Ixnay on the Expohay?

That's pig latin for "I diss the expo"...the 2010 Philadelphia Food and Wine Expo to be exact. Now I know what you're probably thinking. Why on earth would a vegan non-drinking gal go to a meat, dairy, seafood, beer and vino showcase? I had to go and see the vegan superstar that was making an appearance there.

The expo had two things going for it: Desi Village cuisine (I ate several servings of stupendous vegan Indian food) and Christina Pirello, host of the PBS show Christina Cooks. This wasn't my first time seeing her cooking demonstrations. But there's always something new to learn from her. She's funny, down-to-earth, has a great stage presence and is a walking encyclopedia on all things food. Most importantly, she's uber passionate about holistic nutrition and is continuously creating new recipes to encourage people to take back their health in a tasty way. And it's always a treat to see her make healthier versions of, well, treats.

At the expo, Christina showed the audience how to make zeppoli, an Italian fried dough. She put her own touch on it, creating an aromatic honey and orange zest glaze that covered the balls of doughy goodness. Simply scrumptious. Heavenly. I wish this had been the ending to my expo experience given what followed.

My friend and I were perusing all the tables and I, as expected, had found little to eat. No biggie. But when I found a pesto pasta action station I thought I had hit the jackpot. Wrongo. Mr. pasta maker, a caterer from the area, didn't like vegans. When I asked if he could make the pesto and not throw in some parm cheese he got irritated. When I noticed a pitcher of colored liquid, I asked what it was (I thought maybe it was melted butter). I took myself out of the running for pasta when I learned that he was going to add chicken stock. No judgement...just didn't want it anymore. He hadn't even made it yet. But mr. pasta maker got pissed, throwing his arms up and saying, "You're not a VEGAN are you?" I was taken aback by how loud (at least it seemed) he got and I left his booth.

Maybe he thought I was judging him. Maybe he was disgruntled that I was asking him to tweak the contents of the pasta action station (but those usually involve choices anyway, right?). It was weird enough feeling out of place in general but to be called out for food choices was just unexpected. If there is to be an expo in my future, it will surely be vegan or natural foods (like this). But I would go to the expo all over again to see Christina cook.

Practicing Extreme Self Care

It's been an uber crazy month so far and not without some stressors. Fall is my favorite season but it's also the time when work gets really busy and includes evening and weekend hours. As a result, my food plan generally goes south this time of year. But the more hectic the work schedule, the more important it is to practice what life coach Cheryl Richardson calls "extreme self care." There are various components that contribute to our well being...cultivating and fostering meaningful and healthy relationships, nurturing our physical/emotional/spiritual/mental selves, and creating a harmonious living space and living within our means. For now, my focus has been on maintaining physical health...through food and fitness.

Staying late at the office always had me craving greasy or sugary comfort food...and coffee. When the pumpkin spice flavor would come in I'd be all over it. It actually came early this year...and I consumed it daily (with other pumpkin spice lovers) until it was gone.

Now I know what you're thinking. Everything in moderation. Unfortunately I don't have the will power to do that. I end up drinking one cup of pumpkin spice coffee. The next day I'm adding cream to it (stuff I shouldn't be drinking). Coffee seems to be my gateway drug. Next thing you know, I'm eating a cheese sandwich or grabbing a cappuccino once or twice a week (for the first time ever I watched someone make it and had no idea they put so much milk in it - damn). I am not supposed to even be eating dairy but when the going gets busy at work I find excuses for these foods...foods that are not part of my regular diet.

Luckily these digressive phases don't last long and I quickly get back into the routine of a clean diet. But I'd prefer to never get off track because I tend to go to extremes (even if it's only for two weeks at a time) and then suffer the consequences (breakouts, headaches, and lethargy). So I gave myself a clean slate and re-committed to doing a clean diet during one of the busiest work weeks of the year...partly because I wanted the week to be as stress-free as possible (and a clean diet goes a long way with that) and because I have a super fun event next week that I want to look good for.

Aside from clearer skin, I'm motivated to maintain a clean diet because it keeps my energy levels high (good if you must work long hours) and lessens the amount of stress I put on my body (ie no caffeine, mucus-producing dairy, and acidic effects from sugar, salt and processed foods). Yum!

So what did I consume this week?

