Leaf Bruise #1

Aww, it's Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays Day in New Zealand. In fact, this fancy day will be over in 3 hours and three minutes. Guess what?! 2012 is six days away in these lands. I'm in awe again of this concept of yearly, monthly, daily, hourly, minutely, secondly, nanosecondly time we humans have created over the many long years.

I'm in complete awe of hands too. Really, I can sit forever and think about the great complexity of hands and what a single hand is able to do. I'm so grateful to have two.

I'm in complete awe of the universe, too...and how it relates to infinity. Yeah, the concept of infinity is truly fascinating stuff. Our time on planet Earth really is miniscule compared to the very idea of infinity, to me. Makes me really wonder if writing on this here blog on my little piece of human created technology really matters in the whole scheme of the universe. What a strange land we have created on Earth. Sometimes I just don't get it. I really don't. Don't need to, either. It's all G.

Hm. Moving on to something more entertaining for blogland. I got my first leaf bruise ever! Oh my gosh y'all...it was my first ever for real, full dosage endo (spelling?) too - flipping.. more like flyyyyying over the handlebars! I actually thought it was fun. Then I landed. I was in one piece. whew. Then I had to stand up. Adrenaline rushing was flowing through me, so still no pain. But. My super new fancy 6 times worn bike shorts have an even newer hole in them. just one teardrop from my eye. they are only a pair of shorts, afterall. In the whole scheme of life - and the universe, not a big deal. My flatmate has a sewing machine - so just a little fabric surgery.

Both the hands I'm so grateful for still work, too :)

You can see in the pic that the leaf is bigger than my hand.

K, so my advice of the day. Take it a little easier going down a not very well maintained, super rutted trail for the first time. ok? Don't fly full speed ahead via mtn bike if you don't have a freakin' clue what's around the next corner.

That bruise wasn't caused by a leaf, by the way. It resembles one. A purple one.

No two trails are the same. Just like snowflakes.

Speaking of which, they don't exist here this time of year. December months on calendars are decorated with strawberries (no joke) and pohutakawas (a red fluffly looking flower similar to the very lovely ohia in the hawaiian bush - pic at top of this blog entry). They are both red and green. get it?? Just like Christmas colors.

Mele Kalikimaka to all my beautiful family and friends!

Did you know?

Did you know that 2012 is almost here? Yeah, it is. Like, just 2 weeks away...oh-em-gee!

Hm. This weather actually feels like Christmas-time (as in winter in Hawaii). We did have a half-day of glorious SUNSHINE yesterday :) :) :) That gets triple smiles after days of dreary clouds fillled with rain ready to be dumped.

This is a poppy flower (like in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy falls asleep without reason in that red, flower-covered field - maybe she was gluten intolerant?) before it blooms. See the wet stuff on top? That's remnants of rain.

But who wants to hear me complain about the rain? We had some fun Christmas festivities at BJ's house yesterday (where I live). BJ has movie night nearly every Friday and this week was Christmas week. Dinner is beforehand and everyone is meant to bring a dish that ties in with the movie (or whatever they want, really). Sometimes a movie's theme isn't so food friendly. Anyway, last night's theme was Christmas Dinner.

The movie of the night a very musical version of "Scrooge" from the 1970's - wow, talk about special effects! Albert Finney was Ebinezer (Did you know that this is the same guy as the old guy in "Big Fish" and Daddy Warbucks in "Annie"). I didn't know that. But IMDB did.

We had a Secret Santa gift exchange (the kind where you can steal gifts) - I won Christmas themed cookie cutters - yeah! KF and I will have to back gdcsyeb-free cookies on our trip.

GDCSYEB-free stands for Gluten, dairy, corn, soy, yeast, eggs, bell pepper-free - I bet you didn't know that. These are the things that I KNOW 100% for sure give me negative reactions when I ingest them :( :( :( triple sad face for that.

But back to :) :) :) triple happy face (cause happy is more fun than sad)...I made gdcsyeb-free brownies yesterday - did you even know such a thing existed?! I didn't. But now I do.

Recipe is from BJ's cookbook which is also from Healthy Food Guide http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2007/june/chocolate-brownie

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened apple purée/sauce
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 cup self-raising gluten free flour (or self-raising flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup (70g) walnuts, chopped

Mix together and bake at 175*c (347*F) for 25-30 minutes in greased brownie size pans (usually the square ones?)

