Ewww! Germs!

Reusable bags! 


Awesome, right?


That's right, they are awesome.  I'm so excited that I see more and more people out shopping with their reusable bags. 


There's one little thing that people sometimes don't know about their reusable bags, however: you have to wash them.


I'm hoping that seems obvious to you, but a study found that 97% of people don't wash their green bags. The study was awhile ago, but I suspect that there are lots of people out there who haven't started washing their reusable bags, given the number of folks I've seen who keep them in their trunks most of the time.


You have to wash the bags because they can be hosts to food-borne pathogens. Most reusable bags carry more than plastic bags, and so baggers put all kinds of things together in the bags - meat and veggies and cleaners, all in one bag.


The study was funded by the chemical industry - I guess in hopes that they would turn people off from carrying green bags. But really? Just wash the bags in the laundry with your clothes or linens. I'd rather do more laundry than kill sea turtles.

Recipe: Sheltering Sky Chicken (Moroccan-Style Chicken with Prunes)

Or: In which I am a culinary genius. Trust me. TRY THIS RECIPE.
(Vegetarian and gluten-free options are suggested below)


The September issue of Esquire had a cooking feature entitled "Eat Like a Man." It had several recipes, lots of great cooking tips, and essays on cooking - because apparently home cooking is now hip for men. I'll ignore the fact that when I was growing up my dad did all of the cooking and when he was out of town we got to eat McDonald's or creamed tuna on rice.  The point of this feature, if I can sum it up, is "manly cooking is risky, because men don't like to follow directions. They're men!"

That's kind of a stupid point, as all those Top Cheftestants who went to culinary school will tell you, but if that's true, then I cook like a man. Of course, I did learn to cook from my dad, who was all about getting an inspiration and then testing variations until he reached perfection.  Recipes to my dad were like melodies are to jazz musicians - just something to riff on.


Why am I telling you all of this? Well, it's to share the backstory of this recipe, which I have named Sheltering Sky Chicken after Paul Bowles' drug-hazy novel about Morocco. This recipe is a riff, just like my father's used to riff on things like spaghetti with meat sauce and Thai peanut chicken. It's my homage to a dish we used to eat at the only Moroccan restaurant in my town. Here's how it came to be:

• Last Sunday I woke up and I thought, I would like chicken with prunes tonight. That was literally my first thought upon waking.
• So I thought for a bit - what's a cuisine where you might eat chicken with prunes and what would that be like? Moroccan was my first thought.
• So then I Googled "Moroccan chicken" and read a whole bunch of recipes. I often start a recipe this way, by doing some random internet research. If you're not quite comfortable with the idea of cooking on the fly, but want to try it, this is a good way to check yourself and make sure that the flavors you're thinking about go together. 
• I looked at the spices in my cupboard, thought for awhile, and then went to the store.
• At the store, I let the produce choices guide me a bit. A lot of Americans choose their recipes for the week, then go to the store with a pre-made list. If you're concerned about greening your kitchen, however, it's good to have some flexibility when it comes to produce - so you get what's more local and in-season (and if you've got a farmer's market, that's best of all). For example, I was sort of envisioning celery in this dish, but they only had organic celery in a huge bundle that I knew I would end up wasting, so I didn't buy it. But I saw a giant potato that looked great, so I amended my mental image to contain potato.
• I went home and started cooking.

A couple of notes:

This recipe uses a blend of spices that I suggest you mix up ahead of time. It's similar to the mix that's known as "Ras al hanout". In general, I like my food less-sweet/more-savory, so I tilted the mixture in that direction. Take that into account as you're creating it - for example, if you don't like spicy, omit the cayenne. Just dip your finger in and lick it to see if you're getting a mix you like - remember that the uncooked spices will be more bitter than the final, cooked product.

This recipe is also similar to a tagine, or a Moroccan stew that's made in a big earthenware pot (also known as a tagine). If you have a tagine, you can use it to cook this, but I just used a ceramic baking dish.

