Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Body Artist Emma Hack

This is raw-related in that Raw bodies = Great Bodies to paint! : )









Body Artist - Emma Hack

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Lion Whisperer



Kevin Richardson, zoologist and animal behaviouralist, raises and trains some of the most dangerous animals known to man. To do this he does not use the common methods of breaking the animal's spirit with sticks and chains, instead he uses love, understanding and trust.

With this unusual method of training he has developed some exceptionally personal bonds with his students. He sleeps with lions, cuddles newborn hyenas, swims with lionesses. Kevin can confidently look into their eyes, crouch to the their level and even lie down with them - all taboos in the normal world of wild animal handling - yet he has never been mauled or attacked. Some call him crazy; others shake their heads at his unique method of interacting with the animals. And Kevin's secret - get to know the particular personality of each animal, what makes them angry, happy, upset, irritated - just like a mother with a child.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Got Milk? Yes! Almond and Sesame

This morning I made sesame milk. I always have almond milk in the fridge because I love it in my tea and on my cereal, etc.. and its really easy to make.

Take a cup (or 2) of almonds and soak them 8-12 hours. I either soak overnight & make in the morning or soak in the morning and make at night.

Then when they have soaked for a few hours - (if they soak over 12, then just put in the fridge, you can soak them there for a week if you want to) When ready, Rinse almonds, put into blender and put 2-3x as much water.
1 c almonds: 3 c water or 2 c Almonds to 6 c Water .. ] if you want rich almond cream, just add less water. easy.
Blend and strain. A nut milk bag is easiestto use and they are getting easier to find all the time (health food store- I saw them at the Big Carrot recently) . ..or use cheesecloth.

Strain into a big bowl ..and when done I use a measuring cup to transfer into glass bottles.

ok, Sesame! This was new for me.. but also easy.

Soak 1 c sesame seeds for 6-9 hours and drain and let sit in a fine metal sieve strainer for 4-8 hours to sprout. Then transfer to blender and do the same as almond milk.. add water, blend, strain and bottle. Oh, I added and blended 2 dates with the sesame seeds.. I recommend that, but not necessary. I prefer almond milk..but the nutritional level of Sesame seeds is huge!!! Really incredibly nutritious little seeds. : )

Enjoy the milk that works for you, not against you!!

Monday, November 09, 2009

Inspirational Blogs

Hi. wow, I know its been awhile.. oops a week, thats not like me! ; ) It seems that when I was working full time and more busy I found more time for blogging, which seems strange. But life can be a little strange sometimes.

So, yes, I have a few things I have been meaning to tell you.. here & there I come across, or think of something interesting.. and then I just continue with my Spanish lesson.. and my creating raw recipes and experimenting there ..and all of a sudden its a week later. But the good news is that I am understanding lots of Spanish.. this has been a thing I have wanted and felt intimidated by (learning languages) pretty much my whole life..and they are fascinating. More than I even realized!! & so now that I have this time & I am just immersing myself in it.. listening to Radio from Spain, which sometimes I understand, sometimes not, reading, listening, watching.. and now I have a huge vocabulary arsenal, understand lots of what I hear.. still need to work more on verbs, but they're coming.. but I had a dream that I was understanding everything in Spanish but I couldn't help fix something because I couldnt speak.. so now I somehow have to get words out of my mouth.

I'm not so concerned with whats going in (lots of great things!! lol) but what needs to come out (Spanish words) ..and so I appologize that my focus has been elsewhere, its temporary.. cause if my schedule is correct I should be fluent any time soon..

So for now, when I think of those things, I will try to come post right away and not take so long. keep in touch ..come and say hi once a little more often. : )

& now, I am leaving you with some Random Inspirational Blogs - Inspiration is always good!



Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Eating Cooked

Ahh,, theres nothing like a fresh fruit day. ...unless its a fresh juice day.. both good..but today, Fruit!! Theres something so enlivening about both of these.. juice, fresh fruit, juicy.. hmm.. and speaking of juicy, I wanted to mention something.

I ate some cooked food awhile ago, it doesn't happen often, .. Well, just so you know my history - for 3-4 years I ate 100% raw, vegan. Then in the last year, or so.. I started eating a bit of cooked food here & there, often with others..actually always with others.. still always staying about 90% raw at least.. and consciously choosing the foods I ate.. but it was for 2 reasons I chose to do so - 1 was grounding when I was going through emotionally turbulent times (so nice to be returned to peace & harmony!) and 2 was to share food with others, it was a communal thing, which I have discovered is very, very important.. there is a bond we form between us when we eat the same food together.

