1.2 Billion Elephants

I recently watched Al Gore's most recent slideshow on global warming through the TED talks podcasts and he referenced a global contest hosted by Current and the Alliance for Climate Protection called Ecospot. After checking this out for myself I thought I would share with you the winner of the ad contest below. And if you want to see more you can go here to see the rest of the 530 entries in the Ecospot challenge.

Help Wanted- Energy Ideas!

With the life of carbon energy sources nearing an end (we may not agree on how soon, but we have started to recognize as a society that these resources are not finite), we are commissioned with the task of securing a new mode of efficient energy production.

Historically our consumer driven society has steered us in our decisions concerning our energy production and consumption, which I don’t expect this to change. There are significant instances where some of our leading corporate entities have “manufactured” a cultural shift, resulting in a significant change in how we do something, for the economic benefit of that company or industry. One such example of this is General Motors acquisition and decommissioning of the California electric commuter train system from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. This, along with the former president of GM working as the Transportation Secretary under Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950’s, is a majority reason for the overabundance of petrol powered transportation in the United States in spite of having had a cleaner more efficient transportation infrastructure already in place.

Getting back to the purpose of the this article, because we have seen corporations, government, and political lobbyists steer our world in directions that may have benefited personal pocket books more than possibly the general good of society, health, ecology, and earth I am interested to see what we as the individuals of our society feel are the best “next steps” in our need for energy production. This discussion does not need to be limited to the transportation industry, or any industry for that matter. I want to hear all ideas, such as possible resources, methods, infrastructure, usage, conservation. If you had an open invitation to walk into the main offices of the energy company, government, transportation manufacturers, and the individual homes of our world’s citizens, what ideas would you present?

If you’re strongly opinionated about this topic, but don’t have any idea where to start check out a few of these links and articles below to help formulate your own ideas on the possible solutions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_development

great wiki about several energy resources available to us today with pros and cons of each

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/apr/19/energy.ethicalliving

article in the UK Guardian on towns that are already transitioning into oil free communities!

http://www.transitiontowns.org/

Oil Free community info website

The Quest for the Holy 100% Whole Wheat Loaf

Okay here it is, I've done it! After reading this post over a month ago I was inspired... no, challenged to take on the task of finding, or formulating a light, flavorful, nutritious 100% whole wheat loaf. Like many who had read this and then bumped into the author on the street I was never compelled, to her dislike, to post a comment to her blog.

I admit, this is mostly because everytime I would try out a new method or recipe, it flopped (figuratively and literally sometimes). My ego would not let me air my misfortune. I have to say however several of my frankenstein creations tasted really good, in spite of their grotesque brick like resemblance.

Finally I was able to experiment with a long fermentation of a starter (biga or poolish, I don't remember which it would most resemble). It is actually an adaptation from Jim Lahey’s recipe found in an article a friend of mine sent me from the New York Times.

His method is pretty cool but I think it is more tailored to a white bread flour and not 100% Whole Wheat as my first try would have made a nice cornerstone in an old Victorian Style home, but tasted AMAZING!

I brought my water content up near 50% on the second round and was much happier with the moisture in the mix. This is where I made a bold decision. I've been wanting to utilize milk in a recipe as I read that it aides in the rising process, without giving the bread the flavor of corrugated cardboard like when adding Wheat Gluten. I knew however if I substituted milk for water in Jim's recipe I'd have a stinky unhealthy curdled milk mush in my kitchen after 24 hours of sitting around. So I decided to combine my Whole Wheat "starter", which had been fermenting for about 48 hours at 70 degrees, with another "Milk Bread" recipe I got out of a great book from the Library called the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book (A guide to Whole Grain Breadmaking)

So without any further ado....here's the 411

Starter
3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast (Yep that's all)
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp Salt
3 cups Warm Water
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 3 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be almost runny, I'd say a bowl of mush. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 24 hours, preferably about 48, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

The Day Of - Dough
2 cups fresh whole milk (if this came from the Colorado Grown cow it would be amazing!)
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp active dry yeast
6 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tbsp cool butter

Scald milk and cool to lukewarm (use an ice bath in a big pot). Stir in honey while cooling milk (start this right after you place pan of milk in ice bath so honey will dissolve better in the warmth).
Dissolve yeast in the warm water.
Measure flour and salt into a large bowl and stir together lightly. When milk is cooled down to same temp. as warm water mix the two liquids together. Make a well in the flour and pour liquids into it. Stir from center outward, until all the flour is mixed in, making a stiff dough.

