Halloween Choco-Pops!

Aren't these little guys cute? And delicious looking?

They are also super-easy to make, and if you make your own Halloween treats, you have more control over what you're putting in your body. Because let's face it - candy isn't good for you. But it doesn't have to be a soup of chemicals.

For example, that Halloween staple, candy corn, has these ingredients:

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Confectioner's Glaze, Salt, Honey, Dextrose, Artificial Flavor, Gelatin, Titanium Dioxide Color, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 3, Blue 1, Sesame Oil.

Mmm... I remember back on the farm when grandma used to pick fresh titanium dioxide for breakfast...

So, if you want to fill up your Owl Treat Bags with homemade treats, here's how you do it:

Ingredients:

Chocolate chips or baking chocolate (don't use chocolate-flavored bark ... it doesn't contain cocoa butter. You can find organic chips at most grocery stores these days.)

Other stuff that you like: cayenne pepper, sea salt, etc.

You can get holiday molds at craft stores like Michael's, and the sticks to make the pops. The sticks are bamboo - hooray for renewable resources. You're also going to need a paint brush. The directions will say to use a special food brush, but you know, I just used a regular kid's paintbrush and it worked fine.

Step 1: Melt the chocolate.

Put your chocolate into a ceramic bowl and put it into the microwave for about 45 seconds (I did half a bag of chips at a time). Stir. It won't be melted yet, so keep melting for about 15 seconds at a time until when you stir it, there are no lumps. If you're going to add spice, you can do it now. I added 1 tsp. of cayenne to the half-bag of chips. It made a pretty kicky pepper experience. You might want to start with a half-teaspoon or less of spice and taste test.

Step 2: Paint

If your mold has any fine details (like the pumpkin's eyes, nose, and mouth), you want to be sure that those are going to show up - you've got to get chocolate into all the little grooves. So take your paint brush, load it up with chocolate, and paint a layer of chocolate into all those little spaces.

Step 3: Fill

Now, using a small spoon, fill the mold up about half-way. Put the lollipop sticks into the mold and kind of push them down so that they are actually in the chocolate. Then cover them up, fill them all the way to the top.

Step 4: Wait and then eat!

That's pretty much it - you stick them in the fridge and then carefully remove them once they've hardened. It doesn't take long, just a couple of hours.

DIY: Hallooooween Owl Treat Bag Tutorial

I'll tell you a secret. I don't really like Halloween.

Why not? Halloween has a bunch of things that I like: chocolate, taking on new identities, wigs, scary stories. Yet, when these things are added together to become the holiday we call Halloween, I start getting annoyed.

I think it's because much of the lore of Halloween has been overturned by the American desire to drink too much and coerce women into dressing like sluts ("But you can win a thousand dollars at PJ McDrinky's Pub if you come as the sluttiest medical professional!")

However, I love Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead. It's a celebration that holds a lot of the mystery of the druidic Samhain, which was then co-opted by Catholicism and brought to the new world by Spain, which then blended with the indigenous holidays. Rather than simply being a cash cow for the makers of uber-short plastic skirts and high-fructose corn syrup, it's a day to remember the dead not only with sadness, but with joy.

Whew. That's a lot of ruminating to get to my point: when I went to a Halloween-themed brunch this weekend, I wanted to make some favors that had the beautiful colors and folk art feeling of Dia de los Muertos-inspired art. I know that seems kind of silly, but I think we should put care and a bit of ourselves into everything we create. Hence, I came up with the following treats:

I made my friends some little gifts in wrapping inspired by papel picado, the brightly-colored cut-paper art that adorns altars for Day of the Dead. And because I like owls, I used an owl motif. Here's how I did it, and how you can too:

You need:

• Paper sacks - you could use regular grocery sacks; I used black ones from the craft store. This would be a great way to reuse any small paper sacks you have.
• Astrobright cardstock - real papel picado is made of tissue paper or thin plastic, but you'll find tissue paper is really hard to manipulate. You could use regular construction paper, but I find the colors of Astrobright to be similar to those of authentic papel picado. (Thanks to my blog friend, Sara of Feeding the Soil, for providing me with paper when I couldn't find some - meaning I didn't have to buy more stuff for my project!)
• an Xacto or craft knife
• a glue stick
• Optional: a skull sticker or stamp

Step 1: Create a template. I freehanded mine after looking at a whole bunch of pictures of owls. If you're not a big fan of the free hand method, just right click this picture and click "Copy Image." Then just paste it into a word document. You can make it as big or small as you want, then print it and cut it out.