Finally, I used a technique to cook the chicken that I learned from my dad. Sear it first in a saute pan and then bake it. This holds in the moisture, and I'd recommend trying it for other chicken dishes you might make as well.

So now - the recipe!

Sheltering Sky Chicken

Ingredients:

Spice Blend

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cumin

1/2-1 tsp. toasted cumin seeds (heat a small pan over high heat - don't use any oil - and add the seeds. Cook 1-2 minutes, shaking the pan frequently, until the seeds become fragrant.)

Mix all of the spices together in a small dish and divide in half.

Everything else:

Around 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, preferably organic (it's hard to find these organic, sometimes, so it's helpful if you have a butcher at your grocery store who can help you - plus, you use less packaging if you buy from the butcher counter)

1 large baking potato, cut into 1-inch cubes

3 small carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow onion, cut into large pieces

About half a bag of prunes, chopped into halves and quarters, or more if you really like prunes. Which I do.

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can rinsed chickpeas

1-2 c. vegetable broth

Olive oil

Cous cous

Cilantro and toasted slivered almonds

Pre-heat oven to around 425 degrees.

Step 1: Add half the spice mix to a gallon zipper bag. Add the chicken and shake to coat evenly with spices (I know that plastic bags are the devil, and you could also do this by mixing in a bowl - but this method works really well and I think since I gave up paper towels, occasionally using a zipper bag that I don't reuse is fair).

Step 2: Heat about 1 tbsp. olive oil in a saute pan. Add the chicken and sear, cooking for 1-2 minutes on each side, until the skin is no longer translucent. Arrange the seared chicken evenly in a large ceramic or glass baking dish coated with olive oil.

Step 3: Add the chopped potato, carrots, onion, and prunes to the baking dish, arranging them around the chicken.

Step 4: In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, chick peas, and the remainder of the spices. Add about one cup of broth. Pour this mixture evenly over the ingredients in the baking dish. It should almost cover the chicken, but not quite. If you need to, add a little more broth.

Step 5: Put in the oven and cook until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are soft. Serve over cous cous, garnished with almonds and cilantro.

Vegetarian option: I wouldn't use "fake meat" with this meal - it's so fresh tasting, I would add more veg instead. Butternut squash is the option I would go with. Cube it, and skip steps 1-2. Butternut squash stands up well to Middle Eastern spices, and it's hearty, so you won't feel deprived.

Gluten-free option: Instead of cous cous, which is pasta, serve over brown rice. Be sure to check the broth and spices to make sure they don't have any added flour.

My Journey to the Dark Side

a.k.a. Whole Foods

In Texas, you're encouraged to choose sides.

UT (Hook 'em!) vs. A&M.

Rick Perry vs. Everyone Else

Texans vs. Cowboys

And one thing Texans like to take a stand on is which Texas-based grocery chain is best: Whole Foods or HEB. Each has a different image. You're probably familiar with Whole Foods, which is "lovingly" known as "Whole Paycheck" by many fiscally-minded shoppers - it's seen as the grocer-of-choice for hipsters who wear knit hats in summer and boho-chic mamas who name their kiddos things like Lotus or Tangerine. If you don't live in Texas, you might not be familiar with HEB (with its slogan: Here Everything's Better), but it's the suburban mom's palace, mecca for the modern family. They also have a Whole-Foods-like sub-brand, called Central Market.

I've never really thrown my loyalty in with either, since my neighborhood didn't have either store. I usually go to Randall's, which is the name that Safeway stores have around here. And I still do, for my weekly shopping. However, I'd consider myself more of an HEB-type person, someone who likes to save money and do one-stop-shopping.

But about two months ago, a Whole Foods opened just down the street from my house. It's now the closest grocery store to my house. Even though I know that there are lots of problems with Whole Foods' green stance, and particularly with its Ayn-Randian founder John Mackey, I find that I'm now going to Whole Foods for almost all of my mid-week shopping.

