Another RAW Potluck

Photo by George Mihaly

...This time at my place!

I made an all local dish (well, PA peaches were thrown in there, but they were sold at the local farm stand) that consisted of blueberries, raw corn right off of the cob, cubed peaches, a cubed tomato, chopped mint and parsley. I thought it was amazing, and no dressing or sweetener! I got the idea from a cookbook I saw in Maine, that told of blueberry and corn salsa.

Ashley brought some fresh juice, Liza and Chris a salad, along with some raw, fermented dressing they found in-store. George made nori rolls and brought another Durian which seems to have just become an event - I still don't like the taste! to go with the nori, he made a dipping sauce of almonds, garlic and salt - it tasted like ranch dressing (well, all the good parts about ranch dressing.) Claire made an incredible dessert, again - cute little raw chocolate cupcakes, with walnuts and cacao nibs. I mean incredible, like I would pay money for them, wouldn't you?



Photo by George Mihaly

This was only my second raw potluck, and I was so happy to have it at my place. I was so happy to have everyone over for anything, so I could pull the big dining room table out on the deck, and we could hang outside in the too-short summer weather.

It was also interesting to be introducing Liza and Chris into raw foods - not that they were completely new to the idea, but to show them their were recipes other than salads. George and Claire are the hard cores, so they explained a lot and we all soaked it in. Both Liza and Chris already do not eat wheat or dairy, so incorporating a lot of raw foods into their diet is an important goal for them.

Check out a few more pics, all taken by George - his blog can be found here:

Self-preservation

We all innately desire the ability to provide for ourselves, yet we rely so heavily on others for the basics to live.

Most of us don't feed ourselves, and only half of us might cook for ourselves. I don't want to get too negative, because there are certainly benefits to our modern society - more time to follow our passions and spend time with friends, and less time worrying about whether we will survive the winter. But I think the pull to be independent and feed ourselves is still a happy practice.

Everyday I feel lucky to live in Vermont (especially on summer days) because I am surrounded by thoughtful people who also work hard to achieve things they believe in. I think Vermont probably has one of the strongest local food systems in the country, but we're still losing large farms and farmers daily to financial problems.

This yer, my garden is better than ever before (I've posted some pictures in the last posts.) but truthfully I am growing for fun, maybe getting enough broccoli for a week of eating, and peas and radishes for daily salads for a couple of months. Even this small amount of food is satisfying to my core. It's not as though "I made this," but it's more like "I cooperate with the rules of nature to create something successfully."

Like any art project, you need materials to work with, and this one required seeds, dirt and sun.

My brother and his friend were visiting this weekend, and yesterday I promised a cup of coffee and a garden tour. Justin, currently living in Boston, and as far as I know who has never desired to farm or garden said under his breath a few times "I want to have a garden..."

I do not think it was the mystery of life, or the magic of watching things grow from a tiny seed into food - I think it was more of a provider's desire - the idea that with a little time and digging, we can create something that sustains and supplements life.

No Food Guilt

When was the last time you ate something in which every part of it was good for you?

Eating healthy on vacation is tough. I was in Maine last week, and I ate well, but bologna sandwiches and Bailey's I would not consider healthy. Even as I placed the stuff in my mouth I was thinking "Why am I eating this?" Tummy overrules my brain often.

I believe that the raw foodists are on to something, and if you've check out one of my lats posts, you'll notice that I'm learning more about this diet. Every meal, absolutely no food guilt. It's all good for you and necessary for your body...crazy. I'm not ready to go full on, in fact, I don't think that would make me happy. I do believe in a 40 or 50% diet, and since it's summer, it's easier to get fresh, local produce, as well as eat lighter on the whole.

George shared with he a simple recipe for raw tomato sauce - just blend a tomato or two, salt, pepper and few garlic cloves. I used it for salad dressing, but you could put it on anything. Salt is so satisfying, and garlic will give depth to anything, as well as leave you with intense breath for the rest of the day.

I picked some kale from the garden, and wilted it with lemon juice and salt. Then just threw in some sliced avocado (not local I know ahhhh!) and drizzled the tomato sauce over it. So salty, lemony and good. See the pic above.

Here's another salad I'm proud of, everything from the garden:



I had been craving a kale salad since the raw potluck a few weeks ago. Getting a bit personal here, after that meal, I had three days with amazing bowel movements. Large and clean. Alright, that's as far as I'll get into it.

