Lost

On the beach


The short fat one is me. Since this picture was taken I have lost 20 pounds. I still have 10 more pounds to shed.
To lose this weight was very very difficult. There was no exercise involved. It was just a matter of changing the way I eat.
And the tall beauty really is that tall and that beautiful.

Freeze Yer Buns Challenge 2008

OK kids it is time to freeze yer buns off!
Yes really! Give it a try. Turn down the thermometer.
I wonder if it is cheating to use the fireplace for some supplemental heat or perhaps a hot bath? Hot tea can really warm you up and try some cayenne pepper to get the glow from the inside out.
Menopause can be helpful also. So all you Hot Mama's it's time to get lit!


Crunchy Chicken: Freeze Yer Buns Challenge 2008

I miss New Mexico

The Bean
This is a picture of the famous coffee shop in Taos, New Mexico called: The Bean. There is nothing special about The Bean, the coffee is good not great, but the atmosphere is oh so New Mexico. Some would call this place desolate or barren but I just call it home.
The sky is so blue and so close. The brown is ever so brown. I miss the smell of the pinon and the sage. I miss the dry warm air. I miss the simple life and the simple people.
I have moved to California. I have been for almost 5 months. I was born here but never felt at peace here. There are reasons for my being here that will remain secret. Both from me and from you. For now I just exist.
When the transition is complete I will be still here but in a better place and hopefully, I will call it home. For now I say Adios to New Mexico and Hello to California. May all Gods creatures find peace.

Wines of The Times - Paso Robles Zinfandels from California

Next stop: Paso Robles

Wines of The Times - Paso Robles Zinfandels from California - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

Making Meals in a Rice Cooker - NYTimes.com

This is some way cool info on how to get the most out of your rice cooker. My concern with rice cookers is not only are they teflon coated the lids are now lined in plastic!
Who is making a safe rice cooker?

Making Meals in a Rice Cooker - NYTimes.com

What an Invitation used to look like

This is a hand drawn invitation to a party that was held in LA in the 1960's.
Oh my, people used to have such fun.
The location was Sunset at La Cienega.



But alas all is not as Groovy as it looks. If you click on the link you will read the bio of the cool babe and see that in the end we all pay the price for excess.
Right about now she would make a good Raw Foodist. Bend and Stretch reach for the stars.

Super Girl & Her Friend

Super Girl and her Friend visit Oregons finest Rest Stop and try to save the World!

Radical Left :: The Great Credit Card Crash

This guy has hit the greedy nail on the head.

"Since Ronald Reagan, we have been living in an era in which neither the meltdown of the savings and loan banks in the 1980s nor the Enron-like scandals of the Bush years has stopped the relentless advancement and protection by both parties of the ability of financial institutions to make a buck at any cost to the social good and economic fabric."

Excellent article full of common sense facts about why we are in such a mess. It all comes down to Ethics. You either have them or you don't.

Radical Left :: The Great Credit Card Crash

Swimming in a Sea of Dogs

Yes that is Hawaiian music you hear and yes that is me swimming through a sea of chihuahuas. What delicate little creatures they and so brave to live in this world.

My Hero is at it again!

Books For Africa

This is something I will do. I am going to start saving some books I think will be appropriate for this group and mail them off. They do have a list of types of books they don't accept and romance novels are on it. That is fine by me. Romance novels are toxic.
If you have any books you think you could part with, send them to this group. I know it is hard to get rid of books. I love my books so much they seem human.

Books For Africa

the only thing that matters right now

http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno?go=watch

It is too hot to think so lets look at Nature

I want

These are so cool and they look like something I can make with all the Crystals I have floating about this place. I tried to copy a picture but Mr McHale does not allow that! So you have to go to the web page to see them. He has really amazing & beautiful chandeliers. But the cost is over my budget.

So here is a picture of my son and yes me, in Mr Toots Coffee House.

Full Moon Madness

Man in bar suffering the effects of Full Moon Madness.

LATTE ART

To make a Latte this wonderful you need to have the best Espresso. You need a good shot with lots of crem.
I used to go to a place called The Daily Scoop in San Francisco that made good Latte's. The guy who owned it sold it and the new owners did not have a clue how to make a good espresso drink.
I have a machine and am going to try and make one like they show in the video.I can taste how good the video is!

Lucky Us

Happy Mothers Day Queen Bee

The Queen Bee is the Mother of all Mothers. Flowers would die without bees.
I was in my yard a few weeks back. The fruit trees were all in bloom. The buds from apples, plums, apricots, and peaches were infusing the air with sweetness. And there was also a hum. I put my chair under the apricot tree and felt the powerful hum of the bees. They covered the blossoms and made their heavenly hum. It is a sound I enjoy so very much. I felt at one with these bees.
Click on the "Happy Mothers Day Queen Bee" above and you will be taken to the link of a new film called Vanishing Bees. You can watch the Trailer. Is this a crisis? Most everyone seems to think so. I would imagine the same folks who don't believe in Global Warming will also not believe in the Colony Collapse.
When I move I want to start having a few hives. I don't know how to get the bees or even how to start but I want to have some hives.
The state I live in now is one of the few with no reported Colony Collapse.
I Wish all the Bees in the world a Happy Mothers Day. They have done so much for us. They have never asked for anything in return.
The picture of the White Flower is from a trip I took to Hawaii. I love Hawaii. I love Flowers and I Love Bees!

