Archive for volunteer

nyc recycling champions

2011/11/29 at 00:00 · Filed under community, education, environmental, food, kids, location, organic/sustainable, us: NY, volunteer

as we are approaching the end of the year, i’ve been bombarded with e-mails about who to donate to. so let me throw my two cents in about a program i’m excited about: a food project in NYC by GrowNYC: NYC Recycling Champions.

the goal is to develop a great school recycling program in each borough in nyc. a coordinator will work with faculty and administration to create outreach programs for students. then engage students in various learning programs and activities. the way this project and donation would work is if they make their goal of $10,000 and the pledge window ends sunday, december 11 at 10:14am est.

GrowNYC also created the compost program with my local greenmarket which i love so i’m excited to support other programs they do! so, if you have a little to share, consider this project. i hope they will reach their goal!

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learn more about NYC Recycling Champions and if you’d like what you read, make a donation!

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let’s compost at greenmarket

2011/06/25 at 00:00 · Filed under bread/crackers/muffin, cooking, education, egg, environmental, food, fruit/vegetable-sweet, grains/oats/wheats, house/kitchen, vegetable/fruit-savory, volunteer

for those of you who like the idea of composting but are wary about setting one up or don’t have the space to do it because you live in an apartment, there is a way!

beginning in march, GrowNYC started a pilot program to expand food scrap collections at select greenmarkets. all you do is collect food scraps in your home and then drop it off at the greenmarket on its weekly date. here’s a handy checklist of things you can compost and how you can store it during the week. some things i learned you can compost in addition to vegetables and fruits are tea bags and flowers!

the pilot program is running through december 31 but hope it continues and becomes a regular program so we can all take part in composting!

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read more about GrowNYC’s Compost at Greenmarket and download compost brochure (image from GrowNYC website)

learn other programs from GrowNYC: Recycle at Greenmarket

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heavenly teavana

2010/07/15 at 02:00 · Filed under beverage, community, food, location, retail, us: WA, volunteer

since they were everywhere, i walked around the many malls in downtown seattle to check out stores unique to seattle and those i haven’t been to before. that’s how i found teavana. outside and inside the tea shop are complimentary tea tasting stations with teavana’s tea concoctions.

i tried their jasmine dragon/phoenix pearls and the samurai chai mate/white ayurvedic chai. they were both really good – they sure know how to mix their teas to create new flavors! there were also other tea flavors in teapots to try, including the rare silver needle white tea as well as a unique peach momotaro tea. the later tea in its dry form is a ball but it blossoms into a flower when brewed. it was fun trying all the different flavors of tea!as well as make tea beautiful. in addition to tea, they sell rock sugar, tea making tools as well as tea cans, pots and cups.

not only does teavana sell and serve wonderful tea, they also give back to the community. working to improve the lives of those who live in tea producing areas of the world, teavana partners with CARE and annually donates 1% of all profits from teas sold to CARE. the money is used to improve education, create access to safe water and offer greater economic opportunities. all teavana teas are part of this equatrade program.

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buy tea at Teavana at Pacific Place Mall in seattle, wa or shop online

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a vendor of vegetables is one of 2010 TIME 100

2010/05/10 at 00:00 · Filed under community, education, food, retail, volunteer

when one thinks of influential people, one often thinks of people who are in the limelight … politicians, celebrities and innovators … if you look at TIME’s list of people who most affect our world, it doesn’t stray too far. but every now and then, we are pleasantly surprised.

one of this year’s TIME 100, is a vendor of vegetables in a stall in taitung county’s central market in eastern taiwan.  at 59, chen shu-chu has donated NT$10 million ($320,000) to various causes – from children’s fund, a library, and an orphanage. from asian news that my mom read, chen shu-chu’s parents passed away when she was young and she had to raise her younger sibblings. during her hardship, many people helped her. now she is doing her part.

to chen shu-chu, “Money serves its purpose only when it is used for those who need it.