Whoa. That is a big pumpkin outside the Whole Foods.

Here are a few reasons I've been sucked in:

• The store already has a neighborhood feel, even though it's part of a giant chain. The employees are so friendly and kind (unlike those at my other neighborhood store, which rhymes with "go-girl" if you take off the L). They thank me for bringing my own bags instead of glaring at me. They even recognize me, unlike the employees at the Go-Girl market I've been frequenting for SEVEN YEARS.
• This particular location serves a diverse clientele, because it's in a diverse neighborhood. Yes, there are a lot of hipsters and yupsters, but they don't rule the store.
• They have the best selection of vegetarian options of any grocery store in the neighborhood.
• The coffee is really good.

I like school gardens. I'm less happy that the ads for this program only feature white children.

No, it's not the Farmer's Market, where I'm going to go in a few minutes here. But if this is the dark side, I don't want to go to the light.

Everything's Perfect

I like simple things that do perfectly whatever they are designed to do.

Let's take scissors as an example.

Scissors are my sonic screwdriver. In my house, car, and office, it's rare that I won't have scissors to hand. Scissors in my glove compartment? Check! I need scissors for when Starbucks runs out of the small straws so I can cut the large ones down. Scissors next to the bed? Yes! When I'm knitting I need them to snip some yarn. Scissors in the bathroom? OK! Sometimes a wayward thread needs to be clipped from a sleeve.

Scissors. Small. Inexpensive. Perfect.

A few other little things make my list of perfect inventions: the 2 oz. angled measuring cup, tape, measuring prep bowls. Bobby pins have been climbing the ranks these days.

Add to that list: Everything Clips. My mom got me some for Christmas, and I think that everyone who is trying to be greener should have some on hand, because they make many other products unnecessary, thereby reducing consumption. They can also replace a lot of non-permanent adhesives. Everything Clips are sturdy clips that can clip all kinds of things, and they're good for big or small jobs.

For example, you open a bag. Then you want it closed. Of course, they have special "Chip Clips" for that, but why do you need a special item for that one task of closing a chip bag? And the Chip Clip is too big for closing smaller things. Then people buy small Chip Clips. Instead, Everything Clip can do the job.

Or, let's say you need a clipboard. But you don't have one. So you look in your backpack - and you have the piece of cardboard from the front of a crossword puzzle book, and an Everything Clip. Voila! They become a clipboard... and yes, of course that happened to me.

An Everything Clip can even hold back your hair when you're trying to create a style with your bobby pins.

I know, they might seem just like other clips (paper, binder, hair, Chip) but Everything Clips are all those clips rolled into one.

Say it Ain't So-bama! 2

Ben: Wow, the sky is really beautiful.
Leslie: It's pollution from the Sweetums factory. It's gorgeous. But is it worth the asthma?
Ben: No.
- Parks and Recreation, "Camping"

Right now, President Obama reminds me a lot of Leslie Knope in the above dialogue. In TV's Pawnee, Indiana, the Sweetums factory produces delicious candy while polluting the air and making the citizens fat. Yet they sponsor fun parks activities like the Harvest Festival. They create beautiful pink and blue sunsets with their pollution. And did I mention their candy is delicious?

So let's imagine that instead of candy, Sweetums is promising jobs for all of America (Sweetums is representing industry in this analogy, FYI).

The EPA says: Let's reduce pollution.It's the law.
Sweetums: But it will cost jobs.
The President: Hmm... OK... we won't reduce pollution. It's probably worth the asthma.

Like Ben, we should all answer a resounding NO to this idea.

In case you're not familiar with what's going on, Obama's office quietly announced on Friday that they will delay stronger smog standards (these were planned well in advance and impact ozone emissions specifically). According to the National Resource Defense Council:

The stronger smog standards would have saved up to 4,300 lives and avoid as many as 2,200 heart attacks every year. They would have made breathing easier for the 24 million Americans living with asthma. And they also would have created up to $37 billion in health benefits annually.

