On a Taste Tangent

I just ate some of last night’s Raw Minestrone, and as I put the container of tasty but not awesome leftovers back in to he fridge, I was contemplating what I could do to edge my recipe towards perfection. Now even as I think about it now, I am amused by my logic, or rather, the absence thereof, in the mere statement: Edge towards perfection… Huh?
The flowers are perfect. The trees are perfect. Grandmother Earth is perfect. The moon and stars are perfect. The sea is perfect. Giant wrecked ships made of metal forged by the [idol] hands of man disintegrate under her flow of salty fluid, swallowed up and digested by the mysterious abyss, forgotten deep underneath what connects all living things.
Water. That is perfection.
Perhaps the next time I create a new recipe, I will strive for a greatness, or even a goodness, if only to satisfy my egotistical character. I can aim to be satisfied with the process of both trial and error. Maybe. I am human after all… Faulted and fragile at times.
Yet I am humbled by the greatness of beauty supplied by Mother Nature all around me. Cutting through the city-sounds are the birds’ operatic arias, the cherished bubbles of laughter as the pre-school kids toddle hand-in-hand on their daily morning walk past my apartment, the wind-blown rustling leaves of the Japanese Maple in my microscopic front yard, and even the seductive purrrr of my two Goddess-like cats.
And suddenly, as if by magic, it doesn’t matter if my soup was awesome or not… there is plenty more awesomeness to go around for me to focus on right now.

Recipe for my Im-Purr-fect Minestrone:

5 Italian Roma Tomatoes {halved}
2 carrots {rough cut}
3 stalks celery {rough cut}
Handful of Sun-Dried Toms {thinly sliced and soaked}
1 Yellow Summer Squash {sm sized & rough cut}
1 Green Summer Squash {sm sized & rough cut}
@ 1 cup mild Cabbage {I used Bok Choy}
@ 1 cup Hearty Greens {I used Rainbow Chard}
Water to blend {aside from soak water}
2 {generous} TBS Pesto
Chives and Parsley {@ 1-2 TBS each}
Nutritional Yeast {I like lots- Like @ 4TBS}
S&P {to taste}

In a high-powered blender or food processor- blend Roma Toms {they only need a few seconds to break up,} next adding sun dried soak water, Celery and Carrots until they are all a medium chop. Then add the leafy bits and Sun Dried Toms. Blend again. The Squashes get blended last, and not for too long, because I prefer them to have a bit more chunkiness since they are naturally supple. Add Pesto, Salt and Pepper to taste, as well as some Nutritional Yeast. At any time during blending you may need a sprinkle or two of water to get the soup moving in the blender, but do not drown it. Garnish with fresh Chives and Parsley.

N.B. If you do not have Pesto, you can substitute it with: 1TBS virginal olive oil, 10 large Basil leaves, 1 scant TBS Pignolis {crushed,} and 1 TBS fresh chopped Parsley.

Bon Apetit!

P.S. We got a new blender the other day. I could not go without for too long. I need my smoothies.

Mercury- Messenger to the Gods

Dear Diary,
I am aware of the fact that when Mercury goes retrograde, it becomes harder to get from point A to point B. And since I gave up my car, I am left wide open to Mercury's interpretation. I accept this, but why why why must my Blender and my Food Processor break in the same week? I'm talking smoking motor and all! The timing could not have been worse... hey, I need a new knife sharpener to boot!

Let's make a list of what we have to work with:

~ A few great {yet dull} Knives and a cutting board. Yippie!
~ A beautiful Suribachi made with my own crafty hands. OohLaLa.
~ Wooden Spoons that double as Surikogi. (99 cents for 3 on sale last week. Sweet Deal.)
~ A thrift shop Juicer. So what if it sprays pulp all over the joint like confetti?!?!?! I love a celebration.
~ Two pyramidical shredders- in regular and smurf-sized for when I'm feeling petite...

& last but never the least-

~ Gumption. (The All-Star Player.)

So I will not be making schmancy dishes very soon, or if I do, which I just may, it will mostlikely take longer.
So what.
I'll just shred the beets and radishes by hand, instead of processing them using electricity.
(Note: Bright side creeping in.)
I will also not-so-secretly replace the morning Smoothies with morning Chunkies.

Let's see if anyone notices.

