tool talk - open sesame

I have a little tool I love called a "slicky." When I went to look it up online, I learned that slicky means either "the biological moistening (slickening) of one's vagina in preparation for penetrative sex" or is "GI slang in Korea for a thief used since the Korean War." When I went to the website, I found a big picture of a cookie. Zowie. My slicky is an innocent little sesame seed grinder.

I could spend a year of tool talks on Japanese tools, since there is cultural importance placed on the ritual of everyday tasks: tea cups fit perfectly in ones hand. But I recently got this silly little plastic sesame seed grinder, and love it as much as I'd usually reserve for tools made of stone or wood or copper. Sesame seeds are one of the oldest condiments, and contain lots of good-for-you minerals, including copper, and grinding them releases their wonderful oil and scent.

Last night we went to a friend's noodle shop. There people were making mochi (rice cakes) for the new year in the traditional method: pounding rice with big wooden mallets in a hollowed out tree trunk. Fascinating, but I'll hold on making my own mochi for the moment. For now, how about roasted radishes with soy sauce and sesame. An easy way to try out some of those radishes from the root cellar and the slicky, both!

A call out to Kiosk, the wonderful little gallery slash shop where slicky came from. They specialize in everyday tools from around the world that have outstanding aesthetic qualities. Get your dowsing rods here! Thanks, too, to The Perfect Pantry for the photo, and the lovesong the slicky inspired in her.

domestics

Okay, so the apron is cute, but the fact that eco and animal activists are being considered terrorists is not so cute. That those concerned with the earth and animals are the "#1 domestic terrorism threat" according to the FBI is downright absurd. Sound like fiction? Read all about it at Green Is The New Red.

Activists sent to prison two years ago were the first convicted under (relatively) new legislation to crack down on environmental and animal advocates. In early January, SHAC7's appeal is scheduled, with the first chance in years to expose the cracks in the case built against them, as well as the chance to show the vagueness and unconstitutionality of the laws passed to protect animal enterprise. Unfortunately, the "justice" system being what it is, we won't know for months the tangible outcome of the appeal. But we will know if SHAC's lawyers have been able to reveal this sham case and the sham laws used to prosecute it for the first amendment violation that they are.

tradition

I like a little ritual in my life, so on christmas I want to listen to Elvis records and eat tamales and bourbon balls. I can't help it. A nip of brandy doesn't hurt either.

Though I've lived away from the southwest longer than I lived there, my lust for tamales (and other foods local to AZ) stays.


It's sometimes hard to find vegetarian tamales, and definitely harder still to find vegan ones, so it's a good excuse to make up one's own big batch. When I'm already making masa, it only makes sense to make pamonha too, a Brazilian version of the sweet tamale made with coconut. Enjoy your own holiday rituals, and happy solstice to you.

busy baker

People are claiming that you can make homemade bread even when you aren't super proficient in the kitchen and don't have tons of time. If you're out of time already, here's how to make bread in five minutes.

I was just chatting with a friend about ideas for a winter CSA: frozen local food, ferments like miso and kombucha, fresh maple syrup, veggies that can be stored in root cellars, mushrooms, and fresh greens like spinach, that can freeze and still be okay. I thought the take would be seriously sweetened by handmade bread. I pictured us knee-deep in snow in front of the cob oven, but apparently it could be a whole lot easier than that. Hmmmm.

Thanks to Homegrown Evolution for the tip!

radish sculpture

Several years ago, I carved radishes as holiday ornaments. It just made sense, with the beautiful red and white and the nice smell. They shriveled after about 10 days, but were lovely while they lasted. Well, I've been outdone. Check out Noche de Rabanos in Oaxaca!

Photo thanks to Skull a Day and Planeta.

traverse

The problem of freeways (and other blockades) cutting off the movement of people (who are not in cars) and animals is not new. And there hasn't been a lot of attention given to solving the problem—just ask anyone who's ever stayed in a motel and tried to get to the restaurant across the road on foot.

