Author: Leslie Cook

Creating your own space in time sounds like a modern meditative technique or a fantasy-adventure. It is actually a set of practices thousands of years old. Not doing some things creates the space. Doing other things gives a distinctive quality to the space that is transformative.

I hosted a Shabbat dinner last evening and shared with my guests the 39 categories of work that are prohibited on the Sabbath. These categories, set out in the Mishnah, reflect the work associated with preparing the showbread for the ancient Temple (agricultural labors) and with building the tabernacle and creating the priestly vestments. This was the work of creation, of world-building.

Creating Your Own Space In Time … What Not to Do

These categories of work are relevant to a time and a place, and over the centuries, ongoing interpretation has made them relevant to other times and places. The question that generates these prohibitions is the commandment that we should “rest” on the Sabbath. The question, therefore, is “What does ‘rest’ mean?” I can almost hear the rabbis discussing that concept.

The rabbis also make positive statements associated with the fourth commandment, to honor the Sabbath. These commandments and traditions include wearing festive clothing and refraining from unpleasant conversation, reciting kiddush over a cup of wine at the beginning of Shabbat meals or after morning prayers, eating three festive meals, engaging in pleasurable activities such as singing, studying, spending time with the family and marital relations, and reciting havdalah at the end of the Sabbath. It is the prohibitions, though, that have the status of commandments.

It occurs to me that with the prohibitions, the rabbis create a space for us to experience the meaning of “rest” freely instead of dictating what our experience should be. They are, in effect, modeling the freedom of Shabbat, freedom of worship.

And What To Do?

The rabbis are confident that if we do not engage in the activities which fill our days, we will have a different kind of experience, one that will revolutionize our worldview. The prohibitions create a space for each of us to have that experience. We enhance the possibility by consciously choosing different activities on Shabbat, activities time-tested to bring a certain quality of experience to the space in time we create.

What kinds of things can make that happen? Walking, including to shul, sharing beautiful meals prepared before Shabbat, going to shul, and allowing the songs and liturgy and Torah reading to take us on a journey, Torah study, and rest. Lighting candles entering Shabbat and once again as we say farewell.

A tradition says that if every Jewish person observed Shabbat in all its particulars twice in a row, the Messiah would come (Shabbat 118). I believe that possibility exists because a complete Sabbath experience has the power to revolutionize perspective and worldview and as a result, one’s way of acting in the world.

Lebanese Potato Salad is my version of a Lebanese classic, another way to make my Dill Potato Salad, also posted in this blog. I like to use turmeric with potatoes whenever I can, leave the peels on potatoes, and take advantage of the beautiful variety of colorful potato skins these days. I always start lighter with my seasonings and adjust them up to what is listed in the recipe if needed.

Lebanese Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 6 lb. potatoes (2/3 white/yellow skins, 1/3 red and/or purple skins)
• 1 TB salt
• 1 TB turmeric
• 1/2 tsp hot paprika (to taste)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped dill
• 3 green onions chopped
• 2-3 Middle Eastern dill pickles chopped
• 4-5 TB lemon juice (juice of about 2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Procedure

1. Using a variety of potatoes to give color to the salad and leaving the peels on, dice into 1″ pieces.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil and add 1 TB turmeric.  Add diced potatoes, bring back to a boil, reduce heat and cook until done (can be pierced through easily with a fork).
3. When done, remove potatoes from water, drain, chill quickly in an ice water bath, and drain again.
4. Place chilled potatoes in a bowl. Sprinkle olive oil over them, then lemon juice, then chopped dill, green onions, and seasonings.
5. Fold all together gently, adjust seasoning, enjoy!

Veggie Cholent is the veggie version of a traditional stew prepared and put on to cook before the Sabbath begins Friday evening.

Cholent making in my home is a wonderful ritual with many layers of meaning.

I am interested in the spiritual value of rituals.

