Eater's Digest | Can You Drink this Cup?

Can You Drink this Cup?
By Tomoko

Have you ever heard of Kopi Luwak? It's the latest buzz amongst the most discriminating of coffee connoisseurs. I've yet to try it but the manner in which this “special” blend is prepared is what is fascinating. A Civet, described as a small, lithe-bodied, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa eats coffee cherries and the seeds which is what is used as the actual coffee bean. The matter is half digested and excreted. Farmers then pick up the excrement, find the beans, clean them then roast them to what is transformed into one of the most expensive coffees in the world. According to Kopi Luwak lovers, the digestion process is what gives it a very sweet and mild taste.

Port Rico a coffee shop in the West Village neighborhood of NYC stocks the coffee for $250 - $340 per pound. For those on a budget, smaller quantities such as 1/8 lbs. are available as well.

If this did not pique your sense of adventure when it comes to matters caffeine, there is another exotic coffee blend, "Black Ivory" masterfully produced by the Thai Elephant. The cost is approximately $1000 for 2.2lbs. Allegedly, the enzymes in the elephant’s digestive system helps break down the protein of the coffee which is what is believed to be responsible for bitterness. The elephants must consume 33 kilos (66 lbs) of coffee berries to produce 1 kilo (2.2lbs) of product. From as best as I can gather, "Black Ivory" isn't available in the United States yet, but is offered at select luxury hotels in Thailand, Maldives and Abu Dhabi.

For those who cannot afford the hefty price tag of a trip to the Maldives, perhaps a stroll through the Bronx Zoo to collect elephant dung when no one is looking is a practical solution.

Eater's Digest | If You Want Fresh Foods, Just Look Up

If You Want Fresh Foods, Just Look Up

By: Tomoko

Do you know that there are many rooftop farms sprouting up all over New York City and surrounding boroughs?

 

 

 

Brooklyn Grange, one of the forerunners, had its first rooftop farm in Long Island City in Queens. Now, has a second farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The grange covers a total 2.5 acres on two buildings, and they grow more than 50,000 pounds of organic food annually. In addition,  they also have chicken coops and more than 30 beehives on their rooftops. Brooklyn Grange developed its first farm in 2010 with a $200K start up of (personal loans, equity investments, fundraising, and Kickstarter.com), lo and behold, they profited that same year.
 

inhabitat.com

 

Brooklyn Grange
Ángel Franco/The New York Times

 

Enjoying the harvest and wine at Brooklyn Grange
onegirltwowineglasses.com

 

 

While Brooklyn Grange operates during the summer time. There is another rooftop farm called Gotham Green in Green Point, Brooklyn. They have hydroponic greenhouse, making them productive 365 days, and they grow bok choy, basil and oak leaf lettuce, and sell to retailers like Whole Foods and FreshDirect. Many quality conscious restaurants and health/environmentally conscious supermarkets choose to buy their products because of availability of fresh products throughout the year, and also their ability to deliver the products no matter what – since they are in NYC!. When the East Coast was hit by the last hurricane, those city farmers were the only ones who could deliver the goods to the restaurants as soon as the weather cleared. If you look at where your fresh foods come from (avocado from California, grapes from Chile, garlics from China, etc), you wonder how much of the food cost is actually the transportation cost. But for the city farmers, including those 2 farms mentioned above, all they had to do is to cross the bridge by bicycle. Talking about fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness, this is the future of the city farming. And they are financially sound for they are expanding rapidly.

 

 

 

 Gotham Green in Green Point, Brooklyn

Not only does the rooftop agriculture benefit the local food scene, it provides education and employment opportunities, it also benefits their landlord. By putting soil on top of the building and having greens grown on the rooftop, it reduces the temperature of the building significantly in the summertime, and reduces the AC bills drastically. Plus, the landlord also makes money from renting out the rooftop, often time 5-10 year lease, from which they never thought they would make money off of decades ago.

A city-owned food dis­tri­b­u­tion hub in Hunt’s Point, Bronx is also being planned to develop its 200,000-square-foot rooftop. When the project is complete, the location will become the largest rooftop farm, not only in the United States, but in the world. Not only Queens and Brooklyn, the Bronx has many box type buildings and rooftop farm candidates. As of 2012, the Bronx already had 13 rooftop farms and there are many being developed as we speak.

So when you need a respite in some green in the city, if you lift your eyes up, you may not be so far from one of those city oasis and some fresh tomatoes.

Eater's Digest | On Food Allergy

On Food Allergy
By Tomoko

Many lay claim to suffering from food allergies.  I question if every case is an actual food allergy or if some cases are psychosomatic.  My brother-in-law cannot eat certain types of fish. When he ingested some by accident, he almost ended up in the emergency room because his respiratory system became inflamed and he could not breathe.  While we might blame pollution, pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, and many other toxins which come in contact with our food, I am led to believe that some cases of food allergy are psychological.