I had to find a super dark chocolate (as in 85% cacao) cause with anything less there is milk and soy (an emulsifier!). Mmm mm good. The result is above the recipe...doesn't it look super moist, delicious, and super unhealthy? It all the above except super unhealthy - maybe halfway unhealthy. If you need a deceivingly healthy dessert for the holidays - give this a shot!

The photos below are just a few more super-macro love from BJ's garden.

The crapilio weather has prevented me from playing outside much, but we've had fun guests braving the weather (because they are in the middle of their tour and have no choice). I will soon post about our recent Warmshowers guests www.warmshowers.org. Warmshowers is essentially like Couchsurfing.com but speficially for touring cyclists. You can either sign up to be a host or touring cyclist (and change whenever you go home or leave for a tour) and put you status as such on your profile...it's pretty cool...and a great way to meet fellow tourists, who are a fun bunch.

Til next time!

Market Day #1

Wow, I must admit, I get an adrenaline rush selling my things.

Yesterday was market day #1. Technically it was my second market, but last weekend's Soundshell Market and turned out to be a nothing really (for everyone - not just me, thank goodness) because the weather was horrendous. Even though I didn't sell much last weekend, I still dubbed it a success because it got me prepared for what to expect yestarday... the Hot Lakes Craft Market put on by RAVE, the Rotorua Arts Village http://www.rave.org.nz/ . It was a super success in my book and for more ways than just selling a bunch of earrings.

Check out my table! Good young BOB, my trusty bike and the chilled Me were happy and ready to sell! (Mind you, I have a fleece underneath my weatherproof jacket, pants and toe covered shoes - with wool socks...it's the equivalent of June 11th on the Northern Hemisphere...roughly the same latitude as Lexington, VA - why must I be sooo cold?!!)

I played a super fun(?) game with the wind, too. It would so kindly, and unexpectedly knock over my earring hangers (which are dolphin-topped cd holders I picked up for cheap at Salvation Army!). Then I'd hang them all up again as fast as possible and so cleverly guess when it would show it's presence again to knock over my things. Challenging game for sure. Kept me busy.

I met lots of great people, too. The one I'm most excited about is Pa (short for Patatonga). He's one of the main people in charge of the art shop in the RAVE complex. The shop is essentially a co-op. He invited me to sell my things in the shop! YES! I can work in the shop as well and receive a discount on the commision I must give for what sells.

I also met some other artsy people...two local ladies and a Japanese girl who is very drawn to Africa (she teaches African dance in Japan) and makes dreamcatchers. They invited me to share a booth at another market in town.

And one of those ladies says I can very likely work at the same place she is a cook. (I'm not getting my hopes up yet for that but am keeping my fingers crossed - should know by Tuesday). I can also share the same booth space as these ladies at the next Soundshell Market (our fees will be $8 each instead of $30). Perfect.

I also bartered with a lady some earrings for the beautiful, dyed, handmade, grass boquet at the top of this page.

Sell stuff, meet people, barter, get a job...what a productive day at the market! (minus the FREEZING part).

And on a side note, after 6 days of no dairy, my body has FINALLY ridded itself of the problem stuff (I'm convinced it's casein rather that lactose). My clarity is back, sinus pressure -and that awful smell are gone, and I just feel pleasant and light and fresh and happy again (instead of feeling like a 140 pound balloon is stuffed inside my skull blowing ever so slowly yet causing enough pressure that maybe it'll explode at any moment). Dairy, never again. Ever.

Fannie happy!

A Great Mystery...Solved!

(I promise I'll have pretty pictures up again. Soon :)

For years, I've been dealing with this horrid smell in my nose and/or sinuses. It's too gross for me to describe on this here public blog. But it was bad. The smell itself always surfaced when I'd go swimming. I just thought it was H2O up my nose.

Turns out it IS H2O up my nose AND...

Drumrolls, please...

Dairy!

So, I've made this gluten crunch goodness 3x in a week. I've also been pool swimming 4x in the last week = H2O up my nose. This horrid stench has also made a not so pleasant comeback in well over a year.

It all makes sense.

