Travel

Yesterday's writing prompt was for delayed action. The question is up on a Post-it. I'm thinking about it.

Today's prompt is about where I'd most like to travel, and what I am doing to get there.

I would most like to go to Vietnam. I've always been attracted to what we used to call the Orient. I like how different it is -- civilized and yet holding different mindsets. I like the art, the look of the people, what I've heard about the lifestyle and the philosophy.

Vietnam in particular began to capture my attention when I found my first Vietnamese restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Vietnamese swiftly became my favorite cuisine: fresh, full of vegetables, wonderfully seasoned. I enjoyed getting to know the waitress there, stumbled a little over cultural differences, and still felt she regarded me kindly.

My interest in travelling there increased when a friend went to Vietnam to adopt a little girl. She came home with child and photos and stories, all of which I found beautiful and intriguing.

Then there is the tender place that comes from our country's trials and failure there. Vietnam tested us as a nation. How now do we become friends? Can they forgive us? Can we forgive ourselves? We have learned, I think, to honor the sacrifices of the soldiers who went there, even as we question the worth of the war. Vietnam is a ground of learning to us.

I want to see the markets and hear the cities and feel how people live in that very different climate. I want to walk along the roads, and give my respect to the temples and gardens, and taste the food and spirit. I want to listen to the country we defoliated.

As to what I'm doing to get there? I haven't done much recently. I've been engaged in other projects, building a new business, supporting Doug in a major career change. My thought has been that we will go through these years of transition, and have stable schedules and income again, and then we will travel again.

That does put my travel off for some time.

Strong Belief

Today's Trust 30 prompt asks about a strong belief that you _don't_ share with your closest friends and family. I'm going to ignore that last bit. I share all my strongest beliefs with Doug.

I believe that we can build a future worth living in. I believe that humans can continue to explore, build, learn, and play, indefinitely, while keeping our world healthy.

I write and coach in support of this belief. What else is there to do?

Today

Today's writing prompt is to describe today in one sentence. Here it is:

Today I faced the future and took one step.

May it be that this will describe all of my days!

Anna

Yes, I'll play!

I'm intrigued and excited by the Trust 30 challenge -- 30 days of writing, starting from daily writing prompts. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen here. I look forward to the exploration.

Interested in learning more? Check this out:



Day 1 prompt for today: You have 15 minutes to live. Set a timer for 15 minutes and tell the story that needs to be told.

Starting Fanurio. 15 minutes, check. Here I go!

The most important thing I have to tell anyone is that you are more than you believe. That's literal -- those things that you believe about yourself are self-created limits. Believe you aren't creative? You've just built a fence between yourself and creativity. Believe you can't find love? You've just built a wall around your heart.

Right now, our world is in crisis. It is a slow crisis, and only some of us see it. That's ok. Your neighbors are doing the best they can. I've recently had the realization that the reason the dominant mode of literature is depressed is that so many of us sense the world going off track, without finding the words to explain it or the courage to face it. I mean, what can we as individuals do about global warming? How can our bodies, so greatly optimized for wandering outside and finding food, maintain themselves in perfect health with hour after hour of sitting? How can our hearts, meant to be in connection, manage as we vastly revise the social structures our ancestors lived in?

I believe we can find answers to all of this. It's something individuals can do, one small step at a time. Start by taking off your blinders. Believe in can instead of can't. Where you feel melancholic, begin searching for the reasons. What is wrong? What now hurts your soul? What can you do about it? Take heart that even small steps make a difference. Scared about global warming? See if you can trim 10% off your driving. Or off your home energy use. It's ok to do what you feel you can.

Or maybe such a small challenge as 10% conservation bores you. Then make a big one! Take on placing windmills in every backyard in your county or solar panels on every rooftop. Look for the projects that excite you. The sweet spot for living as a human is to take on the challenges that are big enough to excite you without being so big they overwhelm you. Take time to listen to yourself every day and find your sweet spot. Live in it. Luxuriate in it! We are capable of so much.

