Dreams, Moments, Travels
I was busy today with photography for my other site, HappyBumbleBee, so an image from that work will have to stand in for today’s photo. From the top left you are looking at Dhudhi (Bottle Gourd), Bitter Melon, Taro Root, below the Taro going left is Okra, Baby Eggplant, Thai Green Chili, Tindora, and making our way around the bottom to the right is Ginger, Sinqua, and more Ginger.
Our dreadlock queen with hair so long and thick she likes sharing a gack of it on the carpet quite regularly is finishing with her deluxe spa treatment. Looking at her, bright and shiny with her head and paws coiffed to Paris Hilton finery, Caroline and I laugh out loud, hearing Murphy meow: “I am puss in boots.”
Outside my window, I hear a voice of authority telling someone to ‘put down the knife, and the other one’. For a moment I was certain this young man was going to meet the Tazer as he challenged the officers with the classic ‘what’d I do?’ The officers had to request multiple times that he drop the weapon. Without further incidence and no one getting hurt, the guy is handcuffed, searched, and ultimately let go.
Hives, I’ve got hives. Never had hives before, hope I never have them again. It looks as though I’m covered in 50 million mosquito bites, and they itch just as much. I think I’ve isolated the cause to the buckwheat I tried in my last granola recipe; who really knows? Benadryl was supposed to help but hasn’t yet. Caroline thought for a moment I might have scarlet fever; all I know is I’m ready to give up eating everything I ate yesterday so this itchy crap never happens again.
Later today, I will post my first entry to my new blog HappyBumbleBee. This new site will focus on vegetarian, vegan, raw, organic, healthy foods and meal preparation from the perspective of a dyed-in-the-wool meatatarian. Because my wife Caroline is a vegetarian, I only prepare veg meals at home – for the carnivorous experience I go on the hunt at restaurants.
At first, I was averse to the idea of eating carrots and sprouts, therefore, it has taken quite a while of cooking organic, veggie, healthy meals at home to arrange my perspective to allow me to enjoy good vegetarian cooking. I have had to branch into many an ethnic cookbook and be open-minded enough to try different veggie meals and restaurants in order to experience the breadth and scope of what vegetarian and vegan cooking can be and, recently how great RAW foods can be.
While remaining omnivorous, I have come to hold with a certain disdain the need for people to cling to the idea that the labels of vegetarian, vegan, raw, Ovo-Lacto vegetarian, etc., are lifestyles to be held in near-religious esteem, instead of being more inclusive and recognizing that it is better that society adopt more healthy life choices that include a variety of these things. Thus, it is with this idea of helping us meatatarians better understand and enjoy the world of those leaf-eaters that I am launching HappyBumbleBee.
Another order of soap arrives except this time I don’t just order three or four, I go for a dozen. Juniper Ridge makes wildcrafted natural soaps using wild harvested plant materials to fragrance their soaps. My favorite is the Coastal Sage. If you have never been along the Pacific coast or you now live far away and would love a reminder of a spring going into a summer day, try buying a couple of these and see if you too don’t keep coming back for more. You’ll also find their products at the Muir Woods National Monument in Northern California if you can drop by, mail order though will probably be easier. Juniper Ridge is a small company that has terrific customer service. Call them at 1-800-205-9499 or visit their website.