a tale of soft boiled eggs

I love a soft boiled egg for breakfast. It is such a simple comfort food, deeply nourishing, warm, and creamy. When my husband was little he used to get soft boiled eggs only when he was sick. His mother would bring it to him in bed with buttered toast strips she called "soldiers." In Germany soft boiled eggs are standard breakfast fare and served in every hotel.

When I was small we would have soft boiled eggs for week-end breakfasts with some buttered toast (no strips) and sweet & sour Swedish herring we called "Piepfisch" or "beep fish"(don't ask me why - a question for my parents). My sister and I would only get the little egg white hat, the "Hütchen," which my dad would slice off with one swift chop of his knife. I never knew why we didn't get a whole egg then. Was it about not eating too much protein, or was it to save money? Another question for my parents. But when I was finally allowed to have a whole soft boiled egg all for myself I knew I was a big girl.

When my children were small they would share an egg, because my son only liked the yolk, while my daughter only liked the white. In my attempt to vary our breakfasts (such as yoghurt/kefir/milk with cereal; bread/toast with stuff on it; French toast; croissants on Saturdays, pancakes or eggs on Sundays) I make soft boiled eggs about once a week, and definitely on days my children have tests - as a good brain food and protein base.

I bought our egg cups in Germany because I couldn't find the kind I wanted over here.   They sit solidly on the table and have a rim around the egg holder to rest your spoon and place your egg shells. I also bought the special little plastic spoons over there - horn spoons are fancier, and silver spoons alter the taste of the egg and oxidize the spoon.   I cook my eggs, which come from a friend or a local farm, for five minutes. That cooks the egg white just enough to become firm, but leaves the deep yellow yolk nice and runny and almost hot. I am more timid and don't slash the "hat" off with my knife. Instead, I peel the top, then lop the hat off with my egg spoon. And I do dunk buttered toast "soldiers" into the yolk. Mmmmh....

the whole kit and caboodle

Two recent articles made me aware of a truer meaning of sustainable agriculture and where we need to go next in our farm-to-table awareness.

The first one was about the enormous waste in the EU (and likely in the US as well) created by discarding produce that doesn't look perfect even though it is in good condition and tastes just like its more conformist looking counterparts. A young Portuguese woman started a produce cooperative named Fruta Feia or Ugly Fruit to market and sell such imperfect produce at 20%-30% less.

The other article was from chef Dan Barber on widening the premise of sustainable agriculture and including in our food choices also those crops that are typically used as cover crops to replenish the soil.  Soybeans, kidney beans or cowpeas (used as animal feed) are typical nitrogen replenishers for the soil. But Barber was talking about a much more sophisticated and complex crop rotation that is needed to keep the soil fertile and full of minerals, which guarantees not only superior taste but also mineral and trace element rich foods (less supplements you'll need to take). Such other crops might include rye, barley, or buckwheat, all little used in this country because less marketed and less known.

Sustainability, in agriculture and elsewhere, is about a wasteless circular process, in which all "waste" becomes a reusable base component for the next process in the circle, thereby eliminating the idea of "waste" altogether.  A sustainable farm would not buy outside fertilizer, seeds, and pest management products, instead using the farm animal manure for fertilizer, using crop rotation, crop variety and inter-planting as main pest control techniques, and saving its seeds from one year to the next.  Being able to sell its cover crops in addition to its "main crops" makes the farm more  viable and eliminates further waste.

