Thekkady has one of the largest wildlife sanctuary in India is a dream destination. The Country’s sole Tiger reserve, Periyar, with its bountiful treasures of tropical flora and fauna is the ultimate reservoir of many an endangered species and a rich tribal culture. Thekkady is situated in Idukki district of Kerala, India.

The fruits are yellowish to orange with somewhat meaty pulp resembling a cooked egg yolk. EGG FRUIT (Pautaria campechiana), belonging to the family sapotaceae, is a large, symmetrical, bushy, much branched, evergreen tree. The taste of the fruit is unique, rich, sweet and highly nutritive with about 2000 IU/100g of carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.

After photographing had one bite, tastes exactly as that of boiled egg ., Taken at Thekkady woods,Idukki,Kerala,India.

Beautiful Rose (Peace)

The roses are blooming the grass is growing faster than we can cut it. Summer has definitely arrived in Le Marche. It did have to be dragged out of hiding this year though, April and the beginning of May were very changeable. The kind of weather where you have to prepare for anything and everything before you go out for the day, taking with you, raincoat, umbrella, wellies, cardigan, T-shirt, sandals, suncream and sunhat. Get the idea?

Last week I mentioned the growth in the orto (vegetable garden) and it hasn’t slowed down. Today we’re going to pick most of the peas and broad beans, although the beans don’t look too healthy, some of them have black leaves and inside the pods is a sticky black substance…anyone enlighten me?

Peas…as if you didn’t know

In 2012 the apricots were prolific but, this year, two of the trees appear to be yielding nothing and the other tree just a few. I managed to make over thirty pots of chutney and several jars of jam last summer but this year there will be very few. Pity I gave so many away. Looks like there’s only one of each left in the larder.

One Jar Apricot Chutney
One Jar Apricot Jam

The cherries are looking good though so we’ll be harvesting them this afternoon too before the birds get them. So cherry jam will be on the boil later this evening. Such a fag taking out all those stones though.

May is a very beautiful time here, it’s warm enough to eat breakfast outside on the terrace but not so hot during the day to be unbearable. The mosquitoes are still sleeping so we don’t have to cover ourselves in deet. The evenings are drawing out and only goes a little chilly after the sun has completely gone, which, at the moment is around 20.45.

If you fancy trying out Le Marche there are some lovely places to visit and to stay. You could check out this link Marcheholidayaparts.com. If you decide to try them then mention olivespastavino blog when you book, you will be sure to get a favourable rate!

The Bougainvillea has survived the winter and is blooming!

The Tower Garden Growing System comes with everything you need to start growing vegetables, herbs, and fruits at home—including our specially formulated plant food and gourmet seeds. This aeroponic 5-feet-tall vertical garden allows you to grow up to 20 plants in less time than it takes in soil.

BENEFITS:
Soil-free system means there is no weeding, tilling, kneeling, or getting dirty
No gardening experience is necessary
Fits easily on urban patios, decks, porches, balconies, terraces, or rooftop gardens
Grows many fruits and almost any vegetable, herb, or flower
Purchase an extension kit and grow up to 28 plants in one Tower
Uses as little as 10% of traditional growing nutrients & water
Can produce crops in less time than it takes to grow in soil
Made from USDA-approved, UV-stabilized, food-grade plastic

TO ORDER & for more info visit my husband’s website Real Food Nuts 4 Juice Plus

Questions? Email realfoodnuts4@yahoo.com

The Tower Garden Experience Video

Chinese burrito…ish-looking spring rolls. HELLO!

[Recipe at the end of post]

I don’t really know what to call this. It’s mini-burrito-looking-ish springrolls with chicken, mushrooms, and avocados.

We have this grocery problem at home where because of my unstable schedule, we never know if we should stock the fridge. I would spend days at home with no food in the fridge because I’m either too lazy to go shopping, or because I don’t know if I’m actually going to be at home. Sometimes we would stock the fridge and won’t get time to cook until the vegetables have all wilted.

Yesterday as my mom was heading to the supermarket I told her I’d be home for lunch the next day so some veggies would be good. She came home and this happened:

Mom: Hey I bought these fresh mushrooms.

Me: *Immediately pays attention to these special mushrooms she’s making a point about*

Mom: You should eat them ASAP though, I got them on sale…

Me: You mean you got the not-fresh ones that are gonna go bad if I don’t eat it soon, which is why they’re on sale?

Mom: That’s what I meant, just eat them.

So I opened the fridge this morning, having completely forgotten about these what I now call ASAP-mushrooms, and lo and behold! Mushrooms! Too many to finish in one go! CHICKEN! THREE BREASTS!

