Unevenly

My work life balance is a little off kilter as of late.. all the staring at a screen has left me with little energy to write for the fun of it. Reminds me of the decade I spent at a desk booking bands, before I knew I wanted to cook for a living. It has me reflecting a lot. Thinking about how incredibly different and yet very much the same I am all these years later. This Anias Nin quote came to mind..

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one way, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backwards and forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells and constellations.”

Beautiful. I would love to have had breakfast with her.

Day 188: One big “I really need to go to the grocery store” smoothie.. peach, banana, kale, almond milk, flax /sesame /coconut and sunflower seed oil, walnuts, wheatgrass, alfalfa, spirulina, chlorella, moringa and nettles.

What is new and good?

It’s Monday and you know that that means.. Robert Smith is probably falling apart somewhere and here on Naked and Eggs we are doing another round of What is new and good? So let’s do it. We’ve got a new moon is rolling in. Should be a dark night and potentially emotional time. I can get into that. Also I got a slick new pan! It just showed up in the mail. My favorite pan is probably old enough to vote, if I were to guess. It felt like time to get something with less miles on it. It is so pretty. I am just in love with it. In other news.. a bunch of English scientist who are bent on mitigating the worst of human caused climate change published a new study that suggests they could drain billions of metric tons of C02 from the atmosphere AND increase nutrients in fallow fields by topping them off with basalt rock dust. Not only would this make for healthier crop lands and people, the crops themselves would be more productive. They have reason to believe it could also cut acid levels in the ocean, which are currently high enough to put our coral reefs at risk. Huzzah to these folks for trying to save us all from ourselves.

Day 187: Peaches tossed in ginger, basil and mint with yogurt, coconut granola, crunchy quinoa, chia, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

A for Effort

Focus on the effort - not the results.. that is what they say. This is a good rule of thumb when it comes to engaging with other people. It is true after all. The only thing we control is the effort we put in. The rest of it is out of our hands. We have no say over what someone else might do. How they may react or respond. I am beginning to believe that this may apply to gluten free baking as well. I feel like I’ve been showing up but something isn’t being reciprocated. I remain patient and optimistic but no longer have any expectations. That being said I have to admit it.. the zucchini bread hurt my feelings (and my jaw). So I got up this morning to give it one last go. I got the waffle iron piping hot and set out to make some “redemption waffles”… Sunday is a good day for redemption. I had to keep trying. My gluten free experiments have felt like throwing pasta at the wall and watching it hit the floor, repeatedly. For the record, I am willing to bet that gluten is what makes pasta stick to the wall in the first place. I just want to simply be okay at this. I like an alternative or progressive recipe. I want to be able to omit, replace and make substitutions in the kitchen, on the fly. I feel like I pulled it off this time! I am pretty satisfied with these here waffles. Sure I could see them being forcibly removed from a Waffle House at 2am for being nuts but that’s a right of passage. Right? I kid. That only happened to me once and it was because I played 1999 on the jukebox 12 times in a row. They were the ones who gave me all those quarters! Haters gonna hate. But anyone who gave this recipe a spin couldn’t honestly hate these waffles.

Day 186: Almond flour waffles with peanut butter, blueberries and bananas. Topped with more bananas, fresh bloobs, maple syrup and seeds. Pro tip: mix all your favorite seeds in a jar and leave it on your table with the salt and pepper to garnish everything. Get that extra nutrients in.

1 large egg (separated)
1/2 cup almond flour
2 Tbsp preferred sweetener (I used brown sugar because that’s what I had)
1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt (use sea salt of the mineral content)
2 Tbsp peanut butter (or any nut butter, peanut is what I had on hand)
1/4 unsweetened almond milk
2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 banana
1/4 cup bloobs aka blueberries

Whisk together all your dry ingredients in a big bowl.
Melt your butter (or coconut oil) and nut butter together
Slice your banana into 1/4 inch thick pieces
Whip your egg whites until stiff (do this with a hand mixer unless you are glutton for punishment)
Now it’s time to add all the wet stuff to your dry stuff together but save the egg whites for last and gently fold them in. You want the volume of the egg whites to lift the batter.

