Korean Raw

A few weeks ago I discovered Chef Landria. She's Vietnamese, an avid bike racer, and a raw chef.

Now given my penchant for anything Vietnamese, you think I would have made one of her Vietnamese recipes first. Nope, I went Korean.

May I introduce Chef Landria's Kimchi, and her “Chap Chae” Korean Clear Noodle. Sorry but the "Pajon" bread just went into the dehydrator.

You can buy Chef Landria's first volume of recipes by checking out her website at:

http://www.cheflandria.com/

You won't be disappointed!

Here are two close-ups. The first is of the "Chap Chae" and the second is of the Kimchi.

A Snarl, A Sneer, A Whip That Stings, These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Over the years I have abused my body. I've got no problems admitting what I've done, and I'm proud of every step I've taken in life. Besides, I can't do anything about the past.

I can do something about the future.

I've killed countless numbers of brain cells. On my 21st birthday I remember drinking the 17th shot of Tequila before my body said that it was time to stop, in the most classic way possible. The body made its point not once, but at least four times.

I drank 2 quarts of Long Island Ice Tea when I passed the Bar (Hell of a thing to call the exam you take to become a lawyer isn't it?). I remember my body expressing its opinion on that little fiasco for at least three days.

It seems like I've eaten almost everything that jumps, flies, swims, runs, or slithers that is known to humanity. I'm not ashamed of any of it, nor would I change the past, even if I could. That's my life, and it what makes me the person I am today.

I'm learning to value that which I've paired myself with for the few decades I've decided to inhabit this planet. I'm discovering each little nook and cranny (Thank you for pointing that one out Alexyss! No, Keely, I'm not going to explain that comment any more than I have. There will be a few people who will understand it, and have juice coming out their noses about now!). When I eat I look at the reaction my body has, and the feedback it gives me. I'm realizing that horses build muscles to allow them to gallop for leagues, not on cooked foods, but on raw plants!

But then I look around me, and notice how so many of the people I've come to care about are starting to "juice fast or feast" for 90 days or longer, and I wonder how could something like this be good for me?

Let's face it. Fish swim, have sex, and defecate in liquid. They can't exist in air except for very short periods of time. But they can't exist on just liquids either. Even fish eat solid food!

So how can a juice "feast" of 90 days or longer really be healthy? For me, it wouldn't be.

Don't get me wrong. I think that a juice fast of just a few days is healthy for me. It gives my body a rest. It allows my intestinal track to deal with the crap (literally at times) that I force through it. But I really don't think that I'm built to exist on nothing but liquids for more than just a few days.

Ever hear of "The Sproutman" Steve Meyerowitz? This guy doesn't research something, he immerses himself in a subject. He's not afraid to ask the questions the so called "experts" don't want asked. I got to hear him on a teleconference as part of the Raw Diva Sisterhood, and was totally blown away.

He wrote a book called Juice Fasting and Detoxification. Why do I feel this is such a great book? Because he believes a person should look at the reasons why they want to fast. Are they doing it to purify, to heal, or because its in vogue. The worst reason to follow a juice fast (or feast) is because everyone else is doing it.

Pick your time, pick your place, and take it one day at a time. Make sure that you are fasting for the right reasons. Most importantly be careful. Do your research and make a plan. Don't just decide to start fasting on Monday morning. Do a prefast diet, and make sure that you're planning on how to exit the fast. We've seen the damage that not having an "exit strategy" can do to the world. (Yes Virginia, that was a political comment slipped in without others realizing it!)

Would I talk to my Doctor before I start a fast of any type? That's a personal choice. Of course the medical profession feels like you should bare your soul to your Doctor. I'll leave it up to you. I never do anything just because a Doctor tells me to do it. I make my own choices in life.

Would I suggest checking out Steve Meyerowitz's book? I'd say that Juice Fasting and Detoxification should be required reading for anyone contemplating a juice fast/feast.

Personally, I'll stick with solid foods and green smoothies, with maybe the occasional one or three day fast thrown in for a day of rest. Viva la Green Smoothie Challenge!

Oh, Yeah......

OK, so I'm setting a record with my third post in a week. I haven't done this for a while. Most of you will be reading this after a long day at work. Or maybe you're taking a moment at work, hoping you don't get caught by evil management with a disciplinary notice for misuse of the employer's computer system.

Well, I'll tell you my secret this week (which should really piss you off at me). I'M OFF WORK TODAY! Yes, I'm doing the little happy dance, because I'm at home, and others had to work!

