Choosing Colors in Home for Harmony, Balance & Health

I love the subject of color and have studied it extensively. Interestingly, when I first studied and practiced interior design, I found myself calling colors "warm" or "cool" as you speak of them--depending on their undertones. I did this for years.

Then I began to study Feng Shui. I won't get into detail, but suffice to say that traditional Feng Shui is an interior designer's nightmare...you are supposed to use certain colors (that are significant in traditional Chinese culture) in every room. Ugh.

I understood that people react strongly to colors, but I wasn't sure why. In preparation of writing Harmonious Environment:Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, I began to study color from the dispassionate scientific point of view. For example, in the 20th century, The Luscher Colour Test revealed that colors stimulate different parts of the autonomic nervous system, affecting metabolic rate and glandular secretions. In the 1950’s, studies showed that yellow and red light raised blood pressure while blue light lowered it. Blue light is now commonly used to treat neonatal jaundice and to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Different colors, pulse rate and respiratory rate; color affects muscular tension, brain activity and the emotions.

Each color has its own vibration; color can be used to bring harmony and balance into your life. The invisible vibrations of color can be used to either relax or stimulate. The color spectrum is made up of seven colors, with thousands of tones, shades and tints in between. The longest wavelengths, or yang colors—red, orange and yellow—are considered the warm, expansive and outgoing colors. The shorter wavelengths, or yin colors—blue, indigo and violet—are cool, soothing and introverted. Green is considered neutral.

Picture the pure color spectrum--red, orange and yellow are considered warm; green neutral and blue, indigo and violets, cool. Black is warm, white cool. Add to that each color can become a shade (add black), tint (add white) or tone (black + white=gray=neutral.)

Now it's all math. Pure green is neutral because it's made up of equal parts blue + yellow. Add more blue and you have a cool green; add more yellow, warm.

Knowing that, pink cannot be cool--neither can red or orange. Add white to a warm color and it lessens it's heat; black to a cool color and it warms it.

Here is another example: brown is composed of red, yellow and black and is considered warm, because the intensity of black overwhelms the red and yellow. However, add some white (tint) and the color becomes beige or tan and effectively moves to the center of the spectrum, or the neutral zone. (You have undoubtedly heard of colors like beige and tan being referred to as “neutral” colors. This is why.)But add a pinky undertone to beige and you effectively make it warm again.

When planning the predominate color theme in a room, remember that warm or yang colors—red, orange and yellow—are best used in rooms that are meant for social and physical activity, as these colors stimulate the more physical aspects of life; eating, socializing and exercise. Conversely, cool yin colors—blue, indigo and violet—are ideal in spaces meant for rest or meditation, as these colors invoke feelings of calmness, creativity and inner transformation. Green, which represents balance, health and harmony, is ideal in all rooms.

Color is one aspect of how our homes affect us—there are many things that do. (I’ll save for another time…) How things like color, energy, clutter and so on affect us is the psychology of home (an actual category used in libraries). Understanding these processes—how color works, for example—helps us to create harmony, balance and health in the home.

Cooking Tips to Save Time

The following are some practical and efficient tips to help you cook faster and easier.

• Cook enough food for two dinners. Most food can be easily reheated. Consider steaming to reheat food. Place a bit of water in a pan and place food on it. Cover. Check frequently to ensure that the water doesn’t completely evaporate and burn the food; add water as necessary. This method heats food as fast as a microwave, and no nasty altering of the food takes place.
• Play music if you enjoy it. Music can make cooking more enjoyable and relaxing.

• Be organized when you cook.
• Determine what to cook and the approximate cooking times for all of the food.
• Pull out the necessary ingredients.
• Begin cooking the item that will take the longest.
• “Prep” food. Chop, mince, food process and so on all of the ingredients, if all ingredients are added at the same time. If you are sautéing a meal, begin by chopping onion and garlic, for example, and continue to cook and chop vegetables as the first vegetables are cooking.
• If you don’t already own professional quality knives, buy them and keep them sharp. Nothing save time in the kitchen like working with sharp, quality knives. (Wusthof is my favorite.)

• The trick is to never stand still when you cook. While food is cooking on the stovetop, for example, you can chop, clean empty bowls and put ingredients away. Unless you have help, the object (well, my object) is to have virtually everything cleaned by the time the meal is finished cooking. I also find that if I am continually moving, the process is smoother because I must concentrate on what I am doing.
• Some convenience foods are really handy and all natural. Canned beans, tuna fish, olives, coconut milk, some natural sauces, some prepared spices and herbs and dried pasta are staples in my kitchen. For most of us it is unrealistic and unnecessary to prepare everything from absolute scratch every day.
• Keep indispensable items on hand. I always purchase often-used items in quantity. This saves both on fuel used to make those purchases and makes cooking dinner much easier. For example, I always have coconut milk on hand if I want to make Thai food, or soy sauce for Chinese. The following items are ingredients that I always keep in my kitchen. Virtually all items are organic.
  