Get some Green

What is my Love today> Green Tea. I truly love this green tea from Yamamotoyama and not just because the name is so fun to say.
It has roasted brown rice in it.
The rice takes away the bitterness. I always have my tea with cream and honey. I have heard that green tea is better for you if you take it plain. But I find most green tea to have a bitter after taste so I would add the stuff to doctor it up.
This tea is hard for me to find and I usually stock up when I do find it. It is one of the oldest tea houses in Japan. I wonder if the Japanese find it to be the Lipton tea of their country. Now I like Lipton just fine, but there are many teas that have a better, richer flavor. So maybe I am drinking crap Japanese green tea, I don't know. I only know I love it. They also sell it loose and I like that even better but that is even harder to find.
When you do put the cream and honey in the Yamamotoyama it becomes so creamy and greeny tasting that even my child who does not like much of anything that goes in the mouth, besides candy, gives a "ooo yum" to it every time.
Just like Mikey, he hates everything! If you are old enough to remember that commercial than I love you too!

Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico

She said it all. This is why I love it here.

I feel Happy Today

I feel happy today.
Even though the fridge in the house I am renting finally broke and I lost over $300 worth of food, I feel happy. In just a few short days I will be moving out of this horrible place and back into my Love Nest.
If you look closely at the picture here you will see the tiny bird. Birdy did not want her picture taken and kept hiding in the branches. I took her photo in negative mode with my camera phone and she clearly showed up.
I am Happy today even while I throw out fresh Alaskan Salmon and Fresh Organic Cream and papaya Popsicles and sprouted organic bread and sweet peas and Organic Cheddar Cheese and Vanilla Ice Cream and sprouted tortillas and Oh so many good and wonderfully Expensive foods.. I am Happy Today.
I dont know the connection between this bird and the loss of food or the Happiness.
But.......I am Happy Today.

New good stuff

I found this site today and am so excited to start using these products! The one I am most interested in are the disposable wipes. They are biodegradable and have no alcohol or Benzoikial Chloride or Triclosan. The way they form these products is with nature. The company is called CleanWell http://www.cleanwelltoday.com/

I like to keep some wipes in the car for road trips but have been very uhappy with all the chemicals in them. Some that are chemical free are not biodegradable. That means the little napkins will never be absorbed back into nature.

I have not used any products from CleanWell yet. Next time I am in Target I will look for them. They are supposed to smell great naturally as the aroma was created by a Master Natural Perfumist, Mandy Aftel. Here is a link to her place http://aftelier.com/home.html

When I get some of them and if they are indeed as great as they seem I will add them to my Good Stuff list on the left. This is going to be my list of Good Stuff that I have tried and actually use. The perfume from The Aftelier also looks mighty tempting. She uses only real scents to formulate her Perfumes. All commercial perfume is poison. Yes it really is so, stop using it Now!

Crystal Obsession

This is a video of some of the Crystals I have hanging around my place. I have a Crystal Obsession.
My dream one day, maybe with this new move, is to have one room that gets perfect light all day and fill it with Crystals. I have some very big crystals and some teeny tiny ones and they all give such unique rainbows. When I have this Crystal Room I will sit in it and meditate, have tea and just generally space out to the healing energy of the Crystal Rainbow!
So far I don't have a Crystal Chandelier but I need to get one of those. Maybe I can find an Antique one to hang in the dining room. Oh, and one in my dressing room would also be excellent.
There are many fine crystals that I have lurking about my house but the ones I enjoy the most are the ones you can hang in a window. This dream of the Crystal Room is one I have had for so many years and I think it is finally going to become a reality.
The energy in the Crystal room could be very intense. I don't know what it will feel like. The energy could also just be very soothing, I guess I will find out.

YouTube - Woman Pissed About Butt Implants

Just because you got that check in the mail from Bush doesn't mean you have to go and do something stupid!
Love the Buns you got!

YouTube - Woman Pissed About Butt Implants

Just rub some cow grease on your face

I got this off an Indian newspaper. I use mostly vegan cosmetics. This article is rather shocking.

