<3Home Grown<3

On a short visit to my parents house in Montclair, NJ last week I invited my grandparents, Gary and Irene Sanderson (known to me as Grampa and Glam) to come to DUMBO to see my neighborhood. They are very cool people: Grampa collects antique bicycles and rode a high wheel bicycle across the country only a few years ago, and he and Glam have ridden a tandem all over the world! It was no surprise that they jumped on the chance to explore my neighborhood with me, given their youthful and adventurous spirits. So, after picking some veggies from my mothers garden (shown above), Grampa, Glam, and I hopped in the car, drove out to DUMBO, and had a lovely picnic in the park under the bridges. I even took them to the Brooklyn Flea, where they took interest in some old maps and bicycle paraphernalia. I visit my grandparents pretty regularly in their home or my parents home, but sharing my world with them was a really special experience- for all of us. Now that my sublet is up in DUMBO, I think Glam and Grampa are pretty excited for an invitation to see my next neighborhood: Park Slope here we come!

Inspiring me to do good: 1 Dress 365 Days.

Wow, people can be so awesome sometimes. I just found out about The Uniform Project on twitter, and I am kind if in awe of what a great idea it is. "The Project" was created by Sheena Matheiken and Eliza Starbuck as "a non-profit mission that takes on creative projects that advocate sustainability and social responsibility." Cool. But what's even more awesome is the way these girls are getting their message across. Sheena will wear the same dress (designed by Eliza) everyday for a whole year, using her sense of style along with hand- me-downs, vintage finds, and donations of accessories, to make it work in 365 different ways.

The point is to get people interested (success!) and to raise money for The Akanksha Foundation, an organization committed to funding the education of children in India's slums. After having worked at The Vatsalya Foundation, an organization for homeless slum children in Mumbai, when I was 16, this whole thing really struck a chord with me. Now I feel like it's my turn to think of something creative to raise money for them. Any ideas?

Amala On The Dieline!

What can I say? I'm proud of my Amala Mater.

Check out the good press here.

And for more info on The Dieline, a very cool site/blog.

If You Care...

I wish I could recite to you verbatim this hysterical joke that comedian/ actor David Cross told last night when Rex Arrow and I saw him at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Basically, he goes to Whole Foods, and notices that next to the Whole Foods brand (365 Everyday Value®) there's this other brand called, get this: "If You Care". HA! Okay, so he goes on this tangent about how he's at the grocery store deciding what to buy and all of a sudden "If You Care" is right there in front of him everywhere and he envisions his rabbi wagging his finger at him and saying "You don't have to buy this- if you need to save the extra 17 cents, you need to save the extra 17cents- so what if the planet is being destroyed and your children and children's children won't have a place to live?!?! BUT IF YOU CARE, you would buy this brand, but you don't have to, you know, just if you care."

Okay, so it's really not that funny when I say it, but that's why David Cross is the comedian and not me. He also made several references about "bloggers" and "blogging" so I felt I had to give a little nod to that.

BUT.

The real point is, David Cross was expressing a symptom I've been thinking a lot about lately. A symptom we all experience at one point or another in our quest to become more environmentally conscious and eco-friendly, all the while feeling like what we do is never enough. He was expressing: GREEN GUILT.

You're not alone, people.

I like my mornings light and sweet.

Uros Petrovic - Good Morning!
Originally uploaded by Uros Petrovic

If there's one thing that can really get my day off to a bad start is a breakfast calamity. It's the way I start my day, and I want it to be yummie, energizing, and good for me. I woke up this morning, made myself a bowl of Irish cut oatmeal with agave syrup and pomegranate seeds, and brewed a cup of joe. I like it light and sweet, so when I realized I had NO MILK (quelle disastre!) I had to think fast for a substitute. Luckily, I had bought some of my favorite coffee ice-cream last night: Haagen Dazs "five", the brand's new development in flavor, which uses only 5 ingredients: SKIM MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, EGG YOLKS, COFFEE. Pure and simple, just the way I like it, and coincidentally, there's LESS FAT in "five" than in the regular version. A small scoop of ice cream in my coffee and my morning was back to light and sweet!

Accusations, Lies, and Czars. No, kids, it's not the Bolshevik Revolution.

Photo From The New Yorker Article

This past Sunday, Van Jones, the White House "green jobs" adviser, often called the "green jobs czar", resigned due to controversies surrounding (surprise!) his past and (surprise!) statements he made about Republicans. Jones said of his resignation: "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," and "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide." WHAT? YOU MEAN HE ACCUSED REPUBLICANS OF LYING?!?!? Republican's would, of course, NEVER do anything like that (please see Obama's healthcare speech and refer to Congressman Joe Wilson). 

Jones decided to step down after a big to-do was made about a petition he signed in 2004 (posted on 911truth.org), which called for an investigation into the government's role in 9/11. NOW, I am not saying one way or another what I think about September 11th, but heaven forbid someone actually seeks out an answer that hasn't been spoon-fed to us by the media! If you ask me, we probably need more people like Van Jones hanging out in DC. We should, however, probably refrain from calling them "czars".

Food Fit For Queens

Last week I went over to see Shae's new apt in Long Island City. I don't particularly think of myself as a big apartment building kind of gal or a Queens type of gal at that, but after seeing how CLEAN and NEW everything in Shae's place was, I thought to myself for the 1,813,587th time "I'm so over wanting to live in an a cute old Manhattan building !" (it's like a mantra, maybe if you keep repeating it it will actually become true).

But this is not an entry about real estate. It's about the meal Shae made for me that night, after we hadn't seen each other in a very long time. Granted, her SPARKLY NEW kitchen probably made it easier to toss together, but the recipe only take 15 minutes of hands-on time anyway (so good for the sanity!) Without further ado, here is the recipe for Quinoa with Mushrooms, Kale, and Sweet Potatoes, which Shae found at Real Simple. We agreed that our choice of Red Quinoa was an improvement on the original. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 10 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch kale, stems discarded and leaves torn into 2-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)

Directions

1. Place the quinoa and 2 cups water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the sweet potatoes and mushrooms and cook, tossing occasionally, until golden and beginning to soften, 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the kale, wine, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, tossing often, until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve over the quinoa and sprinkle with the Parmesan.