*Immediate thought: I won’t be home tomorrow to finish all this meat and magic, I mean, ASAP-mushrooms*

That was a cue to actually make brunch and forget about having egg whites and avocados for breakfast. In my mind I knew those avocados are going to rot if I don’t eat them either, so I decided to put everything together and demolish it. We have these springroll sheets sitting in our fridge, which I also know they’re going to make mould babies soon, so…

TA-DA!!

Chicken, mushrooms, and avocados in springroll wrap. I didn’t deep fry it, I just pan fried it on the skillet I cooked the chicken on. Berry easy, fun, and yummy. I bet I can put veggies in it and make kids (and my boyfriend, who… I think can be categorized as a child on some levels, such as this), eat lots of it. To the moms out there, if your kids still won’t eat it, I’m pretty sure some cheese will solve the problem.

Recipe

Ingredients

• Boneless chicken breast/fillet or any meat you prefer
• Seasoning for meat
• Mushrooms and/or any other vegetables you like
• Avocados
• Seriously, all of the above are optional – get creative

Cooking instructions

1. Slice chicken/meat and season/marinate
2. Julienne vegetables
3. Stir fry your yummy yummy meat and set aside
4. Stir fry vegetables (or not, if you like them raw) and set aside
5. Dice avocados, set aside
6. Lay out a sheet of springroll wrap on a plate, place fillings on the center of the sheet and wrap away! These sheets tend to be thin so you may not be able to fit too much filling in one wrap. I was greedy and just double wrapped it. *Wins at life moment*
7. You don’t need to seal the wrap with anything – just place the roll open-side-down on the pan on low heat and it’ll stay together.
8. Once the roll has browned on one side – FLIP!

The rolls I made were not crunchy all around but I liked the different textures – feel free to experiment and let me know how it goes!

This is the first time I’ve ever put up a recipe so if I’ve forgotten anything or aren’t pro enough for y’all pro blog-readers out there, I’m sorry, and this is so straight forward you really can make this even better than I did without my wondrous instructions.

Happy springrollin’!

]]> http://whatishealthyliving.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/10-tips-on-how-to-lose-weight-by-simply-changing-your-eating-habits/ Sun, 19 May 2013 04:35:40 +0000 francoalan http://whatishealthyliving.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/10-tips-on-how-to-lose-weight-by-simply-changing-your-eating-habits/ This is a continuation of the previous post Easy Ways to Get Rid of the Bad Habits That Affect Your Health in which I shared 3 general techniques to change bad habits. This post is slightly different, but it can be complemented with the previous one. As the tittle suggests, the tips below are more focused on how to change bad eating habits. Changing eating habits isn’t easy though, so to make changes that stick you’ll want to use these tidbits of advice to cement your new way of fueling your body into place.

• Keep a record of the food you eat and what you drink for at least a week. This will help you constructively judge your eating habits and identify areas for change, as well as make you accountable for your food choices. Studies have shown this to be one of the vital components to successful diet changes and weight loss.

• Eat slowly so that you can allow your body the time to signal that you’re full and to be much more satisfied by the flavor of the food.

• No need to count calories and measure portion sizes. Be more concerned with making food choices that are in their most natural state (vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses, unprocessed meats and much more), and including a wide range of color and variety.

• It’s good to have a long-term plan of how you’d like to be feeding your body, but you’ll be most successful if you make small changes over time. For example, if you would like to be consuming more vegetables, start by preparing an array of raw vegetables that you have on hand to snack on and make this your main goal for the week. Then the following week, you may want to start creating some dinner recipes that are focused on more healthy ingredients. Little by little you will be building new habits that will stick.

• Drink water regularly throughout the day. Not only does water flush toxins and waste products out of the body, it also helps you feel more energetic, gets you thinking more clearly, improves the appearance of your skin and helps you to feel less hungry. If you’re not drinking around 8 glasses of water a day, make this one of your first diet changes to implement.

• Moderation is the key to any diet so don’t feel like you can never enjoy your favorite sugar-laden treat or enjoy the convenience of fast-food. Just don’t make it your regular routine. As well, use the concept of moderation and balance with portion sizes. Don’t fill your plate with a high-carb portion of pasta and only include a small serving of low-carb vegetables. Although carbohydrates are an important part of a healthy diet, they are often over consumed and not conducive to your body’s optimum performance or in managing a healthy weight.

• Try not to be eating anything within 4 hours of going to sleep. Studies suggest that this simple dietary change is beneficial for the digestive system and in avoiding the high fat/high calorie snacking that often occurs after the last meal of the day.

