Living in Syn

The Synergy house manual - essential information for cooperative living.

Living in Syn 2003 (Draft)

Living in Syn

(or how I learned to stop worrying and love the hobart)

Your Co-op owners manual

End User License Agreement (you can never be too safe these days):

This copy of �Living in Syn (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the Hobart)��� is licensed for the personal use of the duly appointed �recipient of the guide.� It is not licensed for commercial or public use, and misappropriation is punishable by a up to 5 years in jail and/or a fine not to exceed $100,000. The opinions and ideas expressed in this booklet are not those of the author(s). They were implanted in his/her/their brain by space aliens. These are not steadfast rules to live by, only historical perspectives and precedents. Nothing in this guide is true. Nothing at all. Must be over 5 feet tall to ride. In the event of an emergency landing, this guide can be used as a flotation device. Not suitable for children under the age of 12 or those suffering from chronic back pain. Offer not valid in Wyoming and Guam.

I understand and agree to the terms of this EULA:

Sign here__________

CHAPTER 1 � Synergy past

There is no single �synergy history,� only different experience that people have had as they lived, worked, and played, in this community. Some of the things in this booklet are true, some are half-true, and some are false; but �the facts� (if indeed there are any) should never get in the way of a good story. Much of this history was plagiarized from the 1988 edition of �living in syn� (thanks to Lee Altenberg) which can be found with the old journals in the Synergy library. I also stole parts of this guide from �Smooth Sailing thorough Chateau,� a Berkeley co-op handbook.

The Sigma Nu days

It all started with a fraternity called Sigma Nu. Sigma Nu had long been a traditional fraternity with all that entails, but in 1959 one of the brothers was tragically run over by a car and killed after passing out in the driveway. The university didn�t take too kindly to this incident and put the fraternity on probation.

This incident combined with the restrictive probation scared a lot of people away from the frat, and a large number of vacancies opened up. The next year a group of 17 Wilbur hall freshmen, the �Future Leader of America� types, decided to pledge the frat en masse, demanding that Sigma Nu take all of them. The frat had little choice but to accept.

By the time 1962 came around, the Stanford chapter of Sigma Nu had become one of the most progressive chapters in the country and, together with the Brown University chapter, tried to pass an amendment eliminating the racial exclusionary policies of the national fraternity. This amendment was crushed at the national level. When they returned to Stanford the fraternity voted unanimously to cut all ties with the Sigma Nu national fraternity, and became the Beta Chi independent fraternity.

In 1966 the Beta Chi brothers decided to open membership to �any member of the Stanford community� including women, faculty, grad students, administrators, and others. In response to this �open door policy,� another frat stole Beta Chi�s door.

The first women joined as eating associates in 1967 and moved into the frat in 1969. That year Beta Chi had the distinction of being the first campus residence to have a drug bust. The frat also decided to become the �performing arts theme house.� They became well known for their plays, film series, artsy newspaper, and their yearly Halloween Party which had bowls full of LSD punch.

By 1972 the �frat� had gotten a bit too dirty and crazy for the alumni, who decided to sell the house to Stanford university for $11,000.

Synergy Begins

In 1972 Synergy grew out of a student initiated course titled �New Vocations and New Life Styles.� Project Synergy was the action portion of that course, their goal was to create a counseling and resource center on new ways to live and work.

The university allowed Synergy to move into the old Beta Chi house, and the students quickly begin shaping their new community. They started right out with many of the practices that Columbae had adopted including vegetarian cooking, consensus decision making, co-ed bathrooms, and gardening. In addition Synergy had a �guest in residence� program where students allowed people from outside the community to stay and teach community members about alternative lifestyles. One of the first major debates of the house was whether to continue the Beta Chi Halloween party. The students decided to keep the party, but to move the acid punch to the attic in order to encourage more responsible behavior.

The synergy garden flourished, with a grey water system and a large greenhouse. The community members kept chickens, and were involved in political actions. Other co-ops opened up on campus in the 70s including Hammarskjold, Terra, and Theta Chi, as well as a number of houses that are now defunct: Jordan House, Whitman (a co-op dedicated to �intellectual culture�), and Androgyny House (a co-op dedicated to �transcending sex roles�).

But in the late 70s Synergy started running into trouble. First the university took away the �theme house� designation of the co-ops and replaced androgyny house with Haus Mitt. In 1978 Synergy had three vacancies. The University put Synergy on probation and a review was made of the program. If synergy did not fill the 1979 draw they were told that they would face termination. The house mounted a huge public relations campaign to interest students in the house and they filled it up the next year.

In 1982 the spring draw came in. It was a disaster. Synergy had 19 vacancies, Terra and Columbae both had 12. The co-ops didn�t know what had hit them. The draw meant that 19 people would be moving into synergy who hadn�t wanted to live there. What would this mean? The 19 �006�s� (the draw code for �assign anywhere�) who moved in showed a mixture of fear, discomfort, and aggression. They demanded that meat be served at least 3 times a week. The pro-vegetarian members of the house realized that they had to give up or there would be a mutiny. This perhaps gained the respect of the 006 people, because they took on the duities of the co-ops very dependably. Most moved out after Fall quarter, but the house filled up due to an outreach campaign.

Synergy, Columbae, and Terra pulled together and put on �Co-op week� in the Spring as a joint outreach effort, and it worked. All of the houses were filled. Res Ed helped out a bit, by acting on Synergy�s 1981 proposal to have grad students in the house.

Synergy had other difficult draws. At one point the university actually terminated Synergy because of the vacancies, but another student lead campaign managed to keep the community open.

In 1989 the Loma Prieta Earthquake damaged synergy hose beyond repair. The students at Synergy were dispersed across campus, and the university considered shutting down the co-op, but the students at Synergy organized and formed a student initiated class which they used to lobby the university to restore Synergy house. The university decided to tear down the old house but moved the synergy community into the Cooksey residence, where it stands today.

The Cooksey House

The Cooksey family were friends with the Stanfords. They built their house on land given to them by Jane Stanford. Shortly after the house was built, one of the important members of the Cooksey family passed away and the house was given to the University in hope that it would become a mental hospital. Jane Stanford decided that she didn�t want that kind of thing at Stanford, and the house was given to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 1897.

The Phi Psi fraternity went co-ed in 1972. The national chapter reluctantly accepted this decision, but when a representative was sent in 1976 he saw that Phi Psi was not �behaving like a fraternity� and repremended the fraternity. Following this, the University ceased to recognize the house as a fraternity.

The newly formed Phi Psi co-op lived in the Cooksy house until the earthquake, and was famous for its mellow friendliness, its drugs, and its wild parties. The residents of the house painted large murals including a version of the Sistine chapel in the large stairway.

After the earthquake Stanford decided to re-house the Synergy community in the Cooksey house. The Phi Psi community was moved around campus and eventually changed their name to �The Enchanted Broccoli Forest.�

Synergy has spent the last few years in the Cooksey house, and has thrived as a community. Residents have made a number of significant changes to the house; for example, when Phi Psi lived in our house the garden was a parking lot (as you can tell if you dig very deeply in some areas).

Synners of times past have had amazing adventures here over the last 30 years. Go out, have fun, and make some history of your own.

CHAPTER 2 �SYNERGY PRESENT
Synergy and other co-ops

As you all probably know from the draw, there are currently 7 co-op houses here at Stanford. (Synergy, Columbae, EBF, Hammarskjold, Terra, XOX, and Kairos). Generally, the distinction between a co-op and other Stanford undergrad residences is that co-ops pretty much run their own house by working together, although housing officials can exert power over many co-op decisions (less so at XOX, which is self-owned). While some co-ops at other universities are highly unified and have complete independence from the university (Like the Berkeley or Santa Cruz co-ops), Stanford co-ops have always been less centralized and less unified. People have tried several times to form co-op councils made up of representatives from all of the co-ops. The idea is to get together and plan events for all of the co-ops. A co-op council may also have greater political leverage in dealing with university policies that are not always friendly to the co-op communities (Stanford has tried to shut down the co-ops in the past, and may try to do so again). These things usually get started in reaction to distinct threats from the university.

Synergy and Exploring Alternatives

Synergy means something different to everybody who lives here. For some this house is a 2nd family, for some it�s a nice place to get good vegetarian food, for others it�s an escape from the banal conformity of much of the rest of campus, and for other�s it is a place to experience a different way of life. No one reason is more authentic then another. Living here is a perfect opportunity to explore alternatives: start playing a musical instrument, learn how to cook, play in our garden, organize a hiking trip, dance naked under the full moon��the possibilities are only constrained by your imagination.

In the next section of this guide I go over some of the dominant themes that have influenced Synergy house in the past. None of these themes are immutable and all of them can be changed if you so desire.

The Synergy Journal.:

The synergy journal is a house diary of sorts. This is where we write down interesting things that have happened in the house. If you are feeling creative, artistic, literary, or just plain silly you should write in the journal. The journal is a great place to argue, to debate, and to discuss issues. Here are two brief entries from the �79 journals:

I HATE THE FREE-LOADERS IN THIS HOUSE��WE FEED THOSE FUCKIN� CHICKENS AND WHAT DO WE GET�� NOT A FUCKIN� EGG IN MONTHS. I SAY EAT �EM! BROIL THE LITTLE SHITS!!! CHICKEN FOR DINNER!!! ��79

Dear Synergites,

Please, if I receive calls from Jim Thomas I am not in. He is a Moonie, and he wants to convert me. ��79

Consensus in Theory:

Consensus is more than just the way that house meetings are run; it is a way of dealing with differences of both opinion and lifestyle without silencing anyone. While at first glance one may assume that synergy is full of �granola crunching red diaper baby vegan death warriors� there are actually people of all political and social character who choose to live here. Consensus is the best process we�ve found for addressing everybody�s concerns and opinions without alienating anybody.

First things first. Consensus is a difficult political system to deal with. It is wonderful in theory, but in practice it can quickly devolve into a tyranny of the obnoxious and the uncompromising. It is also one of the most conservative systems of governance known to humankind. But in many regards it�s better than the alternatives (majority rule, or a dictatorship of the Kitchen Manger for example) and it�s what we�ve got. To change to another system of governance would require a consensus decision, and there will probably always be somebody ready to block that change.

There are a number of different genealogies of consensus. Some like to imagine romanticized hunter-gatherers living their lives through consensus rule, others like to point to religious movements or political struggles. I�ll explain the theory as it is imagined by Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher, public intellectual, and social critic. He tried to set up a formal moral theory based around the �need to be able to communicatively share��perspectives in order to reach a shared understanding about anything in the objective, social, or subjective world� (38). His moral theory, opposing Kantian philosophy, stressed that �the validity of a norm rest on its endorsement by all those affected by it.� (32). Habermas then wrote that: �It is not sufficient, therefore, for one person to test whether he can will the adoption of a contested norm after considering the consequences and the side effects that would occur if all persons followed that norm or whether every other person in an identical position could will the adoption of such a norm. In both cases the process of judging is relative to the vantage point and perspective of some and not all concerned. True impartiality pertains only to that standpoint from which one can generalize precisely those norms that can count on universal assent because they perceptibly embody an interest common to all affected. It is these norms that deserve intersubjective recognition. Thus the impartiality of judgment is expressed in a principle that constrains all affected to adopt the perspectives of all others in the balancing of interests��thus every valid norm hast to fulfill the following condition: All affected can accept the consequences and the side effects its general observance can be anticipated to have for the satisfaction of everyone�s interests (and these consequences are preferred to those of known alternative possibilities for regulation.� (33). In a nutshell, consensus is the practice of listening to other people, and trying to see the issue from their perspective. The point of consensus is not to arrive at the perfect solution that most people can accept, but to arrive at a workable solution that everybody can accept.

Consensus in Practice � how we get to workable solutions:

A consensus meeting typically proceeds as follows:

First the facilitator will ask the person who brought up the item to state the issue or proposal. The facilitator will then ask if anyone does not understand the issue or has any questions that will clarify it.

After all questions have been answered, the facilitator will call on people with hands raised to comment on the issue/proposal. People may state their approval, concerns, or objections to any proposal, and suggest alterations or additions to a proposal or offer new proposals. All suggested proposals, changes, and also the various concerns that have been raised should be written down in the journal. The facilitator may choose to structure this discussion in a variety or ways, such as brainstorming, going around in a circle, taking straw polls, fists of five, or breaking the meeting up into smaller groups to discuss different parts of an issue. House members should not get bogged down hashing out every little detail of a proposal; detail work is best done before council by an individual or a small committee. House members may need to table a discussion until the next week so that a small group can do the detail work.

Some issues will resolve themselves easily. With harder issues, the facilitator may have members address concerns that have been raised one by one, so that each concern either gets dropped or is used to modify the proposal.

To gauge the general support of a proposal, house members may call for a �fist of five.� When this is done, house members hold up a number of fingers proportional to their support of the proposal. 5 fingers indicates total support, and zero fingers indicates a block. If anyone �blocks� the proposal, the proposal will not be implemented. One should only do this if any concerns have not been addressed or if one feels the proposal is a total disaster for the house. Before any decision is approved, the minute-taker should read the proposal aloud so everybody is crystal clear about what they�re consensing upon.

Another option for those who do not wish to support a decision, but do not wish to block it is to stand aside. To stand aside from an issue is to declare that one will not participate in the process, but does not want to inhibit others from participating in the decided process.

If there are any blocks, a significant number of stand asides, or a number of people who hold up few fingers in a fist of 5, we will continue discussing the issue to make it more acceptable to all. If a proposal is unacceptable to many people we may agree to drop it. If somebody continues to block a proposal and we are at an impasse meetings may table the issue for a week to give people time to come up with a new solution.

Some of the benefits of consensus

1. Decisions that take into account multiple views are usually smarter decisions.

2. Consensus decisions are easier to implement than decisions passed over the objection of a significant number of people

3. Consensus encourages a win-win attitude, listening to opposing views, and a cooperative spirit at council

4. Consensus leaves more people happy, fewer people bitter

Avoiding some of the Pitfalls of consensus

1. Don�t let consensus turn into rule of the articulate and/or old members. All members need to speak and make their views known. If you have a concern but can�t find the words to express it, say so!

2. Don�t be afraid of rocking the boat or being the only one to say no if you feel uneasy about a decision.

3. On the flip side, don�t let consensus turn into tyranny of the minority by consistently blocking action. When you find yourself in a small minority, you�ve made your views known, everyone else remains unconvinced, and you think the decision unwise but not a total disaster, it�s usually best to let the decision pass. But if you really think the decision a total Hindenburg style disaster, stand firm and block it.

Housing

Our housing situation is one of the most flexible on campus. We switch rooms (and roommates) every quarter, and are able to live in mixed sex rooms. At the time I�m writing this I think that synergy has 4 singles, 10 doubles, 5 triples, and a quad although knowing university policy this number could change drastically by the time you move in. Despite all the hype, our rooming meetings are usually fairly low stress. You don�t need to worry about knowing exactly which room you want to live in and who you want to live with before the meeting. We always have a few people who are undecided about their situation until the last minute, and we always manage to fit everybody into a room.

At our rooming meetings several members of Synergy often decide to form �communes.� This is where a large groups of people decide to share two or more rooms. This allows for a more efficient use of space, allows people with different sleeping habits to room together comfortably, and provides a wonderful opportunity to get to know other house members. If this idea appeals to you, start discussing the possibility soon after you arrive at Synergy.

Dead Meat:

Although Synergy has not always been a wholly vegetarian house, vegetarianism has been a strong commitment of many members of the house since its inception; and in recent years the house has had strong policies against serving meat products. At the end of this owners manual the kitchen managers have added a food survey. Please fill it out, as it will help our food policy meeting move much more smoothly.

During our food policy meeting we decide if meat will be allowed in the house and where it can be stored and consumed. We form a policy based upon a consensus decision. Like all consensus meetings, the meat policy meeting can run quite smoothly if everybody respects the beliefs and values of other residents; and works together to find a solution amenable to everybody�s interests.

During this meeting we may also discuss other food purchases including organics, locally grown food, and bulk food/packaging. This is the meeting where you should discuss food items that make you uncomfortable, or ones that you like but may be controversial.

House Meetings

We have weekly house meetings. These meetings are when we discuss issues that are of concern to the residents of the house. At first, the RA will probably facilitate these house meetings, but other residents are encouraged to facilitate meetings as the quarter progresses.

Managers:

Who are the managers? What do they do? How did they get to be managers?

At synergy the managers are not dictators with complete oligarchic control over everything in the house. They are simply residents who guarantee that certain necessary functions in the house get done, and have special training in those areas.

RA � Laura. As the RA, Laura is the official tool of the university. Not really, she�s actually the official tool of Synergy. It�s her job to support the residents, help out in emergency situations, be around for people, and generally make sure that everything is running smoothly.

House Manager � Justin. It�s Justin�s job to make sure that things aren�t broken, and if they are to fix them. He�s responsible for keys, and for keeping in contact and maintaining good relationships with Stanford housing.

Kitchen Managers �Monica and Bryn. Bryn and Monica buy your food. They also make sure that our kitchen doesn�t get shut down.

Financial Manager � Katie. Katie makes sure that we have enough money to pay for all of the material things that make Synergy so lovely. She also organizes the collection of board bills, and authorizes refunds for purchases made in the name of the house.

Garden Manager � Vince is our garden manager. He makes sure we have an amazing, beautiful, and living garden.

Social Manager � Casey. Casey organizes our parties. She makes sure that we are in line with all university regulations, and that our neighbors are duly informed.

RCC � Adar. It�s Adar�s job to manage the computer lists, and to help out with computer problems and issues that come up. If something on your computer is broken, just talk to Adar.

Synergy has a unique manager selection process (only Columbae chooses their managers in a similar way). All of the individuals who want to be managers meet at then end of winter quarter, and go decide amongst themselves through consensus who will be next year�s mangers. The new managers, with the assistance of the old RA, then decide who the next year�s RA will be.

Working for the House:

One of the key aspects of Synergy life is the work we put in this house to make it beautiful. While everybody is expected to clean up after themselves, the house will get dirty, and without a mechanism to compel people to clean it the dirt and grime would build up until it mutated into a super-slime that would devour us all. And that would be bad. So to stop this scenario from happening we have Synergy jobs.

House Jobs

Everybody who lives or eats full time at Synergy is expected to do four quarterly house jobs. With the exception of Bathroom clean (which can be done whenever), these jobs are done between 9AM and noon These jobs are;

Bathroom clean � A Wednesday wash and scrub of all of the house bathrooms

House clean � A Sunday dust and clean of the entire house (including bathrooms)

Kitchen clean � A Saturday wash and scrub of the kitchen

Garden Love � A Saturday dig and plant in the garden.

The house manager will put up a sign up sheet for the jobs early in the quarter. You just sign your name under a day that you can work. If you can�t make a job that you signed up for you need to find a replacement or you will face the wraith of both the house in the form of social stigmatization and the financial manager in the form a nasty fine. We really take these jobs seriously.

Hint: Do your house jobs early in the quarter! If you wait �till the end, there may be not be as many people in your crew � that means more work for you!

Weekly Jobs

Everybody who lives or eats full time at Synergy is expected to do a weekly job. At the beginning of the quarter, you will make a tile with your name on it. To sign up for a job, just hang your tile on the job board in the breakfast room. The job tiles are taken down every Thursday at 10:00pm. It�s all pretty self explanatory. There are jobs that can only be done at specific times, and jobs that can be done at any time during the week. If you can sign up for job during the scheduled time, please do so. It�s no fun to do a scheduled job with fewer people then required. Often people will have exceptionally busy schedules and can only do a weekly job for one or two weeks. It�s nice to let those jobs fill up last.

These are the current jobs. We may decide to add jobs or take jobs away depending on the supply/demand:

Pre-dinner clean � Clean up the kitchen from 1-3pm so that dinner cook can focus on making tasty food. Instructions are posed in the kitchen next to the spice bin. This is a single person job, and it quite meditative. Bring down your favorite CD and scrub your stress away.

Cook � Make yummy food from 3-6pm. If you want recipie ideas look through our huge collection of cookbooks (the ones with worn pages tend to be the best). You get extra-special cool person points if you tell the kitchen managers what you want to make ahead of time, allowing them to order food just for you and to make sure you don�t use up all of one kind of item.

Clean � Clean up right after dinner. Like pre-dinner clean, except with more people and a dirtier kitchen. Instructions posted in kitchen.

Bread � Every night, starting sometime after clean has finished, somebody in Synergy makes bread. There are few things better in life then coming home to fresh bread. Don�t be intimidated if you�ve never made bread before. A lot of the recipes are easy to follow (Cuban Easy Bread is a good introduction to bread making).

Beans � This is a weekly job. It can be done at any time during the week, although it tends to be better for the house if its done earlier (allowing us to eat all of the beans from one week before we get a new batch for the next). This person cooks up a huge batch of beans for the house to use in breakfasts and lunches. Beans are fun to make, and quite versatile to use.

Hummus � Another weekly job. Same as beans, except for hummus. Hummus makes people happy!

Compost � mmmmm��compost�� the person who does this job gets to turn the compost! You basically make sure that the compost is composting, and that the circle of life is continuing. . . or something along those lines. (I don�t really know what this person does - perhaps you could fill it in)

Re-Stock � restock is done on Thursday morning, soemtime after our dry goods shipment comes in. The restocker puts away all the dry goods, and makes sure that everything in the kitchen is in order. Makes sure that the spice jars are full, that the flower/sugar/salt bins are full, etc��a full job description will be posted in the kitchen.

Special Bake � bake something special. Whatever you want. It doesn�t even have to be baked per se, just tasty. This job is especially for those who are having

The Kitchen:

You will all get a kitchen tour at the beginning of the year. The kitchen managers will answer any questions you have about appliances, where we store food, and how to cook food without killing yourself. The kitchen is always open, and is a great place to socialize and get to know people.

Your Housebill and You:

On your bill you are charged for a number of different things, including:

Food � the food bill for the first quarter is an estimation based upon the average cost of food last year. This always turns out to be a bit off, and we end up spending either more or less. The bill will change in the winter quarter and the spring quarter to reflect these changes.

Party � this is a fund pays for decorations, bands, and booze. The university requires that we offer a refund on the booze part of this bill for those of you who have moral problems with paying for booze. This shouldn�t used if you simply don�t drink, only if you have deep seeded issues with alcohol.

Philanthropy � this is a fund that the house can use to give money to worthwhile causes. In the past we have given donations to on-campus groups, national groups, and individuals. All philanthropy decisions must be brought to house meeting, and must pass through the consensus process.

BSJ � All of your marks you made over the quarter on the BSJ fridge come back to haunt you on this section of the bill.

CHAPTER 3 �SYNERGY FUTURE

Frequently asked fears:

I heard you people all ran around naked. What if I don�t want to be naked?

Just as nobody in synergy is required to be clothed, nobody in synergy is required to be naked. Heck, you can even wear your clothes in the showers if that�s your thing. Living in synergy is about accepting the rights and opinions of others, including the decision to remain clothed. Dance naked under the full moon, or dance in a 3 piece suit, it�s all the same to us.

I heard that all you do is smoke pot all day. I think drugs are evil and Nancy Regan told me to just say no! Are you all going to tie me down and make me take LSD?

I won�t lie and say that nobody ever uses drugs at synergy, but the same could be said about any dorm or house on campus. The rate of users at synergy is probably about the same as other places on campus and it goes with out saying that anybody�s decision to not drink, smoke, use drugs, or do other stupid things will always be respected. Synergites are usually mature, responsible, and respectful people; drugs are actually not much of an issue in the house.

I heard that you�re all pinko-commie bastards, but I think Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were the greatest politicians ever. Will you throw me off the roof?

Although members of the house tend to lean towards the left, you�ll find a very wide range of political opinions expressed; ranging from socialists and anarchists to conservatives and libertarians. Healthy debate is always important for any community. Wear your political allegiance with pride, but remember that being obnoxious about your politics rarely does anything but annoy your allies and amuse the opposition.

I think Phish and The Dead really suck. I don�t want to be subjected to zonked out jamband music all year long.

Last year CDs heard in our kitchen included almost every genre of music including classical, rap, punk, electronic, country, rock, metal and yes, jambands. If you have a CD you particularly like, bring it downstairs and listen to it while you�re in the kitchen. You may hear it being played while you�re not there.

Synergy Parties and Traditions

Synergy has a number of parties and traditions that we, as a house, participate in.

