Food for Thought

I'm in California this weekend - in Davis now, for Gina's graduation from vet school (!) and off to Manhattan Beach, my hometown in Southern California, on Saturday to see family and friends. So it seems like a good time for a quick "Food for Thought" update! Here's what's on my mind this week:

• I haven't said much about the oil spill in the Gulf because I just don't know what to say - the damage being done to the delicate ecosystems there is terrible and heartbreaking. But one potentially positive idea (well, positive in a "we've got a lot of lemons, so we might as well make lemonade" kind of way) is this: What if BP trained people put out of work by the oil spill in cleaning the affected marshes, coastlines and animals? It would get some of the innocent bystanders whose lives are being turned upside down by this tragedy back to work and would help move the clean-up process along. What do you think?
• The Art of Non-Conformity's Chris Guillebeau has a great post up today about transitioning from one place to another when traveling and the memories that last long after you've left the place behind. One thing he touched on that I forgot to mention when I posted about my "Map of memories" is the sometimes enormous cost of traveling. Many people don't understand why anyone would spend hundreds or thousands of dollars just to go stand on an island, hike a mountain or swim in a lake. Why not buy something tangible that you can use or show off? Beyond the experience itself, you're paying for the memories, Chris says. I agree with him, and those memories are worth infinitely more to me - and most travelers - than any big-screen TV or fashion-forward handbag.
• A little more than a year ago, I recorded my "story" for Translator Tales, a project that's creating an audio database of how translators became interested in translation and why they do it. I had mostly forgotten about it until I stumbled across a posting about it on the American Translator Association's website. I don't know that it's of much interest to anyone outside the industry, but if you want to hear me geek about translation, you can go directly to the recording here.
• Soccer is about the only sport I watch with any regularity, so I'm psyched up for the World Cup, the first games of which take place in South Africa tomorrow! I'm cheering for the U.S. and France, although I don't know that either will make it to the final matches this year. One of the things I love about the World Cup is that it's kind of like an international team-building exercise. We all take a break (well, to some extent) from yelling at and arguing with our international neighbors and let ourselves get caught up in the power struggle on the field instead. Fans of opposing teams heckle one another (mostly) good-naturedly, players clasp hands amicably with opponents who are citizens of countries with which their own governments are locked in conflict and everyone focuses on having a good time that's rowdy and intense in a completely different way from the international arena's norm. What matches are you looking forward to, and who do you think stands a chance to take home the Cup?

Embracing the Twitterverse

Remember my disdain for Twitter? Well, I might have to eat my words on that one. I've been using Twitter much more regularly for the past six or seven months, and I'm a convert.

The problem with my Twitter usage prior to this past winter was that I wasn't really committed. (Yes, that sounds slightly obsessive, but bear with me.) I looked at Twitter as Facebook-light and started out by just following people I actually knew. Big mistake!

One of the best things about Twitter is that, except for the very small number of people who block their tweets from everyone but approved followers, you can follow anyone, and anyone can follow you. Rachel Maddow, Joel Stein, The New York Times - all I have to do is click "follow" and I can see everything they post! (Not that any of the three are following me, but then, their tweets are a lot funnier/more interesting than mine.) Breaking news, project updates from my favorite non-profits, latest posts from columnists and bloggers I love - what's not to like? I stumble across great people to follow all the time, either by looking at who my friends are following or seeing an interesting re-tweet and following the account that originally posted it.

And it turns out Twitter is a great local resource. One of my public lists is compiled of accounts that feature great things to do in DC, from my (former - sniff, sniff) Pilates studio, which tweets great deals on classes to Curbside Cupcakes, a cupcake truck named Pinky that drives around the city and tweets its location and the flavors still in stock.