I rarely ever, as in pretty much never, ate dairy this last jaunt in Hawaii. I always used rice or almond milk with my coffee...and before that, when I was eating dairy, I was still clueless about my gluten intolerance that I was really too fatigued to swim anyway. (I was unable to swim for nearly 4 months do to such extreme fatigue halfway out to the flag at 200 meters from shore that I was seriously afraid I would drown - only an incredibly weak breast stroke would get me back to shore completely exhausted).

I just assumed the smell was from gluten...but I've not had gluten since the Milo incident about a month ago. But I pretty much dropped dairy before I dropped gluten. And have only consumed relatively large quantities of it in this ginger crunch.

In the last 24 hours without dairy, the smell and sinus pressure is slowly going away. This discovery, to rid mynose of this smell FOREVER, is enough for me to never, ever, ever want to consume anything dairy again.

So while it's been an unpleasant week smell-wise, I'm grateful for the experience because now I know. For sure.

Gluten Free = Happy Me!

Mmmmmm-so-yummy! Try this: Gluten Free Ginger Crunch. This tasty dessert can easily be made vegan as well by substituting the butter with any vege oil blended spread (like Earth Balance or Smart Balance - or your fave). I would do this but have yet to find a butter alternative that lacks soy. I have far more issues with soy than dairy. Bonaynay knows. If you know of a lovely buttery goodness alternative lacking soy, let me know. Dairy just gives me flatulance.

Lucky you. :)

OK now, moving on to something more appetizing. Ginger Crunch. From my observations, this is a New Zealand thing. I only say this because I've not tasted it anywhere else. It's really good. I've included the conversions from NZ measurings to USA's preferances - as you will notice, some of the conversions are weird numbers - just round up or down. You'll figure it out. I believe in you! So here's the recipe! Enjoy!

Gluten Free Ginger Crunch

Ingredients

Base
125g butter, softened (.55 cup)
1/2 cup White Sugar
1 1/2 cups Healthries Simple wheat & gluten free Baking mix (or any blend of gluten free flour that you enjoy or is available to you).
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
1-2 teaspoon ground ginger

Ginger Icing
75g butter (.33 cup)
1 cup Icing Sugar (confectioner/powdered sugar)
2 tablespoons Golden Syrup (Corn Syrup will do... or an alternative if you know one for those against corn sugar stuff)
3 teaspoons ground ginger

Method/Directions

Base

1) Preheat oven to 190*C (375 *F)
2) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (with an egg beater sort of blender)
3) Sift flour, baking powder and ginger together.
4) Mix into creamed mixture. Press dough into a greased 20 x 30 cm baking pan (~ 8x12 inch, or a 10x10 inch pan would do)
5) Bake for 20 – 25 minutes.
6) Pour ginger icing over base while hot and cut into squares before it gets cold.

Ginger Icing
In a small saucepan combine butter, icing sugar (powdered sugar), golden syrup (corn syrup) and ginger. Heat until butter is melted, stirring constantly.

Ok just an fyi - the ginger icing is super sweet. I'm not sure if it's really that sweet or if my tastebuds that taste the the sugary sweet treats are ultra sensitive since my cane sugar intake levels have drastically declined in the last year (not necessarily by willpower but rather a pained gut). Long story short, I made this yesterday (third time in the past week) but this time I drizzled half the amount of icing on top and it's just the right amount (for me).

Sometimes I think I add too many (paranthesis).

Moving on. See that tab at the top right corner of this here blog, labeled "home"? For those who are interested in a gluten intolerance experience (mine), that tab will soon be labeled "Gluten Free Me" - or something along those lines. I found out just over a year ago that my seemingly random and sporadic symptoms - many of which I had no idea were even symptoms but rather "that's just the way I am" sort of thing - were actually all caused by a single microscopic protein composite found in wheat and other grassy grains...aka the big G, aka gluten.

A small sampling of my random and sporadic symptoms: extreme fatigue, "brain fog," excersize induced asthma, bloating (water retention), insomnia, concentration difficulty (ADD style), increased anxiety, Reynauld's Syndrome (discoloration/numbness in toes due to poor circulation in cold places), tingly fingers, the big D up to 5x a day, loss of appetite, loss of balance, inability to feel thirst...there's WAAAAY more.

