Dried Cherry Apple Tarts topped with a Cinnamon Pecan Streusel (raw)

What to Serve for a Sunday breakfast? How about warm healthy apple tarts filled with a gooey sweet and tart cherry sauce and topped with a cinnamon pecan crunch. mmmmm… I love these, they go with any type of meal from breakfast, to snacks, to luscious deserts served with raw caramel vanilla ice cream. With the start of the fall season, apples started to become abundant everywhere, in every variety and color. I knew I had to find various ways to incorporate these simple and classic fruits into some recipes. Between these and my pomegranate apple pie, I can truly say that I like them better raw then in my baked apple pies. I never thought I would say that, but they just taste so fresh and retain so much more of their flavor raw. It’s incredible. The dehydrator softens them just enough, releasing their inner fragrant juice. But I also love them in a pie totally raw with no dehydration at all. What can I say, I just love apples. Cherries, apples, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg. Oh yeah, try serving them with ginger tea for a warming buzz. Or drizzle some caramel or chocolate sauce on top.

Makes 8-10 small 4-5” Round Tarts

Instructions

For the Crust Start by making the crusts. Soak the pitted dates in water for 10-20 min. and then drain the water. Add the dry nuts and dried coconut and salt to your food processor and process until a powdery meal forms.
Then add the dates slowly while processing and stop when well combined. Divide this dough between the small tart pans and press into them. Lightly oil your tart pans with coconut butter, and then press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the pans. Place all of the tarts in your dehydrator and dehydrate for4-6hrs. on 110 degrees. Until they are nice and dry and a little crispy. A crisp crust goes best with apple.

For the Sweet Cherry Sauce Place all the ingredients in your blender and blend on high until well blended and smooth. Set aside.

For the Apple and Dried Cherry Filling Choose a mixture of apples such as Granny Smith, Fuji, Braeburn etc. Peel the apples and then slice them thinly. Chop the thin slices into bite size square pieces. In a medium or large size mixing bowl, add the apple pieces and the dried cherries. Pour on top the lemon juice, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg and mix well with a large spoon. Next take your blender jar with the cherry sauce and pour it over the apple mixture. Toss well again to make sure it is all lightly coated with the cherry sauce.

Once the crusts are done dehydrating you are going to fill them with this mixture. Scoop the mixture into each tart shell and fill to the top smoothing it out. Next you are going to add the streusel topping.

For the Cinnamon Pecan Streusel In your food processor, process the pecans with the cinnamon and salt lightly until a course meal forms. Add the dates and process again very briefly just until a course damp meal forms. Sprinkle on top of the tarts evenly. Now place all the tarts back in the dehydrator and dehydrate on 110 F for another 1-2 hrs.

Now that your a Good Monkie and you ride your new shiny cooler than a rover bike, you need to make sure to protect it. If you don’t, there is a line of Drones out there looking to take it from you. When they see your bike, they don’t see a thing of beauty, no they see a quick buck. They will flip your precious two wheel friend like a $2 hooker to the first skanky john they can find. The thought just makes me sick to my stomach. I know this sucks and in my opinion is the worst part of being a good bike owner.

We all know a good bike, is one that cuts all the unnecessary weight, right? In fact the lighter they are, the more expensive and prized they become. So, when a good monkie has to turn around and buy 20 pounds of locks to protect their 5 pound bike, really really sucks. But that is life in the big city. So, until you move to some small country town or your own private island, you need to get your head into the keeping it lock up game.

Here is the problem. Most locks that seem to secure you bike really don’t. The bike thieving drones are ready to tackle most locks, cables and chains. So, what is a good bike monkie to do? Buy the best lock you can and use it properly. After the jump lock options and video to teach you how to lock your bike up.

I am personally using two different locks. One is a chain with a mini ulock and the other is a larger ulock. I use the chain all the time and if I am leaving it for any period of time I add the second ulock. My first choice is the heavy duty chain New York Fahgettaboudit Lock by Kryptonite. This thing is a beast and can be used as a weapon, if you ever get jumped. I use it to secure my frame and tires to a bike pole. It’s a chain and mini U Lock combo. The tiny U Lock secures the chain together and is open in the U shaped steal is so small, thieving drones can’t pry it open with a hydraulic spreader. By the way, hydraulic jacks are the quick way to defeat a standard U Lock.

