easy iced tea

It's so nice to have access to a kitchen from time to time in my travels, and even nicer that I've got the time to make iced tea! The recipe is super simple - essentially throw anything and everything you like into a large pot of boiling water, add some honey, let it cool off and place in the fridge until it chills. 

For this particular tea...

1 L boiling water

3 limes, halved and squeezed

1 orange peel

1 small knob of ginger, grated

2 cinnamon sticks

handful of green tea leaves

handful of mixture of dried hibiscus, dried apples, and dried berries

honey (or any other sweetener), to desired sweetness

Steep the goods in the hot water, then place in the fridge to cool. Enjoy on a hot day when you're sweating uncontrollably every time the fan rotates away from you - so, typical day in Thailand!

rawktober: day thirteen

Thirteen's a weird number. It looks weird. Like it's missing a letter. It's missing a "t," right? I mean, isn't it pronounced thirt-teen? 

It's bothering me.

Moving on.

Here's a slightly delayed post about my Thanksgiving dinner[s]. As you can see in the picture, I was occupied with my wine and it wasn't safe to have my laptop nearby. I make enough of a fool of myself as it is. This was my first holiday as a raw vegan (my Eastern-European family and family friends are still having a hard time accepting my veganism, and raw veganism is way up there on the wtf factor list), so I BYO dinner'd it. I decided to try out ATV's sweet potato dumplings (YUM!) with a few modest modifications that my taste buds can't do without - aka herbs & spices.

rawktober: day ten

Today is just one of those days- comfort food. Here's a comic for you while I get back to polishing off my tray of raw brownies. What is your favourite comfort food?

Source: Some genius at poorlydrawnlines.com.

rawktober: day eight

The past week, I've been feeling super dehydrated even though I've been consistent with my water intake. Still speculating whether this may be a sodium deficiency or simply detox?
     Anyway, look how pretty amaranth is! I had no idea it was such a beautiful plant until today, courtesy of UBC Farm. Hope y'all enjoyed the beautiful day; bottoms up on your green smoothie to that!

Continue for smoothie recipe...

rawktober: day five

I know my posts have been a day or two behind schedule but hey, it's hard to post every day! With school work and the raw food prep (and getting offered free, good-quality beer?) I've been doing, I hope you can understand.

     I feel like I need to tackle the issue of going out whilst on a raw food diet. Yesterday was my childhood best friend's birthday, to be celebrated at the infamous Cactus Club restaurant, and I was faced with the unavoidable scenario of having to go out for dinner with him and his friends. Although I felt uneasy at first, I decided that I couldn't simply chicken out - he would appreciate my coming even if I didn't participate in the eating (which saved me some $$$ too!). So, I ate a big raw dinner before he picked me up, and simply conversed sat at the table with his friends without ordering anything. I sensed out the crowd and, feeling like they wouldn't be the most open to my lifestyle, decided not to talk about my "weird" vegan diet, not to mention my month of raw foods. Conversely, my best friend, who told me is awfully impressed with my rawktober challenge, chose to flaunt it for me. "Olivia's vegan, and she's only eating raw food," he gloated for me. The girl sitting across looked up at me from her burger - wiping a drip of mayo off her chin, - uttered "ew," and continued eating. 

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NEVER WASTE YOUR TIME TRYING TO EXPLAIN WHO YOU ARE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE COMMITTED TO MISUNDERSTANDING YOU.

dream hampton

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Now, I'm not saying that we should hide behind the safety of our blenders at home and avoid any potential such situation! Don't let the fact that you choose not to eat certain foods restrict you from going out with friends to restaurants. If appropriate, use it as a tool to inspire others and share your knowledge and experiences. On the other hand, there are simply (and this is the sad truth) some people who chose not to open up to novelties in terms of eating. I could rant about this for hours, referring to more traditional folks like [my] relatives or some a**holes whose life goal seems to be to put every vegetarian down, but I just ran out of carrots to snack on and I'm getting antsy.

rawktober: day four

    Today, animal rights advocates in China, Spain, and India portrayed the farming and animal slaughterhouse industries with their bodies in recognition of #WorldAnimalDay. Too graphic, or a good wake up call? What are your thoughts? For more pictures, see here.

rawktober: day three

By the time I get around to blogging, my energy has wound down a couple hundred notches for the day and I want to do is send you all zen vibrations. Although I swear, this morning, I was thinking up some pretty passionate topics to share with you! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, who knows), I'm drawing a blank. Nevertheless, I've got some fun facts on H
2O. Did you know that 40% of water bottling companies that claim to sell mineralized spring water are actually just purifying tap water? (here's the trick: a gallon of tap water is valued at about $0.02, whereas bottled can be up to $8.26) Who knew, even companies like - gasp - Dasani have been ripping us off for our water! In 2004, Coca Cola confessed that Dasani had been selling tap water in disguise for 3000% more than its worth. Luckily for us, tap water is actually required to be continuously monitored by the EPA, whereas the FDA only regulates about 30-40% of bottled water! (Sage)

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IF THE GRASS IS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE, YOU CAN BET THE WATER BILL IS HIGHER.

unknown

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I loooove my water. I'm ALWAYS carrying around my bottle, and I'm more inclined to forget my cellphone somewhere than my Nalgene (true story)! If I don't get at least 3-4 litres in per day (excluding all water intake through various foods, eg. fresh produce) I feel incredibly dehydrated. And since thirst lags behind the body's actual need for water replenishment, it means business. How about you? How much do you drink in a day?

prepping for rawktober

Hey guys! Just so you know, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth- I've just been out travelling for 4 months, and spent the last month getting back into the routine groove. But I'm back! 