When my grandson was born, I said, “We need a ritual!”  Sunday breakfast became that ritual.  Over the years, details have changed, but the basic activity remains. 

Sunday breakfast has layers of meaning, different for each of us.  Words are a vehicle to express some meanings but not all — and that’s where ritual, which I like to call “body language,” comes in.  Ritual confers “pre-verbal” meaning. 

So it is with Cholent (Yiddish) or Hamin (Hebrew), meaning “hot.” Cholent is a stew prepared and put on to cook before the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday. Traditionally people enjoy it as the midday meal on Saturday, sharing warm food without violating the prohibition against cooking on the Sabbath.

Cholent has a very special meaning for me.  I am not a multi-tasker, yet I am usually doing at least three things at once.  I am distracted and hardly feel nurtured. But then comes Friday afternoon when we put together the Cholent and Shabbat when we share it.

A Cholent-Making Ritual

When I sit down to eat my Cholent with friends and family, I am in a different space.  Something miraculous happens while the Cholent is left untended — then this gift arrives effortlessly on my table. I am nurtured by it.  Enjoying Cholent is a ritual that has layers of meaning beyond its taste and the fact that I eat it on the same day at the same time each week. 

Making Cholent has itself become a meaningful ritual activity. I gather ingredients and put them together. I anticipate the miracle that will happen overnight in that pot and the pleasure I will experience when I am able to share the miracle with others the next day. 

This year my son gave me the gift of time by helping with some of the cooking in my Cafe. In return, I gave him the gift of preparing Cholent each week.  As I eat it, I can taste the layers of meaning it is taking on for him. This is “cooking with love,” feeding the soul while feeding the body. Soul food.

There are many ways to make Cholent.  Here is my way (for a vegan version, just leave out the “eggs in the shell”):

Veggie Cholent Recipe

Ingredients
(Makes 2 Gal. – halve the recipe unless you have a really big crockpot!)

• 1 TB Garlic
• 3 TB Ginger
• 2 TB Cumin
• 1 TB + 2 TSP Salt
• 1 Tsp Hot Paprika (to taste)
• 1 Lg Spanish Onion cut in 1 in. chunks
• 2 Lg or 3 Sm Potatoes (Idaho), peeled & cut in 1 in. chunks
• 2 Lg or 3 Sm Sweet Potatoes
• 1 LB Dried Beans (Kidney, Pinto, White Pea)
• 1/2 LB Dried Chickpeas
• 1 Bunch Cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 Cup Barley
• 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Berries
• 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 12 Eggs in the shell

Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients except eggs in a crockpot bowl.
2. Add water to an inch above mixture.
3. Tuck whole uncooked eggs in the shell into the top of the mixture, making certain they are fully submerged.
4. Wrap foil tightly over top.  Put lid over foil.
5. Turn pot on medium. Cook 10-12 hours or more.
6. Remove eggs, rinse and shell.
7. Arrange peeled eggs on top of cholent.

Here’s to joy-filled, soulful eating!

Red Cabbage Slaw is one of my Shabbat favorites. On Friday evenings, I enjoy the first meal of the Sabbath. I like to prepare a table filled with colorful and delicious salads to tantalize my guests and add to the joy of these occasions. For years I made these salads weekly in my home. Now I offer them daily in my Cafe.

Red Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 lg. head red cabbage
• 1/2 sm. red onion
• juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon (to taste)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. salt (to taste)
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. Szeged (Hungarian) hot paprika (to taste)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Preparation