House gifts.Members of the house are encouraged (but by no means required) to make/buy/steal a house gift. This can be anything, house gifts last year included rewiring our AV system, a stage, a gazebo, and an espresso machine.

Other stuff to do:

Cook

Naked cook

Halloween

Valentines Party

Beltane

Super-fun Surveys:

Food Survey (include bsj stuff)

Periodical Survey

Synfully Living Well (2000-2001)

Synfully Living Well [ 2000-2001 ]

[version 9-26-2000, by MSG (="i" below), with contributions from managers + RA: Luisa M., Alisha T., John M., Brittany J., Pete J., Laura M., Kevin B. ("=we" below). ]

Why write this? These are extra notes partly in response to those written by Bob L. and distributed last year, and partly in addition to those.

We offer these notes in the hope that they will help new Synners of this year start off the year well, and introduce them to a bit of the history of Syn, and get them going in good directions so that they may be able to start off with a `boost', not have to reinvent everything from previous years, but go even farther with the Syn spirit than before (as background, MSG has EA'd at Col (Columbae) and Syn for several years, and everyone else has lived at least one year in Syn, and everything we have to say about co-op living thus derives from these experiences, we have no furtherclaim to anything authoritative). No one has to copy these, or even follow them at all, and in fact, in the spirit of Syn, before any action on any of the following is taken, there should certainly be lots of discussion, and then a consensus decision taken at (usually) House Meeting (MausHeeting). Every year is unique and different in its own way...

Also, some of this has Syn notation/abbreviations that we don't explain, but you will certainly pick up soon.

(Last: none of the email links will work yet (9-26-2000) because i haven't put the email into those separate files and properly linked them, yet..)

Comments on what Bob wrote

(Using the same numbering scheme as in Bob's document)

• 1. Food & Kitchen
  • 1b. Food choice is very central to this co-op. we realize that people choose to live here for various reasons, and only a minority of the house is actually vegetarian, but this is one of the very important heritages of this house.

    Organic issues are not minor, last year we had someone from a local organic gardening store come and explain why eating organic is important, this might be useful again.

    Being vegetarian is also a significant issue, and though it is a minority that would actually call themselves vegetarian in any sense of the word, some of them do feel very strongly about it. Normally there is a discussion at one of the early house meetings about if and how people should be allowed to eat or store any meat in the house, and this is usually all resolved amicably in the end (and if you hear rumors from last year's residents about the one guy we had to store away in the Meat Fridge down below in order to actually come to the consensus decision on this, don't you believe it!!).

    A very good movie that we showed last year "The Animals Film" which explains why anyone might want to become veggie, from various perspectives: environmental, health-related, and ethical. We will show this again early in the year, and hope especially that the non-veggies of the house will attend and get some feeling for why some of their housemates choose this diet.

  • 1c. Don't mix up the Hobart mixer and sanitizer -- they may be named both after the Tasmanian capital, but they have pronouncedly different functions. Get to know them. Love Hobart. Recycle Hobart.

  • 1d+1f. Ah, dishes. First: don't take more food then you need, so you don't have to throw much away into the compost bin after. there are several billion starving people in Africa and the rest of the world, and it's tough for some of us to see the wastage of food at all, especially from an ecologically/humanistically-minded co-op. emails on this.

    Washing dishes: though we do have the three-sink method normally set up in the rightmost sink (a soap and a rinse basin), i personally prefer to rinse mine thoroughly with warm water right after eating while they're still wet and the food washes off easily, and put them in the Hobart rack. but when i say thoroughly, i mean thoroughly: so that not one speck of food is left on them. because it's disgusting to find the baked-on food afterwards when people haven't done this fully. don't worry, depending on the cleanliness of your housemates this year, you will have more or less opportunity to find out of what i speak. :>

    (but do remember that Syn didn't get it's reputation for being the cleanest co-op through a preponderance of slacker-residents the last few years..)

    and continuing in that vein of variability: some of you will be very clean, very responsible, very good about doing your dishes. some of you.. won't. you will leave your dishes all over the house, in your room (especially as finals approach), and strewn yea even about the kitchen is various states of food-finishedness. this will attract bugs and disgust your housemates and the virtual presences of your parents. but it's not something to stress over excessively, that's why they're parents, and you're college students. again, depending on yours and your housies' fastidiousness, brace for emails on this.

  • 1e. Mt. Hobart -- i like mountaineering a bunch, but yes, i'd rather it be done at the Stanford Climbing Wall -- in fact, one of my personal favorite jobs is to empty the Hobart when we're not in a rush -- it takes less than 2 minutes, you feel good about it, and the dishes are clean when you're putting them away! despite this, you will likely get emails during the year about how some people are doing 94,000 loads a day and everyone else is doing none, and this disparity in responsibility is one of the hallmarks of the human species. maybe an anthro senior will someday do a thesis on responsibility-variability in co-ops.

  • 1g. we think midnite is a good time to call late-plates past their prime, unless people specially request later than that. we say this because late-plates are often left on the counter to cool down, and too often the next morning we see late-plates that are now overly-ripe plates.

    We think names should definitely be put on the plates.

  • 1h. Compost: reeks. alright? it does and that's part of the life at a co-op. last year in Spring we got lots of straw from the Stanford organic farm so we could cover the compost every night after throwing the slops on there from after-dinner clean (damn, i wish we kept hogs sometimes. sooooooeeey.). this kept the smell down, and the insects away wherever insects go when they're not having a compost-fest. this was wonderful. hopefully repeatable, too.

    You will come to be concerned with this also, as turning compost is now a qrtrly job, so begin preparing yourself already psychologically for the task. Thankfully, during the winter we won't have many flies anyway because they go to the Winter Fly Olympics down in Tonga. (i think.)

• 2. Rooming meeting:

  • Be cool. last year all meetings were between 3 and 5 hours. the goal is normally to beat Col, and Syn succeeded admirably last year. this leaves good feelings for the rest of the qrtr, so listen to Bob's wisdom and be mellow. jah?

• 3. Weekly jobs.

  • You will see many emails about people wanting to switch jobs. this is because it's easy to send email. it's not however always the most effective way to deal with those of your species. often, it's better if you communicate with them verbally, emitting sounds and everything even. this will usually find you fastest a replacement for the job you didn't realize you couldn't do because you had an appointment to meet your TA for Communication Skills that week during the time you signed up for dinner cook.

    DO show up for your job (weekly, or house), however you have to remind yourself -- it sucks when the other person on your crew hasn't shown up, or is half an hour late. it leads to bad feelings, and worse, Bad Karma. don't become Karmically Challenged!! don't do it!!

  • 3a. Do NOT sign up for blue jobs when other slots for predinner clean/dinnercook/after dinner clean aren't filled. if you can't do any of the unfilled jobs, wait until they are all filled to sign up for blue jobs. believe me, your housemates will smile at you more genuinely if you follow this rule.

  • 3b. Do a good job on pre-dinner clean, don't flake.

  • Bread: can't sign up for it if you did the week before.

  • Tell/email Suresh if you want a particular slot.

  • Sign up by Sat morn, or the Dancemaster will come looking for you -- and depending on his or her aptitude for inflicting Indian burns/Chinese Water Torture that could be a messy situation. don't you risk it.

• 4. House/Kitchen/Bathroom cleans.

  • 4a. Get the person who's most authoritative on your house-clean crew to go around and tell people that they better get their stuff out of the hall or it's going straight to the free-store. and follow through (or just push it into their room, if they're friends of yours). Apparently, this is even more serious this year because the Fire Marshall is going to be hounding Lisa T. (Syn's facilities rep in the admin.) and she will be handing out fines.

  • 4b. First: it looks like a normal corporate newspaper, but don't recycle the Earth First! journal!! it's loved and cherished by some of your housies. Second: we keep the blue NYT bags and put them in the drawer next to the tape-drawer so people can use them for their lunches etc.

  • 4c. Take some rocking music into the bathrooms when you clean them, and dance between stalls/floors etc. more fun thusly. really. In my experience, splitting jobs has always worked out alright, and you get a great charge of accomplishment when you finish. AND you're cleaning up after yourself, instead of getting those of a different social class to do so, this is personally important, to me.

  • 4d. Soon it will be cold, and it will indeed save much energy if you do keep the bathroom windows closed.

  • 4e. There is also a plunger in (at least one of) the bathrooms. if you have to use it, USE IT. don't leave that crap for the next person to deal with (now this would be a proper place to use the word "literally", but it's a bit too obvious here so we won't). that's disgusting.

    and ANOTHER thing: if you toss your cookies in the bathroom at any time, day or night, for god's sake clean it up. the same holds if your friend does so during one of the big parties (which is one of the reasons i, along with many others, am not a big fan of the huge parties, but they seem to be part of immutable Syn tradition, now..but not necessarily so immutable if there is a consensus this year to change it..small parties, very cool, monster bashes, hm.).

    this is really a minimally decent thing to do. but, alas.. it'll probably happen again.

    special notes for guys: after you shave, wipe down the sink. there were some pretty virulent emails about this issue last year, understandably so. and: if you use a toilet for number 1, put the seat down afterwards. this will hold you in good stead with all future relationships, too, and learning this one habit may ultimately save your marriage. thus, heed well.

    special note for women: did you know there used to be female urinals, the last of which were seen some 30-40 years ago? this blew me away when i first learned it. Syn, alas, is not thusly endowed. sorry.

  • 4f. I'm very with the program of flushing pee down. you save millions of gallons more yearly if you're a veggie (really), or even eating lower on the food chain than you were before (see newsletter or url's) so don't worry too much about that aspect of it.

  A few extra random notes..

  - We have many years of past history in journals. Read them, cherish them.

  - We have a house battery charger, it charges both rechargeable and alkaline -- even the alkalines that say non-rechargeable! see emails for more info

  - PLEASE turn lights off in all common areas if you see them on after it's dark, and you don't see them being used, most especially the individual freestanding lamps. see this email of last year for a person who was sad watching this not happen.. but then people started to do so, and the whole spirit of the house lifted!

  - Syn 80's film: Let's see it early on, gives a taste of the magical history of the house, and we can all chuckle at the shaggy hair too.

  - Prog' secretary: www.progressivesecretary.org -- amazing socially conscious person's very useful and productive tool..

  Finally: Enjoy, cherish, and Love your new home for this year..

  :>

  Living in Syn 2000

  Living In Syn 2000
  
  Synergy is the best place to live on campus, hands down!! Yet it is
  not always easy to absorb all of the basic mechanics of rockin' co-op
  living. With this in mind, I have set out to write my own random
  ramblings about the basics of Living In Syn. I may reorganize this
  into a Dictionary of Syn or Syn-cyclopedia.
  
  The Basics
  
  If you make a mess, clean it up.
  If you take it out, put it away (e.g. movie screen.)
  If you rearrange furniture, put it back when you're done.
  If you open it, close it.
  
  If you break it, fix it. Or at least admit it and mention it to
  someone who can fix it!
  
  Always leave places (e.g. the kitchen, tables, etc.) a little better
  than the way that you found them.
  
  If 45 people make 45 messes, the house rapidly becomes a dump. But if
  45 people make things a little better in 45 ways, the house becomes
  beautiful!
  
  Kitchen
  
  It is essential that everyone in the house gets a kitchen tour and
  knows where things are in the kitchen, what to do for the kitchen
  jobs, how we cook, etc.. Everything in the kitchen (and the pantry)
  has a place. If you store things in their place, then people can find
  them! Then you can find them later. Just a few thoughts:
  
  Food
  
  We try to avoid processed food and eat low on the food chain. This
  reduces pollution and waste, it's healthier, and it's nice to
  animals. We also try to get organic food, which is tastier, healthier,
  and reduces environmental damage due to pesticides, etc..
  
  Some things
  
  We keep ginger frozen in the freezer. Do not defrost it!! If it is
  frozen it lasts longer and is easy to grate.
  
  We also keep cocoa, coffee, lecithin, margarine and butter in the
  freezer.
  
  The garlic peeler is a nifty device.
  
  The Hobart mixer can be used as a food processor!! It is great for
  chopping stuff.
  
  Dishes
  
  You are always responsible for washing your own dishes and cleaning up
  any mess you create anywhere in Synergy. If you are on dinner crew,
  then after-dinner clean will wash your pots and pans. Any other time,
  you must wash your own pots and pans!!
  
  Hobart
  
  No Mount Hobart! What does this mean? Mount Hobart is a mountain of
  un-hobarted dishes that stack up next to the Hobart. The only
  reasonable excuse for stacking dishes next to a full hobart tray is
  that the Hobart is currently hobarting a load of dishes. Also, Hobart
  = sanitizer, Hobart != dishwasher. Thus, you must actually wash your
  dishes before placing them in the Hobart. You need not rinse.
  
  When you do the Hobart, yell "Hobart!"and people will come to assist
  you. Also, move the rack that you are unloading underneath the
  cabinets, for maximum speed.
  
  Dish Washing System
  
  Like most row houses, Synergy has a 3-sink dishwashing system. The
  basic stages of dish washing are:
  
  1. Scrape off compostable materials into compost bucket
  2. Rinse non-compostable materials down garbage disposer (far right sink)
  3. Wash dishes in large bin of soapy water (middle sink)
  4. Wash 'em again (rinsing, really) in small bin of soapy water (left sink)
  5. Place in hobart tray
  6. Load and run Hobart
  7. Empty Hobart and put away dishes
  
  If life is wonderful and there is an empty hobart tray, there is a
  rack for it to the right of the sink.
  
  Late Plates
  
  There is perhaps nothing better than coming home after a lengthy day
  of class, study, meetings, rehearsals, work, etc., to find a sumptuous
  late plate!! With this in mind, it is good not to skimp on late plate
  portions. It is also wonderful to include dessert or other possibly
  late-arriving items on late plates. It is also good to cover late
  plates with plastic wrap or foil. It is even better to label the late
  plate with the name of the person it belongs to!! If you request a
  late plate, you should eat it or make sure that it is disposed of
  properly. Finally, it is not OK to pilfer late plates. Rudy and
  others suggested that late plates expire at midnight, but for me I
  request that you never eat my late plate before 2 a.m. please!! If you
  pilfer a late plate, you should dispose of the entire plate rather
  than leaving it there to attract flies and rats.
  
  Compost
  
  We compost our kitchen wastes. Only vegetable products, please (except
  egg shells and small pieces of paper.) Make sure to chop everything
  really small (e.g. half orange peels are too big!) Kitchen compost
  bins should be covered to reduce flies and rats. When you empty the
  compost you should always mix in dry materials (e.g. straw, grass) and
  cover the compost with dirt! This prevents flies from laying their
  eggs on the compost, and in general makes us all happier.
  
  It is very important that the compost is turned! This aerates it and
  enables it to rot at high temperature. This high temperature kills
  fly eggs, we hope. I think we turn the compost twice a week, which is
  good! We may be switching to a more advanced and rat-proof composting
  system.
  
  Rooming Meeting
  
  The purpose of the rooming meeting is to come up with the best
  arrangement of people, rooms, and stuff in the house!! So, you should
  think about what would be best for everyone. You should also think
  about what you really need, and also what you would like. For
  example, who would you like to have as neighbors on your hall?? All
  the rooms in the house are beautiful (even 151 and 320.) You really
  can't lose. Because we do the rooming meeting by consensus (or general
  agreement at least,) we can do cool things like room shares and
  communes, things that wouldn't be as likely to happen in a purely
  lottery-based system.
  
  Jobs
  
  Jobs are wonderful things. They are an opportunity to make life happy
  for everyone while enjoying the camaraderie of your fellow
  Synners. Everyone must always do jobs! Some lucky people get to do
  extra jobs. You must always do your job when the job is supposed to
  be done, with the people you are supposed to do it with. If you can't,
  then it is your responsibility to find a replacement. Luckily, people
  are cool and flexible so this generally isn't too hard.
  
  Blue Jobs
  
  Blue Jobs make life worth living. They provide essential, delectable
  staples like hummus, granola, seitan and beans!! If you do blue jobs,
  everyone will love you. If you sign up for a blue job, you must do
  it!! But it is always worth it.
  
  Pre-Dinner Clean
  
  Kumar once said to me, incredulously, "there is no philosophy to
  pre-dinner clean." Ah, but listen to this. The purpose of pre-dinner
  clean is two-fold. First, it prepares a clean and functional
  environment within the kitchen which enables the dinner cook crew to
  cook our delicious dinner! Secondly, it prepares an environment
  outside the kitchen (e.g. in the dining room, etc.) for us to serve
  and eat said dinner. That being said, it is important that the serving
  and eating areas are cleaned as well. Also, random dishes must be
  tracked down and hobarted, and random newspapers must be recycled.
  
  Pre-dinner clean's purpose is not to clean up everyone's dishes,
  pots and pans from breakfast and lunch. Breakfast and lunch messes
  should be cleaned up by their creators. Bread bakers must also clean
  up their pans, etc.. However, any random crud that is left will end up
  being cleaned up by the pre-dinner cleaner. Thus, you should be kind
  to your pre-dinner cleaner and not create extra work!!
  
  If pre-dinner clean is done well, everyone is happy. The cook crew can
  start cooking immediately. At dinner, people wander in, sit down in
  the clean dining room and living room, and talk among themselves as
  they savor the delectable aroma of our amazing synergy dinner, and
  wait in anticipation. They also help out with last-minute cooking and
  help make late plates, if necessary.
  
  After-Dinner Clean
  
  After-Dinner clean cleans up the pots and pans from dinner, beautifies
  the kitchen, and enables bread-baking!! After-dinner clean also cleans
  up areas where people were eating, in case they didn't clean them up
  themselves!! In any case, tables should be wiped down, random dishes
  should be hobarted, and newspapers should be recycled.
  
  House and Kitchen Clean
  
  These jobs are incredibly important. Equally important is that
  everyone be there to do the job at the same time!! This makes it much
  more fun, and also guarantees that the job will actually be done, and
  done well.
  
  House clean should banish random junk from the halls. However, Synners
  should not leave random junk in the halls anyway!! It is ugly,
  annoying, and dangerous and besides the university loves to tag it
  anyway and fine us.
  
  Newspapers
  
  We subscribe to several newspapers and love to read them. It is nice
  to be kind to your fellow Synners by treating the newspapers with
  respect -> not dismantling them, ripping out your favorite stories or
  comics, etc., at least until the next newspaper arrives, and not
  leaving then strewn messily about the dining room, library, living
  room, etc... Newspapers should be recycled by pre-dinner clean. If
  they are not, they should be recycled by after-dinner clean! If you
  bring in a newspaper, or open the bag that it is in, please dispose of
  (recycle or toss) the plastic bags, rubber bands, etc.. Do not under
  any circumstances leave the bags lying on the floor.
  
  Bathroom Clean
  
  This happens twice a week, once during house clean and on wednesday
  during weekly bathroom clean. I just want to say that this is one of
  the nicest things you can do to improve our quality of life!! Note
  that typically on bathroom clean people don't work as a team, because
  schedules don't work out. But it is more fun if you do. Otherwise,
  the question is how to divide up the jobs in some egalitarian
  way. Recently, we have divided them as follows:
  
  showers (a hard job! probably 2 hours)
  toilets (a nasty job, but shorter)
  sinks, mirrors, trash and restock (the slacker job, easiest)
  floors (a hard job, but shorter?)
  
  Maybe toilets should get one of the showers. Or maybe they should do
  walls as well, or baseboards. I don�t know the best way to do
  this. Or maybe every person should get a bathroom (but what about the
  first floor b-room, which is smaller?) Working as a team would be
  ideal.Who knows. Just do what you can, and try to be fair to people
  and not selfish "I'm doing sinks, mirrors trash and restock!"
  
  Bathroom windows
  
  The bathroom windows (and indeed all the windows in the house) are
  designed to be opened from the top rather than the bottom. This allows
  us to see out and admire the beautiful view, especially from the third
  floor! And it provides ventilation. In the summer, you should open the
  top and the bottom for optimal ventilation -> hot air goes out the top
  and cool air is drawn in the bottom.
  
  Whatever you do, don't open the windows all the way in winter, or you
  will freeze us all to death!!
  
  Toilets
  
  We have custom-designed low-flow toilets. They are designed to allow
  you to use only the amount of water that is actually necessary for
  flushing. What this means is that you need to hold the handle down for
  the appropriate amount of time. This is generally a pretty long
  time. At least until everything goes down. Holding the handle down for
  a long time prevents clogs. If you don't, the next person may get an
  unpleasant surprise.
  
  Some people don't like to flush down liquid wastes, in order to save
  water. While this is an admirable goal, I don't like it when people do
  this, because stagnant pee is a rather strong and unpleasant smell. I
  don't like having the bathroom smell that way. Also, it stains the
  bowl and makes bathroom clean's job much harder. Worst of all is not
  flushing the urinal. Please!!
  
  Also, if you make a mess in the bathroom, please clean it up!! Any
  kind of mess: sink, toilet, hair, whatever. Otherwise it will stay
  there until bathroom clean, and you will inflict misery upon your
  fellow synners. TP wrappers and rolls should be recycled, please. But
  I would rather you throw them away than just pile them on the floor!!
  
  Smoking
  
  Smoking is never permitted in the house. Not only is this a university
  regulation, but it makes it so that we can breathe freely in the
  house. Smokers will kindly go outside to smoke, and when they do they
  will clean up any messes (e.g. cigarette butts, whatever) that they
  create.
  
  Flies
  
  Occasionally Synergy (and Stanford in general) is plagued by
  flies. This can be extremely unpleasant. To minimize flies at Synergy,
  one should: close the kitchen doors always; avoid leaving food out;
  cover the kitchen compost bins; turn the outdoor compost twice a week;
  make sure the outdoor compost is always covered with dirt. In the
  future we may upgrade our compost system and make it more fly-proof.

  Garden Diva (Sept. 2000)

  >From: "Laura Jane McVittie"
  >Subject: What is a garden Diva?
  >Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 19:02:38 GMT
  
  What is a garden Diva?
  
  >
  >Despite popular myths, the garden diva position involves more than just
  >watering our plots and pulling weeds. While the garden will perform a
  >functional purpose of providing the kitchen with a few supplementary herbs,
  >vegetables and spices, the garden diva is also in charge of illuminating
  >the symbolic and educational nature of our gardening practices. The garden
  >has the potential to help the house bond over projects like building a
  >green-house, or designing new beds.
  >Moreover, the garden can be an instrumental teaching tool in educating
  >residents about larger issues of biodiversity, organic produce, heirloom
  >vegetables, and human rights issues in connection with food production
  >(i.e. strawberry farmers...etc.
  >
  >In-line with Garden DIVA philosophy, I have a few activities in mind for
  >the coming quarter, depending on interest.
  
  >
  >-Dave Muffly, an arborist from Santa Cruz will be coming to give a workshop
  >on pruning and to talk about some fascinating local trees.
  >
  >-This guy TEX, will be coming from Bay Area Action to talk about
  >environmental volunteer opportunities and to give a workshop on circle
  >gardens.
  >
  >Possible weekend field trips include:
  >
  -Urban Ministry Homeless Garden in Palo Alto.
  -Center for Art and Ecology in Occidental (Above San Francisco.
  -UC. Santa Cruz Organic Farm
  -Santa Cruz Homeless Garden
  -Santa Cruz Arboretum
  -Filoli flower gardens in Woodside (this will be a picnic lunch bike trip)
  -Elizabeth Gamble Gardens in Palo Alto.
  -Hidden Villa Farm (yes. We will bike there)
  
  
  >Most of these trips will involve some biking, and some will involve camping
  >out. We will vote on which ones to do. The point of the trips is to inspire
  >us to do interesting things with our own garden.
  >
  >Also, speaking of greenery and the great outdoors, I am available all
  >quarter to take anyone on nature hikes at Jasper Ridge, Huddart Park,
  >Foothills park, Wunderlick Park and just about anywhere else you can think
  >of. Anouncements will be made at house meeting.
  >
  >Feel free to talk to me about any and all ideas for the garden. Volunteers
  >are always welcome, and be my guest if you want to take charge of any
  >project or plant your own plot. The garden is yours, and the sky is the
  >limit.

  Skit from Open House during the Draw (or New Synner Dinner?)

  (Narrator walks out onto porch...)
  
  Narrator: Hello, everyone, and welcome! My name is [name], and what I am going to do right now may shock you. It may frighten you. It may rattle you to the bone. In a moment, I....will be giving....a lecture.
  
  (Assorted groans of displeasure from current Synners.)
  