And to clarify, not all these happened at once...it was such a gradual process that my 'normal' had slowly changed so much that I forgot what it was to feel well, healthy and just plain good...my normal was to feel like crap. ok, I can go on and on and on about this, so I will leave it for that tab at the top right corner and if you have interest to learn more about gluten intolerance, please come back and check it out. My quality of life has been improved so drastically and all the above symptoms that I had attributed to stress, being busy, etc. have completely disappeared as long as I don't ingest gluten. nuts, huh?

My biggest piece of advice, listen to your body...heartburn, inexplicable fatigue, IBS, anxiety, constant sinus problems, etc - these are all ways out bodies are trying to communicate that were eating something it doesn't break down and digest very well. Maybe it's gluten...or soy...or strawberries...or rice...or peas...or dairy. Could be anything really. That's the pain in the butt part - trying to figure out what it is...but if medications or other treatments don't seem to be working - try and see if you can pinpoint the food. I no longer eat gluten, of course, but I've discovered other food issues and pretty much stay away from soy, bell pepper, dairy (except when I make/eat ginger crunch), yeast, quinoa, and eggs because they cause a range of not so great symptoms as well.

Yeah, for sure eliminating these foods seems like such an inconvenience but, for me, the inconvenience outweighs the extreme positive changes in my life. It's up to you to decided what quality of life means to you because it is different for everyone, that's for sure. Definitely one of those subjective/arbitrary/matter of opinion concepts :)

Here's to happy guts!

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? ...what?

I'd say not too much has been going on in the last several days, but really, how can not too much be going on when your just into your first month of living in a new country?

Everyday is a new one, right. Lots to learn. I had been so focused on employment that I forgot to enjoy life for a moment. I can certainly do both. So, my focus right now is to get ready for these craft markets that I have signed up for and hope those go well and that one of the many places I've given a resume to will get back to me soon. And in the mean time, I will drop on an application a day. If nothing reasonable comes up in the next 10 days, then I will go pick fruit somewhere. which is A-ok. I am hopeful, though.

I've been swimming three times this week - that's right, 3x. It's been so glorious to be in H20 again. Practice with the local tri club is at an early 6am, in a large 50 meter outside pool and it's winter weather right now - Hawaii style. Meaning I'm FREEZING with the temperature reading 20 degrees C = ~70 degrees F. Pool is heated :) Oh my gosh, it was so WEIRD swimming WITH people in a pool. And having some level of instruction...in kiwi english. Just the presence of others improved my swimming right away, I think. Then we had to do these sets of 100 meters all out. The last time I swam with my heartrate so high and jell-o-esque arms was probably in high school swim practice. But really, I didn't know what I was doing back then. And I still don't.

These practice and this pool are totally taking me back to my childhood swimming with the Maple Ridge neighborhood summer swim league...I think mostly because I froze my butt off in the early mornings as well. I remember one relay race, I was supposed to swim breast stroke and I dove into the pool and swam freestyle all out. Bursted into tears when we were done cause the team got disqualified, of course. Oops.

I went mountian biking in my backyard Whakarewarewa Forest with Byrdie and three of her friends (all guys and really good - and Byrdie is super good, too). It was soo great. I think I improved 152%. These tracks, aka trails, are so long and varied and fun and it's like everything I've learned can be applied more effieciently to these longer courses. Everything is just clicking so nicely. Again, like the swimming, being in the presence of other people - especially people who have no idea of my skill level, really brings my skill level to another level - maybe a subconscious desire to not keep people waiting...(?)

Byrdie got new curtains put in and the installer gave her all the extra fabric. In less than 24 hrs, she made 8 matching seat cusions, and two tablecloths. Inspiring. Byrdie's house is like an inspiration box - as is her way of living. worthy of it's own post. soon soon.

It's funny all the inspiration around me. I love all these childhood memories and feelings as well that are coming back to me that had seemed to be gone and lost forever. I forgot how much I was in awe of the concept of volcanos and would watch them on the news with pure interest and joy. Now, I'm surrounded my underground thermal energy.

It's like magic having a childhood joy being reawakened.

I was making an earring yesterday, haha, and my strangest memory yet - I got a flashback to that guy and Roger Rabbit sitting in the movie theatre hiding from the bad guys...remember?? yeah, that was weird. I just checked - that movie came out in 1988...oooh my that was a looong time ago.

ok, a yummy GF dessert recipe coming soon! best if you like ginger :) can be made un-gf too for those it doesn't bother.