The Elusive Introvert

There are events that take place in your lifetime that you remember as if it happened only yesterday. You vividly recall where you were and what you were doing and you remember it for the rest of your life. Events like 9/11 - I'll never forget where I was (at work), who I was with (close friends and co-workers) and how I felt - how we all felt as the events unfolded (stunned, shocked, in disbelief). And so it will be the same with regard to the horrible, senseless and tragic massacre that occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. It was a beautiful day; bright and sunny, the air cool and crisp. I stopped at my boyfriend's house on the way to work to pick up his mail since he had been out of town all week and was in fact, returning later that day. I remember hearing a helicopter, looking up at it and thinking to myself, how odd that it was black and flying so low. Mind you, the "event" hadn't happened yet (still over 40 minutes away),

This recipe was demonstrated and served at Chef Renate's home. She is one of the chefs at the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida. Approximately 3 Sundays a month, she and her husband host 10-15 guests to a delightful evening including information on the raw food lifestyle and the various types of equipment used in raw food preparation (juicers, food processors, Vitamix, dehydrators, water ionizers, etc). The night we went, the demo / menu included Mushroom Ceviche as an appetizer and a Garden Herb dressing served atop a bed of organic mixed greens. The entree was Faux Salmon Steak with a Caper-Dill Sauce.  And the desserts included a most delicious and impressive raw food version of Key Lime Pie and decadent Chocolate Truffles. Mushroom Ceviche with Salsa and Avocado Puree Faux Salmon Steak before dehydrating Faux Salmon Steak after dehydrating 4-5 hours Key Lime Pie If you have an opportunity to attend one of her demos, I think

Finally getting around to posting recipes! So, this was a recipe that was demonstrated and served at Hippocrates by Chef Renate. She also held a cooking demo at her home one Sunday where she prepared and served a delicious 4-course meal. I think I posted the "Faux Salmon" that she prepared on Facebook, but I'll re-post it here as well (in a separate post) since I don't really get how the Facebook timeline works - sometimes I have a really difficult time finding my older posts. Anyway, this recipe was a big hit among those of us who tried it at Hippocrates and it was really quite simple to prepare. The main thing is to be sure to factor in time to soak the sunflower seeds. Soaking seeds and nuts helps to remove the enzyme inhibitors, making them easier to digest. It also makes for a softer texture. Always discard the soak water. I made a batch of this on Sunday and my boyfriend enjoyed it although in all honesty, while it did resemble tuna salad and it tasted good,

Hello Blog, I've missed you! I've been wanting to put new posts and recipes on here, but the Capricorn in me wouldn't let me do so until I'd finished writing about my final week at the Hippocrates Health Institute, so all the posts are in consecutive order. There really isn't too much new to add to the last week - most of the lectures and presentations were repeats, so I skipped most of them and just went to my complimentary treatments and tried to take in and enjoy every inch of the institute and its grounds. The one new (to me) lecture was one I wish I'd known about earlier in my stay - Intramuscular Manual Therapy - I think I would have benefited so much more by having the treatment done each week rather than just one treatment the day before I had to leave, but now I know. On October 23, we had our final check-in for our weight and blood pressure and got our final blood draw done. So let's compare the blood pressure and weight over the 3-week span: O

Saturday. Today I only had a 1/2 hour worth of treatments, so I basically had the day to myself. Today I finally reached my goal of walking 9 laps around the one side of the campus.I've been slowing building up the number of laps as I'm feeling stronger and better each day. I'm not sure how many miles that would be but I'm guessing about 5 miles because it normally takes me about 20 minutes to walk a mile and I walked for like an hour and 50 minutes with a stop now and again for water and green juice! Then spent the rest of the day resting, reading and hanging out in nature. Dinner was "light" consisting of a delicious salad mix they prepare with spring mix lettuce, sprouts and avocado all mixed up and you can put it in a huge raw collard green or a sprouted, whole grain flat tortilla-type wrap. I tried both when they had it last week and I preferred the collard green, so that's what I went with this week. And tonight was ice cream night, so that'

Friday. HAHA! The most amazing thing I noticed upon waking this morning is that I actually slept the entire night without being awakened by a hot flash! When I looked at the thermometer, the temperature in the room was 66 degrees!  But still, no matter how cold a room is, if I have a hot flash, I'm still gonna sweat my balls off (yeah, I know, bad habit - listen, I never said I attended charm school). It's been YEARS since I've been able to sleep an entire night without being awakened by a hot flash (or night sweats) so that put me in a better mood than I was when I went to sleep last night - I was so worried and upset about the results of my hormone blood work, increased risk of heart disease and finances. Anyway, I've been having some weird dreams lately. I can't remember most of them, but the one I recall vividly had to do with my job. In my dream, the building where I work was located  right near the ocean (hmmm, if that really would be the case, I might be