What Goes in your Cosmetics
A dressing table or bathroom contains perfumes, moisturizers, rouge,lipstick, antiaging skin products, face powder, oils, nail polish,sunscreen, hair conditioning, coloring products and deodorants. A miniscule percentage read the ingredient list on any of these products, preferring to go by the glamour of their advertisements.
Lets take some of the ingredients. The main ingredient in all cosmetics is oil/grease. Unless it specifically says plant oils ,where does it come from ?
A rendering plant is a collection centre for all kinds of dead animals. Carcasses of every decaying body come from everywhere,including factory farms where disease has decimated herds of swine,cattle and poultry. At the plant, the bodies are all dumped together into a huge cooking pot. After a period of cooking, the bodies are subjected to extreme pressure in order to extract the fat from bones,skins, etc. Old cooking grease thrown out by restaurants is added in the pot. Fat is the final product of the plant.
A majority of this fat is sold for cosmetics, especially to manufacturers of lipstick and eye makeup. Some of the most prestigious cosmetic companies in the country are the chief customers of rendering plants. Anyone looking at the elegant ads portraying glamorous models wearing beautiful makeup would never suspect that it is truly a makeup of the refined, colored and perfumed oil derived from dead dogs, cows or pigs. How much of this abominable blend is ingested into the body from the lips and the pores of the skin?
Keratin is a protein taken from the horns , hooves,feathers, quills and hair of animals, the scales and claws of reptiles, the shells of tortoise,turtle,terrapin, and the feathers, beaks and claws ofbirds,the armour of crabs,the plates of baleen whales.It is used in shampoo, conditioner,bodywash, body lotion, toner, facial moisturizer,makeup foundation, mascara, lipstick, color cosmetics in hair rinse,and permanent wave solutions (perms).Then there is Gelatin or Gel used in shampoos, face masks, and other cosmetics. This is made by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones with water. Alternatives: carrageen , seaweeds , agar-agar, pectin from fruits, dextrins, locust bean gum, cotton gum, silica gel.
The perfumers use Ambergris from whale intestines. Castoreum from muskrat and beaver genitals and civet paste which is an oily secretion painfully scraped from a gland very near the genital organs of civet cats.
Then come the fatty acids..
Stearic Acid: Fat from cows, sheep, dogs and cats,the stomachs of pigs. Used in cosmetics, soaps, lubricants, hairsprays, conditioners, deodorants,creams, Also known as: Stearic Hydrazide, Stearamide, Stearamine,Stearates, Stearyl Betaine, Stearyl Imidazoline, Stearoyl Lactylic Acid, Stearone, Stearoxytrimethylsilane. Alternative vegetable fats, coconut Hyaluronic Acid.:A protein found in umbilical cords and the fluids around the joints. Used as a cosmetic oil.
Alternative: Plant oils
Arachidonic Acid:A liquid unsaturated fatty acid taken from the liver of animals . Used in skin creams and lotions to soothe rashes.
Alternatives: synthetics, aloe vera, tea tree oil, calendula ointment.
Linoleic Acid, Nucleic Acid : Used in cosmetics, shampoos,conditioners, etc. .
Oleic Acid :Usually obtained commercially from inedible tallow. In soft soap, bar soap, permanent wave solutions, creams, nail polish, lipsticks, many other skin preparations.Also known as: Oleyl Oleate,Oleyl Stearate. Alternatives: coconut oil.
Palmitic Acid :From fats, oils . Mixed with stearic acid. Found in shampoos, shaving soaps, creams. Also known as: Palmitate,Palmitamine, Palmitamide. Alternatives: palm oil, vegetable sources.Myristic Acid: In most animal fats. Used in shampoos, creams,cosmetics. Also known as : Isopropyl Myristate, Myristyls, Oleyl Myristate, Myristal Ether Sulfate. Alternatives: nut butters, oil oflavage, coconut oil, extract from seed kernels of nutmeg, etc.
Glycerin, Glycerol: A byproduct of soap manufacture (normally uses animal fat). Alternatives: Vegetable glycerin – a byproduct of vegetable oil soap.seaweed,. Unless it specifically states vegetable glycerin it is usually the one derived from animal fat.
Mink oil :is made by killing minks and taking the fat layer they have just under their skins. Some cosmetics companies take amounts of mink oil from live minks. by inserting a needle into the abdomen and extracting the fat. Used in moisturizers , anti aging creams andsoftening leather. Alternatives nut or seabuckthorn oil
Tortoise oil and turtle oil: extracted from internal organ fat of sea turtles. In soap, skin creams, nail creams, sun protection creams Alternatives: vegetable emollientsCochineal : Red pigment from crushed female cochineal insect. 70,000 beetles re crushed to make one pound of red dye. Used in ALL red/pink colouring in cosmetics
Spermaceti: Waxy oil derived from the sperm whale's head or from dolphins. Used in skin creams and shampoos . When wax is used it is called Cetyl Alcohol. Alternatives: vegetable cetyl alcohol (e.g.,coconut), synthetic spermaceti.
Allantoin.: Uric acid from mammals. In cosmetics (especially creams and lotions) Also known as: Alcloxa, Aldioxa. Alternatives: extract of comfrey root, synthetics.
Carbamide.: Excreted from urine. In deodorants, hair colorings, hand creams, lotions, shampoos, etc. Also known as: Imidazolidinyl Urea,Uric Acid. Alternatives: synthetics.
Cholesterol: A steroid alcohol in all animal fats and oils, nervous tissue, egg yolk, and blood. Can be derived from lanolin. In cosmetics, eye creams, shampoos, etc. Steroids or sterols from animal glands . Steroids include sterols which are alcohol from animals or plants. Used in creams, lotions, hair conditioners, fragrances.Alternatives: plant tissues, synthetics. sterols from plant sources.
Collagen.:Fibrous protein derived from animal tissue. Used in anti ageing creams.
Alternatives: soy protein, almond oil, amla oil .
Elastin.:Protein found in the neck ligaments and aortas of cows.Similar to collagen. Alternatives: synthetics, protein from plant tissues.
Guanine. Pearl Essence: Fish scales. Used in shimmery makeup like lipstick ,nailpolish and eye shadow. Alternatives: mica, rayon,synthetic pearl.
Placenta. Afterbirth: Contains waste matter eliminated by the fetus.Derived from the uterus of slaughtered animals. Animal placenta is widely used in skin creams, shampoos, masks, etc.Alternatives: kelp
Shark Liver Oil.or Squalene :Used in lubricating creams and lotions.Alternatives: vegetable oils.
Tallow. Tallow Fatty Alcohol :Rendered beef fat. Tallow Acid, Tallow Amide, Tallow Amine, Tallow Glycerides, Tallow Imidazoline,Talloweth-6, Sodium Tallowate. In soaps, lipsticks, shaving creams, other cosmetics. Alternatives: vegetable tallow, paraffin and/or ceresin.
Quaternium 27: From tallow. Found in deodorants, skin care preparations.
Vitamin A: Can come from fish liver oil. Used in creams, perfumes,hair dyes, etc. Alternatives: vegetables, synthetics.
Biotin: Vitamin H. Vitamin B Factor. In every living cell and in larger amounts in milk and yeast. Used in cosmetics, shampoos, and creams. Alternatives: plant sources.
Panthenol: Dexpanthenol. Vitamin B-Complex Factor. Provitamin B-5. Can come from animal or plant sources or synthetics. In shampoos,supplements, emollients, etc. Derivative: Panthenyl.
Vitamin D-Ergocalciferol, Vitamin D-2- Ergosterol, Provitamin D-2-Calciferol. Vitamin D-3: Vitamin D can come from fish liver oil,milk, egg yolk, etc. Vitamin D-2 can come from animal fats or plant sterols. Vitamins D-2 and D-3 may be from fish oil. All the D vitamins can be in creams, lotions, other cosmetics, vitamin tablets, etc.Alternatives: plant and mineral sources, synthetics.
Wax.:From animals and plants. In lipsticks, depilatories, hair straighteners.
Alternatives: vegetable waxes.
Lard: Fat from hog abdomens. In shaving creams, soaps, cosmetics.Alternatives: pure vegetable fats or oils.Polypeptides: Obtained from slaughterhouse wastes:
Alternatives: plant proteins and enzymes.
This is a very small list but enough to let you make an informed choice. "Natural Sources." can mean animal or vegetable sources. Most often in the health food industry, especially in the cosmetics area, it means animal sources. Such is the hypocrisy of the companies that use these products that they boast "NO ANIMAL TESTING" on their products !
-By Maneka Gandhi
To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in

