happy labor day

What up peeps.. up early moms in town and I took her to Eastern Market. Besides being addicted to yellow peaches I wanted her stamp on the produce & products I've been buying all summer. Granted nothing in the DC Area will compare to Eastern Shore she def said the quality was great and the prices ehh lol just a lil bit higher than back home.

I'm back on a Earthy Kick LOL...picked up 2 new plants - Parsley & Cilantro.
The parsley wilted like a mofo and I just re-potted the cilantro so I hope they both perk up.

My garden just about complete except I need 1 more plant thyme. Hopefully we get a few more weeks of warmth and sunshine than I will start transitioning everything inside.


Conducting a Milk off:
I know yall like uhh your vegan why are you drinking milk lol... well not to go into a long rant but I stated hate for soy milk however DR diagnosed me with vitamin D deficiency - so research says Soy helps with that issue. Well I finally understand why hardcore veggie folks avoid soy- bottom line its a Genetically Modified Object (GMO) even the organic. Its recommended that humans only consume fermented soy (miso, tempeh, seitan) OCCASIONALLY! I'm not gonna life I loves my tofu in my asian food and tempeh bacon :0 YUM! so its going to be hard but my goal is to try and put that healthiest +purest foods into my system so dueces to Soy.
So I'm researching alternative milks that are high in Vitamin D for my health condition and for something else that I'll explain in a bit.. now onto the contestants"

most of these "milks" I got the unsweetened version or if I was scared the taste would be "out there" I purchased the vanilla flavor


1. Rice Milk- I've always drank very sweet..
2. Almond Milk- I hated it in the past.. funky aftertaste still on the fence
3. Coconut Milk- yumm goes into my smoothies
4. Sunflower Milk- LOLOL haven't opened this yet - no idea what to expect
5. Hemp Milk- LOLOL ^^^^
6. Oat Milk - "same deal as ^^^"








Vitamix:

Dear QVC I hate you! Sike well I've heard about the VitaMix blender from watching youtubes on green smoothie. This blender is like the bently of blenders in the veggie/raw foods world.

To define a green smoothie: A regular fruit smoothie with some type of green- Kale, spinach, Collards etc. This culture stems from the book "Greens for Life" which I already blogged about here.

So this blender is supposed to the greatest bc it will blend anything (I've seen vids where folks throw whole avocados in there smoothie pit + all). If you blend things long enough it warms up the product, makes soups, ice cream so its pretty versatile. For the dough I'm like this joint better turn my kitchen into Smoothie King. I upgraded to kitchen aid blender but I will admit that berries & flax seeds still give me a grainy smoothie. I've made a few green smoothies w/ the vitamix while I'm not blown away, my smoothies def are SMOOTH.

Given the 5 easy payments lol I don't feel the hurt of paying for this blender all at once so I will keep as it fits in with my goal of continuing to be a healthy mofo. I realized that I suck as a vegan.. lk in the last few weeks I've gone to more Yoga and exercised more bc I cannot keep eating so well and not exercise. I might as well go back to eating meat if I'm going to dogg my body out like that. So besides this blender, more exercise me and another homey in the city are splitting a CSA membership.

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture):

Some folks call these farm clubs but pretty much its a way to get local produced delivered.
We went with Washington Green Grocer subscription. Kinda nicked says small box 12-18 lbs LOL. Right now I'm all about hitting up the farmers market but this will be so handy come fall/winter. The first order should come tomorrow here's a sample listing of what should be delivered:

• Sweet Corn PA
• Eggplant PA
• Grape/Cherry Tomatoes PA
• Yellow Squash PA
• Red Leaf/Romaine Lettuce CA
• Delicata Squash PA
• White Mushrooms PA
• Golden Supreme Apples (IPM from PA)
• Peaches (IPM/Food Alliance Certified from PA)
• Red Seedless Grapes CA
• Ruby Red Grapefruit FL
• Bananas S.A.

Welp peeps I'm about to go a bike ride in.. forecast says more rain coming.

Enjoy the holiday folks :)

Earthquake & Part 2 + hurricanes - OH MY!

sERIOUSLY!
this week was not fun. I work in a community of high rise bldgs and the quake shook me up!
I liken the feeling to airplane turbulence except when one walking into an airplane you kinda know hey! this plane could go down so for a building to shake and sway when its assumed to be rigid is scary. As a east coaster my office didn't know what to do some hid under their desks.. others took to the doorway. Me I stood up holding my desk in disbelief that an earthquake was occurring while the building was swaying. Emergency preparedness education is key. Cell phone service was blocked.. couldn't get on-line it really makes you think about communication backup. Seriously after 3 hour drive home > I reallllly had to count my blessing and be thankful. Not that I ever took the Cali or Asia quakes & 9-11 lightly but experiencing a small disaster gives you perspective to how those in a major disaster had to cope.