I wasn't just looking for more of those, but the tart of lemon and dry bite of parsley and kale (did not have parsley on hand this time, but wish I did!) I tend to get obsessed with certain meals, eating them every day for two weeks, then wishing I would not see them again for months. I have actually yet to make the kale salad again, but I will make it (improved version) for the raw dinner we're planning for next Tuesday at my place. Anyone interested? :)

----

I have just picked up the book "Born to Run," by Chris McDougall. It's been recommended to me by quite a few people, and I'm into it. He's just so good at making what could be a short story into a long one where I want to know all the details. In short, it seems to be about a tribe if Running People who have kept themselves away from modern society by holing up in the desolately beautiful Copper Canyon of Mexico. He's so good at making them seem magical - I believe it. They're known to be the best long-distance runners in the world, who live of really nothing more than corn and corn-moonshine. They run hundred of miles at a time over the world's most dangerous terrain just because it's in their blood. I haven't run since I've started practicing yoga intensly, but it made me want to wake up early and see how far I could go! ...maybe tomorrow.

It's inspiring in other ways as well. These are not necessarily 'passionate people,' Ambitions do not drive them. They're simply loving life, and no one is telling them not to do these amazing things. The law of intention...kind of. More like just celebrating the body which frees and happifies the mind. (Yup)

Plus, they eat a lot of chia seeds...maybe I'll order some from Raw Food world and start training for the next ultra-marathon. :P

Isn't that a contradiction?

...was my brother's response when I told him I went to a raw potluck last night. Well, there was luck (pot?) and delicious food.

(Alright technology, you win. I'll bring my camera more places, and not be too good to stand behind it. )

Vermont feels like a tropical place in the summer time. Humid and lush - it's like during the 6 months of winter the trees are holding in their energy for so long that when the June rains let loose, so does this dark green intensity that has been bursting at the bark for so long.

Rawsome.

What a surfer-dude word. But whatever, I felt it in more ways than one yesterday when I was invited to a raw potluck. The few hard cores thought it was a thrill to 'pop some Durian cherries,' aka share this weird Durian fruit with a few of us who have never tasted it.

Durian (human?) comes from Southeast Asia, and is a super spiny coconut-sized fruit. It gets soft enough where you can simply cut or rip it open though, and then yellow, gooey pods are produced. There are beautiful wooden seeds inside. The flesh is a bit like scrambled eggs, and tastes, well, meaty. And garlicky.

Mmm, not so much.

The aroma goes down your throat and up into your nose. I took two bites and felt a rush of energy to my head, and at first I was worried that maybe I was allergic. But all it felt like was an adrenaline rush. It is supposed to be one of the most energy-filled foods in the world, as well as a hardcore aphrodisiac. I actually did feel the rush (not down there, psssha.)

Rawsome.

Things on the menu -

Claire's amazing chocolate dessert. Must. Get. Recipe.

Taboule without the Barley + mint.

Dehydrated seed crackers with pesto.

Home-made sauer kraut.

Kale salad, with kale-leaf wrappers and delish nut cheese that tasted like cottage cheese.

Pickled beets.....and more.

More than the food, though, it's the people that are inspiring. They're trying something. Trying hard, changing their lives to do better. Better for themselves and the world. Putting energy towards good. It's so wonderful to be around that energy, and to feel like you're contributing to it!

When I'm around a group like this, I feel like these are the modern 'hippies.' In the best sense of that word. Here are the people trying to be socially and environmentally conscious, and making movements through their choices. Raw strikes me as the cutting edge of modernity, yet still upholding the right side of idealism. Phew. Big mouthfuls and explanations.

----------------

Anyway, here is what I brought to share:

Summer Green Bean Salad

1 Pound green beans
1/4 red onion
1 red and 1 yellow pepper
1 c chopped raw almonds
Tblspoon of Raw honey
Juice of one grapefruit
Fresh oregano (parsley or mint would be great)
Olive oil
a bit of salt (probably not needed)

Chop it up, put it all together ;) Easy.

-------------

It was a group of young an old, all inspired, welcoming and thankful.

Lit Crit

Who actually enjoys reading literary criticism?

Reading it usually gives me the same headache as watching Judge Judy. I feel like if some kind of art is bad, it should just be allowed to wither to the wayside. If for some reason it gains a following, it won't taint art, the rest of us will still know it's crap.

I'm putting this out there because it is a required supplement to my application to a creative writing program.

Even when I was editor for the Deli Magazine, we did not want to write negative things. We simply ignored them, and highlighted the positive. It's what the Deli is still doing.

