'Theme and Variations' 4: Little On-the-Spot Snacks/'Puddings'

Well, another theme to this 'theme and variations' series of mine seems to be the lack of a good name for some of my staple food items! I guess this is the flip side of my observation that I often mention, that people who eat a 'standard' diet and don't think about what they eat are often so attached to a prototypical 'named' food, which must always taste the same every time, and be paired with the right partner, or else it's unacceptable. (Bacon and eggs, corned beef and rye - many of them I'd never even heard of before I met my husband - or, smoothies must be ice cold or else they're undrinkable, etc.) This has made it very hard for me to imagine winning people over with rawified 'pizza,' 'lasagna,' etc - even the desserts need some explanation. My flip side is that lots of things that I eat on a regular basis don't even fall under a generic characterization (like 'salad,') - far less a prototypical rendition with a standard list of expected ingredients (like 'caesar salad'.) 

Theme

Of course, salad itself is one of my main staples, and will be part of another 'theme and variations' post. But for this week, the 'theme' is a little snack, mixed together on the spot from superfood powders, spices, omega-3 seeds, etc. This is a 'make at home to eat at home with a spoon' snack, not a take-and-go. It can be mixed together in a small bowl or mason jar, but I often make such a small amount that I mix it up and eat it from a jar lid!

My basic 'theme' for it at the moment is coconut kefir, a little coconut butter, some flax seed meal or chia seeds, and spices and superfoods.

Variations

Here are some favorite combinations:

Couple tablespoons coconut kefir, 1/2 teaspoon coconut butter, scoop of flaxseed meal, teaspoon each of maca and mesquite, cinnamon, cardamom, bee pollen;

First three ingredients above plus a few chopped goji berries;

First three ingredients and some ginger, cardamom and spirulina;

Couple tablespoons coconut kefir, couple tablespoons chia gel or 'chia-sweet,' cardamom, rose water, teaspoon almond butter;

(Especially if I've just been exercising): add some hemp or pea protein powder and some kefir whey to any of these mixtures.

Animal Antics

I forgot to mention that I got attacked by a crow on the way to the library yesterday! A young teen, probably pissed off with the world in general, or maybe something had gotten him in a particular snit, deciding to take it out on an innocent passerby! Mostly, it was a verbally abusive assault and I didn't pay much attention. However, by the third time he had swooped over my head almost low enough to knock my hat off, I was definitely taking notice. I wasn't as freaked out as I might have expected to be - more intrigued, really, but as this continued I was in danger of taking it personally and was definitely glad when I made it to the library.

Phil incurred something similar a week ago when he noticed a crows' nest in town and couldn't refrain from climbing up the tree to investigate and see if he could steal an egg. A wonderful little boy at heart, my almost-62-year-old husband! He got buzzed plenty, but you might agree that he had provoked them sorely. When I told him of my attack, he said they must have recognized me as part of his clan! But then agreed that it was probably just a disaffected adolescent getting a kick out of being mean. Corvids - they're so like humans in so many ways...

[Edit: I left the library after posting that, walked down to the post office, and sure enough, had the same crow attack scenario all over again! Was glad that Phil picked me up at the post office so I didn't have to walk back to the library for more! And then this afternoon, I was sitting in the library and heard a big crow harangue. Phil came in - he'd gone to the post office before coming to the library - and guess what? His turn for crow attack...]

A few days ago, I was getting lunch ready and Phil was looking out at the sea otters and their babies gambolling in the waves close to shore (yes, what a wonderful view we have). I was keeping half an eye on the same, and in the moment that I saw a black triangle break through the surf surface, Phil said, 'It's a killer whale!' 'No way,' I said, incredulous. But it was. In fact there were three of them (a 'tri-pod,' I quipped). I couldn't believe my eyes because they were so close into shore and it was a very big low tide right at that time. All the sea otters scarpered. Fast. The orcas were around in water so shallow that they never quite disappeared for another half hour or so, and it looked like they were having a feast: perhaps not all the otters got away.
Next time we saw the sea otters, they were bunched up together as tight as could possibly be - safety in numbers.

