lotusinthemud

Wasted Food Compounds Climate Change

2.5 Billion Tons of Wasted Food Compounds Climate Change, Study Shows  How about the many ways that food is wasted? There is food loss, which happens between field and fridge; and food waste, prepared food that is thrown out in stores or in our homes. All together, it's 40% of all food produced, taking up land, energy, fertilizer, and transport—and turning into methane in the landfills. And then we eat 30% more than we need, wasting even more! A new study confirms what we've said before: Food waste is a huge contributor to climate change and a host of other problems. READ MORE

Braised Red cabbage with Apple

Sophie Grigson

 

Serves six

 

1 large red cabbage

1 large onion, halved and sliced

2 eating apples, cored and roughly chopped

100 ml red wine (or orange juice)

4 tablespoons caster sugar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 cloves

1 blade mace (or use nutmeg)

40 g unsalted or slightly salted butter

Optional - cinnamon

Salt and pepper

 

Oven 150C/300F/Gas 2

 

Quarter, core, finely slice red cabbage.

Mix in large casserole with remaining ingredients except butter.

Dot butter over the top.

If casserole is flameproof, bring to boil on hob.

Cover, put in over, leave to cook gently for 3 - 3 1/2 hours.

Stir after 1st hour, then every 40 mins or so. 

 

(I use this as a template and vary amounts/ingredients according to what I have available. Usually use more apple, more onion)

Three Fruit Marmalade

THREE-FRUIT MARMALADE

 

You will need two pans - one with a tight-fitting lid to cook the fruit, and a larger, open pan for the second stage when the sugar is added and it has to be brought to a full rising boil, writes Wendy Brandon.

 

This amount will fill about 8 x 340g jars, which should be washed, dried and ready before you start.

The total weight of the fruit should be about 2.5lbs/1.1kg.

 

* 2 grapefruit

* 3 oranges

* 1 lemon 

 

[I use whatever combination of citrus fruits I might have, including limes]

 

Scrub the fruit clean, cut the lemon and oranges in half and the grapefruit into quarters and put them in a pan with a tight-fitting lid. Add 4 pints/2.2 litres of water. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer on a low heat for about an hour - until the fruit skins are soft when you push a knife into them.

 

Take the fruit out of the water and put it on a plate to cool. When it is cool enough to handle, cut it neatly into slices, depending on how coarse cut you like your marmalade. (There is no need to separate the pulp from the skin - just take out the seeds. This is the only part of the fruit that is thrown away. Do not throw away the water the fruit was cooked in.)

 

Tip the cut-up fruit back into the water it cooked in and bring back to the boil in a larger pan - preferably a preserving pan with sloping sides. Stir in (until it dissolves) 3.25lbs/1.5kg white cane sugar. Keep it on the highest heat possible and it will come to a rising boil. After about 15 minutes, it will stop rising and start to fall slightly as it boils off some of the water. Give it the occasional stir to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Soon it will start to spit with a plopping sound.

 

Take it off the heat, stir it well, place about half a teaspoonful on a cold saucer and put this in the fridge for a few minutes. When you take it out, push it gently along the saucer. If the surface forms a skin and it wrinkles, it is at setting point. [Note I found this took around an hour]

 

Pour it into the bottles while hot (easiest to do with a small jug), wipe any spills off the neck of the jar and screw down the caps tightly.

 

If the jam on the saucer did not wrinkle, put it back to cook for another five minutes - on a high heat - and then test it again. If you have a candy thermometer, put this in the pan, hooking it over one of the handles before you start to boil it. When this reaches a temperature of 220F/104C, the jam is at setting point. Never put a cold thermometer into a hot pan - warm it up along with the marmalade.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/3337033/Queen-of-the-jam-makers-spreads-her-enterprising-empire.html

Gratitude

It’s quite common, during this ‘entitled’ era, when it’s common practice in our culture to strive for more, to compare oneself with others, to feel generally dissatisfied and lacking. I feel particularly, for teenagers (I have four teenaged granddaughters) who are bombarded by photos of physical perfection (probably Photoshopped), luxurious belongings, wonderful activities where everyone else appears to be having a glamorous and fun-filled life - all high and impossible standards to which they feel under pressure to aspire. Leading to increased happiness? I think not. Fortunately my granddaughters are growing beyond the chimera and have grounding parents who instil and encourage other activities, other more wholesome virtues.

Life, for a teenager, has always been challenging, what with hormones, exam pressure, changing roles and relationships and living conditions beckoning, but ‘in my day’ it was probably simpler. The just post-war generation, we lived through rationing, ate what we were given, had hand-me-down clothes or made our own and were instilled with more of a sense of being grateful for what we did have - being scolded if we didn’t. 

