Reeling

Well friends, tonight is my last night in Costa Rica. I must say I am reeling from an absolutely amazing week. Not just because I saw monkeys and toucans (which i did) but because I fell in love with the earth (again)and had some real moments of beauty that have changed me forever.

A few thoughts from the flight to Costa Rica

On about hour 6 of my transit today I started to settle into some good clear thinking. I listened to my Ipod for about an hour and fell into some great tunes. Make our Garden Grow from the musical Candide (conducted by the great Leonard Bernstein) reminded me that we are neither pure nor wise nor good. we do the best we know. we build our house, chop our wood, and make our garden grow. I like the simplicity of it. then i grooved to some Bach played by the brilliant Yo Yo Ma. The thought came to me that we must fill our hearts with greatness. music, art, nature and let it make us into better people. Finally i really got into the passionate Juanes song Fotografia. Although i cant understand all of it as its in Spanish, it sweeps me away. So, here{s my analysis on the meaning of life. Find you purpose, believe in your purpose and follow it to the end. Bye for now.

Poison Dart Frogs and stuff

I really can't believe that my Costa Rica adventure is just around the corner. This little froggie is called a "Blue Jeans" frog. I really hope I get to see one. My lifelong love of frogs would be made complete by just once glimpse.

Just feel like braggin'

I love my boys!

Our baby sisters and brothers

"How can we go on spending obscene amounts on budgets of death and destruction, knowing full well that a minute fraction of these would insure that children everywhere would have clean water to drink? These are our sisters and brothers out there, not statistics."

—Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Salty and dangerous

Last night, after a centering yoga class and some serious steam room relaxation I went home starving. It was after 8, the boys were still up and my mother-in-law was over. The house was a mess (is a mess) and there wasn't much to eat in the frdge. So after reading 18 books to the boys, talking over the week's activities with my m.i.l (whom I LOVE) i headed downstairs to scavenge for food. At the back of the 2nd shelf of the fridge, behind a bunch of wilted radishes, was a tiny, innocuous looking jar of caviar. Half empty. Left over from the birthday party I had made the caviar and egg dish for this past weekend. There was also a tiny ramekin of hard boiled egg yokes and a half a container of pure creamy creme fraiche. I pulled out a package of specialty crackers my friend Tammie sent me from Manhattan, and carefully opened the package. Quickly, I piled the egg yokes on the cracker, balancing a dollop of creamy goodness on top of it and finally, the piece de la resistance, the dark, salty and dangerous substance that rocks my world--caviar. As I bit in, the cracker broke and fell into my hand forcing me to cram the whole thing into my mouth. But I couldn't stop ther. One more cracker, the crunch, the salt, the creaminess, and then another. Oh joy! I can't say it stopped with just three crackers and I won't promise that I didn't lick my fingers. Next to yoga, it was the most centering thing I did all day.

eggs plus caviar equals love

Ingredients
6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and halved lengthwise
1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
3 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Small pinch salt
4 ounces salmon caviar
Lettuce leaves, micro red cabbage or greens, for garnish
Small parsley sprigs, for garnish
Directions
Remove the yolks from the eggs and place them in a bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork. Add the creme fraiche, chives and lemon juice to the yolks and season very lightly with salt. Mix until the ingredients are well blended.

Spoon the yolk mixture back into the whites and top with a teaspoon of caviar. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Arrange on lettuce leaves, garnish each egg with a small parsley sprig and serve.

Peace Tea

I recently discovered Satish Kumar and am intrigued and humbled by his commitment to peace. Inspired by Ghandi, he travelled the globe on foot with no money, sharing the message of peace over a simple cup of tea.



Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.
Peace, peace, peace.
- Satish Kumar

A Culinary Upturn

I don't know about you but I was inspired by Barack Obama's inauguration speech yesterday. He soberly laid out the facts that we are in tough economic times but with a twist. He said that our country's ability to produce has not diminished. We still have millions of hardworking creative people, a powerful stock market, and an infrastructure that can pump out lots of products to sell to the world. We still have great museums (I'm talking now here, not him), extraordinary cuisine, Rodeo drive and thousands of non profit organizations helping the poor. We still invented jazz and there are people who will take a whole year just to perfect the recipe for the Parisian macaron. I love America and I want to kick in my creativity to make it better. How about you?
www.miettecakes.com

Far too vast

Three men decided to run, yes, run, across the sahara desert. It took them 111 days--the equivalent of 170 marathons in a row with out even one day off. An amazing achievement to be sure. Perhaps even slightly insane. They finished their journey at the Red Sea, at sunset...and were speechless. No wild yelping and high fiving, just sober almost stunned expressions as they slowly moved their sunbaked bodies, aching joints and blistered feet toward the sea and together, placed their hands into the cool water. Charlie Engle described his experience this way. He said that it is perplexing to him that he can never fully process the experience. It was far too vast to put into any kind of structure or meaning. He said he knew that when he was in the moment, he had to savour it because he would never be able to describe it. Or, understand it. I don't want to moralize this. But I know what it means to me. The ultimate experiences with life are ones we can't put into human form and manipulate into words and meaning. To just let it be what it is, and humbled, let it transform us.

pray for peace

if i am a mouse
should god hate the cat?

if i am a cat
should god hate the rat?

if i am the earth
should god hate the sea?

because it is not
a towering tree?

should god hate the day
because it's not night?

does god hate the darkness
because its not light?

does god hate he for not being she?

if god could hate you,
could god hate me?

Leaping about

I am a compulsive list maker. I am always building lists in my head of things to do, things I've done, things to buy, things I don't need, ways to be more simple, why the internet is awesome, places I want to visit and what kind of person I want to be. I really can't stop it. I guess words are my way of creating something real. Just by putting it into word form, it seems more attainable, more imaginable, more...mine. Every year I think of a list of things I want to do differently in the new year. Go to the gym, work out, weed the flower bed. Or, things I want to do more of. Give food to the neighbors, write personal thank you notes, be in the present moment with my boys. But this year I have decided to take all my lists and all my words and boil them down into one word. Yes, just one word to describe who I want to be, how I want to live, in what way I want beauty to be made manifest in the world through me. That word is cherish. As I sat at the bagel shop in Claremont this morning with my 5 year old Jackson letting the sun dapple across his nose as he powered down a chocolate chip bagel, I sipped my coffee out of an environmentally friendly (I hope)cup and cherished the moment. Even though I was going to be late for work, and walk in late to a meeting and start my day late...i sat, and breathed and cherished the sun, my boy and life. Slow down. Cherish.

Exploding stars

I just learned that all components of life are created in the center of exploding stars. I really had no idea.

the light
turns yellow
i slow
then stop
relief
red to warm me
respite
quiet
for a moment
green
means
forward
motion
the future
lulls
ahead

Simmering Provencal style

I know I am in a good space when I start making soup. I love filling a pot with water and then contemplating what should go in next. As the water heats, I forage for veggies, spices, fresh herbs, pasta noodles and something to start it off like a ham bone Chicken legs or turkey neck from the freezer. First things first I saute the mirapoix--carrots, celery and onions in butter--and slide it into the pot. Add a bay leaf or two and a teaspoon of each of my favorite spices--thyme, basil, parsley, and oregano. Then I drop in the meat and let it simmer. What's next? Big chunks of carrot, onion, potato. A yam chopped small. Some leftover sweetcorn, haricot vert, and brussel sprouts that have been hanging out in the fridge. A dash of good olive oil and a handful of fresh rosemary from the garden. Then peppercorns--green, red and black. A little more dried thyme. Spaghetti noodles broken up small. Saffron. Simmer.It looks beautiful in my french blue pot--all the ingredients bobbing about together, the aroma carried up by the steam that rolls and rolls to the ceiling. I take in a deep breath. Life is good.