Looking back at the demise of something so dear to my heart. I wrote this post last year as the end was blaring out of the TV, but something this big this important should be shouted from the roof tops, so here is my tribute to not just a magazine, but to an old friend, who for reasons beyond belief, is no longer with us.

Why? Why why why…? It was October 5th 2009, about two weeks ago, I was at the gym, on the treadmill. Loud music blasting in my iPod earphones, CNN on the screen in front of me, both meant to distract me from dwelling on the fact that I’m running on a conveyor belt alongside other people running on conveyor belts. Then I saw it. An image on the TV screen of the cover of the latest issue of Gourmet magazine, and the printed headline, “Gourmet magazine closes after 70 years.” WHAT!? No Way! How is that possible? I’m frantically looking around, for… what… ? I think I was expecting others must have seen this headline and also stopped running out of shock and disbelief, like me. I was thinking I’d see people hugging, comforting one another over the news, shaking their heads. But no, I only saw people still running, pedaling, and the usual sea of heads bobbing up and down in the elliptical section.

I couldn’t keep going. I had to know what happened, so I ran home and checked online and yes, indeed, Conde Nast was shutting down Gourmet. Along with 3 other titles: a cookie magazine and two bridal magazines. I don’t get it. Isn’t there another silly magazine they could shut down? How about Golf World or Golf Digest? Does the world really need both? (or either?) Immediately I emailed my Mom, my Stepmom, and chef Neal, among others, like “OMG, did you hear???” They too were saddened. I wanted to call people and talk about it. I wanted to pull out a bottle of good wine and sit on the floor with all my old issues spread out around me, flipping through them and getting drunk and nostalgic.

I wanted to grieve. I wanted to be around people who understood and were similarly bummed out. I felt like there should be a huge and grand memorial service. Ruth Reichl (the editor) would get up and speak, past editors would get up and speak. All the food world would be there, dressed in dark clothes, and easels everywhere with giant cover images. Then everyone would drink really really good wine, and eat lots of beautiful food, and feel the comfort of communal mourning. Maybe there was such a service and I just wasn’t invited.

Anyway. I was reminded of all of this earlier today as I flipped through my copy of Bon Appetit, Conde Nast’s other food publication that was chosen over Gourmet to live on. The close up photos inside looked gory, the bulky font headlines over them cartoonish, and the dishes simple and uninspiring. Even the lighting on the styled photos looked weird and shadowy. The headlines were: “Entertaining Do’s and Don’ts”, “Party Desserts”, “Healthy Holiday Foods”, “68 Recipes to Mix & Match” and “Leftovers Done Right!” with the boring November issue glossy turkey cover, and “Thanksgiving Made Easy!” across the top. Thanksgiving isn’t supposed to be easy! You’re supposed to labor, with love.

Gourmet was beautiful and classy. It was only a few days before the fateful announcement that I read what I would never have suspected was my last issue. I even thought to myself I was going to call and double back up on my subscription like I did years ago. This way, I can tear out pages in one copy, and keep the other untouched, for my collection. Did I mention I have every single issue filed away going back through 1997? That’s 12 years. I used to have a few more years before that but I recall a very painful and reluctant purging of a couple piles a long time ago. One day I’m going to get the covers scanned and copied and will wallpaper a kitchen hallway with them. Or something like that. Every cover was a work of art, with more pages of art inside. Vegan or not, I was particularly struck by the photos on p. 102/103 of pork chops. “Pork chop” just sounds vulgar. But the photo on page 103 is a work of art. If you get obsessed about color like I do, you’d understand. The pink of the inside of the meat, the mossy dark green backdrop, the burgundy wine… I want to go back to all these pages when I’m picking colors for packaging labels, for furniture fabrics, for clothing I want to design, for whatever I’m putting together, in my Martha Stewart-esque creative fantasy land.

Going almost all raw vegan six years ago did nothing to lessen my appreciation for the pages of this magazine. It’s very much a celebration of the art and elegance of food, restaurants, and cooking. But it’s also been more thoughtful than that. In the August 2004 summer issue (with the sexy cover photo of blackberry jam in a glass jar with a wooden spoon) the editor bravely published an article which infuriated many of the magazine’s readers. It was called “Consider the Lobster” written by the famous writer David Foster Wallace (known for novels, short stories, and essays, not food writing, who also, btw, killed himself about a year ago…L). They sent him to report on the 56th annual Maine Lobster Festival (where “something over 25,000 pounds of fresh-caught Maine lobster is consumed’). She published his entire essay without editing a word. It’s really long and full of digressions and lengthy footnotes. But as Ruth Reichl points out in her Editor’s Letter, “it is hilarious, thought-provoking, very uncomfortable—and something you’re not likely to forget anytime soon.”

