Ok, i’m not feeling tired at all tonight, hence the 3 blog entries!  I think I had a full 8 hours sleep for the first time in weeks last night, and it’s knackered me out!  I actually had to have a 20 minute power knapp earlier.  I think after having that sleep last night, my body was saying, "hey, I like this, let’s have a bit more please".

Post-Christmas shopping!

Spent a bit of time in a shop called ‘Authentic’ yesterday.  As you may be able to tell from the name, they sell all kinds of spiritual goodies and it’s right up my street (metaphorically, not geographically).  They did have some things in there that weren’t really my kind of thing though…I think i’ll leave the ceramic dragons until I meet someone that I dislike enough to want to buy them a Birthday present!  If you know me personally, watch out…..you’re Birthday could be a horrible realisation of how I feel about you! :-)

I did actually pick up a present and beautiful card for someone (wasn’t it Christmas last week?) though and it seems to have been gratefully received.  Also bought some Mystic Mist and Passion Flower incense sticks, and a CD called ‘The Buddha Experience’ which is currently providing me with some beautiful ethereal background tunage. I love this type of music, they do a whole series of The Buddha Experience which I may have to make some further purchases from.

Been doing some research online to find natural packaging for a range of foods that I plan to market next year.  I’ve managed to find an excellent resource for completely natural, biodegradable packaging that’s made from 100% renewable resources so i’m really happy at the moment. :-)

New Years Eve plans

Not quite sure what i’m doing for New Year at the moment.  My house-mates are asking me to go out clubbing with them but I just don’t fancy it to be honest.  I would love to go out with them, but not clubbing, I just can’t get my head around being in a smoke-filled club around drunk people, most of whom won’t even remember the midnight celebrations…I know this from my own experiences so i’m not judging anyone, honest! :-)

I might just take a leaf out of Karen’s book and spend some time with myself, it’s a bit unconventional but i’ve heard that some people actually cook their food, now that seems a little strange to me! :-)  It could actually be the best way to see in what I know is going to be the year of my life (so far).  I think I may go up to Portsdown Hill for midnight to watch the fireworks that you can see going off all over Portsmouth. I went there last year and it was truly breathtaking, there’s a big crowd that gathers there and a real sense of community, which I love.  Strangers even talk to each other - very un-British!

Raw New Years Eve

Planning a trip to Vita Organic tomorrow which should be fun seeing as the Underground workers are going on strike!  It’s only a short walk from Victoria station anyway and failing that we could try our luck with the buses.  As always i’ll be taking pictures of my food before I eat it and i’ll do a mini-review of the place here on my blog.

What i’ve eaten today

Started the day off with an apple, orange, banana, celery, cashew, carrot, lemon, lime, avocado smoothie with Thor’s Raw Protein powder, which tasted a lot nicer than it looks now i’ve written it down!  At lunch I just had some cashews and this evening I had a chocolate smoothie made with the last of my choc powder, :-( maca extreme, bananas, water, dates and avocado.  This evening I finished off my hummus with some pomodorino tomatoes on top of which I then ate some chocolate mousse.  So quite an unorthodox day, food-wise.  I feel like I want to eat about 5 kilos of kale and avo salad tomorrow!

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"Perhaps the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relinquishing of the impulse to dominate others"

The word ‘leadership’ means many things to many people.  It was certainly a word I heard many interpretations of when I was a retail manager.  For me, stories like that of Billy Parish (pictured left) embody leadership.  Reading his story gives me reason to believe in the theory that everything is in balance, and that for all of the worst things that are happening in the world today, so can be found the absolute best of what we are capable of.  Click to read about his Energy Action campaign. 

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"In our modern age of Whole Foods and hybrid cars and flat screen TVs that are super energy efficient, …it’s really about living a life that has concern for the planet but also doing it with style, authenticity and just a little bit of personal flair."

Danny Seo

If you’re in the USA you may already know about Danny Seo.  I happen to have come across his website tonight and loved his philosophy so much that I thought i’d share it with you as I felt it draws some parallels with how I feel about raw foods.  This guy is on a mission to save the planet…..with style!  He is eco-advisor to the stars, having advised Hollywood’s top A-listers, recently helping Brad Pitt ‘go green’..  This guy knows the power of celebrity and he ain’t afraid to use it!!!  Here’s what USA Today had to say about him…..

"Say "environment" to Danny Seo, and it’s as if you’ve punched the word into the search engine Google:  Out roars an avalanche of ideas and references that threatens to scramble your brain."