But one thing I noticed when I ate cooked food is that the next morning I would have a stiffness in my joints, it was slight but it was there.. and I would eat all raw, and it is gone. Interesting. I have a friend who went all raw a couple summers ago and that was the 1st thing she noticed.. her joints, which were tight and sore, became loose and she was flexible again.. and without pain.

I've noticed its a lot of work to eat cooked food, and hard on the body! Hmm!??




Monday, November 02, 2009

Thought for the Day: Live like the God You are !! ..and some Quantum Physics ; )






Hi. I am just in from a funeral. Another friend, more cancer.. wow. I don't usually go into it..but, wow. ok thats all I am going to say. but I will post a video on thoughts on God and religion, interesting topics for the evening. ..and I'll go get a bowl of pineapple and chocolate !? and come and watch too! ; )
photos by Kristin Kotarski Hell Fire Diva

What the Bleep do we Know?: The Concept of God and Religion

Friday, October 30, 2009

El Dias de los Muertos

I am so into Spanish culture - Spain, South America and Mexico. I love the internet.. it gives me access to so much Spanish culture. I am loving this wildly colorful sit-com from Spain filled with Spanish culture, 'Cuentame', which is totally crazy. There is a radio show I also love listening to, but to be honest I only get some of that they say.. Its like being a kid again! But the Spanish culture everywhere is very exciting, colorful, passionate.. & of course I have been reading about Mexico's ‘Day of the Dead’. Mostly in Spanish, but this info is taken mainly from Mexicolore.co.uk.

The Day of the Dead is Mexicos biggest and most spectacular annual festival - public and yet intimately private at the same time.

Its purpose is to celebrate, remember and, as much as anything, to entertain the dead.
Sometimes roads of flowers are put in place to guide the dead from the graveyard to the house where their relatives will have constructed an altar dedicated to the most recently deceased and made ready an array of sugary foods and drink.

Many commemorative ceremonies are, by their very nature, sad and sombre: graveyards themselves are not joyous places. However, the Mexican Day of the Dead is anything but sober and cheerless. It is an effervescent event, full of zest and colour, an annual opportunity to remember and re-engage with relatives and friends who have passed on.

It should be referred to the DAYS of the Dead, as there are 2-3 of them, and they last every year from the afternoon of October 31st. into the night of November 2nd. The date coincides with Hallowe’en (celebrated in Europe and the US) and with All Saints’ (and All Souls’) Day. Far from being a morbid or spooky occasion, Mexicans have a healthy, positive, carefree, ironic approach to the subject of death and this is reflected in their great festival ‘El Día de los Muertos’, ‘Días de Muertos’ or just ‘Muertos’ for short.

It’s a time of celebration as families come together to share memories of those loved ones who have died, and to welcome their spirits back to Earth and into their homes.

The more life, colour, music, dance, joy and foods that can be provided the better. It is a veritable family ‘feast’, laid on every year especially for the dead, and it aims to appeal to all the senses: attracted by the sounds (from music to fireworks), lights (of candles), aromas (of foods, flowers and incense) and general festivity, the souls can come back to Earth to enjoy, however briefly, some of the pleasures they remember when they were alive.

In small villages and towns throughout the land families still decorate their traditional household altars with much the same foods (such as tamales and hot chocolate) and flowers (such as the yellow marigold) that their Aztec (or Mixtec, Maya, Totonac...) ancestors did.

In Mexico, by tradition, the souls of dead children (‘angelitos’) return first, and October 31 is kept for welcoming them back to Earth; after they’ve left, the adult souls return on November 1. Everything is carefully arranged on the offering table, centered around the photographs of those who have died. You can’t see the returning spirits, you can’t talk to them (well, you can, but they never answer back!), but Mexicans strongly believe - and sense - that they are most definitely there with them.

The souls will enjoy and benefit from the goodness, the essence, of the foods and drinks on offer to them, refreshed for the long journey back to the other world: later the living family members will physically consume what’s there.

