Sunday-Accomplished

I sauna'd for a good hour today. Sweat out a night's worth of toxins. I feel good.
While I was in the sauna, the black beans were in the slow cooker on high. When I got home, all I had to do was chop & stir-fry the veggies, and with some tricky maneuvers, whip together a chili which I am gonna eat with Lucas while we finish watching StarTrek-The Search For Spock.


Here's what happened:

2 1/2 cups of soaked black beans
(back story: take 1 1/2 cups of dry black beans and soak in 4 cups pure water in a deep bowl overnight. Drain & refrigerate until use. Within four days; airtight stays better longer)
4-5 cups water
Put in a slow cooker on high. Aprox 3-4 hours

3 small carrots
1 small red onion
2 cloves of garlic (use that gorgeous Ontario grown-it's fresher and juicier)
4 large button mushrooms
2 tbsp fryable sunflower oil (organic, cold pressed & canadian-orphee brand you can trust)
1/2 cup organic Catsup
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp chili powder
1 shake paprika
1 shake himalayan rock salt
2 tsp rosemary
1 ancho chili
1 chipotle pepper
4 sundried tomatoes

put the sundreid tomatoes, chipotle and ancho through the old fashioned meat grinder, finish with a small peice of bread. Grind into a bowl and transfer to the slow cooker with the cooked beans.
add catsup & stir well

Chop carrots, onion, garlic, mushrooms & fry in a cast iron skillet on med in sunflower oil
dash-in the spices, stir fry for 5-10 minutes
transfer this to the slow cooker and put on low.
cook for 30 minutes.

make spelt ribbon pasta.
serve the chili over the pasta.

why not?

Now you try.

January is almost done

stew is food
This one was made on a busy Wednesday. I did it in stages, and I have not yet tried it as it's currently in its low heat last cooking stages. I did take a taste of broth, however, and I think it's got that gourmet je ne sais quoi.
we'll have it for lunches tomorrow, as I am back at the community centre and we are both so broke we might end up on welfare.

it's called: wasabi mung bean with wine wine braise stew

1) soak 1.5 cup mung beans for 4hours or so (while you work on your biology course and run errands)
2) bring the mungs to a boil in 2 cups water, hold at boil for ten minutes, turn off heat and let simmer
3) chop three small white turnips into cubes (while thing is boiling to conserve time)
4) add to a slow cooker: turnip, beans and their cooking water, a 500ml container of organic chicken broth, one package Harvest Sun instant organic Leek Potato soup mix, one tablespoon of bonito flakes, 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped gingerroot and 1 packet of pure powdered wasabi (eden brand, no food color)
5) set to high for 1 hour and a half and walk away. (do more biology and talk to friends on the phone)
6) with 15 minutes until the time's up, chop 2 small onions, 6 large white button mushrooms, 3 large cloves of ontario garlic, 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, 1 tablespoon of organic butter, 1/4 cup of white wine; add to a medium saucepan with a lid.
7) braise on medium heat with the lid on stirring twice for 10 minutes.
8) test the mung beans for softness. they should be reasonably soft. (if not cook on high for another 25 minutes before the next step)
9) add braise to the slow cooker and set on low heat for 1 hour.
9) check on it after 15 minutes add 1/2 cup water
10)go watch the basketball game and see old pal. Have drinks.

Ode to Mexico Brunch

We went to Mexico, and lived luxuriously for a week. Highlights of the trip were the dry hot desert climate, a horseback ride at dusk into the arroyo, a late night dip in the ocean surf under moonlit and starry sky, partying with locals and tourists at El Squid Roe, eating from a local grocery store of fresh seasonal fruits, veggies, fish and sauces, and riding a scooter with my honey around town, finding an excellent restaurant with entire Red Snapper on a plate.

It is now two weeks later and Toronto living has almost erased the feeling of Mexico. We keep reminding each other of our memories because they help to releive the early dark and damp cold. Today, almost by accident I made a very Mexican influenced brunch. Of my favorite souvenirs from my trip, my chipotle and ancho chillies packages and my hibiscus flowers, are probably the most prized. Unlike silver jewellery or ponchos, these precious items will have a limited life span in my kitchen.

