feeling fall

I just love the fall! I love to feel it, hear it, smell it, see it, taste it and think about it. I love to feel the different temperatures. The nights are already cool, and the air feels crisp and dry on the skin, so invigorating.  We have had summer warmth during the days when we could catch the last of the t-shirt weather. And on rainy days I love to feel the cool humidity on my face.

I love to hear the wind wooshing through the tall trees, the crispy leaves rustling under my feet, the rain drumming on the roof and against the windows, or the crackling of a fall fire in the yard.

I love the smell of decaying leaves, especially on rainy days. I love the smell of pumpkin spices. I love the smell of candles. I love the smell of wood fires in the air as people begin to light their wood burning stoves again.

I love the sights of fall. Early fall is a feast for the eyes - incredibly blue sky, deep orange, yellow and red leaves, bright sunshine, gray rainy days, piles of orange pumpkins and bumpy gourds, shiny red apples peeking out among the green apple tree leaves, triangular formations of birds in the sky flying south, and of course Halloweeny costumes.

I love the tastes of fall. Pumpkin is THE fall taste, although it's the spices that make the tasteless pumpkin taste like pumpkin, the nutmeg-cinnamon-allspice combination. But other tastes come to mind as well, like mulled cider, hearty stews (chili is the dish I make for Halloween), apple pie, or chestnuts.

And then I love to sense fall's significance.  A cycle slowly coming to an end, a slight melancholy in the air, a slowing down.

Feel the fall.

organic soil and flowers?

A lot of people are now aware of the notion of growing food organically. But did you know that there is organic potting soil and that you can buy organic flowers? "Huh," you might say, or maybe "enough already with all this organic stuff." But if you recognize the value of organic food - to your health, to the environment's health, and to the farm workers' health - buying organic potting soil for either your houseplants or perhaps, more importantly, for your vegetable garden, makes a lot of sense. Organic potting soil doesn't contain pesticide and fertilizer residue, ergo better for your houseplants or the vegetables you grow in it. In addition, this soil is much richer in natural nutrients and minerals, as it hasn't been chemically enhanced and "propped up."  The vegetables or houseplants you grow in this soil will be more resilient and the former more nutritious to eat.

Now, what about organic flowers? Even more far fetched? The cut flower industry uses huge amounts of fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides, the same way conventional agriculture does for growing produce. Furthermore, when the cut flowers come from outside the US - and most of the cut flowers in this country are imported from huge Central American cut flower farms - they were likely grown with chemicals that have been banned in this country for their high toxicity. These poisonous chemicals leech into the soil and groundwater, are lethal to bees and other pollinators, and are of course toxic for the farm workers. We are less aware of this problem because it happens so far away, but it's worth a thought.

climate marching

Our family climate marched this past Sunday 9/21 - yes, it's a verb now. And I think we must do this every year from now on until We The People get the message to our politicians to act now, not later, because later is too late. Together with 300,000 to 400,000 fellow protesters in NYC, and tens of thousands more in all corners of the world from Paris to Melbourne, from Berlin to London and Rio, we participated in what MIT researcher Jesse Jenkins calls "one of America's largest mass protests," and Amy Davidson from the New Yorker "the largest climate change protest in history."

It was powerful and emotional to experience so much synergy and togetherness on the single most important issue of our times, climate change, which, if we are successful in shifting, will propel us beyond the singularly profit oriented oil age into a more cocreative and aware age of earth stewardship.

From the perspective of our evolving human consciousness this is the first time in history that we are awakening to the incredible realization, empowering but also sobering, that we can actually change and steer our existence, that our consciousness and drive are what creates everything around us. We don't all have to become activists. But we all can do our bit to help this momentous evolutionary process along, whether by buying more organics, insulating your house, getting a more fuel efficient car, eating less meat and only the sustainably raised kind, buying less stuff and recycling more, voting environmentally aware politicians into office, and on and on.

I'd love to hear what you are doing to help since, as one of the signs said, "There is no Planet B."

