Gregory Dicum’s Posts

• Mother Knows Best

  Fed up with breast-milk contamination, mothers form a national activist group 2

  Posted 3 years ago

  Mary Brune looked worried. "I don't know what the problem is," she said, peering at the generator in the grass. Attached to it was a blower that was, in turn, attached to a puddle of yellow nylon. The next morning, that puddle was supposed to inflate to become a giant rubber ducky, the centerpiece of a protest Brune was leading at a Target store near her home in the San Francisco Bay area.

  

  Mary Brune speaks up for concerned
  mothers everywhere.

  Photos: Gregory Dicum

  For Brune, the golden ducky represented… Read More

• Not Your Average Bear

  In B.C., a landmark rainforest-protection agreement was just the beginning 3

  Posted 3 years ago

  

  It took 10 years of work to protect British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest.

  Photos: Gregory Dicum

  
  

  The Great Bear Rainforest, stretching from Vancouver Island to the Alaska Panhandle on the wild, rugged coast of British Columbia, is that rarest of things: an unvarnished environmental victory. But as the groundbreaking agreement signed to protect it comes into force, new challenges are surfacing.

  The numbers are stunning: at 15.5 million acres, this… Read More

• It's all connected ...

  A weekend at Bioneers 0

  Posted 3 years ago

  This weekend the eco/new-agey/NoCal faithful gathered in Marin for the annual Bioneers conference. I've gone several times in the past, and it's always an interesting experience, and not for the obvious reasons ...

• Rubber duckie, you're the one ...

  Polluting my bathroom 3

  Posted 3 years ago

  You know that little rubber duckie in your bathroom? I always thought the little fella was sorta cute, nestled there between the shampoo and the loofa.

  Well, it turns out the little ducky's not so rubber after all -- it's plastic, namely the dreaded PVC. And it further turns out the bathroom is full of the stuff.

• Sea-ing climate change for yourself

  San Francisco visualizes rising seas 2

  Posted 3 years, 1 month ago

  I love living in San Francisco, where not only do we have a City Department of the Environment, but it's teamed up with the Sierra Club on an environmental art/advocacy project that is all at once simple, creative, thought-provoking, cheap, and replicable.

  Today, they launched FutureSeaLevel.org to bring the climate crisis home. It's an ingeniously simple idea: Participants tape up public spaces with a line of blue tape that marks the new sea level after unchecked global warming.

  In a coastal city like San Francsico, it's a disturbing sight indeed -- the blue line cuts the urban landscape… Read More

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Gregory Dicum’s Recent Comments

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  two words...

  People's Grocery.On Ruminations on food, class, and Carlo Petrini posted 2 years, 5 months ago 17 Responses

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  Misc Ethnic Stew

  Here's another fun and easy and varied main dish you can make in a short amount of time and, as long as they don't see you making it, is sure to wow dinner guests!

  It's called "ethnic" stew, and it requires that you suspend any notions about "authenticity," the appropriateness of appropriation, or anything else you might have come across in grad school, and replace it with an in-the-moment appreciation for the food on your plate. (and if, like me, you do have a thing for "authenticity," then you should read this excellent book: Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, by Lizzie Collingham)

  Here's how it works:

  Ethnic Stew = liquid + ready-made ethic flavoring + sautée items + slow-cooking veggies + fast cooking veggies

  Liquid you already know about: water or broth will never let you down. With some of these dishes you can also use coconut milk.

  Ready - made ethnic flavoring = those various things in a jar. Household favorites around here include Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste, Patak's Madras Curry Paste, Doña Maria's Mole Sauce, and Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Paste.

  Sautée items = things that benefit from some browning, like onions, garlic, tofu, seitan, tempeh

  Slow-cooking veggies = hard stuff like carrots and potatoes and things you like mushy, like eggplant

  Fast-cooking veggies = more delicate things like broccoli, asparagus, peas, already cooked beans

  Cut up all your veggies into bite-sized morsels, and divide them into two piles: slow and fast.

