No impact man!

Hello dear readers, remember me? I’m sorry! I initially didn’t want to interrupt my Cretan adventure run, but then I thought – I haven’t continued it since 2 and a half weeks ago, it might be ok to go ahead with something else. But I do want to continue it eventually! It’s just that I thought I would have time back in France, like last time, to write all day. Turns out I had zero time to write. And then back here there’s all the apprenticeship stuff to take care of, celebrations to be had with friends who either finished their studies as well or are moving away (or both), and even possibly … a moving out of the apartment. More to that later.

So I took the change of interrupting the saga, because it’s been so long since I’ve written that even wordpress itself has changed. And this was supposed to be a quick bite of a post. Doesn’t look like that now. The topic: No impact man!

It’s probably not the most compelling eco-film out there, but quite possibly the most personal. To check out his project blog, go here. I was in the mood to post this thanks to the blogs of my friends, who also brought some very exciting movies to my attention. To see Jo’s list, go here and to see Marc’s list, go here.

If I ever stroke up an interest in living green, my dear intelligent concerned responsible readers (who are also oh-so pretty!), I must urge you to read “Ready, Set, Green” by the authors of Treehugger.com. Now don’t be afraid, it’s not just some bunch of hippie crap. This book shows many many many many many MANY ways to live eco-friendlier – and here’s the best part – without giving up your lifestyle. True story.

Hot town, summer in the city

Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty… Man, can I not stand this heat. I apologize in advance for all you people out there who have just been waiting for this weather and love the sun and whatnot – but for someone like me, who was born in a freakin’ blizzard, for chrissake, this is unbearable. I can’t concentrate, everything is greasy, bugs everywhere and I have to think of skin cancer every time I’m in a stray of that burning furnace of a planet (wait – is the sun even a planet? or is it a star? see – I can’t think straight!).

Another byproduct of the humidity, besides not being able to move, is not being able to eat. Or not wanting to. Not that I don’t get hungry, it’s just that the appetite goes away when I think of any food that could match the temperatures. And I’m not about to cook and create more heat. So this past week-end I decided I’d try some salad instead. The problem here is that thanks to a childhood trauma, I’m not a big fan of the leafy green stuff. Enter: two recipes for salads, without salad!

Recipe 1: Mom’s mix

This is a salad “created” by my mom, one of those evenings when she didn’t feel like cooking but still had to eat something. Traditionally, things were just pretty much piled together. But: it’s tasty and filling!

Ingredients:

• tomatoes
• mozzarella
• beetroot
• lentils

Preparation:

I usually use cherry tomatoes (‘cuz they’re cuter) and just cut them in half, then chop up the mozzarella in uneven chunks (important for the taste!), buy pre-sliced beetroot (with a little juice) and mix them all in a bowl. Cook the lentils (red ones need about 10 minutes, green ones need 30), let them cool down and add to the bowl. Douse with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, toss everything up, and voila! Thanks to the proteins in the lentils, this is a pretty satiable dish, yet light, and very low-carb! Also suited for vegetarians.

Recipe 2: Greek mix

Last Thursday, The BF and I finally booked our post-diploma vacation: two weeks on the isle of Crete! Sea, beach and sun – here we come! As a next step, I bought a travel guide, to get to know the island a little. In there were also typical local dishes, including this (rather known) salad mix. Appropriate, since the Greek weather is also hot and Mediterranean food is known to be healthy. Sadly, I just read yesterday that there was an earthquake (5,9 on the Richter Scale) on Crete, although no damage has been reported. Can’t wait!

Ingredients:

• tomatoes
• feta
• cucumber

Preparation:

Cut all three constituents into nice, clean cut, even squares (a feast for the eyes!). Mix everything in a big bowl, sprinkle with a mix of green, red and black pepper, add chopped or dried basil and thyme. Douse with olive oil and red vine vinegar, toss up. Serve with a side of Indian naan (mine was with garlic and cilantro) for filling and saucing. Not as fun or strong as the first one, but it gets the job done and is made very quickly. Enjoy!

At a loss

Michael Jackson died yesterday. I was up much later than planned and happened to come across a news show that was starting, where they stated that they had just received the message from LA that he had been rushed to the hospital, possibly not breathing or with a heart attack. Then he was allegedly in a coma, then the first sources started saying he had died. I waited up until almost 1 a.m. to hear them confirm it – It was such incredible news, I just couldn’t believe it. This morning it was all over the media of course – the legend, the king of pop, has passed away at 50. I was shocked.

It wasn’t until they interviewed someone my age on the radio that it really hit me. I was born in 1985, so after the big solo-career and Thriller-hype (which is still the best-selling album of all times). My introduction came with Black and White and the album Dangerous. I was hooked – I can’t tell you how much. An old friend from NJ even wrote to me on Facebook to ask if I had heard, because she remembered how I was such a huge fan when we were young. I had all the albums (as tapes – tapes, people, it’s that long ago), videotapes, t-shirts, caps, posters, … a friend even gave me one of those big cloth-posters to hang on my wall as a present. I loved the Jackson 5 in retrospect and collected all his solo work. I watched the videos for hours on end and made my friends sing karaoke to his songs on my birthday. I even forced my big sister to reenact Beat It with me (and got upset when she wasn’t doing it right). She also wrote to me this morning, to say I’ll be the only one who can do it right, now.

After the radio interview with that 23-year-old guy they played They Don’t Care About Us - the first MJ song I had heard in years, a decade at least. And when I realized that I still knew every beat and every word and all the emotions came floating up – that’s when my eyes got teary for the first time. Because that’s when it hit me that he had been such a huge influence in my childhood. I had repressed those years until now, because at some point I grew out of it and then it started to get embarrassing because he was more known for his excentricity and the problems than for his music. But since this morning I have immersed myself in his songs and videos and it all came screaming back to me… and I could kick myself that I didn’t bring those tapes / CDs back with me, because that’s all I wanted to listen to today.

If I ever had an idol, it was him. Not only was he a perfectionist, entertainer, performer, musician but he actually invented dance moves that were then known all over the world. And not only was he an exceptional dancer, the lyrics in his music reminded me of how he was the one who first gave me a sense of belonging to a world community, to feel responsible for people who might be very far away but aren’t that different and who need help, to open my eyes concerning what we were doing to our earth. I think there a more things I identify with today that I owe to this influence than I had realized up until now. And seeing that this is now a closed chapter I have to leave behind makes me very sad. This is a sad day. Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.