I have been working in a raw test kitchen for the past few months, doing some serious experimenting! Tomorrow (& today) we are creating 13 different pizzas, getting really creative with it! The Mexican one will hold an honorary place for me!! : )

Felize Días de Muertos!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Ending Watermelon Season with a Punch














Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Laws of Increase and Infinite Expansion & Making Happy Choices!

Thoughts from Wallace Wattle's The Science of Getting Rich:

~ we don't have to waste our time in jobs we don't like, and that, in fact, we SHOULD not.

~ each of us has within us the necessary talent to do whatever it is we would absolutely LOVE to do.

~ it doesn't take a lot of energy or will power to keep your mind fixed on something that really grabs you - but it is VERY difficult to stay focused positively on what you DON'T really want.

~ the Law of Increase which shows us that every being is either growing or dying, either moving onward and upward, or falling back and stagnating.

From Charles Filmore's Prosperity - The Principle of Infinite Expansion is "the principle of never-ceasing growth and development of God's perfect idea that is firmly fixed in all Creation." Wallace also calls it God, the Universe, the Formless, the Infinite, Supreme Intelligence, etc...use whatever works for you.

This perfect idea makes itself known is through your natural gifts and talents, through the things you LOVE to do.
The things that you're naturally good at, the activities that lift you up and carry you along so that it almost seems effortless at times. The things you'd often rather do than eat or sleep. The activities that bring you more than just momentary pleasure -- they fill you with real joy and peace.

Many of us lose touch with that joy as the years go by. We "settle down," we fall into a routine, we grow up and give up our dreams. Sometimes we get talked out of them or shamed out of them or worse. Sometimes we just decide to be what people call sensible or practical or responsible. Sometimes we don't even notice they've slipped away.

We do it for reasons we think are reasonable, for money, security, so many reasons - according to our programs.


Do the choices you make, make you happy? If not, then you are not following your greatest purpose.
When we get out of touch, disconnected from our nature, from the earth, each other and especially ourselves.. we lose sight of what out highest purpose is. It's important to think and be conscious of the choices we make. We make millions of them everyday.. everything we think about, everything we do. Are yours making you happy?

You give your LIFE to everything you give your time to.

~Thanks to Rebecca Fine and Wallace Wattles for these thoughts, which I added to. ; )

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Floating and Sandstorms






"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine. ...

.
.. And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about." ~ Haruki Murakami - Kafka On The Shore


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What an Adventurous, Colourful, Fun Filled Day!!

Color of the day: bright Orange ..with a chance of Purple tonight ..looking like Bright Rosy skies in the morning followed with wafts of Yellow.

Most Fun: Floating in my Cloud bed Covered by Mists and Jewels

Rose & Frankincense

Movie of the Day: La Joven by Luis Buñuel


Lime, Strawberry, Chocolate and Mint with Pumpkin Pie for dessert

Homework: Making masks - for Inner self and Outer self

Extracurricular: Swimming and Dreaming in Spanish


Favorite CD Today: Ralf Hildenbeutal's Hommáge a Noir

Hommáge a Noir

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Pickles and Cultured Vegetables


I am researching and studying different ways to make cultured and fermented vegetables today!















There are so many different ways to make cultured and fermented foods.
In this video, Sandor Katz shows making sauerkraut the easiest way ever.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

I am just in from 2 long days testing a multitude of desserts. I can honestly say I have never eaten so much raw dessert, or any dessert, before! Than was crazy!!

..and speaking of crazy. I just want to take a minute here to express my huge and overwhelming gratitude and appreciation for EVERYTHING. everything, everything, everything. the good, the bad, the works.. I am in love with the world, I am in love with you and in love with me. everything, all, todo!

Peace and Love and have the Happiest Thanksgiving Ever!! xo

ps. I had a dream in Spanish 2 nights ago, that was so cool!! ; )

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Love, Raw food, Puzzles and Spanish

Hi. I just thought I would come and leave a personal note. I have been taking lots of 'me' time lately. in between my projects.. the biggest of which is developing recipes for a very exciting and new raw restaurant coming soon.. but we are keeping it under wraps for now.. its exciting and I would love, having a raw blog and all, to share the excitement and developments with you.. but one day soon. I am really excited by all the creative people working and building the raw lifestyle into a more natural way of living. ..giving it exposure, doing all the studies to show how beneficial it is, living it and giving living proof of what a beautiful way of living it is, and also to those of us who develop recipes to help make it a delicious and exciting way of life also.

