Lots of Harbor Time

I have been spending as much time at the harbor as possible this week. There is so much to do it hard to know where to start. However I think I have most of those tasks now documented and on our to-do list. At last count there are 34 items on our list. Now it is just a matter and getting them accomplished and crossed off. We will get them all done though, it just won’t be as soon as we would like … because it never is.

Spending so much time at the marina we are getting to know all our neighbors. Rubin (who is in the slip just to our north) is a radiologist and we know some of the same people because of where he works and I used to work. Jack and Amy (in the slip to our south) live in Pennsylvania and own a vineyard in Napa. Little do they know how lucky they are that we don’t drink wine like we used to. Those of you who have had dinner with us know that I am not kidding. ;-) Then there are Christine and Tim who we have seen the most. They are both great and I can tell we will be spending a lot of time with them. Chris was an accountant and Tim a flight nurse but they now have their own business painting advertising on barns. They have the cutest little dog, Peyton, who is a Woodle (a breed I had never heard of previously). I am sure pictures of Peyton will be showing up on the blog because his personality is adorable and I know it will show in pictures. Can you tell that we have been really enjoying our time?

Food this week has needed to be very portable. Here are some of the things we have been eating.

Ian cooked one day and came up with this vegan menu.

The okra salad was phenomenal. I certainly didn’t expect the okra to be in julienne strips and that just made this dish. The cilantro and dressing was perfect in this.

The curried veggies had a touch of coconut milk that made the sauce very luxurious but not too much to make it fatty.

We picked up take out veggie spring rolls from Me Kong Delta. These are really good if you are in Baltimore. Ask for some sriracha to spice up the dipping sauce if you like heat like we do.

I made a quinoa salad with sliced almonds, dried unsweetened cranberries, golden raisins, wine vinegar and cilantro. This was served with portabellas that I roasted with pomegranate molasses and then topped with sesame seeds. This was inspired but the dressing on the okra salad that Ian made. To go with the quinoa salad I made a curried cilantro and lime sauce with raw cashews that we used as a dip for our crudités. This sauce was also inspired by the sauce Ian serves with his version of samosa. See, I really am telling the truth when I say I am a better cook because of eating Ian’s food so often. We love Ian. <3

Another night I made a curried split pea soup with barley and tomatoes.

I served that with a green salad consisting of: baby lettuce, cucumber, tomato and avocado. I used the curried cilantro and lime dip to make a dressing but whisking in a little water. This sauce is very versatile and I love things like that.

It appears the trick to portable food is a little at home prep, either cooking, cleaning or chopping depending on what I am making. So far it hasn’t been too much of a problem but then again it has only been a week of portable food. We will see if I am still saying this in a month.

My pizza flavored almonds have been very popular so far. They went over well with Walid, Jackie, Nadia, Aimee, Michael and Chris. I made three more batches of them this week and will be posting that recipe soon.

Happy thoughts:

• It is wonderful to be spending more time on the water again. I had not realized how much I missed it. We are both enjoying relaxing in the evening and watching the sunset over the harbor. It is the perfect way to spend the evening winding down. We both love our “second home”.

• The wifi at the marina is incredibly slow, more specifically it is painfully slow. So slow in fact that can’t upload from there. Initially I was annoyed but this but then I realized there is an upside. Without internet access I am finding more time to relax and just enjoy my surroundings. Sometimes it is good to not be too connected. However Rubin just installed an antenna and signal booster on his boat and said it worked very well in terms of increasing his speed.

• We have really great neighbors at the harbor. Everyone has been so friendly. It is always wonderful to make new friends. :-)  Not to mention it is good to break out of your comfort zone which I am sometimes all too ready to stay in.

• Speaking of new friends this is my little mallard friend who has greeted me the last few days. She has figured out that I feed her and she seems to wait for me. One day I expect to find her sitting in the cockpit. I hope I don’t make her too tame and reliant on me for food. Isn’t she precious? I think ducks are so cute.

• Who wouldn’t love a change of scenery? Even though I have been extremely busy these past 9 days it has been wonderful too. I am really enjoying doing new things and breaking out of my rut. Even though my life was healthy I think variety and new experiences are good for all of us.

Signing out:

As I am typing this I am sitting out in the cockpit enjoying the fresh air and the gentle bobbing of the boat. This really is the perfect way to start the weekend. A girl could get really used to this life…I have and it is only been 9 days. Talk with you later. :-)

Food Fit to Travel

In the midst of the storm system that turned into torrential rain and flooding our ship literally came in. Given the raising water in Baltimore it was nice to know we could float away if necessary. ;-) 

There were a lot of raw meals on board because I was trying to get prepared for the Crazy Sexy Detox which I started on Monday. It would be nice to say that I am totally prepared but that would be a lie. You know me I will wing it as I go along.