With all of its funny details, Wallace makes you feel like you’re there with him. His comments on his discomfort with mass tourism (specifically in footnote 6) are particularly sobering given that he took his own life a few years later. Why is introspection such torture? In the spirit of Wallace’s many digressions, I’m totally digressing here to include a link to a thoroughly beautiful speech given on an overlapping and entirely relevant issue by the writer Elizabeth Gilbert. You can see it here. It’s 20 minutes. Well worth it. Believe me, I have no patience for youtube crap, but this is the opposite. From the TED series, I was referred to this talk by my friend, champion, and hero, Seth Godin. Watch it. Especially if you’ve ever felt tormented by the creative process, whether writing, creating art or music, science, or building a business.

Back to lobsters. Where was I. OK, so part way through this incredibly engaging article, Wallace puts forth what seemed to him in this context an unavoidable question:

“Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure? A related set of concerns: Is the previous question irksomely PC or sentimental? What does ‘all right’ even mean in this context? Is it all just a matter of individual choice?”

Gourmet magazine has been around for almost twice as long as I have, so I haven’t read all the issues, but I’m guessing this is the first time this sort of question was raised in its pages. In a corresponding footnote he points out:

“Similar reasoning underlies the practice of what’s termed ‘debeaking’ broiler chickens and brood hens in modern factory farms. Maximum commercial efficiency requires that enormous poultry populations be confined in unnaturally close quarters, under which conditions many birds go crazy and peck one another to death. As a purely observational side-note, be apprised that debeaking is usually an automated process and that the chickens receive no anesthetic. It’s not clear to me whether most Gourmet readers know about debeaking, or about related practices like dehorning cattle in commercial feedlots, cropping swine’s tails in factory hog farms to keep psychotically bored neighbors from chewing them off, and so forth. It so happens that your assigned correspondent knew almost nothing about standard meat-industry operations before starting work on this article.”

The article is so good that it’s really hard not to quote the entire thing. He’s taking you along with him as he learns a bunch of new stuff himself. In another paragraph he points out:

“The more important point here, though, is that the whole animal-cruelty-and-eating issue is not just complex, it’s also uncomfortable. It is, at any rate, uncomfortable for me, and for just about everyone I know who enjoys a variety of foods and yet does not want to see herself as cruel or unfeeling. As far as I can tell, my own main way of dealing with this conflict has been to avoid thinking about the whole unpleasant thing. I should add that it appears to me unlikely that many readers of Gourmet wish to think hard about it, either, or to be queried about the morality of their eating habits in the pages of a culinary monthly. Since, however, the assigned subject of this article is what it was like to attend the 2003 MLF, and thus to spend several days in the midst of a great mass of Americans all eating lobster, and thus to be more or less impelled to think hard about lobster and the experience of buying and eating lobster, it turns out that there is no honest way to avoid certain moral questions.”

He goes on investigating these questions incredibly thoroughly and thoughtfully, without judgment. I love that the whole thing is without judgment and very personal. You rarely learn so much about the author in a food magazine article. Anyway. He says,

“I’m not trying to give you a PETA-like screed here—at least I don’t think so. I’m trying, rather, to work out and articulate some of the troubling questions that arise amid all the laughter and salutation and community pride of the Maine Lobster Festival. The truth is that if you, the Festival attendee, permit yourself to think that lobsters can suffer and would rather not, the MLF can begin to take on aspects of something like a Roman circus or medieval torture-fest.”

And finally, his conclusion isn’t conclusive, just more thoughtful questions:

“Given this article’s venue and my own lack of culinary sophistication, I’m curious about whether the reader can identify with any of these reactions and acknowledgments and discomforts. I am also concerned not to come off as shrill or preachy when what I really am is confused. … Is their refusal to think about any of this the product of actual thought, or is it just that they don’t want to think about it? Do they ever think about their reluctance to think about it? After all, isn’t being extra aware and attentive and thoughtful about one’s food and its overall context part of what distinguishes a real gourmet? Or is all the gourmet’s extra attention and sensibility just supposed to be aesthetic, gustatory?”

I love love love this essay. And I love Ruth Reichl even more than I did before for printing it. Many readers were furious and cancelled their subscriptions after this article appeared. Which I think is ridiculous. He put forth incredibly relevant (an understatement) questions for people to think about. After all, didn’t I just wax on in the above paragraphs about the beautiful photo of pork chops? Admiring the aesthetics of the photo vs. the content—the artfulness of it rather than the reality that it’s a photograph of a slice of a cooked slab of dead pig?

Watching those nature shows on TV where the lioness attacks and kills the gazelle—I can’t help feeling sad for the poor gazelle, the one of the herd that gets caught and taken down. But the gazelle wasn’t trapped, restrained, de-beaked (if it had a beak—you know what I’m getting at), demeaned, injected with hormones and antibiotics, fed a bunch of crap, or forced to walk a plank and watch a bunch of gazelles before it get unceremoniously and thoughtlessly slain before its turn to die. Was the pig in the photo? I don’t know. I could go on and on thinking these things through.

I loved this article when I first read it in 2004 and I love it now. It’s much easier to read, by the way, if you click on the “print” icon and print the whole thing, 11 pages of paper consumed and all. Easier to read the footnotes that way, and then you can pass it along to someone who might not read it online. Like your grandma. While you’re at it, click on the link to the related articles and you’ll find quite a bit on Food Politics, such as “A View to a Kill” which investigates America’s chicken industry and more humane ways to raise and kill chickens. This one doesn’t even compare to the amazingness that is the lobster article, but again I was cheering Gourmet for printing it and others like it—for raising these questions to its readers.

Despite all the questions in my own mind, I still love the photography and overall beauty and spirit of this now defunct food magazine. I just realized if you flip back a few pages from the pork picture I was admiring so much, there’s a beautiful full page photo of the featured chef holding a lamb, but he’s not in a chef coat and he’s not proudly posing with his prey. He’s holding the lamb like you’d hold a kitten and kissing its forehead. And opposite the pork beauty shot is a quarter page black and white of a pig. These are stunning shots, and their inclusion in the magazine acknowledges that the food in the photos come from these beautiful creatures. Which reminds me… if you’ve been to my restaurant Pure Food and Wine, then you’ve probably noticed the three different photographs on one wall of a very spirited looking duck. I found this photo before the restaurant opened in another 2004 issue of Gourmet. What struck me about it was how the duck was looking right into the camera with an almost feisty sort of look in his eye. I was in love with that photograph (and tracked down the photographer to get it). Little did I know that photo would inspire the name of my company a year later.

I will miss this magazine. The pages of Gourmet will always be inspiring to me.

I’d be totally lying if I said I weren’t a sucker for anything colored pink or purple. Which is why, when I came across these purple hull peas at the market, I couldn’t resist the splurge! The price was high, and I had no clue what I was going to do with them, but that only intrigued me more.

When I got home, I anxiously cracked open a pod, and to my surprise found a bean similar to that of the black eyed pea. ‘Crap’ I thought, I have to cook these! Not because I don’t sometimes eat cooked food, but because my dehydrator’s home is on top of my stove  – Basically, cooking (with heat) to me, is so much more work than it’s counterpart. Funny what we get used to…

Any who, I sat in front of my computer, watched two hours of hulu, and shelled all of the beans. Whew, what a job! I knew after all that work, that this would definitely be a one time only purchase!

So after that beautiful mess, I then sat perplexed wondering just what the heck I was going to do with these. After a few thousand google searches, I realized that a traditional pairing includes purple hull peas and cornbread. However, I didn’t want to just serve plain peas, so I channeled a back-in-the-day recipe and decided to serve the cornbread with a modified Texas caviar.

But first, I had to cook the peas – which actually, ended up being a lot quicker than I had imagined. I guess I was thinking it would be like cooking those bagged beans at the store – insert – takes forever! Instead, I had perfectly cooked peas in well under an hour… Maybe I’ll make these more often. That is, if I can sweet talk someone into hulling them for me… Any takers?

Instructions For Cornbread:
1. Process all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
2. On a non-stick dehydrator sheet, spread mixture evenly.
3. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 8 hours, flipping halfway.