Cost: 5 Feet Version: Around $110 3.1/2 Feet Version: Around $80 Both can be found on amazon.com

New York Fahgettaboudit

My second lock is another New York Fahgettaboudit lock, but is a Larger U Lock without the chain. Again it uses a smaller U steal bar to help prevent the use of hydraulic jacks.

New York Fahgettaboudit® U-lock

To learn how to properly lock up your bike, check out this video by Streetfilms.org. They tag along with a guy named Hal, who lives eats and breaths urban biking.

Hal Does it Again In a follow up video, but this time with Kerri Martin founder of the Bike Church.

We need a sage in these times to remind us how easy it is to roll your bike. Once again enter the immortal, Bicycle Habitat mechanic Hal Ruzal to give us the straight dope in what he’s calling “your final warning” in this last chapter of our exclusive trilogy. Let’s hope the third time is a charm!

This time around Hal’s not only grading bike locking ability of anonymous locker-uppers, but he also shows you how he secures his bike so you too can score an “A” (or at least have a decent shot at an A- or B+.) And if you love the humorous anecdotes and musings here, don’t miss our first two chapters: “Hal Grades Your Bike Locking” and “Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking”.

How to steal a bike in NYC

Here is another video by the Neistat brothers, who decided to show how easy it is to steal their own bikes in public. They use every method to cut, saw, drill the locks off the bike and ride away. They even use power tools and no one stops them. Crazy stuff. No one cared.

Seems simple to me, if the world is ninety percent water, a crucial part of preserving our environment should be the monitoring and maintaining of our oceans. However, due to the massive volume of water and inclement weather conditions, it’s almost nearly impossible to do this year round. But a possible solution may be in sight.

Enter the robotic floats that collect argo data from the ocean’s heat. First used in the Indian Ocean by Australia in ‘99, there are now about 2,100 currently in use, with another 900 or so ready to dive in.

According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the floats are less-compressible than seawater and therefore drift at depth. By pumping fluid from inside the float to an external bladder, they’re able to rise to the surface. When the float needs to dive, the fluid is drawn back inside, making the gadget denser than the seawater surrounding it. These floats can be deployed from ships or aircraft.

The Jason altimetry satellite is used with the argo system to keep track of the ocean’s shape as it changes due to heat and currents. Argo is also sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme’s Climate Variability and Predictability project (CLIVAR) and by the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE). It is a pilot project of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).

Once we’re able to understand (and hopefully even predict) the various changes occurring in our oceans and atmosphere, we’ll be better equipped to make the necessary strategies to save our planet.

Architect Michelle Kaufmann shows us how to make beautiful energy saving wooden sun shades that slide along bard door tracks. These are the type of wood slat doors, you see on many modern green homes. This simple project cuts down on the amount of light which comes into the house and still allows the fresh breeze to come in. This is part of Michelle’s Green It Yourself Projects.

G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

The following is our fifth excerpt from Brendan’s book “The Thrive Diet”, on sale now.

The balance of acid and alkaline within the body is referred to as pH (meaning “potential of hydrogen”), and measured on a scale ranging from pH 1 (the most acidic) to pH 14 (the most alkaline). A neutral or good pH balance is 7.35; maintaining this balance is vital. If the body’s pH drops, meaning our body has become too acidic, the likelihood of ailments rises sharply. An acidic environment within the body negatively affects health at the cellular level. It is not possible to be truly healthy when the body is in a constant state of acidosis (characterized by excessively high acid levels).

People with an acidic environment within their body are also prone to fatigue: Since acidity is a stressor, cortisol levels rise, impairing sleep. The consumption of acid forming foods is the number one cause of an overly acidic system, and the overconsumption of acid-forming foods plays a significant role in one of North America’s largest health problems –excessive weight. Since our body is equipped with buffering capabilities, our blood pH will vary to only a small degree, regardless of diet. The body’s ability to cope is a testament to how resourceful it is. Yet, the systems that are recruited to facilitate this buffering use of energy can become strained, and if prolonged, will result in significant stress to the system, causing immune function to falter and effectively opening the door to a host of diseases.

