I guess it is time to start writing about food again since that is sort of what this book is about. But there is only so much you can say about food. I am trying to live a life that is so much better than just food. We tried to make a homemade loaf of grain bread. We started with a tablespoon of active dry yeast,1-1/2 cups of warm water, 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk, 1 tablespoon of course salt or table salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2/3 cup of my grains, 2 ½ cups of white flour. First we dissolved the yeast in a half a cup of warm water for about 5 minutes and then pretty much mixed everything together. Then we kneaded the dough to mix it good. Then we put it in a greased pan to let it rise. This was actually a recipe for pizza dough but we thought we try to make a loaf of bread out of it. Its nice to have a short term goal to think about while you go about doing the other things that need done like cutting the grass or writing a book. Its nice to experiment with food and recipes ,the only thing is, you have to eat the results. The bread turned out pretty good. And with a little butter or cheese it was a feast for me. I was already wondering how much white flour could be replaced with my grains without giving up too much taste or ability for the bread to rise. I want to do this because the grains are healthier and fill you better. But the white flour gives the bread its distinctive taste and the fluffy texture. I’m wondering if the 2/3 cup of grains to 2 1/2 cups of flour can be upped to say 50-50 grains to flour, which would be about a cup and a half to a cup and 3/4 of each. This I will have to try in the next batch of bread. Baking bread takes time and there is some clean up involved but it is definitly worth it. Who does not like home made bread? I think eating homemade bread is almost hard wired into our brains.

I found my inspiration to write again. I was substitute teaching for a Spanish class. During a free period I opened a liturature book up that was lying around. I read a short story by Amy Tan called “Fish Cheeks”. I was a little depressed because it was dawning on me how hard it is to learn and master a foreign language. I was struggling with the story by Cervantes called Don Quiote. I was looking at the literature book and the famous novel. When I came acrooss the short story. “Fish Cheeks” really lifted my spirits because it was written so simply and it told such an amusing story. I made a mental note to get a copy of her book called “The Joy Luck Club” or at least rent the movie that was popular a few years ago. After this free period I had a Spanish 4 class and the kids in this class were all really motivated to learn. The class was given an assignment dealing with Don Quiote novel. I remember mentioning to the students that Cervantes, the author of the novel, had lived a life that was more interesting than his novel. He traveled most of the known world at the time and was enslaved for many years. And he had his left hand cut off in a battle in which he fought. This is why I like substitute teaching, when it is good. Because I either learn some good things or I remember some good things that I learned years ago. During this class one of the students asked me if I knew a sub from Columbia called Yugo. And then he started imitating him. With a Spanish accented voice from Tony Montana in the movie Scarfac”. He started saying “hey man how you doing?”. Then I responded in a thick Spanish accent, “that’s not my job, man”. And everybody in the class started laughing. This was one of the more rare times when the students were laughing with me instead of at me. So between reading the short story by Amy Tan and this student imitating Al Pacino as Tony Montana, my spirits were sailing and my depression of trying to learn a foreign language was gone. For the other classes this day, the teacher who was really organized, left me a video to show all the Spanish 1 and 2 classes. The video was about the spread of the Spanish empire. And I was thinking while watching this movie, who needs Star Wars movies when you can learn about the actual history of our world? In the video they mentioned about when Hernan Cortez showed up in Mexico City in 1519. The holy book of the Aztec people had said that the serpent god would arrive from the East. When Cortez arrived sitting on a big horse that these people had never seen and muskets that they had never heard, they thought Cortez was the serpent god. They laid down their stone age weapons and handed over their gold and bowed down to him and his men. Imagine what Cortez thought when he saw Mexico City with pyramids and a population that was as big as any city in Europe at the time. He conquered most of Mexico with a few hundred men on horseback. The Aztecs began to fight back after the Spanish began treating them badly. So determined was Cortez to conquer and rule this land that he burned his ships after arriving.
During one of the afternoon classes a kid came into class with a swollen black and red eye. I asked him what happened and he told me that someone kicked him in the eye and he had a slight concussion and that he did not even need to be in school.During the video he would not shut up so I told him to sit in the front of the classroom closer to the movie screen. Later, he came up to me and asked me if he could go see the nurse. We are not supposed to send anybody to the nurse during ceratain periods so I told him to wait until after class to go to the nurse. Then I told him you can find somebody anywhere in the world to kick your other eye in and your nose and both ears. I told him that you have to take yourself out of all situations that lead to getting your head kicked in. I said stick your nose in a book every chance you get and leave it there. And I guarantee nobody will ever kick you in the head while you are reading a book. He sat down and looked like Rodan’s Thinker in the famous sculpture.
I have always been able to stretch my abilities to a point where the challenges I have taken on were based on realistic endeavors. For instance I never even bothered to learn to play a musical instrument besides the drums because the chance of success would not have been to great. But attempting to learn a foreign language is not a solitary act like playing a musical instrument. You learn a foreign language with a lot of help from other people. So the social reinforcement you get is very rewarding. The only way someone like me can master a foreign language is to go where they speak the language. Maybe its time for another trip to a country to learn another foreign language - I have the urge….

This blog is dedicated to Greg Wilcox who died on April 27,2005. A while back Greg emailed me and asked me if it would be alright to use the Gregsgrains logo that I had started for my web site also. I told what him what my father always told me. And, that is, ‘there is always room for one more’. Soon after this, he graciously sent me a bag of his kefir grains. So I sent him a bag of my grains. They are made with oatmeal and some other ingredients. We both shared a radical way to eat, made more radical by sharing our outlooks. When I told him that I was writing a book about ‘how to eat on less than a dollar a day’ he was enthusiastic about this. I followed all the information on the Yahoo group and learned a lot about kefir. I liked his idealism and his passion to want to change things for the better in the world. Lately I have been outraged by companies selling creams to prevent wrinkles and tanning lotions and nonsense like this. I would even venture to say that the whole cosmetics industry is a total waste. When just letting the natural oils from under our skin come to the surface-these oils are the best lotion for the skin. I think he would have agreed with me. In that, allowing a lot of useless industries to disappear, would shrink the economy to the point where we would not have any leftover tax money to give away to countries that hate us anyhow. I agreed with Greg on most issues. Where Greg and I differed, I believe that whomever is going to save the planet, they would do it by making money with environmental innovations. Another thing we might have not have agreed on was, I thought obtaining raw milk was too difficult a task to expect the average person to be able to do. My philosophy is making or buying a cup of yogurt and throwing a quarter cup of raw oatmeal is more something that the average guy can comprehend and follow. Anyhow its strange but I had been thinking about Greg lately and his whole ability to give grains away. And I was getting ready to write him about inviting him up to Pittsburgh to stay in a primitive basement apartment that I had built at a duplex house that I own and rent. I thought he might get involved in the ‘free ride’ government sponsored project that recycles old bikes here in Pittsburgh and take in the City culture. I was going to let him stay in that basement apartment and maybe open up his knack for giving things away by offering the apartment to other would be travelers for free or by bartering for things like kefir grains and other simple ideas. I also was hoping to talk to him about making a documentary with hand held video cameras about maximizing living space in cities by turning areas like attics and basements into living spaces. So his desire to give things away has infected me. Simplicity was what he was after maybe he taught us all something. I wanted him to bring up another batch of grains because mine were starting to shrivel up. He told me that the grain grains that I sent him went into his kefir and they made the mix into a 15 course meal. And upon consuming, he did not have to eat for the rest of the day…. So I raise my cup of yogurt to you Greg and I say bring on the revolution. Everybody wants to die for something I’m going to miss you….

The other Greg, anybody from the kefir site can contact me at www.gregsgrains.com