The Sarah Connor Chronicles

On By SarahIn Fun & EntertainmentLeave a comment

Did you all know that there is to be a new series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I have found the fact that I share the name of a character in a major motion picture mildly amusing. Its kinda funny, and I tell folks that they modeled her after me, since I am the original (and Linda Hamilton is kinda hot). So what if they spell her name wrong (it should be Conner, not not Connor).

Ever since The Terminator was released in 1985, I have been teased about twice a month or so. And during the recall election here in California, I got teased a lot more. I got an obnoxious phone call at five in the morning one time. This stupid shock jock from some morning radio show back east was calling all of the Sarah Conners in California to find out whether they were voting for Arnold Schwarzenegger. I wasn’t amused then.

I always thought that the hype would die down, that people would forget about the movie, and that I would be teased about it less and less. It’s not a big deal, really. People mean it in good fun, but I do often get “Wow! Sarah Conner! Really? Do people ever tease you about The Terminator?” (And I tell that story in my stupid monkey voice, eyes rolling). Jeez.

So, Hollywood has seen fit to milk this franchise further. I know its going to be a dumb show, but what I really hope is that it’s not a big hit that people are talking about around the water cooler at the office. That is the last thing I need.

Well, please enjoy the following video. It is the retelling of the Christ story and The Terminator by Mad TV. (Amy, I’m putting this here for you! It won’t fit on my MySpace page any more, and it is so worth watching. I hope you like it).

Whole Grains Evangelism

On By SarahIn Food & Cooking, Opinion2 Comments

Gillian’s New Year’s resolution this year was to pick one cook book a month and cook from it almost exclusively. Gillian is quite the chef, and we have a nice little cook book collection, and she wanted to really spend time with some of the books, and that seemed like a good way to do it.

For January she chose Whole Grains, Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass. Sass is also a specialist in vegan cooking, but I won’t hold that against her (ha ha). This book is decidedly not vegan, or even vegetarian.

This book has changed my life. I am now a whole grains evangelist. I am spreading the word about this book and about eating whole foods.

The recipes include some things I may have heard of, but never before eaten, like kamut or spelt. We have tried many recipes already, and have loved them all. Each one has been absolutely delicious. So far we have tried and loved kamut, broccoli rabe, and sausage medley; masa harina-beef casserole; faro risoto with butternut squash, ham, sage, and toasted walnuts; and (I think my favorite so far) bulgur pilaf with Moroccan roast chicken. And did I mention the granola? It is the best I’ve ever eaten, and super easy to make.

The bonus is that we feel great, too. There has been a real difference in my energy level each day. Not to mention the positive effects on the digestive system, if you know what I mean (and I think you do).

There are many real health benefits for eating a whole grain diet. Sass points to studies that show that a whole grain diet can lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, can lower cholesterol, reduce risk of stroke and obesity, and can protect against digestive system cancers. A colleague of mine told me that her father has increased whole grains in his diet during the last year, changing nothing else about his diet and exercise regime, and within a year he naturally lost twelve pounds. You can check out some of the scientific literature on the health benefits at the Whole Grains Council website.

And health benefits aside, this stuff is really delicious! The left overs are awesome. You’re having healthy food that doesn’t feel at all overly virtuous to eat. I really like to eat for pleasure. Food is passion. I don’t believe in dieting as discipline on principal. I don’t like processed foods – I like to know where my food comes from and what is in it. I like my food to be food.

Michael Pollan wrote a really great piece for the New York Times Magazine on January 28, Unhappy Meals where he talks about how the majority of Americans consume highly processed food products. Have you walked into a Safeway or Albertsen’s or any grocery store chain recently? Everything is prepackaged and processed. What is in that stuff anyway? I can’t pronounce half of the ingredients list on some things. It is so hard to find unprocessed food these days. We are fortunate in the Bay Area to have several grocery stores that stock things like spelt and kamut, but if we lived in Kentucky we might have to mail-order these things.

Gillian and I have always eaten very well, and we are relatively heath conscious, but not obsessive about it. Mostly, we eat for pleasure. My friends think I’m a little crazy, but I feel that I’ve had a conversion experience. I am a believer.

