p.s. My Squirchy House

I just had to comeback quickly to show you where I am living today!
We're having a durian, exotic, tropical fruit party out in back today - You're invited! Theres lots of room for everyone.
(& check out my Ktec in the kitchen - it's round!! how cool is that? what fun!)

A beautiful existance, 2 raw desserts and Abraham thoughts on transitioning and foreverness

I am feeling very much like this picture this morning. So content with the transitions in life.. and feeling in the warmth and in the glow of a very rich, colourful and deep existence.

I just got a link to Cacao News in my inbox this morning..with a tiny clip I took with Fred's video, testing it out.. this clip was from the very beginning, pre-potluck.. I asked how hard it was to post onto a blog. If I knew I would have taken more footage. ..but hey, theres all the time in the Universe for that ..or something better. (nothing ever ends.)

I am posting 2 recipes that come from Michael- my new raw friend - we just met at the pot luck. They were both adapted from Matt Amsden's Rawvolution & were incredible!

The dessert pics are not attaching, saving or transferring on here - sorry. ..but trust me, they were delicious!

Coconut Fudge

Special equipment: food processor

Ingredients:

3 cups raw walnuts
½ cup carob powder
2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
5/8 cup agave nectar

Grind the walnuts in a food processor until they have a buttery consistency.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the carob powder and shredded coconut and mix well. Add the ground walnuts and the agave nectar and mix well.

Press the mixture into a glass baking dish, creating a flat, even layer approximately ¾ inch thick. Cover and freeze until chilled. Cut into squares and serve.

Apple Cookies

Special equipment: food processor, dehydrator

Ingredients:

2 pounds red apples, cored & peeled (5 to 6 apples, such as Fuji or Gala), I prefer Royal Gala.
1 cup agave nectar
1 ¾ cups almonds, ground in a food processor
1 ¼ cups raisins
¼ cup cinnamon
shredded coconut

In a food processor, grind the apples. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the agave nectar, ground walnuts, raisins, and cinnamon to the bowl, and mix well with a spatula. Add shredded coconut to taste or to attain a dryer consistency.

With your hands, press the mixture into small, round, flat cookies, and lay them on dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate at 105ºF for approximately 24 hours. * I raise the dehydrator temperature to 120º - 125ºF and they’re often done in 6 hours or so.

& some Abraham-Hicks inspiration.

"There will be someone who comes from a background of poverty who is influenced to strong wanting. And the rockets of desire will shoot, and then they will find a way to find vibrational harmony with their desire. They will get into this flow in which material things flow into their life at outrageous abundance. And they will feel brief moments of success as it comes, until they are eventually buried by the cumbersomeness of it, and then the next rocket of desire that is born is: "I'm wanting a simpler life."
Excerpted from a workshop in Portland, OR on Sunday, July 11th, 1999
All Is Well

&

Most people have a hard time delegating, or even wanting to delegate, because you have been justifying your existence through your hard work, and you equate success with struggle; you equate results with struggle. And so, you sort of wear your struggle like a badge of honor. And all of that is opposite of allowing the Well-being. The only thing that ever matters in success or achievement is your achieving the things that you want to achieve. So if you are setting standards and you're feeling uncomfortable about the standards that you've set, tweak the standards back a little bit. Ratchet it back a notch. Give yourself a break. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Lighten up. Be easier. Go slower. Take it easy. Have more fun. Love yourself more. Laugh more. Appreciate more. All is well. You can't get it wrong. You never get it done.
Excerpted from a workshop in San Antonio, TX on Saturday, April 20th, 2002
All Is Well

Raw Pot Luck at Toronto Sprouts

Last night we held the monthly raw pot luck event in the city at work- Toronto Sprouts. It had formerly been held for the past few years in a party room in Kensington Market. I liked having it at our place.we have a comfortable atmosphere, warm energy and good music there.

I realized that I have really been slipping in the camera dept. I forgot to bring mine & have to rely on, and post a few pics taken by, other people who were there. (note to self: carry camera in purse, just in case!)
1st pic was pre-party.. we were relaxing & playing with osho tarot cards.
(ps..I just got a great one- Adventure! see below : )

The table is starting to get filled - soo many great raw dishes. I don't even have a pic of the full tables!