Right now, you may be consuming much that gives temporary relief and yet doesn't touch that underlying melancholy. This is a huge clue that you have been sold. To take again and again what distracts and momentarily calms -- whether that is sex, gambling, new shoes, alcohol, overeating, conspicuous consumption, other drugs, entertainment, even travel, exercise, health care, deodorant and more, many things that are useful in small quantities or with the right attitude becoming wrong when overdone or done compulsively -- to medicate oneself with anything that is not touching the real cause of discontent, that is addiction. We are societally addicted to so many things. Reach inside for the true recognition of the true problem. Solve that, and these things will fall away, step by step.

We need you. We need your truth and your freedom and your health and your happiness.

Best wishes,
Anna Paradox.

Yes, that was 15 minutes.

My score

How did I do on my game?

At this point, it looks like I overshot by one cucumber and a heart of romaine. Not bad! Probably would have been right on target if I hadn't caught cold and only wanted hot food.

We don't stress much about travelling. Doug and I follow Rick Steves' packing methods and fill our bags in only half an hour or so. The Christmas gifts are already gathered together, the housesitter has the keys, and I probably will skip vacuuming before we leave. All easy enough.

Have a very merry Christmas or a happy holiday of your choice!

Anna

Using up Food

We are in the countdown period to our Christmas travel. One of the actions I take to prepare for travel, as a frugal householder, is to eat down our supply of perishable foods.

It creates an interesting challenge. How do we continue to eat well with this extra constraint? How can I use the possibly mismatched items in the fridge to create attractive and balanced meals? How can I ensure we'll finish out the period before travel at the same time as we finish off the perishables?

All in all, it adds a little more fun to cooking to be playing the game of resource management at the same time. At least, for an economically-minded strategic gamer like me.

Adding to the challenge is our ever-growing preference for fresh local foods. These are exactly the kinds of foods most likely to spoil if we leave them behind. So relying on storage foods for our last day or two would be a suboptimal solution. Eating out is also suboptimal this year, although in past years, it has been a pleasant addition to the strategy.

So, here's the game: Empty the fridge in such a way to finish off the veg and fruit the day before we fly. Extra points for especially tasty meals. Buying more before we go incurs no penalty. Leaving produce to spoil or throwing it away does cost points. Extra points also for using items from the pantry in creative ways.

Wonder how high I can score?

Anna

Thinking about Change

Yesterday I read something in the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook that, once I decoded it, helped a lot of other pieces fit together.

Here's the idea in a nutshell: Deep change only lasts when it has three supports. Those three supports are changed ideas, changed actions, and changed systems.

Let's apply this to something concrete. Lots of people go on diets hoping to change their weight. They change the way they eat (their actions) for a period, then stop, and regain the weight. In other words, they continued to think about food the same way. They probably continued to have the same food systems -- ways of shopping, time and planning of meals, who they ate with, etc. So, when the change in actions stopped, the thoughts and the systems took them back to where they used to be.

If this theory holds, then lasting change would come from not only changing what they ate, but also changing what they thought and the systems they have for obtaining food. Here's what a three-pronged change on food might look like:

Thoughts
Before: Food is my comfort and my enemy. After: Food is fuel that I take in enjoyable moderation.

Actions
Before: Eating high fat comfort foods when stressed. After: Eating quality fresh foods lightly when hungry.

Systems
Before: Ignoring food until hungry and then grabbing whatever's easiest. After: Planning meals in advance to sustain health.

I'm a thinker. I have used the coach tools a lot to help people change their thinking. I've been wondering if I can do more to help change actions and systems. That will probably take more support over time.

To change actions and systems sounds complicated. Yet, it happens just one step at a time. And, in the end, the new actions and systems are as easy or easier than the old ones. It is the transition that has a cost.

I like this model of change. I'll be looking for ways to put it into action and help other people put it into action, too.

May you easily move to the thoughts, actions, and systems that support you. May you ask for help when you need it.

Best wishes,
Anna

Earth Day Grace

I would like to give this away.

I have a small women's mastermind group. We end each weekly meeting with a spiritual practice, and take turns setting it up. We leave the definition of spiritual consciously inclusive. Last month, it was my turn, and I asked their help completing a grace to say before meals. I didn't realize we wrote it on Earth Day until later!

