Butoh

I get about town a lot but recently was introduced to Butoh, a style of dance / movement performance that I'd never heard of before. I've read it usually involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and traditionally the performers wear white body makeup and engage in slow hyper-controlled motion. There's apparently no set style, and it may be purely conceptual with no movement at all. Here's a couple links to short performances that may take your breath away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ms7MGs2Nh8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opaS-W7b6GI&feature=related. Google Butoh for yourself and learn more about it!

Spinach Luck

A friend and I thought it was pretty special when we saw this 3-leaf spinach leaf in one of my pots.

Liquore Al Basilico (basil liquor) And The Holy Hindu Highness

Definitely not a wine, quaffing or exceptionally complex, but I've been having fun exploring limoncello and now liquore al basilico, or basil liquor. I'll share the recipe I used with you. I chose to use a 750ml bottle of Platinum vodka (it's 7x distilled). I added the vodka to this jar along with 100 basil leaves and the zest (no pith) of half a lemon. Then I shook it vigorously and will shake it every day for the next 40 days. Then I'll strain the basil and lemon zest and add three or four cups of simple syrup to the mixture depending upon my personal taste. Simple syrup (ratio 1:1, 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water, boiled then cooled). I'll let this mixture rest for another 40 days in the freezer and then I'll start drinking it. This is my first time making liquore al basilico so I may edit the recipe as time goes on. Basil is remarkable and historical as you can read below.

“Holy Basil is many splendored things, and the homeostatic body clings, to holy spirits good for you. . . .”

Those words are not exactly a mantra, but something I recited as I recently sipped a cup of tea in which were steeping 7 leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum, or Holy Basil, formerly known as Ocimum sanctum, and known in Hindi as tulsi. And I added some to a glass of wine, too. It had been an extremely stressful day, and I had read a recent paper suggesting that the Ayurvedic tulsi has antistress activity.

The Evidence Base

These days, it is common for the pharmaceutical industry and its adherents to claim that there is no evidence for herbal medicine. They fail to mention what I noted in my October 2007 column,1 that: “Today, when it costs $1.7 billion to prove a new drug safe and efficacious, half of the drugs newly approved by the FDA will bbe recalled or relabeled within a decade.” So the pharmaceutical evidence is half wrong to begin with. In a pivotal and beautifully illustrated study, Khan and Balick2 found that of 166 different species of Ayurvedic herbs, 72 (43%) had been examined in at least one human study, and 103 (62%) had been examined in one or more animal studies. Animal studies of tulsi supported it as having adaptogenic, antidiabetic, antiedemic, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, anticancer, antiulcer, hypocholesterolemic, hypoglycemic, immunostimulant, radioprotective, and other properties—a pretty impressive array of credentials for this Hindu medicinal plant—but only one human study had been done of tulsi. The study indicated a significant decrease in fasting postprandial blood glucose, compared to placebo.2

Adaptogenic Activity

Winston and Maimes,3 in their interesting book on adaptogens, say that these substances “increase the body’s resistance to physical, biological, emotional and environmental stressors and promote normal physiologic functions.” Tulsi is a good example of an adaptogen. I have said: “All plants contain adaptogenic/tonic compounds and can behave in this fashion to some degree, because plants have to contend with stress themselves”3 During our evolution, our bodies have learned to extract from the phytochemical milieu substances that are useful for their homeostasis and to exclude others that they don’t need. We recognize homeostasis for simple things like selenium and zinc. I assume that homeostasis must also have evolved for many of the ubiquitous but more complex biologically active phytochemicals named in this column.

Among the more interesting indications reported by Winston and Maimes3 for Holy Basil was that alcoholic extracts of this herb prevented increased corticosterone levels indicative of increased stress in mice exposed to stressful noise. I have since been searching for and finding more and more evidence for such claims about this interesting plant.
 
Stress

Stress is one of the greatest enemies of American health. And Holy Basil may help against it. In a recent bstudy, Gupta et al.4 reported three newly identified phytochemical components of Holy Basil with antistress activity: ocimumosides A and B and ocimarin; and several other bioactive substances, including the cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor apigenin, which shows anxiolytic properties. Ocimumoside A promises to combat the effects of stress by correcting hyperglycemia, plasma levels of corticosterone and creatine kinase (CK), and adrenal hypertrophy, all of which it achieved at a dose of 40 mg/kg in rodents. Two other compounds reported by Gupta et al., ocimumoside B and 4-allyl- 1-O-beta-D-glucopyronosyl-2-hydroxybenzene, helped to reverse these changes toward normal, also at the dose of 40 mg/kg. I would predict that these three phytochemicals have additive or synergetic relationships.

At the possibly extreme dose of 400 mg/kg IP, Holy Basil5 increased swimming time in rats, suggesting to tbhe investigators who made these findings that it had central nervous system– stimulant and/or antistress activity. They called its effect comparable to that of the antidepressant drug desipramine.5 Sood et al.6 found that through its central effect, Holy Basil (tulsi) protected rat heart against changes.

Oxidative and inflammatory agents are potent sources of bodily stress. And as a result of that planet-saving process called photosynthesis, a plant produces most of its oxygen in its green tissues, such as leaves. It sebems only logical that plants need their own antioxidants, especially in their leaves, where oxygen is generated.

The entire article by Dr. Jim Duke: http://www.greenpharmacy.com/sites/default/files/Basil.txt

Eat thy bread with joy. Drink thy wine with gladness

Two wines marked my day enjoying the company of two different friends.

