Jun

10

Sorry folks, I had to cancel.

It is the time of the year again and I am leading a unique and new ride. I encourage you to join me as we hop from hotel bar to hotel bar acting like tourists.

There is a sign up form so I can make you a name tag with our official logo.

INTERNATIONAL FREAKY UPPITY CYCLING CONFERENCE ’10

Date: 24 June 2010

When: 6:00 p.m.

Where: Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (Meet outside east entrance at MLK & Oregon)

Website: shift2bikes.org

About: This is your opportunity to actualize cross-platform socializing at the region�s leading-edge conference crawl. As part of this paradigm-shifting ride, you and other associates will leverage your assets at hotel bars across the greater Portland metro market. This ride is business casual(ty). Talking points and flow-charts are encouraged.

Organizers: Lamby – VP Of Bike Fun Operations, be_rad – VP of Conference Services

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May

28

The basic philosophy is that if the process becomes perfunctory stop and do something else. Good food embodies the soul of the maker, and is an extension of spirit. In this light, we make hummus.

Base Ingredients and Most Basic Instructions:

  • Chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans
  • Tahini
  • Garlic
  • Olive Oil (extra virgin only)
  • Lemon Juice
  • Water
  • Salt

Combine all in food processor to taste, blend, cool, and enjoy.

…for the Tao…

Basic Tools

  1. Food Processor (the bigger the better)—A multiple cup (more than two) food processor is your best tool for the intense melding of flavor needed for superior hummus.
  2. Blender—One can use a blender, but most are not suited for the needs of hummus. The tapered shape and narrow bottom restrict food flow that necessitates a thinner hummus. If using a blender, be mindful of the motor, they can burn out from hummus making.
  3. Mortar and Pestle—The low tech choice. Utilized for centuries one cannot go wrong. Perseverance and patience required.
  4. Potato Masher—Use only in desperation. Yields a lumpier variety.

Chickpeas aka Garbanzo Beans

  1. Preparing Dried Beans for use
    1. Soak beans overnight (8-12 hours) in cold water. Have at least two inches of clearance at onset and remove the floaters.
    2. Drain and use this water for houseplants or watering gardens.
    3. Cover beans with cold water with at least two inches of clearance.
    4. Bring to boil, skimming off foam
    5. Simmer over low heat for 1-2 hours depending on altitude, water density, and desired softness
    6. Drain, but do not discard liquid
  • Use in hummus
  • Use as stock for soup
  1. Beans can be cooled for later use, or frozen. Using warm beans immediately in hummus is possible, but allowing cooling allows excess water to evaporate.
  2. Canned Beans
    1. Drain and rinse beans.
    2. It is possible to use containing liquid, but I do not because it contains stored energies, preservatives, and stale water.

Tahini

  1. The brand you buy matters.
  2. Search for raw hulled and milled sesame seeds
  3. Using brands billed as a “butter” or spread should be avoided
  4. After choosing, shake canister rigorously and store opposite the orientation purchased. This allows for the settling and separation from transit and storage of the oil and sesame.
  5. Once opened, stir with a butter knife, and be sure to scrape all ‘corners’
  6. Use to taste

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

  1. Using anything other will diminish the strong and beneficial flavors of olive oil.

Garlic

  1. The more the better, but always to taste
  2. Minced garlic should be placed in processor with a bit of oil and pulsed a few times before adding other ingredients.
  3. Press garlic into small frying pan with a liberal amount of oil. Sauté, but do not brown, then add to food processor
  4. Roast garlic with less oil
  5. Using powdered garlic is only acceptable if utilizing “potato masher” method

Lemon Juice

  1. Fresh squeezed is best and using store bought is ok
  2. Smell lemon juice to determine potency
  3. Add to taste

Water

  1. Optimally, use leftover stock from boiling chickpeas
  2. Use cold water only

Salt

  1. Always add to taste and should be the last ingredient used when fine tuning
  2. Sea Salt is usually coarser and be mindful of amounts used

The Blending of Flavor

  1. Put half of the chickpeas into the processor with tahini, garlic, oil, water, lemon juice and a small amount of salt. Blend and initial mixture should be on the thinner side
  2. Gradually add more beans regulating consistency and allowing additions to completely blend before adding next amount.
  3. Once ¾ of chickpeas added, stop and added additional tahini, garlic, lemon, etc to taste.
  4. Continue and repeat steps 2 and 3 until all chickpeas added
  5. If making variations added those ingredients now
    1. Finely diced scallions
    2. Whole olives
    3. Parsley, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper can have subtle and delicious effects
    4. The possibilities are endless
  6. Process hummus for at least 10 minutes if a very smooth and creamy hummus is desired. In this stage, small amounts of water may be needed to maintain desired consistence. Err on the side of less is more, since once added it cannot be removed.
  7. Hummus should be warm from processing
  8. IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP: DO NOT LICK FOOD PROCESSOR BLADES WITH TONGUE, SEVERE PAIN CAN RESULT. USE A RUBBER SPATULA TO CLEAN BLADES. Tongue can be used on all other surfaces.

The Importance of Patience

  1. Hummus likes settle into itself and cooling is required to achieve this
  2. Refrigerate overnight for best results
  3. If you need to enjoy hummus sooner, place in freezer. Stir and rotate every five minutes
  4. Don’t be too patient, eat hummus within one week for optimal flavor and zero spoilage

Complimenting your Hummus

  1. Spoons are the civilized way, but fingers are the most sensational dipping tool
  2. Pita bread is the traditional bread, toasted too
  3. Enjoy as a substitute with some olive oil as a salad dressing
  4. Lays potato chips are excellent, as well as tortilla chips
  5. Lays KC Masterpiece BBQ chips provide a unique flavor enhancing experience
  6. Use as spread over toast
  7. Dip with any vegetable
  8. Hummus is the new Catsup, use anywhere

Share Your Hummus.