Grease your waffle iron and add 1/2 a cup of batter per waffle. Throw some banana slices and blueberries on top then close it up. I let my waffles cook a little longer so they’re crispy and the fruit gets a chance to caramelize. You can peak in on them from time to time. Takes no more than 6 or 7 minutes.

Change

Today my neighborhood is loosing one of it’s farms. Yes, luckily we are blessed with a few but.. this one has been my favorite. Eden.. that’s what they called it. And rightfully so. I walk or ride my bike there two times a week and it has been that way for years. This land fed me through quarantine. The lovely folks who tend to it donated food to a recovery center I worked with. They have been my neighbors and a beautiful part of the culture in this place I call home. Beyond feeding me this farm played a big roll in the early days of my sobriety. Like many of us who quit drinking I found I had more time for hobbies. I bought a camera. A Pentax K100, like the one I had in high school. I took with me to the farm every week for a year. I was newly waking up with sun and the farm was on the same schedule. It was constantly shifting and growing too. In a variety of big and small ways. Some overwhelmingly obvious and others like a rumor. All of it had this rhythm that I needed to reconnect with. I was so out of touch with myself. I needed sun and dirt. I needed to witness things get dug up to make room for new crops. New seasons. I needed to be reminded that everything eventually becomes compost. How the ease of the morning sun becomes relentlessly bright, wilting everything in its path before it stretches out and breaks into shadows around rush hour. The process and evolution of it all was something I had forgotten. but could relate to. In a very grounded and natural way. Bringing my camera along helped me remember that there is always another perspective. I am so grateful for these photos now. Not simply because soon that land will have yet another condo building on it.. but because they remind me how beautiful change can be despite how challenging and uncomfortable it tends to feel in the moment. I will miss the convenience and the energy if the farm but I’m comforted in knowing that they are not done. They are simply moving to a new space. I hope their new neighbors appreciate them as much as I have.

Here are some favorites from that year. I shot black white film almost exclusively at the time and I think it was because so much of me wanted the world to be simple like that. If you’d like to see more shots from the farm or if you want to see some other places I wandered around aimlessly with my camera they can be found here.

Day 185: Scrambled eggs with pesto and Parmesan.. with my attempt at a gluten free savory zucchini bread… was it the worst thing I’ve ever made? No. But It was dry enough to have me worried that I might choke to death alone in my apartment and become a statistic. So thumbs down on this experiment.

Inflammation

Work life has been hectic and somewhat stressful lately, hence the sporadic posting. There have been frustrating setbacks, a fair amount of pivoting and a lot of stink eyeing my computer. Stress is a natural part of the human experience. So is the inflammation it causes. I can accept that and I know I am not alone. The whole damn world is stressed in old, new and challenging ways. When we are experiencing higher levels of stress or more persistent/chronic stress the inflammation response hurts more than it helps. We have all heard it before, inflammation is the cause of all dis-ease. Imagine a tiny isolated forest fire. That is not such a terrible thing as can be part of a natural cleansing process with many real benefits. They do what they need to do and then burn out naturally. Now imagine several tiny not so isolated forest fires. They spread and join forces in the blink of an eye. Now you have a natural disaster instead of a serene place that many adorable and majestic creatures call home. Not ideal. Stress can lead to this very not ideal reality and generally leads to behaviors that double down on the inflammatory situation. Fire. Everywhere. We jam junk food, sweets and coffee. We lose the energy to exercise and our internal dialogue can become negative, limiting and unrealistic. This may be why so many people drink.. and I have to mention that drinking causes inflammation as well. How could it not? Booze is FLAMMABLE. We know this. But did you know that inflammation is what they find when looking at brain scans of depressed people? At first they thought the inflammation was a side effect of the depression. Researchers are now flipping this theory and starting to approach treatment differently. There are a lot of tools to keep these internal fires under control, but it takes awareness. Are we breathing? I mean deeply, truly? Are we getting enough exercise? AND of course, WHAT the hell are we eating? Your diet plays a big roll in all of this. I could remind you to eat your greens and all those omega 3’s we talked about before but lets look at herbs and spices. They can can be kept in your pantry or grown on your patio and have major benefits. Ingredients that are just laying/growing around to be added to anything and played with to switch up flavor profiles while doing a body honest good. Below are the MVP’s when it comes to fighting inflammation. Keep these things on hand and learn how to use them. Play around with them. Imagine if we played half as much as we stress..

