Kudos to the tiny wave riders

Just as a follow-up ...
I recently found an extended version of a ABC Nightline article.
It was shot in 2007 but it is quite descriptive and pretty contemporary I think.
This is kids with autistic spectrum disorder riding the waves.

Cheers.

Ride the waves !!!

Summer is almost near, and the smell of sea enchants the non-believers to take a dive.

Here in Scotland the waters are too cool, but surfing is a good option :)



Photo from a past Ride A Wave event for R.A.W. Courtesty of Boots McGhee

Just as a sign of respect and admiration towards surfers for their spirit, please follow this link to some photos from a R.A.W team (based in Santa Cruz, CA, US) event with children and grown-ups with poor motor skills and limp-control, this is mostly ran by volunteers, they are called Tandem surfers.

See you at the beach ...

PS. Do not forget to check the weather forecast, please refer to the surf forecast for Scotland and other places.

I personally find Magic Seaweed a good website for surf forecasts, for instance I am planning to visit Pease Bay, since it is only 1 hr away from Edinburgh. So, by using the left navigation tab and the drop-down menu I chose Pease Bay from the Scotland region and voilà - pretty neat!!!

Learning the ropes ...

Getting my way around anything that is basically vegan/vegan-friendly here in the UK has been a challenge, then I was quite used to my own hub back in NYC.
Still there is a lot of hope here and more vegans than I initially thought. I recently discovered the following organic/raw/vegan online shop that is based in Glasgow, Mamma Earth. I was reading through some articles that they have posted, one was interestingly discussing about the hazards of dairy consumption.

At this age of spirituality ...

Ok, so there are a lot of spiritual folks out there, that I believe, share a similar vision, that is to improve self and create a world of harmony.

Looking back at the time of great philosophers, I decided to read once more Kahlil Gibran (following this link you can explore his art and books, under works you can find the following abstract and also read the complete book on-line - pretty neat)and his book the Prophet.
I remember last time I read this book it was more than 16 years ago, when I was still in high school eager to understand God, the Universe and Man. Today, although older cannot say for sure that I have acquired profound understanding of these matters.

One thing that did change though, is my understanding of this book. The chapter that really touched me this time around, that I think is also in sync with my last post - on cultivation and everyday life - was that of Religion. I believe that this is chapter 26, "On Religion."

So, I am adding this for yourselves to read, as well.


On Religion

Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.
He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.
The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.
Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.
And take with you all men:
For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.
And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.

Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (1923)

Happy Earth Day!!!

Yes, it was again Earth day yesterday, again I am grateful to Earth for providing us with air, water and nourishment so that we can sustain our existence.

Just a wee note, the 22nd was also the anniversary of this blog. The reason for starting this blog was that this way I could be able to keep in touch with all of you and let you know that I am thinking of you all.

Thank you again for all your precious feedback :)

PS. On that note a good documentary to watch is about our beautiful planet is Earth. I watched in the movie theater but it is out on DVD, it is very moving and inspiring at the same time, definitely worth watching.

Thank you.

Something to share with you all

Last Spring a very wise person said something that got imprinted in my heart/mind. Looking back it was approximately a year and 9 days ago that this got registered in my mind and since then, I am still trying to put it in practice on a daily basis ...

"Having a resonating attitude, we find ourselves in every occasion"


This Spring I still wish the same for myself and others, it is the greatest blessing when we can resonate with our true heart and thus with Heaven.

A small note on updates

Since I do plan to be more diligent in updating this blog, please feel free to not only check it in the case I e-mail or on occasions, but to also subscribe to the feed that is on the bottom of the page.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Cheers.

Clarifications

So, I was talking with people, and by the way thank you all for all your feedback, I do appreciate it and it is encouraging enough to know that this does not go all to waste.

In the past, I had the misconception that in order to achieve Enlightenment, one had to be practicing vigorously things that are out of the context of ordinary life. I soon realised that this would then mean that I had to either give up my life, family and friends to spend a life of solitude in a cave up on a mountain or ... stay in society and never have the chance to become enlightened to the Truth.

