Life on the mountain

So our trip began with an unseasonably sunny warm late fall day, a quick stop at the wood fired pizza tavern on the way out of the mountains, and a car load of happy people. We were heading for the pickle festival, as it were, or bust.

We never got there. When my wife and I were younger, and cruising around on awesome road trips, we always got there, wherever that was at the time. We would pick arbitrary destinations and assign tasks, or scavenger hunt items of sorts. I remember one trip to Vermont and all throughout, we stopped at every reasonable covered bridge along our path, and soon, the detours got longer, and our trip changed for the better. We had set the scavenger hunt at taking a walk together across each bridge...By far one of the BEST trips ever. Burlington, bed and breakfasts, Ben and Jerry's, various college campuses, summer camps where friends were working. Epic.

Now we were in a Suburu with two wonderful children at a flea market/store somewhere above Rosendale. The worm hole opened, and we fell in. My wife had a marvelous time, and the kids loved it too. They all enjoyed shopping for each other, and for themselves.

I stayed in the car and read the Times. I went in briefly and found a nice Revere-Ware loaf pan, vintage, for 9 dollars. I put it on the counter and went back to the den, which for now was the front passenger seat of our Japanese mobile abode.

After they returned, it was already 4:30. So we opted to bring our little ones to the park in Kingston instead. The one with the giant wooden castle. The one they always remember, and how could one forget. It;s huge AND awesome to boot.

So then we went shopping. I checked out kitchen-stuff. I found a Joseph and Mary nutcracker set. It was very relaxing. I picked up a wonderful local chicken to roast later that evening at ADAMS farms. And some broccoli, to make an alfredo dish. And honey bear so we could use and refill him at the table.

After a great night's sleep (alfredo) I awoke to a day of meetings which was alot of fun, and inspirational. Afterwords, I met for a dinner party in honor of a wonderful mother of a friend who had returned to town. She grew up in France. She recalled searching the hills of her youth for escargot, and then we enjoyed`great cheeses together that night. It was dively special, to say the least. Precisely the lind of night for a great red wine...

The next day, I participated as a volunteer within the Queen's Galley organization, a Non-For-Profit group, totally encompassing all of the needs and hunger of the community, both for actual meals and for correlative education and instruction. I was amazed at the amount of heart behind what was going on. Then my amazement turned to reverence and deep repect. This was where I belonged, I said to myself. Simply feeding those around me who were in need of a meal, both actually and some spiritually. It was timelessly benevolent, and I soon lost track of time assisting with all the chopping and serving that goes on there throughout the day. Again, I was on my way to Shandaken, where I had a fabulous grilled rueben sandwich with a friend. He was coming out of the woods, off the trial. I was jealous...so I bought him lunch...We had coffee and chatted for an hour. It was so long overdue.

In going home later that evening, I understood that I felt radically different. I had arrived within an amazing relationship, an amazing family, and a continued opportunity to serve others with food.

Much to be thankful for indeed. Such is life in the mountains, on a mountain. It gives you enough perspective to see what is truly important. Which for me, has always been the forest through the trees...

Leave me in Rosendale

Why would one get into a car with two kids and drive for over an hour through two counties for pickles?

Because once, when we did for the first time, it was awesome. It was one of the best events we'd ever attended during our search for things to do in this wonderful valley. The Hudson, that is.

Like any other place, there are usually no shortages of things to do, or places to do them. But unlike all of the other homespun events we'd attended, outdoor and in, the International Pickle Festival, in all its grandure, stood out as one of the best.

Details to follow in my next blog......

I just wanted to express my continued gratitude for all of the wonderful people of these mountains and valleys, and all of the love they have shared. And all of the pickles they make.

Amen!

Love,

Tenzo

Would you like freedom with that?

Mcdonalds? No. But it kind of looks like it, right? Wrong. It is the exact opposite. The only simularity that the above has with the ever popular Big Mac is the colors red and yellow. Ask any food stylist, and they will tell you why. These two colors are very appetizing. But past this repetition of color scheme, and you'll find absolutely nothing alike ingredient wise between the two.

That is because this is fast food satire, or my version of it. I worked with a wonderful team of chefs at one point in my career who loved this idea. Polenta "french fries". Roasted red pepper "ketchup". And in the case above, a fabulous mixture of delish from Fleisher's Grass fed and Organic Meats, in Kingston, NY , home of what is, in my opinion, the coolest guy to touch a steak EVER, The man himself, Josh. On the evening before a party that I had the pleasure of doing the shopping for with my client, we went into the shop and I was given a formal introduction to a man for whom I had developed tremendous respect, and that evening, was given a selection of meats for my "mixed game burger" that would overwhelm any chef to the point of grateful tears. Wiping them away, I could'nt believe my eyes when I saw that he had already prepared a burger mix. With fresh bacon. Ground into it also. Genius.

