Saturday, June 30, 2007

parasite cleanse

Will I survive???

I have just started a parasite cleanse and am drinking a veggie juice as I type this instead of my usual green smoothie. Carrot, celery, spinach, parsley. & I know, I know carrots have a lot of sugar in them. Sugar is a big no-no.. parasites love sugar! Which is the only indication I have that parasites may exist in this body of mine..well, that & I have been reading that it is estimated that over 85% of the population has parasites.. and they say thats a conservative estimation. Parasites are especially found in meat eaters.. I have heard that it is very unlikely that there is any meat eater out there that doesn't have parasites.

I am just wondering how I am going to manage this for a month (15 days on, break for 5,and another 15 day session) I know there are better systems out there for getting rid of parasites.. and more expensive ones - like one using vibrational frequencies.. but I decided to just buy the box of herbs at the health food store & start here.

a few things I have heard to help get rid of them:

Stay away from sugar and anything with yeast.
Things I don't do anyway - don't drink coffee, eat eat, dairy etc.
Do eat garlic.. parasites really don't like that
The don't like pumpkin seeds.
They hate daikon radish juice (from a previous post)
They really don't like cinnamon & oregano.. 2 essential oils that they hate the most. (I'll take some oil of oregano before I leave.)
weekly colonics - to cleanse the colon of the before they can lay eggs again. (yikes)
& I have heard that to get rid of them you can take 1 T psyllium & 1 T red clay very night for 3 months. ..wonder if red is like bentonite.. another trip to the health food store. Another source says to take this mixture after doing the cleanse to clean the colon & flush the out.

I will be doing a more intensive search on here & posting more about this later.. when I have more time & a not runnnning out the door for work! ...later
: )
Be happy!

ps. any info on this or other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Friday, June 29, 2007

Childrens health


I was about to run out of the house without posting.. have to rush & buy canvasses, cacao butter, etc before going to work.. but then I checked my e-ail & my mom just sent me this.. It's sitting fairly heavy with me. When my children were young I felt like I was fairly health and food conscious and making fairly good choices, preparing home cooked meals almost every night. I was known for my chocolate chip cookies! & then a box of pop tarts here, a box of froot loops there, that can't hurt too much, can it? Ahhh!!! If I only knew then what I know now.. but that's life and we can't change the past.. (or can we? .. but that's another topic,, for another day ; )

She said this was sent to her from her friend Allan:

Food and drug administration is the number one cause of disease and disability in America today.The CDC predicts the children today will be the first generation to not outlive their parents. I have to hold you mothers and grandmothers most accountable, as you usually are making the food choices. Childhood obesity and other health issues are squarely in your hands(The Hand that Rocks the Ladle. Sounds a bit sexist, but the reality is that women normally make the food choices for the family. Convenience can no longer be the criterium you use to make meal choices. Your children have to have freshly prepared,unpackaged,unadulterated foods to maintain health. This means time in the kitchen for someone. You can enlist the rest of the family's help, but the onus of a healthful meal in front of your child is on you mom. Our children won't do better until you do better. As for you men,usually you are the main obstacle for mothers not making healthful changes in the menu at home. This has to be a cooperative effort with both parents setting an example.
Churches and schools must be involved also. Food has become what I call Baptist pornography. Many churches lure members to functions with the promise of promiscuous eating. Remember gluttony is considered as much a deadly sin as the other seven. Hold your schools accountable to prepare and serve healthful foods. The movie "Supersize Me" showcases how much better children do academically when they are given healthful food. There is nothing more fundamental to the health of your child than what you feed them each day. Don't let them down.



Children Sicker Now Than in Past, Harvard Report Says (Update1)

Article by Angela Zimm

pic from www.stamfordjcc.org/

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Thoughts on nakedness and consciousness


Here is my thought of the morning..