• Learn to like the good sources of fat. Fat tends to get a bad reputation for being the main instigator of weight gain, but it’s really over-consumption (mainly over-consumption of high carbohydrate foods) that cause weight gain and sluggish body processes. Get well educated on the good sources of fat that are so vital to the nourishment of your body. Just a couple of excellent options are: nuts & seeds, plant oils, avocados, fish, peanut butter (with just peanuts) and tofu.

• Protein is an energy packed element of a balanced diet. It’s integral to the building of muscle and gives the body a great energy kick along with other healthful benefits, but there also seems to be a tad too much emphasis on the protein portion of the meal on the average plate, specifically when it comes to meat protein. It’s not the protein part of the meat that’s the problem though it’s what comes along with the protein, which means you should limit red meats and avoid all processed meats. No need to think about taking meat right out of your diet, especially if you enjoy it, but get familiar with consuming a healthy portion and eating the leanest cuts of unprocessed meat.

• Limit sugar and salt and recognize all the hidden sources of these health threats. Although it can be a given that consuming too much sugar and salt isn’t ideal, the biggest hurdle is being informed enough to realize all the places these veiled ingredients are hiding. For the most part, your food sources are going to start becoming more and more natural but there will still be opportunities for the sugar and salt to sneak their way into your meals without you even realizing it. Keep in mind that salt is commonly used to cure meats and to preserve canned foods and commonly referred to as sodium. The table below reveals some of the alternate terms for sugar:

Note: Ingredients that contain any of the above words in them can be considered a sugar product as well.

One last tip. Remember that accountability is key to changing bad habits, so find yourself someone who you know will help you stay on track.

Remember to leave your comments, questions, and suggestions.

• 5 top tips to a healthy spiritual life.  Your inner growth is the most important growth in your life, not only because it’s what forms your perspective (which gives you a positive or negative take on your surroundings), but also because it is how you will discover what you were created for.
• A healthy checklist to follow. Discover 11 benefits of becoming more healthy. This checklist will surely give you more reason to become healthier.
• Developing a healthy mindset. Diet and exercise is one thing, but if your mind is not tuned in, then it’s going to be harder to reach your health goals. This chapter will share positive traits and habits to developing a healthy mindset.
• How to fuel your body with the right foods. What you feed your body is the biggest factor in the health of your whole self.  Not just your physical self, but also your emotional, social, mental and spiritual self.
• The benefits of eating raw foods. 
• Exercise and fitness tips. Exercising doesn’t have to be a high-cardio session or a sweat-filled weight lifting experience.  In this chapter, I’ll show you some simple ways to build your fitness and cardio.
• How to set goals and plan. It’s easier to follow-through when you have something tangible you can see, such as a goal. I’ll show you how to plan, set targets and objectives.

Things to note in this picture: A copy of Charcuterie for a potential upcoming project (and one currently curing); burp cloth and bottle parts for the little person sitting next to me; the only picture of the recipe at the bottom of the page; a tomato flavored beer.

Called Red Eye, It was a red can with tomatoes on the front. I was kinda expecting something like a Budweiser Chelada, though I haven’t actually ever had a Chelada. It seemed, appropriately enough for the shopping trip, to be a beer aimed at breakfast. So I picked some up, and tried it this morning with my bad ass omelet.

It poured initially like a standard light Japanese beer, but as I got to the bottom, the tomato juice kicked up and gave it a nice dark amber color. The smell was decidedly tomato, and was initially a bit off putting. Though after drinking it, the smell became less noticeable. The flavor was sweeter than I expected, almost like a fruit beer. On first taste my wife said it reminded her, surprisingly, of Abita’s Purple Haze which is a raspberry beer out of Louisiana. All the more fitting that I poured it into one of my (many) trusty Bulldog pint glasses.

Swirl before pouring. I think shaking would be a bad call.

Verdict: Not my thing. But an interesting beer to start your day with. Also, I could see it serving well as a hair-of-the-dog type remedy for which it is advertised.

Omelet Recipe I suppose?

Italian Sausage Omelet

• 1/4 lb Italian Sausage, crumbled and cooked
• 1/3 c. Diced Bell Pepper
• 1 c. Chopped Bunashimeji Mushrooms (or other mild meaty mushroom)
• As Much Mozzarella Cheese as You Deem Necessary
• 1 T. Butter
• 4 Eggs
• 1/2 c. Milk
• Garlic Powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Melt butter in a saute pan, and add bell pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until they start getting soft. Add mushrooms and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes. Add sausage and cook until thoroughly combined and mushrooms are very soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Put eggs, milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a mixing bowl and whisk (or stick blender) thoroughly. Heat a small omelet pan, coated thoroughly with cooking spray, and add half of the egg mixture. Allow it to set before adding a sufficient quantity of the meat/veg mixture, I’ll let you decide what is sufficient. Prior to folding add a sufficient amount of the Mozz, fold and finish cooking both sides. Serve and garnish with a dollop of sour cream, a light sprinkle of Italian Seasoning, and a quick grate of Parmesan.