* Daily probiotic
* Hemp, banana, honey, peanut butter, almond milk, and cinnamon shakes
* Black bean burritos with salsa, quinoa, onions and roasted red peppers
* Brown rice pasta with artichokes, tomatoes, onions and peppers
* Braised carrot soup
* Brown rice with pinto beans, corn, and sauteed onions
* Panang curry with tofu from Chabba Thai
* Yummy sweet potato lentil and minestrone soups from Couch Tomato
* Peanut butter and banana sandwiches (on days I didn't do the shake)
* Two 16 oz green juices daily (romaine, mint, grapes, apple, celery, cucumber, broccoli stems)
* Caffeine-free herbal teas
* Exercise (weekend runs and bike rides; 20 minute yoga or circuit training)
* 7-8 hours of sleep

And I still found a way to have some comfort food this week...inspired by this rainy day in Philly. I recently found an online recipe for a peppery grilled cheese and made some vegan tweaks with new add-ons for a super scrumptious treat.


Grilled CheesusIngredients:

*1/2 organic red bell pepper
*2 thin slices of yellow onion
*2 tbsp Vegenaise
*1/2 tbsp minced garlic
*1/2 cup Daiya cheddar style shreds
*4 slices whole wheat bread

Saute onions in a little olive oil until golden. In a blender combine the pepper, garlic and mayo. Brush a little olive oil on bread slices and add the cheese, onions and pepper mayo. Grill until you see the goods in all their glory. Wonder where Daiya has been all your life.

Side note on the green juices - I recently bought some Ball mason jars, inspiration courtesy of Kris Carr, at my hardware store. They are inexpensive, super cute, and nifty for bringing your juice with you wherever you go! I got the 16 oz jars...the perfect portion size with an air-tight lid to keep the juice fresher longer. I typically juice around 32 oz at a given time and store them to have as snacks the next day.

What do you do to practice extreme self care?

Blissful Bikram

Ok...as you may have read, I hated Bikram yoga when I did it last Thursday. But today I was feeling the love of my love-hate relationship with it. That love was followed by a sense of achievement and feelings of clarity and calm that I normally only experience after a day of fasting. Yay!

What a difference this day was! - not as much dizziness, no bitchiness, a sense of control and ease at the same time, and I was able to hold the poses longer and really get into them more fully...It helped that I hydrated more throughout the day (and resisted an urge for coffee), that Heath force-fed me watermelon before class (typically, you're not supposed to eat several hours before class...but I figured watermelon was probably one of the only foods that would count as an exception), and it also made a difference that I warmed up with a quick lymph brushing (with a warm washcloth) and a bikeride to class.

And did I mention that, this time around, I had the best instructor ever? Megan at Bikram Yoga of Philadelphia was kind and encouraging, with just the right amount of strictness to keep me honest. I actually worked better and harder in this atmosphere. She was very good at explaining how to have correct posture and how to properly get in and out of poses. And Megan also made a point of telling us what each pose was doing to our organs, spine, muscles, and systems. She'd say, "this pose is good for the pancreas...that pose is good for the intestine"...etc. This motivated me to really work the poses. She scored big points for reminding us to get out of our minds and to use them only for positive thoughts related to our practice - "Stretch." "I am strong." "I'm going to rock this pose."

I made it to the end feeling so much stronger than I did at Thursday's class. I have to remember that some days will just not go as well as others. According to Bikram Choudhury, when you are feeling less like being at yoga, that's when you need it the most.

And as we laid on our mats, soaking up all the benefits, Megan asked us to reflect on why we come to Bikram. Her reason? To move her body; it feels better after movement. My reason? To engage not only my muscles in a workout but all organs and systems as well...to detoxify....to get out of my mind...to get out of my comfort zone and focus on my breath.

There are only three things you can control in life:

*Your Breath
*Your Mind
*Your Body

What activities help you in attending to these parts of you?

P.S. Another brownie point for this Bikram studio, aside from an awesome instructor, is the kick-ass vegan snacks they gave out for FREE. When you don't eat as preparation for a class, it's possible you'll be starving afterwards. The snack was a godsend.

Macro Monday ~ Miso Soup

I used to think miso soup was weird, gross even, mainly because I tried a soup-in-a-box once that had an over-powering fishy taste. I assumed all miso soup had this quality...and tofu, of which I'm not a big fan. But my friend recently made me miso soup and it was delicious. It's a common dish within a macrobiotic diet and is often consumed for breakfast. You heard right...soup for breakfast!

My friend practices macrobiotics and has miso every morning alongside a grain (like amaranth) with veggies (like corn and cauliflower), a green (like blanched kale or watercress) and a sea vegetable (in the miso soup and/or in the form of dulse flakes on the cooked grain). I've tried this several times with great results...feeling grounded, calm, centered, and ready to start my day. It's also very hydrating (the best diet is one where you are hydrated by your food and don't need to down lots of water, which is taxing on the kidneys).

