who tended to enjoy altered states of mind.  The old theatre near me was The Bijou in Hermosa Beach, California.  Most weekends, the midnight movie alternated between the latest surfing flick and Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same. However, at Halloween time, the midnight movie de rigueur  was The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  All the stoners and surfers had to make room for the local drama geeks and punk rockers as the theater filled up with costumed Rocky Horror fans.

I remember going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show one Halloween with my friend Francesca.  Her sister was such a dedicated fan that she showed up dressed in a full Dr. Frankenfurter costume, complete with fishnets, fangs and a fully-loaded water pistol (to simulate the rain depicted in the opening scene of the movie).  I learned to do the Timewarp that night.  I think I can still remember it (jump to the left, step to the right, hands on hips, knees in tight).

The Bijou closed its doors in 1996 to make way for retail shops.

I miss those old movie theaters with their painted ceilings and ornate, art deco fixtures.

I miss films that were more spooky than scary, more goofy than gory.

I miss the midnight movie.

~~~~~~~~~

Celebrate the colors of midnight and cult films from the past with these delicious Blue Velvet Cupcakes.  

1 & 1/2 cups frozen organic blueberries, thawed (do not drain)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter, melted and cooled slightly

3/4 cup organic Fair Trade Certified sugar

1/2 cup organic milk

2 large organic eggs

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons organic Fair Trade Certified sugar

3 tablespoons packed organic Fair Trade Certified light brown sugar

3 tablespoons organic milk

1 (3.5 oz) bar Fair Trade Certified dark chocolate (72% cacao), broken into pieces 

Puree thawed blueberries and their juices in a blender until liquified (you should have one cup of puree).  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375°

Line 2 muffin/cupcake pans with 18 paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until thoroughly mixed.

In another large bowl, mix melted butter and sugar, then add blueberry puree, milk and eggs. Mix well.

Add flour mixture to wet mixture and stir together until well combined.  Do not over-beat.

Divide batter evenly among the 18 lined muffin cups.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

To make glaze:

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring butter, sugars and milk to a boil, stirring often. Let boil for one minute.  Remove from heat and stir in chocolate pieces.  Stir until fully mixed and smooth.

Using a spreader, immediately frost cupcakes with a thin but opaque layer of the glaze.

Makes 18 cupcakes.