| Issue 8 -- Fall Equinox 2001 | A mirador is "A turret, window or balcony that commands an extensive view" |
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Our annual Harvest Party is coming up on September 22 (also the Fall Equinox) and this year it is shaping up to be a bigger event. The party will extend from Southeast 21st to 22nd and include Mirador, Gallery Schmallery and The Red and Black Café. Come to Mirador from 2 to 6 PM for organic food and beverages, vendors in the parking lot, entertainment and 20% off all food preserving products and books and many other sale items. That same afternoon, Red and Black Café will be hosting square dancing on 22nd Avenue (for those of you who remember square dancing from school, this square dancing is a whole different animal there was square dancing at the Division Street Fair and everyone who came, from 10 to 70, had a blast). In the evening, the Movies-On-Division group will be offering films. Gallery Schmallery will join in with art activities. All are welcome to this no-charge event. While I'm on the subject of our street here, the businesses and neighbors in the area have been trying to come up with a name for our section of town to add to a sense of place that we are trying to develop here. We have learned that it has been known in the past as Seven Corners and we like the idea of using a name with some historical reference and the name itself. We've had several meetings about developing our sense of place here, and out of that has come the Movies-On-Division group, a free school called the Launch Pad, a plan to work with the city on using natural building techniques to erect a communication station outside of The Red and Black Café, and more. We welcome anyone that wants to get involved in building community with us in this way. There is a board at the Red and Black dedicated to this work where messages and updates are posted. You are welcome to contact Mirador for more information on this project. ViewPoint is a regular column in which we discuss Mirador's relationship to our lives, to our community's life and to the life of the wider community of the city, state, nation and world in which we live. Genetically Engineered Food In this time of harvest, it is a good time to reflect on the future of what most of us have always taken for granted: Our food supply. Genetic engineering of foods is just one aspect of a many-faceted attack on a safe, secure and sustainable agricultural system. In a well-orchestrated (and expensive) campaign, the biotech industry is trying to convince us that genetically engineered food is not only safe, but necessary to feed the world's mushrooming population, and can be engineered to provide nutrients missing from people's normal diet. These "facts" are nothing more than lies designed to lull a technology-loving US population from grasping the real raison d'etre of GM food huge profits for biotech companies, at the expense of the health of the very ecosystem which is Mother Nature and on which all living organisms (even biotech CEOs and their families) exist. In contrast to what many pro-biotech people have stated, genetic engineering is not in any way similar to previous methods of plant or animal modification. Earlier technologies bred members of the same or similar species together to procure desired traits. If the species were too far apart, they either could not be bred or the resulting offspring could not breed (mules, for example, a cross between a horse and a donkey, are sterile). In genetic engineering, species boundaries and even the boundary between plants and animals are crossed at will (one of the first GM creations was a tomato with a flounder gene inserted). In this column, I will mention some of the dangers of GM food. Future columns will delve into other aspects. The FDA's own scientists recommended that GM food get special scrutiny because of its risk of producing toxins and allergens. The FDA administrators (who come largely from biotech and agribusiness companies) ignored this recommendation. Genetic pollution the spread of genetically-modifed genomes into the environment is a proven fact. The consequences of this could be tremendous and it is irreversible. A report published by 100 top American scientists warned that the release of gene-spliced organisms "...could lead to irreversible, devastating damage to the ecology." The genetic engineering of crops and food-producing animals has already produced toxic and allergic reactions (which can be fatal) in humans; more can be expected. Many of the genes being inserted in foods have never been in foods before, so there is no knowledge of their effects on people or animals ingesting these foods. rBGH, a growth hormone used to increase milk production in cows, is banned in every major country in the Western world due to health concerns but not in