My 2nd love these days is Spanish, which I am immersing myself into whenever I get a chance to. I have a pile of books and courses here from the library, I love the library. Love that I can just order books and Dvd's and cd's online and 2 days later go and them all up - it's the little things. Patiently working my way through them. I understand a lot..but hard to imagine myself speaking ~although I do, of course, because thats the way that one day I will~ and that will be exciting. !!! still, hard to imagine. I always had a hard time with languages, my brother was so natural at picking up foreign languages.. probably knows some of about 30 of them. They always seemed so foreign and intimidating to me.. so its a really exciting thing. I am curious why I picked Spanish.. my brother really urged me to learn French. And even though it seems like the thing I should do, I'm Canadian, it doesn't click with me. Spanish does. And I am really excited to find out one day, why I am putting so much effort into learning it. I love that in life when the pieces come together and you realize why you did the things you did earlier. Life is such a fun puzzle, a puzzle of love! Besos y Aberazos and Blueberries and Watermelon and lots of great books!! xo

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."
- Kahlil Gibran

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Dr Brian Clement - Notes

I was at a Brian Clement lecture a couple weeks ago and am just coming across a few notes I took.. which is always good for motivation, to reread. He has Immense knowledge!!

Brian is director of the Hippocrates Health Institute. Almost anyone here reading will know who he is. If you dont, ..and are interested in health or healing - check him out!! definitely.

ok, here goes:

Oxygen (note the big font!) It's all about the oxygen!
- purifies water
- helps increase brain and body function
Every cells main food is oxygen.

We get the most oxygen from the water we drink!

Raw vegan foods contain lots of oxygen in their cellular structure, which is mainly derived from photosynthesis.
Sun energy, through photosynthesis, cleans out carbon and creates the life blood of the plants in the cells of their leaves.
Raw foods have the ability to send oxygen to our cells.

Animals exhaust this oxygen in the process of digestion and lactation, and we receive no additional oxygen from meat or dairy. (in fact oxygen gets used from your body in digesting these.. and they are usually cooked, which again robs more oxygen)

It is best to consume food with the most sunshine.
Sun creates Life - All of the life on Earth!

ok, going to get a green smoothie!! see, motivation! ..and I'll be right back with more - & pics! : )

Hi, back.. : )

We ave become so deficient in nutrients, we have devolved to a point where we can live on recycled oxygen and nutrients. We can live on much less than in the past. If we had too many nutrients we would pass out.

Turmeric - for: Dementia, MS, every known type of cancer.. Everything except making you fly. (he mentioned turmeric numerous times - I've been on it!! )

Sprouts and leafy greens are the only plant foods rich in both oxygen and iron.

Most visible way to quickly receive and increase oxygen level in the body: Exercise!!
12% of muscle comes from fat, it takes 7-8x as long to build muscle if you are very thin.

Raw foods will make you conscious. Find a way to enter consciousness through: meditation, exercise, food.
Cheese, meat, soda makes you unconscious.
Alcohol, high sugar, junk foods ..make you more unconscious.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy!! Cells think on their own. (check mitochondria - 'cellular power plants') ..going into hyperbaric chamber the body feels lke it is going under sea level. After 40 years of rresearch they have discvered that 11 1/2 - 12 ' under sea level is the perfect level (for healing). Go under 1' and body starts to think its going to die.. cells are created in bone marrow...... more

Garlic Oil - The most disinfectant thing ever for an open wound.

Saunas! (yes!!)

In cold climates, crack windows open in winter. Get ozone generators in homes. We get much less oxygen. People live an average of 3-5 years less in colder climates because of oxygen deprivation.

Hawaii has a very high oxygen level.


NASA has created effective technology using oxygen to clean pollution.

Grow plants at home - They produce oxygen, digest carbon.
Nothing is more important than oxygen.

Everyone needs vit B12 (he suggested Garden of Life - vegan)

We get sick emotionally first .. & esp from having no spiritual life.

Digestive Enzymes!!! Most people require digestive enzymes. He takes 20/day for anti aging!!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Omid Jaffari - Raw workshop

I am just getting pictures up from the Raw class I took a few weeks ago. I didn't bring my camera but a lady I met there sent me these pics.

