H(e)ART

A blog about everything and nothing.

[laurenh-art]

Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me, lets me see. __________________________________________ #findinginspirationeverywhere #inspiration #daily #lunch #dtla #tool #lyrics #umbrella #primary #colors #basics #shape #line #color #composition #spiralout #keepgoing (at Los Angeles Center Studios)

[laurenh-art]

I noticed the other day this tiny tomato growing on Re (short for reflection), the tomato plant in my patio. Re started out as a seed with one green sprout coming off of it I just happened to see next to my kitchen sink. Re has been teaching me valuable lessons about life, including proving that those with a strong will to live and survive will always find a way to keep going and eventually thrive. __________________________________________ #thankyounature #payattention #nature #tomatoplant #tomato #life #survivor #strength #inspration #california #patiogarden #green #plants #nevergiveup #keepondreaming #spiralout (at Culver City, California)

[laurenh-art]

Desert dweller dreaming ________________________________________ #sunset #mountains #nature #inspiration #saguaro #cactus #saguaronationalpark #tucson #arizona #daydreaming #freedom #thetruthwillsetyoufree #desert #stillness #lensflare #loveistheanswer (at Saguaro National Park)

[laurenh-art]

You must first love yourself before others will love you back. To have enough to give on the outside, one must have abundance on the inside. Dinner alone, feeding my own soul with stuffed vegan mushrooms with a side of balsamic roasted brussel sprouts and gluten free, dairy free oatmeal blueberry bake for dessert. ___________________________________________ #selflove #vegan #veganrecipes #stuffedmushrooms #brusselsprouts #oatmeal #blueberry #dessert #abundance #dinnerforone #onedayatatime #alonedoesntmeanlonely (at Culver City, California)

[laurenh-art]

Change your perception, change your life. ____________________________________________ #losangeles #quotes #quoteoftheday #mayaangelou #inspiration #change #staypositive #palmtrees #blueskies #perception #equals #reality

[laurenh-art]

Love is always greater than fear. _____________________________________________ #joshuatree #highdesert #sunset #california #stones #crystals #pinkbotswanaagate #energyvortex #bffs #buddies #newyears #consciousness #loveisgreaterthanfear

[laurenh-art]

“Simplicity is complexity, resolved” ____________________________________________ #christmasdinner #christmas #holidays #vegan #veganrecipes #vegtables #plantbased #redwine #dinnerfor2 #cube #sacredgeometry #composition #rootstew #rootchakra #staygrounded #begrateful

[laurenh-art]

"Cats are at home after dark...because the dark is the home of fears and those things humans do not want to see and can't see, the cat has come to be associated with magic and mystery." - Ted Andrews ___________________________________ #catmagic #animals #animalspirit #spiritanimal #cat #catears #bast #egyptian #egyptiancat #reflection #selfie #catmom #catlove #lazysunday #mystery #myth #truth #why (at Culver City, California)

[laurenh-art]

The Best Place to Start is Now

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” - Pablo Picasso 

What rules am I trying to break? What is the ultimate rule humanity is trying to break? Is it just that, breaking the rule of what exactly it means to be human? 

“If you knew the immensity of what it means to be human, you would not talk about god or heaven.” -  Jaggi  Vasudev

What does it really mean to get to the root of it all? Is it to trace history back to the first human? The first existence of life? 

How am I related to this circle of life? I am, yet why then do I (and many other humans today) feel so isolated and alienated from all of it?

…………………………………

Earth - the element of the root chakra. In sacred geometry, earth is represented as a cube. “Plato assigned it (the cube) to the element Earth due to the stability of its square bases.” - Quadrivium

To have a strong root chakra, one needs to have a well grounded and stable base, just like the cube. If one’s root chakra is out of balance however, or overactive in a negative way, one may feel stuck and become short tempered, greedy, and impatient. All characteristics the ego loves to feed off of. 

The ego is not in balance with the chakras. The ego is a result of imbalanced chakra energy. 

…………………………………

Who is this creature slowly coming to life? Is it the alter ego? Or the ego trying to stay in control? Or maybe, it’s the letting go of ego from self?

“You life’s journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose. The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination...to accomplish this or that...the journey’s inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how...Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now.” - Eckhart Tolle 

Still so many questions unanswered. Still even more questions not yet even asked.

