Tanja Andrews, co-creator of Freshtopia.net here.
Brian “Oscar” Grimm passed away on October 1st, ending his long, courageous battle with GBM brain cancer surrounded by his devoted family in their home in Midland, MI. He was my partner in life and work, and it was the special synergy that I was so blessed to be able to experience with him that created Freshtopia. I continue to be amazed by all the lives he touched, and the way his boundless creativity and enthusiasm for life had such far-reaching effects.
There’s so much more I should say, but I miss him terribly and I guess I’m still coming to grips with things. In the meantime, here are some of the lovely tributes to Oscar from out in the Internets:

From his friend Thomas Zurbuchen.
From Heidi and JS of Raw Food Right Now.
From Debbie of Debbie Does Raw.
From Ryanne of Ryan is Hungry.

I’m sure there’s more, so please feel free to post links to them in the comments.
Thank you so much to everyone for all the love and understanding.

Also, please check out our Browse shows page and enjoy some of what we did together. See some of my favorites: Flaxploitation, Carrots, Man and Beast, Vegan Ice Cream, Squash with Pesto, Year of the Rat.
Or, go here to start from the very (awkward) beginning and marvel at how far we came in such a short time!

Wishing you all love, health and happiness,
Tanja

:: Chapter I ::
Yesterday at 10:30am I took an experimental cancer drug called DCA. The drug itself, Dichchloroacetate, has been around for decades, and has proved generally safe and effective at treating a rare childhood metabolic disorder in which mitochondria, the cells’ powerhouses, are dormant or stunted. DCA restores healthy mitochondrial function.

Another role of Mitochondria in the cell is to act as the regulator of apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Mitochondria keep a constant vigil over their host cell and if anything too suspicious goes down, anything that would risk passing on errant DNA for example, mitochondria turn on the auto-destruct mechanism. In most cancerous cells, normal mitrochondrial function is suppressed, and apoptosis is brought to a halt. Decades ago it was proposed that restoring mitochondrial function might be an effective cancer-fighting strategy.

Enter DCA. The cancer world is aflutter with talk of the potential of this old, cheap drug with minimal side effects (*see below). There is currently a clinical trial being conducted for DCA (the first) in Alberta, Canada, testing its efficacy against several forms of late-stage cancer. Outside of the clinical trial, several forums and discussion boards have been started where cancer patients and their care-givers come to share information on DCA mechanisms, patient progress reports, and dosages. One interesting discussion point on the forums, is the relationship between DCA and caffeine. There is reason to suspect that caffeine potentiates DCA, allowing for a smaller dose of the drug to have a greater effect when taken in conjunction with coffee or strong black tea. I spent weeks researching what I could of DCA, tracked some down, and (given the results of my last MRI) decided to self administer.

I’m a big guy, and historically very drug-resistant. Despite this, and in the name of responsibility to myself, I opted for an especially low-dose. A paper produced by the Alberta clinical trial group cited (to clarify: cited, for their study, not recommended to anyone else) a dosage from between 10mg – 100mg per kilogram of body weight to initiate anti-tumor activity. I opted for 9 mg/kg, just below the lowest range, and then divided that dosage in half with intent to take part at the beginning of the day, and the remainder twelve hours later. With my mother at hand to verify dosages and watch my progress, I dissolved 4.5mg of the white powder into an 8oz glass of water and drank it. I waited about one half hour, and then began slowly drinking a cup of strong coffee. About thirty minutes later the world began dissolving.

It started with a chill, and by the time I wrapped myself in a blanket I noticed my hands were trembling. At this point I was two-thirds of the way through my cup of coffee, and that’s as far as I would get. About the time I noticed the trembling I had to use the bathroom. By the time I got to the bathroom I was freezing and having difficulty walking (well beyond my usual slight limp). The bathroom would become my primary sanctuary for the next several hours, partly because I needed it so often, and partly because moving became too difficult. I was in a sort of stupor, but my brain felt on fire. I was nauseous, but I felt it coming from my brain, I was shaking, but I felt it coming from my brain.

Frankly in the last year I’ve grown pretty fearless. When I had my brain surgery I was ready, I practically pushed the gurney myself into the operating room, leading the charge. Just after my first life-threatening pulmonary embolism I joked with the surgeon as he snaked a metal arm down my jugular, implanting a heart filter to try and protect me from further emboli, which didn’t entirely work. I smiled and charmed my way through radiation, two rounds of chemotherapy, and three more emboli, each more life-threatening than the last. After my last embolism I joked with and comforted an ER doc that started crying when he read my charts. I’ve formed a healthy, not flippant, not morbid, but healthy relationship with the idea of death and dying. This was very different from any of those experiences. I felt my brain shutting down. I called Tanja home from work, to say goodbye.

