Do It Today for Free

Today is the West Indian American Day Carnival in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.  Take in free live shows and other events.  Try delicious food like doubles, roti, oxtail and stew chicken.  Make sure to check out the Steel Drum Orchestra.

Nectarine Preserves with Basil

There is so much great fruit available at the local farmers' markets right now.  But summer will be ending soon and with that soon all the delicious summer fruit will be gone.  Make some delicious preserves and have something to remind you of the delicious flavors of summer on those cold winter days.  Canning jars can be found at Fishs Eddy, near Union Square, or online at Amazon.com.  Or you can just use any left over jam jars you just happen to have around.  Pectin is a little harder to find in the city.  We found some at the Fifth Avenue Key Food Supermarket in Park Slope (between Sterling Place and Baltic Street) in the baking aisle.  You can also order it online from Amazon.com.

 

We used Thai basil and a mix of nectarines and peaches from Red Jacket Orchards

Ingredients

• 4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup fresh basil sprigs plus 8 small sprigs for tucking into jars
• 5 lb nectarines or peaches, peeled and each cut into 8 wedges
• 1 (1 3/4-oz) box plus 2 tablespoons lower-sugar powdered pectin

• Special equipment: 8 (1/2-pint) canning jars with lids and screw bands; a candy thermometer

Directions

Sterilize jars and lids . 

Bring sugar, lemon juice, water, and 1 cup basil to a boil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Simmer over moderately low heat until thick and syrupy, about 25 minutes. Discard basil with a slotted spoon. 

Add nectarines to syrup and bring to a rolling boil over moderately high heat, then boil, uncovered, stirring frequently, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer nectarines with slotted spoon to a sieve set over a bowl to catch juice. Drain nectarines 5 minutes, then add juice from bowl to juice in pot.

Drain jars upside down on a clean kitchen towel 1 minute, then invert. Divide nectarines among jars with slotted spoon. Tuck a fresh basil sprig into side of each jar.

Return juice in pot to a rolling boil, skimming off any foam. Continue to boil until juice registers 220 to 224°F on thermometer, 7 to 10 minutes. Gradually add pectin, whisking constantly. Return juice to a rolling boil, then boil, skimming off any foam, 1 minute. 

Ladle juice into jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at top, then run a thin knife between fruit and jar to eliminate air bubbles.

Seal, process, and store filled jars , boiling preserves in jars 10 minutes. 

Let preserves stand in jars at least 1 day for flavors to develop.

Recipe originally appeared at epicurious.com.

Brooklyn Park Glass, September 3rd

We had our first day of the Brooklyn Park Glass clean up this past Saturday.  In less than two hours we were able to get a little over fifty pounds of broken glass littering Fort Greene Park collected.  Our next clean up is September 10th.  We'll be meeting at the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument at one o'clock.  Hope to see you there.

Volunteers: Jen, Holly, Joe and Shana.  Erik is behind the camera.

Shana was soon joined by Jessica, a local artist, that just happened to be passing by.

Volunteers Joe and his wife Holly picked up the most glass on Saturday leaving a visible difference.

All You Need to Know Today

Tomorrow is the first clean up for the Brooklyn Park Glass Project.  If you'd like to volunteer just email us at bklynbrokenwindow@gmail.com or meet us there at the Prison Ship Martyrs Memorial in Fort Greene Park at one o'clock.  We will also be having cleanups on September 10th, 18th and 25th.

Today on The Brian Lehrer Show they discussed reinsurance companies and their stand on global warming.

Big Risk Assessments


Also on The Leonard Lopate Show there was a great interview with Barry Eastabrook discussing his book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit and what has happened to tomatoes in America.

Tomatoland


Lastly, Muslims for Life is partnering with American Red Cross in a blood drive to comemorate all those that lost their lives on September 11th.  Head over to their website to find more information on times and locations.

Volkswagen Investing in Wind

With Germany already planning to close all its remaining nuclear facilities in 2022, the country has had no other choice but to take a look at more alternative energy resources.  Their solar industry is already flourishing, now the next stop has been wind power.  In the past, investors have been nervous about investing in wind.  Now car company Volkswagen is changing that.

Volkswagen will be investing almost one billion euros (about 1.4 billion American dollars) in alternative energy with a large focus being put on "a wind power project that is expected to have a generating capacity of 200 megawatts, or about as much as 275,000 German households consume in a year."

If Maine Can, So Can We

The Republican held state legislature in Maine recently passed a law to reduce its oil use by 30% by the year 2030 and 50% by the year 2050.  Considering Maine is the fourth most oil-dependant state in the nation, they've got quite a challenge ahead of them.  But by doing this, they send a loud and clear message to other states that it is possible to improve our environment by sacrificing our addiction to oil.

The National Resource Defence Council says that "the options Efficiency Maine Trust will consider are shifting freight from trucks to rail and marine transport, using more electric vehicles, weatherizing homes and offices, using more renewable sources for heating and offering rebates to consumers to retire old cars and trucks."  This is a great step in the right direction.  Environment America has some great suggestions that if followed nationwide could lead to reducing " its oil use for energy by 1.9 billion barrels of oil a year by 2030."

Contact your local representative and tell them that you'd like to see New York take on this challenge.

Oak Tree Inspires Teen

Care2 has a great story on a teenager that was influenced by an oak tree to develop a super efficient solar panel.

Keystone Pipeline Controversy

Learn about the Keystone Pipeline some are pushing for, including President Obama, that would extend from Alberta, Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast. The plan is to use this pipeline to transport synthetic crude oil from the Athabasca Oil Sands.  You may have heard a little about this recently with the arrest of actress Daryl Hannah in a protest against building the pipeline extension.

Mark Bittman recently weighed in on the extension being proposed for this pipeline.  There was also a short interview on The Brian Lehrer Show discussing the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Recycling Cooking Oil

Deep-frying, sautéing, sweating, poaching.  There are so many things you can do to food with cooking oil.  But often times, when you are done you are left with a pan full of oil that's just going to be poured down the drain.  It's a waste of resources and it's a waste of your money.  One thing that you can do is reuse the oil (depending on what you made).  Deep-fried fish in vegetable oil?  Find yourself an extra container (preferably glass juice jar), get a large funnel and a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.  Once the oil has cooled down, put the glass jar in your sink, place the funnel into its mouth and the strainer on top.  Then pour in used oil.  Label your glass jar and place with your other cooking oils.  Oil can be reused for fish-frying over and over again until you eventually run out of the used oil.  Do not reuse oil if it has a rancid smell or if smoke appears on the oils surface before reaching 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius).  And make sure not to mix different types of oils.  Here there is more information on reusing cooking oil.

If you want to be extra resourceful, you can use cooking oil to run your car...

Veggie Oil Car - iTurnedGreen from rivetentertainment on Vimeo.