20 Seconds to Change Our World

UPDATE DECEMBER 2013: The Milkweed Mercantile won one of the three Green America People and Planet Awards! More info here. Thanks again, everyone!


Hi friends,

The Milkweed Mercantile, the Eco Inn, Cafe and Green General Store that my husband and I run at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage needs your  help.

It's incredibly easy help to give.

Simply click here to vote for the Mercantile in the Green America People and Planet Awards. The top three vote recipients receive a $5,000 grant.

To many businesses $5,000 is a drop in the bucket. But to us it would be a tremendous gift. So many things could be accomplished! A sign out on the highway to let folks know we're here, a gardener to take our garden from haphazard to spectacular, repair/replacement of the chairs purchased at auction five years ago which are now on the brink of collapse, a few improvements and updates on our website...

Voting is open until 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Thanks for considering!

Love,
Alline & Kurt

Sometimes Pecan Pie Needs a Little Kick in the, um, a Little Kick

 When our friends Bob and Angie invited us for Thanksgiving dinner, Angie said she was making a pumpkin pie but that she'd leave the pecan pie to me. Yehaw! Time for my new favorite pie!

Unfortunately, we ate half of the pie before I had time to take a photo. The other half was whisked away for the Feast of Gloria Tubman (Harriet's under-achieving younger sister), traditionally held the day after Thanksgiving and featuring all the leftovers.

Anyway, Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie comes from my new favorite cookbook, The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook (below). How could you NOT love this book? Look at those two - they clearly love their jobs!

And with good reason. I've not yet had the opportunity to visit their bakery in Savannah, but I have tried about 1/4 of the recipes in the book, and every single one totally kicks some bakery butt.

Here's the best part - this pie is SO easy. You don't even have to roll out pie crust - you just press it into the pie plate. 

Below is the recipe. I've made a few small changes.

Bourbon Pecan Pie
Inspired by The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day.

½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 ½ cups dark corn syrup
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ tsp all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tb bourbon
1 ½ tsp butter, melted
1 ¾ cups pecan halves
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 recipe Shortcut Piecrust, made with brown sugar, unbaked

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together both sugars, the corn syrup, salt, flour and eggs, mixing until completely combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla, bourbon, and butter until well combined. Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.
3. Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell.. Bake for 1 hour or until the pie is firm around the edges and just a bit loose in the center.
4. Remove the pie from the oven and cool for at least 1 hour on a wire rack before slicing. It’s best served the same day, but it can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Shortcut Piecrust
Makes one 9” piecrust.
Cheryl and Griffith say “This pie crust is revolutionary. It’s a press-in crust, with no rolling or chilling required. Plus, it’s buttery and flaky and so easy to prepare.” Alline says "they're not just whistling Dixie!"

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup packed light brown sugar or granulated sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
11 Tb unsalted butter, melted (1 ¾ sticks)

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Press into a pie plan, trying to keep the dough as evenly thick as you can. Press it up the sides of the pie pan and make it pretty! You can't go wrong - it's kind of like play-dough that actually tastes good.

In Which My Heart Cracks Open, Just a Little Bit More...

This last year has been rough.

Lots and lots of work. Not enough sleep. More money going out than coming in. Some dependable help, some not so. Some amazingly abundant loving experiences, some depressing low points. The stuff of which life is made.

I've also been struggling about a lot of what is going on here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Growing pains, wanting to support folks in whom I believe but having a hard time with some of the decisions that have been made. Feeling like a poor communitarian, wondering if we should just pack up and move on, wanting to contribute but unable to with a happy heart.

Knowing that it is all in my attitude, that I make my own reality, that I have little control over what happens but TOTAL control about how I choose to spin it in my head.

But I just couldn't get over that bump. You know, the bump that is placed in front of abundance, kindness, happiness and satisfaction. The bump that I always trip over. I kept getting stuck in the "I hate everything I see" gutter that is right in front of the bump. 

Fortunately, FINALLY, a series of events - too long and convoluted to relay here - coincided with a visit from Kurt's niece Danae, who is pretty much sunshine incarnate, to lift my spirits and help me truly SEE what is around me.

And then this video was posted on Facebook.



I can't stop watching it. I can't stop singing it as I wander around through my life. I love the girls with bouquets of kale at 1:07, the kids at 4:33, the boy in the blue shirt at 4:47 singing so earnestly. I want to invite the man who is singing at 4:35 to dinner.