Two hours past, by now Tanja arrived. Four hours past, six hours. No end in the increasing feelings of shut down. I couldn’t stand to be touched. Everything was kept quiet, partly because I couldn’t tolerate the sound, and partly because of an irrational feeling that if I could just keep things still enough perhaps I could stop metabolizing the drug, or perhaps stop time itself. This is the quiet walk with death. The silent listening to your own mind operating in time, breathlessly, waiting to slip over the edge, believing its going to happen. We all sat quietly together in the living room, sharing kind glances and an occasional “I love you.” I struggled against falling asleep, wanting to be present for what ever would happen, eventually though the urge to sleep was too great. Around 9:30 pm I went to the bedroom and laid down with everyone around me. We talked for a bit quietly, laughed, kissed and I slowly drifted off with Tanja’s arms around me, having faith that all that could be done had been done, to the best of our ability.

Sleep.

I woke up first around 5am, to the best of my knowledge. I was a bit out of it, and the light was on dimly, so I couldn’t get a clear sense of time. I went to the bathroom and quickly fell back asleep. At around 8am the cats started their usual bout of whining for food. I had a very brief spike of irritation before realizing for the first time since the ordeal began, that I had survived. I got up, slipped on some clothes, fawned over Tanja for a few minutes, then went into the kitchen to start another day.

:: Chapter II ::
After this experience I can clearly and comfortably say that I stand by what I did, and what many other of my cancer-fighting brothers and sisters are fighting for. I don’t know what my thoughts on orthodox treatment would be had I been told that I had a 75% chance of survival, or 50%, or 20%. I was given 1-2%, and heard terms like “incurable” and “get your affairs in order.” When faced with these numbers and sentiments fear is understandable, and the urge to turn over all medical decisions and responsibility to a doctor, to absolve yourself of control and let someone else hold your hand and make all the decisions, is considerable. In the end though, you’re still putting the decisions in the hands of an establishment with a 1-2% success rate (in the case of GBM). With those odds, there is much incentive to explore options, and we should be allowed, if not encouraged, to do so.

I should also note that I will likely be taking DCA again, though at a fraction of the dose and caffeine that I had yesterday. This violent response is rumored to have happened in a couple patients from the Alberta trials as well (note* rumored), at least one resulting in seizures and death. Many theorize this response is a result of massive and rapid die-off of tumor tissue as mitchondria pop back into service and begin initiating apoptosis. The thought is that there is too much sudden cell death for the brain to absorb, and that’s a bad thing. A very bad thing. I would like it clearly noted that this paragraph is no more than reasonable speculation; it’s too early to know for certain that this is the case. This does not however necessarily invalidate the idea.

Life is a process of being forced to make decisions despite less-than-perfect knowledge. Most of the time you gotta just go with the hunch.

:: Chapter III ::
People and organizations like the DCA clinical trial group in Alberta, who are exploring cheap and effective treatments for cancer, are noble pioneers. However clinical trials aren’t for everyone. Distance, cost, debilitation, legalities, and other disqualifying factors prevent many from enrolling in these trials. What should those that want to fight but can’t do it within the confines of clinical trials do? We are forced to think, and act, outside of the box, and we should be allowed to do so. I would have liked to have been monitored yesterday in a hospital as I took my death walk, but that won’t happen in today’s litigious medical climate. I, and many in the cancer community I have spoken with, would gladly wave rights to suit in return for monitored access to these treatments.

In tandem to the Alberta trial, people in the States and elsewhere that are battling to provide access to experimental treatments for terminal patients, outside of the legal protection of clinical trials, risking suit and imprisonment, are more than simply noble pioneers. In my considerable experience they tend to be brave, selfless, and generous noble pioneers. I won’t mention names without permission, but at least two come readily to mind immediately; a doctor (non-U.S.) and chemists (U.S.) that have been fearless in their explorations, and have given freely of their time, knowledge and research to try to help save my life along with the lives of many others. I am indebted to these people.