We are writing the ingredients in the dishes. I suggested starting a blog just for the pot lucks where we post the recipes from the dishes made. Pics would be great..Marie suggested personal stories. Maybe that will happen for next month if I am a little more focused or I should say have a bit more time on my hands... (???) ..or maybe can just visualize this into existence.. I am loving this visualization bit! ..I am working on a position for myself as Chief Visionary Officer ..& Rawketscientist, I really like that. (hey, we can have several titles - why not?)
..but yes, Raw recipes and Pot-Luck blog coming soon. Maybe something interactive - Toronto could use that..I am surprised we don't have one already! ..but, never too late.

Mmmm.. dragonfruit!

Jan cutting her most amazing raw cheezecake- it was incredible. I will be posting the recipe for this & several other favorite dishes from the pot luck soon. That's Mi-San with the bowl what we are not seeing here is all the other amazing deserts on a table in front of them. Raw desserts are the best & there were lots of them!

Mmmm.. the cheezecake!- it was even better than it looks - raw rivals the cooked dairy version anyday! ..ask anyone who has experienced both! & you can eat lots & feel amazing afterwards.


ok, it's that Osho time of the day again!

#38 - Adventure

Zen says truth has nothing to do with authority, truth has nothing to do with tradition, truth has nothing to do with the past - truth is a radical, personal realization. You have to come to it.

Knowledge is certain; the search for personal knowing is very, very hazardous. Nobody can guarantee it. If you ask me if I can guarantee anything, I say I cannot guarantee you anything. I can only guarantee danger, that much is certain. I can only guarantee you a long adventure with every possibility of going astray and never reaching the goal. But one thing is certain: the very search will help you to grow.

I can guarantee only growth. Danger will be there, sacrifice will be there; you will be moving every day into the unknown, into the uncharted, and there will be no map to follow, no guide to follow. Yes, there are millions of dangers and you can go astray and you can get lost, but that is the only way one grows.

Insecurity is the only way to grow, to face danger is the only way to grow, to accept the challenge of the unknown is the only way to grow.

Osho Dang Dang Doko Dang Chapter 7

& much thanks to Michael and Garry for the pics!

Happy Diwali, celebrating light and color, godesses and fascinating foods

Yesterday was an wonderful day. It was my son, Dylan's, commencement (high school graduation) . That was really meaningful. & it's so different to see him in a suit! It was amazing to see some of the kids which I had known so well up until they went off to high school. & then I went off to art school & then to work and missed seeing many of them as much. It was really so great seeing them again. Great night!

We celebrated Diwali (Like an Indian Christmas - Hindu Festival of Lights) at work yesterday.

Reema brought in some traditional foods and I was thinking how it would be interesting to convert them to raw dishes. maybe a little difficult but it could be done.. almost any flavor can be translated into a raw recipe.

she served: Panchatran- tiny julienne chips with raisins and nuts
Rasgulla - white round balls of -1 person said cheese, another said pastry - in a sweet rose water. I didn't taste this one because I heard cheese first or I would have tasted it.
& Soan Papdi - ginger slices in very sweet cotton candy-like cubes.

& I got to be Bachaba - some exotic goddess of something... and the (most amazing) cousin of Cleopatra!!

I heard stories from a ginger farmer in Australia about how ginger grows and is harvested- quite amazing! It grows all clumped together very tightly 8-10 inches under the ground.. a machine comes and lifts up the huge clumps and then it is cut into huge cubes which get transported. Then someone sits and breaks apart all the pieces which are all grown in tight to each other ..he gave a great visual description.


And I heard about cashews and how they were picked and opened and eaten as a friend of mine used to do, when he was a young boy in Jamaica. The fruit of the cashew is edible, kind of like a banana.. & kind of like a mango, but not nearly as good tasting or as sweet as either.. The cashew nut has a sticky part in it between the shell and the nut.. he thinks that when you roast the outside part to open it it wouldn't cook the inside part. He said they would kind of pop like popcorn when they roasted them over the fire. ..I think I really need to see this whole procedure for myself! But great visual stories again!!