On the brunch plate:

-Organic, free range egg scramble with fresh minced banana and hot tangy green peppers flecked with dried chipotle, topped with sharp old organic cheddar cheese and drizzled with Valentina Mexican hot sauce.
-Brown mushroom, red onion, Jerusalem Artichoke and tequila blackcurrant braise au gratin
-Coarse polenta grilled in organic sunflower oil, sprinkled with Himalayan rock salt and drenched in homemade organic tomato catsup
-Mango Avocado, pesto and pickled ginger salad

-stove top percolated organic & fair-trade coffee from the Dufferin Grove market. ( I need to find out the name of this one; it's possibly the best coffee I have ever bought for home. )

Notes:
This scrambled egg combo may well be my best to date.
The veggie braise was fantastic with the tequila and sharp cheese-I was inspired by Toronto Life's write-up on a similar dish by done instead with brandy

Fast and Slow

I fasted for four days out in the woods at my friend's place. I can hardly remember it now, it being one week later. While it was on, I moved real slow. I thought out every action before making a single move. For example: I need to get a fire burning before night falls, I look up to the sky to see where the sun's at. It's past the high point and it's coming down. I decide to go sit on the warm canoe back down by the lake where I might see more animals and at least I can absorb some sun before it's too late. On my way back up, i'll break some pine branches off the pine tree that I saw just off the path, and use that for more kindling. That said, I still have to will myself to move. I look at my feet, clad in Timbaland steel toes, damn I'm glad for these boots. Slowly, I tuck one foot and then the other beneath me, dry leaves scratching sounds, before slowly rising to standing. I look in the direction of where I'm going, scanning it all. It's all greens punctured with brown and grey branches and trunks. So much green (the greenest green you ever seen). My foot takes the first step, and I'm off, keeping my eyes gazing a few feet ahead at the path. I step gently and I gaze gently, it feels crucial to be deliberate, that it is the only kind of energy that I can summon.
By the third day I already know my routine. I survived a heavy rain fall the second night, and I spend the third day comforting myself by a smoky fire. There's much fewer places to be on the third day due to the damp ground. The second day, by contrast, was spend lounging in the bear grass up on the hill with my sleeping bag under my head; my sketchbook filling up with sketches and writing. Painting down by the lake a windy and difficult watercolor; sitting in the meadow watching lace wings alight on purple fleabane. Staying up reading in the candle light of the lodge hearing the wind whip through the forest , ruffling up the canopy, bringing in the thunderstorm.
The first day held the best potential for destinations: down through the birch stands beside the lake, scaling steep hills to perch on an old boulder way up in the woods. But by the fourth day, I mostly sat at the camp waiting for my friends to arrive. Waiting to end the fast with the sweatlodge...and never forgetting about the feast to follow! I carved a few spoons from pine branches, made a few paintings, took a nap in my cosy lodge, but mostly I sat, and listened and stared verrry slowwly...

there is always a way to clean up a mess

overbite

The farmer's market is like my church. It's where good people congregate with honest intentions. There are no moral obligations or restrictive dogmas like those that I experienced in the frying pans of church when I was just little, so I feel safe to be open, and if this sort of worship needs to be labeled "Pagan" then see if I give a damn. While I'm out in the spring breeze with light streaming through the tree branches let the devout sit on hard benches and if catholic kneel then sit, then stand, then kneel...whatever. I just got back from " church" I bought a little rosemary plant, some seeds for the building's garden, some EMPIRE apples, some Columbian Co-op's organic coffee beans, a giant sweet potato and some cut daffodils, hyacinth and pussy willow branches. I ate a snack sitting on some grass and watched the children and dogs run around. I read a bit more of Now's Magazine's outstanding articles on environment issues. Wayne Roberts (a hero in food security issues coverage) wrote about John Todd and his soulmate's work in turning sewage into lily ponds. If anyone is interested, look up The Bioneers/ John Todd to find out more about the work that they do. See my book report "Read Over My Shoulder"...I think it was my first blog post, about the book that you should read to make you know that there is always a way to clean up a mess.

You do SO have food in the fridge!!

overbite

So it seemed like we had nada to eat, but from the recesses of fridge and cupboard I scaped together this delightful meal:
check this: simplicity at it's tastiest.

