it's my island

Fundraising with Friends, Co-Starring Chocolate and Pork

// August 31st, 2008 // Comments Off // Culinary, Points In Time

Warning, if you are a strong vegetarian onwards you should know I am a great omnivore and only have respect for my foodsources. This article is highly doused in the art of pork and I hope you will still love me in the end.

I think I’m finally fully out of my meat-choco-coma. It took a few days and a lot of chocolate bacon flashbacks, but I think I’m well on the mend. Mine and others in our area were struck with this fantastic affliction last Sunday when Lell Trogdon opened her doors for a friends fundraiser like no other.

Lell in conjunction with Serena, the Grateful Growers wonderful products, the Secret Chocolatier, and a cast of friends and family helped us reach far towards our Terra Madre goal!

Some Snapshots

If you are having trouble viewing what is below check out some of the pictures on flickr.
[swfobj src=wp-content/files/Flash/Fundraiser/Lell_Fundraiser.swf /]

A Day of the Porcinus

It cannot be understated what great pork raisers Grateful Growers are. It can also not be understated what Lell Trogdon can do with such fine materials. Pork shoulder, butt, ham, bacon, bratwurst and more were soaked, slathered, slow cooked, grilled, to perfection. Thunder Cats.. Hooo… oh wait. I digress.

In addition there was scones, cream sausage gravy, eggs with sausage and eggs with green chilis, with cheese grits for breakfast. Lunch onward was served the bulk of the meats and a few vegetables and a vegetarian lasagna made an appearance, but it was mostly about pork.

A meat induced coma was seen drifting in peoples eyes all day. It was awesome.

Dirty Little Secret

The Secret Chocolatier brought his upcoming arsenal of chocolate might out for a tour. Bill Dietz is my chocolate superman, he shares that title by many adoring fans in our area. We’re working hard to grow that fan base (join today!) and to that extent are opening up his culinary war chest to bring out some great eats.

The vast chocolate landscape included an almond encrusted triangular chocolate pate with accompanying caramel sauce, a chocolate mousse, a chocolate torte, chocolate chunk brownies dipped in dark chocolate coating, a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing, a chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese icing, and a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Phew.. if the thought of that at your party doesn’t make you quiver, you don’t love a great dessert.

If the meat didn’t do it, The Secret Chocolatier did. Some looked frantically around for a place to nap. An outdoor sofa awaited many.

Pandora Traffle

Did I mention that The Secret Chocolatier donated a Pandora truffle for raffle? Weighing in at 16 oz it is something to behold, and hopefully to be shared by many. It was contended for, fought over, people schemed, but in the end the wonderful Denise Kuntz was given a phone call that she had won the prize (to the devastation of the still hanging crowd). Luckily Denise is sweet and said she would share!

All For Who? What?

All because Robin and I really want to be a part of a great experience with more great people in an effort to grow, capture, and bring back some of the inspiration of Slow Food’s Terra Madre. We’ve been fundraising for a few weeks and have had a great outpouring from family, friends, and even local farmers who share our passion, or want us to bring them back some of the experience.

Quick Terra Madre Primer, bi-ennial event in Turin, Italy:
What do you get when you build a conference around sharing culture, tradition, survival, and growth of the worlds food system.
5000 farmers, 1000 chefs, 2000 students and volunteers to collectively communicate.

We Help Each Other

I’ve taken to heart over the past few years that friends help each other. It’s been a rocky time for everyone I’ve known, across industries, across regions, but we share out support be it with kind words, time, opportunities, and out of pocket. Our friends are pivotal in our growth and we are so very blessed in having good ones.

Thanks to everyone who made our morning, lunch, and afternoon such a delight. To those who could not make it you were missed and while we tried to make up for your loss, we do poorly compared to the real thing.

Our goal is not met and we’re charging on! If you can help us let us know! (It’s a karmic win too!)