We are naked... all the time, everywhere we go. We put clothes on and cover ourselves, and deceive ourselves that we aren't but we are naked all the time.. we come into this world naked and we leave naked. We own nothing.. we don't really own the clothes we wear, we don't own the cars we drive, nor the houses we live in. We come into this world owning nothing and we leave owning nothing.. think about it. We think we own things but really we don't ..we are lulled into a false sense of ownership. I sometimes feel like this is why people need control.. because we have no ownership. We have this feeling that we should be owning something or we want to but we don't. All money, power, prestige is an illusion.. it is not lasting.. Love is lasting, beauty and creativity and inner peace are lasting. But any material thing can be taken from you at any time. Think about it. A war could start right now.. not only your clothes but your country could be taken from you. Nothing is permanent.. everything is changing.. we come into this world for a short time ..naked, we leave naked but while we are here we have the beautiful opportunity to share from the fruits of this Earth, to experience beauty..the incredible fathomless intricacy of nature, to experience love on this material plane.. to eat delicious foods, to make friends and hold hands, share thoughts, to laugh, to cry.. but all we really have is this bit of consciousness.. this bit of awareness we are blessed with for a period of time in this material form.

Enjoy all the things you are given to enjoy while here.

Imagine if everyone took off their false sense of illusion of ownership and decided to just live and enjoy life and share. : )

Laugh. love.. enjoy your body!

Imagine everyone with healthy bodies being happy. ...& Naked. lol

& Thats my thought for the day.

Make it a beautiful one!

pic from Spencer Tunick's naked photo shoot in Mexico. 18000 people! Here's a video of it from YouTube

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Pure food, Clear Mind

"If your blood is formed from eating pure foods, your brain will function in a manner that will surprise you. Your former life will take on the appearance of a dream, and for the first time in your existence your consciousness awakens to a real self-consciousness.

Your mind, your thinking, your ideals, your aspirations and your philosophy changes fundamentally in such a way as to beggar description.

Your soul will shout for joy and triumph over all misery of life, leaving it all behind you. For the first time you will feel a vibration of vitality through your body (like a slight electric current) that shakes you delightfully."

~ Prof. Arnold Ehret from his book Rational Fasting

"Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through the eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded." ~ Johann Wolfgang VanGoethe

Toronto Living Foods Expo - June 30th, 2007

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Monday, June 25, 2007

Krishnaurti and peas, Love and quinoa, Education and EFA's


A picture of my little slice of Heaven yesterday, out on my back deck, just after getting in from grocery shopping.. piles of fruits & vegetables.. but my favorite find was this basket of peas. I haven't had fresh peas from the pod since last year and I couldn't wait to get home & eat them. I sat out on the deck in the sunshine, ate over 1/2 the basket and read my really, really good book.
Ahhhh..
I love summer!

I forgot to mention yesterday another great recent memory.. and that is Nuramina (s/p?) a most beautiful African/Ethiopian woman (Ethiopian women have the most amazing bone structure in the world I think, so long and slender and elegant!) Anyway, after coming in a few days previously & hearing I was raw, she came back with a dish she prepared for me.. and it was quiet that afternoon at work so I got to sit down and enjoy a meal with her.. it was great. She made a dish with sprouted quinoa & peas. ..maybe this is what started my pea craving?
She makes various trail mixes, which she sells at St Lawrence Market (she also gives massages. & she makes a package of ground hemp, flax, sesame seeds etc, which she soaks and dries and then grinds.. it is great to top on cereal or fruit or anywhere!

Analogies (cause they can be better than real life! - I love analogies)

On relationships - 'It's like craving the bread you had when you were a kid and then meeting a baker who can bake this same bread and you fall in love.. but it's the bread you really want.' ..although you don't even realize that there is a raw bread maker who dehydrates a wayyy better bread, not only more delicious but more sustaining and healthy as well, right around the corner and you never even knew he/she was there.

double analogy! cool
& 1 more, from Krishnaurti (p30-31):

"..very few know how to live. Most of us merely survive, we somehow drag along, and therefore life becomes a dreadful thing. Really to live requires a great deal of love, a great feeling for silence, a great simplicity with an abundance of experience; it requires a mind that is capable of thinking very clearly, that is not bound by prejudice or superstition, by hope or fear. All this is life, and if you are not being educated to live, then education has no meaning. You may learn to be very tidy, have good manners and you and you may pass all of your examinations; but, to give primary importance to all these superficial things when the whole structure of society is crumbling, is like cleaning and polishing your fingernails while the house is burning down. You see, nobody talks to you about all this, nobody goes into it with you. As you spend day after day studying certain subjects - mathematics, history, geography - so also you should spend a great deal of time talking about these deeper matters, because this makes for richness of life."

