RawFu Challenge - Day 78

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

I’ve lost count of which day we’re on, but counting back from Nov 18, which is the end of the challenge, that would make today day 87… I think. Anyway, the raw food adventure continues.

This past weekend, Joe had an early morning hockey game in Reston, Virginia, so we stayed overnight down there as a little weekend getaway. Of course, I took the opportunity to visit a few Whole Foods Market stores in the vicinity during our travels. This pretty much blew the budget for the weekend, but it was fun!

Since we were going to be down there, anyway, we decided to check out a local raw foods MeetUp group that was having their potluck on Sunday after Joe’s game. We’ve wanted to go to several of their events, but scheduling and babysitting are always factors, and we’ve never worked it out. So, I made a batch of my pumpkin seed cheese to bring along. It was really nice meeting everyone and there were even some kids there, so Flo and Joe enjoyed themselves, too. After the potluck, they had a panel discussion, led by several long-term raw foodies. It was interesting hearing their experiences, as well as, just talking to other group members. I hope we can make an occasional event down there.

In the past couple weeks, I decided to start a raw food MeetUp group out our way, in hopes of just getting together once and awhile with others in our area who enjoy preparing… and eating… raw food. I don’t expect the turnout to be high initially, but it’s more of a fun thing for me. Attending the potluck in Virginia this weekend gave me some good ideas for meetings, and I got some tips on attracting new members. So, I’m curious to see how it goes.

We made our first batch of kombucha in the past ten days or so. We just bottled it tonight, and have to wait another five or six days before it’s done. Assuming all goes well, it’s definitely much more affordable than buying the individual bottles for almost $4 each!

Darren is doing well. He has kind of hit a plateau with his weight loss, and wants to start some sort of regular exercise routine, but hasn’t really been able to prioritize that yet, with work and helping tote the kids around to activities. I have a hard time getting my 30 minutes of walking in everyday, so I certainly know the challenges of adding just one more thing to the to-do list.

As the winter weather approaches, it’s natural to crave warmth, and Darren has mentioned craving warm foods, especially soups. So, we’re going to work on finding a few more recipes that we can “warm” up in the VitaMix or the dehydrator. We’ve also been indulging in some nice organic herbal teas, which is pleasant on a cold day. I haven’t made a conscious decision to give up my daily scoop of organic decaf instant coffee, but I find that more often than not, the day goes by, and I haven’t really wanted it. I have lots of other things that I enjoy.

My favorite dessert of the week has been something really simple. I mix a little bowl of hemp seeds, vanilla powder and a pinch of Himalayan salt and chop a banana and mix it up with the hemp seeds. Sometimes I will add a little cacao powder to the mix, for that chocolate banana combo. And, occasionally I will chop up a date to add to it, or just dip a date in the hemp seeds. Yum.

We also ordered a fancy juicer (Green Star Elite), which should be here this week with our order of goodies from NaturalZing. We’ve managed to rally together a small wholesale buying club to place fairly regular orders. I have a long wish list I’m working my way down. Flo’s favorite is a raw chocolate bar she calls the raw KitKat, and I have numerous things coming like raw cacao powder, Ulimana raw chocolate truffles, coconut butter, hemp seed, kelp noodles, vanilla powder and Himalayan pink crystal salt. Fun stuff!

Flo appears to have come down with the flu today, so I’m hoping it’s short-lived and she’s feeling better tomorrow. It’s hard seeing your kids not feeling well. And, I’m hoping it doesn’t make the rounds this week, because my in-laws are coming to visit at the end of the week for five or six days, and it would stink if we were all sick! So, I’m off to get an adequate amount of rest to help ward off the germies!