And keep moving forward and start looking towards your heart

It'll open all the doors and only then you'll start

To hear the world sing in chorus with your mind and heart

Aligned in purpose everything will feel gorgeous

Thank you Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod. I am grateful for this song, and the music and heart that you bring into the world.


Grateful: A Love Song to the World

by Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod
(emphasis on the parts that I find especially moving today ~Alline)

Written and produced by Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod - See more at: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=4460#sthash.404QwDFA.TxZl8JV3.dpuf

You're my life, you're my breath You're a smile, you're my guest

You're the earth, you're the sun You're the grass, you are love

You're my hands, you're a bug You're my eyes, you're a hug

You're the light in the dark You're the spark, you are fun

You're my mom, you are water You're the stars, you're my daughter

You're my friend till the end You're my dreams, you're my father

You're the ants on the ground The miracles that surround

I'm feelin' it all around the hemisphere and the clouds

You're my pain, you're my sorrow You're my hope for tomorrow

You're the strength when I'm hollow You're the path that I follow

You're the blessings that exist The small things that are bliss

The gift to realize that everything is a gift

All that I am All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful for it all

For it all

Grateful for it all

You're the blessings every time I try to count

You're the lessons that l learn every time I turn around

You're the water when I'm burned every time I think I've found

Everything I'm looking for and the sign sayin' stop to take a bow

And keep moving forward and start looking towards your heart

It'll open all the doors and only then you'll start

To hear the world sing in chorus with your mind and heart

Aligned in purpose everything will feel gorgeous

All that I am All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful for it all

For it all

Every day I sit and pray 'cause what I have is

More than I deserve or could ever imagine

How do I give back to all of this magic

And spread the love so everybody can have it

Doesn't matter if I'm rich or poor If I got a family or if I'm all alone

Bad things happen I can just complain and moan

But there's a million things that I can be grateful for

So I lift up

My hands now

And I open my heart

And my gratitude

Goes out

To everything

Near and far 

All that I am

Everything I am - All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful

For it all

All that I am

All that I see

All that I've been

And all that I'll ever be

Is a blessing

It's so amazing

And I'm grateful

For it all For it all

For it all

For it all

Grateful for it all

For it all

For it all

You're the blessings that exist

The small things that are bliss

The gift to realize that everything is a gift

Thanks for reading. Sending love and gratitude to you this Thanksgiving weekend, and always.

Alline

Just Say "No" to Black Friday and "Yes" to Relaxing!

I spent my formative years working in retail. From the age of 16 - 28 I worked in several different department stores, and then spent another 12 working in retail headquarters in one capacity or another (advertising and Visual Merchandising).

By the age of 21 I pretty much hated Christmas. I even despised holiday music, which used to be my favorite part of the season - something about having it thrumming in the background for two months was more than I could bear. And that was back in the days when "Christmas" didn't start until the middle of November.

 

"Oooooooohhhh! Let's get up early so that we can push and shove for cheap crap made in China!" she says, just a bit sarcastically...

The day we all hated the most was the day after Thanksgiving, that hallowed day that retailers lust and drool after. Even when I no longer worked in a store but worked at corporate headquarters I was still required to spend the morning of Black Friday in whichever store was closest. Ugh. I'd get up at 6:00 a.m., put on respectable business attire (instead of the elastic-waist sweatpants that were infinitely more appealing!) and haul my bad-attitude self off to the mall to sling junk at sales prices.


No more.

Now that I have my own store, I get to do things my way. The Milkweed Mercantile is closed on "Black Friday" (ewww - I abhor that name!), and I refuse to send out emails and newsletters promoting sales before Thanksgiving. While it may not be the most prudent way to make zillions of dollars, it feels better. I don't go shopping, either.

I encourage you to do the same! Or at least relax on Friday. The Center for a New American Dream has lots of ways to help. Their Simplify the Holidays program is a great place to start!

Some of the things I might be doing on Friday (instead of buying or selling stuff):

• Staying home.
• Relaxing.
• Putting my feet up and reading a good book, or even a bad book. Heck, maybe even a naughty book!
• Challenge Kurt to a game of cards, pente, or parcheesi. Or invite a group of friends over to do join us.
• Put together that list for my mp3 that I've been composing in my head.And learn how to load the music onto that thing (note to self: find a 12-year old to help me).
• Go for a walk. Perhaps I'll take a cute dog for company.

Miss Moneypenny Carleton, who is always available for adventuring!

