Open Mosque Day

We found an insert in the Claremont Courier that was promoting Open Mosque Day. This whole experience has connected us closer to our community. This was the 5th annual "Open Mosque Day" for Southern California and held on Sunday, the 17th. The Open Mosque Day seeks to enhance understanding and perpetuate peace among people across all faiths. Later in the day we would go for a visit, but first........ adventures in rice.

What a way to start the morning. Aleli was washing some fruit for breakfast when she heard this distinctive.... um, ....."ricey" sound. So much for child proof locks on the pantry. Our little explorer cracked into a gorgeous stash of wild rice and was splashing around in it like it was a wading pool. That's one dinner we won't be making soon. He was enjoying himself so much it was hard to play the part of the responsible parent and break up all this joyous abandon. We eventually found a happy medium between play and structure.

Jujubee is a responsible little guy and so after some fun with rice he helped Mommy clean up his food mess with his very own monkey broom. Good job Juju!

With all the cleaning done, it was time for some cartoons, a snuggle on Mommy's lap and a mid morning snack.

Lunch rolled around quickly and we made use of whatever we had in the fridge. Aleli was in the mood for breakfast food and Julian wanted peanut buttery goodness. Easily done on the cheap.

Julian is a good eater and great mealtime company with that big juicy grin!

The afternoon flew by and it was time to head across town to the Mosque. We read that there would be "ethnic cuisine" available and so the late afternoon was our time to go.

Here's the flyer we found inserted in the paper right on the page of the article about us. Maybe there really are no accidents.

James called this one, "The Money Shot"

This is not asking a lot, except when your budget is a dollar a day, then it's everything!

We loved the warm hospitality, the wonderful displays, the beautiful people, and the oh so tasty cuisine while visiting our local Mosque for the first time.

This is an old middle eastern lunch pail that was on display. I've seen modern versions of this. You can store multiple courses in the different compartments. Good design!

There was so much food offered. And it was all so flavorful, abundant and lovingly prepared.


There were recipes available for most of the dishes. We liked how different the spellings and pronunciations were from what we are familiar with. Many of the women shared the subtle changes made to each recipe from place to place. It was a real education in regional cuisine!

These tasty stuffed grape leaves, or dolmas, were of particular interest to us since we have so many grape leaves at our disposal. We asked if you had to use the canned grape leaves that are prepared for several months in a brine or if one could use fresh leaves. We were delighted to find that the fresh leaves are preferred by many. You simply place them very quickly into boiling water to soften and slightly wilt them before stuffing them. Learn something new every day. The woman at this mosque were beautiful and gracious. They shared so much about their cuisine with us and were so patient, generous and open.

Eggplant! Eggplant! Yeeees! The first ingredient is eggplant. Now THAT we have! Can we find some cheap tahini anywhere? This recipe rocked the house! We are going to try to include it in our kitchen back at home as soon as possible.

This was sooo good. We absolutely stuffed our faces. There was more than enough to go around.

Authentic Arabic coffee infused with Hale. With so much spice in it, this very strong coffee was almost more like a tea than anything else. Every region serves it up a little differently. Some serve it with dates or date cakes but no sugar and others use sugar but no dates or "hale" (spices). Anyway you make it this was really good!

The coffee is served on this ornate platter and poured into these tiny little glass cups. Super strong brew, but very, very delicious.

A few of the women wanted to do henna designs on Aleli's hands. Aleli was eager to spend some more time talking with them as well. James and the baby were ready to go by then. We were assured it wouldn't take long. A mother of four carefully applied this herbal paste to Aleli's hands as the two of them talked about what it is like raising four children. Other women joined in with more discussion of recipes and religion. Once the design was complete it was suppose to dry for "30 minutes" and then be brushed off to expose the stain underneath. This meant that Aleli couldn't really hold tired baby or even really navigate simple tasks for a while. Eventually the half hour passed and the paste was flicked off to reveal................ a really light design. We would later learn that the henna really should have stayed in place for several hours. Henna hands............... not really designed for mothers of four. It was, however a wonderful cultural experience from start to finish. We are glad we went!