Step 2: Trace your template onto the Astrobright cardstock.

Step 3: Using the craft knife, cut out the owl that you traced. You should put a cutting board under your work - and of course, be careful not to cut yourself. Make sure your knife is quite sharp, or you'll have lots of little random feathery bits of paper in the edges of your cuts.

Step 4: I gave my owls a skull eye. I had a stamp of a skeleton, and I stamped it onto black paper. Then I cut it out and glued it behind the eye of the owl.

Step 5: Glue the owl to your bag!

Then you're done - easy peasy. I used the bag for treats, but you could also cut through the bag, so that there are actual holes in the paper sack. Then you could stick a battery-powered tealight inside to create a luminaria.

Coming up: How to make gourmet Halloween candies to put inside your treat bag!

Eco-Shop 'Til You Drop

Yes, I made my first holiday-related purchase this weekend - stocking stuffers for friends, and yes they are eco-friendly.

We all want to avoid needless consumerism (what better way to be green than to buy less stuff?). Even so, I LOVE giving gifts. I want to give things that I can feel good about and that I know friends will like. I also like to save money

I know lots of people who are big fans of the proliferation of sales and coupon subscription sites. Some, like Groupon, allow you to buy what are basically gift certificates at a reduced price. Others, like MyHabit, offer special sales on limited-edition items.

As these sites grow in popularity, eco-friendly versions are springing up.

LovingEco ("Style for Change") offers daily deals on a variety of eco-items - they have a key indicating whether goods are organic, recycled, vegan, etc. They have a limited number of deals each day, but it's sort of refreshing that it's not overwhelming. Deals tend to focus on beauty products and jewelry.

Open Sky has curated collections of sale items. While they aren't all eco, you can subscribe to certain curators and some of them are focused on eco-friendly products. Alicia Silverstone (author of The Kind Diet) and Sophie Uliano (author of Gorgeously Green) both curate collections of beauty, home, and food products with a green slant.

Uncommon Goods is an old-school e-tailer - no gimmicks, no sales, no coupons. You just buy stuff. But they have lots of handmade and recycled goods, as well as special artist lines. Did you want mittens made from re-purposed sweaters? Uncommon Goods has them. Recycled wedding rings? Yep, they've got those too.

Ten Thousand Villages is also a traditional e-tailer. Well - not that traditional, because their goods are all fair trade. They have lots of cool jewelry, household items made from recycled materials, and around the holidays they have amazing ornaments. I especially love the one pictured above - it's an olive wood Nativity scene carved in the West Bank. Mine is the centerpiece of my tiny tree.

Do you have a favorite green-tailer?

October in Houston

Occupy Your Life

Early on in my blog career, I promised I would try not to get too ranty. This post might break the promise a bit. But I need to say these things for my own peace of mind, and I hope that you'll come along for the ride.

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change.
Wikipedia.org

Intend (verb)
- to have in mind as something to be done or brought about; plan
- to design to express or indicate, as by one's words
- (archaic) to direct (the eyes, mind, etc.)
Dictionary.com

I do a lot of thinking.

I was almost a philosophy major, but didn't think I had enough black turtlenecks to make a go of it. Still, I try to live a life that's aligned with my beliefs, and that means thinking - sometimes a little too much.

When I'm thinking deeply about a concept, I often go to the dictionary to find out exactly how that concept is defined. When I do this, it seems like a lot of the fuzz in my thoughts simply drifts away, and I get clear on how my actions and my beliefs should come into harmony.

I've been doing a lot of that thinking lately as the Occupy Wall Street movement turns into Occupy Main Streets All Over. I've been doing this thinking because even though the occupiers should be my people, my heart doesn't resonate to this movement.

You see, I try to live an activist life.