The Krishnaurti book I am reading talks a lot about our education system.. and just as my kids are all finishing exams. They actually finished last week.. they are all in high school now.. Thats a lot of school work. I often thought when I was young that if I had kids I would home school them. It didn't turn out that way.. but I really admire the parents who are doing it!

k, lots to do..
Fly high, Dive deep, Explore ..& Have an adventurous, very fun day!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Being, Anne Wigmore, wheatgrass, The Real News, Flower chocolates, Swedish and Video lessons


Favorite recent memories:

the big line-up at work.. I'm the only one on the floor & I apologize to the man who is standing next and he says calmly "I'm not waiting, I'm just being" (...he got that from the Power of Now, gotta love that book! : ) I appreciated that immensely.

Anne Wigore used to drink up to 64 ozs of wheatgrass a day! That's a lot of wheatgrass!!! She was really into experimenting with her body. Often she would go through the day eating only 1/2 a papaya, a bit of her energy soup and wheatgrass.. and have lots of energy. She founded the Hippocrates Health Institute and is considered The mother of living foods. (more on her from a past post here)

I spoke to a man who said that his eyesight was healed after drinking 2ozs of wheatgrass a day, every day - 5 months after starting this, he realized that he didn't need his glasses anymore to read things and he was amazed at how it was healing his body.

..a waterarian

The picture I missed & have to share verbally. The Real News.com - who reside on the 2nd floor of our building, right above us.. and who I know best from asking us to turn the music down, lol - they were preparing for a party and in our kitchen at work preparing fruit platters and I was still working..

I was juicing wheatgrass for a customer amidst piles and piles of fruit prepared to go on trays covering the whole counter and I barely just uncovered the wheatgrass juicer to make this juice: baby finger bananas, cherries, melons, grapes, grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes cut up, strawberries, other berries, pineapple etc & etc.. it was beautiful! fruit everywhere!.. enough for about 300 people!!

The small pic I took is from their reception - launching party.. it didn't turn out great, but it's all I have.. you can barely see, or not, Paul Jay, the executive director, CEO. You can see an interview with him, see the space and the concept - it's pretty huge - a tv network with no gov't funding, no corporate funding, no advertising - The Real News. I recommend watching.. if I was going to watch the news, I think I would watch it here. Maybe one day I will.

Making flower chocolates - the best tasting, soothest and creamiest ones ever! Raw cacao, hemp butter, cocoa butter, agave, vanilla, maca, ginseng, slippery elm, a bit of maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon and Celtic salt. Mmmm.. these are going quick!


Flowers on flowers, my painting above, the backdrop flowers is a painting I was up till 1:30 last night working on & am heading back down soon to work on more.. along with my white flower (which is anything but white! and my new weeks flower) .. g2g going!!! ...

random Swedish lesson: "bytt e bytt a det koer aldrig er igen" translates something like trading something with someone and you got something really magical and the best trade ever. : )

video lesson: Room tone - take 60 sec- 2 min of average room sounds of space after taping, to use to edit into sounds if needed.

LoVe LiFe!
Be Happy

~HuGs to all~

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Juliano video

RAW by Juliano



"Out of every living thing on the planet, animals, plants, insects, none are overweight or out of shape except for the ones that eat cooked foods." Juliano

Friday, June 22, 2007

Going against nature - lawns, fertilizing and weeding


A couple days ago I was websurfing and came upon an interesting blog by Pari.