While I was drifting off to sleep the other night, I decided I needed a change. Something to help me jump back on the health-conscious bandwagon (which I've been unceremoniously slipping off of during my adventuring). I thought, rawktober. Now that sounds cool. No, it sounds cheesy and ridiculous and so very me. So here we go, I'm commiting to a month of eating live foods. Join me, and let's make it fun times for all of us! (Oh, yeah, I've even gotten around to the whole #rawtkober on Tweeter. psh, I'm no noob anymore! By the by, here's a link to my account, follow me, I'm new!)

The most important thing whilst embarking on a raw food diet is planning. You don't want to be stuck with a burning hunger or low blood sugar with nothing but processed food around you! Sounds like a recipe for disaster, in my case at least. It's essential to remember to EAT, and to eat everything you need to be eating. Don't restrict yourself to munching on raw fruits and veggies. Keep your fat intake at a healthy level with avocados, nuts, seeds, nut butters and oils. You CAN eat grains and legumes, you just have to sprout them! Raw food doesn't have to be skimpy. It is rich, energizing, and satisfying. You just have to know how to go about it.

I've put together a list of basic food staples that are going to come in super handy in the kitchen for the next 4 weeks. Make sure your home is stocked with [some of] these essentials so you don't experience a "there's no food!" crisis mid-week. Alter according to season and preference:

FRESH FOODS:

apples; bananas; plums; pears; grapefruit; oranges; grapes; lemons; tomatoes; cucumbers; celery; cabbage (savoy, green, purple); avocados; leafy greens (kale, swiss chard, mustard greens); eggplant; mushrooms; cauliflower; broccoli; cayenne, bell, poblano & jalapeno peppers; fresh herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, mint); root veggies (ginger, turmeric, carrots, beets, yams, garlic, onions - red, yellow, green), squash (zucchini, spaghetti, acorn); frozen spinach; frozen berries; wheatgrass shots.

PANTRY::

almonds; cashews; pecans; sunflower & pumpkin seeds; sesame seeds; nori sheets; quinoa; wild rice; buckwheat groats; oats; tahini; apple cider vinegar; dates; dried fruit; raw chocolate; kelp noodles; maple syrup; honey; coconut oil; COCONUT & CACAO BUTTER (nom!).
ADD-INS:
nutritional yeast; maca powder; cacao powder; bee pollen; spirulina; chlorella; acai powder; dulse flakes; spices.

on fighting colds

When something's prickling the back of my throat and I'm feelin' foggy...

1. Warm water with cayenne and lemon

2. Miso soup, properly prepped*

3. Kale, pineapple, coconut green smoothie

4. Milk, garlic, and honey**

5. Home-brewed spicy ginger tea***

6. Crystallized ginger

7. Kombucha

8. Super spicy soup****

9. My hot water bottle

10. Ass on couch!

     *Boiling miso paste kills its enzymes, so what I like to do is grab a bit of ginger, a tablespoon or so of miso paste and a tablespoon of soy sauce, and blend them in a few cups of water or broth (depending on how strong you want the taste of miso). You can heat it slightly on the stove if you like, but do not boil! To finish, I chop up some green onion and throw in some wakame with a sprinkle of cayenne - yum!

     **When I was little and had a sore throat, my mother would boil milk on the stovestop and add garlic and honey to it. As a vegan, I can imagine that it would work just as well with alternative milk (especially since dairy should be avoided when ill, anyway)!

     ***I love fresh tea. Sick or not, my favourite is boiling a kettle of water, grating up a TON of ginger and turmeric root and tossing it in along with a few sprigs of fresh mint, some lemons, and a generous pinch of cayenne. Ahh!

     ****My soups are pretty much all the same- a bunch of veggies blended together with jalapenos and/or cayenne (although I'll admit, one of my favourites at the moment has got to be butternut squash with orange juice)

pre-cleanse

I need to reconnect with my body. I've been feeling detached.

With the stress of finals and long hours of studying, I need to start feeding my body good food and good energy as opposed to the vegan muffins, cookies, and rice krispie bars I've been stuffing myself with every day. Yep. I go to a lovely, cozy coffee shop to study every time exam period starts. The only problem? Their delicious vegan goodies. The first few days of going there I just get myself the usual tea. Then, I start up the habit of a muffin a day. A few days later? You guessed it, I've added on a peanut butter stuffed chocolate chip cookies for good measure. Not to mention, a few days ago, I began to add their yummy matcha rice krispie squares to the tally as well. 

When I'm studying, I eat to distract myself. I eat for comfort, and I eat because I convince myself that my brain will work better if I reward myself. But these rewards -- continuing daily for the past 2 weeks -- are costing me my health, energy, and mood. Squeezing in a light workout at the gym a few times a week won't cut it, and otherwise, I've hardly moved my arse an inch, to say the least. It's time for a change.