In an interview with USA Today Seo says, "My job isn’t to convince you to protect the environment.  I’m also not here to tell you this is cool.  But I am here to tell you this is an easier way to live, and it helps the environment."  What a great philosophy!  As a raw chef my job isn’t to convince anyone to eat the way I do, I just see it as my mission to help people in making it easier to make the right choices, if that’s what they want.

Next year i’m going to be producing a range of foods that you will be able to buy via mail order, here in the UK, that you’re going to love and that will ultimately make it easier for you to eat raw.  My vision is that, before long, you will be able to buy these products in your local health food shop, wherever you live.  I want to make the decision to eat raw as easy as deciding which packet to take off the shelf!!!

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"We have to formulate what we want, be so concentrated on it, so focused on it, and so aware of it that we lose track of time, we lose track of our identity."

"The moment we become so involved in the experience that we lose track of ourselves, we lose track of time, is the only picture that’s real.  Everybody’s had the experience of making up their mind that they’ve wanted something."

"That’s Quantum Physics in action.  That’s manifesting reality."

Dr. Joseph Dispenza

The picture on the left is my Christmas dinner this year, it kind of all came together at the last minute!  I had pesto stuffed mushrooms which I had made the night before because Lel and I got hungry whilst watching Lee Evans’ insanely funny new DVD.  By the time they were done we only wanted a couple each so I had them left over.  I also had Juliano’s raw ‘meatloaf’ which I made in the morning yesterday after slaving over a warm dehydrator for all of an hour!  The salad under the loaf is made up of whatever I had in the fridge. That was a selection of fresh organic green leaves delivered Christmas Eve by my local organic farm, some pomodorino tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, splash of lemon juice and some macadamia nut oil.  I took it round my Mum’s house to join everyone for dinner and i’ve since found out that my Step-Dad was so impressed with how it looked that he’s interested in getting some raw food inside him!  My Mum’s really pleased with that because she really wants to get into it all and feels like she needs some support from him.  They’re both going on a detox retreat to Spain next year so it looks like i’ll be running a meals-on-wheels service until then, hmmmmm, now there’s an idea!!! :-)

My fridge is looking very full with all sorts of goodies at the moment.  I guess it’s the raw food equivalent of left-over turkey.  I’ve got several dips, a chocolate mousse that will definitely feature in a chocolate torte recipe soon (watch this space), some durian that Karen brought down for me, large amounts of greens, the list goes on….

Lel sometimes keeps her fruit and veg in my fridge and was rooting through there this morning to make Dylan (the rabbit) his breakfast.  She turned to me with a bag of kale in her hand and said, "is this yours or Dylan’s?"  You know you’re doing something right when your friends don’t whether the food in the fridge is yours or the rabbit’s!!!

Things seem to be falling into place nicely for my move to Cambridge.  Looks like one of the other instructors with our driving school is going to buy my car from me and take over my pupils.  Once we’re into January i’ll start arranging house and flat viewings.  Very exciting!!!  I really just need to spend a whole day up there and find somewhere on that day as it takes 2.5 hours to get there on a quiet day.

So what’s the ‘grounded and centred’ title about then?

Bought a great new Enneagram book a couple of days ago, it’s called ‘Are You My Type, Am I Yours?’.  If you aren’t familiar with the Enneagram click here to find out all about it.  I can highly recommend taking the test online.  It’s incredible how accurate it is and when you know what type another person is, it can be very revealing how you will interact with them, which is the main subject of this simply written and easy to understand book.

As you may know from a previous post, I am a type seven: The Enthusiast (also sometimes referred to as The Adventurer).  The brief description they give is this:  Sevens are motivated by the need to be happy, to contribute to the world, and to avoid pain and suffering.

Healthy sevens make adventure-sharing, productive partners.  They model generosity, optimism, and cheerfulness, and they inspire those around them to feel good.  In addition, developed sevens are supportive and help loved ones fulfill their potential.

Apparently sevens also tend to deny and gloss over difficulties without addressing the problem.  It’s that part of my personality type that really got me thinking and has provided me with my keywords to take into 2006: ‘grounded and centred’.  This means being grounded in reality and centred in my thoughts, it will also mean that I will avoid being pulled and pushed off course by people or events.  I am naturally a feeling type seven so I should find it relatively easy to stay with my feelings for longer and recognise my fear.  I have come to realise that there are alot of positives in being able to experience joy and pain, pleasure and sorrow.  My question to you as we approach a time that we are all drawn to reflect and think about our lives, is this: What 2 keywords will you take into 2006?  If you could choose 2 words to be your incantation for next year, what would guide you away from your past addictions in every situation?