America. GM crops will hasten the development of antibiotic-resistant viruses, pesticide-resistant insects and herbicide-resistant plants. Thus, even more herbicides and pesticides will be needed (or stronger, more dangerous herbicides and pesticides will have to be developed). Bt corn (which accounts for more than 1/3 of the US corn supply) is regulated as a pesticide by the EPA, but has never been tested for its safety as a food. In addition to this, use of Bt crops will eventually cause the use of Bt (a bacteria-based pesticide allowed for use on organic crops) to be useless, thus removing an extremely important element from the organic grower's arsenal. At the very least GM foods should be labeled so that we can make a choice. There is a petition being circulated in Portland to mandate just this. We have this petition and urge you to sign it. (The information for this article is available here.) Portland is a great city to live in when it comes to food. Whether you reap your harvest from your backyard garden, your community garden plot, a Community Supported Agriculture subscription, a farmers' market or the produce shelf of your local market, we can help save your harvest for the coming months. Mirador carries an extensive array of canning and preserving products. We recently received a large shipment from the company that makes Ball and Kerr (can you say monopoly?) mason jars, so we have mason jars of every size and description wide-mouth and regular from 4 ounce to 1/2 gallon. We also have bands and lids (plain and decorative), four kinds of pectin, jelly bags, three kinds of pickle spice, pickling lime and pickling salt. Crocks for pickles or sauerkraut are available in sizes from one to five gallons; we also have storage jars from 1/2 liter to four gallon. Apple peeler/slicer/corers make apple processing a snap. Juicer/strainers make grape and other juices, tomato and other sauces ready to can or freeze in minutes (and can be rented; see related article on page 4). Or use the steam juicer for juicing all sorts of fruits (also rentable). Food drying is a popular and healthful way to preserve most fruits and vegetables. We carry three sizes of Excalibur dehydrator and a beautiful wooden dehydrator which can be purchased as a kit. Both of these have been around since the '70s and have proven track records. Bean Slicer When I was a kid, my mother used to buy French-style green beans first canned, then frozen. We all loved them. When I went out on my own, I bought a green bean frencher so I could eat my home-grown beans french-style. Somewhere along the way, I dispensed with that and have been eating whole beans for years. Although fresh, young beans are delicious, often the ones I bought in the store (or my own picked at maturity) were not really satisfying. We have carried a small bean slicer since we opened, but it was not until recently that I took one home and used it. I was amazed at how easy it was to use and we both loved the way the beans tasted. I think that slicing the beans allows them to cook more evenly, whereas whole beans tend to be more done on the outside that the inside. The french-style beans, lightly steamed, are sweet but crisp all the way through. For those of you with large amounts of beans you need to freeze or can, we have a tabletop model that can slice several beans at one time. This is similar to the one I used to have and makes processing your bean harvest a breeze. Like coffee, fresh-ground spices are much more flavorful than ones bought ground and that sit around for months or years in your spice rack or cupboard. In 1998, T & G Woodware, from the United Kingdom, introduced Crushgrind spice, pepper and salt mills in the UK (the mechanism was invented the previous year by the Danes). The grinding mechanism is ceramic and has the following properties:
We are selling the T & G spice, pepper and salt mills (the pepper and salt mills are made from wood from certified sustainably-managed forests, about which more next issue). The spice grinders can be purchased separately from the jars. In fact, one grinder is all you need you can move it from jar to jar. We used to grind our coriander, cumin, cardamom, etc, in an old electric coffee grinder. This method worked okay if we were grinding a lot of something, but too often it was hard to grind up the small amounts we needed. We have taken one of these home and used it for this purpose and it is great. It's easy to use; because the mechanism is ratcheted, you don't have to remove your hand from the jar after every turn just turn it backwards and twist again. In addition to the great grinding mechanism and the eco-friendly wood, the salt and pepper mills are beautiful. They come in natural and Jacobean beech (and a combo) and natural hevea (or rubberwood). By the way, it is becoming more common to grind salt. A variety of