Raw for Lent: Day 17

This morning, I got up and went to the gym first thing, then came home and swirled myself up a new batch of non-chunky almond milk. I was going to try my chocolate Chia Goodness, but then realized it is only 88% raw :(! So regular Chia Goodness for me, with almond milk and a 1/2 banana (other half went into making almondbanana cookie dough to quell my sweet tooth). Chia goodness is every bit as awesome as I remember it being, sweet, toothsome, energy boosting!

I also tried another Pure vegan food bar; this time in cherry cashew. It was pretty good. Surprisingly still liking the apple ones best. I went to pick up my car from the shop (FINALLY!) and run some errands.

I grabbed the other half of the cantaloupe/spirulina shake to bring to work along with a raw organic bar (man I am getting lazy), and headed to work. Things were slow, so I got off right at 12 ish and Mishca called and dropped by with a prune shallot vinaigrette for me to use in my fav salad; chard, walnut and pear. I'm really looking forward to it. Spent a minute talking to the chef at the James Joyce, who told me that he sticks a lot of easily veganizable/vegan already food on the menu. So, Durham/visiting Durham vegans, there's another option for now!

As I was leaving I ran into Mark Gladness Band and we talked a little about the good feeling you get from stick-to-it diets and really thinking about food. He remarked that I am getting skinny...hooray, 10 pound mark is probably here!

After work snack is spinach dip with cabbage...it is now my favorite thing to pair with the spinach dip, like little edible spoons! Big long day tomorrow, will probably be full of bars and whatnot, but I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that I've been putting away 3-5 cups of fresh cut raw veggies a day thanks to dips. I could really use another recipe, since this spinach dip is good but feels like I'm going to get sick of it soon. I'll spend Sunday trolling goneraw.com unless a reader can think of something better :)

Raw for Lent: Day 14-16

Tues, day 14:

I made raw granola, chia, banana and blueberry cereal for breakfast. I was gonna add almond milk, but it has separated and looks icky. The raw granola, btw, is tasty, especially after the chia gel softens it up.

Dinner at work was the leftover shake from day 12 and tomatoes.

Snack was cashews, pecan and grapes.

Weds, day 15:
I accidentally skipped breakfast, so ended up stealing blueberries from the kitchen for my breakfast. I definitely hadn't been eating enough because I kind of had that hunger headache feeling.

I hit up Whole Foods and picked up some guacamole and salsa to mix together (feeling so lazy) for snack. I peeled and chopped up some carrots and celery to eat with the guac, but also bought some kale chips (that were super expensive, but REALLY good) at whole foods by Rhythm Organic. I tried the "nacho" flavor because it had the most vitamin A but am excited to try the rest.

After teaching, I came home and spun together a new slightly tastier shake:1/2 cantaloupe
1 mango
1/2 c blueberries
1 c cabbage

12 oz coconut water
1 tsp spirulina powder

Drank half of it and had a pure apple cinnamon bar for dinner, went to quiz and lost it :(

It started pouring on the way home, so I sat in my car and listened to Room on tape until the rain let up, then I fixed myself the rest of the guac with some more carrots, celery, some cabbage and some cukes as well.

Day 16:
Got up this morning expecting my chia goodness to have arrived from amazon, but no dice yet. Instead, I tried my second "Pure" food bar: the "chocolate brownie" which actually tasted like a chocolate brownie; kind of like that Boston brand kind. It was trippy, but pretty tasty. I also chopped up a 1/4 cantaloupe, a banana, chia gel and raw granola for longevity.

I hit the post office and did some writing, then we had band practice, after which I whipped up a new batch of spinach dip and a new tub of cashew cheese (fermenting as we speak). After practice, I also noticed my Sun Warrior protein, chia goodness and kale noodles had arrived from amazon. I also went to drink some almond milk but it was all cheesy and curdled so I dumped it and set some almonds to soak for tomorrow's breakfast.

For dinner I made cabbage and cukes to eat with the spinach dip (which is really so much better after the onion has had a day to mellow out, but I'm hungry and sick of eating bar-food) and some passionfruit-grape juice and watching grey's anatomy because I totally without a doubt have a vagina.

