I’ve been in the kitchen again. We are cooking almost all of our meals at home now, and often I want fresh breads/baked goods rather than crackers, pasta or rice.

Lucky for me, I have learned a lot about wheat-free, gluten-free, egg/ milk/ nut/ potato/ corn/ yeast-free cooking in the last 8 years or so. When you have done something many times, it gets easier and faster to do. I’m grateful I am no longer at the beginning of the learning curve. That was a lonely place to be.

This time I wanted to make something with 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce which was left over from making Pumpkin Soup. I decided that would be nice with buckwheat flour (buckwheat has no gluten and is not related to wheat – it is not even a true grain).

After a bunch of digging around, I did not find any existing recipe that would work with what I had in mind. I started from scratch.

It makes a good muffin, which you can eat with butter for breakfast or alone with soup (ours was blackeyed peas with cabbage). It holds together very well, even packed in a lunch bag. This is good news for a non-wheat baked item.

Use all of the spices or none. I used a shake or two of nutmeg and allspice, and not as much sugar, when I wanted a cornbread substitute of sorts.  When I make these for breakfast or dessert, I use all the spices here and a full cup of sugar. It makes a better crusty texture on the top, and perhaps stands alone in flavor a bit better.

I am looking forward to breakfast. I think I will break up a few muffins in a bowl, add some fruit (peaches would be great, but I’ll go with dark cherries or strawberries) and top that with some home-whipped cream sweetened with brown sugar. YUM!

Applesauce-Buckwheat Muffins

2-1/2 c Buckwheat Flour (I used Arrowhead Mills, or try Hodgson Mills.
Bob’s Red Mill is a different texture and will not work the same.)

2/3 to 1 c Brown Sugar (1 cup makes better crust, definitely sweeter)

1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp cream of tartar, or Emergen-C powder, or unbuffered Vitamin C powder

Optional (more protein) 2 Tbsp Powdered Goat’s Milk
- (or powdered Cow/Dairy milk if not allergic, or use soy milk rather than water)
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Allspice

Optional Spices:
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Ginger
1 small dash/shake of ground Cloves

1/4 c Oil (I use olive)
1 c Applesauce, unsweetened
1 c water

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare muffin pan (cupcake-sized, about 1/2 c each) with oil and a light dusting of buckwheat or rice flour.

Place all dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Blend with wire whisk until mixed well (there will be brown sugar lumps, this is OK)

Add wet ingredients and mix carefully, do not mix any longer than necessary to get all ingredients wet. Let it stand for a minute or two. It will be rather sticky and not as wet as normal cake batter is, by far (more like stiff egg whites, perhaps). This is due to the flaxseed meal substituting for eggs.

Distribute batter into 12 equal portions in the pan. They will be approximately full to the brim.

Place in oven for 15-25 minutes. Mine took 20 minutes and a toothpick in the center pulled out clean but a tiny bit sticky to the touch.

Cool about 5 minutes, then turn baked items out of pan and continue to cool on wire rack.

I am spending a little time each day this week, weeding out old things that I don’t need anymore. I have boxes that I have moved from house to house and now is the time to purge.

I’ve been through about 6-7 boxes so far. Only less than one box stays, and that may thin even further at a later date.

At the same time, we are having a bit of a heat wave. Today is hotter than yesterday, and it appears that my living room is 86F/30C right now (5pm). Outside is maybe 94F or so.

Somehow the distraction of this big project, coupled with heat, made me ignore lunch until almost 5. Mind you, I get up later than others do, but lunch is usually about 2pm or so. Whoops!

It is too hot to cook, I’d say, so I made a salad. We had a can of black beans in the refrigerator just for salads. I drained/rinsed them, added a tomato and basil from our own garden, and then added olive oil and some spinach. It was light and cool, and just right.

I ate it on our fun porch… green table, purple floor. And the salad was pretty, too!

Oh, the joys of summer! We had a bunch of rain and now everything is growing like crazy. I picked this tomato, the first healthy ripe one of the season, a day or two ago.