Words can't really describe the excitement of getting to observe a scene like that. It was just so sudden and extraordinary, to see such powerful and massive creatures so close to shore. Of course, we're perched on the top of the bluff 250ft higher up, so it's not like we got real close - in fact, the binoculars were helpful. But whereas Phil is constantly looking out far off, scanning, surveying, I have more of a closer focus and inward tendency, and this sort of event reminds me to look out far: there's no telling what amazing event might be going on down there. And then, of course, it wasn't an amazing event to the participants: they were just getting on with their lives. But not many humans get to be witness to that kind of life: it's a broadening thing just to be a witness to it.

Extempore - Inspiration

I mentioned internal transitions yesterday. It has a lot to do with trying to figure out 'what I'm here for' and how to be my best. This is so much more powerful a way of thinking than the pathetic, apathetic helplessness I found myself falling into. Health challenges, especially when accompanied by the recognition of one's own responsibility in creating them in one's life, and of the likelihood that these patterns will continue and sabotage, are maybe better viewed as a crisis point, that impetus of coming up to a high ridge, pushing a heavy load all the way, and then over the other side everything becoming much better. I'm entertaining that possibility of breaking long-standing habits, changing long-standing ways of orienting myself to the world, and actually believing that I can make myself better, so that I can do more good in the world.

My mum called me on Sunday and gave me a good 'talking to,' along the lines that it's never too late to change oneself around, that I'm actually potentially in the 'prime' of my life, although that window is getting smaller, and that I need to get back with it. It was like the voice of my conscience and I feel so honored to have such a wise mother!

This morning, I did an interview with a very prominent raw food teacher, which will be published in the July edition of the Eighty Percent Raw Magazine - don't forget the June edition is just out today! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to talk with this man - I'll tell more about it later, no doubt, but I don't want to steal any thunder ahead of time! But it was a message of self-love and of connection with the fact that each of us is here to do something special and wonderful - once again, a message congruent with the avenues of myself that I have been exploring. It is a wonderful serendipity that I feel so inspired and personally helped through having performed the interview in order to share his message with many other people.

Has anyone else had experience of 'coming out the other side' of a dark night of the soul? And has the universe conspired to bring you just the messages that you need to hear in order to find your way out?

The View From Here/Up For This Week

The View From Here

Happy Memorial Day, everybody!

Our first dull, overcast day for a while: it's been gloriously sunny 60 for the past three days. The holiday season is definitely getting into its swing up here in seasonally-migrated Homer.  

One of the fun things of living in a small town is that you constantly see the same people. I used to think it was weird, growing up in a large city, that every day I would see many, many faces that I would never see again. Every day! I've avoided big cities since then: I feel more comfortable feeling the earth beneath my feet and a population size that I can actually comprehend.

What about other folks? Are you more comfortable in a big city or in a smaller community?

I feel a little threatened, maybe, this time of year when all the big RVs show up and the population suddenly swells - suddenly there's just so much more traffic, it's harder to cross the street, for the moose as well as for me! But hey, it's only my second full summer here, so I guess I'm just getting used to yet another radical seasonal change.

Phil and I had comically contrasting reactions to the profusion of chickweed that greeted us when we uncovered one of our raised beds today. I was 'harvesting,' he was definitely 'weeding!' As was I, to some extent - I didn't want the chickweed choking out my baby maca plants - but there's some pretty good salad right there!

Up For This Week

We're going to Anchorage for medical appointments next Monday, and are talking about going up early, toward the end of this week, for some camping and hiking. I'm a little nervous of my stamina, though. We had guests over the weekend, which was fun, and I skipped the long hike yesterday and finally got some downtime, which I had been sorely lacking since we went across the bay last week.

I'm not even quite sure what all I'm going to be writing about this week, so we'll just see what flows. 

Is anybody else in some sort of a transition? That's what this current time feels like, but it's an internal transition rather than and external one like going traveling or moving house. It's as though I'm moving from treading water/borderline hopelessness toward finding some sort of a direction. I might talk about that some more this week - I'd like to share more but am not yet quite sure how much is shareable! 

love to all.

'Theme and Variations' 3: Energy Bars/Bliss Balls

I guess I'm picking an easy one this week, because I'm still so behind on everything having been gone camping and then up to my elbows in processing afterwards. I'm still not caught up energetically either, and Phil is feeling a little sick too, so catching up on chores is taking longer than we'd expected.