  Heat up a pot with a little oil, and throw in your sautée items.

  When they are brown, toss in the liquid and the ready-made ethnic flavoring. Stir until there are no lumps.

  Put in the slow-cooking veggies, adding enough liquid to cover. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook until the hardest veggie you've put in there seems not quite done.

  Put in the quick-cooking veggies, and continue simmering until these are done. Near the end, if things seem too soupy leave the lid off and turn up the heat to drive off excess water. If that still doesn't do it, you can add a little flour or kudzu or cornstarch mixed with cold water, but don't overdo it.

  Serve over rice; garnish with cilantro leaves. For a tinge of "authenticity" serve with "appropriate" extras: lime pickle, tortillas, chopped chilies, etc. If anyone asks, just call it whatever was on the label of the jar you used, and throw in a place name for extra panache, as in "Bangkok Green Curry" or "Oaxacan Mole."

  Never fails! And makes great leftovers - the flavors meld even more the next day...
  

  my books: The Coffee Book | Window Seat

  On That's it for me and industrial meat posted 2 years, 9 months ago 46 Responses

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  My Vegan Cooking System

  With so many great recipes in the various books, online, and from other people here, rather than add to that pile, I'm just going to add to methods and techniques--formulas that make vegan cooking really fast and simple, so you won't even need to be looking at recipes. For me, everyday cooking happens without cookbooks, and depends more on knowing what to do with what you've got, rather than going step by step through a recipe - cooking from a book is a great learning experience, and it brings you outside of your everyday patterns, but it also slows you down. So for those days when you don't have time for all of that, here is the vegan default, quick and totally home cooked meal...

  Menu:

  Braised Tofu
  Leafy Green
  Rice (or quinoa, or potatoes, or some other starch--I'm assuming you already know how to make that)
  Salad
  (I'll leave dessert up to you)

  Once you're used to the system, you can whip out this meal in half an hour - it's true: you put on the rice first, and by the time it's done, so is everything else!

  ---

  Braised Tofu

  Get yourself a block of tofu (firm or firm +; you can keep some in the freezer if you like; that gives it a chewy texture)

  Cut it into slabs 1/4 to 1/2 in thick.

  Put a thin layer of oil in a frying pan, med heat

  Lightly brown the tofu slabs on both sides

  Add the sauce* and turn up the heat. Braise until the sauce is the consistency you like (from wet to shiny glazing - your call)

  *Sauce? Yes... what you put in the sauce is up to you--you can even use a ready-made TJ's sauce, but it's really easy to make one yourself:

  something wet + something salty + something sweet + something savory = sauce

  The sky is really the limit on what these ingredients can be. Just mix and match; here are some examples:

  Wet = water, wine, broth, beer, etc

  Salty = salt, soy sauce, miso, veg bullion cube, etc

  Sweet = brown sugar, aloe syrup, honey if you're into it, maple syrup, rice syrup, etc

  Savory = thyme, sun dried tomatoes, oregano, pepper, basil, garlic, cumin, mustard, citrus peel, etc

  Just combine one from each category to make a little more than a half-cup of liquid per tofu block.

  ---

  Leafy Greens 1 - Steamed

  Insanely easy: Get leafy greens, cut them up, put them in a steamer, steam them, eat them.

  This works with any leafy green: kale, collards, spinach, chard, dandelion greens, mustard greens, turnip greens...

  Cooking times vary; just open the steamer, pull out a piece, taste it, and if you like it, it's done.

