englandsword

Today was great! Not really in my personal life, because I didn't do anything special. But I'm really excited for two great events today: 1) My little brother got his pilot's license! He passed his test and the guy who gave him his test even said that he is well above average in his skills and should look into a career in aviation. I am so happy for him and proud of him, I can't even tell you. He's only 19 and this is such an accomplishment. 2) Prop 8 was ruled unconstitutional! This isn't the end of the road, but at least the judge declared that there is no reasonable justification to deny homosexual couples the right to marry. Yay for equality. =) Food Diary: Breakfast: Miso soup, steamed broccoli Lunch: Brussels sprouts Snack: Romaine salad with peach salsa and homemade Rawmesan Dinner: Barney's Zucchini Pasta, frozen blueberries I had the world's biggest brussels sprouts. Honestly I think the bigger the brussel, the tastier. Check that out! F...

Food Diary: Breakfast: Chickpeas and broccoli Lunch: Salad, Gardein beef tips Snack: 1/2 serving zucchini pasta Dinner: Instant Colcannon, Cocoa Berries I made some sprouted chickpeas over the past two days. It's really easy - you start with dry chickpeas, then soak them overnight in some water (use lots of water because they puff up a lot). Then put them in some sort of mesh bag for a couple days and rinse them a few times a day. Lots of people sprout with jars, but it's so much easier to get some sprouting bags. I just keep them in my dish drainer and rinse when I'm at the sink for some other reason. You can eat sprouted chickpeas raw if you like the taste. I don't really like it, so I cooked mine. Cooking raw sprouted chickpeas may seem counterintuitive, but you still get benefits of sprouting plus a really short cooking time - like ten minutes instead of an hour and a half. I steamed up some broccoli, squirted ketchup all over it, and ate breakfast. Can you s...

I got lots of little things done today, which felt good. For some reason I had trouble sleeping last night and didn't get to bed until probably 1:30 or so, but I still got up around 7:30. First things first, I worked out and watched Covert Affairs on Hulu. It's a new show about a CIA operative. I'm a sucker for CIA narratives! I once thought that maybe I wanted to join the CIA, but then I realized that I really just wanted to ACT like a CIA agent... like Sydney Bristow (Alias). =) I also washed my sheets and towels, watered my plants, took out recycling, did some cooking and used up vegetables, and trimmed my bangs. I've only trimmed my bangs once before and it was a huge failure because I can't tell what's straight and what isn't. But it went much better this time because I cut a teeeeny tiny bit at a time. I also watched the movie MASH and read Wired magazine. My stepdad got me subscriptions to Wired and Fast Company, and I love reading them beca...

I made another Trader Joe's run yesterday to get more brussels sprouts. And I got SIX BAGS. It turns out brussels sprouts are an entire dollar per pound cheaper at TJ's than at Whole Foods or Ralph's. They cost $2.99/lb at WF and Ralph's and only $1.99/lb at TJ's. But it does drive me crazy that at TJ's they come in plastic bags and you can buy them in bulk at the other stores. Plus, TJ's is a little bit out of walking distance if you're carrying groceries. But a dollar a pound difference is just too huge. That means I saved six bucks. That's big money! The cashier commented on my six bags of brussels and I told her that I just really love them, I eat them for dinner, and they're my favorite food. We both laughed that I'm probably the only person on the planet whose favorite food is brussels sprouts. But maybe there is someone, and I hope to meet that soulmate someday. So here's my TJ's stash: On the right you'll see some ...

Quick update with some recent food pictures. A breakfast this week: black beans and rice, red pepper, and fresh peas. Dinner the other day was zucchini noodles and sweet potatoes. I made a sauce for the noodles out of umeboshi plum paste, nutritional yeast, agave, garlic, and miso. It was my first time using umeboshi paste and it turned out well! It's very flavorful, salty, and sour and needs to be balanced out with the sweet, which is why I used some agave. Today I ate sweet potatoes and soup. The soup has a head of kale, a head of chard, a carrot, a zucchini, some corn, two tomatoes, garlic, and broth. And no, I did not eat all of this today. It's a lot of soup. I still have plans to write about the issues I previewed in my last blog, but they'll have to wait. My boyfriend Ali is coming to visit tomorrow and is staying for nine days so I will be a bit preoccupied. =)

So I finally made zucchini pasta and now I get what the big deal is. Last night I had three zucchinis in my house and now I have none -- I need to rectify that soon! I also had lots of salad last night. This picture only shows one bowl, but I had two or three more bowls after that. It has a baby romaine mix, cherry tomatoes, spicy sprouted lentils, Rawmesan, sauerkraut, and baby artichokes. Another thing I've been thinking about is coffee. Gena over at Choosing Raw just posted about her decision to keep drinking coffee because she likes it so much. I have given it up for the last several weeks, which did help me realize that I'm not addicted to it. But I have realized one thing I really like about coffee is the time that I take to drink it. I sit down, slow down, and focus on it. I have a problem slowing down sometimes and coffee is a great way for me to do that. Plus, I really don't think it's that bad for you. So I had a cup today and it was great. :) In the...