On Monday I drank a big glass of carrot juice that had been open in our fridge a tad too long (but still within its doom date.) Tuesday morning I felt little tiny waves of nausea during yoga class that were so distant I actually thought the yoga was just releasing old toxins or something. Then as the day progressed the waves of nausea got more intense and persistent until finally by early afternoon I was lying on the bed with my cell phone, calling my husband to come home and pick up the kids. His timing was truly impeccable, on a side note, so much so that as sick as I was I couldn’t help marveling at it. Just as I felt I could no longer move as the pain was reaching fever pitch I heard him come in the door and walk back to our room where I said one word, “bowl!” He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a huge mixing bowl, ran back and put it under me JUST in time. Fascinating. Anyway, after throwing up the first time I asked him to get charcoal because I was pretty sure it was food poisoning. He needed to get the kids first so it took awhile and by the time he brought me the tablets I was in the extremes of pain again. I took a tablet despite knowing I really couldn’t hold anything down at that moment, and sure enough it made me throw up in less than thirty seconds, which actually was a good thing. Everyone feels better afterwards. Then I took another tablet hoping my stomach could hold it long enough to soak up some toxins, and it seemed to help because I only threw up one more time after taking it. I was able to fall asleep for hours and start mending. I always wonder who the first person was who looked at charcoal and thought, “hm, maybe I’ll ingest that.” But then again there are a lot of things like that~ such as salt. Anyway, as inhospitable as it sounds, I’m keeping charcoal around for future food poisoning issues. Not much can help stomach issues so having anything in the cupboard helps. That and having ginger around. And keeping track of how old the food and juice in the fridge is.

I’ve heard of the legendary vegetarian restaurant, Cafe Flora, ever since moving to the Seattle region, but somehow have never made it there, until this past Saturday. Oh boy have I been missing out. Not only is the restaurant lovely with walls of windows, indoor plants that would make the amazon green with envy, and art that was quirky, the menu is full of gluten free options. And I don’t just mean you can order your salad gluten free, I mean appetizers, salads/soups, and main courses are clearly labeled as gluten free if they indeed are. It took me ages to decide what to get actually since I’m normally limited to maybe two options on a menu that qualify as both gluten free and vegetarian. The variety of options was dizzying, so I think I just have to buy their cookbook and make the many things I didn’t get to try. What I did try was a starter of tofu ‘breaded” with coconut which we then wrapped in lettuce with cilantro and mint and dipped into some kind of vinegar sauce. Yum. Then I ordered a Spring Salad that had asparagus, marinated cucumbers and red peppers, as well as other things including a dressing that was spicier than expected. Very different and delicious. I tried a friend’s yam french fries which were good too. There is also a kids’ menu and a little area for kids to busy themselves while waiting~ very cute, and useful. I’ll have to try it out on my own kids next time~ good excuse to head back.

For some reason I keep thinking about this girl I met almost 10 years ago. It was at an herb class at PCC where herbalist Anita Stone was giving a talk about her company, Madawa’s. During the class she and a student mentioned attending the same herbal program at Bellevue Community College (as it was called at the time.) I was interested in hearing more about that program so after the class I went up to the student to ask about it. Here is how it went:
Me: Hi. I was wondering about that herbal program you talked about…Is it still around?
Girl: Well, I dunno…ya know, everything is…everything….
Me: Pardon me?
Girl: I can’t talk about one thing, ya know, separate, b/c everything is just…everything.
Me: Um, OK. So, the program was at BCC, right?

Girl: It’s just so, all, ya know, connected. Everything is everything.
Me: Right. OK then, thanks.
At that point I waited in line to talk to Anita who told me all about the program which I later did end up attending. I also interviewed Anita for an article I wrote for Herbs for Health when it was still a print magazine. I did not interview the girl, but I think I know what she’d say…