…………………………………

Reading: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle 

Listening: Migration by Bonobo

Watching: Dying to Know, a documentary about the friendship of Ram Dass and Timothy Leary 

[laurenh-art]

There’s No Place Like ... Knowing Yourself

Alien: “differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility.”

Since the solar eclipse a few weeks ago, I have felt a huge drain of my energy. Perhaps a combination of intense cosmic activity and extreme heat, like an alien laser gun, my energy level the past couple weeks seemed to have been completely zapped to the point that anything beyond the basic necessities of living day to day have felt exhausting. 

The full moon this past week began to recharge my energy a bit, enough to get back in the kitchen and back some cookies - chocolate chip oatmeal cookies that it. 

Click Your Heals 3 Times and Repeat: 

There’s Nothing Like Homemade Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups old fashion oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 cup coconut oil (melted)

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 flax eggs (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water = 1 flax egg)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips

Optional: 1/2 cup walnuts or 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl or cup, mix ground flax with water. Let set for a least 5 minutes. You want the flax to have absorbed most of the water and be kind of a jelly consistency. (see below)

In one bowl, mix together flour, oats baking soda, and optional salt.

In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil on low. 

In a second bowl, or mixer (however this recipe is easy to mix the old fashion way with a spoon or your hand), mix together sugars with melted coconut oil. Then add flax eggs and vanilla. 

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir dry and wet ingredients together in a mixer, using a large spoon, or get your (clean) hand in there. 

Add chocolate chips and any other optional add ins, nuts and/or shredded coconut. If using a mixer, I recommend just using a spoon or your hand for this part.

If at this point, the mixture is too dry, add a little more oil, or if it feels too wet, add a little more flour. It should stick together pretty easily, but still have a little crumbly feel to it. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Now I really hate using parchment paper because it seems so wasteful, however I have yet to find a replacement that works as well for keeping perfectly good cookies from sticking to the baking sheet. I do reuse the parchment paper 2-3 times when making the same cookies. I just label a corner of the paper so I know which sheet is for which flavor. 

Form the dough mixture into 1″ balls, and place in oven once sheet is filled (see below)

Bake for 10 minutes, then open oven and slightly (very gently) press cookies down using a spoon or folk, close oven and let cookies finish baking for another 2-3 minutes. 

Remove cookies from oven and let cookies cool for 20 minutes. Yeilds about 20 cookies. 

Side note: because these cookies are made with coconut oil and not butter, they will not be big and flat, they will more so hold the ball shape and be super dense and bursting with flavor!

Step by Step (in photos)

Flax egg ready to be added to other wet ingredients. 

Dry ingredients mixed together.

Wet ingredients mixed together. 

Mixing all ingredients together.

Before going into the oven.

Don’t forget to set your timer!

And just as quick as Dorothy returned back to Kansas, your cookies are done!

“Food which entails cooking in its preparation should only be eaten when it has been cooked with mantra and/love.” - Ram Dass

…………………………………

There are many things that I associate with home, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are certainly one of those things. Good food, feeling safe, comfortable, and loved are also things that remind me of home.

Where The Dark Side of the Moon ends, the yellow brick road begins, a phrase that popped into my mind not too long after moving to LA. Perhaps because The Wizard of Oz was my favor movie as a child, and I just so happened to move across the country for the first time, right down the street from where that movie was filmed. Right down the street from that film studio, is now where I call home.  And while it was a long, painful and fearful journey to get here, there are times when I stare out at the pacific ocean and it almost seems as though I just clicked my heels 3 times, repeat the mantra, and here I am, home. 

Home doesn’t necessarily need to be a single place though. It could actually be a couple places, or no place at all. Ultimately, home is a feeling, or things we remember that remind us of a feeling we once had. Going inward, feeling safe, comfortable, and loved within ones self without external factors is really the true home. 

If you start the record Dark Side of the Moon on the lions 3rd roar at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz, the record syncs with the movie so well, it almost seem intentional. It is what Carl Jung called, synchronicity, “a phenomenon in which coincidental events seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality." 

Maybe it was intentional. Maybe not. However, what I find even more interesting is where the record ends. It ends not too long after Dorothy meets the scarecrow and they begin their journey down the yellow brick road together with the track entitled Eclipse playing. 