Go-Go-Gogi-A-Go-Go

hello, my name is violet and i am addicted to kale.

i love curly kale. i love bumpy kale. i love dinosaur kale, i love kale of the distant future. i love it plain, i love it dressed to the nines. i love it in replacement of salad greens, i love it in replacement of salad blues. i love it in the earliest of mornings and i love it late late in the evening....

gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme luscious kale!

so today is, and soon to be was, a kale-based smoothie day. terrific!

the morning's smoothie was:
kale
mango
banana
spirolina
strawberries
&
love

the mid-day smoothie consisted of:
kale
peach
cucumber
cranberries
strawberries
&
a smattering of longing

this evening it's Go-Go-Gogi-A-Go-Go time!

this super-yummy smoothie includes:
more tasty kale
a substantial chunk of ginger
a handful of gogi berries
pineapple
curiosity
(and some kombucha to blend... the curiosity can be thick.)

i am bouncing on the yoga ball that moonlights as a computer chair, and since i am not as competent in my typing skills as i am in my stereo-typing skills, i am kinda nauseous.

gotta go-gi bounce now.

VIVA LA KALE!!!

recipe for pink hair

up and at 'em at 6 am today, although the moving about the cabin portion of the being awake took a bit more time because it's soo darned muggy and hot! as of 7 am, it was, in the shade, 87 degrees and counting, and the thick cloud of mock-air looming just above our heads made it difficult to breathe. more so than usual. i'm not a huge fan of air-conditioning, so i smirk and bear it. we have fans on and curtains drawn in the house. but that was no match for mother nature, who is p.o.'d, obviously. so naturally, after returning from our brave-new-world workout, it was smoothie time! yippee, frozen excitement in my belly... berries and cherries and pineapple oh my!
it is so much easier to eat raw when it is warm. not just due the cooked food's actual temperature/heat, but because i just don't crave heavy sluggish-digestion producing foods. how someone could eat a plate of manicotti in this weather is beyond me, thank goodness. don't get me wrong, i do have fond memories of certain mega-cooked meals, although they may be dysfunctional memories resulting in bloat and such... which makes them only fond in flavor.
as a backlash re: the cravings i am having for things like marinara-soaked yumyums, i look forward to ordering a dehydrator sometime in the near future, and creating fabulous treats with the flavorful innuendo of cooked fare. so far, i have replaced the tofu-rich "ceasar's wife" dressing with my new favorite alternative- the "et tu brute'" dressing for the "mocking ceasar" salad. i mock him at least once a week. yum. he likes it.
also once a week is a cooked dinner. i had a couple last week, much to my chagrin. i can no longer tolerate cooked greasy appetizers which pass as food. yet although it tastes tasty it feels pasty... and bloaty + yucky... then it's back to square one. kale. when ever i feel crappy due to food choices- i rely on kale to help fix the funk. sometimes i indulge in too many sugars. (don't forget, fruits and sweet veggies like corn can make some of us ferment, and therefore you end up feeling bad. but i love you, prunes! so- this rawsome experiment is a creative process- one with the body and mind as well as emotions involved. so far- my mind is ace-ing this "test," my emotions are technicolorific and yet polite about it, and my body is reacting like i'm constructing a playground in a desolate and tumultuous city. you may walk past the site and know something is eventually being built there, but you are not quite sure what it is. it may even blend in with the rest of the weather-worn buildings. but in due time, it will be a lively space filled with energy and play, where there was none- or very little.
i was totally morose the other day when i measured myself, checking for any physical changes/progress. ( i, with the help of two close friends, demolished the scale that used to be such a burden to me. i felt it's judging eyes on myself whenever i stepped on- and they were mine. byebye scale.) i use clothing as my scale now, and the almost-as-depressing tape measure. i think i will wait a couple months before i measure myself again. (all that physically reduced was my bust-line... the only thing i wanted to stay. so sad.) this comparing thing- even with my former self, is a sure fire way to make myself go nutty and feel depressed. not good. i'll skip it.

so, what do you do when you need a lift?

one of my favorites is salon day, but most importantly... super-fun punk rock hair day!
hooray!

erase those troublesome roots from view with this easy and fun recipe:

first, whip up some scrumptious blueberry-smelling high-volume bleach. next apply it to those pesky brown and blond bits creeping out of the scalp region. then make a fabulous salad for lunch. eat it slowly, and enjoyed it- topped lightly with a lush pesto vinaigrette. follow afterwards by emailing some peeps, then the rinse and shampoo your sizzling head. wait until the hair is almost dry, then add your favorite coloring creme, and comb through. red passion by the amazing manic panic is today's choice. delish. wait 4-12 hours, then rinse and deep condition for at least 15 minutes. don't forget to enjoy- it's not going anywhere anytime soon!

en root: