I am sitting here in the Pocket House ("an urban cabin in Portland's back yard" - more on that definitely to come) and probably just have a few moments before being inundated with babies who are starting to wake at this moment.
This weekend in Washington D.C. is the Save Our Schools March, a march by teachers and parents who want to turn back the tide of trends in education reform (accountability, school choice, etc.). I'm not going to explain why I think they are off base, because that's a much longer rant than I have time for. However, yesterday on the plane I was thinking about how one problem - the problem of teachers being laid off due to the recession - might be somewhat mitigated.
I was sitting next to a first-grade teacher from Minnesota who was also very environmentally-minded. She teaches in a small school district where they had retro-fitted their schools to produce less trash and use less energy. One of the main steps they took was regulating the temperature in the schools. And in one quarter, they saved $60,000! For their little district of around 6 schools, that could be three teachers' salaries.
For years I've been saying that in my school district, if they turned the temp up a few degrees, they could save a LOT of money. They kept the school so cold during Houston's spring and fall, and during summer school, that students wore jackets inside. So just think, a few of the teachers they laid off this year might have been saved - and they would have been helping the environment.
I don't think this is the solution to the economic problems in school districts, but I do think that leveraging environmental solutions could make a big difference throughout the government. Not only that, but JOBS would be created. No, we won't solve our economic crisis simply through the green sector, but we have to start thinking past our current mindsets if we're going to get out of this mess.
When I was in Madrid earlier this year, we stayed at the Husa Paseo del Arte. Right across the street was a little cafe where we ate breakfast each morning. And each day I had the same thing: a sandwich with salmon, brie, and some kind of tomato jelly on "home bread" (that's what they called it on the English side of the menu).
Because it's been so hot lately, most cooking adventures haven't appealed to me, but the other day I got it into my head to try to re-create that sandwich.
When buying salmon, if sustainability is important to you, you want to read labels. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, you should avoid most Atlantic salmon, and stick with wild Pacific salmon, especially the carefully-managed Alaska salmon. Luckily, at my neighborhood grocery, the smoked salmon was clearly marked with the species, location, and method of harvest, so I was able to make a sustainable choice.
But now... for the recipe. I looked for some kind of tomato jelly, but didn't find any. Instead, I used fig preserves, because I've found that fig goes well with several savory flavors. If you can't find fig, I would use a preserve with a rich, complicated flavor - stay away from your strawberry and grape.
"Back to Madrid" Sandwich
Ingredients for each serving:
a sandwich roll from your store's bakery; I used ciabatta, but you could use any type of roll that isn't too thick
3-4 slices of smoked salmon
brie, sliced thinly - enough to cover the bread
fig preserves
1) Slice the roll and spread on a thin layer of preserves. Then add the salmon and brie. Close up the sandwich.
2) I used a grill pan to create a makeshift panini press. Of course, you could use an actual panini press, or just bake the sandwich in the oven (at 350 until the cheese is melty and the bread is warm). Here's how I made my panini press (with apologies for the lame phone photos):
Spray olive oil on a grill pan and heat to medium-high.
Put the sandwich on the grill pan. Cover with a piece of tinfoil or wax paper and then put a heavy pan on top of the sandwich to squish it. I used a saucepan with a teakettle inside:
Cook for 2-3 minutes or until nice grill lines form. Flip the sandwich and cook for another minute or two.
And voila! You're done and you can take a little mental trip to Madrid.
The other day I was paging through Cooking Light magazine (a great magazine for people who like cooking; they have lots of sustainable and vegetarian recipes) and I saw a little green fish next to a recipe. After some exploring, I saw that the green fish is a new symbol they are using to indicate recipes made from sustainable seafood choices.
I had been planning on making a shrimp salad from the magazine, but it didn't have the green fish next to it, so I tried the grilled scallop salad instead.
Why does sustainable seafood matter? Because 75% of the world's fisheries are overfished. When we catch fish and shellfish faster than they can reproduce, the entire ecosystem - not just that fish population - is impacted. For example, in the Chesapeake Bay, oysters have been overfished. Because the oysters kept the algae from growing too fast, the depletion of oysters disrupted the oxygen levels in the bay, creating large dead zones (want to know more? click here)
The same cycles of ecological disruption occur wherever there is overfishing. Luckily, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a great consumer-awareness program called Seafood Watch. They publish pocket guides that you can take with you to the store to help you choose sustainable seafood. There's even an App for that - for both iPhone and Android operating systems.
Why are scallops a great choice? Well, the Monterey Bay Aquarium lists all scallops as "Good Alternative" or "Best Choice." That means that you can feel good about any scallops you find at the store.
I invited a couple of friends over for the scallop-cooking adventure. The recipe I chose was Grilled Scallop Salad, a beautiful mix of romaine, watermelon, and avocado (that's it, in the picture up above) with a lime dressing. I was kind of nervous about cooking the scallops, though - I've seen enough Top Chef contestants brought down by chewy scallops to know that cooking them is a delicate art.
I did what any amateur chef does when a cooking challenge arises: I Googled "how to buy scallops" and "how to cook scallops". Here's what I learned:
Buying: Buy your scallops within 24 hours of cooking them. Choose scallops that aren't too fishy smelling - they should smell a little sweet. Ask the "fishmonger" (a.k.a. the really nice girl at Whole Foods) to include some ice in your package so that the scallops stay cold all the way home. (Seriously, every website said "fishmonger". What is this? The Boston docks in 1775?) You can also buy frozen scallops - but again, Top Chef has taught me that frozen scallops will have you "packing up your knives" and leaving the kitchen faster than Padma Lakshmi can change outfits.
Storing: Store them, wrapped in paper, in the fridge. Remember... you want to cook them less than a day after you buy them.