The whole idea behind truly sustainable agriculture is to embrace every part of the agricultural process, the whole kit and caboodle, whether it's the little used rye (here in the US at least), the funny looking strawberries, the carrots with a nose or legs, or the lesser known fava beans (I made a fava bean hummus the other day that was as delicious and tasty as a chickpea hummus).

enjoy your week-end, really

What is it always with this Thursday/Friday frenzy before a long week-end? The pace picks up frenetically, everyone seems to need something very urgently before close of business on Friday, nothing can wait until after the week-end - as if we were closing shop for the next three weeks.   But in light of the fact that we are back on Tuesday morning it's really quite absurd. Many things can wait, and how is a three-day week-end so different from the regular two-day week-end anyhow? In this country - and in Hong Kong, where I lived for a bit, as well - many people feel guilty about taking time off. Culturally, virtue is seen in working long hours (even if they are not all so productive), slaving (or looking as if) away for the bottom line, bowing to the Grand Poobah of profitability and money, and fearing job loss otherwise. Many European countries give between four and six weeks vacation (on top of the many religious holidays and sick leave), and their economies are doing just fine.

We need time off to clear our head, to sleep in, to get out of the métro-boulot-dodo routine (French for the never ending subway-work-sleep grind), pursue our hobbies, spend time with family and friends. Time off refreshes us, it balances us, it puts things into perspective. Lack of sleep and too much stress shorten our lifespan.  Without playtime life is dull and drudgery.

Time off is a necessity in order to perform optimally and creatively, it's not frivolous luxury. Enjoy your week-end and don't feel guilty about your time off.

watching my plants grow

I grew up in big cities and I still have somewhat of an issue connecting with nature in a big way. Big nature as in wild water rafting, mountain climbing, several-day bike trips, overnights in a lean-to in the woods and stuff like that. I don't feel comfortable in big nature because of a lack of guidance and experience.   Instead, I connect with little nature in the form of my houseplants or my vegetable garden. I get really excited when seedlings emerge from the soil in early spring, and I love accompanying them on their growth journey through the season towards becoming fully grown vegetables.  It's a bit like watching your children grow and develop and change and come into being.  

Discovering little green tomatoes among the greenery and then seeing them grow grow grow into big red ripe juicy fruit we can actually eat is awesome and so rewarding.  The whole process is a bit magical to me.  When I find a ripe zucchini lurking under its big protective leaves it is like finding a present or a prize.  And I love bringing the flowers from the vegetable garden into the house, a bouquet of purplepink chive flowers, or perhaps a few sprigs of white and gangly arugula flowers together with a few sage flowers.

I don't think it matters how you come to appreciate nature, how you connect with it, how you come to respect it - as long as you do it in your own way.

my favorite word is "sure"

That's what my friend said a few days ago. And she is right.  Can you imagine how easy your life became if everyone of your requests was answered with "sure?"

Imagine you asked your son to clean up his room and put away his clothes, and he replied "sure."

Imagine you asked your coworker to help you figure out some computer problem that has been bugging you for days, and she answered "sure."

Imagine you called the plumber to fix your leaky faucet and asked him whether he could come tonight at five, and he said "sure."

Imagine you asked your boss for a reasonable and well-earned raise, and she simply said "sure."

Imagine you asked a friend to help you move a heavy item over the week-end, and he said "sure."

Yesterday afternoon I was relaxing with the newspaper. I had about fifteen minutes before I needed to get dinner going in time to leave for an evening meeting. Just then my daughter asked for help pulling her spring clothes down, and putting her winter clothes up and away, something we had been wanting to do for a few days.   I grumbled something, I didn't want to be bothered, I stuck my head back into the paper, then I remembered that little magical word "sure,".................and went up to help her.  She was so happy and surprised and said "I thought you weren't gonna help me?"

By saying "sure" you say "yes" to life.

rushing to yoga

My life is pretty busy and I love my Slow Yoga time. It brings me right back down into myself, relaxes me, grounds me (which means regaining a healthy perspective on things), all the while keeping me limber and flexible. So why did I not go to yoga yesterday?

I was rushing around the whole day, getting things done, driving a half hour to pick up my vacuum cleaner that needed servicing, coming back (another 1/2 hour), getting something else done, helping with homework, doing some actual work work in between, picking some emergency toilet paper up at the supermarket - and always thinking in the back of my mind that I would make that 6:15 yoga class (after missing the 12PM class). We weren't going to eat until after 8 so we could all have dinner together. But returning from yoga around 7:45 with no dinner prep work done beforehand would have meant either rushing again or eating really late.