So here it is. It's free for all to use without restriction.

Earth Day Grace

Holy, holy, holy.
Holy are we, and holy is the earth on which we walk.
Wholly we live in harmony, giving and receiving.
For the giving and the gift, we give thanks.

That covers it! Just four lines to evoke the meanings and attitudes I wanted to cover in a spiritual grace of no particular tradition.

There are options: I sometimes say "I give thanks" when I want to take more personal responsibility for it. And if I'm feeling more petitionary than assertionary, I say "Wholly may we live in harmony, giving and receiving..."

May you and your food be blessed by this!

Anna

Contributions

I recently worked on the Shelters International website, shelters4all.com. I was very happy to have this project fall into my lap. These folks are doing some good work. It's great to see an innovative, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly solution for housing. The shelters they offer could improve the lives of a lot of people. They also are part of a system that helps restore economies and ecologies. It's a win on every level.

It happened very fast. One day, I had a call from a sister Martha Beck coach. They needed someone who could write, and knew me through the Martha Beck coach forums. I was happy to lend a hand, and we went right to work on improving their website and brochure.

Part of their secret, I think, is that they are willing to act before getting everything right. Although their marketing strategy isn't complete, and they'd still like to improve their materials, and there's a hundred other things they could do before beginning to connect people to homes, they are driving right for the final benefit.

There's a lot to be learned from that. It really is so much better to act than to wait for perfection.

Anyway, I'm glad I was able to contribute. Please do take a look at their website and see the exciting ability they have to put people in homes in new ways. This kind of thing gives me hope for the future. www.shelters4all.com

Fermented Foods

So, I was seeking more kim chee information, and I stumbled into an entire world of fermented foods.

It really tickles me when sudden new vistas of knowledge open up like that. It's as if there are hidden openings into spacious new plains tucked into the corridors of my life. It's pretty cool. (Or worlds in wardrobes. Yeah, I read C.S. Lewis at an impressionable age, too.)

I have not yet had a chance to read Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods or Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats -- and I may not -- but I am charmed that they exist.

What better antidote to excessive fear about germs in food than to deliberately cultivate some?

So there are my Amazon affiliate links, if you want to be entertained by another diversity in food theory. I was.

If you prefer to stick to a simple outline, Michael Pollan has you covered. In seven words: "Eat food. Mostly Plants. Not too much." Or in his somewhat expanded, simple and clear, slim and well-organized book Food Rules -- which covers what you need for $5.

We used to enjoy the little tray of pickles that came with our meal's at Nicholas' Restaurant in Portland. Thinking back, I bet those were naturally fermented rather than brined in vinegar. At first they seemed strange and sour, and they also seemed to meet a need for me.

I bet they were alive!

Anna

Making Peace with Microbes

I heard about Pasteur at far too an impressionable an age. It's been quite a struggle for me to accept that I am constantly in a field of living organisms too small too see. I can be a little fussy about how I wash dishes and trying to sleep outdoors, and stuff like that.

We were never meant to live in a completely sterile environment. We need bacterial help to digest our food, for gosh sakes, and I wouldn't be surprised if our skin is actually healthier when well-colonized. As long as it is the right set of microorganisms, I suppose.

Over the past few years, we've found that kids who grow up in less sterile environments develop fewer allergies. A little exposure to the normal microbes of soil is good for the immune system. We've found that acidophilus improves the function of our gut, and eating fermented foods supplies useful nutrients. The raw food enthusiasts talk mainly about enzymes, which sound nice and sterile -- my guess is that live micro-organisms also contribute to the benefits of that diet. Would we really want to give up risen breads and beer and wine and cheese and yogurt and kim chee and sauerkraut? OK, maybe sauerkraut.

On the other side of the spectrum, our efforts to create sterile environments have created dangerously infectuous disease organisms, like MERSA. That stuff is scary. We've incidentally encouraged anti-biotic resistant tuberculosis, too. For that matter, the widespread use of antibiotics to raise beef is probably a link in recent outbreaks of e. coli and other dangerous contaminants in food products.

It's a mess. And where did it start? With the mistaken assumption that microbes were harmful and best destroyed. It started with us going to war.