In other news, I have now tried all of the Raw Revolution bars and actually kind of like their little bite sized awesomeness; theyre great for a little something sweet or a pick me up (and I feel like my supply is limitless). The best flavor by far is the chocolate coconut, which tastes kind of like a mounds bar. I still like the spirulina second best and all the rest are sort of whatever.

I have also been relying on the Raw Organic bars for snackeroos, which are okay but taste sort of like glue to me (I have the chocolate ones). Take what I say with a grain of salt; I don't really actually like chocolate. I only bought the chocolate ones because they were on sale and I'm cheap.

Raw for Lent: Day 13

Breakfast (after job interview) was carrot and celery with some homemade guac (guac is easy, I tend to avoid the japs in it, but love adding tomato) especially after talking about craving it super hardcore last night. Went to the gym after breakfast and then finished off the green shake.
Instead of lasagna, I tossed together a sort of unbaked ziti situation. Zucchini spaghetti, cashew ricotta and tomato sauce. I tweaked the tomato sauce recipe to make it a little more saucy:

4 sun dried tomatoes
1 c cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 tsp basil

Process the cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. Toss the sun dried tomatoes. Let soak for a little bit, then process (if you process too early, the sun dried tomatoes will catch on the blades and make a mess, especially if you like to use a shitty little hand processor like I do).It was really good, but too much sauce/chz for the amount of zucchini. I thought I had two, but I only had one. I was sad to waste good sauce, but I already did my shop for the week.

Later that evening, my gay husband Sean and I went to dinner and a movie. I chose this place Shaba Shabu because they have a roll there that is wrapped in cucumber instead of seaweed and rice, but they changed their menu and took it off. I asked if they could still make it, and they tried (it was kind of a mess) so I just got a salad. Sean and I talked about the whole "what are we doing with our lives" crisis and he ran an interesting idea past me. He hasn't decided yet and so I won't share it here, except to say that it's unexpected, but a good fit for him. You have my support love! <3

So yeah, they don't have the naruto roll anymore, and we went to see Cedar Falls, which was a kind of bizarre buddy movie about insurance sales. It was really cute, kind of funny (very much informed by Anchorman and other early 2000s era Will Ferrell vehicles) and starred Anne Heche, Ed Helms and John C Reilly, our favorite (or at least top 2) of the PT Anderson alumni. Anne Heche looks even more like an alien than she used to (is that possible?!) but we enjoyed it.

For a treat, I came home and made myself a bowl of the Rocky Mountain Creamery Raw Cashew ice cream. It's darker than you'd expect vanilla to be and has that kind of grainy, raw texture. I ground up some cacao nibs and almonds to put on top, as well as a few strawberries. Thestrawberries really were the treat, though. At some point, I'll make strawberries and cashew cream.

Overall I've been eating pretty well and the weight is not falling off me the way it did last year, which is a blessing and a curse. I'm still staying pretty active and probably getting more calories in because of all the work I'm doing. Either way, I feel a whole lot better than I did last lent. Being prepared is nice.

Oh yeah, also interviewed for a personal cheffing job today and didn't get it. Oh well. At least I got to wear my new Calvin Klein dress.

Days 10-12

It was a rough weekend for foodstuffs; I worked Friday and Saturday nights and was at the barn on Sunday.

Friday, I essentially ate a raw bar, some fruit and wrapped the avocado in nori with tamari.

Saturday was a whole foods day-- I hit the salad bar and made myself a mesculin, cherry tomato, mushroom, celery, cucumber, onion, craisins, coconut flake and lemon juice.

When I got home from work, it was the Kimchi I'd been saving.

Sunday, I was finally off work, but headed out to the barn. Breakfast was a raw organic bar and an avocado. After the barn (which was awesome) I hit Earth Fare, whose raw selection is surprisingly not as good as i remembered it. I picked up some raw granola and raw cashew ice cream, both of which I look fwd to trying, but also some spirulina and made myself a green shake for dinner.

The recipe was
1 mango
2 c grapes (stems too!)
1/2 cabbage (in hindsight, this is WAY too much cabbage)
4 carrots
1 c blueberries
12. oz coconut water
1 tsp spirulina powder

The shake was kinda, well, spicy. It took me nearly 4 hours to get most of it down (but holy crap, when I put on my Calvin Klein dress this morning for the job interview the non-bloatyness seemed worth it), and I still have a little left. Overall though, I felt like it was a mega-healthy dinner.