"Enough," I said, after finally being back home at 5:50. I would have had to leave my purchases sprawled on the counter, changed, rushed back out to make that class, rushed back and hurried to get dinner on the table. What was the point of rushing to make that yoga class in order to relax, just to have to hurry again to get dinner on the table?  So I didn't go.

Instead, I slowed down with a sigh of relief,  sat down with hubby for a glass of wine while chatting about the events of the day, then prepared dinner in peace and quiet. Sometimes all that rushing is just not worth it.

the soft glow of candles

I love candles. The more the merrier. Lit, of course. There is something mystical about a live flame - the flickering, the color range from blue, to white, to yellow, then orange, and the changing length of the flame, depending on the wick and how it burns.   Candle watching can be quite mesmerizing and meditative.   But what I think I like most about candlelight is the soft and uneven glow it lends to the surrounding space. It adds more depth than the even and flat light of a lamp. "Mom, can I blow the candles out." Before children are allowed to light them they want to blow them out.   Poof. Then they graduate to being allowed to light them with adult supervision. Perhaps you remember how special it was when your child was allowed to light a candle for the first time?

Candles are another one of those quality-of-life things that we should use more often. Outdoor candlelight in the summer feels different from indoor candlelight in the winter. Candlelight adds magic to so many different settings. I like to light a candle when I take a bath.   It makes me feel pampered. Sometimes I light a candle on my desk when I work, it gives it a special feel, it seems to soften the energy. When I light candles on the table for a birthday breakfast, a celebratory dinner or a dinner party, it not only makes it look festive, it also sends the message "it's special."

Christmastime is a time for red candles - on the tree (yes, we use real candles in special German holders that screw directly into the tree trunk), on our Advent wreath, and throughout the house.   A special table setting will look great with colored tapers to match the decor. Most other times I like the elegant glow of off-white candles.

Flickering candles on the picnic table on a hot summer night make the world stop in its tracks. I like the soft glow of candles in weighted paper bags along a walkway, on some rocks in the garden or on a beach. Two summers ago in Italy, when their grandma was not well, the children lit a candle for her in every church we visited.   At Halloween tea lights in little and big hollowed-out and carved pumpkins, inside and outside, announce the beginning of the dark season that candles help to brighten so beautifully.  I like lots of tea lights placed in clusters or rows. It's like tulips - one looks skimpy, lots make a statement. And no birthday table in our house is complete without that special single lit birthday candle and a bouquet of seasonal flowers.

the nature of our dualistic world

Living 25 miles from a nuclear power plant (as the crow flies) makes you wonder sometimes. They always say that these facilities are safe - until they are not (think Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island).  There simply is no guarantee.

We live in a dualistic world. You may wonder what that is and what that has to do with it? The world we live in exists through its opposites, it exists as a juxtaposition of contraries with all the shades of grey in between. We would not be able to experience dark without the existence of light, we are unable to define love without its opposite evil, we experience sour in comparison to sweet.

When we make a choice in this world, when we vote for something, when we make something happen, inevitably its opposite is brought into existence. That is the way this world functions. We strive for safety, actually we think we can guarantee ever more safety with ever more refined technology. But that's a fallacy, it's a delusion.

When we vote for nuclear power, its positive and negative aspects will inevitably manifest for us. If we don't want to experience its negative aspects - nuclear meltdowns, contamination and radiation catastrophes - we must eliminate the use of nuclear power altogether.

When we vote for the death penalty, we must accept the horrendous reality of botched executions, such as the one in Oklahoma last week. The only way to avoid it is to abolish capital punishment altogether. If we decide that genetic engineering can make positive contributions to the world we must accept its negative flip side. There is no way around it.

Think about it.

how's your memory?

A few days ago I attended a brief seminar on memory improvement. Two interesting points, in common with Holistic Living, came up.