Powers Syrah 2006
I found this wine to have the essence of dark fruit, crisp yet smooth, immediately fruity, and easy to drink. Would like this wine alone or with food. I had it with scallops wrapped with bacon, it was fine with this but I think I'd have really liked a wine with a wee bit more astringency to balance the richness of the scallops, bacon and sauce.

Cline Zinfindel 2007
This wine came to me as dark fruits and a bit peppery yet after finishing the glass I was left feeling a little ho hum. Definitely easy-drinking and versatile yet it lacked character to me and I wasn't compelled to order it again. This wine I had with a cheeseburger and quesadilla.

A little work. A little more play. Tomorrow I'll catch up!

Herbalicious

Here's proof that ANYBODY can grow at least some of their own food. If I can do it, anybody can do it. It's my first year attempting to grow tomato plants, vegetables, and herbs which are in pots. These herbs were recently harvested from the small ground garden. Really, give it a try it's a lot of fun and satisfying to eat what you grew yourself. I use these garden herbs in all my cooking. Well, except for the catnip.

Make That Change (Rosé)

Are you interested in what Dr. King said and thought during his short yet influential lifetime? The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volume III: Birth of a New Age, December 1955-December 1956 will intrigue. (you can buy it from the Amazon link on the right). I was reminded about this book during Michael Jackson’s memorial where I heard one of the passages:

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. Even if it does not fall in the category of one of the so-called big professions, do it well. As one college president said, A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and Earth will have no pause and say, Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.

I hadn’t intended on watching the memorial but I grew up on MJs music and his service brought back memories. As were billions of other viewers, I was urged to look at the person in the mirror and ask her to change her ways. The memorial spoke some powerful message to me. One was Don’t Hesitate. Create!

Have done some photographing and harvesting flowers, took care of a flat tire, spoke with a client, collected driftwood for a fire meditation, harvested an abundance of herbs, made some marketing pieces, and am preparing to finish a batch of limoncello and make some canned pineapple jam. Don't Hesitate.

A couple'a quick n easies:

Dehydrated potatoes with homemade compound butter (sundried tomatoes, garden herbs)
Garden lettuce and mint leaf salad with homemade apricot vinaigrette

Marinated chicken (in the pot, left; ready to eat right) cooked in herb-infused olive oil and a lot of dried garden mint, fresh rosemary, ground pepper
(The uncooked marinade was just some soy sauce, sugar, and powdered ginger. The chicken marinated for half a day. Simmered in a small wok)

**The astringent nature of the Dante Reserve 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon went REALLY well with this meal**



Pasta (cooked)
Sauce: saute together pesto diluted with water, herb-infused olive oil, thinly sliced smoked sausage, grape tomatoes, ground pepper, salt, chopped baby asparagus, chopped mushrooms (in the pot, left; ready to eat, right)

 **I had a glass of Paradiso del Sol's Rose Rosé Paradiso with this. It was alright but this hearty pasta could have used a mild-bodied red**

While You're Waiting On Yourself, Plant Something

“Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken” - Oscar Wilde

Well said Oscar. A gallon of wisdom stuffed into a quart jar. I empathize with so many of my friends who are feeling frustrated or anxious about wanting to connect with a job or profession that’s more fulfilling. Money for the sake of money doesn’t seem as popular right now. Most people I know and meet want more balance. They’re not willing to do stuff like sleep at the office, or spend all day at work then work all night from home, or take abuses from management. High Five! I’ve chosen not to work with rude or disrespectful clients anymore. I’ve put up with some really appalling behavior from clients in the name of possible production awards but wasn’t what I was about so I decided, if I was going to be happy doing this work, I was going to have to be myself. Being me isn’t always easy because I have a strong craving for artistic expression but haven’t found IT. I hear the calling. Wait up, I can't see you but I can hear you. Keep talking till I get there.

I started a small potted plant garden on the deck where I’m learning to grow a variety of tomatoes, herbs, garlic, and potatoes. I feel like an urban sustenance micro-farmer. It’s been a surprise to learn how excited I get watching my little ones grow up. I’m very protective of my pots. When I see leaves wilting I feel bad and rush to the hose. I’m so happy for the harvest. I give them food and water and care and they give me food and a really good feeling. I bought a bunch of tomato plants from a fellow down the road and they’re all kicking ass except for the Yellow Pear tom. It never grew and the stalk began to rot. What to do? I’ve never grown tomatoes before. I asked a couple people then decided to go it on my own. I named this plant Cinderella. I cut the stalk at a healthy point, set it in a glass of water with some fertilizer in it, and set the glass back inside the pot where it lived with two other tomato plants. After a week Cinderella had sprouted roots from the stalk (right) so I planted it in a fresh pot. Cinderella wants to live! and I’m going to do my best to help.

Before Cinderella’s surgery, I found my first tomato on my very first tomato plant. I was so crazy excited, I named this Green Grape tom Hubie (left).

My wine glass was empty tonight but I'll share the following simple recipe in honor of Cinderella and Hubie. Btw, tomatoes pair well with Grüner Veltliners and I'll start drinking and talking about Grüners this week.

Stem 10 Green Grape toms and cut them in half lengthwise. Load each tom half up with ½ teaspoon of fresh chèvre. Sprinkle with fresh-ground black or white pepper to your own personal taste. Green Grape toms are heirlooms (cross of Yellow Pear and Evergreen) are sweet, juicy and have an acidity that goes really well with creamy cheeses and other rich fillings. Experiment and share what you come up with.