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read more

image from Taipei Times

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exercising for your food

2010/05/07 at 00:00 · Filed under architecture/interior/design, community, cooking, education, environmental, events, exercise, food, healthy, volunteer

in the states i’ve only seen bicycling to power blenders but even that is not mainstream yet. in denmark you can bicycle to power a buidling! at a hotel in Copenhagen, when guest cycles and creates 10 watts of energy, s/he gets a free meal. this is not only eco-friendly, but it also encourages us to exercise. it is a win win.

this crown plaza hotel is a one-year trial but if it is successful, it may be adopted around the world. i hope it is successful. we need to catch up to meet the needs for our environment!

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read more BBC News: Denmark hotel guests cycle for supper

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let’s move: nutrition *AND* exercise

2010/04/07 at 00:00 · Filed under community, cooking, education, environmental, food, kids, tv/web, volunteer

i was listening to the C-SPAN’s live program today: michelle obama was interviewed about her work on childhood obesity and the Let’s Move organization that she kicked off early february. michelle obama was joined by a group of students who submitted videos for C-SPAN’s StudentCam documentary program. included in the audience was Matthew Shimura from Punahou School in Honolulu, HI whose video, “Childhood Obesity: A Challenge Facing America,” won first place in the middle school category.

both mrs. obama’s mission and matthew’s video were clear:

  1. government needs to participate. they can improve school lunches. since many kids get at least 2 meals a day from schools, it may be their introduction to how they eat in the future. mrs. obama mentioned that the school, including the lunchroom, can also be a learning tool about nutrition. we need to reduced processed foods served at the lunches. in addition, government can help improve nutrition  labels in foods to make it easier to customers to understand what they are purchasing. matthew said we are living in the “land of abundance” with calorie dense foods that are easily accessible (cheap and easy to eat) vs. nutritious foods that take more work (resources not available, time-consuming to prepare and expensive). also some communities don’t have easy access to fresh produce.
  2. exercise is necessary – at minimum of 1 hour per day. matthew’s video begins by talking about how our society has changed – previous active lifestyle (riding bikes, playing outside) has been replaced by inactive lifestyles (statistics show that children watch an average of 4-6 hours of tv/video games/computers per day). the Let’s Move organization was so named to include the need of exercise in the fight against childhood obesity. mrs. obama acknowledged the issue with schools cutting recess and physical activity when they are in financial difficulty. she also addressed how children in lower income neighborhoods may not have parks to play in or safe streets to walk on so children may have even less access to outdoor activity.
  3. all must participate. not only is it something the government can do but participation is also necessary from bottom up. while the government can help, they can’t tell each person how or what to eat. it must come from individual homes. it also can come from the children. if children won’t try new things or refuse to eat things then it makes it difficult for parents to feed their children healthier. mrs. obama said that her kids sometimes checks her on what is better to eat and that is something children can do with their families.

matthew concludes in his video: “we must improve nutrition, encourage exercise and all work together to raise a generation of health fit citizens for the 21st century.” with our current generation possibly being the first where our kids will live shorter lives than their parents, it is an urgent call.

when i started thinking about food and writing this blog, my mindset was on how i needed to be healthier, for myself as well as for my loved ones. while that is of course important – it starts with ourselves – my new obsession has broadened from my personal interest to our national concern. i am continuing to learn more and see how i can take part to improve our culture to a nutritious and active one. i am ready to MOVE!

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actions:

article: Obama Administration Expands Efforts To Improve School Meals And Children’s Health

* read my past post about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show and the youth food revolution

she discussed the importance of not only federal government improvements (for example in school lunches), necessity of exercise (is aware that schools facing financial issues often cut recess first) but also the need of bottom up participation (from each household – not just adults but also by the children).

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not all students go home for thanksgiving

2009/11/25 at 00:00 · Filed under community, cooking, education, food, volunteer

when i was in college, a group of friends who lived in the west coast didn’t go home for thanksgiving. instead they stayed at the school dorm. such was the fate for some of my college friends so they took it upon themselves to make their own thanksgiving dinner — and the all-men posse can cook!

one year, i came back to school the day after thanksgiving. i visited my friends and had their leftovers for dinner. what a spread — turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce — the works!

as my gf and i talked about our school days the week before thanksgiving, she came up with the idea to make a thanksgiving meal for students from our alma mater who didn’t go home for the holiday. her hubby was one of the all-men posse that cooked the amazing feast. i thought it was a great idea. my gf called our alma mater and finally reached the dept of student affairs. they were very excited about the idea and posted the offer to students. unfortunately it only a few days before the holiday weekend but still, we got 2 takers.

