Whole Grain Carb Delights

Here is a taste of some of the carb-rich foods we have eaten and baked throughout the week. Of course, they all are whole grain, healthy, and delicious!Most of the time for breakfast we enjoy a hearty bowl of cereal and mix in a bunch of nutritious goodies, including dried or fresh fruit, hemp or flaxmeal, and wheat germ or oat bran. When we're not eating cold cereal, we like to soak some rolled flakes (oats, barley flakes, spelt flakes, triticale flakes, etc.) in mylk and enjoy cold, or have a bowl of warm porridge (with flakes or grits/meals such as pumpernickle meal, kamut grits, etc.). We love texture, chewiness, nuttiness, and all things nutritious/whole grain!Our favorite cold cereals include: Nature's Path Cereals (Millet Rice, Mesa Sunrise, or Gluten Free Whole-O's), and Arrowhead Mills Shredded Wheat. We periodically like Barbara's Bakery Shredded Oats and Puffins. A new cereal we also really liked is Enjoy Life's Cinnamon Crunch Granola (p.s. this is so crunchy, it needs to be soaked in mylk before eating).This week we decided to do something different for breakfast. We warmed up cereal (in this case it was Peace's Cinnamon Spice Crunch) in the microwave and enjoyed it warm, like la belle vegan does periodically. It was very good - the spiced flavors came out into the milk and the texture was a nice softer bite. Every week we make homemade bread/rolls and muffins. This week we savored homemade garlic breadsticks dipped in high quality Italian olive oil. Buttery rich, garlicy goodness! We enjoyed them with some steamed kale (with garlic, too), and a bowl of soup with lentils.Now, for dessert, we love experimenting. We had anise powder hidden in our pantry for quite some time and finally put it to use - with fig anise oatmeal cookies. The idea was cool, and we love licorice flavor, which is similar to anise, but the flavor wasn't right. The anise didn't taste licoricy, and in a cookie, it was odd. The texture of the cookies turned out nice, we just need to tweak the cookie flavor and make authentic oatmeal spice cookies, or other flavors such as maple date oatmeal.Another flavor we made in the kitchen along with the fig anise was fig orange. Sadly, the orange flavor wasn't strong enough, because we just used o.j. instead of orange peel. We spread on some coconut frosting, which made it a rich cookie!We are baker fanatics, so had to make another special sweet - this time it came out perfect. Lemon Poppyseed Whole Grain cake from Bob's Red Mill, with added banana, flax, and fresh pineapple. Tropical, sweet, and so deliciously moist!What is funny is that as I am writing this post about baked goods/carbs, I have been eating all raw today, so these foods look very tempting! We are planning to make Sundays >90% raw days - with dried fruits, fresh fruits, smoothies, veggies, seeds, and raw meals. (That means no carbs except raw soaked grains and wheat germ.)Cravings for carbs galore!-LK

