Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Veganize me!
MP and I were watching the latest episode on Master Chef Israel when inspiration struck. Their challenge was to make a gourmet version of their favorite comfort food. It got our mouths watering as we though of pizza, apple pie, grilled cheese, and creamy soups. All things we haven't had in months, maybe longer.
While he headed off to reserve duty for the day I splashed around the shuk in the pouring rain gathering ingredients to make some of our favorite things. The most frequent question we get as Vegans are 1)what do you eat? And 2) don't you miss...? 1) we eat a lot of salad, everybody should and 2) I was missing certain things until now... This just goes to show you we don't have to give up any of our favorite treats because we are vegan.
While he headed off to reserve duty for the day I splashed around the shuk in the pouring rain gathering ingredients to make some of our favorite things. The most frequent question we get as Vegans are 1)what do you eat? And 2) don't you miss...? 1) we eat a lot of salad, everybody should and 2) I was missing certain things until now... This just goes to show you we don't have to give up any of our favorite treats because we are vegan.
Becoming a kitchen master I realized all the bad things my parents served me as a child. THANKS A LOT for poisoning me.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
30 day raw vegan - I've got nothing else to do
So it seems even though my clothes still "fit", a healthy diet of fried veggies and rice in the SE Asia streets caught up with me and I was at my heaviest weight in BB history. I thought by going vegan and eating amazing Israeli food the pounds would just fall off and I'd be happily at a weight (ten pounds less) that I'd maintained in my adult life. WRONG. Although I was far more active, (MP and I got into some P90X and eventually gym memberships) and eating fresher foods it seemed I was at a stand still. Could it be all the baking, olive oil, and pita I was consuming? Damn straight.
So it was time to take my weight into my own hands and drop that ten pounds, more if I was lucky. I decided to give the 30 day raw vegan challenge a go. First off, it's not as tough as it sounds. "what do you eat? Salad?" well...yeah. But with the right tools and some imagination it's not only easy but also fun. I'm sure the average carnivore would struggle more but see much better results but in just under three weeks I managed to drop almost nine pounds. I have roughly a week to go to drop that one last pound and I think I have it in the bag.
The biggest challenge for me was giving up gluten. I could eat a garden of potatoes, and loaf of bread, a pasta buffet, and 24 cookies in one sitting I'm sure...but I didn't, and for that I can thank my regular waistline. Hello again!
I'm feeling amazing and although MP sabotaged me several times by making me soup *cheat* when I was sick, baked veggies *cheat* when I was weak and taking me for hummus *cheat* when rockets were flying I managed quite well with this new level of foodism and I hope to continue. Below are a few links that made this lifestyle change much more tolerable, and pleasant... you bet your ass I had cheesecake.
If you want to leave a smaller carbon footprint, even if it's every now and then check out...
http://www.therawtarian.com/
http://www.addictedtoveggies.com/
Not raw but gluten free!
http://www.theglutenfreevegan.com/
And go for a walk.
Hells Pub - Final Elimination
Several more weekends of chronic verbal assault, emotional and mental abuse, seemed to sail by with Chef on his A game of complete debauchery. Spirits were low, oddly enough, spirits were the only thing to get us high in this situation, so we kept a clean buzz to numb the pain until we saw the light of day once again and were safe for another fourteen hours.
At least this is what I thought. In my third weekend I experienced the most exhausting thirty hours of my life. I was contemplating my own insanity when the more practical side of my brain (which seemed to be cowering in a corner between depression and anger) gently reminded me I was not the one who was that crazy. Unfortunately, just when I thought it was safe, when I could rest easy, it seems as though I became the last standing, better yet the Devils associate in Hells Pub.
I've witnessed at least 12 people come and go in eight weeks as I was cautiously tiptoeing around the bar when the compliments came. I wanted to smile and be grateful that Chef was showing me some appreciation, "having you at the pub makes this easy for me, I wish you could be involved in all the other aspects of my life", no thanks. but this has just made me a bit more terrified. When suddenly your enemy has a "change of heart" you put your dukes up... And your mouthguard in.
He is right however. We don't bother each other and maybe that's why this is working out so well. I really enjoy the job, who doesn't want to get paid to drink and bullshit with people? And oddly enough we work well together. So then there was BB, the last standing champ of Hells Pub.
At least this is what I thought. In my third weekend I experienced the most exhausting thirty hours of my life. I was contemplating my own insanity when the more practical side of my brain (which seemed to be cowering in a corner between depression and anger) gently reminded me I was not the one who was that crazy. Unfortunately, just when I thought it was safe, when I could rest easy, it seems as though I became the last standing, better yet the Devils associate in Hells Pub.
I've witnessed at least 12 people come and go in eight weeks as I was cautiously tiptoeing around the bar when the compliments came. I wanted to smile and be grateful that Chef was showing me some appreciation, "having you at the pub makes this easy for me, I wish you could be involved in all the other aspects of my life", no thanks. but this has just made me a bit more terrified. When suddenly your enemy has a "change of heart" you put your dukes up... And your mouthguard in.
He is right however. We don't bother each other and maybe that's why this is working out so well. I really enjoy the job, who doesn't want to get paid to drink and bullshit with people? And oddly enough we work well together. So then there was BB, the last standing champ of Hells Pub.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Yom Kippur
This is the day of atonement for the Jewish people. One day a year Jews are judged for their actions by the Lord for the past year. On this day it is determined if you are weighed in the book of life or book of dead determined by your deeds for that year. You are not supposed to enjoy life on this day and fast and take time for 25 hours.
A whole lot is to be said about the Holiest day of the year from an outsiders perspective.