The first one was presented in the context of techniques for remembering names when meeting new people. Matthew Goerke, the speaker and an expert in memory development, explained what meditation teachers are always stressing, that the untrained mind is like a wild horse. It goes wherever it wants to - not necessarily where you or I want it to go. Without intent and focus a person's name basically goes into one ear and out your other because your mind is meanwhile chattering about your to-do list for the afternoon or that you'd really like a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. Key is to take control of your mind, to be in the Here and Now, to tune into the person you are meeting, to repeat her name with focus and intent while shaking hands. Chances are you'll remember her name again when your paths cross in the supermarket aisle, instead of remembering the face vaguely, but neither where you met nor her name.

The other point had to do with the beliefs we subconsciously hold about ourselves and how, in this case, they impact your memory.  You might say or think "I have a hard time remembering things," or "My memory is getting worse the older I get." This type of running internal commentary is like a mantra and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if repeated often enough.  Instead, begin to repeat how you'd actually like to be, even if you have to fake it before you truly believe it (our minds can't distinguish between the two, so "fake it 'til you make it" is good advice).  Better to keep saying to yourself and others "I have great memory," or "My memory is getting better every day."  If you repeat it often enough this, too, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

No need for ginkgo biloba. Instead, be mindful and focused (tell your mind where you want it, keep the reins tight), and think and speak what you do want (a great memory in this case), not what you don't want or fear (such as "I keep forgetting things," or "I can never remember names").

When Matthew Goerke asked us at the seminar "How's your memory?" we learned that our answer should be "Great."

hurry-nights

Even though I cook from scratch, even though I don't buy ready-made meals, I still need to build conveniences and short cuts into my meal planning routines.  And there are definitely those hurry-nights when there isn't much time.  So I have come up with my own "fast foods."  What they really are are building blocks for meals. For one I precook legumes (beans and chickpeas), which I buy in bulk from the food coop, in a large pot and freeze in portion sizes in baggies.  I can take them out in the morning and use them that night to add to a salad or soup, or to use as a side dish.  The advantage to canned legumes is that they are without preservatives or salt.

Frozen organic vegetables are another convenience food.  I usually have spinach, corn, peas and string beans in my freezer.  I can make a spinach pie on the spur of the moment or creamed spinach as a side dish, corn and peas (mixed or alone) can be thrown into a quick soup, into a frittata (together with little potato cubes perhaps), or served as a vegetable.  The thin frozen French style string beans make for a very elegant side dish in a pinch  or when I'm out of fresh vegetables.

Cooking a large pot of stew, chili or soup when you have time, then freezing some in small portions, makes for fast food on a day you don't have time to cook (I just need to remember to thaw it in time).

Some cheeses freeze well.  I keep cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheese in my freezer for impromptu meal making.  There are so many quick uses for grated cheddar, and it makes vegetables under the broiler taste great (think broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower).  The feta is for a quick spinach pie, or if you like a Greek Salad in the summer, and the mozzarella is for homemade pizza or inside an oven baked polenta.

A quick, simple and really satisfying (and gourmet) dinner-in-a-hurry (although I like to savor this one with a glass of red) is a cheese spread with baguette and some freshly cut up fruit (pears, grapes, also the little Persian cucumbers) - literally an instant meal if you have purchased the cheese a few days earlier.

Spaghetti sauce, homemade or store bought, is my next convenience food, which I use as a base for homemade pizza (you can premake pizza dough and freeze it, or buy it ready, or make "instant pizza" on a tortilla or even an English Muffin), and of course a quick pasta dish (throw in some capers and black olives for a super easy Puttanesca sauce).

And my parents freeze their leftovers in small containers, then do a "tapas night" with a table full of small dishes when they don't have time to cook.

That hurry-nights have to mean take-out pizza or Chinese is a myth.  By the time I order pizza or Chinese and pick it up I have already made one of my fast foods (and they are cheaper and healthier for sure).