I do not want to be a critic, I want to create. I suppose to create, most of us have to be critics of our own work - so this essay's use must be to prove that we are capable of this way of thinking. As humans, though, we constantly judge to stay alive. It's in our nature. It's a true and tough practice to get away from this.

Should I just write my essay, or some how be snarky and fit this perspective into it?

Local is good, raw is...enlightening?

A couple of my yoga friends, Kyle and George, have been exploring and glorifying in the raw food world. Kyle has been completely raw after an intense switch two years ago, and George has been re-writing the (new) book himself since about January this year.

I have seen some amazing documentaries about the power of raw food - and I believe every bit. I have never doubted int he power of good food, but if you have read some of my past posts, I have explored what 'good' really means. To mean 'good' can sometimes be comfort food, if filled with love and eaten sparingly (if bad for you, I believe every meal should be home cooked, whether in my kitchen or someone elses.) Just in the past couple of weeks, I have really been listening and tasting some of these exotic ingredients. I have yet to add much to my regular diet, besides cacao powder...mmm.

Did you notice the key word in the last paragraph? Exotic. First of all, speaking of some of these supplements uses drug dealing terminology. "Oh! Can you get my some of that? I don't need much, just about $20 worth to try." But that's not the biggie - after my 9 months of exploring local foods and glorifying the healing aspect it's bringing to our community, words like MSM, Maca Root, Deer Antler extract and phyto-plankton strikes me as exactly the opposite of what I am aiming for.

Last night, after watching two youtube videos Kyle posted on Colostrum and this Deer Antler Extract (which I definitely tried last weekend, more on that), I realized that I had been keeping this from my blog, which is all about being Aware of what we/I am eating. What is happening in health food, fads, or even modern breakthroughs, which eating Raw seems to be. Being and awarenivore means seeking, and taking it all in, and using discernment to make the best choices for our own bodies, community and kitchen.

A lot of the localvore diet seems glorify moving closer to our previous agrarian society, which sometimes I take to mean moving away from technology, even backwards towards some idyllic past. Maybe this is just me. Maybe this is also because we seem to equate technology with industry and largeness.

"From our ignorant identification with our ego and its mortality arises man's creativity and his destructiveness, the glory of culture, the horror of his history." - B.K.S. Iyengar

Humans have the ability to create great things, but those things would be greater if the right motivation was behind them. And here is where intelligence comes in. Blind devotion is not intelligence. We were given the ability to use discernment. Discernment is different than judgment. And before I go off into outer space, let's get back to earth and what comes out of it, food.

More on this later tonight...

Making Chili in June, among other things

Another chili story...at least I think there's one down there already...

I am opening a Woodchuck's 802 - yeah, I guess it's past 5 p.m., but I can't decide if this weekend was productive enough for me to be drinking. I suffer from some kind of mania that's guilt driven. I'm also actually thanking the loud music right below my office for scattering my thoughts a bit. Rainy Sundays tend to bring about a lot of thinking, but not so much doing. I did cut Jamie's hair today...and now this officially a diary entry, not so much an 'essay.'

I am glad for the coherent and somewhat organized thoughts about my grad school application that have come back with conviction today. I'm sure this is also thanks to Robynne being back in town, one of the two friends who have recently become Masters in something. :) It's inspiring in a few ways.

I did start a new writing project this week, and I am also in the midst of two books at the same time, both non-fiction.

I am also in the midst of making chili on this rainy, cool June Sunday. I picked the first bounty from our garden this week - though none of it will be going in the chili. We had salads yesterday with the homemade pizza - radishes (see above), spinach and red lettuce, and ate the leftovers again this morning alongside hard-boiled eggs. It is already truthfully supplementing our groceries - perfect timing, because we're both attempting to lay low this summer financially. Umm, until I buy a new (needed) vehicle soon.

Recipe (changes a bit every time):

1 lb Applecheek ground beef
3 cups(?) of a bean assortment, this time simply chickpeas and kidney beans (dried/soaked)
1 onion
1 carrot
2 sml cans of crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp of tomato paste
garlic
salt
red pepper flakes
cayenne pepper
cumin
tons of chili powder
a bit of maple syrup
splash of soy sauce (meaty flavor like worcheshire)
secret first-time ingredient - 1 tbsp or so cacao powder

...and I already can't wait for the sour cream and cheddar to top it with. Umm addicted to dairy.

My good friend Katie just texted me saying that we must be food-psychic, because she's making chili, too. Must be the weather.