Really appreciating a certain somebody right about now-

What if there were Seed Bomb Vending machines?

 Long live guerrilla urban gardening! *Danaher

A Dead Mouse.

I get a call from Tash this morning asking that I close the garage for her and give some water to Yoda (our new friend-her dog from home).  Meanwhile, I was working away (blogging) in my room. I walk outside to the hallway to quickly close the garage, and as I walk further down-I see an even newer friend.

A dead mouse!

If you did not know already, I am ridiculously afraid of mice, rats, any rodents really. I scream, I shout, and I run back into my room.  Ironically, I am the only one home. I call Tash back and tell her to come straight back home, get upset that she left me alone, and now there is a dead mouse, etc. She calms me down, and waits while I put on a pair of big boots, and attempt to head to the kitchen to grab a bowl to cover it.

I couldn't even do this! I start crying, and completely break-down. I try to calm myself down and do it again. Fail. So I call my Prince-in-Shining-Armour, thank goodness he is home. He comes over and takes care of the situation, wipes away my tears and makes me feel all better.
  
Yoda you are the best, get another one!
But, you wanna do this when I am NOT home?

Yoga was never meant for Women-

Alice in Wonderland

A close-up.

     I really love practical jokes. In this case, the opportunity just presented itself really-

     We had just made it home from studying at Perg. (in my opinion an Anarchist Cafe-Noah would kill me for saying this, but-) and in the wee hours we began to scheme.

Art and its Artist, Noah.

     

      Unfortunately, the only housemate that was not home had to bear our shenanigans, and she did not like it too much. 

      Originally, we were going to switch the salt and the sugar, then we were going to have the cream cheese disappear (which would be just relocating it.)

Normal sized bed in the foreground.

    None of this happened, instead Noah grabs the wrench and starts taking apart her bed..

      We end up taking it entirely apart, hide the pieces, fold the sheets and make a new one. We figured when she got back, it would be as if she had just taken a shrinking pill, yikes-Alice in Wonderland.

      The new bed was made of clothes pins and looked pretty sheik. Lesson learner, not everybody likes practical jokes as much as I do. 

La Lucha Sigue, Sigue

*Dignidad Rebelde, Artist Melanie Cervantes- whose work I am obsessing over.  This piece, La Lucha Sigue, Sigue relates to Mexico's historical struggle-

1810 Mexico declares Independence from Spain.

1910 Indigenas take on a major role in the Revolution against    the new power in Mexico.

2010 ¡Zapata vive, vive, la lucha sigue, sigue!

Represented in the artwork is Emiliano Zapata, yep, as in Zapatistas (EZLN-Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional.) The revolutionary (guerrilla) leader who has inspired many Xicana/os in taking a stand for land rights and to show people how the people could defend themselves from such tyranny of given corrupt governments. 

Zapata fought, and played a major role in the land redistributed among the poor (as the goal of the Plan de Ayala).

I got wine poured on my leg this weekend.
Hopefully, it won't stain.
Yay.

Pinochet, Romero y Somoza  

Son la misma cosa.

The tea-pot broke!

Pride

There is one person that makes just about everything in life so fricken difficult.
I follow your blog, and sometimes it makes me cry.
I never tell you this.

I am so proud of you-
I am also frustrated by you-

My stomach hurts when we laugh-
My stomach feels good when we cook-

You peel my pomelos,
And I wish I could tuck you in every night.

You know who you are, and you know why you are that person.
You are dark and twisted, and you'll be my kid's Madrinha (God-Momma).
We both just want the best for each-other,
and it sucks caring about somebody so much.

Well you know what-
I am sick and tired of you!
Come home already.

I want to give you a hug, and a squeeze.
Because everything is going to be ok.

Morning Delight.

Woke up this morning,
Snuggled beneath the blankets.
Made coffee and tea.
Toast with honey-butter.
Sat in one chair and rocked-
People passed by,
Rocking, and sipping:
While we told their life stories.
The end.

Coconut Samoa Cookies [Vegan]

      Heyo, Happy Easter.  The day that Jesus was resurrected? Today is quite an interesting one,  I am Jewish and I also don't eat eggs-but I still want to decorate stuff!

Adapted from the adapted recipe: these are Vegan Samoa cookies that will tickle your taste buds > super yummy with a cup of warmed  Rice Milk.


Original Recipe:
   Makes about 2 dozen.

2 C. grated unsweetened coconut

1/3 C. unrefined coconut oil (melted)

1 1/2 C. brown sugar

1/3 C. non-dairy milk

1 T ground flaxseed

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 C. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda + salt

Altered Recipe:

   Makes 3 dozen.

1 C. grated coconut

1/3 C unrefined coconut oil (melted)

3/4 C. raw turbinado sugar

1 1/2 C. granola

1 1/2 C. whole wheat flour

1 C. rice milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. baking soda + salt

Mix up the dry ingredients, meanwhile melt the coconut oil (double burner style). I made mine make-shift style, took a bowl and fit it over a pot, and boil! 

Crunch up the granola and add on in.

Mix up all of the ingredients, until it is smooth and tastey. Refridgerate for a half an hour, and try and keep it away from your housemates. . .

Lay out parchment paper and spoon them out.