my gf is an awesome cook and has made many a traditional american thanksgiving dinner. she made all of the main dishes (turkey, gravy, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, corn and peas, apple cranberry pie and pumpkin pie).

i contributed a few dishes:

my gf picked up my dishes. then she and her family drove all of our dishes to the students. we also benefited from each other’s cooking. she gave me some of her feast and i packed her some of my dishes. YUMMY!

next year my gf plans to contact the dept of school affairs early in the semester and give them advance notice. we’ll see how many takers we have next year. if we get a lot of takers, my gf found out you can order a thanksgiving feast from waldbaums for $50. then we’ll get other alumni involved in taking part of this. who knows, this event can become our annual tradition!

it felt nice to give something, even if was for someone we didn’t know. this is part of what makes this holiday my favorite of holidays.

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fruit parfait

2009/09/16 at 05:00 · Filed under community, cooking, dessert, food, fruit/vegetable-sweet, grains/oats/wheats, healthy, recipe, volunteer, yogurt

i attended an orientation/training session for new volunteers for Share Your Strength’s Operation Frontline. Share Your Strength is an interesting non-profit organization I recently learned about dedicated to end child hunger. the Operation Frontline stream focuses on helping families in at-risk neighborhoods learn how to prepare food nutritiously and on a budget. each class would have 3 volunteers: a chef, a nutritionist and a class manager.

to show us an example of what a class could be like, a chef who has been volunteering for the program for 2 years, led a demo and all the new volunteers participated as students from the community. at the student stations there were plastic cutting boards, knives and bowls of different fruit. the chef first showed us how to peel a pineapple and cantaloupe before she had all of us cut the fruits at our stations into bite-size pieces. all of our cut fruit pieces got mixed together into one large fruit mix. next she showed us how to layer a parfait and then let everyone create and eat their own parfait. it was a simple, engaging fun recipe that makes an excellent nutritious and delicious breakfast or dessert!

each class is once a week for 2 hours for approximately 6 weeks. there are various classes – working with youth, seniors, parent(s) with child, teen mothers, and more. after the classes end, the organization works with the students to set up cooking clubs so they can continue to practice what they learned after the class ends. i’m excited about this organization and hope i can participate soon!

Ingredients

  • fruits — any kind you like! ~ recommend: choose different colors
    - pineapple
    - grapes
    - strawberries
    - kiwi
    - cantaloupe
    - mango
  • crunch
    - granola ~ try Food for Life; Ezekiel 4:9® Organic Sprouted Grain Cereal – Golden Flax
    - cereals: cheerios, quaker corn bran, etc.
  • plain yogurt, low calorie and low saturated fat

Preparation

Cut 1 to as many different fruits you like into bite size pieces

Layer yogurt, fruits and crunch. Repeat

Enjoy!

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more information about Share Your Strength – Operation Frontline

another fruit parfait recipe, this one from Emril Live: Granola Yogurt and Caramelized Pear Parfait Topped with Crystallized Ginger

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i LOOOOOOOVE corn!

2009/08/17 at 00:00 · Filed under community, corn, environmental, food, kids, location, restaurant, us: NY, volunteer

when my girlfriend updated her fb status that she had her grilled corn fix, i knew — i HAD to go wherever she went.

in a tucked away corner north of little italy lives a cute restaurant named café habana. at 4:30pm in the afternoon, the lunch menu ends but the dinner menu doesn’t begin until 5:00pm. because it is a small establishment, there is a bit of a wait but it is well worth it — even for the corn alone! the order of corn-on-the-cob comes with two ears of corn topped with chili powder, lime & cheese … oh my! it is a little piece of heaven in each kernel! i mistakenly shared my order but i could have easily gotten 2 or 3 orders just for myself!

café habana owner sean meenan is not just about the food — he is also about “respecting the community, the environment and the arts” and with his restaurants, he “… created a space where neighbors can gather around a great meal, learn, and create.” in his brooklyn location, his restaurant hosts kid events with eco-based projects. good food and good people. a delicious pair.

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eat at Café Habana in east village or brooklyn, ny

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