I remember reading an article written by a mother with a small child who experienced a devastating earthquake in the 90s, in Kobe, Japan.  Due to the state of emergency, the city was shut down.  Residents in that region had no other option but to rely on emergency food and water supplied by the rescue mission.  The mother had a choice to make.  Her son allegedly had a severe food allergy.  She used to prepare special meals for him meticulously eliminating certain ingredients that were believed to trigger his allergies.  In the midst of catastrophe, she had to decide whether to risk his experiencing food allergies caused by the emergency food provided by the rescue mission or starve him to death.  She chose to feed him. He showed no signs of an allergic reaction to any of the food he ate.  She wondered whether her son’s allergic reaction was psychological, whether she planted a seed of fear in him and whether or not his body was simply obeying what his mind was led to believe.

People in war-torn countries or poverty stricken nations where the daily fight for survival is a way of life never worry about food allergies nor are they concerned about prescriptions for anti-depressants or sleeping pills.  They don't have time for that luxury.  Nonetheless, I notice those who live in relatively advanced societies where citizens can enjoy prolonged peace tend to create problems for themselves.

I know a mother who used to take so many anti-whatever medications for years, but she weaned herself off of everything when her son had a car accident and became wheel chair bound for life. When her focus was shifted from chemical and/or emotional imbalance to becoming a full time caregiver for her disabled son, all her “severe conditions” miraculously disappeared.

I am not by any means attempting to suggest that food allergies or other illnesses that require pharmaceutical interventions do not exist, but I believe that before one decides to self-diagnose, one should examine whether we are just creating health problems to keep us busy and distracted.

Every food on earth was originally created to nourish us. Rice and wheat have been around and have sustained civilizations for centuries.  So have meat, fish and everything else considered edible that grows from the earth.   I believe we should support environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture.  I support such efforts wholeheartedly.  Of equal importance however is our attitude toward food. Instead of putting fear in every spoonful of whatever we eat, perhaps if we pour over our gratitude and love to all the fruits of the earth, our body might react with joy.  It's possible that when “fear” is replaced with “gratitude” what might seem to be an allergic reaction might disappear, because as they say “Perfect love casts out fear”.

Gender Notions:"What She Said"

 

Gender Notions: "What She Said"
By Dalia Gonzalez

 

Recently I was reading a magazine profile on Mia Farrow and halfway through the article, it delved into the Woody Allen situation with Farrow's daughters. It was  jarring at first that the article switched focus in the middle of this amazing article on this intelligent activist who is doing things separate from this event in her own life. It was borderline sad that this author felt he needed to bring up the past. And these weren't even the brightest moments of this family's past.

 

The focus on Dylan Farrow's numerous testimony and conversations over the years about what happened made me think of how America, as a society, doesn't take what women say at face value. A few days before the Academy Awards this year, when Woody Allen was receiving a lifetime achievement award, the media was again talking about the allegations and court time. And immediately, people on social networks everywhere were quick to come to Allen's side, saying they hoped it wasn't true and how sad and shocking it was to hear about this all over again.

 

I wrote recently about my hair and how people always wanted to know when I was going to let it grow out. And that's so low on the problematic scale. Like when a woman says she doesn't plan for children or marriage, the first response is usually "you'll change your mind." A friend of mine was told by her mother that just having a job wasn't good enough for women anymore. That instead, they must also want a family of their own and a partner through it all to be considered a true adult woman. Women everywhere have their emotions dismissed as her "time of the month" and her decisions as a "change of her mind." Never mind that the male body also goes through a hormone cycle as well. Never mind that the woman has probably been agonizing over her decision for days if not months or years. Whatever she just said isn't a real answer. This becomes problematic when the extremes are taken: when "no" cannot mean "no" as long as a woman is saying it. People raised to believe women are flighty and forgetful of very serious matters will slowly begin to ignore every example of a woman making a decision and override it.

 

In Dylan Farrow's case, she was forced to re-live moments she would have preferred to forget, because the doctors and lawyers examining her and her case were slow to believe that her story had any foundation to it. This is a ridiculous example, if only because this case pitted Farrow's word against Allen's, and if the professionals were going to be so quick to ignore a complete side of the case, a fair trial and examination of events would never occur.

 

But this sort of thing happens to women every day. More than half of sexual assault cases go unreported every year, and at least a third of those that are reported come forward despite the fact that our society is so quick to blame the victim for the crime instead of the perpetrator. Our society's "rape culture" as it has been coined, is systematically silencing our women and robbing them of their authority and their words of its power; forcing these secrets into the closet, where they don't help anyone, and for some women, eat away at their confidence later in life.

 

We like to pretend that the world we live in is brimming with equality and that anyone who doesn't realize how good they have it is otherwise ungrateful. The discussion on privilege that is exploding from Princeton student Tal Fortgang's essay/rant on people telling him to check his privilege prove that.
 

