Insurance and climate change

Hey, maybe if the insurance industry is taking climate change into account, maybe governments and planners should too. Hmm?

U.S. Insurance Companies Must Now Get Serious About Assessing Climate Change Risks

Projects and goals for the next year

I start working tomorrow as a contractor at Google. Due to the non-disclosure agreement I signed the other day that's as much as I can say about that.

It is nice to know that I can do things like make plans in advance, go to the doctor, pay bills on time, etc.

I've been thinking about what to do with my spare time now that it's not taken up with guilt over work that I should be doing, or looking for a job.

Here's what I've come up with so far:
-Renewing my German, which I have let languish lo these 10 years.
-Cooking more! Lunch is free so I can put in more effort when I get home.
-Gardening! I'm excited to sit down and make a garden plan. It's time already to start some from seed.
-Art! Burlesque figure drawing is becoming a monthly thing with Nicole, which I'm greatly enjoying, though I need to do more in between.
-Either taking some classes or doing videos/games to get more in shape. Luckily there's a good walking trail for use at work.
-Working on some mental issues - more confidence, less anxiety.
-New glasses, finally. It's been about six years I think. Various other medical condition checkups.
-Pay off debts. It's looking likely that bankruptcy will be the best way to go.
-Online courses. FEMA has several, MIT has 1500 (!) and the EPA had some as well.
-Volunteering. Now that my own bills are paid I can get out there and do stuff.
-Craft projects. I have some that have been stopped midway for years.
-Learning new skills. I've been wanting to get into either embroidery or cross stitch, plus I'd like to try carving with my new Dremel.
-Fixing bad habits. Or at least starting good ones-it's difficult when you don't have a schedule. Now I do!
-Catching up with people. Whenever my life isn't going well I tend to stop talking to new friends, distant friends or anyone I haven't caught up with in a while because I don't want to dump my problems on them or whine the whole time.

I'm sure I'll add to this list. I'm also sure I'll probably spends most of my free time paying video games, messing around on the webs, or watching Netflix instant, but at least I have ideas for when I start feeling antsy.

Snow Day

You would think I'd learn by now to copy anything I write. I spent half an hour obsessively describing how to replicate the Shepherd's Pie I made this afternoon, and when I went to save it my router had crashed and I lost the post. Then again, my computer shut down without warning shortly after, so even if I had copied I probably would have lost it anyway.

The recipe was convoluted so I don't know that it's really worth saving.

Snow day here in Seattle is lovely. Unfortunately it's dry, powdery snow - a few inches piled onto a thin sheet of crackly ice, which is over a few inches of more powdery snow - so it's no good for sculpting. That's usually what I do on snow days, take pictures and make snow sculptures, which never turn out nearly as grandiose as I planned.

Here's something badass: so I have this goldfish that's been living in the rain barrel that my landlady installed to prevent our basement from flooding. It catches the runoff from the roof and drains into the backyard through a hose. When the water's flowing it all works nicely, but in the summer when it only rains every few weeks it becomes a mosquito breeding ground. A pond goldfish is a great, low-maintenance, chemical-free solution. Goldfish pee is also rich in nitrogen, which is great for your plants.

I've been worried about Jenny, our fish, in all this cold. Yet every time I check, she's still swimming around happily. I just went out and stomped around taking pictures with my nose (had gloves on, touchscreen is heat sensitive) and checked the rain barrel. The spigot and/or hose is too frozen to drain. This will become an issue fairly soon and I have no idea how to solve it. It's three-quarters full, instead of only a few inches, and most of that is chunks of ice and slurry. I stirred through with a bamboo stick to make sure it wasn't a complete sheet of ice, so that oxygen can get to Jenny, and there she was at the bottom, swimming around happily. Amazing. What a badass fish.

I'm off to build a fire and then try to earn some cash from this work-at-home job. It's Leapforce, Search Engine Evaluating. If anyone's looking to see if it's a scam, it's not. It's legit. If you only put in a couple of hours, it'll take a few weeks to get paid, but the more hours you put in, the faster your deposit is made. Also make sure you track your hours carefully. I'd use a software or an Excel spreadsheet.

Let's see how far I get before my PC shuts down. Once I start the contract at Google, I need to pay back all of my friends for lending me money during my 4 month unemployment, pay 2 months rent, then save up enough to get my Macbook fixed. But nevermind all that. I start work at the end of the month and it's snowing out. Lovely!

Why Modern Life Makes Us Vulnerable

When you remove redundancies, it can be streamlining or more efficient, but it can also vastly increase your risk and dependency on systems over which you have no control. Keep your options open! You don't have to use your fireplace instead of a furnace to heat your home, but it's nice to have for both emergencies and special occasions. It doesn't take a disaster or an apocalypse to lose access to a service; a water main break can happen at any time and suddenly not being able to flush your toilet really, really sucks.

I do like zombie apocalypses as a planning tool, though. So much more fun to think about. Maybe I'll make a checklist.

Why Modern Life Makes Us Vulnerable : TreeHugger

Adding more water may be the only way to save Venice from sinking

More proof that understanding natural processes, and either not interfering with them or reversing the damage already done, can prevent millions or billions in damages and preserve existing infrastructure:

Adding more water may be the only way to save Venice from sinking:

'via Blog this'

Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvres

My family tradition is a dinner of hors d'oeuvres on Christmas Eve. All the rich, heavy, trashy things you have to moderate at parties are suddenly unlimited and in excess. It's a great celebration and it keeps you full until late the next morning when either the cinnamon rolls or breakfast casserole are done.

The past several years I've been making vegan equivalents of a few dips so I can have something, as the usual offerings are heavy on the meat, cheese and sour cream. My standards are: 1) hot cheeze dip: Follow-your-heart cheddar mixed with half a can of Rotel (chopped tomatoes + jalapenos/green chiles) and melted on the stove, to be eaten with tortilla chips; and 2) onion dip: instant onion soup/dip mix with a container of sour supreme. I'm usually fighting for a corner of the kitchen and begging for rides to the 'hippie' store so my options are generally limited.

This is the first year ever I haven't been with my family for Christmas, so to keep me from getting too sad about it I decided to host my own Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvres party with friends.

It was a great success! As the only vegan I was only concerned with feeding myself, and everyone else was welcome to bring their favorites. Friends brought veggie plates, fruit plates, cheese plates, crackers, spiced nuts, walnut spread, baguettes, cookies, beer, wine and bourbon to spike the rice nog. It ended up being an impressive spread and a lot of fun, as we sat down to watch Die Hard and munched on Chex Mix.

Grace made My New Roots' Warm Cabbage Salad (the goat cheese was in a bowl on the side). It was delicious and I'm having the leftovers alongside some wonton-wrapper-perogi and caramelized onions for dinner this week.

In addition to all of the above, I made a hot spinach artichoke spread/dip. I tend to make variations on this often, usually without the dip mix and cream cheeze, but added both for the special occasion. Half a can of coconut milk instead of the cashew cream will still add a nice creamy, smooth consistency without actually tasting of coconut.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip/Spread

• 1/4 cup raw cashews
  
• 2 garlic cloves
  
• 1 can cannellini beans (white beans), drained & rinsed
  
• 1 tsp miso paste mixed into 2 Tbsp water
  
• 1 tsp lemon juice
  
• 1 package Simply Organic spinach dip mix
  
• 1 tsp basil flakes
  
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
  
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed (optional)
  
• black pepper
  
• 1 package Tofutti Cream Cheeze
  
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

1. Soak the cashews in enough warm water to cover them, at least 30 mins but several hours/overnight is better.
   
2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Put cashews and the soaking water, plus garlic cloves, in food processor and liquefy until it resembles (stinky) heavy cream. This may take 5-10 minutes of processing and pauses to scrape the sides and the paste off the bottom. A little 'grit' is fine.
   
3. Add beans, miso and juice and process. Add water as needed to thin enough for beans to process (hummus consistency).
   
4. Add dip mix, basil flakes, artichoke hearts, and thawed/squeezed spinach. Process until mixed.
   
5. Add the cream cheeze, nutritional yeast, and black pepper to taste. Puree until smooth. If the mixture is too thick for the processor, dribble in water.
   