• Olive, grape seed and canola oil.
• Sesame seed oil and roasted peanut oil, refrigerate.
• Variety of vinegars; including balsamic, cider, red, white and cooking wine.
• Chicken, beef and vegetable stock in cartons.
• Prepared sauces. My favorites are San-J© all purpose Szechwan Hot and Spicy Sauce; Thai® Kitchen Red Curry Paste, fish sauce, soy or tamari sauce. Natural sauces like the Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste, are a huge time-saver. They use only natural ingredients, such as like galangal root and lemon grass—ingredients that take forever to prepare yourself.
• Mustards, capers, olives, anchovy paste.
• Variety of hot sauces.
• Variety of dried organic spices and herbs (keep frozen or in airtight containers).
• Fresh garlic, onions, ginger.
• Canned coconut milk, olives, tuna fish, clams, variety of beans, artichokes, baby corn.
• Dried pastas, risotto, variety of rice (including basmati, white, brown, wheat berries and wild rice), dried cloud ears (black fungus), which has been used in Chinese cooking since the 6^th century. It has a crunchy texture, is loaded with nutrients and its black color looks great in a dish. Soak in hot water for fifteen minutes—it will expand several times—rinse, remove stem and chop. Add to dish near the end to preserve crunchiness. Experiment by adding them to a variety of your favorite dishes.
  

Store dry ingredients, like rice and grains, in airtight containers. Also, note that organic produce does perish more quickly than non-organic produce. Apples are a good example, without the “protective” wax coating, they begin to soften after a few days.

Copyright 2007, Norma Lehmeier Hartie

For lots more tips on cooking, recipes and more, go to: Harmonious Environment.

Killing Weeds without Harmful Chemicals

When my husband and I moved into our house almost five years ago, we knew we would be doing extensive landscaping to the one acre or so of our landscaped property. The house was 40 years old and desperately needed help. The front of the house featured lots of overgrown trees, bushes and plantings and tons of weeds.

We removed, pruned and trimmed. Then we designed and added a meandering stone walkway from the driveway to the front door. We had a ton of space left and didn't want grass or mulch, so we decided to add river rocks. Lots and lots of them. Formed patterns with difference sizes. We put river rocks around the foundation and in a few areas in the back, too.

We placed landscaping fabric underneath the rocks. However, weeds still manage to pop up, especially in Spring. They drive me crazy and I feel like I spend half my life pulling them out.

There is no way I would use any poisonous chemicals on the weeds, however. So, I experimented and found that straight white household vinegar will kill small weeds. (The tiny weeds just seem as if they proliferate overnight. A two year old might be able to grasp the suckers, but not me.)

I put the vinegar in one of those spray pumps and on a sunny and hot day, go to town. Within a day or so they have shriveled and burned up! Do not use vinegar near plants, however.

I still do a lot of weeding, but killing the small ones does help keep me from feeling completely overwhelmed.

For more on non-toxic gardening and much more, go to: Harmonious Environment.

Clean Mold in Your Shower with Non-Toxic Product

I finally figured out exactly how to clean mold and any scum in my shower stall without the use of toxic products like bleach. My shower is tiled in natural stone and does a great job of resisting mold, but in summer, mold manages to get into the grout and rough areas of stone tile. All it takes to clean walls is a spray bottle, white vinegar, water, tea tree oil, lavender oil and a scrub brush.

Spray bottle
Fill almost half with white vinegar
Few drops of tea tree and lavender oils
Water

Spray mixture onto shower walls and allow to sit for a good ten minutes. Take a hand-held scrub brush and an old toothbrush for tight corners and scrub away. You may need to hit walls with shower spray if mixture dried. Hose off and voila! A clean shower with no harmful chemicals.

If the smell doesn't bother you, you can re-spray and allow mix dry to prevent future mold.

One other tip: I use a squeegee at the end of a shower and wipe down shower door and floor of stall to dry it faster--mold loves to grown in damp conditions, and this inhibits it.

For more recipes on cleaning and much more, go to: Harmonious Environment.

Great Salad Dressings

A member of one of the online groups I belong to recently asked for suggestions for interesting vegetables to try or recipes, as her boyfriend doesn't like to eat veggies. I think this is a fairy pervasive problem and I have decided to post great vegetable recipes and tips for eating more of them. This will be the subject of the next few posts.