So Happy Belated Diwali - But maybe we need to reincarnate this tradition into our lives again -light and colors should be celebrated everyday, sweets exchanged as gifts, candles lit -I'm all for that! - let's celebrate again- and all the time! so.. Happy Diwali again!

Becoming Younger - Mark's diet and recipes

I am reading some older notes I have on file and I came across a file I saved from the Becoming Younger e-group moderator Mark Jackson who posts regularly to it. Mark is very knowledgeable about nutrition and herbs, which I love reading up on.

The post I saved describes his daily diet - He eats quite differently than I do - he eats more grains and takes more supplements. But I found this quite interesting.

Mark Jackson <thesportsguru47@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hello dear friends who want to become younger,

I have often been asked what my diet consists of and what herbs
I take, so here it is....

Herbs and amino acids

L-Glutamine 1000 mgs
L-ornithine 500 mgs
L-arginine 500 mgs
L- thyrosine 500 mgs
L- lysine 250 mgs

Siberian ginseng 1275 mgs
milk thistle 800 mgs
saw palmetto 1000 mgs
phygeum 500 mgs
longjack/tongkat ali 500 mgs
tribelus terrestris 500mgs
red panax ginseng 1000 mgs
kelp heaping tablespoon
maca 2000 mgs approximately

My diet consists of alot of grains, nuts and seeds, and leafy green
vegetables and fruits. Breakfast is usually some soaked oats or other
grain, with a tablespoon of flax seeds on top. with fruit and almond
milk or some other nut milk. Lunch, when I am home usually is a
sandwich, which I make with dehydrated bread, tomatoes, avocados,
sprouts etc. When I am traveling it is generally a salad. I always
have my trail mix with me, so I eat at least a cup of seeds and nuts
daily. I always a raw food bar with me such as a lara bar or other
bar. My favorites are a raw revolution bar actually. I make a lot of
my own as well, which recipes I have posted in the file section as
well.I also always carry with me my Trail mix which consists of
walnuts, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, brazil
nuts, raisins, goji berries, dried cherries, pineapple, dates. I
snack on dried mangos and papayas throughout the day. Dinner is
usually some raw dish. I love pesto sauce over soaked grains. I use
a lot of the recipes I have in the file section, and others, which I
need to post. I will eat something sweet, and I have those posted in
the file section. During the day I almost always have a 20 ounce
glass of either Orange Juice or Grapefruit juice, and a large fresh
squeezed glass of carrot juice sometimes mixed with parsley and/or
spinach.

I forgot to add that I also take a heaping tablespoon of bee pollen daily. That is important! I also make my own raw cookies, which recipe I have posted in the files section, which I eat a lot.


I don't see a recipe for the raw cookies, but here are a few recipes from his file section:

BANANA SURPRISES

Ingredients
1/2 cup dates
1 cup nuts( walnuts, pecans)
1/2 cup raisins
Bananas


Pit dates, grind together dates, nuts, and raisin, or you can hand chop
the nuts and add them to the dates and raisins, that are already ground. A
food processor works good for this. Cut your bananas in half lengthwise, then
cut each piece into two inch pieces. Take the mixture and shape some onto the
flat part of each banana piece. IF you like you can then roll them in sesame
seeds, or ground nuts, or peanuts. They are delicious!!!

Sunflower Salsa Dip

Sunflower seeds ground up

Salsa

s&p and some lemon juice

Eddie’s Almond Yumm

3Cups  raw organic almonds soaked in water 8-12 hours

3-5 cloves of garlic

2 lemons juiced

1 cup organic tahini

1/4 cup Liquid aminos or Nama Shoyu

Place all ingredients in a good processor and puree until smooth.

This pate goes good with all veggies as a dip, or  on crackers.

Eggplant Parmesan

1 eggplant

olive oil

salt and pepper

tomatoes

italian spices(garlic,basil,oregano, thyme,rosemary)

Peel and cut eggplant into 1/2 inch wafers. Coat with Olive oil

and place in dehydrator. Now puree tomatoes and mix with spices.