"We take it for granted the rich variety of plants we can have in India. In the average middle class home you may find many of these trees: coconut, mango, almond, banana, guava, papaya, jackfruit, gooseberry/amla, neem, gulmohar, ashoka, curry, drumstick, orange, lemon, and all large variety of flowering plants - jasmine, bougainvillea, orchids, aloe, frangipani, and creepers. What do we have around a house in the US? A full time activity of the average American homeowner is maintaining the lawn (the Europeans observe it as an obsession) - forced to be green and devoid of any other plant life through repeated chemical treatments, twisting, warping, and sanitizing nature to conform to standards (see the link on allergies) instead of appreciating nature as it is."

Hmmm, it's an interesting thought that the most common way of cultivating the earth around our homes here in Canada & the US is also the most unhealthy.

Shortly after reading this I was reading from book 4 of the Ringing Cedars series - Co-Creation (p 157-160) and Anastasia is describing how to create a living Paradise around your home, from building a living fence around it - shrubs and trees to cultivating the land and building a home on it. She talks about how weeding and fertilizing are not necessary if it is thought out when planted - you will have abundant crops without the need for a lot of work "Everything around you will serve you with great pleasure and with love through many generations."

"Vladimir, right now you are in the tiaga (forest). Look around you, how high the trees are, how mighty their trunks! Along the trees herbs and bushes are growing. There are raspberries, and currants... indeed a whole lot of everything grows right here in the tiaga for Man's use. And over thousands of years not a single person has fertilized the ground. But the land remains fruitful. What do you think: how has it been fertilized and by whom?" ..

"Here in the tiaga God's thought and God's plan are not interfered with to the same degree as where Man lives today. In the tiaga leaves fall from the trees, and little branches are torn off by the breeze. And those leaves and branches, along with worms, fertilize the ground in the tiaga. And the grass which grows all around regulates the composition of the earth. The bushes help it clear away excesses of acids and alkalis. None of the fertilizers you are familiar with can substitute for the leaves falling fro the trees. After all, leaves include any of the diverse energies of the Universe. They have seen the stars, the Sun and the Moon. And not only seen, but they have interacted with them. And even any thousands of years from now, the ground here in the tiaga will still be fertile."

Vegetable gardens can be set up to be little work or aggravation. "Among the herbs, just the way everything grows here in the forest, you could have the most splendid tomatoes and cucumbers under cultivation. Their taste will be much ore healthful and appealing for the body than when they are grown simply on a patch of bare ground."

She says there is nothing useless in nature.. "there are no purposeless weeds. Neither are there any beetles that are harmful to Man."

Vladimir asks about locusts & the Colorado beetle which eats away at potato crops in the fields.

"(they are) thereby showing people how their ignorance is eating away at the self-sufficiency of the Earth, contradicting the designs of the Divine Creator. How can people keep stubbornly ploughing year after year in one and the same place, torturing the ground? It is like scraping an open wound, at the same time demanding benefits from the wound. Locusts or the Colorado beetle will not touch the ground-lot you and I have outlined. When everything grows together in one grand harmony, the fruits accruing to their owners are also harmonious."

& if we have no more weeding or fertilizing, and everything just grows by itself, Vladimir asks "then what is there left for Man to do?

"Live in Paradise. The way God wanted us to. Anyone who is able to build himself a Paradise like that will come into contact with the Divine thought and produce a new co-creation together with Him."

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Salad. Tahini Miso salad dressing, Sunflower sprouts and Cedar nuts


This is a pic of the salad I had last night. It was very simple: mixed baby lettuce, sunflower sprouts, cedar nuts and red pepper.

Sunflower sprouts are a staple for me! I love them.
I love the page about them at The Best Food Ever.


"If I had to describe Sunflower Sprouts in a single word, that word would have to be: Happy! : )

The cedar nuts look just like pine nuts except they are smaller. You can order them at the Energy of Life - Ringing Cedars of Russia website. I tried to go there last night to order book 5, which has just been translated into English, but they were sold out. I finished book 4 on the way home from work.. but I guess I will reread it.. not that I don't have anything to read, I have about 12 books on the go as the moment! But I a just really into these. They said they should be back in stock next week.. and I a almost out of cedar nuts! The important things in life, yk?

uh-oh running out of time!

