New friends

Rachel and I enjoyed meeting Kathryn and Teddy, who are good friends of Mom and Paul. They are from Arkansas, where they ran a vegan restaurant for many years. Kathryn and Ted are proponents of the macrobiotic diet, which stresses a balance of yin and yang foods, as well as eating foods that are grown in the area where one lives. Not surprisingly, Kathryn is an outstanding vegetarian cook. It was interesting just to watch her cut up vegetables. As I added frozen Brussels sprouts to our stew the other night, I couldn't help flashing on Kathryn sitting at Mom and Paul's table, carefully trimming some little, fresh, bright green Brussels sprouts from one of the local markets. (Sniff!) There doesn't seem to be any aspect of cooking and baking that Kathryn hasn't mastered: yummy cookies, fruitcake, sourdough breads, and gorgeous pies with fluted crusts. Plus she knows her way around all those vegan protein sources, like seitan and tempeh. Here's a recipe for one of her vegie dishes:

Kathryn's Vegie Cassoulet
In bottom of heavy cast iron dutch oven, pour olive oil, then layer in order:

chopped tomatoes
sliced potatoes
mixture of green beans, coarsely cut carrots & cabbage, tossed with olive oil
season with thyme, oregano, or basil
top: finely chopped garlic, onions, red pepper
Cover and bake 1 hour & 15 minutes

Ted has traveled all over the world, importing goods he sells in the US. He's a natural raconteur, the kind of person who is constantly processing his life experiences. Within minutes of meeting Ted and Kathryn, we had cut through the chitchat and were talking about meaningful things. Life is too short to do anything else! I was interested to hear that Kathryn and Ted are good friends with Julia Butterfly Hill, the environmental activist. Hill tells the story of her 2-year vigil for the redwoods, living on a platform in a huge redwood tree, in her book, Legacy of Luna, a must-read for anyone who loves the planet (the link will take you to the Circle of Life website, where you can order an autographed copy). I couldn't help noticing that Rachel had taken our copy of the book up to her bedroom. It's probably a more compelling read than Crime & Punishment (her reading assignment over Christmas break).

Pictured here are three generations of the Krummel family: Candice (Yaquan), Cameron and his wife Isa, and baby Florence. Candice works with the Tzutuhil to market their handmade fabric goods and preserve their beautiful traditional weaving. Our families shared one of Paul's hams for Christmas dinner, followed by Mom's delicious coconut and lemon cream pies. We were entertained by Florence, boldly taking her first steps. I imagine the Krummels are furiously rearranging their home now to accommodate an energetic walking child.