Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Dreams help guide me to peace

I had this sad hurtful dream last night about my sister.
I was standing up for myself by playing the game of seduction. It  was keeping me safe from harm. At this my sister  sneered at me and said "I would have handled that different." Instead of me asking how different, I got pissed and hurt and separated from her. What followed was a life time of pain and sorrow. I even lost an organ, it just fell out of my body and left me in deep pain. This represented a deep vital part of me was missing.  All this happened because I couldn't see the situation from a different perspective. I was so stuck in 'knowing' that i was hurt 'by you' that i forgot to see that it was just a silly difference in perspective. In this dream, I created drama in my life for no reason. 
What does all this mean outside of the dream world?

 This is what i took from it:

In order to be stress/ drama free and live a full life of peace and happiness i must:
- Conitunlly ask questions 
- Don't assume. 
- Don't hold grudges. 
- Check in and make sure my thoughts are surveying me and guiding me to the positive good or me. 
- I must shift perspectives once in a while just to make your sure ego isn't running the show
-My body truly does reflect my internal self. So keep mind and spirit free of stress, worry and drama and body will healthfully thank me for it. 

This holiday Season I ask of you, the reader, to think of these simple things as you reconnect with family.  Don't loose yourself and another loved one over simple perspective differences. See the world through the eyes of nature and realize we all change like the wind. Allow that change to blow through, and hope the refreshing rain, beautiful rainbows, crisp clean snow and delightful sun will follow. 

"I don't want to be in a trance…I want things to change like the shadows and patterns that fall from the sun"- Van Vliet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Beefheart

Sunday, December 19, 2010

OMG a Vegan’s coming to Dinner!

When my husband at the time came home after a 3-week work vacation, he told me he was going back to eating vegan. (He had been vegan 2 years in collage.)  Instantly I was frozen with the thought “how am I going to cook for us? What are we going to eat?”  For the next few days everything he cooked was amazing but I was still starving! Not because we were not eating enough, but because the word “vegan” created a huge block in my mind.

Let me clear one thing up off the bat:  Just because he was eating vegan didn’t mean he wanted me to eat vegan as well. However, in our home I respect his philosophy. I love cooking and eating together, it’s the greatest moments of our days. So in our home I cook vegan.

So he tells me he is eating vegan and I am freaking out and constantly hungry.
“Well, what are you hungry for?” Gabriel asked.
“Pasta!” I said with excitement.
“We can eat pasta. What else?’ he replied.
“A sandwich.”
“ We can eat a sandwich. What else?”

I thought about this for a minute. Then he replied, “We can eat anything we want. I am choosing not to eat anything that comes from an animal. Most pastas and breads don’t have eggs, milk or butter…”

At that, I got a clear picture of what vegan meant: No Animal Products. That makes sense to me. We had already been eating mostly vegetarian and I am lactose intolerant so I hadn’t been eating dairy. Pretty much I had been eating vegan for a while without even knowing it. Now that it is a conscious decision, we are making the BEST FOOD: vegan chocolate mouse, amazing pastas and sandwiches, chili rellenos, stuffed cabbage, vegan sushi, vegan wraps. All these tasty treats have been shared with friends at potlucks and gatherings (sometimes we don’t even tell them it’s vegan until the end of the night.) They are always amazed with how tasty everything is, in fact most of the time they like it better than the non-vegan dishes.  Plus I have lost 8 pounds not even tying and pigging out on chocolate, mouse, avocados, coconut products, pizza and so much more!

So if you have a vegan coming to dinner don’t freak out. Here are a few tips to guide you to creating healthy and tasty vegan dishes.


If you use: NON-VEGAN
Use this instead: VEGAN
Mayonnaise
Vegenaise or other eggless mayonnaise
Cheese
Daiya   www.daiyafoods.com
Daiya is tapioca based: it melts and is super yummy
Chicken/ Beef Broth
Buy Veggie Broth or Make your own Veggie Broth: Simmer veggies in water. Add salt pepper and olive oil. Stain the vegetables out and wha la you have veggie broth. (You can also add a dash of soy sauce or Braggs)
Butter
Non Dairy Spread: I like “Earth Balance Natural Spread”  www.earthbalancenatural.com
 Milk
Soy, Almond, Oat, or my favorite Coconut Milk
Hot Dogs
Vegan / Meatless Hot Dogs
Chili or Beans in a can
Vegetarian Chili or Vegetarian Beans in a can
Chocolate
Dark Chocolate
Scrambled Eggs
This one you’ll need to practice a few times to get it right: Tofu, turmeric for color, onions, salt and pepper, mushrooms, tomato, cumin, garlic, jalapeno, oil.
Baked goods that request eggs
egg replacer or chia seeds or apple sauce
chia seeds: 3 Tablespoons warm water
+ 1 teaspoon ground chia seed meal
= to 1 egg.




Anything else
Start looking at the labels on the packages. If it has eggs or milk it is not vegan.
* Some popular vegetarian items like Morning Star sausages, garden burgers, or some veggie hot dogs may contain cheese and/or eggs.