• Bake some cookies, and bring a few to a neighbor.
• Practice singing the harmony part to "Close Your Eyes" (James Taylor/Carly Simon version)
• Begin to crochet a scarf and pretend that I'll finish it in time to give as a Christmas gift.
• Make a sandwich using every single part of Thursdays meal in between two pieces of bread and Hellman's mayo - including the stuffing and the cranberry sauce. Perhaps I'll get fancy and run them through  with little plastic swords.

Thanks to Will Cook For Smiles for the use of the photo.

• Watch Season 1 of Nurse Jackie that just arrived in the mail while I sit on the couch in front of a blazing fire with the cat.
• Check out what the local kids are up to. The last couple of days it's been looking at all of the cool ice formations everywhere, and checking out the cool things frozen into the pond ice.
• Call my 84-year old Aunt Melba and tell her that I'm thankful for her.
• Think up new ideas for Kurt's annual Gift Certificates (see below).

And lets talk about gifts for just a minute. It's really easy to get sucked into the scarcity brainwashing that permeates advertising at this time of year. It's also tremendously easy to get guilted into spending money you don't have on things that people don't really need. Don't buy into it, literally or figuratively.

Some of my favorite Christmas gifts arrived in a big fat tube the year that my three nieces and I exchanged art. I made them quilted pillows in their choice of colors, and they sent me art that they had made. Those pictures make me smile, big time, every time I walk by them.

I also really enjoy giving (and receiving!) gift certificates for service and food. They don't even have to be fancy. I tried to take a photo of some of the ones that I gave to Kurt last Christmas (see below) but the cat decided that the middle of the stack was the perfect place to lounge. Sigh. Anyway, as you can see, they're just scrap paper and scribbling, but were made (and received) with love. Things like "one favorite dinner whenever you want (24 hours notice appreciated)," "one foot rub (15 minutes on each foot)" and "I'll do your firewood chores for one day" come in handy when Kurt feels like pampering himself.

Fionn MacCool - destroyer of all things orderly.

That's it for now. I wish you a happy, calm holiday. Eat good stuff, but not too much. Be kind to yourself. 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alline

We Can't Help Ourselves: Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and a Slathering of Chocolate Ganache

Dear Friends,

Oh, my. What happened to my simple country life? We're just way too busy to find it anywhere!

And that's fine with me, at least for  now. I'm very, very grateful for all of the people and activities that keep me so busy!

Last night was another bustling Pizza Night, with many new friends from Memphis (MO) joining us. The cake we served was our Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Ganache Icing, developed originally for Bear's birthday a few year's ago. I think we've finally found the perfect combo of PB and Chocolate. The frosting is sweet without being overwhelmingly so, and has a light but very peanutty flavor. The chocolate ganache is, well, the icing on the cake (pun intended).

 Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Ganache Icing

Before we get started, here's a note on Corn Syrup, which is an ingredient in the ganache. It is what gives the ganache that glorious shiny gloss. Corn Syrup is NOT High Fructose Corn Syrup. Click here to learn the difference between the two.


 To begin - use the Dancing Rabbit Chocolate Celebration cake recipe found here.
 Put the batter in two 9" round pans. When cake layers have cooled, it's time for frosting!

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting

 makes approx. 2 cups

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons milk, or as needed

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Place the SOFT butter and peanut butter into the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low until the butter and peanut butter are completely combined.
2. SIFT the powdered sugar. While there are many things worse than lumpy frosting, none of them would ever be put on a cake. I just use a regular kitchen strainer, a big bowl, and  a spoon. Takes 3 minutes. Just do it.
3. Gradually mix in the sugar, scraping down the sides regularly to make sure everything is well mixed in.
4. When the frosting starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable.
5. Beat for at least 3 minutes on HIGH for it to get good and fluffy. You many need to adjust the consistency with more sugar or milk.

Chocolate Ganache

2/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1. In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil.
2. Place chocolate pieces and corn syrup in a large bowl.
3. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and corn syrup and stir until completely mixed and glossy.
4. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set.
5. When it is ready to pour onto the cake, begin pouring slowing in the middle. Using a long pastry spatula*, slowly smooth the icing onto the cake in a circular motion. I find it helps if I slowly turn the cake plate while keeping the spatula steady. As the icing moves from a pool in the center of the cake to the edges, encourage it to “overflow” to create delicious drips.

That’s it!

If you haven't yet voted for the Milkweed Mercantile in the Green America People and Planet Grant program, PLEASE take 20 seconds and do so. We SO APPRECIATE YOU!

