The happiest of all happy New Years to You! I hope you had a fun one. I love New Years--perhaps I just have a reasonably low bar for what I expect but I enjoy the turning of one year into another and marking it with yelling and champagne and kisses. Seems right to me. So we had a great one. Small, but fun and great. Perfection.
And now we are on a cleanse! 21 days long. Perhaps you've heard of it? (We are doing the book version, not the purchased supplement version FYI.) Today: Day 5. Baby steps :)
Being a food-lover, and someone who loves to cook, this one is perfect for me. There are some seriously delicious recipes which I will be sharing with you soon. It's not far from how we normally eat, actually. We're fairly health-minded over here but we also tend to be a bit indulgent, allowing ourselves to eat and drink whatever we wanted, especially the last few months. So its good to hit the restart button every now and then.
As a thumbnail, we've eliminated all chemicals (ideally), all processed foods, all dairy, all caffeine, all sugar (gasp), all alcohol (sadface). We're still eating some delicious and super nutritious food--including some organic chicken, and lamb and cold-water wild fish (the specifics are kind of exhausting)--so I've yet to be hungry. The only hard part is the emotional one. As in, I want to punch someone for some chocolate. I would have thought wine would have been my weakness but it is, indeed, The Sugar.
So this is my solution: Hot & Clean Carob & Chocolate Drink and Chocolate Almond Date Balls! (I laughed as I typed that, by the way). It's actually pretty great and I won't go to jail for hitting anybody.
The recipe for the snack balls (I just keep thinking about that SNL skit) you can find here in that quick little video. I added figs and agave and coconut oil, but otherwise the same. They're delicious and terribly good for your organs and your skin and your brain and your energy levels.
And! So is the Hot & Clean Drink! I used ground cacao nibs (look for it in health food stores or online like here) which have loads of anti-oxidants (more than blueberries even!), some protein, and most importantly: magnesium. Our bodies don't make it so we have to get it from food and it helps with basically everything including nerve and muscle function but also helps that good mood part of your brain, helps with PMS symptoms (!!), also cholesterol and appetite control, just to name a few. These tiny little cacao nibs are one of the best and most assimilable sources of magnesium around. They are magical little things.
Here's the ingredients I used:
And here's the recipe:
HOT & CLEAN CAROB AND CHOCOLATE DRINK
mugful of coconut and/or almond milk (I used both)
1 heaping TBS of carob powder
2-3 tsp of raw cacao nib powder
1-2 tsp of agave
dash of pure vanilla extract
- Everything goes in a small pot. Whisk, whisk, whisk til its all combined and warm, almost hot (not boiling). Enjoy your super powers.
Now.
We have lots to catch up on, you and I! While the house is still very much a work-in-progress, some things have finally come together. I was trying to figure out which room to start with but I figured I should start with the rooms I actually started with. Tomorrow I'll begin with the dining room before-and-afters. For now, here's some images of some of my favorite nooks and crannies so far... :)
The Solarium and view of the back yard.
Antique tea set and the Very Nervous Bird in my work space.
Corner of the buffet, dining room.
Antique dentistry tools & amethyst in pottery bowl given to me by my mother in law. Vintage Indian side table found at a garage sale.
Old painting, bird statue on mantle.
Little wooden dolls "The Newlyweds" made by me.
Couch and cushions. Middle one (sequins) made by me.
And much more to come, starting tomorrow. But I'd love to leave you with this (and if you follow me on twitter you may have already seen it)--the view from one of our dining room windows just a little bit ago...
Can't even take it.
Back tomorrow and hope you like navy :)
