New Under Solen Media Site: Women Rocking New Media
So excited about our new website over at Under Solen. We also announced a new team page which includes some rocking women doing really great things. A big thanks to all the people out there that have made this venture possible. We’re running as fast as we can!
Go see all the new stuff for yourself!
Scandinavia Meets Japan: New IKEA Designs
I wouldn’t necessarily put Japanese and Scandinavian design together, but for its spring collection IKEA is launching Charlotta, a collection of fabrics designed by Åsa Ekströ. The result is a manga-inspired textile series. And although I’m not usually a huge fan of all things manga, I am loving the origami moose tea cozy.
[Via: Room and Serve]
Snowshoeing Mt. Rainier
Fresh snow crunches under your feet. Along the trail, paw prints of a small forest creature lead the way. The sun shines. You take a break to drink tea from your thermos and slice of a piece of brie cheese that’s your one gourmet indulgence in the backcountry. You continue along, excited about the prospect of an evening in front of a warm stove in a cozy ski hut. You contemplate to yourself how a winter trip doesn’t get much better than this.
***
Earlier this winter I was craving some snow time, and decided to check out the Mount Tahoma Trails Association hut-to-hut ski trail system, a collection of groomed trails used by the Forest Service in the summer and snowshoers and cross country skiers in the winter. A common obstacle to pursuing winter backcountry adventures is of course that it’s cold and gets dark early, not the optimal tent conditions for most. Fortunately the MTTA maintains several different backcountry accommodations, including a yurt, all complete with propane stoves, sleeping pads and complete kitchens. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it ‘glamping,’ but high end backcountry digs is certainly a fitting definition.
Friday Photo: On the Water
West Coast, Gothenburg, Sweden. A salty breeze, a forgotten towel, waves lapping at the granite rocks, kayakers sliding by on the calm waters. Sensory memories for a winter afternoon.
Save Wild Salmon, Nature and Our Future
Courtesy of Save Our Wild Salmon
Excited for my article that was posted this week on Planet Green. Here’s an excerpt:
When was the last time you thought about salmon? Sure, it’s a common food, but this one fish is a key link in the chain between environment, recreation, jobs and the economy. In the Pacific Northwest salmon fishing brings tens of millions of dollars into the regional economy each year, representing thousands of jobs.
But salmon runs are in decline, and that hurts the economy and the environment. In fact, this decline is severely affecting the local environment; including another endangered species — Puget Sound Southern Resident orca whales. Scientists say that these fish are the largest single change to the whale’s food supplies and are directly linked to their decline in recent decades. Endangered salmon runs mean that everything that these fish are linked to or have an impact on, from other species to our own economy, is threatened as well. Still think of salmon as just a dinner dish?
In a recent L.A. Times Opinion piece, scientist and author Carl Safina outlined the importance of salmon to the environment and to human beings in general. Safina, the author of Songs for the Blue Ocean and Eye of the Albatross, as well as a well-respected scientist, conservationist and the president of the Blue Ocean Institute, holds that the Obama administration isn’t doing enough to protect these fish, saying that the administration “should embrace salmon abundance as the beating heart of the Pacific Northwest — the flow of energy that connects and sustains people, fishing towns, bears, wolves, orcas, forests and the rivers and seas we all love and use.”
You can read the whole article here, as well as check out 5 simple ways you can take action to save wild salmon.
Friday Photo: Pebbly Beach
It’s been quiet on the blog recently. That’s because there’s been a whole lot of stuff going on at Under Solen and I’ve been feeling a bit swamped… in a good way. But next week I’ll be back in action. Until then, enjoy this photo of my favorite place of solace on a winter afternoon.
Foodie Blog to Check Out: Sprouted Kitchen
Photo by Sprouted Kitchen
I wrote an article this week for EcoSalon on 10 delicious vegetarian soups. In doing so I came across an absolutely beautiful and well written blog, The Sprouted Kitchen. Somehow the talent at this blog makes whole grains look sexy… I’m not kidding. In fact I’ve never found anyone else that has an affinity for taking photos of quinoa, so when I came across it, I knew I’d be an instant addict.
Fantastic food photography and delicious sounding recipes, like this one for Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl. Go check it out!
Here’s the soup recipe I chose for EcoSalon: Lentil Soup with Chipotle Yogurt. Can’t wait to get this cooking in the kitchen.
