Vegan Carrot-Almond Spice Muffins

Ingredients:
3/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup soy milk
1 2/3-2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 Tbs Ground Flax Seed
1-2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ground almond meal
2 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ and lightly oil 24 muffin tins
2. Mix sugar, oil, vanilla, grated carrot, and soy milk in a large bowl.
3. Mix/Sift together the flour, flax seed, ginger, baking powder, salt, and almond meal into a medium bowl.
4. Add flour mixture to liquid mixture and mix just until combined.
5. Add the apple cider vinegar, stir and fold in gently. You will see pale swirls and bubbles starting to form.
6. Pour into muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the way full, NO MORE! They will rise and cook better this way!
7. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes in the pan and then move onto a cooling rack.

So GOOD! So moist and fluffy. I'm telling you, it's all in the vinegar at the end. It makes all the difference in Vegan baking! So many vegan baked goods are so dense. Not these!

I made these today for my roommate who is moving away, and also for my lovely boss who is working many long hours; never sleeping, and forgetting to eat. I am proud! When I make these again, I think I'll add a bit more almond meal, and maybe sprinkle the tops (pre-baking) with some slices almonds. I wanted more almond. I also wanted some cardamom, but I couldn't find my ground cardamom this morning so these don't get it. But next time... that sounds great.

Also, that is a tiny cup of turkish coffee in the back. Highly recommend ANYTHING with Turkish coffee, but expecially baked goods. oh yes, ooh yes.

Also, Also, the colors in the picture don't seem to be coming through very well. The bread is a little more orange than the picture, warmer colors.

ps. a variation:
omit the almond meal, add oats instead,
and a handful or two of raisins,
and a shake or two of cinnamon.
before baking, cover tops of muffins with thin layer of oats for some presentation points.
delicious!

The Shame of Quietness

And all misery come to me,
someone who keeps annoyances completely silent.
Oh, shut up. Stay under there!
The tablecloth trembling with desire to just
slop and dribble my secret everywhere-
to everyone- to be released into the raucous of some pillowed room.
In anger I stab with a livid fork, prodding any solid being
manifested under the stiff cloth.

Even I am afraid to look. The pang growing in my chest-
swelling up, the mortal immortal, neuter being
doubling over in size:
frightfully inept, and quite boisterous.
With a boldish effort I nudge and jab-
waiting like an expectant child for the soft rebound
of squashing prongs upon skin;
thick tar in the sun;
strangely elastic, stretched over too much fat--
expecting it,
the fork-prick;
but slowly elusive.

Delicious things.

So, I actually stopped myself from eating this sandwich halfway to take a picture today. I always think of it after I've eaten the thing.

Grilled Tempeh Sandwich: with caramelized onions and roasted red pepper

Caramelize sliced white or red onions in a pan with some olive oil, after they are starting to soften, push them to the side of the pan and add a bit more oil and then the tempeh. Crack some fresh salt and pepper on the tempeh as it's grilling (if you have something heavy to put on them, it helps them cook evenly, but it's no too important).
Toast the bread as the tempeh and onions are almost done.
I like to put some Dijon mustard and veganaise on there, and lettuce if I have it (I didn't today).

But it's still delicious, especially with a little bit of coffee. and a porch to eat it on.



lots to update, but no time.

From Mary Oliver,

From the complications of loving you
I think there is no end or return.
No answer, no coming out of it.

Which is the only way to love, isn't it?
This isn't a playground, this is
earth, our heaven, for a while.

Therefore I have given precedence
to all my sudden, sullen, dark moods
that hold you in the center of my world.

And I say to my body: grow thinner still.
And I say to my fingers, type me a pretty song.
And I say to my heart: rave on.

the spring rises the dead.

I've been avoiding this, like most things that seem too big to tackle and therefore continue on being the stagnant thing they are for months.
This includes my room. I'm in the midst of a cluttery chair piled with sweaters and a desk covered with paper and candles (good mix?) and tiny boxes. I have a new (old) dresser standing in the middle of the floor, waiting to be put to use. It's a nice dresser, made by my great grandfather; I'm eager (in some ways) to use it- reorganize and downsize by belongings.

So, for update on life: I'm swallowed almost completely with the theatre right now. In most ways, this is a blessing like I've never experienced; in others, I'm looking at the next few months with such apprehension as to how it will all work out schedule-wise and energy-to-keep-it-going-and-give-100%-to-each-thing-wise.
I was involved in the writing and staging of a show called I Don't Know, I Just Don't Know; a devising with 12 actors and an awesome stage crew based upon the idea of modern uncertainty; with a story line that could be catch-phrased in such a way:
"Can a therapist who doesn't believe in therapy, a man with carved duck heads, and a girl named Michael join together to save their community? I don't know, I just don't know."
If you didn't see it, sad day. It's a funny piece; first run, of course- it needs editing and all that. But I'm proud. I will have the DVD hopefully shortly.

Literally the day after that show closed we had auditions for the next show, Godspell, which I was fortunate to be cast in (for me, first show directed by Jeff). I love this show. I am always psyched for rehearsals, and I'm suprised this honeymoon stage hasn't worn off yet, honestly. But take it while you can. Simultaneously I'm directing a short piece for a class: WASP by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin) with a cast of four friends. I also work for the North Shore YMCA Theatre Company, and we just finished casting our next show of the Music Man Jr. with two casts of about 60 children between the ages of 6-17. It's a blast, but my vocal chords are tired of projecting for hours on end.

So that's the main structure of my time/life as of now, with my other class meshed in there- as well as eating and sleeping and being at my house.