When someone dies
they come back again
every time you speak their name
or see their picture
when you eat the bread they used to love
and drink the tea with honey

Every Day is Earth Day!

Every day is Earth Day we Humans just don't know it. This Rose was a gift to me from the Earth. Thank you Mother Earth.

I have been following the principles set forth by The Perelandra group. It is very different and I find it does work. It is called the Co Creative Process. You work with Nature in Partnership. Check it out.
http://www.perelandra-ltd.com/

Rules to Swing by

When we were little, but big enough to get in a swing, we had no rules. You just got in the swing and took your chances. If you fell and broke your arm, then you fell and broke your arm. Your mom took you to the emergency room and not the lawyers office. The next day you were back on the swing again.
Sometimes there might be some dumb kid in front of your swing and as you swung, you hit him in the head (accidentally). He might cry or even get mad, but he never stood in front of a swing again in his life. This is called learning a lesson.
My kid once stood in front of a tire swing as a bunch of kids went on a crazy ride. The tire swing whacked her in the body and shoved her into a metal pole. She passed out and had a concussion. I took her to the doctors, not the lawyers office. She learned a lesson as did every kid on that play ground. And of course she got lots of hugs and kisses from me.
But now we have rules. Posted in the play yards.

Like A Virgin

The point of this post is to show what a women of fifty looks like. Now I know this gal eats good and does yoga to extremes. She has never been a druggie or drinker. So this would be a women of fifty who has taken good care of herself through the years.
But this year she had some obvious work done. Yep she did. I bet she had fat grafting in her cheeks and a moderate face lift.
The first Picture shows her more as she would look in 2008. The tissue under the eyes is starting to appear sunken. The cheeks are starting to slide down the face and lips are smaller. All this is natural aging no matter how well you treat yourself.
For her to stay in the limelight and not suffer insults on her normal aging process she has opted to do a little something about it. The face is always exposed and so ages much faster than the body. Since she has been an exercise fanatic her whole life her body looks great, even with the boob job. But you cant exercise your face. I know they sell lots of contraptions you can use to exercise the face but they don't work as the face just is not set up for exercise!
The problem I have with what she had done is this: Look at some pictures of Marlene Deitrich. She tried to do the same thing and it just did not hold up for long. Madonna is starting to look just like her. The cheeks are just too severe. The old apple head look is starting. Here is a pic of aging Marlene http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1497733120/nm0000017
It must be hard to be in her position where she still wants to rock. Mick Jagger and his crew all look like crap and no one cares because they are guys.

