Technology Worries and "Rethinking Bananas" Bean Smoothie

A couple nights ago, after a couple hours away from the computer, I went to look at my email and got this:

 "Your account has been disabled." With a suggestion that this usually happens if you violate the terms of service, i.e. "It's your fault, now stand in the corner and think about what you've done." My blog is a gmail item, so I was locked out of that too. I work regularly on more than one computer, so I rely on google docs a lot to transfer files back and forth. Many of my work contacts are only saved within gmail, as are many of my social contacts.

Panicking, I filled out the "contact us" form, please please please, and spent an anxious night. Next morning, everything was working again, with an apology from the gmail team but no explanation.

I've moved away from living in the jungle, eschewing all technology, back toward the 21st century, appreciating and celebrating the magic of connection, the ability to present and share my work, the possibility of being employed by people on the other side of the world. But that sudden removal of my account, my fast-track into the world of connection, really scared me. Reconnected me with the paranoia in the Hawaiian jungle, where many people think that the net and everything else is soon going to disappear and it'll be back to the Stone Age.

I'm going to take the time to record some of my more important contact addresses somewhere other than gmail, back up my files somewhere non-cloud, and think about moving my blog. Any other advice, friends?

The next morning, our heater quit working.

 This small, ugly, oil-fueled heater is probably older than me--it's not the first time the heater has just stopped working. There have been times when it was below zero outside, and we were in down coats and blankets indoors. It didn't even quite freeze the last few nights because we're having a south wind storm, so we weren't too terribly cold--but on the heels of my email panic, it surely reminded me of all that we rely upon to survive and to reach out--and reminded me not to take it for granted.

It makes me anxious, living in this cold place. I don't see myself lighting fires in this cabin!

Moving away from anxieties toward something for which I have been finding creative solutions, I want to talk about rethinking bananas. Don't get me wrong--I love bananas. In my fruitarian years, my typical lunch was four bananas. Many bananas every day. Raw foodists and vegans in particular love bananas because of their texture, which binds things together; their sweetness, their robustness which isn't heavy.

I've posted many recipes involving bananas here, although given how much I love smoothies, my smoothies throughout the history of the blog haven't been quite so banana-heavy because of all the months that I was avoiding all sugar. Lately, bananas have been on the menu and, for some time this summer, I even went back to the old 'four bananas=lunch' a few times. However, I've been noticing that I often don't feel too good after I eat them. It seems like I don't feel so bad if I eat them for breakfast, although it might increase my post-breakfast nausea, but is much worse if I eat them for lunch or later.

So--I had many other banana alternatives for a smoothie. There's irish moss, if I wanted to keep it raw, which provides the texture but not much flavor. There's pumpkin, especially this time of year! There's applesauce. Both of those add some flavor and texture, make the smoothie thicker and yummier. But I wasn't wedded to having this smoothie be entirely raw, and I was looking for something that offered more protein.

I had some adzuki beans left over from the bean-beet stew with shiitakes, and I felt like continuing the purple theme--and it was great! Adzuki beans are some of the sweetest beans, so this was probably a good place to start. Trust me--it was _really_ good! Satiating with protein, sweet and refreshing with berries and melon, good coconuttiness and omega-3s from flax.


Purple Protein Smoothie (vegan, high raw)
1 cup coconut milk (I used half coconut milk, half coconut kefir whey)
1/3 cup cooked adzuki beans, cold
scoop of protein powder (optional)
1 cup frozen watermelon (bye bye, summer)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1-2 dried figs
1 teaspoon lecithin
1 teaspoon flax meal
stevia, if desired

Blend all together and enjoy!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on technology, how much we rely on it and how stable it is. And I have two blogger-tribute food posts coming up soon.

Technology Musings, Broccoli-Cauliflower Marinade

Happy Friday!

This is probably a topic that many people who have lived their whole lives in cities have not had to think about. But it is something that has preoccupied me off and on, more on than off, for years. Technology and how it dominates our lives, where we would be without it. I get myself tangled continuously in the ethical dilemma of whether we 'should' have it. 

We just got internet at home, and that's been a longterm wrangle over whether it's yet another expensive speed-up, requiring maintenance and inviting one to spend more money. Everything moves faster than if you have no home internet, and so it's easier to spend more time, waste more time, spend more money, waste more money. Another concern has been the anxiety of addiction, of the rabbit-hole of stimulation and information, getting caught in the web of links and never getting up off one's bottom again!

I decided that the 'pro's' of having internet outweighed the 'con's' - most of my work is predicated on internet connections, and for one of my projects, the software tends to crash, and being online makes it easier to back up work successfully. I'm not too concerned about the rabbit-hole phenomenon: I know it's there, but there's so much else to do as well and it can only hold one's interest for so long.

But 'technology' in general is a much broader infiltration, taken for granted in our lives. I was thinking about this as I walked to town to pick up the modem on Monday. As I mentioned, it turned out that they'd given me a dud and I had to go twice. I was pondering what would happen if we had no rapid transportation, if we had to walk to town every time we needed something. And what if we didn't have trucks to carry things in quantity? We'd have to go frequently, but not so frequently that we were exhausted, and carry what we could. 

And what if we had to grind all our own flour? Grinding grain is hard work. Or, for myself and others who can't tolerate grains and prefer nut flours, those are produced by pressing the oil out and drying and grinding the remaining solids. When I lived in Hawaii, I used to make my own (and sometimes for many other people) coconut creme with a wheatgrass juicer, from the mature coconut meat. Delicious and wonderfully fresh, but it was such a production, from gathering the coconuts, whacking them open, prying the meat from the shell (which can take ages) that often the pulp was just given to the chickens rather than spending a whole lot more time doing the work to render the flour.

Without technology, everything would take such a long time! And we'd either have to spend all of our time on basic survival issues, or else we'd have to split society up into those who gathered coconuts and made the coconut creme all day and those who got to write poetry and go on retreats, etc. So, on balance I have to be grateful for technology, offering me the opportunity to do so much more. 

Having said that, in the few days that we've had internet I have spent some money. I've also earned some money, although it hasn't actually arrived in my bank account yet. But there were a few purchases that I needed to make (herbs, supplements, etc) that I was able to make more quickly.

On the other hand, I've been trying to think laterally and not be addicted to 'the right tool for the right job' to the extent of ending up with acres of built-in redundancy taking up space in your home! Our home is so tiny, and our budget is similar.

So, I did not buy a dehydrator, even though it's harvest season and Fred Meyer had one on offer. Our little toaster oven can do small amounts and theoretically has a dehydrating function, but it is so noisy! Here, instead, is what I've been doing. This is our little annex room off of the main cabin, with clothes, laundry, food stores, etc. I have my flax/coconut/mesquite/chia-sweet cookies on racks sitting on an old rubbermaid container, and that's just a little desk fan circulating air onto them. Much quieter, and it worked fine, although it's taking a long time to dry my mint, yarrow, wormwood...

And I won a Vita-mix on eBay! I'm excited and almost can't believe it. I got the 5200 series with two jars, which is exactly what I wanted (to grind quantities of grains, flax, sesame as well as the smoothie stuff). I got it for somewhat less than I was prepared to pay - and there'd been 22 bids on it before I put my bid in! I'm so looking forward to all the options that it will open up - all the recipes that I've been wanting to try that my little blender won't be up to. I'll make a list of what I'm looking forward to doing and share that later also.

But my little Kitchen-Aid immersion blender is pretty good. Here's something yummy I did yesterday - enjoyed by more folks than just myself! I marinaded broccoli, as well as cauliflower from our garden, in apple cider vinegar, a little hemp oil and a little sea salt, and let sit a few hours.

With the blender and a quart mason jar as container, I made a dressing from sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, flax meal, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, sea salt, and a bunch of arugula and mint from our own garden!

Here it is before they were combined.

And I forgot to take a picture of the completed dish until it was mostly gone! 

I love how the flax meal improves the texture as well as balancing the omega 3-6 ratio. Isn't it good when you do something for nutritional value and it enhances the flavor/texture too, or vice versa?