We need to channel our penchant to dismiss women as flighty into actively trusting in them. It's a vicious circle when a woman fears speaking up because people will lash out, dismiss her, or blame her instead of helping. Less women will be inclined to step forward in the future. And we move further from the equality that we really need to move forward as humanity. Let's second guess ourselves next time we hear about a woman stepping forward with something that might be ugly to hear, or that affects solely her life as decided by her. Because the reverse leads to less justice for the world at large, not just half our population.

Eater's Digest | Food for my Soul

Food for my Soul

By Tomoko

 

Many equate food with the tangible edibles, but there is another source of nourishment that comes from within, a nourishment that feeds our souls.  When we are in the midst of a traumatic storm, sometimes forgiveness is difficult to achieve.

I have shared the story my girlfriend who was gang raped as a teenager and left her hometown twenty years ago. Two years ago, the man who orchestrated the gang rape, her boyfriend at the time contacted her.  Of course she was in shock.

My friend was a beautiful girl who has grown into a beautiful woman. Everyone was attracted to her.  At the time, he thought that she was cheating and out of jealousy, he paid other men to attack her.

Twenty years later, this man contacted her. First via email then by telephone which led to a conversation. He said “Maybe you don’t remember me anymore”, she replied “Of course I remember you”.  He shared “After what I did, I have been consumed with guilt. My life has been a mess. My whole family fell apart. I could not do anything. I could not keep my job nor find a new one. I have been miserable and I have no life here.  I want to move to a neighboring country looking for a better opportunity, but they don’t want to give me a visa.”

Then he said “Please forgive me. If you could, I would like to receive your forgiveness.”

She experienced fits of rage for a few days, of course this interaction was traumatic and brought up triggers. After the brutal attack, she had a hard time trusting men, and many failed painful relationships, including a difficult divorce she was just coming out of.

The repercussions of the event were still very much with her even after 20 years.

After much crying, praying and fasting, she somehow found the strength to forgive him. She called him back, and told him that she forgave him. She also spoke blessing over his life, and prayed with him and for him that a new door of opportunity would open for him so that he could start a new life with a clean slate. She also asked him to protect young girls if he ever encountered any who were in danger of such assaults. He promised her that he would.

A few months later, she received another phone call from him. He told her that immediately after she granted him forgiveness, a visa was issued from the nation he was hoping to move to.  He moved, got a job, and thanked her again for her forgiveness.

An unwillingness to forgive and guilt can create shackles and chains in our lives, but forgiveness can set people free.  Sometimes, it is not about who is right and who is wrong.  Victim or villain, whichever part we have played, we can both be hurt, shackled and chained by the experience.

My daily prayer has been that God will search my heart and reveal to me if there is anyone I need to forgive, if I have offended anyone and need to ask forgiveness, and even if I need to forgive myself.

So how does this entry tie into the “Food” blog?  It's important to understand that nourishment is not just a tangible item we place in our bodies, there is also the spiritual nourishment we give our souls that is sometimes overlooked but just as important as a malnourished soul often influences how we treat ourselves.  Part of loving ourselves is taking care of ourselves, and it's an inside job.  If we don't take care of the inside then it's possible we also make poor choices in terms of what tangibles we choose from the outside to put into our bodies.

The story of how my girlfriend was able to overcome her trauma and find forgiveness was not only an inspiration of great strength, faith and character but also food for my soul.

KIDZ ART STOP | Welcome

Welcome to the Kidz Art Stop a place that will inspire visual communication and development with a playful fun factor for the child and adult. This monthly article will include fun activities for the home, classroom, park, play ground or family vacation. Our focus at Kidz Art Stop is literacy and the arts, stimulating the child’s thinking while they explore and learn creatively.

Have you ever seen a child smooth finger paint over a sheet of paper with both hands and pull their fingertips through the paint to make squiggles, shapes and lines? Or observed a child happily coloring and exploring with crayons? If so, you have seen the concentration on these children’s faces, and the joyful expressions of art explored. You have witnessed creative art in process!!

Creating art expands the child’s ability to interact with the world around them, and provides a new set of skills for self-expression and communication. Not only does art help to develop the right side of the brain, it also cultivates important skills that benefit a child’s development.

Art may seem like fun and games… and yes it is!... but you may not realize that your child is actually learning a lot through exploring the arts and doing art activities. While at creative play they are picking up these skills:

 

Communication skills                                            Cognitive Development

Problem-Solving Skills                                          Decision Making

Social & Emotional Skills                                      Visual Learning

Motor Skills                                                           Inventiveness

Self-Expression and Creativity                              Cultural Awareness

Language Development                                        Improved Academic Performance

 

 

When kids are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives. Through self-expression and creativity, children’s skills will develop naturally, and their ability to create soar. Art is a process, not a product so it’s the process that brings great rewards!!