If my life was a diorama in the natural history museum of the future, the guide might say: here we have a post-hippie progressive ca. 2011. You see that she's eating organic lentils and petting a cat; on her smartphone, she is Tweeting; there was once a time when Tweets were not automatically uploaded from your brains to the thought-net. The diorama of my life wouldn't look very activist. I don't march unless I'm doing aerobics, and most of the signs I've created in my life are related to selling Girl Scout cookies.

But when I look at the definition of activist above, I feel a sort of calm. I feel like my actions and my beliefs are in harmony.

"Intentional efforts to bring about ... change."

That's what I've been trying to do. I don't succeed all the time, especially in the "intentional" part. But I love the archaic meaning of intend - to direct one's eyes, one's mind.

I intend my eyes, my heart, and my mind on a simple phrase: Good for people, good for the planet.

There's a lot more to my life philosophy (a large part of which is derived from the St. Francis Prayer) but in making decisions, I try to zero in on that simplified phrase: Good for people, good for the planet.

This means I have to really think: is this purchase good for people? is it good for the planet?
Is the job I work at every day good for people and the planet?
Are the candidates I vote for ... the car I drive ... the TV shows I watch... is every decision that I make good for people and the planet?

As you might imagine, I fail a lot. And I have a ton of questions. I mean, I love Eminem. As a truth-teller, I think he's good for people and the planet, but as a potential role model for kids who hear "Love the Way You Lie" 15 times a day on the radio? Probably not. There's no yes, no in the realm of making intentional decisions. It's all maybe so.

So when I think about what comes next, when Zuccotti Park is empty once again, I hope the message that lingers is this: activism isn't holding a sign for a day or a month. Activism is intending your heart and mind and action to something larger, to a set of beliefs (whatever they are) that bring about change.

Occupy your life. Every moment. And I have to believe that change will come.

Photos courtesy of buzzfeed.

Daisy-Related Existential Crisis

I'm going to admit something very un-green right now: I do not like to garden.


I hate dirt.
I hate worms.
I hate mud.


I like to be clean and let someone else dig in the dirt. However, I know that the best way to get flowers is to grow them yourself.


Next best: buy them seasonally from a local farm whose practices you trust.


But the farmer's market has been a sea of squash lately (which is really weird - all my neighbors have beautiful flowers growing, so I know that flowers can grow in Houston right now - why don't they have any at the market?)

So I bought these daisies at Whole Foods, grown in Colombia. The flower industry in Colombia provides 800,000 jobs. You may think that flowers from Colombia would have a higher footprint than those grown in the states, but actually, it can be hard to know. 


A few years ago, they did a study in the UK comparing roses grown in Holland to those grown in Kenya. You'd think that the Dutch roses would have a lower footprint, but those grown in Kenya were actually MUCH better for the environment, even with the travel.   That's because the growing practices in Kenya, where the flowers could nod and smile under the sun, were so much greener.


I like the idea of supporting Colombian workers (the flowers were part of some "whole trade" program that supports both workers and the environment; I know you can't trust all of those types of things, but we do the best we can). I just wish there was some easy way to compare carbon footprints on items.


Two side notes: 
1) Yes, those adorable vases are reusables! The tall one is a 360 Vodka bottle (the bottles can be recycled, and the company recycle the caps, through their "close the loop" program, but the bottles are really handy so I usually keep them); the small vase is a bottle that contained sea salt.
2) Las flores son amarillas. That means: the flowers are yellow.  I can say that now because of my Spanish lessons! I used to just point and say "Flores... amarillo". But now I can make sentences!

September Round-Up

First up: What do you think of this new template? I like some things about it and others I'm not sure about - let me know in the comments if you think it should stick around.


Now... September Round-up!


Yes, yes, I know, we're well into October now. However, this week marked the completion of the massive work project that has been eating up all of my time and mindspace (it was a big success, FYI), and so I thought I'd just put a cap on September by just rounding up where I am with my 2011 intentions and pop culture all at once.


