Where can you get a great deal on healthy ingredients that spark your culinary creativity? Answer: Your own kitchen!

Inspired by last month’s Fourth Friday showing of Just Eat It, which highlighted the staggering problem of food waste, people got creative for this month’s Shop Your Kitchen potluck. Grains from the pantry, farmers’ market leftovers, and this-and-that from the fridge all went into tasty and healthy creations.

We also got some suggestions about shopping and food storage from some short videos and discussion:

• Shopping with a list and resisting the temptation to buy whatever looks good
• Buying smaller quantities that you know you’ll use.
• Adding an “Eat this first” box in the refrigerator.
• Not storing your bananas and apples near other produce, unless you want them to ripen quickly (they emit ethylene, which hastens the ripening process).
• Storing your lettuce first in a paper bag (the plastic keeps the lettuce from wilting, but direct contact with the plastic hastens spoilage).
• Prepping your veggies right away when you get back from the market so they’re available to eat later with no additional prep.

We’re continuing our look at food waste with a fun “anti-food waste” evening.

• Got a can of garbonzo beans? Make hummus!
• Got a cabbage in the fridge? Make cole slaw!
• Got some rice in your cupboard and some veggies in your fridge? Mix it up and get creative!

Friday May 22
7:00-9:00pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Fireside Room
505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA 

All ages welcome
Sponsored by Transition Silicon Valley, Transition Palo Alto, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, and Zero Waste Palo Alto.

“… [O]ur cultural and environmental crises. . . will require that most difficult of all human endeavors, facing our own despair. This involves waking from our trance of denial, facing our own pain and sorrow, accepting the world as it is, adapting and living more intentionally.” — Mary Pipher, author of The Green Boat

Transition Palo Alto is co-sponsoring a talk May 30 by Mary Pipher, national best selling author of Reviving Ophelia. She’ll be discussing her latest book, The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in our Capsized Culture.

A Nebraska resident, Mary Pipher found herself in deep despair about the growing evidence of climate change. A psychologist, she recognized the signs of depression — and she’ll share her story of collecting friends and neighbors to create an antidote to despair.

Saturday, May 30, 2015
7:30 – 9:00 pm
Palo Alto Unitarian Universalist Church
505 Charleston Road, Palo Alto

Go to http://buff.ly/1GyD3bL to reserve your seat for $10. Donations will be accepted at the door on May 30; no one will be turned away for lack of funds as long as seats are available.

Mary Pipher’s talk is the kick-off to an “All City Read,” co-sponsored by the City of Palo Alto Library. Pick up a copy of The Green Boat from the Accounts desk at any Palo Alto City Library branch. No need to check it out; please read and pass it along to a friend or return it to the Library. Then join with others for one of four discussion groups:

Thurs. June 4, 6:30 pm – Mitchell Park Library, 3700 Middlefield Road, PA
Sat. June 6, 4 pm – Downtown Library, 270 Forest Avenue, PA
Fri. June 12, 10:30 am – College Terrace Library, 2300 Wellesley Street, PA
Mon June 15, 6:30 pm – Rinconada Library (formerly Main Library), 1213 Newell Road, Palo Alto

Folks jammed the Fireside Room for the West Coast community premiere of Just Eat It, a funny, entertaining, and jaw dropping look at the staggering problem of food waste.  40 percent of produced food is wasted throughout the production and delivery cycle, from the farm and factory to people’s homes. Not only does that mean that food isn’t getting to people in need, but it’s also an obscene waste of energy and water.

What can we do about the problem? After the film, Maybo AuYeung from Zero Waste Palo Alto answered questions about what the city is doing about the waste problem, and attendees shared stories and strategies: changing shopping strategies, pressuring local grocers to change their practices, gleaning excess produce to give to those in need, and even creative dumpster diving.

Submitted by Trina Lynn

April’s Craft Night was ‘out of this world!’

While a few of us assembled Aliens & UFOs from recyclables in  preparation for the city’s ‘No Space to Alienate’ Kid’s Parade & May Fete event, others got serious with the sewing machines & cutting table and made some much needed pant & clothing adjustments. 