  Now, you may have heard about this house from acquaintences of yours. Oh, by the way, it's standing right behind me, in case you were wondering. Isn't it lovely? Damn--if this thing were up on the market—22 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, professional kitchen, two living rooms patio, garden, view of the Bay, private parking.... The only other guy who's got it better is [current University president]. But anyway...your friends, your relatives, some totally random dot-commers [or other appropriate object of derision] who harass you at Tressider about their wonderful start-ups [or whatever the object of derision does] -- the opinion of Synergy of all of these people may have been influenced by rumors, innuendo, and other assorted forms of nonsense. So, this presentation will hopefully dispel some of the mistruths and—in the end -- make you want to live here next year. What I am going to do now is run through a list of the most common misconceptions about Synergy, and then give you the straight story.
  
  Let's begin with what I like to call "the crunchie theory"....that is, that Synergy is overrun by radical, militant, and somewhat abrasive environmentalist freaks.
  
  (Two people come out of house. He is carrying a stack of books and assorted papers. She's not carrying anything, and is wearing a big, mammoth-sized "Synergy" button on her shirt. Or not. There is a trash can and a recycling bin to the side.)
  
  He: Hey, how you doing? (He takes some papers and throws them in the trash can.)
  She: I am doing well, thank y...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? (getting somewhat abrasive as he puts the papers in the can)
  He: Uh, I was...just....um....ah... (all defensive and everything)
  She: You were just um...ah...what? (getting somewhat militant)
  He: Uh, I was just...throwing some papers out. (He goes from normal voice to near-whisper.)
  She: YOU BASTARD! (She hrottles him, making him drop all of his books.) And, what do we have here? A book which has ink not made out of soybeans? What kind of monster ARE you? You're killing (starts to cry as she speaks) countless organisms, and for WHAT? Just so you could STUDY?
  He: Uh....ah....I just wanted to throw out some old....
  She: (Soaked in her own tears by this point) DIE!!!! (She throttles him more intensely, getting a few kicks into his midsection for good measure.)
  
  (Exeunt.)
  
  Narrator: (Pause, then emphatically...) No. (Pause) People who live in Synergy are generally nice people, for one thing. Non-violent people....although from the looks of things, she could kick anyone's ass if she really wanted to. But, we are concerned about our environment. We don't use cleaning agents that could harm the planet, and instead use organic, natural products to get things nice and clean. And, by the way, this co-op is one of the cleanest on campus. But we'll touch on that later on.
  
  Now, let's move on to another popular myth...the "Meat Is Murder" myth: that is, that people who aren't strict vegans are complete pariahs, and are subseqently made to feel unwelcome.
  
  (Three people walk out. Two people are carrying plates with food. One isn't, and is looking rather sullen. All three sit down...the two diners off to one side, and the non-diner to the other. Then a slight pause.)
  
  Diner One: over the shoulder to Non-Diner: (Quietly, slowly, and with an air of disgust) You may eat with us if and ONLY if you apologize to us for having a burger last year, AND swear that you will never do it again, AND join us tonight for the raid on the dairy up in Redwood City.
  
  (Non-Diner just holds his/her head with his/her hands and sighs loudly. Exeunt.)
  
  Narrator: First of all, we do have dairy products here...cheese, butter, and milk. But we are a vegan-friendly house. All of our dinners have vegan entrees, but there is a vegetarian option. And, as you all now know, it is mighty tasty. But non-vegans, and even non-vegetarians, can live here and enjoy the company of fellow Synners. Heck, about half of this house this year is not vegetarian. You can go out and eat whatever you like, whenever you like. And you will be able to decide just how much meat comes into Synergy for personal consumption when you come here next year. But, a word of caution to you omnivores out there: don't come here expecting any killer T-bone steak barbecues. That won't happen.
  
  Synners can tell you we got a lot of peace, and a lot of love. But what about dope? Yep, there's another theory going around: the "Duuuude!" Theory: that Synergy is just swarming with a whole bunch of stoned people. Well, "swarming" isn't exactly the right word to use, but you catch my drift, I'm sure.
  
  (Four people, acting totally blissed out as if, well, they're stoned, come out, slowly and quite gracefully. They very carefully sit down.)
  
  One: Duuuude. (Long pause.)
  Two: Duuuude. Hey.... did you try some.... you know.... (giggles uncontrollably while saying this) bread?
  One: (wasn't exactly paying attention) Duuuude.
  Three (he's the hyper one): Whoa, this bud is just killer. MAN! Just KILLER!
  Two: This bread is just SO awesome!
  Three: Bread-making can free your mind, man. Totally transcendental. New age bread baking, man!
  Two: That is SO cool (giggles some more).
  Three: You know, we could make some bread, with chocolate, and, you know, almonds and beer, and some weed.
  Two: That is SO cool (one more burst of giggling and then a short pause).
  One: (still not with the program) Duuude.
  
  (Exeunt.)
  
  Narrator: Well. Chocolate, almonds, beer, and weed. Nah, would never work. The simple rule on smoking marijuana is this: GO TO EBF. (General laughter.) No no no, you don't have to do that. If you want to get high, you are more than welcome to do so. If you don't, you don't have to. This is, by no means, a stoner dorm. For the record, neither is EBF. In fact, there are many people at Synergy who have never gotten high on anything except life. Of course, some people do get high on things like nicotine, which...oh, excuse me a moment (stops to lovingly light a cigarette)...which may be enjoyed outside the house, in accordance with University regulations. But (drag of smoke), the key to life here is simple: If you are comfortable doing something, go ahead. If you aren't don't. The same goes for alcohol. ResEd is not gonna knock on your door (drag), looking for your hipflask...or your stash, for that matter. You all have been here for at least a year now, so you know the basic formula: (drag) What you do with consenting adults is cool, just so long as it is under control and you respect other people's decisions. Now.... (At this point, the Narrator takes another drag. Someone in Synergy -- preferably someone who has begged the narrator to stop smoking on previous occasions -- will oh-so-subtly throw water in his/her face...the object being to put out the cigarette, and not to put out his/her eyes. He/She has to read the script, you know.)
  
  Person who worries too much about Narrator's health: STOP SMOKING! It's bad for you.
  
  Narrator: Of course, concern for your fellow human's health is fine. (As if it was ad-libbed) That was *so* uncalled for. But it was funny.
  
  Now, this next myth is my personal favorite: the "C-SPAN Theory". By that I mean, that Synergy's House Meetings are long, are sleep-inducing, and have the uncanny ability to stretch into the wee-hours of the morning for no good reason.
  
  (Five Synners, seated, simulating a house meeting.)
  
  One (Facilitator): OK, I am sensing that we are at a point where we have consens....
  Two: NO NO NO! I want to order Orange **SLICE**. Orange Crush just doesn't fit with me. I mean, Slice is such a better word than Crush. We want to project a sense of warmth, and seeing the word "Crush" just KILLS that.
  Three: Oh, and "Slice" is any better? Have you ever heard of OJ Simpson?
  (One, Four, and Five groan really, really emphatically. One smacks his/her own forehead in disgust. Exeunt.)
  
  Narrator: You know what, what they were actually groaning about wasn't the fact that consensus had broken down, but at that really horrible OJ line. I mean, who the hell wrote this?
  
  ALL SYNNERS: YOU DID!
  
  Narrator: Oh. Anyway. House meetings are run by consensus here. This means that everyone has to agree on what the house does. It is a really easy process, but it takes one key ingredient: flexibility. The difference between Orange Slice and Orange Crush is *not* a big one. What happens *all the time* is that people separate what their needs are and what
  they would like to see happen. If that happens, then the meetings are, first of all, short. But it also means that everyone leaves the process knowing that their needs are met, and that they can live with the action the house takes. Now, along the same lines is another out-and-out lie: the "Live on Pay-Per-View" Theory. Basically, this theory holds that, while house meetings are long and boring, the quarterly rooming meeting is not only long, but also resembles a 15-round fight for the HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD!!! Leeeeets GET READY TO RUMBLE!!
  
  (Five new Synners come out of the house in heated discussion)
  
  One: I NEED the second floor patio!
  Two: No you fucking don't. I need the second floor patio!
  (General bickering on the subject of the patio for a few seconds, then....)
  Three (Facilitator): Whoa whoa WHOA! Wait a minute. Now, why do you need the patio?
  Two: He and I (pointing to Four) own two massive crates of valuables, and it just won't fit in the basement, so we need the patio to store it.
  Five: You STINKING LIAR!! (Fisticuffs and general chaos ensues. Exeunt.)
  
  Narrator: Now, just like the regular housing meetings, Synergy residents separate what they really need from what they want. In the end, everyone's needs are met, and everyone is satisifed that everyone else's needs for space, noise, and other sundry things like storing various kinds of loot are also met.
  
  One more misconception you might have heard about is the "Naturist Theory": that is, that Synners are regularly and, quite frequently, unclothed.
  
  (As many people as are comfortable with the proposition walk out of the house, naked. They turn to the audience.)
  
  All nude people: CLOTHING IS UN-NATURAL!
  One: People who wear clothes don't love their bodies.
  Two (One, if there is only one naked person): People who wear clothes are uncomfortable with themselves.
  All nude people: CLOTHES SUCK!
  
  (Exeunt, leisurely, or take seats among the audience while remaining unclothed.)
  
  Narrator: Here's the deal: if you are comfortable with being naked in public on occasion, no-one here will generally object to it. Yes, sometimes people do disrobe and publicly wear only what they brought with them into this world. And sometimes a group of people go out into the night without a scrap of clothing on their bodies. But it doesn't happen that often, and you don't have to do it yourself if you are not comfortable with that. And the most important part, which also applies to things like alcohol: *no-one here will think the worse of you as a result of your choice.*
  
  (Enter Greek-style CHORUS: five or six people miming different feelings or actions.)
  
  You see, the whole idea of Synergy is doing what feels comfortable to you, while making contributions to the community here. Now, that's a key word: community. (CHORUS: All link arms) Synergy is a community with people that help each other out and make the place a great place to live.
  
  You'll notice that the place is really clean--cleaner than any other co-op at Stanford. Everyone here does a job every week--sometimes, we do two or more jobs. And we don't cook (CHORUS: two in group simulate cooking) clean (CHORUS: two cleaners) and work in the garden (CHORUS: rest act like gardeners) because it's easy, or because the jobs are particularily enjoyable. We do them because we want this place, this community, to work -- to thrive and grow, and if we do our jobs as a community, and with that attitude, then they become enjoyable!
  
  Another thing you should know: living in Synergy is fun. (CHORUS: stop working and start partying) Lots of fun. We have major-league parties every quarter. We take trips to the mountains (CHORUS: three hikers) and to the seaside (CHORUS: three people doing some sort of swimming/scuba activity). We do a lot of things as a group, and we support each other in the individual pursuits that we all have (CHORUS: lots of backslapping). And, when -- God forbid (CHORUS: look shocked) -- we actually decide to do some
  studying (CHORUS: separate and look like you are studying/working), we help each other out and give each other the space and time they need to get their work done.
  
  (Exeunt CHORUS.)
  
  Much of this presentation has focused on the myths surrounding this place. But here's the truth: Synergy is a fully-functioning community. We are a group of individuals with our own lives, but we come together to build a community that makes sure that everyone feels welcome, that every need is met, and that all the problems that come up from time to time are resolved and dealt with in a way that everyone is satisfied and comfortable. And, in the end, it is a community that grows to love one another, and to love this old house as I and everyone who lives here has.
  
  There's a space for you here, if you are willing to contribute your time to the house, if you are willing to help out your fellow housemates, and if you are willing to have a lot of fun. The door is open to you, and we invite you to come on in.
  
  And now, we shall close this presenation (pause), with a hymn.
  
  (Some song with funny lyrics....perhaps "We All live in the Co-op Synergy", sung to the melody of "Yellow Submarine".)
  
  FINI

  FAQ

  Frequently Asked Questions about Synergy (and this web site)

  What's this "Synergy" anyway?

  Synergy is one of seven cooperative houses at Stanford. Synners (or Synergites, depending on your religious conviction) bake, clean, cook, eat, plant, play, sleep, and study(?) in the most beautiful house on campus.
  
  We have a gorgeous lawn, Stanford's (second-?)biggest (and perhaps most arable) garden, a sweet-smelling compost, too many fireplaces to count, lovely wood panels, and a great, thigh-strengthening hilly location.
  
  Like our fellow co-op Columbae, Synergy is a vegan house with a vegetarian option (though residents include not just vegans and vegetarians, but omnivores, carnivores, and cannibals). We sometimes munch on wheat gluten, pretending it's the world's greatest pot roast.
  
  The house makes all of its decisions by consensus - a unique, sometimes painful, but ultimately rewarding process.
  
  Words can't fully describe Syn, so if you are interested in the house, just drop by for dinner!

  Where is Synergy?

  This cute ASCII map is, I think, courtesy ex-Synner Rob Baesman.

  
                  |   |                                |   |
  ----------------|   |--------------------------------|   |---
                    C               MAYFIELD             S
  ----------------| A |--------------------------------| A |---
      casa   bob  | M | grove  kairos         DKE      | N |french
    italiana      | P |                                | T |house
                  | U |                                | A |
                  | S | phi-sig                        |   |roth
                  |   |--------------------------------| Y |
                  | D               COSTANZA             N |
                  | R |--  ----------------------------| E |
                  | I |  \ \                           | Z |
                  | V |   \ \foot                      |   |
                  | E |    \ \path   ____   -----------|   |
                  |   |     \ \___  /___ /\   SAN JUAN     |
                  | E |      L____  I_#__II -----------|   |
                  | A |             SYNERGY!           |   |
                  | S |
                  | T |
  
  

  Okay, okay, so you want a "real" map? How about this:

  

  Satisfied now?

  How do I do my restock job?

  1) Organize the back fridges:
  -Take out all the boxes
  -Consolidate vegetables where you can. Meaning, choose one box to be an "assorted" box, and put everything we have very little of in there.
  -Recycle/deposit any leftover boxes.
  -Stack the vegetable boxes using common sense. Put the heavier stuff on the bottom, and make sure no vegetables get crushed.
  2) Unpack all dry goods from their cardboard boxes and onto the shelves. This includes soy milk, almond milk, salsa, tomato paste, etc. Try and position each kind of dry good in its own nook, with easy access to any particular sub-flavor.
  3) Refill the pantry bins. This includes quinoa, lentils, split peas, falafel mix, cereal, navy beans, and more. Typically the bags for these will be in the far corner of the pantry, on the first or second shelf.
  4) Refill the kitchen bins. This includes sugar, soy milk powder, white flour, wheat flour, oats, and more.
  5) Refill the snack area. This includes chocolate chips, tortilla chips, granola, raisins, and other stuff.
  
  General note: We have a small kitchen and a smaller pantry. This often means that we are hard-pressed for space. As restock you have to try and conserve as much space as you can. It will help to partition the pantry in a way that makes sense. For example, reserve the bottom shelves for dry vegetables. Put all the open dry goods bags in one area. Try and keep all the nuts in one shelf. Where possible consolidate things.

  How do I use Tramigan, our excellent music server?

  What is it?

  A Linux computer in the library, named 'tramigan' (after our esteemed Syn alum who donated our first music server machine) has two file shares on it that anybody in Synergy can access. These shares are named 'syn-uploads' and 'syn-music'. Anybody can write stuff into the syn-uploads share, while you can only read stuff out of the syn-music share. The idea is that if you want your music to go on this server, you copy it from your computer into syn-uploads, and every day (starting at 6 a.m.), tramigan will move everything from syn-uploads into syn-music. This will ensure that nobody accidentally deletes music.

  How can I listen to the music?

  Use iTunes! If have iTunes music sharing turned on, you can also connect to tramigan from a machine running iTunes (look for "tramigan" under Shared Music/Music) and listen to music anywhere in the house.

  How do I play music in the kitchen?

  You can play music in the kitchen using Synkitchen Jr., our excellent kitchen laptop, which has been upgraded to an iBook with iTunes! Once again, connect to "tramigan" under Shared Music. (If you want to update Synkitchen Jr.'s local music library with pointers to music on tramigan, drag the "syn-music" icon on the desktop onto the "Library" icon in iTunes on Synkitchen Jr..)

  How can I connect to the file shares?

  To access the shared folders directly, look for tramigan in your Network Neighborhood or My Network Places (if you use a Windows computer). If you can't find it there, it's probably because your computer isn't in the Synergy workgroup. To fix this, go to start'control panel'system, select the "Computer Name" tab, and click on 'Change…' Then, at the bottom of the window, make sure that 'Workgroup' is selected, and in the edit box type 'SYNERGY'. Click OK and it'll ask you to reboot your computer. Do so. After you do this, you'll probably see tramigan in Network Neighborhood/My Network Places. If you still don't see tramigan, select start menu/run, type '\\tramigan', and hit OK. This should pop up a window containing two directories, syn-uploads and syn-music.

  If you have a Mac, open up the Finder and go to 'Network'. Then, select 'SYNERGY', followed by 'tramigan', followed by one of the two shares. When you're asked for a user name and/or password, just hit OK. Any password/username should work, since it's publicly accessible from anywhere on the Synergy local network.

  Mac users can also hit command-K and connect to smb://tramigan

  How can I add new music?

  First, connect to the shares by following the above instructions. Once you have connected, you can drag and drop your music into syn-uploads. Or you can copy and paste files. Whatever works best for you. Before you add music to the server, check to make sure you're not duplicating songs that are already in syn-music (and visible on iTunes). Then check your new songs to make sure that the tags - song name, artist, album, track number, etc. - are correct (we don't want all of our songs called "track 01", "track 02", etc..) Also, try to keep your music files in some sort of order. For example, if you want to copy over your favorite (?) Britney Spears album, make a folder in syn-uploads called "Britney Spears" (if there isn't already one). Then, inside that folder, make a subfolder with the name of the album (e.g. "My Prerogative"). Then copy all of the music into that last folder. This will keep the server clean and organized (much like the rest of our house!). Within 10 minutes (probably less), the new music should show up on iTunes. Likewise, if you want to copy music out of the directories, you can drag & drop or copy and paste, whichever works for you.

  Why were OurTunes users complaining about Tramigan?

  Some disgruntled OurTunes users complained that tramigan "broke" their program, going so far as to create a facebook group to voice their (somewhat ignorant) displeasure! In fact, there are bugs in OurTunes which can cause it to fail under a variety of circumstances. One of the problems is an uninitialized array in Request.java; a version which fixes this problem may be found here.

  What is this kitchen laptop, Synkitchen-jr?

  Our Fabulous Music iBook, Synkitchen-jr

  Thanks to Diana for purchasing a brand new (to us) iBook G3. In addition to running Mac OS X 10.2, which is a bit more user-friendly than Linux, Synkitchen-jr runs iTunes, which allows you to listen to streamed music from your own server, or from our excellent music server, Tramigan! It also runs Safari for browsing the web (and looking up recipes, etc.), as well as standard Mac programs, as well as Terminal and your standard Unix commands.

  Old Synkitchen

  The information below refers to the old synkitchen laptop, which ran Linux! Unfortunately, many people found Linux and Juk cryptic and hard to use, so it didn't get as much use as we would have liked. Nonetheless, we are grateful to the fine service which synkitchen gave to Synergy.

  Synkitchen is a lovely little laptop graciously lent to us by Diana for the purpose of servicing the kitchen. It has wireless Internet access and a sound card to play music with, but otherwise not much else. The laptop is quite old, so those of you who have grown fat and lazy with trackpads will have to put up with Synkitchen's maddening method of navigation: the magic button!

  Magic button?

  Yes sir, the magic button. This is a small round thing located near the 'g' key on the keyboard. You push it in the direction that you want the cursor on the screen to move. It works like a joystick in that respect. But, you might ask, where are the buttons? As you can see, there are four "mouse" buttons located under the keyboard. The ones in the upper left/right corners are useless; don't worry about them. The large central button is the "left mouse" button and the smaller button underneath it is the "right mouse" button. Beyond that, the interface is the same.

  It's not windows, and it sure as hell isn't a Mac...

  All too true. Synkitchen is running GNU/Linux as its operating system of choice. Linux is feature-filled, fast, and most importantly, free (both free as in speech and free as in beer). On top of that, Synkitchen uses KDE as the desktop environment. Why am I telling you all of this? I have no idea. Most of you can figure out how KDE works quite easily, as it resembles Windows. And those who can't figure it out won't care for my explanation anyway. So moving on...

  What can Synkitchen do for me?

  Synkitchen was created to play music in the kitchen. Now, we already have a boombox in there, so what's the point? Well, for those of you who want to play mp3's from your computers, Synkitchen is there. To do this, you'll need to copy your mp3's onto the music server (detailed in a different section of this FAQ). Then, open up JuK (pronounced "jook"). This program is a lot like iTunes in how it manages music and stuff. If it's already open, you'll see a "tag-like" icon in the taskbar, next to the turquoise "speaker-like" icon. Left-click on this icon and it should bring up JuK. If it's not open, look for the JuK shortcut in the lower left "dock-like" portion of the taskbar. A single left-click will open it up from there.

  When JuK is open, choose your music and click on Play. Make sure that a) the boombox is playing from the Tape deck, and b) the tape adapter is inside the tape deck, and its wire is plugged into the right side of Synkitchen. Control the volume through the boombox. Synkitchen can also handle CD's (although the boombox probably does a better job of that). I'll add that section here when I see how it's done.

  To add more music, upload it to our music server, tramigan.

  What else does Synkitchen do?

  Since it's a full featured computer, Synkitchen can browse the 'net (look for Konqueror, the web browser, in the "dock" section of the taskbar). It can open and read .doc files (Click on the k-menu, the leftmost button in the dock, and open the "OpenOffice Writer"). And it can do just about anything else a computer can. It has games too!

  Some caveats. As the title may imply, Synkitchen is quite a pathetic beast. Give it time when loading things, do not be impatient. We are working to get it a much needed memory upgrade, but until that happens, it may be somewhat slow and irresponsive. If you're a "power-user", you'll find that Synkitchen can do a LOT of things. You can run the bash shell through "Konsole", also found in the "dock" section of the taskbar. And there are many many more applications in the k-menu, so look around.

  Synkitchen's potential has only begun to be exploited, so as it grows capable of doing new things, those things and how to do them will be found here.

  How do I add images to a book or page on this server?

  You can add a thumbnail of any image from the gallery by using the syntax:

  [ image:28 ]

  - removing the spaces, and replacing 28 with the node number of your image in the gallery. For example, if the page for your image has a URL of http://synergy.stanford.edu/node/view/28, then the node number is 28.

  This ends up looking like:

  You may also use the <img> tag if you wish, for example:

  

  How do I make ASCII art?

  Try using the <pre> and <code> tags. For example,

  
   ___ _   _ _ __   ___ _ __ __ _ _   _ 
  / __| | | | '_ \ / _ \ '__/ _` | | | |
  \__ \ |_| | | | |  __/ | | (_| | |_| |
  |___/\__, |_| |_|\___|_|  \__, |\__, |
       |___/                |___/ |___/ 
  

  Of course, this text was made with figlet.

  Why did you break OurTunes?

  We didn't, really!

  Some people have complained that tramigan breaks OurTunes. Actually, OurTunes has many bugs which can cause it to fail under a variety of circumstances. One of the problems is an uninitialized array in Request.java; a version with this fix may be found here.

  Synergy Cookbook

  Delicious vegan and vegetarian cuisine! Please add new recipes to this book.

