Internet has still been down. There was a night last week that I spent working on a long blog post and haven't been able to post it yet. There are also a few specific topics I'm planning to blog about once I get the time. We're still here though and doing great. We're just busy. We're going back to Temecula this weekend for my sister's wedding so it'll be a little while still before we post again. Hopefully internet comes back soon.
peace,
Michael

Internet Out

Our internet hasn't been working well lately. There are a few things I've been meaning to blog about. I'll try to post something tonight.
peace,
Michael

The New Roots Community Farm

This post will be dedicated to a project of the International Rescue Committee here in San Diego (where I work) that is so inspiring and exciting to me that I want everyone to know about it.
First of all, if I haven't mentioned this already, the International Rescue Committee is a refugee resettling agency that has a very big office here in San Diego and also works all over the world. They provide a number of wonderful services for refugees and I work part time there (and part time at another organization) as a Volunteer Coordinator.
Anyways, the project is called the New Roots Community Farm. The IRC has been working for a few years to buy this 2.3 acre plot of land just a 5 minute walk down the hill from our house to create a big urban farm for refugees and other immigrants. Earlier this year they finally got all their permits and got the farm all ready. Then, through 3 different community groups (one for Mexicans and other Central Americans, one for South East Asians, and one for Africans), the 80 plots were given out to families. Over the past few months the farm has really started growing quickly and has been such an amazing positive influence for the refugees and the community of City Heights. I wrote down a list of all the great things I can think of that have come out of this, but I'm sure there's many more.

• A big vacant lot of dirt was transformed into a beautiful, green, life giving space in a neighborhood much in need of that.
  
• The farm has provided a way for refugees coming from agrarian backgrounds to do something productive that they're good at. For example, a Burmese man that my coworker tutors had been sitting depressed at home during the days watching videos on the internet about the war in Burma. Now he works on his plot every day and he's great at it.
  
• This project brings diverse refugees and immigrants together and breaks down stereotypes and encourages commonality. Many of the refugees have negative stereotypes of each other and don't realize how much they have in common. When they work the land together and share tools and spend time together outside they learn how similar they are and about each other.
  
• The farm allows the refugees and immigrants who have plots to supplement their diet with healthy food. The zip code I live in is by far the least healthy in San Diego and it's a big problem because unhealthy food is so much more accessible and cheap. This is a way to combat that.
• The farmers can sell their produce at the City Heights Farmers Market to earn some much needed money and even possibly be given much more land in North County later on if they're serious about farming.
  
• This project educates the community about the important community health and refugee issues.
  
• It encourages community involvement. People volunteer, clubs and churches have been supportive, the neighbors guard the farm and lend their electricity outlets sometimes. These things all better the community of City Heights.
• It will serve to educate the community about gardening and farming since they are just finishing an outdoor classroom and will conduct free gardening classes every Saturday.
• Very soon they will be working to create cooking classes led by refugee women who often are stuck at home and don't feel they have anything to contribute. I'm helping to recruit volunteers to advertise for and coordinate the cooking classes as well as putting together a cookbook filled with native dishes from our diverse refugees.

I've been told that the New Roots Community Farm is the first of its kind and that other IRC offices and other refugee resettling agencies are hoping to imitate it. I hope that they can because it seems to be such a positive thing for refugees and our community.
-Michael

Honeymoon pictures!

At last we got a card reader and were able to access the pictures on our dead camera. They only cover the first half of our honeymoon due to the sneaker wave that killed our camera while were trying to enjoy a sunset... but it's fun to finally have the few pictures that we did get!

The whirl-pool tub and complementary champagne that came with the "romance package" at our hotel in Portland. Thanks mom!

Our first day in Kauai.

Fancy sushi dinner night.

Breakfast on the balcony every morning was maybe our favorite part of the week. Michael made me so many delicious pancakes!
Wiamea Canyon was very impressive but would have been more enjoyable/worth the windy drive if I wasn't too sick to hike or walk around.


At least I wasn't too sick to be adorable...Spouting horn

This is a view from the secret little cove we found by taking a hidden trail that I stumbled across.
We were pretty excited about finding it.

This is a beach that a local waiter told us to go to. Something of a local secret he said, and "the prettiest place on earth to watch a sunset."




Unfortunately the clouds mostly blocked the sunset and a sneaker wave came up and killed our camera a couple minutes after this picture was taken...
And thus, that is the end of the honeymoon pictures.

Prison Injustice

I just read this column by one of my favorite columnists, Nicholas Kristof. I had been reading an ethnography about the prison system here in the States a few months ago and wasn't able to finish it because I was still in college, but the injustice of our criminal justice system has begun to really upset me. If that doesn't speak to everyone, hopefully the economic wastefulness that this column makes apparent at least will.

Getting Started

Alright, well Pamela and I have been meaning to get a blog started for a while now and finally it's getting off the ground. We'll use this blog to share about our lives, jobs, neighborhood, church, recipes, thoughts, etc.
Pamela has blogged a little bit on her blog and she'll tranfer her last few posts over to here tomorrow. We'll both try to regularly use this blog as we live here in City Heights.
-Michael

Recetas Latinas Saludables

A couple weeks ago Michael brought home a little goodie bag that the "foodies" (health and urban agriculture department) at his organization were giving out for free. In this goodie bag was a treasure so wonderful that I must share it with my blog reading friends: A small little cookbook called Recetas Latinas Saludables, or Healthy Latin Recipes Made with Love. It is a collection of recipes published by Champions for Change gathered from Latina women in California which are healthy versions of typical dishes . Though my usual cooking method relies more on reading several internet recepies until I can come up with some combination that uses the ingredients I have on hand than on cookbooks, I have been cooking almost exclusively from this cookbook for the last couple of weeks and am loving it. (as is Michael) The ingredients are mostly inexpensive (especially living this close to the border), the recipes are all very healthy, and the food is DELICIOUS. Our favorites so far were the Sopa de Abondigas (to which I reccomend adding a healthy dose of cilantro) and Mango Black Bean Burritos.

This past week at the farmer's market I came across a second edition from the same group called Soulful Recipes - equally delicious and healthy looking soul food recipes. I can't wait to try it out!

Cooking these recipes not only provides me with delicious and nutritios meals, it was also a fun way to connect with the ethnic groups directly around our home. Now if only they would publish verions for Somali and Vietnamese food I'd be set!