I bought beans from Cold Storage after class on Saturday. Green [mung] and adzuki beans, and garden and black eyed peas. I was tempted to buy more but I figured that these four should be adequate for my very first formal attempt at sprouting. Truthfully, I bought the beans based on colours!! Oh...they're organic :)
I started with mung beans. I was told by those on youtube that it's the easiest to sprout. And they're SO right! I emptied the entire 200+gm of beans into this nifty plastic container I bought at the Japan Home Decor [which happened to be the first outlet I saw upon entering Wangsa Walk]. The container is pretty large, comes with a drainer and cover. "That'll make rinsing easy peasy" was what went through my mind at the time. Did I ever tell you that I'm lazy??
Then I realised that the little green beans could pass through the drainer holes! But it wasn't critical. Simply dumped them back onto the drainer after rinsing and quickly placed the outer container underneath. Done! Filled it up with water circa 3 times the level of the beans. Left them to soak overnight.
And I overslept! So the beans got more soaking that they needed. However, all is not lost....I think. I rinsed them. Saw miniscule sprouts already!! Yea)))))))))) Tasted some...aaah good stuff. Smiled at the beans, sent them a little prayer, covered the container with a hand towel and placed it in a darkish spot in my kitchen.
Looking forward to having them for my lunch tomorrow :) Btw, 200+gm gives you a lot of sprouts.
My mind is suddenly thinking of sunflowers.........
Sunday 21 April 2013
Wednesday 3 April 2013
Drinking my food........
This time around I'm forced to drink my daily sustenance. I can't chew. But I'm pretty happy really. It's been a while since I had vegetable + fruit juice as meals. The last time I faithfully kept to this diet [50% of the time] was way back in 2010. Back when the current house was being built. When getting vegetables and fruits meant crossing the street to the supermarket a hundred meters away. When there was a "pasar malam" [night market] three nights a week...a mere 5-minute walk away. When "cooking" really meant tossing green, red, yellow stuff into a blender. Or into a steamer. Meals ready within minutes. I miss that.....
Just as I got the kids hooked on raw/steamed food, we had to move into our new home. Utter chaos! It wasn't fully completed but our tenancy agreement had expired and we didn't want to renew it. Food and drinking water were delivered/bought every single day. For almost a year. By the time it was habitable, it was hari raya. Then came the holidays. Kitchen still unused.
By the time the kitchen became operational, everyone else except me was cooking. There are many cooks in my family! I was the "filler" chef - when no one was available. Which didn't happen often. Mum was still up and about then, and she loved to cook. Which suited me fine.
So I ate mostly cooked food. And to be back to raw food is great. My system loves it. But I know I'll be back to cooked food real soon as I'll be away on a short holiday to the land of good food....with very hospitable hosts.
However, for the last couple of days, my grandkids have been asking for vege juice. They've enjoyed the simple ones I rustled up. Their tastebuds are slowly remembering the real taste of food. Further impetus for me to get back to raw eating.
And I have little Khadeeja, my latest addition to the grandkids, for me to work on. So she'll grow up eating real food instead of the commercialised stuff. My daughter likes the idea.
My sister thinks having fresh vegetables and fruits right at our doorstep is grand. The grandkids are looking forward to growing "their" favourites....though I'm not too sure about Auni's request for strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackcurrants. But I've seen strawberries being successfully grown in Uganda on youtube!
So, yea, maybe the garden isn't going to be a pipe dream after all..........I'll probably start with bean sprouts in a jar ;)
Just as I got the kids hooked on raw/steamed food, we had to move into our new home. Utter chaos! It wasn't fully completed but our tenancy agreement had expired and we didn't want to renew it. Food and drinking water were delivered/bought every single day. For almost a year. By the time it was habitable, it was hari raya. Then came the holidays. Kitchen still unused.
By the time the kitchen became operational, everyone else except me was cooking. There are many cooks in my family! I was the "filler" chef - when no one was available. Which didn't happen often. Mum was still up and about then, and she loved to cook. Which suited me fine.
So I ate mostly cooked food. And to be back to raw food is great. My system loves it. But I know I'll be back to cooked food real soon as I'll be away on a short holiday to the land of good food....with very hospitable hosts.
However, for the last couple of days, my grandkids have been asking for vege juice. They've enjoyed the simple ones I rustled up. Their tastebuds are slowly remembering the real taste of food. Further impetus for me to get back to raw eating.
And I have little Khadeeja, my latest addition to the grandkids, for me to work on. So she'll grow up eating real food instead of the commercialised stuff. My daughter likes the idea.
My sister thinks having fresh vegetables and fruits right at our doorstep is grand. The grandkids are looking forward to growing "their" favourites....though I'm not too sure about Auni's request for strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackcurrants. But I've seen strawberries being successfully grown in Uganda on youtube!
So, yea, maybe the garden isn't going to be a pipe dream after all..........I'll probably start with bean sprouts in a jar ;)
The blessing in toothache......
Last Thursday I went to the dentist. For a simple "patch" of the gums. I've done this many times in the past two decades with no adverse effect. But this time around, life got interesting.