Perhaps though, oh just perhaps, an Eclipse was exactly what I need to just get on with it, so get me, to get the world for that matter back on the path. 

“With, without. And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about?” - Us and Them by Pink Floyd 

Embrace the ebbs and flows of the universe with grace. During the times when the tide is high, and the endless waves of life seem to be relentless against the vibrations of your being, don’t fight a battle you can’t win. Embrace the ebbs and flows of the universe with grace. Go inward and find your home. 

Eventually, the seas will once again calm, and clarity will slowly beginning to reappear through the fog of worry and doubt. 

This is all a set up, setting up your own base that is. Building a strong set of roots, so that the tree which is your life can grow to its fullest potential. 

"Eclipse" All that you touch And all that you see All that you taste All you feel And all that you love And all that you hate All you distrust All you save And all that you give And all that you deal And all that you buy, Beg, borrow or steal And all you create And all you destroy And all that you do And all that you say And all that you eat And everyone you meet And all that you slight And everyone you fight And all that is now And all that is gone And all that's to come And everything under the sun is in tune But the sun is eclipsed by the moon. (There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark.)

…………………………………

Reading - The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Listening - A Deeper Understanding by The War on Drugs

Watching - Your favorite childhood movie

[laurenh-art]

1 to 1

Soul of Science by Daniel Martin Diaz

Daniel Martin Diaz’s work in fascinating to me because of the complexity is he able to capture in what seams so simple - graphite on paper. 

“Simplicity is complexity, resolved.” - Constantin Brancusi 

My focus for this year has been to create balance within myself and throughout all aspects of my life. I have felt a pull to learn more about the chakra energies as a way to aid in achieving this balance. 

There are 7 main chakra energies, there are 7 days in the week. To begin understanding the power within each chakra, and how exactly to use that power, I decided to break down the complexity of the chakras by taking one day each week to hone in on each energy center. 

Sunday - Root, earth - hexahedron

Monday - Sacral, water - icosahedron

Tuesday - Solar Plexus, fire - tetrahedron

Wednesday - Heart, air - octahedron

Thursday - Throat, aether - dodecahedron

Friday - Third Eye, all elements in their purest form - vesica piscis

Saturday - Crown, light - circle

(Photo above is intentionally blurred as the specific words are of no importance to anyone besides myself.)

Above photo is my journal of the past weeks chakra journey. I spent 20-30 minutes each night reading and writing about each chakra, and one thing I came to quickly realize, while breaking down each energy center, the amount of knowledge within the chakras is far too vast to be understood all at once. Within each realm, there are what I would call sub-chakras, or sub-energy centers that need to be address individually before a grater understanding of the whole chakra can be obtained. It’s almost as though 1 day isn’t enough. Perhaps one lifetime may not be either, and I am finding it difficult to put my understanding so far into comprehensible sentences.   

“For quite suddenly I feel my understanding dawning into a colossal clarity, as if everything were opening up down to the roots of my being and of time and space themselves. I am struck with amazement that I or anyone could have thought life a problem or being a mystery...”

“There is simply no problem of life; it is completely purposeless play - exuberance which is its own end...Time, space, and multiplicity are complication of it. There is no reason whatever to explain it, for explanations are just another form of complexity.” - Alan Watts

…………………………………

I have started to have several small victories of understand as of late which I don’t believe would have come as quickly had a I not taken the time and given myself the mental space to read and write. However, I am finding through reading and writing, that an even more powerful tool of communication, more universal, is through art and design. 

Below are a few of my warm up figure sketches and visions I had during this weeks never ending quest for truth and understanding. 

The root chakra - hexahedron (cube), earth (element and planet), security vs. abundance. The support to nurture our entire life as an earthly being. 

Today is sunday once again - root chakra day. Like a tree whose roots never stop growing and expanding, the quest to the root of truth and knowledge is never complete.

Til next time...

…………………………………

Reading: The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge by Manuel Lima

Listening: Death to the Planet by The Comet is Coming 

Watching: Into the Inferno - the raw power of volcanos  

[laurenh-art]

Good Day Sir Real

Guy at the bar: “You’re lucky.”