I want to make guacamole. It’s just the right size for that.

I am so happy that I got fruit this year! One more looks like I can pick it tomorrow, too!

I have learned to grow tomatoes in large containers. They sit on the landing of our back steps, which is on a southwest corner of the house. I see them every time I enter the house, so I don’t forget to water.

I use “container soil” instead of standard potting soil. This has small granules of a gel which absorbs an amazing amount of water when it can, and then releases it slowly later. The plant can go longer between waterings without going totally dry. This works great on weeks/weekends when we go away and the weather is hot.

Last year was an awful year for me and tomatoes. I started a bit late, and even my “Early Girl” tomato plant did not make a single ripe fruit on the vine. I got one red one off a vine all year, and I had five pots going.

I did harvest a few (five, to be exact – see above) green ones in October, and put them on the windowsill to ripen. The smallest one never did turn red, the others I used for cooking when they looked OK.

Fortunately, knitting friend Rita B. is an amazing gardener. She grew a lot of types of tomatoes, including some heirloom ones in gorgeous colors.

She was generous in sharing, so I had fresh, off-the-vine tomatoes even though mine were useless. Here is a photo of a fully-ripe green heirloom variety she shared with me:

Here is a photo of a pot of some amazing chili I made up with a bumper crop she gave me one night. (Sometimes Thursday Knitting night is harvest-sharing night, and I was delighted.)

This year? I bought one huge pot with a large plant in it, right away. It had flowers and tiny fruit on it when I took it home. That is how I got the tomato pictured first today.

I also have four smaller plants which are growing but not large yet. One of the smallest ones has several small tomato fruits growing and a few flowers.

We will see what we will see. Meanwhile, guacamole for lunch on Wednesday?

Cynthia and I had a long lunch today, Friday, near the fish ladder in Old Town. It is a work day for both of us, but we like to meet once a week for lunch to make the day nicer, and we missed our typical Tuesday this week.

Since I’m working on a sock design, I can’t write much… but let us just say I’ve never really had a picnic lunch done properly. This time I did. I believe the photos tell the story well.

I created home-made everything (mostly made last night): black bean dip, guacamole, black olives, and rhubarb crisp, with brewed iced tea. Oh… there were also sesame/brown rice crackers, which were purchased. The paper plates (and plastic tray in which the crackers came) were disposable, and everything else was/is reusable.

It was perfect. Sunny, 86F/30C, sitting in the shade near the water. We had just slightly too much food, a luxury. And of course, very good company and conversation.

These last 2 photos were behind me as I took the river view photo. I love the tree at bottom left. It’s actually a metal sculpture, and is a favorite of mine.

The building shown is next to the big parking lot in Old Town. I love porches above the 1st floor. I bet that corner balcony is a lovely spot in which to sit, at this time of year!

My Kind of Weather!

It has been a good several days for me. It is genuinely hot here if you stand in the sun, need to do physical activity, or have a car without air conditioning. However, indoors (no A/C) or on the porch, I am in my heyday. This is MY kind of weather!

Summer Food Experiments, Rhubarb Recipe

Just as an update, I have been cooking some wonderful food including a salad tossed with cold barley grains (barley contains gluten but one could use mixed rices instead), some flavorings and fresh veggies. I made a fava bean dip that turned out great (if you have not tried fava beans, they are magnificent legumes indeed). We ate fava beans for breakfast every morning in Egypt, so I am especially fond of them since I returned from Africa.

I even made a first try at a sort of flat bread, cooked in a cast iron pan. In my dreams it was like an Indian chappati, but in the end it looked more like a very thick brown pita bread that had no hole in the middle. It was chewy and worked well to eat with the fava beans. When I refine those recipes a bit more, I will share them here with you.

I did also pick some rhubarb last week. I made a slightly-too-sweet rhubarb crisp for us. The rhubarb was so fresh, it made a soupy fruit filling rather than a sticky one, but it was a treat anyway.