• Turmeric

• Green tea

• Chili peppers

• Rosemary

• Sage

• Cloves

• Ginger

• Cinnamon

• Garlic

• Cayenne

Want some ideas on how to use these ingredients? I’ll post some recipes in the coming weeks but for now… Make oatmeal with golden milk instead of water or OG milk. How about you keep a jug of peppermint green tea in your fridge.. all summer long. Put a mega load of garlic in everything.. no one is really kissing much these days anyway. Add peaches and slivers of ginger to your drinking water.. or maybe rosemary with lemon and cucumbers. Sprinkle cinnamon in your coffee grounds before you brew it, that’s a favorite of mine… damn, I miss coffee.

Day 184: Kitchari Bowl from Curcuma with a Chlora Vida shot. Quinoa, mung beans seasoned with Ayurvedic spices (read: anti-inflammatory)with spinach, pickled red onion, carrots, hemp seeds, lemon, nutritional yeast and avocado. I didn’t have time to cook for myself today so I found a healthy option on my way to the office.

I love your guts

You can follow your gut. You can listen to your gut. You might remember a time you told someone you hated their guts, I know I am guilty (sorry about that).. But today I am here to tell you that I love your guts! Guts are synonymous with courage and if you have quit drinking, well, guts is what you have got. Now, it is my goal to help in repairing the damage done while you were bellied up at the bar. Alcohol can wreak havoc on your digestive tract (THIS lets you know that liquid courage is alway a bad idea). Around 70% of your immune system lives in your guts and seeing as we are going through a pandemic we can not afford to damage its home with booze. It’s time to love our own guts to arm and support our body’s natural defense system. Over the next week we will be talking about ways to get your gut back into fighting shape. Foods, fatty acids, natural anti-inflammatory agents, vitamins and supplements (if you are into that sort of thing). While breakfast here today is a real stunner (imho) the thing that makes it ultra good for me is actually not visible. The salad is dress in orange juice and Udo’s 3*6*9 Blend. It is made with organic flax, sesame, sunflower seed and coconut oil. It provides a balanced ratio of Omega Fatty Acids. I use it like I would any bright flavored olive oil. It does NOT want to be heated. So, on salads, in juices, blended into smoothies, pestos and hummus it goes. Would hummi be the way to pluralize hummus? If so I am digging that. Anyway.. Beyond Udo’s that side of avocado (that we all know costs extra) is a great source of essential fatty acids. You can also add salmon, mackerel, sardines and tuna to your diet. Chia, flax and walnuts too. And last but never least.. The Incredible Eddible Egg.. you don’t even have to eat it naked to get the benefits.

Day 183: Kale, orange, scallions, bloobs, beet kimchi with Udo’s 3*6*9. hemp hearts, chia seeds and crunchy quinoa

We’re half way there!

Alright guys, I want you all to take a second and sing the chorus of Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer with me because we are officially half way through a year of breakfasts here at Naked and Eggs! This project has been such a fun and nourishing way to make sure that I am taking care of me first. If you are someone who is prone to prioritizing others needs above your own I highly suggest you carve out some non-negotiable time in the morning just for you. Every day.. And put a egg on it! Wake up, look in the mirror and ask yourself how you feel and what you want. Going into each day knowing what you want saves time. I have also noticed that creates less space in your life for other people who do not know what they want. What a gift! So today I am feeling accomplished and I want EGGS and Bon Jovi on blast! 182 days down.. 182 day to go!