The first day on the boat I brought very little food with us and fortunately I was able to find food that Robert (the captain) left onboard which I could turn into something to feed us. There were cans of tomato soup which I seasoned with curry powder and finished with peanuts and it was delicious. He also had tea bags on board we had trail mix, seaweed and flax crackers so we didn’t starve.

There were many mugs of tea enjoyed outside.  What a great way to spend the weekend.  :-)

We went home overnight which gave me an opportunity to whip up a few things. One of them was a Southern Italian spice mix. This one contains dried minced onions, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, freshly ground black pepper and hot pepper flakes.

This is a dish I concocted from food from home and what was on board. It took canned tomatoes and added Southern Italian seasoning referenced above, cannellini beans and diced bell pepper that I added at the end to minimize the destruction of vitamin C which is sensitive to heat.  I finished the dish with some nutrition yeast which I will also be keeping on board.

Here is a cucumber salad I made which includes chunks of cucumber, shredded carrot, shaved onion, raw sunflower seeds, sherry vinegar, and cilantro.

We also had crudite, caramelized peach and habanero hummus and flax crackers made from the pulp of vegetable juice and almond milk. I added a bunch of no-salt seasoning for flavor, some ground flaxseeds to bind it and enough water to make“dough”. They dehydrated for 24 hours to make them extra crispy the way Dan likes them.

We had some diced cantaloupe also.

I also made fresh veggie juice at home to take with us each morning.

Then there were pizza flavored almonds which turned out really well. I will need to make those again since we both liked them.

Here is another meal of flax crackers, the same caramelized peach and habanero hummus, pizza almonds and a kale salad that I marinated in sherry vinegar, raw garlic and smoked paprika. I topped the salad with diced tomatoes that I packed separately.

No matter where we are Dan and I always try to eat as healthy as possible.

Happy Thoughts:

• It is wonderful to have the boat in Baltimore. We have not been as productive as we could have been but we have done our share of relaxing which was sorely needed. Additionally we also have gotten a lot done on the boat which is excellent. We are slowly but surely figuring out the boat which makes us both happy.

• We have met quite a few of our boat neighbors which is nice. There are a few live-a-boards on our dock which makes us both really happy. It is always nice to have people on your pier to keep an eye open on things.

• The mallards at the marina have figured out that I am a crazy animal lady and having been hanging around by our boat. At one point we had 8 ducks visiting with us all at once and I wasn’t feeding them….yet. ;-) Dan thinks that they sent out a message that there is a sucker in the neighborhood (that would be me not Dan BTW).

• I have been playing around with some new recipes and feel ready for the Crazy Sexy Cleanse to start which I am looking forward to. Let’s hope that it is as easy as I am expecting it to be. I will tell you how it goes for me and what I am eating in case you want to do it too.

• There are many photographic opportunities from the marina. Expect to see a lot of nautical shots for a while. I expect to take my camera with me each time I go to the boat. Here is a picture I love of three older people heading to their boat with the “crazy pirate” ship in the background. I loved the story that this picture told.

Signing out:

Monday is going to be another busy day all day. I have a very busy day planned and we may end our day at the boat since it is so nice to have dinner out in the cockpit while listening to the water. Talk with you again soon.

Crazy Sexy Diet Cleanse and an Update

This is going to be a quick post because it has been a productive but not very exciting weekend at our place.

We made our usual trip to the farmers’ market on Sunday and this time came home with mother lode of produce. I must have been having local produce withdrawal since the market was closed last week due to the hurricane. That is the only explanation I have for the amount of produce I picked up this morning. There was so much we had to make multiple trips to the car to drop things off.

Today we came home with: a big basket of apples, three big bunches of kale, 8 cucumbers, 6 tomatoes, a bunch of cilantro, 1 enormous bok choy, 4 eggplants, 1 pound portabellas, 1 bunch black radishes, 2 bags mixed baby lettuce, 6 ears of corn, and 1 cantaloupe.  We also bought two different types of hummus. The varieties today were caramelized peach with habanero and Fusion. I was intrigued with the fusion which was a combination of Asian Fire (a spicy Asian hummus) and curried mango. Those flavors together blended beautifully.

The weather was so beautiful when we got home from the market we went for a trek up and down the hills on our neighborhood which was a little over 3 miles. It was a very pleasant way to wake up.

Additionally we have been enjoying the white bean cheeze that I made on Saturday. If you haven’t tried that recipe but are looking for a low fat cheeze replacement I think you might like it. We like it on salad on to dip veggies into. It also makes a nice cheese replacement in quesadillas.

Crazy Sexy Diet Cleanse:

I first heard of Kris Carr in regard to her documentary “Crazy Sexy Cancer”. It is difficult to argue with the success she has had in stopping the growth of an inoperative cancer. When a girlfriend of mine mentioned that she was thinking about doing this cleanse you know I got interested since this is a pattern with me.  The cleanse in this book is surprisingly similar to our regular diet (minus the dinners out). Since I was comfortable with the diet and exercise portion of the plan I have decided to give it a try to see how I feel. Please note the author does talk about enemas and colonics and that is something that I will not be doing because I have read of the dangers associated with them.