Repeat with the second omelet, and enjoy with a tomato based beer.

But the amazing motivators I have around me kept telling me about the benefits and how great they felt doing this every day.

So after  unloading all my ‘excuses’ onto a friend she told me about how she started with hers; the Young and Raw 30 day Green Smoothie Challenge. She spruiked; they’ll send you a shopping list for the week, they’ll send you the recipe every morning, you can get all of the ingredients easily, they are quick to make and they don’t taste like grASS!    http://secure.youngandraw.com/30daychallenge/

So I signed up (for free) and started on day 6. It starts at the beginning of each month, I missed the mark on that part, but starting the middle is better than not starting! I had a shopping list in my email account 10 minutes after signing up. The ingredients were all easy to find in my generic supermarket and it didn’t add much to my usual grocery bill. Coming home from my first shop and filling up my fridge was a sight, I have never seen it look so green, to think I was going to eat all of those vegetables.

For the first week I got up each morning and through the fog of morning brain was able to follow the recipe that magically appeared in my email account overnight. And by that I mean put various whole objects into my blender and press ON.  It was quick, it tasted good and when I was running late I could take it to work and drink it at my desk.

Let’s be honest there were a few teething problems, for starters my blender is not fancy or particularly strong. Through a process of trial and error I learned to pack it for the smoothest end result.  One and a half months on it has stood the test of 30+ days of hard blending and there is no need to replace it yet.

Most health gurus say it takes 21 days to make a habit, well I think I have hit my stride with this one. I’m making green smoothies 6 days a week; I’ve finished the Young and Raw challenge and have started to branch out. Now that I am in the habit I find I can make my shopping list for the week from a couple of recipes from the challenge and some from the absolute multitude of recipes available online. Coming into winter I am starting to look at fruit that is in season and using spices like cinnamon that make my smoothies have that warming feel.

Overall my skin is clearer, I’m hydrated, I’m full until lunch time most days, I’m thinking clearer and am more productive at work. And this one is for Mum, it has taken me 24 years but I am finally achieving my 5 plus fruit and vege a day!

So to answer my initial hesitations:

How do I know what to put in them? Start with young and raw and after that literally anything that’s fresh! Will my blender cope? Wait and see. Will it blow my budget? No. Doing the sums, it added $5-10 a week to my food bill, but he benefits are well worth it. Do I have enough time? It is literally quicker to make than my old usual breakfast. And thinking about it if I don’t have an extra 5 minutes to spend on my health, what the hell am I doing with my time?

A final word of advice in the green smoothie department, if you add blueberries to your smoothie and take it to work to drink, when your finished go to the bathroom and make sure there’s not bits stuck in your teeth! If you get that right you’ll avoid an embarrassing moment with your boss.

If you have any great smoothies recipes or websites please pass them on!

Love Caroline

Another exciting bounty from the garden:

- the zucchini became zucchini slice
- made with eggs from my mum & dad’s place
- we had the cherry tomatoes in our salad

- the figs became poached figs in red wine syrup with marscapone
- made with wine saved from the bin at work

GROW YOUR OWN.

Q: Why does cheese look sane?

A: Because everything else on the plate is crackers.

When the farm stands (or your garden) start offering up the bounty of summer vegetables, keep this different and tasty grilled pizza in mind. The sauce is a light, Parmesan scented corn purée, which is perfect with the Caprese-style toppings.

Grilled Pizza With Cheesy Corn, Fresh Tomatoes, And Basil

Ingredients:

15 ounces pizza dough, store bought or homemade
1 1/3 cups corn kernels (from 2 ears)
1/2 ounce (1/4 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Coarse salt
2 small tomatoes, thinly sliced
6 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced
1/2 cup basil leaves

Directions:

1. Let dough sit at room temperature (in package) 4 hours.

2. Purée corn, Parmesan, garlic, 2 tablespoons oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until smooth with small chunks.

3. Spread remaining oil on a baking sheet. Place dough on pan, and stretch to an even thickness, turning to coat both sides with oil. Let rest 1 hour, then restretch.

4. Preheat grill to medium.

5. Season dough with salt, and transfer to grill, making sure to keep dough flat and even. Cover grill, and cook until dough is just charred on bottom, 5 to 6 minutes, checking frequently.

6. Carefully turn dough over. Spread corn mixture on dough, and top with tomato slices. Season with salt, and top with mozzarella. Cover grill, and cook until toppings are warmed through and mozzarella has melted, 5 to 6 minutes.

