Frida Kahlo ...a RAW FOODIST at heart?

I made it to the Frida Kahlo show (Minneapolis). It's coming to San Francisco next, then Philadelphia. Kahlo is a visceral and very "earthy" painter. She remained brutally honest with herself in her work. And she is controversial, less nowadays, and even considered inappropriate. What I notice is a compelling love and respect for Mother Earth. I think what fans like is her endurance, and her rebellion, and in the end, she saw love.

She was placed on a high-animal diet, as she depicts here:

Without Hope. 1945

The last room of the exhibit made a lasting impression... her final works.


The Love Embrace ... 1949

CURIOUSLY, her last four paintings were of fruit, and their energy and embrace from the Sun:


Still Life with Parrot. 1951


Naturaleza viva. 1952


Fruit of Life. 1954

Her FINAL painting:

Viva la vida. 1954

"Viva la Vida" - on a WATERMELON... (*)

the CONTINUING SAGA of Green Coconut Kefir...

WHAT do you do when your car is under eight inches of fresh snow in Milwaukee, WI?

ANSWER: You go to Pick 'N Save and pick up 17 green coconuts. That's what ya do!



By some freak "synchronicity?" (freak-o-nicity) I went with my brother to the supermarket, and, literally walked right into them, a neatly arranged display of green "water" coconuts, just screaming for me! Stupified and in total shock, we grabbed most of them up (this IS...Pick 'N Save, folks) and then bumped into the manager (future orders can be placed on Monday to ensure Thursday store delivery, the only Pick 'N Save in the area who does this, as the manager proudly stated)

They are coming from Florida, not certified organic, but green coconuts go through a RIGOROUS filtration "on the vine" I gotta think they are mighty kosher.

Then I cruised over to Mercado El Rey before I left Milwaukee, and scored another 29 green coconuts, and supercool manager Eddie (I didn't even ask) quoted me "box price" which is $1.81 each (normally $2.68-2.88 each)! I gave him a Sammy Sosa chest salute, actually just a big wave and a huge thanks, and was on my way back NORTH.

ONCE HOME: I carefully popped 9 coconuts for (3 quarts) water, which will take (3) packets of kefir grains, for one WHOPPING glass jar of coconut water kefir. CAN'T WAIT for it to ferment and bubble up...

ALSO while in Milwaukee, Outpost Foods, Saturday free-sample day, the few guys from BURGIES ORGANICS were there pouring samples of their..... line of homemade coconut water kefirs. I mean think about that, a couple guys from a little farm in Wisconsin, making coconut water kefir, for sale next to the organic milk, in glass bottles, at Outpost Foods. Totally bizarre, a coconut weekend in Wisconsin - who'd have ever possibly thunk

It almost seems too easy sometimes, or as if it was ordered ahead in advance. Or at least the Coconut Gods must seriously love me .....I know I love them.

FUNNY RELEVANCE: As we were picking them up one by one, a funny old lady in red pulled up "Those are coconuts aren't they," and was pleased when I affirmed "Yep, these are the young coconuts, these ones are just full of water" and she buttoned-up-the-scene "Oh, they're all the same" and tried to leave-the-room-on-that-note like they do on TV (except she was pushing a cart in this instance), and before I got out a "OH NO, IT JUST AIN'T SO" I kept clamtrapped and remembered the recent article about older people being disagreeable because they are actually "smarter." Yes, yes.

Body Brushing

Karyn Calabrese stresses in her Raw Food Detox program the importance of body brushing. AND it was praised in a Patrick Timpone interveiw (w/Annie Jubb). (About halfway through the first interview) Body brushing pushes stagnant blood along, and scrapes "toxic" dry skin flakes off your scalp and skin. 80-90% of dust is actually shedded skin flakes (THAZZ NAZZTY). Body brushing REALLY smoothes your complexion, scruffs dandruff out, puts rosy color in your cheeks, and just feels great to do. Karyn advises to body brush every day, always brushing towards your heart, and it's easy to do right before a shower.
Your skin will thank you.

Craving RAW TACOS today

I just finished up a grueling cross-country ski run, and needed raw tacos. Lots of cumin & good salt + quick salsa (heavy on the cilantro). You just need to have pre-soaked walnuts prepared. This ridiculously quick, simple & easy Matt Amsden recipe makes for a great dinner:
Part I:

Part II:


Jan 22nd Update: Raw Heathy has a huge Jan 13th post on raw mexican food here

MAKING Korean Kim-Chi (with added "kick")

Today was a day for Kim-Chi. It will take 2+ days to "age", but the fresh ingredients were stocked, and there's nothing like a spicy, fermented taste of Kim-Chi when you need that "Asian Take-Out" fix.

My recipe is loosely based on THIS PROCEDURE and THIS RECIPE both accessible from THIS WEBPAGE (You can use various root vegetables: carrots, turnips, etc. and I notice onions are in the Rejuvinative Foods brand ~ VERY VERSATILE RECIPE!)

THE ART of KIM-CHI:

Take one of your cabbage heads:
Slice wedges off each cabbage head (like in video), then slice each of those wedges down very thinly (the pic on the left shows a wedge having been sliced off, the then being sliced down in the pic on the right)

Fill the crock pot as you chop, work in a little pink salt (~1-2Tbs per 4heads works well)

As you're chopping, take some time and muscle the cabbage & salt together, to release water and soften the cabbage

Now go after your remaining ingredients


Today I used:

4 HEADS of Cabbage ~ thinly sliced 2 TBS Salt ~ Pink Himalayan or Sea Salt are best 5 green onions ~ thinly sliced INCH or so Burdock root ~ thinly sliced INCH or so Horseradish root ~ thinly sliced INCH or so Ginger root ~ thinly sliced/minced

CLOVE of Garlic ~ thinly sliced/minced HALF a Daikon radish ~ thinly sliced HALF a medium round radish ~ thinly sliced 1 TBS Dried Red Pepper ~ ground up 1 tsp Cayenne pepper ~ ground up 4 opened CAPSULES Probiotics ~ I used E3 Live's

Now all of the ingredients together...

ADD your favorite water until the cabbage is submerged. "Seal" your cabbage with a plate or tray, and add weight (anything heavy will do) to keep the fermentation air-free and to force water up and out as it ferments, and you can push down as the days go on

Cover, and let it work it's magic for a few days at least (You can put a lid on your crock, and even bag & seal it, as it funkifies!)


When the cabbage is ready, store it somewhere cool or refrigerator. You now have a fermented POWERHOUSE of a food (great in the winter) that will kick you up a notch EVERY TIME you scoop into a nice bowl. The "friendly bacteria" charges into your system, to stake its territory, replenish and revitalize you, and it actually feels overwhelmingly "friendly" to your system. Kim-Chi is a great item for THAI/KOREAN/ASIAN food trippers, when the need for salty and spicy comes, we like the kick!