Indian print

I saw this old print of an Indian woman in a sari, and it reminds me of a skirt I have. I wonder if the designer saw this very picture when they designed it. Neat.

Basically

What could be better

than an elephant in a butterfly costume?

Maharage na coco, wali, na mchicha

Thanks to the amazing mini share of CSA food from Elmwood Stock Farm, Ben and I ate the tastiest asparagus last night. It was fresh picked from < 20 miles away, less than 24 hrs before, and was organic. I'm attributing its unusually sweet, buttery taste to those factors.


Then this morning, I made a Tanzanian lunch. This filling, fresh, delicious lunch, in Arusha, Tanzania, would cost me ~30 cents in 2001 when I was studying abroad there. If I got a soda (Fanta Passion flavor) with it and returned the bottle when I was done, the price was upped to a whopping 70 cents. There was usually a piece of fresh fruit or avocado ("parachichi" in swahili, possibly my favorite word) with with it, but I didn't have those things at home today.

Simple Recipes:


Maharage na coco (Beans & coconut):
3/4 c fresh hulled beans (black works well, but pinto or red beans do okay too)
1 can coconut milk (lite for less calories, the taste is pretty much equivalent)
1 c water
1 palm of salt (guessing that's ~1.5 tsp?)

Simmer for an hour.

Wali (cooked rice):
cook with water as usual (o:

Mchicha (greens mix sauteed):
Generous dollop 'vegetable oil' (corn oil is closest to what they use in Tanzania, I've found) in large pan.
Add 1 small onion or garlic (we used the fresh baby garlic today)
Saute several minutes
Add 2 peeled tomatoes (I blanch them first to make the peels easy to peel off), and squish them in the pan.
Add a bag or two of spinach (spinach is the closest I've come to whatever green it is they use there. Theirs is more flavorful, but tender like spinach. Not quite as limp as chard gets though). It 'melts' down more than you'd think in the oil and tomato juices. I add a little at a time so the pan is not overwhelmed. Continue to saute just until the spinach looks cooked instead of fresh.

Enjoy!

Ninja Seaweed!

No way! One of our favorite plants as a kid was Mr. Sensitive, a plant that closes its leaves when touched. This is reminiscent of it, but I bet it's an animal.



via TreeHugger.

UPDATE: apparantly it's a tube worm. And that's it's mouth.

Something I've Been Working On

Some pictures of something I've been working on. Just a little tease.

Living Sanny!

I've just begun another blog entitled Living Sanny--to document my environmental endeavors. Partially for myself, hopefully to get some others motivated along the way. I hope you come and visit me there, and keep it on your list of regular blogs to visit. RSS feeds are wonderful things! Click here.

Euthanasia Seminar

I have always thought one of the best gifts that veterinarians have that physicians don't have (legally) (yet) is the gift of euthanasia. Greek eu=good, thanatos=death. The needless and often lengthy suffering that is endured at the end of so many lives seems useless, wasteful, and sad. I think that suicide is often very selfish, or at least overly self-involved. Especially for otherwise healthy young/youngish people...their minds are so caught up in themselves that they can't see beyond or be patient enough for the suckiness to leave. One could argue that they are suffering as much as someone with long term illness--mentally instead of physically, but suffering nonetheless. Though, I find it sad that something like meditation that might quiet their minds might be all the person needs to have some perspective. Still, I do see suicide as a viable, sometimes reasonable option. I also wonder how many people opt for it for the sake of being one less human on the planet to take up resources. I definitely have trouble with this quandary--does the person have the potential to offer more than what resources are being used by that person? More importantly (because I believe most people have enormous potential), will that potential be realized?

Anyway, Dr. Philip Nitschke recently gave a seminar on euthanasia in England, and I do hope this sort of thing means that I will see the legalization of certain euthanasia for humans by the end of my life. Just as I believe some suicides are selfish, I also believe that the cause of not allowing for euthanasia in humans is selfish. The people left behind WANT the sick/dying person to be around longer, despite their suffering. How is that not selfish?

The Ruin

Wraetlic is thes wealstan
wyrde gebraecon
burgstede burston
brosnadth enta geweorc

As far as I remember, these are the first lines of what is known as "the Ruin"--it's an Old English poem written on sheepskin about Roman ruins. Ironically, it has suffered in a fire and is a ruin itself. I studied it in detail during my Old English course in college.

I kind of feel ruinous in my life. Too many things going on, nothing fully satisfying. Feeling like an imposter in the few things I do enjoy. Feeling pretty empty and run down. Feeling like a ruin--something that had so much potential but ended up not being able to withstand the tests of time.