If every Monday could start this way.... Waking up naturally from the sound of a rainstorm, followed shortly by the surprise of sunlight streaming through the windows, then the wonder if there might be a rainbow somewhere out there. Instead of... someone's car alarm waking me in the middle of the night, followed by my actual alarm waking me in what feels like  the middle of the night, then the onset of dread about the day ahead.

Plus the accomplishment of a seriously "nagging task", to use Gretchen Rubin's term from the Happiness Project. It's a big day in the claims department! My focus this year on reclaiming all that I want (back) just paid off. Usually, intangible things (like time) are packed into that bag I want to reclaim, but this one contained a check!

It's a reminder that some wrongs do get righted. That I can be assertive. That I can get what I want. Even if it takes 12 months of calling, writing, and persisting. (what if that also applied to my now nearly year-long, newly named Chastity Project?) Fresh from Hannibal, MO, the Damage Recovery Unit has ensured that this monster will no longer eat away at me. Now I can reclaim and recover those units of space and time and money where this damage was so rudely strewn about my desk and mind and bank account for the past year!

Catching up on smoothies recipes now that it's been 2 years of starting every day this way! Although I still don't eat or drink before starting work, now I at least consume something (healthy!) before lunch, and that's progress.

Here's a basic daily recipe that I vary with kale (chard, spinach, etc.) and/or cucumber, depending on what's around. Enjoy!

Romaine lettuce

Celery

Apple

Banana

Ginger

Flax

Blended in that order with water.

For a treat...

Banana

Tahini paste

Cacao

Cinnamon

Ginger (yes, I add it to everything)

Flax

Blended in that order with water and a splash of almond milk

My own personal inventory on what I've tried during this food journey. It all started with an elimination diet that I undertook in search of a calm tummy and clear skin. After two years of buying and trying new foods and products, here's my round-up:

Like, still use, would buy again:
Almond milk (unsweetened) - prefer over coconut, soy, or rice
Almond butter - use in smoothies and for a treat on dates...the food kind ;)
Amaranth - hot breakfast grain I like with almonds + fruit like mango
Cream of Buckwheat - another hot breakfast I like with brown sugar or maple syrup + raisins or cranberries
Chia seeds - makes a nice little pudding with almond milk (that I rarely make)
Coconut butter - yummy in smoothies
Coconut oil - seems to work well for cooking
Fish oil - capsules I forget to take but seem consistently recommended
Flax - ground or liquid in smoothies
Hemp seeds - rarely use but could throw in salads, smoothies, cereal
Sorbet - I have to remind myself that ice cream isn't the only answer...
Apple cider vinegar - I used to take a teaspoon every morning which I can't stand anymore ;) but it's still great for other purposes.

Unsure:
Bee pollen - easy enough to put in smoothies but remind me what's so special about it? ...Virility?
Tahini paste - sometimes I put it in smoothies (with cacao + banana) but otherwise not sure what to do with it
Millet - haven't found an easy recipe yet that I love
Mung beans - same as above
Bragg's Liquid Aminos - basically...I like soy sauce!
Goat milk Kefir - tastes good but trying to avoid dairy (cheese being an exception...)
Kelp noodles - terrible taste that I tried to rinse off. Maybe I just had a bad batch?
Macro Greens superfood - I like adding it to smoothies or apple juice, or but it's expensive and must be pretty engineered, plus in Food Rules, Michael Pollan says to eat like  someone who takes supplements but to then save your money and not bother buying them.
Gluten-free products - I would if I had to, but since I don't have Celiac, I'd rather eat the real thing, just less frequently than before.
Note to self: remember rice, lentil, & quinoa!

No need, I wouldn't buy again:
Wheat grass powder - is this what gave me heart burn that I panicked was breast pain (cancer), thereby bringing on my first ever mammogram...?!?
Natural Calm - never got into it
Pili nut butter - it seemed so yummy at first when I was just plain hungry from my elimination diet, but now I feel no desire for it
Stevia (liquid) - yucky aftertaste
Goji berries - don't love them, not even sure how to use them up except to put in hot cereal
Kombucha - blech!

Specific products I've found that I love:
Hilary's veggie burgers (all flavors)
Kit's Organic bars (all flavors)

What about you? If you're unsure what this is all about, go see this movie!

Ten years ago in May of 2004, I carefully set aside my library card and a few trinkets for the new girl.  She was taking over my room at my host family's home, a room that had been my luxury suite for nine months. I felt a combination of kinship for my fellow country-woman and jealousy that she got to live in "my" room with a view. We exchanged a few nice emails on sundry topics and I noted her name and initials - the same as mine!

Two years later in 2006, I was in graduate school (my happy place), looking at a list of students registered for a field trip. My eyes scanned the page for my name and did a double take...it's her! We met and spent the day walking around Montreal together. I admired everything: her tan, blond natural beauty; her friendly, easy way and Southern charm; her positive, fresh outlook; her double layered tank top + ruffled brown skirt. We spent two summers together and then lost touch but I never forgot her kindness in 2007 when that same place became my unhappy place.

Early this year 2014, I got a big idea and the sense that I should reach out to her. It turns out, for the past 12 years, she's been attending the same church I "go" to from all the way up here in New England. Somehow, two girls, same age-ish, same initials, from totally different starting points - North, South - wound up nearly connecting abroad, actually connecting in graduate school, then reconnecting in ways still unknown. We slept in the same bed, ate off the same plates, rode the same bus, walked the same paths. Like sisters in a rotating line-up, I went before her, at first, but now I'm sure that she goes before me.

 

My Maine Man

  

- ready to jump in after me
- up for a wild goose chase
- not afraid to get his hands dirty
- sticks by my side (but not sticky close)
- willing to look foolish...what you can't see are the pine needles stuck to his nose :)

Green beans. I never really liked them until this dish came along, thanks to my Turkish former roommate. I associate it with summer, since that's when her mom visited forever and we awkwardly cohabited.

 

1 lb Green beans
4-5 Tomatoes
1-2 Onion
2-3 Garlic cloves
1/3 cup Olive oil
Juice of 1 orange or 1 tsp sugar
Lemon
Salt

Wash beans, remove ends and string. Peel tomatoes. Place beans and tomatoes in deep pot. Add onions (she chopped, I sliced...take your pick), pressed garlic cloves, juice of 1 orange, 1/3 cup of olive oil, and salt. Cover and cook over medium heat. Bring to boil, reduce temperature, and cook until marshmallow soft. Arrange in serving dish and squeeze lemon juice over mixture.

Note: I usually make half this quantity. Never tried adding sugar or orange juice but I left it here to keep the recipe authentic. Also I don't peel the tomatoes (lazy), I just let the skin slide off during cooking and scoop out later. Can be served hot or room temperature.