Tahini Dressing

11/2 T tahini
1 T miso
1 T tamari
1 T agave
2 T olive oil
2 T water
1 garlic clove - minced
1 lemon - juiced
dash cayenne

I whisked all ingredients together in a bowl. Simple.. and very delicious.
Enjoy.. Have a wonderful day!!! ~HuGs~

ps. Sawako, recognize the chopsticks? I love them! I think of you whenever I use them (& my Dad!) much love & the Biggest rocking Hugs ever!! xo

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Fruit and Veggie Superfoods

I just had a half of a papaya show up at my door. How cool is that?.. have I mentioned lately that I love my neighbourhood?!! So I a eating my papaya and a green smoothie as I type this. (kale, chard, banana, pineapple, pear, blueberries & flax seeds) I was going to post a picture of the beautiful superfood flower chocolates I made Mon evening.. but now I a down to 3... no, 2 & I wanted to take a picture while the plate was full. They are soo good.. I will just have to make more & post it later. But I was thinking how I often go on & on about superfoods; gojis & cacao & ginseng & other herbs, algaes etc.. but a lot of the everyday fruits and vegetables we eat could be considered superfoods also. Here are some great ones - this is fro the Blend-Tec website,, I was looking up blenders for work last night.. we may be getting a proper blender soon. I have been using a 30$ blender there for the past year. Green smoothies may not be as fine but they are totally doable & very delicious even in the cheapest of blenders.. trust me, I know!!

Fruit & Veggie Superfoods

Avocados are known as nature's butter and help prevent heart disease and some types of cancer. Avocados have about a quarter of the calories of total fat as dairy butter. By weight, they provide more heart-healthy monosaturated fat, vitamin E, folate (the plant source of folic acid), potassium, and fiber than other fruits. Yes, it is a fruit! It's the number one fruit source of the cholesterol-lowering phytosterol, called beta-sitosterol, which helps prevent certain types of heart disease and cancers, including prostate cancer. Avocados also help protect your eyes from cataracts and from age-related macular degeneration. They also have a reputation as an aphrodisiac!

Blueberries are known to prevent and reverse abnormal, physical and mental decline. Despite their small size, one cup of blueberries contains only 80 calories and a whole pint gives you about 180 calories, so they're a dieter's best friend. Referred to as the "brain berry," blueberries are packed with tannins, anthocyanins that have been linked to prevention - and even reversal - of age-related mental decline and anti-cancer effects. They are one of the most potent antidotes to oxidate stress, a process that ages you.

Broccoli fights cancer, heart disease and other serious conditions. It has two powerful cancer-fighting substances. First, sulforaphane gives cancer-causing chemicals a one-two punch. It destroys any carcinogenic compounds that you've ingested, and then it creates enzymes that eat up any carcinogens left over from that reaction. Sulforaphane also kills the bacteria H.pylori, which causes ulcers and greatly increases the risk of gastric cancer. Second, broccoli boasts indole-3-carbinol which helps your body metabolize estrogen, potentially warding off breast cancer. Broccoli may also inhibit the herpes simplex virus from reproducing.

  • Preparation Tips- I eat broccoli raw, lightly steamed, juiced, and in the form of sprouts which magnify broccoli's potent healing powers.

Cinnamon helps normalize blood sugar. Cinnamon is a highly versatile flavoring as well as a carminative that relieves bloating and gas. Adding cinnamon to food, especially to sugary ones, helps normalize blood sugar by making insulin more sensitive. Cinnamon's most active ingredient is methylhydroxy chalcone polymer (MHCP), which increases the processing of blood sugar by 2,000%. It is also thought that it may help ward off diabetes and obesity.

Coconut and coconut butter (also referred to as coconut oil) has been used as a food and medicine since the dawn of history. Unlike saturated animal fats found in meats and dairy products, coconut butter is a raw saturated fat containing mostly medium-chain fatty acids which the body can metabolize efficiently and convert to energy quickly. Coconuts may help lower cholesterol and regulate thyroid function.