  Measurements and Conversions

  Definitions for the illiterate:
  tablespoon = Tbl = tbl = T
  teaspoon = Tsp = tsp = t
  cup = c
  ounce = oz
  quart = qt
  pint = pt
  
  Conversions for the non-arithmetically inclined:
  3 t = 1 T
  6 t = 2 T = 1 fluid oz
  48 t = 16 T = 8 fluid oz = 1 c
  96 t = 32 T = 16 fluid oz = 2 c = 1 pt
  192 t = 64 T = 32 fluid oz = 4 c = 2 pt = 1 qt
  768 t = 256 T = 128 fluid oz = 16 c = 8 pt = 4 quarts = 1 gallon
  7,680 t = 2,560 T = 1,280 fluid oz = 160 c = 80 pt = 40 qt = 10 gallons = 1 hat
  322,560 t = 107,520 T = 53,760 fluid oz = 6,720 c = 3,360 pt = 1,680 qt = 420 gallons = 42 hats = the answer

  Synergy Recipe Favorites (from around '97-'99)

  Synergy Kitchen Favorites
  
  Breakfast
  Coffeecake
  Soysage
  Pancakes
  
  Dinner
  Hot Broccoli Rice
  Tabouli
  Mushroom-Barley Soup
  Mushroom Bisque
  Russian Vegetable Pie
  Pasta Salad A la Barbie
  Kelly's Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
  Pizza Synergy Style
  Sloppy Joes
  Leftover Burgers
  
  Snack Food
  Mikhail's Rockin' Hummus
  MikGranola
  Kelly's Soft Pretzels
  
  Sauces & Spreads
  Tofu Cottage Cheese
  Tomato Sauce
  Lemon Vinaigrette
  Yum Good Gravy
  Confectioners Icing
  
  Bread
  Colleen's Soft Sandwich Buns
  Sally Lunn Bread
  Kelly's Anadama Bread
  Liz's Easy Cuban Bread
  Basic 50/50 Bread-O'Keefe Style
  Basic Whole Wheat Bread
  Kelly's Hot Cross Buns
  Kelly's Delicious Shortbread
  
  Deserts--or is it Desserts?
  Barbie's Oh So Good Chocolate Cake
  Yummy Vegan Brownies
  
  
  
  Breakfast
  
  
  Cathy's Vegan Coffeecake(from Meehan)
  x4 for house
  
  Blend:
  1 cup soymilk
  1 Tbl vinegar
  1/3 cup tofu
  
  Mix:
  2 1/4 c. flour
  1 1/4 c. sugar (I sometimes put in some brown sugar too)
  2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  1 1/2 tsp. ginger
  1/2 tsp. salt
  1/2 c. oil
  
  Directions:
  Take out 1 1/4 c. of dry mixture for the crumbly stuff. Add to it:
  
  1/2 tsp of cinnamon(I often add more)
  3/4 c. chopped walnuts(I never do this) I sometimes add a bit of brown sugar too.
  
  Set aside.
  
  Pour liquid mixture into dry mix and add 1 tsp. of baking powder and 1 tsp baking soda.
  
  Put into a pan, sprinkle crumbly stuff on top and bake at 350 deg. for 20-30 minutes.
  
  
  Soysage
  
  Ingredients:
  4 c. tofu
  2 c. whole wheat flour
  1 c. wheat germ
  3/4 c. oil
  1 1/4 c. soymilk
  1 c. nutritional yeast
  1 1/2 tsp. fennel seed
  1 tsp black pepper
  1/4 c. soy sauce
  3 tsp. oregano
  2 tsp. salt
  1/2 tsp. cayenne
  2 Tbl brown sugar
  2 Tbl garlic powder
  2 Tbl wet mustard
  2 tsp allspice
  
  Directions:
  Mix ingredients. Form into patties and cook on grill.
  
  (from the wonderful New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook)
  
  
  Pancakes.
  Plain and simple.
  Makes enough for 1 1/2 hungry people
  
  Mix:
  1 1/4 c. flour
  2 Tbl sugar
  2 tsp. baking powder
  1/2 tsp. salt.
  
  Add:
  2 Tbl oil
  1 1/4 c. liquid (your combination of water and soymilk/milk)
  
  Directions:
  Heat griddle over medium flame. Then oil griddle slightly. Cook 'em.
  
  (from the wonderful New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook)
  
  
  
  DINNER STUFF
  
  
  Hot Broccoli Rice
  
  Ingredients:
  35 c. broccoli, cut bite sized
  12 c. sliced mushrooms
  7 c. green onion
  35 c. cooked rice
  other leftovers that look yummy
  
  Directions:
  Saute onions and mushrooms in sesame oil and butter until onions are soft. Add broccoli and cook until its cooked bright green but NOT mushy. Add miso, salt andpepper, and perhaps some water to make a little juice to taste. Add vegetable mix to rice ands tir thoroughly.
  
  
  Tabouli--p.42 in Moosewood
  (make this early if its in a menu--needs to marinate in the fridge for awhile before the vegetables are added.)
  
  Ingredients:
  10 c. bulghar wheat
  15 c. boiling water
  15 tsp. salt
  2 1/2 c. lemon juice
  10 heaping tsp crushed garlic
  5 c. chopped scallions
  5 tsp dried mint
  2 1/2 c. olive oil
  20 diced tomatoes
  10 c. chopped parsle
  5 c. grated carrot (optional)
  10 chopped cucumbers (optional)
  
  Directions:
  Combine bulghar, boiling water, and salt in a bowl. Cover and let stand15-20 minutes, until bulghar is chewable. Add lemon juice, garlic, oil, and mint. Mix thoroughly and refreidgerate as long as possible. Just before serving, add vegetables and mix. Correct seasonings. *You don't have to use tomatoes if the main course already includes a lotof them (e.g. ratatouille). you can if you want tho'.
  
  
  MUSHROOM-BARLEY SOUP--Syn old menubook
  
  Ingredients:
  3 1/2 c. barley or bulghar
  45 1/2 c. water
  salt (4-7 tsp, to taste)
  25 Tbl tamari(soy sauce)
  25 Tbl sherry (or red cooking wine)
  21 Tbl butter
  14 cloves minced garlic
  7 heaping cups chopped onion
  7 lb sliced mushrooms
  black pepper
  
  Directions:
  In large pot, cook barley in 11 cups water until tender. Add the remainingwater, tamari, and sherry. Saute onions and garlic in butter. When they soften, add mushrooms andsalt. Add sauteed vegetables to barley. Add pepper(to taste) and simmer 20 minutes, covered,over very low heat. Taste to correct seasoning.
  
  
  MUSHROOM BISQUE--Syn old menubook
  
  Ingredients:
  3 3/4 c. butter(or margerine)
  10 c. chopped onions
  20 c. choppped celery (may have to improvise with celery seed)
  7 Tbl dried dill weed
  20 c. finely chopped spinach
  40 c. sliced mushrooms
  50 c. milk/soymilk
  2 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
  10 c. water
  5 tsp salt
  10 dashes black pepper
  3 Tbl soy sauce
  
  Directions:
  In big pot, melt 1 1/4 c. butter and saute the onions, celery, and dillweed over medium heat. When onions begin to brown, add spinach and mushrooms and saute until tender. Add 40 c. milk and simmer on low flame, uncovered. Meanwhile, melt reamining butter in another (smaller) pot. Add flour and stir until smooth. Add remaining milk stirring with a whisk, then add to soup along with water. Add salt pepper, and tamari. Taste and correct! Simmer 10 min. more and serve.
  
  
  RUSSIAN VEGETABLE PIE--Wed, 2/23/94
  
  Ingredients:
  10 pie crusts (see p.344, Whole wheat pastry, The New Natural Foods Cookbook, Jean Hewitt)
  2 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms
  10 c. chopped onions
  10 c. shredded green cabbage
  10 c. peeled and thinly sliced broccoli stems(cathys note: how does one peel broccoli?)
  10 c. peeled and thinly sliced carrots
  10 tsp ground caraway seeds
  20 tsp chopped basil
  5 tsp sea salt
  2 1/2 tsp black pepper
  2 1/2 c. white wine
  2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  10 finely chopped scallions
  10 c. tofu cottage cheese (see recipe below)
  10 c. pureed tofu
  paprika
  
  Directions:
  Roll out pie dough and set aside.Remove mushroom caps from stems and set aside the caps. Chop stems intofine pieces.Saute the onions, cabbage, broccoli, carrots and mushroom stem bits untiltender. Add spices, wine, and flour, combine well and remove from heat. Add chopped scallions. Spread tofu cottage cheese in the bottom of the pie shell. Spoon the vegetable filling over this layer. Spread pureed tofu over the top. Sautee mushroom caps for a few minutes, arrange them evenly on top of thepie. Dust with paprika. Bake at 350 fro 30-40 minutes, let cool 10 minutes.
  
  
  Pasta Salad a la Barbie('95-'99)
  
  Directions:
  Make pasta. (whole bag for house)
  Steam broccoli and carrots.
  
  Dressing:
  2 parts olive oil to one part vinegar, plus salt n' pepper, basil, oregano
  Chop up some tomatoes and add it, and grated parmesan cheese if you so desire
  
  
  Kelly's Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
  
  Ingredients:
  3 1/4 c. flour
  1 T. yeast
  1 1/4 c. warm (120-130 F) water
  3 T. oil
  
  Directions:
  In large mixer bowl, combine 1 1/2 c. flour with yeast and mix well. Add warm water and oil, blend until moistened. Stir in remaining flour to make firm dough. Knead 3-5 min. Cover; let rise 20 min. while you prep sauce, toppings, and cheese. Roll dough into 16 inch cirle, place in oiled 14 inch round pan. Cover; let rise 30 min. Finish prepping toppings. Spread sauce across crust, then sprinkle with toppings, finally with cheese. Bake in 425 F oven for 20-25 min.
  
  
  PIZZA SYNERGY STYLE-from an old Syn menu book
  
  Ingredients for the Dough: do this first so it has time to rise
  24 c. sifted flour
  6 cakes yeast (try about 4 Tbl ADY)
  8 c. 85 degree water
  1/2 c. olive oil
  2 Tbl salt
  oregano, garlic powder, parsley, tarragon
  
  Directions for the Dough:
  Dissolve yeast in the warm water mixed with salt. When dissolved, add 1/2the flour and drizzle in half the oil. Stir together. cStir in the rest of the flour. Use handscas it gets too thick to stir. Put on floured board and knead 10 minutes. Put in oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise 1-1 1/2 hours.
  
  Ingredients and Directions for the Sauce:
  
  Sautee in olive oil with basil and oregano until soft:
  10 onions
  10 diced carrots
  5 chopped green peppers
  
  Add:
  20 cups chopped tomatoes(or canned tomatoes)
  10 bay leaves
  1 can tomato paste
  salt and pepper, dashes of tabasco to taste
  
  Bring to a boil and simer until thickened
  
  Ingredients for the Toppings:
  tons and gobs of grated cheese
  about 6 green onions, chopped
  1/2 flat of mushrooms, sliced
  tomatoes
  green peppers
  chopped tofu
  artichoke hearts
  
  More Directions!
  Pre-heat ovens to 400-450
  
  Roll dough out nice and flat(really pound it, thick crusts will rise a lot and make PIZZA BREAD!). Place on big baking sheets, put on toppings, and bake 20-30 minutes.
  
  
  Sloppy Joes
  
  Directions and Ingredients:
  
  Saute in 3 Tbl oil:
  1 large onion, diced
  2 medium green peppers, diced
  
  Add:
  1 1/2 c. boilng water
  2 1/2 c. tomato sauce
  1-2 Tbl chili powder
  "good pinch pepper" (is that a brand or a description? :-})
  1 tsp salt
  1 Tbl soy sauce
  1 Tbl mustard
  1 Tbl sugar
  1 1/2 c. dry TVP
  
  Simmer together 20 minutes and serve hot.
  
  (great with Soft Sandwich Buns) (from the wonderful New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook)
  
  
  Leftover Burgers...from Rachel Katz '95
  
  Directions
  Take all the leftovers and put them in a bowl. If there are big chunks, you may want to omit those leftovers or blend/food process them first.
  
  Pour in a little soy sauce
  Add a handful of nutritional yeast
  Stir in enough flour that you can mold the mush into patties when your hands are wet.
  Mold into patties, dip in flour and fry or bake on well oiled cookie sheets until golden brown.
  
  They are delicious and always taste approximately the same, no matter what leftovers you started with.
  
  
  
  SNACK FOOD
  
  
  Mikhail's ('95-'97) Rockin' Hummus
  x1 // x12
  
  Ingredients:
  1c // 12c dry garbanzo beans
  1/2-3/4 c // 6-8c water
  4-6 // 48-72 cloves garlic
  1/3 c. // 4c. lemon juice
  1 tsp. // 3 Tbl salt
  1Tbl // 3/4 c. olive oil
  1/4 c. // 3 c. tahini (sesame butter)
  1 Tbl // 3/4 c. chopped parsley*
  1 pinch // some paprika**
  
  *I never use parsley, but that is a personal prejudice
  **Severely optional: for looks only, sprinkle on top; don't use cayenne
  
  Directions:
  Soak or boil garbanzos until very soft (this takes a while) -- the beans should squish between two fingers, rather than splitting in half, for best results. Finely chop or puree garlic cloves (after peeling). Same for parsley if you like the stuff.
  
  Food process(a verb!) beans as fine as possible, then put in industrial blender for best results (creamy texture). Don't blend yet. As you blend each load of food-processed (an adjective!) beans, put in blend and andd some of the liquid ingredients for each blender load (Important: taste and order of addition are unimportant, consistency is God because keeping a somewhat liquid consistency in the blender at all times insures thorough blending) Add tahini, salt at your leisure to the blender loads.
  
  Combine all blender loads in a big pot and mix thoroughly (two clean hands work well). sprinkle paprika on top for colorful, eye-pleasing touch.
  
  
  MikGranola...adapted from New Farm(p184)
  
  Directions and Ingredients:
  
  Mix together:
  3 c. rolled oats
  3/4 c. wheat germ
  1/4 c.
  corn or wheat flour(combo is best)
  2/3-1 c. sunflowers or diced almonds
  1/4 c. soy powder(aka soy milk powder)
  1/2 c. coconut(optional)
  
  Heat together in pot on low heat until sugar dissolves:
  1/2-1 c. brown sugar(I usually use 1/2 c.)
  1/2 c. canola or safflower oil
  1/2 c. hot water
  1/2 tsp. salt
  
  Mix wet and dry in a big bowl. Spread mix thinly to completely covered dry cookie sheets.
  
  Cook at 325 deg. until golden brown thoroughout, this is done by turning/shifting contents of all cookie sheets every 10-15 min. (more frequently as they near doneness).
  
  Add raisins and/or dry fruit for last 5-10 min. of baking. Too much time in the oven (over 15 min) will burn them.
  
  
  Kelly's Soft Pretzels
  
  Directions:
  Pour 1 c. warm water into large bowl. Sprinkle a scant Tbl yeast and a teaspoon sugar across water. Let yeast proof; swirl mixture. Add 2 c. flour and mix. Add more flour to make stiff dough. Knead 5 min. until smooth. Divide into 16 pieces and make neat pretzels and other fun shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet. Brush with egg wash (1 egg + T. water) or margarine for you vegans. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 475 F for ten min. -- until golden brown and smelling yummy!
  
  
  
  SAUCES & SPREADS
  
  
  TOFU COTTAGE CHEESE--Wed, 2/23
  
  Ingredients:
  5 c. onions
  10 c. tofu
  dill
  salt
  garlic
  rice vinegar
  
  Directions:
  Sautee 5 c. finely chopped onions with 2 1/2 tsp dill, a few pinches of salt, some garlic, and rice vinegar. Cool, and mix with 10 c. hand-crumbled tofu
  
  * goes in Russian Vegetable Pie
  
  
  TOMATO SAUCE--from an old menubook
  
  Ingredients:
  4 onions, chopped
  8 cloves garlic
  1 c. oil
  8 small carrots, grated
  1 c. chopped green pepper
  8 bay leaves
  8 tsp oregano
  4 tsp thyme
  2 tsp basil
  1 c. chopped parsley
  16 c. tomatoes, fresh or canned
  6 c. tomato paste
  8 tsp. salt
  2 tsp brown sugar
  1 tsp pepper
  
  Directions:
  Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. discard garlic. (cathy's note: WHAT? Discard it! no way!) Add carrot, green pepper, bay leaves, and herbs. Stir well. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasonings. Simmer 1/2 hour. Remove bay leaves.
  
  
  LEMON VINAIGRETTE--from an old menubook
  
  Ingredients:
  5 c. olive oil
  3 1/3 c lemon juice
  2 1/2 c fresh chives
  1/2 c green onions, finely minced
  1/2 c dijon mustard
  salt and pepper to taste
  
  Directions:
  Combine it all, season to taste, shake it in a covered container until blended.
  
  
  YUM GOOD GRAVY--Cecil('94?)
  Goes well with Seitan
  
  Ingredients:
  1/4 c whole wheat flour
  1/2 c nutritional yeast
  1/3 c. vegetable oil
  1 1/2 c. water
  
  Directions:
  Mix and lightly toast nutri yeast and flour in a small saucepan. don't let it burn. Add oil and mix well until the whole thing is gritty and wet. You can use less oil if you want, it'll be fine. Add water, bring to boil, turn back down and simmer until it thickens (less than five minutes). Add soy sauce for color and salt, pepper, garlic powder, mushrooms, etc. to taste.
  
  Courtesty of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
  
  
  Confectioner's Icing
  
  Ingredients:
  confectioner's sugar
  a liquid -- milk, water, fresh orange or lemon juice (toss in some zest while you're at it), other fruit juices...
  
  Directions:
  Stir a little bit of the liquid into the sugar -- it doesn't take much liquid, you'd be surprised -- great thing about this icing is you can just tweak the ingredients -- too wet, add more sugar, too dry, more liquid -- makes a light (but rather sweet) glaze to drizzle over everything -- cookies, sweet bread, Sally Lunn Bread, etc. Works best with real confectioner's sugar rather than the ground in the blender Synergy kind.
  
  
  
  BREAD
  
  
  Colleen's ('96-97) Soft Sandwich Buns
  
  Directions and Ingredients:
  
  Put in bowl:
  1/4 c. oil
  1/4 c. sugar
  
  Heat 2 c. soymilk to scalding and pour into bowl. Let cool.
  
  Place in large bowl:
  2 Tbl yeast
  1 tsp. sugar
  1/4 c. warm water
  
  Let sit a few minutes, then add cooled milk.
  
  Add 2 c. white unbleached flourand beat 100 times 'til smooth. Let rest 10 minutes.
  
  Beat in:
  4 c. flour
  1 tsp. salt
  
  Add flour so the dough can be kneaded 5 minutes.
  
  Put shaped rolls on an oiled cookie sheet and let rise 30 minutes.
  
  Bake at 375 deg. F for 20 minutes.
  
  (from the wonderful New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook)
  
  
  Sally Lunn Bread
  
  This sweet bread was hawked on the streets of medieval France as "soleil et lune" -- sun and moon -- which the English heard "Sally Lunn"...
  
  Ingredients:
  1 c. milk (soy milk)
  1/2 c. butter (margarine)
  1/4 c. water
  3 1/2 c. white flour
  2 t. salt (optional)
  3 eggs, beaten (3/4 c. boiling water + 3 T. lecithin)
  1/2 c. honey
  2 T. yeast
  1 t. vanilla
  1/2 t. almond extract (very optional)
  
  Directions:
  Heat milk in saucepan, add butter and water. Cool to lukewarm. Pour mixture into a bowl and add flour, salt, eggs, honey, yeast, vanilla, almond extract. Mix until well blended. Cover and place in a warm spot to rise for about 1 hour. Stir down and pour into greased 9 or 10 inch angel food cake pan (tube). Bake at 350 F for 50 min.
  
  
  Kelly's Anadama Bread (Damn Amanda Bread!)
  2 loaves
  
  The (rather sexist) story goes that Ana was a poor pioneer housewife. Her floor was never swept, her cooking was disastrous. So one day her husband finally got fed up eating the same old hard bread day after day, and thought it couldn't be that hard to make a decent loaf of bread. So he threw together some cornmeal and molasses, yeast and flour, and a few other things -- and when the loaves came out of the oven, he got his wife and yelled at her, "ANA DAMMIT I'LL MAKE MY OWN BREAD!!!" and thus we have Anadama Bread.
  
  Ingredients:
  5 c. flour
  1/2 c. cornmeal
  1 T. yeast
  2 1/2 c. water
  2 T. butter (margarine)
  1/2 c. molasses
  
  Directions:
  Stir 1 c. cold water into cornmeal. Boil ano ther c. in a saucepan. Stir in cornmeal mixture. Cook until very thick (this takes a really damn long time). Add butter, molasses. Cool until lukewarm. Warm remaining water and stir in yeast. Add to cornmeal and gradually stir in about 4 1/2 c. flour. Knead for 10 min. until sproingy; add flour as needed (ps. if I remember right -- you need a lot more flour before you can even knead it). Shape into ball; cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down, divide into loaves, let rise in pans until doubled yet again. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour or til loaves sound hollow.
  
  
  Liz's('96-'97) Cuban Easy Bread
  (from Great Bread! by Bernice Hunt, p. 44)
  
  Ingredients:
  2 Tbl active dry yeast
  2 c. whole-wheat flour
  3-4 c. unbleached white flour
  1 Tbl salt
  2 Tbl sugar
  2 c. warm water(110-115 deg F)
  corn meal
  
  Directions:
  Combine yeast, whole-wheat fllour, 2 c. white flour, salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add warm water and stir well.
  
  Add 1 c. flour and begin to knead. Add more flour as necessary to make the dough stiff enough to handle easily. Knead for 5-6 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
  
  Grease the bowl, put in the dough, and turn over so the greased side is up. Cover it and put it in a warm place to rise until doubled--about 15 minutes.
  
  PUnch down dough and cut it in half with a sharp knife. Slam each piece hard on the table and squeeze it to force out the bubbles. Flatten the dough slightly, then roll it up tightly to form either rounds or long loaves. Slash each one down the middle with a sharp knife.
  
  Sprinkle a baking sheet with corn meal and put the loaves on it. Brush the tops with cold water and put the pan into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 deg. F. The bread rises as the oven heats up. Bake about 50 minutes or until brown and crispy.
  
  
  Basic 50/50 Bread- O'keefe('94?) Style
  
  Directions and Ingredients:
  
  Mix the following and let sit for 15 minutes:
  1 quart vanilla soy milk
  3 quarts hot water
  1/3 cup yeast
  2 cups honey
  
  Add whole wheat flour until a soupy mud is established (15 minutes)
  
  Hobart in the following ingredients for 10 minutes:
  4 cups Gluten
  6 cups white flour
  
  Knead in white flour as needed (15 minutes)
  
  Oil pot and cover dough, alloting a 30 minute rise
  
  Punch, add 2 Tbl salt and knead (15 minutes)
  
  Oil pot and cover dough, alloting a 30 minute rise
  
  Punch, divide into 8 loaves, knead and shape.
  
  Allow 30 minute rise in oven
  
  Crank oven up to 350 and bake for 50 minutes.
  
  
  Basic Whole Wheat Bread (p. 80, the Bread Book)
  x6 for house
  
  Ingredients:
  2 tsp. active dry yeast
  1/2 c. warm water(110 deg. F)
  6 c. whole wehat flour
  2 1/2 tsp salt
  2 1/4 c. lukewarm water
  2 Tbl honey(or other sweetener)
  2 Tbl oil
  
  Directions:
  Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c. warm water
  
  Mix flour and salt in large bowl
  
  dissolve honey in 2 1/4 c. water and add oil(optional). Pour liquids and yeast mixture into flour. Add more water or flour if necessary.
  
  Knead dough about 20 minutes(600 strokes). (HOBART!!!!!) It will become "lustrous, utterly supple and elastic."
  
  Form dough into smooth round ball and put into a big clean bowl to rise. Put a cloth or sheet over the top and put it in a warm place to rise. at 80 deg. F, should take 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
  
  Turn dough onto lightly floured board and deflate. Cut in loaf sized pieces, shape, and put in greased loaf pans. Let rise 30 to 45 minutes. Put in oven at 425 deg. F. AFter 10 minutes, turn down to 325 deg. F. Bake 45 min to 1 hr.
  
  
  Kelly's Hot Cross Buns
  from Our Daily Bread, by Stella Standard, 1970
  
  Ingredients:
  
  Buns:
  2 envelopes yeast ( about 2 Tbl)
  1/4 cup lukewarm water
  1 TBl light brown sugar
  1 & 1/2 cups scalded milk/soymilk
  1/2 cup sweet butter/margarine
  1/2 cup brown sugar
  (1 & 1/2 tsps salt)* (optional)
  2 eggs, beaten* (lecithin works too)
  4 (or more) cups sifted flour
  2 tsps. cinnamon
  1 tsp. cloves
  1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  1/2 cup currants* (Raisins worked for us!)
  1/3 cup finely diced citron* (orange & lemon zest)
  
  Frosting:
  2 TBSPs. hot milk
  Powdered sugar
  Grated rind of 1 lemon
  
  Directions:
  Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water with 1 Tbl brown sugar until frothy. Scald the milk and add the butter, sugar, (and salt). Beat the eggs until light and combine with the milk mixture and the yeast. Sift 3 cups of the flour with the spices into a mixing bowl; add the yeast mixture. Beat for 4 minutes. If necessary add more flour to make a firm dough. Beat well and set the dough in a pan of quite warm water to rise, covered with a towel.
  
