Reach Out and Touch Someone

This just struck me as one of those things that you can read, and it hits like a ton of rocks. The picture that immediately jumps into my mind is the hand of kindness to a homeless person. I have come quite close to being homeless in my time, and save for the grace of God go I. My family is always there, and that is what we all miss when we are suffering from our ego driven in overdrive mind. We forget that the world is designed to support us, even without family we have a support base called human kindness.

I have been driven to help homeless people many times, and I give what I can at the time. My friends sometimes think I'm crazy because there is this perception that the only reason someone would be homeless is because they are lazy or addicts. One truth is there is a growing number of old people who are losing their homes because they are fired from good paying jobs, to be replace with cheaper labor. Employment for older adults is difficult, and is never going to pay what a long time employee of a company would have made. They lose everything they were hoping to have for retirement in an effort to save their home.

There is also the population of seniors, without family, for whom the welfare system has become so difficult to navigate that they can't manage to get the system to work for them. There is also the old people that just are too proud to ask for a handout; this would be my mother. Without our willingness to help, they are going to be lost in the cracks.

But, you say, what about those people who dupe us? Well there is always a possibility of being duped. You say, "See I told you." I say, "Well better to be duped by a few, than to miss helping those in real need." The real thing here is, if you decide to help NONE because you are afraid that you MIGHT get duped, you miss helping the MANY who are in real need. The truth is that the bad karma for the duping of those who genuinely are giving out of loving kindness, goes to the person doing the duping while you will garner good karma for the attitude of giving in loving kindness even if you are duped. If, though, you decide to not help any because of a few bad apples, you get no good karma, and the bad karma accumulates strictly to you. I don't know, I think I prefer to accumulate good karma, and help when I can, even if it is only the loving touch of compassion that I can afford at the time.

Namaste
I AM that I AM

New Years Day Good JUJU Sausage & Sauerkraut Yummmy

I'm not a superstitious person, and I don't think my mother was either, however, we ate this meal every New Years Day for good luck.  I think it worked, because we have all lead rather charmed lives.  I expect it is a combination of all good education on the ethics that my family, especially my mother, continually filled our heads with.

This dish is a good combination of savory and sour, with just a bit of sweet and loaded with umami.  The flavors burst in your mouth.  The feel of this dish on the tongue is so satisfying that I eat way more than I should.  Oh that never happens, OH yes it does all the time.  OK here is the Good JUJU meal for 2013.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 Tablespoons grape seed oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• Sausage, Polish, kielbasa, smoked-I like the kind that comes in a ring.  Chicken or turkey work here, but you may need a little more oil.  I found some good beef, pork and chicken combos.
• 1-1/2 Cups Rhine white wine
• Large Jar Sauerkraut-Drained and rinsed well; I used Eden Brand organic
• 2 cooking apples-cored and sliced-organic see this article about organic apples
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar or 3 Tablespoons Sucanat
• 4 whole cloves
• 3 crush juniper berries
• 1 bay leaf
• Ground pepper to taste
• Boiled Potatoes-I left the skins on.  I scrubbed them well with a brush and cleaner  I cubed them and cooked them at same time.

Procedure

• Heat oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven.  I really like to use my ceramic-over cast iron, covered one here, as you don't want to use anything reactive/metallic as you will get an off flavor from the high acid content, and the cast iron will keep even heat and nothing will burn in it. *I did see some new research on the iron skillet concept though, and it looks as though using one to cook acidic food is a good way to get iron into your diet.  As a chemist I realize that this would be true, but also, it might be hard on the pan also.  I'm going to try this some time, but not now. See recommendation here.
• Place the onions in the hot oil (do not get it hot enough to smoke).  Cook and stir for about 2 minutes and add the garlic, cook until onions are soft.
• Toss in the sausage and let this brown well, then remove from the pan.
• Pour in the white wine and deglaze the pan.
• Throw in the kraut, apples sugar, and spices; cover and cook until apples are done and falling apart into the sauerkraut, about 15 minutes.
• Throw the sausage and boiled potatoes into the Sauerkraut mix; cover and warm for about 10 minutes so the potatoes and sausage pick up the kraut flavor.
• Plate and enjoy.  This is an excellent winter food; very balanced.

I hope you enjoy this dish.  It is a winter favorite at our house.

Namaste