The member also stated that her boyfriend doesn't like raw veggies. Which made me think about how much I like tossed salads and can't imagine not eating them. Yet. There are a number of reasons why someone might not like salads:

1. Terrible dressing: Virtually all commercial dressings are vile, loaded with preservatives, artificial flavors, sugars and cheap oils. (Some natural prepared dressings are good--check the refrigerated section of a natural food store.)

2. Too much dressing is poured onto salad. A little goes a long way--when in doubt, use a bit, toss, then taste--you can always add more.

3. Salad isn't dressed and you have to pour dressing yourself and toss in with a fork. The problem here is that you are sure to get great globs of dressing in one bite and traces on other bites. (I hate this.)

4. Dressing sits on salad too long, making it wilt. Mix dressing into salad no more than five minutes before you eat.

5. Inferior vegetables--either old, brown or just nasty.

My husband and I eat a lot of salad, but it's still just the two of us, so I keep things interesting by rotating what veggies I buy for salad. Summer is easy, as a wide variety of greens are available at farmer's markets and natural food stores (our local stores carry local produce, too.)

I make most of my salad dressings and chose dressing based on the other dishes we are eating that night. I make a bottle at a time and they keep well refrigerated.

Here are my favorites:

Classic Vinaigrette
1 cup parts olive oil and/or canola
1/3 part any of the following vinegars: balsamic , red, white, apple cider
1 T dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper
Shake, use a blender or food process

Add more pizzazz by adding some or all of the following:

Capers
Anchovy paste
Hot sauce
Fresh herbs: parsley, rosemary, dill, cilantro
Garlic, pressed
Crumbled bleu cheese on the side

Caesar Dressing
1 ½ olive oil/canola
2 T white vinegar
1 T anchovy paste
2 cloves garlic pressed
3 T lemon juice + zest of one lemon
2 T Dijon mustard
2 t white pepper
½ cup Parmesan
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped (raw eggs make me nervous, and hard-boiled gives dressings nice body)
Food processor or blender

Soy Dressing

This is excellent dressing for a salad served with cold noodles and sesame (I'll post this yummy recipe another time. It's also in my book, Harmonious Environment:Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet,) Also, try as a dressing for cold cooked vegetables, like broccoli or asparagus.

3 parts olive oil
1 part white rice vinegar
1 part soy sauce
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
Pepper

Cioppino Deliciousness

Cioppino, a classic Italian dish, is one of my favorites. It's light, flavorful and delicious and is the consistency of soup. I eat it with good bread from one of the local bakeries and salad. It's a great meal and it takes minutes to prepare. Of course, you can use fresh clams instead of canned, but I never bother.

Cioppino

1lb shrimp and/or scallops
2 cans clams
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1 can whole tomatoes, break tomatoes apart
1 t oregano
2 bay leaves
Salt & Pepper
parsley, chopped

Sauté garlic, add clam juice (reserve clams) and reduce to about half. Add wine, tomatoes and spices and cook 5 minutes. Add fish, cook 3 minutes. Add parsley Serve with heated bread.

I make a big tossed salad and toss with balsamic vinaigrette. I usually make a batch of salad dressing and store in refrigerator.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 T dijon mustard
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
salt & Pepper
Combine ingredients and serve.



For more recipes and much more, see:Harmonious Environment.

Mexican Dinner Inspired by Colorado

My husband and I recently went to Colorado for business (I did a book signing for Harmonious Environment:Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet at INATS West, the trade show for the New Age retailers,) and a vacation. Coming from New York, I am always reminded how delicious Mexican ood is out in the West.

In Estes Park (the town outside of Rocky Mountain National Park) we ate at Ed's Cantina. We had fish tacos and Mahi Mahi and green rice and slaw and everything was absolutely delicious!

Anyway, the meal inspired me to cook some Mexican when we returned. I googled "green rice" and found a recipe from Rick Bayless. I also prepared pan-seared swordfish and fresh tomatoes. Delicious!

Mexican Green Rice (Adapted from Rick Bayless)

1 cup rice
Small onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped

Handful parsley and cilantro, stems removed

2 poblano chilies, chopped (or crushed red pepper)

1 clove garlic, chopped

2/3 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup peas

Salt

Add 1 ¼ cup of water to onion, garlic, chilies, cilantro and parsley. Cover, bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Puree mixture in food processor or blender, including water.

Sauté rice in oil for 7 minutes. Add broth, vegetable mixture and salt, cover and bring to a boil then simmer 15 minutes. Add peas and let sit for 10.

Swordfish or Mahi Mahi with Cilantro

Grill or pan fry fish

1 bunch cilantro, stems removed

2 Limes

Olive Oil

Processes ingredients. Store leftover in refrigerator

Tomatoes with red onion

Tomatoes, chop into bite-sized cubes

Red onion, diced

Drizzle with cilantro dressing