salts are available at specialty stores. The salts are usually sea salts that are minimally processed so that a lot of minerals are present. Some of them, like the kind we buy, Keltic Sea Salt from People's, are damp but dry in a few minutes in the oven, ready for the salt mill. And in fact, even damp salts can be used with the Crushgrind salt mills. One more item of note about spices: Irradiation of spices is legal in America but it is not required to label irradiated spices as being irradiated. So there is no way of knowing if the spices you buy are irradiated unless you buy organic spices. See http://www.purefood.org/irrad/irradfaq.cfm for more information on irradiation. We have finally found a great and affordable soymilk maker, the SoyaJoy. With this machine, you add water to a container, soybeans to a basket, push a button and in about 15 minutes you have soymilk. The machine grinds and heats the milk so that it is ready to use (after cooling). Adding a little sweetener and some salt may be desired for some people to make the taste closer to soymilks like Soy Dream. You can make almost any kind of nut or grain milk. I have made rice milk and am looking forward to making almond milk. The unit is programmable so that you can heat without grinding or grind without heating. So, you can make raw almond (or other nut/grain) milk. All parts that come into contact with the ingredients are made from stainless steel. The machine comes with an instruction booklet that includes recipes for using okara, the residue left from making soymilk (the leftovers from other nut/grain milks can easily be incorporated in breads or other foods, also). In addition, the company has a website with tips and recipes from other users. You can also use the soymilk to make tofu. We have tofu kits, which include a press, Nigari (the curdling agent used to make tofu from soymilk), and cheesecloth. We also carry Nigari in packages and have complete instructions for the process of making tofu. If you drink soy or other milks, or eat tofu, this machine can save you a lot of money with little investment in effort and time. Uncle Harry's Natural Products I'd seen Uncle Harry's ads for tooth powder in the back of magazines for years. The old-timey photograph and testimonial left me a bit skeptical, I admit. But after using his products, starting with the tooth powder, I am completely sold. Uncle Harry started his business when he realized that many of the common body care products in his household contained ingredient lists that read like a chemical company's product list. We like his products because they are totally natural. Uncle Harry's products contain only therapeutic grade pure essential oils, herbs and minerals, unlike most "natural care" products which often have a long list of ingredients, many of which do not sound very natural. Of course, there are no preservatives, synthetics or artificial colors . Uncle Harry sells over 500 dental care, skin care, hair care, aromatherapy and other products, of which we carry a selection of 25 or 30. If you want the most natural of products for your body, try Uncle Harry's. We think you'll like them. Let's talk about a couple of kitchen tools that might really enhance your ability to make great dishes as well as the fun you have doing it. No one who prepares food a lot should be without a mandoline. This is a gadget with a sharp slicing blade and optional julienne blades. With just the slicing blade, slicing carrots, potatoes, zucchini squash, even onion (though onions are a little harder due to the layers) is quick and easy. With the julienne blades, you can make strips of various thicknesses; great for hash browns or just for a variation on sliced vegetables. The thickness of the slices is adjustable from very thin to very thick. We carry two kinds of mandolines. One is an "entry level" kind that is very popular and reasonably priced. This comes with three julienne blades; one model has a tray to catch the sliced veggies. The other kind is a "deluxe" model. This is all stainless steel, has four julienne blades, and two slicing blades. The second slicing blade can be used to create ripple-cut slices of vegetables that add visual interest to a dish. After using a mandoline, you will wonder how you ever got on without one. A word of caution, though the blade is extremely sharp, so you must be very careful when getting to the end of your vegetable. Guards are provided to protect your fingers use them! I cut myself three times before I learned. The spiral slicer originates in Japan, where it's been used to make edible decorative garnish for Asian dishes. It consists of a lid with a crank that has a device at one end to hold the vegetable, a slicing blade and optional shredder blade. This assembly fits onto a plastic tray that catches the sliced vegetables. The blades are stainless steel. The