Raw Vegan for 7 Days

A friend and I are starting a 7-day raw vegan challenge today. This comes at the tail end of an honest look at our recent eating habits. We’ve both been gaining some weight and experiencing the inevitable lower energy and morale levels that come with extra pounds. The onset of winter hasn’t helped matters, so we’re looking first to de-stress our systems for a week, then go forward with better eating habits.

Keeping it raw can be a challenge. Today’s food includes homemade hummus with fresh parsley from the garden (a few frosts haven’t hurt it much), some of our home grown garlic, bean salad (red kidney beans, carrots, celery, cucumber, and onion), bananas (bananas make me happy), red grapes, and raw veggies for snacks. My one cheat is hot tea. There’s just no being happy without hot tea.

I love warming soups in cold weather; in fact, I like warming food every day when it gets cold outside. So the next 7 days are going to be a tad difficult. But I’m looking forward to feeling like my old self again. The holidays are rough on a body.

On a different note, I bought a super cute tie-dye hoodie this weekend from one of my fav shops, AnimalRightsStuff (http://www.animalrightstuff.com/). Vegan, compassionate fashion. So if you’re looking for me, I’ll be by the front door, waiting for it to arrive.

The hippeastrum bulbs are sprouting up everywhere around the house. Paperwhites are finally fading. The yucca tree, with the help of some coffee grounds, is getting insanely big. I’m sprouting avocado pits again (never stop trying), and there’s a pot of fresh basil that I started from seed, keeping warm and getting glossy and sweet in a sunny window.

I’ve heard over and over again this past year about a yoga studio in Paris that I now hope to visit in 2016. Who would travel to Paris for yoga? I would. ‘Yoga Village’ is located near beautiful Montmartre, and was written up in the New York Times this past weekend (I’m a longtime subscriber to the NYT), and that article cinched it. I need to be in this haven of Zen.

My brother John and I spent a spring in Paris several years ago. It was perfect timing; everything was in bloom. The city was coming back to life after a long winter. We threw our arms around Paris and fell completely in love with it.

New York City is my hometown and favorite place in the universe. I’ve been across this amazing earth, from Hong Kong and Korea to Scotland, all the British isles, Ireland and Australia, and across the U.S. and Canada. But without a doubt, after NYC, Paris is the best city in the world. Hectic Hong Kong comes in third, although the pilgrimage to Lantau Island to see the world’s largest Buddhist shrine was magical.

I’ve really been blessed.

So hit me up if you’re interested in being in Paris in 2016. It’s all good. I’m Namaste-ing all day long.

ཞི་བདེ

Peace on Earth