What Does the Future Hold?

I just deleted over 4000 emails. It is shocking that I received 4000 emails let alone had that many pile up in my email in box. I deleted thousands of emails prior to this so I am now curious about the number of emails I actually received in the past few years. Many of them I saved because they deserved more than a two second response. I thought I would have time to get back to them later. The time I imagine having later never arrives and more things pile up: work responsibilities, homeschooling commitments, emails, laundry, weeds, projects. Everything is moving so fast. How do I prepare myself for the future? How do I start preparing my children? What kind of pressures will they face at my age? What will the world look like? It is beyond my imagination. Sometimes I am so happy to be alive at this time in history, amazed that I can wonder about something and in two minutes time find the answer on the Internet, even with my slow outdated computer. (Debbie had told me the name for caterpillar poop and I couldn’t remember. A quick google search revealed the answer: frass.) As the world speeds up, everyday I dream of slowing down. I dream of chickens and gardening and craft projects- a simpler life. I downsize more and more. I buy less and less.

Today is the 8th anniversary of 9-11. I marvel that so much time has passed since I wore a hard hat in ground zero for months on end, stopping everything in my life except for the things that existed in the dusty world below Canal Street. The life I lead now bears no relation to the life I lived in Manhattan, before or after 9-11. As I prepare to leave for Ethiopia again I wonder, what will the next decade bring? Will I remain healthy enough to experience it? Today I went to the doctor hoping for the best, collected supplies to take with me for orphans in Ethiopia, watched Kipper (I love his voice), made another batch of Kombucha and watched a monarch caterpillar munch on milkweed. Mikaela built another steeplechase in the playroom and I watched the riders go neck and neck at the finish line as I held Nigel to keep him from stepping on all the spectators.






I thought about how much I love my children and my husband and how I want the best for all of us. I am humbled by the realization that I don’t know what the best is. Do I prepare my children for the technical world or shelter them from it? I am reading The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--And What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner. This book is an Open Connections staff recommendation. So how do we prepare for a world we know nothing about? Critical thinking, creativity, self-reliance and flexible thinking: the skills that will make a difference. And I will add, a sense of humor and a love for spontaneity.
Take a deep breath.
Here comes the future.

Cake, Birthdays and Memories

Yesterday was my mother’s 79th birthday. My sister and my family went to my mother’s to celebrate with Chinese food and homemade chocolate cake. Celebrations at my parent’s house don’t come easily these days; there is too much sadness around my father’s health. All in all we had a nice day. My friend, Elizabeth, got this recipe from her nutritionist. When I googled the title I came up with many similar recipes. Here is the one I made for my mother’s birthday. It was amazing. It made my mother smile.




Flourless, Chocolate Truffle Cake

This cake literally melts in your mouth. It has intense, full chocolate flavor without all the fat of the traditional chocolate cake. Serve with a dollop of organic cream and fresh ripe raspberries.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup finely chopped chocolate that is 60-70% cacao. (This can be from chopped chocolate chips or hand chipped from a bar of chocolate)
1 large egg white
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup of whole milk yogurt (cream layer mixed into the low fat layer)

1 cup of turbinate sugar
1 cup egg whites (approximately 6 eggs)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Oil a 9-inch spring form pan. Place chopped chocolate chips in a large bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg white with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat cocoa, sugar, and yogurt with a double boiler, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips. Whisk in 1 cup egg whites, and then fold in beaten egg white.

Pour batter into prepared pan and set in another pan at least 2 inches wider and deeper. Add enough water to bottom pan to come two-thirds up the side of the cake pan. (This is so edges won't burn.) Bake 30 minutes. Chill in refrigerator 8 hours before serving.

Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings