Sunday, July 22, 2012
Whiskin' Spirits: Summer Pie: Blueberry-Peach Schnapps Style
Whiskin' Spirits: Summer Pie: Blueberry-Peach Schnapps Style: Sing with me, When I say "Colorado summer" you say… PEACHES! Or, let's not sing and just head into The Kitchen. It is hot as an oven on Th...
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
...that men know so little of other men
I know so little of the world around me.
Who knew that dental care was SO important? Really? Flossing your teeth can make that much of a difference in my health and quality of life? Ironically, I learned, it does.
After 2 weeks in Bolivia I accepted that most people in Bolivia have an average of 6-7 teeth. 3-4 teeth is the average once you enter the Amazon. But did you know that losing your teeth also reduces your life expectancy? Bacteria and infection can travel quickly through rotten teeth and infected gums; your blood acts as a highway and takes them right to where it counts - your heart.
We took about 80 toothbrushes and about 50 mini toothpaste into the village of Asuncion de Quiquibey, a small sustenance community in the Amazon. Courtney, another trip leader, is passionate about dental care and has been supplementing the main event: water filters with teaching kids how to brush their teeth. In order to arrive, we went up river 2 hours from the town of Rurrenabaque.
 |
| Rio Quiquibey and the community boat |
Before I left for the trip to Bolivia, I had a dentist appointment for a cleaning. During that appointment, I learned that I had a fracture in my back molar that needed to be fixed. While in Bolivia, I experienced discomfort and wanted it to feel better. After a few days of working at the clinic and feeling discomfort, I went to our dentist and he found that I had a gum infection. I took an antibiotic for a few days and it cleared up.
The tragedy in this is that I was able to see the dentist for FREE and get an antibiotic within 2 minutes but the people of this town, Rurre, and its surrounding communities do not have consistent access to basic health care because of distance and transportation, and cost. Here I am, an American volunteer, and my tooth hurts so I get it checked.
 |
| the travel clinic sets up in a school |
God really wanted me to listen that day at the travel clinic. Rachel, a student on the trip, and I sat down at the dentist check-in table. The table featured in the photo above is where families who wanted to visit the dentist checked in with us. In the far left of the photo, you see a man leaning over. He is standing with his child as he sits with the dentist. The dentist pulls out the rotten teeth that he can. Right there. He has sterilized equipment and some local anesthetic and takes out the rotted teeth. Rotted teeth are brown, the edges of a tooth are left but the middle is hollowed out. Sometimes, the nerve in the tooth dies. The dentist, Roberto, pulled out more than 25 teeth that day.
I know so little of the world. My small amount of tooth pain was a consequence of my brand new onlay being too high. Basically, my bite was too high and was causing pain and some headache. But I didn't have to get my tooth pulled out with the town watching. Did I mention these kids sat there, and barely flinched in discomfort or pain?
The standard of living in Bolivia is far, far, far lower than what we see in the United States.
A mom asked me, "how are your teeth so good?"
Me, "I brush them two times a day."
“Herein lies the tragedy of the age:
Not that men are poor, - all men know something of poverty.
Not that men are wicked, - who is good?
Not that men are ignorant, - what is truth?
Nay, but that men know so little of men.”
- W.E.B. DuBois
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
What would you do for free?
What would you do for free?
When I start going crazy with travel plans to international destinations, and nothing else, I know that I value our global community as much as I value my small Colorado/Michigan/Chicago community. We have been given this beautiful world to explore, experience and impact. Why not extend my hand as far as I can travel?
For free? All I need is an airplane!
I would mentor high school graduates that want to take a gap year in South America. I'd help them find volunteer positions, a place to live with familiar host families, and prepare a budget for their trip.
For free? I would travel the world in search of NGOs in developing countries that were locally started, and receive local support and study how they operate - and share their successes with the developed world. We need to work with them to support their development!
With endless money? Stock up on foodie ingredients and cook and bake for my blog! The world needs to eat, and drink, so why not help?
