Free Write

My palms are sweaty, even though it is winter and it's about 40 degrees out here. The only thing I can think about is those kids. I can't imagine what they are both going through right now without their parents. They're so young and neither of them know where mommy and daddy went. The lights of the down town buildings glisten in the cold winter night. Any other night I would have had a huge amount of joy in me with the goosebumps in my arms, but tonight I can't imagine how anyone could feel the least amount of joy. So many different cold-hearted stories being told around us making us all wish this moment wasn't happening, not that we weren't already wishing that before. There is a woman sitting on the floor next to the building with a desperate look on her face. Her hair looks like a bird's nest and she lookes as if she hasn't slept for days. Her clothes are dirty and her sobbing broke all of our hearts. If we only knew her story, maybe someone could help her. But she isn't the only one going through something painful right now. We wre all there for a reason. A depressing reason in which only a few of us could keep the tears from running down our faces.

Cliche

It was 1 a.m. and we were still talking. I can't say we were waisting out time here, because we both knew we had a problem and we knew there was a lot we needed to talk about. So there we were, burning the midnight oil, trying to solve this problem even though we both knew it didn't have a solution. Still, we sat there hoping something would happen. Hoping we could come up with a solution to our dilemma. It was as if I could even feel his hand reach up to brush the hair away from my face. And then we knew. This was good-bye. The cheerful attitude, the laughs we both shared, were all gone. The forbidden friendship that tore us to pieces and brought us to tears. In out hearts we both knew we'd have to move on, even if neither of us wanted to. Even if we thought our love could overcome anything, and we would never part, we were wrong. That was an end of an era for both of us.

Dystopia

We're supposed to have nine lives, right? In a better world we wouldn't have any at all. Who wants to live if were not free? We're all locked inside the human households trapped and forced to live with people that are always calling me a pussy and and giving away my children. In my four years I've had seven lovers. My first man's name was Paolo (his owner was Italian). He was so passionate and loving, but as soon as I told him I was pregnant he ran off just like my mother told me he would. "All cats are the same," she always used to say. When I had my babies they were beautiful, but my owner took them away as soon as they could open their eyes. I don't even know where they are right now. Every night I think about my poor little babies, and I have to deal with the fact that they're all going through the same pain that I am going through right now. I just wish I could have their weak little bodies next to me. That's the only way I ever think of them when I think of my children. They're in their baby forms in my head, because that's the only way I ever saw them. They were taken away from me and I never got to see them grow up.

Cooking Blog

My idea of sustainable living is knowing how to live in a way that doesn’t affect the earth in any way. The reason why I think that we’re planting these edible herbs is because it relates to the book that we’ve been reading in class, called My Ishmael. The book explains how we became a “taker” society when the human race started to keep the food under lock and key and people had to start to work harder in order to eat and survive. Not only are we living more sustainable because were staying away from the job market in a way that won’t kill us, but we’re also growing things that we can eat so we can stay away from foods that contain chemicals ingredients that we cant even pronounce. This relates to our essential questions because by growing out own herbs and eating what we plant, we will live more sustainable and maybe if people see that we plant herbs they will start to do it also. We will also be more healthy since we know what we are putting in out bodies.

After weeks of watering and trying to learn as much as we could about out herbs we got to try to think of something that we could do with our plants so we could use them in a sustainable way. We then had to freedom to decide how it was we were going to use our herbs. When we had a couple of recipe ideas we were then able to get right to work on cooking with them. We cut the leafs off of our herbs (in my case they were lemons basil leaves, so we would be cooking with the leaves) and put them in a damp paper towel so we could take them home to cook. Lulu and I had the same herbs so we decided to make a video together. We wanted to make something simple, but out of the ordinary so we decided to make lemon basil lemonade. The recipe was very simple. All it asked for was to start of with a regular lemonade recipe and we the recipe added on the basil in a way that was quite simple. It asked to mash the sugar and the basil together which actually worked out well and then mix together the rest of the ingredients.


In the end I cant really say that I loved it because that would be a lie, but it wasn’t bad. Lulu seemed to like it so I guess it might have tasted good to some people. It needed more sugar, but we managed to fix that. If I could do it again, I probably would just try to make the video more professional and ask for help when it came to how to make a video that doesn’t look really bad when it comes to quality. Planting and cooking with herbs has definitely inspired me to have my own garden and plant my own carrots since I love them so much and I eat them all the time. At least if I plant my own I’ll know for sure there are no preservatives or chemicals in my food.

This I Believe

Coming out of the closet was probably the most difficult thing I had ever done. I didn’t really have a problem with telling other people that I liked girls, but I had no idea what my mom’s reaction was going to be like. I honestly didn’t really care about my dad’s opinion, since he didn’t really seem to care about me at the time anyway. My mom wasn’t always so religious, but she did always love God. When she became a Jehovah’s Witness I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t really think anything would change. I was wrong. Everything changed. I have always followed my mom and I love her with all my heart so I went with her to all her religious meetings and I went door-to-door preaching with her. I began to love god more than I even thought possible. When I learned that god disapproved of homosexuality it didn’t mean much to me. I guess you could say I never really liked boys and I had always been a little different than the rest of the girls at school. When I told my mom that I was a lesbian she freaked out and started to cry. It hurt me terribly to see that I was the cause of her pain. She told me that I was just confused and that I was just going through a faze. I have nothing against homosexuals and I truthfully respect them, but I couldn’t stand hurting my mother like that. Neither one of us mentioned that again. I think I can really relate to Joel Engarsio because our stories are very similar. They may not have the same ending, but I think you could say we’re both happy. I respect him for his decision, but I don’t think I could have made the same one. Either way, in the end, we both believe the same thing. I believe that we each believe something different, and to each one of us, what we believe is the truth. We all see the world as something different, but we should respect each other no matter how confusing someone’s beliefs might seem to us.

SPECIAL THANKS TO LIVY SOLIS WHO READ THIS ESSAY AND THOUGHT OF ME :)

BASIL RECEPIES

BASIL CHEESECAKE?!
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 1/2 cups basil, fresh
1/2 cup parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic
1 lb ricotta cheese, room temperature
2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 lb parmesan cheese, grated
5 eggs
1/2 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted



BASIL FRIES!!
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 medium red potatoes


BASIL LEMONADE!
1/2 cup rinsed lightly packed fresh basil leaf
3 tablespoons sugar
4 cups water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 sprig fresh basil

sustainability visit (for real this time)

So it tunes out that "Henry's Farmers Market" isn't an actual Farmer's Market. lol. It's funny how in the last blog I mentioned how the "farmer's market" i went to wasn't much different compared to other grocery stores, since it is just another grocery store. Today when Lulu and I went to an actual farmers market I really noticed the difference. The food there actually seemed organic. There were people selling herbs and all sorts of plants that they grow themselves. Also, most things were more expensive except the products that came in abundance. It was an amazing experience :D