3-course meal in 25 minutes

Fast Food is nothing new apparently. When I recently unpacked my cookbooks I found a slim little French cookbook from 1930 (!!!) that I had forgotten all about. It's called La Cuisine en 10 Minutes, roughly translated as 10-Minute Recipes, and was written by 10-minute Maestro (as the Guardian called him) Edouard de Pomiane. This book proves that you can cook and eat well on a busy schedule during the week without having to toil in the kitchen for hours. 10-minute meat or fish - I have become a 10-minute master at sautéing some meat or fish quickly in butter and olive oil (cod, sole, shrimp, calf liver, thin pork chops, chicken strips), then deglazing the bits on the bottom with whatever you have around - more butter, wine (white is good with fish, add some capers), cream (add some mustard), other liquor (brandy, sherry, even vinegar), broth - the whole thing takes minutes and tastes very French. Instead of serving the sauce over the meat you can also throw your cooked/steamed vegetables (corn, greens, cauliflower, whatever you have on hand - frozen is ok, leftovers are ok) into the deglazed sauce - et voilà, tasty vegetables.

10-minute spinach - épinards à la créme - melt butter in a saucepan, add frozen spinach right out of the package (unless you have had time to take it out in the morning), heat up, add cream (sour, heavy) or more butter, season.

5-minute dessert - coeur à l'ananas - mix some farmer's cheese or Greek yogurt (whole milk, please) with some cream or mascarpone, add sugar and some clear kirsch brandy (the French touch that makes the difference), pineapple pieces (fresh or canned, whatever you have), and a cookie.

Start out with some saucisson sec, some nuts and a glass of wine, and there is your 3-course meal prepared in 20-25 minutes.

As luck would have it the book is available in an English translation. It may be the best $8.97 you'll ever spend. Bon appétit!

there is no perfect place on earth

After having lived in many different places my father came to the conclusion that there is no perfect place on earth, but that you can create that perfect place in and out of yourself, or something to that effect.

I, too, have lived in many countries and agree with my dad. I love France, I grew up there, the food is great, the culture is great, the country's geography and history are great. Yet, it's a very bureaucratic and stifling country to do business in, and many young entrepreneurs have left for England or the US, the better to unfold their creative potential. I love this country, its fabulous natural sights, the ease of doing business, the diversity that comes with being a cultural melting pot, and New York City is, despite its ugliness (Paris is a lot more beautiful, and London and Berlin are a lot greener), one of the most exciting cities in the world. Yet, I find the constant emphasis on productivity and ROI at the expense of at least some quality of life tiring in the long run, and let's not even get into some of the politics. And so it goes with every place.

All that, however, is no reason to become depressed.   On the contrary, it's a lesson. There is no perfection on earth, otherwise it would be heaven (or something like that). But we can create our personal slice of heaven right here. And that comes from our attitude and how we position ourselves. You do that by surrounding yourself with people and things that make it perfect for you, you spend time in places that resonate with you, and you do things that fulfill you.   Forget about criticizing your neighbor for this, your job for that, and your country for yet another things. Contentment comes from within.

break/brake for lunch

I realize that many of my posts are about slowing down and being more mindful. That's because our lives have become so incredibly fast and overscheduled in the name of profitability. So here goes another one. Taking the time to eat slowly, especially at lunch time, and enjoying your meal goes a long way. Not only do you truly taste what you eat, even savor it, it also helps to keep your weight in check and aids the digestion, and then some. How so?

When you wolf down food quickly to get it over with and get on with the next task the brain doesn't have time to keep up with what's going on in the stomach, there is a communication delay. It actually takes the stomach about ten minutes to communicate to the brain that it has had enough to eat. Eating slowly permits mind and body (or mind and stomach) to remain in sync; when you eat too fast the stomach (and eyes and taste buds) get ahead of the mind and gobble up more than you need to feel satisfied. Hence, eating too fast can lead to weight gain.  In addition, slowing down and chewing longer not only predigests the food and helps the body to assimilate the nutrients much better, it also aids the digestive process.  And lastly, what about actually enjoying and savoring what you put into your mouth? May as well, since it's more pleasurable.