7. Top with basil, and serve.

Serves 6

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Here’s a fun ska-light tune that makes me smile whenever I hear it.

Check out No Such Noise! on Facebook and Bandcamp, where you can buy their music.

Cheers!

Whole Roasted Cauliflower

2 1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup salt (i used 1 tsp) not sure why so much salt?
3 T lemon juice
2 T butter
1 T crushed red pepper flakes
1 T sugar
1 bay leaf
1 head cauliflower

Bring all ingredients to a boil and add cauliflower. Simmer 15-20 minutes turning once. Transfer cauliflower to a greased roasting dish. Roast, rotating half way through, 30-40 minutes. I added feta the last 10 minutes.

This is absolutely delicious. The kids didn’t like the cheese but you could use any cheese or no cheese. I found a new cheese, Sonoma Jack, at the grocery store. I bet that would be super yummy on it!!

Meh. Nothing bad, but nothing good. Very average. I ended up eating it all though. Not too bad though, considering this is my second dish for this blog and my first time stir-frying something. Hell, I wasn’t even quite sure what stir-frying exactly was….

First, we’ll start with my eggplant. I cut most of my pieces waaaaaay too thick! As a result it took much longer than it should have to cook all the way through. Some were even a tad bit raw on the inside still. The thinner pieces tasted pretty decent however. My proportions were way off too. I decided to not follow through with the recipe religiously. I used one eggplant instead of four… I should’ve probably either used four or cut down my other ingredients to one-fourth of what they should’ve been. Oh well. Live and learn.

I think I did a good job with the peppers, to say the least. They were a little thicker than what the recipe called for, but it didn’t really affect the stir-fry method. They also gave my dish that little extra kick that it needed. Besides the sauce, at least.

As for the garlic… I should’ve put way less! It was overpowering but not enough to completely destroy the dish, you know?

Then we have the sauce which was a mixture of oyster sauce, sesame oil, and sugar, which was pretty damn good. I could probably put that on other Chinese cuisines…. Salty and little sweet!

Though it was nothing too special, it at least looked like eggplant stir-fry, and I’m pretty happy about that.

Gotta go! Still got essays and essays to write.

Disease is Not Sexy, Healthy is Sexy

Many people believe that protein can only be obtained through eating meat, eggs, and dairy. Did you know, though, that every whole food contains protein? Yes, that means that fruit and vegetables contain protein! Everything from figs, avocados, cucumbers – the list goes on. Eating a wide variety of fruit and vegetables will ensure that you get the appropriate amino acids (building blocks of protein) that are much more easier for the body to use than consuming protein in the form of animal products.

1. Chia seeds (1/4 cup = 12 grams)

2. Hemp seeds (1/4 cup = 10 grams)

3. Sunflower seeds (1/4 cup = 8 grams)

4. Spirulina (1 oz. = 16 grams)

5. Quinoa (1/4 cup dry = 6 grams)

6. Sesame seeds (1/4 cup = 7 grams)

7. Pumpkin seeds (1 oz. = 9.35 grams)

8. Mushrooms (1 cup – 5 grams)

9. Barley grass (1/2 cup, juiced = 12.6 grams)

10. Watercress (1 cup = 3 grams)

11. Peas (1 cup = 8 grams)

12. Asparagus (8 spears = 3.08 grams)

13. Romaine (1 cup = 1 gram)

14. Almonds (1 oz. = 6.03 grams)

15. Cauliflower (1 cup = 2.28 grams)

16. Maca root (1 tbsp = 3 grams)

17. Broccoli (1 cup = 5.7 grams)

18. Kale (1 cup = 2.5 grams)

19. Sprouts (1 cup = 5 grams)

20. Avocado (1 avocado = 4 grams)

21. Brazil nuts (1 cup, shelled = 20 grams)

22. Figs (1 cup = 2.5 grams)

23. Goji berries (1 cup = 10 grams)

24. Spinach (1 cup = 5.35 grams)

Source: http://livelovefruit.com/2013/04/plant-protein/

Related articles

• Understanding Proteins (thenakedveggie.wordpress.com)
• How do you get your protein? (modpoddaily.com)

Flash forward to my new gluten free life where I can still enjoy my fav dish, but with a few slight modifications. First things first: become a creature of habit. When you find a true gluten free friendly restaurant, dish or recipe, stick with it. You’ll always be safe and never sorry. Ruby Foos in NYC (49th & Broadway) has become a safe haven for me when I’m in the city. Not only do they have an extensive GF menu, but they go above and beyond to keep cross contamination extinct. I always order their New Yorker roll and the veggie fried rice. It’s insanely good but like all things GF it needs to be ordered in a special way.