After considerable thought and personal experience, I have come to believe that preventing or inhibiting potentially life-saving, or even life-prolonging treatments in terminal patients, is barbaric, even if those same treatments can be equally as dangerous. Again, many conventional chemotherapies are clinically confirmed to be more dangerous than they are efficacious, especially in brain cancer, often so poisonous that the pills have to be handled with rubber gloves. And, even the drug companies don’t pretend that these “therapies” will cure the cancer. Continuing, the very idea of controlling too tightly what goes into a person’s body of their own free will, seems to me deeply un-American. I feel this goes largely for healthy individuals, let alone for those fighting for their very lives. I have yet to hear an argument that even approaches convincing me otherwise.

:: Conclusion ::
These are my opinions. I love opinions, even those that differ from my own. I know there are multiple sides to this issue and I’m happy to explore them more deeply in the future, but not now. I won’t be talking about this for a little bit, or defending my stance, I’m going to go rest. Before I go I’ll confess that I love to kick a hornets’ nest at a picnic then run away. It’s great fun to watch and a lot of insight into human nature can be learned from it. It’s an old guilty-pleasure of mine that I had all but given up several years ago, but after yesterday’s adventure into darkness I’m granting myself a guilty pleasure or two. Tag, you’re it, no touch-backs.

It’s Easter, and I’m alive. May all of today’s resurrections be as fruitful as mine was.
Much love to all of you,
Oscar

Given the Dark Crystal reference in the last episode, and straying entirely from the subject of food and health, I thought I would take a moment to tell you more about artist Brian Froud. Froud is the English-born artist who is largely responsible for the sober beauty and other-worldliness of such films as Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. Artist, illustrator, and author, Froud has collaborated extensively with a certain Monty Python favorite, Terry Jones. Together Froud and Jones have produced such popular works of fantasy as “The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins,” and “Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book,” to name just two.

Am I a dork? Yes, sometimes. Here it is, my confessional, perhaps the first of many. When I was young (and even not so young) fantasy fiction (generally film more than literature) was not only my retreat, but the incubator for many of my future interests in science and art. For some, being diagnosed with ‘terminal’ illness has a way of elucidating where your loyalties, influences and interests lie, even in all their dorky splendor, and makes you much more willing to sing praises accordingly. It’s just life, and it’s short, so fess up to what and who you are. While Froud is not my favorite artist, he is one of my top-ten favorite illustrators. More to the point, much like his long-term friend and collaborator, Jim Henson, I have a deep admiration and respect for any intelligent, grown adult that has the capacity to retain wonder, imagination and optimism through life’s challenges.

Too often with intelligence comes cynicism and skepticism, and too often those with wonder, openness and optimism are viewed as naïve. I have seen much of the stark realities of life and death, primarily in the last year through a giant tumor, brain surgery, and four pulmonary emboli during which I was told that my heart may well explode and there was little to nothing that could be done to stop it. Though I would like to be able to at times, I’d be hard-pressed to call myself naïve. I’ve seen people behave (justifiably) angrily, cynically, critically, and terrified when faced with adversity, and likewise I have seen people tackle similar difficulties with nobility, wonder, and a thirst for new, if frightening, frontiers. I strive for the latter. While I cannot prove that my brand of wondering optimism is effective at fighting brain cancer (though I am already outliving my prognosis considerably), it’s hard to argue that it isn’t at least improving my quality of life.

Sure enough, this post isn’t really about Brian Froud, though I thought it would be when I started writing it. It’s a salute to all intelligent adults who are brave enough to play and imagine; those who accept and embrace the difficulties that we are all faced with, rather than succumbing to the angst, fear, and jadedness that so often comes with time. To observe the world honestly and exhibit cynicism is reasonable, but to observe the world honestly and exhibit wonder and openness is wisdom.

Thank you Brian Froud, Jeunet & Caro, David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Scott & Hjortsberg, and Jim Henson who, much like my mother, knew of the darkness of the world, but managed to reflect only love and light.

There’s a raw juice movement sweeping the nation, as it seems to do from time to time. I remember my family briefly going through a similar craze when I was young. It seems to be a binge and purge business, there one minute, gone the next. This goes a long way toward explaining the impressive selection of juicers to be found in many suburbian rummage sale block parties.

Well, color me a bandwagoner, I’m hooked. For how long it will last, no one knows. Many folks in the raw food community are onboard already, such as Phillip, Heidi, and Kris, to name just a few. Last week I wrote about my favorite fresh juice, or more precisely, about its color. This week were showing how to make it. Without further ado, we give you The Director’s Cut.