Whole Grain Carb Delights

Here is a taste of some of the carb-rich foods we have eaten and baked throughout the week. Of course, they all are whole grain, healthy, and delicious!Most of the time for breakfast we enjoy a hearty bowl of cereal and mix in a bunch of nutritious goodies, including dried or fresh fruit, hemp or flaxmeal, and wheat germ or oat bran. When we're not eating cold cereal, we like to soak some rolled flakes (oats, barley flakes, spelt flakes, triticale flakes, etc.) in mylk and enjoy cold, or have a bowl of warm porridge (with flakes or grits/meals such as pumpernickle meal, kamut grits, etc.). We love texture, chewiness, nuttiness, and all things nutritious/whole grain!Our favorite cold cereals include: Nature's Path Cereals (Millet Rice, Mesa Sunrise, or Gluten Free Whole-O's), and Arrowhead Mills Shredded Wheat. We periodically like Barbara's Bakery Shredded Oats and Puffins. A new cereal we also really liked is Enjoy Life's Cinnamon Crunch Granola (p.s. this is so crunchy, it needs to be soaked in mylk before eating).This week we decided to do something different for breakfast. We warmed up cereal (in this case it was Peace's Cinnamon Spice Crunch) in the microwave and enjoyed it warm, like la belle vegan does periodically. It was very good - the spiced flavors came out into the milk and the texture was a nice softer bite. Every week we make homemade bread/rolls and muffins. This week we savored homemade garlic breadsticks dipped in high quality Italian olive oil. Buttery rich, garlicy goodness! We enjoyed them with some steamed kale (with garlic, too), and a bowl of soup with lentils.Now, for dessert, we love experimenting. We had anise powder hidden in our pantry for quite some time and finally put it to use - with fig anise oatmeal cookies. The idea was cool, and we love licorice flavor, which is similar to anise, but the flavor wasn't right. The anise didn't taste licoricy, and in a cookie, it was odd. The texture of the cookies turned out nice, we just need to tweak the cookie flavor and make authentic oatmeal spice cookies, or other flavors such as maple date oatmeal.Another flavor we made in the kitchen along with the fig anise was fig orange. Sadly, the orange flavor wasn't strong enough, because we just used o.j. instead of orange peel. We spread on some coconut frosting, which made it a rich cookie!We are baker fanatics, so had to make another special sweet - this time it came out perfect. Lemon Poppyseed Whole Grain cake from Bob's Red Mill, with added banana, flax, and fresh pineapple. Tropical, sweet, and so deliciously moist!What is funny is that as I am writing this post about baked goods/carbs, I have been eating all raw today, so these foods look very tempting! We are planning to make Sundays >90% raw days - with dried fruits, fresh fruits, smoothies, veggies, seeds, and raw meals. (That means no carbs except raw soaked grains and wheat germ.)Cravings for carbs galore!-LK

10 Things My Kids Have Found to Do When There is Nothing to Do

I was thinking about how much free time my girls get each day. Sometimes I feel guilty for not having enough planned for each day. (Savannah's favorite phrase is often, "I'm bored; there's nothing to do.") But then I realized that in their unscheduled time they have actually been at their most creative. Here is a list of some of the things my kids have found to do in the last month when left to explore and create using their own imaginations.Planned a birthday party complete with handmade decorations. They drew pictures on paper plates to give the party a theme, made coordinating hats out of construction paper and pom-poms, and made a pinata out of a paper lunch bag and string (they stuffed it with Fruity Pebbles and granola bars).Made a cookbook. They wrote out the recipes they knew including sweet tea, lemonade and milkshakes and then punched holes in the paper and put them in a binder.Made a museum. They collected items from around the house including their art work, family memorabilia, rocks, and more. The items were organized by collection into different rooms. They then made museum maps of the rooms which they handed out as they gave tours of their museums. Put on a circus. Using face paints, the dress up bins and various step stools, hula hoops and a stick pony balanced across two bins, they girls organized a circus with three acts: acrobats (walking the tight rope stick pony pole), lion taming and clowns.Created magic tricks. Savannah asked me to name a few favorite tv shows. She then wrote the initials of each show on slips of paper and put them into a brown paper bag. She asked me to draw a slip of paper while she then "read my mind" to tell me what was on the paper. She got it right and then explained the trick to me-she had written the same initials on all of the pieces of paper. Created a club house. The girls call the willow tree across the street Grand Mother Willow. They go over there and pretend her branches create a little house. They have named their club the nature club and do activities like making crowns from willow branches and flowers and painting with water on rocks using paint brushes made from sticks and leaves that are tied together with willow branches.Made new bubble baths. The girls mixed up some different assorted bubble baths to create their own unique scents. They then designed labels and adhered them to the bottles.Wrote a book. Savannah is on the 6th chapter of what she calls her "Go Girls" mystery. The Go Girls are a club that solves mysteries. In the book she is working on, the Go Girls are solving the mystery of the missing cat. Ellie is working on a horse breed book. She draws different breeds of horses on each page and then identifies the breed and lists a few identifying characteristics. Both girls are using journals I got at Borders. Ellie's is blank while Savannah's has lines on one page while the opposite page is blank allowing her to write and illustrate. The girls continue to add to their books during their down time. Made puppets and dolls. While I was resting the girls found their way into the craft supplies. They found some muslin body forms, buttons, yarn and sharpie markers. The proceeded to decorate the bodies and create their own puppets. Ellie also stuffed her form using my quilting batting and hand sewed the bottom shut with needle and thread. the result was a handmade muslin doll. When I came out of my room (after trying my best not to overreact to all of the craft supplies all over the kitchen) the girls used their creations to perform the puppet show they had scripted together.Set up a beauty salon. I must admit this is my favorite! The girls will set up the bathroom with my make up and nail polish. They also bring out all of their bows and ribbons and hair brushes. Prior to my arrival they will make signs, price lists and style books for their salon. I then choose a hairstyle from the book and they perform their magic. I sit back while they brush my hair, style it, do my make up and paint my nails. Yes, their technique needs some work but I always leave their make up and hair style arranged until my husband comes home from work and can praise them for how pretty I look. For one dad's theory on why modern children get bored so easily, check out this article on the Wisdom Journal.