*Here's where things get interesting*
Add the 48 hour preferment to the new dough and knead for about 15 minutes without adding more flour. (The dough is going to be very wet and sticky so keep a bowl of water handy for your hands, and I even used it to keep the dough from sticking too bad to the counter I was working on)

After 15 minutes knead in the butter in bits, continuing to work the dough until it is silky.

I put the dough glob into an ungreased bowl (the larger the better this makes 3 loaves) and covered with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 1.5 hours, but be careful, my bowl was a little too small and the runny dough started to expand over the sides.

After 1.5 hours I gently punched it down and took a shortcut by skipping a second rise and went ahead and split the dough into three pieces and plopped them into my pans. (I found by accident it didn't make much of a difference if these were greased or not, 2 were, 1 was not)

I proofed these for another hour but probably could have gone with 45 minutes because one loaf began to pour over the sides of the pan. I gently nudged the doughs back within the sides of their pans and put them into a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour.

These turned out wonderful, high rise, flavor like I have never tasted, a well structured crumb (at least according to my likes), and a decent carmelized crust. I think that skipping the second rise made the open air pockets in the bread a little bigger than they would have been otherwise, but they were still rather uniform and didn't affect the breads ability to hold together too much, but I think next time it would be worth investing the extra time in a second rise.

Bike week 2008

Today kicked off Ride Your Bike to Work Week. This annual event is promoted by the League of American Bicyclists, which has been advocating bike travel since its inception in 1880 when it was first known as the League of American Wheelmen.

An interesting quick fact, the League of American Wheelmen is noted for spearheading the The Good Roads Movement in the late 1800's which eventually led to the development of our National Highway System.

Another interesting fact, the initial funding for The Good Roads Movement came in part from the Agriculture Appropriation Act of 1894.

So as you pedal your way to work this week wave to the local farmers and ranchers and maybe push your velo over to the Weathervane Farm and show your appreciation to our agricultural partners for smooth paved roads by purchasing some of their delicious happy chicken eggs. Or better yet sign on with their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to ensure your kitchen has a continuous weekly suupply of fresh produce straight from your local farm.

"But Brian, I've never commuted by bike before and I'm worried about trying it for the first time", you say. Well here are some resources on kicking off your first Bike to Work Week.

The Hows, Why's, and Simple Pleasures of the Two-Wheeled Commute
A pamphlet from the League of American Bicyclists with lot's of helpful tips

Commute By Bike
This link will take you to an index of helpful commuting articles, everything from riding at night to not showing up for work looking like you just came off the set of flash dance (if you don't get the reference that means you're too young and I'm officially too old)

Below are a couple of other links on the topic



bikecommuters.com


bikecommute.com


There is really a plethora of information and fun stories on the topic of bike commuting that can be found on the web. The best thing I think that can be done to start riding your bike is to do it with a friend or coworker. Bike to work week is a great opportunity to join together and try something new, or for those who are already enjoying getting from point A to B without cranking up the combustion engine, take this opportunity to share the experience with someone you know. 30% of people who try Bike to Work Week/Day are hooked the very first day. That must mean it's a good thing.

I know I've really enjoyed it. Give it a try, you just might find a new interest in your life.


And if you need some local story info you can review two of my other posts listed here

"Why I LOVE commuting by bike"

"Life on two wheels"

Where are you going so fast?

