The Weekend Send-Off

April 22nd, 2011 - filed under: Furthermore » Feedback



Oi! Hello hello again on the cusp of the weekend. I’ve felt like it’s Friday for the past three days, whew! Thank goodness it’s finally arrived.

First things first, I want to give an enormous THANK YOU to Julie, for dropping a little something in my tip jar this week. It feels so good to be appreciated and the support means so very much to me. More than you know. And yay, I’m so glad you like my recipes. Thanks girl!


Now, let’s get right in to the good stuff, shall we? Le Love List! Mine:

1. Yesterday’s amazing, mouthwatering, incredible RAW vegan feast. Lunch at a new (to me) restaurant was more splendiferous than I could have imagined. Check out this food:



More than we could possibly eat, and there was also dessert! This meal was only made better by the wonderful company (that’s little Miss Scarlett in the picture up top – she’s Waits’ betrothed). Good friends and good food is a combo that can’t be beat. Thank you Yummy Tummy Oasis!

2. The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. It’s going on for the next few weeks – find one near you! Anyone can participate! Ours is tomorrow and I’ll be [un]cooking up RAW apricot bars. YUM

3) Fresh Flowers. *sigh* Don’t you just love spring? This is the first year that I’m actually picking and displaying the tulips and daffodils that I grow in my front yard. Fresh flowers make everything brighter and better.

Okay, I showed you mine, now you show me yours! What do you love this week?


My darlings, this happy little post will stay at the top of the page all weekend, so stop by any time to leave your Love List, ask a question, or offer some feedback! Or if you’re new, please introduce yourself and say ‘Oi!’! This is your community, so get involved!

Enjoy your weekend and HAPPY EARTH DAY!

  • http://vegantasticness.blogspot.com Felicity

    Happy earth day! My list…
    1. A giant herb stew that I made on monday and it’s still feeding me :)

    2. My boyfriend finally found a bike so we can being our transition to being a totally car-free household

    3. So I was out walking yesterday and passed by a really fancy restaurant. I’m nosy and always like to look at the menus they post outside and, next to things like filet mignon and salmon, they had vegan raw foods! I was so excited! Next time I have $100 to blow on a huge meal (haha, yeah right…) I’m so going there!

  • http://twitter.com/erosan erosan

    Wow, ummm… not really much to love this week… I mean, I feel happy and all, but lots of not-so-good things happened too… anyways, love list:

    1. My baby just found out he has a tongue and keeps playing with it constantly… it makes me laugh every single time.

    2. Soreness from exercise. It is a constant reminder that you are doing something good for your body, and also it makes you feel powerful in a “yeah, I exercise; you feeling lucky, punk?” kinda way… I just started doing Shaun T’s Insanity, and I am proud to have made it to the 4th day. :P

    3. uhhh…

    uhh…

    well…

    mmm…

    yeah

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/selahno/ Selah

    1. Playing in the garden, planting some onions plants and hand tilling areas for peas and carrots!

    2. FRESH salad greens from the garden/forest

    3. The ability to change and try news things… thinking nearly Vegan or rather ovo-vegetarian we have laying hens, no roosters but it seems silly not to enjoy their gifts when I know they are well fed taken care of and can’t possibly result in a chick.

    any tips, links, or books for a newbe would be VERY appreciated((if you get the chance I gather from your blog your VERY busy!))

    Thanks and happy earthday

  • Alexander

    Love List:
    1. The bread I just baked. I’ve never made bread before but I used the technique from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes and it was delicious. I’ve already eaten half the loaf and it didn’t get done until about 7:30pm (it’s 11:00pm now here).
    2.The melon seedlings I started. Half the stuff I found said my type of melon wouldn’t transplant and the other half said it would, so I’m starting two transplants and two direct seeded. The transplant seedlings are a couple inches tall and the stem of the larger one is as big around as a strand of worsted yarn.
    3. My niece eating dal with me. She’s nine months old, the doctor said she could start trying legumes and stuff like that (as long as there was no milk in it, as she might be intolerant), and she really wanted my food. So, I gave her a tiny bite of dal and then another and then another and then when it was gone she cried. It was sad and adorable at the same time!

    QUESTION: Marked for visibility. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for helping with caffeine withdrawal. I’ve suddenly realized how ridiculously much pop/coffee I drink (think 4-5 20oz pops AND 2-3 8oz cups of coffee a day) and want to cut WAY back. I’ve tried before, not that long ago, but when I combined caffeine withdrawal with a back ache and having to help watch my nephews and niece it came down to: option A: have some pop/coffee and help sister watch kids, option B: don’t have pop/coffee, beat face against wall, and probably leave sister at house watching kids by self before I hurt someone.

  • http://twitter.com/erosan erosan

    Alexander: Tea-zealotry warning: I am crazy about tea. I love the stuff…

    I’d suggest you replace coffee for tea… I mean real tea, not herbal infusions. Tea also contains caffeine, but in lower doses, which will help you cut back on it without going cold turkey (and yes, you can have withdrawal symptoms if you were addicted to caffeine).

