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Boas Festas from Fonte de Baixo.

Christmas is on its way and the village is gearing up for the Christmas and New Year festivities. The Portuguese love a family reunion, and this is a good excuse to eat and drink around a burning cepo de Natal (Yule log). Crumbs are left in the hearth or food on the table for wandering ghosts. Father Christmas is believed to bring presents to children on Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day. The presents are left under the Christmas tree or in shoes by the fireplace. The Traditional Christmas meal in Portugal is eaten during the evening of Christmas Eve and consists of codfish with vegetables and boiled potatoes. This is normally followed by shellfish, wild meats or other expensive foods. Our own Christmas Vegetarian option is below and not a dead carcase in sight!

After the meal, our neighbours will go to church for the Missa do Galo or Mass of the Rooster service. After the service people return home, and open their presents. For Bruni and I and our visiting friends we will hold a silent Tonglen meditation whishing peace and harmony to the world and those in pain, fear and misery. Each house has a rich table set in the living room full with traditional food, cakes, fried cookies, nuts and other goodies. The traditional Christmas cake is Bolo Rei (which means King Cake) and is placed in the center of the table. People drink porto wine, traditional liquors and eat azevias and felhozes (Portuguese biscuits and sweets). The party lasts until the early hours of the morning!

Pay a visit to our site (www.ahimsa-portugal.com/events) where we have posted a list of working break opportunities and a couple of workshops Bruni and I will be running early next year.

Ayurveda

Open the Dosha Questionnaire (PDF)

If you completed the Dosha Questionnaire last month, you know what your basic constitution is. If you have not, print it off now and tick one box in each line. You might find that you are very dominant in one or have two dominant lines. Of course nobody is purely one type! There are lots of shades and colours in between. Although your basic dosha is determined at the time of conception, it is influenced by your currant life style, seasons or age.

Today I will look at VATA Dosha.

Vata is a combination of ether and air and responsible for all movement in body and mind. Its qualities are: dry, rough, cool, light, subtle, mobile, unsteady and unbounded.

People with more Vata in their constitutions tend to be thin, with a slender frame and prominent joints, delicate skin that is naturally dry, and dry voluminous hair. They are quick and lively in thought, speech and action, and make friends easily. There is an element of airiness to their step, a quality of lightness in their laughter. Change is usually their second name. They are light sleepers and gravitate towards warm environments. Creativity and enthusiasm are hallmarks of balanced Vata.

Factors that can cause Vata dosha to increase include a diet that contains too many dry or raw foods, over-consumption of ice-cold beverages, and exposure to cold dry winds, a variable daily routine, too much travel, stress and mental overexertion.

Signs that you need to balance Vata

• Are you constantly worried, anxious, overwhelmed or restless?
• Do you feel tired but find yourself unable to slow down and relax?
• Do you find it difficult to settle down and fall asleep at night? Is your sleep restless when you do manage to fall asleep?
• Is your skin feeling dryer than usual, stretched taut or flaking?
• Is your hair more brittle, with split ends happening oftener?
• Are your lips raw and chapped? Is your throat constantly dry?
• Is your digestion irregular? Do you experience problems with abdominal gas?
• Do you feel like you cannot sit still, that you need to be constantly moving?
• Do you feel "spaced out"? Is it harder to remember things for more than a short period of time? Is your attention span shorter than usual? Is it harder to focus?
• Do your bowel movements occur less than once daily?

Lifestyle Recommendations

Since Vata dosha is characterized as restless, the main lifestyle recommendation for balancing Vata is to maintain a regular routine. That means rising and going to bed at the same times each day, eating regular meals and following a similar pattern of work and rest every day to bring stability into life.

Do not skip meals. Eat a nourishing lunch at mid-day and lighter meals at breakfast and dinner. Sit down to eat each meal, eat in a peaceful atmosphere with your attention on your food, and sit quietly for a few minutes afterwards. If your digestion is irregular, changing your eating habits will help.

To care for dry skin, promote circulation and nourish and tone muscles and nerves, indulge in an ayurvedic massage every morning before you bathe or shower. Use almond or sesame oil for your massage. You can add 3-4 drops of a pure essential oil such as lavender or sweet orange to 50 ml of massage oil. Two or three time a week, massage your scalp with warm oil, and let the oil stay for an hour or two before you shampoo. Wear lip balm to prevent lips from getting dry.

Protect yourself from the cold and wind. Wrap up well with several layers of clothes in winter.

Go to bed early, so that you can get a good rest each night. A cup of warm milk, with a pinch of nutmeg, can be helpful before bedtime.

Set aside about 30 minutes each day for meditation, to help calm the mind and enhance body-mind-spirit coordination. Or go for a gentle walk for 20 min. in the morning.

Diet

Include foods that are liquid in your daily diet to balance dryness (soups, stews, sauces), some "heavy" foods to offer substance and sustained nourishment, foods that are smooth in texture to offset roughness and warm foods to balance the cool nature of Vata.

The three ayurvedic tastes that help balance Vata are sweet, sour and salty. Eat less of the bitter, pungent and astringent tastes.

Cooked foods, served hot or warm, are ideal for balancing Vata. Pureed soups, hot cereal, rice pudding and hot nourishing beverages such as nut milks or warm milk are excellent "comfort" foods and help pacify aggravated Vata. Avoid or minimize raw foods such as salads and raw sprouts.

Nuts are wonderful snacks.

Carrots, asparagus, tender leafy greens, beets, sweet potatoes, green beans parsnips and summer squash such as zucchini are the best vegetable choices. They become more digestible when chopped and cooked with Vata-pacifying spices. Vegetables can be combined with grains or mung beans for satisfying one-dish meals. Avoid nightshades and larger beans.

Cook with a combination of warming spices that appeals to your taste buds and is appropriate for the dish you are making. Ayurvedic spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, dried ginger, black pepper and saffron offer flavor, aroma and healing wisdom.

Choose fruit which is sweet and well ripened such as avocado, pineapple, papaya, peaches, plums, grapes, mangoes, oranges, cherries, all kinds of berries, limes and lemons, apples if stewed, coconut, fresh figs and raisins (soaked).

Include whole milk, cream, butter, fresh yogurt (cooked into foods), lassi, cottage cheese and paneer in your diet.

Drink lots of warm water through the day.

Avoid stimulants like coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, alcohol and cigarettes.

Ahimsa-Kitchen

Christmas is just around the corner and the days are certainly cooler with heavy dew and slight frosts in the morning hearty meals are the order of the day. This months recipes draw on traditional Portuguese dishes with the exception of our own Nut Roast recipe in place of the traditional Codfish and Wild meats.

Chestnut and White Bean Soup (Sopa de Castanhas e Feijão Branco)

Serves 4

This traditional soup is served early on Christmas Eve to fill the stomach whilst waiting for the Eve dinner served later in the evening. It is quite substantial and a good way of supplying energy to workers making the final preparations for the festival. Chestnuts have been grown on the peninsula for a long time well before potatoes, which were only recently imported from the Americas. As a result, chestnuts featured in many dishes, especially in the north. In order to have chestnuts available throughout the year, they were dried and, before use, were soaked for about 12 hours in just the same way as dried beans.

100g dried haricot beans, soaked overnight in cold water and drained

90g peeled chestnuts, thawed if frozen
1 bay leaf
50ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper

If using fresh chestnuts, do not store them for more than a week. The easiest way to shell them and remove their inner skins is to make a small cut in each one and par-boil or roast in the oven at 180°C for about 5 minutes. Remove the shells and rub off the skins with a dry dish towel. Peeled frozen chestnuts are a simpler option having done it a couple of times now.

1. Put the beans, chestnuts and bay leaf in a pan, pour in 1 litre of water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and cook for about 1½ hours, until tender. Add more water if the soup dries out too much.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Add it to the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove and discard the bay leaf and mash the beans and chestnuts with a strong fork. Serve immediately with a little grated cheese.