Most things taste better with time. I've come to see the truth in this as I become more and more involved in an artisan lifestyle. Investing extra time in things like the rising of dough, allowing the yeast to transform otherwise undetectable molecules into fantastic creations of flavorful tastebud stimulants. Or the aging of an enlightened monk's malted creation for a thirst quenching experience of perfectly melded simpleton ingredients. Or the anticipation of late summer meals made with fresh garden ingredients we planted last month.

There are however exceptions to the requirement of adding time to your list of ingredients. For example, the 40 minute hamburger buns I am working on right now (seen above before baking). This is a meal saving recipe I found on recipezaar.com that turned out surprisingly good despite cutting out the usual rise time required of traditional bun making recipes (for those who don't bake, the time allowed for dough to rise/ferment plays a crucial roll (pun intented) in the quality of flavor in your baked good). The substitute for flavor inducing fermentation (have I mentioned how much I love yeast!) is some other highly flavorful ingredient, in this case it's sugar. In others it may be salt or some other mouth party guest, like added fat, which is the main purveyor of flavor in the food world- big reason Crisco was so popular when I was a kid. These supplements can be a respectable substitute in a pinch, but only once in a while.

The problem however is that over time these additives to our food and our lives (metaphorically speaking) begin to take a toll on our health, both physically and mentally. The shortcuts we take to cram every ounce of pleasure out of our short finite lives begin to degrade our well being. This in turn reinforces our drive to cram even more into our file cabinet of sensory overload in hopes of living our lives to the fullest. In the end some of these shortcuts pay of and the rest will just pile up in a heap of "been there, done that, give me 2 egg McMuffins w/ cheese so I won't be late for the job I got myself into, so I can sit in a small corner of a building clawing my way towards a 5% annual pay increase in order to pretend I'm on a stable track to retirement so that I can waste my youth ensuring I won't have to turn around when I'm 75 and supplement my dwindling social security "benefit" by microwaving some up and coming corporate climber's, McD's breakfast "sandwich" so he won't be late for the meeting some other mindless mokey could have filled in for.

Getting to my point, evaluate what it is you mean to accomplish, make sure it is really all that valuable to you, and give yourself the time to properly enjoy the process of obtaining that delectable creation.

But in conclusion, I am reminded as I pause from rambling to stoke the charcoal grill with some chemical, flavor altering, petroleum based lighter fluid, there will be pleanty of instances where a reasonable shortcut is justified in order to get the "burgers off the grill at the same time as your 40 minute buns come out of the oven".

Knowing where it comes from

Jody and I have begun for the first time to grow our own food, well some of our own food. A few weeks ago we ordered some seeds and transplants from the Seed Savers Exchange. SSE is an invaluable resource for maintaining a living collection of hierloom varieties of plants, both flowers and vegetables. Many of these varieties have beautifully unique shapes and colors as well as wonderfully variable flavors from the dumbed down, nitrogen ripened grocery store varieties. It's crazy how much of the food I've been eating until recently is lacking of so much natural flavor. Even if you can't grow your own, try to visit a farmer's market this summer and taste the captivating flavors of fresh, homegrown, local produce. It will change how you look at your food choices, you might even eat more vegies!

So, Jody and I have started to grow Sweet Genovese Basil, Purple Dark Opal Basil, Cilantro, Calabrese Broccoli, Monnopa Spinach, Yellow Borettana Onion, Cracoviensis Lettuce, and Rooster Spur Peppers. All of these started as little seeds about 2 weeks ago and have all broken the surface as of today. In addition we had 3 varieties of tomato transplants sent to us- Amish Paste (for tomato sauce), Mexico Midget (tasty little snackers), and Brandywine-Sudduth's Strain (for slicin' on burgers). All of these little puppies have finally started growing in size, even though we were worried at first that the Brandywine wasn't doing so hot. I've got to say (although I don't have any experience with it yet) it's kind of like raising little children. Although everything that I've seen shows that you can't just stick your kids in the window and squirt them with water from time to time and hope they grow up normal. But we'll keep an eye on these little guys and hopefully in a few months Jody and I can eat our green/purple/red younglings in culinary bliss. Stay tuned.