    I wouldn’t quit caffeine entirely though, it has a lot of proven benefits (and tea tastes awesome, and so does properly brewed coffee).

    Tea can bring into your diet all other sorts of good stuff like tannins, l-theanine, polyphenols and more… and even though “Green tea has been claimed to be helpful for atherosclerosis, LDL cholesterol, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, liver disease, weight loss, neurodegenerative diseases, and even halitosis.”* the only (and best) reason to drink it is because it tastes good.

    Oh, and as long as you sub for something other than black tea, you would be cutting your caffeine intake at least by half. (I’d try some oolong or similar… my fav right now is a Bao Zhong wich tastes sweet, and floral, but not overly so)

    One last word of caution: try and get the lose leaf kind of tea, the stuff in bags is to tea what instant decaf coffee is to coffee… you can drink it IF you must, but why would you given the option?

    Some resources:
    http://submitinfographics.com/all-infographics/the-health-benefits-of-coffee-vs-tea-infographic.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannins_in_tea
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theanine

  • Alexander

    Ah, I love tea as well! Mostly black tea…
    I actually have a couple cabinets full of tea and have usually at least one cup a day.
    I definitely am addicted to caffeine. If I don’t have it I get really mean and shake really bad but it goes away as soon as I have some so….
    I figure I’m not going to be able to decrease it much, even subbing in tea, without withdrawal symptoms and mostly was wondering if anyone had any tips to deal with it so I’m not a complete jerk who spills things all over because they’re shaking so bad until I get over it.

  • http://twitter.com/erosan erosan

    @Alexander: the thing with caffeine in tea is that it “absorbs” slower due to the other compounds in tea, so you get the caffeine ‘high’ but through a slower release… I think you can do it if you want to. Be it cutting 1 cup a day then the second cup and so on, or substituting coffee for tea or even stopping all caffeine intake in one go…

    worst case scenario, try getting your caffeine intake in some other way than coffee to slowly quit the addiction… thinkgeek.com has a lot of caffeine stuff…
    http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/

    just saying…

    Good luck!

  • http://www.windycityvegan.wordpress.com Monika {windycityvegan}

    @Alexander: I 100% agree with everything erosan said – he’s so right about tea.

    For me personally, I love love love the taste of coffee, so in the past when I’ve had to cut caffeine out of my diet I switched to Swiss-water decaffeinated coffee. This definitely helped ease the psychological withdrawal from my favorite beverage.

    @erosan: Glad to read that you’re embracing muscle soreness from exercise. I start training for another race soon, and I’ll remember your enthusiasm when I’m cursing my lactic acid threshold in a few weeks. Also, I hope that next week holds only good things for you, none of this not-so-good stuff.

    @everyone else: HAPPY EARTH DAY!! Everything’s in bloom where I live and I love reading about everyone’s seeds, gardens, all of it!

    Love list:
    1. My husband is embracing raw this season like never before, and Nina is not far behind. He’s a bit addicted to baked falafel, and grilled hummus sandwiches, but if that’s the extent of his carb addiction this summer I’ll take it!

    2. I have green zebras in my garden. I cannot wait to see Nina’s face when they start fruiting.

    3. My Celiac test came back inconclusive; that’s better than a super duper in-my-face positive, right? I still plan on being gluten-free, but I’m glad it isn’t a full-blown allergy. Now, fingers crossed that my Crohn’s test is negative, too!

  • Meghan

    @Alexander

    When I was an undergrad I became hopelessly addicted to caffeine each year. But I was also cheap, and didn’t like that as the year wore on it took me more and more Code Reds (aaaggghh! who was I then?!?!) to stay awake. So every summer I’d quit caffeine completely so that come fall it would pack a punch again. Wow, that really sounds insane. Anyway, what I did, was make sure that when I stopped (which I always did cold turkey) I had time to allow myself to sleep. A lot. And if not sleep, at lest lay down. Obviously if I was at work I didn’t have that option, but when I was home. Even if I wasn’t tired, but anytime the withdrawal headache got bad, or I got shaky. I’d just lay down. Also, water, water, water. Drink LOTS OF WATER. I found that exercise helped too, if I could convince myself to get up and do it. The burning in my legs from running distracted me from my other complaints, and exercise releases happy chemicals which also helps.

    Good luck!

  • Moira

    1. beautiful spring rain.
    2. today Angelo and I finally purchased the Omega 8004 juicer! I can’t wait to get it in the mail. and i can’t wait to start juicing cabbage… stay tuned for health updates from the stuff.
    3. today will mark my fifth bikram yoga class in seven days – the most i’ve ever managed to do in a week.