Meanwhile preheat the over 350 degrees and you will be baking them for about 13 minutes. 

Start up the double burner again and melt chocolate chips or bar (enough to dip and drizzle your cookies with).

Let the cookies cool, and then dip them half way and place back on the parchment paper.

Enjoy with a cup of warmed rice milk?  

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day Y'all!

Today is the International Earth Day, and UCSC's Earth Summit. 

Finally the planning, stress, nightmares shall end and we can simply celebrate the goodness of the land.

In recent news, the country of Bolivia gives the same rights to trees and as it does it's citizens, talk about a step in progress-

Bolivia, the small South American country is spearheading a UN Treaty which would give 'Gaia' the same rights as humans-afterall, corporations have the rights already-

To read the full article!

Organic and Local

Does it matter whether an heirloom tomato is local and organic if it was harvested with slave labor? -Eric, Schlosser, Fast Food Nation

Dear Diary,

Dear Diary,

I had a horrible nightmare last night.

I was making art in a grocery store, and I got arrested.
Then, I was deported from Brazil and that's when the real shit went down.

Joyce Rice was in my dream too.
She actually put me in center where I would 'get fixed'.
It was a year long program, and I had no choice, why was this-I do not know.

So much for my planning;
Graduate in three years,
Thesis research in Honduras-
Earth Summit-
LALS midterm, I don't think so-
Special guy in my life, there was no warning.
Family, it was as if I no longer existed- you even rented out my room back home.

A year later comes and finally I am released-
It is exactly a year later, and I have had no contact with a single soul.
No pay phone calls, snail mail, visitors-I have been erased.
They bring me to the San Rafael Bus Depot, where I just sit.
I transport to West Cliff, where I go on a walk-since nobody knows me and anybody that does won't talk to me.
I try and pick up my life again-with a grand fail.

I tried to mend friendships that had been abandoned like a desert.
My best friends don't even make eye contact,
My boo is with another and despises me for leaving without even a note.
No one talks to me.

I was scared by everything that moved.
I was envious of everyone that lived.

I got scared by a caterpillar today.
Seriously?

Stuffed Mushrooms [Vegan]

Party favorite for sure. I would right off the bat suggest that you double this recipe-they go fast.

The original recipe I used was from Juliana, one of my housemates-I altered it some...



 Original:

- Baby Bella Mushrooms

- Olive Oil

- Balsamic Vinegar

- Bread crumbs

- Onions

- Cheese

- Walnuts

Altered:
- 15-20 Baby Bella Mushrooms
- 1/2 Onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 T Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 chunk of ginger
- 2 T Nutritional Yeast (cheese substitute)
- 1 C. fresh made bread-crumbs (about 3 pieces)
- 2 T. Oregano
- Olive oil (enough to cook with)
- 1 tsp. Salt.
- Handful of raisins
-1/4 c. finely chopped walnuts
- Sesame seeds.

Add in a shake of Nooch, a pinch of salt, and about three slices of preferably stale bread-if it is really stale, add in a T of water. Mix in the food processor or blender and set in a bowl (big enough for all of the filling.

Wash all of the mushrooms, getting out dirt and other worldly things. Chop up the onion, mince the garlic, and set to the side.

Take a paring knife and cut out the stems of the mushrooms, cutting a little bit in more, to allow space for more stuffing.

Wash them again, and let them dry.

Warm the skillet with some Olive Oil. Add in the ginger and allow it to soak up.

Add in the garlic, and take out the ginger (not too many people like it go figure..)

Add the onions and let it do it's magic.

Chop up the stems, grab the oregano, raisins and sesame seeds, and add them in .

Once it is about ready (close to five minutes) add in the Balsamic Vinegar, allow to cook away some.

Add the sauteed yummies to the bread-crumb bowl and mix it all up.

Place your mushrooms on a cookie sheet, or glass dish (it doesn't matter, I tried both.)

Fill the shroomies by spoonful. 

The oven should be preset to 375 degrees, and you will cook them for about 10-15 minutes. 

Add on the nuts before you put them in and that's it. 

When they are ready, they should be nice and toasty on top.

Some future changes:
 - Double the recipe.
 - More raisins.
 - Sweet potato

I found the afikomen!

Passover

If the beginning of Passover wasn't exciting enough: t-minus sun-down. .  .
Stephen Colbert dedicated his episode to the Jews!

So if you had any questions about Judaism, and the various holidays in the religion, watch the video.
It won't clear any of that up, but, you will have some good laughs.

Things I am looking forward to:

• Not having a shortage of Matzo, could this be more ironic.
• New friends to celebrate with.
• Lots of wine-

To watch this lovely clip:
Passover Commercialism: Stephen Colbert

With that- la heim!

Thanks old trusty.

Advice for the day:

Bike-ride up a twisted/swirly highway overpass.
It is soooooo much fun!

Plant the tree of friendship and harvest the fruits of love.

Uproot the roots of hatred for it brings forth boundless agony - Hafez 

A vida é uma caixinha de surpresas, 
que nos revela a cada dia experiências fantásticas.

Dear Diary,

I would like this job.

Big thanks-

      Cake Decorator Wanted!

Plantin' roots baby-
As twisted and confused as they might be-