Cocoa Berries and Coming Out in Hollywood
I invented a delicious dessert! And it's reaaaally easy. But we'll get to that in a second after two days of food diaries.
Yesterday I went to a panel at the DGA as part of Outfest called Coming Out in Hollywood. The panel featured three actors, including Meredith Baxter and Jonathan Slavin, who played Phil on Better off Ted (if you have not seen B.O.T. - DO IT NOW. Lem and Phil are my favies), a publicist who helps celebrities come out of the closet publicly, and a TV writer. It was very interesting to hear about the ramifications of coming out and how many actors are still closeted for fear of what it will do to their career. But Phil (sorry, can I just call him Phil? I feel awkward calling him Jonathan like we're friends, and calling him Slavin would be like I was writing for a newspaper) said that people really need to think about what's important in life - losing some acting jobs versus being able to be open and honest about who you are. I totally agree with that - it's too soul-crushing to deny who you really are. And the idea that gay men can't convincingly play straight men is ridiculous. This idea persists that straight men can play gay (see Philadelphia, Brokeback Mountain, Six Feet Under, and on and on), but gay men can't play straight. What?! Gay men play straight all the time - it's called being in the closet. And besides that, go check out Neil Patrick Harris' work on How I Met Your Mother or in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (you should watch that just because it's funny. And don't worry, Kal Penn was actually eating veggie burgers). He plays a total womanizer and it's completely believable.
Anyhoo, I have been eating a lot of salad.
Yesterday I ate:
Breakfast: Spinach and arugula salad with homemade Rawmesan and peach salsa, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
Lunch: More spinach salad
Dinner: More spinach salad (I know! I'm sorry!), Cocoa Berries (stupidly simple recipe to follow)
Today:
Breakfast: Spinach salad w/ homemade Rawmesan and pineapple salsa
Lunch: Spinach salad
Snack: about 1/2 cup marinated mushrooms
Dinner: A little more spinach salad, about 1.5 cups slightly steamed broccoli with BBQ sauce and ketchup, sugar snap peas and raw red pepper slices, Cocoa Berries
I know broccoli with ketchup and BBQ probably sounds weird, but it's good. And mixing ketchup and BBQ sauce together is good because BBQ has twice the calories of ketchup but if you mix them together it all tastes like BBQ.
Also, I have an UPDATE on the Homemade Rawmesan. I made a little more today and simplified the recipe even further! I soaked some walnuts all day, rinsed and drained them, and then chopped them up into little bits with my slap chopper. Then I added the tons of nooch and Italian Seasoning and a little Bragg's. Ta da! So you can use soaked nuts without dehydrating them, and you don't even need to use your food processor.
All right, onto today's delectable dessert.
Cocoa Berries
Frozen blueberries or other berries
Cocoa powder
Molasses and/or agave (optional)
Thaw your berries in a bowl on the counter for as long as you want - eat them frozen or wait an hour for thawed berries. Add a spoonful of cocoa powder and an optional drizzle of agave and/or molasses. Mix up a lot. You only really need the sweetener if your berries are really tart. As long as you let your berries melt a little bit, they'll be wet enough for the cocoa powder to stick on.
Yesterday's blackberries
Right after putting cocoa powder on blueberries.
After some mixin'.
Sorry, I really wish these pictures looked better but there's no way to make them look beautiful. But they taste really, really good. And for an entirely Raw dessert, use raw cocoa powder. Can you say aaaantioxidaaaants!
Yesterday I went to a panel at the DGA as part of Outfest called Coming Out in Hollywood. The panel featured three actors, including Meredith Baxter and Jonathan Slavin, who played Phil on Better off Ted (if you have not seen B.O.T. - DO IT NOW. Lem and Phil are my favies), a publicist who helps celebrities come out of the closet publicly, and a TV writer. It was very interesting to hear about the ramifications of coming out and how many actors are still closeted for fear of what it will do to their career. But Phil (sorry, can I just call him Phil? I feel awkward calling him Jonathan like we're friends, and calling him Slavin would be like I was writing for a newspaper) said that people really need to think about what's important in life - losing some acting jobs versus being able to be open and honest about who you are. I totally agree with that - it's too soul-crushing to deny who you really are. And the idea that gay men can't convincingly play straight men is ridiculous. This idea persists that straight men can play gay (see Philadelphia, Brokeback Mountain, Six Feet Under, and on and on), but gay men can't play straight. What?! Gay men play straight all the time - it's called being in the closet. And besides that, go check out Neil Patrick Harris' work on How I Met Your Mother or in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (you should watch that just because it's funny. And don't worry, Kal Penn was actually eating veggie burgers). He plays a total womanizer and it's completely believable.
Anyhoo, I have been eating a lot of salad.
Yesterday I ate:
Breakfast: Spinach and arugula salad with homemade Rawmesan and peach salsa, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
Lunch: More spinach salad
Dinner: More spinach salad (I know! I'm sorry!), Cocoa Berries (stupidly simple recipe to follow)
Today:
Breakfast: Spinach salad w/ homemade Rawmesan and pineapple salsa
Lunch: Spinach salad
Snack: about 1/2 cup marinated mushrooms
Dinner: A little more spinach salad, about 1.5 cups slightly steamed broccoli with BBQ sauce and ketchup, sugar snap peas and raw red pepper slices, Cocoa Berries
I know broccoli with ketchup and BBQ probably sounds weird, but it's good. And mixing ketchup and BBQ sauce together is good because BBQ has twice the calories of ketchup but if you mix them together it all tastes like BBQ.
Also, I have an UPDATE on the Homemade Rawmesan. I made a little more today and simplified the recipe even further! I soaked some walnuts all day, rinsed and drained them, and then chopped them up into little bits with my slap chopper. Then I added the tons of nooch and Italian Seasoning and a little Bragg's. Ta da! So you can use soaked nuts without dehydrating them, and you don't even need to use your food processor.
All right, onto today's delectable dessert.
Cocoa Berries
Frozen blueberries or other berries
Cocoa powder
Molasses and/or agave (optional)
Thaw your berries in a bowl on the counter for as long as you want - eat them frozen or wait an hour for thawed berries. Add a spoonful of cocoa powder and an optional drizzle of agave and/or molasses. Mix up a lot. You only really need the sweetener if your berries are really tart. As long as you let your berries melt a little bit, they'll be wet enough for the cocoa powder to stick on.
Yesterday's blackberries
Right after putting cocoa powder on blueberries.
After some mixin'.
Sorry, I really wish these pictures looked better but there's no way to make them look beautiful. But they taste really, really good. And for an entirely Raw dessert, use raw cocoa powder. Can you say aaaantioxidaaaants!