This was a paradox for me, then if Enlightened is the goal of every sentient being's life, then why should in not be part of life?

Hui Neng's example served as an inspiration for me, then he was an illiterate, "barbarian," wood-cutter from the South of China that attained sudden enlightenment by leading a life according to his true nature and fulfilling even the most mundane task using his out-most sincerity.



I strongly encourage you to read his book called the Platform Sutra, it was a great aid for me in also understanding the true meaning behind Sakyamuni Buddha's Diamond Sutra.

I personally have a both versions that are out there, the Shambhala Editions have done a great job with the translation and thus strongly recommended!!!

Thank you,

This is pretty neat!!!

Ok, so I was making a gift for a friend and was looking around for snowflake patterns only to come across this website.
It is a lot of fun, very creative, you put you effort and the rest is up to luck.

Please do give it a try.
http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

This one of the one's I made.

Buddha's Delight - updated

This well-known to all of you that follow similar-to-mine dietary restrictions and had to visit and Chinese non-vegetarian restaurant only to find that this was the only dish we could have from the menu :)

This is my own variation, it does not add much to it, it just more westernized (no jujubes and ginko nuts that is then it is harder to find up here).

This past summer I had a great "Buddha's Delight" dish in LA during the YC, I do not know if Adam remembers it ... but I think that we can both agree it was delightful!

So here goes ...

INGREDIENTS

* 6 Chinese dried black mushrooms (if you eat anything like me, put 8)
* Salt or a few table spoons of Tamari- or Soy-sauce for those avoiding salt
* 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* A packet of Soba noodles (I use the Clearspring ones) or for those who still go Chinese, 55 grams / 2 ounces mung-bean "cellophane" noodles or threads
* 1/4 cup dried hair seaweed, firmly packed
* 1/2 cup apple-cider or sweet-rice vinegar
* 2 tablespoons tree ear fungus
* 2 tablespoons silver ear mushroom (or white jelly fungus)
* 4 rectangles dried bean-curd skin (about 12.5 x 2.5 centimeters each)
* half a pack of smoked tofu (I personally like the Taifun Organic Tofu w/ Smoked
Almond & Sesame, this is easily found in the UK, ie in RealFoods, see pic)
* 2 quarter-sized slices of fresh ginger
* 2 large carrots finely sliced
* 1 cup snow peas (the frozen ones - quicker this way)
* 1/4 cup lime juice (or lemon juice)
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh coriander (Zuzia, you would love this)


METHOD

Preparation

Rinse the Chinese mushrooms and soak them in 1-2 cups hot water for half an hour (depending of how many mushrooms you use). Then simmer them, covered, in the same water with a teaspoon of salt or soy-sauce and 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil for 15 minutes. Cut off the stems and discard. Slice the caps in half. Reserve the mushroom liquid in case you need it.
Dried mushrooms can easily be found at any Chinese supermarket.

If you use Soba noodles, just cook them as usual, that is boil them in water for 5 minutes. If you go with Chinese-style, soak the mung-bean noodles in 6 cups cold water for half an hour. Drain and put them in a bowl.

Soak the hair seaweed in a mixture of 1/2 cup hot water and 1/2 cup vinegar for an hour. Then swish the seaweed in its soaking water, rinsing it and separating the strands. Drain and put it in a saucer, separating the strands again.

Soak the tree ear fungus in 1 cup water for half an hour and the silver ear fungus in a separate cup the same amount of time. Drain both and rinse under running water. Feel with your fingers off any hard, coarse sections or knots. Put them together in a bowl.

Cut each bean-curd skin, crosswise, into three pieces and rinse in hot water.


Cooking

Arrange all your ingredients near the stove. Now heat the 5 tablespoons oil in a wok or a wide saucepan over a medium flame. When hot, put in the ginger and carrot. Stir and fry for 1-2 minutes.

Put in the tree ear and silver ear fungus. Stir once. Add snow peas and mushrooms. Stir and fry for 1 minute. Add the soba or cellophane noodles, hair seaweed (make sure that the strands are separated), bean-curd skin, lime/lemon w/ water and soy/tamari sauce. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. There should he some liquid left at the bottom of the wok. If there is not, add some of the mushroom liquid. Add the 1 spoon of vegetable oil and stir. Turn off the heat.