My particular efforts at making peace with micro-organisms have started with kim chee. From our first modest experiments with making Korean-style fermented cabbage at home, kim chee has grown to become one of our staples. I make another batch whenever we run out.

Kim chee demonstrates that the environment we live is in alive. I don't add the culture. The Chinese cabbage fizzes after a day or two, anyway. And it is good.

I still want my house to be clean. And I am slowly shifting my focus from a war against an invisible, omnipresent enemy, to creating a healthful, living environment.

Doesn't that feel better?

Reading Restores Me

I added "Read three times" to my weekly practices for this year. I'm seeing a lot of benefit from that. I'm enjoying seeing my stack of unread books shrink. I'm learning new things. I have had an easier time finding books to review for my newsletter, Creating Space. And I am gradually feeling more rested.

Reading restores me. I've always loved it. Somehow, in the months -- or years? -- before I added it to my weekly practices again, I had lost the habit of taking time to read. I would read for work, and I'd read a few select authors whenever they brought out a new book. I was hardly ever expanding my circle of authors or taking a chance on a risky book. Somehow, I started thinking of reading as frivolous and not taking the time to do it.

It has been a huge relief to make reading a practice and begin doing it regularly. It's like I didn't know I was cutting myself off from oxygen. It was a mistake to think of reading as a low-priority use of my time. I remember exactly who told me "You need to do something, not just read." They were wrong.

At least for me, reading counts as doing something. Quite possibly, for them, reading wasn't nourishing. For me, it's like water in the desert.

What activity nourishes you? Have you been making time for it? I wish you the knowledge of what you need and the joy of doing it.

Anna

A Happy Thought

I've been spending a fair amount of time lately playing Kingdom of Loathing. It's my reward to myself after a good morning's or good afternoon's work.

Of course, sometimes it's my way of avoiding a bit of unpleasant work. I do have my quirks and foibles.

Anyway, this morning as I left the grocery store parking lot, I was planning a piece of Kingdom of Loathing tactics. If I did this first, then did that second, that would let me do this other thing, and then I could do something really rather nifty!

Then I had the thought: what if life is actually easier than my games? What if these games are a way of keeping myself sharp, to a degree that my daily activities don't actually require?

This made me very happy.

First, I'd recently been thinking that I wished it was as easy to earn money in real life as in the game. What if I'd been implying a falsehood to myself, and it is actually easier to earn money in real life? As soon as I thought that, I realized it must be true. It is actually easier to earn money in real life than in the game.

Second, if I've been mistake about life being hard, hurrah! Life could be easy! That rocks!

Third, I'm actually very good at games. And with that one change of perspective, I could see that I'm pretty good at life, too. I have just been a little confused by the wide variety of choices available. That's ok -- more choices mean more ways to succeed. So, if I can refine my goals down to limited fields like games, I can find a way to win at those goals, too.

All in all, I suddenly felt quite optimistic, resourceful, and powerful. Now, it's time to discover/define some good games and PLAY them.

Best wishes to all,
Anna

Another Beautiful Day in Las Cruces

We had rain yesterday, and today it is clear and mild. A few days ago, there was snow on the Organ mountains. We are coming up on four years in Las Cruces, and still the mountains present new faces to me. The light and shadows bring out the depths of the crags or flatten them. They reflect the colors of the sunset, or clouds wrap their tips. They are always beautiful.

Las Cruces agrees with us. The one challenge -- finding really good vegetables -- has been abundantly satisfied since we joined a CSA. Last year we were in Mysterious Horizons, and when Farmer Jeff didn't continue, we joined Farmer Monte in Los Poblanos. This is such an indulgent way to eat. Look at all the benefits one box of fruit and veg brings me every week:

More flavor
More health
Less time shopping
More adventure
Support local farmers
Organic food, so no pesticides, herbicides, or petrochemical fertilizers released into soil
Better soil
Reduced carbon impact by eating locally
Connection to my community

I've been feeling much more connected here than I ever did in Bend. I know who's growing my food. I contribute to Synergy network and to my own mastermind group of local women entrepreneurs. I visit my libraries and have attended local government meetings. The university is close, and approachable. And I do my work.