Raw For Lent: Days 8 & 9

Today (day 8) I got up and went into work where it was slow. I pounded the ceviche salad and drank some coconut water for breakfast then came home and assembled raw lasagna, using the premade "sauce" and cashew cheese as well as peeled slices of zucchini. It was really fucking good, just sayin'!

Ran to teach lessons, and was peeved because I bought these "raw revolution" bars on amazon, only to realize when they came that they're like, an inch by an inch. Not much belly filling. So I brought two of them to have one every couple of hours. As of this blogging, I've tried 3 of the 5 flavors. The Chocolate/Cashew one is VERY chocolatey, the Cashew one is good, but so far my fav is the spirulina kind. It makes me feel healthy. And tastes kinda green.

When I came home, I fixed myself a juice for dinner:

1 mango (peeled, seeded)
1-2 c grapes (stem ok)
1/2 c chia gel
1/4 c almond milk
2 c spinach

It was tasty-ish, not the best, but felt healthy enough. When I came home, I had some romaine hearts with the spinach dip. I spent like, 3.50 on this fucking Organic Girl brand shit because it's supposed to be like, washed

and clean and shit, and can I tell you something? I found BUGS in it. Dead bugs, sure, but BUGS. I am going back to Foxy lettuce, tout de suite. Fuck this boxed lettuce shit.

Day 9:

Woke up, and went into the pantry to open my Chia Goodness. They don't sell it at Chapel Hill Whole Foods anymore, but I guess the one I have has sat too long, the chia seeds attached themselves to the currants and it was gross so I chucked it. Instead, I made a chia, almond milk, raspberry and banana mix, wolfed it down and headed to the barn. After a lovely ride, I headed back to town, rolled some avocado in nori and then headed to work for St. Paddys day, bringing along a few more raw rev bars. which, for those of you who work in bars, know is not a favorite. Now I'm snackin on some cauliflower.

Doing okay. Craving a burrito hardcore.

Raw For Lent: Day 6-7

So today was my off-tour prep shit day. I realized that since starting this, I've already dropped like 6 pounds, probably due to both dehydration and essentially not eating for 3 days. It's cool, though, since I'm sort of above my fighting size right now anyway. Good news: I totally am rocking the regular size jeans again as of today.

I got up early, cleaned up the kitchen as best I could, cleaned up my room a little too and then hit Whole Foods for what I refer to as THE GRAND EXPENDATURE (wherein I buy a whole bunch of supplies I don't usually have, like raw nuts, chiaseeds, maca powder, psyllium husk, etc etc) and get all my shit together. So I started the day by making a carafe of unsweetened almond milk, then tossed together my ceviche chard salad, let that sit on the table while I soaked almonds and cashews for the spinach dip and cashew cheese I planned to make. In the meantime, I tossed together a quick tomato sauce.

Quickie Tomato Sauce:

appx 1 1/2 c cherry tomatoes

2 cloves garlic
1 T olive oil

pinch salt
1 t basil

Spin that in the vitamix. I think it would probably be better if it were dehydrated as well, but I just let it sit out on the counter for a few hours, and am putting it in the fridge with the lid ajar to thicken it up a bit.

I cleaned the vitamix, then tossed together some almond chocolate nib cookies (they taste healthy) then went upstairs to clean myself in preparation for a rock and roll show! I plan to make raw lasagna later in the week, and since the cheeze takes a day to set and the sauce tastes better if it has achance to marinate, I figured I'd use my day off to get a head start.

I came back down, made cheese and dip, then made myself a little bowl with some guac and the spinach dip and some Go Raw! crackers (holy shit these rule!) and celery, then headed to Chapel Thrill to see my favorite band from 2009: The RAA!

When I got to the 506, Dork was still there, even though she said she was going to leave. The opening band, Pepper Rabbit were pretty good and I talked to one of the guys outside, they seem super nice. They're playing SxSW this week, so if you're there.

The Rural Alberta Advantage went on next and were fantastic as always. Even Dork stayed untl they played Frank, AB at the end of the set, because they were captivating and the mood in the room was great. I went home and totally passed out.