Spices should preferrably be fresh. Now place a spoonful on each

eggplant circle and dehydrate until dry, about 2 days. 

Energy Bars

These are so delicious and so easy to make!! You will need
sunflower seeds, coconut, tahini(ground sesame seeds), Almond
butter, dates and Real maple syrup!!

I make these often, and all you need to do is combine the 

above ingredients in the quantities that you like. I would

suggest about a cup of each, and a half a cup of maple syrup.If

you like yours a little sweeter, you can add some honey in addition

to the maple syrup.Experiment and see what and how you like it. That

is the beauty of raw cooking. You combine the ingredients, and press

into a pan about 1 inch thick, and place in the refrigerator until

it is set, about 4 hours.I hope you enjoy

Gazpacho

Ingredients

10 to 12 tomatoes

1 dry onion

1 cucumber

1 bunch of green onions

1 jalapeno, or yellow chili

salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves of garlic

One of the things I love about cooking,
is that there are so many ways to make
something taste just a little different.
Gazpacho is a lot like salsa,and you can
vary the spices depending upon your taste
r mood. Chop all of the ingredients together
in a bowl, and salt and pepper and chill!!
Serve Cold

KILLER SALSA!!

 Ingredients

 8-10 medium to large organic tomatoes

 Two Jalapeno chilies

 One medium to large brown onion

 Half a red onion

 6-8 cloves of Garlic

 One bunch of cilantro

 Juice of two to three lemons or limes

 Sea Salt to taste

This Salsa is easy and quick to make, and to me tastes really good.
Quarter two tomatoes, and put in a food processor, add the chiles,
and garlic and about 1/4 of the cilantro. By doing this the
tomatoes seem to soak up more of the taste of the garlic
and cilantro, especially if it sits a couple of days.
Whip to a liquid, now pour into a large bowl and dice
the  rest of the tomates. I use a food chopper,
because it makes them different sizes, and I like the
way it looks. I simply slice each tomatoe into about
four large slices, and then insert each slice into
the chopper, and WHACK it about 6 times!!!
Now dice the onions and add them. The red onion seems
to give it a little sweetness which I like, but if you
on't simply leave that out, and then cut up the cilantro
and add that. Do not add too much of the stems of the cilantro,
or you probably will not like it. Now juice the lemons and add
according to taste, I suggest adding one, and then tasting and
adding slowly until you like it. I like lots of garlic,
and acidity, so I add lots, but everybody’s tastes are different.
Now season with the salt to taste, and VOILA!!! 

Visionary thinking

Wow! The busiest morning ever.. drove Kaiya to volleyball practice.. & you should have seen the temporary mess I created in the kitchen ..but its almost all cleaned up now - superfood square experimentation- fun! I am so into these, we finished the last batch at work yesterday and I need more (es muy necesario) and tonight we have April Star giving an Alissa Cohen raw workshop at work.. I will be getting home late so I have to make them now!
(Ok,I am ready to admit it, I AM a raw chocolate addict- it may have happened when I changed my middle name to Cacao - changing middle names is serious business.)


& now because I didn't leave much time..heres my 1 main thought for the day:

Right now just assuming that a female energy is moving in, changing the planetary energy, and because of this we can create solely by thinking things.. & I mean that it doesn't even have to be balanced by male action energy.. things will just be done by thought. ..money doesn't matter any more, social position, etc ..you can be who you want, go anywhere you want to go, do what you want.. then what are you going to do?
This is usually the biggest problem...deciding what it is we want to do -coming up with the vision.

Just something I've been thinking about lately.

Juice feasting - benefits and supplements

I have had the Juice Feasting website come to my attention a number of times recently and lately I have really had the urge to get into juicing more. So, this morning my intention is to get up a bit earlier(done), write a bit less and make a huge container of juice to bring with me to work. For now, I am just going to incorporate it into my diet.

Actually right now, while I type I am drinking a huge green smoothie (purple actually), made with: red chard, sunflower sprouts, spinach, banana, pineapple, pears and blueberries.
..& just in case anyone out there is reading this who hasn't tried one of these amazing drinks they taste fresh and fruity.. you don't taste the greens- really quite amazing.
..& they are one of the best ways to get to like the taste of green leafy veg's, it usually doesn't take long before the green content ratio goes up.


