Obama’s Secretary of Food / Agriculture

I read a good article about Obama’s choices for Secretary of Agriculture, suggesting that he change the name to Secretary of Food and assign it to someone who is not involved with industrial agribusiness.
There is a link to a petition at http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/
Everyone who cares about quality food should sign this.

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Fermented Cabbage & Pineapple Seeds

Last Saturday I made some fermented cabbage, using the blender to grind the cabbage leaves. I put some carrots in too. I used Sally Fallon’s method, adding live whey to the vegetables so they would culture faster. I left it on the counter for three days, and ate some with lunch yesterday. I ate it [...]

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Rainy Season

Had a pretty good lunch over at Paseo de las Flores mall. The great thing about Costa Rican mall food courts is they always have a couple of places that serve ‘cocina tipica’ that is, typical Costa Rican food. This includes such staples as white rice and black beans, boiled vegetables, and plantains; as well [...]

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Trip to Alajuela – A Golden Ant

Thursday, May 01, 2008
Today Ily didn’t have to go to work, since it was May Day, International Workers Day, sort of a socialist holiday not celebrated much in the United States. Here, everyone has the day off, except for some restaurants and stores.
We got up late and got ready to go to the La Garita [...]

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Second Thoughts Rant

I had never heard of http://cafe-de-flore.com/ before I received their email yesterday. I made a web site for my friends, never thinking a small cafe in an obscure city in Costa Rica could be mistaken for a world-famous location thousands of miles away in Paris, France.
(Though their fame may be a result of believing their [...]

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Impressions of Costa Rica

We went to the US Embassy yesterday. Across the street was a cafe and we stopped there for a little while. On the menu was something intriguing: “bolaflake.” I asked Ileana what this might be. She shook her head and went to ask the counter girls. At first she said it was a bowl of [...]

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Looking for a Home

Saturday, October 13, 2007
This morning I looked out our bedroom window toward the east as it began to get light. I was surprised to see a clear blue sky, with Venus shining above the mountains. It was 5am, and I suggested we go to the Feria de Agricultor, the farmer’s market. Last week we went [...]

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Trip to San Jose

Friday, October 12, 2007
This morning we had coffee, tortillas made with cuajada, and some other food.
We washed the dishes and set out on the bus for San Jose. Ily’s friend in the Teatro Nacional (National Theater) gave her free tickets to a dress rehearsal of Oscar Wilde’s ballet, “El Cumpleaños de la Infanta (The [...]

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4th Day in Costa Rica

Today is Sunday, my fourth day in Heredia. It has rained every day in the afternoon, and once in the morning. The food has been good everywhere and the weather is beautiful. Internet cafes are everywhere, some open 24 hours. This one is across the street from a nice cafe where we just had coffee. [...]

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