They also played a lot of stuff off the old album, including Don't Haunt this place:


And a sweet cover of Eye Of the Tiger:

Tuesday (day 7!) I got up early and went to the gym. I'm trying to make sure I eat every 2 hours or so but I'm kinda crappy at it so wish me luck! I had a cookie before the gym, then came home and set about making vegan sushi, with the cauliflower "rice," cukes and avocado. I wish I had pickled some radishes, but I need to get my pickling pants on and get to it. Also the cucumber harvest is apparently shitty because I haven't seen kirbys ANYWHERE.

I packed some chard ceviche for dinner and headed to work, pounding the last 3 dates I had in the car for some energy, then bounced around 10:00, got home, had some celery and spinach dip, dropped the cashew cheese (which is SO tasty!) into the fridge and went to sleep!

Raw For Lent: Days 3-5

Day 3:

So Friday was actually an amazing day for me; I scarfed a banana then the whole band headed to my favorite museum (possibly in the world, now that they redid it) the MoMA, for an exhibit devoted EXCLUSIVELY to Picasso and guitars. After the museum, we stopped at Caravan of Dreams to pick up some vegan eats and live eats for me.
I ordered the live pizza and the nori salad sandwich, got a hot soup for my dad, as well as an avocado caesar and roasted veggies for my mom. Dork ordered a veggie burger and a salad. So, for those of you who followed my adventures last year, you may remember two things: 1 - I was hardcore craving bread by the time I got to NYC in 2010 and 2 - I got crazy fucking food poisoning at Pure food and wine. For those of you who have followed me longer, you'll know 2010 wasn't the first time I got food poisoning at Pure. This year,after eating this amazing pizza I literally said out loud, in the car with my mom "FUCK Pure food!" The pizza was amazing-- dehydrated chia crust, cherry tomato/garlic tomato sauce, pesto and cashew cream topped with cherry tomatoes, arugula, olives, sprouts and avocado. SO delicious that I'm considering getting a dehydrator. So my review: Caravan of Dreams. No other raw joint I've visited yet (except The Raw Choice lifestyle center, RIP!) has been worth your raw dollars. Also had a coconut mango pie that was just to die for.

Speaking of arugula, before the raw set in, my dadtotally bought us a box of rugulah, the jewish pastry treat. I kept offering it to Sick who was like "uh, no I'm cool" thinking I meant the spicy green, not the tasty cookie. Apparently they go quick. I hope my dad puts the rest in the freezer for when I am next home.

We played a good show in Brooklyn, then came home and had an evening snack (an avocado for me, a plate of chinese food for Dork).

Day 4:
Before Philly I had the nori sandwich, which was not quite as delicious as the pizza, but the chia onion bread totally made up for any topping shortcomings. My mom, as a going-away-good-luck present cut me up what I can only presume was an entire HEAD of iceberg lettuce, along with some radishes, cukes, string beans, broccoli and grape tomatoes and put it into a big freezer bag. You will laugh, but I carted that shit all over Philadelphia. I put it in the crisper of three separate punk houses. I snacked on it before load in. I snacked on it for breakfast. Aside from that sandwich, it was pretty much all I ate, and I'm cool with that.

Day 5:
I spent most of the day grazing on th rest of the salad my mom made for me. We stopped in DC (which was torture, since it was Asylum's vegan brunch!) and went to an asian restaurant where I got a salad (boring!) and drank water while we visited my awesome friend Chrissy. She just moved to a sweet apartment that's like, a 2 minute walk from the main drag of Adams Morgan and is apparently trying every ethiopian restaurant on the street so that when I come back after lent, we can get the very best. Hooray!

We rolled into dirty Durham at around 11:00, unloaded, dropped by my work so I could pick up a schedule (and found out that of course, I'm working St. Patty's Day) then came home where dork and I ate the only thing we each had in the fridge: KIMCHI! I just topped it off with a handful of almonds and am just about ready to go to sleep.

Sorry that this blog has been so foodcentric at first; most of the day-to-day ramblings are covered (or will be) in the band blog over at http://pinkflag.blog.com :)

Raw For Lent: Days 1 & 2

DAY 1

Did I say woefully unprepared? I meant fucking seriously totally not prepared at all in any way shape or form. Last year, I was raw for about a month before tour, so used to it. This time, I was faced with the temptations of a vegan friendly city, life on the road and tiredness.