Juicing is one of the most amazing things you can do for your body. If you are not raw, it is one of the fastest ways to get the raw benefits. If you are raw, it is still cleansing and soo full of life force energy that you will radiate even brighter.

(ps- I just noticed that the list of raw benefits is only available at my flash site, not html- just click above)






One of my favorite pages from the Juice feasting website was the one on supplements and superfoods.
It's interesting the variety of supplements available to us. It can be confusing to know where to draw the line. Some supplements are pharmaceuticalized - so processed and so removed from nature ..and being taken to mask a healthy diet. Nothing made in a factory is going to replace an apple from the tree. Nothing - can't be done!

However if we are talking supplements like bee pollen, goji berries, blue-green algae, cacao, wild herbs etc.. well, these are straight from nature and a whole other entity of supplements from the factory.

But this is a huge topic..and I have juice to make!

Have a wonderful,wonderful, bright and juicy day!

Along these lines..

Raw Activity with Black Holes and Leaves of Grass

I was just in the kitchen, washing and chopping fruits and vegetables, kitchen appliances out and all over the counter.. Kaiya comes in & says what are you listening to, what are you doing? "Oh,I am just learning Spanish, making some food (Mock Tuna & Mayo - recipe section from website) then going to write a blog, researching black holes, reading poetry ..laundry, cleaning (you know, the usual) before I head off to work.

I am so glad I am raw! ..but I have 15 min to write this blog before I head out. ..Here goes! :


When any mass, such as a star, becomes more compact than a certain limit, its own gravity becomes so strong that the object collapses to a singular point called a black hole.

A black hole has so few properties that it is completely described by only two numbers: its mass and its spin. Astronomers have been successful in measuring the mass of about 30 black holes, but the second fundamental property has been much more elusive.

They have just started to be able to calculate the spins of black holes. According to theory, it can have a maximum spin rate of 1,150 times per second.

There is a blackhole called the GRS 1915+105 which lies in our galaxy, in the Milky Way, 35,000 light years from Earth. Astronomers measurements indicate that the hole is spinning between 950 and 1,150 times per second - very close to the maximum.

I was just reading about this black hole - and because it is spinning at close to maximum theoretical speed, this close to our solar system, it has far-reaching implications for high-energy events in our universe.

Just another interesting observation.. but high-energy events and transformation is inevitable whether we know about blackholes, aliens, space or anything.. this is all just fun, just keeping open. :)


Poem from Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

23 - We two—how long we were fool’d!

We two—how long we were fool’d!
Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes;
We are Nature—long have we been absent, but now we return;
We become plants, leaves, foliage, roots, bark;
We are bedded in the ground—we are rocks;	5
We are oaks—we grow in the openings side by side;
We browse—we are two among the wild herds, spontaneous as any;
We are two fishes swimming in the sea together;
We are what the locust blossoms are—we drop scent around the lanes, mornings and evenings;
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals;	10
We are two predatory hawks—we soar above, and look down;
We are two resplendent suns—we it is who balance ourselves, orbic and stellar—we are as two comets;
We prowl fang’d and four-footed in the woods—we spring on prey;
We are two clouds, forenoons and afternoons, driving overhead;
We are seas mingling—we are two of those cheerful waves, rolling over each other, and interwetting each other;	15
We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious:
We are snow, rain, cold, darkness—we are each product and influence of the globe;
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again—we two have;
We have voided all but freedom, and all but our own joy.

Tiene un día maravilloso!!! ~Besos y Abrazos~

Vegetarian post - good karma, consciousness, Earthsave, Animalsave, benefits, quotes, friendship

I was at work a few days ago and a conversation was struck up with me about my eating habits. The man who owns the building asked me teasingly if I wanted a steak.. then he asked if I have ever had a steak. I said "yes, ..quiet awhile ago, but yes, I used to eat meat." I didn't really think about it at the time. I just ate what most people ate, what I was brought up on. I didn't really think too much about it. It occurred to me after..and after talking to a few other vegetarians about it that I didn't really 'get' the whole meaning and benefits of being a vegetarian until after I had already become one. To be honest I became a vegetarian because I went raw..I really felt & believed in eating raw (how could I not - it's phenomenal!) and then after I had stopped eating meat, for more selfish reasons, I realized that I was eating animals.