I'm typing this as light rain has began to fall as we prepare for Hurrican Irene. Man I'm about to move to Seattle with my family because the Maryland/DC Area should not be exp this much weather turbulence - no way! I'm most concerned about my family on the Eastern Shore as they are going to get the brunt of the storm not to mention all the low lying streets and bay run-offs.. alot of evacuations planned.

Given the wind DC schedule to receive I bought my lil herbal garden inside
Its been fun this summer started w/ an eastern market box of Dill, Basil, Thyme, Marojam, Oregano Sage and Parsley...Growing up on the eastern shore we used to plant flowers. my great aunt had a small vege garden and my mom grew tomato plants upside our apt for years- so I felt my thumb was pretty green. Hmm well after I repotted everything.. the dill died, the thyme singed and burned during the heat wave.. the parsley went MIA.. I still can't tell the difference btw Marajam & Oregano but that is still growing along with the Sage. I just scanned through my recent blog posts and I see the one I started on my 1st basil plant never made it out of draft. To give you all some history I got that plant back in April from Mom's Organic Market. Basil just keep it outside (sunny) + water it grows like a weed. One of my coworkers took pity on my failed attempts and bought me in a pot of Sage, Thyme, and ohlala Purple Basil.

So just to bring ya'll to my current roster:


More Pics here

• 3 instances of Sage- wayyy too much and Sage is used w/ meats (ugh) trying find a way to get rid of
• Thyme- i spritz w/ water seems brown & dried again even though I did not keep outside :(
• Regular Basil- my all star plant
• Purple Basil- one instance died the other doing well so cannot wait to try
• Peppermint- growing well gonna use in my tea and rice paper wraps
• Rosemary- growing well
• Oregano - growing well

I'm actually gonna use the time barricaded in this APT to work on harvesting and drying herbs esp my basil plant is LEANING - lmao because the leaves are so heavy

I'm planning to continue my garden over the winter so I can make lots of fresh veggie stock so I'm researching how to transition the plants inside.


Everyone on eastcoast be safe this weekend!!

presenting ....... HM

HM aka High Maintenance is the name of my bonsai plant.

My Asian co-worker broke down the science behind this hobby. Basically the art is to grow the tree so that its stays miniature and grows in a design that is breath taking.
Its plant slavery because to achieve these results one must bind the branches with wire and prune away the branches so that it will grow in the direction dictated by the owner. My little baby bonsai isn't the pretty type but its special "attribute" is that the roots grow above ground. I haven't figured out a plan for how to take care of this sukka but I will soon because these plants can live for 10yrs+ and the longer you own them the more you can sell it for, thus the plant is now an investment lol.

It's time to update my wants list.. after years of surviving with a broke Dooney & Bouke wristlet with a broke zipper and that replacement D&B that broke, I finally caught a Macys sale the featured a reduced Coach Wristlets. Coupled with my xmas gift card I saved, bought the total bill to 18$ for:
$70 Retail price on sale for 40 -$25 gift card= 18 bill.


I have a new item on the list $20 Chanel nailpolish. Found in this month's INstyle featuring Rianna who has come a LONG way fashion wise she pulled a Lil' Wayne on society because she is fab now (not a huge fan of music but I respect it and her look is Great!!).
Anyway I'm sad to say I'm displeased with the MAC laquer. The colors rock but I cannot deal with the chipping. I've tried every no chip top color but by day 2 its a hot mess! Now folks feel Capladyz spend without any thought or rational, so not true. All we desire is quality products now if that comes through a top label so be it. I love and respect MAC makeup but the polish does not cut it for my fingers, stays on OK with my toes (weird) so I'm willing to to pay for the Chanel polish and hope that it will look good and stay on without any chipping. I'm a fashion magazine fanatic and INstyle is one of my favs so I'm going to trust their recommendiation on the polish.

I'm done the Kimora book which was WAY better than what I thought Full review will be up by the weekend.

Mom in town only 2 more days loving the QT but tired of the naggin lol must go now and put out some laundry for her to wash tomorow while I'm at work since apparently, I don't do a good job lol.