1. Petite dice the cabbage. Here’s how I cut the cabbage when I do it by hand: Cut thin slices of cabbage. Stack three or four at a time. Cut through the stack in thin strips. Cut in a perpendicular direction across the stack of strips. When all the cabbage has been cut this way, it may require a little bit of additional chopping but probably not if you keep your gridwork strips thin enough. Place the cabbage in a bowl.
2. Petite dice the onion. Here’s how I do that: Cut off the ends of the onion. Remove the outer layer. Cut the onion in half between the cut ends. Place the flat side of one half down on the cutting board. Cut across the onion in narrow strips, holding the onion together as you work. Turn the cut onion 1/4 turn and cut across the onion in narrow strips, forming a gridwork. The shape of the onion itself will leave you with a very small dice. Add the onion to the cabbage in the bowl.
3. Chop the cilantro, and add to the cabbage and onion in the bowl.
4. Fold in seasonings and mayonnaise to taste. It will vary with the amount of raw product and your preference. I like my salad to taste slightly tangy from the lemon but not overly tart – and to be zesty (from the hot paprika) but not “hot.” Start with the smaller amount of lemon, salt and hot paprika, and increase until it’s perfect for you. You can always add seasoning, but you can’t reduce it!

A Vegan Version of Red Cabbage Slaw

For a vegan version, this salad can be made with extra virgin olive oil instead of mayonnaise.  Add 1/2 cup EVOO in place of the mayonnaise and bump up the lemon a bit. Of course you can always use a vegan mayonnaise.

Dill Potato Salad, so delicious. On Friday evenings, I enjoy the first meal of the Sabbath. I like to prepare a table filled with colorful and delicious salads to tantalize my guests and add to the joy of these occasions. For years I made these salads weekly in my home. Now I offer them daily in my Cafe.

DILL POTATO SALAD

Ingredients

• 12 Idaho potatoes
• 3 green onions
• 6 coarsely chopped Middle Eastern pickles in brine
• 1 red bell pepper, petite diced (the original recipe called for a can of peas & carrots, drained)
• 1 TB sea salt
• 1/2 tsp Szeged (Hungarian) hot paprika (or more to taste)
• 1 cup vegan mayonnaise or to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

Preparation

1. Peel potatoes and place them in cold water while working on the rest of the salad.
2. Dice the potatoes into 1/2″-1″ pieces. In the Cafe, I can use a machine for this process. At home, I do it by hand by cutting slices across the potato, stacking the pieces and cutting through the stack in a grid-like pattern. I try to keep the cuts as even as possible. Return the diced pieces to the bowl of water.
3. When all potatoes are diced, bring 2 quarts of water to the boil in a 4 quart pot.
4. Drain and add diced potatoes to the boiling water. Lower heat to simmer until potatoes are tender.
5. When potatoes are tender, place into a colander and drain. Put colander into a larger bowl filled with ice water. When potatoes are cold, drain the water.
6. Place drained potatoes in a bowl. Add all chopped veggies (green onions, fresh dill, pickles, red bell pepper) and sprinkle seasonings across the top.
7. Spread vegan mayonnaise across the top.
8. Gently fold all together. Adjust seasoning.

For another vegan potato salad, see my Lebanese Potato Salad.

I started this gluten-free vegan meal with a recipe from Chow Vegan on Pinterest (Home-style Vegan Meatloaf).

The dish looked good as it was, but I noticed there was a discussion about a gluten-free version, which the original was not. Although I’m not personally gluten-free, many of my customers are.

When it’s possible to make something taste just as good without gluten, I try to do it for my customers. In this case, I just substituted flaxseed and water for the breadcrumbs and used Tamari wheat free soy sauce.

Gluten-Free Vegan “No-Meat Loaf” Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lg onions
• 4 stalks celery
• 8 carrots
• 4 cups dried chickpeas
• 1+ cups extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tsp oregano
• 3 tsp basil
• 2 tsp sage
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 2 TB salt
• 8 TB Tamari wheat free soy sauce
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• 12 garlic cloves
• 4 cups ground flaxseed
• 1 cup reserved chickpea liquid
• Organic catsup