The Director’s Cut:
2-3 large carrots, to taste
2 ribs celery
½ cucumber
½ green apple
1 small beet
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger

Since weve been slow posting this past week, were going to be sure to include a bonus recipe in this week’s edition of our mailing list, the Freshtopian. If you haven’t already signed up, just enter your preferred email address in the widget at the sites upper right corner. That issue will be coming out this Sunday, so be sure to tell all the neighborhood kids to sign up to receive the free recipe and secret decoder ring.

…no, there’s no decoder ring.

Tanja and I were sitting around a few weeks ago over a bottle of old crow and carp caviar, reminiscing about the [second] time she was on the television, on a show called Dream Home. The show is hosted by the charming and genuine Lisa Quinn, and is sponsored by Ikea. As you may have seen, Ikea (via Dream Home) gave our kitchen a storage solutions makeover. Tanja made such an impression, as she is prone to do, that she was invited on to Dream Home to prepare some dishes.

Suddenly, mid-reminisc, we realized that we hadn’t yet shared these videos with the viewers of Freshtopia.net! So finally, as promised, scavenged from the way-back machine…

Check out Dream Home episode 29, you’ll have to click on the “Easy Meals the Whole Family will Love” thumbnail on the left bar. For this Tanja made her Pumpkin Pie Soup and Relaxed Kale Salad, though the ‘relaxing’ got the axe in the edit room (see here for complete recipe).

Then stop by episode 35 and click on the “Holiday Dining Décor” thumbnail on left (not the “Delicious Deserts” thumb). You can see Tanja putting together a beautiful avocado-chocolate pudding with persimmon crème.

Enjoy the change of pace.
Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

1) Diet
2) Stress
3) Medication

These are the three factors that I believe led to my less-than-stellar MRI results of last week (significant tumor growth). I was going to bore you with details about how I botched my diet over the holidays (sugar, and lots of it, which cancer loves), how I’ve been taking on too many projects and jobs (and the related lack of sleep), and how cost and travel forced me to drop or skip some of my treatment. I tried writing this post three times, and couldn’t find a succinct point.
Here’s the fourth try.

The Problem ::
My tumor was shrinking for seven months with no chemotherapy. I ate sugar for seven weeks. I had travel stress combined with lack of sleep for five weeks. I missed meds. I worried about all the above. Now, in the two months since my last MRI, my tumor has grown considerably.

The Doctor ::
Get back on chemo!
…
But doc, my routine was working, and I just told you I strayed from it horrifically…
and…
Temodar made me feel half-dead, nauseous, bloated, made me embarassed to be seen in public, and destroyed my immune function…
and…
For that wonderful array of side effects, it statistically buys me two more months… which means, it provided the average cross-section of participants in a clinical trial with two additional bloated months, but guarantees the individual nothing (except the side effects, those pretty much are guaranteed). In fact after two months of Temodar early in this saga, my tumor had actually grown. That is what prompted me to find my own path, which was working famously for over seven months and two MRIs, until I strayed.
Temodar? No thanks.

The Point ::
I feel great. Once again the doctor tip-toed into the office and once again he was surprised to find Tanja and I laughing, and me lucid and getting along crisply without a cane. So far at least, the MRI is but a cautionary tale, letting me know that I have to clean my act up and stay on target as much as possible. I’m back on my diet and [most] treatments that were working so well for so long, and have actually reduced my sugar intake beyond what it was two months ago. I’ve increased the duration of my meditation routine three-fold, and am even taking a bit of time to myself (hence the few posts over the last week).

So that’s it, the Oscar update; a little long, a little boring, and not terribly uplifting. Alas, life is like that some times. I could kick myself for the straying, and have a bit, but it doesn’t get anything positive done, so I’m through with it. I feel good, and it’s deeply dysfunctional to let a machine convince you that you should be living in terror when you feel good. It’s a harbinger, and a serious one, but no more serious than I’ve already faced.

…but what do I know, I’m just the patient? Remember, these posts are for informational purposes only, and are not intended to treat, diagnose or prevent any disease.