But do we always remember to be grateful for what we do have? Probably not. There’s so much that we take for granted. And yet, it’s now being recognised, gratitude is good for our mental and physical health, as well as being a realistic and wholesome practice to adopt. So what might we be overlooking? Perhaps the simple, everyday, that we, in 2016, hardly even think about. 

Take breakfast (if you do). Our ancestors and people in other parts of the world, even our own, would be amazed at the abundance. Go to any supermarket and look at the long aisle of breakfast cereals. Muesli and granola were barely heard of 50 years ago, let alone all the current varieties and other options. Then there are the different sorts of dairy and non-dairy milks, yoghurts, types of fruit from around the world, breads, spreads…… All grown, farmed, produced, packaged, transported, available for our consumption with minimal effort from us. It’s said that up to 170 people have been involved in our breakfast. Sure, we earned the money to pay for it and we went to the shop to buy it but our personal input is dwarfed by the input of so many others. And that’s before we look at the provenance of the bowl, the cutlery, the table, the building we are in. We are living on a beautiful planet, with mineral resources, fertile soil, sufficient rain and sunshine, and here is that simple bowl of cereal. Seeds - how wonderful are they? So much potential contained in such a tiny space. And look at the diversity - how did that come about? In my bowl are oats and blueberries and strawberries. Sitting at my breakfast table I can see, through the window, flag irises in the pond, yellow and orange poppies, full blown peonies, cornflowers, delicate ‘London Pride’, rowan and red and green acers, tall trees beyond my fence in the country park - all of which, like the contents of my bowl, started life as tiny seeds. Miraculous!

We live on the basis of ‘much suffering, much hard work, much joy’ and many, many miracles. Namo Amida Bu, Namo Amida Bu, thank you, thank you.

A Bulimic World ~ Dharmavidya

Three Poisons
In Buddhist psychology, we classify mental maladaptation into the so called three poisons of greed, hate and delusion. This is a rough and ready idea since in most cases there is some mixture and the cut off points are not that clear. Nonetheless, it can be a useful way of thinking.

Basic Life Tendencies
This is because it corresponds to a very basic, primitive level of life. If one thinks of a very simple creature - an amoeba, say - this little blob of life moves along and encounters things which it then has to respond to or not. Some things it envelops and absorbs - food - some things it shrinks from in a reaction of fear and some things it has a confused response to. 

So, at the most primitive level, life has these three tendencies. We could say that they are what make life interesting for an amoeba and in so many millions of years we have not progressed very far. We just have a more sophisticated way of being the same.

Theory
Actually, the term delusion can have a broad and a narrow meaning. In a broad sense, all three poisons are forms of delusion, but in the narrow sense of delusion as distinct from greed and hate, mostly has to do with a confused sense of identity. It is more of less synonymous with conceit. Conceit may be agrandising - a deep belief that one is better than anybody else - or denigratory -  that one is worse - or, commonly wild fluctuation between the two. At the core of this is a sense that self-worth matters. From a Buddhist point of view, the healthy position is not one in which a person experiences positive self-worth all the time, but one in which the person stops thinking about self because it does not matter so much.

I think you can see that these two forms - agrandising and denigratory - are themselves forms of greed and hate respectively, so we can say that there are only two poisons - greed and hate, but that delusion in the narrow and usual sense refers when these conditions are directed toward the self rather than toward the external world. Delusion involves more deception and secrecy. Thus, greed and hate are actually less serious conditions than delusion, at least in the sense of being less complicated, closer to the basic life force of amoebic existence, and more on the surface whereas delusion is more deeply hidden.

mmmm - how delicious - masala baked tofu

As an aid in my 'therapeutic eating regime*', Isa Chandra Moskowitz's 'Appetite For Reduction' is a great resource. Today I made Masala Baked Tofu, which is exceedingly scrumptious - and there's more for tomorrow. I served it with steamed kohlrabi and just-wilted spinach and seasoned those two with the gomasio I made last night.