Next time I’m out of white sugar, I will substitute with a smaller amount of brown sugar. It did not work when I used the specified amount. Live and learn. (Click this link for the Rhubarb Crisp recipe, scroll to the end of that long post to see it.)

Singing in Lansing

We had a great time at the East Lansing Art Fair. If anyone took photos of us singing that day, please consider passing a photo to us. For some reason I forgot to ask someone else to take photos. I did get shots of other bands, but they are not edited at this time.

Our next performance will be with Wally Pleasant on Friday, June 4, at MAC’s Bar, East Lansing. Really. No smoking, I’m liking that prospect, myself.

Knitting Progress

Now I am working on two sock designs. Both have deadlines in the next few weeks, one is due early next week. This is why I have no photos today on the blog.

It’s wonderful to be back doing socks again, though. I’ve designed two hats, a neckwarmer and a legwarmer pattern most recently. Socks are like going home.

Happy, Happy, Happy!

And I just can not stop saying how happy I am with this weather. Nobody else seems to love it as much as I do. I think I feel like a kid on her birthday – the adrenaline rush keeps repeating as I proceed with my life. I wait for this every year.

May you be comfortable wherever you live, whatever you prefer. As for me, I’m giddy with summer. Anyone else?

This week it has become painfully clear to me that I’m in a minority. I read the labels on the foods I buy. All of the labels. Every ingredient. Really.

I grew up in a house where we read labels. When my father died and I was 14, Mom had a full-time job so my brother and I would go to the grocery store with our bicycles and do the grocery shopping. Mom could not have salt, so we read labels. Back in the mid-1970’s, you could get some items at a regular grocery without salt. It would be much harder these days.

In around 1992, I realized that eating yeast/mold foods was making me foggy and I gave them up. I already knew that breathing mold/mildew made me feel bad. Giving up bread, cheese, yogurt, vinegar and a host of other foods in the “mold/yeast” categories, gave me my brain back. I was grateful for the change. I was also in the habit of reading those labels. I learned which ingredients were on the “foggy brain” list and did not buy them.

In the last ten years or so, I’ve discovered more foods that give me problems. I have had to learn about new foods so that I could have some variety in my life, but I was in good shape to spot problem items by reading labels.

One day a really sharp acquaintance turned to me and exclaimed that she was shocked to read her “diet meal bar” label and find out what she was eating. The first two ingredients were corn syrup and a milk/dairy product. Some diet! I was stunned to realize that she had not read the label before purchasing the item.

So this week, I went to the grocery store. I went past the display of new items. Here I saw a display for “Cinco de Mayo.” They had fake Mexican food ready to go. I noticed pretty green stuff in a jar, which said “guacamole.” My first instinct was to read the label.

I know if I make guacamole I use a lot of fresh avocados as the primary ingredient. I may chop some onions and tomato, and perhaps some red bell pepper to put in it. Other folks would surely add jalapeno pepper. Most would add garlic, salt, and flavorings such as cumin, and/or red pepper flakes. None of the secondary ingredients would add up to as much bulk as the avocado, though.

Recently, I have become afraid to eat guacamole in a restaurant. The new, cool, thing, is to mash avocado and add a powdered mix to flavor it. This makes things lower-labor for the business. However, there is usually powdered sour cream in it, and far too often MSG or some sort of corn syrup, none of which I can eat successfully. Now guacamole is a make-it-yourself item for me. It’s not too hard, things could be worse.

But wowie, friends! This pseud0-guacamole is the right color. Other than that, the ingredient list includes two things I have NEVER seen on a label before. The oil is canola, not avocado. The only mention of my own first ingredient, is “powdered avocado,” in the less than 2% portion of the label. Here is what the label says:

Ingredients: water, canola oil, food starch modified, concentrated crushed tomatoes, maltodextrin, and contains 2% or less of: avocado powder, dehydrated onion, jalapeno pepper, spices, whey protein concentrate, salt, natural and artificial flavors, corn syrup solids, caramel color, soy sauce (naturally fermented wheat and soybeans, salt, maltodextrin, caramel color), citric acid, lemon juice concentrate, lemon juice solids, sugar, glucono-delta-lactone, xanthan gum, sodium acid pyrophosphate, datem, lactic acid, monosodium glutamate, yellow #5 & blue #1.