'Energy bars/bliss balls' is an 'easy' 'theme and variations' for me because I've already done a whole series of posts about energy bars here! I might as well link them all in here so that we're consolidated up to this point. But another good reason for picking up on these again is that I have a good modification to the basic recipe technique that I figured out this past week. So then, here's the first recipe and conceptual background, and here's the post where I explain 'chia sweet,' and here's where I explain about 'pressing.'

For me at the moment, 'no sugar'/'low glycemic' is taken as read (although I am open to seeing how goji berries can be worked in and perhaps yacon slices too, as in Shannonmarie's suggestion).

This means that whereas the standard energy bar 'theme' is nuts/seeds blended with dried fruit plus whatever superfoods and spices, for me, 'chia-sweet,' or chia gel, or flax meal whipped with water or tea, are going to replace the dried fruit, and stevia (or occasionally xylitol) is going to replace dried fruit and any honey or agave as the sweetener. Cinnamon, vanilla and other spices that have a sweetening effect are also used a lot.

I wrote before about my technique of mixing all the nuts and dry ingredients together, and adding the coconut oil and chia-sweet last. But this week I discovered that mixing the coconut oil and chia-sweet together first and then stirring in the dry ingredients works much better overall. I'll give the full recipe that I winged up in a moment in the 'variations' section.

Variations

Obvious variations are the whole slew of 'lara bar' flavors (or: 'bitt bars?!'. Just by varying which nuts are used, the flavor can be changed a lot. I've posted before about how much I enjoy super-spicy mixes, with everything from cinnamon and ginger to lemon peel and cayenne pepper all together, but variations involving just cinnamon and ginger, or just cardamom and cinnamon, or just lemon and poppy seed, or just vanilla, are wonderful also. 

And I seem to have lots of good company on this one: my all-time favorite combination, mint and chocolate! 

My new recipe was for mint-chocolate balls. 

I started by mixing together 1/2c coconut oil (melted) and about a cup of 'chia sweet,' which was chia gel made in strong stevia-sweetened peppermint tea with some peppermint oil added. Added a little shake of salt.

Next, I stirred in about a cup of shredded coconut. Then, about 3/4c cacao nibs. And then, I simply added coconut flour until it all held together. To make it last better, I left it out on a tray in a warm spot with lots of airflow (the air is dry up here and as I've said before, on sunny days our cabin is an oven).

These 'balls' (it made 20-some) are almost too yummy to me! It scares me when I like something that much. 

What's your favorite energy bar flavor? What's the weirdest one you've ever tried? Mine would have to be my own spirulina/cayenne/lemon zest/cinnamon/sesame bars! Can we say 'Ela-bar-ate?!'

In Lieu of Photos

Since I don't have a camera… I'm going to transcribe the thoughts from my notebook that I was writing right at the time that Phil came upon and shot the bear. Of course, these were notes from times prior to those moments, but they give a flavor of the wilderness across the bay here.

When you come home with a bear in bags, the work is not done. Of course, that's true of any trip that involves outdoor gear, camping equipment, etc, that need unloading, unpacking from drybags, airing, washing, etc. But having that volume of meat to be preserved, having to deal with the bones, guts, etc, is more than a day's work! The sausage grinder and extra electric burner's being barely functional make things drag out even more. 

So of course, I haven't been acknowledging my body's exhaustion as much as I should have been and am feeling myself fading, and am barely prepared for writer's group this afternoon. The hostess today lives up in the back of beyond, and up here, in late May, in full-blown summer, there is still some snow on the ground!

From my notebook

Now for the words I offer in lieu of photos. I'm inspired to include this, in part at least, by Bitt's beautiful photos of her walks in nature.

"Sitting beside Humpy Creek, at the foundations of the wreck of a bridge, spruce logs with dimensional lumber nailed to them, all torn up and torqued, laying splayed at odd, injured angles.

We saw a thrust dart out onto the pebbles, dip a toe and then flutteringly wash herself in the water, which must be about 37 digs, flowing fast, clear snow melt. A few stories above her, a yellow warbler exalted in the budding alders.

A drake merganser sailed down midstream, so stately and ornate, that pincer-prow of a pink beak seeming to connote singleminded directness, leading him as straight as the path of an arrow.

A spider's web caught and played with the light, looping languorously 15ft above the river and parallel with it for about 6ft, tangled in a leaning alder from one side and a jutting spruce from the other. How did the spider walk that airbridge?