Preparation

1. Wash and dice the onions and celery, and saute in extra virgin olive oil.
2. Wash and chunk the carrots, and process with the garlic until they are in small pieces (not pureed).  Add the carrots and garlic to the onions and celery, and continue to saute.
3. Add seasonings to the mixture in the pan.
4. Cook the chickpeas until al dente. Drain, reserving the liquid, and pulse in the processor until they are a rough chop. Place in a bowl.
5. Stir the veggie and seasoning mix into the processed chickpeas, and mix well.
6. Add flaxseed to veggies, seasoning and chickpeas, and mix well.
7. Add reserved chickpea liquid and salt, and mix well. You can start with a reduced amount of salt and bring it up to your taste.
8. Form into loaves, and coat with a good, organic catsup.
9. Place on a baking sheet, and bake at 475 degrees for 30 minutes.
10. Remove from oven. Place about 2 tsp. catsup on top of each loaf, and spread over top and sides.
11. Remove each loaf carefully from the baking sheet with a spatula, and turn to the opposite side. Place about 2 tsp. catsup on top of each loaf again, and spread over top and sides.
12. Return loaves to the oven to bake another 15 minutes or until the catsup has darkened some.
13. Remove the loaves from the oven and, using a spatula, from the pan to a serving platter.
14. The loaves are most attractive when they are cut.  They will cut more easily with a serrated knife when somewhat cooled – best if cold. They can be served cold or warm.

This recipe yields 28 1/2 cup mini-loaves. Freeze extra loaves for another occasion, or the recipe can be reduced to 1/4 quantities for a family meal.

This post is an edited version of one published in The FOODshed Coop blog.

Cooperation is a valuable human ability. Without cooperation, the human enterprise cannot fulfill its potential. Food coops are great models for cooperation and the results it can achieve.

Cooperation: A Most Valuable Lesson

I have learned many things from the experience of owning a cafe. My most important lesson is that putting good and wholesome food on a table is by nature a cooperative venture. Even if we imagine ourselves to be independent, we are not. I believe that recognizing our interdependence and building on it makes us better.

As my son, Jeremy, recently wrote in his 3D printing blog, amazing things happen from sharing resources and cooperation. On the one hand, changes to big systems begin slowly and through small efforts. On the other hand, for these changes to have a real and lasting impact, they must become cooperative ventures.

Changes to big systems like the food supply chain or public health need more than a cafe here or a business there. For full effect, solutions must come through cooperation and sharing among like-minded individuals, businesses, and organizations.

No One Is An Island

Until the recent economic downturn, I was privileged not to worry much about grocery bills from week to week. I raised a family on mostly organic food, for a period of time from my own garden. I was also blessed in being a stay-at-home mom during my kids’ early years. This meant I could take the time to read about health and search for good recipes. Most importantly, I could make all of our meals at home from whole foods. I was able to maintain the illusion that in my efforts, I was independent.

Now I work many hours, like so many folks out there. I learned how difficult and exhausting it can be to have to worry about pennies and dimes.  I learned how challenging it can be to work long hours and still plan a healthy menu of home-cooked meals, shop for them, and cook them. And purchasing those beautiful organic and specialty items I was no longer able to grow or gather? Forget it! Here, too, were lessons about the importance of cooperation. My experience was a reminder that when it comes to food, independence is indeed an illusion.

Still, I had the advantage of what I learned during those years when I was a stay-at-home mom. I learned a lot from planting and caring for my large organic garden and experimenting with cooking. I found things I loved to eat that were usually easy to make. Best of all, I learned to bring healthy foods to people who didn’t share my passion for veggies. In addition, my vegetarian meals were usually comparatively economical even when opting for high-quality ingredients over cheaper processed items.

A Food Business Certainly Isn’t An Island

When I ended up in the restaurant business, I wanted to share what I had learned with others. I wanted to make the same healthy, economical foods in my cafe that I learned to make at home. My cafe would be vegetarian, so I assumed that it would be easy to keep food costs down. I imagined I would be able to make a small but sufficient living. I would just cook from scratch with whole foods as I had done at home. Then I would serve it up to people, no problem.