With no budget? I would take first generation high school juniors from low-income families on college trips around the country. I'd arrange for them to stay with a college student for a night in the dorms, go to class with their mentor student, and experience their daily life. Then, I would work with them to plan for college, prepare for their first year, and set them up with a mentor for their first year away from home.
With no need for money? I would share my knowledge and skills as a math teacher with new secondary ed math teachers around the country that are not receiving professional development support at their schools. I would coach them, provide feedback, and encourage them.
If I were to write a book...I would get bored after one day of trying. Then, I would go for a run to shake off that idea and search for the next new career.
With limitless cash? I would pay off Congress and get a few education reform bills passed. I would start with dissolving the teacher unions and teacher tenure in the K-12 system. Then, I would throw cash at highly effective school leaders for development. As a result, I would throw cash at failing school districts and make them go learn from the best in their state. Then, I would throw a cash bonus at all teachers who make significant gains with their students in one academic year. And, increase their salary so that teacher's are paid comparable salaries to the people they have taught: doctors, lawyers, judges, consultants, reality TV stars, movie executives, etc.
In the end, all this stems from one desire: to make the world a more enjoyable place to live. Educate our youth so that they can be informed global citizens and find solutions to our world's most pressing issues. Educate our ignorant citizens about education so that they can transform their communities to be more open-minded, more secure.
The one thing I would do for free - serve others.
When I start going crazy with travel plans to international destinations, and nothing else, I know that I value our global community as much as I value my small Colorado/Michigan/Chicago community. We have been given this beautiful world to explore, experience and impact. Why not extend my hand as far as I can travel?
For free? All I need is an airplane!
I would mentor high school graduates that want to take a gap year in South America. I'd help them find volunteer positions, a place to live with familiar host families, and prepare a budget for their trip.
 |
| Our college study abroad trip allowed us to travel all throughout Chile |
With endless money? Stock up on foodie ingredients and cook and bake for my blog! The world needs to eat, and drink, so why not help?
With no budget? I would take first generation high school juniors from low-income families on college trips around the country. I'd arrange for them to stay with a college student for a night in the dorms, go to class with their mentor student, and experience their daily life. Then, I would work with them to plan for college, prepare for their first year, and set them up with a mentor for their first year away from home.
With no need for money? I would share my knowledge and skills as a math teacher with new secondary ed math teachers around the country that are not receiving professional development support at their schools. I would coach them, provide feedback, and encourage them.
If I were to write a book...I would get bored after one day of trying. Then, I would go for a run to shake off that idea and search for the next new career.
With limitless cash? I would pay off Congress and get a few education reform bills passed. I would start with dissolving the teacher unions and teacher tenure in the K-12 system. Then, I would throw cash at highly effective school leaders for development. As a result, I would throw cash at failing school districts and make them go learn from the best in their state. Then, I would throw a cash bonus at all teachers who make significant gains with their students in one academic year. And, increase their salary so that teacher's are paid comparable salaries to the people they have taught: doctors, lawyers, judges, consultants, reality TV stars, movie executives, etc.
In the end, all this stems from one desire: to make the world a more enjoyable place to live. Educate our youth so that they can be informed global citizens and find solutions to our world's most pressing issues. Educate our ignorant citizens about education so that they can transform their communities to be more open-minded, more secure.
The one thing I would do for free - serve others.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
From this hour, freedom!
| I want to take you, my friends, back the the beginning. Back to where this online indulgence began. Walt Whitman gave us, "Leaves of Grass," in the late 19th century. When Ashley, my lovely sister, introduced me to this poem at Christmas a few years ago, I felt chills and I cried as I read the poem in its entirety. Change Course. I bought a ticket to Santiago, Chile on Friday night. After my first drink of the night, I grabbed my new zero-fee international credit card and booked the round-trip flight that has taken over my dreams, both day and night. I clicked "submit" 3 times and FINALLY saw that the flight had been confirmed. I am really going to Santiago for 8 months! Walt says it best in "Song of the Open Road" ~ From this hour, freedom! | |||||
| From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, | |||||
| Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute, | 55 | ||||
| Listening to others, and considering well what they say, | |||||
| Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, | |||||
| Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me and then again...
|
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Do we all share milestones?
Or, do we step on our own milestones?
When I think about the many stepping stones I've encountered, I have some little and big ones that I know all add up to where I am today.
Learning Spanish.
Playing basketball like my life depended on it.
Joining a sorority in college. Didn't know that about me? Yup.
Taking the EL in Chicago to and from work, in the ghetto.
Accepting drinks from drunk men at a bachelor party in Boulder.
Finding a few rounds of roommates on craigslist. And 5 out of 6 of them worked out well!
Teach for America.
Dating. A lot.
Buying a bike in Denver and jumping on that hipster bandwagon, sometimes.
Tutoring calculus in college and tutoring 5th grade math in high school. And I didn't see it coming that I would one day be a math teacher. Blind!
Weekends at a ski condo in Silverthorne to ski, run, eat, and drink.
(Trying) Rock climbing in Phoenix and Colorado.
The beach in San Diego.
What about the big ones everyone talks about?
College graduation.
First love.
First car.
Bake "grandma's" chocolate chip cookies.
Retirement Funds.
Marriage.
Mortgages.
Babies.
Do we all anticipate the big events, the major milestones, as mandatory life events? Or, do we fret that we will be odd or an outcast if we don't experience the thrill of these indoctrinated events?
What if our milestones went something like....
first time I changed a bike tire
get lost in a foreign country and hitchhike
last time I paid my taxes and then lived off the grid
my garden grew edible vegetables
win a race or a competition
make international friends
use a typewriter to write a love letter
accidently fall in love
build a bird house for the backyard
teach the dog a useless trick
learn a new language
find the best pho in the city
live on a farm for a vacation, or for life
how much more interesting would change encounters with strangers be? instead of talking about an upcoming wedding, or a new mortgage because you bought a car, why not talk about the time I finally wasn't scared of the hens and grabbed fresh eggs to scramble for breakfast? or, why not figure out a way to bring in the dough but not give it back to the man?
As I prepare to pause the teaching career and buckle into a new, international life for a few months, I think about the pieces that make me, ME. I think about the stories I love to hear about others' lives and the ones I remember from my own experiences. Memories don't stick unless they involve my supportive, fun, and thoughtful friends. My milestones don't add up to what I am supposed to be pursuing.
The people in my life make my life - and it isn't what I do or where I am, but it is who i am with that matters the most. I am blessed with a supportive family and ridiculously fun friends.
You've been in my life? Then, you've placed a milestone down for me to add to my path. I am looking forward to adding to my journey, and recycling stones that still have a solid place in my life.
What would your milestones be?
When I think about the many stepping stones I've encountered, I have some little and big ones that I know all add up to where I am today.
Learning Spanish.
Playing basketball like my life depended on it.
Joining a sorority in college. Didn't know that about me? Yup.
Taking the EL in Chicago to and from work, in the ghetto.
Accepting drinks from drunk men at a bachelor party in Boulder.
Finding a few rounds of roommates on craigslist. And 5 out of 6 of them worked out well!
Teach for America.
Dating. A lot.
Buying a bike in Denver and jumping on that hipster bandwagon, sometimes.
Tutoring calculus in college and tutoring 5th grade math in high school. And I didn't see it coming that I would one day be a math teacher. Blind!
Weekends at a ski condo in Silverthorne to ski, run, eat, and drink.
(Trying) Rock climbing in Phoenix and Colorado.
The beach in San Diego.
What about the big ones everyone talks about?
College graduation.
First love.
First car.
Bake "grandma's" chocolate chip cookies.
Retirement Funds.
Marriage.
Mortgages.
Babies.
Do we all anticipate the big events, the major milestones, as mandatory life events? Or, do we fret that we will be odd or an outcast if we don't experience the thrill of these indoctrinated events?