How to Cook Frozen Lobster Tail

How to Cook Frozen Lobster TailFrozen lobster has some definite benefits over fresh live Lobster.• Frozen lobster can be bought and stored until you are ready to use it.• Frozen lobster will be less expensive.• Frozen Lobster tail is easier to obtain.• A big benefit is that the frozen lobster has already been prepared so you don't have to deal with the dilemma of cooking a live lobster.It is true that fresh live Lobster will generally taste better but that comes at a considerably higher cost. This is because fresh lobster is usually bought for the meat in the tail and claws. Frozen Lobsters tails can come from any of dozens of other different varieties of claw-less species which makes them more available and less costly.Sources Of Frozen Lobster TailIn general, there are two distinct sources for frozen Lobster tails. Some are harvested from warm waters and some come from cold waters. Most chefs consider the warm water varieties to be the least desirable. This is because by the time that they are harvested and get to you the meat is of poor quality in a large percentage of the tail.You should always try to buy your frozen tail from the cold waters of southern countries and avoid the central American variety. Sometimes the information is on the package though often it is not. Then you have to rely on the information the vendor can give you or guess based on the price. The warm water tails will always be the least expensive.Cooking the LobsterTo get the best flavor and texture from frozen lobster tails they should be thawed prior to cooking. It is possible to cook frozen tails but doing so will produce a tough less tasty meat.To thaw frozen lobster tails let them sit in their unopened packaging in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. You can thaw them faster by immersing the package in water, then letting that sit in the fridge.In a rush you can use a microwave with a defrost setting to thaw the tails. Just be careful so that you don't start cooking the Lobster tails this way.Once thawed, the Lobster Tails should be cooked in a timely manner. After thawing they can be boiled, steamed, baked, broiled or grilled. It's up to you.Here are the two most popular and easiest ways to cook Lobster, boiling and steaming.Boiling thawed frozen Lobster is really easy.• Fill a pot with enough water to cover the Lobsters you are cooking,• Add about one tbsp salt per quart of water• Heat the water to a rolling boil• Drop the Lobsters into the boiling water• Cook for about 1 minute per ounce of LobsterSteaming is similar except you will use less water. You will need a steaming basket that can hang into the pot but not reach into the water and a tight lid.• Put 1 to 1 ½ inches of water into pot.• Add salt (1 tbsp per quart of water)• Heat the water to boiling• Hang the steaming basket into the pot• Cover with heavy Lid (If you don't have a heavy lid sit a brick or rock on top to hold the lid down)• Cook them for 7 to 8 minutesJust remember, be careful and watch out for the hot steam when you open the pot and remember that the pot, lid, strainer and Lobsters will all be extremely hot.Serve the Lobster on a platter with some hot clarified butter and you are ready to feast.Learn all the different ways that you can enjoy Lobster. Bob Current is publisher of http://www.cookinglobster.info. Here you can learn the where how and what of finding and cooking lobster.

Podcast Goddess - THINGS THAT MAKE ME GO MMMRUH!

