Scratch Cooking November 19th

Tonight I made sweet corn tamales. I have never even attempted to make tamales before, but I was in the mood to try something new. I made a variation on an Emerile Lagasse recipe that I found online.

4 ears sweet corn

1 1/2 cups masa harina

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

3 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup shortening

water

1/2 poblano pepper, chopped

1/2 jalapeno, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

10 Dried Corn Husks

Soak dried corn husks in warm water. Take husks off fresh corn, clean and set aside. Cut kernels off corn and saute over medium heat until starting to turn brown. Mix masa harina, baking powder, salt and cumin and set aside. Beat butter and shortening until creamy. Add cooked corn and beat for a minute. Add 3 tablespoons masa mixture and 3 tablespoons water and beat for several minutes. Add remaining masa mixture and 3/4 cup water and beat for several minutes. Add in chopped peppers and cilantro and mix.

Put one dried husk on a piece of tin foil. Put a fresh corn husk inside of it and fill with tamale dough and press into a cylinder. Fold dried husk over until it covers dough and put seam side down on tin foil. Repeat with remaining husks and dough.

Loosely close tinfoil packets, leaving them open on the sides. Place packets in a pan with about an inch of water in it. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

They were super good! Not as sweet as some I have had, but very flavorful. We each ate 2 standing up in the kitchen. 

Afterwards I watched Top Chef and was humbled by the mock Bocuse D'Or competition they staged. These people have some mad cooking skills!   

Scratch Cooking November 17th

I have one word for you; Rumpledethumps. According to the Sundays at Moosewood Cookbook, they are a kind of colcannon, a potato and cabbage dish served on the Celtic British harvest festival of Lugnasa. "All members of the family must share the dish or risk offending the agricultural spirit that protects the crop. After the first bite everyone shouts 'Death to the Red Hag!' thus driving away the specter of starvation." Whatever. There was no shouting on our part because after the first bite, everyone (me, my daughter and her best friend) were going in for another bite.

Here's a link to the recipe only there's a typo. It should be 3/4 cup milk added to the potatoes.

Rumpledethumps is just such an awesome name for anything. How can you not want to announce to your family that you are serving rumpledethumps for dinner? All the better that it tastes delicious!

After dinner, I dragged the girls to a dharma rumble where my teacher answered questions about Buddhism. They forgot to send out the reminder, so it was a really small group which suited me fine because I had a lot of questions. The girls were very patient and really tried to absorb some of the concepts. They also absorbed an entire block of cheese, crackers and a bunch of cookies.

We brought gluten-free persimmon and chocolate bars. I made up the recipe and must say, I am pleased as a permission with how they came out!

Mix 1 cup garfava flour, 2/3 cup sorghum flour, 1/2 cup tapioca starch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon xantahm gum, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ginger (for those who can have flour, replace the garfava, sorghum and tapioca with 2 cups flour and skip the xantham gum) and set aside. Cream 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 2 very soft persimmons, peeled and seeded (can be replaced with 1 cup pumpkin puree or apple sauce). Add dry ingredients and mix. Add 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. Spread in buttered 9 x 13 inch pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

We had a lively conversation about it when we got home. The girls are both atheists, and full of doubt and skepticism about Buddhism and the concept of karma. We all spent a good hour and a half trying to find ways to make sense of it all and see how it might effect our lives for the better. It was fun and exhausting!

I've got a sink full of dishes and a head full of thoughts, but I am ignoring them all for now and going to bed!

Scratch Cooking November 15th

This weekend's cooking projects had a distinctly French theme. I guess I was just in a Parisian state of mind.

Saturday, I made croissants using a recipe I had cut out of the LA Times a few years ago.

1 1/2 cups butter

1/4 cup flour

2 (1/4 oz) packages dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup milk, scalded

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg beaten

3 1/2 - 4 cups flour

1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk (optional)

Beat butter and flour until smooth. Place between 2 sheets of wax paper and flatten with rolling pin to 12 x 6 inch rectangle. Chill for at least 1 hour. Add yeast to warm water. Combine milk, sugar and salt and cool to lukewarm. Add yeast and egg to milk mixture. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes. Roll out to 14 inch square. Place chilled butter on one half and fold other half over butter. Seal edges and roll to 20 x 12 inch rectangle. Fold in thirds to make 3 layers and roll again to 20 x 12 inch rectangle. Repeat folding and rolling 2 more times. Fold in thirds and chill 45 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 parts and roll each into 22 x 7 inch rectangle. Cut each into 5 parts and each part into 2 rectangles. Roll each rectangle from base to point to make a croissant shape. Place point side down on baking sheet, curving ends. Cover and let rise until doubled 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Brush with egg yolk mixture if you want them glossy and bake at 375 for 12 - 15 minutes.  