  When dough is light, beat it down well and form into 2 dozen balls. Slash the tops with a knife in the form of a cross. Put them in a long well-greased pan, loosely covered with a towel, to rise again. This will take about 45 minutes.
  
  Bake them about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. If baking too fast turn the heat down to 325 degrees. When they come from the oven, brush with melted butter.
  
  For the icing, mix the hot milk with as much powdered sugar as it will take and not run; add the lemon rind.
  
  When the rolls are cool, make a cross over the tops with icing.
  
  
  Kelly's Mrs. Irving's Delicious Shortbread
  
  Ingredients:
  1 c. softened butter (margarine)
  1/2 c. confectioner's sugar (you can grind regular sugar in the blender -- it works well enough, if not perfectly)
  2 c. flour
  pinch of salt (optional)
  1/4 t. baking powder
  
  Directions
  Cream butter until soft, smooth, fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar a bit at a time and beat until smooth. Stir together flour, salt, baking powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat together.
  
  Flour the counter. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch. thick and cut out shapes.
  
  Place on very lightly greased cookie sheet. Prick each cookie twice with a fork and sprinkle with sugar (green or red sugar is fun!) Bake in 350 F oven for 10 min or until edges are light brown.
  
  (from the "Anne of Green Gables Cookbook")
  
  
  
  DESERTS, OR IS IT DESSERTS?
  
  
  Barbie's Oh So Good Chocolate Cake
  
  Ingredients:
  3 cups flour
  2 cups sugar
  2/3 cup cocoa
  2 tsp. baking soda
  1 tsp. salt
  2 cups water
  2/3 cups oil
  2 tsp. vanilla
  2 Tbsp. vinegar
  
  Directions:
  Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix the water, oil, and vanilla together. Gently stir into the dry ingredients. Before the mixture is completely smooth, add the vinegar and mix till completely mixed (no lumps). Do not over-beat. Pour into a greased and floured pan. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
  
  
  Cathy's Yummy Vegan Brownies
  x 4 for house
  
  Directions and Ingredients:
  
  Mix, cook until thick, and cool completely:
  1/3 c. flour
  1 c. water
  
  Melt 1/2 c. margarine. Add 2/3 c. cocoa to it, stir 'til smooth, and cool.
  
  Beat into cooled flour mixture:
  2 c. sugar
  1/2 tsp. salt
  1 tsp. vanilla
  cocoa mixture
  
  Mix together and add to above:
  2 c. flour
  2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  
  Optionally add:
  6 oz. chocolate chips(the way I do it)
  or 1/2 c. chopped nuts(icky!)
  
  Bake in oiled 9x13 pan(or the big square one for the house) at 350 deg. for 20-25 minutes.
  
  (from the wonderful New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook)

  Lots of Complete Sample Menus! (compiled by Emily Caruthers for '02-'03)

  Alex NvV accepts all responsibility for ugly formatting.

  Charlie's Menu -- Indian Food That Won't Look Like Prison Gruel

  Charlie’s Menu – Indian Food That Won’t Look Like Prison Gruel:

   

  Thick Spicy Vegetable Soup

  20 onions

  20 carrots

  40 mushrooms

  20 potatoes

  15 cups peas

  1/2 cup tomato paste

  25 cups water

  1 1/4 cups canola oil

  10 tsp garam masala

  10 tsp chili powder

  20 tsp fresh cilantro

  1 1/4 cups arrowroot or cornstarch

  1 cup lemon juice

  salt to taste (about 20 tsp)

   

  Heat oil.  Add vegetables, tomato paste, and a bit of water.  Add spices and cook for a while.  Mix the rest of the water with cornstarch or arrowroot (in a separate bowl) and stir until there are few to no lumps.  Add arrowroot/cornstarch mix to soup.  Stir lemon juice through close to the time you serve.

   

  Basmati Rice

  3 parts water

  1 part rice

  Cook until done in rice cooker.

   

  Salad

  Use available ingredients.

   

  Bombay Potatoes (best with new potatoes, but can also use yams)

  120-150 baby potatoes or 40-50 big potatoes

  1 1/4 cups tomato paste

  10 tsp ground coriander

  10 tsp chili powder

  10 tsp turmeric

  5 tsp cumin

  5 tsp cardamom

  5 tsp mustard seeds

  10 tsp salt

  10 tsp sugar

  1 1/4 cups lemon juice

  3/4 cups oil

   

  Boil potatoes, skins on.  Mix together tomato paste, spices, and lemon juice.  Heat oil and fry up tomato paste mixture.  Cook for a minute then pour over the potatoes.  Garnish with cilantro if you are obsessed with presentation.

   

  Spicy Black Eyed Peas

  20 cups black eyed peas (soaked overnight)

  6 and 1/4 cups canola oil

  8-10 onions

  1/2 cup ginger (fresh)

  1/2 cup ground coriander

  1/2-3/4 cup chili powder

  1/8 cup turmeric

  40 tomatoes, chopped

  salt to taste

   

  Wash, cook, and drain peas.  Sauté onions.  Reduce heat and add spices and tomatoes.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Add peas.  Add lemon juice.

   

  Shortbread Fingers (few people know that shortbread originated on the Subcontinent)

  3 cups whole wheat flour

  3 cups all purpose flour

  6 Tbsp baking powder

  1 cup sugar

  35-40 Tbsp oil

   

  Sift flours and baking powder together.  Add sugar and oil.  Roll out to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut into fingers.  Bake about 20 minutes at 350 degrees (Yeah, that sounds good.  I’ve never baked in my life, but 350 degrees seems like a good temperature to really heat some shit up.)

  Chinese Food by Silvia

  CHINESE FOOD BY SILVIA

   

  Yummy and Healthy Pasta:

  Lots and lots of linguini or other thin pasta

  Sesame oil and soy sauce (or Braggs/ Liquid aminos)

  Olive oil

  A handful of garlic (diced for stir-frying)

  Tofu

  Spinach

  Mushrooms

  Sesame seeds

   

  Boil the pasta.  It will take a while for the water to boil, so as you are waiting, chop the veggies.

   

  Add olive oil and garlic to a wok.  Stir-fry veggies by first adding mushrooms, then the tofu, and finally the spinach.  Add sesame oil and soy sauce to taste.

   

  When pasta is cooked, add to wok.  Stir and mix well.  Keep adding sesame oil and soy sauce.  There should be just a hint of sesame oil flavor (so you should add a lot more soy sauce than sesame oil).  At the very end, sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

   

  Sesame-Peanut Green Beans:

  3 cups tahini

  Warm water

  2 1/2 cups of peanut butter (approximately, adjust to taste)

  Soy sauce/liquid aminos

  Ginger powder

  A handful of garlic, diced for stir-frying

  Olive oil

  A wok full of green beans

   

  Prepare green beans by removing ends.  Wash.  Boil in a pot of water until bright green, and barely cooked.

   

  In a big bowl, start with about 3 cups of warm water.  Add tahini and peanut butter.  Stir or whisk together.  Add more water if the sauce is too thick.  You want a creamy consistency, but not too heavy or thick.  Add ginger powder and soy sauce to taste.

   

  Add oil and garlic to a wok on medium heat.  Add green beans and sauce.  Stir and let the flavor simmer into the beans (10-15 minutes).

   

  Mu Shu Veggies:

  60 flour tortillas (or however many you want to make)

  Teriyaki sauce

  Bean sprouts

  Green onions

  Grated carrots

  Mushrooms

  Cabbage (cut into ribbons)

  Tofu (cut into long, thin pieces)

  Olive oil

   

  Stir-fry veggies together and flavor with teriyaki sauce. 

  Make sure tortillas are warm when served.  (Veggies go inside tortillas)

   

  Fruit Salad

  Apples

  Bananas

  Melons

  Pineapple

  Oranges

  Or whatever fruit is available.

   

  Dressing:

  Mashed bananas

  Honey

  Cinnamon

  Brown sugar

  Vanilla soy milk

   

  Cut up fruit.  Stir together dressing ingredients and add mashed bananas to thicken.

   

  Chop Suey!

  CHOP SUEY!

   

  Mu Shu Vegetables

  6 cups shitake mushrooms, chopped

  canola oil as needed

  5 1/2 quarts shredded cabbage

  4 quarts green peppers, thinly sliced

  4 quarts grated carrots

  4 quarts thinly sliced onions

  1/2 cup grated ginger root

  24 cloves minced garlic

  6 quarts mung bean sprouts

  cubed baked seasoned tofu (or raw if you don’t have time for all that)

  1 cup soy sauce or liquid aminos

  1 cup hoisin (or teryaki sauce or be creative) 2 tsp chili paste

   

  1. Coarsely chop mushrooms.
  2. In wok, stir fry cabbage, peppers, and carrots separately in oil.  They should be crisp and barely tender.
  3. Stir fry onions with garlic and ginger.
  4. Briefly stir fry mung bean sprouts.
  5. As each batch is completed, put in a large pot. 
  6. Mix the hoisin sauce, soy sauce and chili paste.  Add to the veggies with the tofu and mushrooms.
  7. Empty the pot into a colander and drain veggies. 
  8. Serve with warmed tortillas.

   

  Steamed Bok Choy

   

  Veggie Fried Rice

  1/2 cup canola oil (or less)

  65 green onions sliced

  10 crushed garlic cloves

  6 chopped bell peppers

  30 cups cooked long grain rice (it is best to use rice cooked a day before and chilled)

  10 Tbsp dry sherry (you can also use vinegar and a little sugar)

  18 Tbsp dark soy sauce or liquid aminos

  9 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

  salt

   

  1. Heat 9 Tbsp oil in a wok.  Stir fry green onions and garlic for a couple of minutes until soft but not brown. 
  2. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon. 
  3. Stir fry peppers for 2-3 minutes and transfer to plate.
  4. Loosen rice grains.
  5. Pour sherry over rice and stir.
  6. Heat rice stirring constantly to prevent sticking.  If dry, add a little oil.  Stir in onions, soy sauce, cilantro and peppers.
  7. Cook until heated through.

   

  Dessert!

  Dinner!!

  DINNER!!

   

  Mushroom-Chili Stew

  15 Tbsp olive oil

  15 onions, chopped

  60 cloves garlic, minced

  15 portobello mushrooms, stems removed

  1 box shitake mushrooms

  1 box white/oyster mushrooms

  15 Tbsp chili powder

  15 tsp ground cumin

  8 tsp oregano

  1 cup tomato paste

  8 cups navy beans (soaked overnight, rinsed, and drained)

  8 cups pinto beans (soaked overnight, rinsed, and drained)

  1 cup balsalmic vinegar

  15 green onions, white and green parts cut into 1/2 inch pieces

  14 cups diced tomatoes

  15 Tbsp chopped green chilies

  cilantro for garnish

   

  1. Heat oil over medium heat, add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until onion has softened, about 5 minutes.
  2. Process all mushrooms together in food processor until coarsely chopped.  Add mushrooms, chili powder, cumin, and oregano to saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their juices.
  3. Put mushroom/onion mixture in a big pot with tomatoes, tomato paste, beans chilies, vinegar and 15 cups water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until mixture reaches desired thickness and beans are tender.  Stir in scallions and add salt to taste.

   

  Broccoli Sautéed With Olive Oil and Garlic

  10-15 pounds broccoli, chopped

  20 cloves garlic, minced

  10 Tbsp olive oil

   

  Brown Rice

   

  Salad

   

  Dessert

   

  Eat Me Up Menu

  EAT ME UP MENU

   

  Miso Soup

  10 cups chopped mushrooms

  7 cups chopped onions

  15 cloves garlic

  canola oil

  10-20 carrots, sliced

  10-20 celery sticks, sliced

  15 cups chopped broccoli

  Lots (about 80 cups) water

  5 tsp black pepper

  2 cups soy sauce

  yellow squash

  2 cups miso (dissolve in some hot water)

  Lots of tofu

  Mung bean sprouts

   

  Procedure:  Heat the water, take some hot when hot to dissolve the miso.  Sauté mushrooms, onions, garlic, in oil.  Then add carrots, celery, broccoli, tofu and sauté for a little while.  Now add all the ingredients to the hot water, including the miso, and simmer on LOW HEAT, until done.  Do not bring to a boil as miso will loose its nutrients.

   

  Spicy Sesame Tofu

  15 pounds firm tofu

  15 bell peppers or carrots or anything you like

  3 cups oil

  2.5 cups soy sauce

  15 cups water

  2.5 cups rice vinegar

  2 cups honey

  3 cups garlic, chopped

  2 1/4 cups cornstarch

  12 chopped onions

  3 Tbsp salt

  red pepper, crushed—very spicy!!

  Ground black pepper

  Sesame seeds

   

  Procedure:  Cut tofu into rectangles or cubes.  Heat oil in wok.  Sauté garlic, onions, bell peppers, and tofu.  Mix sauce in a bowl.  Pour marinade over tofu and stir/ cook over high heat for 10 minutes, or until done.  Garnish with sesame seeds. 

   

   

  Rice Salad  

   

   

   

   

  Eclectic Menu #1 (Moroccan Tofu, etc.)

  Synergy House Eclectic Menu # 1

   

  Veggies: Panzanella

   

  Serves about 45-60.

   

  Ingredients:

   

  45 cup-fulls (not packed) of sturdy bread (for example artisan bread or sturdy French bread, not normal sliced sandwich bread). The bread should be cut into approximately ½” x ¾” x ¾” pieces.

  15 red peppers cubed into 1" pieces

  15 green peppers cubed in to 1" pieces

  30 tomatoes cut up

  7.5 cans pitted black olives drained. (One can has a drained weight of 6 oz.  So, about 45 oz. of olives.)

  1 cup capers drained

   

  Vinaigrette:

  3 cups olive oil

  3 cups Balsamic Vinegar

  4.5 cups Water

  4 teaspoon each salt, garlic powder and basil.

   

  Directions:

   

  Sauté peppers in a little oil.  Or microwave them in a little oil.

  Add them to the cut up bread.

  Add all the other ingredients, including the juice from the tomatoes.

  Mix well.  Add more vinaigrette if necessary.

   

  Moroccan Tofu

   

  Serves 40-60.

   

  Ingredients:

   

  1.5 large packages firm Tofu

  10 lb. large pitted prunes

  5 lb. whole, peeled almonds

  1.5 cups sesame seeds

  2 T saffron (if unavailable, use 2 level T of turmeric or of curry powder)

  2 T cinnamon

  16 onions

  10 T honey

  3-4 T salt

  2 T pepper to taste

   

  Directions:

   

  Soak the prunes in some warm water.  Slice onions and sauté slowly in a little margarine and olive oil.  Add salt, pepper, saffron, cinnamon, and honey.  Cook onions slowly until soft and tender.  While onions are cooking, brown the almonds in a little margarine (on a baking sheet if necessary).  (If whole almonds: 340º F for 11 min.  If cut almonds, 325º F for 9-10 min.)  Also brown the sesame seeds lightly in a little margarine.  (If there’s not enough time, don’t brown the sesame seeds or almonds.)  Set aside.  In another pan, brown the tofu pieces in a small amount of olive oil.  Add onions and almonds to the tofu and stir them in.  Cover the pot and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tofu is done and tender to the touch of a fork.  Drain prunes and add them to the tofu, being careful not to stir too vigorously and disturb the shape of the prunes.  Sprinkle the sesame seeds just on the prunes.  Serve with couscous.

   

  Carbohydrates: Couscous

   

  Serves about 60.

   

  Ingredients:

   

  16 cups Couscous

  2.5 sticks (5/8 lb.) margarine

  3 T salt

   

  Directions:

   

  Boil 16 cups water with salt and margarine.  Once it has come to a boil, take off burner and add the couscous, stirring.  Put the lid on, and wait 5-10 minutes.  Fluff with fork, and it’s ready.

   

  Eclectic Menu #2 (Red Lentil Dal, etc.)

  Synergy House Eclectic Menu # 2

   

  Veggies: Pear Carrot Salad

   

  Serves about 54.  (9 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  18 lb. carrots, cut into ¼” slices (Use the Robo-Coup to slice the carrots.)

  18 fairly hard pears, cored and cubed

  3 cups lemon juice (Remember, the stuff in the bottle is concentrated!)

  9 cloves garlic, crushed

  9 T olive oil

  3 cups sugar

  1.5 T ground cumin

  4.5 T ground cinnamon

  1.5 T ground ginger

  3.25 tsp. cayenne pepper

  27 green onions, cut finely

  2 bunches cilantro, chopped

   

  Directions:

   

  In a saucepan bring water to a boil.  Add carrots and boil for 2 minutes.  Remove carrots and allow to cool.  In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Add the carrots, pears, green onions, and cilantro.  Refrigerate.  Stir occasionally while cooling.

    Protein: Red Lentil Dal

   

  Serves about 60. (15 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  15 cups red lentils (normal lentils are OK, too)

  45 cups water

  2.25 T salt

  1 cup oil

  4.5 T mustard seeds

  4 tsp turmeric

  4 tsp cumin

  4 tsp coriander

  4 tsp ginger

  4 tsp cayenne pepper

   

  Directions:

   

  Sort through the lentils and pick out any debris, then rinse them and put them in a medium sauce pot.  Add the water and salt and bring to a simmer.  Cook until completely tender, 15-20 minutes (20-25 minutes if using normal lentils instead of red lentils).

   

  In a skillet, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, and cayenne.  Cook over medium heat until the mustard seeds begin to pop.  (Be careful not to inhale the fumes as they can be irritating.)  Remove the skillet from the heat and slowly add the spices to the cooked dal.  Serve over basmati rice, with corn and parsley (recipe below).

   

  Carbohydrates: Basmati Rice with Corn and Parsley

   

  Serves about 60?  (15 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  38 cups water (or 19 cups if using the rice maker)

  19 cups basmati brown rice or long grain brown rice

  1.5 T salt

  15 cups frozen corn kernels (not cobs of corn, please)

  7.5 cups chopped parsley

   

  Directions:

   

  In a saucepan bring water to a boil.  Add rice with salt.  Reduce mixture to a simmer, cover and cook until tender and water is absorbed, about 35 minutes.  (Or, instead of the preceding, just use the rice maker as per its own directions, but do add the salt to the water.)  Sprinkle corn over cooked rice and blend gently.  Cover for a few minutes until the corn is defrosted.  Sprinkle parsley over rice and corn and blend gently.

   

  Eclectic Menu #3 (Lentil-Rice Roast, etc.)

  Synergy House Eclectic Menu # 3

   

  Veggies: South African Rice Salad

   

  Serves 48-60.  (6 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  18 cups cooked long grain brown rice

  18 cups chopped fresh peaches (Can use defrosted frozen peaches.)

  12 cups chopped celery

  3 cups chopped green pepper

  3 cups chopped red or green onions

  9 cups raisins

  3 cups sunflower seeds or other nuts

  2.25 cups olive oil (or other salad oil)

  12 T lemon juice

  6 T curry powder

  6 T soy sauce

  6 T honey (or maple syrup)

  12 T chopped parsley or cilantro

  Salt or herbal salt to taste

  60 oz. frozen baby peas, parboiled, optional (Since baby peas cook very quickly, just dump the frozen baby peas into boiling water.  As soon as they are no longer in clumps, they should be removed from the water.  Remember, though, that the baby peas are optional, so do not include them if there is not enough time.)

   

  Directions:

   

  Combine all ingredients and mix well.

   

  Protein: Lentil-Rice Roast with Cashew Gravy

   

  Serves 48-64. (4 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  6 cups lentils

  6 cups millet (bulgar wheat works if millet is not procurable)

  6 cups brown rice

  36 cups water

  4 cups bread crumbs

  2 cups rolled oats

  2 cups cashews, finely ground

  1 cup vegetable oil

  12 T onion powder

  6 T crumbled sage

  2 tsp. (or less) celery seed

  Salt to taste

  Garlic powder (optional)

   

  Directions:

   

  Pick over the lentils, then combine in a saucepan with the millet, rice, and water.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer until cooked, about 1 hour.

   

  Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Lightly oil 8 8½”x 4½” loaf pans.

   

  Add the remaining loaf ingredients and mix well.  Transfer mixture to loaf pans (and unmold onto a baking pan) and bake for 1 hour, or until lightly brown and the top is dry to the touch.

   

  Other: Cashew Gravy (Lentil-Rice Roast)

   

  Serves 60-80.  (5 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  10 cups water

  2½ cups cashews

  10 T cornstarch

  10 T onion powder

  2½ tsp salt

   

  Directions:

   

  Place ingredients in a blender and liquify.  In a sauté pan over medium heat, heat the gravy, stirring constantly, until thick.  Add more water if the gravy becomes too thick.  Keep warm.

   

  Carbohydrates: Pasta alla Puttanesca

   

  Serves up to 54.  (9 x original recipe.)

   

  Ingredients:

   

  9 lb. pasta (One may use spaghetti, penne, or linguine.)

  2.25 cups olive oil

  23 cloves garlic pressed or finely chopped

  2 cups rinsed capers

  6.75 cups sliced black olives

  16 lb. canned tomatoes, drained and chopped (Save some of the juice in case you want to add it to the sauce later.  It is usually not needed.)

  About 6 T salt

  Pepper to taste

   

  Directions:

   

  Warm pasta bowl.  Put oil in a saucepan, add the garlic, capers, and chopped olives, and let them sauté for a few minutes in moderate heat.

   

  Pour in the tomatoes, add salt, and let everything cook uncovered for about 10-15 minutes.  Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente – check instructions on the package.  Drain the pasta, pour into a pre-heated bowl, add the sauce, and mix.  Ready to serve immediately.

   

  No Parmesan cheese needed for this dish.

   

  Grrr! Yeah Cook Crew!

  GRRRR! YEAH COOK CREW!

   

  Salad

  Mixed green salad with apples and walnuts.  Toss lettuce with 6-8 chopped green apples, 2 cups chopped walnuts, 18 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar.

   

  Tofu Cacciatore

  10 lbs tofu (cut into 1/2 inch thick slices)

  6 medium onions, thinly sliced

  12 red and green peppers, chopped

  18 cloves garlic, minced

  12 tsp dried basil

  12 tsp dried oregano

  3 big cans tomatoes, drained

  12 Tbsp tomato paste

  3 cups flour

   

  Arrange tofu slices in a single layer on baking sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Put a second baking sheet on top.  Place pans or other heavy weights on top of the second baking sheet.  Let stand 15 minutes to drain. 

   

  Preheat oven to 350.

   

  Sauté onions and bell pepper, add garlic, basil, oregano, stir.  Add tomatoes and paste.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

   

  Mix flour with some salt and pepper.  Put a pan with oil on medium heat.  Coat tofu slices with flour, cook until lightly browned.  Place slices in big dish/pan and cover with sauce.  Cover pan with foil.  Cook 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hour.  The longer you cook, the better the flavor.

   

  Steamed Broccoli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

  Steam 8 bunches of broccoli.  Meanwhile, let some sun-dried tomatoes soak in olive oil.  Once the broccoli is tender and tomatoes are soft, chop tomatoes into small pieces and toss with broccoli.

   

  Couscous or Quinoa

  Flavored with salt and olive oil.

   

  Banana Cake or Coffee Cake

  10 cups flour

  7.5 tsp baking soda

  2.5 tsp salt

  5 cups sugar

  1 2/3 cups oil

  20 mashed ripe bananas (about 12.5 cups—or some bananas and some coffee or just coffee?)

  1 1/4 cup water

  5 tsp vanilla

  5 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

  chocolate chips

   

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, baking soda, salt.  In separate bowl, beat sugar and oil together, add mashed bananas/coffee, stir in water and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add flour mixture, walnuts, choc chips.  Spread into oiled pan, bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

   

   

   

   

   

  Indonesian Menu

  INDONESIAN MENU

   

  Sayur Kari (soup)

  Chop:

  20 onions

  about 40 cloves garlic

  7 Tbsp fresh ginger

  20 potatoes

  20 cups green beans

  5 heads of cabbage, shredded

  5 cups thin rice noodles

  4 Tbsp lemon peel (or juice or both)

  a whole lot of tofu cut into cubes

  2 cups peanut or sesame oil

  1/2 cup coriander

  1/3 cup cumin

  1/3 cup turmeric

  1/4 cup black pepper

  1/4 cup chili pepper

  20 cups coconut milk

  40 cups water

  1/2 cup salt (or to taste)

   

  Bring water to a boil. 