P.S. I am 100% positive that if I had not been sober this entire time I would have given up on this project long ago.. I would have woken up feeling like steaming trash and not had the energy or desire to make myself something beautiful to eat. I would have ordered a taco (outsourcing my self care) and eaten it in bed… I do not miss that.

Day 182: Cheesy egg with sautéed kale, potatoes, bell pepper, shi-shi’s (shishito peppers) scallions and tomato confit. Berries on the side.

DID YOU KNOW… Blueberries have the ability to control the release of cortisol in your body? That is the stress hormone that is produced by the adrenal gland during stressful moments. It travels to the hippocampus and unleashes an emotional response (aka potential freak out). Blueberries help in controlling this hormones impact on your mood. Keeping you calm and relaxed. So eat up!

Know your farmer..

Today is a twofer! Breakfast AND dinner! Started off nice and easy with a juice. Put a bow on the day with a bowl of ramen made by my friend Ryan Farnau who owns and operates F-Stop Farm. Shio style ramen topped off with some of his OG kimchi, local eggs and veg. I am so ridiculously lucky to live in a spot that has so many urban farms, local markets and people who care about their community in this way. It makes me feel nourished and cared for. Like there may be some hope for us humans yet. That is mostly what we talked about tonight. All the bad and beautiful shit that is going on in this world and can be done to balance it all out. Suffice to say we had a lot to talk about. He sipped his whiskey and I had my Mircalo sparkling kefir. It was a real treat to hang with the dude who grows a lot of my food. His energy is infectious, his level of self awareness is inspiring and his ramen is A++. My advice. Get to know your farmer.

Day 181:  Kale + Pineapple + Cucumber + Ginger and Coconut Water. Have you ever seen anything so green? It did the trick. Spicy, sweet and everything in between. If you have been following me for a while you know I do not advise on replacing meals with juice and or smoothies. I am a fan of chewing and fiber. They are ultra important and our bodies dig these things. BUT I had pizza last night. Which was enjoyable but left me feeling heavy and not all that hungry this morning. Sometimes juicing is the answer.. I swear I live to contradict myself.

Dinner and photo credits go to Ryan Farnau

What is new and good? V

Welcome back for the fifth edition of What is new and good?

Mercury retrograde is over! If the last three weeks have felt like a long and not so funny blooper reel you’re about to get a break. As Mercury goes direct we can all look forward to better communication, fewer misunderstandings, less technological glitchiness and generally smoother times.

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey donated $3 million to introduce universal basic income to several US cities that want to give the idea a go. It’s awesome to see someone with means give a crap about the wealth gap. High fives to Jack!

Today is Sir Patrick Stewarts 80th birthday! No, he’s not new BUT his longevity definitely falls into the category of good. He has done so much with in his career and so many awesome things with the celebrity it has brought him.

last but not least.. these Pecan flour pancakes are new and good. My best friend came upstairs for breakfast this morning and she is currently keto and I wanted to throw something together that she could enjoy without breaking her stride. We share a love for pancakes so I danced this keto friendly idea around. They were good but they could be better. I’ll play with the recipe and post it in the future.

Day 180: Pecan Flour Pancakes with yogurt, banana, blueberries, chia, pumpkin seeds, crunchy quinoa, honey and nasturtium flowers.

Overwhelmed..

Damn y’all.. Yesterday was an emotional day for me. 24 hours of reflective celebration will do that. I was caught off guard and truly overwhelmed by all the response to my one year soberversary. It had me blushing, honestly. All the comments, messages, texts, phone calls and even kind words from several people I ran into at the farmers market. It blew me away! So, thank you for your support.. for being my community.. for cheering me on. Y’all totally, 100%, completely rule. I’m am forever grateful. If you are struggling with sobriety reach out to someone. Times are strange and incredibly challenging. There’s no shame in falling off. Get back up. Fuhk shame.

