I am at my best when creative,
organizing,
contributing,
smiling,
curious.
I will create beauty,
collaborations,
dreams.
I will listen to the songs of others,
my intuition,
nature,
my body.
I will have music
stories,
friendship,
color,
laughter.
I will become connected,
peaceful,
fearless,
encouraging.
Most importantly, I will make an impact,
bake cakes,
increase beauty,
expand boundaries,
trust and be trusted.
Valenti, Tom (with Friedman, Andrew). (2009). You Don’t Have to Be Diabetic to Love This Cookbook: 250 Amazing Dishes for People With Diabetes and Their Families. New York: Workman Publishing. ISBN: 9780761155508
New York chef Tom Valenti gives us food that is appealing, healthful, unpretentious and easy to prepare. The book opens with 16 pages of full-color photographs of recipes from the book, a great inspiration when you don’t know what to buy or cook, and easy to find at the front of the book.
The Introduction explains all the basics of the diet diabetics need to follow, and it isn’t that different from the way the rest of us should be eating. The Introduction also discusses, in plain terms, the science behind diabetes.
The recipe chapters give basics presented elegantly from a gourmet chef but food real people will want to make and eat.All the nutritional information is provided for each recipe, along with the traditional diabetic dietary exchanges. It is a book I would definitely want around if I were diagnosed with diabetes. As it is, I have found many great basic recipes to add to everyday menus.
The fish chapter is probably the best: 35 recipes for the most popular kinds of fish and shellfish we all love. The recipes add just the right flavors to complement the fish, making it taste great without complicated procedures. The salsa and relishes chapter is also a great resource.
Goleman, Daniel (2009). Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What we Buy Can Change Everything. New York: Broadway Books. ISBN: 978-0-385-52782-8
“Going Green” is everywhere right now, and nowhere more than in retail stores. Most of the things that we think of as good for the environment, such as recycling and bringing our own bags to the supermarket, but Goleman suggests that these aren’t the most important things we should be doing. The problem is that knowing what the right choices to make is not easy. The production, manufacture and transportation of products each have their own environmental impacts that, when we’re standing in the store, are impossible to know or compare with one another. The people who study these things are highly detailed specialists who create complex reports. Everyone, from manufacturers to retailers to consumers are in the dark about what are the best things they should do for the environment and how to evaluate the choices available.
Goleman paints an eye-opening picture about the present and future of ecological awareness, and the need for all of us to become more aware of the impact of what we do. To make us aware, he gives many examples on everything from yogurt lids to shampoo to pharmaceuticals, but he also uses some faulty logic, especially when describing the environmental past. While I take him at his word that human ecological impact on the planet is accelerating and becoming more negative, I feel he gives to much a romantic picture of the past. He says the past was a more innocent age, and that th choices did not seem to matter as much. There is much literature about the industrial revolution that suggests that captains of industry knew exactly what they were doing and that there were people who were trying to stop it.
But I agree with Goleman that the future is the important thing here; the problem is that the whole thing seems so overwhelming. And our expectations have become set that we expect certain standards in our products and homes. If it turns out that these things are harmful, will we be able to give them up? And with so many people in the world, it seems that the potential for dire consequences is great, and the chance of reversing it is small. Most of us decide that doing something, trying, is better than not. Ecological Intelligencesuggests that the solution is for each of us to become aware of our own impact, and to spread that messsage to others and to the companies we do business with.
Patchett, Ann (2008). What Now? New York: Harper Collins.
By the time we reach adulthood, many have perfected the art of isolation, of being careful, of not listening in the name of safety. But the truth is that we need to hear other people, all people, especially in those moments when we don’t know exactly where we’re going ourselves.
A simple book that takes on an important subject: how do I decide what to do with my life? With humility and wisdom, Ann Patchett reminds us that ourlives are unpredictable. That education, status, and the labels placed onus by ourselves and others only tell part of the story. The paradox that we have to figure our paths out for ourselves and yet “the truth is that we need to hear other people, all people, especially in those moments when we don’t know exactly where we’re going ourselves (p.35).”
Based on a college commencement address, this is a great book for anyone who is searching, puzzled, stuck, disillusioned or disappointed.