It contains calories, so if you ate it you would stop feeling hungry for a while. It is entertainment. I don’t know if it tastes good. I can assure you it’s not as good for you as what I call “real” guac. The real stuff does have oil/fat (and a good kind, to boot) but is all healthy stuff.

Have I convinced you that maybe you would miss something if you did not read your labels? Can you really believe that eating things you can’t pronounce, spell, or understand… is food? That it’s food in any sense of nourishing?

I’m not lecturing here… but I am urging those who have not thought about this before, to think about it now. I did not grow up knowing about other things. This is something I learned young enough that I just thought everyone else did it!

Please, love yourself enough to read those labels. OK? There is plenty of good food out there. Apples, for example, have one ingredient. ‘Nuff Said.

Eight Years, One Recipe

I am thrilled. Since I have been baking/eating without a long list of foods (due to food sensitivities/allergies), I have struggled with finding good chewy brownies. I love chewy textures and many of my old favorites are no longer on the “safe” list for me.

I don’t bake with wheat/gluten, though I do not fight celiac disease. However, many gluten-free/GF packaged mixes contain corn, potato and/or xanthan gum, all three of which I do not tolerate. Many call for egg or milk. Some call for corn syrup to hold things together. All don’t work for me. I had to start from scratch.

Mochi to the Rescue (Again)

My break-through point was trying yet a different kind of flour. I have recently found one source for gluten-free “sweet rice flour” (it’s Mochi rice but in a different form than my previous food post). The Lansing, Michigan source is Foods for Living, a wonderful, employee-owned grocery which supports local musicians as well as really being top notch in products offered and friendly service.

The product itself is produced by Bob’s Red Mill, a wonderful alternative flour source (I get teff flour from them, too… for my spice muffin recipe). If you do not live in Lansing, and your town has no source for this product, you can buy from the mill direct online. They have great service. Local first, though… if you will.

These Work for Everyone

Because of my food restrictions, these brownies also happen to be vegan. It’s a bit accidental, but I’m all for sharing with anyone who limits ingredients.

I have been baking corn-wheat-egg-potato-milk-yeast free since the end of May, 2002. It took me that long to figure these out. You can imagine how happy I am to share this recipe with you.

Warning: You must use the same ingredients, and measure very carefully. If I mention a brand name, that brand is different from others and using a substitute may turn out poorly. Guessing at what 1/4 cup is, for example, can ruin an allergy recipe. There is little room for playing in this domestic chemistry game which is called allergy baking.

Why Habibi?

Habibi means “Sweetheart” (and similar sentiments) in Arabic. I named these brownies “Habibi Brownies” because my first good batch in 8 years was made in time to share with the crowd at the Habibi Dancers‘ Annual show. Each dancer was expected to bring a dozen cookies. I made 24 brownies. I kept a dozen, and gave the troupe the expected number. I just could not bear to give up any more than required, I was so happy to have success!!!

NOTE: I like brownies with edges, so I have baked them in three bread pans for years (rather than one big pan). I do not know how this will work if you put  it in a larger 10×13″ rectangular cake pan, but I am guessing another 5-10 minutes in the oven might make that work fine. If anyone tries this, please take the time to write me with your results.

If you do not have any food restrictions, you can still enjoy these brownies. For moms tired of making two dinners or two desserts, this will be a lifesaver. Beatrice, age 5, says they are good. She has no restrictions. I’m happy with that endorsement.

If you prefer cake-like ones and have food restrictions, you may prefer my “No Nothin’ Brownies” instead. However, I think those are not equal to wheat brownies and I think my Habibi Brownies are every bit equal to any other chewy brownie.