  Meanwhile, sauté onions and chili in sesame oil.  Add spices and lemon. 

  Once the water boils add the coconut milk and potatoes (do not cover!) and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add the green beans and let cook for 5 more minutes.  Add the cabbage and the sautéed stuff and return to a boil.  Add noodles and cook until it’s all done.

   

  Salad

   

  Rice

   

  Chili

  2 big cans diced tomatoes

  8 onions

  8 jalapeños, if we have them

  15 cups kidney beans (soaked over night)

  10 carrots

  15 cups corn removed from cob

  1/2 cup cumin

  1/2 cup salt

  3/4 cup oil

  15 cloves garlic

  spicy spices

  Boil water and cook kidney beans.

  Sauté onion in oil.  Add garlic.  Add tomatoes and everything else, including beans.  Serve with rice.

   

  Blondies

  Wet:

  4 cups sugar

  4 cups brown sugar

  2 1/2 cup margarine or 2 cups oil

  4 tsp vanilla

  equivalent substitute for 8 eggs

   

  Dry:

  8 cups flour

  10 cups oatmeal

  4 cups choc chips

  4 tsp baking soda

  4 tsp baking powder

   

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

  Mix wet ingredients in Hobart.  Mix dry ingredients in other bowl.  Combine the two.  Spread in big pan. Bake 8-10 minutes.

   

  Italiano

  ITALIANO

   

  Minestrone Soup

  12 Tbsp olive oil

  6 cups finely chopped onion

  3 tsp finely chopped garlic

  6 cups diced carrots

  3 cups diced celery

  14 cups diced zucchini

  6 tsp basil

  6 Tbsp fresh parsley

  20 cups diced tomatoes

  20 cups water

  5 cups cooked chick peas (optional)

  5 cups green beans/peas

  5 cups pasta

  salt and pepper to taste

   

  Chop everything.  Heat oil in large saucepan.  Add onion, garlic, carrots, celery, zucchini, basil, parsley, and simmer 10-15 minutes.  Add tomatoes, water, salt, peppers, chick peas, green beans, pasta, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 30-35 minutes or until everything is cooked.

   

  Vegan Lasagna

  Tomato sauce:

  A lot of sliced mushrooms

  Onions

  Garlic

  Olive oil

  Tomato paste

  Water

  Sugar

  Oregano

  Basil

  Pepper

   

  Sauté onions, garlic, and mushrooms in olive oil and add rest of ingredients.

   

  Tofu ricotta:

  12 cups chopped, boiled spinach

  16 cups tofu (8 lbs)

  8 tsp salt

  10 cloves garlic (or more or less)

   

  Wash spinach and put in pan.  Cook until just wilted (you won’t need any more water because the water from washing will be enough).  Put garlic in food processor and mince.  Add tofu, spinach, and salt, and blend.  

   

  Pasta:

  72 lasagna noodles

   

  Procedure:

  Preheat oven to 375.  Spread sauce thickly on the bottom of a pan.  Put one layer of uncooked noodles, then a layer of tofu mixture.  Alternate between layers and finish with sauce.  Cover dish with foil and bake for about 40 minutes- 1 hour.  Remove foil and bake for 20 more minutes.

   

  Salad

   

  Dessert:

  Apple crisp or fruit salad.

  Jed's Menu

  JED’S MENU

   

  Tabouli (Zesty Lebanese Salad):

  40 cups boiling water

  12.5 cups bulgar

  7.5 cups cooked white beans, black eyed peas, or garbanzo beans or combination (need to be soaked the night before)

  15 cups minced fresh parsley

  7.5 cups fresh mint leaves or additional parsley

  7.5 cups chopped scallions

  30 medium tomatoes, chopped

  5 cups or more lemon juice

  2.5 cups olive oil

  salt and pepper to taste

   

  Pour boiling water over bulgur, cover, and let stand until light and fluffy, about 2 hours.  Shake in a strainer and squeeze out excess water.  Combine it with remaining ingredients and chill for at least one hour.  Serve on raw grape, lettuce, or cabbage leaves.

   

  Middle Eastern Tacos:

  18 cups well-cooked garbanzo beans (6 cups uncooked)

  1.5 cups tahini

  12 cloves garlic

  12 tablespoons lemon juice

  4.5 tablespoons ground coriander

  salt to taste

  3 teaspoons ground cumin

  1.5-3 teaspoons cayenne pepper

  60 pieces Middle Eastern flatbread (pita) or wheat tortillas

  Garnishes:

  Shredded lettuce

  Chopped tomatoes

  Chopped cucumber

  Chopped onion

  9 cups yoghurt or grated cheese

   

  Puree together beans, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, coriander, salt, cumin, and cayenne, pepper, adding bean cooking liquid or water to make blending easy.  Let stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes.  Cut flatbread in half (to give 2 semicircles from each) and fill pockets with bean mixture.  (If you like, heat filled pockets in oven before garnishing.  If serving on wheat tortillas, fry until soft but not crisp.)  Set out garnishes and let everyone assemble their own.

   

  Sweet and Sour Couscous for Arabian Nights

  Oil for sautéing

  10 large onions, chopped

  30 stalks celery, chopped

  5 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced

  40 medium carrots, sliced

  10-20 teaspoons dillweed

  10 bay leaves

  10-20 teaspoons parsley

  10-20 teaspoons horseradish

  salt and pepper to taste

  10 teaspoons dry mustard

  10 cloves garlic, mashed

  20 cups water

  5-10 cups dry white wine

  20-30 cups cooked garbanzos (7.5 cups uncooked)

  substitute for 10 eggs, bananas, egg substitute from box, or flax

  10 cups soy milk

  2.5 cups soy milk powder.

  2.5 cups brown sugar

  10 8-ounce cans tomato sauce/paste

  2.5 cups vinegar

  50 cups cooked couscous (20 cups uncooked, prepared according to directions on package) or bulgur or rice

   

  Heat oil in a deep skillet or wok and sauté onion, celery, mushrooms, and carrots until onion is translucent.  Add herbs, horseradish, salt and pepper, 5 teaspoons mustard, and garlic and cook for 10 minutes.  Add water and wine and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.  Add garbanzos, taste for salt and pepper, and adjust seasoning.  Consistency should be like that of a thick soup; if necessary, you can thicken with cornstarch.

  Over simmering water in a double boiler (or constantly stirring over medium heat), beat the egg and liquid milk together.  Add the dry soy milk, sugar and tomato sauce, then vinegar and remaining 5 teaspoons mustard, stirring with a whisk all the while.  To serve, put a portion of couscous on each plate and top with the garbanzo-vegetable mixture and then the sauce.

   

  Dessert

  2.25 cups roasted peanuts                                            3 cups roasted sunflower seeds

  3 cups roasted cashews                                                3 cups raisins

  3 cups toasted shredded coconut                                  salt (optional)

   

  Combine and serve.

  Possible substitutions: dates for raisins, walnuts for cashews.

  Be creative!

   

  Magic Menu

  MAGIC MENU

   

  Veggie Curry

  10 eggplants

  1.5 Tablespoons salt

  1/2 cup olive oil

  ground fresh black pepper

  3/4 cup curry powder

  3 teaspoons cumin

  14 cloves garlic

  3.5 cups water

  14 carrots

  18 potatoes, diced

  7 green peppers

  14 onions

  14 cups cauliflower (about 5 heads)

  14 cups peeled diced tomatoes (from can)

  14 cups garbanzo beans

   

  Slice eggplant and soak for 15 minutes in salt water.  (Soaking is very important because the eggplant will come out rich and good, not extra greasy when you cook it.)  Cook in oil for about 5 minutes.  In separate wok, with oil, mix spices, stir in water and cook for 2 minutes.  Add carrots, green peppers, onions, cauliflower.  Simmer until tender but still crisp.  Add remaining veggies cook for a minute then serve with a bowl of raisins on the side.

   

  Salad

  Use what’s available, especially oranges, avocados, spinach.  Nuts, cheese, dressing on the side.

   

  Lentil Soup

  16 Tablespoons olive oil

  16 large or 24 medium onions, chopped (16 cups)

  24 carrots, coarsely grated

  6 tsp marjoram, crumbled

  6 tsp thyme leaves, crumbled

  2 24-ounce canned tomatoes with juice, coarsely chopped

  56 cups vegetable broth/water

  12 cups dried lentils, rinsed, and sorted (sometimes there are rocks mixed in)

  4 tsp salt

  2-4 tsp fresh ground pepper

  48 ounces white wine, if available

  3 cups chopped fresh parsley or 2 tbsp dried parsley flakes

  Large bowl of grated cheddar on the side

   

  Sauté onions, carrots, marjoram, thyme, stirring for 5 minutes.  Put tomatoes, broth, and lentils in a big pot and add the onion/carrot mixture.  Boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer about 1 hour, until the lentils are tender.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for a few minutes.

   

  Magic Vegan Cake

  15 cups flour

  10 cups sugar

  10 Tbsp baking soda

  5 tsp salt

  10 cups water

  10 tsp vanilla

  10 Tbsp vinegar (especially cider)

  3 cups canola oil

  3 cups cocoa

  chocolate chips—drop in just before baking

   

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all but vinegar, dry and wet separately (sugar with the wet).  Then mix them together only enough for no clumps.  Oil and lightly flour a big pan.  Quickly stir in vinegar and chocolate chips, pour in pan and bake.  Lick bowl thoroughly.

   

  Glaze:

  chocolate chips

  cocoa

  liquid coffee (old and recycled is fine)

  soy milk

  sugar

  rum

  nutmeg

  cloves

  cinnamon

  whatever

   

  Melt ingredients together in a double boiler.

  Mmmm!

  MMMM!

   

  Cauliflower Potato Bake

  10 heads of cauliflower

  30 medium potatoes

  1/2 cup of oil

  flour

  tarragon

  ginger

  white pepper

  salt

  4 lemons

   

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  Cut potatoes and remove most of the green leaves from the bottom of the cauliflower. 

  Boil potatoes and whole or half heads of cauliflower in separate pots of salty water for 15 minutes, or until sort of soft.

  Drain the potatoes normally, but SAVE THE WATER FROM THE CAULIFLOWER.

  In a large pan/wok heat the oil and gradually add flour, whisking constantly.  When the mix is pasty, keep stirring and start adding the cauliflower water.  Keep adding water until you have a soupy consistency (it will probably need more water than you think).

  Turn down the flame and add tarragon, lemon, salt, white pepper, and ginger (lots of tarragon, less ginger); cover and allow it to simmer slowly.

  Meanwhile, find some baking pans and arrange the cauliflower and potatoes in them.

  Pour the sauce over the veggies so they are sitting in it.  Lots of sauce is good!

  Add cheese to some of the tops if you want. 

  Bake for an additional 15 minutes or so, but the tops should not get brown.  If you bake it too long it will be dry, but the more you bake it, the more the veggies taste like the yummy sauce!

   

  Sautéed Tofu and Carrots

  Add spices like garlic, ginger, salt and pepper.

   

  Rice

   

  Dill Cucumber Salad

  Lots of cucumbers (peeled and sliced very thinly)

  Vinegar

  Olive oil

  Lots of fresh dill

  Garlic (a little)

  Onions (optional)

  Salt

  Black pepper

  Mix together.

   

  Carrot Cake

  Monastery Feast

  A MONASTERY FEAST

   

  Monastery Stew

  15 potatoes, diced

  10 tomatoes (or equivalent diced or paste from can), chopped

  20 carrots, sliced

  3-4 celery stalks, sliced

  10 onions, diced

  7 cups mushrooms, sliced

  2 cups olives, sliced

  3 cups rice (uncooked)

  1.5-2 cups white wine

  2.5 cups oil

  fresh parsley

  pepper

  salt

  love

   

  In a wok or a medium sized pot, simmer finely chopped onions, carrots and celery in oil and some water.  Add olives mushrooms, and pepper, and simmer until slightly tender.  In a big pot, put diced potatoes, rice, and tomato, then just cover with water wine and salt.  Boil until the rice and potatoes are tender.  Add the veggies to the potatoes and mix.  Simmer for a few minutes.  Garnish with parsley and pepper.

   

  Quinoa

  Add olive oil, salt and raisins to quinoa, if desired

   

  Green beans

  Trim beans and sauté with olive oil and garlic until just tender.  Season with salt and pepper and a bit of lemon juice.

   

  Salad with Mustard- Dill Dressing

  14 Tbsp Dijon mustard

  1/2 cup olive oil

  14 Tbsp minced fresh dill

  14 Tbsp minced fresh chives

  salt, pepper

   

  Spicy Gingerbread

  3.5 cups canola oil

  2 cups fresh grated ginger

  4.5 cups honey

  4.5 cups molasses

  6 cups tofu blended with lemon juice and a little sugar to make yoghurt substitute

  Equivalent substitute for 9 eggs

  18 cups unbleached white flour

  13.5 tsp baking soda

  2 1/4 tsp salt

  9 tsp dry mustard

  4.5 tsp ground cloves or allspice

  4.5 tsp cinnamon

  2 1/4 tsp nutmeg

   

  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease pans.
  2. Heat oil in small skillet.  Add ginger and sauté together over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until fragrant.  Remove from heat.
  3. Combine honey and molasses in a bowl and beat at high speed for 2-3 minutes.  Add the ginger mixture and beat for a minute more.  Whisk in tofu and egg substitute and beat more.  Set aside.
  4. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center and pour in the wet mixture.  Mix until combined.  Spread into prepared pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until surface is springy to the touch.  Cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

   

   

   

   

  Monastery Feast Part 2

  MONASTERY FEAST PART 2   Monastery Bean Soup

  10-12 cups white beans (soaked overnight)

  15 carrots

  3-4 celery stalks

  2-3 onions

  5 peppers (red or green)

  1-2 chilis

  3-4 tomatoes

  parsley, mint

  oil, salt

   

  Boil beans, chopped carrots, onion, celery, and some oil.  When the beans have turned tender, add sliced peppers, tomatoes, and mint.  Salt and boil for another 15 minutes.  Serve sprinkled with parsley.

   

  Salad

   

  Vinaigrette Chard

  20 pounds swiss chard or other greens

  2.5 cups balsalmic vinegar

  13 T honey

  20 tsp Dijon mustard

  15 cloves garlic, minced

  10 tsp tarragon

  2.5 tsp pepper

   

  Do both steps concurrently:

  1. Wilt the chard by washing and heating in a pot (don’t add extra water, the droplets from washing are enough).
  2. In a saucepan, whisk together the rest of the ingredients.  Keep whisking over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.  DO NOT BOIL.

  Serve chard alone or over rice.  Spoon vinaigrette on top.

   

  Brown Rice

   

  Dessert

   

   

   

  Noah's Sweet and Spicy Menu

  NOAH’S SWEET AND SPICY MENU

   

  Sweet and Spicy Lentils

  12 cups lentils

  12 onions, chopped

  3 Tablespoons cumin

  3 Tablespoons cinnamon

  2 Tablespoons cloves

  16 cups blended oranges (remove peels)

  water (enough to cover lentils)

   

  Wash lentils, drain, and put in pot with onions, spices, orange blend, and water.  Bring to a boil, then uncover and simmer until all liquid is absorbed and lentils are soft (maybe 1 hour).

   

  Herb Tabouli

  16 cups bulgur

  16 cups water

  5 bunches parsley

  5 bunches chives/green onions

  12 chopped onions

  10 chopped tomatoes

  5 cups lemon juice

  3 cups olive oil

   

  Soak bulgur in water for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.  Chop herbs, onions, tomatoes.  Combine herbs, bulgur, oil, and lemon juice and toss well.

   

  Apple Crisp (make sure to start this right away so you have enough time to bake this)

  4-4.5 cups canola oil

  2 1/2 cups maple syrup

  3 Tbsp cinnamon

  5 tsp nutmeg

  10 cups rolled oats

  2 cups honey mixed with 5 cups boiling water

  40 cups chopped apples

   

  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Stir together the oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg until the spices are evenly distributed.  Then stir in the oats.  In a large, separate bowl, mix together the honey and boiling water until blended.  Then add the chopped apples to it.  Then spread everything in the bowl (apple + sweetened water mixture) out in a big pan, and top with the oat mixture.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours, until the apples are tender and the topping is crisp.

  Patrick's Math Menu

  Patrick’s Math Menu

   

  Pasta

  5 bunches broccoli

  5 pounds rigatoni noodles (or other noodles, who cares really, but not spaghetti, please because everybody uses them for everything.)

  3 Tbsp chopped garlic

  2 cups fresh basil

  1 cup Italian parsley (is this cilantro or regular parsley?  Who knows.)

  5 cups fresh tomatoes

  15 cups sliced tomatoes

  5 bunches green onions

   

  1. Boil broccoli (about 5 minutes).  Don’t overcook!  Pour some olive oil and salt and pepper on it.
  2. Cook pasta.  Don’t overcook!!!!!!!!!!!
  3. Drain and cool pasta.  Pour more olive oil and salt and pepper.
  4. Blend garlic, basil, parsley, 5 cups tomatoes, and 5/8 cup olive oil in food processor.  Mix into noodles once they are cool.  With your hands.  It’s fun.  Add green onions and broccoli.  Add tomato slices.
  5. Is it tasty?  If yes, proceed to step 6.  If no, change something.
  6. Stop.

   

  Fassoulia

  1/2 cup canola oil

  12 cups onions, thinly sliced (about 12 onions)

  6 Tbsp garlic, minced

  6 cups tomatoes, chopped

  3 gallons green beans, trimmed halved

  2 tsp allspice, ground

  2 tsp black pepper

  2 Tbsp salt

  2 quarts water

  1/4 cup almonds, chopped

   

  1. Sauté onions and garlic in oil until golden. 
  2. Mix in tomatoes, green beans, add spices, continue to sauté for 5 minutes. 
  3. Stir in the water, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes until the beans are very tender.
  4. Garnish with chopped almonds.

   

  Salad

  If you want to make a normal salad, include things such as lettuce.  Otherwise make a fruit salad and put a dressing on it with honey, cinnamon, and lemon juice.

   

  Cranberry apple crisp

  Lots of apples

  Lots of cranberries

  Tasty things that are sometimes bad for you

  Oats

  Flour

  Sugar

  Margarine/oil

  Cinnamon

   

  Mix together and cook.  Should be easy enough.

   

   

   

   

  Phew! Cooking is What I Like to Do!

  PHEW!  COOKING IS WHAT I LIKE TO DO!

   

  Sesame Soba Bowls

  8 lbs soba noodles

  2.5 cups soy sauce

  2.5 cups mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)

  10 Tbsp rice vinegar

  10 Tbsp tahini

  10 tsp sesame oil

  1.5 cups sugar

  2.5 cups ginger, finely chopped

  40 green onions, thinly sliced

  5 cups finely chopped cilantro

  5 cucumbers, peeled and diced

  5 carrots peeled and grated.

  Sesame seeds

   

  Cook soba noodles.  Drain well.  Place in a large bowl and let cool.

   

  Combine soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, tahini, 10 Tbsp water, sesame oil, sugar, and chopped ginger.  Stir in green onions.

   

  Add sauce and cilantro to noodles and toss to coat.

   

  Garnish with diced cucumber, carrots, tofu, and sesame seeds.  Serve hot.

   

  Gingered Greens and Tofu

  Tofu marinade:

  5 cups soy sauce/liquid aminos

  5 cups dry sherry

  2.5 cups rice vinegar

  1 3/4 cup brown sugar

   

  15 lbs tofu

   

  Stir-fry:

  Canola oil

  1.5 cups grated fresh ginger

  60 cups coarsely chopped kale, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, or Swiss chard

  2 cups fresh lime juice

  1.5 cups chopped fresh cilantro

  cayenne pepper or chili oil

   

  In a small saucepan, bring the marinade ingredients to a boil.  Simmer for one minute and remove from heat.  Cut the blocks of tofu into 1/2-inch slices, then cut the slices into 1-inch squares.  Place the squares in a single layer in a pan.  Pour the marinade over the tofu squares, sprinkle on some oil and set aside for about 5 minutes.

  Preheat the broiler.  Prepare the remaining ingredients and have them ready before beginning to stir fry.  Broil the tofu for 7-8 minutes, until lightly browned, then turn over with a spatula and brown the other side. 

  While the tofu is cooking, heat some oil in a wok.  Stir in the ginger, add the greens and stir constantly on high heat until the greens wilt.  When the greens are just tender, add the lime juice, cilantro, and cayenne or chili oil, and remove from heat.  When the tofu is browned, gently toss it with the extra marinade and the cooked greens. 

   

  Salad

   

  Fruit salad

   

  Pizza Night

  PIZZA NIGHT

   

  Pizza

  Sauce:

  Lots of tomatoes fresh and from can—paste and diced

  Garlic

  Oregano

  Basil

  Red and black pepper

  Bay leaf

  Paprika

  Salt

   

  Cook the sauce over medium heat and keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.  Then turn it way down and cover and let it simmer for a while, but keep stirring often.

   

  Dough:

  32 1/2 cup flour

  10 T yeast

  12 1/2 cup warm water

  30 T oil.

   

  In a large bowl stir together 15 cups of flour and yeast.  Add warm water and oil and blend in Hobart until moistened.  Stir in remaining flour to make firm dough.  Knead for 3-5 minutes.  Cover.  Let rise 20 minutes while you prepare sauce and toppings and cheese. Roll out dough and place on oiled sheets dusted with cornmeal.  Cover and let rise again for 30 more minutes while you finish toppings. 

   

  Toppings:

  One person can slice tofu into thin pieces, marinade and bake

   

  Others can work on:

  Mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, any other veggies

   

  Grate a pile of cheese

   

  Spread the sauce thick on the dough, then top with veggies and tofu. 

  Add cheese to SOME pizzas and make sure to leave a few cheese-free.

   

  Bake in oven at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

   

  Salad

   

  Chocolate Cake

  18 cups flour

  12 cups sugar

  4 cups cocoa

  12 tsp baking soda

  6 tsp salt

  12 cups water

  4 cups oil

  12 tsp vanilla

  12 Tbsp vinegar

   

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the dry ingredients (except sugar) in a large mixing bowl.  In another bowl, mix the water, oil, sugar and vanilla.  Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Before the mixture is completely smooth, add the vinegar and mix until there are no lumps, but not too much.  Pour into a greased and floured pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

  Potatoes Galore!

  POTATOES GALORE!

   

  Curried Sweet Potatoes, Spinach and Chick Peas

  20 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

  20-25 cups chick peas rinsed and drained (soaked the night before)

  18 cups diced tomatoes (145 oz)

  12-15 cups spinach, washed, stemmed, and coarsely chopped

  2.5 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

  20 green onions (white and green parts) thinly sliced

  5 Tablespoons curry powder

  5 tsp ground cumin

  1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

   

  1. Cook sweet potatoes, covered, over high heat until just tender (about 20 minutes).
  2. Meanwhile, combine chicks, toms and 5 cups water. Boil until chick peas are cooked.
  3. Stir in sweet potatoes, cilantro, green onions, curry, cumin, cinnamon, and salt to taste.  Heat on low, simmer uncovered about 5 minutes, until flavors are blended.  Add spinach at the last minute and cook until just wilted.

   

  Leek and Potato Soup

  10 pounds potatoes, scrubbed and sliced

  80 leeks, white + 1 inch green part, split open lengthwise, very well washed and sliced

  40 cups vegetable stock

  40 cups water

  10-30 Tablespoons olive oil

  salt and pepper to taste

   

  1. Combine leeks, potatoes, stock water, oil.  Boil, turn down heat to medium, simmer strongly, uncovered, until liquid is reduced by half.  ABOUT 1.5 HOURS.  Stir occasionally.  Add salt and pepper.  Mash some of potatoes to thicken.
  2. Season if you want, or leave simple. (dill, bay leaf, oregano, caraway)

   

  Tempeh Caesar Salad

  40 ounces (5 cups) of tempeh

  3 Tablespoons soy sauce or liquid aminos

  20 cloves of garlic, pressed

  13 Tablespoons lemon juice

  2.5 cups pitted Greek/ Kalamata olives, minced

  10 Tablespoons mustard (preferably Dijon)

  80 cups lettuce (pref. Romaine)

  5 cups croutons, if possible (from old bread)

   

  1. Tempeh make small chunks, steam over simmering water for about 10 minutes.
  2. Heat lightly oiled skillet on high, add tempeh.  Cook on high until golden crisp, about 5-7 minutes.  Drizzle soy sauce over it, cook one minute.  Remove from heat and let cool.
  3. Combine garlic, lemon juice, 13 T water, minced olives, and mustard.  Toss lettuce, croutons, tempeh, and dressing.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

   

  Carrot Cake

  10 cups lightly packed shredded carrots

  5 cups raisins

  7.5 cups sugar

  7.5 cups water

  1 1/2 cups canola oil

  5 cups white flour

  7.5 tsp baking soda

  1 T salt

  1 T ground cloves

  1 T ground allspice

  2 T ground nutmeg

  2 T ground cinnamon

  5 cups whole wheat flour

  2 T vanilla

   

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Put carrots, raisins, sugar, water, and oil in pan and simmer over medium heat.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove and let cool.
  3. Sift together both kinds of flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
  4. Stir dry ingredients into cooled carrot mixture until the flour is just moist.  Stir in vanilla.
  5. Bake until done.

