Make a date with a friend to meet at a Monday Dinner, or come by yourself and make new friends! Either way, you'll get a great meal and a lot more--everyone wins!

Help publicize the Monday Dinners! An easy way to spread the word about our weekly community gathering is to click on the Tell-A-Friend link in the upper left of this page. Just fill out the form with the email addresses of up to two friends, along with any personal comments you'd like to add, and click Submit--this emails your comments along with pre-written details of the Dinners and a link to this website!

Another way to help is to post a copy of our Dinner Menus in public locations. For a pdf file suitable for printing, click here.

The 42nd Annual French Meadows Summer Camp, sponsored by the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation (G.O.M.F.), takes place July 9-17 in the majestic Tahoe National Forest. Teachers include Lino Stanchich, Bob Carr, Ronald Koetzsch, PhD, Bob Ligon, Sheri DeMaris, Laura Stec, Carl and Julia Ferré, Bhumi Russell, Mike and Maria Chen, Mary Lore, Kerry Loeb, Karen Garvey, Shirley Tung, Michael Bauce, Lenny Rubin, Christy Morgan, and Kristiane Ravn Frost. Delicious macrobiotic meals are prepared by Packy Conway, Susanne Jensen, and staff over wood fires. Also included are children's activities, campfires, cooking demos/classes, hikes, volleyball, variety show, and more--for a truly unforgettable experience!

Fees are $890/adult (member of G.O.M.F.), $450/youth aged 3 to 18. Membership in the G.O.M.F. costs $35/family; the camp fee for a non-member is $990/adult. Partial stays and work exchange are possible. For information, call Carl Ferré at 800 232-2372, pick up a camp brochure at Dinner, or visit http://ohsawamacrobiotics.com.

Monthly Vegan Potlucks! The Peninsula Veggie Potluck People, a spinoff of the Monday Dinners, sponsor monthly vegan potlucks; for details, visit http://pvpp.org. For information or to host a potluck, call John Cabrera at 650 799-7186.

Chef Gary Alinder has started a blog at http://macrochef.wordpress.com. Tune into Gary's views on a variety of subjects including food and health, and leave your comments! He has also posted a recipe archive which includes soups; main dishes; sauces, gravies, and dressings; and desserts and snacks.

The North Bay Macrobiotic Potluck Group usually meets the first Sunday of each month in Santa Rosa, contact Stephen Starkweather ( ), 707 542-9739, http://www.northbaymacro.org.  

Fumiko Arao, who grew up in Tokyo and learned traditional Japanese cooking from her mother and grandmother, and Chef Gary Alinder teach Unlocking the Secrets of Japanese Vegetarian Cooking on Saturday, June 25, 10 AM at the First Baptist Church in Palo Alto. Japanese vegetarian cooking is based on shojin ryori, a thousand-year-old tradition which began in Zen Buddhist temples. Through generations of trial and error, a rigorous cuisine arose which is at the same time practical, well-balanced, artful and delicious. Fumiko and Gary will take you step-by-step through the preparation and serving of six dishes; join them to see how user friendly this style of cooking can be. $50, includes lunch, proceeds will benefit earthquake/tsunami relief in Japan. For more information, see the class description on Gary's blog. To register,

James Holloway, frequent Guest Chef at the Monday Dinners, does personal home cooking in Palo Alto, in macrobiotic and classical styles, call 650 852-9182.

For cooking classes, lectures, and related activities by Marin-based cookbook author, lecturer, and macrobiotic food coach Meredith McCarty, visit http://healingcuisine.com or call 415 272-5525. Meredith plans to teach her popular cooking classes on the peninsula later this year.

For information on macrobiotic activities in the East Bay, contact Macrobiotic Health Counselor Michelle Nemer in El Cerrito, 510 527-4367 or Macrobiotic Counselor Julie Ong teaches macrobiotic cooking classes and does macrobiotic consultations in San Francisco; visit http://www.everythingmacrobiotics.com or call 415 312-0241.

Speakers receive a gratuity from the audience; please show your support and appreciation with a donation ($5-10 suggested).

On June 13, yoga teacher Lolly Font will speak on Connect to Your Body with Yoga. "Yoga" translates to connecting mind and body. A yoga teacher for 38 years and co-founder of the California Yoga Center in 1980, Lolly will speak on this connection and share her personal journey, which includes healing her arthritis through yoga and developing ways to deal with the aging body. This will be an interactive session with movement where she will demonstrate practical techniques to best use your body. Lolly is a certified Iyengar teacher and holds M.A. degrees in Education and Transpersonal Psychology.

Over the last 24 years, a community of some of the most interesting people anywhere has evolved around the Monday dinners. On July 25, longtime student and practitioner of macrobiotics Maral Haddeland and current Newsletter Editor Gerard Lum will host Get Acquainted with the Peninsula Macrobiotic Community. Join us for an informal community gathering, with more participation than our usual monthly lecture. We will ask each participant to share a little bit about him/herself—a cooking tip, a book you like, a favorite restaurant, a health practitioner you'd recommend, a service you provide, a cause you're involved with, etc. Questions are encouraged—perhaps someone in the group can help. The idea is to build connections, share knowledge, draw upon the group wisdom of our community—and have fun! A donation is optional for this event.

In the 1970s, after watching a friend use macrobiotics to overcome a chronically tired condition, Maral immersed herself in studies with teachers Michio Kushi, Herman and Cornellia Aihara, and Patrick and Meredith McCarty. Gerard has been Newsletter Editor since 1990, sets up speakers and other activities of the PMC, maintains the website, and photographs for Macrobiotics Today magazine. He has worked as an engineer and currently designs and maintains websites.  

The Community Connection feature appears when an author is inspired enough to produce an interview or profile for publication.

Enjoy these past features on community members by Denise Huajardo Springer, Sky Ann McGrath, and Gerard Lum:

• Simply Paul Schmitt
• Life Really Does Begin at 40! An Interview with Diane Wohler
• Eating Mother's Chicken: Making Choices in Life, An Interview with Gary Alinder
• Plain Miklane? An Interview with Miklane Janner
• Ken Becker on Macrobiotics, Part One
• Ken Becker on Macrobiotics, Part Two
• Passionate About Growing Healthy Food, An Interview with Patricia Becker
• By Having Hope, What Are You Going to Lose? An Interview with Geneva Page and Baron
• You Can Really Fly with It, An Interview with Gerard Lum
• An Evolving Vision of Community, An Interview with Miklane Janner
• Making a Difference Through Cooking, An Interview with Susanne Jensen 

Email Notification of Newsletter: To receive an email notification each time the Newsletter and Dinner Menus are published on this site (every two months), .

 

Mailing List Policy: To get a printed copy of the Newsletter and Dinner Menus delivered by postal mail, or call the phone number below. To offset the expense of producing the Newsletter and Menus, we suggest a contribution of $10/year or more. The date and amount of your last newsletter contribution appears on your mailing label. Write checks to "Peninsula Macrobiotic Community", and mail to Gerard Lum, 101 E. Middlefield Road #9, Mountain View, CA 94043, 650 903-0447.

We periodically review our mailing list. Those who have not made a recent contribution are subject to removal.

Tax-Deductible Contributions: We welcome and can use additional contributions to the Peninsula Macrobiotic Community, as income from the Dinners does not pay all of our expenses. We are a nonprofit organization, so additional contributions are fully tax-deductible. Send contributions to the address in Mailing List Policy above.

Back Issues of the Newsletter and Menus: Click here.