Flaxseed is known as "Nutritional Gold" and is a rich source of essential fatty acids. It's used, not only for food, but also for making linen. Essential fatty acids are shown to be therapeutic and protect against heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, many skin diseases, and others. Flaxseeds also help eliminate toxic waste, strengthen the blood, reduce inflammation, accelerate fat loss, and reduce depression.

Garlic keeps the body chemistry balanced. Herbalists and folk healers have used garlic to treat myriad diseases for thousands of years; it has been intensively studied in recent years, with hundreds of scientific papers published in medical journals since the mid-1980s. Garlic is a rich source of unique sulfur compounds that keep your body chemistry in balance. Major medical universities around the world have found Aged Garlic Extract (also known as Kyolic) to be effective in its ability to resist and fight cancer, cardiovascular disease, other respiratory ailments and infections, and fatigue.

Grapefruit protects against cancer and heart disease. This fresh fruit eases constipation and improves digestion by increasing the flow of gastric juices. Deep inside the white rind and membranes of this fruit lie bioflavonoids, citric acids, and pectins - compounds that protect against cancer and heart disease. Some people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other inflammatory disorders find that eating grapefruit daily seems to alleviate their symptoms. The pectin content of grapefruit juice helps reduce fever and soothes coughs and sore throats. Make grapefruit your first course to help prevent overeating.

  • Preparation Tips- Whenever possible, choose pink and red varieties because they are more nutritious than white grapefruits.

Kale may help prevent breast and lung cancer. It also helps prevent age-related macular degeneration of the eyes and aids in fundamental processes of cell circulation and respiration. Kale is also rich in folate, iron, zinc, potassium, and magnesium. Few vegetables compare to kale when it comes to its nutritional beauty.

  • Preparation Tips- Juice kale with other green vegetables and herbs (such as celery, Swiss chard, collard greens, romaine lettuce, cucumber, parsley, beet tops, etc.) and add some carrot and apple for sweetener. On an empty stomach, this superior fresh-juice tonic will revitalize your cells and body in minutes.

Kelp is a stellar, nutrient-dense sea vegetable. It is also known as Laminaria and contains a natural substance that enhances flavor and tenderizes. Kelp works as a blood purifier, relieves arthritis stiffness, and promotes adrenal, pituitary and thyroid health. Its natural iodine may help normalize thyroid-related disorders, like overweight, and lymph system congestion. It may also help eliminate herpes outbreaks.

  • Preparation Tips- Next time you want a seasoning, instead of salt, reach for kelp granules. I enjoy them plain and mixed with cayenne or garlic (available at health food stores).

Lemon is an alkalizer for the body. Of all the citrus fruits, lemon is the most potent detoxifier. It kills some types of intestinal parasites, such as roundworms, and dissolves gallstones. Limonene, the volatile oil responsible for the distinctive lemon aroma, helps treat some forms of cancer such as breast cancer. If taken in the morning, lemon juice is known to improve liver function and has been used to help eliminate kidney stones. Lemons also help relieve colds, coughs, and sore throats. Too much lemon juice, however, if left on the teeth, can erode tooth enamel so rinse out your mouth with pure water or brush your teeth after consuming lemon juice.

  • Preparation Tips- When a recipe calls for fresh lemon zest, which is the grated outer peel, make sure it's from an organic lemon or else it might have been waxed or sprayed with chemicals.

Mushrooms help boost the immune system. Mushrooms are low in calories and rich in minerals. Shiitake mushrooms may help fight cancer, infections, and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Shiitakes boost the function of tumor-fighting interleukin-1 and cancer cell killers known as T lymphocytes. They may also lower cholesterol and blood pressure and are an over-all rejuvenation and anti-aging food. White mushrooms and portobellos are a good source of selenium, which may help prevent prostate cancer, and slow an enzyme used in the production of estrogen, which may promote cancer in postmenopausal women.

