Valentines for us and our animal kin

February is the time when we celebrate love! Here's a little video sent by Alison in New Hampshire about love between species. My special favorite is the cackling goose, running so eagerly into the arms of her beloved. Hope you enjoy it -- less than 2 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTkX24L31cE&vl=en

Here's a dish you might like to serve to your own beloved --- Coconut Braised Chickpeas with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. The flavors are truly extraordinary --- imagine garlic, ginger, lemon, and sun-dried tomatoes--- and then add garam masala and coconut milk. Indescribable!
Coconut Braised Chickpeas with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I had some positive responses to our second guest post, written by Susan in Portland. Sue in New Mexico was grateful:

Susan, Thank you for stepping in . These resources are wonderful to know about and I have shared them with many this morning who are in my sangha... struggling to find a way to step into a plant-powered diet.

Donna in Portland said:
This is a wonderfully written and so informative and helpful newsletter I just loved reading this. Thank you so much! Donna

And Hilary, also in Portland, said simply,
What a great post!!

I'm really enjoying having more voices in these emails. It's a great way for us to get to know each other a little better, at the same time that it makes life a little easier for me. I wonder who will write the next one? It's easy --- I just send you a recipe to feature and any news that has come to me -- you weave it together in your own way, adding whatever you would like to share about yourself, your place on the planet, your food story, your favorite cookbooks or websites or whatever. Then you send it back to me and I send it out to the mailing list. Would someone like to volunteer for the next one? The timing would be roughly two weeks from now, Just click Reply and let me know.

I hope you'll take a look at this eye-catching, thought-provoking graphic on the true cost of a hamburger -- sent in by Laura in California:

http://www.earthsave.org/support/hamburgerSMALL.pdf

I'll end with this poem I found recently in a box in my attic, and just now found again online:

We ate no flesh in Eden, but afterwards,
When things got hard, we forgot
the peaceful kinship of that ancient kingdom.
As our teeth sank into their flesh
we had to deny them. So we said
they had no souls, no reason, no thumbs,
no speech. We were so different. We made
A chain of things to protect us - fire, medicine,
our locking houses, many kinds of clothes.
And we renamed them - farm product, fur crop,
Renewable resource. Pray that we will see
their faces again in the mirror of creation,
the miracle of animals, their clear eyes
meaning more than profit to our own.
(Jean Pearson)

Wishing a happy Valentine's Day to all of us, and to our beloved Earth ---

Eve

Hello Mindful Cooks,

February is the time when we celebrate love! Here's a little video sent by Alison in New Hampshire about love between species. My special favorite is the cackling goose, running so eagerly into the arms of her beloved. Hope you enjoy it -- less than 2 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTkX24L31cE&vl=en

Here's a dish you might like to serve to your own beloved --- Coconut Braised Chickpeas with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. The flavors are truly extraordinary --- imagine garlic, ginger, lemon, and sun-dried tomatoes--- and then add garam masala and coconut milk. Indescribable!
Coconut Braised Chickpeas with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I had some positive responses to our second guest post, written by Susan in Portland. Sue in New Mexico was grateful:

Susan, Thank you for stepping in . These resources are wonderful to know about and I have shared them with many this morning who are in my sangha... struggling to find a way to step into a plant-powered diet.

Donna in Portland said:
This is a wonderfully written and so informative and helpful newsletter I just loved reading this. Thank you so much! Donna

And Hilary, also in Portland, said simply,
What a great post!!

I'm really enjoying having more voices in these emails. It's a great way for us to get to know each other a little better, at the same time that it makes life a little easier for me. I wonder who will write the next one? It's easy --- I just send you a recipe to feature and any news that has come to me -- you weave it together in your own way, adding whatever you would like to share about yourself, your place on the planet, your food story, your favorite cookbooks or websites or whatever. Then you send it back to me and I send it out to the mailing list. Would someone like to volunteer for the next one? The timing would be roughly two weeks from now, Just click Reply and let me know.

I hope you'll take a look at this eye-catching, thought-provoking graphic on the true cost of a hamburger -- sent in by Laura in California:

http://www.earthsave.org/support/hamburgerSMALL.pdf

I'll end with this poem I found recently in a box in my attic, and just now found again online:

We ate no flesh in Eden, but afterwards,
When things got hard, we forgot
the peaceful kinship of that ancient kingdom.
As our teeth sank into their flesh
we had to deny them. So we said
they had no souls, no reason, no thumbs,
no speech. We were so different. We made
A chain of things to protect us - fire, medicine,
our locking houses, many kinds of clothes.
And we renamed them - farm product, fur crop,
Renewable resource. Pray that we will see
their faces again in the mirror of creation,
the miracle of animals, their clear eyes
meaning more than profit to our own.
(Jean Pearson)

Wishing a happy Valentine's Day to all of us, and to our beloved Earth ---

Eve