it's all in the experience

            We need to experience it to believe it, to feel it, to be alive.  That not only includes what we would label "positive" or "enjoyable" experiences, but also what we call "negative" or "painful" experiences.  As English poet John Keats wrote, "Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced."  

            I can't truly know poverty from reading accounts of what it means not to know where my next meal comes from.  I can't truly know unconditional love until I have had children that I fiercely want to protect from all the painful things that could possibly happen to them.  I can't truly know passion and joy from reading a book or poem. 

            Humanity in its entirety is living this quandary in real time as we observe climate change.  There are many who don't believe that this is actually happening, or who'd maybe rather stick their head in the sand, even though scientists have predicted it for several decades, and now have unfailing supporting statistics.  We don't necessarily want to trust theoretical expert advice and scientific projection.  It seems that we must feel the heat and the weather disasters and the droughts and species reductions before we are willing to act and say "that is something I don't want, now that I have experienced it myself."  Chef Dan Barber expressed this in a documentary I recently watched about his difficult beginnings.  His take on adversity in life is that it teaches us where we don't want to go back to; and by default it teaches us what we want instead.

            Take any recent experience and reflect back on it.  Did it show you something that you would want to experience again?  Did it show you something that you would never want to experience again?  Did it teach you something that you want by showing you its opposite?

extreme culinary art

          My husband and I are currently watching the Netflix series Chef's Table, one episode a night after dinner, a true dessert, and I am in awe.  All these super chefs from around the world have several things in common.  

         First of all they are true artists with an extremely high sense of esthetics - every one of their creations is art at its best, both esthetically as well as gustatorily.   These chefs don't use recipes, they create recipes, and it's from a different planet than what you and I are cooking for dinner.  Second, they are all local food frontiers people, whether foraged or farmed.  Third, most of them have a deep connection to the land and either have their own farms or work closely with farmers to cultivate, develop, and grow food with deep and authentic flavor.  Many of them did not go to cooking school, but apprenticed with France's luminaries to learn traditional French techniques, before developing their individual geographical and cultural spins and striking out on their own.  All had difficult beginnings, attesting to their struggles in finding their unique mode of expression.  Of course, they are all perfectionists.

            Perhaps the most important take away from watching these culinary geniuses is that their life is their profession, or their profession is their life.  Their occupation is who they are.  Their art expresses their soul.  They don't go about their job from nine to five and live for the week-end in order to finally do what they like best.  They followed their passion and live it - all the time.

getting out of your groove

           It's easy to get into a groove, into routines that are comfortable but perhaps no longer serve a purpose, trotting along on autopilot.  Multilingual people and those who keep up intellectual work throughout their later years are less likely to get dementia or Alzheimers, as has been shown. Our mind operates like an old fashioned record player that digs deeper and deeper grooves into an old vinyl record.  Thus, over time it becomes more difficult to change routines, see things afresh, learn new stuff, and remain flexible as a reed in the wind.

            Once aware of this we can remind ourselves to change around how we do routine things, which helps the brain to build new synapses and remain adaptable.  When I set the dinner table I often deliberately switch around the sequence and direction in which I place the table settings, starting at a different chair, or beginning with glasses instead of plates.  Or I'll take a different route going shopping, left around the mountain instead of right around the mountain.    Other ideas might be to change the sequence in which you brush your teeth, using your left hand for a change, wearing a color you otherwise would not, or taking the day off to celebrate just because.  Any other ideas?

color your life

Car colors used to be fairly standardized, mostly white and gray, silver, some blue, and then that rare and daring red every once in a while.  Now I see some frog green cars, all shades of orange, from spice to bright, yellows, light dusty blue, cream green - fun fun fun.  Coloring your hair used to mean dying it a different standard hair color, from brown to blond, from blond to brown.  Now teens, adults, gals and even some guys, incorporated funky color into hair in the form of streaks, ends or whole heads.  Finger nails used to be painted in solid colors, mostly in the warm spectrum, neutral to reds.  Now nail polish comes in all colors under the rainbow and some finger nails truly display works of art.  Restaurant foods and desserts have also become an ever more amazing outlet for artful and whimsy display as well as color. 

      Are millenials more colorful?  What drives this increase in joyful coloration?  I love color in my life.  Here is a previous blog post on eye candy to delect your senses further, as well as a recent post on eating a rainbow.  Do you have enough color in your life?

shift in consciousness?

          The internet and its content are changing the way we think.  First MTV, and now You Tube and Instagram have demonstrated that a picture, or better yet - a video, is worth a thousand words, and that we like them better than words.  Think emojis.  Pictures and videos convey at a glance, and often entirely without the necessity of words, what would otherwise take long to describe, decipher and understand.  Words are a go-between to conveying content.  Words are less direct because we need to use comparisons, descriptions, metaphors - and then we're still not sure our audience is on the same page we're on. 

            Think about how easy it is to understand a cooking technique or how to repair something by watching a video rather than having to read through a lengthy and cumbersome description of the process.  I remember the inch-plus thick Windows manuals in the early days of computers.  Nowadays nobody would read through the lengthy explanations of such instruction books any longer, you look it up on You Tube.  Quick and easy.

            This whole development is quite revolutionary because it changes the way we communicate.   We communicate more directly and faster this way, with less room for interpretation.  Is our consciousness changing, is the way our minds function shifting?  Will we eventually communicate via telepathy? 

all the world's a stage

        A few nights ago we saw Shakespeare's As You Like It on a beautiful summer outdoor stage.  In this comedy Jaques famously says to Duke Senior:  "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;..."  This phrase reminds me very much of one of the interpretations of our earthly existence.