Parsley detoxifies and rejuvenates the body. Nibble on a few leaves when you want your breath to be sweeter. Parsley is our best source of the volatile oil apiol, which improves appetite and digestion by increasing blood circulation to the digestive track thereby enhancing absorption of nutrients. It helps prevent kidney stones and various urinary tract ailments and is effective in slowing the aging process, reducing depression, lowering cholesterol, strengthening the kidneys, and detoxifying the cells.

  • Preparation Tips- Include parsley when you make fresh juices or chop it and add it to grains, salads, soups, sandwiches, and whole grain pasta dishes.

Tomatoes are an internal sunblock. It's an important part of the antioxidant defense network in the skin and, in combination with other nutrients, can raise the sun protection factor (SPF) of the skin. Eat tomatoes to enhance your skin's ability to withstand the assault from the damaging rays of the sun. According to a review published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1999, study results were strongest for prostate, lung, and stomach cancer, although there's some evidence that tomatoes protect against breast, ovarian, and other cancers too.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Quotes - Pure, clear rmind, Peace & Happiness


Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes, You must not be attached to the coming or the going. ~Zen Master Seung Sahn

If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion. ~Lin-Chi

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act wih an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. ... Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable. ~Buddha

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photos by Andrew Kime

Monday, June 18, 2007

Cranberry Scones


Wow! This is exciting..this is the first picture taken with my new camera uploaded onto my blog. These are the cranberry scones that I made at work on Saturday.. 2 variations.. the ones on the right have carrot pulp in them ..but i actually preferred the ones on the left.

Mi-san is trying to stay all or primarily raw.. but I noticed one downfall is the muffins that they bring into work sometimes. I remembered making these scones a long time ago & how good they were and was thinking they may be a good alternative. The recipe is adapted from a Boutenko recipe but I keep changing it.. that's the fun with recipes. Not to mention that I want to try other variations.. orange/walnut, cacao/goji, blueberry/banana, strawberry/pecan, mango/macadamia...

This is basically& roughly the recipe I used- it will still undergo some modifications, like chopping up the cranberries, there were too many & they were too sour kept whole.. but all in all these are delicious.. & I have eaten lots of them in the past few days!

Cranberry Scones

2 c almonds- soaked, then rinsed,drained and processed(ground)
2 c flax seeds - ground
2 c apples - processed(pureed)
2 c raisins
1 c pineapple - chopped
1 c cranberries (orig recipe, pic above, had 2 cups) - pulse chopped in processor
1 c juice or water - opt, if needed to mix easily
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c honey
dash salt

Mix all ingredients together.. drop by large spoonfulls onto teflex sheet and dehydrate at 115 degrees for a few hours, remove from teflex onto mesh screen and continue dehydrating for another 4-6 hours.. will still be experimenting with various times.. but I think this is a good general guideline.
Enjoy!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day, Gassho- Respect & Gratitude

This is my first Father's Day without my Dad here on the material plane with me. I am dealing quite well with his death.. I am not sad. In fact, this may sound strange but I almost feel closer to him. It is an honour to be his daughter..I know he is happy and close to me. I wish a special Happy Father's Day to my Dad, and especially to my husband- who is also a great Dad. .. and to all the fathers and even to all the men out there for their father potential and for caring and nurturing and loving all of us, all of us women and children. ~Gassho~

"People often ask me how Buddhists answer the question: "Does God exist?"

The other day I was walking along the river. The wind was blowing. Suddenly I though, Oh! the air really exists. We know that the air is there, but unless the wind blows against our face, we are not aware of it. Here in the wind I was suddenly aware, yes, it's really there.

And the sun too. I was suddenly aware of the sun, shining through the bare trees. Its warmth, its brightness, and all this completely free, completely gratuitous. Simply there for us to enjoy.

And without my knowing it, completely spontaneously, my two hands came together, and I realized that I was making a gassho.* And it occurred to me that this is all that matters: that we can bow. Just that. Just that."

~Eido Tai Shimano, Zen Master, quoted in A Listening Heart: The Art of Contemplative Living, by David Steindl-Rast, p. 83

* A gassho is the gesture of raising the hands palm to palm to indicate respect, gratitude, humility, or all three.

