A Tree with attitude at water’s edge in Lake Merritt.
My attitude needs to reflect the wonderful divine specimen that I am. When I forget my spiritual essence, I easily lose my footing and my healthy perspective.
The acceptance that others are on their own journey as well is a reminder of my own purpose.
My best attitude is having self-respect AND treating myself and others with kindness.
I am grateful.
Lake Merritt in Oakland is beautiful. It has enough running/walking/strolling paths all around for a few miles (I forget how many but like 3 I think). Lights are lit up all around at dusk till dawn.
Also, you can rent a gondola and have a wonderfully romantic afternoon with a picnic basket or chocolates.
Geese are protected and are rather bossy as geese usually get but even more so because they are so revered and everyone has to bow before them.
It is Off the Grid time. Or as I fondly call it, Off the Edge.
While it is a steamy 100 plus here in OC, it is a pleasant 75 or so up in Northern Cal. Imagine needing a sweater instead of a dip in a pool after the sun goes down in October.
I can dream, can’t I?
OMG! These “croutons” are grain/gluten free and vegan plus delicious!
Adapted from the cookbook, “oh she glows” by Angela Liddon
I omitted the oil and since I didn’t have the almonds she lists in her ingredients list, I used what nuts/seeds I had to equal a cup. Simply outstanding! Been popping them not just in my salads but in my mouth and this is a total keeper recipe.
Nutty Herbed Croutons – adapted from oh she glows
Combine 1 Tbs. ground flaxseed
mixed with 3 Tbs. water, stir and let sit for 15 min.
Preheat oven to 300. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
In a food processor, pulse
2 cloves of garlic and mince.
Add 1 cup of nuts (I used a mixture of Brazil nuts, walnuts, pistachios and sunflower seeds) and process until coarsely or finely chopped (I prefer coarse chop cause I like the crunch).
Add 2 Tbs. chopped sweet onion,
2 Tbs. fresh parsley or 1 tsp. dried,
2 Tbs. fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried,
1 Tbs. fresh thyme or ½ tsp. dried,
1 Tbs. fresh rosemary or ½ tsp. dried,
½ tsp. dried oregano,
¼ tsp. fine grain sea salt and the flaxseed gel into the processor and whir until a sticky ball of dough forms.
Take a ½ tsp. spoon and portion out the dough with your fingers in haphazard shapes onto the baking sheet.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, flip each “crouton” with a fork, spoon or tongs and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until golden.
Let them cool so they can get crispier for @ 10 minutes and enjoy or let them cool completely and store in an airtight glass container. They will stay fresh for @ 3 weeks if they last that long.
From NYC to Barcelona to London to Paris and Copenhagen, we have taken the Big Red Bus Tours where you hop on and off all day at your convenience. It’s best to take them (and they are everywhere the least bit touristy) for the full ride first and then pick and choose where you want to explore a bit, disembarking the Red Bus and then stepping back aboard at your leisure when you have had enough. This is one of the ways we traveled with the kids. They hand you earphones and you pick the language you want to hear as the narrator explains the sites you are zooming by. It is a quick overview.
In Barcelona, my family had had enough day tripping and stayed on to go back to the hotel and I stopped off and visited the famous Gaudi sculpture gardens and church. In Paris, it was a great way to get around and stop off at the Eiffel Tower, which was in a too far arrondissement for us to walk to. In London, we saw all the historic buildings and decided to get off at London Bridge and then walk around. In Copenhagen, where we just had a few hours on our cruise of the Baltics, we got to stop off at our first Ice Bar and the Viking Museum. In New York City, we passed by St. Patricks Cathedral and Ground Zero, finally descending at Battery Park so we could eye the Statue of Liberty.
I fondly remember those trips and how much fun we had and getting stuck upstairs (did I mention they are all double deckers)? where it is roofless and getting soaked during rainy weather and getting burnt during sunny and hot weather. The viewing is superior upstairs but you are exposed to the elements.
Here is a photo I managed to get of a San Francisco tour bus and the state seal on the symphony hall. I hope my kids correct me if I got that building wrong.
Monday morning is yoga day and after one hour of practice, we have tea. This week I served some vegan granola with beet red hibiscus tea and we all felt better and more focused, ready to take on the week. That’s why I love Monday morning yoga. My yogini goddesses all walk out with their heads high and their minds and bodies cleansed.
Adapted from Deb Gleason’s Superfood Dark Chocolate Granola.
Chocolate Granola
All ingredients are organic
3 cups Trader Jo’s Multigrain Hot Cereal (rye, barley, oats and wheat) or plain ole rolled oats
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup sliced almonds or chopped nuts of choice
¼ cup whole chia seeds
¼ cup raw cacao nibs
¼ cup hemp hearts or seeds
2 Tbs. raw cacao powder
¼ tsp. Himalayan pink sea salt
3 Tbs. cold pressed coconut oil
½ cup maple syrup or raw agave syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix cereal, coconut, nuts, seeds, nibs, powder and salt.
Melt the oil if it has hardened. Add syrup and extract to oil and blend well. Add to the large bowl of cereal and stir until well combined and fully coated.
Spread the granola evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, stir and bake for 10 more minutes.
Allow the granola to cool fully and store in airtight containers.
I added almond/coconut milk to ½ cup for breakfast and sprinkled it on top of coconut vanilla ice cream for dessert. All these ingredients are super healthy and found online or Mother’s Market or Whole Foods.
I am really enjoying reading a 2015 book entitled Living the Farm Sanctuary Life – The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer and Feeling Better Every Day by Gene Baur and Gene Stone.
It has over 100 plant-based recipes created and tested by vegan chefs, aficionados and even actors that have embraced this lifestyle. And it IS a lifestyle and a point of view, this being vegan. And I do love to read cookbooks as you can attest by entering my home and scanning my shelves. But this book is more than just recipes.
The story behind the creation of farm sanctuaries, the touching tales of humans meeting domesticated, rescued sentient beings and the accounts of their release, healing and gentle behaviors, is enough to read this book. Add the delicious, creative and easy to moderately involved recipes, the chef notes and the full page pictures and you have a winner of a cookbook/lifestyle narrative that vegans and non-vegans alike would find sophisticated and imaginative.
Saturday night I picked Superfood Dark Chocolate Granola by Deb Gleason to try and it took no time at all to mix together once I had all the ingredients out of the pantry. As the granola baked, the house smelled like a chocolate factory.
Tomorrow: The Recipe
I don’t just find food alluring and intoxicating, I also find nature in all its fine glory quite ravishing too.
Here is an example of a perfect imperfect bloom born of an unfamiliar bush I captured in Berkeley.
Unless you have a phobia, normal fear is pretty human and an everyday feeling. The key word here is “feeling”. Feelings and emotions come and go and you can choose to give them power or change them. Sentiments are not true unless you make them so by your actions.
The antidote to fear is faith, but also humor and lighheartedness.
If you can find something to laugh about your situation then you will survive.
The more joy you keep in your heart, the less concerned with fear you will be.
As you discard the old patterns of fear, a new, courageous self emerges.
The Fear of Failure
“To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.”
Unknown
Your attitude towards yourself affects everything; how you perceive a conversation, your body language and how you interpret the world around you. Check your self. Where is your head?
If you are emotionally strong then you have a lot to offer.
You are a miracle of life and it is a gift.
You count and contribute in your own special way.
If you are well-read, then you are an extra-ordinary person.
You have strong values (whatever they are) and many varied talents, after all, you have survived this long.