Slowing down for lunch during a hectic day - I know, "sometimes it's just not practical," you'll say - helps to refocus your attention from the scatteredness of multi-tasking back to one specific thing.  It powers you down, gives you time to realign with yourself, and regroup for a more productive afternoon.

my cup of tea

I am not a coffee person, at least not most of the time (I do enjoy an espresso after a big meal, but that's just about as far as my coffee love goes). Especially early in the morning coffee tastes harsh to me and I like to wake up gently and ease myself into the day. And no, I'm not an herbal tea kind of a person, barely even a green tea person. Those don't have enough oomph for me. I like my tea black and strong, forget the teabags. Assam, English or Irish Breakfast and such, Earl Grey, too, but more in the afternoon or evening than earlier in the day. I buy my tea in bulk and hang a special canvas tea brewing bag with a generous amount of tea into my pot and let it steep to a deep dark color that looks almost like coffee. Tea is a comfort beverage for me. I drink it all day long, always with milk, no sugar.  In the morning I make a big pot full and warm up cup after cup throughout the day. When we go away to someplace with a kitchen I bring my whole tea paraphernalia with me, and I miss it dearly when we go on vacation and I can only get teabag tea. When we moved recently the tea supplies went into a carton marked "Open First," like a first aid kit.

Although this post is more about the emotional benefits of having a "nice cup of tea," black tea incidentally has all sorts of health benefits, such as promoting heart health, lessening type 2 diabetes risk, and its potent antioxidants are anti-inflammatory and supposedly counter visible aging effects. A good cup of strong tea makes everything "all better" for me.  But most of all tea for me is about slowing down, while coffee is for speeding up.

lousy emotional reactions

"How other people react is their karma, how you react is your's," my yoga teacher said a while ago. When the supermarket cashier is grumpy or the boutique salesperson is curt I find it unpleasant and it makes me uncomfortable. When someone is angry I tend to take it personally and think the anger is directed at me. Most of us react that way. But it helps to put emotional reactions into perspective.

Imagine your boss just reprimanded you for submitting your report late. When you step out of that office you feel pretty lousy and might snap at the first person that comes along. Remember, though, the one who feels lousy is you, not your coworker who happens to walk down the hallway. If you snap at your coworker she probably thinks that she did something wrong, when instead something happened to you. See how intertwined we are?

It helps so much to be aware of our emotional reactions in order to diffuse them before they cause damage. How about taking a few deep breaths, going to the bathroom or the coffee station for a brief break, or being honest with your coworker and saying "My boss just chewed me out and I kind of feel lousy right now, do you want to have a cup of coffee with me?"

So back to the top. You can quickly and easily do a whole lot of damage with a crappy reaction, or you can choose to prevent a whole lot of damage by diffusing negative emotions.

a stack of magazines

Ron Lieber recently wrote about enjoying such simple pleasures as going to the library and losing yourself in a stack of magazines. I mostly read non-fiction, whether newspaper, non-fiction or creative non-fiction books about my favorite subjects, although I'll read a rare novel here and there (the DaVinci Code is on my list). Total unwinding for me is sitting down in a quiet room with a stack of magazines and endless time with no scheduled events on the horizon, and perhaps a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Every few months, and before we go on vacation, I go to the library to get a big stack of magazines. And then I'll hole up in bed or on the couch and disappear relishing my (somewhat) brainless browsing through pretty pictures and snipets and tidbits of text.

It gives me great visual pleasure to leaf through the aesthetically pleasing Martha Stewart magazines and oohhh and aahh at the beautiful photographs of clever ideas and sumptuous spreads, as unpractical and time consuming as the making of all these beautiful crafts, decors and dishes may in reality be. And reading about people instead of ideas is relaxing to the mind as well.

Entertainment and relaxation don't always have to cost an arm and a leg.  What simple pleasures do you enjoy?