Me: “Luck isn’t real.”

Guy at the bar: “There is a de

finition for it, therefore it has to be real.

Me: “Just because one human defined - ... (cut off)”

Guy at the bar: “And good day sir!”

If I had continued my sentence, I was going to say, just because one human defined the sound we make when we say the word “luck”, it doesn’t make it real.  That definition is merely just a matter of one human’s perception.

Above: The Lovers 2, by Rene Magritte is one of my most favorite paintings. A painting which by chance, or according to the definition, as luck would have it, I was able to experience in person a few years ago. 

I happened to be in New York City around Christmas time, and decided to go to the MoMA. I had no idea until entering the museum that at the time, the special exhibition was Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926–1938. What would the chances be I thought, that my most favorite painting might happen to be on display at this museum I just so happened to on a whim, decide to visit. 

Entering the exhibition, I kept a slight hope in the back of my mind that perhaps I might find something I wasn’t initially searching for, however I didn’t expect it. I saw other familiar works by Magritte, and a few new ones I had never even seen images of before, as in the painting below.

Nearing the end of the exhibition, before turning the last corner, I was enjoying the opportunity of experiencing in person so many fantastic paintings by such an amazing artist, but was still feeling the slightest bit disappoint that I had not seen the one painting I had hoped to see. 

I turn the last corner, and to my left my unexpected expectation had been carefully placed just perfectly at my eye level, as if someone or something knew ahead of time I would be stopping by. Instantly my eyes filled with tears. I was moved by not only having the opportunity to see the delicacy put into the piece of art in person, but also and even more so, the overwhelming feeling like this had all been planned without my knowledge. Almost as though every second of my life, every second of life itself is a puzzle piece, and a greater force carefully places each second of every minute into the puzzle of time, creating the whole, which is reality as we experience. 

What is “my existing reality”? 

“Our security in life is to see each thing as it is in its full nature, in both its material and its casual aspects; and to do what is right and speak what is true with all our heart. What remains but to enjoy one’s life, linking one good act to another, so that not even the smallest space is ever left between?” - Marcus Aurelius  

My existing reality is currently seeking truth, so that I may one day speak it loud and clear, from the hart. 

…………………………………

Reading: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Listening: Sunday Night Blues Dubs by Fink

Watching: 

[laurenh-art]

Behind every Great Artist, is a Great Artist (and years of work which will never be seen).

Wrapping all the way around the building of the DMV in Culver City, there is a mural entitled Moonscapes. I noticed the mural while waiting in line on a recent visit to the DMV.

The mural is huge, extending around the entire building. The photos above are just a few highlights. The mural was originally painted in 1979 by David Rivas Botello and Wayne Alaniz Healy.

The section of the mural which actually first caught my attention, was the artist’s description of the mural, which is written on the wall right outside the entrance doors to the building. The description reads:

“The painting of Moonscapes represents an exposition of thought related to our position in the universe. The mural poses many questions to those who look beyond the graphic design. For instance, Why does the mind's ability to comprehend lifespans that vary from stars to subatomic particles oftentimes come easier than our willingness to understand the ideas of a fellow earthling? Or; How can we allow our society's overburden of advertising belligerence, "labor-saving" electrical nonsense, and strategic arms overkill to take precedence over the care and maintenance of spaceship Earth as we hurtle through the cosmos? It is hoped that questions such as these will stimulate your consciousness as you view "Moonscapes" and as such, enhance your interest and enjoyment.“

As I stood in line to finally obtain my California license, I was captivated by not only the beauty of the mural, but the concept behind it. And the fact that the artist were so open to sharing the ideas behind it enough to have the concept permanently written down along side the mural. I took a glance around me to see if anyone was seeing what I was seeing! Everyone around me was either shuffling through their paperwork needed for whatever it was that brought them to the DMV that day, or looking down, at their phones. 

Is anyone out there ever seeing what it is I am seeing? 

My visions must not always just be my own. There must be a deep rooted tree of knowledge which my unconscious mind routinely plucks fresh fruit from, and digests these fruits into my conscious thoughts. I alone did not grow this tree. Did I even plant the seed? In a past life perhaps, because I knew I would need that exact piece of ripened fruit to complete my train of thought at this very moment (and to make a delicious dessert). 