The Tao of Hummus is just one template for your own hummus experience. The recipe is a metaphor for life, where we strive for perfection through practice and experience, failure and success, and mindfulness. Food is the daily tangible nourishment of the universe and consciously putting our souls into our food makes the possibilities infinite.

Download a PDF of this post.

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May

11

I live in a city, grew up in a suburb, and have traveled to some desolate back country. I love the city best. I love its vibrancy, excitement, mobility, and culture. Much is being written about cities since the Great Recession began, most notably, Richard Florida who has just released The Great Reset.

Urbanophile has reviewed the book.

The Great Reset is definitely a worthwhile read. Again, any way you look at it there’s a major shift going on. Florida’s book gives the broader public the opportunity to step back from the detailed events of the day and look at the broader macro picture. We all ought to be thinking through for ourselves the implication of the new world we live in, and this accessible work highlights some of the key considerations.

There is a lot more, especially on the recent criticism of Florida.

What has my interest in reading this book is on the “rentership society”. One reason I live in a city is to rent. I have moved for a variety of reasons, by choice and by force, but the primary reason why I don’t own is that it is simply too rigid. Second, ownership means that either two less than desirable choices: 1. Own a home that is too far away from the urban core or 2. Own a “condo” that is too expensive.

You can listen to more on rentership society at Smart City Radio. A great interview.

Demographic changes are coming too. From the HuffPost

“Suburbs still tilt white. But, for the first time, a majority of all racial and ethnic groups in large metro areas live outside the city. Suburban Asians and Hispanics already had topped 50 percent in 2000, and blacks joined them by 2008, rising from 43 percent in those eight years.

Suburbs are home to the vast majority of baby boomers age 55 to 64, a fast-growing group that will strain social services after the first wave of boomers turns 65 next year.”

Awesome. It shows the creative class of educated people (usually white) are moving back to the city. Second, I am glad the suburbs will have lots of people who would benefit from higher population densities.

Lastly, Tom Friedman, usually good at making big ideas digestible, did a great job with this column:

The meta-story behind the British election, the Greek meltdown and our own Tea Party is this: Our parents were “The Greatest Generation,” and they earned that title by making enormous sacrifices and investments to build us a world of abundance. My generation, “The Baby Boomers,” turned out to be what the writer Kurt Andersen called “The Grasshopper Generation.” We’ve eaten through all that abundance like hungry locusts.

Now we and our kids together need to become “The Regeneration” — one that raises incomes anew but in a way that is financially and ecologically sustainable. It will take a big adjustment.

Florida and other are already predicting the tough changes that need to happen. The Great Reset, adjustment, or root canal is happening.


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Apr

23

Work has many meanings, but it most universally refers to our daily tasks. Work has changed in meaning over the centuries, providing a robust discussion on work vs. labour. The “Great Recession” has prompted another inquiry into what work is. The question is more than relevant, it needs more attention. This series will attempt to make a greater change.

In sum, work needs an overall and this series will be

This exposition steams from four places:

  1. Wired Magazine’s New Rules for 2009
  2. Time Magazine Redefines the benefits of work
  3. Mike Rowe’s “Safety Third” hypothesis
  4. I am squarely in the lost decade.

Some Historical Perspective on the last 10 years

The year is 2010 and I am self-employed, but overly under-employed. I spent the last decade on failed business adventures and false starts with various employers and at the end of the day I have experience and debt. Sure, I am grateful for being older and wiser, but that still does not always leave a sweet taste in my mouth.

In 1999 I entered college. Remember 1999, when the internet was taking off exponentially, everyone who wanted one could get a job, and the federal budget was producing a surplus. My four years at high school taught me the following, since my working life will be separated into 7-8 “careers” I should just simply work hard at things that have meaning for me.

We know what happened in the next four years. The Bush tax cuts, 9-11, recession, job-less recovery, and by 2003 jobs were at a premium.

No problem, just work harder! So I went to work with two small non-profits, both in their infancy and worked really hard for about no pay for three years.

Awesome, 10 years later a jack of all trades, master of none. Worth it, yes. Doing it again, probably not.

Time for some change, including how we think about change.

Let’s start with Wired

If you rabidly focus on work, in the long run, you’ll be unhappy. Ran Kivetz, a professor of business at Columbia University, recently conducted a series of experiments that identified a paradox in our behavior: Doing the “right” thing—putting our responsibilities ahead of momentary pleasures—often leaves us unhappy down the road. When we skip a vacation to work overtime or pass up that awesome vintage Porsche for a used minivan—sure, we pat ourselves on the back for a week or two. But as the years go by, we invariably regret our monkishness and wish we’d enjoyed ourselves more.

There is  a generation of people out there who really want to work hard, to have meaning in their work and to generate pleasure from it. We don’t feel loyal to the corporations because most will be gone, transformed through A&R, or lost to the rapidly changing economic climates. Sorry employer, we were working really hard for you because we learned that in trying to get into college. More clubs, activities and great grades. We took this lesson and applied it to you. Were learned a lot, sought advancement experience and everyday was a resume building experience.

And we let you exploit us, for our youthful energy, our naiveté, and because you could pay us less, way less. We became the creative class.

So now, you can reference this chart (HT to @bluedeerdesign) to decide how hard or hardly you are going to work today. Cynicism aside, I love to work.

Today’s goal. Take a vacation.

Part two on work’s benefits out in about a week.

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Apr

3

I have installed WP3 in its beta form. Looking forward to finding new bugs in this.

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