I know I just posted about food author Michael Pollan last week, but when I saw this short candid interview with him made by our friends at Cooking Up A Story, I couldn’t resist passing it on to you. I love Pollan. I don’t agree with everything he has to say about food (which makes me trust him more), but I love that he’s saying something. Getting people to talk about food and food issues is a patriotic act in a country whose population is 65% overweight; which leads to myriad health issues, which leads to a crumbling health system, which leads to higher tax burden through government programs (which I both resent and am tremendously grateful for, as they are partly responsible for saving my life). This brief interview and talk touches on a couple turning points in our nation’s conversion to Frankenfoodism. Pollan lobbies for simple food rationalism and awareness (such as, eat actual food, not chemicals and hormones, and know the difference), while promoting long-overdue advancements in agricultural methods and ideas in the process.

There’s much more to say about all of this, but not in this post. I know that I also mentioned posting the results of last Thursday’s MRI, and I will, but I need a breather for a couple days. The results were, well, less than encouraging. I know why, I expected it to be so, and there is much to say about this as well. Look for that maybe Sunday or Monday.

Health and Happiness,
Oscar

Our friends at Raw Food, Right Now just posted a thorough review of one small farm, Raw From The Farm, and the impressive variety of raw fare they offer. We happy to learn, and a bit embarrassed to admit, that they are located here in Oakland, California, Freshtopia.net’s home town, and we didn’t even know.

Raw From The Farm [RFTF] offers, among other things, raw seeds and nuts, sun-dried fruits, and sea vegetables. We were especially interested to learn that raw almonds were among their stock, given the recent mandatory almond pasteurization instituted in California. We had hoped to uncover how RFTF weaves their unpasteurized magic, but no one was in the office when we called. Hopefully we can provide an update soon, after we’ve had a chance to speak with them.

We were also happy to see that RFTF provides responsible packaging for their products; the shipping standard is a fully compostable and biodegradeable bag, with an alternative PVC and Plasticizer-free resealable plastic shipping bag. Raw From The Farm is a good example of a next-generation company. That is, a company designed to profit, yet framed around genuine beliefs. That attitude, and fearlessly unconventional prioritization is in short supply in today’s marketplace, and is worthy of supporting.

Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

143 million pounds of beef, much of which was destined for school lunch programs, was quietly recalled by the USDA on February 17th. This represents the largest recall ever of raw and frozen beef products, and constitutes almost half of all U.S. beef and poultry recalled since 1994.

The beef, processed by the Chino, California company Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., was processed using “downer” cattle. That is to say, cattle too sick or crippled to stand, a requirement for passing inspection. According to Rick Weiss, staff writer for the Washington Post, there is a reason so-called “downer cows” are not allowed into the food supply. They could very well have mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which is transmissible to humans. They are also covered in manure from being dragged and rolled, the E. coli from which has an unfortunate tendency of getting into the meat when these animals are then slaughtered.

The video that led to the scandal, including horrific animal abuses, was captured by an employee of the plant and released to the humane society. We’ll feature the footage below the fold. Warning: this video is as tragic and disturbing as it is important - view at your own discretion.

Even for those that care little for animal rights, this event is well worth being concerned about. Again, the largest beef recall in USDA history, and most of it was destined for school lunches.

I initially learned of this through the site The Ethicurean (thanks for the heads-up Justin). Their in-depth coverage is well worth checking out if you’d like to learn more. Another point the Ethicurean brings up is the USDA’s dismal record of enforcing recalls once they’ve been instituted. This is an issue we all need to address. Not just vegans, vegetarians, and animal rights activist but especially omnivores, as ominivores are the ones eating the feces-contaminated product.

Pass on the links, spread the word. This is yet another example where the people are going to need to make the difference while the government hides in cloaks of propriety and purse strings. You can write your representative, but honestly in this case, I think spreading the word far and wide to the public will do even more. Ask someone if they are sure they aren’t eating crippled cow feces. Are their children eating them in school? This question is likely to change culture more quickly than a letter writing campaign.

I’m growing to really love Michael Pollan. Among other things, Pollan’s seventeen minute TED Talk (above) takes us on a tour of the survival of the fittest, from a grass-eye perspective. Pollan, director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley, is probably best known for his 2006 book The Omnivore’s Dilema. Regardless of your views on omnivorousness, vegetarianism, veganism, Pollan gets people thinking deeper about food and where it comes from, and that is a true service to our surprisingly nature-starved culture.

Alas, you won’t find many fun graphics or sound effects, but if you’re a foodie and care about the world around you, you many find this interesting. This far-ranging talk covers ground from the human genome project to the sophisticated yet simply logical permaculture of Polyface Farms. You can check out some of the other TED Talks here.

Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

I don’t know why I’m only getting around to posting this now, it’s quite a treasure. A few months ago our resident Tanja-avatar-designer and most prolific video commenter, Steelee, told me about this post he had found on how to build a better mousetrap. The contraption is easy to build, effective, mouse-merciful, essentially free, and is more fun to watch than American Gladiators on ice.

The jist is this:

The original post comes from a chap named Chris Glass. I’ve been dropping in on his site often, ever since Steelee sent me the link. The site is filled with great design, photographs, and a journal section worth checking out often. It reminds me of a personal version of one of my favorite art sites, CoolHunting. Thanks for the use of the illustrations Chris!

UPDATE ::
Speaking of video commenting, Steelee and Jessica just sent me this video of their TP-tube mousetrap. These two are so talented, they didn’t even need the tube!

Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

This Valentines day, weve gone buck-rogers with a racy show about aphrodisiacs!
For the occasion weve concocted a pulse-pounding chocolate sauce chock-full of sensuous spices like maca, cayenne, and cinnamon to get you in the mood for love. Treat your sweetie, (or yourself!) and use it to top some of our fabulous nearly raw vegan ice cream from episode #0055, or if you live in New York City, grab some awesome raw vegan ice cream from Pure Food and Wine.
Feel the love!

Ginger-Cardamom Ice Cream:
1 recipe Simply Vanilla Ice Cream Base
and…
add to the blender:
1T fresh ginger juice, OR 2t dried ginger
1/8t cardamom

Sensuous Spicy Chocolate Sauce:
Serves 2 with extra for drizzling!

3T raw cocoa
1t maca powder
1t carob powder
1/4t cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch sea salt
agave syrup to moisten, about 4T
water as needed

Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small dish, add water if the mixture remains un-saucy. Serve portions of the ice cream topped with the sauce, fresh banana and chopped raw almonds.

Thanks largely to the inspiration of Heidi Ohlander and Philip McClusky, I’ve been on a bit of a raw juicing jag for the last week. This trend is going around at the moment and I’ve finally gotten on board, or at least am beginning to wade in. While many are going on an all-juice diet for a period of weeks or months, that is not my fate, there are too many other components to my cancer diet that I need to adhere to. In fact, this post isn’t even about juicing. It’s about the color of beets.

While I have been getting the charge associated with juicing, mostly I find myself drawn to the amazing colors I’ve been finding in the process. I come from an art background; I graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and spent four years showing my paintings and sculptures before starting my own animation and video business. Yes, I actually made a living as a painter, believe it or not.

I’ve always been attracted to earthen tones, black, and deep, brooding reds. These colors found their way into most of my paintings back in the day, circa nine or more years ago. Now fast forward to the present, and Freshtopia.net. I had never consciously considered how my preferred color palette in paintings of old might affect my tastes on the show, be it in food or show aesthetics. I just realized it has.

The juicing phenom didn’t really resonate with me until a beet was thrown into the mix. As soon as a small dose of the ruby elixer entered my glass it overwhelmed, visually at least, the rest of the carrot, ginger, apple and celery juice. When the reds hit it was like something was triggered in my mind, making is something that I suddenly had to have. Yes, I like the taste of beets well enough, but in this case it was the color that got me.

Interestingly, many foods deep red in color have substantial cancer-fighting properties. Tomatoes are high in lycopene, an anti-cancer powerhouse. The capsaicin found in chili peppers is a powerful antioxidant. And the chemical agent in beets that give them their rich red-purple, betacyanin, is a clinically proven cancer fighter. Beets are also associated with reduced heart disease and birth defect rates. Click here to read more about the health benefits of beets. Oh, and studies cited in the former link suggest that the anti-cancer properties of beets are greatly diminished by heat and cooking, so eat them raw, or at least take it easy on the heat.

Sidebar: The thing about juicing that has always bothered me a bit is the idea of throwing away all that perfectly good pulp. As such, two days ago I decided to add a bunch of pulp to a batch of flax crackers I was putting together. The next day when they were finished I was very excited to see that I had two-tone crackers, one side beet-red, the other flax-gold, again a faithful representation of my palette of choice. Apparently the liquid(ish) flax base settled through the more fibrous pulp layer – gold on the bottom, red on the top.

Ok, enough romancing the red. This was all just an excuse for a little food porn anyways. Perhaps I’m a vampire at heart. I propose that in a world of vegetarian vampires, beets would be the fix of choice.

The issue of the perception of time is a bit off topic from our usual fare, but this organization is too interesting not to give some press.

