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Archive for the ‘In The Kitchen’ Category

Cinnamon Chia Seed Granola

Posted in About me, Health, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

Just mention the word chia and everyone instantly thinks of “hairy” green chia pets. But did you know that chia seeds are considered to be a superfood? According to Lindsey Duncan, ND, CN, of the Dr. Oz Show, “Contributing to its super-seed status, ounce for ounce, chia seeds have more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon! Chia is one of the most concentrated sources of omega-3 in any food. It also contains high amounts of omega-6 . . . Chia also contains calcium; in fact, it delivers 18% of your daily value per ounce, which is three times more than skim milk.” Ms. Duncan also states, “With nearly 11 grams of fiber per ounce, chia delivers 42% of your recommended daily value of fiber in a single serving. Fiber is vital for all aspects of health, and is especially key for weight loss and digestion . . . Chia absorbs up to 12 times its own weight and expands to curb your appetite, so adding just an ounce or so of chia seeds to your diet can reduce caloric intake and help lower the energy density (or calories) of foods, plus double the amount of fiber you receive.”

I keep a little jar of chia seeds on my kitchen table to remind me to sprinkle the seeds on my food at mealtime, but I’m always looking for additional ways to incorporate it into my diet. This recipe for Cinnamon Chia Seed Granola couldn’t be easier and it is packed with good things – cinnamon, chia seeds, rolled oats, and honey. It’s great for breakfast or for a snack! Need more super ways to eat this superfood? Here’s a link to 40 Ways to Use Chia Seeds.

Cinnamon Chia Seed Granola
Recipe provided by Peanut Butter Fingers

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 tbsp. chia seeds
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. canola oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl and stir. Slowly stir honey and canola oil into oat mixture until oats are adequately coated. Spread granola onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let cool until oats become crunchy and enjoy.

Makes four 1/4 cup servings

Linnell’s Notes:
1. I quadrupled the recipe because I wanted extra for snacking!
2. Because I quadrupled the recipe, I baked it longer. It took about 15-20 minutes of additional baking time to get my batch of granola golden and crunchy.
3. If you measure out the oil before the honey, the honey will slide right off of the oiled tablespoon!

Enjoy!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (4/20/12)

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Community, Creativity, Gardening, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recycling, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This tree. This beautiful weeping cedar, a graceful perch for so many birds, is dying. It’s just a tree, I tell myself. But nonetheless, for over sixteen years, without any special wants or needs, this tree’s long, downward-growing branches covered with silvery, grey-green bursts of needles created an elegant archway into my garden. Now, it stands almost completely denuded. The arborist came last week, dug around, and shook his head while he uttered, “Probably some type of fungus. It’s a wait and see game, now.” Everyday, I go outside and look at this tree. I examine it for new growth – there is none. I touch the branches – needles fall slowly to the ground. I scratch lightly at the bark to see if there is any green underneath it – there is. There is still hope for this tree.

#1 – “Staying” Green

Planet earth is counting on creative people to save it. Smart concepts such as this “Urban Hotel” illustrate my point. Although you would expect solar-power and rain water recycling systems in these hotels, a unique feature of this concept are the bicycles in the rooms. The bicycles can be used for exploring surrounding urban areas or used for exercising inside the rooms. While exercising, the bikes convert “the bike’s pedaling into kinetic energy to power the room and any extra energy is used to deduct rooming costs.” Make sure to click on the link to view all the features of this earth-friendly concept!

#2 – The Green Gift

My neighbor came to visit the other day and she brought with her two gift bags. One contained my birthday gift and the other one contained another kind of gift. The bag was filled with empty toilet paper tubes. She remembered a comment I made about how I compost toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes. After collecting several tubes, I cut them open, flatten them out and then feed them into my paper shredder. They add much needed “brown” organic material to my compost bin. There are many other items around the house that can be added to compost piles. TLC’s article on 75 Things You Can Compost, But Thought You Couldn’t is a good refresher course for those of us who compost. If you haven’t started composting, please consider it. It’s an easy way of redirecting some of your garbage away from landfills and back to the land.

#3 – When Chefs Get Bored

What do chefs do when they are bored? I don’t know the answer to that, but I would imagine they play with their food! Check out this series of food art photos and see that creativity knows no bounds in the kitchen!