The reason I am mentioning this 21-day cleanse is that a few of my friends are going to do it together so we can share our experiences. If are interested in joining in let me know either by posting a comment here of by sending me an email at veganepicurean@gmail.com .

In keeping with the upcoming cleanse I made an awesome green juice today. This one included: 1 cucumber, 4 big stems/leaves of kale, ½ lemon, 2 carrots, 2 stalks celery and two cloves of garlic. I finished this juice with a sprinkle of cayenne and a pinch of sea salt on Dan’s serving. This made two 16 servings of juice. Even though this juice wasn’t sweet Dan still enjoyed it and that was a huge shock to me.

Happy thoughts:

We have had an extremely productive weekend which means that I have a lot to be thankful for.

• Saturday while Dan did some guy things (insert power tools here) I got busy reorganizing both my main and overflow dry goods pantries. OMG am I a food hoarder. I swear I could feed us for months from what I have on hand. No exaggeration I have over 25 pounds of various dried beans in the house, and somehow none of them are black beans. ;-) It is my goal to make meals based on what I have at home over the next month, other than trips to the farmers’ market, until I can reduce my inventory. It felt good to get my food organized.

• Sunday I did the same thing and cleaned and reorganized our two refrigerators and big freezer. No surprise I discovered I have over 20 pounds of nuts and seeds in the freezer. Again, time to work on reducing my food inventory. Can you tell organizing was overdue at our house? *LOL* It was great to cross these tasks off my to-do list.

• We had two days with weekend without rain. Given the forecast prior to the weekend we were very fortunate. With the nice weather we were even able to cross off a few yard work tasks.  Being productive feels good.

• Dan and I had a lot of “face time” so far this weekend. We have had a very nice weekend together even though we have been busy getting stuff done. So far we haven’t decided what we are going to do on Monday. But the weather is supposed to be rainy so whatever it is I assume we will be inside.

• I mentioned a treadmill desk on Facebook the other day and Dan has graciously offered to build me one. Isn’t he just the sweetest thing? I think I will keep him. ;-) Once he gets that finished I will let you know what I think of it. We both thought it was a good idea since I am more active during the summer, and summer is coming to an end. Besides I spend so much time either reading or online if I can get some exercise while I do that it will be fantastic.

Signing out:

I hope you are having a fantastic long weekend. Talk with you again soon.

The Anatomy of a Meal

My sweetie is such a team player that he went into the office today (braving the Gran Prix traffic) to help one of the guys get a project out. Since he doesn’t love savory oatmeal I took his absence as an opportunity to indulge. Savory oatmeal is something that I first learned about from my vegan RD buddy Courtney. I will be the first to admit I was a tad suspect when she mentioned it and took me a month or so to try it. My brain thought oatmeal had to be sweet but I finally decided that I just needed to try since Courtney is uber healthy and I knew that if I didn’t like I didn’t have to eat it. Much to my surprise not only did I finish my bowl of savory oatmeal I actually loved it. Trust me no one was more shocked than I was. Thank you again Courtney for sharing the idea with me. Hugs!

While I was making the oatmeal I also got the idea regarding what to write today. I realized that almost every decision I make when “developing” a meal is based on nutrition and thought you might find it useful to be in my head. Warning … my head can be a scary place to be ;-) but here goes anyway:

As I said earlier lunch today for me was savoy oatmeal (made with water) that I seasoned with turmeric, black pepper, nutritional yeast, and raw garlic. I topped the oats with artichokes, raw kale, salsa, marinated mushrooms and roasted peppers. I am going to go down the list item by item and explain why I included each.

Oatmeal is a fantastic food for a number of reasons. It is a good source of protein as we saw yesterday. Additionally is a great source of fiber which helps to reduce both your cholesterol and estrogen and testosterone by binding with them in your intestinal track so they are removed rather than being reabsorbed. The average American has total cholesterol of 200 which is too high given that you need to be below 150 to make a heart attack highly unlikely. Since most American’s have excess estrogen and testosterone, partially a result of excess body fat, anything we can do to decrease these reduces our probability of hormonally responsive cancers. I also love that oatmeal is filling and a blank canvas that can be flavored any number of ways, it doesn’t have to be sweet though that is how many Americans think of it.

