He was the antithesis of East Coast cynical,” said [Bonnie] Raitt, who spent Sunday morning watching Buffalo videos on YouTube. “He was always in funny mode without being too gooey about it. He’s been that guy all this time. In one guy, you got all the hope and optimism of the ’70s.” Harmonica maestro Norton Buffalo dies at 58, Joel Selvin,SF Gate.
Finally catching up on the news of the week and sorry to learn of the death of Norton Buffalo. According to the obit there will be a benefit celebration of life on January 23rd at the Fox Theatre in Oakland.
When a zither starts to play
You’ll remember yesterday
In its haunting strain Vienna lives again
Free and bright and gay
In your mind a sudden gleam
Of a half forgotten dream
Seems to glimmer when you hear The Third Man Theme
Lyrics to The Third Man Theme by author Walter Lord, best known for the book A Night to Remember.
Anton Karas commemorative plaque, in Wien 20., Leystraße 46, in front of the house where Karas had spent the first 19 years of his life. The plaque was unveiled on July 4, 2006, due to Karas’ 100th birthday. (Photograph taken by Bunutzer Priwo and released into public domain.)
I happened to catch The Third Man Theme, also know as The Harry Lime Theme, on the radio today. If you have ever seen the movie, The Third Man, you’ll completely understand when I say that upon hearing the theme visions float in my mind of post-WWII Vienna, which the movie seemed to capture so well and so poignantly. It’s a picture of a Vienna that probably no longer exists. I was too young to see the movie when it debuted in the U.S. in 1950. I saw it as a TV rerun a number of times as a youngster, each time with better understanding. But right from the first, I fell in love with Anton Karas’ zither music. I wasn’t the only one. When the movie came out, the theme became a best-seller and the Karas’ career was forever made. He died in 1985, three years after the performance in the video posted above.
Find more interesting Karas’ trivia and music samples here.
Medicine Buddha is the healing aspect of the historic Buddha, Sakyamuni. My understanding is that in the Tibetan view Medicine Buddha not only heals physical illness and suffering, but the unhappy mental states of attachment, ignorance and hate. He awakens the natural wisdom that is said to lie within all human beings.
In 2004, Rinpoche immigrated to the USA where he was diagnosed with several life-threatening illnesses including multiple types of TB and a serious infection to his right ankle. Rinpoche’s medical team sternly advised him to undergo an emergency amputation of his lower leg. Firmly convinced that he could regain optimal health without resorting to surgery, Rinpoche combined a protocol of Western medical treatment with a rigours daily practice of Tibetan Buddhist meditation and self-healing practices. To the astonishment of his medical team, in just over two years Rinpoche completely healed from all of his medical conditions including TB, Potts disease, Type 1 diabetes, hypothyroidism and, most significantly, the infection to his right ankle. Rinpoche now leads an active and healthy life, walking freely and unassisted.” The Compassion Project.
Public domain photograph of a Yuan Dynasty (China, 1217 – 1378) wall hanging of Pure Land of Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha). In 1965, the wall hanging was a given to the N.Y. Metropolitan Museum of Art by Arthur M. Sackler, in honor of his parents, Isaac and Sophie.
On Saturday, November 1, the President and Spritual Director of The Compassion Project,Ven. Phagyab Rinpoche, with the assistance of his interpreter, Marina Illich, Ph.D., presented a dharma talk on compassion and the practice of Tonglen. He also lead a guided Medicine Buddha visualization. The three-hour presentation was held at Full Circle Books in Belmont, California.
The Ven. Phagyab Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist monk. While Rinpoche was studying in India, the Dalai Lama asked him to return to Tibet and teach Buddhism there. Rinpoche complied. The result was many years imprisonment and torture by the Chinese. For a second time in his life, he escaped over the Himalayan Mountains into India. Subsequently, he emigrated from India to New York in 2004 and after recovering physically from his imprisonment, he cofounded The Compassion Project with Dr. Illich. Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, New York, and president of Tibet House,Robert Thurman, stated that Rinpoche:
. . . is a fine person and an accomplished scholar-meditator whose gentle nature and clear insights make him an excellent spiritual adviser and director of studies and self-discovery. A highly respected incarnate lama from Eastern Tibet, Rinpoche was trained at leading Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and offers a wealth of wisdom and compassion that genuinely point the way to transformational healing. I recommend him most highly as a person and a teacher.”
Still in its infancy, The Compassion Project’s stated mission is to “harness the rich wisdom of Tibet’s Buddhist mind-sciences to teach stress management, social and emotional intelligence and non-violent communication to audiences in schools, medical and integrative health centers, prisons, spiritual retreats and corporations. . . and to raise funds to serve Tibetan refugees.”
Links are embedded in the body of this post to The Compassion Project website. Link here to an interview (A Tibetan monk who was tortured for his religious beliefs shares his thoughts about compassion . . . ) of Ven. Phagyah Rinpoche by David Ian Millar in SF Gate.
You can hear one of Phagyah Rinpoche’s dharma talks at The Dharma Seed.
My lovely, young, wheat-and-gluten free neighbor, Jasmine, gleefully ran up to me the other day to give me samples of a new wheat-dairy-and-soy free bread she’d just discovered at a grocery at Half Moon Bay, California. Her lively, healthy little girl has been gluten-free from conception on . . . “For the first time,” Jasmine said, “I can give my child a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This bread has a normal texture. You don’t have to toast it. Try it.”