The second part of our all French cooking weekend involved a classic French Bistro dish that we always get at least once when we are in Paris - Moules Frites, other wise known as Mussels steamed in wine servied with French fries.

For the fries, we peeled and thinly sliced a combination of Russet and Yellow Finn potatoes and soaked them in a bowl of water with 1/4 cup white wine vinegar for about 20 minutes. We drained and dried them and put them in a pot of hot oil (medium high) until they were soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Then we took them out and drained them on paper towels and let them rest for 15 minutes

In the meantime, I cut the tips off some baby artichokes and sliced them into quarters. I sauteed them for about 25 minutes in 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 cup white wine, a clove of garlic, salt and pepper. About 5 minutes before they were done, I added in 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

After the fries were done resting, I heated up the oil again, this time on high and when it was really hot, I added the fries in about 3 different batches and cooked them until they were crispy, about 5 minutes for each batch. As each batch came out, we drained them on paper towels and added salt.

While those were frying, I put a bottle of white wine, 2 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper, 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 chopped onion in a pot, when it was boiling, I turned it down to simmer and added the mussels. Once they are open, they are done. It usually only takes a couple of minutes.

For dessert, my friend brought vanilla ice cream and we had it with the poached fruit I made the other day.

I also did a little shopping this weekend. I had a 30% off coupon for Banana Republic and went with a friend. I was trying on jeans because none of mine seem to fit anymore. Yep, I am officially down 15 pounds since starting the scratch cooking project! I have also been sick, so I am not going to say it is all the scratch cooking, but I think it is playing a roll. I am actually hoping it will taper off now. I don't want to start looking like a typical Hollywood carb counting, dressing on the side, anorexic nutball.

Anyway, I was in the dressing room and asked the woman there to get me a smaller size pair of jeans. When I came out in the smaller size she said "you're tiny!" but more like an accusation than a compliment. I said "I'm not THAT tiny!" "How tall are you?" she demanded followed by "what's your workout?" To which I replied, "ballet and yoga. Oh, and I don't eat any packaged food but I do eat a lot of butter and cream". She looked at me in utter horror, stammered for a minute and then said "isn't that bad for your arteries???" I just shrugged and said I would take my size 2 jeans, thank you very much.

Blogger Action Day; Mission Climate Change

Today is blogger action day. And the topic? Climate change. It's funny, since I write about climate a lot, so I want to make today a little different. So let's move from climate blogger action to climate action, shall we? Starting with 9 days from now, October 24th, being climate action day.

More than 3000 events to choose from in 158 countries, come on sign up! There are actions in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and North America. So let's pick a place and do it! What do you say we all meet in Senegal? How about Paris? Istanbul? Or we could save the carbon emissions and each represent in the place we live.

The idea is to incorporate the number 350 at an iconic place in your community, and then upload a photo of the event to 350.org website. Why 350? That's the level of global carbon emissions we need to get to in order to prevent more than 2 degrees warming in global temperatures. Right now we are at 387 and climbing.

Here’s another thing you can do. Call your Congress critter and your Senators and tell them to quit listening to corporate lobbyists and start listening to scientists – and real scientists, not the ones bought and paid for by Exxon – and pass climate and energy legislation that will get us to the reductions we need. Oh, and while you’re on the phone, tell them this; no offshore drilling, quit subsidizing coal and let the EPA do its darn job and regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act.

Talk to your friends, neighbors, family, colleagues about why you support strong climate and energy legislation with aggressive reduction targets. Talk to them about the money to be saved, and incentives, for energy efficiency. Talk to them about the money to be made in innovation and new technologies. Talk to them about the cost, trillions, of doing nothing about climate change. Talk to them about the number of illnesses caused by coal and exhaust pollution, the same pollutants that cause climate change. Or the emissions from an agricultural system that is making us sick. Talk to them about clean, domestic energy sources that improve our national security and create good American jobs.

Pick something you are going to do differently to waste less, use less and lower your carbon footprint. After you pick that thing, pick another. Then encourage a friend to pick one. Pick another. The more you pick, the more your friend has to pick. Oh, and by the way, your friend also needs to encourage their friends to pick and keep picking the behavioral changes we are all going to make to do our part in the battle to stop catastrophic climate change. See where I’m going with this?

And the next time someone denies that climate change is real, or caused by human activity, ask them this; do you REALLY think you’re smarter than a rocket scientist? Then direct them to the NASA site on climate change.  

Now, if you are still in need of more blogger action, I give you for your reading pleasure some super wonky climate stuff, presented in what I think is a humorous manner, (but maybe I’ve been reading this stuff too long!) check out the CROC Blog (it’s a little inside baseball here but essentially Greenpeace issued a report today saying that a project in Bolivia that the Nature Conservancy has held up as an example of how forest offsets can be successful is actually an example of how they don’t work) and How CBO Budget Scoring Devalues Efficiency – With Puppies!