I’ve talked too much. Here is the recipe. Please share as you wish, but I do ask you to give me credit, and not make money on my recipe. It took me 8 years to get these right! Thanks.

Habibi Brownies by Lynn DT Hershberger/ColorJoy (c) 2010
No wheat, gluten, corn, egg, soy, milk, yeast, nuts, potato, xanthan gum.

Your friends will not taste the difference.

1c Bob’s Red Mill Sweet White Rice Flour (do not substitute)
1/2 c Brown Rice Flour (I used Arrowhead Mills, brand less crucial here)
1/2 c plus 2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (baking cocoa, not drink mix)
1 c Brown Sugar (stickier than white sugar, do not sub)
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Cream of Tartar (or sub 1tsp of baking powder for this and the soda)
1/4 c plus 1Tbsp oil (I use olive oil, can use any oil you are not allergic to)
3/4 c Water
Non-corn-oil cooking spray or 1tsp oil (celiacs, be sure it’s gluten-free)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray three glass bread pans with oil (or wipe with oil and paper napkin). Sprinkle very lightly with brown rice flour.

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients with a wire whisk, wire piecrust blending tool or fork (brown sugar will not mix perfectly, do not worry about that).

Pour wet ingredients into bowl and mix with fork only until just blended. It will be a sticky, thick batter.

Divide batter between bread pans. Smooth out a bit.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. It is done when sides pull away from pan and it smells a little “toasty.” A toothpick placed in the center comes out mostly dry but a bit tacky (not wet- sticky). Cool 5 minutes before cutting, if you can stand to wait.

These last several days unrefrigerated. I expect they will freeze well, too.

Tuesday I went to Old Town, Lansing. It was a beautiful day for walking. The sun shone, and it was the first day of the year which really made me think we might get summer after all.

I took a lot of photos, inside and out. The first one here is a view pointing east from the corner of Turner and Grand River. Can you see the tables on the sidewalk, serving customers of Pablo’s Panaderia? (If you have not been there, the food is fresh and excellent, with the best fresh-squeezed orange juice I’ve had since I was in Mexico.)

I did not take a photo of Mama Bear’s Conscious Cafe’ where I ate lunch that day. Chica has great food, and focuses on locally-grown products, organic and free trade items. Highly recommended (about a block and a half down Turner street on the east/left side of the street walking from Grand River.

Around another corner, on Washington Avenue, I stopped at Elderly Instruments. The blue flowers here were in their garden out front.

And inside Elderly’s historical brick building (former Odd Fellows‘ hall from around 1910 or so), I spotted a heating grate above my head. I had not seen it before. Tim told me that it actually does blow air, it is not a cold air duct. Gorgeous!

As I write this, it is Thursday and the third of three amazingly summer-like days in Lansing (with Friday expected to be even warmer).  The sun shines, the heat rises, the doors and windows open.

Kids go by on bikes, folks walk dogs and babies in strollers. Cars go by with stereo a bit louder than usual… and I do a happy dance. And another happy dance, and another…

Even in my own neighborhood, the Guitar Guy on the corner appears to be celebrating the weather. Tuesday on the way to old town, I spotted him playing a shiny guitar and what looked to be a small portable speaker on a shoulder strap as he played.

His winter guitar did not come out that day. This one seemed to have mother of pearl or something shining in the sun.

Notice that the corner he often occupies, is not a place where pedestrians pass by. However, it’s a place many pass on the way to and from work/downtown. He has been doing this for several years, so busking this way seems to work for him.

This can be a lovely, interesting town. Go, Lansing!

I know that my readers pay attention to my recipes here. This week I got news that one more friend is living totally gluten free now, and she needed advice on what to eat.

She found several recipes for baked goods and other treats, in my “Recipes” archive (scroll down, link in right-hand side column down a ways with other categories). I had taken photos for this post about a month ago and never wrote the text to go with it. Today is the day, thanks to my friend’s push.