#4 – To Market, To Market

What could be better than going shopping? What about shopping outdoors in the fresh air and sun? Most farmers’ markets carry more than just produce. I love walking up and down the rows of stalls looking at and sampling the fresh seasonal produce. I also enjoy visiting the stands that sell olive oil, soap, honey, hand-crafted and fresh baked goods, plants and flowers. I always make sure to bring my own bags/baskets, cash, and, of course, my camera. For more tips, visit Recyclebank’s 10 tips to Shop Smart at Farmers Markets.

#5 – The Tao of Pooh

“Say, Pooh, why aren’t you busy?” I said.
“Because it’s a nice day,” said Pooh.
“But you could be doing something Important,” I said.
“I am,” said Pooh.
“Oh? Doing what?”
“Listening,” he said.
“Listening to what?”
“To the birds. And that squirrel over there.”
“What are they saying?” I asked.
“That it’s a nice day,” said Pooh.
“But you know that already,” I said.
“Yes, but it’s always good to hear that somebody else thinks so, too,” he said.

Benjamin Hoff, author of The Tao of Pooh

Happy Earth Day! What about this? Do one thing every single day that is good for the earth!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (4/6/12)

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Creativity, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Ever have one of those days? Years ago I snapped this photo of a colorful art installation at the Biennale in Venice, Italy. When I accidentally came across the photo today, I thought to myself, “It’s an illustration of how I feel at this moment.” All my jumbled thoughts are somehow perfectly tied together!

#1 – What Can You Do With Adhesive Tape?
Numen/For Use is an artist collective that designs art installations using common everyday objects that are uncommonly used for art media. Using an untold number of rolls of tape, the collective created a huge spider-web-like art installation that spans buildings in Melbourne. Check out these incredible photos and a brief video of Tape Melbourne.

#2 – Grilling Asparagus
If you’re grilling asparagus this weekend, here’s a little tip for you. Soak some long bamboo skewers in water for about 30 minutes. Using 2 skewers at a time, skewer asparagus spears through top and bottom for easier handling on the grill. Now they’re a breeze to flip over! The photo below shows them before they were grilled. I washed and blotted dry the spears and then tossed them with olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar, garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper. Delish!

#3 – Dress A Girl
I have a new appreciation for pillowcases. This week I read an article in a newspaper about two local teenaged girls who “collect ‘gently used’ pillow cases and cut, sew and transform them into colorful dresses for girls in Zambia.” They are part of a project called Dress a Girl Around the World. Hope 4 Women International has distributed over 45,000 dresses in 53 countries around the world. To see some of the dresses made and the smiles they brought, watch this short video:

#4 – Things to Do for Yourself
At first glance, 30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself may seem like a long read, but, in actuality, the themes are familiar to most of us already. The list is a great refresher course on how to get the most from our lives. I enjoyed reading all 30 entries, but number one really spoke to me: Start spending time with the right people. – These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.

#5 – Enjoy the Climb
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”
– Andy Rooney

Enjoy your weekend!

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Handy Egg Tips

Posted in In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

It’s that time of the year – almost every shopping cart in the grocery store has a carton of eggs in it! Here are a few egg-ceedingly good tips and egg-cerpts about eggs that you might want to eggs-plore:

#1 – Eggs-cruciating
I’ve seen women at grocery stores go to excruciating lengths to get the perfect dozen eggs. They’ll move eggs from one carton to another until they have the desired combination. When you purchase a carton of eggs, always open the carton to visually inspect the condition of the eggs. But take your inspection one step further – while the lid is open, wiggle each egg in its spot. If an egg does not move, chances are it’s cracked underneath and the leaked egg has glued the shell to the carton. I don’t remember where I learned this tip, but I’ve used it for many years and have never come home with any “bad” eggs!

#2 – Eggs-cellent
If you are unsure about the freshness of the eggs in your refrigerator, put them in some water and see how they behave. What’s Cooking America has this to say about egg freshness:  Generally fresh eggs will lie on the bottom of the bowl of water. Eggs that tilt so that the large end is up are older, and eggs that float are rotten. The tilting is caused by air pockets in the eggs that increase in size over time as fluid evaporates through the porous shell and oxygen and gases filter in. The older an egg gets the more the gas builds up inside it. More gas = more floating!

#3 – Eggs-actly
To cook eggs exactly the way you like them, you need to take into account not just the length of cooking time, but also the size of the eggs you’re using. What’s Cooking America comes to the rescue again with this article and cooking guide, so that your eggs are perfectly cooked every time.