The official rationale for this move is that the regulations would cause an "undue regulatory burden" on industry, which would cost jobs.

I am SO SICK of this false dichotimizing between the environment and jobs. It makes me want to scream (and I did, in all-caps at the beginning of this paragraph). There's a whole world of new green jobs that we are not opening up because we're protecting traditional industry from the tech revolution that is racing on ahead of it -- it's the worst kind of cronyism. Because exactly the kind of 21st Century industry and tech that would help us to get out of the recession is the kind we're not developing in the name of getting out of the recession. It's frakkin' Ouroboros devouring his own tail.

Like many environmental problems, the burden of this will be unduly borne by the poorest Americans. Asthma is more prevalent among those who live in poverty. The same with heart disease. And that means that we will all bear the health care burdens caused by this supposedly economic decision.

So it seems like the economic argument is a win for Mama Earth's side. Again, the NRDC:

The smog standards would generate $37 billion in value for a cost of about $20 billion by 2020.

Which means this is not truly a matter of the economy. It's about politics. If we don't act now, the smog standards are due to be re-evaluated in 2013 ... after the election.

But we shouldn't need to make a political argument or an economic one. This is about justice. How many jobs equal a fair trade for the lives that will be saved by a reduction in ozone emissions?

So what can you do? Here are three Light (that means low-effort on your part) Green things you can do:

1. Email the White House. Follow this link and there's a simple form you can use to tell the President that you are NOT OK with this decision.

2. Or, if you'd rather, use your phone to make a difference. Join the NRDC's phone campaign.

2. Donate to the NRDC. They are planning a legal challenge to this decision. It's simple and you can donate whatever you can spare.

It's fun to be an activist! Voting is important, but all of us who were re-invigorated by the last presidential election can expand our influence by adding a voice (and dollars if we have them - even though we probably won't be able to compete with industry when it comes to greenbacks - at least we've got right on our side).

*Photo courtesy of fanpop

August Pop-Culture Round-up

I gave some of my August faves a tribute earlier this month, but luckily, August has been a great month for pop. August pop culture is all about the winding down of summer: it's twilight on the beach and the fun has gotten a little tawdry and dark. Michael Bay is not the hero of August.The hero of August is that movie or song that makes you feel, just for a moment, that you are a kid but have all of the understanding of an adult.

So here is my late August playlist...

"That is a terrible vampire name. Jerry?"
Fright Night, 2011

Do you remember when the movies used to be fun? Remember when summer movies were the funnest movies of all? In the Transformers era, fun is sorely lacking from summer movies, although naps are abundant. Fright Night, despite being a remake of an earlier film (such remakes being one of the Four Horsemen of Hollywood's Apocalypse) retains the DNA of its earlier incarnation - FUN, sexy, scary, and did I mention... fun? It's an old school vampire movie, if you're not familiar with the original (that means the vampires aren't sparkly). Colin Farrell has torn up summer 2011 in supporting roles (see: Horrible Bosses), but the show stopper is David Tennant as a past-his-prime (if he had a prime) Vegas magician with a rash, a Midori addiction, and a horrible past. I'm guessing from Fright Night's awful box office that you haven't seen it yet. This is the last holiday  of the summer. GO IMMEDIATELY.

"All the other kids with the pumped up kicks  you'd better run, better run, outrun my gun" 
Pumped Up Kicks, Foster the People
Yes, it is the song you can't get out of your head that's also about a potential school shooting. I heard some music critic on NPR talking about how it's one of the "songs of the summer" because the darkness hidden behind the jaunty tune somehow represents our national mindset. Actually, I think it's the song of the summer because of the hook. And the whistling.