2008 Skyfest and Rodriguez Boogie, Fantastic Fun

// June 10th, 2008 // Comments Off // Skydiving

While I can’t say last week was perfect; after getting horribly ill and rebounding with the same celerity I flew into action at [Skydive Carolina](http://skydivecarolina.com) on Thursday and enjoyed myself thoroughly in social skydiving activities.

Photography Video Montage

A Heat Wave to Remember

The heat was magnificent in its ability to melt us all. With a high reaching 103’ on Saturday (at least by my altimeters function), how we all lasted day after day is a real wonder. It did slow me down though I wasn’t readily willing to repack as quickly or even don my flight suits (hey I got a new free fly suit too!) since you turn into a human sprinkler if you did. We still managed to enjoy each others company with eager smiles.

A Coordinated Effort

The event coordinators really did amazing keeping everything running so smoothly. We even had an expected visit by the FAA (man those suits walk real upright), but the show went on with only mild delays.

One day we had two Casa’s, one Twin Otter, and a helicopter all in motion. James La Barrie really handled it tactically and no issues means he did a stupendous job.

Funny enough the only thing really squawked on was how Outback really screwed us on our meal plan serving us up some real airplane fare for the price of steaks. If that was the only beef (/sarcasm) then I’d say it was a success.

Do You Know Howie?

A profound shout goes out to our friend Howie. A man who would have rather been left be had his own fan club after him; you can many times hear, ‘Do you know Howie?’ shouted onboard a plane.

During our sunset tracking dive we put ourselves over some tricky terrain and the flank Howie was on was in the deep of it and not going to make it home. After a rough landing Howie sustained a few broken bones (tib/fib/fingers), and a fractured hip. Can you believe he called 911 for himself? What a guy!

The dropzone being what it is with the local family we were quite a buzz over our friend. From the latest intel we understand that he is doing the best he can and we send our well wishes and speedy recovery.

Rodriguez Family Reunion

Thus completes my, Pelargo Rodriguez, first year as a family member. We celebrated in style and brought on board a slew of new family after many jumps with initiates. As always Shaggy manned a deadly liquid cooled tequila machine which caused personal malfunctions everywhere, haha.

Welcome new brothers (and bumpy brothers), may your lives be long, your sombreros be shade casting, and your tequila glass cold.

Good Festival

If I heard right we’ll see these guys again next year under hopefully cooler early June circumstances. We met a lot of new people and got to hang with a lot of those we just don’t see enough of these days.

Always looking for new recruits to come jump with us so if you need the right motivation let me know!

From Sun up to Sun Down, in the Rock Hill Area

// March 1st, 2008 // Comments Off // MoBlog, On the Radar

It’s been a full day for Robin and myself. A bunch of photography friends were heading to Asheville for some lessons, others were following along to take pictures on the town. I wanted to do something more normal. What’s more normal and low-key than visiting friends and skydiving? hah!

We woke early and bolted across the South Carolina border ready to see some good friends we don’t see enough of currently at Cupps Cafe. You can’t beat their cinnamon rolls and scones for a perfect way to start the day.

Hanging out till lunch time we grabbed a couple of “Mother Cluckers” and bolted to the dropzone down the street at Skydive Carolina to get some well needed therapy.

I’ve been grounded because of travel time, reserve repacks, and good ol’Winter Mother Nature. The skies just haven’t been friendly (and during February their not supposed to be) until today. With the temps in the 60s and a wind holding at about 15mph I got aloft and cruised around the skies in torpedo like fashion.

Gene repacked my reserve a few weeks ago and I had him flake my main. He used it to show students what a long term pack job does as mine came out in a pretty good square. It would have deployed, just sniveled a lot. No worries!

Today’s ride was great. Soft opening into a light right turn. I hung around the tandems then found a holding pattern until 1k where upon I entered the landing pattern.

Having a steady wind brought me nearly straight down and a perfect soft landing awaited me. What a purification process for the mind. Like a friend said, ‘You look blissed’, and I felt it.

We ended the day by coming back into Cupps for a dinner round where we drank a fantastic crisp sweet Riesling, ‘Clean Slate’, while working on the text for an upcoming Charlotte Art. Migrating over time into nachos and some delicious white-bean pork soup. Man this place rocks.