17 Again? As If.by Geralyn Ruane17 Again. Okay, so I went to see the movie twice so far. The plot is riddled with nonsensical gaps, but there’s still plenty of mmmruh to keep me pleasantly distracted for the 102 minutes or so. And sure, the idea intrigues plenty of us… "If I could do it all over, with what I know now…” But the truth is, I wouldn’t be 17 again, not for all the condoms in the vending machine.Low riders and thongs? So not me. But I remember myself at 17, trying to latch onto any fashion craze I could afford. So I am sure if I got zapped back to high school I’d be squeezing into a G-string for prom. Plus, I had no confidence as a teen and my dating life limped along, hobbled by my bruised psyche. Get this – when I was 17, I dated guys who didn’t love animals!!! And drove gas guzzlers!!! Sure, I was 4 sizes smaller, but what difference does that make? I still felt fat all the time. I was in better shape, but back then my shin splints hurt like hell. And in ’89, I was on the pill, an aspect of Western medicine I’ve completely eschewed since that stroke in ’96.Truth is, I like the person I’ve evolved into. I’m not done chasing my dreams or shy about conjuring up new ones to pursue. Mmmruh! Sure, I’ve made some mistakes along the way – I think of the chances I should have taken, the houses I didn’t buy, the vaccinations I should have never allowed – but I would not go back. Well, maybe back to that day in the vet’s office. Yes, definitely back there. But other than that, I like my thirties A LOT. Recently, I tutored a college senior, and his place where we studied smelled like college boys. Not a bad smell, just distinctive and immediately recognizable. Oh yeah, and the room was decorated with beer – signs, bottles, cans, posters. AND I WAS SO GLAD I WAS NOT IN COLLEGE ANYMORE. I am also way grateful no longer to be in my twenties. God, was I stupid in my twenties!You know, I did not go to my 5th, 10th or 15th high school reunions. Why would I? High school was mostly unhappy for me. Plus, I am not the super in-shape best-selling novelist I hoped to be by age 25. But then Jason Smith, a kid from my high school class who is organizing our upcoming reunion, tracked me down through this very OCC Romance Writers’ Blog and told me about our upcoming reunion and invited me to join our 20th Reunion Website.Aaaahhh!!!!! But I’m not super in-shape!! I’m not a best-selling novelist!! I haven’t even fucked anyone famous!! I can’t go back!But Jason worked so hard to find me, and I remembered him as such a nice kid, so I joined the website.And oh, my goodness gracious!! Would you believe that all those kids from my graduating class – we all just grew up to be people! People!! With whom it wasn’t scary at all to reconnect. In fact, catching up with my updated past has been fantastic!For the first time in my life, I feel completely comfortable in my own skin. Mmmruh! I feel good. I feel right. And all I had to do was face one of my greatest fears – THE KIDS FROM HIGH SCHOOL!!! (You should be hearing the Psycho shower scene music in your head right now.) So now I am going to face another of my shark-eating-me-in-the-ocean-at-night-type fears (cue the Psycho strings.): SENDING MY BOOK OUT TO PUBLISHERS AND AGENTS!!!!!!I’m going to do it, damn it, and sell my book. Mmmmmruh! Though our winsome blogger has resigned herself to the stupid loss of her 200 bucks(see her Jnauary'09 blog), she is gratified to see that possible misuse of said 200 bucks is under federal investigation. Other than throwing her money away, Geralyn also appears in the award-winning internet short comedy film Daryl From OnCar and co-hosts the radio show Better Times After 50 on AdviceRadio.com Her short story “Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants” is published in the New York Times Bestselling anthology The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2.[img]http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/14091439-8361390142119461758?l=occsliceoforange.blogspot.com[/img]View the full article

Flirting with Absurdity

During the election campaign a bunch of aussie blogs sported a message to Kev:Well, on the question of internet filtering (as Kev would say), they're fucking it up. They need to man-up and admit they're wrong.The clean feed proposal won't stop the bad people and will inconvenience the good people. It's like putting half a dozen deadlocks on your doors and then leaving a ground floor window open. It's a really bad idea.The fact that you're reading this means you're a bright, forward-thinking net user, so no doubt you'll already have come across stories about the government's clean feed proposal. Allow me to note down a quick synopsis:March 06- Kim Beazley promises clean feedJune 07- ACMA kicks off filter test process as directed by then minister Helen CoonanDecember 07- Newly-elected ALP government announces cleanfeed to go aheadEarly 08- Closed environment tests conducted in TasmaniaJune 08- ACMA report releasedJuly 08- Conroy welcomes test reportSeptember 08- Mark Newton posts that the only opt-out option seems to be switching from blacklist 1 to blacklist 2 ie no opt-out optionEarly October 08- Bloggers pick up the nugget and run with it. MSM catches up two weeks later.Late October 08- Creative responses abound- The Great Firewall of Australia becomes the subject of discussion in the dying days of The Media Report on RN. Conroy talks intent, Mark Pesce talks practicalities.- Mark Pesce's Clean Feeds piece on ABC's Unleashed observes Twitter as awareness-raiding/organising medium, comments credit blogs (namely SomebodyThinkOfTheChildren.com) and Facebook groups (No Clean Feed has 2805 members, No Australian Internet Censorship has 10103 members and People Against Mandatory Internet Filters in Australia has 771 members as at 02 Nov 08) as well as a cause page.02 Nov 08- Tech Wired Australia proposes "Stop It, Don't Block It" as counter-campaign slogan, register the domain after podcast recording.There's a much more comprehensive timeline on the OCAU wiki.On The Media Report, Conroy pulled out something akin to a party-line Nuremburg defense:"This is a long-standing election commitment. We made this commitment back when Kim Beazley was leader of the Labor Party, so just to give you an indication, this is a long-standing position we've been advocating."This is disingenuous on several fronts: Firstly Mr Conroy, you dumped Beazley, so you don't owe him anything as far as implementing his proposals goes. Secondly, when Big Kim announced the plan, he didn't say anything about it being mandatory for all. He said[ISP] "will be required to offer a filtered "clean feed" internet service"not that it would be forced upon us and he also said there'd be an opt-out option. Choice was still on the table. Thirdly, just because Coonan directed ACMA to test and report, it doesn't mean you have to implement. You're the Minister remember? Beazley and Coonan might have laid the tracks, but you're in control of the train now and you can still stop it (and all of the parasitic special interest groups) before it derails.Or has it already? Excuse me while I jot down some incompletely formed scenarios (feel free to tear them apart, propose alternatives in comments):Worst Case:Proposal implemented as it stands. Special interest groups (Fielding, Xenophon) get their 'legal-but-immoral' content banned. Speed drops, people flock to TOR, P2P nets and VPNs to get to the content they want. No political fallout for Rudd or Conroy.Best of the worst cases:Proposal implemented as it stands. ALP sticks to filtering content based on existing crimes legislation only, tells special interest groups to go jump. Speed drops, people still flock to alternative means and circumvent filters. Rudd & Conroy lose tech sector support/votes.Best case for Kevin:Rudd sees that the filter stands in the way of a decent national broadband strategy. Announces that he has considered the kevidence of blocked tubes, speed drops, ease of circumvention etc and announces another study/review. This gets the comparisons with Iran and China off the front pages and gives everyone a chance to provide submissions (yay, more kevidence). Not so good for Conroy, being slapped down by the PM. Actually, maybe not so good for Rudd either, what with him exercising Howard-like control of cabinet.Best case for Conroy:Having trouble with this one; maybe it's all too far gone for Conroy to have any redemption at all. If he keeps going, he joins a club already populated by Harradine, Ruddock, Vanstone and Howard. If he backs down he risks being seen as hating Laura Norder.Best case for everybody:The whole idea is nixed. Rudd wakes up after another night at Scores, decides parenting should be left to parents. Reallocates filter funds to education, health. Sets up skunkworks to design wowser filters.We shouldn't, nay mustn't, just hope for the best and prepare for the worst. You have to let your elected representatives know what you think of this proposal before it's implemented. No Clean Feed has several options for action, but I would recommend letters. Real printed letters, signed and sent in real envelopes with real stamps. Postcards run a close second. They're real, tangible. E-mails and online petitions might get the same content across, but there's something about a real tangible letter/postcard that I think gets the message across better, especially on issues of importance. One person I know has written to Conroy, the communications shadow minister (Nick Minchin) and his members (federal and territory) and I plan to match him. If you're not confident writing a letter, there are plenty of templates around: 1, 2, 3, 4.If you've gotten through all that, and you've printed, signed & sent your letters, you deserve a video:

Local culinary high school places in national competition

I’m like the proud auntie, no direct connection to the success of the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology management team though I co-mentored the culinary team to 2nd place statewide – it makes me meshpokha (extended family). For my loyal readers, all three of you, here is a link to the story ‘does your child like to cook’, about the state competition but do read on about the first Maryland ProStart team to place in the national competition.The Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation (RAMEF) announced today that the high school hospitality management team from the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology in Baltimore County took 4th place at the National ProStart Invitational in San Diego, CA this past weekend.The National ProStart Invitational provided the stage for 31 high school teams from across the country to compete against one another in a hospitality management competition. Teams were given a “case study” that involved several problems and situations that might arise in the hospitality industry on any given day. After 30 minutes of preparation, the team then had to make a presentation to judges on how they would handle those situations. Judges then scored their presentations based on how the team addressed customer relations, inter-departmental communications, staffing and labor, sanitation, safety and organization. Teams also competed against one another in a knowledge bowl, answering questions about hospitality management, culinary arts and food safety. Judges included hospitality industry professionals and instructors from post secondary schools with hospitality management programs. Over 1 million dollars in scholarship money and national bragging rights were on the line for the top finishing teams in the competition.This was the second year in a row that the Carver Center and instructor Bette Mullins had won the Maryland ProStart Student Invitational and earned the right to represent Maryland in the national competition. Team members Brina Furman, Rachel Sherman, Brenna Hoffman, Tara Lewis, and Thomas Burch each earned a $500 scholarship from both McCormick and Whole Foods Market for winning the state competition, along with several scholarship awards from numerous post secondary institutions. “These students put in hours and hours of work to prepare for the national competition”, stated Mullins, “I am extremely proud of their 4th place finish and they exceeded all my expectations”.For placing 4th in the nation, each student on the team will receive a $500 scholarship from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and the Coca Cola Company along with a gift bag worth over $200 in culinary tools and materials. This is in addition to the scholarships awarded to them for finishing first at the state competition.“This is the best finish for any Maryland team in the National ProStart Invitational” commented Marshall Weston Jr., Executive Vice President of RAMEF. “Having the highest score in the knowledge bowl competition is what propelled this team to 4th in the nation. This group highlights the caliber of students we have in the ProStart program in Maryland.”The ProStart program is a high school culinary and hospitality management curriculum that also requires 400 hours of paid industry work experience in order to receive a ProStart National Certificate of Achievement. Students completing the ProStart program are qualified to enter the workforce in positions above entry level and are on a fast track to management careers. ProStart is endorsed by the Maryland State Department of Education and also prepares students for post secondary education at culinary schools and hospitality management programs.Weston added that “It is the partnerships between the industry and education that has helped these students achieve nationally recognized success. The financial support and mentoring of those in the industry are what enabled the Carver Center for the Arts to perform at the highest level.”

Fareeda.

white tiger

Sauna Tips and Tricks

There are a number of unknown tips and tricks that you can add to the multitude of benefits that come from sauna steam baths. A few of the more common ones that you can add to your arsenal of body and soul aids are as follows: * Shave & with a blade to shave after sweating, it is quite common and as you are covered by a sweat, it provides an incredibly smooth shave and softens the skin without the use of shaving gel or foam. This result is also valid for other parts of the body (legs, for example) and the face. * Relief of cold & Get temporary relief of a stuffy nose or congested chest with the sauna steam bath. You can easily add a few drops of a natural substance like eucalyptus oil, in water to be vaporized. The scented steam can then help to relieve the airways, which will respond favorably to free and clear breathing. (more&) aromatherapy, health benefits of a sauna, relaxation, sauna, saunas, steam, steam bathsaromatherapy, health benefits of a sauna, relaxation, sauna, saunas, steam, steam baths