Some cities have introduced overpasses and underpasses in pedestrian-thick areas, like universities. But only in money generating ones, which is why there often aren't even sidewalks in poorer neighborhoods. So non-human animals who need to cross the road? Well, tough luck.

Some activists, tired of seeing massive amounts of animals hit by cars even in so-called "preserves," are campaigning to build over and under passes for deer, alligators, panthers, and salamanders. I'd heard about land bridges over I-78 in the Watchung Reservation area of New Jersey, and heard that auto accidents on that stretch of road decreased dramatically, with no reported collisions with animals. Proposals for a similar project to allow coyote and opossum to safely cross the Sepulveda Pass in L.A. was met with scorn, even from environmentalists, who wondered how animals would find their way there. But apparently the oldest land bridges (and tunnels) built with wildlife in mind are in the Everglades, and both humans and animals seem to be appreciating them.

I don't know how the animals find the best hikes, the best bridges, the best bicycle paths, either, but I'm sure once they do, word gets around.

touched

We've talked botanigrams before (moss graffiti, guerilla gardening and the like), billboard alteration, and wheatpasting, but here is another version, clean tagging or reverse graffiti. This version, by Paul Curtis, is paid for by advertising agencies, and riffs off those who've been writing messages in dirt for years. Using graffiti styles as advertising isn't new, unfortunately, but creative types are happy to steal back methods that have been lifted from street artists.

Using cleaning brushes (or in some instances, power washers and stencils), tagging or drawing into grime does have the allure of things that have been touched or used a zillion times. Picture the worn and darkened wood of your grandma's trowel handle. It can be that beautiful.

But it doesn't mean I have to give up spray paint!

spa treatment

As a kid, I learned about animals and plants beyond my daily sphere from the pages of Ranger Rick and Cricket Magazine. It was from one of those mags that I got a poster of Japan's snow monkeys soaking in hot springs with icicles in their hair. It hung in my parent's bathroom for nearly a decade.

I've just joined a gym, which feels like a a great luxury and a necessity, both. After working out, I have the pleasure of sitting in a hot tub, a steam room, or a sauna, all of which are helping me cope with winter a whole lot better. I've been to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, swum in the milky springs there with icicles in my hair, soaked in Reykjavik's hot pots, and I believe that warm water has a lot to do with people's radiant health. So I've joined a gym, and when I leave each day, I don't look a whole lot unlike these very relaxed monkeys.

new takes on igloos

All images are from The Snow Show. Doesn't it make you want to build one?

storms

Here in the Hudson Valley we experienced, this week, the craziest wind storm I've ever been through in my life. Twelve straight hours of howling and whipping high winds, falling trees, flying roof tiles, and miserable looking birds. Then it poured rain for a full (warm) day, and the temperature dropped in a matter of hours, causing a huge ice storm, and all the associated ice-covered glittering trees, lack of electricity, and ice storm damage.

Today, it's still freezing but with a clear blue sky, super sunny. At the park were a huge mass of crows (or ravens, I still can't tell them apart!), so thick and so many that they covered the grass. I was standing there wishing I had the camera, and an ice-covered tree fell and knocked down the power lines. Huge pop, and all the crows flew away, one big black cloud.

power to the [artistic] people

Can't work in a shelter? Can't get arrested? Can't travel? Not so good at speaking to the media?

Don't let that stop you! Use what you already do well to help people or animals or the planet or all three!

Check out this painting of my beloved cat, Slidell, getting his first bath. It was made by the talented Sara Woster in a project to raise money for women in the Congo. She couldn't participate in the athletic fundraiser called "Run for Congo," but wanted to help, and has.

Get to work! And check out Sara's fantastic paintings for Congo. These gorgeous paintings are made to order, for a mere $27 apiece. Whether you want a political painting or one of your mom, it's all helping.

right

the far right, originally uploaded by abovegroundpool.

From the anti gay marriage archives. More here.