The only meat I eat is fish. Namely, canned tuna, salmon, and halibut. I only eat fish occasionally and could easily do without it, but see no reason to amend my natural eating habits to fit a specific title in order to categorize myself more efficiently, especially when fish is so healthy. The reason I don’t eat the other meats is simple; I don’t like them and I mostly never have. Honestly, the idea of eating a hamburger brings about an instant gag response, but for some reason fish doesn’t phase me, which is weird b/c I’m a Pisces. Go figure. Anyway, the only thing I cook that receives rave reviews every time from meat eating/gluten eating people is fish. Everything else gets comments like, “this would be good with some ham.” Or, “this tastes so healthy!” Not, oh my I want seconds! Except for fish, and especially halibut which is in season here and I made it for the first time in a long while tonight. It was delicious. The thing is, I think it is so good mainly because of the salt I use. It is a mixture called Sarah’s Mediterranean Sea Salt and I get it in bulk packaging at Whole Foods. For a brief time they stopped carrying it and I scoured the Internet for it and managed to buy some, but luckily they have it again at WF. Not only is it divine on fish, it is great in egg salad and on rice with a bit of butter, which is how my kids eat their rice. Anyway, without it I can’t guarantee anything. Here’s the rest of what I do though: Preheat oven to 425. (My husband and I like our fish VERY well cooked. Adjust cooking times and such to your own liking.) For every half pound of fish add 1 tablespoon each of olive oil, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and lemon juice into a bowl and stir it around. For the fish, lay it on a pan that has been oiled with olive oil. Add fresh cracked pepper and the seasoned salt on top of the fish. Pour the sauce on top and bake until done how you like it. For us, we bake a pound of fish for a good 40 minutes…but that’s just us. Simple yet very good.

Something about Sunday always puts me in the mood to cook. There are french green lentils that I prepared yesterday, waiting to be thrown into soup, some spinach I should really use up today, and a gf spice cake I’m anxious to try, but, as usual, I need to head to the store for ingredients before I can make anything. I suppose I could figure out something with the spinach, but it’d be easier to eat up if it were some other green, like broccoli. Lately I’ve been focusing on using what is in our cabinets instead of always running out to get more stuff, so maybe I’ll browse the omniscient Internet for some recipes that I can tweak. Soup is always easy in that way, and I suppose salad is pretty easy to improvise too. Yesterday I got a salad from Chipotle that had rice, beans and salsa on it…definitely not the kinds of things I normally put on salad, except for the beans, but it was really tasty. I suppose I could do something similar with the spinach although I’m the only one the family who eats it uncooked. At least I’m the only one who knows I eat it uncooked…I put some in a turkey wrap for my oldest son and called it lettuce just to see if he’d eat it. He eats lettuce on sandwiches so I thought he’d be more apt to do so it if he thought it was the same thing he always ate…and it worked! Every time one of my sons eats a new vegetable I get ridiculously excited. Probably because it is such a rare event. Anyway, I am thinking of making a gluten free pumpkin loaf with millet flour. I have been wanting to do something with this millet flour I bought and I have a can of pumpkin in the pantry so why not mix the two together…? It would be something different and something I can make without running to a store first. Sounds like a plan.

Nature’s Path has a new line of gluten free cereals. I bought the “crunchy vanilla” one titled Sunrise, but I haven’t tried it yet. It looks good though so I’m very excited! It is full of grains (like a granola), low in fat, and it wasn’t obnoxiously expensive like many gluten free products are. I got a 10.6oz. box at Whole Foods yesterday for $2.99. By the way, I picked up WF’s coupon book put together by Mambo Sprouts and Udi’s has a coupon in there for $1.00 off any baked good.

Last week I attempted to make chili from scratch for the first time. I’m not the best planner ever, so the fact I had to soak the red chili beans overnight had always stopped me before. I know about the whole ‘quick boil’ technique, but beans are never quite as soft when I do that method, so I try to avoid it, meaning I usually cook with lentils or canned beans. Anyway, I managed to soak the beans overnight and then cooked them until soft (about an hour~ it didn’t take long.) Next I warmed olive oil in a big soup pot and threw in all of a (chopped) onion for 2-3 minutes. Then I added all of a chopped red pepper and a  yellow pepper, a couple of diced celery sticks and carrot sticks, and three cloves crushed garlic. After a couple of minutes I added 1 T. cumin and 2 T. chili powder. Next the rest of a can of chopped tomatoes that I had used earlier in the week, and then a can of tomato sauce. Oh, and I used about 3 cups of the beans, adding them in with the tomato products, plus a hearty dose of oregano, basil, black pepper, thyme and Mediterranean salts. It was delicious! The veggies were still slightly crunchy which gave the chili an extra healthy taste. I must admit my husband was less enthusiastic, saying it was “good. Healthy and filling, but as for chili, the best chili I’ve had is full of meat.” I offered to grate cheddar cheese on his, but he said he liked it the way it was, but he only ate it once. I on the other hand ate it all last week, usually with warmed corn tortillas that I tore off bits and wrap around spoonfuls. Yum! Just as a side note I was 24 before I found out people ate chili with things (like rice and corn) other than spaghetti! I grew up in Louisville, KY where that is the norm. It is pretty good actually~ try it sometime.