1. Make sure to tell the server you are GF.
2. Make sure there is NO tobiko on your sushi roll. Tobiko (fish eggs) contain wheat in them. Not sure why, but there ya go!
3. Ask for GF soy sauce. Yes, there’s wheat in that too! They keep it plentifully on hand.

Sushi is limiting for all of us GF’s out there so be weary of sauces, panko, and tobiko. Stick to your new classics and sushi it up baby!

Bhindi Masala (Okra and Tomato Curry)

Chef’s Choice

Recipe Adapted from Mama’s Thoughts in Her Pots

Okra, commonly known as ladies fingers or bhindi a hot favorite of mine.

• Classified among the very low-calorie vegetables, it contains a high source of fiber, minerals and vitamins.
• Contains good amounts of Vitamin A and anti-oxidants.  It is one of the green vegetables with highest levels of anti-oxidants and controls cholesterol.
• The pods also contain good amounts of vitamin K.  Vitamin K is a co-factor for blood clotting enzymes and is required for strengthening of bones and also a good source of many important minerals such as iron, calcium, manganese and magnesium.

Believe me, cooking okra with all these wonderful spices adds a fantastic flavor to this amazing vegetable.

INGREDIENTS

20 ladies fingers
1 large onion
1 thumb sized ginger
3 cloves garlic
3 green chilies
2 tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder )
1/4 teaspoon mango powder   )
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder    ) mix dry spices together
1/2 teaspoon garam masala    )
2 teaspoons chili powder          )
2 teaspoons coriander powder )
Salt
Oil

METHOD

• Wash and cut the ends off the okra and slice into two sideways

Slice the Bhindi (Okra) into half, sideways

• Peel and slice the onions, garlic and ginger
• Mix all the dry spices together

Fried onions, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, sliced green chilies and tomatoes

• Heat oil in a pan and fry the sliced onions, garlic and ginger until golden brown
• Add the chopped tomatoes and stir fry for a couple of minutes

Add the okra and the dry spices

• Add the sliced ladies fingers and the dry spices and mix well

Mix the okra well with the spices

• Mix Okra well with the spices and continue cooking until the ladies fingers are well cooked (sprinkle some water if it gets too dry)
• Add salt to taste
• Serve hot with rice or Indian bread

Why is the sky blue?

Why do people smoke meth?

Why are my elbows so ugly?

If only I had the answers to these questions. But alas, I do not. But that minor detail doesn’t stop me from searching, looking under every stone and shag pile carpet for just a grain of knowledge. And then it hit like a huge slap around the face from a mean tempered orangutang:

IT DOESN’T MATTER.

Here is a nice picture of some sexy vegetables

Now we’ve got that out of the way, I think we can all just accept that we only think about stuff when we aren’t having enough sex. Deep thinking is for single geeky loners without friends or fuck buddies… Why am I beginning to feel sexually attracted to aubergines?

Am I normal?

What is normal anyway?

I always seem to end up back where I began…

Whatever you do don’t try to distract yourself with more pictures of delectably erotic vegetables.

Oh, all right then, one more, because they are just so damn fine <3

Look at that and then tell me God isn’t just one big sexual deviant. In fact I think God spends His/Her entire existence continually in orgasm creating things that turn Him on. Yep, we are all just lumps of God’s cosmic gizz, the product of his explosive multi-dimensional orgasms within the void.

Can vegetables be born in sin? Or did the blood of the orange cleanse them?

Maybe this tomato can answer that question for us

Nice.

Reminds me of someone I once knew. That didn’t last long.

Also reminds me of this rather bizarre website I came across randomly one day (I honestly did not type ‘melon fuckers’ into the little white box with the magnifying glass). It was a website dedicated solely to the art of making sweet love to melons. I kid you not. German of course. I understood enough from the pictures to ascertain it was a tutorial on how to perfect your melon cutting techniques. They explained with great care and attention to comfort and detail. I guess it was mainly geared towards the male persuasion, and I do believe that ‘cucumber fuckers’ could have been a nice sister site. Perhaps a bit strapped for material as cucumbers need a lot less effort and are quite self explanatory. But getting back to the melons at hand, these men obviously had a lot of time on their hands and very little social life. Why else would a grown man dedicate large amounts of time to the carving up of juicy spherical fruits? perhaps mentally scarring them for life?

Did the melon give its permission?

If someone had sex with a palm tree could it be classed as date rape?

There I go again with the deeper questions.

Time to Google more pornographic fruits and vegetables me thinks.

I call this last one ‘Spicy Sichuan Egg Plant’, for those of you who have visited Chengdu, you will get my drift

Cycad amazement: expression 1. Photo of cycad leaves, private garden in Santa Elena de Heredia, Costa Rica.