  • RK

    1. It finally being warm enough here to get some yard work/play done today.

    2. African tea…..soooo good!

    3. Being able to finish/go back to school in the fall.

  • Virginia

    For me -
    1. My daughter. We are having a Graduation party for her tomorrow. She is 16 and received her GED and started college in Graphic Design. Very proud of her and love her lots.
    2. We found some new (to us anyway) gluten free products from Udi. Udi is our favorite brand. Daughter has Celiac Disease so has to be gluten free and Udi’s is pretty awesome. We found hamburger and hotdog buns. So nice. And we also splurged and got some gluten free chocolate donuts. I don’t think she has had a donut in 3 years.
    3. Knowing that I will be seeing family and friends tomorrow at the party. That makes it worth all the work that I have to do yet today. :D

    Have a great weekend all!

  • Beens

    1) The way my body is embracing so many positive changes: more plants, more raw foods, less alcohol, less meat and dairy; not only the physical differences (glowing skin, energy, calm) but the emotional – seriously, I’m increasingly blown away and I can’t wait to see where this takes me :)

    2) My awesome friends – a friend’s planned hospital birth turned into an unplanned unassisted birth with her husband doing the catching as they wouldn’t have made it in a cab. Everything worked out well, I’m so in awe of them right now

    3) The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm. I cannot wait to read this, just over 100 pages, I think I’m going to devour it

  • http://lovesveggies.blogspot.com/ Lindsay

    Le Love for this week:

    1) First semester of business school will be finished next week! Wow that went by fast and I’m SO glad I made the decision to go back to school. MBA here I come! ;)

    2) My seedlings are lookin’ like your seedlings! The leaves are opening and they are stretching their little seed necks towards the sunshine. Plants make me smile. More than I ever thought they would.

    3) Loving being surrounded by family this week for the holiday. There have been lots of smiles, hugs and good stories are being shared. More than anything I love that I made a huge batch of green juice this morning and everyone tried it! woohoo! :)

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    I love the conversation here!

    @ Felicity – Happy Earth Day to you too – hope it was a good one. And that restaurant sounds great, you should take yourself out for your birthday. =)

    @ erosan – Sorry that your week has been meh. I think next week will be full of awesome!

    @ Selah – What kind of tips/links are you looking for? Like on being vegan? Wasn’t quite sure what you were asking for specifically – sorry!

    @ Alexander – First, I’m super sorry about this late response. I meant to answer your question on the Facebook page and then got totally caught up, it’s so rare I go on FB these days. Anyways, bad excuses, I’m sorry!

    That said, erosan gave the *exact* same advice I was going to give. To me, it sounds like you have a VERY serious addiction to caffeine and quite possibly a simultaneous sugar problem (from the pop and if you sweeten the coffee, then that too) Quitting both the physical and mental/emotional addiction at the same time might be too much. Moving to tea will a) give the caffeine but in a different, mellower sort of experience, and b) allow you to manage the mental/emotional stuff first. Once you have transitioned to tea and gotten it somewhat under control, then you can begin to taper off. You will have the internal strength to maintain your stability and resist the urge for more caffeine, once you are less mentally/emotionally dependent on it. It sounds to me like quitting cold turkey right now would just be too horrible.

    I know it’s not what you were hoping for, but addiction’s addiction and it sucks. Believe me, I KNOW. I quit smoking and it was the hardest thing I’d ever done. But you can do it! You really can. We can be your support system if you need it. =)

    Luck!

    @ Monika – SO rad that your family is along for the raw ride. And yay, congrats about the Celiac test! I’ll be crossing my fingers for your upcoming results.

    @ Moira – Ooh! Have so much fun with your new juicer!

    @ RK – Congrats on going back to schol, that’s great (and I’m a bit jealous!) When you say African tea do you mean rooibos? I <3 that stuff and just threw some into a batch of kombucha for the first time!

    @ Virginia – Congrats to your daughter! Damian and I both left high school at 16. Way to go for her getting on with her life! =D Hope the party went well and wasn’t too much work!

    @ Beens – That was one of the most amazing effects I felt when going vegan, and it was totally unexpected. What an emotional, empathetic awakening! Thanks for reminding me of that. =)

    @ Lindsay – One semester down, congrats! Hope your holiday was great. Hooray for getting family on the green-drinking band wagon. Yay!

  • http://windycityvegan.wordpress.com Monika {windycityvegan}

    @Moira – I’m so jealous! I can’t find a decent Bikram studio around here at all and have had to settle for taking classes once or twice a year when I travel back home to Chicago. I am also so totally impressed at five days in one week – you are my new yoga superhero. :D

  • http://twitter.com/erosan erosan

    @Monika {windycityvegan}: Don’t curse your lactic acid threshold! lactic acid is your friend, not a foe!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/health/nutrition/16run.html?_r=3

    :P

  • http://windycityvegan.wordpress.com Monika {windycityvegan}

    @erosan: Thanks for the article link! I heart lactic acid (or maybe I should say ‘I heart muscle mitochondria mass’?), but my threshold is still a little low.

  • Toni Dill

    I used to do yoga at home, I’d tape ‘Inhale’ on the oxygen channel, and do my yoga in the evening if I didn’t walk. I miss that show so much! Steve Ross retired, and I was heartbroken! There are still some recorded shows on you tube, but it isn’t the same

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