I mentioned that moving forward I would be focusing more on nutrition in recovery. I will be covering more than simply what to eat. We will discuss some ways to nourish your energetic body as well. We will take a look at how WHAT we eat greatly effects our mental state. HOW we feed ourselves and the way it effects our sense of self worth and how sometimes looking into WHY we eat a certain way can help us heal our emotional wounds. So, please stick around, click subscribe and if you know someone in recovery please share this with them. Once again, I am forever and ever grateful.

Day 179: Quinoa, tomato and pepper confit, pesto-mole (recipe to follow) + 6 minute egg.

Pesto-mole:
I like this treat for people in recovery because.. It is high in Omega 3 fatty acids which help us fight anxiety and depression while reducing the frequency of mood swings. It can also combat autoimmune disease. Which, substance abuse has been implicated in many autoimmune disorders.

Pesto-Mole is simply pesto mixed with avocado so.. we gotta make pesto! We are going the classic route today but we will explore other options in the future.

You are going to need…

• ½ cup pine nuts

• 3 oz. Parmesan, grated (about ¾ cup)

• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated

• 6 cups basil leaves (about 3 bunches)

• ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• Toast nuts on a baking sheet at 350° for 5-7 minutes. You will want to toss them nuts once halfway through. Take them out when they are golden.

• Cool them down. This is important. The cheese and basil want nothing to do with your hot nuts. Things will melt and oxidize and you will be sad.

• Throw them in the food processor. Add garlic and cheese. Pulse until finely ground, 1 minute or so. Add basil. With the top on and the motor running, add your oil. Slow and steady here. You want a consistent stream so it emulsifies. Dump all the oil in at once and you will have a sloshy mess. Blend until pesto is mostly smooth, with just a few green flecks here and there, about a minute. Salt to taste.

• Now that you’ve got pesto… grab a large avocado. Pit it. Mash it up. Add 3-4 Tbsp of pesto and fold it in. Huzzah! Now you’ve got pesto-mole.

This stuff will stay happy in the fridge for a long while if you top off the finished product with a 1/4 inch of olive oil to keep it from oxidizing.

One Year Soberversary

Around the sun and back again. Today makes 365 days without a hangover. No late nights with superficial friends. No 2 am whataburger. No hangxiety or wasted days recovering from round after round of tequila shots. No staggeringly high bar tabs or forgetting my debit card at the bar. No shame. For all of its beauty out weighed the bullshit this year and I really needed it. I have gotten to reconnect with myself and feel through things I never wanted to feel. I finally learned how to truly be alone with myself without checking the exits or relying on distractions. It is funny how the older I get it is not the things I do that benefit me the most. It is the things I quit doing. Having to do less// having less to do allows me more time to just be. Giving myself that time has me feeling so creative and in turn optimistic.. despite the current circumstances of the world. Sobriety and the pandemic has finally allowed me to get what they meant by..

“You are the sky. Everything else is the weather.”

nothing is happening to us.. it’s just happening around us. How we choose to respond or engage is is up to us. When drunk (or hungover) I was prone to taking things personally.. on a professional level. It is a gift to be clear enough and open to learning how to catch myself, quit that shit and spend that energy elsewhere. Like.. on the yoga mat or in the kitchen or going to school or making art or calling my state representatives or riding my bike or improving my relationships or talking to my plants or reading books or starting a breakfast blog or befriending all the neighborhood cats or foraging for food or playing badminton or writing run on sentences… Remove the hangover and the chip on your shoulder and man, you can really make some moves.. learn some new ones too. So here is to another year. To clarity, stability, gratitude and sanity. I think I’ll celebrate with some Sweet Ritual ice cream, a long bike ride and a longer bath. “Cheers!”