Madonna Plastic Surgery

Friday Food Report

This is the Friday Food Report coming to live from my very own Kitchen.
OK yesterday was a good day for food. I had:
1 Mango
3 Banana's
2 Avocado's
2 Tomato's
1 Apple
handful of chives
handful of mushrooms
kombu seaweed
This is all the live fresh food I ate. This is not juiced. This was eaten in different combo's but mostly I just ate a banana or had a tomato.
Then to round it out I had about 4 cups of black or green tea and then some rice and assorted nuts.
When I asked my little girlfriend how many fresh veggies she had, well sadly she had none. Is that typical for most people? I gotta say yes. Most of us just eat so much fractionated food. Yes pasta is OK but it is not fresh. A sandwich is tasty but also not fresh. Tortilla chips,,,,yum.....salsa.....yum too, but also not fresh.
Have a banana. If you are hungry try some fresh fruit or an avocado. Oh yeah I also had my sprouted bread that I just love so much. I had it with some Miso on it.
When you eat like this you get a very mellow feeling. I think the banana has something to do with that. I am going to try to have 2 or 3 of them everyday and see if they help me sleep better. I had a very easy sleep last night. Could it be from the banana? It also helped with the restless leg syndrome I get in bed. Must be the magnesium.
Anyhoo that is my food report for today.

Favorite Places

Here I am in my favorite place: A Bookstore

Yeah just give me a strong cup o' Earl Grey and a couple hours to roam the stacks and you have one happy Diva.

When I live in San Fran we had a corner book store called Christophers. It was so tiny and so filled with books and other good stuff. It was also a dog neighborhood so whenever anyone got a new dog they would go there and they would take a pic of your pup and post it on the front door. You could come back a few months later and ooh and ahh at how big your dog had gotten.

They also had poetry readings. I really miss that. Poetry is one art that needs to be read aloud and preferably by the author.

I went to my first open poetry reading the other night. Actually it was a poetry potluck! I read a couple of my poems for the first time ever to a group of strangers. I guess I was a Poetry Virgin. It felt kinda scary fun to read them. There were some good poets there and I just had the best time and the food was damn good too. There were all ages of poets there from 20 up to 83 years old. Simply fascinating.

Here is a link to a nice place I have found for poetry and pictures, Princess Haiku:

:http://princesshaiku.blogspot.com/

Virtual Fountain

Here is a rose quart fountain for Love & Bliss. Enjoy!

Little Tree in the Big Bar

See the tree. See the tree grow. See the tree grow in the bar. See the tree grow in the bar and through the roof.

Hidden peaceful place to get tippled in Santa Fe. After imbibing walk next door and load up on excellent chow. Next walk around the plaza and have a coffee from Ispiritu Cafe.



Here is the Bar. I will miss this place when I move.

Tiny Bird Edna

here she is with her husband of almost 30 years
On Edna St. Vincent Millay
This little bird woman ate and drank way too much crap. She became a morphine addict and that was just to supplement all the Gin and other doctor prescribed pharmaceutical pain pills she took on a daily basis.
In the video we see the home she lived in for about 20 years. It looks so peaceful. Why was she not able to find any peace there? She was a meteor of shinning womanhood in her day. A star on the level of our singer/dancer Madonna. St. Vincent was a Poet. A hugely famous and for her day, very wealthy poet. She would tour the country and give readings to packed halls and auditoriums. She was loved by America. And yet she died a sad weakened 58 year old recluse.
Oh she had some fun in her day. She had many lovers of both sex and kept some of them as friends till the end. She loved fine clothes and had a special interest in horses. She was such an Amazing woman.
A stone placed for her in St. John the Divine reads: Take up the song; forget the epitaph
She had written this for a friend who had died and in the end it was carved into her own tombstone.
I have been reading her poems lately, she had a voice, unique seducer, oh baby did she have a voice.

Blue Sun Blue

latest EIT/171 image

If I worship any God, it is the God of Sun.
How do I love thee.....
for the warmth you give to my cold limbs

the plants you make to grow
my third eye craves your bright warmth every day
you give me light to read by....... splat on my page
if I had one wish it would be to know you better
you are more mysterious than any gibbous moon
I love you

Scary Beans

Sometimes I have wondered if Organic food is really any different. I decided to do a little home experiment with some Garbanzo Beans. This is the type of bean used to make hummus.
I sprouted two sets of beans, organic and non organic. One set ( a set was organic & non organic) was sprouted in my new handy dandy sprout house and the other set was sprouted in glass jars. Both sets looked the same no matter what way they were sprouted.
To the right are the beans after sprouting. The beans on top are non organic. You can see how few have sprouted. They also had a very slimy coating on them that was very hard to get off even after repeated rinsing. They also had a taste of chemicals, sort of like bleach. As far as them tasting like a Garbanzo bean, the flavor was almost non existent.
The organic group looks much different. With the organic group almost every bean had spouted. They came out very fresh looking and lively with no slimy coating and required no rinsing at all. They tasted fresh and had a flavor of the bean, not of chemicals.
I really did this experiment with what I feel was no bias. I wanted to buy the non organic beans as they are cheaper!
In the past I have used non and organic beans for my sprouting and wondered why sometimes they just did not turn out. I blamed it on a host of elements, none of which were ever the quality of the beans.
There is a big push right now by Big Agra Business to own the patents to seeds. They have started to make seeds with a shelf life. These seeds are called "Terminator seeds". They have started to make plants that cannot produce seeds. All of this is very bio-scary. They have the ability in their patents to make it illegal to take a plant that you have grown and let go to seed and put those seeds in the ground and grow something.
I wonder just how far this has gone without our knowledge. How much of their Frankenseeds have migrated into our back yards?
What is wrong with the non organic garbanzo beans that I tried to sprout? Are they sprayed with chemicals that inhibit sprouting or are they bio engineered Frankenseeds doomed to die with no Life Force in them?
Nature cant be contained, as it just loves to mingle. Some smart fellers think they can mess with Mother Nature, oh how wrong they are.