For breakfast I had some half sour pickles and a grapple (it's a genetically manipulated apple that tastes like a grape), which was disappointing because I was expecting it to be a braeburn or something. We arrived in Providence and AS220's menu looked SOOOOOO good, but I was good and got a kale salad, eating around the roasted squash. It gave me a great idea though-- pickles in salads. Also, pickled carrots. YUM. (This picture taken after decimating most of the kale).

Later that night I caved when a group of guys who had driven 2 hours to our show sent us a round of drinks, so I got a wine, which really now, is pickled grape juice. Even so, I'm trying to be better and calling it my tour adjustment setback. Plus, anyone who knows me knows that ordering wine is like being caught picking my nosefor me.
Anyway, the next morning, our hostess, Justine, from Math the Band, made hashbrowns for the girls and provided me with a lovely, sweet pink grapefruit as well as bananas if I wanted them, which was awesome. We drove back and discussed going to manhattan (Caravan of Dreams or Angelica's raw entrees are calling my name) but with the rain, the girls ended up getting pizza and I made myself a very very pretty salad of romaine, cukes, pickles, radish, tomato, avocado and vinegar, along with a handful of raw almonds. We are now getting ready to rent a movie and head to the city tomorrow, so wish me luck on this journey! :)

Mardi Gras, a last Hurrah!

My mardi gras RULED, and what a fucking last hurrah.

We had lunch at Elaine's (a pan-asian restaurant) in Great Neck, where I got a veggie maki bento box. Dork and Sick got boxes too. My box came with miso soup as well and looked so cute!

Went around corner to kensington deli to get pickles for raw days and deliciousness.

My mom took us to NYC so we could pick up dinner before our LI show-- we got vegan treats at atlas (a slice of strawberry shortcake and a coconut doughnut for me, coconut cupcake for dork), headed downtown to Soho and nolita so Sick could sample the wares of Ray's Pizza as well as check out the DASH store (where there was a line!) and which is coincidentally directly next door to the Opera Gallery, which has been my fav modern art dealer since HS. Not that I have themeans to buy modern art.

Spider web roll and house roll from Soy and Sake, ate home then headed out to Mr. Beery's on LI for a rock and roll throwdown with Let Me Crazy (just put out a BALLER new record) and Playing Dead (who get better every time I hear them) who we have played with in NC.

Drank Rastafar-rye and Pyrat rum, switched to Bud around karaoke, sloshy, spilly time. Good friends.

Came home, had vegan strawberry shortcake and a lemon snapple. Life is good. Rawness starts today, and I am woefully unprepared.

New Year, New Attempts

I have been *the worst* blogger guys!

I'm going to change all of that though. I resolved to try and post at least once a week (and yeah, I'm already late) but will be doing my darndest to keep it up!

So, I stopped at several joints on the way to and from NYC this year, unfortunately, none besides my beloved Vegan Treats were really worth mentioning (except Soy and Sake, which I visited a whopping 3 times in NYC. Holy shit that place could be my life partner) so I figured I'd talk about the obligatory 2010 music post.

And then I realized, no, I didn't buy much new music. I listened to a lot of it, but ultimately found myself disappointed by the large majority of the records that came out last year AS A WHOLE. I wanted to love Corin Tucker's solo record. I wish that Deerhoof capitvated me. I totally don't understand Robyn as a whole.

That said, I did find some shit worth listening to, and I've made you a mix of it.

Download the ZIP file here!

1. Ke$ha - Tik Tok
Love or hate her, there was no escaping Ke$ha this year. And you know what? Her album is rad. I chose this song because it so obviously represents her (it is her "Baby One More Time"). Plus, you know you've shouted along to it, drunk, at least twice.

2. Screaming Females - Pretty Okay
I know this song was previously released, but I am counting it as a 2010 release (due to the Singles compilation happening). This is so worth buying. Buy it. It's so good.

3. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Gimme The Wire

Having never really listened to Ted Leo outside of my Nike running mixes, I found myself pretty surprised by the goodness. Moreso by the awesome, Steely Dan meets pop punk feeling to this song. And I say that as a SD fan.