What if our milestones went something like....
first time I changed a bike tire
get lost in a foreign country and hitchhike
last time I paid my taxes and then lived off the grid
my garden grew edible vegetables
win a race or a competition
make international friends
use a typewriter to write a love letter
accidently fall in love
build a bird house for the backyard
teach the dog a useless trick
learn a new language
find the best pho in the city
live on a farm for a vacation, or for life
how much more interesting would change encounters with strangers be? instead of talking about an upcoming wedding, or a new mortgage because you bought a car, why not talk about the time I finally wasn't scared of the hens and grabbed fresh eggs to scramble for breakfast? or, why not figure out a way to bring in the dough but not give it back to the man?
As I prepare to pause the teaching career and buckle into a new, international life for a few months, I think about the pieces that make me, ME. I think about the stories I love to hear about others' lives and the ones I remember from my own experiences. Memories don't stick unless they involve my supportive, fun, and thoughtful friends. My milestones don't add up to what I am supposed to be pursuing.
The people in my life make my life - and it isn't what I do or where I am, but it is who i am with that matters the most. I am blessed with a supportive family and ridiculously fun friends.
You've been in my life? Then, you've placed a milestone down for me to add to my path. I am looking forward to adding to my journey, and recycling stones that still have a solid place in my life.
What would your milestones be?
Sunday, April 8, 2012
My food blog fantasy
If I were a well-written and designed food blog, I would hide...under a domain name that makes no sense to the average 'googler.' That must be why I can't find the food blog of my dreams.
smittenkitchen.com is really great for creative recipes, great photographs of the food, and it is well organized. Plus, she lives in NYC. She is supposed to be a cool national blog. She includes a little blurb about her life so we get to know her at a superficial, cyber level.
Well, that just isn't enough for me. I need more in my food blog.
I need drama. I need entertainment and an adventurous spirit. I need to know the flaws and the mistakes. I want my food blog to be real - not some whimsical fantasy. There are not rose-colored glasses here. There may be some extra vanilla extract in a baking recipe, and some green chili on anything possible. Salsa makes it way into everything. But don't sugar-coat my food blog. I know the right one for me is out there, isn't it?
If it isn't, what should be in my food blog? If I were to create one from scratch, how far could I take this? Would people come back for seconds?
I know that blue cheese potato tart looks incredible. It tastes like a fall day and makes me feel like I should wear a wool knit sweater and sit at a table, looking out a window with a hot toddy in hand. Those chocolate chip orange zest scones melted in my mouth when we tried them right out of the oven. They won't last 48 hours in the house. I need to run with some Britney and Black Keys before I eat another one of those.
And, let's not forget the all-too-flavorful Italian meatballs. Man, Colorado ground beef, cilantro, parsley and some parmesan. Who know that could change a life? Those things made me fans of Italian food. I'm not a pasta girl but these meatballs with some linguini and angel hair. Served with a bacon tomato sauce. You know we had fun eating those and drinking some Malbec that night. It was a wild night in Rome eating those!
Sure, I started with someone else's recipes. But I don't know if I have ever actually followed someone's recipe 100%. That potato tart came from smittenkitchen.com and I didn't use the potatoes she wanted (I used idaho and purple), I didn't use a cream (try coconut milk), and I definitely tripled the herbs (thyme, rosemary and basil). I did use her pie crust recipe, which turned out alright but not as flaky as I wanted it to be. I like those big flakes to fall off and serve as a mini platter for the tasty toppings.
I love reading math blogs -there are tons of great math teachers out there who share resources, share their struggles with kids and their experiences with professional development. They identify tough problems - and we share common math misconceptions - and provide their take on how to combat common errors.
But, there isn't a food blogger out there that tackles issues like scones not rising, how to get the oil stain off a cookie sheet, maximizing time in the kitchen to be an efficient cook. Can't someone out there explain why I have a whole container of coriander - what the hell do I do with it?