Turmeric is a nutritional powerhouse. Did you know that consuming turmeric is associated with a reduction in the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease? Also turmeric has been shown to kill cancer in laboratory studies. Additionally turmeric is anti-inflammatory and is said to lower cholesterol. Go turmeric! I always knew there a good reason that I loved Indian food. ;-)

The freshly grown black pepper was added since when you combine turmeric with black pepper you are increasing your absorption of the curcumin in the turmeric which you want to do. Studies have shown that the piperine in the black peppers increases the absorption dramatically depending on the study you believe. I have seen numbers anywhere from 10 to 1,000 times. Heck even increasing the absorption by 10 times if fantastic and I will take it. :-)

Nutritional yeast was added for a few reasons but primarily because I love the flavor. However if you buy a brand that is fortified with B12 it is also good for you. I would never consider this my primary source of B12. All vegans and most Americans should be supplementing with B12 since most of us are deficient particularly as we age. There is a B12 blood test that you should have your doctor check if you don’t take a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral that contains B12, which is an adequate source according to Dr. Barnard and the American Association of Family Practitioners.

I added raw garlic to the oatmeal for flavor but also for the health benefits. Raw garlic is good for almost everything. It is a broad spectrum antibiotic and has been shown to combat not only bacteria but intestinal parasites and viruses. Wow! In also lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and blood clots. The National Cancer Institute considers it a potential cancer preventative.

Artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables I could literally eat them every day. I was thrilled when I discovered they were not out delicious but extremely good for me. Artichokes contain a significant amount of antioxidants and in a study done by the United States Department of Agriculture they ranked as the number one vegetable in antioxidant count. Contained with artichokes are cynarin and silymarin, which have strong positive effects on the liver. Just writing is making me want to eat more artichokes. LOL

Is there a more nutritious vegetable than kale? This leafy green is good for so many things that it is difficult to know where to start. This member of the cruciferous family is packed with anticancer indoles, beta carotene and lutein. Remember when you are preparing kale that it is most nutritious raw or very lightly cooked. We try to eat some form of raw kale every day.

Salsa is my go to flavoring and I could eat it on just about anything savory. I added it here for both the flavor and lycopene from the cooked tomatoes. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with anticancer properties. In fact Dr. Oz recommends that men eat 10 tablespoons of tomato products on average each day to reduce their probability of prostate cancer. I wonder if that means that Southern Italian men have a lower incidence of prostate cancer. Hmmmm. ;-)

Marinated mushrooms were included because I love the flavor and mushrooms boost your immune system and have anticancer properties. The vinegar used to marinate the mushrooms reduces the GI impact of starch (in this case oatmeal) in your meals.

Roasted red peppers are another one of my favorite things. While bell peppers are rich in vitamin C this vitamin is heat sensitive so the roasted peppers contain much less than raw or lightly cooked peppers. I used roasted red peppers mostly for fiber and flavor.

I hope this gives you some insight into what goes into my head when I am eating and/or preparing food. As I have said before I look at each meal as an opportunity to nourish myself which I realize is foreign to most people. However I assume if you are reading my blog you are also concerned about health so I wanted you to read some of what I am thinking of when I am preparing food. The funny thing is once I learn these things they are stuck in my head. Trust me there are times when I wished that I could unlearn things like the fact that consuming alcohol increases our risk cancer but that is simply lodged in my brain now. Darn it! *stomps foot* ;-)

Happy Thoughts:

This has been a crazy week. I have been running from one thing to another for what seems like months.Needles to say my busy schedule hasn’t dampened my mood. ;-)

• We started our day with a nice 3.5 mile walk through the neighborhood and took a small detour to our local Starbucks with is now open. It was Dan’s idea to stop there and as you can see I have little willpower when it comes to iced coffee with soymilk. Lot’s like I need an intervention. LOL

• Dan and I are thinking about buying a scooter which I think would be great fun. Being Italian I believe that it has to be a Vespa. However I know nothing about scooters. If any of you have information on them to share please do.

• As a side note I had on my favorite workout pant today which always makes me happy. Sometimes it is just the little things that make a difference in life. I love, love, love Fila’s capris which are almost like not wearing pants which is a comment for a certain someone who shall remain nameless but you know who you are. *LOL* ;-)

• Overall our weather was absolutely amazing today, not too hot and not too cold. It was another day of open windows and fresh air streaming through the house. My fur children have been enjoying the fresh air while sleeping in the windows which makes me so happy. What are fabulous day to be alive! *happy dance*

• I love that this is a long holiday weekend. *woo hoo* Is there anything better than three days with the people (or in my case person) that I love? No there really isn’t anything better in my opinion.  I love you Dan!  *xoxoxo*  I hope you have something wonderful planned this weekend with the people you care about.

Signing Out:

I have promised myself that I am going to spend more time with my hubby and less time online when he is home which means that I need to log off. My plan is to write tomorrow’s post while Dan is busy watching Sci Fi or something else that I am not interested in. Talk with you again soon. Have a fantastic long weekend.

