� How To Make Rice Milk And Stop Supporting Rice Dream | Vegan Reader: Thoughtful Reading For A Compassionate Planet

� How To Make Rice Milk And Stop Supporting Rice Dream | Vegan Reader: Thoughtful Reading For A Compassionate Planet: "business in the 21st century – big enough for H"

formspring.me: "What's your favorite type of flower?"

What's your favorite type of flower?

Of all the flowers I love, I would say my favorite is the Johnny Jump-up flower ( http://bit.ly/jump-ups ). The reason for Johnny Jump-ups being my favorite is mainly because of the childhood memories evoked almost every time I look at one of those tiny flowers. It was the first flower I remember and imprinted in my mind as a little child. Whenever I would go to my grandparents' house in Glendale, Arizona, I would catch glimpses of those bright, tiny flowers peeking from small clumps in their front yard. My grandfather was especially proud of what he planted around his home, on the yard, and in the gardens. I recall my first experience tasting and eating a fresh fig picked from one of the trees my grandfather planted. He also planted peach and citrus trees. I remember going outside to play on the swing set with my siblings and cousins near the boysenberry patch and the wall of growing grapevines. We would sneak and pick some berries or grapes to snack on. Whenever there is a large crop of fruit harvested, my grandmother would welcome other family members to join in to help pit, peel and prepare the fruits for canning and making jam or jelly. Store-bought products doesn't even compare to my grandmother's goods! Through her example and my mother's guidance, I learned how to can my own set of jam. I remember how good it tasted and how proud I was! My grandmother always made sure her grandchildren understood the importance of learning new things, developing new and nurture old hobbies. When I got older, I remember my grandparents needing help pick the grapefruits off their trees. Boy, those were so delicious, juicy and huge, bigger than the average baby's head! I also remember my grandmother working hard on her quilts in her sewing room. That's where I was drawn to learn to quilt. When my mother started quilting more often, my brothers, sisters and I all made at least one quilt of our own. Almost throughout the year, there's always a few clumps of Johnny Jump-ups growing somewhere in my grandparents' yard or garden like constant reminders. I had great memories from watching my grandparents grow many things from their home. I learned it is important to know how to do gardening and make my own food so I will always have something to eat or share with my family or friends. So, whenever I see a Johnny Jump-up flower pop up, it seems to tell me,

"Hi! Did you remember to do what you learned from your grandparents?"

Ask me anything

Recipe to try: Chinese Pickled Garlic Recipe

Well, during one of my cherished visits to John & Cesar, John first introduced me to his batch of homemade pickled garlic. I immediately fell in love with it! I couldn't stop popping them in like candy. SO delicious!! I knew I gotta try making my own, first, do a plain batch, and then experiment with different pickling flavorings in future batches of pickled garlic. Of course, I used Google to search for a raw recipe and found one on CookEatShare.com. During my searches for the pickled garlic recipe, I also found a recipe for Rosemary Vinegar. I think I am going to try making a batch of pickled rosemary garlic after I study the vinegar blend. I also stumbled on a list of flavored vinegar recipes here from CDKitchen.com.

Anyway, back to the basics, I am going to start with this Chinese pickled garlic recipe below and let you all know how it turns out!



Please feel free to add in the comments any suggestions or recipes of your version of flavored vinegars or pickled garlic. I am trying to aim for raw recipes than cooked! Yum!

Blah Blogger!!

Sucks to learn Blogger & Google decided to pull the plug on FTP support! Now I don't want to bother with Blogger anymore. I'll leave my old posts here for archival purposes.

an interesting sign

I clicked on someone's tweeted horoscope to check what's mine for today. And it reads:

Friday, November 13, 2009 Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22)

Don't worry about anyone who tells you that you should be more decisive about your feelings now. One of your greatest strengths is your ability to understand both sides of an issue, especially these days when so many people are stuck in their negative perceptions. In the long run, your friends will appreciate how you can quickly spot the potential that someone else might pass by without ever noticing. - Tarot.com

Well.. That's pretty spot on considering what's going on with me here in Phoenix! :)

"But it smells like GRASS!" Smoothie

This recipe is really good and I drink it at least once a day. Most of my non-vegan/vegetarian friends fear this drink, though. That's where the smoothie recipe derives its name, "But it smells like GRASS!" If it is really GREEN, then you know it is GOOD for you!

Green is good!

Enjoy!

Philip

servings: 2 to 4 glasses

ingredients:
1 to 2 oz fresh ginger root, peeled and diced
2 bananas, peeled (duh! ;) )
1 gala apple, cored and unpeeled
1 pear, cored and unpeeled
1 navel orange, peeled
2 handfuls lacinato kale, stems removed
2 handfuls baby spinach (if no kale is found, use more spinach)
1 or 2 cups orange juice or raw kombucha tea (you can choose)
raw honey (optional, for taste)

preparation:
If possible, please find organic ingredients. Aside from raw honey, all the ingredients should be chilled. Wash and prepare the fruits, leaves and root.

In a blender, drop in diced ginger root, 2 bananas, apple, pear, and orange. Start the blender. Add 1 cup orange juice or kombucha tea. Make sure the mixture is "going" and not stuck. Stop the blender and put in spinach and kale leaves. Pulse until the mixture starts to flow and let the blender run for a minute or 2. The smoothie should be thick. If it is too thick, blend in more orange juice or kombucha tea. Do a taste test. If it needs to be sweetened, add and blend in raw honey to taste. Chill if needed.

Sometimes I am unable to find lacinato kale, so I use more baby spinach if needed. If the blender is not full enough, add more spinach/kale leaves and orange juice or kombucha tea.

my little amazon store

I realized I enjoyed making a store, powered by Amazon.com, mainly for personal use. Almost every time I buy a book or an electronic device online, I would search and find the same or similar product on Amazon. Then, I would save the product link into my Amazon store. It is almost as if I was bookmarking things I have or wish to buy. By creating and setting up my Amazon store, I was able to share with others where I got my stuff. Really, I don't make money off of this store. It would be nice if it did. Not only Amazon offers a customized store for you, you could also add links of widgets to your blogs about relating topics or hobbies. I think it is great to take advantage of the store building feature on Amazon.com, and use it like a bookmarking service for your purchased products. If you want to try one out, you can give it a spin here!