Cycad amazement: expression 2. Photo of cycad leaves, private garden in Santa Elena de Heredia, Costa Rica.

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Anyway, for this week’s blog post, I decided to go vegetarian for six days. The challenge was pretty daunting at first, as I had never gone a day without eating meat in my entire life. It’s not that hard to believe as I come from a family of omnivores who made sure to always buy and stuff enough meat into my mouth to help me “grow,” become “strong,” and make me “smarter.” Below are a series of diary entries to assist in finding out how successful of a vegetarian I truly was and how the experience shaped me.

Note: Fruit was usually accompanied after dinner. Kiley usually eats two meals per day: brunch and dinner. 

Saturday 5/11
“Oh crap.” I had just eaten a bowl of noodles containing MEAT. More specifically chock full of pork bits, fish balls, fish tofu, and shrimp. I totally forgot to tell my parents about my temporary vegetarian venture as I camped out in Culver City over the weekend. Oh well, time to break out the hamburgers for dinner! “No big deal, I’ll probably start on Sunday,” I told myself, munching on a juicy, luscious hamburger.

Who could resist this sexy beast of a food? 

Sunday 5/12
“You’re going to die,” my mother warned me as I told her about my venture to vegetarianism. “You need certain vitamins and minerals from meat; only eating vegetables will cause you to die.” Well it was my first official day as a vegetarian. For lunch, I helped cooked a savory turned bland rice porridge as I was forced to take out all meat parts. It was meat that gave the rice porridge character, flavor, and substance. Dinner was a little better, although eating vegetables bundled with meat only stirred my desires for meat. Nevertheless, I got through the day, even as my grandmother lured me into eating meat: “It’s just a little meat, come on fill that bony body,” as she poured bits of pork, chicken, fish, beef, and oysters onto my dinner plate.

Monday 5/13
“You’re going to run out of energy,” my fathered cautioned as I told him about my vegetarian venture. Well, I thought, at least this is better than not dying. For lunch I ventured onto the Bombshelter Bistro at the North Campus Center. Hunting for affordable vegetarian options proved difficult, but not impossible. I settled for a vegetarian patty melt sandwich at the price of $4.99. I had no idea what was in store for me, so I giddily dug into my sandwich. “Ugh, disgusting! The patty melt tastes horrible!” I told myself. More specifically, bits of carrots, and other mushy, yellowy, vegetables constituted the patty and it tasted, again, disgusting! So I took

the patty out of the sandwich and ate the sandwich with only the cheese and caramelized onions. Later I forced myself to buy fruit juice to supplement my lunch. My famished stomach ravaged my senses as I struggle to pay attention in Econ 2 lecture, choosing instead to wage a war between my brain , stomach, and that lingering aftertaste of that repulsive sandwich.

Dinner cheered me up though, as I ate some awesome vegetarian Chinese food. Brown rice, chives with dried beancurd, and water spinach/Chinese spinach. Nom nom nom Chinese/Taiwanese food. Overall a mildly successful day.

Tuesday 5/14
“Argghhh misleading labeling!” I said, as I bit into my lunch. For lunch, I decided on the weirdly named “Green Onion Pasta Cake.” It seemed pretty vegetarian so I decided to cook it. Unfortunately for me, when I bit into the “cake”, I was met with bits of meat! Pork to be exact. And then I read the label. There’s meat written in Chinese on the label! The label is only misleading for non-Chinese speakers, I thought to myself. I settled for a cheese sandwich; no way was I going to break my vegetarian pledge. Even if it meant eating a paltry cheese sandwich.

Dinner was a battle to be fought, as Vietnamese pho was served for dinner. This Vietnamese pho not only contained beef, but also was cooked in a beef stew. The pho was an immediate trap as the aromatic smell of beef and spices flew around the kitchen, seducing my sense of smell and entrapping my mind into a mad meat fervor. Much willpower was exerted breaking free of the kitchen and into the safe confines of my room. For dinner, I ate only a salad consisting of romaine lettuce with Chinese sesame dressing.

Wednesday 5/15
Crawling to class, our hero has just marked her fourth day as a vegetarian. Her muscles weak, eyes bloodshot, legs jello, stomach screaming out for mercy, as the hero makes way into the calculated horror known as “Math 31B”. Three days of vegetarianism and poor sleeping patterns has taken a toll on poor Kiley. Her stomach cries for meat at bedtime and during the day. (3-4 hours after lunch and dinner) No amount of vegetables, carbohydrates, fruits and other food sources can satisfy Kiley’s stomach. As she walked into the dining hall for lunch, she passes the mussels and hamburgers. She grabs the vegetable and grain sources and starts

to munch on them. Eating a piece of lettuce, Kiley contemplates on the existence of vegetarianism. Can human beings really subsist without meat? How am I surviving without meat? Kiley’s palate yearns for more.