#4 – Eggs-tricate
Peeling hard boiled eggs is sometimes easy and sometimes frustrating. Often times it requires extricating bits of shell or membrane stuck to the egg. According to an article on Chef 2 Chef, The fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel – no matter how you cook it. A two week old refrigerated egg will peel beautifully for you once cooked, while an egg fresh from the chicken could be your worst nightmare.

#5 – Eggs-samples
Getting bored with hard boiled eggs? Go to Endless Simmer and check out 100 Ways to Cook an Egg.

#6 – Eggs-asperating
It can be exasperating when a recipe calls for separating an egg and you’ve managed to crack the egg shell into little pieces, or worst, you’ve broken the yolk sac. Here’s a handy little tip that makes the whole process easier: Carefully break an egg into a funnel. The egg whites will slide through the funnel, but the egg yolk will be left behind. Larger pieces of egg shell will be unable to get through the funnel, too!

Hope you enjoyed my “eggs-citing” tips!

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Raspberry-Cherry Crumble Bars

Posted in About me, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

Want to know my secret to baking sweet and delicious treats and not gaining weight? The answer is simple: I give my baked goods away. Being on a mother-of-the-groom diet, I sample only one tempting serving and then pack up the rest for my husband to take to work. Today’s batch of Raspberry-Cherry Crumble Bars will be tomorrow’s staff treats. Oh, but these delicious crumble bars will be a little bit more difficult to give away. Tart cherries mixed with sweet raspberry jam and sandwiched in between a buttery oatmeal crust and topping are sorely testing my willpower. These easy-to-make bars are proving not so easy to give away!

Raspberry-Cherry Crumble Bars
From the So Sweet! cookbook by Sur La Table

Dough:
1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups old-fashioned or quick oats (not instant)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces

Filling:
1 (16-ounce) jar good-quality seedless raspberry jam
1 cup dried sour cherries
Confectioner’s sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and position an oven rack in the center. Line a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with foil across the bottom and up the two long sides, then lightly coat with melted butter, oil, or high-heat canola-oil spray.

2. To make the crumble dough, place flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low speed until evenly mixed (or place in a food processor and process for 5 seconds). Add the cold butter and mix on low speed until the mixture looks like wet sand and starts to form clumps, 5 to 6 minutes (or process for 45 to 60 seconds, pausing to scrape down once with a spatula).

3. Divide the dough in half. Pat one half into an even layer in the prepared pan. Set the other half aside. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and crisp. Transfer to a rack and cool for 20 minutes. Leave the oven on.

4. Make the filling by emptying the jam into a medium bowl and stir well to break up any lumps. Add the cherries and stir until well-mixed and all the cherries are coated with jam. Spread evenly over the cooled crust, all the way to the edges. Sprinkle the remaining dough evenly over the filling.

5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

6. To serve, run a thin knife or spatula around the edges of the pan to loosen any dough or filling. Lift the cookies out by using the foil as handles and place on a cutting surface. Cut into 3 by 1-inch bars. Just before serving, use a  fine mesh strainer to lightly dust the confectioner’s sugar over the cookies.

Makes 36 bars.

Linnell’s Notes
1. It is important to line the baking pan with foil. It helps to lift out the finished product after it has cooled, which makes it easier to cut. Make sure to butter, oil, or spray the foil.

2. Tart cherries are the same as sour cherries.

3. The jam I bought came in an 18-ounce jar instead of a 16-ounce jar. I added the whole jar to the recipe without negative consequence.

4. I did not feel the need to dust the bars with confectioner’s sugar. The bars were perfect as is.

Enjoy!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (3/16/12)

Posted in About me, Helping Others, Husbands, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Photography, Recycling, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

The rain forces me to do things that I ordinarily don’t want to do. The idea of cleaning out cabinets and closets rarely appeals to me, but since there’s been nothing but rain this past week, I’ve been in a nesting/cleaning mode. My husband hates it when I go from a laissez-faire wife to a neat-freak wife, because he knows all too well about the ripple effects!

#1 – In Love with Sumo!
Citrus oils are well-known for their cleaning ability and many cleaning products are infused with a citrus scent, but when you peel your first Sumo mandarin, the last thing on your mind will be cleaning! Sumo mandarins are the result of crossing a California orange with a Satsuma mandarin. They are seedless and are the size of oranges, but they are easy-to-peel and have an extremely sweet and juicy flavor, much like mandarins. Cut them in half crosswise and then into wedges to fully expose their beautiful flesh. Like other citrus fruit, they are high in vitamin C, foliate, fiber and potassium, but what’s even better, is that they are low in acid. Look for them in grocery stores now, but hurry! They are only available February through May. I found them at Whole Foods.

#2 – It’s So Simple
You don’t need a bucketful of industrial strength cleaners and you don’t need to spend a lot of money on gadgets that make your life easier. Just take a look at Real Simple’s list of ideas that make housekeeping easier. For example, try using used fabric-softener sheets with a little bit of water to clean soap scum off of glass shower doors.

#3 – Beauty in Everything
There is beauty in everything, right? Now there’s a photography website to prove it. At Beauty in Everything treat yourself to an assortment of great photographs selected on a daily basis. The collections can be viewed by date or by subject matter.

#4 – For Free!
Print out free custom calendars, soduko puzzles, pinhole cameras, customizable pocket organizers, iPod covers, seed packets and more by going to these sites and clicking on the links:

Useful Items You Never Knew You Could Print Out – The Ultimate Guide

Top 5 Useful Items You Never Knew You Could Print Out

#5 – Creative Math
“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

George Bernard Shaw

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoy your weekend!

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Shrimp and Romaine Heart Salad

Posted in In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A dinner outing with friends to a new market/deli restaurant provided me with memories of a salad that I couldn’t forget and inspired me to try making it at home. Picture half of a romaine heart sprinkled with fresh bay shrimp, bits of juicy, red, ripe tomatoes, chopped hard boiled eggs, crisp pieces of bacon, and drizzled with homemade Thousand Island dressing. It’s nothing fancy or anything original, but this salad shines on many counts. In a sense, it’s a delicious combination of a wedge salad and a chopped salad, but only better. Romaine lettuce is more nutritious than iceberg lettuce and the flat surfaces of halved romaine hearts are superior for holding toppings over a wedge. The toppings are also reminiscent of ingredients found in a chopped salad. It’s a versatile salad that can be prepared ahead of time and is beautifully served preassembled on a platter or on individual salad plates. For a larger group, this salad can be arranged as an appetizing salad bar. If you’re going the salad bar route, offer more than one salad dressing. For your convenience, I’ve included recipes for both Thousand Island and Creamy Blue Cheese dressings.

Shrimp and Romaine Heart Salad
Recipe by Linnell

Ingredients for Salad:
Romaine hearts (1/2 per person)
Hard boiled eggs, chopped
Bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
Ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Fresh Bay Shrimp, rinsed and patted dry
Salad dressing (recipes for Thousand Island Dressing and Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing below)

Directions:
1. Cut romaine hearts in half lengthwise. Cut off bottoms of stems close to the ends (you want to keep as many leaves attached as possible). Cut off top leaves, so that all hearts are the same length. These tops can be washed and saved for another salad.

2. Carefully place two romaine halves at a time in a salad spinner filled with water. Let sit a bit, pour out water and spin dry.
3. Place romaine halves, cut side down, in an airtight square or rectangular container with paper towels lining the bottom. Add more romaine halves until bottom of container is covered. Cover with another paper towel and then the lid. If storing many romaine halves and the container is deep, place a layer of paper towels over the first layer of romaine halves, add more romaine halves, again cut side down on top of paper towels. Repeat this layering process until all romaine halves are carefully stored. Store container in the refrigerator.
4. Prepare salad dressing(s) and refrigerate.
5. Prepare toppings and refrigerate those that need refrigeration.
6. To plate salad, either place one romaine half on a salad plate, sprinkle toppings over it, and drizzle with salad dressing or arrange all romaine halves on a large platter and sprinkle with toppings and dressing. For a salad bar, place romaine hearts on a platter and place toppings and dressings in small bowls.

Thousand Island Dressing
Recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon finely minced white onions
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 dash black pepper

Directions:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well.
2. Place dressing in a covered container and refrigerate for several hours, stirring occasionally, so that the sugar dissolves and the flavors blend.

Makes 5 servings

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
Recipe by Rachel Ray

Ingredients:
6 ounces (about 1/3 pound) double cream blue veined cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper
2 pinches ground cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. Mash softened cheese with fork in a bowl.
2. Whisk in the cream and sour cream onto cheese, the consistency should be smooth with an occasional small bit of blue.
3. Season with salt and pepper and cayenne pepper. Refrigerate.