Try it I did, and for once I’m pleased with a store-bought gluten-free bread. However, I can’t travel to Half Moon Bay every time I want to buy a loaf of bread. I checked Udi’s out on-line and found that Udi’s Handcrafted Foods is in Denver, Colorado. Their gluten-free products are produced in a dedicated facility. Udi’s has a whole line of bakery items and will ship. The bread is five dollars, which is competitive for a gluten-free loaf. The shipping costs, however, make it prohibitive. Udi’s site doesn’t list the stores that carry their product and the only email address was for catering. None-the-less, I emailed and asked for local store locations. Their marketing director got back to me right away, bless her.
She told me that all four of the Draeger’s Markets located on the San Francisco Peninsula carry Udi’s bread and that the San Francisco Whole Foods carries it as well. So, yesterday I went to Draeger’s and they were all out. (It’s in the freezer section, by the way.) It sounds like the San Mateo store gets it’s deliveries on Wednesday afternoon . . . so you know where I’ll be later! And, I am working on Whole Foods, which is right across the street from us.
So, greedy little creature that I am:
Dear Udi’s:
I can’t tell you how pleased and grateful I am to have found your product. Kudos for such a fine job. I hope you don’t mind if I send you my wish list: gluten-free stuffing mix, gluten-free Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs, gluten-free panko, and gluten-free “pita” bread. On that last note, since I am of Lebanese and Turkish extraction, I tried your bread with “yogurt cheese,” which we call lebaneh, and a sprinkle of zatar. Wonderful!
Keep up the good work and please do continue to work on wider distribution.
Sincerely,
Jamie Dedes
I couldn’t sum this post up better than Jasmine summed up her article My Journey to Gluten-free Living published in Joann Vallo’s The California Woman.
When I first realized I couldn’t eat gluten I thought I’d never get a pizza, beer or sourdough again. I’ve been happily surprised to find that couldn’t be farther from the truth and I’m happily enjoying all of the new, neat gluten free treats on the market.”
Thanks, Jasmine, for introducing me to Udi’s Gluten-free Whole Grain Bread.
I think I originally got this recipe from some little recipe booklet promoting Puerto Rico rums. I have it written into my book as “Rum Bunny.” At some stage of my life, I probably thought that was cute. I doubt that was the original name, especially because I looked up Rum Bunny earlier and found that it’s meaning has nothing to do with food. I’ll let it stay. I rather think Rum Bunny beats the heck out of something like Fresh Pineapple Chunks with Star Anise, Vanilla Bean, Sugar and Rum, however accurate that may be.
I’m trying to use up some pineapples I got on sale, hence three posts in a row with recipes including pineapple. I can’t say it’s been a chore . . . but this is really not good for the diabetes thing. I should share this batch with other people…shouldn’t I? We’ll see…
In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the sugar and water. Stir well until the sugar dissolves. Then, reduce the heat and simmer for about fifteen minutes to create a syrup. Take the pan off the heat and add in the star anise and the vanilla bean. Let the syrup cool completely. Pour it into a bowl and cover and refrigerate it until it is thoroughly chilled, two-to-three hours. It will keep a few days.
Variation: Serve over Coconut Bliss Vanilla Island, (The Coconut Bliss folks make a frozen ice cream type dessert that is soy, dairy, and gluten-free . . . and quite satisfying!
Public domain photograph of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotenes. Carrots’ antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer and also promote good vision, especially night vision.” The World’s Healthiest Foods
This is like the carrot salad you used to buy at the deli counter in the grocery . . . You know, back in the days before you found out you had Celiac Disease, or were allergic to dairy and/or nuts. I don’t particularly care for it with nuts; however, if you like them and are not allergic to them, then the addition of a quarter-cup of chopped walnuts or pecans is certainly an option. I make our salad with Spectrum Light Canola Mayo, which is vegan (therefore no eggs or dairy) and gluten-free.
My preference for raisins are organic sultana (or golden) raisins. Originating in Turkey, I believe in the U.S. they are made from Thompson Grapes. If find them to be more subtle in flavor than their darker sisters.
Carrot Deli-Salad, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free/Vegan
The recipe
Serves six
3/4 cup of fresh organic pineapple, peeled, sliced, and diced
This sunshine bright salsa was inspired at the grocery. I arrived to find fresh pineapple,, golden tomatoes, and juicy limes for sale. They beckoned me to buy them and put them together somehow. This is what I came up with. Wonderful with a Southwestern Sunshine Burger, gluten-free of course.
Pineapple-Lime Salsa, Gluten-free
The recipe
Serves four-or-five (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup of pineapple, small dice
1 medium-sized golden tomato, small dice
1/4 of a medium-sized red onion, minced fine
3 sprigs of fresh cilantro, stemmed and minced fine
1 tablespoon of lime juice
Cayenne Pepper to taste
Sea salt to taste
Peel and core the pineapple. Slice enough for the salsa and reserve the rest for another use.
In a large bowl combine all the ingredients including the juice from the tomato. Mix well with a wooden spoon, cover it and let it sit for awhile at room temperature so that the flavors meld.
Serve with gluten-free tortilla chips, on a veggie burger, or on baked fish or pork chop.