4. Broken Bells - Trap Doors

A lot of people have had some not so nice things to say about the Broken Bells record. I happen to like it, although I do think it's tonally a little inconsistent. Its best work is on songs like this one, where it sticks to dark synthpop. And I think this song sounds like it could've been a Tears For Fears song. Just sayin'.

5. Beach Fossils - Face It

I assume that most of you haven't been living under a rock and know that bands with Beach/Surf names, an abusive hand with spring reverb and generally at least two underfed hipsters in Ray Bans have spawned faster than wet gremlins in 2010. So instead of taking an entirely anti-"beach" stance, I found the band most likely to succeed outside of this beachiness in my heart, mainly because of these sweet ass guitar licks that sound like every boy in every band I ever had a crush on in high school.

6. Veelee - When You Gonna Come Home?

Man, I really wanted to give you guys Blood's Sake, but I bought it on iTunes so I can't share that one. Veelee have been making consistently good minimalist (in the Philip Glass sense) pop/electro. You may remember their year end EP in 2009. Watch out for them. They're based in Carrboro, but I see national tours very soon. Oh yeah, don't be an asshole like me. Buy yr digital copy at their bandcamp.

7. Last Year's Men - Karma

Good on the boys at Churchkey for releasing this song as a free one, as it is easily one of their best. I know what you're thinking; spring reverb, twang-- another surf band? NO. This recording is not what this band sounds like anymore. When they come to your town, go see them, then just hitch yr car to their minivan and enjoy the rest of the tour. They will sweat, bleed and spit on you and you'll love it.

8. Rat Jackson - Summer Hummer

God Bless Rat Jackson. That's all.

9. Tokyo Police Club - Not Sick

I think I might be the only person over 25 who still buys shit that comes out on Saddle Creek. But you know what? I like it. And his voice. And their last record. And this record.

10. Wolf Parade - Ghost Pressure

As unnerving as it is to listen to this David Byrne impression, I like this record. I didn't much care about Mt Zoomer but I think that their break up caused more buzz for the record. And it's cool. Heart the synths, but I am a dance music whore.

11. Yeasayer - Love Me Girl

OMG YEASAYER WROTE AN HONEST TO GOD TRANCE SONG. When I saw them (probably in 2006 or 2007?) I was not a fan and I don't really love the record, but I think this song is great.

12. Four Tet - This Unfolds

Four Tet is one of those things that I never really set out to listen to, but when I stumble across it always seems ever more attractive, and with every listen endears itself to me further. It is clever and self referential (and maybe a little self reverential too) but it totally takes the icky "reading into lyrics" part out of putting on music when someone comes over while still being sexy.

13. LCD Soundsystem - You Wanted a Hit

This whole record is full of songs that have already been written by LCD and appeared on other records. Yeah, they have different names and words, but they're the same. They're still good, just kind of stale. But then there's You Wanted a Hit. Which is different for me somehow. I think it's because it sounds kind of like a Say Hi song.

14. No Age - Fever Dreaming

I really just want to be in this band. There is nothing I dislike about this record. I love that half of it sounds like it was recorded in a studio and half sounds like it was recorded by an iphone in a shitty club with a shittier PA. YOU CAN SLEEP ON MY COUCH, NO AGE.

15. Male Bonding - All Things This Way

Male Bonding are sort of like my poor man's No Age. I like their record a lot too, except the pussy 13th track. WTF Male Bonding?

16. Dinosaur Feathers - Vendela Vida

I have no idea how I came across this song. It just happened. And I just can't deny its ridiculous awesomeness. It reminds me a little bit of what would happen if Franz Ferdinand had a lovebaby with Vampire Weekend.

17. Trophy Wife (UK) - Microlite (acoustic)

Who is Trophy Wife? They're a self declared British DISCO band. And their songs, while dance music, are fucking beautiful, as evidenced by this acoustic guitar based version of their big hit, Microlite.

18. Clive Tanaka y su orchestra - Neu Chicago

This guy is going to be THE next big thing in dance if there is any justice in the world. God, I want to go to a party where he is the DJ. Everything has a fantastically happy feel to it. I can't wait for something to be released NOT ON CASSETTE TAPE.