I first heard of the Long Now Foundation eight years ago while living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The organization, founded in 1996, is dedicated to the idea of slowing down the ever-increasing, and ever-cheapening, pace of modern life.
According to their website:

“The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today’s “faster/cheaper” mind set and promote “slower/better” thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.”

Slower, better, smarter, this is an idea who’s time should come. Among other projects promoting this philosophy, the Long Now Foundation is engaged in the design and production of a monumental-scale 10,000 year clock. The clock, of which working scale prototypes have already been constructed (see image above this post), is intended to ‘tick’ once every year, ‘chime’ every 100 years, and ‘cuckoo’ every 1000 years. “The idea of the Clock is to encourage long-term thinking, which is in short supply these days”, said Stewart Brand, president of the foundation. The Long Now intends to situate the monument in an artificial cave, built within a mountain range in the Nevada desert. The land has already been purchased, and designs are currently being refined.

When you have a chance, swing by the site and take a look at some of the other projects they have going on. You can also learn more by reading their blog and listening to their podcast. Be warned though, the site, articles, and podcasts reflect the spirit of the Long Now; while often brilliant and interesting, they are not the place to go for a frenetic, action-packed media fix. Go, kick back, stay for a spell, and be ready to extend your vision beyond the 140 character Twitter culture. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay area, you can stop by their information center and store located at Fort Mason Center to view project prototypes and learn about upcoming Long Now lectures.

Semi-related, consider checking out the Erroll Morris documentary “Fast, Cheap & Out of Control”. It’s a fun and bizarre look at the perks and perils of our accelerating culture.

Update :: 02.14.08
Reader Michigander commented:

Slow time down?! Are you kidding me?!

I admit that as a Stay-at-home dad I’m still kind of a rarity around here, but I would hope that more of them came to your site. If you want to slow down time, here’s my advice if you’re married. Go to being a one income family, and have three kids. I’m busy, constantly busy, with taking care of the house, but raising kids slows things down a lot. All the projects I wanted to get done always take a backseat to the kids. I’m not as surprised as my wife what they can do, because I’ve spent months trying to teach them. My big goal is to get the twins potty trained (not as easy as I thought, one has no interest in learning), after that my next goal will be to get them to sleep all night with out wetting the bed. I never have to ask “Where did the week go?”, I’m always asking “When will the weekend get here?”. I will never regret staying home to raise the kids, the amount of stress in my life as dropped like a brick compared to where it was, but a little more quickening in time would be welcome too.

@ Michigander - I always find it interesting the different ways in which time is perceived and discussed.
It’s a great illustration that as a species we still don’t have a good (or, I suppose, ’standardized’) way of talking about time, which I believe reflects our limited understanding thereof. From reading your comment, I still perceive that you would want time to slow down. That is, if I were you I would want time to slow down so that I can both fit child care into my day, and projects, and time with my wife, etc.. I associate time going “faster” with having less of it, and thus being able to get less done.

These are probably only mismatches in definition, but it shows that we are barely on the verge of the most rudimentary understanding of time as a concept. By way of analogy, think of the first two blokes (blokesses?) to conceive of addition. Say they thought up the concept (or discovered the concept) independently, and then met on the road one day and the ideas started coming out in conversation. How long would it take them to get on the same page, to be sure they were talking about the same idea(s), to develop a common ground so that they could even discuss the matter, let alone understand the matter, let alone further their mutual understanding?

You’ll find no answers from me on the best language for time, at least not in the next couple days. Maybe I’ll have it all solved by the next blog post.

Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

Happy Lunar New Year! February 7, 2008 begins the year of the Rat, the first year of the Chinese zodiac, a time of activity and renewal. Today we’ll take you on a quick tour of lunar new year basics, factoids, and food traditions. It is said that this is a good year to make a fresh start, and after the year we’ve had, we couldn’t agree more! As uncertified joy practitioners, we here at Freshtopia.net love a good reason to celebrate and eat some delicious food. So why not wear a little red, do a spot of cleaning (a lunar new year tradition), bring some fresh blossoms into your home and enjoy some healthy, auspicious fruits and vegetables?

In addition to tossing a little green, Tanja put together a wonderful, earthy, spicy parsnip noodle salad for this episode. We’ll be putting the recipe in the next edition of the Freshtopian, so if you haven’t already signed up, do so by entering your preferred address in the field at the site’s upper-right.