Instructions For Purple Pea Caviar:
1. Mix all ingredients together, and let sit for an hour or two to marinate.

And that’s it – food I actually had to work for.

Parfait is a wonderful thing. It allows those of us who find boredom in single-flavour desserts to enjoy many tastes and textures elegantly layered in one tall glass. This one was inspired by Japanese parfaits, in which the most peculiar colours and foods are combined to make insane edible creations.

Avocado ice cream is among our favourite culinary discoveries of this summer. It seems as though avocado was created for ice cream making, with its smooth and creamy texture.

We wanted this parfait to tell a visual story and paint a delicious landscape. The layers of green ice cream, buckwheat crunchies, fresh cherries, and blueberry and vanilla creams are meant to resemble topography. Mountains and valleys, trees and flowers, and finally, at the very top – snowy peaks.

Just like all desserts on Golubka, this parfait is nourishing and full of ingredients that do nice things for your body. Go ahead, try it for breakfast.

Instructions for the Light Green Layer – Avocado Ice Cream:
1. Combine all ingredients, except the lime zest, in a high speed blender until smooth.
2. Reserve 1/3 of the mixture for the forest green layer.
3. Chill well and put into an ice cream maker for 25 minutes or however long your brand of ice cream machine suggests.
4. Add the lime zest directly into the ice cream machine after about 15 minutes of churning.
5. Freeze for 1-2 hours before serving.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, there is an option to make avocado mousse instead of ice-cream. Just exclude the water and coconut meat/cashew, add about two more avocados and adjust the amount of agave to taste. Chill in the refrigerator until the mousse thickens.

Instructions for the Forest Green Layer – Avocado Ice Cream:
1. In a high speed blender, combine the reserved 1/3 of avocado mixture with some fresh spinach until the desired colour is achieved.
2. Make ice cream according to the instructions above.

Instructions for the White Layer – Vanilla Cream:
1. Combine all the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.
2. Reserve about 1/3 of the mixture for the Violet Layer.
3. Chill in the refrigerator until the cream thickens.

Instructions for the Violet Layer – Blueberry Cream:
1. In a high speed blender, add fresh blueberries or blueberry powder to the reserved 1/3 of vanilla cream until the desired colour is reached.
2. Chill in the refrigerator until the cream thickens.

Instructions for the Mango Buckwheat Crunchies:
1. In a blender, puree the mango flesh and dates.
2. Transfer to a mixing bowl together with the sprouted buckwheat and mix well to coat the sprouts.
3. Spread on Teflex sheets and dehydrate overnight or until completely dry and crispy.

Instructions for Assembly:
1-2 cups fresh cherries – pitted
1 cup fresh or freeze dried sour cherries (optional) – pitted

1. Cut the fresh cherries in half. Optionally, dehydrate the fresh cherries at 115F for 1-2 hours.
2. Using a piping or Ziploc bag, squeeze some avocado ice cream into a tall glass to make a first layer.
3. Follow by the forest green layer, and then more avocado ice cream mixed with cherries.
4. Sprinkle with mango buckwheat crunchies and top with blueberry and vanilla cream.
5. You can arrange the layers in any way you want.
6. Aesthetically, it’s nice to take care to arrange the layers unevenly to create the hilly landscape appearance.

I love a beautiful G bathroom where I can treat myself to some private, personal, spa- like luxury and nothing would go better in my dream bathroom than designer La Chanh Nguyen’s live Moss Carpet. My feet would feel worshiped if greeted by this beautiful patch of living moss after a nice bath.

The Moss Carpet elegantly lays nature at your feet. There are three types of moss (ball moss, island moss and forest moss) that go in a tray of imputrescible foam called plastazote.The humidity of the bathroom and the drops flowing from the body, water the mosses.

Aside from being gorgeous, practical and eco-friendly, you may also be able to derive some of the health benefits that studies have shown that walking barefoot on grass can have such as strengthening your immune system, improving circulation and lowering the risks of health problems such as arthritis.

But I mostly want one because it is incredibly cool.

Lindsay Lohan was spotted swilling it, and soon everyone and their damned Chihuahua was talking about that strange, stinky tea called kombucha. But before you could say ‘fermented mucous blob’, the potion was pulled from the shelves of every Whole Foods and health food stores across the nation. Which means those of us who depend on it can no longer find our fix! What’s a jonesing little monkey to do?! Well, we’re taking it back prohibition-style: we’re cooking up our own ‘bathtub brew’.

