It's been a funny sort of day, neither bad, nor exceptional, just funny.
The type wherein one experiences more emotions in a single afternoon than the day holds hours.

I've taken numerous personality tests (simply because I find them fun and have a friend, ehem, who once put together a whole spreadsheet of our companions and their various traits according to Myers and Briggs) and every time I come up smack in the middle.  I am both strongly introverted and strongly extroverted, 49% to 51% dependent upon the whim of a given day's mood.  I adore the city, the lights, the energy, the people, but I thrive in the solitary wild with the blackest night and the scream of owls.  I can't imagine a world without lonely expanses of forest, but I also bemoan a week without an excuse to wear heels and don vintage rabbit fur.  I want to walk around the house in my lady-wear with only the robins viewing the scandal, but as soon as I pull on boots, walk right up the street to a bustling coffee bar which boasts vegan pastries and chic baristas with full tatted sleeves.

Basically I want the best of both worlds.

This presents a bit of a conundrum.  The problem, or perhaps the blessing, is that I've experienced both and you know what?  I love them both.

A few weeks ago, a very, very wise woman told me "put down your roots in a place that makes your soul sing" and since then, I've repeated those words like a holy mantra.  Like a line of ink in skin.
Soul, I'm listening.  I promise to try and be quiet, to get out of the way of your clear work.

And in the meantime, while you sing and murmur and whisper and hum,
I'm going to polish off this gin and grapefruit.

Here's to our Fridays.
Wherever we may be in heart, in head, in body.
I raise my glass to you, friends!
~ Umber ~

The Natives: American Robin
6" x 6"
Watercolor on Arches Cotton Rag

(A continuation of "The Natives" series, original painting in the shop now) 

Truly it's a wonder I get anything done at all, what with the wildlife entertainment here!

In the last month, since beginning this food sensitivity exploration diet, I've had a number of bloggy friends write with questions about what I am eating.  When I gave out the initial list of what I was not eating at first - gluten, dairy, sugar, eggs, meat, nightshade plants, corn, soy, tree nuts, citrus, and a few others - the remaining list of acceptable foods seemed dismal.  I've since added loads of foods back into my diet, but THIS is the meal that got me through.

More than got me through, it's been so good that BC and I make a huge pot nearly every week, tweeked to whatever happens to be in the fridge, and eat it for days.

You ready?

~ Buddha Bowl ~
The basic formula is this: start with a cooked grain, add a bean, add a raw veggie, add a cooked veggie, top with avocado.  It is endlessly adjustable, so feel free to experiment, but this is one of our favorites.  I know it seems like a lot of ingredients and plenty of steps, but you just put on some great music, start with the longest cooking time (the beans) and prep from there.

You will need:
1 1/2 Cups Adzuki Beans (pre-soaked, OR just switch 'em up for canned black beans, liquid reserved)
2 Large Yams
1 1/2 Cups Brown Rice
Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion
3-4 Cloves Garlic
6-9 Collard Green Leaves
2 Large Carrots
1/2 Cup Cilantro
Avocados (I like 1/2 an avocado per serving)
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Paprika (smoked if you have it)
Salt to taste

How To:
1.  If you are using adzuki beans (or any other dried, pre-soaked bean), cook until just tender.  The basic formula I use is 1 cup soaked beans to 3 cups water in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, cover but leave the lid just barely cracked open, and simmer on low for one hour.  If you are using canned beans, skip this step.
2.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Cube yams, toss in olive oil (just enough to give a light coating), set to roast for 40 minutes (tossing once).
3.  Cook brown rice according to directions.
4.  Dice onions and garlic.  Wash and chop collard greens into bite size pieces.  Grate raw carrots.  Roughly chop cilantro.  I prep all these things while the beans, yams and rice cook.
5.  Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into a large saucepan over medium heat, add onion and garlic and sautée until translucent.  Add cumin, chili powder, paprika, then add beans plus 2 cups of the liquid they cooked in (If you are using canned beans, just pour the whole business in).  Cover and set to simmer for 10 minutes.
6.  Blanch collard greens.  If you're like me, this means bringing a cup of water to boil, tossing in the greens, and letting them boil until bright and tender, then pouring off the excess water.
7.  Now take the largest bowl you own, add in ALL the above and mix well.  Taste, add salt as needed.  Serve in large bowls with half an avocado, diced, on top.