spiral slicer is a unique tool it makes continuous strands of vegetables like potatoes, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, squash, turnips, rutabaga, carrots and others. We carry two models one with a single shredding blade that makes extremely fine strands, another that comes with three shredding blades that make thin to thick strands. You can make spaghetti-like dishes using a vegetable as the "pasta"! It's also great for making salads, cole slaw, hash browns, onion rings, pizza toppings, etc. Without the shredding blade, it makes thin slices of your vegetables, similar to the mandoline. While the spiral slicer isn't as indispensable as the mandoline, it is an easy and quick way to slice or shred vegetables, its spiral slices are unique and it's impossible to hurt yourself on it! The Vegan Paradigm Cookbook $22.50 by Gentle World There is a glossary of ingredients, a list of useful kitchen items, a metric conversion chart, a vegan baking guide, guides for cooking whole grains and beans and vegan alternatives to non-vegan items. There are also sections on becoming vegan, vegan gardening and composting, growing wheatgrass, sprouting and vegan pets. Then there are the recipes. There are sections on bread and breakfast; salads and soups; dips, dressings, sauces and gravies; appetizers and side dishes; entrées; and desserts. Most unusual for cookbooks, there are sections on raw and living foods. Most of the recipes are simple this is not "gourmet" vegan food, just the vegan version of "meat and potatoes". The ingredients are simple and easily found in most natural food stores. The entrées use such vegetarian staples as tofu, tempeh, seitan, whole grains and dried beans, giving you a wide range of ways to use these items in making delicious meals. Almost every page has a quote from someone author, scientist, philosopher; ancient to modern on a particular aspect of the compassionate non-violence which is the heart of the vegan paradigm. This is a great book for those interested in becoming vegan and for people who are trying to add raw foods to their diet or who are transitioning to a raw foods diet. It is also a good book for anyone that would just like to have some good, simple vegan recipes around. Split Pea Soup 3 C dry Split Peas 1 - 2 Onions, diced 4 - 5 Carrots, sliced 1 - 2 Potatoes, cubed 1/4 t Curry Powder 1 T Dill Weed 1/4 t Ground Cumin 2 T Bragg's™ or Tamari 1 T Spike™ Seasoning 1 t Sea Salt 1. Boil the split peas in 6 cups of water. 2. In a soup pot, sauté the onions in a little oil, add the carrots & potatoes and cook until soft. 3. Blend 2 cups of split peas with 1 cup water and all seasoning except the salt in blender. Add to soup pot. 4. Blend 2 more cups of split peas with 1 cup water and add to soup pot. 5. Add remaining (non-blended) split peas to soup pot. Add salt. We want to say a very warm welcome to the new food co-op in town. The Alberta Cooperative Grocery opened in July with two ex-People's staff on board using their experience to help launch it. We visited a few weeks ago and were very impressed. The storefront is beautiful a classic older building, with lots of windows, lovingly restored and painted on the corner of NE 15th and Alberta. The inside is roomy, with high ceilings and wide aisles you can actually swing your arms without knocking over a ton of merchandise! They have a very good selection of goods - we even bought a few things we can't get at People's. It makes us anxious for the People's expansion (see article below) to become a reality! Like People's Co-op, Alberta Cooperative Grocery is committed to supporting sustainable agriculture. To this end, most of the produce is bought directly from local farmers who practice sustainable farming practices. That way, co-op members get fresher and healthier food, the co-op pays a little less and the farmer gets a little more. This co-op grew out of the community. Started as a buying club, it became obvious that there was enough interest to support a storefront. Much of the labor, materials and skills that went into getting the store operational was donated by co-op members and word is that the local community is being very supportive of their new grocery. We are extending our 10% discount to Alberta Cooperative Grocery members, so please let us know if you are member! Many of you know that we are a supporting business for People's Food Co-Op Memberships; that is we offer a 10% discount to People's members. We consider People's a crucial food resource in our community, especially in these days of added hormones, GMOS, pesticides, you name it. People's is planning a much needed expansion that will about double their total space. The store has been approved by Shore Bank for an expansion loan contingent upon the store doing the balance of it's own fund raising. We urge everyone that can to help the