I know the butcher. He knows the farmers. the farmers know the animals. the animals know the pleasure of living in nature, and nature knows, well, nature knows best. Why we, as a country, have ever had to deliberate over what is good, bad, or indifferent for anyone to eat amazes me to this day. We were given a paradise here, with a practical map from the people who first lived here. The natives. They skipped all the middle men.

The natives knew nature. They moved with the herd. the people and the buffalo were one.

Where are we now? Now we need our governments to save our children from obesity.

Next year, Halloween candy will be outlawed as well, by the way. Because it causes childhood diabetes.

This tenzo is overwhelmed to the point of tears. And they are not of joy.

WE need to save our children.

Wake up America. Cook your own food. Get to know your chefs, your farmers, your local businesses, your neighbors. Find out what they are eating. Talk about it. This is natural eating. Seeing everything with your own eyes. Not just red and yellow.

Look Ronald Mcdonald in the eye and tell me what you see.

Nothing.

Except the classic con of the bait and switch.

McDonald's, for years, was an icon of the road traveling, fun loving family. It was portrayed as the place to hang out, or go after the movies or whatever. It was our version of a bistro.

It was the beginning of the bait and switch.

Now, after someone makes a movie about how bad this stuff is for you and almost kills himself, and they are forced to publish sodium content and horrible international sources, and I still see cars in line outside.

We have gone from three liter bottles of red soda to organic powdered sugar. Its all the same. Ask any old timer, and they'll tell you: anything in excess is'nt good.

Has'nt Mcdonald's proved this? Over a billion served is why. They stopped caring after number one.

And when one eats there-you are'nt caring either. About yourself. Or your children.

Whoa! hold on. Fast food once and while is'nt bad, right? That remains, in this country, a freedom of choice. We also have a choice where we spend our money. So in my opinion, fast food is'nt bad once in a while, if it's cooked slowly, like the burger above. Because it was also raised and prepared slowly by the hands of men, not steel. Men of steel, actually. The farmer, the butcher, the chef, the diner, and now you, the reader, are all men of steel. Because you have the same power as they do, and your superhero abilty is your spending dollar.

It is, after all, a free country. Amen?

We are responsible for ourselves, and for our actions. Or at least, we all try to be.

But you see, the less you or people you see have a hand in your meal, the faster it gets. And you have no idea whose hands have been involved.

EEEWWWWW. Thats Gross....

I plead with everyone who is exited about a government who allowed something to grow and then attempts to curtail it to maintain public demand for health as somewhat shortsided.

It is as shortsided as simply seeing a USDA Organic label on something and assuming that makes it good. Look a USDA Organic label in the eyes, and tell me what you see.

Nothing. Nothing but the first step in a long journey for this country.

Which has got to get itself back to the garden. Period.

Is a goverment responsible for telling Mcdonald's how to make food healthier?

Our government allowed it to start, flurish, grow, and become the icon that it is, one of our Presidents jogging in the night for his burger.

He should have jogged to my house. he would have lost alot of weight and had himself a tasty burger, and it would have been good for him. Grass fed bacon and all, because it was made with one thing:

Not red and yellow.

Not a desire for profit.

With, you guessed it,

Love.

Tenzo

Pasture time

I was out very early this morning.
I can't tell you how long it has been since I have actually sat and watched the sun rise. What a simple pleasure, and a gift we can all count on, and appreciate, whether we can see it or not...

I am finding myself writing poetry again. I like this. To me, good poetry is exactly the same as a good dish-simple, beautiful, and with meaning.

I laid on my back in some frosty overgrown grass, and this one just happened.


Wayward bound

Which way does the cloud blow in the wind?
The way.
Swirling, twisting, floating free.
At once, all together
And then, it is gone.
A way...

Reflections on the season

The fall is my favorite season. Is it yours? So many beautiful manifestations of life, set against the fading backdrop of the fading spectacular. It teaches us to see that hope is never lost, and that everything must shed it's past in order to move into the future. Nature is never one to carry more than it can hold. It is very honest. I dig that about you, nature.....:)

As the temperature deepens, I venture into the forest even more. I relish seeing things burst forth with life and color, even in the face of a daunting Catskill winter. This little guy pictured here seemed to want his picture taken, before dawn even...

I believe these things to be amazing because they do not weigh the future in consideration of how they live in the present. Only humans do that.

A poem:

Leaf is falling.

Let it be.

What can we do, but watch?

What will we say, but love.

I hope that you, like me and so many folks out there, are seeing this fall as we do.

An unofficial spring...

Love,

Tenzo