Friday, June 15, 2007

The Sprout Farm, long flights, Chia and the best breakfast ever, again


I just got sent this picture of the sprout farm, the production room in back where I work at Toronto Sprouts. Justin is at the front packing.. and Simon is way back kind of hidden, on the phone. As an aside, it was sad yesterday, there were tears.. it was Veena's last day.. she is off to India today, moving back home, her husband is a diplomat and they have been here 4 years - she had worked at Toronto Sprouts almost that long. There are lots of changes going on at work ..but that really seems like a perpetual thing.. not sure what it is about that place, but you definitely live in the moment around there!

Mom, you finally get to see the back! I had forgotten to take her into the back when she was here last month. & Thats too bad.. because she's really into growing her own wheatgrass & sprouts at home. but, well, here it is. : )

Mom is in England right now. I tried calling but haven't spoken to her yet. I am really curious how she is doing.. staying raw there. She had her gojis and cacao & seeds, etc. all packed when I last spoke to her. It'll be interesting to hear.. she's 100% raw now, or at least has been.. she's an inspiration! - Especially living in NB, where raw is very rare!

I am eating this great snack right now that Mom & I created one morning. We were going to the health show.. waking up late & wanted to leave pronto to get down & hear a speaker (Victoria or David or Brian Clement) & I poured some chia seeds and cinnamon into a little bowl & kept dipping my banana into it.. & I made one for her.. it was like a grown up raw version of the Lik-A-Maid's (s/p?) - yk, that toxic killer kids powdered candy that comes with a candy stick which you suck on & dip into.

Chia seeds are called the runners food.

The Magic of Chia - from Menu4Life

For centuries, Native Indian Peoples in the Americas have used chia seed as a staple food. Aztec warriors of Mexico subsisted on chia seeds during their battles and hunting expeditions. Indians of the Southwest would eat as little as a teaspoon of chia seeds during a 24-hour march. Indians ran from the Colorado River to the Pacific Ocean to trade turquoise for shells, carrying only a pouch of chia seed for nourishment
.
Sustained by chia seed, the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico hunted by running their prey to exhaustion. In 1997, a 52 year old Tarahumara Indian, Cirildo Chacarito, won the Nike-sponsered 100-mile run in California.He completed this astonishing feat in a time of 19 hours, 37 minutes and three seconds. He beat a field of hundreds of competitors with more than an half- hour lead, wearing only his home-made tire tread shoes, to Nike's embarrassment.

more info on chia available at the Menu4life website.

I get my chia seeds from Nujima

But now I am off to breakfast #2, in detail here
but basically ground pumpkin seeds, pistachios & almonds - mixed with cut up strawberries & blueberries and a banana which has been mashed & mixed with a bit of water, maple syrup & cinnamon. It's so good!
& yes, you could add some chia in there.. I will go try that.
(afternote; I actually added1T of cacao & some goji berries)

I am off to a dinner theater event tonight with Mi-San, a friend of ours wrote the script & is acting in it. This should be interesting..

Have a wonderfully brilliant and sustainingly humorous, random, which is never really random, adventurous day!!! Live the moments! .. & above all Be happy! : )


Thursday, June 14, 2007

Pure consciousness, Pain and Suffering, Living Everything

Thoughts

Maybe this is all just a dream.. pure consciousness. Everything we take as physical is not really.. it's just a thought. I woke up thinking about dreams.. and how we are made in the image of God. & if we dream, then He must dream.. Maybe our day is His dream & our night is our dream.. which is still also His dream. ..Have I lost anyone yet? Think about it.

I read this yesterday & ave been thinking about it - Pain and Sickness are the result of wrong decisions we have made in our lives.

Live Everything

I want to beg you as much as you can, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. Perhaps you do carry within yourself the possibility of shaping and forming as a particularly happy and pure way of living; train yourself to it - but take whatever comes with great trust, and if only it comes out of your own will, out of some need of your innermost being, take it upon yourself and hate nothing.

By Rainer Maria Rilke from Letters to a Young Poet

pics courtesy of Andrew Kime