Here's my variation on the morning stew:

Me-So-Happy Miso Soup

1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup carrots, match-stick slices
Several slices of lotus root
1/4 cup daikon, half-moon slices
2 tsp brown rice miso
2-inch piece of wakame, sliced into small pieces
3 cups filtered water

Soak wakame for 10 minutes in some filtered water. Heat onion, carrots, daikon, lotus root and 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add wakame and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove some of the water and mix the miso in it. Add the dissolved miso into the pot. Don't boil once miso is in the pot; it will destroy the digestive enzymes.

Note: Miso soups typically include a sea vegetable for their high mineral content but I have made several soups without them. I just started using wakame, which can be purchased at a natural food store or Whole Foods. Nori is also commonly used.

Dry Wakame

Soaked/Cooked Wakame

Bickering at Bikram

On Thursday night I got to hang out with my friend Katie. We planned to catch up and sweat our asses off...courtesy of Bikram yoga. It wasn't my first time doing it but I was nonetheless nervous. Bikram yoga calls for its participants to engage in an hour-and-one-half session of 26 poses, done twice, in a room heated to 105 degrees. Each time I do Bikram I wonder if I'll make it through. Will I faint? Will I hurl? My mind races a bit too. What have I gotten myself into? And why the hell am I doing this...again?

My interest in trying Bikram started with Oprah. I was flipping through a friend's old O Magazine at the beach, reading about some chickadee who was using Bikram as the jumpstart to her life makeover. I don't remember what about that article made me look into it. Perhaps it was an interest in seeing what all the hype was about or pushing myself to the extreme. Mark my words. It doesn't really get more extreme than Bikram.

Normally when I do yoga it's as chill as can be. My favorite yogini was sweet and soft-spoken, encouraging her students to "play" on their mats. It was a great feeling...like I was in kindergarten. We were only to focus on ourselves and not compare our skill set or poses with those next to us. The room was dimly lit with candles and gentle music and the temperature was comfortable. In fact, when this particular yoga studio started heating up their rooms, even to 70 degrees, I stopped going. It made me nauseous.

So why on earth would I try doing yoga in 105 degrees? Why would I pursue a yoga practice without music, with stern instructors, in a bright room that makes me feel like I'm melting and a room that reeks of people's sweat? I still don't know the answer to that. And yet I go back.

Bikram Choudhury founded this style of yoga on the principle of health; the hot temperatures are meant to increase flexibility throughout the various poses, which engage all of the muscles, veins, glands (you name it) in the body. One of the Bikram teachers I've experienced said it best: "Suffer for 90 minutes, live for 90 years." And trust me, it is a full 90 minutes of suffering. I go to Bikram on occasion, thinking that eventually it will get easier. But it doesn't. And I find myself bitching about it in my head. Why am I here? Why does the instructor seem so mean?

I think about running out the door within 10 minutes to the start of each class (I've confirmed that other people think this too). I pray the instructor hasn't noticed that she left the window opened...or that I've gotten out of some of the poses before she has said the magic word "change." I get bummed when the instructor has noticed that the window is indeed opened...and promptly closes it. When all this has passed (30 minutes into the session) I hear select words in my head. "Breathe" and "focus." "Breathe" and "focus." And "I'd kill for an iced tea right now." Part survival mode, part what I'm going to do if I survive (minus the killing).

But despite the attempts to settle my thoughts and focus and breathe, my bitchy feelings have not quite dissipated. I'm frustrated with the person at the front of the room, the person keeping me here. Still sweating...still a little dizzy. I'm ready to be done. The instructor jokes about the clock being 10 minutes fast. She tells us not to worry...she'll make sure we don't miss those 10 minutes. I'm not amused at this or her feigned attempts at soothing us, telling us to look up at the soft periwinkle ceiling. "You're almost done."

And then it's done. Amen.

I immediately down 32 ounces of water as fast as I can, spray the mat, peel off the clothes, and bada bing, bada boom. My skin and lungs are clear. I feel like a new person. I entered the studio in the midst of a heat wave and left that studio feeling like I was in air conditioning. And I slept like a baby. I will have to remember all the positives (including those unseen) the next time I venture into the desert. It might be a while before I want to feel the heat again. But one thing is certain. I will feel the heat again.

My Favorite Mistake

I did a major detox last week and was also really diligent about eating lots of vegetables and salads and abstaining from caffeine, dairy, alcohol, etc. etc. I was feeling pretty great; my skin was clear and I was sky high from my regular workouts. Then I got some news. The cupcakes were coming! And not just any cupcakes.


If you haven't already heard about them, Georgetown Cupcake is rolling in notariety and dough (well, pastry flour) for their gems of sugary goodness. Oprah put them on her list of favorite things, the White House has served them, and TLC produced a show called DC Cupcakes, which follows the two owners, Sophie and Katherine, on their quest to bring gourmet cupcakes to the masses. On any given day at their Georgetown and Bethesda shops you will find a line of customers that extends around the block, sometimes with an hour-long wait time. Luckily, one of my co-workers had a connection and, better yet, was bringing the cupcakes to us!