store meet it's goal by joining, making a loan to the store or just donating your discount. The long and eagerly awaited Ground Breaking Ceremony is September 17 and there is an Expansion Benefit Party on Sunday, September 16 at the SEIU Hall (SE 26th and Powell). (Tickets are available at Mirador). Call People's (503.232.9051) or Mirador for details. Alternative Papers We learned early on that customer requests can be very helpful in guiding us to the products to carry. I recall one of the first requests was for hemp paper. Around the same time, we went shopping for some sort of sustainable paper for our newsletter and found ONE 100% recycled paper in a very large selection of papers. We had to conclude that there was interest in papers from other than virgin wood, but they were tough to find. Here we are a couple of years later with a wide range of papers that are either tree-free and/or recycled. We have writing paper, envelopes, copy paper, note pads, sketch books, journals and more. The following is not a complete list but will give you an idea of what we have. (PCW [post-consumer waste] means that the fibers used are recycled from paper that has been used by consumers and businesses, not a by-product of industrial processes.)
All of our papers are either bleach- free or whitened without the use of harmful chemicals; in the case of colored papers, natural dyes are use. Ever since we opened, people have commented that we should do a gift registry for weddings, showers and other events as an alternative to the large retailers' registries. Now that we are busier and a lot of people are coming in to buy gifts for these kinds of events, we have finally implemented this idea. You can come in, fill out a form with items you choose, let your friends know, then they can come in and choose something for you off of your list. We hope this registry will help you, your friends, and your favorite local business, Mirador! Canning Equipment Rental Canning and preserving season is upon us and we have decided to rent out two pieces of canning equipment that we carry. The Steam Juicer can be used for juicing grapes, apples, cherries, plums, pears, berries, currants, tomatoes or rhubarb. I have used this on our grapes and can say that it is easy to use and it works great. Before I used this, processing grapes was a long, messy affair. With this, the hardest part is cleaning the grapes and you don't even have to remove all of the stems! The Juicer/Strainer is hand-operated and works on soft fruits or vegetables, or hard fruits and vegetables, such as apples or winter squash, that are cooked first. This device is good for making squash pureé, applesauce, tomato sauce, grape juice, salsa, berry pureé, baby food, jams or jellies. The Juicer/Strainer separates the skins and seeds from the fruit or vegetable quickly and easily. I used this last year on half of our grapes and made delicious raw grape juice. I also processed our tomatoes -- it was much faster than having to skin whole tomatoes in hot water before canning. This is a good way to do your fruit and vegetable processing without the expense of a purchase. The Juicer/Strainer rents for $7.50/ day; the Steam Juicer is $10.00/day. It's one of those situations where the same thing is the good news and the bad news. We have shut down our formal on-line store, as we found that the online sales did not justify the monthly expense. We were not able to expand online sales because the daily work of running the real store kept us from spending the time we needed to on the cyber store. We're actually kind of tickled about this because the store that can be seen and entered is making headway and that is the part that is near and dear to us. When we opened Mirador two years ago, the online explosion was happening and it had us wondering about our timing. This turn of events confirms a lot of what we suspected about online shopping: It has its place, but people still want to see and touch products, and interaction with other people in the community via a store matters. For us, talking with customers is definitely one of the best parts of being shopkeepers. We have not by any means shut down our website nor will we hesitate to fill an order that comes to us through that. We are always happy to ship something to someone that can't get into Portland from a rural area or another state. You may see a new face behind the counter on your next visit to Mirador. Jolyn Fry will be joining us part-time and we are looking forward to having her help (we need some time off!). Jolyn has worked at People's Food Co-Op for four years, working hard in various positions from produce to non-foods buyer. Jolyn is an artist and we expect to have her paintings gracing our walls down the line. We know that she'll be an asset to Mirador, helping customers find the information and products they need. |