In honor of Fritz, I will be repurposing some of our used glass jars to light outdoor events in the future.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Don’t these black bean cakes look delicious? They taste great and are HEALTHY, too! (recipe below)

The initial stop on Sunday’s “Holiday Walkabout” was at our neighborhood senior care center, Idylwood. The staff and residents had participated in September’s “Harvest Walkabout” and wanted to join us again for our December event. We were thrilled to include them and they rolled out the red carpet for the lucky adults and children who began the tour at 4pm. Their extensive vegetable gardens were all decked out with twinkling lights and festive touches. In addition to frosted zucchini bread and cookies, the staff created these scrumptious black bean cakes for us to sample (Tate and I didn’t quite sample them as much as devour a good number!).

They are really simple to make and are such a clever addition to a holiday table – don’t they look just like cookies? Have some fun with your friends and bring these “healthy treats” to your next holiday exchange!

[Special thanks to the staff at Idylwood for sharing the recipe]

Black Bean Cakes

Prep time: 12 minutes
Cook time: 4 minutes

Ingredients
1 cup low sodium black beans (drained)
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp + 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil plus olive oil spray

Combine black beans, tomato paste, garlic, 1/2 tsp cumin and salt in a large bowl – mash with a fork until thoroughly combined. Divide evenly into 8 balls and set aside.

Combine the breadcrumbs, black pepper and 1 tsp cumin in a shallow bowl. Roll balls in crumb mixture – shape into 1/2″ thick patties

Coat a large non-stick pan with a bit of olive oil cooking spray and extra olive oil. Cookies patties about 2 minutes on each side over medium-high heat (or until lightly browned).

Serve with fresh salsa and sour cream; garnish with cilantro (optional)

Pulling together the final details for our neighborhood’s second annual ‘holiday walkabout’ on December 12th. If you live in the Bay Area and want to participate in this wonderful event (kids are especially welcome!), please email me (kathy-at-dirtandsunshine.com). I’ll have a full report on Monday.

So that’s how we celebrated Small Business Saturday – visiting FIVE independently owned small businesses to support those we love and cherish. Did anyone else try to support their local favorites? I would love to hear from you!

A just, peaceful and sustainable life for the entire human family and our natural world.

Help me to choose my thoughts and deeds to bring about this future,

By living lightly, in balance with my planet home,

By directing my energy and money to make the biggest difference,

By serving those I love and the communities to which I belong,

By standing up and speaking my Truth,

By shining my light in the world for all to enjoy.

Help me to be the change I want to see in the world.

Give me the courage to be true to Myself and my Purpose.

Help me find a compassionate and loving relationship with the whole Human Family,

And help me continue to be open to new Awareness.

Help me to overcome fear and act in the world with Love,

Through this we will bring about the world we want,

And live a Future Worth Choosing Now!

P.S. It’s a mission of Love.

When I was 9, we lived in Warsaw, Poland for six months (my dad was on sabbatical from the National Institutes of Health and was a visiting doctor at the National Institute of Poland). I remember my parents talking about venturing “behind the Iron Curtain” and I used to think it was a real curtain stretched across the Eastern part of Europe. Imagine my disappointment when we flew over Germany and I didn’t see anything but mountains! I later learned about the Berlin Wall and the ideological dividing line between East and West.

My dad always traveled a lot when I was younger. One day we got a large map (can’t remember where) and everyone received a set of colored push-pins (I think mine was green). The idea was that you placed a pin on each city or country you visited. My dad, of course, had more pins than the rest of us combined!

Fast forward to this summer and I finally got off my duff and purchased maps for Dane and Tate. National Geographic has the most beautiful ones, in my opinion, and I was happy to support such a worthwhile organization. (FYI, a percentage of each sale goes to worthwhile philanthropic causes.) Since each boy had his own map, we decided upon a different twist with the push-pins. The round blue ones are for places they have been, the square orange ones are for places they want to visit (we definitely want to encourage their travel dreams!).

Both rooms are loosely decorated with a travel/vintage surf theme – it’s not House & Garden worthy but they’re really happy with how it all came out!

[Photo by Kathryn Besser]

My husband has taught me that love is passionate and romantic. My children have taught me that love is endless and all consuming.

All of these lessons are valuable but the one that registers so deeply as I get older is that love is action. My mother may be my biggest critic – and I need to stop listening to her words, which constantly hurt my feelings, and look instead to her actions which do, in fact, speak louder than her words. When I was younger and she saw how insecure I was about how I looked, she paid for modeling lessons at Barbizon and plastic surgery that was subtle and skillful and helped me feel less like an ugly duckling. These actions paved the way for me to become more confident and, as a result, more successful and engaged in life. In essence, she gave me a great start in the world.