Time to head home.

Puzzling Patience and Persistence

// June 15th, 2007 // Comments Off // Scribbles, Skull Sessions

I remember a sage once told me that my life was to be walking one of Saturn’s squares. Loosely translated she meant that I would need to work hard and be patient for a long.. long.. time.

It’s taken quite a long time, probably the first 26 (nearing 31 this month) years of my life but I’ve become rather good at being patient. It doesn’t mean I don’t lose it from time to time, but I’m able to swing in some Zen harmonies more often than naught.

I found my way through with many systems. Have few friends and make them the best friends. Keep the temple of yourself in check through working out. Find a way to keep your mind clean and clear.

To achieve greatness isn’t necessarily hard, but it does require patience and persistence.

Relationships

We are social creatures that get out of hand when we have too little or too much interaction. Over the years I’ve had ample friends and acquaintances; when I look back I can only see derived value from those who had similar passions and goals as myself.

If you have a ring of people who are draining you emotionally due to their needs and it’s not helping nurture you’re own needs; over time this can foster social delinquencies which usually end in spite. Who needs that?
>friend
a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection

Foster those you connect with and cherish them. Let those who do not mesh well with you fall away. In your life you will cross the path of thousands of individuals. Stay open in knowing that you will find others that will support you as you will support them.

Stay Fit

>Purity Through Sweat

I’ve used that motto for years. When I realized I was overweight—probably 9 years ago—I began what would be one of the longest things I’ve ever stuck with, working out. It began without any instruction; then when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I became my own trainer. Going through the [ACE](http://www.acefitness.org/) program taught me so much about who we are and how we operate.

As I shed the pounds I also shed the fears I had accumulated like a rotten onion. The better I felt, the taller I walked, the happier I was. It’s been a roller-coaster of goals I’ve set over the years but when it comes down to it if I don’t get a good sweat in at least twice a week I begin to get very irritable.

We take a lot in, whether it’s our nutritional choices to the stresses of life. Keeping up a good regiment of physical activity helps purge and keep level a lot of these things. I’ve said many many times that knowing we are [thermodynamic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics) machines if we don’t help find balance our bodies will do very odd and generally unpleasant things to us to find it’s own accord.

Mental Clarity

Who doesn’t want mental clarity? Being trapped in a mental rat race is no joy yet most of us are doing just that. It takes a lot less work than you’d think, but it does take persistence and a desire to as the [Delphi inscription](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself) read ‘Know Thyself’.

What you find is a lot of people don’t like themselves, and this creates an open loop which is filled by a lot of irrational behavior because of a fear of self and almost always a greater fear of change.

Find a way to love yourself. The words are almost cliche these days but it’s true. No one can hurt you if you own yourself. It’s hard to explain how to do this but the roots of it are taking responsibility for yourself. If you don’t like an aspect of yourself, accept it or change it.

>Be granted the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and to have the wisdom to know the difference…

That’s half the equation right there. The rest of the puzzle is just clearing the cob-webs of daily life from your mind just like working out does. Practice [Yoga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga), [breathing exercises](http://cas.umkc.edu/casww/brethexr.htm), even a [Pzziz](http://www.pzizz.com/) moment is worth it.

If your mind is found twittering about on daily todo’s and not allowing you to find stillness you might want to look into David Allen’s [Getting Things Done](http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php) so that you can empty your head enough so that you can enjoy some peace. I’ve also found an amazing resource in [skydiving](http://www.dropzone.com). Clearing your head with a leisurely fall from 13,500ft can do wonders for you. haha!

It’s a Long Road

Life’s a crazy journey. I’ve fallen in love with it’s chaortic idiosyncratic strangeness. I don’t fight what comes my way. It’s accepted, analyzed and solved for. I encourage all of you to stay nimble and stay open to the worlds possibilities. Be honest with yourself and the ones around you.

Let’s all try and make something great with what we can. If you can look back and say, “I did the best I could at the time with what I knew”, you’re doing A.ok!