haymarket 1

I moved to Boston a couple months back.

& on Fridays and Saturdays, there is an outrageous farmer's market near Faneuil Hall.  Well I shouldn't say farmer's market... there is an outrageous produce and random food market - boxes and boxes that some farmers or food dealers somewhere couldn't sell.

Okay so maybe this isn't that interesting - but to me, using up things in the fridge with constraints (like my unstocked pantry, limited kitchenwares, and objection to cooking with fatty or expensive ingredients) is nothing short of awesome.

If you stock up on things that keep, like garlic, onions, potatoes and catch big bundles of ripe produce thoughtfully, you can minimize waste of food and money.  For example, on the last visit to Haymarket, I found 6 onions for $1.50 and a mesh tube with 7 large garlic heads for $1 among my purchases.  I mean, seriously.  Garlic for months.  The next trip included a very large bundle of asparagus for $1.  So in total, the following soup probably cost around $2 and provided two satisfying servings made from fresh ingredients.

Dice an onion & 2 cloves of garlic
Throw in a saucepan with olive oil
Chop up the bunch of asparagus, tossing the rough ends, & add to the pot
Cover with some combination of water, milk &/or chicken broth
Heavily season with salt, pepper, etc. - thyme is great
Bring to a boil and let simmer until it's soft enough to mash or blend
Add Greek yogurt to make it creamy &/or Parmesan to make it cheesy &/or lemon to make it zesty... shall I go on?

It stores well too.

philip zimbardo

Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting, yes, no, now, later, impulsive, reflective, present focus and future focus. Promised virtues fall prey to the passions of the moment.

6 Time Perspective Factors
1. Past time perspective - Positive
2. Past time perspective - Negative
3. Present time perspective - Hedonism
4. Present time perspective - Fatalism
5. Future time perspective - Life goal-oriented
6. Future time perspective - Trancendental, life after death of the mortal body

There are two ways to be present oriented. There is two ways to be past oriented, two ways to be future. You can focus on past-positive, or past-negative. You can be present-hedonistic, namely you focus on the joys of life, or present-fatalist. It doesn't matter. Your life is controlled. You can be future oriented, setting goals. Or you can be transcendental future: namely, life begins after death. Developing the mental flexibility to shift time perspectives fluidly depending on the demands of the situation, that's what you've got to learn to do.

...what is the optimal time profile? High on past-positive. Moderately high on future. And moderate on present-hedonism. And always low on past-negative and present-fatalism. So the optimal temporal mix is what you get from the past - past-positive give you roots. You connect your family, identity and your self. What you get from the future is wings to soar to new destinations, new challenges. What you get from the present hedonism is the energy, the energy to explore yourself, places, people, sensuality.

daniel quinn

Not knowing the truth, he might say to himself, "Whatever I can justify doing is good and whatever I cannot justify doing is evil."

Ishmael p.162

omar khayyám

XIV

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes - or it propsers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two - is gone.

XV

And thsoe who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd
As, buried once, Men want dug up again.

incense, in a sense

Decisions, decisions.  Pack this.  Donate that.  Ship these.  Store those.  - I'm moving to Boston.

Little bag of incense, where do you belong?  It sat on the table in the middle of the "maybe" things and "yes" things, but one suitcase is packed and the others are waiting.

So I lit a stick.  & discovered, really discovered, the beauty of smoke.  It curls, folds, ripples, and rises, all right in front of your eyes in this little thing called reality.  & all you have to do is sit back and watch.  What a pleasant by-product!  Did everyone know this?

So some little dinky item that I wasn't sure served a purpose in my life had me kneeling, elbows on the dresser, actually sighing "wowww" alone in my room.  Thus, I'm packing my incense and will have one more thing to do in my TV-less east coast apartment.

You have to realize beauty on your own.  No one can explain or the importance of February sunsets or heat rising off a car on a summer day.  They can try to show you, but you must find it on your own - let it bring you to your knees on your own.

I need to do more of that.  The nature within reach is enough entertainment.

If that makes me a hippie, then sobeit.

amen

proverbs

Better a friendly refusal than an unwilling consent.

There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.

Soft words win hard hearts.

Every man goes down to his death bearing in his hands only that which he has given away.

No answer is also an answer.

terrence malick

This great evil - where's it come from?
How'd it steal into the world?
What seed, what root did it grow from?
Who's doing this?
Who's killing us, robbing us of life and light, mocking us with the sight of what we mighta known?
Does our ruin benefit the earth?
Does it help the grass to grow and the sun to shine?
Is this darkness in you, too?
Have you passed through this night?

from The Thin Red Line

stefan sagmeister

Everybody who is honest is interesting.

astute peer refutes root beer repute

Long intro short, my French friend and I are hanging out for the first time on American soil 7 months after we last saw each other, this time speaking in English instead of German.

There is a minimal language barrier, more in the subtleties than anything else.  During her stay in San Francisco, she improved her knowledge and daily use of English.  More importantly, she was allowed to experience a new way of life and has expanded her breadth of the world merely by being, seeing, and allowing the newness in.

Of course, I think this is great.

She reminds me of how hard it is to find people with an open mind.  People who are empowered by knowing that they don't know much.

So we finish our meal, our conversation, walk down the block and move onto dessert because I can't wait for her to try her first root beer, let alone her first root beer float!  With her blessed open mind, Anaïs takes a few spoonfuls of this newness and says it tastes familiar, pulls out a pack of gum from her purse and tells me that she's not sure, but it reminds her of chewing gum.  She shrugs and the gum is put away.  "Hmm maybe," I wonder, "but I believe it's flavored with sassafras or some other... well... roots."

Later at home, my nightly routine brings me to Google where I find:

In 1960 the FDA outlawed sassafras because it contains safrole, which was proven to cause cancer in lab rats. The primary element in the root beer flavor we know today is wintergreen.

And sure enough, the next time I share this information over brunch, one of the newly-enlightened conjures up a box of wintergreen mints, as if by magic.  We three shut our eyes, so as not to be disturbed by the color stigma that so rudely kept us from the truth and... voilà!

Brown meets green, particles dissolve on our tongues, and the power of an open mind brings forth an unmistakable sensory connection.

sybyl partridge

Just for today I will be unafraid, especially, I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.

scrumptious smoothie

I have always looked forward to breakfast, probably because I develop a favorite, easy-to-prepare food with which to start my days off right.  For a few months now, I've found smoothies to be pretty cool.  It's a smoothie and raw almonds (and coffee, as always) every day.  So the fridge, freezer and fruit bowl are kept with plenty of variety and I never pour the same slurpy goodness from the blender twice.  By far, the creation below has been my favorite.  I'm not sure if it was the fresh orange what, but you will not regret trying this bad boy!  Bonus for raw almonds on the side.

(click image if it's too small)

I also like to add untoasted wheat germ to my smoothies for a little more texture and tasteless fiber. Yum!

[cat]

Q: Look, though.  It's in its natural habitat; we can barely see it.  It has found its home because it was meant to be there.  What's our natural habitat?  Where do we blend in?
[cat's] A:  With one another.

love breeds love

...breeds love breeds love...

& more on this later.

shhh

If you haven't (recently) browsed PostSecret, check it out!

icing on the cupcake

Eureka! I've found it! This frosting is not only delectable, but perfectly glossy and opaque.

                         1 c.                   ½                                              3 oz.

Although I love lime or lemon juice in a cream cheese frosting, I think it will also be delicious with other comibnations of flavor extracts and milk.  I am just tickled that my family's favorite flavor of icing can be so beautiful!

classic

ebb and flow

We're served with stressful waves and troughs of routine in between.  (Or at least I'm sure that is true in a balanced life... but I'm pretty darn sure it's unanimous.)  In the times where we're challenged and thrown into situations unprepared, we grow.  We have to.

I think the key to success is to use the times in your life where you feel comfortable to reflect, I mean really reflect, on the more difficult periods.  For one, we have all sorts of incomplete emotions that were swallowed by necessity, but unlike food, cannot be digested.  To think about “why” or “how” or “what did I learn” is hardly ever a waste of time, especially when these questions are perplexing.  To really sink your teeth into your past makes your experiences more significant.  And when all we really have is the human experience, why not?

I imagine our growth as structure on a building, the foundation skyrocketing in spurts of forced adaptation.  But on the downtime, there's so much more to be done - the softer details, if you will.

Perhaps that's why I love traveling.  By walking the streets of a foreign place, you're learning of the world and how to navigate it.  But also, by removing yourself from your little habitat, it is much easier to think about the "why"s of your life and how they relate to the bigger scheme of things.  Although you can't really work towards conventional success while on the road, there are ways to fit travel into your life to make it functional (a.k.a. my ultimate goal for the next 5 years, after loan repayment).  Albeit indulgent, I think it's the perfect activity for growth.

charlie kaufman

John Laroche: Point is, what's so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There's a certain orchid look exactly like a certain insect so the insect is drawn to this flower, its double, its soul mate, and wants nothing more than to make love to it. And after the insect flies off, spots another soul-mate flower and makes love to it, thus pollinating it. And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their lovemaking. I mean, how could they know that because of their little dance the world lives? But it does. By simply doing what they're designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense they show us how to live - how the only barometer you have is your heart. How, when you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way.

from Adaptation

things he has learned in his life so far

1. Helping other people helps me.
2. Having guts always works out for me.
3. Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
4. Organising a charity group is surprisingly easy.
5. Being not truthful always works against me.
6. Everything I do always comes back to me.
7. Assuming is stifling.
8. Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
9. Over time I get used to everything and start taking for granted.
10. Money does not make me happy.
11. My dreams have no meaning.
12. Keeping a diary supports personal development.
13. Trying to look good limits my life.
14. Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
15. Worrying solves nothing.
16. Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
17. Everybody thinks they are right.
18. If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first.
19. Low expectations are a good strategy.
20. Everybody who is honest is interesting.

Stefan Sagmeister

I admire his message and style.

I feel so much more about this, but it could be awhile before the words come to fruition.  For now, I'll just say that to someday work for Mr. Sagmeister would be a dream come true.