Several people have asked me for the recipe of my chocolate smoothie and the nutrition of it. I was unsure of the nutrition because I’ve made several changes to it recently. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than the previous version. The new smoothie include less avocado, more hemp, less Vega and I also added some mango. According to Nutridiary, it’s about the same as before (685 calories now vs 660 before, 36g vs 39g fat and 79g vs 63g carbs). I updated it and the recipe and nutrition is below. It still tastes just as good, if not better and it might cause you to have your best day ever!
Ingredients
1 ripe pear
handful of frozen strawberries
handful of frozen mango
handful of soaked almonds
1/2 frozen banana
1/6 avocado
3 raw cacao beans (grind in coffee grinder before)
Blend fruit, almonds and avocado with water until a smooth consistency. Add water as needed or to desired consistency.
Gradually add cacao powder, ground cacao beans and protein powder. For a more chocolately flavour, add some raw cacao powder.
After adding water, it’s about 1.5 litres of smoothie! I usually have it all for breakfast, but most people can only drink half because it’s pretty filling. But it’s all good.
Me in my vintage ski jacket (circa 1986) on Blackcomb Mountain
It took a little over five months, but I reached the goal that I set out to achieve in November – to ski 100 days in a season. Previously, the most that I have ever skied in a season is about 30 days. Doing 100 was a personal challenge. First I needed the time, second I needed my health and third, I needed snow.
Time wasn’t an issue – I put most of my other pursuits on hold – I’ve got thousands (literally) of photos that I haven’t gone through; I’ve been delinquent in returning emails to my friends and family because all I’ve been doing is eating, sleeping and skiing. Luckily for me, my friends are understanding and patient.
Health wasn’t too much of an issue. Since moving here, I’ve cut down on my consumption of alcohol, eat better and get more sleep. In the city, I tended to stay up way too late and I wasn’t the fittest sitting behind a desk most of the time. When in Whistler, I get up on the mountain daily. I’m not sure what drives me, but I think it’s a combination of the fresh air, sport and the spectacular view. Even today, I mentioned to a friend that I still am in awe of the view from the mountains.
Weather was probably the biggest challenge. This is something that nobody had any control over. December was quite dismal. It was cold and there wasn’t much snow – Vancouver received more snow than Whistler in December. The season started slowly and it wasn’t really winter until late February. It all came together in March and it’s been pretty steady since. However, I think the season will end on the Victoria Day weekend when Blackcomb Mountain closes. Whistler Mountain is set to open, but I’m not sure how the can as the snowpack is less than prior years and there seems to be a general disinterest for skiing this spring.
If this is true, there is 12 days of skiing left in the season. My friends will be glad that I won’t be constantly talking about skiing any longer. However, if Whistler reopens, then this will be continued.
Stats:
First day of skiing: December 3, 2008
100th day of skiing: May 5, 2009
Days on Whistler Mountain: 19
Days on Blackcomb Mountain: 67
Days on both mountains: 12
Days at Revelstoke: 2
On this day when the greeting card, florists and confectionery companies (and society in general) tell us we should be together and happy – many of us are probably alone. However, when my friends tell me they are lonely – I usually tell them to go outside – there are six billion people out there. However, the video (above) showed me that I’m wrong – we don’t need to go outside because we are never alone.
Even though I live more than 3000 km from where I did three months ago; I still phone, text, email, skype, facebook, blog, twitter, yelp, IM or [insert your technology of choice] with my friends from my former hometown more than daily. It’s like I never left.
When I’m skiing, (I do this almost daily) I meet and speak to someone new on an hourly basis. They are a captive audience for about 10 to 20 minutes when we ride the gondola, chairlift or t-bar. People in ski resorts are generally very happy and glad to be there (regardless of the weather) and most are glad to talk. Sometimes I’m their captive audience. Occasionally, we end up skiing a run or two and even end up at the pub for après.
Personal interaction is so much better than any technology could try to emulate. I’m not sure what these technologies are achieving; but it make me yearn to be alone.
Instead of going outside to avoid being loney – maybe we need to go outside to be together.
I always like to try new things. Tonight it was some natto. I actually have had it in my freezer for several months, but I finally made the time to try it.
The first thing that I noticed when I unpacked it from its single portion container was the gooey stuff on the beans that resembled cheese. When I dug the fork into the natto – the gooey stuff was very stringy – like cheese. It actually was fun to eat. I didn’t eat it with anything. Apparently, it’s eaten with rice, soy sauce, mustard or even a raw quail egg.
Afterward, I discovered that it is high in nutrients and vitamins. It’s also supposed to have a strong smell. However, I didn’t notice the smell – because I like most fermented foods or perhaps I was eating it too fast. It was gooey but good!