One day... the right blog will come around when I am ready to accept it. And it'll be a passionate few hours of exploration.
potato chip chocolate chip cookies. Yup. Lays potato chips with some chocolate.
smittenkitchen.com is really great for creative recipes, great photographs of the food, and it is well organized. Plus, she lives in NYC. She is supposed to be a cool national blog. She includes a little blurb about her life so we get to know her at a superficial, cyber level.
Well, that just isn't enough for me. I need more in my food blog.
I need drama. I need entertainment and an adventurous spirit. I need to know the flaws and the mistakes. I want my food blog to be real - not some whimsical fantasy. There are not rose-colored glasses here. There may be some extra vanilla extract in a baking recipe, and some green chili on anything possible. Salsa makes it way into everything. But don't sugar-coat my food blog. I know the right one for me is out there, isn't it?
If it isn't, what should be in my food blog? If I were to create one from scratch, how far could I take this? Would people come back for seconds?
I know that blue cheese potato tart looks incredible. It tastes like a fall day and makes me feel like I should wear a wool knit sweater and sit at a table, looking out a window with a hot toddy in hand. Those chocolate chip orange zest scones melted in my mouth when we tried them right out of the oven. They won't last 48 hours in the house. I need to run with some Britney and Black Keys before I eat another one of those.
And, let's not forget the all-too-flavorful Italian meatballs. Man, Colorado ground beef, cilantro, parsley and some parmesan. Who know that could change a life? Those things made me fans of Italian food. I'm not a pasta girl but these meatballs with some linguini and angel hair. Served with a bacon tomato sauce. You know we had fun eating those and drinking some Malbec that night. It was a wild night in Rome eating those!
Sure, I started with someone else's recipes. But I don't know if I have ever actually followed someone's recipe 100%. That potato tart came from smittenkitchen.com and I didn't use the potatoes she wanted (I used idaho and purple), I didn't use a cream (try coconut milk), and I definitely tripled the herbs (thyme, rosemary and basil). I did use her pie crust recipe, which turned out alright but not as flaky as I wanted it to be. I like those big flakes to fall off and serve as a mini platter for the tasty toppings.
I love reading math blogs -there are tons of great math teachers out there who share resources, share their struggles with kids and their experiences with professional development. They identify tough problems - and we share common math misconceptions - and provide their take on how to combat common errors.
But, there isn't a food blogger out there that tackles issues like scones not rising, how to get the oil stain off a cookie sheet, maximizing time in the kitchen to be an efficient cook. Can't someone out there explain why I have a whole container of coriander - what the hell do I do with it?
One day... the right blog will come around when I am ready to accept it. And it'll be a passionate few hours of exploration.
potato chip chocolate chip cookies. Yup. Lays potato chips with some chocolate.
Happy Easter!
John 20
He has risen. INDEED!
We read that Mary Magdalene thought grave robbers had taken Jesus' body. But, why would they leave all the materials that robbers are seeking?
We read that John beats Simon Peter to the tomb but Simon Peter is the brave one to enter as John hesitates to go inside.
Now comes the really cool part. John starts to realize that when Jesus said he would rise after 3 days, he wasn't kidding around. His body rose from the dead. I can believe something magnificent created this Earth and created our whole universe. I recognize each person on this Earth is unique and our body is a mystery to modern science. But, a human body being raised from the dead? This has been the most difficult part of faith. Indeed.
Luckily, Jesus is pretty smart and knew there would be doubt.
John 20:29 "...Have you (Thomas) believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
That's ME! I went through years of doubt and years of seeking some sort of meaning and explanation to life. All that searching led me to where I had the most doubt, and the least evidence. Or so I thought.
The Bible is all we have. And that Bible has been translated in so many different languages over centuries. The story stays the same in any culture where Christianity has spread. Jesus Christ died for us, so that we have lift. His Father sent him here for us.
All over the world, Christians celebrate the most marvelous day - the day that Jesus rose from the dead. I have faith that Jesus rose from the dead. He actually walked the Earth after being nailed to a cross and stabbed through the side. I believe and it has given me life.
Peace be with you.
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