6. Pour dip into a shallow baking dish (oval or 8x8") and bake until the edges begin to brown, about 20 minutes.
   

Vegan Gluten Free Chex Mix

• 1/2 cup of margarine
  
• 4 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce (see recipe below)
  
• 1 1/4 tsp of season salt
  
• 2 2/3 cup of Rice Chex
  
• 2 2/3 cup of Corn Chex
  
• 2 2/3 cup of Honey Nut Chex
  
• 1 cup salted mixed nuts

1. Preheat oven to 250F.
   
2. Pour the cereals and nuts into a clean paper grocery bag, fold over the top and shake well until mixed.
   
3. In a large baking pan (8x13 is usually tight, a roasting pan is great), melt the margarine either in the preheating oven or on two stove burners on low heat.
   
4. Mix sauce and salt into margarine and stir.
   
5. Pour cereal/nut mix into baking dish and mix with the margarine, flipping and stirring to coat as much as possible.
   
6. Bake for 60 minutes, stirring every 10 or 15 minutes.
   
7. Store in paper grocery bag in the freezer.
   

Vegan Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce
adapted from this recipe

• 6 Tablespoons water
  
• 4 Tablespoons wheat-free tamari or soy sauce
  
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  
• 4 TBSP of regular molasses + 1 TBSP water (or 6 TBSP brown rice syrup)
  
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
  
• 1/4 tsp tamarind paste (optional)
  
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
  
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  
• a pinch of onion powder
  
• a pinch of powdered cloves or pumpkin pie spice

1. Pour all ingredients in a jar with a tight lid and shake well until mixed. Store in fridge and use measure-for-measure to sub for regular Worcestershire sauce, or add a little extra of this. Shake well before using.

Happy Festivus!

I like to have tea with cats in Japan because I'm shy

Perhaps I should move to Japan after all. Cat cafés? Fantastic idea. Maybe animal shelters should coordinate with cafés and feature their pets. Or something. I don't now how it would work here.

I'd rather go to a cat café than a "family friendly" one.

Meow Meow Meow | VICE: "United States" 'via Blog this'

Wild Rice Pilaf (Hunger Games)

So I'm in this Book Club that my friend Grace started. It's all girls and we have had some pretty excellent discussions, both about books and Big Important Things. Mostly I joined to get me reading again, which in a sort of post-traumatic way I stopped doing after grad school.

ANYHOO we've been doing potluck book discussions and since the Hunger Games, as you can infer from the title, deals a LOT with food, it was themed around the hearty foraged foods in the book. The party was a feast - leek and potato soup, two hearty veggie stews with mushrooms, root veggies, kale, peas, carrots, etc. Several rounds of goat cheese, some wrapped in herbs, with crackers. Venison meatballs (these last two, I did not partake, obvs). Homemade tomato jam, homemade berry jam on fresh home-baked wheat bread, red cabbage and apple slaw, wild greens salad with edible flowers, caramel corn with pepitas, and mulled wine. My contribution was wild rice pilaf - I tried to base it off of one recipe but I kind of messed it up and didn't have some of the ingredients, so I added a bunch of white jasmine rice that I made just in case and it came out perfectly.

I'm also going for low salt due to my blood pressure so you might need to add more salt, especially if you use no-salt broth or water.

3/4 cup (6 oz) wild rice
4 scallions
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups or more broth (I used imitation chicken flavoring + water)
1 cup white jasmine rice
2 cups frozen baby peas
8 mushrooms (6 large, 8 med or 12 small)
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped or sliced almonds, toasted (see step 4)

Directions

1. Wash the rice thoroughly, changing the water several times. Cut off the green parts of the scallions and set aside. Chop the white part of the scallions fine.
   
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the minced white scallion and saute until tender. Add the rice and two cups broth. Bring to a boil, stir once and reduce the heat. Cover tightly and cook over low heat until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about thirty-five minutes. If necessary add more broth as the rice cooks. (Note - it took me about 45 minutes for the rice to cook, so leave extra time).
   