So you can imagine where this is going. I had an indiscretion. I made a mistake...and one of my favorites to date. I jumped off the health junkie wagon and had me a little taste of heaven. And I mean little. I sampled slivers of the coconut, red velvet and key lime cakes. And I had to go back for the 1/4 lime cupcake that was left. It would have been too sad to throw it out, right? Yum. Yum. Yum.

Of course, the sugar, eggs, and cream cheese caught up with me quickly (headache!) but I got to see what all the hype was about. And they were worth trying; I highly recommend them. Now if only they could make a vegan cupcake. Hmmmm......

In the Raw, Part II

Here is the second part of my interview with the Live Food Chef. In part I we discussed how he got interested in raw foods and what led him to pursue it not only as a way of life but as a career as well. Here he explains the benefits of a raw foods diet and his experience at the 105 Degrees Academy.

How do you feel on a a raw foods food plan in comparison to other ways you've eaten? Any noticeable changes? How long have you been going raw?

Until now, I hadn't really ever eaten according to any specific meal plan, so naturally eating raw has been very different for me. Given the history of my past food consumption, I can say that I do feel much better about the criteria that I have designed for determining what I will or will not eat. It feels good to be able to have some guidelines in place so that it makes my choices easier too. Its sort of a form of elimination. I can say that when it comes to decisions that one is forced to make on a daily basis, i.e. what foods to consume, I am glad that I am no longer overburdened by an unnecessary pad load of choices (most of them completely unappealing anyway). There is a certain sense of elitism associated with the choice as well. Not necessarily a feeling of supremacy towards others, but a liberation from bombardment by products. I feel that I've gained an attitude that claims myself too good to contaminate my system with corn syrup-laden and chemically conglomorated food stuffs.

From a physicality standpoint, the changes that I've noticed in regards to heightened energy and general mental sharpness have been affable as well. Eating nutrient dense foods as opposed to just dense foods seems to free up some of the energy that the body was using for digestion and processing. Its an interesting concept and one that has eluded me until recently; you don't have to be and probably shouldn't be tired after you eat! Food should be used as a source of energy, not just as a source of sustenance.

How was your experience in Oklahoma with the raw foods culinary program? Could you describe a typical day in the program?

The raw foods program that I enrolled in was the Fundamentals of Living Cuisine Certification program at the 105 degrees academy in Oklahoma City. It was a wonderful learning opportunity for me. The program is designed and modeled after other classic culinary arts programs and intended for individuals seeking the opportunity to learn from experienced raw food chefs in a real kitchen environment. As it is designed for the aspiring culinary professional, class days were full and typically ran from 9am-3pm. Each day included a mix of lecture and hands-on learning.

A typical day in the program included demonstrations by the instructor and subsequent execution by the students. There was often opportunity for the students to experiment with flavors and develop their own ideas for implementation into their recipes. Most days we would prepare one dish in the morning so that we could eat what we made for lunch (sometimes great, but often times enlighteningly distasteful). Often times we would sit down for lunch in the cafe so that if your efforts for that day were less than palatable, you could order from the restaurants menu which was always good. We would prepare another dish in the afternoon so that we would have something to take home for dinner. The program was designed to first teach basic skills and then culminate with each student planning and presenting a three course meal of their own. Knife skills, recipe-building, and presentation were all emphasized throughout the curriculum.

What is your favorite recipe?

I really like kale salad as it is a go-to meal for me and something that I feel is easy to prepare and extremely delicious too.

Kale Salad with Miso Dressing

Serves 2-4 people as a main dish

For the salad:
1 head of curly leaf kale rinsed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil (first cold pressed)
Salt and pepper (be liberal)

Pull the leaves of the kale from the ribs and shred it finely with chef's knife. Place chopped kale in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add olive oil and lemon juice and massage into kale with your hands (important to use hands to integrate ingredients into greens - salt will open pores of the greens and allow flavors to penetrate). Massage thoroughly until kale has wilted. Set aside.

For the dressing:
2 Tbsp of sweet white miso
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 c sesame seeds (soaked)
1/4 c raw cashews (soaked)
1 thai chili (optional)
1 Tbsp agave
1 Tbsp nama shoyo
spring water (sufficient enough to thin to desired consistancy)

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth and transfer to bowl. Incorporate into salad and mix well. I often like to add some sesame sticks for crunch and other vegetables such as carrot sticks or julienned peppers or snowpea shoots for color and contrast.

For more information about Greg's journey and his raw foods business, check out his website, The Live Food Chef.