I just finished reading the Alchemist by Pauolo Coelho. A short read, and a worthy one. It is a contemplative discussion about a lot of relevant things. The story starts off with a prologue about the alchemist (an unnamed, ambiguous character at the moment) finding a book that belongs to someone in the caravan that you assume he is travelling with- retelling the story of Narcisuss: a young man who is so fascinted with his own beauty that one day he falls into the lake and drowns; and a flower grows up and blooms where he had been on the shore. But this particular telling ended with the goddess of the forest asking the lake why it had transformed into salt water (made of tears). It replied that is was weeping for Narcissus, not because of the loss of a great beauty, but rather because when Narcissus bent over and looked into the lake, the lake saw its own beauty reflected in his eyes.

Then the story starts, and you kind of just forget about the prologue- it starts off somewhere else, and the alchemist is just a mentioned character until near the end. And then after it was done, I remembered. The prologue! What's interesting about this is that the book is about following what the main character calls his "Personal Legend", which is probably a lot more beautiful in the original language of Portuguese, but no matter. It begged the question of me; isn't this selfish? This character, Santiago, drops everything and everyone to follow his "Personal Legend" and leans how to listen to his heart and all this (it's a stylized story; you have to allow yourself some corny-ness) to find his "treasure". The Alchemist, who he meets much later in the story, helps him to achieve a lot of this knowledge, simply by challenging him in the right ways. But I still felt a little uncomfortable (maybe a little jealous) about how he moved from place to place and people to people all in search and pursuit of his treasure. It seemed to be rooted in something that was slightly, well, narcissistic. The End. Then, I remembered the prologue and there was a mini circle that was formed; in searching for- and being able to see- your own 'Legend' (or, Beauty) other people also find theirs as well, both their meaning and beauty. And the fact that the Alchemist reads this story at the beginning (and comments on it "What a lovely story,") you get this feeling that the alchemist is a sort of god-figure, or a kind of all-knowing Gandalf (someone you would feel safe around, haha) someone who exists almost outside of time- as the prologue stands outside of the time of the story. You trust what he says and thinks for this reason, and when you view the story through the lens of the prologue, it can completely change the reading and meaning.
All that to say, I wish I read Portuguese. There's no doubt things are always better in their original language.




Oh, and happy Spring.
and, I need headshots.

On the Haitian Tragedy and how I can still go on Facebook.

I can hardly believe the things that are happening in Haiti right now.
No accepted death toll, millions displaced and dying of simple trauma that would never be a death sentence in any other part of the world.
This is a disgrace to the world order. Relief shipments and planes of supplies are being turned away because of mass confusion and miscommunication.
I wish we lived in a world with a UN tragedy relief net so that these things are dealt with immediately and succinctly.
The world is broken, and nature does not give a flipping shit about us. The world is not beautiful.
I believe the natural world would exist without humanity, and perhaps it is striving to do so.

And yet, I still eat my breakfast, complain to myself how cold my feet are right now, and log onto Facebook.

Sometimes, I hate myself.

and I bend.

That daisy in the window? That is me,

it is 1950. One daily rotation of the pot, a mere forty-five degrees

atop this turquoise sill.

I do lean back towards it- bubble small gum pop

and nose grease triangles:

distractions to the faint of heart. But I know what I want.

that heat I crave, the tempter of my gain, the lover

who explains.

Curving like a lady, twisting amongst a pole,

those forty-five degrees, creating a tapestry:

while she’s pushing back her cuticles,

I twirl as a curl of lace.

I stare out among the thorns, those

stems protruding machetes like a

hapless guerilla. divide and conquer. divide—

If only we got report cards on our lives,

we would know how we were doing. Except, ahhh I am failing at life right now.

I have goals set, but it is all for naught.
This is the beginning of a long winter in which I am a small bump nestled on a rotting log, holed away in some cavern drinking day old tea.

and god, this paper will not come to me.

So, you like the taste of meat.

You like the smell of it in the morning as bacon. You love the BBQ, the grilling, the supple meat that falls off the bone. You don't mind the word "slaughter house". Educate yourselves. HERE.

This is truth, and NOT an exception.
There is no way to avoid, nothing you can argue to make this acceptable; nothing to refute its large-scale truth here in America. Why should we allow something this grotesque just for the taste in our mouths- a momentary pleasure that will never satisfy?

You think you care about sustainability? CARE BIGGER.
Factory farming is without a doubt the NUMBER ONE contributor to environmental corruption and decrease.
the effect of factory farming on the environment.

New York Times Article
from this article:
“I’m not sure that the system we have for livestock can be sustainable,” said Dr. Pachauri of the United Nations. A sober scientist, he suggests that “the most attractive” near-term solution is for everyone simply to “reduce meat consumption,” a change he says would have more effect than switching to a hybrid car.
..Soy cultivation has doubled in Brazil during the past decade, and more than half is used for animal feed.
...Estimates of emissions from agriculture as a percentage of all emissions vary widely from country to country, but they are clearly over 50 percent in big agricultural and meat-producing countries like Brazil, Australia and New Zealand."

This article is arguably even in favor of meat-eating, but acknowledges the excessive impact that the meat industry has on the environment. Read it.

Friends, the true heart of a person is determined by his/her treatment of animals. A truly heroic kindness is compassion for an animal; for an animal cannot give anything back. God has dominion power over us, but does he exploit us for his own gain? It is not just about the rights of animals, but the mercy and compassion of man enacting the model God has set for his creation.


A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest ~ a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security.
-- Albert Einstein

There are only two responses. ACTION, or LAZINESS.
And friends, I am lazy; so lazy; all the time. We must strive for this, and that will be the liberation from our small limitations for love and compassion.

What you do unto the least of these, my brothers....

If God is Love, and Love is Real...

too many things to think of, I must sleep.