Low-grade metabolic acidosis — when cells remain in an overly acidic state because of too many acid-forming foods being eaten or a high-stress lifestyle in general — is believed to be a leading cause of several health concerns, including the development of kidney stones, loss of bone mass, and the reduction of growth hormone levels, resulting in loss of lean muscle mass and increase of body fat. Lowgrade metabolic acidosis affects the body at a cellular level and is responsible for an increase of free radicals and a decrease in the production of cellular energy. In addition to these serious concerns, viruses and bacteria are able to thrive in an acidic body, again possibly leading to numerous diseases. Interestingly, it is impossible for cancer to develop in an alkaline environment; this shows the importance of alkalinity in disease prevention.

So, what can we do to prevent all this? The answer is to consume more alkaline-forming foods and fewer acid-forming ones. One factor that significantly raises the pH of food, and in turn the body, is chlorophyll content. Responsible for giving plants their green pigment, chlorophyll is often referred to as the blood of plants. The botanical equivalent to hemoglobin in human blood, chlorophyll synthesizes energy.

Chlorophyll converts the sun’s energy that has been absorbed by the plant into carbohydrate. Known as photosynthesis, this process is responsible for life on earth. Since animals and humans eat plants, we too get our energy from the sun, plants being the conduit. Chlorophyll is prized for its ability to cleanse our blood by helping remove toxins deposited from dietary and environmental sources. Chlorophyll is also linked to the body’s production of red blood cells, making daily consumption of chlorophyll-rich foods important for ensuring the body’s constant cell regeneration and improving oxygen transport in the body and therefore energy levels. Optimizing the body’s regeneration of blood cells will also contribute to peak athletic performance.

Although some foods test as acidic, they produce an alkalizing effect once digested. Citrus fruit and balsamic and apple cider vinegar are all acidic, but when consumed, they become highly alkaline-forming.

While I realize that most people who eat a typical North American diet do eat some alkalizing foods, such as fruit and vegetables, the amounts are rarely large enough to offset the acidity formed by the base of the diet. Even many so-called healthy diets, particularly those based heavily on cooked grains, keep the body in an overly acidic state, resulting is slowed cellular regeneration. Not all foods you eat need to be highly alkaline-forming; however, for optimal health, it is important that most of them are alkalizing.

Balanced pH plays a major role in bone health. Studies indicate that it is not a lack of dietary calcium, as is commonly thought, but stress and overconsumption of acid-forming foods and supplements that lead to most cases of poor bone health and osteoporosis. The blood will always remain neutral — this is imperative for survival — so if the body is consistently fed acid-forming, denatured foods and supplements, or encounters stress from other sources, it must take measures to ensure a neutral blood pH is maintained. In doing so, the body pulls calcium, the mineral is our body that is most alkaline, from the bones.

Over time, the bones weaken as a result of this survival mechanism. The conventional way of treating low calcium levels and osteoporosis is to “take” more calcium, usually in the form of supplements. The calcium in tablets is usually derived from oyster shells, bovine bone meal, coral, or dolomite (a type of rock), all of which are extremely hard and unnatural for the body to assimilate — they are not food. The large size of these supplements and, with some types, the number recommended for daily intake is a testament to their poor bioavailability. The body must work very hard to get calcium from these sources.

pH Levels and Enjoyment of Life

Diet has the greatest impact on the body’s pH level; however, there are other contributing factors. Maintaining a positive attitude and setting time aside to do an activity you enjoy on a regular basis will promote pH balance within the body. Taking time out of a busy schedule to do something pleasurable yet seemingly unproductive is actually a key element in improved health and longevity — and therefore greater productivity. Of course, if you enjoy your busy schedule, it will be less stress-producing than if you perceive it as daunting — what might seem a foreboding schedule to someone else may be a source of pleasure for you. If you enjoy working through the night, then there is no need to rest. This further underscores the value of enjoying what you do for the long-term sake of your health.

Read more on the body’s pH level in The Thrive Diet. For more on Brendan Brazier, click here.