Are you tying to lose weight?
Cut out soda and dairy for 2 months and see what happens.



Please send me your feedback: Was this helpful? What is it missing?

Here is some useful info from various sources:

What about the protein? (from  - http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm#r1Protein is certainly an essential nutrient which plays many key roles in the way our bodies function, we do not need huge quantities of it. In reality, we need small amounts of protein. Only one calorie out of every ten we take in needs to come from protein.
The RDA recommends that we take in about 0.36 grams of protein per pound that we weigh.  This recommendation includes a generous safety factor for most people. When we make a few adjustments to account for some plant proteins being digested somewhat differently from animal proteins and for the amino acid mix in some plant proteins, we arrive at a level of 0.45 grams of protein per pound that we weigh. If we look at what vegans are eating, we find that between 10-12% of calories come from protein. This contrasts with the protein intake of non-vegetarians, which is close to 14-18% of calories.
Remember, though, with protein, more (than the RDA) is not necessarily better. There do not appear to be health advantages to consuming a high protein diet. Diets that are high in protein may even increase the risk of osteoporosis and kidney disease. 


Quinoa is a great source of protein: (from http://www.quinoa.net/) Quinoa can be substituted for almost any grain in almost any recipe. It looks and tastes great on its own, or in any dish from soup to salad. Quinoa contains more protein than any other grain; an average of 16.2  percent, compared with 7.5 percent for rice, 9.9 percent for millet, and 14 percent for wheat. Some varieties of quinoa are more than 20 percent protein. 

Quinoa's protein is of an unusually high quality. It is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance close to the ideal ... similar to milk! 

Quinoa's protein is  high in lysine, methionine and cystine. This makes it an excellent food to  combine with, and boost the protein value of, other grains (which are low in lysine), or soy (which is low in methionine and cystine). 


Thursday, December 9, 2010

SCHMUCKS and a smokin' hot tattooed sword swallower

Wednesday, December 8, 2010:
An amazingly hot tattooed sword swallower in a black bustier,  black circus capris and shinny black heals that show toe cleavage stands to the left of me talking to a large man  in a pinstriped suit with an extreme threshold for pain. Both wear a red flower on their lapel. Her's rest sweetly on her colorful tattooed left breast.  She is gathering her swords and placing them in a old violin case. I can only make out a few segments of their conversation. He congratulated her on the show she just completed… She tells him about her life: She is from Reno, moved to LA for a boy, the situation has gone sore so she will shortly be returning home to Reno to make enough money to truly join the circus life of LA.   A photographer from the Associated Press sits in the corner working on his Mac laptop, editing photos form the event. Two entertainment organizers sit at the table chatting, eating salad and sipping wine.

We are in the ballroom of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Adelaide is stretching in full make up and beautiful blue belly dance costume. I am stretching and writing and  observing. " What are you thinking Adelaide?" I ask.
She responds with a sweet smile: "I was thinning about how you told me you have fun with me."  About 1 hour ago we had the ballroom to ourselves. We stretched, rolled around on the floor, created silly choreographies and entertained each other. It's true. Every event is way more fun when we are together! Silly sister energy alive!

We drove from San Diego, left at 3pm. Arrived at 6:30. Hair, makeup and wardrobe until 8pm. Silliness until 8:45. Show time is 9pm. Oh wait 9pm is now…

In the lobby (turned secluded dinning area) the cast and media for "DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS" eat dinner, interview and shmooze. We are here to entertain during dessert for the  DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS DVD & Blu-ray Dinner for Journalists.  Apparently dinner has run late. One of the entertainment organizers leaves the room to get a ETA for our 30 minute dessert performance.   "It's an easy night for you girls," he says as he reenters the room. "You have 3 minutes."

"3 minutes until we go on?" I inquire.

 " No three minutes to perform. The dinner has run late," he explains.  " You'll get paid the same," he smiles.

My sits and I look at each other. We have to cut 30 minutes to 3 minutes! Fast, slow, sword, wings, veils, ….ahhh.  We talk him into 4:54 minutes ( a full song). Dessert is being served as we speak.

We decide to go with fiery veils to enter and transition to sultry swords. Our music starts and we are out the door into the dinning area. Beautiful, sensual, fun. Claps from all around.

10 minutes later we are undressing, jumping in the car, driving to Mel's dinner, then back to SD.  Adelaide and I chat all the way home about show ideas, philosophy, men, relationships, quantum physics and so much more.  I love my sister time! Wow what a fun Wed.

VIEW PHOTOS:
AP Photo Link: http://www.apimages.com/Search.aspx?st=det&sort=date&ids=Dinner%20for%20Schmucks%20DVD%20%26%20Blu-ray%20Dinner%20with%20journalists&showact=events&prds=10002&intv=3d&sh=10&kwstyle=or&adte=1291883686&pagez=60&cfasstyle=AND&