So many foods one can buy pre-made in a store, do not work for me. I can not have corn, and I go very easy on potato and wheat.

I’m not totally gluten-free, but I bake as if I am. Many gluten-free products in the store have corn and often potato, plus xanthan gum for texture. Those do not work for me. I am pretty stuck, unless I bake from scratch.

However, one product I can buy ready to go, is brown rice Mochi. I can turn on the oven to preheat while I assemble clothing to wear for the day, pop it in the oven while I start to get ready, and it is ready before I’m fully prepared to go out. No muss, little fuss, and the chewy/crunchy texture really satisfies me.

(I crave chewy foods often. I can not have most candies, dried fruit, mozzarella cheese or bread. Thank goodness for mochi and huge “bubble tea” tapioca, which both satisfy that texture craving for me.)

In the morning, I love this with Lingonberry preserves from Sweden. For lunch or dinner, we sometimes eat this as someone else might eat rolls or crackers, often with soup.

The full package contains 16 grams of whole-grain protein. Breakfast for me is a half package. I plan to eat 45 grams of protein a day, so this is a decent start, with no fuss. Consider adding peanut butter, a boiled egg or a glass of milk, and you have much more fuel than many, with which to start your day.

How to Bake Mochi Squares a la LynnH

(For the record, the word “Mochi” is used for many things. It is essentially a sticky rice, used in many ways in several Asian traditions. This sort freezes well. I’ve been known to buy a case of 12.)

• Buy Grainassance Mochi. Plain brown rice is “my” flavor. There is also a cinnamon/raisin one which is wonderful for breakfast.
  The only place in Greater Lansing to get plain brown rice Mochi in a cooler, is the East Lansing Food Co-Op/ELFCO. Try to buy it locally when possible, many healthy-food stores will allow you to special order if you get a full box (12 packets).

(For the record, there is a white rice version I have found in the freezer section of large Asian markets. That is their standard; I’m talking about organic gluten-free heaven rather than tradition.)

• Preheat your oven to 450F. Really, truly preheat until it is fully hot. The texture is not as good without it.
• Score the plastic pouch inside the package, and divide in half. Half a package is a filling breakfast for me, or good to share between two with soup for lunch.

• Cut that half packet into 12 approximately-equal pieces. It is hard to cut, be careful not to slip with your knife. You can just score the top surface of the block of rice, and then break pieces apart with your hands.
• (If you cut the whole thing into 24 pieces, you can cram them on a large sheet cake pan/jelly roll pan with no room to spare.)

• Put the squares in nonstick muffin tins or on a baking sheet.
• (Do NOT use oil or baking spray, if you want to avoid setting off a smoke detector. You could use baking parchment, but it would be overkill.)

• Bake for about 9-10 minutes. Typically, the outside crisps up first, then the insides get hot and steamy and pop out of the side. It reminds me of a popover, a bit. I like mochi better.
• Remove from oven, remove from baking pan as quickly as you can (it sticks when it cools).
• Cool enough that you do not burn yourself on boiling rice.

• Eat: plain, with butter, honey or jam as you prefer.
• Make yummy noises.

Once I knew others were happy but I thought I could not have what they had. Now I have such a different life, I am amazed. I did a lot of work on the road here, but the payoffs of that work are tenfold.

Tonight, Saturday, February 13
6:30-8:30
The Fabulous Heftones (Brian and I) sing at the newly expanded/renovated
Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine in East Lansing.

This is truly our home venue in a million ways. We became a better act because of our regular 2-hour performances here.

We were in the What’s On section of the Lansing State Journal this week (page 3, with a photo). There is an online version of that article (with a photo of our friend Frog, who is mentioned later in the same column).

But today, on a day when we are again booked as the “Most Romantic Act in Lansing,” I feel like it is Thanksgiving even more than Valentine’s day.

