Flavours Of Kerala – Kerala Egg Masala
Photo Credit: Jithin Vijay
Kerala Egg Masala is a tasty and simple gravy dish which goes well with Kerala style palappam. A favorite dish for breakfast, the main ingredients for making egg masala is boiled egg, grated coconut, chili powder, coriander powder, onion, tomato and garam masala.
Critter-Countering Collaboration
A section of tree showing holes made by the Asian long horned beetle. The city of Boston, the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources, the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and the US Dept. of Agriculture celebrate the eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle at the Arnold Arboretum. The event lifts the 1.5 mile quarantine that had been placed around Faulkner Hospital (including the Arboretum) after the discovery of infested trees there in 2010.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard Gazette reports on this collaborative effort to deal with a determined pest that has ravaged forests in recent years:
“The whole country knows about Boston. When a challenge presents itself, the entire community here comes together. The eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle is a great example of that,” said Gary Woodward, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s deputy undersecretary of marketing and regulatory programs.
Bird of the Day: Asian Paradise Flycatcher – male
Ganeshgudi, Karnataka
Google, Maps, And Modern Conservation
Screen capture from Google’s Street View Grand Canyon
We have not been sourcing from Harper’s, one of the great magazines covering topics of interest to Raxa Collective. We will mend our ways starting now:
Grand Plan
Why has Google added the Grand Canyon to Street View? By Jeremy Miller
Lotus Flower
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
The lotus is India’s national flower, and one of the eight auspicious signs of Buddhism and Hinduism. As a holy symbol in Indian culture and a sacred symbol of Hinduism, the lotus is found throughout the Hindu scriptures. In many spiritual traditions, lotus flowers are especially sacred as an offering to the divine. Continue reading
Unexpected Problems With Urban Farming
Above: A rendering of City Slicker Farms’ plans for a farm and park in West Oakland. Image courtesy City Slicker Farms.
In interesting juxtaposition to the article on urban farming we linked to yesterday, a post on the New Yorker‘s website covers a related topic from a completely unexpected angle:
In 2012, Linnette Edwards, a Bay Area real-estate agent, produced a video promotingNOBE, a name conjured up by developers for an area covering parts of Oakland, Berkeley, and the town of Emeryville. She posted it on NOBE Neighborhood, a Web site she created to drum up buzz among potential home buyers. The video includes interviews with enthusiastic young residents, a local cupcake maker, a bartender at a new watering hole, and with Edwards herself. It also features a local, volunteer-run enterprise called the Golden Gate Community Garden. “We’re super psyched that there’s a community garden across the street—it’s definitely a bonus to this block,” a new homeowner says, over footage of greenery. “The fabulous edible garden movement is in full swing,” the NOBEWeb site notes. “It’s not uncommon to find neighbors crop swapping their homegrown edibles and frequenting the local Farmer’s Markets.” The site listed several neighborhood community-gardening programs, including one run by a nonprofit called Phat Beets Produce. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Srilankan Frogmouth
Thattekad, Kerala
National Trust, Innovator With Alternative Energy
Plas Newydd National Trust property in Wales, where a new marine pump has been installed. Photograph: National Trust
Thanks to the Guardian for its environmental coverage (which used to be more abundantly interesting, but credit still due for its commitment to coverage), and this story in particular:
A 300-year-old country mansion is to get environmentally-friendly heating from the ocean with the UK’s biggest marine source heat pump, the National Trust said. Continue reading
Unexpected Benefits Of Urban Farming
A converted Minnesota brewery now combines hydroponics and fish farming Urban Organics
While the article opens with some hairy, crunchy stereotypes of organicistas (left out here because of their tedium) we nonetheless are happy to see an old school publication like Newsweek paying attention to such important issues more often left to specialist publications:
…It’s a huge, airy space, completely climate-controlled, filled with racks of vegetables that reach up to the ceiling. There’s no dirt—plant roots are suspended in water that flows through the racks like a gentle river. On the far wall past the vegetables, large, circular, windowed tanks of fish reside on raised platforms four feet off the ground. The platforms look like big decks, and pipes connect the fish tanks to the racks of plants. Bugs? Not a one—but if workers do find one with their Integrated Pest Management system, it’s dealt with sans pesticide, in compliance with organic guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Haider and co-founders Fred Haberman, Chris Ames and Kristen Koontz Haider ask visitors to clean their feet at the door so as not to track in anything unsavory. Continue reading
Tapioca
Photo credits: Nobi Pauls
Tapioca is traditionally used in all Kerala cuisine, almost three to four days weekly, usually as breakfast or dinner. The root is prepared in a wide variety of ways. Boiled tapioca and green chili with onion chutney is one method; another is boiled tapioca mixed with grated coconut, chili, turmeric and salt. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Northern Shoveler
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan
Tibetan Golden Temple – Karnataka
Photo credits: Jithin Vijay
The Tibetan Golden Temple is situated in Kushalnagar Mysore, in the state of Karnataka. It is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet and China. The Golden Temple is the main attraction in Kushalnagar; its walls are adorned with colourful paintings depicting gods and demons from Buddhist mythology. Continue reading
Something In The Air
A Greenpeace protest juxtaposed the drowning of some of the world’s most iconic structures with Cancun, Mexico’s, rising skyline. Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images
After this recent story, we maybe are just more aware of this theme and watching for it, or else there is something sticky about it:
Climate Change: A Time For Humor, A Time For Action
Bird of the Day: Common Kestrel
Outskirts of Bangalore, Karnataka
Tea Plantations – Munnar
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Munnar is a popular tourist destination in Kerala, attracting many people mesmerized by its manicured tea gardens and unique biodiversity. The region holds the largest tea plantations in India. In the nineteenth century, the British Resident of the Travancore Kingdom, John Daniel Munro, visited Munnar and had a great interest in the plantations. Continue reading
Xandari Featured On Costa Rica’s Favorite News Show
The Xandari Resort, located just 4 miles north of downtown San Jose, was commended in the prestigious Forbes magazine and recommended to his readers as an excellent hotel for business or tourism. publication specializing in business and lifestyle, described place as a piece of mountain paradise and a clear example of the culture of “pure life.” Author is an experienced travel journalist who was especially impressed by the hotel’s philosophy, focused 100% sustainability and well-being of their guests . Xandari According to the manager, is the people that makes this resort special.
Bird of the Day: Royal Tern (El Cuyo, Mexico)
First Holy Communion
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
First Holy Communion is traditionally the most important and holiest festive occasion in a Latin and Roman Catholic family. It is the first time that a person receives the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which involves the consumption of consecrated drinking wine and consecrated bread. Most children receive their First Holy Communion when they are 8 to 10 years old. Special white dresses are worn the celebrate the event. Continue reading
Steven Pinker Profile
Steven Pinker is a Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. He is pictured in his home in Boston. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
We have noted his thoughts on the work of others, including unflattering thoughts, but until now we have not had the opportunity to point our attention to the man himself, so thanks to Harvard magazine for the occasion to do so:
‘What could be more interesting than how the mind works?’
Steven Pinker’s history of thought
Steven Pinker follows Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Martha Minow, and E.O. Wilson in the Experience series, interviews with Harvard faculty members covering the reasons they became teachers and scholars, and the personal journeys, missteps included, behind their professional success. Interviews with Melissa Franklin, Stephen Greenblatt, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Helen Vendler, and Walter Willett will appear in coming weeks. Continue reading
Organikos 