Black Bean Burger a la Ranga

Hi all,

I know the last time I posted anything was like 2 weeks ago and that was about my first day in Lisbon. It's been a wonderful vacation and amazing to see my dear friend Nena again after so many months. Right now I hope she's happily enjoying her vacation with her love in a cute village nearby Lisbon. She deserves it. For today I have a few things to talk about. First of all, the craziness around racism and police brutality in the U.S.A. Second, the wonderful BBB (black bean burgers) that I made today and I'd like to share that recipe with you. Third, I started reading the book "Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui" by Karen Kingston. 

Over the past 4/5 days, every day has been marked with the blood of innocent people. Now, globally this isn't very surprising, but in the U.S.A it has given way for the debate on racism and police brutality to be re-evaluated. The first few incidents were African American men being shot to death in situations that didn't call for such measures. In answer, 4 police officers were shot to death during a peaceful rally in Dallas. Also a gentleman was found hanging from a tree, reportedly having committed suicide in a major Atlanta public park. The opinions on these recent happenings range from far-left to far-right. Anti-police, Black Lives Matter and other movements have demonstrated in various cities and more are to come. Me, being a white, non-American woman, I feel very much not entitled to an opinion in the matter here. I am not a victim of police brutality in the U.S.A, in fact, so far I've only had good experiences with the police. A few times they called me over on the side of the street to tell me I should turn my lights on. Now, I can wonder if it IS because I am a caucasian woman? Is that white privilege? But the police officer was African American, how does that work? Should only the same races polices arrest the same race people in order to avoid the issue of racism? I think that at the very root of the problem lies a combination of loose gun-laws, under conscious racism and trigger-happy police officers. Give everybody the right to a gun and police officers have more to fear when they need to arrest somebody. The USA remains one of the countries in the world with the largest incarceration rate. Recently I read something  around 650 citizens in prison per 100,000 people. After doing some research, I found this study by VERA First Do No Harm: Advancing Public Health in Policing Practices, which speaks about a possible solution to the problem at hand. Instead of arresting, incarcerating and killing, the public would be much better served with a solution like the one offered by VERA.

Second, a little happier subject today: BLACK BEAN BURGERS !

you can probably make this with a nearly empty fridge, which is exactly what I had to work with today. 

We need: for 6 giant bean burgers.

• 2 (small/rice) cups black beans (now these can either be dry or canned. When dry, either let them soak for a few hours or boil them in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes) When boiling the beans, add three times the amount of beans in water.
• 3 celery (cleaned and washed, cut in length and then cut in tiny pieces)
• 1/2 zucchini (depending on how big the zucchini, use common sense, also cut very small)
• 1 carrot (cleaned, cut very small)
• a handful of cooked rice (can be any type, I recommend basmati)
• handful of oats (not the readymade applespice breakfast you fool, steel cut unsweetened, organic when possible)
• throw some spinach or other leaves if you like, kale could work when very finely cut.
• 1 1/2 tablespoon paprika powder. 
• salt to taste
• hing (we don't use onion and garlic on this page, here's why: "Onion and garlic are considered to be Tamasic and Rajasic by nature. Meaning they are pungent foods that increase heat, and bile in the body. The ones who followed a more spiritual path or who were considered the learned Ayurvedic practitioner or teachers (carrier of information for better human development) did not consume onions and garlic as they lead to ignorance, lethargy, anger, aggression, over stimulation of the senses, increase in sexual desire and anxiety. " Conscious Health
• nutmeg/cayenne pepper/ black pepper/any fresh herbs/ you can use your imagination.
• now throw everything together and MASH IT LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW.

Now remember that old little rice cup? scoop it full of your delicious smelling mashed black beans stuff so you'll have the same size burgers. Make a beautiful burger of it with your hands (watch out, they might touch the food. Don't be a germaphobic and actually push the burger tight together, otherwise it'll fall apart. Heat up some olive oil, put your burger in the pan on each side 5 minutes until they're nice and almost burnt. And voila, now of course you can just nibble this up right there (don't burn your tongue) or put it on a bun with some vegan cheeze (go veggie has some delicious pepper-jack cheese) avocado, favorite sauce, tomatoes etc and your lunch is done. Now I'm still full and by now it's at least 4 hours ago that I had one. 

OK, now food is done, over to the philosophical part of today:

Cleaning our lives by cleaning our house. I'll write down the highlighted parts of the book so far and what I've done to de-clutter my home today. 

• every aspect of my life is anchored energetically in my living space, so clearing my clutter can completely transform my existence. 
• clearing clutter is so effective that while I am putting my external world in order there are corresponding changes going on internally too. 
• many of my items seem to just appear in my life, rather than me making a conscious decision to acquire them. - impulse buys
• things not dealt with in my home reflect issues not dealt with in my life, and they are a constant drain on my energy. 
• the larger the scale, the more these things impinge on my ability to get on with my life. 
• The stagnant energy that stacks up around clutter actually causes tiredness and lethargy. 
• I tend to look back rather than forward in my life, blaming the past for my current situation rather than taking responsibility for creating a better tomorrow. 
• being clear of clutter is one of the greatest aids I know to discovering and manifesting the life I want
• If I "let myself go" and allow the junk to mount up around me, I may attract people who mistreat me in some way because subconsciously I feel that is what I deserve. 

So far that's what I've read but it immediately made me want to clean up and at least get all the dust off my desk and out of my room. I also organized my loose change into those rolls from the bank and I'll deposit it after school Monday. Furthermore, I put my old laptop up and am using my husband's advanced beautiful macbook right now to write all this down. My desk looks so much cleaner and clearer than before and I actually had the chance to complete most of my to-do list today. (including making those Black Bean patties)

It's been sweet to share all this with you, I am looking forward to your comments and hope that in this new set-up I'll be inclined to write more often. 

YOU ARE LOVE AND YOU ARE LOVED. LOVE IS WHAT KEEPS MY SOUL RUNNING, MY HEART PUMPING AND FINGERS, WRITING THESE WORDS.