-last of the rice-short grain brown, aproximately 1 1/2 cup
-half a big onion....or like a cup almost-chop it..
-coconut oil-always on hand, a *STAPLE if you will-1 tbsp
-sesame oil-last week's purchase-cheap from chinatown-1/2 tsp
-a substantial carrot-chopped big diagnonally
-1/2 inch of hot green chili- diced up fine
-Tahini-1 tbsp
-tamari-3 shakes, or 1 tsp
-pumpkin seeds-2 handfuls
-i cubic 1/2 inch of fresh ginger

instruction:
cook the rice
melt the coconut oil; saute the onions and carrot; add sesame oil; stir; add ginger and green chili; stir....
drop tahini into middle of pan; shake the tamari into the puddle; stir it together and then combine with the rest of the indredients in the pan.
get em all nice and saucy.
now rain pumpkin seeds(pepitas) all over it and stir again.

time:
25 minutes...

feeds two people good fats, vitamin A, protein, zinc, fiber, calcium, and trace minerals.

tips: keep heat medium or slightly lower. Also, if tahini is too thick to pour, stir it with enough water to thin it slightly.

*In my kitchen the following items are STAPLES:
coconut oil
tahini
onion
carrot
ginger
rice
pumpkin seeds
and others

when you run out of staples, then your cupboard truely is bare, until then, put something together!

food sovereignty is a battle that rages on...

overbite
"Is our society going to use land and agriculture to produce food, to distribute income, and to keep men and women working the land or are we going to hand over the lands to the large plantations that are going to expel the population, to gain a lot of money and to make exports the top priority?"

This is a quote from the landless workers' movement (MST) of Brazil, in regards to the multi-national exploitation of lands for the purpose of export, and the governement abetting of this with the help of propaganda in the media. A familiar story? Read it here overbite

Let me ruin your meal...

overbite
Yo. I know this will get controversial, but why are we so addicted to out-of-season produce? I ordered a granola breakfast today because I didn't want a weekend style brunch and I could see no other option. Interestingly, my granola came studded with fresh strawberries, raspberries, grapes and melons. A luxurious feast? No. sorry to shatter the illusion but this breakfast was maybe more harm than good.

I was dismayed but ate some of it anyway. What was my problem? Well I have been trying to eat seasonally for almost a year now, and this breakfast was breaking all of the rules. It seems I have gotten to a point in my mentality where having strawberries on my plate when they must have had to come from Chile, or Egypt for that matter, is kind of an offense.

I have heard that produce travelling those distances comes at the cost of low-nutritional value, and that's no wonder when you consider how it's done. Produce is picked before being ripe and when it reaches its destination it is forced to ripen by applying ethylene gas. (the same chemical that emits naturally from onions causing neighborhood potatoes to go bad...) This is not how the organism/ plant ripens it's fruit. Ripening is a very energetic process that involves sunshine, air circulation, soil nutrients, and a plant's inherent chemicals. Without natural ripening a fruit cannot acheive it's full potential of vitamins and nutrients. They become "show" fruit. Kind of like those plastic or wax fruit bowls you tried to eat when you were a kid.

and then there's the pesticide ingestion to think about. Conventional (non-organic) strawberries and grapes, tend to be higher in pesticide residues. Pesticides kill birds, fish, "pests" and people. Sometimes people just die slowly as minute amounts of chemicals enter their bodies and wreak havok. What we need more than anything is help from our food friends in this polluted world. Anti-oxidants are an example of that kind of help we get from fruits and vegetables. they basically douse all the little chemical fires that happen inside us. Unfortunately when we eat fruit that is high in chemical residues and low in anti-oxidants we're working at counter-purposes. Yum, and just what I needed after a weekend full of booze...

So where am I going to get me some of that "good fruit" ? Right now, it's apples in Ontario, preserves like jam & jelly, rosehip and hibiscus flower tea, squash, cans of tomatoes, frozen cranberries etc.... And that's how it is at this time of year. Think of it this way, our ancestors did not drop dead in February...and they did not air freight in any bananas from Honduras. They were rugged people who worked physically demanding jobs in many cases and still managed to survive a harsh canadian winter. I revere them for that.

Trust me though, eating seasonally is not easy. Changing a diet from convenience based, thoughtless eating to a diet that nourished and energizes, without hogging up resources and adding carbon to the atmosphere, is a step-by-step gradual process. The reward is that the food is tasty, fresh and fulfills it's duty which is to help and protect you.

Bird Seed Breakfast

Well I ate like a barbarian last night. You know that potroast that I cooked up? Rich and tender, just like the movies. Just a few notes about that, btw, it took aproximately 6.5 hours to cook to perfection and I heated it back up to 350F for about 40 minutes before cooling enough to serve. We ate it with a shredded beet salad doused in a little citrus/ walnut oil dressing and sesame seeds, and some mashed potatoes with butter.