Happy Blogger Action Day ’09. Let’s get this thing done!

Sisters on the Planet

So last week I attended the Governors’ Global Climate Summit. The point of the conference, in its second year, is to create collaborations among state and provincial governments around the world on climate issues. It was also meant to push the likelihood of an international agreement at Copenhagen in December by creating preliminary international agreements between sub-national governments.

It is heartening to know that so much is happening on emissions reductions, deforestation prevention and renewable energy standards at the local and regional level despite the failure of certain national governments, like ours, to pass national climate policy. And there is much to be excited about in terms of the agreements made at the conference between mayors, governors and premiers from China, the U.S., Indonesia, India, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere.

What was frustrating, though, was the lack of representation of women on many of the panels. Yes, there were women, but they were vastly out numbered by men. Is this a function of who ends up in elected position? Certainly. And yet the women who were there are leaders and warriors on climate and environment. One governor from Brazil, who has done incredible things in her state to stop deforestation, said that she didn’t want her future grandchildren to ask her why, when she had the pen in her hand, she didn’t do everything in her power to stop climate change.

In that spirit, Oxfam America's Sisters on the Planet initiative honored outstanding women for their work to affect climate change policy last Friday at the close of the conference. The honorees included California Senator Barbara Boxer, a true warrior on climate issues and the co-author of a senate bill to tackle climate and energy policy. Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, Linda Adams, was also honored. She is one of the many women responsible for Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s surprisingly progressive stance on environment and climate change. When they write the story of how a person as unlikely as Arnold Schwarzenegger became a leader on climate issue, that script will have plenty of roles for women!

The woman who was really amazing, though, was Sharon Hanshaw, Executive Director of Coastal Women for Change, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Sharon lost her house, her car and her business – a hair salon – during the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Living in a FEMA trailer, she helped organize local women and gave voice to their concerns over the lack of government support for rebuilding low income communities. Coastal Women for Change trained women, low income residents and people of color to speak out about the recovery process. They also came up with solutions for their communities, like training child care providers and developing disaster preparation. They also became advocates for climate change prevention, recognizing that coastal areas like Biloxi are on the front lines. Sharon may not hold elected office, but what she is doing on climate and environmental justice matters. It matters a lot. And despite her own personal tragedies, she made working on behalf of an entire community her priority.

“Women are the leaders, whether they’re at the head or not,” Sharon has said. And so whether we have the kind of representation in government or on panels that we should, we still have an important, no a critical, role to play in solving the climate crisis. We are often the ones that decide what our families buy, what they eat, and where they live. All of that matters. And so often, women are the conscience of our community, whether it’s a governor recognizing that the decisions she makes today effect future generations or a parent teaching her little one not to waste. And that matters, too.

So here’s to all the sisters on the planet and the sisters on PNN.com. Keep making your voices heard. We are the leaders, whatever our jobs, whatever our titles. And we can lead the world out of this mess!

Clean (and Dirty) Air Cities

There was a question recently about how to find a "clean air" city. With the world's population being over 50% urban, it's an important question. My quick answer is that it's difficult because even if you can afford to live away from coal plants, industry, oil refineries and fast food restaurants (they put out VOCs that cause pollution) and even highways, cars are just about everywhere and they are emitting pollutants into the air.

A study just came out in Environmental Science, however, on greenhouse gas emissions by city. This does and doesn't correlate to clean air, which is also dependent on a host of other factors (non ghg pollutants, air movement, etc.) but it is still enlightening.

The study looked at ten cities; Bangkok, Barcelona, Capetown, Denver, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, New York, Prague and Toronto. The amount of GHG emissions from a city has a lot to do with population density, energy sourcing, industry and transportation, but public and political will is most certainly also a factor.

Denver emitted far more emissions than any other city due in large part to emissions from ground transportation and electricity use. Los Angeles came in second, followed closely by Cape Town and Toronto. Then comes Bangkok and New York followed by Prague and London.

The city with the least GHG emissions? Barcelona by a long shot. The second lowest is Geneva (so Denver can't use cold weather as its excuse).  

So while there are lots of factors in finding a "clean air" city, emissions profiles are certainly one of them.

About Going Green

This site is about how to live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly lifestyle, and how to do it without breaking the bank or suggesting such a drastic change in the way you live that it seems impossible to accomplish. The thing about going green is that it should be a win-win; it should make your life easier, more fulfilling, more pleasurable, healthier and more fun, while taking care of the health and well being of our planet and the millions of folks that share it. It will feature green tips and suggestions, as well as resources for anyone and everyone. I welcome questions, comments and suggestions.

Leslie Berliant