“You’ve got a time machine and I’ve got a gun. What the hell? Let’s kill Hitler.” 
"Let's Kill Hitler", Doctor Who
After a mid-summer hiatus that had Who fans squirming, the Doctor returned with a bang at the end of August.  The mid-season finale revealed that River Song (played by Alex Kingston - really?!? Ralph Fiennes, you gave up River frakking Song?) is the daughter - spoilers - of Amy and Rory. "Let's Kill Hitler" tore into her backstory with a vengeance, while giving us all the funny bits we love from The Doctor. Matt Smith continues a brilliant run  as the 11th ("bowties are cool") Doctor, and the supporting cast just keep digging deeper into their characters.


"You screwed up your romantic life in front of fifth-graders?"
Sports Night, available on Netflix streaming
For many years, I've heard about the mythical Sports Night: the two seasons in which Aaron Sorkin incubated the core stylistic quirks and the humanist concerns that would drive The West Wing (a.k.a. the White House as liberals wish it was). Now that Sports Night is available on Netflix streaming, we-who-are-too-lazy-to-pop-in-a-DVD can catch a glimpse of the crucible that led to Jed Bartlet. The "walk-and-talk", the rapid-fire dialogue, the Constitutional questions - they are all there in a show that's nominally about a Sports Center-like news hour hosted by Peter Krause and Josh Charles, and produced by Felicity Huffman. And yes, sometimes the seams show in Sports Night,  but how often do you get a glimpse of a television auteur finding his feet?


"Hector, you've just missed a wonderful game of sardines!"
The Hour, BBCA
Sardines. It's a child's game of reverse-hide-and-seek, where everyone hides together until only one person is left. Except in BBC's The Hour (and yes, I know I already mentioned it, but it's that good), sardines is much more: it's a metaphor for the infantilization of the British aristocracy, the setting for a sexy game of cat-and-mouse, and an opportunity to ratchet up the tension in the spy story that has been unfurling. And that's why The Hour is so good. It's willing to give us the Briticissims we love - the country house weekend, the confrontations hidden behind pleasantries, the beds-under-garrets - but it layers these so that they have an immediacy and tautness that's unusual in staid British drama. The MVP award goes to Dominic West, who - perhaps because we know him so well as McNutty on The Wire - manages to be debonair while we believe he might be on the edge of unraveling.


"Maybe this was the only way it could have gone. You didn't get the quest you wanted, you got the one you could do."
The Magician King, Lev Grossman
Last night, I woke up, my brain reeling with thoughts of wild strange magic - magic I can't get into without spoiling the story of Quentin Coldwater, the Magician King. Grossman's book is the sequel to The Magicians, which answers the question: what would happen if Harry Potter and those Narnia kids were filled with ennui and really liked to get drunk? At least, on the surface that's what it seems to be about. In The Magician King, Grossman riffs on C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (my favorite Narnia book). As in The Magicians, Grossman starts the tale with winks and nods, but ends in that wild, strange place that will wake you up in the middle of the night and won't let you drift back to sleep.


"You could have had it any other way."
What the Water Gave Me, Florence + the Machine
Some of us have been waiting a long time for new Florence! Even though she's only been everywhere since late last year, those of us who are super-cool (or just happened, once, by extreme chance rather than any hipness whatsoever, to catch her on a blog radio program and became obsessed to listening to her MySpace page, in the days when you did that)  have been waiting a long time!

Felted Friend

Before anyone in Portland "put a bird on it", owls were one of my favorite motifs. (I'm just cool and fashion-forward like that). When I saw a tutorial to make a needle felted owl, it looked so easy that I thought I would try it.

Needle felting is a craft where you take a lump of wool and poke it with a needle a whole bunch of times until it becomes a firm shape. Yep, that's pretty much it. My friend (and the blogger behind one girl one camera), Darci, had shown my mom and I the needle felting basics a few months ago, and when I saw the tools for sale at Michael's, I knew that I was ready to give it a whirl.

These are the things you need:

- Wool roving (it's a clump of wool and comes in lots of different colors)

- A big needle

- Something to set the wool on when you poke I used that comb thing that you see in the picture. It's called a felting mat. You can see that I'm not exactly a stickler for a super-tidy work area.