   

  Rustic!

  RUSTIC!

   

  Rustic Tomato Lentil Soup

  Rinse 10 cups red (or green) lentils.  Boil with 15-20 cups water for about 20 minutes or until soft. 

  Chop: 2 heads of garlic, 10 onions, 30 carrots.

  Then sauté veggies in 2/3 cup olive oil until the onions are translucent.  Put all previous ingredients together and add 3 cans diced tomatoes and about 1/3 can tomato paste.  Add more water and simmer until carrots are soft. 

  Add 1 cup nutritional yeast, 3 T cayenne pepper, 5 T cumin, and 1 T salt.

   

  Vegan Cornbread

  Mix dry ingredients together: 10 cups white flour, 10 cups cornmeal, 2.5 cups sugar, 2/3 cup baking powder, 1T salt, 1 cup soymilk powder. 

  Then add 10 egg replacer eggs (= 5 T powder, 10 T water, stir), 3 cups canola oil, 10 cups water. 

   

  Oil a big pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 1-1.5 hours.  It should get brown around the edges.  Poke a knife in the center.  If it comes out gooey, it’s not done.

   

  Spinach Salad

  With honey mustard dressing.

  Dressing: In a jar with a lid, shake up 1/3 cup honey, 1/3 cup mustard, 1/3 cup vinegar.

   

  Almond Cookies

  20 cups flour

  3 T baking powder

  5 t baking soda

  4 t salt

  12 cups oats

  5 cups sugar

  10 cups chopped almonds

  5 cups canola oil

  2.5 cups soy milk

  1/2 cup vanilla

   

  Heat oven to 350.  Mix together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt.  In another bowl, mix the rest together.  Combine them.  Add a little water if it’s too dry, but you don’t want it to get sticky!  Scoop spoon-sized portions onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake 12-15 minutes.  Then you can dust them with sugar if you have time. 

  Silvia’s Italian Food Menu

  Silvia’s Italian Food Menu

   

  Tomato Soup with Fresh Herbs

  15 Tablespoons olive oil

  11 1/4 cups chopped onion

  30 cloves garlic, chopped

  15 Tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or basil

  15 tsp chopped fresh thyme or 4 tsp dried

  75 cups diced fresh tomatoes (2 pounds)

  22 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water

  37 1/2 Tablespoons tomato paste

  30 tsp sugar

  fresh herb sprigs for garnish

   

  Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, oregano, basil and thyme and cook, stirring often until onion begins to soften. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally. Stir in broth/water, tomato paste and sugar. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

   

  Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered. Whisk or stir until smooth. Garnish with fresh herbs.

   

  Bell Pepper Sauté Over Polenta

  15 Tablespoons olive oil

  30 bell peppers, cut into 2 x 1-inch strips

  30 yellow bell peppers, cut into 2 x 1-inch strips

  15 tomatoes, cored seeded, and finely diced, or 8 cups canned diced tomatoes

  60 cloves garlic, minced

  30 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or 15 tsp dried

  30 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

   

  Polenta:

  60 cups water/ vegetable broth

  23 cups cornmeal

  15 Tbsp olive oil

   

  In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium heat. Add bell peppers and cook, stirring often. Cover and cook until peppers are soft and browned all over, but not mushy! Add tomatoes garlic, and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring often. Stir in basil and parsley. Keep warm over low heat.

   

  Make polenta: Bring water and 4 tsp salt to a boil. Slowly drizzle in cornmeal, whisking continuously. Reduce heat and cook, whisking continuously, until polenta reaches the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. Whisk in oil.

   

  Spoon mound of polenta on each plate and top with vegetables.

   

  Pasta with Parsley Pesto

  15 pounds dried pasta

  salt

   

  Pesto:

  30 garlic cloves

  27 cups almonds

  3 cups fresh parsley

  3 cups olive oil

  2 1/2 cups lemon juice

  15 cups water

  lots of salt

   

  Cook pasta in salted water.

   

  Put garlic in food processor and chop finely. Add almonds and chop finely. Add parsley, oil, lemon juice, sugar, and water (slowly—you may not need all 15 cups). You might want to do a few batches with similar proportions and combine them.

   

  Drain pasta and combine with the sauce.

   

  Chewy Oatmeal Bars

  2 1/4 cups raisins or dried cranberries

  3/4 cups all-purpose flour

  3/4 cups whole wheat flour

  1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

  3/4 tsp salt

  1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

  3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

  1 1/2 cups toasted wheat germ

  1 1/2 cups low-fat silken tofu

  Equivalent substitute for 3 large eggs—substitute in box, bananas, apple sauce, or tofu

  1 cup vegetable oil

  1 cup packed light brown sugar

  1 cup sugar

  3 tsp vanilla extract

   

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat baking pan. Put raisins in boiling water and set aside to plump for 10-15 minutes.

  Combine both flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in oats and wheat germ. Drain raisins.

  In food processor, process tofu until smooth. Add egg substitute, oil, both sugars and vanilla. Process until mixture is smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down sides of bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring until JUST MIXED and there are only a few lumps. Scrape batter into pan and spread into an even layer. Bake until light golden and firm, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool. Cut into bars.

  Southern Dinner

   SOUTHERN DINNER

   

  Tart and Tangy Baked Beans

  24 cups pinto beans (soaked overnight)

  32 cups chopped onions

  3/4 cup olive oil

  3 Tbsp salt

  5 Tbsp cumin

  2 Tbsp dry mustard

  3 heads (not 3 cloves!) garlic, minced

  3 cups cider vinegar (to taste)

  1 3/4 cups molasses (to taste)

  lots of black pepper

  24 apples cut into medium sized chunks

  32 ripe chopped tomatoes

   

  1. Cook the beans—drain off excess water when beans are soft (about 1.5 hours).  Monitor water level while cooking.
  2. Sauté onions.  Add all spices except garlic and sauté about 10 minutes then add garlic and sauté about 5 more minutes.  Add to beans when they are soft.
  3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix beans well and put in a deep pan.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake one hour.

   

  Corn Bread

  10 cups flour

  10 cups cornmeal

  2.5 cups sugar

  3 T baking soda

  1 T salt

  2.5 cups canola oil

  10 cups soy milk

  Equivalent substitute for 10 eggs (try flax—1/3 cup flax seed to 1 cup water = 2 eggs)

   

  Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix wet in with dry.  Grease super big baking pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until firm and edges are beginning to brown.

   

  Steamed Yellow Squash and Asparagus

  Wash, slice, and steam until barely cooked.  Be careful not to overcook.

   

  Mandelbrot Cookies

  Equivalent substitute for 18 eggs

  3 cups honey

  2 cups canola oil

  grated rind of 2 washed oranges

  2 T vanilla

  16 cups flour

  4 T baking powder

  1 T salt

  6 cups finely minced almonds

  4 cups raisins

   

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Beat eggs, honey, and oil together.  Then add orange peel and vanilla.  Then add flour, baking powder, and salt.  Finally, stir in almonds and raisins.  Shape the dough into 8-12 logs about 2 inches wide on oiled cookie sheets.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Then cool for 15 minutes and slice into 1/2-inch pieces.  Return to cookie sheet and bake another 15 minutes.

   

  Tune In!

  TUNE IN!

   

  BBQ Tempeh and Peppers  (you can also make this recipe with tofu or TVP)

  1 and 1/4 cups  canola oil

  24 cups onions, chopped

  25 cloves garlic, minced

  20 cups peppers, green and red, chopped

  30 cups tempeh, cubed into 1/2-inch pieces.  (that sounds like a lot, 7.5 lbs)

   

  Sauce:

  5 Tbsp Dijon mustard

  1 and 1/4 cups soy sauce or liquid aminos

  2.5 cups tomato paste

  1 cup molasses or brown sugar

  2.5 quarts water

  7.5 Tbsp ground coriander seed

  4 and 1/4 Tbsp fennel seed (ground)

  2 and 1/2 Tbsp Tabasco or other hot sauce

  salt to taste

   

  1. Sauté the onions and garlic in oil for 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add the peppers and continue to sauté until they begin to soften.
  3. Add the cubed tempeh and sauté, stirring often, for 5 minutes.
  4. Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside. 
  5. Sprinkle the coriander and fennel over the tempeh and vegetables, add the sauce, and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
  6. Add Tabasco or other hot sauce to taste and salt if desired.

   

  Super Curried Rice

  18 cups brown basmati or long grain rice

  20 cups boiling water

  6 3/4 tsp salt

  18 large onions

  12 Tbsp olive oil

  9 Tbsp curry powder

  6 cups raisins

  6 cups golden raisins

  6 cups peas

   

  Cook rice in water with salt.  Meanwhile, chop and sauté the onion in the oil, adding the curry powder when the onion is soft.  Cook them together for a minute to remove the raw taste of the spices.  Combine rice, onion, raisins, and peas.  Heat, stirring, or bake, covered, until hot through.  You can add some almonds if you feel like it.

   

  Fresh Corn and Tomato Soup

  6 onions, chopped

  12 stalks celery, chopped

  12 cloves of garlic

  3/4 cups oil

  cayenne pepper to taste (1/8 cup?)

  60 ears corn (48 cups off the cob)

  2 Big cans tomatoes

  6 cups water

  6 tsp salt

  basil and coriander to taste

   

  Sauté onion, celery, cayenne, and garlic in oil in a heavy pan until tender.  (Keep heat low and stir frequently.)  Strip corn from cobs with a small sharp knife.  Add corn and tomatoes, water, and salt to sautéed veggies.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until corn is tender, about 1/2 hour.  Yum.

   

  Sunshine Bars (if you have time)

  4 cups orange juice

  4 cups died apricots, loosely packed

  2 cups honey

  2 cups oil

  6 cups rolled oats

  4 cups whole wheat flour

  2 cups wheat germ

  4 tsp cinnamon

  2 tsp salt

  4 cups raisins

  2 1/3 cups toasted almonds, diced

   

  Preheat oven to 350.  Heat orange juice to a boil.  Put dried apricots in the pan, bring to a boil again, and turn off heat.  Cover pan and let apricots absorb juice until tender enough to cut with a sharp knife, but not too soft!!  Meanwhile, mix honey and oil.  Stir oats, flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, and salt together.  Drain apricots and add the juice to the honey-oil mixture.  Chop apricots coarsely and stir into dry ingredients along with raisins and almonds.  Combine wet and dry ingredients and press mixture into big baking dishes.  Bake about 30 minutes.  Keep an eye on them!  Cookies made with honey brown very quickly!  Now cool before cutting.  Haha yeah right.

   

   

   

   

   

  Unnamed Menu #1 (Fried Eggplant, etc.)

  Fried Eggplant

  Slice lots of eggplant

  Soak in salt water for about 15-20 minutes. 

  Fry in olive oil.

  Add salt and pepper.

  MMMMM!

   

  Brown Rice

   

  Tomato sauce

  Onions, garlic, tomato paste, diced tomatoes (save juice for Tangy Red Bulgur), green peppers, mushrooms, salt, pepper.  Sauté veggies, add tomato paste and diced tomatoes, simmer.  Serve the sauce with the eggplant and over the rice.

   

  Tangy Red Bulgur

  10 Tbsp olive oil

  10 cups red or green pepper or both, chopped

  10 cups chopped zucchini or squash or both

  20 cups tomato juice (you can put in a few diced tomatoes if you like)

  10 cups bulgur

  10 Tbsp lemon juice

  10 tsp dried basil, crushed, or 10 Tbsp fresh, minced

  3 1/3 cups chopped green onions

   

  Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Cook peppers and squash until tender yet still crisp.  3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.

   

  Stir in tomato juice, bulgur, lemon juice, basil.  Heat to boiling.  Reduce to low heat.  Cover and simmer 5-8 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.  Stirring occasionally.

   

  Garnish with green onions.  May be served warm or as a salad at room temperature.

   

  Salad

   

  Dessert

  Unnamed Menu #2 (Seasoned Tempeh, etc.)

  Seasoned Tempeh (Moosewood Restaurant pg. 218)

  13 pounds 8 ounces tempeh or tofu or TVP!

   

  Marinade:

  4.5 cups vinegar

  4.5 cups soy sauce

  2 1/4 cups water

  6 Tbsp ground fennel

  9 Tbsp garlic

  2 1/4 cups oil

  salt and pepper to taste

   

  Procedure:  Combine marinade ingredients.  Add tempeh to marinade and let sit until liquid is absorbed.  Heat oil and sauté tempeh until it is crispy and golden.  Or bake it.

   

  Cornbread (Moosewood Restaurant pg. 323)

  9 cups cornmeal

  12 cups flour (half white, half wheat)

  7.5 Tbsp baking powder

  6 tsp baking soda

  6 tsp salt

  3 quarts soy/rice milk + 3 cups soy milk (use powdered)

  Equivalent 12 eggs

  1 cup brown sugar

  1.5 cups olive oil

   

  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

   

  Potato-Leek Soup (Enchanted Broccoli Forest p. 17)

  24 medium potatoes

  24 cups chopped leeks

  8 stalks celery, chopped

  8 large carrots, chopped

  32 cups water

  12 tsp salt

  8 cups soymilk

  pepper, herbs (thyme, marjoram, basil)

   

  Cut potatoes and leeks into one-inch chunks.  Place potatoes, leeks, celery, carrots, water, and salt into a big pot.  Bring to boil, cook until potatoes are tender.  Puree soup in food processor (or smash with potato masher or leave chunky or a combination).  Add milk and spices.

   

  Green salad

  Combine all available yummy veggies and improvise a dressing (honey, vinegar, oil, spices).

  Unnamed Menu #3 (Pasta Salad, etc.)

  Pasta Salad

  Cook lots of pasta—the tube kind if we have it.

  Combine and stir with whisk until blended:

  2 cups white vinegar

  1.5 cups water

  1/2 cup olive oil

  basil, oregano, other Italian spices

  garlic

  Slice some mushrooms, tomatoes, and bell peppers.  Mix pasta veggies and sauce.

   

  Tofu

  Cut a bunch of tofu into 1/4-inch thick slices.

  Marinate in:

  5 cups soy sauce or liquid aminos

  4 cups sugar

  1/2 cup dry mustard

  5 tsp garlic powder

  1/2 cup onion powder

   

  Cook in a pot or bake, stirring every few minutes.

   

  Lemon and Garlic Roasted Potatoes

  Cut a bunch of potatoes into medium sized chunks.

  Chop 20 large cloves or garlic

  Juice a few lemons

  Toss potatoes with garlic, lemon juice, some olive oil, thyme, salt n’ pepa.  Spread on pan.  Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.  Remove from oven and stir every 15 minutes.

   

  Salad

   

  Dessert

  Unnamed Menu #4 (Vegetable Soup, etc.)

  Vegetable Soup

  8 potatoes, diced

  16 cups chopped onion

  4 lbs mushrooms, sliced

  2 bunches celery, chopped

  8 carrots, thinly sliced

  cabbage

  36 cups water

  4 Tbsp salt

  bay leaves

  10 pounds diced tomatoes with juice

  20 cloves garlic, minced

  fresh ground black pepper

  whatever else you can find

  cilantro, mint, parsley

   

  1. Put water in big pot.  Bring to boil.  Add potato, onion, cabbage, mushroom, carrot, celery, salt, bay leaves.  Simmer 30 minutes.
  2. Add tomato.  Simmer 30 more minutes.
  3. Add garlic, other stuff, pepper to taste, sprinkle with fresh minced herbs.

   

  Broccoli and Tofu

  Sauce:

  7 cups peanut butter

  7 cups hot tap water

  3.5 cups rice vinegar

  2 cups soy sauce/liquid aminos

  2 cups molasses

  cayenne pepper

  Mix together.

   

  10 pounds tofu

  20 green onions

  10 pound broccoli

  2/3 cup canola oil

  20 cups onion

  1.5 cups fresh ginger, grated

  20 cloves garlic, minced

  2 T salt

   

  1. Tofu cubed, boil in water 10 minutes.
  2. Chop broccoli, peel stems and chop also.  The skin is thick, but underneath it tastes good!
  3. Heat 2 large woks (for greater surface area) and add oil and 20 cups chopped onion, finely chopped.  Cook.
  4. Add broccoli, ginger, garlic, salt. Cook until the broccoli is tender.
  5. Stir in tofu and green onions.
  6. Pour in sauce and mix.

   

  Salad

   

  Brown Rice or Quinoa

  Unnamed Menu #5 (Shepherd's Pie, etc.)

  Shepherd’s Pie

  Filling:

  10 onions, chopped

  30 carrots, chopped

  5 cups spinach, chopped

  10 celery stalks, chopped

  10 large tomatoes, chopped

  1 1/4 cups olive oil

  5 cups cooked green lentils (boil for 20 minutes), mashed

  5 tsp dried basil

  5 tsp salt

  10 Tbsp liquid aminos

   

  Topping:

  30 medium potatoes, roughly chopped

  2 cups soymilk

  5 Tbsp olive oil

  salt

   

  1. Cook the lentils so you can mash them.
  2. Preheat oven to 350. 
  3. Boil potatoes until they can be pieced with a fork easily, then move to step 7.
  4. Sauté onions, carrots, spinach, celery, and tomatoes in olive oil.
  5. Once carrots start to become tender, add the mashed lentils, basil, salt, and liquid aminos.
  6. Stir and simmer with out a lid until the liquid cooks off.  Go to step 8!
  7. Mash the potatoes, soy milk, olive oil, and slat, and set aside (maybe the Hobart can help with this.)
  8. Pour the veggie mix into a lightly oiled pan and then layer the mashed potatoes on top.  Bake for 15-20 minutes (probably a little longer… look for slightly golden potatoes.

   

  Spicy Tomato Soup

  16 cups minced onion

  33-35 cloves crushed garlic

  12 Tbsp olive oil

  12 tsp dill weed

  2-3 tsp black pepper

  20 pounds diced tomatoes in a can plus their juice

  20 fresh tomatoes, chopped

  10 Tbsp honey

  parsley and green onions for topping

   

  Sauté onions and garlic with salt in olive oil.  When onions are translucent add dill, pepper, tomatoes, and honey.  Cover and simmer (at least 45 minutes).

   

  Salad

   

  Apple Crisp

  38-40 apples

  juice of 5 lemons

  12 cups raw oats

  4 1/4 cups flour

  2 3/4 cup margarine or canola oil

  1 3/4 cups honey

  1 1/3 cups walnuts

  1 1/3 cups sunflower seeds

  5 1/2 tsp cinnamon

  2 3/4 tsp allspice

  2 3/4 tsp salt

   

  Preheat oven to 375.  Peel and slice apples.  Cover with lemon juice and spread half into large pan.  Heat oil/margarine with honey and combine.  Remove from heat and add oats, flour, nuts, seeds, salt, and spices.  Spread half of this mixture onto apples in pan.  Cover with remaining apples and the rest of the topping.  Bake 40-45 minutes at 375 degrees.  Throw raisins on the top if you want.

   

   

   

   

   

  Vegan Shmegan

  VEGAN SHMEGAN

  By: Mali

   

  Stuffy Puffy Green Peppers Shmeppers:

  Stuffing: Fry lots of onions and garlic. Add tomato paste. Mash up lots of avocados and mix the tomato in. Add lots of oregano, a little basil, and a medium amount of lemon juice, and a little bit of salsa. Mix, mix, mix.

   

  Puffing: Cut and de-seed 25 green peppers. Scoop the stuffing into the puffy pepper halves.

   

  Souper Duper Red Pepper Shmeppers:

  Fry onions, add a little cumin powder (not seeds). Roast 20 red peppers.

  Blend red peppers and soft tofu. Add soy milk (or soy milk powder and water, but not too much cuz it tastes funny if it’s powder) to get to whatever consistency you want. Heat up on the stove (serve warm).

   

  Dice 5 cucumbers and mix them into the soup just before serving.

   

  Fried Pot (atoes):

  Fry 10 onions, 10 cloves garlic, 10 tsp mustard seeds, and cumin. Add 20 potatoes (chopped small) and fry. Season with salt and pepper.

   

  “Quesa” dillas:

  Make 2 fillings in the blender.

  1. Blend 3 cups soft (or medium) tofu, 3/4 cup cashew pieces, ketchup, garlic (powder, fresh or fried), basil, oregano.
  2. Blend 3 cups soft (or medium) tofu, 3/4 cup cashew pieces, 2 tsp sugar, 4 tbsp water, 3 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 4-6 chopped green onions.

   

  Spread the fillings on a tortilla, fold over, grill, and cut in half, like quesadillas.

   

  Chocolate chip cocainookies:

  3 1/4 cups sugar

  2 1/2 cups margarine

  2 1/2 cups oil

  15 tbsp water

  10 tbsp vanilla extract

  11 1/4 cups flour

  4 tsp baking soda

  2 tsp salt

  8 cups chocolate chips

  5 cups cocaine (just kidding)

   

  Preheat oven to 375. Mix it all up nice and good. You can mix the wet ingredients and the sugar together first if you want to. Also, if you don’t want margarine, try it with 4 cups oil. Scoop out cookies onto sheet. They stay the same size, so you can flatten them out. Bake until edges are nicely browned.

  Woo-Hoo

  WOO-HOO

   

  Macaroni and ‘Cheese’:

  24 Tablespoons oil

  6 small onions, chopped

  9 cloves garlic chopped

  12 Tablespoons unbleached white flour

  12 cups rice milk or soy milk

  2 teaspoons dry mustard (mustard powder)

  12 teaspoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (if we don’t have this, be creative)

  12 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

  12 Tablespoons plus 12 teaspoons tahini

  cayenne pepper (optional)

  Seasoned salt and pepper to taste

  6 pounds macaroni, cooked according to package directions

  11 pounds canned chopped tomatoes, packed in juice

  6 medium zucchini, grated

  12 cups fresh bread crumbs

  12 Tablespoons oil

  24 Tablespoons minced parsley

   

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

   

  Sauté onion in oil until soft.  Whisk in flour and cook one minute, stirring constantly.  Add rice milk/soy milk and cook until thickened.

   

  Remove from heat and whisk in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, nutritional yeast, tahini, salt and pepper.  Stir in macaroni, tomatoes (with their juice), and zucchini.

   

  Spread mixture in a casserole dish.  In a small bowl combine bread crumbs 12 Tablespoons oil, and parsley.  Sprinkle over macaroni.  Sprinkle paprika on top of everything.

   

  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.

   

  Ginger Carrots and Asparagus

  Carrots

  Asparagus

  Ginger (fresh)

  Honey

  Oil

  Soy Sauce

   

  Chop veggies and sauté with everything else until tender but still crisp.  Do this one to taste—the approximate ratio is about 1.5 Tablespoons honey to every 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1.5 teaspoon ginger.

   

  Tofu ‘Chicken’ Nuggets:

  Cut block of tofu into nugget sized pieces

  3 cups soymilk (or enough to cover all of tofu)

  1 cup flour (or enough to cover all of tofu)

  Crumbs (bread crumbs, cornflake crumbs, or other crumbs)

  Seasoning for the crumbs (oregano, basil, whatever you like)

  Oil for frying

   

  Mix flour and milk until it makes a paste.

  Mix crumbs and seasoning in a separate bowl.

  Dry tofu with paper towels to get out extra water.

  Coat pieces with flour paste.

  Roll pieces in crumbs.

  Heat oil for frying (Experiment with deep-frying and just frying in a little oil.  I think a big wok might work better than the grill, but it is up to the cooks.)

  Fry nuggets until golden brown.  Serve with a dipping sauce.  Or just ketchup.

   

  Maple-Mustard Sauce:

  1 cup prepared mustard, sweetened to taste with maple syrup.