A great big thanks to the mosque for a delicious feast and to the women for their generosity of spirit and gift of time!

Blended Family Smoothies

We started the day with free fresh fruit from local fruit trees and the morning paper. We liked today's paper. It was wonderful. The cover was ..... eye catching somehow. Holy smokes! It was US! (sweeet!)

http://www.claremont-courier.com/

The Courier put us on the cover and gave us a full spread feature spot in color in the middle. We had a fun time a few days ago picking fruit with and cooking for the journalist and photographer so it was nice to finally see the finished product.

However, we must mention that while we are a family, we are also a blended family ( like a really good smoothie! ). It was probably our own oversight that all our last names appeared as Jolicoeur. Aleli is the mom of the three older kids, Kai, Keoni and Eden, and James is their step dad. Their last name starts with a D. Little Julian ("Jujubee") is the baby of both Aleli and James and so shares the Jolicoeur name.The reporter is already posting a correction on that but we thought it might be worth mentioning here too.

It was another hot So. Cal. day and so Daddy and Bebe share a nice (free) juice pouch slushie on the kitchen floor. That spoon went back and forth until every last drop of slushie had disappeared. Such a beautiful Daddy/ Son moment.

Aaah, the finer things in life!

The paper stated that "luxuries such as cheese, frozen yogurt and meat are pretty much off the menu". Although that's been pretty much true, just something about seeing it in print made us want to take it up as a challenge. In no time at all we found an old promotional coupon for a small business in town...... they had already changed the name of their shop but were the same company selling the same delicious product. Would they still honor the coupon? Even if the name on the coupon was different than the name on their sign?........

Look what's back on the menu.

Yes.... a four letter F word that's actually good for you to say with gusto.

The girl at the counter said that if we wanted any toppings they would cost "just" .94 cents...... plain frozen yogurt it is then!

Tastes even better when it's free.

Everybody digs in as we share the shade of this tree in a nearby courtyard. We smile to know that even on a dollar a day we can enjoy the occasional luxury.

We had a little time to spare in the afternoon following our frozen yogurt excursion and James was curious about some concord grape vines in town that a friend had mentioned to him the other day. So we went off in pursuit of the fruit of these vines. We drove past some in a park (maybe we'll revisit them later) and headed toward a private residence in the village. Aleli had noticed this vine months ago swirling in and out of a picket fence long before it had leaves and fruit bursting out of it.

And there they were. Bunches and bunches of them. Healthy and gorgeous... ripening in the afternoon sun.

This was not, however, a community garden. This was a home. Would we be brave enough to ask our first stranger for free food? So far, we have gotten produce from our own garden, our friends garden and community gardens. We have even found some unclaimed trees in back alley ways just lousy with fruit. But this would be our first stranger.

Aleli summoned up a little courage, walked through the grape covered gate and approached the door. A nice young man by the name of Rich answered and tried to figure out who the heck was standing in front of him and why. Aleli made her inquiry and explained a bit about our project. Rich shared that there were 9 fruit trees on the property and that those were actually two varieties of grape that had been in his family for many many years. They did look very well attended to! We chatted for a minute about all this talk of food shortages and Rich said," people could just grow their own". We are experiencing that as a theme in all of this as well. How would our diet look these last two weeks without all the homegrown food? If you think your picket fence would look good this way too, our local Food Not Lawns is just starting up their own website. http://www.claremontfoodnotlawns.com/ Its content is growing daily and is a great place to start venturing into edible landscapes. I'm told mid- August is a great time to start planting a fall garden.

Rich offered us not just as many grapes as we'd like but also expressed regret that his peaches weren't ready to give yet. We have to note that one of the major gifts of this experiment has been our new understanding of community. It is stunning and refreshing to see first hand how generous strangers and neighbors can be. Most people want to be involved in a good thing. Isn't that great!