A butterfly sucked on a dandelion flower, folding itself into a two-dimensional rudder against the rippling breeze: the petal of its wing not quite a triangle, paneled black-framed with off-white infill in the intricate not-quite symmetry of an art deco piece. (Just heard a resounding shot! Presumably Phil just got a bear!)…..

Went Bearhunting! The Story, and Thoughts about Hunting

No 'View from Here' post this week nor a peep out of me otherwise! That's because Phil was going bearhunting again Monday and Tuesday and since I didn't have any urgent work deadlines or other places I needed to be, I went with him!

It might be suggested that I wasn't in shape to do so yet, given the hours of bouncing on choppy seas in a tiny inflatable boat, all the heavy hauling to load and unload said boat, and then all the hiking and packing and, if we got a bear, butchering it. Yes, but: Phil did virtually all the heavy hauling, I barely helped at all. And yes, but: I thought that it was time for me to get out there too, in the wilderness where no one lives, and see how it felt to me this time around. And yes, but: this is the sweetness and the marrow of Phil's existence, and whilst he loves going by himself, every time he's left me behind, his potential sorrow at us growing apart and not doing stuff together has increased. I couldn't say no.

And we were so blessed with the weather! It's true, you get cold in the boat: the ocean is about 35 degrees and you're sitting flush with it, moving in the wind, but other than that, I really wasn't cold much. (Of course, I was bundled up in multiple layers at all times, but it did get warm enough whilst hiking that I could take off my hat and scarf and unzip my jacket!) We had bright sunshine both days, clear blue skies. This early in the season too, there are scarcely any mosquitoes, which can be real spoilers later on. And as it turned out, Phil did shoot a bear, and even that turned out perfectly. I had said that I needed a rest, and had sat down to write; he went off a ways, found the bear (middle aged male), one shot and that was it. It did mean that I ended up hiking more than my body needed to and working hard on the skinning/butchering also - but I was able to carry on even past my 'pooping out' feeling. For various reasons, Phil had been anxious to get a bear before Memorial Day, so this was just what he needed. We left all of it sunk in the creek overnight, and came to retrieve it on our way home the next afternoon. The downside of gorgeous weather, in this glaciated mountainous bay system, is that the wind comes up in the afternoon and the sea gets rougher! We couldn't leave before afternoon because of the tide, and so the 10 mile trip home took over two hours of bouncing and slamming up and down over the backs and into the troughs of the waves. We lost an oar, but otherwise got back in one piece, if wet and sore.

Before all that, we spent some precious moments sitting in the sun on the bank of the creek, and saw so many beautiful things. I may make another post and just transcribe what I wrote in my notebook, describing what we saw out there.

About Hunting

But for now, I feel like I need to say something about the whole hunting issue: I'm afraid that some may feel uncomfortable about it and I want to say how it seems to me.

I was a vegan for most of my life and am currently not choosing to eat meat. However, at 61 Phil is mightier, stronger, possessed of better stamina than any health-food enthusiast I have known and he has always eaten a lot of meat. I see that it does him good and I support him in that. And then, I'd far rather prepare wild harvested meat whose provenance we know and that we had to work for, than buy some packaged stuff at the store that's been treated who knows how. At this time of year, the bears are gorging on greens, so their meat is going to be much richer in omega-3s, which is always a good thing.

Additionally, having been a vegan most of my life it was striking to me how much more spiritually connected I felt when I experimented with eating meat (and simultaneously with getting involved in the whole hunting/butchering process): I received a clarity of gratitude, a sensation of connectedness with millennia of human behavior, and a strong message that with gratitude we were converting the animal into a different form of life.

Furthermore, black bears are out of balance in the wilderness across the bay: there are 'way too many of them,' to the point that the Fish and Game service has increased the limit on how many each person can hunt - 'have at,' they say. Male black bears also prey on bear cubs, which is perhaps a less desirable form of population control. Phil is a fantastic shot, and has been since he was about five years old, and his single shot deals an almost instant death, which is the best way for it to go.

It's probably clear from all this that I have some ambivalence about the whole issue, but nothing is black and white, right? That's what the whole 'ulterior harmony' thing is supposed to be about, and sometimes it can be inscrutable to me.