Our young hero leaps into the kitchen during dinnertime. Her mind vacillates between another vegetarian meal and suddenly….. Dennys! More specifically, ham sandwiches and fries. Should Kiley eat this sandwich? It’s quite rare that our young hero eats out during dinnertime. Our young hero again contemplates vegetarianism and the vow. Before she could finish contemplation of vegetarianism/existentialism, Kiley rushes to the sandwiches. In a moment of compulsion, our young hero picks up a sandwich, looks it straight in the eye, and promptly devours the sandwich! She has lost sight of the goal as all sandwiches are gone in less than five minutes. Kiley loses the fight between vegetarianism and the seduction of meat. Our hero has yielded her senses and willpower to meat. The vow is broken. Kiley’s vegetarian journey ends on Wednesday, May 15, 2013.

Thursday 5/16
After that dramatic night, I reverted back to my omnivore habits. Dumplings were the choice for lunch; dinner, noodles. Overall I felt like I was back to normal.

Conclusion: Vegetarianism is not for me. I’ve always wondered what it was like to be a vegetarian and this week has shown that I’m not fit for this lifestyle choice. These descriptions admittedly paint me as a drama queen but my body pretty much reacted dramatically. It was as if my stomach felt empty, and soulless at every meatless meal no matter how much carbs and vegetables I put in my mouth. I still feel pretty bad about eating meat therefore some meals I can probably skip meat. My parent’s predictions were wrong: I didn’t nearly die nor lose energy. (well Wednesday was sluggish but not total loss of energy) Vegetarianism has taught me to cherish every meaty meal and to balance out my needs as an omnivore. As I sit here eating a meat sandwich, I wonder how Kelly did it. Being vegetarian for a month that is.

Related articles

• Making the Switch (backyardphilosophy01.wordpress.com)
• Go Vegetarian Without the Gas (everydayhealth.com)

This recipe for veggie soup is based on a Margaret Fulton one that I’ve been making for as long as I can remember. It’s fast, simple and nutritious, and you can use any vegetables that you like. You could even add pasta if you wanted to make it heartier. When I made it last, I added a whole chicken*.

There are two elements that are vital to this soup’s success: 1) The bacon; 2) preparation of the vegetables (in particular root vegetables, such as carrot, parsnip, swede and turnip).

A packet of bacon (6-8 rashers) is what gives this soup most it’s flavour. Rather than stewing a hock or bones for hours, bacon does the same job in a fraction of the time. Choose good quality bacon, such as Istra (sold at Toscano’s), for best flavour.

If you don’t have a food processor and you’re not prepared to spend time hand-grating your root vegetables, then prepare them as you see fit. But if you do have a food processor, use it! Finely grated carrots, swedes, parsnips and turnips add texture and body to the soup. They also distribute the flavour better (and cook faster) when prepared this way.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 rashers of bacon, chopped into small pieces
• 2-3 stalks of celery (use the leafy bits too), chopped
• 3 large potatoes, diced
• 1 onion or leek (or both!) finely chopped
• 1 swede
• 1 turnip
• 1 parsnip
• 2 carrots
• ½ bunch silverbeet, washed thoroughly and sliced
• ¼ cabbage, sliced

Heat olive oil in a large heavy-based pot and cook the onion or leek until they start to soften. Add the bacon and cook for a few minutes before adding the remaining ingredients (except the silverbeet, celery and cabbage). Fill the pot almost to the top with boiling water, and then add the remaining veggies. Don’t worry if the pot appears over-full; once the vegetables start cooking it will go down. Bring to the boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer until everything is tender. Season to taste. You can add a teaspoon or so of organic stock powder at this stage if you feel it’s necessary, but don’t overdo it, as the flavours will continue to develop.

Serve with fresh parsley, shaved parmesan and warm, crunchy bread.

*If you want to add chicken, omit the bacon** and place a well-seasoned whole bird into the pot after the onion or leek has softened. Cook for a couple of minutes each side before adding the remaining veggies. Add about a litre of warmed organic chicken stock, a bay leaf, a sprig of fresh thyme and some black peppercorns, and top up with boiling water. Cover and simmer for about an hour; after this time, take the chicken out and shred it, return the meat to the pot and discard the bones. Season to taste and serve as above.

**Omitting the bacon will result in a milder soup – hence why I consider it a vital element. Ofttimes milder is more comforting, but if you want that extra flavour by all means keep it in.

Pictured here with chicken