Car reduced communities

This article was on the front section of the NY Times web site today. Interesting concept, but the articles mentions developments in the US too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/sc...b.html?_r=1&hp
Quote:
In German Suburb, Life Goes on Without Cars
VAUBAN, Germany — Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars.
Cars are forbidden on most of Vauban's streets, and houses cannot have driveways or garages.
Vauban, which was completed in 2006, has 5,500 residents.
Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.
As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here. “When I had a car I was always tense. I’m much happier this way,” said Heidrun Walter, a media trainer and mother of two, as she walked verdant streets where the swish of bicycles and the chatter of wandering children drown out the occasional distant motor.
Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”
Automobiles are the linchpin of suburbs, where middle-class families from Chicago to Shanghai tend to make their homes. And that, experts say, is a huge impediment to current efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, and thus to reduce global warming. Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States.
While there have been efforts in the past two decades to make cities denser, and better for walking, planners are now taking the concept to the suburbs and focusing specifically on environmental benefits like reducing emissions. Vauban, home to 5,500 residents within a rectangular square mile, may be the most advanced experiment in low-car suburban life. But its basic precepts are being adopted around the world in attempts to make suburbs more compact and more accessible to public transportation, with less space for parking. In this new approach, stores are placed a walk away, on a main street, rather than in malls along some distant highway.
“All of our development since World War II has been centered on the car, and that will have to change,” said David Goldberg, an official of Transportation for America, a fast-growing coalition of hundreds of groups in the United States promoting new communities that are less dependent on cars. Mr. Goldberg added: “How much you drive is as important as whether you have a hybrid.”
Levittown and Scarsdale, New York suburbs with spread-out homes and private garages, were the dream towns of the 1950s and still exert appeal. But some new suburbs may well look more Vauban-like, not only in developed countries but also in the developing world, where emissions from an increasing number of private cars owned by the burgeoning middle class are choking cities.
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is promoting “car reduced” communities. Many experts expect public transport serving suburbs to play a much larger role in a six-year federal transportation bill to be approved this year, Mr. Goldberg said. In previous bills, 80 percent of appropriations have by law gone to highways.
In California, the Hayward Area Planning Association is developing a Vauban-like community called Quarry Village on the outskirts of Oakland, accessible without a car to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and the California State University’s campus in Hayward.
Sherman Lewis, a professor emeritus at Cal State and a leader of the association, says he “can’t wait to move in” and hopes Quarry Village will allow his family to reduce its car ownership from two to one, or even none. But the current system is still stacked against the project, he said, noting that mortgage lenders worry about resale value of half-million-dollar homes that have no place for cars, and most zoning laws still require two parking spaces per residential unit.
Besides, convincing people to give up their cars is often an uphill run. “People in the U.S. are incredibly suspicious of any idea where people are not going to own cars, or are going to own fewer,” said David Ceaser, a founder of CarFree City USA, who said no car-free suburban project the size of Vauban had succeeded in the United States.
In Europe, some governments are thinking on a national scale. In 2000, Great Britain began a comprehensive effort to reform planning, to discourage car use by requiring that new development be accessible by public transit.
“Development comprising jobs, shopping, leisure and services should not be designed and located on the assumption that the car will represent the only realistic means of access for the vast majority of people,” said PPG 13, the British government’s revolutionary 2001 planning document. Dozens of shopping malls, fast-food restaurants and housing compounds have been refused planning permits based on the new British regulations.
In Germany, a country that is home to Mercedes-Benz and the autobahn, life in a car-reduced place like Vauban has its own unusual gestalt. It is long and relatively narrow, so that the tram into Freiburg is an easy walk from every home. Stores, restaurants, banks and schools are more interspersed among homes than they are in a typical suburb. Most residents, like Ms. Walter, have carts that they haul behind bicycles for shopping trips or children’s play dates.
For trips to stores like Ikea or the ski slopes, families buy cars together or use communal cars rented out by Vauban’s car-sharing club. Ms. Walter had previously lived — with a private car — in Freiburg as well as the United States.
“If you have one, you tend to use it,” she said. “Some people move in here and move out rather quickly — they miss the car next door.”
Vauban, the site of a former Nazi army base, was occupied by the French Army from the end of World War II until the reunification of Germany two decades ago. Because it was planned as a base, the grid was never meant to accommodate private car use: the “roads” were narrow passageways between barracks.
The original buildings have long since been torn down. The stylish row houses that replaced them are buildings of four or five stories, designed to reduce heat loss and maximize energy efficiency, and trimmed with exotic woods and elaborate balconies; free-standing homes are forbidden.
By nature, people who buy homes in Vauban are inclined to be green guinea pigs — indeed, more than half vote for the German Green Party. Still, many say it is the quality of life that keeps them here.
Henk Schulz, a scientist who on one afternoon last month was watching his three young children wander around Vauban, remembers his excitement at buying his first car. Now, he said, he is glad to be raising his children away from cars; he does not worry much about their safety in the street.
Already, Vauban has become a well-known niche community, even if it has spawned few imitators in Germany. But whether the concept will work in California is an open question.
More than 100 would-be owners have signed up to buy in the Bay Area’s “car-reduced” Quarry Village, and Mr. Lewis is still looking for about $2 million in seed financing to get the project off the ground.
But if it doesn’t work, his backup proposal is to build a development on the same plot that permits unfettered car use. It would be called Village d’Italia.