Basically, Twitter does a great job of accomplishing one of social media's most difficult goals: it creates a solid sense of community online, often among strangers. If I'm watching NCIS by myself and want to geek out about something that happened to someone other than my cat, I can tweet, tag it #NCIS and follow that hashtag to see what other NCIS-watching tweeps (Twitter peeps - yes, the Twitter lexicon is a lot geeky and a little scary) think about the episode. I often tweet about running and list "runner" as a descriptor in my profile, which has led to running/outdoorsy Twitter accounts following me, which has in turn led me to some great resources for running support networks, runner-friendly recipes and articles on giving my training a boost or preventing injury. (On the flip side of all the great content I get by following new people, I can also share my own content - namely, this blog - with people who would otherwise never come across it. It's a nice give-and-take.)

And, as weird as it seems on a platform that limits you to conversing in 140-character bursts, Twitter conversations are kind of fun, whether they're with friends about how much fun you had with them on Saturday, people you haven't seen in years about a shared interest or hashtag discussions about race etiquette for runners. Of course, there's also a lot of daily minutiae (my most recent tweet at the time I'm writing this is about a woodpecker in our front yard), but there's so much other content that comes with it - TIME articles, amusing sarcasm, political updates - that it flows by quickly and enriches the whole experience.

Long story short: I've come to love Twitter and I highly recommend giving it a chance.

I've temporarily posted a gadget in the left-hand column that links to my Twitter account, @JessalynP. I think it looks a little odd, so I'll probably take it down in a week or so, but for now you can see all of the random inanities I send out into the Twitterverse without actually going to Twitter.

Recipe Corner: A Fresh & Easy Summer Salad

It's impossible to not love summer. School and the sun are out, pools and patios are open and everyone seems just a little more relaxed. Not to mention, your local farmer's market and grocery store are starting to pop with the colorful (and delicious) fruits and veggies of the season.

I'm not a big traditional salad person - lettuce is hard to keep on a fork, it needs usually-bad-for-you dressing to give it flavor and sometimes, no matter how much you scrub the leaves before tossing them in a bowl, they retain a faint parfum de dirt. Ick.

I'll eat salad, but I'd rather sauté some zucchini, steam some green beans or just chomp on carrots and hummus to get my vegetables. There is one salad I can never get enough of, however, and summer is the perfect time of year for it. (My mom and I have been making this once a week since I arrived in Arizona. Even my dad, who usually denounces veggies as "rabbit food," likes it!)

Fresh & Easy Summer Salad

Servings: 4-6 as a side salad, 2-3 as a main course
Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking Time: None!
Difficulty: Easy. If you can wield a knife and sprinkle cheese, you're good to go.

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes (I tend to buy on-the-vine, but have also made this with cherry tomatoes, and any kind will work)
1 large cucumber
1/4 cup crumbled feta

Optional ingredients, to taste:

basil
brown rice
cous cous
minced garlic
chopped onion
tofu
extra virgin olive oil
Greek dressing
(kalamata) olives

Directions:

1. Wash tomatoes and cucumber.
2. Cut tomatoes and cucumber as desired (For me this means removing the tomato seeds and chopping the tomatoes into small pieces. I don't mind the cucumber skin but my mom doesn't like it or the seeds, so we've been peeling and chopping those too.)
3. Combine tomatoes and cucumber, add feta and serve!

My two favorite things about this salad (other than the fact that it's delicious) are:

1. It has so much natural moisture and flavor that it doesn't need dressing.
2. You can toss pretty much anything into it and it will continue to be fantastic.

If a salad isn't edible for you without dressing, Greek dressing, balsamic or just plain extra virgin olive oil go well with it. You can toss it onto a serving of rice or mix it up with some cous cous (which takes all of about 5 minutes to cook) to make a more substantial meal. I've also added leftover sautéed tofu (cubed, extra firm), which was good and would probably make a great addition to the cous cous dish. My mom and I added minced garlic once, which, if you're a garlic lover, is great. If you like a milder garlic flavor, try browning a minced clove of garlic in olive oil first, then adding it to the salad once it's cool. Or for an easier way to add spice, just sprinkle everything with basil before you toss the vegetables, either a few freshly minced leaves or a few shakes of a can.

Of course, with cucumber in the house, I start thinking about cucumber-and-cream-cheese sandwiches, which my mom used to make for me in the summer when I was a kid...

What are some of your easy summer favorites?