  If you want to gussy them up a bit, you can toss the steamed greens with a simple dressing of olive oil, garlic, lemon and salt (or any other simple dressing for that matter)

  ---

  Leafy Greens 2 - Braised

  Get leafy greens, cut them up, put them in a hot pan with a little oil and a little garlic, stir till they wilt, add a little liquid (see above) and cover and turn down heat to simmer. When you feel like they're about done, remove cover, turn up the heat to drive off excess liquid, and you're good to go. You can add lemon juice and garlic and other savory things at any point during this process (different flavors depending on when you do it, so experiment)

  ---

  Salad

  Don't overlook salad! It doesn't have to be just boring greens and ranch dressing from a bottle: you can easily elevate it to where it belongs - an integral part of the meal, crammed with fresh, raw veggies.

  So here's my salad formula:

  Salad = Leafy Base + veggies + fruit + pickled item + fat item + dressing

  Every one of these things, including the Leafy Base, is optional. You just mix and match according to what you like. Here are some examples:

  Leafy Base = lettuce, bagged or bulk salad mix, spinach, arugula, amaranth leaves, pea shoots, etc

  Veggies = broccoli or cauliflower florets (raw or steamed and cooled), carrots, boiled potatoes, bean sprouts, etc

  Fruit = pomegranate, apples, raisins, grapes, tomatoes, bell peppers, oranges, grapefruit, dried cranberries, currants, etc

  Pickled item = pickled beets, hearts of palm (sustainably harvested, please), olives, seaweed, etc

  Fat item = avocado, nuts (roasted or raw), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, croutons, etc

  Across those categories, try and mix up the consistencies - crunchy, creamy, crisp, etc

  Also, for an added touch, think about how the different colors go together.

  For the dressing, use a readymade, or follow this simple rule:

  Dressing = fat + acid + flavoring + optional creaminess agent

  Fat = oil (any kind, but the quality makes the dressing, especially if it's a simple one: fancy olive oil here really pays off)

  Acid = vinegar (any kind), lemon juice, lime juice, etc

  Flavoring = salt, pepper, crushed garlic, thyme, lemon peel, mustard, wasabi, umeboshi paste, curry powder - go wild!

  Optional creaminess agent = vegan mayo (Wildwood is best), tahini, almond butter, nutritional yeast, mashed avocado, etc

  Get an old jar, put in one of each of these things (start with 2:1 fat to acid ratio and adjust from there; use less oil if your using an optional creaminess agent), shake it up, and you're enjoying salad!

  ---

  Tools that really, really help (not necessarily with these recipes; more in general):

  Salad Spinner - not just a yuppie indulgence anymore! Get the kind that seals so you can store it full in the fridge. That way, you can cut up and wash a couple of heads of lettuce and then for several days a salad is just a matter of grabbing a few handfuls of leaves.

  Pressure Cooker - I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record (remember records?) about this, but these things are like magic: check out these cooking times for beans: http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtobeantypes.html

  Hand Blender - the kind you can just stick into a cooking pot; it opens a whole new world of soups and sauces
  

  my books: The Coffee Book | Window Seat

  On That's it for me and industrial meat posted 2 years, 9 months ago 46 Responses

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  Don't fear the pressure cooker!

  KathyF:

  If you have a modern pressure cooker there's virtually no chance you'll blow up your kitchen. They are required to have relief valves and to automatically lock shut when they're under pressure.

  That bad reputation of blowing up comes from decades ago, and even then it was extremely rare.

  Give it another try; it's just incredible what you can do with it.

  Just take a look at the cooking time chart for different kinds of beans here:

  http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtobeantypes.html

  It really is like magic; it saves time AND energy, and helps you to eat really nutritious, really cheap food...

  my books: The Coffee Book | Window Seat

  On Popping your (organic) cherry posted 2 years, 9 months ago 21 Responses

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  Ecstatic!

  Thank you CostCo for doing what I was unable to do!

  I'm going to put together my top ten fave easy vegan recipes and send them to you...

  ... stay tuned!

  And enjoy every bite! (even and especially the gristly ones at your mom's place...)

  my books: The Coffee Book | Window Seat

  On That's it for me and industrial meat posted 2 years, 9 months ago 46 Responses