Farmers Market Fiesta Stew

Farmers Market Fiesta Stew

Saute 1/2 red onion, chopped, and one large poblano pepper, chopped, in one tablespoon of olive oil till tender.

Add one can drained rinsed kidney beans, one chopped tomato, kernels from 2 large ears of corn. Stir in 1/2 12 oz. bottle of chili sauce, 1/2 cup water, and one tablespoon of dried parsley.

Stew 10 minutes or so.

Serve over brown or white rice. Top with fresh diced tomatoes.

Optional: you can also top with a little shredded cheddar cheese.

Damn! I can cook!

Baked Apple-Pear Butter

Years ago I got a cookbook from the book of he month club that had a recipe for baked apple butter. It was a recipe written in a narrative style. Mom was having a yard sale and Callahans had a crabapple tree that was dropping apples and attracting bees. During the sale, I gathered up a couple of boxes of crabapples and make the butter using the crabapples. It was a taste and texture unlike I had ever experienced before. Even though it was a long, drawn out process, the results were worth it. Soon after, I ran into a farmer in the parking lot of the Salvation Army on River Drive. I bought some Jonathan apples. I didn't have enough apples to make apple butter so I bought some pears and did a roughly 50/50 split. The resulting apple-pear butter had a nectar-like flavor similar to the crabapple butter.

I was in Geneseo a few days ago and a farmer at their farmers market was selling apples at $1.00 a bag. I was inspired to make the butter once again. I can't find the cookbook so I went online but couldn't find a suitable recipe or methodolgy. Finally, I grabbed the Joy of Cooking and found a recipe similar in methodology.

In short, I made up the recipe. I expect it to be quite different from my original batches 20 years ago because I don't have a whole day to watch it bake so I got up at 2 in the morning. (I couldn't sleep because I was worried about when I would have time to bake this now that it was spiced and ready to go).At 2, I put it in 2 crock pots. I got it to the boiling point, then took the lids off about 6:00 am. It is going slow. I will be back home about 3:00 this afternoon and, if I don't see significant progress, I will put it in the oven and bake at 300 till done; hopefully being able to can it at about 8:00 PM.

I sure hope I didn't sell that cook book!

Black Marigolds

Even now
I mind the coming and talking of wise men from towers
Where they had thought away their youth. And I listening,
Found not the salt of the whispers of my girl,
Murmur of confused colors, as we lay near sleep;
Little wise words and little witty words,
Wanton as water, honied with eagerness.

Even now
I mind that I loved cypress and roses, clear
The great blue mountains and the small gray hills,
The sounding of the sea. Upon a day
I saw strange eyes and hands like butterflies;
For me at morning larks flew from the thyme
And children came to bathe in little streams.

Even now,
I know that I have savored the hot taste of life
Lifting green cups to gold at the great feast.
Just for a small and a forgotten time
I have had full in my eyes from off my girl
The whitest pouring of eternal light---


From “Black Marigolds” translated from the Sanskrit from E. Powys Mathers as quoted by John Steinbeck in Cannery Row.

Black Marigolds is also known as the Chaurapanchasika: The Fifty Stanzas of Chauras

Making Hummus

Week after week, the hummus was perfect. I had stumbled upon the perfect recipe after paying $5 for a tub of hummus at the local health food store. I could do better, I thought. And I did. That first batch had a little too much kick to it, so I gave it to my friend who could handle the heat. The second, too much garlic. Chris got that batch. After that, perfection.

Then one day, it failed. How could this happen? I had found the perfect recipe, tweaked it with my own blend of spices, and added the perfect amount of roasted red peppers. At first I thought it was the cheap garbanzo beans that I bought at Wal-mart. Could that account for the bland, almost bitter taste? I purchased the best tahini, though. Wouldn't that make up the lack? How, I thought, could this happen to me? I gave up. I couldn't even muster the energy to toss it when I took out the trash. I didn't want to come near it. It sat in there for weeks. Untouched, yet not ignored. Every time I opened the refrigerator I was confronted with my failure.

But, life goes on; eventually I cleaned out the fridge. I moved on, stared eating in restaurants, started buying common snacks from the vending machine. But everyday, I craved the subtle flavor of my Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.

A wise woman sat me down today and reminded me of my accomplishments over the past few months. "It's not everyone," she said, "who can look at themselves with total honesty, and have the commitment to do what you've done." She's right, you know. This journey is a bold one. And I will find the treasure box. It's my nature to do so. There will be no stopping me. "Remember," she said, "to stop and rest along the way."

Hmmm, that's a new concept, I thought. Rest; be gentle with myself; give myself a break? So, tonight I made hummus again. It was perfection!

I had forgotten the spices that time. Oh, silly me.

Phil Gruber

A few weeks ago, I spent the day with James Twyman. He's a filmmaker, whose most recent work is The Moses Code. James gave a concert on Friday night and an all day seminar on Saturday. One of the things about James is that he is the same up on the stage, as he is standing in line at Panera. I was prepared for what James was bringing to Moline. I had met him in February when he showed about 130 people an unfinished version of his film. He spent three hours with us that day.

After that, I spent about 6 weeks promoting a screening of the movie and participated in the worldwide peace meditation on Sunday using The Moses Code. Our intent was to manifest peace in Jerusalem.

The concept of The Moses Code is that there is a hidden code in the name of God as given to Moses: "I am that I am." That code is a comma. He is saying that it needs a comma in order for us to understand what God meant by telling Moses that his name was "I am that I am." What he meant, that may have gotten lost in translation, is "I am that, I am." This comma unlocks the code hidden in "I am that, I am", and by using it, we can manifest amazing things in our lives. It's a Law of Attraction thing, of course.

The real surprise of the weekend was Phil Gruber. Phil is an autoharp playing Kaballah scholar from New Jersey. As Phil interjected his wisdom at intervals on Saturday, I sat in awe. I've met a lot of smart guys before, but Phil has a way of taking the most complex concepts in religion and science and putting them into terms that bring a common understanding.

I mention Phil because he quoted the William Blake poem, London. He spoke about the "mind forg'd manacles" that limit us. If we can break free of the self-imposed limitations that bind us to lives of mediocrity, we are truly limitless. I look forward to seeing more of Phil; he has a lot to teach us all.

London-A Poem by William Blake

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.

But most thro' midnight streets
I hear How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.

Be Here Now Remember

Back in the '70's, I snuck up into the attic with this book. It was quite revolutionary at the time with its description of LSD trips and all the cool drawings and eastern thought. Until I read this book, the only other person I had ever heard of changing his name was Cassius Clay; now this Richard Alpert had expanded his consciousness and changed his name to Ram Dass. At every significant moment in my life, the title of that book has stayed with me. "Be Here Now-Remember". It was my first understanding of quantum physics, though I didn't know it by that name until years later. As I struggled to relate how everything is happening in one big eternal NOW, I developed a way to communicate this understanding to others. The concept of Be Here Now has been the starting point for thousands of conversations in my life.

A couple of years ago, a very young man named Michael stopped by desk at work. He said, "Pat, you have to read this book! It's the coolest thing! It will change your life." Of course, the book was Be Here Now. I laughed. (It was probably the first time in my life I felt old and wise and it felt kinda good. Thanks Michael.)

A few weeks ago I ordered the book on Amazon. As I prepare for the next phase of my spiritual journey, it is comforting to be with such a good old friend again.

Why Pineapples?

Why pineapples? It's simple, really. I haven't figured out how to take a picture of myself yet. Oh sure, I could do the thing where you hold out the camera and snap away but , jeez, how goofy is that? So, here is my blog, I offer it to the world.