My dad has always made me feel appreciated. He sees the lengths I go to in pursuit of my passions and always gives me unconditional support. More than that, he somehow conveys (through a few choice observations) that he notices every bit of effort I extend. I can’t explain adequately how much this means to a type-A, people-pleaser like me but he is one of the few people to hone in on the subtlest of details.

My sister is my role model. My mantra is, of course, WWLD? (“What Would Lori Do?”) Lori took my mother’s lessons to heart and is all action. She never stops looking for an opportunity to give, participate or pass along something she no longer needs. Lori taught me the value of a thank you note – she writes them for even the smallest of things and is the reason others get them from me! I think my sister is amazing and unique and I hope to become more like her.

David, my brother, is all about play. From him, I’ve learned to take life less seriously and devote more time to fun, especially the kind where you pull random strangers into your game! I think he is part of the reason we strive to be so inclusive in our entertaining. What “the more, the merrier” really means, I learned from my brother, David.

From Todd, I learned that love is acceptance. We’ve always been a bit on the fringes of our family, two artistic souls who looked at the world and imagined other things there. But we understand each other perfectly and have always accepted that we were ok. I’m thankful to Todd for always appreciating my culinary efforts. Beyond taste, he appreciates how cooking can be artistic expression.

My husband has been the romantic, passionate man of my dreams. He is easily ten times more romantic than I’ve ever been and I am touched by his deep sensitivity as to how I am faring at any given moment. I’ve found in him all the things my family taught me: action, appreciation, thankfulness, joy and acceptance. And I thought I’d just found a guy who was cute, kind and poised for success! What I really got, however, was a life partner who – just by never giving up on me nor letting me give up on him – is love in action.

Our children are a two-way street of boundless, transcendant love. It is breathtaking to love and feel love this way. I doubt there is a drug that can compare, at least not for me. All I know is that we manufacture A LOT of it here and I hope it spills over to everyone we know. Need some? We’ll share!

It’s funny as I’m writing this that I’m thinking back to when they were babies and toddlers. I’m actually glad they were little before the advent of Facebook or Twitter. I would have bored you all to death with every utterance or milestone and they’d probably cringe (someday) reading it. As it is, they have only the good stuff – a yearly journal entry by Paul, a few stories by me and this.

This, by the way, is the product of the past forty odd years. I’m still learning a lot every day but had such a moment of clarity (at 5am today), I had to get up and write down these observations. So, what am I saying, exactly?

Go forth. Stop saying. Start doing.

It may be found on the ‘Community Events (Resources)’ page on my website at http://dirtandsunshine.com/sample_community-events.html. You will also find free, downloadable banners for a block party, garden tour, harvest walkabout and holiday walkabout.

We’re excited to have made our local paper today; the article may be found online at http://www.mercurynews.com/sunnyvale/ci_16097088?source=rss (a PDF with photos included is on the aforementioned community resources page).

Below is an excerpt from the planning/wrap-up document:

How we did it: After soliciting interest within our neighborhood (we suggest email, Yahoo Group, flyer distribution, etc.), we put together a team to organize the event and mapped out the following tasks:

1. Determine date and time for the event [our area was defined as within the boundaries of the neighborhood association].
2. Create event description/invitations to send to neighbors via Yahoo Group.
3. Find hosts for 2-3 refreshment stations.
4. Find cul-de-sac or space for final gathering area.
5. Solicit donations/raffle prizes from local garden shops.
6. Contact local farm stands/community gardens about participating.
7. Collect brochures, flyers and other items for ‘building community’ table.
8. Create map highlighting donor and refreshment stops.
9. Create downloadable (PDF) sign for garden donations, post on website.
10. Ask for a tentative head count/RSVP for walkers and donors.
11. If necessary, purchase beverages [water, iced tea, lemonade, juice boxes] and snacks [in the end, all were homemade, including lemonade and iced tea].
12. Contact local newspaper about media coverage.
13. Invite local senior centers or convalescent homes. [Idylwood contacted us; we recommend your reaching out to them!]
14. Invite local city council.
15. Print signs, pick produce, set up driveway stands and community table(s).
16. Solicit feedback from neighbors [what went well, what could be improved] – offer raffle prizes for all feedback entries.
17. ENJOY the fruits of the harvest and fellowship with neighbors!