A Primer on Protein

(Dan's breakfast this morning with a lot of protein, 1 cup oatmeal and 1/4 cup of almonds)

If I had a dollar for every question I get about protein I would be a very happy woman. Americans are obsessed with protein (particularly animal based) and they all seem to think they need much more than is actually required. I will point out the obvious that the average American eats more protein than is recommended and they are bigger than they should be. Is that a coincidence, maybe and then again maybe not? Either way excess anything isn’t good for you and excess amino acids are converted and stored as fat. Since there is so much confusion around protein I thought I would cover the basics.

All protein (plant or animal) is made up of amino acids. These amino acids are connected by peptide bonds. There are three types of amino acids: essential, nonessential, and conditionally essential. Essential amino acids are ones that we must consume because we can’t make them or can’t make enough of them. Nonessential amino acids can be made in sufficient quantities. Conditionally essential amino acids are those that can’t be synthesized which is common in infants or those with phenylketonuria (PKU). When protein is digested it is broken down into amino acids which are then absorbed and circulated in the body where they are needed and the excess is stored.

(A recent protein packed meal of chickpes in a tomato peanut sauce with mushrooms over quinoa)

We have all heard the term complete and incomplete protein. Complete proteins contain all the essential amino acids the body requires and are generally animal sources. However quinoa also contains all the essential amino acids which is wonderful for vegans. Additionally with a well planned and varied vegan diet it is easy to get all the essential amino acids.

(Protein on the go?  Almost all restaurants have a hummus platter.)

I want to stress that it is possible to eat a vegan diet that doesn’t provide the correct mix of amino acids. If you are vegan and you don’t know anything about amino acids and which ones are in which foods either start eating quinoa or better yet learn more about amino acids. As healthy as a vegan diet can be you can also run into trouble if you are eating a lot of processed food. Your body is literally made from the food that you eat so it makes sense to know what you need for optimum health.

What are the essential amino acids and where do you find them?

• Phenylalanine – soy foods, almonds, avocados, lima beans, peanuts, and seeds

• Valine – soy, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, chickpeas, lentils, and mushrooms

• Threonine - beans, nuts, and seed

• Tryptophan - chocolate, oats, bananas, dried dates, and peanuts

• Isoleucine - lentils, seeds, soy, wheat, almonds

• Methionine - whole grains

• Leucine - sesame seeds, peanuts, lentils

• Lysine - green beans, lentils, soybean, spinach and amaranth

(Spring rolls in a spicy peanut dipping sauce.)

Please notice when you look at this list how many time peanuts show up. While many people want you to think that almond butter is fabulous and better than peanut butter it does not have as many essential amino acids and that is good to keep in mind. Also notice you need some whole grains in your diet since they are the only source of methionine. Fortunately we also don’t have a large need for this essential amino acid so you don’t need whole grains every day. I hope this list helps you see the benefit of eating a varied plant-based whole food diet.

Why should you avoid animal protein after all it is a complete protein (containing all the essential amino acids)? When animal protein is broken down in the body the by-products of this metabolism is hard on the kidneys. The metabolism of protein results in ammonia (which is toxic) that your liver then converts to urea which in excess can lead to gout. The urea is filtered out by the kidneys and is excreted in the urine. If you have ever known anyone with kidney disease one of the first things they are told is to follow a low protein diet because of the impact on the kidneys.

Additionally protein comes with other nasty things that you don’t want like saturated fat, all the toxins the animal ate which are stored in their fat (which you don’t eliminate by trimming the fat or taking the skin off your chicken breast). Also when you eat animal protein you are increasing your production of a hormone called IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor one) and that something that you don’t want.

Why is IGF-1 bad? IGF-1 stimulates the growth of normal cells but is also stimulates the growth of malignant cells (cancer). Some have speculated that IGF-1 causes all cancers to proliferate more quickly and it seems to be particularly dangerous for those with hormone sensitive cancers like prostate and breast. Please don’t forget that IGF-1 is also stimulated when you eat soy protein isolates which is why I seem to mention that so often.

How much protein do any of us need? According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) the Recommended Dietary Allowance for adult women is 0.8 mg/kg/day. For example if you are a 140lb woman (that = 64kg) it means you need approximately 51 grams of protein per day. This amount of protein is extremely easy to obtain from a plant based diet. According to Dr. T. Colin Campbell of “The China Study” (the current selection on our book club blog) the amount of protein established in the RDA is higher than necessary. However let’s look at the protein grams contained in a day on a whole food plant-based diet.

If you have a breakfast of 1/3 cup regular rolled oats (4 grams), ½ cup soymilk (3.5grams) topped with 1 tablespoon ground flax (2 grams) and 1 tablespoon walnuts (1 gram) that equals 10.5 grams of protein.

After the gym you had a snack of a banana (2 grams) with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (8 grams). This is another 10 grams of protein.

Let’s say your lunch consisted of ½ cup hummus (6 grams), 2 carrots (1 gram), 2 celery sticks (0 grams) and a 1 cup bowl of minestrone soup (about 5 grams). This meal equals 12 grams of protein.