Don’t be jealous! Ever since I watched a green-haired Todd Oldham on “House of Style” back in the nineties, I knew that I had to get crafty with him one day. So, with Valentine’s Day around the corner, Todd and I got together at his downtown NYC studio to show you how to make some heart-shaped gifts that come from the heart. We both agree that this holiday is all about affordable, DIY craftiness.

From his features in ReadyMade & Dwell, to crafting Amy Sedaris’ interactive vaginal diagram on the Chelsea Lately Show, and with a line of vases for FTD, a classic menswear-inspired carpet collection, and design book series called Place Space, Todd is a royal of the creative world. To top that, he is a photographer, filmmaker, interior designer, fashion designer, and can see through walls …well, maybe not the last part.

Mr. Oldham is no stranger to being ethically handsome, either. A vegetarian and environmentalist, he has worked with Peta on undercover investigations, encouraged the sales of plantable oak trees through FTD, and even raised money for the NRDC. He continues to find innovative ways to use eco-friendly, recyclable, and animal-friendly materials (from soy based inks, to un-coated, recycled cardboard) in his products, and one thing we agree on is that having mainstream skills along with aspirations for environmentalism, animal rights, and social justice, is a recipe for making change from the inside.

Today is Polar Bear day at G Living. Enjoy the photos and the information about this truly amazing earthling. The following information is by : Polar Bears International

Polar Bear Status Report. Polar bears are a potentially threatened species living in the circumpolar north. They are animals which know no boundaries.They pad across the ice from Russia to Alaska, from Canada to Greenland and onto Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. No adequate census exists on which to base a worldwide population estimate, but biologists use a working figure of 20,000 to 25,000 bears with about sixty percent of those living in Canada.

In areas where long-term studies are available, populations are showing signs of stress. Canada’s Western Hudson Bay population has dropped 22% since the early 1980s. The declines have been directly linked to an earlier ice break-up on Hudson Bay. A long-term study of the Southern Beaufort Sea population, which spans the northern coast of Alaska and western Canada, has revealed a decline in cub survival rates and in the weight and skull size of adult males. Such declines were observed in Western Hudson Bay bears prior to the population drop there. Another population listed as declining is Baffin Bay. According to the most recent report from the Polar Bear Specialist Group, the harvest levels from Nunavut when combined with those from Greenland (which were thought to be much lower than they actually are) has resulted in this shared population being in a non-sustainable harvest situation, meaning the population is at great risk of a serious decline. The harvest is thought to be several times above what is sustainable.

Some Native communities in Canada have been reporting increasing numbers of polar bears on land. Traditional hunters believe this indicates an increased population, although the increased presence on land may, in fact, be related to shrinking sea ice and changes in the bears’ distribution patterns. Data is needed to understand the change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states, "In the declining polar bear population of Canada’s Western Hudson Bay, extensive scientific studies have indicated that the increased observation of bears on land is a result of changing distribution patterns and a result of changes in the accessibility of sea ice habitat."

Climate change is the main threat to polar bears today. A diminishing ice pack directly affects polar bears, as sea ice is the platform from which they hunt seals. Although the Arctic has experienced warm periods before, the present shrinking of the Arctic’s sea ice is rapid and unprecedented.

Two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will be killed off by 2050 — and the entire population gone from Alaska — because of thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic, government scientists forecast.

In the 1960s and 1970s, hunting was the major threat to the bears. At the time, polar bears were under such severe survival pressure from hunters that a landmark international accord was reached, despite the tensions and suspicions of the Cold War. The International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears was signed in Oslo, November 15, 1973 by the five nations with polar bear populations: Canada, Denmark (Greenland, Norway, the U.S., and the former U.S.S.R.

The polar bear nations agreed to prohibit random, unregulated sport hunting of polar bears and to outlaw hunting the bears from aircraft and icebreakers as had been common practice. The agreement also obliged each nation to protect polar bear denning areas and migration patterns and to conduct research relating to the conservation and management of polar bears. Finally, the nations agreed to share their polar bear research findings with each other. Member scientists of the Polar Bear Specialist Group now meet every three to four years under the auspices of the IUCN World Conservation Union to coordinate their research on polar bears throughout the Arctic.