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"I believe deeply that we must find, all of us together, a new spirituality."

Dalai Lama

I actually got round to starting my Christmas shopping yesterday but ended up mainly buying stuff for myself.  Ever done that?  Got all my cards bought which I find the most challenging.  I’m really not one for just picking up any old card, it has to have just the right message, something that I would write myself.  It can be difficult to find one with exactly what you do (or don’t) want to say.  But I was pleased with what I got.

Presents that we have ordered either by phone or the internet have been turning up at the house over the past few days.  The internet is so great at this time of year.  I went into Chichester for 20 minutes earlier which was 20 minutes too long!  It was so crowded and I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for that.  There was a fantastic group of street performers playing drums and dancing though, that made the trip worthwhile.  There’s something about drumming, particularly tribal drumming that resonates with me.  Maybe I was part of a tribe in a past life!:-)

Anyway, I can’t move on any further without mentioning the delivery guy who turned up with one of Rachel’s parcels yesterday (a day late!).  I opened the door to find him standing there with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  The draft from me opening the door then blew his smoke into my face and stank the hallway out!  I couldn’t believe how rude he was, it took me by surprise so much that I didn’t even think to say anything to him about it!  As soon as he did it, he stepped out of the porch as I think he realised what was going on.  Some people are so inconsiderate, you can’t even get away from other people’s bad habits in your own house!  If I was really bothered I would have phoned up his company but I didn’t want to get myself worked up over it.  Ok, rant over!

Mum came round with a pack of Angel cards last night as a little present for me (is it Christmas already?).  She loves these cards and has been telling me about them for a while now.  I opened the packet and drew one straight away.  Here’s what I got….

"Isaiah - It is a good time to give birth to new ideas and situations in your life.  I am watching over you, guiding you, and protecting you during these changes.

You are ripe with new possibilities, and you feel an urgency to push into new territory.  Beloved one, your new and exciting life changes are inevitable.  There is no turning back!  Instead of playing it safe, you decided to move forward.  That is why I am with you right now, giving you the extra courage and comfort you need.

However there is no need to rush.  This is a time of incubation, where nature can allow everything to grow in it’s innate rhythm.  Be assured that your life changes will hatch at just the right moment!  In the meantime, know that God and the Angels are watching over you.  You are safe and very loved.  Congratulations on this new period of your life!"

As you can imagine, I was pretty taken aback with that.  I have already written in this blog that I am moving out of Sussex.  My intention is to move to Cambridge as I believe that, particularly after TFN open day, I need to be there to take advantage of opportunities that arise.  I was a bit confused about the part of the reading that says I should take my time though.  I intend to move in February as that’s when my current tenancy ends so I really need to get things happening.  I always feel like I need to know things are happening, I intensely dislike the feeling that i’m not making progress.  Sometimes that can go against me because I don’t stop and think about how far i’ve already come.  I was looking at houses in Ely (on the internet) just yesterday and signed up for email alerts for suitable properties.  Within 5 minutes I had an email from a guy who’s got, what sounds like a perfect place.  He has just had notice on it from the current tenants so it would be available when I need it.  He’s going to email me a picture asap but he described it as a tidy 2 bedroom house with a garage and garden.  I will update you when I have more details!  So today I drew another card with this question in mind as I shuffled the deck, "Am I doing the right thing with my move to Cambridge and looking for a house now?"  Here’s the card…

"Oceana - Take action.  You’re in touch with you’re truth in this situation, and you need to trust your gut and lovingly assert yourself.

Dive right in!  There’s no need for more research or time.  You can trust your feelings on this one.  I will guide you through the actions that are necessary, considering the circumstances.  You’re main concern is to avoid procrastination at all costs.  Break the situation down into small steps so that you don’t become overwhelmed. Then, take those steps in regular intervals.

You already know what to do about this situation, and you have made up your mind to take action.  I am here to validate that your decision is on the path of light.  Although there might be some temporary hard work or emotional turmoil, this will soon be replaced by a lightness of spirit akin to gently floating on a summer breeze.

Sometimes you may feel too emotional or tired to take action.  That is because you’re unsure of the ‘correctness’ of your decisions.  Usually, unfounded guilt is the culprit that is draining your energy and happiness.  This is when it is very important to call upon the angels to shore up your faith.  Notice how the doors open smoothly with each step you take.  That is one more sign that you are taking the best course of action."