We all know children love to play, love imagination, and love to create stories, so here at Kidz Art Stop we have created wonderful projects that incorporate imagination, storytelling and creative play. This month’s reading pick and project is inspired Richard Kidd’s book “Almost Famous Daisy” and the Grand Painting Competition…A wonderful story filled with imagination, creativity and adventure.

 

Synopsis and review:

Kidd, R. (1996). Almost famous Daisy. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Almost Famous Daisy is a story about a little girl and her dog Duggie, who travels the world in search of inspiration for her art. She wants to create art that is so great that it'll win a contest she is going to enter. While traveling, she becomes inspired by some of the things that inspired some of the greats (van Gogh, Monet, Chagall, and Pollock). She travels all over the world painting and when she finally returns home she ends up painting her parents, Duggie her dog, and her room. Daisy realizes her most favorite inspirational things were at home. This book is very interesting and holds children's attention. I recommend it to everyone from teachers to parents to child care providers. I found it very useful to help teach geography and history of art to small children.
 

Art Project:

After reading the story, discuss the book and share some of your favorite things and have the child share some of their favorite things (table talk – communication). Have the child make a list and tell you why these are some of their favorites (self-expression). Have the child pick a few of their favorites and paint them while talking about why they are so special (motor-skills, creativity, language development). Allow them to use their imagination and play with colors and shapes (decision making, cognitive development, hand-eye coordination). Before you know it, the child is telling you a story about their favorite things while illustrating the visuals. There is no right or wrong to this project. Let us not forget… Art is a process, not a product so it’s the process that brings great rewards!!

Supplies needed:

Gather supplies and allow the child to choose the tools they would like to use (decision making and control). Remind the child to sign and date all artwork. A Master always signs a finish product.

Watercolor paints  -  paintbrush - White paper  -  Crayons – pencil – eraser

And most importantly…. Art is Life so Live it Creatively!!!

For videos on children’s art classes and projects you can go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ArtByMia1?feature=watch

You can also visit my website at www.artsbymia.com

Email: artbymamamia[at]yahoo.com

Article written by Mia Roman founder of Art By Mia.

©ArtByMia

Gender Notions: XXs and You're Out

Gender Notions: XXs and You're Out
By Dalia Gonzalez

I've mentioned before how men have different privileges when it comes to society's perceptions. Trans men have spoken out about how their transition highlighted their male privilege in places where women are often told to grow up or shut up. Trans men have noted they were given "the floor" faster and with more frequency as men than before their transition. As ciswomen in the workplace, stars like Rashida Jones, Mindy Kaling, and even polarizing high power feminists Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg have mentioned it was hard to get heard or even noticed in male dominated spaces. Sandberg's philosophy for women to work harder at their jobs has come under heavy fire in recent months. Society says it's accepting of all genders, but isn't as reflective of the radical change when you look at statistics.


Recently there was a story about gay men being ostracized in the same manner as straight women. Sometimes they are also told they aren't "man enough" or haven't "grown up ". I can't help but wonder if this relates to the way women are treated with less consideration in the workplace. What is so polarizing about the "fairer sex"? The wonder of being able to bring life into the world? The way women's bodies and internal organs are altered and pushed aside to accommodate that new life? The hormone fluctuations under no control of their own? Their greater pain threshold? It certainly can't be physical; the idea that women aren't as physically strong can be debunked by any visit to a weightlifting contest, and wouldn't explain why gay men are ostracized in the same sense. Perhaps it's related to their attraction to men?


It's a great thing that Jason Collins and Michael Sam are doing their parts to pave the way in ultra-hetero macho sports for other LGBTQIA persons. I can already see the change in acceptance and tolerance happening in other sports news, and Russia's anti-gay laws bought about much more outspokenness in the LGBTQIA community and I applaud that. But in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a "dress up doll" of Vladmir Putin has shown up online where the clothing options are things like high heels, feather boas, and glittering diamonds. It's an interesting choice that hasn't gone unnoticed online and I'm certainly not the only one to notice the connection between dressing this doll in stereotypical drag clothes and how that's supposed to be funny in a humiliating way because men dressed as women or presenting more feminine is "hilarious".


People often talk about how women won't be liberated until men are. At first it seems like malarkey. Straight, white, cismen are among the largest privileged group we have. But even in 2014 interracial couples are still being racially targeted. Men who choose to dress similar to that dress up game are ostracized. We created the term "metrosexual" so hetero men would feel okay with skincare, fashion, and even basic personal hygiene because apparently we've gone so extreme that men can't shave without their masculinity being insulted.

And so things are changing, albeit slowly, and I'd love if these changes cultivate a new culture where everyone brings discussions like these out in the open and analyzes them.


March 8th is International Women's Day. In celebrating women, let's celebrate us all.