Ingredients:
2 Cups Lentils (French or Black Beluga)
1 Yellow Onion, Diced
1 Fennel Bulb, Diced
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Cup Brown Rice, Cooked (any whole grain will work)
6 Cups Organic, Low Sodium Vegetable Stock
1 tsp. Cumin
1 Large Bunch of Kale, Chard or Combo of Leafy Greens
Salt/ Pepper
1 Lemon
Chipotle Yogurt
1 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt
1 Chipotle Chile in Adobo, Chopped (no more than 2 tsp.)
Preparation:
1. Cook your rice or desired grain and set aside. Boil about four cups water, and boil the lentils for 20 minutes until cooked. Add water as needed. Drain.
2. In a large soup pot, saute the yellow onion and the fennel in the olive oil for about 8 minutes, or until just starting to turn light brown. Add the stock and cumin. Bring the heat back up to a gentle boil, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the lentils and the brown rice and simmer about 10 minutes. While you are waiting, stem your greens and slice them into thin strips. Taste the soup for salt and pepper, add seasoning as desired.
4. Turn off the heat and add in the greens, stir. The greens will wilt in the hot soup, and avoid overcooking this way. Stir in the juice of half the lemon, add more to taste.
5. Mix the greek yogurt with the chipotle chile and stir. Serve the soup with the dollop of the chipotle yogurt. Warning, chipotles are pretty spicy, so start with a small amount of sauce and you can add if you like it hot. If too spicy, add more yogurt.
Mountainfilm on Tour in Portland
Via Under Solen:
For our Portland friends, here’s an event you’ll definitely want to check out. We’ve mentioned Mountainfilm before, but what’s really cool about the film festival is that they take the whole thing on tour, giving people that can’t make it to Telluride to experience some of the amazing films and inspiring messages. Mountainfilm on Tour will be in Portland this Thursday, January 28, 2010, hosted at Portland State University. Check it out!
What: Portland State’s Outdoor Program and Portland Mountain Rescue are hosting the Mountainfilm on Tour festival on campus. It will include four hours of films that celebrate the great outdoors—especially mountains and mountaineering culture. In addition to the festival screenings, the Outdoor Program will hold a raffle and silent auction. Both Portland State students and the public are welcome to attend.
Where: Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom, SMSU 355
When: Thursday, January 28, 2010, 6-10pm.
Cost: Students $7 advance, $10 door
Faculty and public $10 advance, $12 door
More info here.
Friday Photo: Utah Post-Ski
An unplanned New Year’s resolution (unplanned because it happened organically in the last few weeks) has been to learn how to ski. And what better place for your first turns than Utah? A beautiful day at Snow Basin – after a couple hours of low visibility and icy snow straight in the face – with a gorgeous drive into Salt Lake was an excellent introduction to my first time skiing in Utah. And winter sunsets are always a wonderful thing.
Journey to Kathmandu: Beautiful Documentary About Nepal’s Dashain Festival
There is a big place in my heart for the people of Southeast Asia. Smiles. Generosity. Beauty. Simplicity. So it’s no surprise that I love this trailer for Journey to Kathmandu.
The documentary is about the once-in-a-lifetime journey that goats make from their lives in Tibet to their sacrificial deaths in Kathmandu during the annual Dashain Festival, and this trailer is downright beautiful. I was so inspired by it I interviewed the documentary’s director, Chris Parkhurst. Here’s an excerpt.
What has inspired you to focus on SE Asia?
As ‘Bombhunters’ opened my eyes up to the wonderful world of documentary films, it also inspired me to travel and do work in SE Asia. Cambodia blew me away. SE Asia, as a whole, blows me away. It’s very difficult to explain to people who have never been. Sure, all the cliches apply here. It’s life-changing. Once you’ve been, you’re forever changed. But, you know, it’s absolutely true.
What can I say? It just gets in your blood, in your heart, on the brain. Once I’d done it, I only wanted more. I was addicted. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that countries like Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand… they’re not for everybody. They’re uncomfortable. They’re dirty. They’re corrupt. They make you sweat. They can make you sicker than you’ve ever been in your life. You’ll see some of the most decrepit, sorry things you’ll ever see. People without limbs. Kids playing in garbage dumps the size of my neighborhood back home. But I love that. I really can’t get enough.
Because what goes along with all of this are the beautiful things that you don’t get here in the States. Community. Perspective. Compassion. Appreciation for friends, family, your neighbors. Soul and spirituality. People treat one another with a kind of dignity, honesty and love that seems to be lacking here. These are all things that I hope to share with Westerners in hopes of creating some sort of better consciousness, some better ways of living and interacting with one another.
Read the whole interview over at Elephant Journal.