Yesterday my other half and I refreshed our inspiration board in our apartment. A collection of magazine clippings picked without much thought at first. We flip through a stack of magazines and rip out anything that immediately sticks out as interesting. We then whittle them down and weed out anything that on second thought, seem not as relevant. Eventually, all the pieces come together though (as they always do), and a collection of random images becomes a whole. 

The energy emitting from the board is fresh once again, rejuvenated and strong. The energy I am feeling is once again rejuvenated and strong.

Getting my California license felt like the final closure of one chapter, which the end of one thing is always the beginning of another. 

I am here, now.

“The struggle is real” I read on a boys shirt today. The dream is real too. Without one though, we would never know and appreciate the other.

Everything eventually comes full circle. We are once again speaking without using words, and in a way saying much more than all of these words could ever say. 

The images of the mural, many of my surroundings, and a deep rooted appreciate of the power of images has inspired me to really get back to work on what it is I have come here to do, say everything all at once while really saying nothing at all.  

I promise, I come in peace. However, like everything, peace is only a matter of perception. 

stay grounded, maintain focused, remain open. Balance comes in waves. 

…………………………………

Reading: The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna

Listening: Baobab by Rodriguez Jr.

Watching: 

[laurenh-art]

Balancing words with Action

How do you say it all, without speaking at all? What is the universal language? Is it through images and visual art? Music and dance? What if we were to make our bodices themselves a symbol? Aren’t we already?

Over the past few weeks, I have been finding in a variety of situations, that words themselves have not really been the best method for communicating my thoughts clearly. Hence, the absence of writing. 

On a recent trip back to Michigan, where I moved from just over a year ago, I spent a day with my sister. We Stopped at a sculpture garden she randomly found one day and thought I might like to see it. Turns out, she was right and I did really enjoy it.

 A few years ago, on a trip with my sister and her then fiancee, now husband, to San Francisco, we accidentally stumbled upon a temporary sculpture garden in Crissy Field. The temporary sculpture garden was a serious of work by Mark di Suvero. As we walked through the field, we didn’t talk much, but rather just enjoyed the moment and took photos of the different angles of the sculpture we each found to be the most interesting. Since then, it seems that visiting sculptures with my sister provides an experience we both enjoy, and seems to be an unspoken bridge for communication between us. The sculptures themselves say what I can only think to describe as us both enjoying form for being form, shapes for being shapes, and connected to each other through the sculptures to an even deeper value we both have, finding the joy in simplicity. 

…………………………………

Balance

My “new years resolution” for this year was/is about creating balance. Balance within myself, and without in my life. How much is too much? What is not enough? How do you know when it’s juuuust right? 

I am finding that balance in the now seems to be weighing equally the past and the future. Bridging the old with the new. Changing bad habits and countering them with good ones. Staying grounded, while also remaining open to new opportunities. 

One without the other is just one. With one there is no other, but if there isn’t an other, than there can’t even be one. 

“That doesn’t mean the opposite ideas are automatically true: you can’t escape the madness of crowds by dogmatically rejecting them. Instead, ask yourself: how much of what you know about business is shaped by mistaken reactions to past mistakes? The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” - Peter Thiel

…………………………………

Reading: Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Listening: Efterglow by Erki Panrnoja

Watching: The Hurt Business

[laurenh-art]

Seas and Seeds

Prepare 

to make ready beforehand for some purpose, use, or activity

to put in a proper state of mind

to work out the details in advance

When one doesn’t prepare, it is easy to get caught off guard. To quickly feel overwhelmed by all the little details that are usually handled during the time of preparation. 

Sometimes however, the steps taken while preparing for a situation, activity, or even a proper state of mind, can’t be done, as the unexpected does occur. Life seems to be a combination of both, preparation and spontaneity. Ups and downs, ebbs and flows.

The ocean, as I am discovering, is one of the best teachers for learning how to balance myself and life. How to prepare for the even timing of most waves, but also and embrace the the occasional waves that flows in a little further than anticipated. 

Preparation, months and years worth of preparation, are what is providing me the opportunity to now to able to enjoy a view like this. The walk along with beach with love in my heart instead of fear. To let go of the past, and slowly forgive - not only myself, but other as well. 