Why?
Kombucha can be traced to the far east, as far back as 2,000 years ago. The fizzy fermented drink is all raw and claims bragging rights on a whole slew of healthful properties, including improved digestion, increased metabolism, regulated hunger/blood sugar, body detoxification, and immune system strength. The cordial itself contains active enzymes, probiotics, amino acids, and energizing B-vitamins. A little goes a long way, and a daily dose will leave you feeling great.

How?
Oh, Miss Lohan, what have you done? The feds got frazzled over alcohol content and now the stuff’s on lockdown. BUT, if you can get your hands on just one bottle then you’re in good shape, because you can turn it into an everlasting supply. Really, it’s very simple.

Step 1 You need a bottle of brew. Check your little co-op or hfs, because not all of them complied with the recall. They may still carry a local brand. If that’s a no-go I’d hit up Craigslist. You may be able to score a bottle or better yet, a SCOBY (in which case skip to step 6). If worse comes to worst, there’s always the infinite Internet – I’m sure you can rustle something up.

Step 2 Gather your supplies. You’ll need: a bottle of raw, unpasteurized, 100% kombucha (no fruit juice added), 2 bags of caffeinated tea (green or black), 1 tablespoon sugar, a big glass bowl, a small rag or wash cloth, and a large rubber band. Remember cleanliness is key! Everything double washed, including hands.

Step 3 Place the tea bags and sugar into the glass bowl. Add 2 cups of boiling water, stir, and allow to steep until the water has cooled, about 20-40 minutes.

Step 4 Remove the tea bags and add the entire bottle of store-bought kombucha. Cover with the rag and secure with the rubber band.