Makes 4 servings

Linnell’s Notes:
1. At a recent party I hosted, I served this salad as a salad bar. Not knowing everyone’s likes and dislikes, I felt it was better to let my guests add their own toppings. About one hour before my guests arrived, I removed the romaine halves form the storage container and arranged them on a platter. I also spooned the toppings and both salad dressings into small bowls. All were covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated until serving time.

2. Do not limit yourself to the toppings listed above. Substitute ingredients to suit your own taste and incorporate seasonal items. For example, use fresh crab meat instead of shrimp, or if fresh corn is in season, by all means use some fresh sweet corn kernels as a topping, etc.

3. I did not add very much salt to the blue cheese dressing because the cheese was already on the salty side.

Enjoy!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (3/9/12)

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Health, Husbands, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Tap-tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap! Sounds from across my house make me stop and listen. “What on earth is making that noise?” I ask my husband. He replies, “It’s a bird pecking at the window.” “Really? I hope he doesn’t hurt himself,” I say as I head off in the direction of the noise. With wings fluttering wildly, a small gray bird hovers around my dining room window, pecks at it several times, and then flies off. I wonder to myself if he can’t see the pane of glass in front of him or if he is cracking seeds on the glass. When he comes back again, I see that he is a tufted titmouse, one of my favorite visitors at my bird feeders. With their large black eyes and Mohawk hairstyle (really their gray crests), tufted titmice are adorable little songbirds to have around. Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap I hear again and pick up my camera. He flies off to a nearby oak tree for a stop and then he’s gone, giving me only enough time to snap one quick photo through the window. Hasty research reveals that my little visitor is probably a macho-type of guy. He may think his reflection in the glass is a “rival” and he attacks it to maintain his status. Great, just what I need, more quirky male behavior around the house!

#1 – Lose an Hour
Don’t forget to “spring ahead” tomorrow before turning in for the night. Daylight savings time starts at 2 a.m. on Sunday, so set your clocks ahead one hour. For more information about DST, go to timeanddate.

#2 – Flax to the Rescue
Did you know that ground flax seeds, which are an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids, can be used in recipes as a substitute for eggs, butter and oil? Ameriflax offers recipes and provides the following substitutions:

For Fat
– Substitute flax for fat in your recipes, using 3 tbsp ground flax seed for 1 tbsp of margarine, butter or cooking oil. Flax can be substituted for all or some of the fat, depending on the recipe. Note that baking with flax, as fat substitute will cause baked goods to brown more quickly.

For Eggs
– Substitute a ground flax seed/water mixture for eggs in recipes such as pancakes, muffins and cookies. Use 1 tbsp ground flax plus 3 tbsp water – left sitting for several minutes – for each egg. Note that this will result in a chewier version of the recipe, with less volume.

#3 – Got Ants?
While writing Tuesday’s post on Nonna’s Breakfast and Dessert Farina Cake, I came across an interesting fact about farina. If you have ants outside or inside your home, place some farina or Cream of Wheat where you see them. After the ants ingest it, it expands and kills them. Read “How to Get Rid of Ants Naturally” for more safe and effective ways to deter ants.

#4 – Color Inspiration
Whether you’re working on a small scale decorating or DIY project or on a large scale project like redecorating your home, you might want to look to the masters of painting for color inspiration. COLOURlovers took well-known pieces of art and made corresponding color palettes from them. For example, if you are inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, you might want to check out his color palette and use it on your next project.

#5 – Quote for Politicians
“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”
-George Bernard Shaw

Enjoy your weekend!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (2/24/12)

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recipes, Recycling, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2012| 1 Comment »

Chirping up a storm, the birds in my backyard are letting me know that their feeders are empty. I look out the window to the feeding station and see that the sunflower seeds have disappeared and all but one-inch of Nyjer seed remains in another feeder. It’s a quite a job to stay on top of filling three feeders, a suet cage, and a hummingbird feeder every couple of days. Not to mention, hauling and storing the bird seed, cleaning and filling a bird bath and making sure my husband puts only bird-safe algaecide in our fountain. It’s a lot of work, but the sweet songs of thanks I hear every time I step outside remind me of why I do it!