* On medical advice - strong medical advice - since 24th February I have been working on reducing my weight, BMI, cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure. No idea how long I'll be around, of course, but this will help my health. I've discovered that, though this was masked by being such a mainstay of my diet previously, I am much better for avoiding bread, porridge, couscous, rice, potato. I have a high-protein & nutrient brakfast shake and my energy is higher, brain somewhat less befuddled. I'm using the MyNetDiary app (thanks to my sister for the advice and the smaller plate!) and combining this with an extremely healthy version of the 5:2. Weighing and entering everything I eat is a bit time-consuming but the results are astonishing and encouraging.

the riches of european union - and further afield

'first chop an onion' -
our traditional prologue
while wondering what the vegetables
would like to be.

discarding ginger skins
and chopping fine
with dangerous dimple-handled steel -
spanish onions
'firm, juicy, versatile'
the label promises
as they soften and release their scent
in green italian oil

italian almonds
and my new discoveries -
sharp henna-red israeli sumac,
sour iranian lime,
za'atar from palestinian hillsides
and the more prosaic -
water and rich brown marmite
from london

next, scrubbing off claggy yorkshire mud
from yellow potatoes, then diced,
orange carrots, sliced,
sand-coloured parsnips, in slender match sticks -
all added, bubbling
with fine leaf-green strips of cabbage
to be added last

nothing of our meal has leapt and bounded
save tiny sesame as it toasted
but all looked upward to the sun
or tuberous, fattened in secret
unseen, enclosed in dark rich earth

 

#smallstone 4

why become a vegetarian or vegan

Christopher Titmuss writes:

East and West, Buddhists have often failed to recognise the importance of a vegetarian or vegan diet as a real contribution to the reduction of suffering for animals, birds and fish. Many people assume Buddhists are vegetarian as part of their philosophy of kindness and compassion for all creatures. Sadly, this is far from the truth.

Buddhists, who are vegetarian or vegan, are a small minority including monks and nuns. There is certainly much emphasis in the Buddhist world of respect and kindness for all sentient beings but there has been neglect of this ethic in terms of diet. There are voices in the Theravada, Tibetan Mahayana and Zen tradition, as well as in the West, campaigning for people to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet out of compassion for all creatures.

Why become a vegetarian or vegan

1. Out of compassion for creatures with a face – animals, birds and fish.
2. Creatures killed for food experience fear, terror and pain in factory farms, trucks and crates used for transport of animals and birds, and time waiting to be killed in the abattoir.
3. UN estimates that more than four billion animals worldwide  are killed every month. USA slaughters 20% of these animals. Animal and birds are killed for consumption and animal experiments. They also die due to loss of habitat, fur trade, hunting, shooting, sport and lethal injection for sick pets. The seas are plundered worldwide killing billions in total of whales, sharks, dolphins, sea fish, river fish, fish farms, lobsters, crabs etc. Mammals and fish also die due to recreational sport, pollution, oil spills etc.
4. If the crops used to feed farm animals fed human beings instead, it would put an end to hunger in the world.
5. Poor nations in Africa export grain to the West to feed farm animals.
6. Land used for grain will feed 12 times as many people as the same amount of land used for grazing for farm animals.
7. Many countries feed growth hormones to certain farm animals such as calves and cows. These hormones can also make their way into the food chain for humans at the dinner table at home and in restaurants. Mixed with grain, crushed male chickens, who cannot lay eggs, crushed meat and bone products have been used to feed cows. Farm animals are vegetarian.
8. Vegetarians and vegans generally live healthier and longer lives, weigh less, with much less possibility of obesity, heart attacks and various kinds of ill health due to poor diet.
9. With massive destruction of wildlife, half of the world’s rainforest have been destroyed to clear ground especially to graze cattle to make beef burgers. 90% of the soya grown on former rainforest land is used to feed animals. The burning of the forests causes up to 20% of all green-house gases that contribute to climate change.
10. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat.
11. Protein is present in rice, soya, humous, tofu, almonds, wholegrains, spirulina, tahini, beansprouts, peanut butter etc. Much protein in meat is lost in the lengthy cooking process. The meat industry has campaigned intensely so the West obsesses about fear of protein deprivation.
12. Farm animals experience the same kind of sensitivities as babies and very small children.

MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY

feed the birds

I've just ordered lots of lovely Wiggly Wigglers Wiggly SeedExtra for our Cumbrian lodge at Limefitt Park......birdwatching there is one of my very favourite occupations

homemade muesli

I've been asked what I put in it.....here are the ingredients though I can't say what the quantities are:

Jumbo oats

Oat bran

Pinhead oatmeal

Quinoa flakes

Buckwheat flakes

Almonds

Dried apricots (cut into small pieces)

Dried cranberries

Sesame seeds - toasted

Pumpkin seeds - toasted

Sunflower seeds - toasted

I mix up enough for a couple of weeks. To eat I add orange juice, stewed dates, figs and apple - or pear, depends what's in the veggie box (I stew enough for 4 or 5 days and keep in the fridge, heating up in a saucepan to put on the muesli), Greek yoghurt and ground flax seeds.