“I find good things and share them” - source unknown 

Above : apophyllite on the left, garnet on the right.

Apophyllite - a very high vibration stone which stimulate the third-eye chakra and clears any blockages into the crown chakra. Once the pathway to the crown chakra is clear, apophyllite aids in allowing one to move into even higher realms of consciousness, the 8th chakra, also known as the soul star chakra. This chakra deals with the idea of letting go, and allowing the Divine light of Spirit to fill your life. 

Garnet - a deep red, root chakra stone, garnet brings with it intense emotions of passion and hope, but also has a gentle, calming and stabilizing effect. Garnet can aid in lessening anger, especially towards oneself. Garnet is not only a strong and stable grounding stone for this life, but also has a strong link with the pituitary gland, and can help with recalling past-lives. 

Staying well grounded, remembering my past, and where I come from, while also reaching beyond who I Am now, into higher realms, beyond this life. Into the realm where there is isn’t even a Now, there is not concept of past or future, fear, forgiveness, love, and loss don’t even exist. There just, is. 

…………………………………

While the start of summer is upon us, I decided that for my thanksgiving dinner this year, I would like to grow my own pumpkin and butternut squash. This of course, takes a great deal of forethought and, you guessed it, preparation. So tonight I because this long and thought out task by beginning the seeds sprouting process. 

The best way I am finding to sprout seeds it just by placing them in a damp paper towel for a few weeks. Wet down the paper down, then ring it out, then scatter the seeds on the paper towel, then fold it up and label it. I check the paper towel ever few days to see if it needs a sprits of water and rewet the paper towel with a sprits of water if need be.

I then put the moistened paper towels in an air tight container, which helps keep them wet, and within a week, the miracle of life has begun!

Below are a few other seeds I began sprouting a week or so ago (that I need to plant!)

…………………………………

“Although quantity and quality often are considered disparate, in art and music they appear closely related. We may even hear, ‘Quantity is a quality,’ because here quantity not only designates amounts, as of weight or number, but also is a means of underlining, of pronouncement, and a means of equilibrium, of balance.” - Josef Albers, in the book Interaction of Color

…………………………………

Reading: Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

Listening: Crack-Up by Fleet Foxes - for sure on the top 5 list for releases this year.

Watching: What’s With Wheat

[laurenh-art]

Full Sphercle

All this way, just to find myself standing on a bridge, watching myself go by. 

…………………………………

The Sphere

In sacred geometry, the sphere is known the simplest form and the ultimate expression of completeness and unity. All points on the surface of a sphere are equidistant from the center. 

We are made up of and are inhabited by spheres. We, as humans, live and inhabit a sphere. 

Every point on the surface of a sphere is considered equal distant from its center. Why is it then, that every point, every place, every person, every living thing (and none living things), on earth are not considered equal? 

While a sphere is the simplest form in sacred geometry, a sphere is also the container for all the other forms. Creation begins with a sphere, yet a sphere also holds all of the other building blocks needed for creation.

Everything eventually comes around full circle, the end of one thing is always the beginning of another. 

I have recently just begun an in depth study on spheres, as their shape, meaning, and role in both scared geometry, and life seems crucial and extremely vast.

Above quartz crystal ball can be found in the Gem and Mineral Hall at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. 

…………………………………

Reading - The Book of Circles: Visualizing Spheres of Knowledge by Manuel Lima

Listening - Sand by Dans Dans

Watching - Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud

[laurenh-art]

One Pi(e) at a Time

Last night I had some friends over for dinner. The menu included cucumber and hummus rolls topped with sun dried tomato basil pesto as an appetizer, tofu and butternut squash stuffed shells for the main dish, and below for the dessert. 

Originally from www.fooduzzi.com, below is my updated recipe for a dairy free, strawberry and coconut cream pie, topped with drizzled chocolate.

Chocolate Drizzled, Strawberry & Coconut Cream Pi(e)

Ingredients

Crust:

About 20 pitted medjool dates

1 ¼ cup raw cashews, finely chopped in a food processor 

¾ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Filling:

2 - 13.5 oz. cans coconut cream - refrigerated overnight (to separate cream and liquid)

2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Toppings:

12-15 fresh strawberries sliced thin

½ cup (dairy free) chocolate chips

Splash (about ¼ cup) almond milk - homemade is preferred, but store bought works too

Instructions

First, ensure to place coconut cream cans in the refrigerator the day/night before you are preparing to make this pie. If you forgot, place the cans in the freezer at least 2-3 hours before making pie filling. If you forget to do that, theeeen your pie will be a watery mess and you’ll have to bake cookies for dessert instead. 