I like these cards!!!

Have been doing my ‘mood board’ tonight.  It’s a board that I stick things on that are representative of the 5 ‘Ps’.  They are passion, purpose, principal, proficiencies and personalities.  I did the exercise as part of a project but I would encourage you to do one as well.  Stick some inspiring music on, sit down with a stack of magazines, some glue and a pair of scissors and get creative!  You’ll need at least a sheet of A2 card or paper to stick the cuttings on and what you’ll end up with is something that you can put up in your house/office that will juice you up every time you look at it!  It’s similar to a ‘dream board’ where you stick up clippings of things that you want in your life which is another excellent idea.  Which brings me on to….

My Magical Creation Box!  I got this idea from ‘Ask & It Is Given’ and have just set it up this week. The idea is that you get a box that you like and write on it, "Whatever is contained in this box - IS!".  I got a faux suede brown box and wrote on a bit of paper that goes in the metal label thing on the front!  You then put photos or descriptions of things that you want to come into your experience, in the box.  When they go in you have to repeat the,  "whatever goes in this box - IS!"  I won’t tell you what i’ve put in there so far as it’s very personal but as things start happening that I can tell you about, I will!  Stay tuned!

Bought a new gratitude journal with my Creation Box too.  It matches as it’s also brown faux suede.  I’ve been writing 30 things each day that i’m grateful for.  This will also bring more of the same into my experience.  With everything that i’m doing, I feel like i’m using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut!  That’s when I feel happiest but maybe that’s what the card meant about not being in a hurry.  The key (and the challenge) is to actually keep these things going and form new habits, not just get excited for a while and then stop!

I realise I haven’t told you what i’ve been eating for a while and I know you’re interested to read what a raw chef eats so here we go…Today I had an apple, lemon, celery, cucumber and avocado smoothie for breakfast.  I think I also snacked on soft dried apricots and macadamia nuts for most of the day.  Lunch time was kale and avo salad with the addition of sun dried toms and black olives. I’ve had several cups of white tea as I felt really cold earlier!  Tonight i’ve had some cherries, mandarins and an apple.  So nothing really adventurous, I think it’s because i’ve got a bit of a mission planned with the Christmas dinner!  We’re having a dinner here at the house on the 23rd and then i’ll have dinner at Mum’s on Xmas day itself.  I’m doing a bit of a raw extravaganza for myself.  Details and pictures of that to follow in the next week!  I am planning to put a recipe together tomorrow for buckwheat bread which i’m looking forward to trying out.  And of course, i’m going to need to make some more of those mince pies!  I will try and post the mince pie recipe on here tomorrow, i’m going to make a few adjustments to it even though they were great as they were, if I say so myself!  I saw some brandy cream topped mince pies in Sainsburys earlier which got me thinking too, i’m seeing raw mince pies with piped cashew cream on top, ooooooh yeh!

Wow, that seemed like a long blog entry.  I’m off to have a soak and use my new organic honey, bran and oatmeal soap with vanilla extract and cinnamon powder.  I don’t know whether to wash with it or put it in a blender!!!!

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"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most.  We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?"  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you.  We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us.  And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela

Ok, i’ve got a whole week to update you on so here goes..

Last time I wrote I was off to Little Earth Cafe in London for something to eat.  Actually, it was to take Lel out driving but i’m sure she won’t mind me telling you she wasn’t in great form on the driving front!  We made it to Little Earth at about 15:05 and I thought they may be closed as the advertised closing time on a Sunday is 15:00.  I’m glad I trusted my intuition which was telling me to go anyway as they might be fairly fluid with their closing times.  When we walked in they certainly weren’t closing and were glad to serve us with 2 juices (orange, lime, pomegranate), 2 raw nut burgers on a bed of watercress, covered in the most amazing cashew sauce i’ve ever tasted, drizzled with honey mustard and topped with an avocado ‘fan’.  Lel was going to leave a bit of hers so I did the decent thing and ate that too!  Desert was a ‘Nutty Monkey’ which was almond butter and OJ based.  It had some frozen banana in there too but I can’t remember what else.  I love the vibe in that place.  It was just getting dark so they lit candles around the tables and had the usual ethereal music in the background.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for my demos at the Fresh Network open day.  Karen had asked me to do 2 demos of which 1 should be a Christmas recipe, preferably mince pies.  I scoured the internet for a recipe and even asked my fellow alumni from Living Light if they had any ideas.  I didn’t consider that they don’t have mince pies in the US and some thought I wanted a recipe to replicate a pie with minced cow in!!!  Actually everyone who responded to my request on the Yahoo group forum was very sweet in taking the time to help.  Vinette came up with a great looking recipe that I will definitely try out.  In the end I created my own recipe that went down an absolute storm!  I was even surprised how good those pies tasted, a real comfort food when eaten out of the dehydrator, mmmmmmmmm!