Hee, hee ... we drive off with our goods feeling divine!

Back at home it was time to get ready for a green smoothie workshop and potluck happening across town. All we needed to do for the smoothie workshop was to bring a cup for tasting. But what could we bring that was cheap for the potluck? Or better yet, what could we bring that was free? Lightening bolt......... ZUCCHINI! We have zucchini coming out of our ears! We purchased .50 cents of garlic at the market. James sauteed it all to perfection with some corn, free tomatoes, oil and fresh garden herbs. Problem solved.

Heading out the door with our yummy potluck dish. I wish you all had smellivision! This was mmmm, mmmm good.

Mary Beth shares the secret to the healthiest smoothies on the planet.

Fun and informative, she blends away!

Aleli and Julian watch and listen as she adds beets for color into an otherwise very green smoothie. Kids of all ages were lined up with their cups ready for a sample of each concoction Mary Beth dared to make.

With standing room only, Julian gets the best seat in the house on Papa J's shoulders as the group of 25-30 people follow along with the recipes.

Our Vita mix goddess whips up the most delicious sludge on the block. The colors are otherworldly but most of the 8 or so recipes were quite tasty! Here is one of our favorite recipes from the workshop

Blend well:

1/2 bunch spinach

4 apples

1/2 whole lime with peel

1 banana

2 cups water ( or fruit juice)

Yields: 1 quart smoothie

Now on to the potluck .......

There was plenty to go around for everyone. James and Juju sit for a quick snapshot before joining the group for some lively conversation and some good eats.

Some of the offerings.

One of the gorgeous moms, Allison, with her baby strapped to her back serves up a dish of some yummy vegetarian cuisine.

These raw vegan tarts to the left were the hit of the night. Such an abundance. We left stuffed! Ironically, we also left the party with a giant zucchini from our friend Juanita's garden. Good thing we like this summer squash as much as we do cause we can't seem to shake it!

Body Ecology Raw Rustic Mushroom Tart

Cultured Almond Cheese:

1 cup almonds

2 TBSPs coconut kefir

2 TBSPs chives

1/2 tsp sea salt

* Soak almonds for 8 hours. Rinse them well and puree in the food processor into a smooth paste. Mix well in a bowl with the coconut kefir. Cover bowl with a towel and allow to ferment on your counter top for 12 hours. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Tart Shell:

1 cup sunflower seeds soaked

2 TBPSs ground flax seeds

1 cup peeled and cubed kabocha squash

1 tsp salt

1 TBSP olive oil

* Puree sunflower seeds in a food processor. Set aside. Puree squash in the processor. Set aside. Grind flax seeds in a coffee grinder and put in a mixing bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well with your hands until everything is thoroughly combined. Push into a tart pan with a removable bottom - about 4 inches in diameter. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 5 hours and remove from shell. Finish dehydrating for about another 8 hours or so. This recipe should make about 5 tarts.

Marinated Mushroom, Bell Pepper and Onion Topping:

5 sliced shiitake mushrooms

1 red bell pepper thinly sliced

1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil or pumpkin seed oil

1 tsp salt

1 clove garlic minced

1 TBSPs rosemary very finely chopped without stems

1 dropper full liquid stevia

* Mix everything in a bowl until all the vegetables are evenly coated. Spread onto a solid dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 1 hour or until vegetables are wilted and slightly crisp looking.

To Assemble Tart:

* Spread a thin layer of the cheese on the bottom of the finished shell. Spoon some of the mushroom mixture on top. May be served immediately or warmed up in the dehydrator before serving. Soooo delectable!

Checking In:

What we've spent so far: $112.40

So since our last check in we spent another $13.05. That brings the grand total to $ 112.40. By Tuesday, August 19 we will be right on track financially if we don't spend any more. Easy enough.