Preparing: Rinse the scallops in cold water. Most scallops have a little flap of muscle on them that will end up chewy no matter what you do. Cut this off.
Cooking: I watched a great YouTube video to build my confidence. In the video, the chef sears the scallops in a skillet; I used a grill pan - the recipe called for using an actual grill, but I don't have one so I use my grill pan for all recipes that involve grilling. Even though the video had a slightly different cooking method, I learned a few things: salt and pepper the scallops, making sure that there are not big globs of salt anywhere; make sure your oil is hot-hot-hot before you put the scallops on; and watch carefully. The scallops will go from translucent to opaque. When the opacity has climbed halfway up the scallop, it's time to turn them over. This should take about 1-2 minutes. I had nice big scallops, so it was about 2 minutes per side.
The result? Perfect, sweet, and buttery-tasting scallops. I was really happy with the whole meal, especially because I knew that we weren't harming the ocean to fill our bellies. Scallops are expensive, so it will definitely be a special occasion meal, but I'm going to continue to experiment with cooking them.
You might have noticed a real dearth (I love that word... dearth) of posting lately. And when I do post, it tends to be just a picture. I've really been laxing in my 2011 intention to post three times per week. I don't have any good excuses except that it's been a bit of a rough time lately - work stress, family woes, increased anxiety, etc. I've kind of felt like a slug slowly sliming my way across planet Earth - not particularly motivated to do much of anything.
Oddly enough, it was when my A/C busted today that I started to unfurl from the seed where I'd been hibernating... or, to be more specific, it was in the joy of my A/C returning to me (thanks, Enrique!) that I welcomed a state of pure, unadulterated, freon-chilled enjoyment. So, in order to pep myself up and pull myself out of this July funk* here's a chronicle of some of the things I've been doing that have been making me smile lately (thanks to Shell, who provides inspiration with her Things That Make You Go :D )
1) Pretending that I'm in Spain.
Tonight I ate baguette with quince jam and goat cheese (queso de cabra!). Yesterday I drank some Spanish wine. Last week I ate tapas. Bringing Spain, with its plazas and afternoon resting, back into my life, is a pretty sweet way to perk up a smile.
2) Listening to music.
Music is my happy place. Creating playlists to evoke certain stories or moods, discovering new songs, talking about guitar solos -- all things I love. Luckily, the internet has helped me find like-minded friends who feed my musical passions. My latest obsession? This song (and what a beautiful video accompaniment):
3) Drinking coffee
I was raised in the Northwest. Coffee is like blood to me. Someday, I'll write a post about my quest for coffee that is both fair-trade and organic (to satisfy my motto of "good for people, good for the planet.") That day is not today. I just leave you with this yumminess:
4) PETTING THE CAT!!!
If you travel a lot for work, a cat is the best pet in the world. Cats are independent, but oh-so-loving when you're home. My little guy can certainly take care of himself, but he's also a total "love" who likes to cuddle and be petted. Basically, the best pet ever.
5) Watching TV
People who say "I don't watch TV; there's nothing good on" make me sad.
Why love TV? you might ask Isn't TV just a crass entertainment?
Au contraire (I learned that from TV).
Our human inheritance is stories. Sometimes, I think that stories are all we have: stories that begin remember that one time, stories of despair-then-triumph and vice versa, stories of drill bits* in toes and stories of frogs who become princes, stories of the black night that becomes the starry moment before dawn. And TV is our current campfire, the place where we collectively come to spin our stories. Summer, with True Blood and Torchwood and So You Think You Can Dance is full of television stories that lift me up when I need it.
6) Doing Yoga
I was raised with yoga. When yoga started to become popular, I remember thinking to myself: what's the fuss?didn't everyone do this when they were kids? Oh wait ... not everyone was a woods-elf-hippie-child. My mom used to teach exercise classes in the town hall where the moms did sun salutations and the kids played in the communal kitchen, joining into the exercise when we felt like it. Yoga has always been a pillar of my life. While I'm not always faithful with my practice, I can always come back to it. My therapist suggested the book Full Catastrophe Living to increase mindfulness in daily life, a totally yoga concept, and while I haven't quite mastered the art of mindfully washing dishes, I am comforted by the attempt to fully inhabit every moment.
What are you doing to bring joy to your life right now?
*Usually I'm injured in July (sprained hand, drill bit lodged in toe, etc.) or sick (violent stomach flu, summer strep); perhaps my body just sent me into a funk due to the tradition of spending July in bed.
Recently, I received a text from my friend, Andy. It said:
You should do a blog post about the most effective way to use AC in the summer. Is it better to turn it off when you're gone or just raise the temp. I've heard different things and I'm confused. I need some light green advice.
OK. Advice coming up!
So here's what I think is true after some research on the internet: You should turn it off, for maximum energy savings.
This assumes, however, that your AC actually works. Mine is quite inefficient, and it takes most of the night to cool the house down if I'm gone all day. So I just turn mine up, not off, since I can't sleep when it's hot (that's why I'm LIGHT green.)
There are other things you can do to keep your house cool while using less energy.
Use fans. I have ceiling fans in both rooms in my house. They make a huge difference to the way I perceive the temperature, even if they don't actually make it colder.
Get blackout curtains. These have a reflective surface on one side that reduces the amount of sun that comes into the house. Since I live in Texas, I start using mine in the spring. They do make the house a bit dark, but it's worth it for those few degrees of difference they make in the temperature.
Use heat producing appliances (like the oven and dryer) at night. I have a toaster oven that I use for most of my baking during the summer.
I am sitting here in the Pocket House ("an urban cabin in Portland's back yard" - more on that definitely to come) and probably just have a few moments before being inundated with babies who are starting to wake at this moment.