I am thinking of doing a detox diet next week which is something I haven’t done for at least 7 years, prior to children sharing my body. I have tried a couple of times since giving birth, to be honest, but it is ridiculously hard to feed children 3 meals and oodles of snacks all day and not cave in to a yogurt cup or nut thin cracker. Maybe the trick is to find a less rigorous detox because the only two I have followed before are pretty demanding. They are, if I remember correctly in my toxin-inundated brain, the following: One is to drink nothing but veggie juice all day until around 4: when you eat an early dinner of as much brown rice and steamed veggies as you possibly can. You can season this meal in any way, as long as there is no fat. The veggie juices should be freshly made, but in a pinch store bought veggie juice is OK, but no fruit is allowed. You do this for 6 days and really, I’ve never felt better than when doing this, though part of that is the fact I wasn’t taking in any of my allergen foods. The other one is to eat brown rice and  mung beans cooked with ghee, turmeric, coriander, and cumin, and nothing else, for several days. This is actually easier to stick to b/c you can eat actual food all day, but then you get sick of the meal pretty darn quickly. The thing is, lately I’ve been feeling like I need detox to really enjoy food again~ everything I make tastes kind of lackluster and I constantly have that hungry-but-nothing-sounds-good feeling. But both the boys are off for two weeks so that means even more feeding them than normal, so maybe I should wait for the new year…Well, I have until tomorrow to decide I guess.

This is not a traditional miso. For one thing it is packed with broccoli, big chunks of tofu, and rice noodles. For another thing I do not add fish sauce because although I do eat fish, the idea of “fish sauce” just grosses me out. As does anything soup-y and fish, or sea food, or basically anything fishy besides tuna, halibut, and salmon. But anyway, I’ve been making this soup a long time and is my son’s favorite way to eat tofu and broccoli, so naturally I do it as often as possible. This is one of those things I’ve never written down so a lot of variation happens, but here are the basics: Add 1 or 2 T of olive oil to a pot that can hold at least 5 cups of stock plus lots of veggies. Warm the oil, then add 1 medium chopped onion. Stir until the onions are translucent, then add several cups of chopped broccoli (as much as you want really) and small squares of extra firm tofu. (I use one package of Whole Foods’ 365 brand which is 14oz.) Then crush about 3 cloves of garlic into the pot, add at least 1T of balsamic vinegar and 1T of tamari (wheat free of course!) and black pepper and herbs to taste. I like a lot of pepper and add at least a teaspoon of Coastal Goods Mediterranean Salt, basil, oregano, and herbs de Provence. Once the broccoli is bright green, about 3-5 minutes of stirring, then add 4 cups of veggie stock. I like Rapunzel’s Vegan Vegetable Bouillon which means putting a pot of 4cups of water on to boil when I start the soup and then adding the cubes with the water at this point in the soup making. Then another cup of water with a bunch of rice noodles. Next 1-2 T of miso (make sure it’s the gluten free kind!)  The soup should never reach a boil especially once the miso is in it. Then, just a squeeze of lemon, turn off the stove and let it sit with the lid on. As with all soups, it is much better the next day, though still awfully good right away.

I’ve written before about how much I love Yogi Teas~ their flavor, their packaging, their cute little messages on the tops of the tea bag strings~ so today I was devastated to read on the back of one of the teas I was contemplating buying at Whole Foods these nasty little words: barley malt. No! Say it ain’t so! This probably sounds overly dramatic, but really, it ruined my day. I’ve been crafting a letter to them in my head ever since. Something like this: Dear Yogi, I am a huge fans of your teas, drinking on average 3 cups per day of (lately)your Kava tea, but my daily intake varies among your many wonderful blends. But, just today I realized you put barley malt in your teas, which means I can no longer drink them. See, I’m gluten intolerant and barley malt is on the do not intake list. Please consider taking the barley malt out of your teas, or substituting with something friendlier to the growing number of gluten intolerant people out there. Thank you!
I imagine it will take a lot more than just one complainer, but it is a start.