Faiz, my "bestest" friend, mooted the idea of utilising the services of the government clinics. He had done some pretty impressive dental works there and I was convinced. So there I sat early on a Thursday morning, totally calm and serene at a government clinic in Dato Keramat. Within an hour I was done. Great! So I thought.....
I was fine and dandy at the dentist. Fine and dandy when I first got home. Not so fine and dandy about three hours later. My tooth started throbbing. Then it got worse. I started swishing "sole" [brine solution from Himalayan rock salt]. It didn't help much. But I kept doing it all through the night.
I had a golf ball sized swelling the next day. Which made my face lopsided. Looked kinda comical really - I laughed at the sight. I couldn't eat anything that I had to chew. Not a problem with me as I'm one of the world's laziest "chewers" this side of the universe anyway.
Since I couldn't sleep [because I'm, by nature, nocturnal], I decided to prowl the net for natural remedies for toothache. Interesting! To cut a long story short, I came across a website owned by a vegan. Aaaah...this was where I got hooked on gardening. At least, the "thought" of starting a garden of sorts.
You see, I'm one of those "blessed" with "killer" hands. Where gardeners are endowed with green thumbs, mine must be red! I could get a perfectly growing plant [in a nursery] dead within 3 months of it entering my home. Sad really because I love plants. I try to give them love and attention. I actually talk to them nicely too. Given that all my life I was surrounded by beautifully maintained gardens, you would think I would at least have learnt the basics of keeping a plant alive! Alas....
Anyway, this vegan who had serious dental issues before [she turned vegan], grows her own food. I've always wanted to do that. I've always thought that people who grow their own food are so cool. My parents used to do that when I was little. And I remember the times I followed them to pick pumpkins, sweet potatoes, corn, pineapple, avocados...and the list goes on. Mum would give away the extra yield. Some she would pickle, dry, turn into jam etc. It was fun helping her. Once, mum's pumpkin got into the papers - it was so huge!
Another reason that got me hooked was the fact that I simply LOVE vegetable juice and eating raw stuff. Always had. Even when I was a kid. And this woman, Val Archer, promotes vegan diet. Which translates into raw eating of plant foods. My kind of diet! I'm not much of a meat eater. But I do like fish though. I've gone through months without meat. And I like "drinking" my food. Yea...I'm kinda weird!
So I got into thinking that it's about time I seriously put my dream into action.
Hence, right this moment, I'm an avid youtube gardener...with a rudimentary plan.... ;)
Thanks, ya Allah, for this toothache. Thanks, Val, for sharing! http://www.greensmoothie.com/eat/commit.php
Faiz, my "bestest" friend, mooted the idea of utilising the services of the government clinics. He had done some pretty impressive dental works there and I was convinced. So there I sat early on a Thursday morning, totally calm and serene at a government clinic in Dato Keramat. Within an hour I was done. Great! So I thought.....
I was fine and dandy at the dentist. Fine and dandy when I first got home. Not so fine and dandy about three hours later. My tooth started throbbing. Then it got worse. I started swishing "sole" [brine solution from Himalayan rock salt]. It didn't help much. But I kept doing it all through the night.
I had a golf ball sized swelling the next day. Which made my face lopsided. Looked kinda comical really - I laughed at the sight. I couldn't eat anything that I had to chew. Not a problem with me as I'm one of the world's laziest "chewers" this side of the universe anyway.
Since I couldn't sleep [because I'm, by nature, nocturnal], I decided to prowl the net for natural remedies for toothache. Interesting! To cut a long story short, I came across a website owned by a vegan. Aaaah...this was where I got hooked on gardening. At least, the "thought" of starting a garden of sorts.
You see, I'm one of those "blessed" with "killer" hands. Where gardeners are endowed with green thumbs, mine must be red! I could get a perfectly growing plant [in a nursery] dead within 3 months of it entering my home. Sad really because I love plants. I try to give them love and attention. I actually talk to them nicely too. Given that all my life I was surrounded by beautifully maintained gardens, you would think I would at least have learnt the basics of keeping a plant alive! Alas....
Anyway, this vegan who had serious dental issues before [she turned vegan], grows her own food. I've always wanted to do that. I've always thought that people who grow their own food are so cool. My parents used to do that when I was little. And I remember the times I followed them to pick pumpkins, sweet potatoes, corn, pineapple, avocados...and the list goes on. Mum would give away the extra yield. Some she would pickle, dry, turn into jam etc. It was fun helping her. Once, mum's pumpkin got into the papers - it was so huge!
Another reason that got me hooked was the fact that I simply LOVE vegetable juice and eating raw stuff. Always had. Even when I was a kid. And this woman, Val Archer, promotes vegan diet. Which translates into raw eating of plant foods. My kind of diet! I'm not much of a meat eater. But I do like fish though. I've gone through months without meat. And I like "drinking" my food. Yea...I'm kinda weird!
So I got into thinking that it's about time I seriously put my dream into action.
Hence, right this moment, I'm an avid youtube gardener...with a rudimentary plan.... ;)
Thanks, ya Allah, for this toothache. Thanks, Val, for sharing! http://www.greensmoothie.com/eat/commit.php
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