Someday soon I'll get back to reporting all the dirt on Ecovillage life. Or maybe not. We'll see. In the meantime, be kind to yourself and one another. 

Love,

Alline

* Offset Pastry Spatula. You don't have to have one, but it sure makes frosting/icing a cake easier!

Poetry Monday, The Wind Map and an assortment of Pre-Rafaelites

Hi friends,

It is a gray, cloudy, blustery day - it is fantastic! I am sitting in our snug and cozy strawbale house, looking out through the glass doors that lead onto our small balcony. The walls are 18" thick, so I can't feel the wind, but the trees outside are lashing about, the wind is howling (or maybe that's the wind turbine howling), and acorns are dropping onto the roof and pop-pop-popping down the slope.

I easily found a poem. But how to illustrate the wind? 

And then I remembered - The Wind Map (click on those words). It is truly the COOLEST thing EVER. 
 

The map is live, so depending upon when you look at it you may or may not see the windy day we're having (we're right in the middle between Denver and Chicago), but you can see what's happening where you live. Check it out!

 

Wind Map by artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg.

Here is today's poem, by Christina Rosetti, who was vaguely associated with the Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood.**  

Who Has Seen the Wind

by Christina Rosetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

** Christina Rosetti posed for some of her brother's (Dante Gabriel Rosetti) paintings but as they're not my favorite PRB paintings they're not going here. I much prefer John Everett Millais and John William Waterhouse. We were able to see (i.e. drool over) a whole slew of PRB paintings at the Tate when we were in London a few years ago. Kurt developed a huge crush on Jane Morris, who posed for Rosetti...I fell in love with William Morris. 

 Ophelia by Millais

Lady of Shalott by Waterhouse

OK. I really just meant to spend a few moments here waxing rhapsodic about the wind. Ha! Have a great day!

love,
Alline

Vegan German Chocolate Cake OR, How to be Happy While Quitting Smoking

Every Thursday night is Pizza Night at the Milkweed Mercantile. And one doesn't live by pizza alone. It wouldn't be a trip to the Mercantile without a fabulous dessert with which to finish your meal.

Many of my favorite people here at Dancing Rabbit choose to eat vegan. As a friend and business owner, I want them to feel welcome when they come to the Mercantile, and so try to have vegan desserts available as often as possible. And here's the cool thing - vegan baking can be fantastic! Let me rephrase that - there is absolutely no reason for bad-tasting vegan food. One of my favorite things to do (granted, my life is far from exciting) is to bake a vegan dessert and challenge snobby non-vegans to be able to tell the difference. Because I myself am a snobby non-vegan, I figure that if I like it, it's got to be pretty good. And I really like this Vegan German Chocolate Cake, which combines a super-easy cake recipe with an even easier frosting recipe. No mixer needed.

Mae keeps up her energy for pizza making and keeps her smoking jones at bay by sampling the vegan German Chocolate Cake.

The Amazing DR Chocolate Celebration Cake

We’re betting that no one will ever guess that this cake is vegan. It is dense and rich; the vinegar and baking soda provide the lift. We suspect that this cake originated during war times, when eggs were luxuries in short supply.

1½ c. white flour

1½ c. whole-wheat flour (using all whole wheat flour makes the cake gummy and heavy)

2 c. sugar (do not use honey, sorghum or other liquid sweetener)

2/3 c. cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 1/3 c. water

1 c. brewed coffee

1/3 c. oil (may substitute applesauce or coconut milk)

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tb vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease and flour an 11” x 13” pan OR two 8" or 9" round pans.
3. In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients.
4. Add wet ingredients; stir until evenly moistened.
5. Pour into prepared pan. Place pan in pre-heated oven.
6. Bake approx. 30 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done when you insert a knife into the center and it comes out clean.
7. Cool, and frost. Enjoy!

 

Vegan German Chocolate Frosting
(revised June 2014)*

1/3 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water until smooth
1 cup plain non-dairy milk
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1. In a medium saucepan, make a slurry of the cornstarch and water. Whisk until smooth (do not turn on the heat yet).
2. Add the non-dairy milk, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla to the pan. 
3. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. 
4. Cook for one minute after it boils. 
5. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans.
6. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes (mixture should still be warm) before spreading on cake.

Makes enough for one two-layer 8- or 9-inch cake.

*after making this a few times I figured out an easier way to do this frosting!