Omid Jaffari of Tried.Tasted.Served and Shiitakeblog.com - gave a workshop - Al Fresco Summer Raw Class Tour, which toured LA, NY, Toronto and Montreal.

We made: Endive Canapes, Pea Fennel and Mint Summer Soup, Strawberry Granita, Beet Carpacio (which was probably my fav - I have made it here at home since) and Matured Peach and Dark Chocolate Kiss ..which was also delicious. In fact, everything was!!






Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pad Thai


My Mom just told me that I haven´t posted enough ´raw food posts´lately. ..& that's true! The reason is mainly that I am creating new recipes for Raw Bistro, which are being kept in the vault ..for now : ) ..and to be honest, at home I am eating very simply. I have a few bottles of salad dressings I made in the fridge. I buy lots of lettuce and live primarily off green smoothies and salads. I have a batch of crackers made, some easy nut cheese in the fridge, lots of tomatoes, olives.. last week I made a nut meat and wrapped it up in big lettuce leaves with guacamole, salsa.. and of course I have left overs of the new foods we are creating.

One of which is what I think of as a grown up, more alluring version of one of my favorite previous recipes. Pad Thai! This recipe is very similar to traditional pad thais, creamy and delicious.

One of the most essential flavors in a Pad Thai is the tamarind, which has an incredible sweet, sour, incredibly complex flavor. Blocks of tamarind can be found in most Asian and Indian grocery stores. ..and its easy to use once you get used to it. just break off a piece, soak it in water and squish it in your hand, strain through a metal sieve/strainer and throw away the stones and stringy parts. The part that gets strained is the tamarind paste that you use.

Pad Thai

1 Green Zucchini – spiralized
1 Yellow Zucchini – spiralized
1 Carrot – angelhair spiralized
½ Red Pepper – julienned
6-8 leaves Nappa Cabbage – thinly sliced
¼ c Cilantro leaves – chopped
Optional – 1 package Kelp noodles – soaked in warm water to soften, rinsed and drained

Sauce:
1 c Cashews
2 T Almond butter
1 Tomato
¼ c Tamarind sauce
3 Medjool Dates
2 T Nama shoyu
2 T Olive oil
1 T Sesame oil
1 Lime – juiced
1 Garlic clove
1 t Salt
½ t Black pepper
½ t Sambal Oelek
¼ t Coriander seed

Topping and Garnish:
¼ c Cashews – coarsely chopped
½ t Sesame oil and Salt
2 Green Onions – sliced diagonally
2 T Red Pepper – diced small
Sesame Seeds
Cilantro leaves

Place vegetables, and softened noodles if using, in a bowl.
Prepare topping, mix chopped cashews with sesame oil and salt together in a small bowl and set aside until ready to serve.
Make Pad Thai sauce by blending all sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. Mix sauce with vegetables and noodles. To serve garnish with cashews, green onions, red pepper and sesame seeds and cilantro leaves on top.


Disfrutalo! Bien Aproveche y Salud!!
(To your health and Enjoy your Meal!)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Saying of the enlightened master Huang Po

"Never mistake outward appearances for reality"

"This pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels and knows as mind.... If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought in a flash, that source-substance would manifest itself like a sun.... "

"That which is called the Place of Precious Things is the real Mind, the original Buddha-Essence, the treasure of our own real Nature.... Where is the Place of Precious Things? It is a place to which no directions can be given.... All we can say is that it is close by."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Pillows!!














Monday, September 21, 2009

Tea with Jan at Rawlicious

A few days ago I went to Rawlicious to meet my friend Jan.. she's a rawfoodist who lives (with her husband Dave) here in Toronto half the year and on a boat in the Bahamas the other half. Cool life!! They do a lot of sprouting on the boat.. Jan just finished a 92 day juice feast - with no fruit!!! Wow! She was writing a blog, which I posted a link to before.. and will again if she decides to resume writing.

Rawlicious was awesome - of course!!! Such a treat eating there again.. and being on the other side of the table. Life is fun.. sometimes I feel like I'm playng.. can I be the cashier now??
whoa, just having a moment.. Mmm.. the pizza was amazing!

..and so was Jan's Mocha Cheesecake - Incredible!!! : ) & of course Beautiful Foolishness tea - Whenever I smell that I think of Rawlicious.. its the most popular one there. Mmmm. zenning in the zen den!!