Lunch in Florence

This plate of turbot with olives, tomatoes, potatoes, a sprig of thyme and a whisper of Tuscan olive oil was baked in parchment. Lovely.

Green for a Change

I'm encouraged to continue with this blog by all the friends who checked it out and wrote back
with enthusiasm and information. Thank you all. It's definitely time to connect the dots.

A friend in the Berkshires told me about an organization there. Check out their website
www.greenforachange.org. Be sure to read the list of facts pertaining to bottled water in the U.S. (click on Projects to see it). After you've read that, click the Chris Jordan button to see an
amazing photo depicting "60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the U.S. every five seconds."
Be sure to scroll down for closeup views. This will all take about a minute.

Pumpkin seeds

These
are
some
of
Sophie's
toasted
pumpkin
seeds.

Soup

I was so inspired by last evening's visit to my grandchildren's Halloween pumpkin carving, and their incredibly delicious toasted pumpkin seeds with oil, butter, and salt baked on that this morning found me in the kitchen cooking butternut squash soup.

Apron over my nightgown at 8:30 am. I've become partial to cookbooks that not only have great recipes but also give information about gardening and seasonal ingredients. Jamie Oliver's "Superb squash soup" from jamie at home is truly superb (I left out the red chillies and substituted pumpkin seeds for the croutons.)

I was going to use Ina Garten's wonderful squash soup recipe but opted instead for JO's choice to let the vegetables speak for themselves without enhancement of cream or creme fraiche (and no canned pumpkin puree.) Really good. Two bowls for lunch and now I have two glass jars in the refrigerator filled with the morning's lovely labor.

Addendum to Blog 350

This little paragraph, reporting on growing public skepticism about the issue of global warming, appeared in the same edition of the NYTimes that reported the October 24th 350.org day of action that I write about in my blog titled 350 (see below).

350

So yesterday, October 24th, was 350 day -- a day of demonstrations and protests held in 170 countries around the world to focus attention on the number 350. This is the number that climate scientists say is the upper limit for heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, measured in parts per million. As I've been learning, for most of the life of the earth, or anyway, at least 650,000 years, the number was 280. Scientists have calculated that the atmosphere prior to the Industrial Revolution contained about 280 parts per million carbon dioxide. For many scientists, 350 is the upper limit -- if the gas concentration exceeds that for long, the world can expect decades of disrupted climate patterns, rising sea levels, drought and famine. The current concentration is 387 parts per million. And over the next few decades, we're easily heading toward 450. With those numbers in mind, Bill McKibben, author and activist, founded 350.org, a group dedicated to building a "global community" for climate action by creating a day of global action centering around this universally understood number. And, indeed, there were over 4,300 demonstrations around the world yesterday.

One of those, the one pictured above, was at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. Ben and I, and our dog Daisy, were there (see upper photo). We went for a number of reasons: We believe in science! Also, common sense tells me that, despite the complexity of the issues related to the environment and the economy, these dire predictions sound disconcertingly logical. Bill and Ben write and speak about many of the same issues -- the economy, consumerism and their global consequences -- and they have great respect for each other's work, just last week, they were both inspiring speakers at the E.F. Schumacher Society in Stockbridge, MA and I heard Bill speak for the first time. Also, we love St. John the Divine, we feel lucky to live nearby, we have connections and associations with it (Ben and I found solace there on the first anniversary of 9/11 listening to the bells) and we were looking forward to the ringing of the bells 350 times. And we assumed, that, living on the Upper West Side, we'd be part of a pretty big gathering of like-minded individuals. But, honestly, we were shocked at the small turnout. Not just at the Cathedral. Evidently the big rally in Times Square attracted only about 150 people. And, finally, despite all the actions taking place around the globe yesterday, how many actual individuals took part?

Chances are, you didn't know about yesterday's event until you read about it on page 8 of today's NYTimes. Or, if you did know about it, you assumed it was one more attempt by an organization to get attention for it's particular take on a problem that many of us already know is an actual problem and cause for concern but can't really persuade ourselves that being photographed with a banner saying "350" is really going to have much impact on President Obama and the other leaders who will be attending global climate talks in Copenhagen in December. And, like us, you probably agree that legislation and litigation is where the main focus needs to be.

But, honestly, what does this mean? Now, I'm not used to being critical in writing in public (I guess I better get used to it if I'm really going to pursue writing a blog). And I particularly don't want to be negative toward the organizers of these various actions or of Bill and his colleagues for whom I have deep respect. There were some actually amazing and moving demonstrations throughout the world -- go to 350.org to see the images. And I'm really happy we had a chance to meet with the coordinators at St. John the Divine -- we had a remarkable conversation and feel personally even more connected to this great institution and will deepen our association with them. But it makes me question how to go about calling attention to this issue of global warming and making meaningful changes that will really help to heal the problem and not exacerbate it.

What I do know, is that, despite my questioning, I'm very glad we were a part of yesterday's action and joined with others throughout the world who share my concern. And I intend to keep following Bill McKibben and 350.org.

To be continued.

Putting it together

Sometimes it takes awhile for things to crystallize in one's mind. For decades, I've loved cooking and eating, sitting at the table with friends and family, and, whenever possible, using fresh foods from the farmers markets. I've always felt this was outside of the arena of social or political activism. That the nourishment, aesthetic, and creaturely comfort that came with this pursuit of good food was confined to my private life, my homelife, and not really applicable or relevant to the larger world. But times change; things evolve. Lately, like so many others, I've become aware of the larger implications of my habits on my local communities, New York City and the Berkshires. So in the last year or so, I've been asking myself questions regarding the possible unexpected impact of my shopping/toting/cooking/water drinking/disposing routines. And I've been reading: The Omnivore's Dilemma, of course, was the starting point, the springboard to new information and insight about agriculture and food production. As I become more informed, my habits either change or deepen. My family stopped drinking water from plastic bottles over a year ago; I carry my own bags to the market; stuff like that. Yet, it still, somehow, feels disconnected -- small potatoes in the larger world of global famine and climate change. But, increasingly, it's becoming clear that this behavior does, in its own way, build upon itself and I'm finding myself on a journey of learning and activity and awareness that I never could have foreseen when I baked my first banana bread thirty eight years ago. This blog is an attempt to record the progression of that journey through food and community, large and small.