The Oslo agreement was one of the first and most successful international conservation measures enacted in the 20th century. Its legacy continues today, with member scientists from each nation continuing to work together in face new threats to the bears including climate change, pollution, industrial activities, and poaching.

About the Polar Bear

Scientists believe that Ursus maritimus, the "sea bear," evolved about 200,000 years ago from brown bear ancestors. The bears are superbly adapted for survival in the Far North.

Polar bears range throughout the Arctic in areas where they can hunt seals at open leads. The five "polar bear nations" where the ice bears are found include the U. S. (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), and Norway.

Polar bears are the world’s largest land predators They top the food chain in the Arctic, where they prey primarily on seals.

Adult male polar bears weigh from 775 to more than 1,500 pounds. Females are considerably smaller, normally weighing 330 to 550 pounds.

Hunting Seals
Polar bears only rarely catch seals in open water. They are far more successful at hunting them on the sea ice. On the ice, the bears catch their prey when they surface to breathe.

Rifts in the ice, called leads, give seals access to oxygen. Seals also surface to breathe at polynyas, areas of open water surrounded by ice.

Polynyas are created by a combination of winds, tidal currents, and upwellings of water. They remain open throughout the winter months.

Greenland and Norway have the most polar bears, while a quarter of them live mainly in Alaska and travel to Canada and Russia. The agency says their range will shrink to no longer include Alaska and other southern regions.

In addition to surfacing at leads and polynyas, seals cut breathing holes in the ice. The Inuit call these holes aglus.

In fall, each seal cuts ten to fifteen aglus in the ice, using the sharp claws on their foreflippers. They keep the aglus open throughout the winter, even when the ice is six feet deep.

Seals swim to the surface to breathe every five to fifteen minute. But because they visit as many as fifteen breathing holes, a polar bear’s wait for its prey can be long.

Polar bears locate breathing holes with their powerful sense of smell. When a bear finds an aglu, it waits patiently for the seal to surface — which can take hours or days.

Polar bears depend on the presence of ice for access to seals. In summer, when the floes retreat north, polar bears will travel hundreds of miles to maintain contact with their prey.

Between summer and winter the amount of ice-covered water can change rapidly. Polar bears learn to follow the ice to stay with their food source.

Those polar bears that are stranded on land in summer must stay there until the ice forms again in fall. On land, the bears face lean times, for they seldom catch seals without a platform of ice.

Please learn more about the Polar Bear and our effects on their lives at: polarbearsinternational.org

Chocolate Torte by Russell James (raw)

Another Amazing recipe by chef Russell James. This one is for true chocolate lovers, or someone you love who loves chocolate!

Makes about 4 servings

Crust: Process all the dry ingredients in a processor (funnily enough!), then add coco butter and vanilla extract. Be sure not to over-process nuts as they will release their oil and become ’sludge’!

Press all the ingredients into a 9″ springform pan. If you have a different size springform, don’t worry, just use what you have and see how thick the base becomes. For example an 8″ will produce a thicker base, it’s really no problem!

Instructions The first thing we need to do is liquidise the cacao butter and coco butter so put them in separate containers and place in a warm dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator then you can do this on a stove (if you haven’t sold it yet!) but you have to be really careful not to let it get too warm. You can also do it in a glass bowl over another bowl of hot water, you know, like your Mum used to do when she made a cake with chocolate!

Next make sure your cashew butter is out of the fridge as it will be easier to work with at room temp.

Place torte in the fridge over night to set. It tends to get better every night it’s in the fridge, if it lasts that long without you eating it all! Seriously though, this will make a very big torte so there’ll be plenty to go round :-) You can put it in the freezer for a couple of hours to set if you’re short of time as well.

Before removing the springform, run a knife around the edge of the torte to separate it from the pan.

Serve, eat, love.

Mix the water, cacao powder and avocados in a blender. In a large bowl add this mixture to the cashew butter and stir well by hand.

If you have a Vita Mix you don’t need to mix by hand, you can do this first step and the next step in the VM but do remember to add the cacao butter last, after everything has been blended.

Add remaining ingredients – melted cacao butter, vanilla extract and agave to the bowl and mix again.

