Laugh more: Underwater Dogs

Dogs don't care when they are all washed up...

Utterly adorable pics of doggies sweet, caught up in the moment, and baring their teefs...it's all present in Underwater Dogs, a fun photo book from Seth Casteel.

65 years, and aging well Mr. Bowie

Doing things with style, as usual, David Bowie releases this beautiful piece. On his 65th birthday. No fanfare; nothing fancy. What a gift.

Simple Winter Supper: Buckwheat Noodles with Cabbage

Aren't they sweet? If seeds can be cute - and they can be - then these buckwheat seeds really take the cake. Found this photo and lots of yummy buckwheat info here .

It's a new year, and time to clear space for new things in my life. So I'm culling my cookbooks, a term that used to strike dread into my heart, but doesn't seem quite so scary anymore. Anyway, to earn its keep on my shelf, my existing books will have to come up with some new "keeper recipes". Deborah Madison's The Savory Way called first, and on first flip, this buckwheat recipe caught my eye. In true winter fashion, I wasn't about to go rushing out into the cold to get what I didn't have (brussel sprouts, napa cabbage, Gruyere cheese) and so this recipe is adapted by necessity (born of laziness and/or self-preservation).

It was delicious, and beautiful. So beautiful and delicious in fact that it was gone before my camera arrived on the scene. But the palette is not so unlike the photo above...

BUCKWHEAT NOODLES WITH BROWN BUTTER AND CABBAGES

(adapted from Deborah Madison’s The Savory Way]              4 servings

6 Tablespoons (T) ghee

2 minced garlic cloves

(1/2 pound Brussel sprouts, leaves separated)

¼ c water

Salt

1 pound thinly sliced cabbage

10-12 oz buckwheat noodles

3 T finely chopped parsley

1 bunch scallions, chopped

(1/4 c grated Gruyere or Fontina – I just grated some Parmesan on each serving instead)

1 T toasted black sesame seeds

Black pepper

Start by putting on a large pot of water to boil the pasta. Prep everything else while it gets bubbling.

• Heat 2 T butter in a wide skillet, add the garlic (and Brussels, if using), and cook over medium heat, turning leaves frequently til they begin to shine – a couple of minutes.
• Add the water, a little salt, and cook til leaves are sweet and tender: ~3-4 minutes. Add water, if you need it, just a bit at a time.
• Once the Brussels have cooked, add the cabbage, and cook until it’s wilted. Season with salt and set aside.
• Add salt to pasta water, then add pasta. The stuff I used was done in under 4 minutes. Speedy! So then just scoop it out and into your pan o’veg. Add remaining butter (to taste), parsley, scallions, cheese, sesame seeds, and gently combine.
• Season with pepper and serve.

Not so traditional

Might not seem so traditional to be enjoying Christmas music still, but I love it! Stumbled across this non-traditional version of a good old tune and love it - The Wayfarers performing The Holly and The Ivy.

A Taste of Bitter

A beautiful photo of Guilin, from another friend.

A story shared with me by a friend:

An aging master grew tired of his apprentice’s complaints. One morning, he sent him to get some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master told him to mix a handful of salt in a glass of water and then drink it.
“How does it taste?” the master asked.
“Bitter,” said the apprentice.
The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.
“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.
“No,” said the young man. At this the master sat beside this serious young man, and explained softly,
“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

Like footprints in the snow

Snow waves in the sunset. - Photo by YY Gardener

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,

compassionate with the aged,

sympathetic with the striving,

and tolerant of the weak and strong because

someday in your life

you will have been all of these.”

George Washington Carver

An Earthly Venus

Aphrodite of Milos (Venus De Milo). Greek,  ~1130-100 BC

Will Rogers, an actor/cowboy/humourist/1920s+30s American celebrity, was with his niece when he saw the Venus De Milo. Will turned to his niece and said, "See what will happen if you don't stop biting your fingernails?"

That's funny, but this may seem even funnier. Obsessive nail biting, the kind that feels good when you're doing it, is actually a sign of Liver Qi Stagnation. The Liver is responsible for the sinews and the nails are considered part of the sinews. Without realizing it, the nail biter is trying to open up the Liver channels.

The Wonder that is Natalie Merchant

With so much wonderful music in the world, sometimes I forget about a really great musician. I just chanced to hear this song while I was out and about today...and remembered how very much I loved it back in the day. It's aged well, like all good music. I like the start of this video too, where Natalie talks about her experience with special needs people and how the song "describes their strengths, in spite of what others would see as deficiencies."

WONDER

Natalie Merchant / Indian Love Bride ©1995

Doctors have come from distant cities
just to see me
stand over my bed
disbelieving what they're seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
of god's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation

Newspapers ask intimate questions
want confessions
they reach into my head
to steal the glory of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders
of god's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation

O, I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle
know this child will be able
laughed as my body she lifted
know this child will be gifted
with love, with patience and with faith
she'll make her way

People see me
I'm a challenge to your balance
I'm over your heads
how I confound you and astound you
to know I must be one of the wonders
of god's own creation
and as far as you can see you can offer me
no explanation

O, I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle
know this child will be able
laughed as she came to my mother
know this child will not suffer
laughed as my body she lifted
know this child will be gifted
with love, with patience and with faith
she'll make her way

Must. Resist. Punny. Title. Horses and Acupuncture

Just stumbled across the story of Ed Millhouse, an American vet who uses acupuncture techniques on horses that "there aren't any other options for."

He's not the first doing this. According to the newspaper article linked below, Millhouse says the practice has been becoming common over the past 10-15 years. He himself got the idea after graduating from vet college and getting the chance to shadow a more experienced vet.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” he said. “But he was a good vet. And it was amazing some of the things that he did. It intrigued me, so a few years later I took that course.”

He chuckled as he remembered sitting skeptically through the first class, looking for signs of “voodoo.”

“I went from ‘don’t believe in it’ to ‘wow,’” he said. “It’s opened my eyes to how it really benefits.”

Since then, he said he’s found acupuncture especially helpful for controlling colic and musculoskeletal problems that cause back soreness and joint pain in his equine patients. He said it’s also helpful in treating lame horses.

“Acupuncture can help pinpoint where the lameness is,” he said. “You can trace their body and find the sore points, which represent patterns that you see. It can help diagnose where the (problem) is and how to treat it.”

He said horses make very good patients overall.

“They have big muscles, and they get big knots in those muscles,” he said. “They’re well-mapped-out, and they don’t lie to you. There’s no placebo effect with animals.”

The acupuncture is often combined with chiropractic, and the frequency of treatment depends on the horse, he said. Combining the two treatments often results in a major difference in the horse’s muscles within just a few hours.

“The muscles on horses are so strong and tight (that) the acupuncture lasts a lot longer,” he said. “I can go three to four weeks between treatments instead of three days.”

For more on Millhouse, read the full article at the St. Croix Valley Area Lowdown.