First off, I went to the grocery the day before Yom Kippur to grab a couple things so I could aid in MP filling his belly before his 25 hour fast started. What a mess. Seriously people, I'd like you all to take a second, consider your actions and look at yourselves. You are acting like a freaking apocalypse is coming! Carts are filled with insane amounts of groceries (you CAN NOT eat that many eggs), you have forgotten your manners (although I feel that's more often than not) and you are supposed to be fasting. What in the H E double hockey sticks is going on here?! P.s. It's only a day, chill the eff out...
What's that? The hummus spots are closed tomorrow? AAAHhHhHhHh!!!!
Ok, I'm fine. Now it turned out to be quite the lovely day. No crazy traffic outside, unless you count the army of ill skilled children on bicycles screaming at all hours of the day, and a general calm rested in the big city. I know what you are wondering, how did BB spend Yom Kippur?
I slept for the better part of it. Somehow MP and I crashed out around seven at night, just two hours after the event started, and I didn't crawl out of my Thai bed until around nineish the next morning. I took what I thought was going to be a calm stroll in the middle of the street to the boardwalk where I immediately regretted leaving the safety of the time out lounge. Bicycle accidents galore! I know what you are thinking, get to the goods BB.
You got it!
How BB spent Yom Kippur.
I'm the type of person who likes to do the exact opposite of what I am supposed to do in any occasion. Not because I'm ignorant...ok it is because I'm ignorant. But it's also because I like to push the envelope and if I can't entertain myself who else will?
So I took off my pants, blasted some high energy dance tunes and danced around smiling thinking about how ahead of the "remember when"* and "gotcha!"* game I am. I also sat on the balcony smoking the hookah, drinking red wine, and eating humus straight out of the container while devilishly nodding at onlookers below like 'that's right, never gonna get this!' mission accomplished. Did I mention we live next to a synagogue? Mwaaahahahaha...
Just have to add that the second Yom Kippur was over, fast and the furious 7 hit the streets. I know you bitches were just sitting with your keys in the ignition for the last five minutes dying to get some pizza.
*remember when is a game only to be played with people you are so close to, that they can handle what a complete ass you are being. For example when my childhood dog passed away and I was a wreck and in tears Coco waited until I was off the phone, looked at me solemnly and said "hey Britt, remember when your dog died?"
*Gotcha! Is relatively the same but it's when you get someone worked up about something that isn't true and right when they are at their breaking point you scream "gotcha!" example: before I set out to see Coco in Indonesia I sent him a e-mail stating that me and a certain tall, tattooed, shitty individual and I had got back together and he was coming with me. The following e-mail was the gotcha! Now it's far more effective in person but sometimes you have to work with what you got.
If you are having a bad day, ruin someone else's, that way you get a little high out of the deal.
A mesage from MP on Yom Kippur:
A whole lot is to be said about the Holiest day of the year from an outsiders perspective.
First off, I went to the grocery the day before Yom Kippur to grab a couple things so I could aid in MP filling his belly before his 25 hour fast started. What a mess. Seriously people, I'd like you all to take a second, consider your actions and look at yourselves. You are acting like a freaking apocalypse is coming! Carts are filled with insane amounts of groceries (you CAN NOT eat that many eggs), you have forgotten your manners (although I feel that's more often than not) and you are supposed to be fasting. What in the H E double hockey sticks is going on here?! P.s. It's only a day, chill the eff out...
What's that? The hummus spots are closed tomorrow? AAAHhHhHhHh!!!!
Ok, I'm fine. Now it turned out to be quite the lovely day. No crazy traffic outside, unless you count the army of ill skilled children on bicycles screaming at all hours of the day, and a general calm rested in the big city. I know what you are wondering, how did BB spend Yom Kippur?
I slept for the better part of it. Somehow MP and I crashed out around seven at night, just two hours after the event started, and I didn't crawl out of my Thai bed until around nineish the next morning. I took what I thought was going to be a calm stroll in the middle of the street to the boardwalk where I immediately regretted leaving the safety of the time out lounge. Bicycle accidents galore! I know what you are thinking, get to the goods BB.
You got it!
How BB spent Yom Kippur.
I'm the type of person who likes to do the exact opposite of what I am supposed to do in any occasion. Not because I'm ignorant...ok it is because I'm ignorant. But it's also because I like to push the envelope and if I can't entertain myself who else will?
So I took off my pants, blasted some high energy dance tunes and danced around smiling thinking about how ahead of the "remember when"* and "gotcha!"* game I am. I also sat on the balcony smoking the hookah, drinking red wine, and eating humus straight out of the container while devilishly nodding at onlookers below like 'that's right, never gonna get this!' mission accomplished. Did I mention we live next to a synagogue? Mwaaahahahaha...
Just have to add that the second Yom Kippur was over, fast and the furious 7 hit the streets. I know you bitches were just sitting with your keys in the ignition for the last five minutes dying to get some pizza.
*remember when is a game only to be played with people you are so close to, that they can handle what a complete ass you are being. For example when my childhood dog passed away and I was a wreck and in tears Coco waited until I was off the phone, looked at me solemnly and said "hey Britt, remember when your dog died?"
*Gotcha! Is relatively the same but it's when you get someone worked up about something that isn't true and right when they are at their breaking point you scream "gotcha!" example: before I set out to see Coco in Indonesia I sent him a e-mail stating that me and a certain tall, tattooed, shitty individual and I had got back together and he was coming with me. The following e-mail was the gotcha! Now it's far more effective in person but sometimes you have to work with what you got.
If you are having a bad day, ruin someone else's, that way you get a little high out of the deal.
A mesage from MP on Yom Kippur:
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
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