Anyway, the reason for this special post is to share a great new blog with you. Have you heard of Chef Landria? She is a cyclist and a raw food chef who has lots, and lots of Vietnamese raw food recipes in addition to Korean, and other goodies!

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm hooked on Viet Nam (Yes, Gertrude that is the correct spelling!), so when I found someone churning out raw Vietnamese recipes, I fell to my knees and thanked the Buddha for a miracle! (No, I'm not being sarcastic! Remember I converted several years ago.)

So take a moment and check out Chef Landria. She's got her first group of recipes available for purchase. Its only $7.50 to download, and is well worth the money. I can't wait to get my Kelp Noodles from Sea Triangle Noodle Company.

Just look at this picture from her Flickr site (there's a lot more pictures too!), and you'll know why I'm excited! I doubt if you'll be able to find a more tastier "Bun" than this! She has also posted several of her recipes on GoneRaw.com if you'd like to check her out!

For the uninitiated. Don't forget to click on the underlined words, and you'll be magically transported to those sites!

OK, so here's a second picture for anyone who gets excited over a nice set of "Buns". Sorry. I just couldn't pass it up! Well, I could have, but you know me by now.

AND THEN I HEAR POOR GUB-GUB SQUEAL!

On this Valentine's Day, I'm going to take a different track with my blog. I'm going to appeal to the senses.

There might have been a day sometime in your life, that you remember sitting down at the table with family and friends tearing into a piece of blood red steak, the juices dripping from your chin.

You may remember wandering around a Renaissance Festival with a Guinness in one hand and a turkey leg in the other, the grease dripping off your fingers, and you wallow in the sensual delights.

But then like Rex Harrison's Dr. Dolittle, your remember why you eat the way you eat.

Does that mean you can't eat raw, and feed your fantasies? Heaven forbid!

Here's a treat to feed that deviant part of us that may dream of latching on to a slab of bacon, but remembers the squeal it represents!

SMOKIES!

You might think that you're eating bacon, but these have been Gub-Gub approved!

2 cups raw (we hope) almonds, soaked overnight
1/2 cup nama shoyu
1 Tablespoon liquid smoke (not raw, but essential)
2 teaspoons smoked salt
2 Tablespoons Agave

Soak almonds overnight. Drain, and marinate in remaining ingredients 8 hours or overnight. Dehydrate at 105 degrees until dry.

Laughing the Night Away!

My God but we can be such a serious species. We find it tremendously hard to laugh at times. I remember a Christmas dinner (or was it Thanksgiving) I had fixed more than 10 years ago. I did battle with the evil phyllo dough.

For those of you who have never dealt with this beast, it comes as thin sheets of uncooked, unleavened flour dough. Left to itself it dries and becomes very brittle. My assignment was to make a vegetarian main dish using phyllo. Well, suffice it to say that instead of enjoying the experience, my language would have scared the saltiest sailor, and made me curse the Greeks who came up with this dough that took control over my body.

Food controlling my body? Could I actually believe in such a thing? No, I can't believe in such a premise.

But wait! That goes against everything that has been written about foods. What about, "you are what you eat"? How many people have used that quote in their talks to the point where it has been emblazoned on our brains?

If you've been a follower of my posts you'll realize that I am not a believer in fate. I don't believe that there are outside forces that determine where we travel in our lives. Sure choices may drop in our laps, but we make the ultimate decision as to what ulitmately happens!

I'll agree that foods will change us. Foods create a chemical reaction in our bodies. But do you really think that the cow jumps down your throat? Will that grape fall from the vine, turn into a liquid all by itself, ferment, and get you drunk? No way!

Maybe there is more truth to the phrase "You are what you eat". Let's look at it again.

Who is the control in the sentence "You are what you eat"? You are!

Who sits down at a table and pours bottles of pop into your stomach? You do!

Who goes into a restaurant and orders a "gin and tonic"? You do!

All foods have an effect on our bodies, but we have the choice of what we eat. We control our lives and what makes the chemical changes that determine whether we are skinny or fat, energetic, or depressed.

I have a friend who told me that given the choice of eating the foods they wanted to eat, or having their gallbladder removed, they'd be more than willing to have the surgery. That's their choice. Me? I'll gladly listen to my body, than make a car payment for some surgeon.

So when you make your plans for the coming week, try changing your view point. Don't follow instructions, but consider your choices. Realize that there is a cause and effect.

If you get up, pour yourself a shot of vodka before you go to work, you might be arrested, wind up in jail, and lose your job.