Still, with all of this, we will leave Las Cruces if we must. If our business or family required it, we could go.

Grinding

Grinding is what poker players call it when they play steady, small edge poker, to make a small profit over time. Do you hear how harsh they think it is? Just imagine pressing yourself against a coarse, rolling millstone, hour after hour. It takes immense discipline to keep playing well through luck's variations. Good play pays in the long run, yet in the short term, when your good play doesn't work out, and your neighbor's bad play takes the pot, the temptation to stray from statistically proper strategy can easily throw you off course. Playing well requires constant vigilance. They call it grinding, and make it sound like flaying your skin off on a long-term basis.

Of course, they're poker players. They mislead for a living.

Right now, if you're unemployed or under-employed, if someone offered you a steady wage of $20/hour for sitting down, paying attention, and being extremely disciplined, would you consider that equivalent to having your nose sanded?

I'm betting not. Of course, if you've ever broken a diet, you might not have the discipline to play that kind of poker.

As best I can tell, building a business is like that, too. Steady steps in the right direction pay off -- although days or weeks can go by when it seems they won't. Discipline eventually creates wealth. Persistence pays.

Why call it grinding? Can you take steady steps and enjoy them? Could you play every day at creating your heart's desire? What if you built your momentum by spending a bit of every day doing what you like best?

What would you call it then?

All I Want to Do

Hello, everyone!

My last year felt much like it was absorbed in the Martha Beck Coaches book project. It was on Dec. 9th, 2008, that I proposed on the Martha Beck coach forums that we try putting together a book. On Dec. 1st, 2009, after a year of writing, editing, and co-ordinating, we released Changes of the Heart. Our launch did well: we reached #29 on the Amazon Self-Help bestseller list. Better yet, the people who read it keep coming back to me to tell me how good it is. This is very gratifying to an editor's heart. One of the first commitments we made about the book is that our aim would be to help our readers. It's wonderful, after a year's labor, to have the fruit come in and see that it is good. Yes, we are helping people.

The project did take a lot out of me. I am still feeling depleted. Like many new projects, it turned out to be quite a bit bigger than I expected. There were some hurdles which I think I can reduce if I do it again.

In the meantime, ever since I completed the project, I've been finding myself thinking "All I want to do is read and write." At first, I didn't listen to this thought. I was like, "Oh, Anna, yes you're tired, and I'll fit a little more reading and writing in. But really, I need to figure out what my next project is and keep working on my business." And then my inner voice was like, "All I want to do is read and write." And I was like, "C'mon, we have to be responsible here! There's work to be done! I can't just take off weeks or months at a time and do nothing but read and write." And my inner voice was like, "All I want to do is read and write." And weeks passed, and I was still tired and not able to do as much as I usually can, and still confused about what my next project should be, and my inner voice is still going, "All I want to do is read and write."

Finally, I talked this out with one of my coaches. Who was able to point out that if I was coaching someone, and all they wanted to do was read and write, I'd recommend they read and write. Plus which, I can actually carry out my business by reading and writing.

Oh, yeah. Right. OK, I'll read and write. I feel less tired already.

Have I mentioned recently that it really rocks to have a good coach?

I did do some theme reading over the Christmas break. I read five books about food systems. They were: Wendell Berry's Bringing it to the Table, Mark Bittman's Food Matters, and The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, and In Defense of Food, all by Michael Pollan. They all have their virtues. I'd say the most well-rounded and readable one is The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's solidly researched and beautifully written. Food Rules is great for a fast reference. It offers more details and tactics for following Michael Pollan's beautiful distillation of how to eat well (both for health and pleasure):

"Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much."

In the spirit of eating food, I'd like to offer this dressing recipe. This recipe contains only food, by Michael Pollan's definition. It's a fast way to make a salad more exciting.

Mustard Orange Dressing

1/4 c orange juice (about half an orange, squeezed)
1/2 c olive oil (you wouldn't use a junky one, would you? :-) )
3 T Dijon-style mustard (I like TJ's)
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
a pinch of salt (sea salt, yes?)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. (Or, for smoother dressing, blend.)