Ahimsa-Nut Roast

Serves 6-8

Probably the tastiest Festive Roast you will ever eat! Teaming with juicy nuts, pulses, porcini mushrooms and other surprises, you wont be disappointed.

230g mixed nuts
100g red lentils
1 large carrot
2 celery sticks
1 large onion
Half a large courgette
1 aubergine
100g mushrooms
25g porcini mushrooms
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp mild curry powder
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
4 tbsp chopped parsley
10g chopped dried apricots
2 tbsp soya flour
200ml of water
Vegetarian Pesto
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts.

Preheat oven to 190°C

1. Gently boil the lentils for around 20mins and soak the porcini mushrooms in boiled water for the same time.
2. At the same time, cut the aubergine in half, and then chop into small chunks, along with the courgette. Lay the aubergine out on a plate and sprinkle with salt (this is to reduce the bitterness). Leave for 20mins.
3. Chop the carrot, celery, onion and mushrooms into small chunks and then pass the through and blender until they are finely chopped.
4. Melt the butter in a wok and fry the vegetables for 5mins, stirring in the curry powder.
5. Drain and chop the porcini mushrooms, then add into a bowl with the lentils, ketchup, Worcester sauce, parsley, apricots and water. Mix well.
6. Add in mixture from the wok and mix all together, adding the soya flour.
7. Grease a large bread tin with butter, then line with grease-proof paper.
8. Press 4tbsp of the mixture into the tin, and then spread over a layer of pesto. Spoon in the rest of the mixture and smooth over.
9. Bake for about 1 hour until just firm, covering the top with a piece of grease-proof paper if it starts to burn.
10. Sprinkle with pinenuts to finish, the holding the sides of the grease-proof paper, gently pull the loaf out onto a plate or serving tray. Trim down the paper along the edges, allow to cool for 15 minutes, then cut into slices and serve.

Sweet Rice (Arroz Doce) Serves 8

This traditional dessert is a Christmas speciality that can also be prepared throughout the year. Pre-cooking the rice in water allows it to better absorb the milk and sugar during the cooking process. The rice is a similar shape to risotto rice, with a high amount of starch. The dish can also be made with a type of hair-thin pasta called aletria, often used in Portuguese cooking.

250g short grain rice
Thinly pared rind of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
Pinch of salt
1.2 litres milk
150g sugar
4 egg yolks
Ground cinnamon, for sparkling

1. Put the rice, lemon rind, cinnamon stick and salt in a pan and pour in 500ml of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until almost dry.
2. Add 1 litre of the milk and the sugar to the pan with the rice and continue to cook, stirring frequently.
3. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks with the remaining milk in a jug. When the rice is beginning to become dry, stir in the egg yolk mixture. Remove from the heat, pour the rice mixture into a tray and leave to cool and set.
4. Cut into squares or triangles and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve in a deep plate.

Sustainability Tip

One of the core values at Ahimsa is that we try as much as possible to live and work with nature. We are very conscious of our foot print, not only the energy we use but across everything we do. Ahimsa means to do no harm or at least to minimise our impact as much as we can. Below are some of the ideas that we are putting into practice and perhaps you could try some of them too?

Permaculture is more than a gardening system, but exactly what it is varies from person to person. For many people (who may or may not garden), it is about how they meet their needs from local sources and contribute as little waste as possible to the environment. It is possible to live in a small flat in the inner city with no garden and yet live with little damage to the environment. It is also possible to live on 10 acres in the countryside, with the desire to live sustainably and yet do a huge amount of environmental damage.

There are now many well established examples of permaculture designed properties and lifestyles, though it may take 10 years to create a well established system based on perennial plants. Fonte de Baixo is in the respect a blessing as it has so many well established fruit and nut trees, olive trees and grape vines so we are well on our way.

However, a low impact lifestyle can be developed in just a few days in the inner city or in the countryside. Most people in the rich countries of the world live in highly urbanised societies. They are within 20 kilometres of a business centre. Most of these people expect to drive their own car from place to place, and to have unlimited food available through supermarkets. Their high consuming habits have detrimental effects on the fields, forests and oceans supplying their needs.

However, each city also has many people who turn this dense living to their advantage and minimise their negative impact. Living in the city increases the possibility of walking, cycling, recycling, reusing and generally reducing the needs of each person, but the pressure to consume seems the greatest as well.

Permaculture provides a set of ideas (and ideals) which have inspired people across the world for over 30 years. These are people who dare to question dominant consumer thinking. Amongst other things, permaculture provides moral support for like-minded people who dare to ask confrontational questions like, do you really need a second television set?

To question the need for unnecessary consumption of material goods, let alone to strive to consume less, seems to be quite threatening to most people in a society where the dominant thinking is that this consumption is healthy, good and strong. Theres lots of evidence that we are heading for disaster, environmentally and socially, yet most people carry on the same as before. (See the New Scientist 18^th October 2008)

There is also room  for optimism perhaps we are part of a new renaissance where good sense will prevail over human greed certainly promoters of permaculture continue to show how there can be enough for everyones need. Meanwhile, more people consume more non-renewal resources everyday. What are worse, generations of affluent people now exist who have no experience of walking as a way to get from A to B, or mowing grass by hand, let alone eating something they have planted, nurtured and harvested.

Is this really a problem? After all, we have been hearing for at least 30 years that unless we do this or that, well be in a bad way by the year 2000. Well, many of the problems that were foreseen have occurred, and many people feel that the quality of their life has decreased.

Most of us try to shut out the gloom and doom, and/or believe that minor modifications like an imposed recycling service, have dealt with the environmental problem. After all, we still have plenty of food and a comfortable lifestyle, dont we?

Yes we do, but most people in Europe and other rich countries continue to be cushioned from the worst effects of our consumption. Governments, transnational organisations and their associated media operations like to portray problems like Darfur or Zimbabwe as isolated incidents, the result of some unconnected, local conflict. Really, they are the struggles for power over resources.

What we consume here is inextricably linked to what happens in the rest of the world our high consuming lifestyles have a big knock-on effect. Magazines such as New Internationalist, Resurgence, The Ecologist and others clearly and consistently illustrate this better than I can within this short newsletter.

The Bees

The bees are now well and truly in their winter state. The adults in the colony will now only be workers as the drones will have been pushed out of the hive as the forage reduced. The main role of the colony is to remain alive long enough to support the queen and help her by raising the new brood in the spring. Once this job has been done the winter bees die rapidly. The bees will require pollen to feed the young brood and although they will have stored some in the hive before the onset of winter, this will degrade over time. Fresh pollen is always best so a local supply from early flowering plants is very welcome. To help the bees out, consider planting Crocus, flowering willows and hazel, winter flowering honeysuckle or viburnums.

Beauty Tip: Milk and Honey Bath

Cleopatra, the legendary queen of Egypt, was famous for her immaculate complexion and smooth skin. She bathed in milk and honey every day. A luxurious treat you can easily give yourself:

Ingredients (enough for one bath):

½ cup of full cream milk (or powdered milk)

½ cup of raw honey

2 teaspoons of Jojoba Oil (optional)

Mix ingredients in a large bowl and pour into your warm bath. Soak for up to 20 minutes to get the full benefit. Milk contains lactic acid, which helps to cleanse the deepest layers of the skin. Honey is full of minerals and vitamins, which nourish and heal the skin. It is also attracts moisture into the skin.

If you want to add anything to our newsletter, events, workshops, ideas or services for sale or trade, please dont hesitate to send them through and we are happy to add them to future newsletters. If you would like to go onto our newsletter list then please send an email to: info@ahimsa-portugal.com

From Projeto-Ahimsa and Fonte de Baixo -