Dinner could be a big salad (you know I love those) with ½ cup beans (8 grams), ½ cup broccoli (1 gram), ½ cup cold cooked quinoa (4 grams), 2 cups leafy greens like lettuce (2 grams) and topped an ounce of pumpkin seeds (9 grams). This is another 24 grams.

When you add up the grams of protein from breakfast lunch and dinner you had 56.5 grams of protein with no effort. I hope this shows you had easy it is to get enough protein in a healthy vegan diet.

Since I suspect many of you now have protein questions please let me know what they are and I will answer your questions as quickly as possible.

Happy Thoughts:

• I can’t believe that another week has flown by. How did it get to be Thursday already? Today Dan worked from home because the Baltimore Gran Prix has traffic all messed up downtown so it was easier to log in from home. It was very nice to have my hubby home for lunch.

• Both Dan and I went for a nice 3 mile walk this morning. He went early (7am) and I went later once I was actually completely awake. It makes me very happy that Dan is starting to embrace being active. Now I just need to get him back the gym. Baby steps right? ;-)

• Tomorrow Dan will be working at home again because of the Gran Prix. I knew I liked sports for some reason. It will be fantastic to have my hubby at home two days in a row. Maybe I can convince him to go see Ian and have lunch or dinner on the patio. Wouldn’t that be a great way to start the long weekend?

• The weather today was absolutely magnificent. With temperatures in the low 80’s and a nice breeze I had the windows open all day. The felines have been hanging out the windows all day letting their fuzz blow. I think the fur children like having the windows open as much as I do.

• I have been rereading Kris Carr’s book “Crazy Sexy Diet” and am trying to work up to her 21-day cleanse. Have any of you done it before? If you did I would love to hear your thoughts on it? If you haven’t done it and are interested in doing it with me (online of course), let me know. This might be the incentive I need to stop thinking about it and actually doing it.

Signing Out:

I have been trying to curtail my online time to when Dan is either at work on busy doing other things so I need to log out soon. Do any of find that you spend too much time on the computer or is it just me?

As usual I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner tonight. Last night we had green smoothies since I was busy. Something tells me that I should probably cook something this evening. ;-)

Talk with you soon I hope. I hope you have a great evening.

Road Trips, Earthquakes and Hurricanes Oh My!

Weekend of August 20 and 21:

We had another one of those crazy busy couple of weeks. You know the type where you go from one task to another and there seems to be little time to kick back and relax. On the bright side we did get a lot accomplished including overdue yard work and some plumbing. *woo hoo* Okay not really but I am trying to look on the bright side. :-)

The weather was nice most of last Saturday but Sunday was a bust with more rain. I know we haven’t had much rain this weekend but I wish it wouldn’t come all at one time.

Sunday morning started at the farmers’ market like always. Like usual we came home with a big haul of produce. This time we bought: kale, collards, ginger, portabella, tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, habanero, blackberries, raspberries, dill, cilantro, and two types of hummus.

The hummus flavors we picked up this week were wasabi sesame and basil and pineapple pesto, which was apparently not actually pesto since they said there was no cheese in it. Don’t you love the creativity of the hummus dude? He has a restaurant near us, not as close as Ian though, which we plan to check out this week (which Ian is on vacation) so we can tell you how it is. I hear there are a lot of vegan options. ;-)

We ran to the health food store (The Natural Market), the library in Cockeysville and Wegman’s Sunday afternoon. Wegman’s was a madhouse Sunday after lunch. If you are thinking of going to Wegman’s over the weekend stick to early morning (before 8am) or later (after 8pm) which is what we usually do.

Dinner on Sunday included a big green salad with spicy chickpeas. The chickpea dish was very simple. I cooked the chickpeas and while they were hot tossed them with chili garlic sauce, lemon juice and cilantro to taste. Be careful not to add too much at first as chili garlic sauce can be extremely spicy depending on the brand. I also added chopped marinated mushrooms and roasted red peppers to the leftovers to change the dish a little. We ate this cold and it tasted better the next day after it had a chance to sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Week of August 22- 26:

Monday I spent most of the day trying to get things accomplished at home. The weather was SO gorgeous that it was difficult to focus. All I wanted to do was spend time outside enjoying the weather. The weather was nice I had all the windows open to air out the house. The felines and I loved having the windows open all day.

There wasn’t any cooking to speak of on Monday. I ate leftovers for lunch and dinner was green smoothies. We definitely have those days where meals are nothing more than a way to fuel ourselves in the most quick and healthy way possible. In the past I used to focus on making every meal special but I am so busy now that fueling us wins out more often than it used to.

Tuesday started early with a trip to DC with Dan. I don’t like needing to rush to get ready but I do love to go to DC with Dan.