#1 – Repurposing Phone Booths
The other day, my husband and I were talking about things that are becoming obsolete and one of the items brought up for discussion were phone booths. Shortly after that discussion, I read about John Locke, a Columbia architecture graduate who wants to convert New York’s pay phones into sharing libraries. To date, he’s placed bookshelves and books in two phone booths with mixed results. Read about his interesting project and see additional photos here.

#2 – Got Lemons?
Wanting to save the remaining Meyer lemons in my yard from being half-eaten and left to rot by pesky squirrels, I decided to look for yet another way to save them for future use. In the past, my husband has made limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur, but unfortunately, there’s only so much limoncello we can drink! I’ve also tried juicing the lemons and freezing the juice, but it’s such a waste of flavorful rind. This year I’m preserving the lemons in a more traditional way – in jars with salt and lemon juice. Read the New York Times article on “Preserving Lemons the Traditional Way” if you’ve got lemons and want to learn the technique.

#3 – Paris vs. New York
The introduction reads “Macaroon vs. cupcake, Proust vs. Salinger, bobo vs. hipster, bordeaux vs. cosmo.” These are some of the comparisons that graphic designer Vahram Muratyan illustrated with his minimalist-style portraits and they are included in his book Paris versus New York: a Tally of Two Cities.

#4 – An Arm and a Leg
A recent email from my fitness club contained a link to the Limbs for Life Foundation. After checking out the site, I became more grateful for my healthy limbs and more aware of the difficulties amputees face. Depending on the specific type, a prosthetic limb can cost anywhere from $6000 to $65,000 and possibly even more. Due to wear and tear of the prosthetic or growth of the wearer, prostheses have to be continually replaced. Most insurance companies pay a very small fraction of the cost and usually on a once per person per lifetime basis. Many leg amputees, who cannot afford to pay their share, become wheelchair-bound. If you want to learn more about Limbs for Life click on the link above or watch the video below:

#5 – Going Somewhere?
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you are not going to stay where you are.”
— John Pierpoint

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (2/10/12)

Posted in Community, Creativity, Health, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The world’s other 6,993,541,793 human inhabitants are more like you than you think. People’s emotions, actions and reactions are not so different from one part of the world to another. Cultural and religious customs do exist, but smiling, kissing, and hugging are among the many emotional gestures people around the world share. So the next time you deem someone as “different,” consider all that you have in common, rather than the few differences that separate you.

#1 – What Is It?
The photo above looks like something from outer space, so what in the world is it? Call it what you like: Romanesco, broccoli Romanesco, Romanesco broccoli, broccoflower, Romanesco cauliflower (North America), Romanesco cabbage (French), or broccolo Romanesco (Italian), but whatever you call it, call it delicious! Fresh Romanesco is loaded with Vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. The next time you see Romanesco in the market, widen your culinary world and buy it. Prepare it as if you were cooking broccoli or cauliflower – just don’t overcook it!

#2 – Creative Projects
Mark your calendars for noon (EST) on February 24th and help document a global event. Join people from around the world and share a meal with them. Take a photo of you with your meal, mail it to the Art House Co-Op, and be part of an exhibition of people and their food. While you’re signing up for the Meal Project on the Co-Op’s website, check out its other creative community projects: Letters to Home, where you write a letter to your childhood home, and the Sketchbook Project, where artists across the globe donate their sketchbooks to the Brooklyn Art Library to provide artistic inspiration to the public.

#3 – Spread the Mood
According to CEO Peter Bregman, moods are as contagious as colds. In his article “How to Use Your Super Power for Good,” he recounts how his mood changed one day from bad to good based on his encounters with different people. Here’s a quote from the article that focuses on his analogy of moods spreading like colds: Look at it this way: If you catch a cold from someone, does that mean you can go around sneezing on everyone else? You might be able to blame your mood on someone else, but you’re still responsible for what you pass to others . . . Know your emotions, be in touch with your moods, and think of them like the common cold. If you feel infected by bad cheer, take a deep breath, recognize how you’re feeling, and choose not to pass it on. If everyone practiced this philosophy, think about the collective difference it could make in the world.

#4 – In a Galaxy Far, Far Away . . .
Photographer Royce Blair captured some of the most awe-inspiring images of the effervescent-looking Milky Way juxtaposed against some of the iconic landscape features of Utah. If you need an escape from work during the day, just sit and gaze at these breath-taking wonders of nature. You’ll soon feel more relaxed!

#5 – Wisdom of the Universe
Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Joseph Campbell

Why not listen to what the universe is saying to you this weekend? Have a great weekend!

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