You would think if you eat meat you realize that you are eating animals..but I am convinced that most people do not really realize, are not really conscious of what they are doing. It's just so 2nd nature, normal, accepted and more than that - expected almost, we are so brain-washed that this is the right and best way to live.. that we do not really think about the lives we are taking.. or give much or any thought to the animal who gives their life for our next meal.

I'm only saying this because thats the way it was for me. I just didn't think about it & I was happy not thinking about it.. until I stopped and then I thought about it... and I am so thankful that I gained that awareness. It is a huge blessing in life to be a vegetarian - very good karma!!

& also you (from Earthsave article here):

• save massive amounts of water -3000 - 5000 gallons of water for every pound of beef you avoid.
• avoid polluting our streams and rivers better than any other single recycling effort you do.
• avoid the destruction of topsoil.
• avoid the destruction of tropical forest.
  
• avoid the destruction of carbon dioxide. (Your average car produces 3K/day of CO2. To clear rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger produces 75K ofCO2. Eating one pound of hamburger does the same damage as driving your car for more than 3 weeks.)
• reduce the amount of methane gas produced
• reduce the destruction of wildlife habitat, and
• help to save endangered species.

Thats a pretty good days work, for just what you don't put in your mouth.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel Prize 1921

for lots of other great quotes from Einstein, Lincoln, Tolstoy, Emerson, Thoreau, Da Vinci, Pythagoras, Rolland, Shaw, Gandhi, Twain, Edison etc.. on vegetarianism and its benefits, go here.

"I don't eat animals. They are my friends!" ~Keiko - thats my quote!

Have a beautiful, good karma day full of friendship and love!
Love animals - they love you!

Lost and Found - tranquil and eternal

I was created as the thing I seek. I am the goal the world is searching for.

A Course In Miracles

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the most beautiful jewels of wisdom.

James Allen

Sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddahood. By their very seeking they lose it... if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, The Buddha will appear before them..

Huang Po. Zen Teachings.

YOU are the Source of well being flowing through numberless troubled lives, the water from your spiritual stream always pure, as it was in the beginning. You are the Source of peace, solidity and inner freedom. You are The Buddha, the Tathagata. With my one pointed mind I vow to nourish your solidity and freedom in myself so I can offer solidity and freedom to countless others, now and forever.

So let it be known that we are an eternal river.

Nothing stops it.

Thich Nhat Hanh.

painting-Illumination of a Buddah by Ting Shao Kuang
TNH quote from the SuccessUltraNow newsletter (Aug 5)

Awareness of our Planet .. of ourselves - Tippi

Our Planet

There is no up, no down.
In case we temporarily forget, it's actually a sphere floating in space.

Take another look.

Who are we?

Where are we?

What are we connected to?

What are we doing?

Where are we going?

What are we going to do?

Tippi - Bridging the gap to Africa - Trailer

Raw Halloween Love

How can it be that I have not tried physalis (gooseberries) before yesterday?
I received this very special Halloween treat delivered to work.. and they are the most amazing thing.. the perfect raw Halloween treat! I am finishing them off for breakfast, right now.

Sofia brought me a special treat also.. 'Coconut D'lights' .. she processed together coconut meat with tahini, maple syrup, cacao, gojis, and a bit of lemon rind. D'lishious!

I also did eat a lot of chocolate! Xocai (mostly raw) chocolate, Fred's most special decadent dreamy truffles, hot chocolate ..and of course my beloved Chocosol treats.

I feel so overwhelmingly blessed.. My Halloween treats were soo delicious and special. They not only taste amazing but are totally healthy ... but the real beauty here with them, the real depth of their being, is that they are made and selected carefully with love.. they are more thought out.. there is a depth to them that goes even beyond the intact enzymes, high nutrient level and their natural life force energy.. there is an energy of love that comes wrapped up with each one.

Raw is Love!