OK, now this is great, simply drizzled over greens. But if you want to step it up, try this:

Make a salad of mixed greens. Place it on individual salad plates. Slice up one apple or pear into thin, bite-sized pieces. Toss the sliced fruit with a tablespoon of dressing, then scatter the pieces attractively over the top of the individual salads. Possibly scatter nuts or bits of bacon the same way, too. Drizzle a touch more dressing over the top and serve. (Or, family style, put the remaining dressing in a carafe, and pass it for everyone to add to their own taste.)

There you go!

Eat well,
Anna

I, for one, welcome our new Vegan cupcake masters.

Hello, everyone!

Last Friday, I held a second Demarle party. We had good company show up there. It's a pretty entertaining way to spend an evening.

My bakeware had come ten days earlier on a Tuesday night. In that time, I made four recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, plus four batches of cornmeal muffins. Not a bad production! Fortunately, I found people to give away a lot of the baked goods.

I was having too much fun. I made Agave Nectar cupcakes, Chai Latte cupcakes, Basic Vanilla and Basic Chocolate cupcakes. My favorites were the Chai Latte cupcakes. Doug preferred the Basic Chocolate. Since cocoa powder replaces one-third of the flour in that recipe, they may even be a better choice for him. So, that's all good.

I'm planning to make the Rose Water and Pistachio cupcakes and the Rum Raisin cupcakes soon. I'm scheming to find some Matcha -- Japanese green tea powder -- so that I can make the Green Tea cupcakes.

In the meantime, having discovered that I needed a break from editing, and that my muffin tin and cooking utensils were conveniently clean, I'm now baking cupcakes from a mix even as I type. This also is bold new territory for me. I don't believe I have ever bought a cake mix before, much less baked one. But, I have new cookware, and they were having a sale at the cake mix store. So here I am.

The four batches of cornmeal muffins happened like this: I needed two batches to perfect the recipe, and then made two batches so I could feed the guests at my party abundantly. Mmmm, this is a complete experience of living richly. I can promise you that no one left my party hungry.

Almost time to stick a toothpick in today's cupcakes!

May you all live well.

Anna

Seventy-five Dozen Cupcakes

I've been wondering what I'd do with 'em.

The Demarle party left me with a fascination for cupcakes. Sue made a cake in one of the Demarle pans -- it was lovely. Light, moist, beautifully browned -- it was remarkably good, the best cake I've had in a long time. I picked up a muffin tray and a charlotte tray -- originally with the admirable intention of making low-fat individual crustless quiches with them, hereafter referred to as timbales -- but that cake! What if I actually made some cupcakes!

It didn't help that I've been reading Veganomicon, and it has been making me very happy. The combination of attitude and solid vegan comfort food -- they really do seem to hit the mark of "the dishes you wish you'd grown up with" -- absolutely nourished my vegetable-seeking heart. Then there's all these desserts in the back! Including some amazing-looking cupcake recipes! So how could I not go out and borrow their previous volume, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World?! Especially when it was just sitting there on the shelves of my friendly local library?

So, now I've read Vegan Cupcakes cover to cover -- about 40 main recipes, with variations carrying the total to at least 75 -- and I plan to try at least a couple when my Demarle order arrives.

I think I can take some to the networking group. My new mastermind group could try a few. Still, seventy-five dozen -- what I'd have if I tried every recipe in the book -- is rather a lot. Especially since we've basically been living a flour and sugar free lifestyle since Doug developed diabetes. It was just a couple months ago when our neighbor tried to borrow a cup of flour, and I had to admit I didn't have any.

So, who knows what this fascination with cupcakes is about.

Here is a vegetarian but not vegan recipe for fast timbales -- more appropriate for a low glycemic lifestyle. Than cupcakes. I made this in my friend Sue's charlotte tray the morning after the Demarle party.