            One of the ideas out there is that life is sort of a school, a learning experience through which we have the chance to better ourselves.  But that idea leads to the thought of punishment for not learning one's lesson well.  Another idea is that God/Spirit/Nature fragmented itself from Oneness into many, so that the One might know itself better.  In other words God/you/I/We All are at the same time One, but split into all the individual beings to know itself/ourselves.  In that interpretation we are actors on our own stage, and the director at the same time. 

            This is an amazing view that permits a bit of distance from the play.  As director I can watch the play in amusement or dismay and know a part of myself that I have forgotten.  I can see myself in others as I would look into a mirror.  As the actor I experience the joys and pains of life, while I get to steer life from the director's role.  So clever that Shakespeare built this deep wisdom into one of his delightful comedies.

eating a rainbow

          Food is a multi-sensory experience of sight, smell, taste and sensation.  In continuation of the musings on the pleasures of food texture here are some thoughts on the pleasures of color on your plate.

            There is a name for the absence of color in your diet - the beige diet.  Many kids are on it, but some not so adventurous adults as well.  It's a diet of meat (browns) and starches (beiges - pasta, potatoes, bread, rice), absent of fruits and vegetables that is monochromatic and boring to look at.           

            I love seeing vibrant colors on my plate.  The jewel tones of ripe red peppers and tomatoes, of red cabbage's and eggplants' dark purple, the deep orange of bell peppers, carrots or persimmons, summer squash's intense yellow, beets' dark garnet red, in addition to the myriad greens of broccoli, zucchini and all the leafies are just so joyful to look at.  They add to the complexity of our eating experience. Produce's color is an all important indicator of its varied nutritional components, besides adding visual pleasure and vibrancy to our food experience.  So, do "eat a rainbow," as they say.

caprese with avocado

the pleasures of food textures

          Food texture is as important to our gustatory pleasure as taste and appearance.  Without chunks and cubes, strings and shreds, chewy versus soft sensations, the food experience is less complex.  The juxtaposition of crunchy versus puréed, or raw versus cooked, makes food more enjoyable.  When all colors on the plate are beige and brown, the food experience lacks vibrancy.   And when all tastes on the plate are mild and in the same taste range the meal is bland.  Each one of these food sensations merits a post in itself, but today's is about texture. 

          I love a salad of raw shredded carrots, sometimes with added shredded red cabbage, or any other shreddable vegetable - makes for beautiful color combinations.  The texture of it is very important to me.  When the shreds are large, bordering on chunky, the experience is less pleasant.  It feels rough and coarse.  The finer the shreds, the more subtle it feels, and the better the shreds are able to meld with the dressing, adding to a more subtle overall experience.

          Mirepoix is a French vegetable mix of onions, celery and carrots that is often used as a base for roasts. The texture is all important.  The dice have to be just the right size.  Small enough so the tastes of all three vegetables meld together, but not too small to mush together, still almost distinguishable as small individual taste bursts, but not so you taste the chunks side-by-side. 

            When I grew up my dad used to emphasize the importance of cutting shallots for vinaigrette into super small dice so you would never bite on a sharp oniony bit.  I love spaghetti squash for its fine stringy texture.  Yet, a ratatouille, that Provençal vegetable combination of eggplant, zucchini, tomato, bell pepper and onion, needs to remain chunky so the soft vegetables don't disintegrate into a brown glop.  Sourdough bread can be chewy and I find that very satisfying, and I love to hear and feel crispiness.  Soft French fries are simply not worth it, while half of what makes kale chips so much fun to eat is the crispy crunch under your teeth.   Cherries are soft to bite into, while I enjoy a crispy apple that cracks when I bite into it - and when apples become mushy they go into the juicer, no mushy apples for me.  What food textures do you enjoy?

a sense of community

             Much research has been conducted on the positive influence of a good social network.  In a nutshell, good friends are much more important to happiness than money, and even promote longevity.    That is also one of the big messages we took away from our recent trip to Alaska. 

            We spoke to many non-indigenous people who had chosen to come live in this unforgiving territory for the love of nature and the majestic outdoors.  Distances are enormous, the state is sparsely populated, it's nature over culture, and winters can be dark and lonely.  Yet, the common thread in our conversations was community.  Time and again people said that one of the reasons they loved living in Alaska was the strong sense of community.  

            Friends are so important when there are no restaurants around, no movie theatres, no libraries, no cultural events.  You rely on friends and neighbors for entertainment, especially during the long dark winter months. So people get together for tea, for knitting, for story telling, for potlucks, for helping to repair things, to go shopping together, you name it - any excuse is good to get together.

            Please follow this link to another post on the power of social relationships.

learning to lose

         It is time to move aside and consider the rest of our planet's inhabitants.  It is time to shrink our economies.  It is time to leave some nature unraped. British philosopher Alan Watts wrote

".......a permanently victorious species destroys, not only itself,

but all other life in its environment."

        We depend on all other life on this planet.  Without trees for oxygen, without plants for food, without wood and fiber for building and clothing, without water for drinking, without the animal kingdom for balance of our ecosystems, we do not exist.  We have already destroyed so much of life on earth, let's not keep winning to the bitter end.