Right.

Anyone who has had anything to do with the food business probably knows how naive that thought was. The food business is difficult under any circumstances. It is more difficult for someone with no business background or background in the food industry. In today’s world, there are special challenges to doing what I wanted to do.

Food Businesses Demand Cooperation On Many Levels

I want to prepare and serve delicious food, wholesome food, prepared from scratch with love. I wanted minimal and highly selective use of those ingredients that come from food factories. I wanted to do that in a way to make the food affordable for my customers. Good food, whole food made from scratch that is low-cost? At some distance from major cities? An oxymoron, perhaps?

Here are the special challenges of running a cafe featuring unprocessed vegetarian foods at some distance from a major city:

• Not as many products are available locally as are available closer to the city.
• Vendors don’t deliver to smaller operations at a distance from urban centers.
• Preparing all fresh food from produce is labor-intensive. I hoped to do it myself. I can’t. Imagine cooking for a party of 60 or more people every day — and doing it as the guests are arriving!

It costs a lot to run a food business, even a vegetarian cafe featuring unprocessed foods. Perhaps especially a vegetarian cafe featuring unprocessed foods. Processed items are a ubiquitous part of our nationwide food supply chain. Being off the beaten track either geographically or conceptually costs. We struggle to make ends meet, especially during the long, cold Midwestern winters. So I should raise my prices, right? But then I can’t fulfill my commitment to creating affordable wholesome food for my customers.

Food Solutions for the Wealthy

It occurred to me at some point that many food solutions currently out there are solutions only for the wealthy: organic foods, small specialty food operations like my own. Recently I saw an organic food delivery business – a great idea for those who can afford it. I saw an indoor aeroponics system, another great idea for year-round home-growing for seed-to-table foods. Also costly.

Yet one out of every five children in this country is living in poverty. People in the Delta region of this country have a 10 year lower life expectancy than the rest of us. One of the biggest factors in that is lack of access to wholesome food.

Cooperatives: A Path to Change for Everybody

A couple of months ago, I was privileged to host a movie called Food for Change, a film that explores the development of the cooperative movement in the United States with a focus on food. It’s hard to describe the impact this film had on me the two times I viewed it. It portrays a world I want to live in, a world based on cooperation more than self-interest.

As the movie unfolded, I recognized it as a giant step toward resolving our food supply problem. A food cooperative is a system where each participant is an important part of the whole. Each participant both benefits and contributes. An assumption behind food cooperatives is that each must benefit. Each must have a sustainable position in the overall economy of the cooperative. This kind of cooperation is locally based so presents an effective model for areas that are remote from large cities. The principle of local cooperation celebrates our food interdependence from seed to table.

The movie was shown as part of a membership drive for a McHenry County food cooperative. The Food Shed (www.foodshed.coop) will open at a future date when it gathers enough funding. I am very excited about this effort and see it as a way to make wholesome food available and affordable to everyone in this country.

As my son said in his 3D printing blog, amazing things happen when people cooperate!

Chermoula Eggplant is a treat under any name. In Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, this dish is called, “Chermoula Eggplant with Bulgur and Yogurt.” The book is filled with exquisite photographs, and this dish is an example of food that is not only beautiful (in Ottolenghi’s hands!) and delicious but easy to make and healthy. On our vegan days in the Cafe, we substituted Tahini Sauce for the yogurt.

Chermoula Eggplant – the Recipe

The recipe calls for 2 medium eggplants. I used six of the narrower Japanese eggplants.