Second, pre-oil the pie pan. I use earth balance buttery spread, and spread a thin layer over the entire pie pan. This just ensures the pie crust won’t stick to the pie pan. 

Crust:

Chop dates by hand into tiny pieces. I’m talking 1/4″x1/4″x1/4″ or smaller. Place dates in a mixing bowl once chopped.

Measure out cashews and place in a food processor - chop. Put chopped cashews in mixing bowl with dates, then also add the coconut. 

Mix all 3 ingredients together until mixture forms into one large stick ball. It’s easier to mix just using your hands rather than using a spoon. (If you have something like a KitchenAid mixer that would work great too!) Place sticky ball mixture in pie pan and spread evenly covering entire pan. Place crust in freezer while mixing filling. 

Filling:

Remove coconut cream cans from refrigerator. Now, a little trick I got from www.ohsheglows.com, turn the coconut cream cans upside down and open from the bottom. Why should you flip it upside down? The liquid coconut milk, the part that doesn’t harden and is not used in this pie, will now be at the top of the can. (Note: This may not work with all brands of canned coconut cream.) Drain out the liquid and scoop out the remaining cream at the bottom of the can into either a mixer, or if you don’t have a mixer, I use my food processor with the dough blade. (Note: You need to use some sort of electric mixer, blender, or food processor to get the coconut cream whipped. I have tried by hand and it just never gets it whipped enough to use a pie filling.) 

Add the maple syrup and vanilla. Whip until combined and mixture is fluffy. You might need to scrap down the sides of the bowl once or twice and mix again.

Next, remove crust from freezer, pour coconut cream mixture on top of crust and spread evenly using a spatula. Place back in freezer for ½ hour to set both crust and filling. 

Toppings:

While crust and filling are in the freezer, slice the strawberries and melt the chocolate.

To melt the chocolate, place chocolate chips in a pot on the stove and add almond milk. Melt on low heat whisking mixture the whole time until all chocolate is melted. A little less or more milk might be needed. You want the consistency to be pourable, but not too watery.

Once chocolate is cooled and crust and filling have had a least ½ hour to set, pull out of freezer and top with strawberries and drizzle with chocolate. Place in refrigerate for at least 5-6 hours. The longer the better. I found the pie held together even better after it sat overnight.

…………………………………

I have been reading the book Why Time Flies, and oddly enough, it has taken what seems like a long time to finish reading. Everything comes into ones life at the exact time it is suppose to though, as today while nearing the end of the book, I was reading a section that was taking about empathy. Last night, after dinner and drinks, the conversation at one point stumbled into just that, feeling epithetic and why do some people never develop the ability to feel epithetic towards others.  

What does it really mean to feel empathy? Was a lack of empathy actually an advantage to humans thousands of years ago as it allowed some human to conquer others and change history? 

“Our slightest social changes - our glances, our smiles and frowns - gain potency from our ability to synchronize them among ourselves…we bend time to make time with one another, and the many temporal distortions we experience are indicators of empathy; the better able I am to envisage myself in your body and your state of mind, and you in mine, the better we can recognize a threat, an ally, a friend, or someone in need. But empathy is a fairly sophisticated trait, a mark of emotional adulthood; it takes learning and time…it may be that a critical aspect of growing up is learning how to bend our time in step with others.” - Alan Burdick, Why Time Flies 

Living in a city that has been referred to as “the jungle”, I am finding that one needs to balance feeling empathic towards others with to put it frankly, not giving a fuck. 

Is it really in our nature to fear and fight the other? Or like cutting down a tree, bringing it into the house, and then putting lights and other colorful objects on it for a couple weeks out of the year, is this a learned behavior?  

The true calling of empathy is not just feeling for another, but realizing that you are the other.  

…………………………………

Reading - Be Here Now by Rum Dass

Listening - Down to Earth by Flight Facilities

Watching - The Secret