weekend at the coast

So week 3 ended in a trip with a group of friends to the coast. Oh it was a grand trip... sunshine, great food, adult beverages, sunshine, laughter, the ocean, hot tub... did I mention sunshine?! However, I did fall off the packaged goods wagon a little. This trip was planned before I made the commitment, and it was for Sage's birthday, so I don't feel bad and it wasn't a horrible fall.

The first night we made pizza... really good pizza I should add. If I had really put a great deal of thought into it, and if we had pizza the 2nd night, I would have made some pizza dough and some sauce (actually a friend who was suppose to come makes awesome sauce that she canned this summer), and then there was the Daiya cheese! Why of Whys does this not come in bulk! Everyone really did think about what they were getting and making deals with me about using the containers again. I love my friends!

One thing I did realize is that what many people think of as kind of "luxuries" are now part of my regular life. For example: fresh squeezed juices (orange and grapefruit to be exact). We had some local distilled vodka and I juiced up some delicious oranges for a refreshing cocktail. And while others volunteered to make breakfast, I squeezed o.j. It was quite a little treat to see the smiles on the faces as people were taken back to different memories. Oh and a fun little secrete... just a little splash of a blood orange makes a nice effect both visually and taste. On Saturday evening after sage made Bloody Mary's for all, she squeezed a pommel grapefruit with vodka for me... Holy beverages was that good!

This trip did help solidify some things for me. I was waffling on the distilled spirits a little. I've been asking people what they think about it. Most think that it counts as essentially a bulk item since you get several servings out of a bottle (in theory). I see their point, but I think I am going to have to hold out on this one. First, booze is not a dietary requirement, mental health maybe. We do have so many local distilleries that I may go see if I can return bottles to them for re-use, but otherwise, for the next year my only booze will be draught beer and homemade mead, cider, and whatnot. I think this is good enough. Plus we are suppose to be getting a still in the house at some point, so maybe I'll just make my own whiskey!

And really? That is my concern? Where am I going to get my drug of choice from? My life is good!

This week I did rock out an amazing hemp milk! Heck yeah! It was tasty and creamy! I look forward to getting this one perfected.

My life is getting hectic and I don't see it slowing down until maybe November, so I am super grateful for my housemates that have jumped into this with me. Having the crock pot and the dehydrator out and in full use is awesome in so many forms of that word.

I have so much gratitude for everyone who has been supportive of this endeavor and will write more on it later, but I hope you know just how much it means to me! Its making it more fun than a challenge and it is pushing me to be more creative.... and yes, I am now that person who takes their own containers to the restaurant for leftovers. OH! And last night my favorite burrito place said I can take my container to them for to-go! yahoo!

cheers

2nd week and i what?!

So I knocked out week number two in fine shape.... except I decided to add a cleanse onto the mix. As the time for the cleanse drew near I thought to myself, "really, you just started this other project and now you want to cleanse too?" To which I responded, "but all the other kids are doing it!" And it was true around 5 people from the co-op decided to jump in together, and then a couple of my housemates joined in. It was actually a relatively easy cleanse and it helped perfect some recipes, like: I have a rockin' almond milk, some killer snacks, and a tasty coconut milk not from a can! As a side note: one night, soon I hope, I want to have an Indian dinner where I/a group of us, make the coconut milk, the curry paste, and maybe event the naan, or whatever comes up, totally from scratch.... sounds fun.

I did learn one vital lesson in this past week. I need to cook with salt! About half way through this cleanse my sacrum and muscles around it and down my legs started almost contracting... you know like jumpy leg syndrome. It flared up at night and I missed some good sleep time. So I powered up some calcium, magnesium, and Himalayan salt. Tossed in some acupuncture topped off with a little cupping session, and I am almost good as new. Wow who would have thought. Salt. And what did I crave... celery... should have known.

So tonight I enter the final hours of the official cleanse. My kidneys feel loved and flushed out. My adrenal glands are well nourished. Life is good. I did skip a couple things on this cleanse because I didn't want to get packaged things that I couldn't reuse (the tinctures required... man I can always use more tinctures), but the other things I just said NO! And that part felt kind of empowering; to tell myself that it was ok to not follow the prescribed "protocol" with out being a jerk or anything, just standing by my personal values more.

This next week is going to be another adventure... a three day trip to the coast with a group of good friends. Things on my list to bring include: growlers/mason jars of beer from local breweries, home made v-8 juice for bloody mary brunch bar, granola, almond milk, those amazing snacks, and I kind of want to make my own chips, but I don't think I'll have time...

Soon I will get off of these little updates and start on some rants! Like did you know that the new Mercedes don't have dip sticks to check your oil? NO! The owner gets an email to find out their oil is low. What The Fuck!

If you are in Portland, stop and smell the flowers... February Fake out is in full bloom!

1 week down

So its been a whole week since i started this endeavor, and its interesting. First, I am so excited that others seem stoked and inspired to change something in their lives, and I suppose that is what it is all about. We can make a difference.

Soooo, how has this first week effected me?! I was doing fine until I watched 2 people pass off a piece of gum. Now I don't really chew gum that much unless I'm playing Bob, my drum, however, I realized that this means no Tea Tree Peppermint Toothpicks! AHHHH! I love toothpicks. But now I have ideas on how to make my own, and some people that work with wood want to help me out! Sweet!

Then I went to a staff training... we love food at the co-op. All of our big meetings and gatherings have food. There was beautiful food: all kinds of peppers, carrots, oranges, and COOKIES! Newman's Own cookies as a matter of fact. And I was somehow able to pass them up. Whew... I need to make batches of cookies.

One night this week I met a friend out. We met at this bar to play some air hockey... we got hungry... we ordered some french fries. It was kind of strange to pass up all the bottles of amazing condiments that could go on said fries, but I did. No big deal here.

To be completely honest the only struggle this week, truly, was that I was hungry often, and not for anything in particular, I just got hungry often. I am eating large  plates of food, and moments later I am hungry again. I believe that as my body gets use to foods with out preservatives in it, it will adjust and mellow out, but geeze I feel like all I do is eat. And this makes me wonder....

What is it about packaged food that is so very filling? Is it the added fat? Is it the preservatives? Is it all those things I can't pronounce? It has been years since I've eaten much food that has things in it that I don't know how to say, so what is it that is making me so hungry? I've read that humans, especially Americans, are essentially toxic waste/ bio-hazards when we die because of all the chemicals in us. Is that what our food supply is doing to us, making us toxic waste? How did we allow this to happen? Is GE foods just going to make this worse? How do we put the breaks on this snowball into hell? When do WE take to the streets and tell Monsanto and the corporate run government of ours, NO MORE! Can we follow the lead of Haitians and burn the seeds forced upon us? Do we have the courage to say no fucking more!? How do we support the farmers who are willing to risk everything by not growing GE crops? I think I may have the appetite to eat whatever they grow!

I can tell you one thing.
I don't miss the freaking coconut!
I will be so happy when the coconut fad is over!
And I am saving money. I didn't think about this side effect, so I might start keeping track of my food expenses.

Tomorrow we are heading out to get a tortilla press! yes! homemade tortillas!
And really, thanks for all the encouragement, even from those who think I am crazy, but I am guessing those folks thought that of me before.

cheers