Herb provided a lovely soundtrack to a knife sharpener, an embroiderer and a coloring project & some of us talked business (aka as community building in these circles). 

All this was captured in a series of much anticipated ‘Black & White’ pics by our most wonderful Barbara Weinstein who made the coolest UFO of the night and offered these ‘Noir’ photos. 

No one is banned (inside joke*), in fact all are welcome at May’s Craft Night event.  Look out for the invitation early next month for details on the location and where to RSVP (*or just to be let in on the joke).

And Herb’s mood guitar.

Book group 6 continued its look at drought solutions on April 8.

Margaret Okuzumi gave a talk on ideas for saving water around the home. She brought faucet aerators and other handy things that people can install to start saving water in an instant. She also passed out info on unconventional water saving tips. Check it out: Margaret’s Unconventional Water-Saving Tips v2

Winner of numerous awards, including Audience Choice at the 2014 Hot Docs Film Festival.
“Hugely entertaining… will leave audiences gobsmacked.” – Variety

We all love food. As a society, we devour countless cooking shows, culinary magazines and foodie blogs. So how could we possibly be throwing nearly 50% of it in the trash?

Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant (remember them from the Clean Bin Project film?) dive into the issue of waste from farm, through retail, all the way to the back of their own fridge. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, they pledge to quit grocery shopping and survive only on discarded food – you’ll see what happens.

After the film, join the discussion and hear Maybo Auyeung from Zero Waste Palo Alto share what’s happening locally.

Friday April 24
7:30pm (come at 7:15 for social time)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Fireside Room
505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA 

All ages welcome
$5 recommended donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Films of Vision and Hope focuses on positive solutions to  environmental and social problems affecting our world. Provocative films, great discussion, and opportunities to connect with others who want to make a difference. Sponsored by Transition Silicon Valley, Transition Palo Alto, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, and Zero Waste Palo Alto.

Submitted by Trina Lynn
A report on last month’s TPA Craft Night and invitation to the next (April 14 Tuesday evening)

Last month’s Craft Night was a pretty low-key event, but whenever we heard Herb testing out the beautiful wind chime he was constructing from old or miss-cut keys, I swear he hit a high note (For more on this check out Scrapophony.net).

Emily tried out a cool project: re-purpose an old sock for a sling/sleeve bottle cozy.  William darned again (I need to ask him to show me how to do this someday) while Diana and I cut die-cuts for collage from old magazines.

Marie & Jose crafted too but mostly I think they came for the conversation. But then again we all did. And it was a lovely evening. 🙂

Join us again on Tuesday, April 14th.
Trina & Emily will host craft night
From 6PM to 9:30 PM
Kids are always welcome

Look for our invitation or e-mail pltredux@gmail.com for further details
Bring your own projects or find something here to work on
We’re not sure if we have a theme or a demo yet this month but Spring is here.

Whatever we do let’s be colourful!

What’s involved in setting up gray water systems and what are the options? At the Book Group 6 meeting April 1, Sharif Rosales-Webb of Greywater greenlandscapes gave an introduction to grey water systems. He explained the differences between branching systems, which take gray water from the kitchen and bathroom and distribute it in multiple places around a garden, versus laundry-to-landscape systems, which take water from a washing machine and distribute it with the help of the washing machine pump. Whatever the option, gray water systems give new life to water that would otherwise head directly to the waste treatment plant.

With the dire drought situation in California and the statewide call for reductions of 25% in water usage in mind, book group members brainstormed about other actions to take.  At an upcoming meeting, the group will make flyers to give neighbors who are wasting water in landscaping a gentle reminder to plug their leaks and cut back on irrigation.

Other ideas are welcome! To learn more about Book Group 6 meetings and activities, send email to barbara@ontrk.com.

An overflow crowd came to March Fourth Friday to see A Fierce Green Fire, a historical look at the modern environment movement from the early 20th century to today. Gathering in small groups after the film, people expressed conflicting emotions: awe and appreciation of the accomplishments of dedicated and passionate activists, despair at the current magnitude of the climate (and other) problems, and optimism that so many people are now involved in fighting for change. To paraphrase a quote from the film, “We’re not a movement, it’s larger than that. It’s the planet’s immune response to the disease that has infected it.”