Chermoula Sauce Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chili flakes (I used 1 tsp hot paprika)
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 2 TB finely chopped preserved lemon peel (I used the same amount of fresh lemon peel – another time a whole preserved lemon, chopped)
• 2/3 cups extra virgin olive oil

Bulgur “Filling” Ingredients

• 1 cup fine bulgur (#1 cracked wheat)
• 2/3 cups boiling water
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 3.5 TB warm water
• 1/3 oz. (2 tsp) cilantro, chopped, plus extra to finish
• 1/3 oz. (2 tsp) mint, chopped
• 1/3 cup sliced pitted green olives*
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1.5 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup Labne (Middle Eastern yogurt, thinned) or Tahina
• Salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Crush the garlic, then mix with the other ingredients for the Chermoula, or blend all in a Vitamix.
3. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Next, score the flesh of each half with deep, diagonal crisscross cuts, making sure not to pierce the skin.
4. Spoon the Chermoula over each half, spreading it evenly. Then place the eggplant halves on a baking sheet, cut side up.
5. Put in the oven and roast for 40 minutes or until the eggplants are completely soft. Time may vary considerably depending on the size of the eggplants. Watch that sauce doesn’t burn.
6. Meanwhile, place the bulgur in a large bowl and cover with boiling water.
7. Soak the raisins in the warm water. After 10 minutes, drain the raisins and add them to the bulgur along with the remaining oil.
8. Finally, add the herbs, olives, almonds, green onions, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
9. Serve the eggplants warm or at room temperature. Place 1/2 eggplant, cut side up, on each individual plate. Spoon the bulgur on top, allowing some to fall from both sides. Spoon over some yogurt (or Tahina), sprinkle with cilantro and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

*Middle Eastern olives have a different flavor from American olives, and I prefer them.  They also tend to be made without chemicals and preservatives.  

Adapted from the recipe in Jerusalem: A Cookbook.

 Tea — when is it not just tea? When we lift up the experience and the moment with a ritual.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony or “Way of Tea” is a well-known ritual. Not so well-known are the requirements for preparing tea and coffee on the Sabbath if you are an Orthodox Jew.

A number of years ago I lived in an Orthodox Jewish community. I often had people to my home for Sabbath dinners on Friday evening or lunches on Saturday afternoon after synagogue.

The food for these meals all had to be prepared before the Sabbath began since cooking is prohibited on the Sabbath. Hot drinks such as tea must be prepared according to halachah, which results in a Jewish version of the Tea Ceremony.

Making Tea or Coffee on Shabbat

“One may not pour the hot water from the kettle directly onto an uncooked solid or liquid since this would be considered cooking. Coffee, tea, and cocoa fall into this category. Therefore, to make tea or coffee on Shabbat, use the following method:

• Pour the hot water from the kettle into a clean, dry cup;
• pour the water from this cup into another cup; and
• then add teabag, tea essence, coffee, sugar or milk. If using a teabag, do not squeeze it.
• If using a teabag, do not remove the bag from the drink.

“Some authorities recommend that instead of using teabags, a special concentrated “tea essence” be prepared before Shabbat. One cup of tea essence is prepared by allowing six teabags to steep in a cup of boiling water. Use one tablespoon of this concentrate to make a cup of tea.” ~ Food Preparation on Shabbat

Coffee Bags and a Shayla

At first glance, it appears that the simple act of brewing a cup of tea has been made complicated. Still, hot tea is a possibility, and observant Jews regularly enjoy it on the Sabbath.  

Coffee always seemed a little different . . . until the advent of coffee bags. Generally coffee is brewed in advance of the Sabbath and held warm in an urn. An alternative is instant coffee with water heated in advance of the Sabbath and held warm. Some of my friends prepared a coffee essence and diluted it with pre-heated water. As coffee lovers can imagine, these techniques don’t result in the best coffee.

And then one day, much to my delight, I discovered coffee bags in the store, which worked just like teabags. At one of my luncheons after synagogue when the time came for us to enjoy our tea, I brought out the coffee bags as well. I had a shayla for my friends, a question. Could coffee bags be used in the same way as tea bags on the Sabbath?

An hour later we were still debating the possibility of making coffee with bags on Shabbat just the way we made our tea — and the techniques that would make it allowable! I confess I experienced some impatience.  I now realize that my impatience closed the window on an opportunity for a profound spiritual experience.