2011 Learn-Go-Do (see the link above for more info)

• Hollow Victory: So, I technically met my goal of visiting three American cities to which I'd never been before, as I visited Newark, New Jersey. Those of you who are familiar with geography may be thinking to yourself: Hey, Newark is right near Manhattan. Why didn't you go to Manhattan? That's a good question. Well, I was busy with that work project (which was a conference. Held in Newark). In fact, I only left the Newark Airport Sheraton ONE time during the week. Grr. I did have a lovely Amtrak trip from Newark to DC, however, and got to see more of the East Coast than I'd ever experienced before.And I did get to learn a lot about the ed reform movement in Newark.
•  ¡Hola! So in my work, we think a lot about identity (yes, if you're not a touchy-feely type - which I'm not either - feel free to gag). My good friend Elizabeth and I have been talking a lot about identity and she's done lots of work to come to terms with parts of her identity that had been diminished by the assimilating factors of life in America. The crux of this is that I've been thinking about how my family is really good at honoring the Russian part of our heritage, but the Spanish part - because in the 20's and 30's that was looked down upon even moreso than today - is much less prominent in our family history. Doing all this thinking has led me to get serious about learning Spanish, which will also help me at work as well. I've started taking online lessons, and even though I knew a lot of disconnected words before, and could even read quite a bit, having a formal structure has already given me a lot of a-has about the structure of the language. Of course, right now I can mostly say things like, "She's drinking" and "The man is running" but being able to put together a sentence, rather than just using random words and pointing, is a big step forward for me.
• Kitchen Connection: I've been trying to renew my commitment to sustainable eating. If you've read the blog for awhile, you'll know that I'm a "near-vegetarian." In the past, I've cooked poultry or fish once a week and been veg the rest of the week. Unfortunately, I was found to be on the verge of anemia (the lab report literally said "Alert" on it). Since I haven't eaten red meat for 17 or 18 years (want to be more sustainable? Eat less red meat!) I've known I was low in iron - this was just more extreme. Don't worry, I didn't start chowing down on steaks. However, I have upped my intake of non-mammal meats a bit, along with starting an iron regimen. If you want to know which foods are high in iron, check out this list.  Your body doesn't absorb much iron from plant sources, so if you're strictly veg, you might want to talk to your doctor and make sure your iron is adequate. Seafood sources are good, but make sure you're making sustainable choices by checking out the Seafood Watch list.

September Pop Culture

• Watch: September brought back our favorite TV shows. Yay! I could probably write a lengthy post about the return of each of my faves (that musical number on Community! Stefan killed Andi on Vampire Diaries! Um... whoa, is that allowed on network television? on The Good Wife) and what I'm thinking about the new ones (The New Girl, 2 Broke Girls... apparently women in their 20's are still considered girls, even at this late day and age. Discuss.) Suffice it to say that it's a good time to curl up with your best friend DVR.
• Listen: Even though it came out in February, I've been listening to Let England Shake, by PJ Harvey quite a bit lately. PJ always reminds me of my Sassy-magazine-reading days, and this album has a lot of the power and menace of her old stuff. I've also been mourning the end of R.E.M. by listening to my favorite songs of theirs: "Country Feedback", "Leave", and "E-bow the Letter." Plus there's that Scotty McCreery CD... oh wait, no... no there isn't, although iTunes SURE wants me to buy one. It's time for iTunes to get better at personalizing your home screen.
• Read: This month the movie Drive came out, which is a great one if you're a fan of existential quiet men protecting ethereal dames. I'd highly recommend the novella it's based on, also called Drive, by James Sallis. It's a disjointed series of memories, deeply grounded in the earthiness of food, cars, and geography. 

Recycling on the Edge

The other day I loaded up several months worth of glass bottles into the car (I've recently become obsessed with Pellegrino, so there were a lot of bottles). On the way to the recycling center, one of those Houston late-afternoon thunderstorms shook up the sky (the kinds we usually get when we're not in the middle of a drought, but really there's no climate change - Rick Perry said so). It wasn't really raining, so I continued on to the recycling center.

As I was throwing the bottles into the giant metal containers in the middle of an empty parking lot, and lightning started streaking through the air, I thought:


this isn't really a good idea.


Note: September Pop-Culture Round-Up and Learn-Go-Do Reflection will be coming next weekend.