We are enjoying cooking from this book so much that we’ve decided to continue focusing on it, cultivating a “grain bank” as Sass recommends, menu planning primarily using Whole Grains. Gillian may move on to other books eventually, but we have decided that whole grain recipes are going to stay a staple of our diet.

Alright, I’ll climb down from my pulpit, but I’ll leave you with one of our favorite recipes from the book (with slight modifications).

Stupendous Granola

2/3 cup grade B maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups unsalted nuts (your choice), coarsely chopped
1 cup dried fruit

Place a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 225.

In a small saucepan, blend the syrup and oil. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until warm (3-5 min). Stir in the vanilla extract. Cover and set aside.

In a large bowl, toss the oats, wheat germ, coconut, and nuts together. Stir in the syrup mixture until the oats are evenly coated.

Spread the granola mixture evenly onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the oats are golden brown, about 1 1/2 hours. Stir the mixture every 20 minutes, and rotate the baking sheet so that the mixture will be evenly toasted.

Transfer to a large storage container. When cool, stir in the fruit.* Cover and store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or refrigerate for up to 2 months.

* We used dates, throwing them in the mix to toast with everything else. They were delicious after a toasting.

Variations: Use rolled barley, spelt, or rye in place of some of the rolled oats. Also, try adding 1/8 cup of sesame seed and/or flax seeds.

Towards Marriage Equality, Part 2

On By SarahIn Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

This is awesome:

In the SF Chronicle today, I saw a piece about a ballot measure that was introduced in Washington State today that would require opposite sex married couples to have a child within three years of being married lest their marriage be annulled. This has been proposed by the Washington Defence of Marriage Alliance.

Great name. They have beautifully turned the right-wing tactic on its head and crafted a name to make it sound a lot like “The Defence of Marriage Act,” which was totally anti-gay. But I digress.

I love this!

It is totally absurd. Just like the argument that “marriage is for procreation”, therefore same sex couples shouldn’t have marriage rights.

If we used this logic, my father wouldn’t have been able to marry his current wife last summer. They are in their early-to-mid 70s, and I don’t think they are planning to have children. They’ve both been there, done that, and they wouldn’t appreciate anyone telling them that their marriage is any less meaningful because they can’t procreate.

In fact, their have taught me a lot about love and family. Their relationship has been very creative (maybe even procreative) in growing their family, bringing a disparate group together in kinship and love. They are thriving in companionship, and continuing to grow independantly and together.

My mother and father were married for over 40 years by the time my Mom died in 2001. They were soulmates, and they are my role models for marriage. Now that my Dad was lucky enough to find Great Love a second time, I have another couple to look to for inspiration.

All of this is to say that love makes a family. What can possibly be wrong about that.

Jill of all trades, mistress of none

On By SarahIn Internet1 Comment

I feel very busy recently. This past week I had something to do every night after work, which is a tremendous blessing. I want to be involved with my church. I like the extra money that I make with my consulting business, and I enjoy the work that I do with the local non-profits that I work with. But with the 9-5 and the commute and trying to have a meaningful and rewarding life is hard work!

I’m whining. Blogging on top of this is hard, and I see now involves a little discipline. I need to make time to do it, and I haven’t done that successfully. Nor do I really have a focus. So far I have blogged about religion, politics, art, a little food and cooking, and a little personal story. Let’s face it: I’m a dilettante. It’s like the saying goes, I’m a Jill of all trades, mistress of none.

I prefer to say that I have a broad array of interests. This makes it very difficult to know what to blog about. This is the story of my life, I’m afraid. I am interested in so many things, and I have developed a proficiency at some of them. I don’t feel passionate about any one thing, rather, I am passionate about all of of my interests.

I love to cook, but mostly I eat; I practice yoga, but I haven’t adopted the yoga lifestyle entirely, and that makes me feel like a poser; I love music, but I don’t really listen to the radio and I don’t have money to buy CDs or download much new music; I have strong political opinions, but I don’t have the time to be the activist I want to be; I want to learn how to draw, but like everything else, I don’t have the time; I love to read, but I read and absorb so much information for a living that I simply don’t have the mental capacity to read for pleasure most days; I love to write, but I don’t have the energy , time, and focus to produce the kind of quality wordsmithing that I would like; I am passionate about my career in philanthropy, but I work so much I don’t really want to talk about work when I’m not working.