Mouzzs Room Mates

OK, before we get started, can I get a definitive grammar ruling here? Should it be "Mouzz's Room Mates" or "Mouzzs Room Mates"? I'm pretty sure it's Mouzzs Room Mates but that just looks so wrong to me. I confess, I'm an apostrophe addict.And speaking of Mouzz and because all I have knitting-wise are more blankie pictures, let's meet Mouzz's (Mouzzs) room mates.These are cockatiels, for those who are not bird savvy. On the left we have Seven (as in 747) and on the right is Bo(eing). Get it? Boeing and 747? Yeah, well I didn't name them. My friend adopted these two little nutcases about 8 months ago. Not only did he get the birds for free, he got the cages and all their "accessories" for free as well. The original owners had to give them up after having them for SEVEN YEARS because their neighbors were complaining about the noise.Seven, pictured above, is female while Bo is male. They're not breeders although every now and then Bo will get a twinkle in his eye which results in a lot of squawking and feather flapping on Seven's part. Seven doesn't wanna be tied down to any ol' nest. I've never had birds before and I still don't, these are not MINE, but talk about personality plus. Bo is about as dumb as a box of rocks and is prone to walking in circles, staring at the floor. That's when he's not doing his car alarm impressions. Seven is a sneaky little minx and very opinionated. But then, she's a female.Tomorrow night, a blankie update! Exciting! Wow!

Spain: No.1 in the ranking of recruitement places for Al-Qaeda in Europe

Five years after March 11th, which made Spain a target of the Islamist terror, Interior Minister has stated that Spain is now a source of Human Resources for future terrorists"..."situated in the 1st place in the ranking of their preferred recruitement's places for Al-Qaeda's recruitment in Europe, and, at the same time, it continues to be a target of international terrorism.
Since March 11th, State Security Forces have detained 384 alleged Islamist terrorists.
Some of the them had the objective of recruiting, teaching, training and sending mujahidins to Irak. Others only did apology of terrorism or defense and proud display of extremist ideas, according to the counterterrorist sources of the National Police, or they just financed Jihad by sending money from Spain, for example, using the zakat or alms obtained thank to mosques.
Not only Al-Qaeda has menaced Spain, even if 20 minutos (leftist) forgets to tell it. Hamas has repeatedly also menaced Europe in general and Spain in particular. Palestinians organizations (including Hamas, but not only) have also menaced Europe with the Muslim minority living here, specially after Israeli Operation Cast Lead.
Anyway, Jihadi menace has been growing for Spain since March 11th, a good proof that appeasement (and important quantities of State money given away to Islamic organizations in the name of State's religious neutrality) does not produce any results in counter-terrorism and something President Obama should take good note of.