I wrote a post January 31, 2009 that sums it all up, gratitude for my new life. It’s a short column (for me). Please consider taking the time to read it. I think good news doesn’t usually make it to the masses, and I’m all for spreading the good stuff when I can.

We hope you will come and join us in celebrating Altu’s new space (Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine, East Lansing, Michigan).

This photo was taken several weeks ago, it’s even more lovely now! For those waiting to see my paint job, notice the basketweave is completed on the right wall but not at the back, yet.

Saturday (January 23/ tomorrow)

Special events from
NOON until 4pm.

• Free Smoothie Samples
• Free Food Samples
• Live Music!!!
• Local songwriters to make you smile!!!

Noon-1 will be Art Cameron. This witty, thoughtful poet will engage you and make you smile!

1-2 Measured Dose (Ben Dilday and Dave Bond) will soothe you with harmonies, playing familiar oldies and a good selection of originals.

2-3 Mike Ross, a local poet and musician, will share words and excellent instrumentals with you. He wrote most of the music you will hear. Mike is a nationally-recognized harmonica player, but plays many other instruments as well.

3-4 Beloved Ben Hassenger (also of Mystic Shake and Blue Jello) will keep you humming, singing along, and laughing. Again, Ben writes a lot of his own music. His meanings are often sentimental or serious, but the way he delivers them will bring a smile.

—

If you can not make the daytime festivities, consider dinner.

6:30-8:30
Scarlet Runner Stringband

You can order a smoothie with your dinner (or for dessert… fruit is common for dessert in Ethiopia).

I will be there for dinner, myself. I will be teaching in Charlotte during the day.

You just MUST see the new space. It is magnificent. It’s hard to believe she started with three tables-for-two and a take out.

Please, bring yourself and a crowd of friends! It will be a fun and fabulous time.

Incredible Music Tonight!

My friends Jen Sygit and Sam Corbin will be playing music at Altu’s restaurant (East Lansing) tonight, from 6:30 to 8:30. Great music, great talent, amazing harmonies. Both musicians write great originals, and they will play some of those and some music written by others. I will be there.

Many of my friends, knitters and musicians alike, will be attending a Contra Dance in downtown Lansing tonight. If you fall into this group, please consider coming to Altu’s before you head downtown. It will make a fully satisfying night… artforms including music, dance, spectacular cooking, and perhaps knitting. (I’m not sure why, but lots of contra dancers also knit.)

You Must Check Out the Addition!

If you read here often, you will know that my friend Altu’s restaurant has expanded recently. Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine (EatAtAltus.com) in East Lansing, Michigan is a place where everything is literally made from scratch. The quality is superb, the kitchen is spotless, the flavors in the food are deep… sometimes subtle, sometimes spicy, always good.

There is now a real raised stage with lighting, and plenty of space for several large groups at once. No more worries about seating, my friends! It’s beautiful now… more mellow, more unique, more relaxing.

Open House Next Week: Sat. Jan. 23, 11am – 4 pm

Altu will be having a celebration next Saturday from 11-4 to celebrate the new space. There will be music during that time, and then again in the evening from 6:30-8:30 from Scarlet Runner String Band. If you must miss today, consider making it next week. I will miss the daytime festivities but will be there for dinner, next week. (A woman must work, and I have a class scheduled Jan 23 during the afternoon.)

So, What is the Food Like?

If you have never had Ethiopian food before, it consists of different types of thick stews, either veggie or meat, mild or spicy. Even meat eaters go for veggie food here, it is so flavorful.

In Ethiopia, they present the food in family style… on a platter, with spongy, sproingy sourdough Ethiopian bread(often called Injera) under it all. You pull off a piece of the bread (it’s like a thick crepe in form) and use it to pick up your food with your fingers, like a small taco. Ethiopians get so good at this, their fingers never get messy. I’ve been practicing for years but I’m not there yet.