Here are some of the things I considered blogging about within the last month:

1) Nancy Pelosi (how cool is she?)
2) Conservative v. Progressive Christianity (on how we define ourselves in opposition to each other)
3) James Dobson v. Dick Cheney (I never thought I would feel the urge to defend the VP)
4) Mourning the passing of Molly Ivins (we lost yet another important progressive voice when we need her most)
5) Global warming (there has been a major article every day for the last few months on the dire state of the world’s ecological condition and what humans have been doing to get us to this point. And the Bush Administration STILL has their heads in the sand about it).
6) The Super Bowl (no I really don’t care that much about foot ball, but my wife does, and this is the first game that an African American coach will win. The game is going on while I write this, so I don’t know the outcome. Too bad Tony Dungy is such a homophobe. I’m rooting for the Bears, but it’s not looking good).
7) The heated debate I got into with my family over email this week about SpongeBob Squarepants (Don’t ask. We’re all silly).
8) The off-the-hook sermon that Meghan Bean, a totally cute baby dyke from my church, gave last Sunday (Meghan, if you read this, I hope you don’t feel I’m being condescending. As a former baby dyke who has also gone to seminary, I say this with absolute respect and admiration. You rock!).
9) Rev. Lynice Pinkard’s awesome sermon from just this morning (she blew the roof off the church, as usual. I do think I’ll have to blog about this later).
10) Gillian’s freakishly accurate or appropriate horoscopes (really, it’s a little creepy how well they fit what is happening in her life. It’s like the person writing them is stalking her or something).

How can I choose? These are all such important, interesting, and personally meaningful topics for me.

I have read recently that if you want to have a successful blog, you should pick one topic to focus on. Evidently I am having a problem with that. So, is my focus simply the crazy self-absorbed mind of Sarah? Why am I blogging in the first place?

Part of the answer is that I want to network with friends, family, and like-minded folks. Maybe I even want to network with folks who don’t share my views. That could be even more interesting and perhaps fruitful. So far not many people that I know of are actually reading my blog. Perhaps I’ll gain an audience, but that will require that I regularly produce new pieces here. I’m going to have to get better at that.

More than anything, this is a great exercise for me. I’m putting myself out there (so yes, it’s a little self-absorbed), and I do hope to engage in dialogue with some folks (please, send me an email or post a comment!).

Focus or foci, I hope to blog more frequently in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

The perfect context for my favorite joke

On By SarahIn Fun & Entertainment1 Comment

I attended the covenant of holy union (or a commitment ceremony, or a wedding, if you prefer) yesterday of a friend of mine from work and his partner at All Saints Episcopal Church in San Francisco. It is a beautiful Craftsman style building, very unassuming from the street, and once you enter you are immediately struck by the beauty of the craftsmanship and the iconography throughout. It is a little church, the kind where you imagine all of the members know each other.

I have attended Episcopal churches a few times in my life, and having grown up Lutheran, some of the pomp and circumstance was vaguely familiar to me. I sat next to a Jewish friend who leaned over from time to time and asked me about what we should do next, and I had to tell her that I really didn’t know. She probably knew more than I did because I think she attended an Episcopal school.

The church I go to now is so much more casual than this place was, so I have to say that I didn’t know how to behave myself. Each church has its own rituals, I guess, but the Episcopals really do the pageantry. They have the intricately gold-embroidered garb, the jeweled chalice, the iconography, swinging the incense in the little brass pot with smoke everywhere, everything is fancy and highly ritualized. You have to stand and kneel and sing and say things at the right times, and its all so serious. All of us in the congregation kept looking around to see if anyone knew what came next, waiting and searching for cues.

I always get choked up a weddings, and this was no exception. I was very moved by ceremony and the sermon. And same-sex ceremonies always get me a little more because when queers get married we do so in the face adversity. Also, I learned that this was the first same-sex wedding that this church had blessed, which just adds to the significance of the event.

The whole occasion was emotional and moving, the joining of these two people indeed a sacred moment.

And I had the perfect context in which to tell my favorite joke:

Q: What did the drag queen say to the priest?A: Honey, I love your dress, but your purse is on fire.