Our growing circle

We have four new cooks joining our email circle this week. Our Netherlands contingent has tripled, now including Jeanette in Amsterdam and Margriet in Utrecht. Donny is joining us from Camps-St.-Mathurin-Leobazel in France, a new country for us! And Derrick is joining us from Vancouver, Washington. A warm welcome to all! Everyone, please do feel free to share your thoughts on our Active Discussions (over on the left on our home page http://mindfulcooking.org/ )or by email to me.

I went to check on last week's newcomer, Jana Verboom, who does a recipe column in the Netherlands, and discovered that she was posting the same soup we have on our website, Cream of Celery Root Soup! This comes from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen and is familiar to several of us here in Portland who got to sample it when the chef himself prepared it at VegFest. I was happy to be reminded of it and am glad to remind you all too. Our version has been simplified as I didn't bother with the chive oil. Jana included it, which makes for a prettier picture. Here is our version:
Cream of Celery Root Soup
And here is Jana's version, which may come to you in Dutch or in Google-translated English----if you can't read it, just scroll down to the colorful photo:
http://boeddhistischdagblad.nl/selderijsoep-met-appel-peer-en-bieslookolie/

Jana is spreading the news of our project through her mindful consumption group. Thanks, Jana!

This week's new recipe, Chickpea Pancakes, comes from Christel in Germany who says it is "easy and delicious!" Sounds good to me: Chickpea Pancakes or Crepes

Christel also sent a link to a website called "little eco footprints" with a sample little-footprint idea ---using your car windshield as a food dryer:
maybe you will like the ideas in this blog, I enjoyed reading about this eco-friendly, minimalist way of family-life very
much. Here is one example ( out of many good blog-posts full of practical tips ):
http://www.littleecofootprints.com/2011/02/drying-dehydrating-food-fruit...

Last week I reported on your ideas ---whether cooking is a "chore"----and how to get around that----a question that came from Annie Mahon, who is writing a book on mindful cooking. Annie responded to your thoughts:
I like the idea of "no chaos in the kitchen!" and I wonder how that can be achieved when the one cooking is just starting to practice mindfulness and the other household members are not... ,/em>

Hmmm....does anyone see an answer to that?

I wonder where next week's recipe will come from---it could be from any of 11 countries. I'm watching my inbox with anticipation!

Happy cooking,
Eve