Sprinkle with minced coriander just before serving.


NOTES

One may choose to replace snow peas and carrots with baby corn and Chinese cabbage.
Love this dish !!!

A long absence ...

Dear friends,

As you know I always try to keep in touch with all of you in one form or another and share with you things that I find useful.
I have not been updating this blog for the longest, then when I left the States, I felt like a caterpillar leaving its cocoon to become a butterfly. It was hard process and at times I felt far from all of you and sad that I had too leave my old life behind.

You should know that each and everyone of you is always in my thoughts and prayers and although my tree is here in Europe my roots branch out and are nurtured by your love and faith in me.

Bless you all,
Vasiliki

PS Something in Greek, I do apologise...
Moy leipsate palioi kaloi mou filoi kai sas euxaristw pou den me exete ksexasei i valei sti mauri lista, mias kai leipw toso kairo apo tin Ellada.

Tempeh recipe

Dear food lovers,

This is my recipe for tempeh.

Serving(s) - 4

Ingredients:

One pack of organic tempeh (I usually use Soyboy or Lightlife Organic Tempeh)

Mixed peppers (fresh or frozen - if no time to prepare) - make sure that you have a 3/4 analogy to the tempeh

2-3 teaspoons Spices (I use Hungarian Paprika, black peppercorns, nutmeg, cloves, dried orange peels, dried red rose petals, grains of paradise and ginseng) - you can use spices of your preference as long they are a little spicy.

Raw Apple cider vinegar or lemon (if you are not a fan of vinegar) - add as much you prefer - make it somewhat acidic for the flavor

1 cup of rice (I used short grain brown rice, but any other rice can be used as well)

1 teaspoon Oregano (if you cannot find good organic aromatic oregano - this is optional)

1 teaspoon grapeseed (or canola) oil

2 teaspoons barbecue sauce (I use the vegetarian barbecue sauce for hot pot, but you are welcome to use any sauce that is somewhat spicy or you can use tomato sauce)

3-4 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce

Execution:

Chop tempeh into slices - less than one inch thick

Chop pepper into slices - make them some what thick (or if you use the frozen ones - they are pre-cut)

Cook rice separately

Heat up the wok with the oil, then add the tempeh; stir fry until is gets slightly light golden in color; then add the peppers and the rice - cook until the pepper look that they need 5 min. more to be done and before you remove from the fire, add the spices, oregano (optional), the tamari/soy and the barbecue sauce.
Cook for 5 min.

Then turn of the stove and while still warm in the wok, add the vinegar or lemon.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Tip: While cooking stir often with either chopsticks or another stirring tool that is made out of either wood or bamboo.

Mother's day - stress relief activity

One way to celebrate Mother's Day, is to provide the mothers with some time for themselves - away from the demands of both kids and husbands - a good way to do that is to provide them with some creative activity to occupy themselves!

For those of you who have kids - or we feel like kids - a cute Japanese paper toy.

It requires a printer and then have them cut out and have fun the website has more paper cartoon heroes to choose from!

http://fccafe.fc2web.com/ptamacy.html

this is in Japanese for those fortunate enough to understand simplified Japanese!

For the rest of us, a translated version provided by google!

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://fccafe.fc2web.com/ptamacy.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://fccafe.fc2web.com/ptamacy.html%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_ja

Happy Earth Day !!!!!!!

Happy Earth Day !!!!!!!

I would like to thank Earth, for providing us with everything we need, so that we can have a comfortable life on Earth.

Vastness

The WWW is a vast source of information. This world holds many wisdoms and who ever is wise enough can incorporate and accomodate all - or at least those that he/she has the greatest affinity with.

Check out the following link from a German scholar; the version of Lao Tzu's - Tao Te Ching is rather unique for an on-line version - browse through the entire website - highly recommended.

http://www.thebigview.com/tao-te-ching/

Also, read the Ancient Philosophy comments and stories.

Thanks!