Day 178: A few of my favorite things… Kale, kimchi, mango and bloobs.

Imagine..

A world where people put the same effort into voting as they do yelping… imagine a world where people could tell you the voting stats of their state representatives instead of how many yards some football player ran last season. Imagine a world where people would stand in line to vote for as long as they willingly stand in line for Franklin BBQ. Now, go make that world a reality. Do it for you and all the people who live around you. We can not afford to be apathetic. Engage. Communicate your desires for the community you live in. We‘ve all seen something. Don’t shrug off your opportunity to say something.

Day 177: Almond muffin, coconut butter and blueberries. I stopped by Fleet on my way home from voting for a little treat. Delightful. I got an iced chai too so I’m a little jazzed up. The muffin was baked by Sour Duck. I’m here to say that they make a fine muffin.

Simple Awareness

I need to take a break from the screen. I’ve been doing a lot of work on the computer lately. My eyes and guts are telling me to take a break and go outside or read a book or talk to my plants or dance it off. That’s what I am going to do. I thought about water a lot today. Have some water.. This is water.

Day 176: Sautéed kale, bell pepper and scallion with tomato confit and a poached egg. When I worked in restaurants we always removed the stems from greens. Totally bogus. Please do not do this at home. There’s a lot of fiber in there and your body is into to. Eat the stems. To soften them up and cut down on their bitterness toss them in oil and throw the stems in the pan first. Cook them over low heat before adding the softer leafy bits that cook much quicker.

..existentially punked..

During my morning meditation I had many more intrusive thoughts than usual. I was on the verge of yelling “quiet down now!” But I have never been the kind of person who shuts up on demand so.. I sat there just letting my mind run it’s mouth. It reminded me of the anxiety I used to feel when I was hungover. Yuck. Thought after thought in a wheel.. I was trying to give myself a break. Things have been stressful lately. Everything is so up in the air right now. Literally and figuratively. Day by day I feel like I have less control. Within the hour, as I was cleaning out a drawer and I came across a note I had scribbled who knows when, it read..

“The quality of your life is directly related to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with..”

WTF.. I would be lying if I said it didn’t creep me out a little. It was too on the nose. I mean, I looked over my shoulder. It felt like I was being existentially punked. I decided to steer clear of the other drawers as I was uncertain as to what other poignant truths lurked inside of them. Just as I felt my spirit sink from reading this timely message the little voice in my head said “wait a minute.. I LOVE UNCERTAINTY!” I would even go as far as to say I get off on it. Historically I have been bored nearly to death by the predictable. In fact “predictable” was once one of my favorite insults to sling around. So one of two things is happening here. Either the level of uncertainty has reached critical mass OR I have some how forgotten who The Fuhk I AM. I’m going with the latter. I can manage a perspective shift but have little control at the moment over all this external mayhem.

I am curious though.. What perspective shift would benefit you right now?

Day 175: Coconut milk yogurt with watermelon tossed in lime, mint, basil and serranos + strawberries, bloobs, crunchy quinoa, chia and nasturtium flowers.