Once you’ve had a chance to check out Tanja’s little nerd-core rap tribute above, take a look at the video below. MC frontalot is making me lose my mind, and his glasses look like mine, which is splendid.

Special thanks to Justin Winokur, and Hello This Is Alex for letting us use their music in our show. And thanks to Brian Beggerly, Jakob Montrasio, John Haslam, Jim Winstead, and Laughlin Elkind for releasing their great photos under a Creative Commons license via Flickr.

Freshtopia.net isn’t officially backing any particular candidate, however we were charmed by this animation our friend Ryan Junell contributed to. It endorses Democratic candidate Barak Obama, and is executed in a style reminiscent of School House Rock, a Freshtopia team favorite. Whomever you vote for, the important thing is that you inform yourself and make your voice be heard.

Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

Computer catalogs, fabric catalogs, sausage of the month catalogs, catalog catalogs. We get them too. A new service launched in October 2007 is looking to clean-up, and in the process green-up, your mail box. Catalogchoice.org is a joint not-for-profit project of the National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Ecology Center. CatalogChoice contacts catalog companies on your behalf, removing you from mailing lists.

The resources consumed in the process of catalog creation and mailing are astounding. From the Catalog Choice website:

“While catalog companies make it easy to receive a catalog, consumers frequently find it frustrating and time consuming to get their names off these mailing lists, especially when they receive catalogs from multiple direct mailers. The industry mails more than 19 billion catalogs a year to Americans—approximately 170 catalogs for every U.S. household.”

The process is very fast and very easy, just a minimal account set up (they need to know which person and address to request be removed), then enter the catalogs you would like to be exempted from. Alas, you have to spend the time to specify which catalogs, either by name or by a ‘browse’ feature. If you’re like me, I quickly toss junk mail into the recycling; I don’t even know the names of these send-offenders. As such, this will likely be a process that continues over the course of a month or so, as catalogs continue to funnel in.

This is a great green action point; a fast, simple way to make a real impact. Sign up now, and while you’re at it tell all your friends about the service. Preferably point them to CatalogChoice by sending them the link to this blog post, we’d love the traffic!

Oscar
Director, Freshtopia.net

Sometimes things don’t work out quite like one envisions them.
This recipe was inspired by Anthony, aka the Raw Model, and his nifty list of 5 things to eat every day for health and beauty. It was a well-intentioned soup, simple and unassuming, comprised of some of my very favorite things to eat, all in one convenient bowl. What we ended up with however, was a watery bowl of grayish-green horror, with a crime-scene chili swirl. Sorry Anthony.

Despite the soup’s tragic disposition, the episode may be worth a check-out, if nothing more than as a cautionary tale. “What not to do with grapefruits.” The music, by our friend Justin Winokur, is great, and there is a healthy dose of nervous laughs to accompany.

If we’re still friends after you watch this, consider tuning in next week. Among other things we’ll be showing you how to make our variation of green lemonade, as well as blogging up a storm.

Here’s the recipe, so you know what to avoid…

Sundried Tomato-Chipotle Swirl:
1/3C olive oil
1/4C sundried tomatoes
1 small dried chipotle pepper
1t mustard
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Grapefruit Avocado Soup:
2 large grapefruit, peel and pith removed
1 large avocado
½ cucumber, peeled (about 1C chopped)
1/4C sweet white onion
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Soak the tomatoes and the chili in warm water until soft and pliant, about 1 hour. Remove seeds and stems from the chili and blend all the swirl ingredients in a food processor until saucy, yet slightly chunky texture is achieved.

Peel the grapefruit and remove as much of the pith as you want. Place in blender with all other soup ingredients and blend until smooth, adding as little water or oil as necessary to blend.

Divide soup among bowls, and top with the tomato-chili swirl.
Serves none, if you’re lucky!

Today Tanja takes us on a quick and winding historical journey into the world of the grapefruit. Born in Barbados in the 1700s, this surprisingly young fruit is wonderously bright and precocious for its age. A veritable cancer-fighting super agent, grapefruit is also a cold-killer and an inflammation assassin.

Consider signing up for our once-per-week mailing list, The Freshtopian, if you haven’t already. You’ll receive show updates, Freshtopia news, and free recipes! Just enter your preferred email address in the field at the upper-right of the screen.

Thanks to the wonderful Justin Winokur, for the use of his tracks “Scary Monster Mobile”, and “So Alone.”
Check out Justin’s other work here.