Lots of people use a tool that has a bunch of needles inside it, so the poking goes faster, but they were all out of those at the craft store.

When it comes to crafting - or most things really - I'm not much for following directions. I read through the tutorial and then just thought I'd try it.

At right, you can see the little guy about half-way through. The hardest part was getting the head to be round. It ended up a little flat - I think I was poking too hard. The more you stab the wool with the needle, the fewer little fuzzies you get. I left a lot of fuzzies because it looked more owlish - plus I'm kind of lazy.

Here's the owlie with his owl friends!
This was definitely fun, EASY, and the initial outlay of money was small (about 15 bucks for the tools and each package of wool was around $2.50). I'm already thinking about how to make a needle felted squid.


Coming soon: The August Pop Culture Round-up

2011 Learn-Go-Do - August Reflection

Remember this?

Well, if summer 2011 had a theme for me, it was losing my intention.


Because in a crazy world of business travel and 108 degree days, living intentionally just fell by the wayside. I've been home for two weeks, though, and I'm beginning to feel like my old self again. 


July went like this: Airplane/airport chicken sandwich/SuperShuttle/hotel/conference room taco bar/SuperShuttle/airport/airplane.


August went like this: GAH! I know I set some intentions at the beginning of the year! What were they again? Let's get back on track.


So I got right and started to re-visit my intentions for 2011. 


Learn
I feel like I've conquered my intention to learn to knit lace. With the hot weather, however, I've temporarily put aside the lacey sweater I'm knitting; the sweater is now almost sweater-sized, and that's not a nice thing to have on your lap when it's 108 degrees out. I've started a short, small project to tide me over until the weather facilitates sweater-knitting.


I've added to my "Learn" list. I'd like to learn to needle felt. I'm hoping to share some examples soon...


Go
Of my "Go" goals, I'm doing really well. I've gone to Spain, and I've gone to two American cities I hadn't visited previously (Minneapolis and Philadelphia). I'm scheduled to go to Newark in October, and complete my goal (Yay, Newark!)


I also had a "Go" goal to go to a new restaurant each month. In August I hit two:

• My friends Kelly, Keith and I went to Raia's Italian Market, a simple space in Houston's Washington corridor. It was an old-school Italian place with checked table cloths in a new mixed-use development. When we arrived, all of the tables were filled with families and friends, and they brought us wine while we waited. I adored my pescatore pasta, with shrimp, calamari, crab and anchovies. A briny delight. We all loved our meals, and finished it off with some perfect gelato.  A definite find.
• For Houston Restaurant Weeks, my friend Amanda and I headed out into the suburbs to le Mistral. During Restaurant Weeks, restaurants offer 3 course meals for $35. Our meal was fancy and enjoyable, but it didn't revolutionize my life. The best part of my meal was the chocolate truffle dessert. I think I'd choose Raia's any day.

Do

Health is the theme of my "Do" goals. Two of them are to: re-commit myself to sustainable eating and to work myself up to working out 5 times a week. Here's where I am with those:

• Re-commit to sustainable eating: When you're traveling, sustainable eating really goes out the window. However, now that I'm home, fresh veggies and fruits are my friends. I'm feeling so great to be eating whole grains, greens, and yummy fruits like fresh figs and blueberries. I recently found out I have an iron deficiency, so I have to take lots of iron which means that I also have to eat tons of fiber - which means delicioso spinach, oats, and my favorite snack - prunes.
• Working out: Over the first 5 months of the year, I worked my way up to working out 5 times a week. At the beginning of the summer I sprained my foot, and then I got a bad cold. I know that experts say you can work out when you're sick, but as someone who is not a pro-worker-outer, that was the last thing I wanted to do. So I started over, and I'm back up to working out 3 times a week. I don't love it, but I have to admit I feel better when I do it.

.