Someone posted a request on the vegan couchsurfing forum for a vegan mango lassi recipe. I’ve never made one because I don’t like diary nor do I like mango lassi – well, the only one I had was in little India in the east end of Toronto about 10 years ago and I hated it.
On my way home tonight, I picked up a mango; the rest of the ingredients, almonds (already soaking), avocado and cardamon I already had at home. I threw it all into my blender and the result was very tasty. It was thicker than I remember and definitely more palatable than I remember too. A nice little experiment. I wonder if she has any more drink ideas?
I wrote about how some don’t have enough food in the last post; I sometimes can’t get enough. However, the guacamole exquisito at Sneaky Dee’s is always green, always good and always more than enough – but I always finish it. Now I need a nap.
Images of some food that I’ve had recently. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
When one of the passages in the beginning of the book reads, “Although I have no idea how I shall usefully fill the remainder of my life…”; one knows this is going to be a depressing book. It is about two people that were seemingly well suited for each other – possibly in love – and were subsequently separated for a long period of time. When circumstances change, they correspond and arrange to meet after their long absence. They have an opportunity to continue their relationship at a later point in their lives.
I saw the film, of the same title, several years ago because it features one of my favorite actors, Emma Thompson. Plus I like period pieces which Emma Thompson does well in. However, this isn’t really a period piece because it’s set in a time before world war II and afterwards.
When I saw this book at a Bookcrossing event I had to read it. After reading it, I have to say that both the book and film are equally great. Sometimes the story does not translate, but both are complementary to each other. I will watch the film again in the near future.
When I was reading it and even knowing the ending I was still a bit affected by this book. It may have put me in a bit of a state. I’ll have to read something lighthearted or funny next.
“Less meat, less junk, more plants. Eat food, eat real food.” – Mark Bittman, during his talk,What’s wrong with what we eat. Mark Bittman is the New York Times food columnist of The Minimalist.
I learned the other day that Oprah and several staffers are going on a vegan diet for 21 days – actually on her website, she’s going on a ’21-day cleanse’. I think if she wrote she was going vegan, the advertisers might not be so happy. They started last week, but I only heard about it recently through Vegan.com because Erik Markus is recording a daily podcast in conjunction / support of Oprah going vegan for 21 days.
I’ve not really figured out why she’s doing it though – hopefully it is for the right reasons. After a quick search, I found that Us magazine says she wants to lose weight – which will happen; however, I think it may be because of a book, Quantum Wellness. The author promotes an expression, conscious eating, which has eight pillars. Seven of them seem a bit fluffy – something about doing something for themselves – enough for me not to remember them; but one of them is about the environment and animals.
Regardless, I’m glad that Oprah is going vegan for 21 days, as it will get this into the mainstream. I hope that she realises the benefits to her health, the planet and animals. I’m most worried that people will only think that she can do it because she has a personal chef and millions of people watching her. I’ll be most interested to see what happens after the 21 days is up – maybe she will realise the benefits and keep going – one can only hope – I know all of the vegetarians all pulling for her!
I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to have Erik Marcus blog about one of my food photos of vegetable rolls on his website Vegan.com. Erik is an author and advocate of vegetarianism and animal rights. I read his first book, Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, when I first went vegetarian. In Vegan, he writes about the three pillars of vegetarianism, health, animal welfare and the environment and the importance of each and how inter-related they are. This was a good foundation and reinforced my decision to become vegetarian and remain vegetarian.
The foreword in the book was by Howard Lyman, a former cattle rancher turned vegetarian. Most know Howard as the person that appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show and caused her to renounce beef. In the book, Howard also wrote about pesticides and chemicals in farming that caused him to become paralyzed (he eventually recovered). This caused me to read another book, Silent Spring that investigated pesticides and the effect on health, life and the environment of plants, animals and the planet.
Years later, when I became interested in animal advocacy, I read Erik’s second book, Meat Market: Animals, Ethics and Money. He wrote about the animal agriculture industry and the negative treatment of animals in factory farms as well as the peripheral industries such as slaughterhouses. He wrote that all people have compassion for animals and that education about their condition was the key to the reduction of consumption of animal products and the dismantling of the factory farms.
For me, any one of the reasons on their own are compelling enough for an individual to become vegetarian, however, when one thinks of the combination of all three, it is staggering to me why someone continues to consume animal products. By doing so, they advocate the harsh treatment of animals in factory farms, the overuse of resources to feed animals destined for slaughter and the negative effects animal products have on their health. When one goes vegetarian, everybody wins.
Advertising, Contents of My Fridge - Quote, Environment, Food, Photography, Raw Food, Recipe, Vegetarian | Garry June 2, 2009 | 
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