We got to DC at 10am and I stopped in to say hello to the folks Dan was meeting with. After that I headed across the street to get a large iced coffee and soy milk at Starbucks. The weather was gorgeous again on Tuesday so I sat outside, relax, enjoy a little people watching and catch up on my email. What at fantastic way to spend the morning. It is hard to believe that most of life I would have been “locked up” in my office or involved in some boring meeting. I can definitely say that I enjoyed Tuesday morning more because of my prior life. If you are wondering about the barricades in the picture I am sure that is because the Starbucks is in the same building as the US Department of Transportation. Seeing the barricades always reminds me of the world that we live in now. It is a very sad commentary on life. *sigh*

However looking on the bright side I love that DC has so many food trucks. Here they are lining up outside the office building (1100 New Jersey Ave SE). The first truck in the row “Tasty Kabob” had halal food which I thought was great though I did find it odd that it was out given that this is Ramadan and Muslims aren’t eating while the sun is up. *scratches head* DC is very multi cultural in a great way. The last truck “Capital Greenz” specialized in salads, soups and panini. We have some food trucks in Baltimore but not a huge number. Do you have a lot of food trucks where you live? Please share the city and the truck name and location of your favorites in the comment section. Let’s help other readers know where to find them.

Whenever Dan has a meeting in DC that is an opportunity for us to stop at one of Jose’s restaurants for a nice meal so I join in whenever I can. As you may have guessed that we both really enjoy Jose’s food. If you are ever in DC please try out Jaleo. They have a nice selection of vegan options and have not problem leaving off the animal products when you ask.

Just as we sat down to order lunch the floor started shaking. At first we had no idea what it was and wondered if the subway ran under the building but the shaking seemed too strong for that. Then we thought of terrorism and a bomb in the subway. The couple at the next table was from California and confirmed that it was probably an earthquake. They said this wasn’t bad and that they would let us know if it was time to leave the building.

Everyone in the restaurant seemed confused but no one got up to the leave. The crazy thing was that we were watching all the other buildings and restaurants around us clear and we all stayed to eat. What does that say about the food at Jaleo?

Okay back to the food….. Phiet ordered “meaty dishes” and we had a nice selection of vegan foods.  I love restaurants like Jaleo that have something for everyone.

First we ordered the mushrooms with garlic which we both love.

Then we ordered the cauliflower with dates, olives and smoked paprika which is absolutely mind blowing. I need to make my own version of this when I find cauliflower at the market. The combination of the sweet, salty and smoky is magnificent. Can you tell how much I love this dish? We order it every time we come in.

We also ordered the green beans with apples, apricots and grapes but asked them to hold the ham.

The final dish was the sautéed spinach with apple, raisin, pine nut and garlic. This reminds me of my favorite Sicilian preparation for greens.

We took time to enjoy our lunch since we had parked a few levels down in an underground parking lot. There was no sense to run and get the car given the earthquake.

It was about an hour after the earthquake before we tried to leave DC. The operative word in that sentence was tried to leave DC. Traffic lights were out, cell service was down and the city was in gridlock. It took us over 3 hours to go 4 miles. This was definitely not the day to be in DC.

Even the police seemed to not have any idea what to do.

Here is the ATF building whose architecture I find fascinating. Usually we are driving too quickly to get a good photograph of the building. However that wasn’t a problem this Tuesday. I had plenty of time to takes pictures. ;-) There really is always a bright side to things.

We also had to stop at Dan's office to pick up some files to take to Richmond the following day. I took a few photographs of the lobby in his building which I love because of the old architecture. The stainled glass windows you see are Tiffany. They just don't build things like this any more.

Since it took us so long to get home and we had to be up out the door at 6:30 the next morning to drive to Richmond we opted to stop and grab and bite for dinner at our favorite place which fortunately happens to be in the neighborhood. Lucky us!  ;-)

We ordered the antipasti plate, made vegan for us.

Dan had a samosa with the cilantro lime sauce which is one of his favorite foods now.

We finished the meal with the sweet and sour butternut squash salad with pistaschios.

The next morning we were out the door early to Richmond. Dan had a meeting there at 10am and given that the earthquake center was located near Richmond I really didn’t want him to go alone.

I took a picture of the Jefferson and the Pentagon to share with you as we went through DC on our way to Richmond.  Even though the Pentagon often I am always struck by how large it is.  Additionally I am still impressed by what a good job they did repairing it after 9/11. If you didn't know which section was destroyed you couldn't tell me looking. 

Rest in Peace Ian (not chef Ian this was another Ian who was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon).  I think of you each time I see the Pentagon.  You may be gone but you are not forgoten.  *sigh*

We arrived in Richmond 15 minutes before the meeting and took a couple of quick pictures. I love old architecture in case you hadn’t noticed.

I stopped into the meeting see Richard and give him a hug. Richard is a great guy who is also a licensed captain. He had offered to bring the boat home from Grenada for us but didn't have enough time. It is such a shame that he lives in Norfolk since it means that we don’t get to see him very often.

