Puzzles and Pursuits.. just don't call it sudoku.

Happy Hallowe'en! My glowing pumpkin...


and conceptually:
















As you can see, I went for a somewhat nerdy theme with my pumpkin. Initially, it was to be the constellation Andromeda. I imagined what might have been the inspiration for the arrangement of stars and so drew up the princess, chained to the rocks where she was left as a sacrifice to the sea monster, Cetus. It was her mother's fault she was there - she had bragged that Andromeda's beauty eclipsed that of the immortal maidens of the sea, the Nereids, and Poseidon would have none of that. Andromeda, whose name means ruler or guardian over men, was rescued from the cliff by Zeus' son Perseus after he was finished beheading Medusa. He then married her, which probably pleased them both [and her bragging parents, too].

I think next time, a Gorillaz pumpkin might be in order.

And recently... I read patterns in coincidental events while simultaneously reducing deforestation. Amazing!
After returning from the library with armloads or totebag-fulls of books, I keep finding myself opening up books and finding they're published by Island Press. Coincidence? I'm starting to lean toward No. Maybe this is a cosmic nudge to actively seek out their books - the many quite poignant, well-written, relevant, AND contemporary ones they offer.

The ones I've looked into so far are:
- The Guide to Graduate Environmental Programs
- The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers of the 21st Century
- A Safe and Sustainable World: The Promise of Ecological Design

"This is my own trip, you understand..."

The colder weather is rolling in so I'm back to my hot tea-drinking habits. This palette of teas is pretty, no? Last night I enjoyed gazing into (and sipping) a beautiful scarlet tisane before bedtime. I think the infusion had strawberries and flowers in it.

Yesterday was a lovely Sunday afternoon bike ride around Elkridge. It's good to see that, over a period of 20 years, the routes where my Dad once rode to be 'in the country in the middle of the city' have mostly evaded suburban sprawl. The Patapsco/Rockburn park area has some great bike-riding roads, though the uphills were a bit brutal. Check out other rides listed under 'Elkridge' on Bikely for more ideas.

This weekend was also a good one for cooking, another cool-weather pastime! There's nothing like a warm, browned and fragrant something emerging from the oven. Of course, all the fresh veggies and fruits of summer are great, too - but they work more for lounging and crunching than for comfort.

Here's a recipe for a Spinach Chicken Wreath [tested and confirmed as yummy]:

Preheat Oven to 375 degF; serves 8.
Ingredients:

• 1 can/10 oz chunk white chicken (drained)
• 1/2 C red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 pkg/10 oz frozen choped spinach (thawed and drained)
• 1C shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 C mayonnaise
• 1t lemon zest
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/8 t ground nutmeg
• 2 pkg refrigerated crescent rolls (8oz each)

Directions:

• Flake chicken into a medium bowl. Add all ingredients except rolls and mix together.
• Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 16 triangles. Arrange them in a circle on a 13" round baking stone (wide edges should overlap in the center, acute-angled points toward the outside); leave a 5" diameter opening in the center.
• Scoop chicken mix evenly onto the widest end of each triangle, all the way around the circle.
• Bring the outside points up over the filling and tuck under the wide ends at center of ring; there will be filling visible through openings between crescent dough.
  
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If bottom of rolls are soggy, bake a few more minutes on bottom rack of oven [to cook without over-browning].
  

And one more, for Milk Chocolate Florentine Cookies [also confirmed delicious]:

Preheat Oven to 375 degF; makes 3 dozen cookies.
Ingredients:

• 2/3 C butter
• 2C quick oats
• 1C granulated sugar
• 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C light or dark corn syrup
• 1/4 C milk
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1/4 t salt
• 1+ 3/4 C/11.5 oz milk chocolate chips

Directions:

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan, remove from heat. Stir in all ingredients except chocolate chips and mix well.
• Drop level teaspoons of mixture on a greased baking sheet, 3 inches apart. Spread them thinly with a rubber spatula.
• Bake 5-8 minutes OR until golden brown. Cool cookies completely on sheets or wire racks.
• After the first batch comes out, microwave morsels uncovered at 70% power for 1 minute; stir. If needed, nuke at 10-15 second intervals until you get an even consistency.
• Spread chocolate onto half of the cookies, on the flat side. Top with the remaining cookies with the flat side again contacting the chocolate.
• Cool and serve or store! See Néstle's website, the finished cookies looking scrumptious.

I started knitting again. I'm going to try a simple pattern from the Japanese website, ABCs of Knitting: the 'first socks,' which will be rendered in a bulky grass green. I love how precise and thorough their website is, and I think some warm socks will do me well to foster even more cozy, indoor activities. Maybe after that, I'll try knitting in color; how to pick between intarsia, fair-isle, or stranded color knitting? This may require some reading up.

PS. Who knows who said the quote in my title? Clue: a member of Kesey's merry pranksters. Yes, I'm reading the electric kool-aid acid test.
PPS. Awesome, easy-to-follow instructions for kitchener stitch (very important in making a comfy heel!) at Knitty.

Affluenza: Treatment

Here are some poignant quotes I wanted to share from the book that started from a PBS series called Affluenza. This particular quote is from a chapter entitled, "Political Prescriptions."

"What if Americans started buying smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, driving them less and keeping them longer? What if we took fewer long-distance vacations? What if we simplified our lives, spent less money, bought less stuff, worked less, and enjoyed more leisure time? What if government began to reward thrift and punish waste, legislated shorter work hours, and taxed advertisers? What if we made consumers and corporations pay the real costs of their products? What would happen to our economy? Would it collapse, as some economists suggest?

"Truthfully, we don't know exactly, since no major industrial nation has yet embarked on such a journey.

"...But as economist Juliet Schor points out, there are many European countries (incl. Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) whose economies have grown far more slowly than our own, yet whose quality of life-- measured by many of the indicators we say we want, including free time, citizen participation, lower crime, greater job security, income-equality, health, and overall life contentment-- is higher than our own. Such economies show no sign of collapse. And their emphasis on balancing growth with sustainability is widely accepted across the political spectrum. As former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, a conservative, put it:

'It is true that the Dutch are not aiming to maximize gross national product per capita. Rather, we are seeking to attain a high quality of life, a just, participatory and sustainable society. While the Dutch economy is very efficient per working hour, the number of working hours per citizen are rather limited. We like it that way. Needless to say, there is more room for all those important aspects of our lives that are not part of our jobs, for which we are not paid and for which there is never enough time.'"