YUMMERS!
Plus it's gluten-free, vegan, low-fat, high-fiber, but you don't have to tell your family all that!
Eat.
It.
Up!

... but aren't we all?
* * *
I'm off to good old Lodi for a spontaneous visit with the family, see you next week!
~ Umber ~

I love the rare luxury of starting the morning slow.

A few notes (because I've been on a serious bullet point kick):
*
Since beginning this food elimination diet at the first of the year, I've eaten some version of a fruit bowl for breakfast nearly every morning.  Today's bounty included pears, bananas, blueberries, tangerines, avocado, cacao nibs, hemp seeds and toasted pine nuts.  It's delish!
*
BC just recently returned from a trip up to Seattle wherein that good, good man brought me no less than fourty dollars in the best coffee money can buy.   In this family we call that a "zoo-zoo" - a thing brought back from some other locale as a gift.  Different than a souvenir, a zoo-zoo doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the place, but everything to do with what the giftee loves.  Also, it wasn't until I was in my late teens that I learned "zoo-zoo" was not part of standard american language but just a familial term.  I spent high school using the term, assuming that people who did not know it's meaning were simply not well-read.
Oops.
(sorry high school friends)
*
My hand really is that veiny!  While in the thick of chemo, I had multiple nurses tell me with admiration that I had "garden hoses" for veins.  When I was younger I disliked my hands intensely, crumpling them up under folded arms and pulling sweaters well past the knuckles, like so many tall girls hiding their gangly limbs.  But somewhere along the lines, something shifted and one day I saw them as strong.  Capable.  Worn.  So much more interesting than the smooth and waxy hands of youth, graceful and beat-up like a well used piece of victorian furniture.
*

Well I do hope your morning has been full of birdsong and biscuits, or at least a strong cup of joe!
~ Umber ~

"Is that what you think?  Haha!  I'm a lover not a fighter!"
- Michael Jackson

(thank you MJ!)

(one)
Did you know I'm crazy for color?
We're talking knock down, mad hatter, singing in the rain crazy for it.  I think that's why I've needed a crisp white home and studio - someplace to de-stimulate while I splash chroma about.
One might call me a chromaphilliac conquistador - an explorer sent into global territories to conquer and collect color.  Ah HA!  

(two)
I had a dream last night wherein I wore some sort of french maid outfit and poured champagne for an extraordinarily wealthy couple who had several of my paintings on their walls.
No idea.
But I'm pretty sure I looked good, so at least there was that.


(three)
I snapped this photo of my little girl last week - my little girl who is getting her big girl face on so fast.  Right now she's passed out on her bed making dreaming barking noises that sound like a manatee burping.  All underwater, bubbly and warbling.
But what I'm really thinking about is how proud of her I am.  I blame it on our horrid neighbor dogs, but she's had some fear issues to overcome with new dogs.  We've been working so hard, training so intensely, and today, for the first time at the dog park, Freyja had FUN.  Like playing, rolling, chasing other dogs, open mouth grin, sparkles in her eyes, fun.  I can't tell you how huge my heart felt watching her romp.


(four)
It is with hesitating key-smacks that I tell you I've discovered dairy is one of my food sensitivity culprits.  I'm not terribly sensitive, but I would give up a pinky toe for the ability to eat as much cheese as I desire.
This is probably not true, but I feel a bit melodramatic about the whole thing.  The good news is that wheat is A-OK so I'll be back to my loaf baking in no time at all.  Kick out the jams!

(five)
Last year was a terribly slow year as far as books consumed; I read more shorts and essays and how-to's than anything else.  This year my goals include more fiction and thusly, I may start a new book tonight.  "Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver.  Have you read it?  What did you think?

(six)
I'm off to pull together dinner, put some Michael Jackson on the speakers and shake it all over this kitchen.
Shamone Baby!

~ Umber ~