When thoroughly mixed, pour the heavenly chocolate mixture on to the base in the springform and then use a spatula to even out the top.

Lick the bowl.

G Living started its life at a small desk tucked into the back corner of Sander Architects Venice California office. Starting our life inside the belly of an emerging green architecture firm, was very fulfilling and inspiring. I personally was able to see first hand, what a challenge it is to bring a building to life. Building anything in L.A. is difficult, now toss in innovative modern design ideas and green building materials and now you have something that will challenge even the best Architects.

So, when a special building like the Habitat 825 comes along it’s worth looking at in detail. This green leaning West L.A. Condo building was designed by LOHA Architects based in Culver City, just down the street from our current studio .

Habitat 825 draws inspiration from Schindler in developing new forms of contemporary lifestyle through the use of light, materials, color and common open space. This project provided an opportunity to address the critical issues of density, site and the cultural and social impacts that arise from building adjacent to a historical landmark. Attempting to “kick down the bamboo wall”, Habitat 825 and its expansive use of common open space creates an urban space without borders or property lines.

The Los Angeles Times called Habitat 825, which was completed in the fall, one of the most significant projects of 2007, and a rich symbol of “a city struggling to escape its adolescence and define its early adulthood.”

“I love the people,” said Emily Farache, 34, a former journalist and aspiring screenwriter who lives in a two-bedroom that she and her husband, a lawyer, paid $965,000 for. “It’s like moving into your college dorm and meeting people.”

Given the historic presence of the Schindler House, several measures were taken to preserve the house’s relationship to its surrounding landscape. To avoid casting shadows onto the adjacent property, the building was reduced to two stories on the north side adjacent to the Schindler House. In addition, the form in plan bends inwards away from the house to allow more breathing room and to draw attention towards the central open space.

Massing is composed of two “L” bars which create a central, common, open space. This composition also carefully weaves the buildings’ circulation into a spectrum of public space. Beginning on the new ground established on the sub-grade parking deck, a loose internal courtyard is scaled to the intersection of the two primary housing volumes, which in turn hinges toward the Schindler House. This centrally located space allows all units to have direct access from the exterior, while eliminating the need for mechanically climate controlled corridors.

In an effort to extend the street into the building, the front yard cuts into the building to promote a semi-public zone between the building and the street. Scattered benches along landscaped walkways create a small urban park at the street.

Adhering to the 19 unit requirement, the ground plane drops five feet below the street level, creating additional units at the west side of the building. Moving vertically, widened exterior walkways tactically serve as prompts for informal gatherings. In addition, private open spaces are set within the common area through landscaping elements rather than “hard” boundaries.

Internally, units are organized around light wells that filter light down into the dwelling units from roof gardens above. All units are single loaded allowing for cross-ventilation and light to enter from multiple sides.

The strategic use of black on the southern vertical volume grounds the building, rendering a heavy silhouette as an architectural proclamation. The choice of a lime green rhymes with nature and embodies both the horizontal and vertical landscape concepts of the Schindler House. The use of white bounces light into the central courtyard and subsequent lower units.

Materials are a combination of non-combustible cement board and Local forest managed dark stained Redwood siding. The utilization of a rain screen system promotes a long life-cycle reducing the need for maintenance and repair. In addition, given Los Angeles’ warm climate, the movement of air between the building and the cladding cools the inner face of the exterior and reduces the demand for cooling energy.

Espadrilles are so ‘80s… what, with their fussy wedges and the ties. Why not get your hands (or, shall we say, feet) on an aughty’s equivalent -– Tom’s Shoes, which are inspired by traditional Argentine footwear. They’re unisex, minimalist and most importantly, ethical. It’s simple concept really: you buy a pair of Tom’s, and Tom’s donates a pair on your behalf to a child in need.

Designer Blake Mycoskie stumbled upon the idea while traveling around Argentina. While he instantly fell in love with the culture and people, he was deeply affected by the poverty. He visited many villages without running water and where the children went without shoes, often leading to infection, disease and even death.

A commitment to doing something about this global social issue drove him to produce this stylish, comfortable and practical footwear.

So, for any socially conscious foot fetishist, Tom’s is certainly is a step ahead. Check ‘em out here.