Ritual sanctifies the mundane and centers consciousness

It occurs to me that this particular way of engaging in a joyful activity, drinking tea (or coffee) with friends on Shabbat while paying attention to the rules and regulations that shape this space in time, is a ritual event. Considering in detail how to conduct the ritual, as my friends were doing that day, centered consciousness and was an act of devotion.

Ritual is a way of sanctifying the mundane, of setting a moment apart from all other moments and calling on us to stop and be aware. Only awareness and intentionality separate ritual from routine and habit.

The choice to enjoy tea and coffee with friends in that place, in that time and in that way was fully intentional. The ritual of tea and coffee drinking on the Sabbath in a particular way made a mundane act into a sacred event, offering an opportunity for full awareness in the moment.

Although I love good coffee, I still prefer Tea with Nana (mint) in these special moments. Be sure to check out my recipe!

Making Tea with Nana (mint)

Even when it is not the Sabbath, preparing Tea with Nana can be a beautiful ritual. Drinking the tea is only one part of it:

• Select beautiful, fresh mint with stems that have not turned woody, preferably from an area that has not been subjected to pesticide sprays.
• Immerse in cold water to remove sand or debris.
• Remove the mint from the water and allow to drain in a sieve for a few moments.
• If not using right away, wrap the mint loosely in paper towel.
• Bag mint with paper towel and store in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator.

When you’re ready to make the tea:

• Choose a clean glass that is an appropriate tea size. Pamper yourself with beautiful Moroccan style tea glasses!
• Remove a bunch of mint from what you have prepared, leaving the leaves attached to the stem but removing any unsightly stem pieces.
• Fill your glass with the mint, stems down.
• Bring a pot of water to a full boil.
• Pour the water into the glass over the mint leaves and allow to steep.  

The water will turn light green as the mint steeps, ready for you to enjoy the beautiful aroma of fresh mint.

You can drink the tea just like this or drop a tea bag into the water briefly to steep until the tea is the strength you enjoy.

This simple tea when made correctly will be clear and beautiful with a wonderful aroma. It is delightful to sip at any time of year, alone or with friends.

“Meals in the Bible” was what I intended to explore when I began my Masters thesis.  As often happens with beginning researchers, the topic was vast and needed a lot of refining.  Finally I settled on “Meals in Genesis” and discovered an underlying structure to the stories in that book.  I found that the deep structures of the Genesis narrative were chiasms with “meals” at their center.  I wondered why meals are at such pivotal points in the narrative?

At a later time in another degree program, my interests focused on ritual.  Again I wondered why meals are the center point of so much religious ritual?

And then there is my life, where being thoughtful about food and preparing and enjoying meals with family and friends and customers has had such an important role.  Why was I intuitively drawn so strongly to meals as a center point of meaning in my own life?

Meals and the Great Paradox

This thought occurs to me about meals: sustaining life requires taking life, even if it’s “just” a carrot. This is the central moral paradox of our existence. How we respond to that paradox defines us as human beings.

As we journey through our lives, we both eat and nourish, destroy and enrich.  The great gift we have as human beings is that we can make conscious decisions about the balance of eating and nourishing, taking and giving, in our own lives.  The challenge is to remain fully aware, making conscious choices on each step of our journey.

Toward Greater Mindfulness

My own journey has been the work of a lifetime, and it’s a journey that continues today. Thinking about the food I eat and my relationship to other life, other living beings, helps me along my path toward greater mindfulness.

Thinking about food has taught me so much about life, given a practical dimension to an academic pursuit, inspired me to clarify my own values and motivated me to put those values to work in the world. I’d like to share my journey with you as I continue to think about the food I eat and my relationship to nonhuman animals and the earth that provides for us all.

Along the way, I’ll also share recipes and related information and projects I have found meaningful.