   

  Brownies:

  Mix, cook until thick, and cool completely: 1 1/3 cups flour

  4 cups water

   

  In separate pot, heat, stir until smooth, then cool:

  2 cups oil

  2 2/3 cups cocoa

   

  Beat into cooled flour mixture:

  8 cups sugar

  2 tsp salt

  4 tsp vanilla

  cooled cocoa mixture

   

  Mix together then add to above:

  8 cups flour

  10 tsp baking powder

   

  Optionally add:

  3 cups chocolate chips

  2 cups nuts

  Bake in oiled pan at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

   

   

   

   

  Wowie Zowie Menu

  WOWIE ZOWIE!

   

  Black Bean/ Sweet Potato Burritos

  10.5 cups black beans

  6 Tablespoons ginger, fresh and grated

  6 Tablespoons garlic, minced

  2 tsp cayenne pepper

  3 quarts onions, chopped (12 cups)

  4 Tablespoons cumin

  4 cups green peppers, chopped

  4 teaspoons thyme

  6 quarts sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

  2 cups orange juice

  4 tsp orange peel

  tortillas

   

  Boil the sweet potatoes.  Cook the shit out of the beans (this will take a long time).  Sauté onions with cayenne and cumin, ginger and garlic.  Add in pepper and thyme.  Add everything to the bean pot, including the orange juice and salt.  Serve on tortillas.

   

  Rice

   

  Fruit salad

  Use whatever fruit we have

   

  Spice cake or banana bread

  Yummy Dinner

  YUMMY DINNER

   

  Peanut and Sesame Noodles

  10 cups peanut butter

  15 cups boiling water

  40 Tbsp vinegar (rice or cider)

  12 1/2 tsp salt (to taste) 20 medium cloves garlic, minced

  1 1/4 cup honey or sugar

  10 Tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos

  5 tsp crushed red pepper (to taste)

  2 1/2 cups sesame oil

  1/2 – whole block of tofu

  10 pounds vermicelli noodles (or spaghetti)

  10 medium cucumbers, peeled, sliced into thin strips

  40 green onions, finely minced (whites and greens)

  7.5 cups minced peanuts or cashews, lightly toasted (toast in a skillet until lightly brown.  Stir frequently to prevent burning.)

   

  1. Place the peanut butter in a medium-sized bowl.  Add boiling water, and mix (patiently) with a spoon until uniformly blended.
  2. Stir in vinegar, salt, garlic, honey//sugar, soy sauce, red pepper and sesame oil.  Taste to adjust seasonings; set aside.
  3. Cut tofu into thin pieces and sauté in a pan with olive oil and garlic then remove from heat and mix into the sauce.
  4. Cook the vermicelli in plenty of boiling water until just tender.  Drain, and immediately transfer to a serving bowl.  Pour the sauce over the top, and toss with two forks.  As you toss, add the cucumber strips and minced green onions.
  5. Serve immediately and top with toasted nuts.

   

  Gingered Broccoli

  3 Tbsp pureed fresh ginger

  9 Tbsp soy sauce

  3 Tbsp sesame oil

  9 Tbsp fresh lemon or orange juice

  18 lbs broccoli florets and stalks (just use a lot of broccoli)

  9 Tbsp sesame seeds

  freshly ground pepper, to taste

   

  Whisk together the ginger, soy sauce, oil, and lemon (or orange) juice in a shallow serving bowl.  Set aside.  Trim, peel, and cut the broccoli stalks diagonally into 1/2-inch slices.  Steam the broccoli florets until tender-crisp.  Transfer the broccoli to the serving bowl and toss it with the ginger sauce.  Sprinkle the sesame seeds and pepper on top.

   

  Carrot Salad

  40 medium carrots peeled and grated

  10 handfuls of raisins

  sunflower seeds

  sesame seeds

  10-15 cloves of garlic (optional)

  5-10 Tablespoons of lemon juice

   

  Mix together, give at least one hour for flavors to mix.

   

  Fruit salad

  Use whatever is available.

  More Delicious Dishes

  Focaccia-it's good stuff

  For one loaf:
  
  7 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  4 c. sugar
  9 t. salt
  1 T active dry yeast
  1 c. infamil
  2 T. peanut oil
  1 T chopped suey
  lots of olive oil
  parsely sage rosemary and thyme red onion sliced thin
  sun dried tomatoes/thin tomato slices
  
  
  Combine 1 c flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix well. Heat water and vegetable oil until warm, and add that along with soy lecithin+water=1 egg into the flour mixture. Blend with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat for another 2 minutes. Stir in 1 3/4 c flour while beating until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl.
  
  Knead in 3/4 c flour on floured surface. Cover dough with a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Grease baking sheet with olive oil. Place dough on baking sheet and roll out to 12 inch circle. Cover with greased plastic wrap and a towel. Place in a warm place for 30 minutes.
  
  Uncover dough, poke holes in it with a spoon handle at 1 inch intervals. Put rosemary, onion, and tomato on in pretty and fascinating designs. Drizzle olive oil and salt on top. Sprinkle on crushed rosemary if you haven't done so already.
  
  Bake at 685 degrees F for 17 to 27 minutes, or until just golden. Remove from baking sheet and cool on rack. May need to drizzle on more olive oil and more salt if necessary.

  Vegan Pumpkin Pie

  Crust: 1 1/2 c flour
  2 tsp sugar
  1 tsp salt
  1/2 c canola oil
  2 T soy milk
  
  Filling: 1 T arrowroot/cornstarch
  1 1/2 c soy milk
  1/2 c brown sugar
  2 c fresh cooked pumpkin, pureed
  1/2 c brown sugar
  2 T fresh ginger, chopped
  1 t cinnamon
  1/2 t nutmeg
  1/2 t ground cardamom
  2 T soy lecithin + 6 T water (made into 2 eggs)
  1 t vanilla
  
  Crust: Combine flour, sugar, and salt on 9 or 10 in pie plate. Mix with fork until well blended. In separate container, combine oil and milk until blended. Pour over flour mixture. Mix with fork until combined, knead with fingers for 2-3 minutes and then press firmly on bottom and sides of pan.
  
  Filling: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine arrowroot with enough water to dissolve (about 1 T). Pour soy milk in saucepan. Whisk in brown sugar and arrowroot. Heat until almost boiling. Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 12-14 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Reduce mixture to yield 1 c liquid. Remove from heat.
  
  In food processor, combine pumpkin, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, egg replacer, and vanilla. Blend until combined. Add 1 c milk reduction. Add more sugar to taste. Pour into uncooked pie crust. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
  
  Cool uncovered on wire rack for 1-2 hours. Refrigerate. Serve chillied.
  
  Yield: 1 pie

  Jalapeño Guacamole

  This is a brilliantly simple yet highly effective spicy Guacamole recipe!
  
  Ingredients are combined in the following ratio:
  
  1 avocado : 1 clove garlic : 1 jalapeño : 1 squeeze of lime juice
  
  Mince the garlic and jalapeño pepper;
  blend in avocado;
  add squeezes of lime juice as you go.
  
  Eat and enjoy!

  Synergy History

  Information on the history of Synergy.

  A Short History of Synergy (from Living In Syn 2003)

  A Short History of Synergy
  Edited by Bryn
  
  There is no single "Synergy history," only different experience that
  people have had as they lived, worked, and played, in this community.
  Some of the things in this booklet are true, some are half-true, and
  some are false; but "the facts" (if indeed there are any) should
  never get in the way of a good story. Much of this history was
  plagiarized from the 1988 edition of "Living in Syn" (thanks to Lee
  Altenberg) which can be found with the old journals in the Synergy
  library. I also stole parts of this guide from "Smooth Sailing
  through Chateau," a Berkeley co-op handbook.
  
  
  The Sigma Nu days
  
  It all started with a fraternity called Sigma Nu. Sigma Nu had long
  been a traditional fraternity with all that entails, but in 1959 one
  of the brothers was tragically run over by a car and killed after
  passing out in the driveway. The university didn't take too kindly to
  this incident and put the fraternity on probation.
  This incident combined with the restrictive probation scared a lot
  of people away from the frat, and a large number of vacancies opened
  up. The next year a group of 17 Wilbur hall freshmen, the "Future
  Leader of America" types, decided to pledge the frat en masse,
  demanding that Sigma Nu take all of them. The frat had little choice
  but to accept.
  
  By the time 1962 came around, the Stanford chapter of Sigma Nu had
  become one of the most progressive chapters in the country and,
  together with the Brown University chapter, tried to pass an
  amendment eliminating the racial exclusionary policies of the
  national fraternity. This amendment was crushed at the national
  level. When they returned to Stanford the fraternity voted
  unanimously to cut all ties with the Sigma Nu national fraternity,
  and became the Beta Chi independent fraternity.
  
  In 1966 the Beta Chi brothers decided to open membership to "any
  member of the Stanford community" including women, faculty, grad
  students, administrators, and others. In response to this "open door
  policy," another frat stole Beta Chi's door.
  The first women joined as eating associates in 1967 and moved into
  the frat in 1969. That year Beta Chi had the distinction of being the
  first campus residence to have a drug bust. The frat also decided to
  become the "performing arts theme house." They became well known for
  their plays, film series, artsy newspaper, and their yearly Halloween
  Party which had bowls full of LSD punch.
  
  By 1972 the "frat" had gotten a bit too dirty and crazy for the
  alumni, who decided to sell the house to Stanford University for
  $11,000.
  
  Synergy Begins
  
  In 1972 Synergy grew out of a student initiated course titled
  "New Vocations and New Life Styles." Project Synergy was the action
  portion of that course, their goal was to create a counseling and
  resource center on new ways to live and work.
  
  The university allowed Synergy to move into the old Beta Chi
  house, and the students quickly begin shaping their new community.
  They started right out with many of the practices that Columbae had
  adopted including vegetarian cooking, consensus decision making,
  co-ed bathrooms, and gardening. In addition Synergy had a "guest in
  residence" program where students allowed people from outside the
  community to stay and teach community members about alternative
  lifestyles. One of the first major debates of the house was whether
  to continue the Beta Chi Halloween party. The students decided to
  keep the party, but to move the acid punch to the attic in order to
  encourage more responsible behavior.
  
  The Synergy garden flourished, with a grey water system and a
  large greenhouse. The community members kept chickens, and were
  involved in political actions. Other co-ops opened up on campus in
  the 70s including Hammarskjold, Terra, and Theta Chi, as well as a
  number of houses that are now defunct: Jordan House, Whitman (a co-op
  dedicated to "intellectual culture"), and Androgyny House (a co-op
  dedicated to "transcending sex roles").
  
  But in the late 70s Synergy started running into trouble.
  First the university took away the "theme house" designation of the
  co-ops and replaced androgyny house with Haus Mitt. In 1978 Synergy
  had three vacancies. The University put Synergy on probation and a
  review was made of the program. If Synergy did not fill the 1979 draw
  they were told that they would face termination. The house mounted a
  huge public relations campaign to interest students in the house and
  they filled it up the next year.
  
  In 1982 the spring draw came in. It was a disaster. Synergy
  had 19 vacancies, Terra and Columbae both had 12. The co-ops didn't
  know what had hit them. The draw meant that 19 people would be moving
  into Synergy who hadn't wanted to live there. What would this mean?
  The 19 "006's" (the draw code for "assign anywhere") who moved in
  showed a mixture of fear, discomfort, and aggression. They demanded
  that meat be served at least 3 times a week. The pro-vegetarian
  members of the house realized that they had to give up or there would
  be a mutiny. This perhaps gained the respect of the 006 people,
  because they took on the duities of the co-ops very dependably. Most
  moved out after Fall quarter, but the house filled up due to an
  outreach campaign.
  
  Synergy, Columbae, and Terra pulled together and put on
  "Co-op Week" in the Spring as a joint outreach effort, and it worked.
  All of the houses were filled. Res Ed helped out a bit, by acting on
  Synergy's 1981 proposal to have grad students in the house.
  
  Synergy had other difficult draws. At one point the
  university actually terminated Synergy because of the vacancies, but
  another student led campaign managed to keep the community open.
  
  In 1989 the Loma Prieta Earthquake damaged Synergy house
  beyond repair. The students at Synergy were dispersed across campus,
  and the university considered shutting down the co-op, but the
  students at Synergy organized and formed a student initiated class
  which they used to lobby the university to restore Synergy house. The
  university decided to tear down the old house but moved the Synergy
  community into the Cooksey residence, where we live today.
  
  The Cooksey House
  
  The Cooksey family were friends of the Stanfords. They
  built their house on land given to them by Jane Stanford. Shortly
  after the house was built, one of the important members of the
  Cooksey family passed away and the house was given to the University
  in hope that it would become a mental hospital. Jane Stanford decided
  that she didn't want that kind of thing at Stanford, and the house
  was given to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 1987.
  
  The Phi Psi fraternity went co-ed in 1972. The national
  chapter reluctantly accepted this decision, but when a representative
  was sent in 1976 he saw that Phi Psi was not "behaving like a
  fraternity" and repremanded the fraternity. Following this, the
  University ceased to recognize the house as a fraternity.
  
  The newly formed Phi Psi co-op lived in the Cooksey house
  until the earthquake, and was famous for its mellow friendliness, its
  drugs, and its wild parties. The residents of the house painted large
  murals including a version of the Sistine Chapel in the large
  stairway.
  
  After the earthquake Stanford decided to re-house the Synergy
  community in the Cooksey house. The Phi Psi community was moved
  around campus and eventually changed their name to "The Enchanted
  Broccoli Forest."
  
  Synergy has spent the last few years in the Cooksey house,
  and has thrived as a community. Residents have made a number of
  significant changes to the house; for example, when Phi Psi lived in
  our house the garden was a parking lot (as you can tell if you dig
  very deeply in some areas).
  
  Synners of times past have had amazing adventures here over the last
  30 years. Go out, have fun, and make some history of your own.

  Synergy Life 2003-2004

  Synergy life in 2003-2004. Feel free to add chapters and pages...

  Poems In Groove

  Poems by, about, and for Synergy

  Give a Hand to Saucy Lovers

  Give a Hand to Saucy Lovers
  they will surely play the game
  Whenever in the act of making love
  - - I always bring me glove
  And bring my shame to a boil
  Mixed is trouble for a Gnarly Burden
  my coals be'in to burn
  It makes a mont, to/in bear a font
  And blaze inferno, burn
  It Came my Heart forever
  shown morrow yester tear
  To sail in beds for fear of drowning
  
  - Ben de Jesus

  Construing That Which I Seek to Call Mine

  What is mine!?!?!
  
  Certainly not the things of this world.
  Ownership is a manifestation of our humanity.
  To own, as if it were under your control
  in the most meaningful sense of the word.
  
  Yes. This body, this self of mine
  is slowly letting go, and hoping
  wondering fearing trembling being
  knowing seeing hearing thinking...
  
  To think that you are mine, and mine is yours,
  this artistic dance, the bloom of the universe,
  and I'm stargazing at my feet or
  someone's hair...
  
  Art and meaning: I want to say something through
  art, to art. What I say and mean and want are
  lost in the picture, and nothing is mine again
  [in this day and age]. My opportunity? My
  future? My life... to do what I want...
  How terrified and alone I am.
  No one who hears me.
  No one who knows me.
  We will meet again, and I will be yours.

  Dear Synergy

  This is the Internet. Know that I love you. Here are a couple groovy ones...
  
  
  DUST OF SNOW
  
  The way a crow
  Shook down on me
  The dust of snow
  From a hemlock tree
  
  Has given my heart
  A change of mood
  And saved some part
  Of a day I had rued.
  
  Robert Frost

  Everything I say to you

  Everything I say to you
  Is wrapped up in a lie
  I know that you can see it when
  you look me in the eyes.
  
  I struggle just to say a word
  that cannot come out false
  but all that I can offer you
  are empty hopes and doubt.
  
  I do not like the life I lead
  but do not want retreat
  I'm looking for an answer or
  a path beneath my feet
  Yet each his own and this is mine
  "But it doesn't need to be"
  How dare a force outside my will
  attempt to adapt me
  
  I'm sick of spilling my heart
  or trying to be poetic
  trying to be right or good
  or me or at all
  My wall is crumbling
  and that's how it should be
  Destruction versus preservation
  A stop by stop flow of chunk
  skip (skip) __ __ dribble
  The rubber band of life is
  "ribvot"-ing with chakra reticula
  starrisqua la dona te honre
  
  How creation can be so deceptive
  and the right is not so clear.
  The right and mine are not at peace
  and one is winning out the other:
  she coughs again - she's trying to
  help me find her and save or protect
  her
  But all I want to do is laugh and yell
  and scream at her and ask her, "Why."
  She just cries and has me look
  into the mirror of a pond.
  
  My hands smell like garlic, and I rub
  them all over my face, my dry dry face.
  I scratch, and I look around with sad
  eyes.
  
  I am as strong as my weakest link.
  - Ben de Jesus

  Life has been full

  Life
  
  Has been full
  
  Of these
  
  Many
  
  Things.
  
  And I have tried
  
  Or wondered
  
  Imagined
  
  What that would be
  
  Without them.
  
  And
  
  I found
  
  That
  
  (for whatever it’s worth)
  
  Like a dream
  
  Through a sense
  
  I knew
  
  Briefly
  
  Of that inexplicable something
  
  All at the thought
  
  Of you.
  
  ~ Ben de Jesus

  Quiet Noise

  Bring me back to reality:
  where happiness wasn't a chore
  and peace was the standard
  and not a goal.
  
  Do what you want
  as long as what you want
  is what we want.
  There is another way.
  
  Flooded with the quiet noise
  of experience, I am scared
  and doubtful. We are prisoners
  of fear and constantly running.
  
  We continue, because that's
  all we can do. With nothing
  else to do, we do: no choice,
  no problem. But it is.
  
  Another trip around the loop
  and we've gotten nowhere again.
  We are one giant wave of
  sand and glass and fire.
  
  Will this bauble break
  My captor says he's sorry
  My captor never knows
  His fear is this manifestation
  
  She knows that to be safe
  Her love must be appreciated
  Her heart must be cradled with
  the delicate hands of understanding
  
  And so... we try to connect
  and often succeed
  to want any more
  is a heart of greed.
  
  I am truly lost.
  Loving it.
  Hating it.
  Making it.

  The Completely Non-Existent Invisible Self

  Airplanes fly slowly
  At different speeds
  Overhead
  
  The smoke off my cigarette
  caresses my finger
  like silk
  
  I can't remember anything,
  or hold {on to} any more memories beyond this point
  and I am warmed
  by my completely non-existent self
  
  I am scared to be invisible
  or rather
  What it would mean
  or perhaps
  what that would entail...
  
  but for now
  I am warm... being
  completely / non-existent /
  invisible.

  Today, when adding another poem

  Today, when adding another poem
  I deleted the Poems in Groove page
  I thought I had lost all the poems
  And this was sad
  
  I was going to email Bob for help
  but I knew that the poems weren't gone
  so I googled them
  and I found them
  
  But then I made a new page
  which took up memory
  which is wasteful
  and I felt bad
  
  And then I thought that no one would
  know the difference
  if I had or had not made this poem
  in reference to the other Poem
  
  which is creation in the first place.
  What the hell just happened?
  something out of nothing
  and here we go again

  Trees that are a present

  In Blackwater Woods
  
  Look, the trees
  are turning
  their own bodies
  into pillars
  
  of light,
  are giving off the rich
  fragrance of cinnamon
  and fulfillment,
  
  the long tapers
  of cattails
  are bursting and floating away over
  the blue shoulders
  
  of the ponds,
  and every pond,
  no matter what its
  name is, is
  
  nameless now.
  Every year
  everything
  I have ever learned
  
  in my lifetime
  leads back to this: the fires
  and the black river of loss
  whose other side
  
  is salvation,
  whose meaning
  none of us will ever know.
  To live in this world
  
  you must be able
  to do three things:
  to love what is mortal;
  to hold it
  
  against your bones knowing
  your own life depends on it;
  and, when the time comes to let it go,
  to let it go.
  
  Mary Oliver

  Sweet Like a Crow

  "The Sinhalese are beyond a doubt one of the least musical
  people in the world. It would be quite impossible to have
  less sense of pitch, line, or rhythm."
  - Paul Bowles
  
  Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pushed
  through a glass tube
  like someone has just trod on a peacock
  like wind howling in a coconut
  like a rusty bible, like someone pulling barbed wire
  across a stone courtyard, like a pig drowning,
  a vattacka being fried
  a bone shaking hands
  a frog singing at Carnegie Hall.
  Like a crow swimming in milk,
  like a nose being hit by a mango
  like the crowd at the Royal-Thornian match,
  a womb full of twins, a pariah dog
  with a magpie in its mouth
  like the midnight jet from Casablanca
  like Air Pakistan curry,
  a typewriter on fire, like a spirit in the gas
  which cooks your dinner, like a hundred
  pappadans being crunched, like someone
  uselessly trying to light 3 Roses matches in a dark room,
  the clicking sound of a reef when you put your head into the sea,
  a dolphin reciting epic poetry to a sleepy audience,
  the sound of a fan when someone throws brinjals at it,
  like pineapples being sliced in the Pettah market
  like betel juice hitting a butterfly in mid-air
  like a whole village running naked onto the street
  and tearing their sarongs, like an angry family
  pushing a jeep out of the mud, like dirt on the needle,
  like 8 sharks being carried on the back of a bicycle
  like 3 old ladies locked in the lavatory
  like the sound I heard when having an afternoon sleep
  and someone walked through my room in ankle bracelets.
  
  Michael Ondaatje

  Jungle Dance of Zoo

  The purple orangutan sat on a
  giant stump of tree: He looks up
  at a dance of clouds and green
  and cerulean... A clown walking
  on a ball, and trees,
  and leaves,
  and heat.
  Audience applause is shattered
  by the stupor of what has just occurred.
  - Ben de Jesus

  Books of Interest

  Life 101 For the Young and Young at Heart!

  Life 101 makes the assumption that everyone is seeking practical solutions to life’s daily problems. Author Caren Adams has taken the most basic goals—not blaming others for our shortcomings; living life for the moment; never giving up; simplifying our daily lives—and, using her own life experiences, has outlined practical solutions designed to guide us toward those goals.
  
  While all of our experiences are unique, the author has focused on those with which we share commonality. For example, is it possible to stop blaming others for our own shortcomings? According to Adams, we need to take control of who we are. But she doesn’t stop there. Rather, she discusses her own situations in which this lesson has been learned and lays out the course of action that helped her to understand her behavior. She has us ask ourselves “Why should I do this?” and then maps the route that will guide us toward clarity. “How to do this” takes us step-by-step through the process of clarification and, ultimately, the attainment of the skill. Along the way, we face and dispel those obstacles that impede our growth.
  
  The format of this book is easy to follow and the “how-to’s so logical that readers will find themselves nodding and wondering, “Why didn’t I think of this?”
  
  In Life 101, author Caren Adams reminds us that we can live happier, healthier lives… and we can begin the process today
  http://www.booksurge.com/product.php3?bookID=GPUB00869-00001

  Interesting Synergy Links

  Information about Synergy

  Synergy Solar Panel Stats
  A History of the old Synergy House (1972-1991)
  Syn Alumni Info
  Old Synergy Web Site 1996-2001

  Synergy-Related

  For example, projects started by (ex-)Synners:
  
  Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, a project founded by Synergy Alumni
  Lothlorien, our "sister co-op" at Berzerkeley (not started by Synners, though Syn alum Lee Altenberg first experienced consensus at Syn and then introduced it at Loth!)
  Stanford Community for Peace and Justice
  "Vegetable House", a comic strip by Syn alum Peter Kinne

  Other Stanford Co-ops

  If these links are outdated, then that's their problem, not ours:
  
  Columbae
  Chi Theta Chi
  Hammarskjöld
  Terra
  Enchanted Broccoli Forrest
  Kairos

  Personal web pages of Synners

  http://BUYSELLDOTCOM.COM Make it Happen!

  http://IPTQ.org Chris Duffield's IPT website...

  Grant's Web Site Lots of neat pictures

  Feel free to add your own home page/blog/etc. here!

  Info about Body Acceptance

  Body Freedom Collaborative
  Young Adult Naturists
  "205 Arguments in Support of Naturism", some of which are a bit amusing

  Miscellaneous Links

  North American Students of Cooperation (Notice that it's not a .ORG, but a .COOP!)
  
  Synergy could benefit from the "intercommunity" concept.
  See http://www.eranova.com/intercommunity