Before eating I made us take a few sips of water in which I dissolved Apple Cider Vinaiger, raw honey and sea salt. I found this to be refreshing, but that's probably because it's basically a homemade Powerade, and I finally worked out yesterday. Shorty-pie thought it was a little extreme, but I explained that since we drank a bunch of coffee at lunch, we better rev up our stomachs before digging in to the feast of meat. This concept goes back to the simple fact that protein digestion requires stomach acid, and digestive juice.

Anyway, this morning I drank a glass of water with some lemon squeeze, boiled the copper kettle and assembled my breakfast cereal. This is the bird seed part:

In a little saucepan/ pot, drop 1 tbsp of whole Teff grain,
1.5 tbsp of whole Amaranth,
and 2 tbsp of whole Millet(food grade-not bird seed K?)
1tbsp of sunflower seeds, 1 tbsp of pepitas(green inner germ of the pumpkin seed)
cover with water,
leave on 3/4 heat (electric stove btw) for enough time to drink your coffee, check email, put on some clothes. Don't burn it though...stir it a few times, you know.
When it's cooked, the grains will still be slightly crunchy and they are just a bowl full of entertainment. All tiny bubbles, mixing and melding, the tan colored amaranth and millet blending with the dark brown little Teffs. Plus, these grain come from the traditional diets of people from Ethiopia to Inca. PLUS, these grain are so full of vitamin and mineral power that you get a serious edge on everyone else who ate a bagel and a coffee.
I forgot to mention, the "coup de gras" of this little dish, is the dollop of plain yogurt and squirt of agave syrup on top. If you just dont have agave, how bout maple syrup...oh, that would be lucky.

Pot roast can-do

I am making a pot-roast from a beautiful gift of Organic beef that was given to us at Christmas. I took it out of the freezer on Saturday and was starting to worry about it when 4pm yesterday arrived and I had not yet started it. Today was the day, no question, for the pot roast to cook. Good thing I had it defrosting on the bottom shelf of the fridge because blood had started to ooze from the paper wrapper. That's one thing the food Handling course taught me, raw meat, fish, etc...bottom shelf.

so the Can-do, how-to goes like this:
Preheat oven to 350F
prepare one cast iron vessel that has a lid, or a roasting pan (whatevs) by heating up some organic butter.
Throw in a tablespoon of freshly ground Oregano-picked in greece by the Olive guy at the Farmer's Market. Chop two cloves of garlic and add. Saute to a fine aroma.
Now brown the roast. Stick a fork into the hunk and put it in the butter. Brown all sides.
Open a can of Thomas Utopia Organic tomatoes-they are canadian and locally grown-and add 1 cup or so. Not covering the meat.
Put two whole potatoes-I got mine from Ben sosnicki who grows them organically 100 KM from here, and sells them at the Dufferin Grove farmer's market. They are supremely delicious, these potatoes...I did not peel them, I simply washed their skins.
Put two Bay leaves.
Cover the pot.
Put in the oven.
Go play basketball for 1 hour.
Reduce the heat to 200 F.
Go for lunch with Luke.
Check on the roast in 2-3 hours.

this is not happy

154-5447_IMG_1, originally uploaded by Jadore Dejeuner.

<> this is a gate topped with hooks and spikes. It is designed to keep thieves and the like from trying to bust in on this persons status. These gates exist everywhere in the Philippines and in most "developping" nations. For every gated community , there are several shanty towns. Gated communities are patrolled by a guarding station where all cars are monitored in and out. The guard is payed by the residents to keep out the perceived dangerous people.


On the other side of the gate they usually have live-in servants and guard dogs in cages. Sometimes the servants go berserk and theive and kill.

But hey, at least someone gets to be driven around in a Mercedez and never has to lift a finger in the kitchen.

I don't know what it's like to be a person in the "3rd world", whether poor or rich.
I do know what it's like to live in a conquered world that has been divided into market categories: age, race, income, education....

these divisions are a disgrace to our ancesters who not too long ago, had ways of solving problems by sharing their burdens and ideas.
Nowadays we trust ever corrupt goverment officials to do this problem solving for us.

there are better thing I want to talk about. Good things and good people. Positive change and glimmers of hope. But you wont fully appreciate any of that until you face the truth.

Take Heed Superhero Drug Fiend!

154-5401_IMG, originally uploaded by Jadore Dejeuner.

watch out for this sht kids!

Bunnies will eat your carrots!

Why do you need carrots?
Because they contain beta-carotene. Ever heard of VitaminA? beta-carotene is like a vegetable source of it.
What does it do for you?
Eating these carrots will keep all of your skin healthy for one, especially the lining of your nostrils and throat,(attention smokers and druggies!at least compensate.) and the prisms that catch light and enable vision. Especially night-vision. Superheroes take heed of my advice. You can't be a sneezing, sniffling, bumbling fool when you're trying to be stealth.

Jet Lagged Man surrounded by goofy and charming children

154-5437_IMG, originally uploaded by Jadore Dejeuner.

A sign of a good man is when he's nice to kids/ also when he's good to his momma.
No question.

water filtration how-to

what you need to do is mix some clay with coffee grinds, mold it into a cylinder with one capped end, place it on a dung-heap and light the shit on fire. This "fires" the clay like a kiln. The coffee grinds get burned out leaving a structure of pores that are small enough to let water pass through, but too small for the passage of E.coli etc.

This is a low-tech, low-cost method of filtering water.

check out the link to where I read this:

H20 filter from scratch

things to do in 2005

-start a garden plot in a community garden. Engage the help of various interested individuals. Grow heritage seeds. Produce some amount of food. Learn how to garden using vegetables and herbs that complement each other and prevent infestations naturally.

-Develop a cooking class schedule. tour schools. enable discussion formats on a website or through this blogspot.

-Volunteer at a soup kitchen.

-take cooking classes, media courses, and continue to research herbs, foods and ecology.

-Make music with my computer; buy a soundcard.
[IMG]http://img169.exs.cx/img169/483/1282896img1ru.jpg[/IMG]
-Curate the "Kid Art" show.

-Finish and find a place for the "exotic" art show.

-learn to crochet. sew spring slothes. make vegetable dyes. Silkscreen the Food series of prints for T-shirts.

-create the web-site that will host all projects. Post pictures and art works.

Boycott listings: just the beginning

Hey-lo, if anyone reads me, I shall like to share a list of suggested boycotts.

First on the list: T.V. dinners: no nutritional value, environmentally rude, depot of chemical companies byproducts. Consumption that keeps people numb and dumb. Contributes to a weak and defenceless body, and mind.

Anti-perspirant: active ingredient Aluminum. Clogs pores in a Lymphatic zone. The hair there means you can rest assured we were designed to sweat from our armpits. The aluminum may seep into the lymph...links to Alzheimer's, other ingredients are petrochemical.

Petrochemical ingredients in general: avoid! if you do not suport war for oil, don't use the war's dirty little products. Do not eat them in your food, wear them in your clothing or apply them to your bodies. don't ingest them as "medicine". a list of the known petrochemical infiltrators is forthcoming. This is all off the top of me head.

Please read all ingredients labels. In general they should be very simple, especially when it's food. Most words should be recognizable. in the case of shampoos, etc..the ingredients are tricky. But a quick google can answer your questions.

I need robotic help

could my dishes just do themselves? could the meals plan and prepare themselves? could a robotic kitchen be the answer to my woes? I, nutritionist, spend hours in the kitchen each day. I insist on cooking all of my own meals save maybe one per week. I am broke so I have to. This is fine, I plan ahead, I make pots of soup, I soak beans....I have some tricks. But you know, it's damn hard doing it for someone else as well. Breakfast lunch and dinner for two everyday. I have become a working wifey. I need time to tap on my keyboard and ramble through interesting links online. I need time to finish my art projects that are stewing and stewing dry. I absolutely need time to develop my plan of action, the best one I have had my whole life....

read over my shoulder

John Todd's essay called Living Technologies: Wedding Human Ingenuity to the Wisdom of the Wild- is basically about how the grossest dankest, shittiest, most polluted water can be purified by throwing in some snails, bottom feeders and plant roots. Not to make it seem too simple. It is the work of a brilliant coordinator. The plants and animals are not hurt in the process. They love that shit. There is hope for the world.
This is my latest subway book.
It's titled: Nature's Operating Instructions, the True Biotechnologies
Sierra Books
I bought it at Pages on Queen street.