Samstag, 29. Juni 2013

Happy Vegan Pizza Day!

Starring: wholewheat crust, ratatouille bread spread, kale, onions, tomatoes, garlic, yellow summer squash and vegan cheesy topping. 

VPD - Preparations

It's vegan pizza day, you know? 
I already made some preparations:

Freitag, 28. Juni 2013

Raw oatmeal

At the moment I try to eat a lot of raw foods. I do my best to start my day (after the orange juice / flax oil cleanse) with just fruit or at least raw foods. The longer the better.
(Why? Because I read about it's benefits for digestion in this awesome book -"Skinny bitch". About how the body is working best if you start your way with fruit, have a big salad for lunch and starchy things for dinner. It sounded pretty funded and logical to me, but if you wanna know more please read the book, I can only recommend it for various reasons..)
Sometimes though I feel like I need something like grains or nuts together with fruit. And here comes raw muesli or porridge. Usually I just soak some oats in water over night and mix it with fresh fruit or trail mix or whatever I have on hand in the morning.
Yesterday however I felt like doing a more fancy version of this simple dish. And since we got a food processor last week I decided to give it a try.


So here's what I did:

SOAKED
some oats (about a cup full, old-fashioned) and
about 2 tbsp of coconut flakes (unsweetened! who invented sweetened coconut flakes? i think that idea is gross) in
just enough water.

The next morning I MIXED this in said food processor with
an apple,
one medjool date,
about a tablespoon of raw hemp protein (you can just leave it out) and
some pecan meal (probably half a cup, I poured it in while the fp was running, so i don't know exactly).

COMMENTS:
Mine just had the perfect consistency, but if it's to runny or to firm just add a little water or a little nutmeal/ oats/ coconut. It makes about two servings and keeps for probably 3 days in the fridge.

Top with nuts or fresh fruit and enjoy!


P.S. Don't forget to pit your date as I did or your teeth might have an unpleasant surprise. Though some might be reminded of the lucky almond in christmas / new year dishes... What are you gonna wish for?

Donnerstag, 27. Juni 2013

I wanna blog...

gofer in the yard
...but I honestly don't know what about.

Maybe that my bike got a flat tire when we tried to do our first little bike trip today. That sux. We haven't been far at all. It's hard to figure out when to go for a bike ride because of all the thunder storms here. So yesterday we planned on doing a little tour and when we wanted to leave it thundered a bit. (It didn't really start until like two hours later but you never know.)

While in the meantime we're waiting and waiting. For me to be able to start volunteering. For Sisto to start his new job at the animal shelter. For the owner of the other house to let us move in. We need to get out of that forest. We need to! We're getting crazy here.

new found retreat: steamed kale
The vacuum cleaner has a febreeze thing inside that is supposed to make you room good. To me itjust was an annoying fact to discover because I don't wanna breath chemicals and artificial scents just because my floor is dirty. On top of that my nose started to tickle and burn like an allergic reaction. What the heck, IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?!

I bet it could kill bees, too.
saved that little turtle from the trail


Mittwoch, 19. Juni 2013

Bikes 2.0

Yesterday morning we got another bike. A kabuki bridgestone skyway. 
It's an old japanese racing bike which obviously is of great quality and is kinda rare. We were lucky and got it for dirt cheap. 30 bucks.. Yeah!
First we got a little worried that it was more work, than we thought, after we had loaded it into the trunk. But when we checked it again with more pace we were flabbergasted:  
This bike is awesome. I gotta get new tires for it since the old ones started to break and crumble when I exchanged the tubes. And we have to do some adjustments, a tune up, some rust cleaning and stuff like that. But that's minor. This bike is so sexy!
I'm going to order orange tires and call it Jake. Sisto's Univega is blue and he'll put white tape onto the handle bar, calling it Finn. 
You really don't have to understand...
So back to the story. I exchanged the tube, had some difficulties getting it back attached, but finally succeeded. Today I deep cleaned the chain. With a tooth pick, a tooth brush and lots of patience I managed to remove most of the dirt. 
Than we rode our bikes for the first trip. Just into town. And checking for tune up prices at the local bike shop (the dude totally admired my bike, ha). Then getting some more fix up stuff (to get rid of the rust) and spending a little time at the library. Hand books about fixing bikes and such..
And in between all that great vegan food, what else?

How do you feel about bikes: do you always maintain it, clean and tune it or are you a lazy-dazy one who just rides his bike "as is" until it dies?

Montag, 17. Juni 2013

Got a bike today.
One more to find for us here...

Sonntag, 16. Juni 2013

spare time - sharing time

I decided to volunteer at the local animal shelter.
No feedback from the old-people-place job or any of the bunch of other places where I applied so far. It seems like I won't have a job for that one more month that we're here. So I decided to share some of my time by helping out at the shelter. Places like this always look for help. And apart from the awesome experience of being around dogs and cats a couple of hours every week this could be a nice thing to add up to my resume and list of references, right?
But my main reason is that since I cannot take care of an abandoned poor little beast at home right now or support the organizations that do the good work I at least wanna donate some time. I at least wanna make sure that some of the millions of animals that are left on the streets, dumped in the forest and treated like they are not worth living get some of the attention that they deserve.
The shelter unfortunately is not a no-kill shelter. It is a state facility and Florida law doesn't allow them to keep animals longer than a month. Then they have to put them down.

Said that I just wanna throw out that if you consider taking in a pet please adopt, please make sure you spay/neuter, please don't take part in the massive industry that feeds on breeding those poor creatures.

Thursday I am going to have an introduction. Looking forward!

Freitag, 14. Juni 2013

It's raining ashes

Raining ashes, raining ashes, down on us. 
The sky is of a brownish grey, post apocalyptic almost. The air is dense and saturated with smoke. 
It smells good but intense at the same time: burned wood.

The forest department burns down the underbrush in the woods.
It's gonna rain ashes today...

Dienstag, 11. Juni 2013

Pso

Usually this is nothing I ever talk about.
It's something that has bothered me for half of my life now. It's a pain in the a** and something that I shamefully hide in front of people.
It was the reason that I never could have dreads when I was a teenager and felt so boring. It is the reason that I started to have bangs and that I was wearing hats for many many years of my life all of the time.

The psoriasis has been part of my life for such a long time. And I have been looking out for a cure for almost the same time. Mostly homeopathy, but also salves and shampoos. However instead of going away it pretty much grew constantly and covers most parts of my head and some smaller pieces on the rest of my body by now.
This winter it got so bad that it started to spread onto my forehead and covered the back of my ears. Lots of small spots on my upper body appeared and sometimes I had skin irritations at my eye lids and underneath my toe nails that I associated with that damn plague.
It was really annoying.
And it can spread onto your joints and get pretty dangerous. So yes, I was worried.

Why am I telling you all this?
Because without me even noticing it the pso has improved. A little after we arrived here in Florida I started to make a liver cleanse that I tried when we were here a year ago. It's pretty easy and I wanted to do it again since my head had improved a little last summer.

Now every morning I drink the fresh juice of two oranges - Florida is the perfect place for it: We live in Citrus County and I was lucky enough to find a farmers market that sells Florida oranges (which are perfect for juicing) at a decent prize. - I have to distribute the juice in my mouth a little before I swallow and after drinking half the juice I do the same with a table spoon of flax oil. Then I continue with the juice.

Right now I'm so flabbergasted how my head is doing!
I actually don't know if the cleanse is the only reason for it or if the climate here is changing it, too. I don't know if other eating habits affect it as well - eating a high percentage of raw foods, eating lots of fruit and vegetables sure helps your body to stay healthy, no doubt about that - but what I know right now is: I'll keep on doing the cleanse for as long as it's possible or as long as I feel good about it.


Now, if you wanna try it I would be glad to hear how you feel. And if it changes anything like your skin - or any other health issues... I'm just curious. Thanks!

Sonntag, 9. Juni 2013

Weekend

Had a yard sale all weekend long. It was quite successful and the weather was in our favor. Thursday it rained from the tropical storm, this afternoon it rained (A LOT), too. But inbetween it didn't and so a couple of people made their way here. Thanks weather god!

Apart from that not much to tell you about. I couldn't move on with my sewing project because every kind of table in the house was moved outside for the sale. It was hot. I had some carrot juice. And we just watched "pet sematary".

Saw the movie for the first time. Just got the whole story told in a very crooked version by a friend on our way home when I was in elementary school. It included an "evil dwarf" and that was probably the most funny part for me today. We had a great moment when I told Sisto about "evil dwarf" as I realized it was the kid. Yeah. Thanks, Patrizia, you made my day!

Dienstag, 4. Juni 2013

Rain. It's too loud to listen to the audio book while sewing. It's pouring onto the roof of the florida room. It makes the air kind of nice. It smells good. But it makes it not very appealing to go for a walk or anything.
Rain.

If you're stuck at the house you eat too much, move too less and probably are not in the best mood.
At least it makes you stick to the projects. I am sitting here since I woke up today. So, hell yeah, i've come a little further today!

Sonntag, 2. Juni 2013

About Castlewood Canyon


Here's my attempt to keep my word and tell you a bit more about our trip.

After spending the weekend in Denver, that was from may 10th to 12th, we decided we would need some wilderness time. The first thing on our way would be "Castlewood Canyon Sate Park". So we drove there and it really wasn't far at all. What we didn't take into account was mothers day weekend and that a lot of people were having picnics all over the place. Including the park. There was a huge line at the park entrance and the parking lot was quite flooded with people. Uh.
We were hoping that most of them would stay at the picnic areas or at least not too far away from their cars.

So we started our hike. Two bottles of water, some fruit, and yummy raw macaroons that we found earlier that day at whole foods in our bag-pack. A thick layer of sun screen on our faces, ears and legs and hats on since the sun was burning intensely.
Oh how beautiful it was! We first walked along the edge of a wide valley. There were big yellow rocks and small dry brush around us. The way led us towards a happy creek that we had to cross by jumping from one big rock to the next.
There was the remaining of a huge ancient dam, too. Two gigantic pieces of wall. The path curved around it and stayed close to the creek for a little while. Then it went up along the side of the canyon again and we could see the water from far up. There was a little fall side. And still lots of people. Too many..
When we came to the turning point of the trail it got emptier. We crossed the now wide open canyon and started our way up towards the rim of the other side. It went up and up and the way was now a little bit more winding and not as improved as earlier. FUN!
Climbing over some natural stairs formed by rocks, and Sisto was already far ahead of me. At the top we met. He was sitting at the edge of the canyon. What a view! Some turkey vultures were circling, the small, dry brushes everywhere, cactus and all different kinds of rock.
We had a little break but the sun was intense and we didn't wanted to stay too long since the way back was still ahead of us. So we walked the flat surface desert like canyon top trail. It was less a trail and more just finding our way. And when we were trying to find the path again it happened: I just heard him shout "I almost got bitten by a rattlesnake". He had jumped from a large rock, less cautious than usually. And saw the snake just a second before stepping on it, so he jumped back. The snake hadn't noticed him until that moment, hid underneath a rock and started to rattle. It wasn't a very big one, but if it had gotten him we would have been in real trouble. But thank luck, nothing happened.
After that we just decided to go back a couple of steps and take a small trail that led us towards the dam again and we made our way back how we had come.

Having a picnic close to the car, when the sun was already getting low and driving towards Pueblo to find a place to sleep, we agreed that this had been a great day.