High Art with a capital A

If you need a laugh because you are taking your little self and all your little important "to do" lists, just a mite bit too seriously, then have a gander at some animal art.
Wait till the end to see the "we love gettin rowdy part". Made my day!
I got this from this guys blog. http://flobberlob.blogspot.com/

Reinvent

This black jacket/sweater/pullover thingy is a re purposed knit shirt that has somehow gotten a hole right in the front. I loved the long sleeves on this shirt and kept it in my room for months not wanting to throw it away.
I came upon this site that had some beautiful clothes that were made from other clothes. These were some lovely items. Very whimsical. http://www.gibbousfashions.com/
Thinking I might be able to do the same with my fave shirt I cut it up the front and then used a ballerina pin to keep it together.
With so much waste in the world today I feel just a little bit happy to know one item has been kept from the landfill.

Take a walk on the mile side

I think this site is so Cool! You just put in your address and it tells you the distance to most of the major locations in your town, such as library, movies, shopping. I had no idea some of the places I go to frequently and I drive there, are actually only 1 to 2 miles away.
Think I will put on my walking shoes today and get some sun before it starts snowing again.

And the cute critter in the picture was taking a walk up my garden wall last spring. Is that not the prettiest caterpilar you ever did see?
Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods.

A week of food

Happy people eat this in one week. Look Ma no packaging.
Got this lovely image from a blog I like :







http://make-a-greenplan.blogspot.com/

This picture is showing the food this family consumes in one week. Look at the lack of plastic, paper waste. It looks like every bit is recyclable.

Look at how many banana's they consume! What a terrific and healthy diet this is. Even though I try, I still have so much stuff that comes in packages. If I try and buy organic food from my local grocery it usually comes packaged in individual units swathed in plastic. If the plastic does not have a number on it it cant be recycled.
And we think we are so lucky to live here in America with all the food we have. I think we stuff our faces with far too much food. All the fast food is so cheap that we can eat all we want any time. We have no self controll, just instant gratification. And instant heart attacks and cancer.

Santa Fe Paintings

What a wonderful world it is when you can pop into a cafe to escape the cold flinty wind and not only get an excellent drink served by a friendly bartendress, you also get to experience these wonderful colorful paintings. The magic of Santa Fe is that it is full of places like this cantina called The Pink Adobe.
The building itself is very old and authentic adobe. You just feel you are back in time with the thick plaster walls and the vigas.


This was just such a nice day for me! I just loved being in the presence of so much lovely art. Yes, it had the classic Santa Fe theme, but it was still good art.


The last group of paintings I have posted here are mostly abstract, and those are nearest to my heart. The little tiny window up to the right is also classic Santa Fe. They put little windows in some of the oddest spots. It was so tiny and so cute.


The sky here really is the magic ingredient for most painters. It really is a different sky. You wont find the light you get here in any other state.

After this little escape I wandered out back into the downtown area and just soaked up the antiquety of the town. Santa Fe is the oldest continually inhabited city in the United States and you can really feel the age of the town when you walk around.

Momma Made Manna

Sprout some wheat and whiz it in the Cuisiart, then put it in the oven on the lowest setting and you have made Sprouted Wheat Bread.

Ooo La la.

What is on the side? Why sprouted Hummus of course!

A nice daily breakfast of love and sprouts. With my tea I have all a girl could ask for. What a blessed life I have. Good food, warm clothes, a nice soft bed and all the sprouts I can make.

I bought a new sprouter and it has made making sprouts super easy. It is a cute little hive of activity and I will post pictures of it soon. I just love the little thing.

Orange Orange Orange

Could this be my second Chakra speaking to me? The juice I have been making daily is usually 2 oranges or tangerines. It tastes so bright made fresh and I am also using less plastic and mess as this is just orange rinds left over. I want to get a worm bin like this pioneer blogman at 365 Days of Trash. I call him a pioneer because what he is doing is going where no man has gone before. He is keeping all his trash. Yep...go see!

http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-friend-joey-came-over-today-and-we.html

The picture of the Orange room was taken in Maui at the Grand Waleia Resort. Oh what a piece of heaven this place is. The Spa was a blessing for my body.

The tea with the juice was some of that flavorful Chai I have been making. I just ordered some new teas from Stash Tea. They have a big selection of loose tea. It is hard to find loose tea in most grocery stores. Loose tea just tastes better and of course there is the Agaony of the Tea Leaves to consider! It is thier Agony, the churning in the boiling water that truly releases the authentic tea flavor.

Get some Flowers

Today I bought some flowers. I was going to buy a small houseplant but did not find any that looked as if they would last through the winter. I got these Mums instead. The smell of mums is rather odd. It is not a sweet flower smell. What is this weird smell? Sorta grounded and earthy but also astringent. It is a smell I crave.

This book I have on houseplants, reports on the effects plants have on improving the indoor air quality. Mums are high on the list of air cleansing plants.

I am sleeping with my Mums tonight.

Good Night Sweet Mums.

Parsley Salad

This dinner was just a bunch of leftovers! It was a base of Parsley salad. This was made with chopped Italian Parsley and some vinegar & olive oil. Then I plopped some of the Cashew Dip on it. The Cashew Dip is soaked (for 1hr) cashews & some olive oil blended very well in the Cuisinart. I added some fresh pepper to the dip. I topped it with some Kalamata Olives and cayenne and paprika. Around the edge you see some mushrooms....cant remember the type, but they might be monkey paws.
This was very filling and so incredibly HEALTHY.
Parsley is so full of goodness and greenness (did I just make up a word?). It is a little powerhouse that just gets shunted aside as a "garnish".
I used to make this other (back in my cheese days) Italian Parsley Salad that had lots of fresh grated Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and olive oil. It was so simple and so addictive.
It is snowing again today and windy, windy, windy. There was some leftover Chai in the fridge so I heated it up. The flavors got better as they sat for 2 days. Seems it will last for awhile. I made it the traditional way with loose Chai Tea & milk and it is way better than any of those mixes you can buy. The mixes have far too much sugar for my taste buds.

Blue Breakfast

Back to Snow

After a few days of warmth we are now back to snow.

For me this means no more walks, until it stops snowing. That means more TEA. I am going shopping today for more cream for my tea. I really try to get organic cream when I find it. The only dairy I have with any regularity is the cream in my tea.

I don't eat much cheese anymore. If I go to a party and they have a cheese dish or a cheese tray I will have some. Ice Cream is also something I just don't really want anymore either. My love of ice cream goes way back. My Grandfather (the Spanish one) use to eat a quart a day of ice cream. Whenever we went to go visit him you could always count on having some ice cream as his freezer was full of many different types.

My cholesterol is very low and always has been even in my Dairy Queen days. There was a point when I used to have a hot fudge Sunday once or twice a week. Oh and I really loved a concoction called a Tin Roof. A Tin Roof is like a hot fudge only they put salted peanuts in it. The sweet and salty is a craving of mine!

Those ice cream days are over for me. My taste buds have changed and I just don't really want to eat a bunch of sugar stuff anymore.

Now I really like salty treats. A handful of salty nuts is just fine by me. I want to get a dehydrator so I can sprout and then dehydrate my own. There are lots of places online you can buy these kinds of nuts but seem expensive. I just love the taste of the sprouted dehydrated sunflower seeds.

Baby Carrots

Here is the video I made of my thoughts on the baby carrots. They come packed in these individual bags. They are already cleaned and ready to eat. Very portable and quick food. The thing I am worried about is the packaging. It seems like it is more plastic waste to spew upon the world.

So then I must justify my need for portable carrots against the waste. I could buy some larger bags of baby carrots and put them in Ziploc baggies that I could reuse. But I also like them prepacked so if I want to make a quick salad I just have to rip open a small bag and have what I need.

Then I wonder if it really is more plastic than one big bag of baby carrots. I reuse most of my plastic bags until they stink, so maybe I have some good plastic bag karma on my side. Meaning maybe I can pollute a little more than the average customer.

The whole plastic bag situation is very confusing for me. For most of my adult life I have shopped in health food stores and they have always advocated the three R's. Recycle Reduce Reuse. Here is a little link to that thought:http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/recycle.htm

We usually buy in bulk. That means you bring your bag if you remember! Whatever happened to just using paper bags for everything? Is that Ecologically unsound also?

Me & my Dad in the kitchen

This is a picture I found of me & my Dad in the kitchen. My Dad would never go raw or even consider it! He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. In general I think eats healthy. He used to have us eat Roman Meal Bread when we were kids because he said it was better for us. None of the other kids ate the brown bread like we did.

My Dad can really pack away the food, I guess that is called a healthy appetite. He likes different types of food but just don't take him to a Sushi place or he will be very unhappy. Just the sight of the raw fish will cause him to get up and leave. I think he might like the Hot Sake if he ever tried it. I just Love Love Love Hot Sake.

He can cook some good dishes and when I was younger he used to make this German dish of ribs, mixed with potatoes and sauerkraut. It was all cooked up together in a pot on the stove and the smell was wonderful.

He does not approve of me eating vegetarian. He thinks you need meat to stay alive. I disagree.

Spicy Cabbage

Speecy Spicy Cabbage

This was my dinner last night. It was just the right amount of food. I think we all just stuff ourselves with much more food than we actually need. Indulge on the Holidays but for everyday we can live & survive on so much less food than we think. If you eat more uncooked food.....Raw Food....you will be less hungry because your blood sugar levels stay much more stable.