In Ethiopia, the Injera is made of a gluten-free  grain called Teff. Here, because our altitude is different, Altu adds some wheat all-purpose flour to the bread. However, one can order their dinner on a bed of rice instead of on bread. I have friends who do not tolerate wheat at all (celiac or wheat-sensitive, both), and they do well at Altu’s eating meals this way. There is no wheat in any other food in the restaurant.

We did start our New Year’s Eve with a potluck and a Contra Dance downtown. However, I really wanted to be home for midnight, just quiet, the two of us.

We had drinks with which to toast the new year:

Not Exactly Times Square

For some reason, I am fascinated with watching the ball drop at Times Square. I don’t enjoy television, but if we are home on New Year’s Eve I will turn it on long enough to see the ball drop. (Often I don’t turn it on again for another year, but I digress.)

However, this year none of our three TVs can receive any signal at all. Brian decided he would make a ball drop for me:

You get extra points if that photo makes you chuckle because you understand just how geeky that move was. Clue: It did not bounce much at all. More like “clunk.”

We started the year by dancing together without music, in my office; and organic hot chocolate with nutmeg. Now I’m starting the first day with a blog post. I think I’m on a good start.

Other Thoughts

A resolution? Kindness. I wish to remember an intent to be kind always. Boundaries can exist side by side with this intent.

I am a passionate woman with a few too many words. I sometimes blurt out things, and sometimes I inadvertently hurt someone. It happens by accident.

I’m not into “snarky” for entertainment, after growing up in a society where we fought with words rather than fists. I know how much a clever statement can do damage to relationship. And I believe that relationship is the most important thing about being alive.

There are things I said decades ago which I can never take back, and that makes me ache after all those years. I wish to live without creating any more of those regrets.

But this is not a resolution for New Year’s Eve, or for merely one year. It started in my mind and in my heart, before today… and I hope it never ends. I’m imperfect, but a goal is a help.

I appreciate each one of you, everyone who reads this whether you comment or not. Thank you for being a part of my life.

In our family, we celebrate Christmas/Yule. My holiday parties (those where I attend, having been invited by someone) start tomorrow and go through at least December 20.

I guess it’s good to be forced to get out of the house during dark days. It is also good to celebrate our relationships, and this seems to be how society does it, around me.

I read on Susan (GT)’s Art and Words blog, a pondering of what she wants to do for holidays, now that her daughter is not in her house. Her daughter would typically ask for specific holiday items/trimmings, but this year is different.

Susan says:

…The question is what do I want? The answer, I’m not sure.

What cookies do I really love to bake? What do I want to light up with lights? How many decorations do I really want to get out and set up?

What do you love to do for the holidays around your home? Share your favorite and maybe we can inspire each other to bring light as well as lightness to this dark time of year.

I was inspired to comment. Maybe you will have opinions, too. I wrote:

• I like peace and quiet, and days alone at home with my beloved Brian. I like not fussing.
• Cookies are too much work, for me. I don’t enjoy them enough to do that kind of work.
• Apple/Cranberry Crumble is easy once the apples are cut up, and there is no crust to fuss with. I make it when I am inclined to make it, not when someone decides I must bake.
• I like making soup in the crock pot which does not need watching.
• I like the strings of Christmas lights which we leave up on the windows all year, and plug in from November-March while the sun is so absent.
• I like as many one-on-one meetups with friends, over tea either at a locally owned cafe’ or at my house, as I can pull off.
• I like going on a walk with Brian after we eat our simple Christmas meal together, alone.
• I like having what we call “Thanks-Christmas” with my family, in late October, and having that be less schedule-crunching when everyone else is inviting me somewhere.
• I like “less is more” for holidays. If our tree goes, up, it’s because Brian decides to put it up. Last year we had our (1940’s silver tinsel) tree but no decorations upon it. It still bounced light around the house and made it festive.
• I think holidays are about celebrating relationship. About telling those I love that I love them, one more time.

I don’t need trappings or “traditions” to do that. I need ease, and peace, and time with people, as much as I can one at a time.