Tea is the new wine

Last night I stayed up late playing around in the kitchen cooking up this and that while having a cup of tea. I was sipping away, pinkies out and thinking about how tea has replaced wine in my life. Instead of popping a cork I just drop a bag. They have many similarities, honestly. There’s a wide variety of tea and wine from all over the world. Both are consumed ceremoniously and will stain the hell out of your carpet. One could discuss their flavor profiles and aromas at length if you wanted to sound pretentious and or just clear a room. I’m mostly kidding about that. I have definitely been guilty of swirling my glass and spouting off fruity adjectives without anybody leaving. Finally, you can cook with either of them. We’re all familiar with how to incorporate wine into your meals. A quarter cup is for the pan and the rest is for staining your teeth and telling people how you really feel. On the other hand tea can be made into a compound butter or added to short bread cookies or batters and doughs and frostings. Oh my! It works pretty well as a rub too. You could also swap out your stock for tea and cook your grains in it. Last night I set out to make a compote out of some waning blueberries that were hiding in the back of the fridge. I added some ginger, cinnamon, lemon and jaggery then topped it off with the tea I was sipping on and set it to simmer. The results were a win. Full bodied, fruit forward, tart, spicy and just a whisper of herbs in the back. Like a note passed in class. It got a little sweeter in fridge over night. As if I had put it in time out and by breakfast it was on its best behavior. I’m happy these days to have a cabinet full of tea rather than a recycling bin full of empty wine bottles. The clean up is easier, both physically and emotionally. Tea has never made me slurry or caused a scene or woken me up with a headache (or a stranger). So yeah, tea is the new wine. Cheers!

Day 174: Overnight oats with leftover quinoa, Greek yogurt, almond butter, coconut butter and blueberry compote. Garnished with fresh blueberries and seeds. The compote was made with an Ayurvedic tea. Rooibos, peppermint, sprearmint, ginger, rose, osmanthus, hibiscus, almond, apple and rosehips.

What is new and good? IV

New AND Good? Let’s do it!

Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested and charged for conspiracy, sex crimes and perjury. Now let’s just hope she sings and takes all those creeps down with her.

103 tons of fishing nets and plastic bs was successfully removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by the Ocean Voyages Institute. It has been the largest ocean clean up effort to date. Huzzah to them! In similar news Germany banned single use plastics and styrofoam. A+

Yesterday I picked up some rad beet kimchi from F-stop Farm at the market. My kimchi collection is getting pretty rad these days.

Bonus round: I read this awesome article on Tenderly Mag all about Bats. It made me love them even more and totally brightened my day. Did you know that without bats we wouldn’t have mangoes or bananas? That would be a mega bummer. Also did you know that fruit bats are avid fans of oral sex, just like us? Go find out what else you don’t know and have a beautiful day!

Day 173: I needed something pretty this morning. Greek yogurt with mango, cherries, coconut, basil, nasturtium flowers, hemp hearts, chia and pumpkin seeeds.

T’winning

Today my breakfast and I match! I think that’s a first. That old cliche is true.. you are what you eat! In this case we are chilled, pink, nutrient dense, ready to roll and sweet enough with a shred of bitterness. Ya know, for balance. I feel like one of those people who looks like their dog. I like those people. Anyhow, back to that cliche. We really are what we eat and if we are conscious with our choices, each meal can be an act of self love. I like to remind my clients that what we eat is as important as the way we talk to ourselves. That what we put in our mouths sends our bodies a message. Each bite is information. On how to feel, how to perform, repair, turn up, tune in or turn down. It is conversation as much as it is energy conversion. It can be tit for tat or teamwork. We decide. Processed foods are highly complicated and require further processing. While whole foods get straight to the point. No guess work or deciphering to slow the body down. Clear communication is definitely an act of love in my book. Plus.. it’s hot.

Day 172: Mini Me Smoothie.. bananas, strawberries, bloobs, ginger, coconut cream, pecans, cocoa nibs and flax.

One

Today many are celebrating America’s 244th Fourth of July. It won’t be like the 243 that came before it. I feel good about that. We can skip the grilling, chilling and kidding ourselves for a year. We call it Independence Day, declaring ourselves united and free but we are better defined as divided. So many epidemics wrapped up in a pandemic and yet we haven’t managed to come together to face facts, accept each other and start fixing things around here. Maybe the time has come though. It was brought to my attention that in numerology 244 breaks down to a 1. It symbolizes the root of opportunity, confidence, power and action. 1 pushes us to look at our current circumstances and realize that we have the power to turn them into anything we wish. 1 inspires us to take control of our future. A new beginning for our society? Let it be so. Personally I am using the relative quiet of this canceled 4th of July as an opportunity to go within. To plot, plan and imagine a way toward true liberty and justice for ALL.