I made extra of this Cabbage Stuff so I have a lunch already for today. The cabbage gets better as it marinates over night and it also develops some of the beneficial microbes that you get in Sauerkraut. You don't need mayonnaise on this for it to taste great but I love Mayo so sometimes I add some. Mayo is a health food. Yes indeedy it is, if made properly. What is Mayonnaise? It is oil, lemon juice & eggs. Make your own if you have a Cuisinart as it is simple to do.

I topped it off with the Raw Hummus & Avocado. I also like it a bit spicy so I added some cayenne to the cabbage and then sprinkled some on top of the finished dish. Just lovely.

Now away from Cabbage:::::

Today is Martin Luther King Day. God Bless MLK! He had so much wisdom. His thoughts on nonviolence are very strong and very true. Here is a quote of his::: Hate is too great a burden to bear. I choose Love. I Still Choose Love.:::::

MLK is someone I look up to and honor for all he did. I think he knew he would be killed so he lived his life as outspoken as he could. He spoke truth to power.

a bit of my life

My Dog

My Dog duke is the best dog in the whole wide world. I was going to write about miso soup this morning but saw this picture of my dog and decided to write about him instead.
He is about 12 years old now and still is very much a puppy. He is Chihuahua by breed and German Shepard in his own mind. He is very feisty and ready to take on any dog anytime. That is not a good thing. As he has gotten older he has gotten a bit mellower. He listens to me much more than he used to.
Duke must have his walks. If Duke does not get a walk everyday he is just not quite as happy as he should be. He can get a little neurotic and needy if he does not get his walks. He is so playful and when I take him to the park he likes to do some full speed open running when we first get there, after that he can get down to the business of sniffing.
He also has a very sensitive stomach and cant eat anything but a certain type of dog food. He does love his treats and meat is his favorite. He also likes tea with cream, but not as much as my other tiny dog Mama. She is the real Dairy Queen. More about Mamma another time
I think Duke will live a long time, at least I hope so. Chihuahua's do have a long life cycle and he is healthy.
He is a very soulful dog who knows everything that is going on around him. I just love him very much.

Me in the morning

OK it is really cold in my house, so I wear this in the morning until I warm up. Cute right?
When I first started eating raw about 25 years ago I followed a book called: Fit for Life. I was a fanatic at that time and really followed the books tenets to a T. The hardest part was the breakfast. They called for only fruit until noon each day. Eating cold fruit every morning was hard. In the winter it was doubly hard. I used to make this concoction in my Cuisinart that was a mess of fruit blended up and then eaten with a spoon. A crazy friend who live with us for a while and who had to adhere to the same food policy called it "fruit poop"! Oh man, it did make you poop too!
I would never try to eat cold fruit in the morning in winter anymore. I just don't think it sets right with me. I used to get these crushing gut aches from it. But it was supposed to be healthy right? I read years later the wife of the guy who wrote the book divorced him and wrote her own book about healthy eating and she does not recommend the cold fruit in the AM. I think she just sick of the guy as he was really a Zealot! So many rules to live by.
I had my sprouted bread thingy this morning and zapped it for 10 second to take of the chill. I think I might have some Miso Soup tomorrow as well. I need to get some green onions, as the taste of Miso Soup just cries out for green onions. Well If I am going to get the green onions I might as well go whole hog and get the shitaki mushrooms.

Constant Comment

This morning breakfast was the same as yesterday. Sprouted bread with sprouted Hummus. Only this time I spread some Mellow Miso on the bread first and then nuked the whole thing for 10 seconds just to take the cold edge off of it. I was 18 degrees this morning so a little chill bling reducer is nice!

Now on to the tea. Constant Comment is a Tea from my childhood. Whenever I felt sick my Mother would make me a strong cup of Constant Comment with honey & lemon. At that time the tea was loose and came in a metal tin. I cant find it like that in the stores anymore. It only seems to come in tea bags now. It is still a very flavorful & unique tea. I have it with cream & honey now. The taste is so soothing with all the citrus rind in it. It is just a good cup of tea. We all know how healthy tea is for us. So drink up!

There is just something about a good cup of tea that can make even the bleakest moments become bearable.

Both of my children are tea drinkers. They grew up with all the herbal teas, mint, chamomile and herb blends. When they were tiny and felt crabby I would say, lets have some tea. It usually worked to fix their spirits up. Also tea & toast is a winning combo. Sourdough bread with lots of butter and some hot tea is the best thing in the world anytime of the day or night.

I don't have so much toast anymore as I am doing my raw thing, but I still share some with my kids now & then.

We mustn't be too rigid.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

Howdy & Hello. I had some lovely sprouted bread with homemade sprouted Hummus for breakfast. I always have Tea with breakfast. Usually black Tea with cream & stevia or raw (if I can find it) honey.

It is such a simple breakfast. I get the bread at Wholefoods. I made the sprouted hummus. It is very easy to make.

Sprouted Humus Recipe

Sprout some Garbanzo Beans and then put them in your Cuisinart with some raw tahini add some olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Whiz it around until creamy and you are done!

I follow the amounts used to make cooked hummus. So any standard recipe you have for that will work fine. I don't add garlic to mine as I like to have it for breakfast and I am not too fond of garlic in the AM.

here is a basic recipe you can use, just use the sprouted Garbanzo & raw tahini instead.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1618,132176-254196,00.html