While Dan was in his meeting I went next door to Starbucks. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I had more coffee in two days than I had in the last year. It was delicious but my GI system wasn’t too sure it was a good idea. That was a good reminder of why I gave up coffee.

After the meeting we went to lunch with Richard, Rhonda and Terry. We ended up at a little place called Gibbon’s Grill. When I scanned the menu initially I was a little worried that we wouldn’t find anything to eat. However they did have a hummus platter that was easy to make vegan by leaving off the feta cheese.

There was also a veggie wrap that we could make vegan by again leaving off the feta cheese. We ordered the fresh fruit to go with the sandwich rather than the cole slaw (mayo) or chips. We were both surprised by how clean these two dishes actually were. The hummus wasn't fatty and the veggies didn’t have any oil added. We would both go back to this restaurant.

On the ride home we decided it was a good idea to stop at Costco to fill up the car with gas and to pick up a few things to ride out the coming of hurricane Irene. It was disconcerting watching so many generators go out the door while we were there. However we don’t usually have much damage from hurricanes here so we weren’t worried.

Thursday we both had appointments with our internist. You know what that meant right? Yes we had our usual contest to see who had the best results. It pains to me say that Dan won everything but the blood glucose number. Darn him! ;-) However on the bright side my triglycerides were way down (40 points), HDL was up 9 points and scale was down 4 pounds. The doctor seemed a little surprised by the drop in my triglycerides which I think was due to my daily consumption of either flax or chia seeds. I had to explain chia seeds to the doctor whose only reference was a chia pet. *shakes head* Hey, at least he was open to hearing about them and that was better than most MDs that I know.

Friday I spent the day preparing for the hurricane. This meant things like cooking beans and grains to have in the refrigerator, making non-dairy milk, freezing blocks of ice to move to the refrigerator if the power went out, getting rid of the outdoor items that could become projectiles and closing all the storm windows.

August 27 and 28:

The hurricane weekend wasn’t bad at all. There was rain and wind but we experienced no flooding and less rain than most areas of the east coast.

This is the tree that we lost part of in our yard. Fortunately it didn’t fall against the house and we had it cleaned up Sunday around lunch time.

We went for a walk Sunday afternoon and saw this car which was smashed by a tree. This is less than a mile from us. Clearly we were very lucky during the storm.

When we got to the Starbucks we found out that they lost power. We heard the same thing from Troy and Sheila on Monday as they also lost power and still didn’t have it Tuesday morning and they are also very close to us. How we didn’t lose power I have no idea.

Here is another tree that went down in our neighborhood. As expected falling trees was more of a problem around here than anything else.

This is one of our meals from the hurricane weekend. There is a bed of quinoa topped with curried tomato sauce with chickpeas and wilted kale and it is topped with chopped cashews.  I love things like this that I can make in the time it takes the quinoa to cook.  Those ceci (chickpeas) that I precooked before the storm came in handy this weekend.

Making a Healthy Transition:

Thank you to all of you who commented and shared your thoughts and suggestions. Your comments were greatly appreciated.

My advice was to this reader was to educate herself so that she understood the ramifications of eating the way her family desires. Personally I find it much easier to stick to this lifestyle since I know the science. While it is easier to give in and feed people what they want it isn’t generally better for them. I also made sure that she knew that after a month or so everyone’s taste bud would adjust but that only happens when you make permanent changes. If you vacillate between healthy and unhealthy food you never lose the taste for the unhealthy items and that make permanent meaningful change less likely.

Happy Thoughts:

In spite of earthquake and hurricane I still have many things to be happy about:

• Most of this week we have had the most glorious weather. When I went outside this morning I was greeted by temperatures in the low 70’s and a nice breeze. We are definitely coming into fall soon and this is the time when we have great sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. *woo hoo*

• With the fantastic weather today I had all the windows open which gave me a chance to air the house out after being closed up with the air conditioning one for more weeks that I care to remember. If we lived in a different climate I would have the windows open every day since I love fresh air.

• We were very fortunate have little damage from both the earthquake and the hurricane. I was also thankful that I was with Dan during the earthquake because I knew he was okay since I was with him. I would have worried had we been apart.

• We both got good news from our latest doctor appointment and that was also wonderful. I was very pleased with the drop in my triglycerides. This has encouraged me to continue to add either a tablespoon of ground flax or chia seeds to my diet every day.

Signing Out:

Sorry that I disappeared on your guys over the last few weeks. Life has been crazy and I am behind on everything. I have found some time to post on Facebook if you aren’t following me there please doing. When my schedule gets busy it is much easier to post there since it is quicker.

Now I need to run and do a few things here and then write up the next chapter on the book club blog. With a little luck I will get that posted later today.

I hope the earthquake and hurricane didn’t cause too much disruption in your life. I am going to try to get back to daily posting on this blog. Talk with you again soon. :-)