Day 171: Noods for breakfast. Mango, kimchi, avocado, blueberries, cilantro, lime, amino acids and leftover kelp noodles. Way better than a hot dog, if you ask me.

Kelp noodles are rad. They fit into any diet. Vegan, keto, GF, whatever. They have a crunch all their own. They’ve got some A, B and C vitamins packed in there as well as magnesium, zinc, calcium and iron. Easy to prepare (you can eat them out of the bag). They soak up all the flavors. They’re low calorie + they look cool. * they are not as nutritious as straight seaweed but they might be more fun.

Patience

Question. Is it still patience if you brag about it? Lets us see, shall we? I spent three hours, forty five minute and twenty eight seconds on the phone with unemployment today. Weeks (months actually) have passed and I’ve been unable to reach anyone. I found a little loophole today and finally broke through. Despite all the purgatory muzak I kept it together. I didn’t lose it. I didn’t snack out of boredom or get angsty or entertain dramatic thoughts of how “this is my forever…” and I quickly dismissed the image of my skeleton being evicted from the apartment with my iPhone still in hand. Honestly… the idea of my phone and I dying together is a little too dark. Even for me. While in the land of hold I discovered I was famished and pulled together some banana pancakes. As soon as I dropped them in the pan someone finally appeared on the other end of the line. Just like how it will nearly always rain after you wash your car.. and yeah I totally burned my pancakes BUT no big deal. Now I’ve got money to make more pancakes. Anyhow, I’m proud of myself for keeping cool. I guess the yoga and meditation is working. I saw today that the Chopra Center is doing a free 21 day meditation program, if you want to give it a shot. It could save you from losing it too.. and maybe from caring if you burn your pancakes.

Day 170: Banana pancakes with almond butter, flax and chia. Topped with cinnamon coconut cream, strawberries and bloobs. I usually can pass on a strawberry but these are off the charts. ‘Tis the season after all. It’s been hard not to crush them all at once.

Mistakes were made..

I did a bad thing. I liked it… but I could have very well liked NOT doing it. I had coffee. It was like calling up your ex because your memory has failed you by only recalling the good times you shared.. and not that particularly cringe worthy time that you broke up due to a fight over whether or not the moon landing happened. Can any of y’all relate to this? Anyway, one iced oat milk latte later and I am here to tell you that coffee is drugs. It is drugs! Like, I have exceeded my personal speed limit. It’s been fun. I have enjoyed the experience but it has been different flavors of chaos all day long. I think my plating exhibits that energy quite clearly. So, I’m going to go do 22 other things now, one of them being to restock my pantry with delightful coffee alternatives. Are you coffee sensitive too? Want to know what else the world has to offer you beyond that tired recommendation of green tea? Check it out:

RASA: I love it. It gives you an energy boost and it is full of adaptogens that holistically help your body resist stress. It balances your hormonal and nervous systems to help you cope and make you more resilient. Plus, it is delicious! Bad ass, right? I steep mine in almond milk with a date and a tiny hunk of ginger.. because I like sweetness and hunks.

Choffy! It’s not coffee. It’s dark chocolate. I feel like you’re probably sold already but I’m jazzed up right now and want to fully inform you. Roasted cocoa beans is a good time. It has some caffeine but there’s no crash on the other side. It’s full of free radical fighting antioxidants AND it helps your body produce serotonin. But hold on, there’s more! Studies show that the cocoa bean helps our bodies produce Follistatin, which sounds like a hair growth drug to me but is actually a protein that helps your body produce lean muscle. End scene.

Day 169: Chaos Salad with smoked salmon and pesto rice.. this was like a season of American Horror Story. No clear decisions were made. Things just happened. Kale, avocado, cucumber, lunchbox peppers, cherry tomatoes, scallions, sprouts, salmon and feta.. strawberries, bloobs and cherries on the “side”.