Yummish Offertory

Today's meditation focuses on one of the most sacred Yummish rites: The Yummish Offertory. In the Yummish tradition, it is not enough to passively “experience” life. Rather, like those take-a-penny-leave-a-penny trays on the counter at the corner market, we believe life works best when we all contribute to as well as benefit from the experience. 

Each of us is called on to make at least one Yummish Offertory over the course of our lives, an offering particular to our unique talents and strengths (read: Yum). We are each called on to contribute part of our “self” - the collection of experiences and potential you currently perceive as being “you” – to the overall experience of “being.” This contribution can take many forms: poetry, music, skyscrapers, offspring, novels, paintings, films, medical research, education or a space station. The only real restriction on the form these offerings may take is that it must be something intended to outlast the life of “giver.”

Rather than being a selfish act of self-preservation, a true Yummish Offertory is a gift to both those already present and those yet to come. Whether you give the gift of your talent, your eye color, your sense of humor or your recipe for pork roast, your gift of self enriches the experience of others by allowing them to partially sample the experience of being “you,” just as you currently benefit from the offerings of those both present and passed. To refuse to make such an offering is not only selfish, it is the worst kind of self-hatred: self-negation. You have a “voice” and something to “say” to the future and the now. To hold back – out of fear, self-doubt or lack of determination – is an act of violence against yourself and larceny against the future.

It's true that you may not see the immediate effect of your gift upon the world. That does not mean that your contribution is not important, even vital.  It may be that like Emily Dickinson's poetry or Frank Capra's “It's a Wonderful Life,” your gift is destined to be better appreciated by future generations than your contemporaries. It could also be that your gift, though never widely appreciated, like the butterfly whose wing-beat leads to a hurricane, will inspire something that will take the world by storm. As with any gift, it is the recipient, not the giver, who determines it's ultimate employment, and the only gifts ever truly wasted are those that are not given.    


Today's exercise: Offer it up!

Next: A more light-hearted offering. Maybe something about pancakes. Pancakes are yummy. 

YARP: Yummish Advanced Research Projects

The Yummish Council is pleased to announce the creation of a new investigatory branch. The Yummish Advanced Research Project, or YARP dedicated to promoting and furthering the study of all things Yummy. (Sort of a Yummish Inquisition, but more “comfy chair” than racks and thumbscrews.) Be it food, film, fashion or even something that doesn't start with the letter “F,” it is YARP's mission to investigate and report on the latest developments in the field of Yummish endeavor.

For it's premier report, and in honor of the new Yummish field office coming to Albuquerque, NM, YARP offers the following New Mexican-inspired recipe:

Chipotle Pork Roast

What you'll need:
(Feel free to view these spice ratios as a starting point, increasing or decreasing as best suits your Yum.)

Pork shoulder blade roast, bone in*	5 pounds (approximately)
Olive oil, light in flavor**	4 Tbsp
Salt	1/4 tsp
Mixed cracked black, white and red pepper	1/4 tsp
Garlic powder	1/8 tsp
Oregano flakes	1/8 tsp
Ground cumin	1/4 tsp
Ground chipotle chile***	4 – 6 Tbsp
Dried chiles de Colorado	2 pods, stems and seeds removed
Bay leaves	4 leaves
Molasses	2 Tbsp
Red chile salsa****	1/4 cup
Water	1/4 cup

*For boneless cut, use approximately 3 pounds and reduce slow cooking time by 30 – 45 minutes
**Or expeller pressed canola oil
***Our favorite comes from Pojoaque Supermarket, Santa Fe, NM
****Our favorite comes from Rancho de Chimayo, Chimayo, NM

What to do:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Combine salt, cracked pepper, garlic powder, oregano flakes, ground cumin and chipotle.
Coat room temperature roast with olive oil.
Rub roast with spice combination.
Drizzle top and bottom with molasses.

Dried chiles de Colorado

Place seasoned meat in roasting pan.
Add water to bottom of pan.
Add chile pods and bay leaves to water.
Cover tightly with lid or foil.

Roast at 275 degrees for 3 hours
Baste, then cover with loosely tented foil or tipped lid.
Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes
Remove from oven and let sit 10 – 15 minutes before serving.

Recommended sides: Posole or jalapeno cheese grits.

Shred leftovers for carnitas tacos.


Today's exercise: Get cooking!

Next: To be honest, probably heartburn. ;-)

Of Dogs and Cats*

Sashimi Koneko, concerned about mind control

We've spoken before of the importance of pets in the Yummish life. In today's lesson, we're going to explore the respective merits of the two most popular household pets: dogs and cats.

There are many, many, many practical benefits from bringing a dog into your life. Over centuries, dogs have been engineered by man to be of extraordinary usefulness. Strong, clever, brave and loyal, they have served man as pack animals, body guards, guides, hunters, companions and even dinner. Bred to subservience, dogs are compelled to please their human “masters” and are never so happy as when they have done so.

Cats, on the other hand, are less concerned with garnering the approbation of the clawless, fangless shivering naked apes they've (sometimes grudgingly) allowed to share their space. Cats are not inclined to tote and fetch for the pleasure of man, nor are they concerned with our displeasure at this disinclination. Though expert hunters, trackers, and combatants, cats don't feel compelled to use these skills for anyone's benefit other than their own. Cats improve our lives in only one way: by keeping in check rodents, human egos and similar vectors of disease.  

Sushi Koneko, 2 years ago

The Yummish believe that there are no “Dog People” versus “Cat People,” but rather, like many things, it falls out along a spectrum. We all need unconditional love from time to time, just as we all occasionally need our egos challenged. Our current emotional need (coupled with our current housing situations, to be realistic), determines which is the right pet (or combination thereof) for that time of our lives. Some people may even find themselves sliding back and forth a bit on that spectrum over the course of their lives.

As the Yummish Council is located in the lush, green and yet highly populated San Francisco Bay Area – a prime breeding ground for both rodents and self-important pseudo-intellectual types, we have elected to bring not just one, but two cats into our temple. From our daily care and worship of them over the past two years, as well as through our nightly practice of cat yoga,* we have learned the following ego-diminishing lessons:

Optimism: Owning a cat changes your perspective. It's not just a box half full of cat poo that you have to empty. It's cat poo that's not all over the floor.

Selflessness: Putting the desires of others before your own. While you might enjoy sleeping in on a weekend morning, this selfish act would delay the cats' breakfast by as much as an hour or two, leaving them with no choice but to walk repeatedly across your torso, being sure to plant each of four paws into your full bladder and thus forcing you out of the bed anyway.

Generosity: Unattachment, giving and letting go. You may have thought it was your leather sofa or your memory foam mattress, but will soon find there is greater grace in accepting that they are now the cats' scratching posts.

Forbearance: Patience and forgiveness. There will be furballs in the corners and hairballs in your slippers.

Truthfulness: There is no point in lying to a cat. They don't care what you're saying anyway. Just get that can of food open.  

*Tell me about the rabbits, George.

Today's exercise: Pet something furry.  

Next: YARP: Yummish Advanced Research Projects



**Cat yoga: a feline-guided mental and physical discipline that involves contorting one's body into increasingly challenging positions (catsanas) in order not to disturb the cats sleeping in the center of the bed.