Step 5 Put the bowl in a warm dry place (like atop the fridge) and just forget about it for 2 whole weeks. No fussing or peeking, or you might expose it to germs. Just pretend it’s not there!

~~~ 2 Weeks Later ~~~

Oh hello, what the eff is that snotty looking thing?

Congratulations! That’s your SCOBY, which stands for ‘symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast’. The SCOBY is like the love-child of an affair between acetic acid bacteria and yeasts. Basically, it’s like vinegar and beer made a baby. And now that you have it, you’re ready to brew your own kombucha!

Step 6 If you’re not ready to brew yet, store your SCOBY in it’s liquid in the fridge, in a glass jar with a plastic lid. No metal! When you’re ready to brew, gather: your SCOBY plus its liquid, 4-6 bags of caffeinated tea (green or black), 1-2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you like it), a large glass jar with a wide mouth (a standard 1-gallon pickling jar is best), a clean rag or wash cloth, a large rubber band, a soup/stock pot, and a big metal spoon. Emphasis on cleanliness! Everything double washed, including hands.

Step 7 Fill your brewing container with water, then pour that water into your pot. Bring it to a boil and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1-2 cups of sugar/evaporated cane juice. Add the tea bags, cover, and allow to steep and cool for a few hours.

Step 8 When the tea has returned to room temperature, transfer it to your brewing container. Wash your hands and then carefully transfer your SCOBY into the brewing container. Try to keep it ‘smooth side’ up. It may sink or it may float; either way is fine. Top off with the ‘starter tea’ that the SCOBY was stored in.

Step 9
Cover the brewing container with the rag/wash cloth and secure it with the rubber band. Allow the kombucha to ferment for 10-25 days in a warm dry place, out of sunlight – a kitchen cabinet or hall closet is good.

The stronger the tea you used, the quicker/stronger it will ferment. The longer you leave it, the quicker/stronger it will ferment. The warmer it is, the quicker/stronger it ferments. The longer it ferments the less sweet it becomes.

Step 10
When you’re done brewing remove the SCOBY to store in a jar with some starter tea. It will have created a ‘baby’, so now you can brew two batches (stagger them so you never run out), if you want. Your SCOBY will keep indefinitely in the fridge. The kombucha itself can be transferred to smaller bottles for easy storage and to free up the brew container for the next batch. The kombucha will keep in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

Kombucha is a peculiar, X-Filesesque elixir of awesome. With its magical properties and super probiotic power, it’s an excellent addition to overall health and well-being. So get down with the DIY, and happy brewing!

Beans and greens. Mmmm. One of the simplest, best tasting meals ever. And since I’m currently operating with three, count’em three stictches in my right thumb, my dinners this week have been dishes without a whole lot of chopping involved.

I’ve made lots of similar dishes in the past, but I’ve always used canned beans, since the thought of using dried beans always seemed like so much work to me. Then I came across this cookbook called ‘Super Natural Cooking’ by Heidi Swanson. In it not only is there a fabulous recipes for beans and green, but Heidi also mentions a company called Rancho Gordo that specializes in heirloom beans. I decided to order a few different kind of beans (there are so many amazing varieties) and am now totally obsessed over their giant Cannellini beans. Oh, and they are ‘kitty approved’ as well… :)

Yes, dried beans are a little more work, but with just a little planning ahead, it’s really not that difficult and sooo worth the extra effort. All you have to do is soak them in water before going to bed and then some time the next day, cook them up which takes about an hour to an hour in a half. In fact, you can find out all sorts of helpful tips and recipes at the Rancho Gordo website.

Beans and Greens (adapted from ‘Super Natural Cooking‘ by Heidi Swanson)

Serves 2

Instructions:
1. Heat the butter or olive oil over medium heat in a skillet (the bigger the pan, the better).
2. Add the beans and saute long enough so that they start to form a lovely golden crust on them. This will take around 8 minutes- don’t forget to stir them around every couple of minutes.
3. At this point, add the onion and garlic and continue to cook for another minute or two until the onion softens.
4. At this point you can take the pan off of the heat and stir in the arugula.
5. The hot beans and onion will be enough to wilt the arugula and keep it a vibrant green color. If you use swiss chard or kale, you might want to cook them separately and then add to the bean mixture since they aren’t as delicate and fast cooking as arugula or spinach.
6. Season with salt and pepper and top with a parmesan of your choice and a drizzle of high quality olive oil.

By now everyone is used to me professing my love for this girl or that girl or some songstress, who just won’t stop tugging at my soul. Well, today I am officially changing my tune. It’s not some girl this time, no, I am in serious love with white pale male meat. Oh don’t go rolling your eyes at me, I am still a vegan, and I am not fibbing, its a White Lie. Yes, some London Boys are looking pretty mmmm (not sexy if that is what you are thinking). I mean, like they just may be come my official soundtrack for the rest of 2010.

Like I said, the bands name is The White Lies and the Album is called To Lose My Life. Not the most uplifting titles, but there is something special about these songs. Yes, they lie to you and sing about dying, but you have to give them some credit, they do it all with this amazing driving beat, which seems to be purely addicting to me. Really , trust me, or don’t. Just click play on a few of the videos I have added to this post.

The title song on the Album is called Death (don’t worry, you wont cut your wrist right away) and it’s the first video at the top of the page. It’s a great song, but the song which really pulled me in, was A Place To Hide. This song is just… mmmm, and you would know what I mean by that, if you knew me. But you don’t so, I will let you in on the secret. Mmmm is the way I say, I love you, I think your hot to a certain somebody in my life and to give the White Lies the mmmm treatment is big. Believe me…. Very Very Big.

I have posted three more videos after the jump. Now after watching the videos get your Monkie ass over to iTunes and down load the album, you wont regret it, trust me. Plus, its a bargain at $7.99. I downloaded it about a month ago and it may have saved my life. Okay, I am lying again, maybe it didn’t save my life, but it sure did improve it. Without the song a Place To Hide, I might not have found some bodies loving arms waiting for me. I could still be standing in Central Park, with my bags in my hands, waiting with no hope of someone ever coming to get me. It was this song, yes, this song, which made everything, I mean everything, turn out so perfect. MMMMM perfect. :) Do you think I am lying now?

Photographer: Cultureclashem

Death : By The White Lies

Farewell To The Fairground : By The White Lies

Price Of Love : By The White Lies

Unfinished Business : By The White Lies

Now that I actually own my own electric powered bike (The Ultramotor A2B) and love it, I am obsessed with finding an even better bike. One that will go over 100 miles on a charge and at speeds up to 40 miles an hour, plus able to pull a bikewagon. I know California State law requires you to have a license if the bike goes over 20 miles per hour, but if they could design it with a switch, to let me choose, I would buy it. 20 Miles per hour is fine, but only for local trips. If I have to go all the way down town, I would never make it on my A2B.

So, today I came across this little modern looking electric bike from Yamaha, the Divide. It was announced back in 2003 so I very very late, in this discovery, but I don’t know what happened. Did it ever make it in to production? The Divide I guess is a scooter, not a bike, but it seems to be very small and even folds up. If your a boy from Texas, like me, you probly know Yamaha as the maker of motor dirt bikes. I personally owned a Yellow YZ 80, which I road endlessly. So I am guessing they know how to make a pretty cool scooter.

Me on my Yamaha YZ 80. I know I look like a dork!

Here are the official tech points from Yamaha.

The Divide uses CF die-cast technology to create a new art form. This electronic commuter is based on the Passol power unit with its motor-in-wheel design. With the push of a button the machine folds up and locks. Even folded up, electric assist makes it easy to move about. And because Divide uses no gasoline or oil, you can store it in the house where its artistic merits can be appreciated. Divide – Modern art you can ride.

It is only fitting that a unique vehicle like the EV should also have a unique design. The Divide uses CF die-cast technology to create a new art form. This electronic commuter is based on the Passol power unit with its motor-in-wheel design. With the push of a button the machine folds up and locks. Even folded up, electric assist makes it easy to move about. And because Divide uses no gasoline or oil, you can store it in the house where its artistic merits can be appreciated. Divide – Modern art you can ride.

• CF Aluminium Die-cast Frame (Electric Fold-up Type) • Brushless DC Motor • Lithium Ion Battery • 2-way Fold-up Handlebars (Die-cast Aluminium) • Fold-up Footrests

So, no details about how far this bike will go per charge and no information on the top speeds. Which means, I am not running out the door to get one, even if I could. I don’t really think they have even starter putting this bike into production. But if it does go into production, count me in for a test drive.

Usually, the best ideas are the simple ones. This is the case with Blake Mycoskie’s brand, TOMS Shoes. Just buy a pair of his classic Argentinian-style shoes (which are quite affordable), and a child in South America gets a free pair. These are not your mom’s Keds, mind you – TOMS are stylish, versatile, and most of all, comfortable. Already featured in Vogue Magazine, LA Times, Daily Candy, and Women’s Wear Daily, the shoes are also adored by celebrities like Sienna Miller.

Affordable, delightful, makes a difference, and G – the best of all worlds!

As the saying goes, you have to repeat your actions, your issues, over and over and f-ing over again until you finally get IT. Until IT, the lesson, sinks into your being fully and completely and you have your AH HA moment. And it’s not until that moment of awakening you realize, all those moments before…the struggling…the suffering…was worth it. Was worth it because now you know. Now you FINALLY know what you want and what you don’t ever want to repeat again. And all those struggles, painful as they may be, make the awakening that much sweeter.

The ever changing, ever present, ever lasting obstacles of life deliciously presented to us all the time. Knocking on our doors to see if we see them, hear them and if so how we react to them. To see if we have changed, grown or need another repeating. And make sure you don’t get too comfortable in your accomplishments of conquering challenges cause the next challenge is right around the corner so you better be ready. Makes life interesting, though. Always exciting. Always shifting. That is, if you choose to see it. Explore it. Embrace it. I am doing just that these days. Have been really for the past 4 months. Embracing with fearless courage and excitement and sometimes patience (I’m working on that one…heee heee) my obstacle rich journey. Finally, interested in excavating why and how and what I do over and over and over again. And ultimately, realizing I have a choice if I want to continue doing what ever it is I choose to continue or not.

Photographer: Aria Alpert

And what has been so incredible to me on this pilgrimage through Italia these past 5 weeks is that having distance from my comforts and daily routines, my process and turn around for insightful moments are much faster! My tendency to wallow and dwell are gone. My well of inspiration and love and lust and hunger and thirst and knowledge has deepened. Has become clear. Healing. Grounding. Still.

And now, now I am ready to go back home. I am cooked. Put a fork in me, I’mma done traveling. Well, for now anyway. Thank you for reading my posts. I hope they were as much fun for you to read as they were for me to write. And as one journey ends, another one begins….Hmmmmmmmmmm….I wonder what will happen next….

Until we meet again my friends.
Ciao ciao…