Fast Timbales

3 cloves garlic
1 zucchini
1 carrot
6 eggs
2 tablespoons cream, optional
Salt, pepper, and oregano to taste -- approximately pinch each of salt and pepper, 1/2 teaspoon oregano

Press the garlic cloves into a medium bowl. Grate the zucchini and carrot on top of the garlic. In another medium bowl, beat the 6 eggs with the seasonings and cream, if using. Fold the vegetables into the eggs, then pour into charlotte or muffin trays, filling each form no more than 3/4s full. (If there are any empty spaces, put a little water in them for more even baking.) Bake until lightly brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into a timbale comes out clean -- approximately 20 minutes, depending on the size of the individual timbales.

These puffed beautifully, and were nicely brown underneath, when made in Sue's charlotte tray. Plus, of course, since it was Demarle, they popped right out of the forms, no oiling, no spraying, no flour. I liked the fluted round shapes of the charlotte tray very much for this -- I felt surprisingly gourmet with no extra effort.

Well, maybe I can find someone who is having a bake sale. I really do want to try making some cupcakes. My muffin tray and all are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. I have recipes, and I bought ingredients -- baking ingredients are remarkably economical.

This is one of those times when having a family of six, like I did when I was growing up, would be more convenient than having a family of two. The math is just better for dividing a dozen cupcakes between six farm workers than two knowledge workers.

Seventy-five dozen cupcakes will likely be too much. I'll make a couple recipes of a dozen each, and see where I go from there.

I wish you indulgent and happy food.

Anna

Demarle Party Saturday Jan. 31st at 11:32 am

Hi, folks!

Well, I'm making my first try at having a cookware party. Here's the flyer I handed out:

Bakeware Party

January 31st at 11:32 am

See what absolutely non-stick cookware can do!

What if muffins popped right out of the pan? What if cleaning up after roasting vegetables was a snap? What if even eggs wouldn’t stick?

Come see a demo of Demarle bakeware. Come hungry, and eat the results! Demarle makes everyday and fancy shapes, both large pans, and trays of small shapes. Check out the fun, new possibilities. Even bring a friend!

Come to the home of Anna Paradox, at 2100 Thomas Dr. Please RSVP to 522-5358. I want to feed you abundantly!

I'm really intrigued with the possibilities. My friend Sue started representing Demarle a while ago -- food really pops right out of the little shapes. No oil, no muffin papers. Very neat, and very easy to clean. At first I thought I wouldn't hold a party, because I wasn't sure who'd I invite and I've never done this before. And then I started being intrigued with the possibilities. I could make individual quiches, with no crust, putting just the ingredients each person wanted in theirs, and baking them. I could roast vegetables without using a disposable pan liner. I could make fancy-shaped desserts and show off. It really sounded fun to play with the new possibilities. Ice cream shapes, I bet I could make non-dairy ice creams shapes in them. All sorts of things.

And I do like to eat, and see new things. So, I changed my mind, and scheduled a party. Sue and I will make lots of food. She'll demonstrate the bakeware so you can see how it works. That does sound like fun, doesn't it!

If you think it would be fun, too, please come! Just call so I can plan, thanks.

And if you can't come, but you want to try the bakeware on your own, you can order from www.DemarleAtHome.com. Do Sue a favor, and put in her rep code when you do -- 7187.

Or email her with what you'd like, and she'll take care of you: easycooking@comcast.net

She'll work with you if you want to have a party any where in New Mexico, too.

So that's what I'll be up to this Saturday -- making and eating food with friends! I am really looking forward to it.

Anna

New Blogs!

Hello, everyone!

I've created two new blogs to hold my business posts. www.creatingspace.annaparadox.com now contains all of my Creating Space newsletters. I even broke the entries into categories so that you can look at just the Book Reviews or Small Steps portions of the newsletters if you wish.

(When I say I broke the entries into categories, I actually mean I hired Joe Rossow of Rossow Futuristics here in Las Cruces to do it for me. He did a great job archiving the entries and touching up the banners. It's a task that I've been meaning to get to for months, and now it is beautifully done! I'm very happy with the results.)

I've also made a place where I will write new posts strictly focused on writing. The first official post will arrive on September 23rd. There's already a bit to do and look at at www.BridgeOfWords.com.

Please check them out! And I'd be very happy if you would link to them or leave comments.

Thanks for dropping by!

Anna