So as you may have guessed, the open day itself was great.  It’s the first time i’ve done a demo to that many people (about 30) and I loved it.  Someone even took a photo of me whilst I was doing the demo!  The biggest payoff for me was at the end when I was being thanked for providing such great food.  That’s a great feeling.

I’ve yet to do any of my Christmas shopping and only today did I realise how close it is to the big day.  I haven’t really got many people to buy for so it’s not exactly a major event for me.  I haven’t got any brothers or sisters….all together now, "aahhhhhhh".  And haven’t got many relatives at all (can you hear violins?) so it’s really just Mum, Dad and friends.  We’re doing Secret Santa in the house and i’ve got no idea what to get the person i’ve been drawn to buy for.  Should it been a good present or a funny present?  We’ve only got a ten Pound budget so I think it may be a bit of a jokey present!

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"Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts.  And we are never, ever the same".

Unknown

I have been eating very lightly over the past few days and it seems to have done the world of good.  I’ve actually just polished off a Kale and avocado salad which hit the spot very nicely indeed.  Today i’ve also had a chocolate smoothie, 2 pieces of raw chocolate (are you noticing a theme?), a handful of macadamias, and that’s pretty much it from what I can remember.  I’m back on the juice tomorrow as i’ve only just had the chance to get to Tesco and do some shopping.  While I was in there I picked up a huge mixing bowl which was just under 4 quid, it’s a simple thing but it made me happy!  As I was going through the checkout I saw my housemate Rachel on a till down the line so I waved my bowl at her to show my delight and she seemed very happy for me too.  The funny thing was, so did the woman behind her, standing in the queue who thought I was randomly waving a bowl at her.  She had one of those looks on her face that said, "I don’t think I know you but you’re waving a bowl at me in Tesco so i’m going to pretend I do know you, oh actually, you’re scaring me now you freakish man".  You know one of those looks, i’m sure you see them all the time.

Getting into Tesco car park was a bit of a fun as well.  It was very windy this afternoon and as I was driving up to the store I had to dodge 2 trolleys that started to blow towards my car.  You should have seen my tactics to get round ‘em.  My quick yet elegant manoevre enabled me to get my shopping with all the paint still on my car, which is always a perk!  Unfortunately the car that they did end up hitting had someone in it, I felt a bit bad for about a second and then worried that the guy in the car hadn’t seen the trolleys and thought i’d hit him!

So anyway, since I last blogged the mental and emotional stuff seems to have lifted.  I’m much clearer in my thoughts even though i’m so tired I keep forgetting what i’m talking about when i’m half way through a conversation.  Mum came round for a cuppa (white tea) earlier and as I was talking to her, I completely forgot what I was trying to say, twice, about the same thing!  A good nights sleep tonight should sort things out, although I do feel remarkably perky for the amount of sleep i’ve had.

Went to see a lecture by Masaru Emoto on Wednesday night in London.  He’s the guy who has photographed water crystals and has researched how thoughts effect their formation.  Check out his site and the photos if you haven’t already, they are beautiful.  He’s got some very interesting ideas, from what I could understand of his English!  The lecture started later than scheduled so I wasn’t able to stay for the film otherwise I would have missed my last train.  Karen and I decided to leave after the lecture as she would have missed her train too.  We thought it would be a good opportunity to ‘catch up’ and go to Vita Organic for a feed at their new location in Soho.  We met some other Fresh members there and had a jolly pleasant evening.  My passion to bring raw foods to as many people as possible strengthens with every experience I have like this.  It was so nice to have quality food made for us and enjoy it in that kind of environment.  I don’t know what was in the  dishes we had but since then my skin is probably the best it’s been for months.  It could also be the fact that i’ve been eating so lightly that’s responsible.

On my second trip of the day to Tesco earlier I took Lel who needed to get a few bits and pieces.  She had a bit of a moment at the clothes recycling  bank in the car park when she dropped all her old ‘fat clothes’ (her words, not mine) down the chute, never to be seen again.  All very significant and emotionally cleansing for her and a joy to see!

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