If you have a cup of coffee, with a tablespoon of sugar, you'll probably race through life for maybe an hour or two, and wind up crashing for the rest of the day.

Instead, why don't you take a while by yourself. Laugh at your past choices, and how you have let them control you and the way you interact with others.

Make a plan to laugh with life and enjoy the foods you eat, with the full knowledge that you are in control of what you use to make it through life.

Raise a glass of water to yourself, and live for once knowing that "you are what you eat".

Oh, phyllo isn't a raw product, so don't worry about that nasty little pastry. I won't tell you what I called it and the rest of the family who offered their help at that time in my life!

The Windmills of my Mind....

OK, so I missed my posting on Sunday. I'd decided that would be my blogging day. "The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men Gang aft agley" (Thank you Robert Burns.)

I've got a rather in depth, kick ass "blob blog" that I've started, but just like a nice batch of rejuvelac (which I've yet to make correctly), its fermenting.

So, since Thomas copped out on me, and refuses to act as my stand in, I'll take a quick moment just to acknowledge of couple of things.

Keely jumps on my case every now and then because I don't always jump up and make a comment on my blog in response to someone who leaves a comment on my blog. I'm still learning the ins and out of blogging. I have things set up so that I get a copy of every comment. I'm trying to figure out how to respond directly to each and every one of you. I really do appreciate every comment that people leave. It just feels weird leaving a message on my on blog. To quote Richard Bach:

"If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see each other once or twice?"

That's one fine talking seagull!

I guess I'm still sort of "blog challenged". But I'm working at it!

This is awards season! Heidi and JS Ohlander of the blog "Raw Foods, Right Now!" have started a new award called the "Raw Food Inspiration Award".

Heidi and JS turned me on to The Raw Divas. Tera Warner and Amy DeWolfe have really made a huge change in our lives. If it wasn't for Heidi and JS we would never have found the Divas. Of course Heidi's recipes are really awesome. Each recipe book totally blows away the previous book!

So, when I got a call from Keely (da wife) to go to "Raw Foods, Right Now!", I just about fell out of my chair in my "cubicle/cell/attempt to work space in a converted warplane factory" (please don't support Republican Bob Taft if he ever runs for a national office, or dog catcher), when I found that Keely and I were one of the first five people to be given the "Raw Food Inspiration Award" by Heidi and JS.

Its not easy to get an attorney to shut their mouth. We like to talk, even when we're the only ones listening.

Heidi and JS have been such an inspiration to us. They were the ones who got us on the track we're traveling at this point in our lives.

To Heidi and JS, you got an attorney not only to shut his mouth, but to feel very humble.

To be included in the people you have given the award to, is an honor, especially when it is given by two such inspirational people.

OK, I'm beginning to sound like a "Hallmark" card. (No, I refuse to provide a link to Hallmark. I've provided enough support over the years by buying their Christmas ornaments. I should have bought their stock! Just "Google" them.)

Back to the "blob blog".....

BEWARE OF THE BLOB!

Beware of the blob, it creeps
And leaps and glides and slides
Across the floor
Right through the door
And all around the wall
A splotch, a blotch
Be careful of the blob

Can you believe that it was Burt Bacharach who brought us such wonderful songs like "Arthur's Theme", "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head", "The Look of Love", "Blue on Blue", "What the World Needs Now is Love", and "What's New Pussycat?", who wrote the theme song for that great little B movie "The Blob"?

The way I feel right now, I'd take Steve McQueen with one hand behind my back (bet you didn't know he starred in the original "Blob" did you?). Just call me "Bob the Blob".

I'm in vacation mode. I really don't want to play anymore. I don't feel like doing a damn thing. I want to loaf.

In the next few weeks I'm going to be walking out of work for a week. I won't be sitting in a cubicle, in an airplane hanger that was once used by Boeing to create instruments of death. I won't have to listen to the childish interplay of those around me, and shake my head in wonder as people prove the "Peter Principle" on a daily basis.

What will I be doing? I'll be eating at Alissa Cohen's new restaurant Grezzo in North Boston, and Robert Reid's Organic Garden Cafe in Beverly, MA. We'll be wandering the streets of Salem, and checking out Laurie Cabot's Wiccan book store The Cat, The Crow, and The Crown.

So if I seem abnormally quiet over the next few weeks, its because I'm storing up for when we return. There will be pictures, and hopefully recipes too. There will be stories of wonderful dinners at two of the premier raw restaurants in New England.

Get ready to be jealous.