3. In a separate pot, prepare jasmine rice according to directions (usually: rinse rice, boil 1 1/2 cups of water, add rice and stir, bring to a boil, reduce heat & cover, simmer 10-15 minutes, let sit off heat for 5-10 minutes).
   
4. Meanwhile, slice the almonds and lightly toast them. Cut the green scallion stems diagonally into two-inch lengths. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices.
   
5. Five minutes before the wild rice is done, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the scallion stems, peas, mushrooms, and almonds and saute only until the mushrooms are tender and peas are hot.
   
6. Transfer both of the cooked rices and vegetable mixture to a casserole. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Mix lightly and keep hot for serving in a very low oven.
   

The next book club selection is a local Seattle food blogger (she owns Delancey -fancy pizza- and is known on the 'net as Orangette): A Homemade Life. It includes several recipes, but I'll be hosting it the day after Thanksgiving so we'll just have leftovers. Simplicity!

99% Curry

I was going to title this "Curry for Poor People" but decided to be TIMELY instead.

This took about 45 minutes, start to finish, with cheap & frozen ingredients. I got the tofu on sale for a buck a pound. I buy onions, frozen veggies, oil and rice in bulk from Cash & Carry. Curry paste, coconut milk & garlic from the Asian grocery up the street. Probably a total of $5 or $6 for the portions of ingredients used, so about $1.25-$1.50 for a meal.

This uses the Moosewood method of cooking short grain brown rice because it makes it a million times more awesome (separate grains with a firm bite rather than a ball of mush).

Curry pastes are different so see how much the package recommends for a pound of 'meat' or veggies, and use that. You can always add more if it's not tasty/spicy enough.

Makes 4 large servings.

5 tsp olive oil, divided
1 cup short-grain brown rice (or carb of choice)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb frozen tofu
1 lb frozen veggies of choice
1/4 cup favorite vegan curry paste (I used panang)
1/2 can coconut milk

1. Defrost the frozen tofu in the microwave (2 turns of 5 minutes on low/defrost should do).
   
2. Wash the rice thoroughly. Heat 1 tsp oil in a medium or large pot over high heat. Add the rice and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add 2 cups of cold water. Stir and cover. When steam escapes from the lid, turn the heat off. Set a timer for five minutes. When the timer for the rice goes off, turn the rice on simmer and set a timer for 35 minutes.
   
3. Drain the tofu package, then squeeze the excess liquid out with your hands or between two small plates (no need to be gentle with the tofu, but don't break the plates). Cube the tofu.
   
4. Heat 2 tsp oil in a large sautee pan on medium heat, then add the tofu to the sautee pan and let sit for a few minutes. Start flipping the tofu cubes over to check and see if they are turning golden brown, even lightly. If they are, start flipping the cubes over. Feel free to squash the water out. Once a few sides of the cubes are browned, set tofu aside on a plate for later.
   
5. In the same sautee pan, heat 2 tsp oil. Add onion and sautee until it starts to soften. Add garlic, sautee until fragrant. Add frozen veggies & stir. Add 1/4 cup of water, stir, and cover.
   
6. When the veggies start to boil, remove the cover and cook until veggies are softened/defrosted. Add curry paste & stir well. Add tofu, stir. Add coconut milk plus half a can of water (1/2 or 3/4 of a cup, depending on how thick your coconut milk is). Reduce heat to simmer, let cook for five to ten minutes depending on your patience.
   
7. When the rice timer goes off, turn off the heat and let it set for ten minutes. At this point, the curry and the rice should both be done. If the curry is too thin, cook for a few more minutes, uncovered. If it's too thick, add water.
   
8. NOM.
   

Bay Area Adopts Historic Climate-Change Rules

A great step forward, it sounds like. The wording makes it sound like it could be a bit subjective, so I'm curious to see how future projects will pan out. In the case of an area as densely populated and expensive as the Bay Area, it seems that smart, adaptive building combined with focused restoration projects elsewhere may be the better solution than banning all development.

Bay Area Adopts Historic Climate-Change Rules - The Bay Citizen