Would You Rather Be Peaceful or "Right"? ;)

Recently, one reader, Gregory, sent me a very interesting list for some 'alternative' uses for cucumbers, other than eating them (which we have been doing with joy almost every day recently ;)
Here were a few of my favourite cucumber tips from Gregory - I haven't tried to verify any of these yet - I think they're interesting though - lemme know if they work for you ;)

* Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
* Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
* Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
* Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
* Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.
* Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

ENJOY ;)

on August the 13th I embraced:

1 quart water
3 cups goji juice with marine phytoplankton
2 cups greeeeen juice
bowl of yummy daaaaaark cherries
3 cups greeeeeeen juice
2 cups water
shared nori roll meal with Mr. M: *amazing* reed avocado, dulse, sprouts, chopped cucumber and curry-kraut stuffed into nori sheets with kale chip samples on the side, followed by 3tbsp acai powder ;)
2 cups water


It's that time again: voting is ON right now for the 2010 VegNews Veggie Awards :)

You can vote until August 31st on categories such as your favourite veg*n foods, restaurants, chefs, books and so on...AND there are quite a few raw food options amongst the answers to choose from ;) You can also ADD in your own raw-based answers by choosing the 'other' answer option on many of the questions, if you prefer ;)
There are some GREAT prizes on offer too, for those who share their votes, including a global getaway, veg*n foods, books and more...you can get in on the voting at this link HERE - enjoy ;)


on August the 14th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeeen juice
bowl of YUMMmMmmmmmmy dark cherries
handful of fresh figs
2 tbsp spirulina crunchies
2 cups water
random cucumber salad meal with Mr. M and his family - cucumber salad stuffed into nori sheets, followed by 3 tbsp acai powder
mug of herbal tea
1 cup water


on August the 15th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
samples of stone fruit at market, followed by a fresh fig FEAST w/ Mr. M :)
3 cups greeeeeen juice
1 cup greeeen juice
shared nori roll meal with Mr. M: avo, curry-kraut, cucumber slices, sprouts, lecithin and dulse stuffed into nori sheets, followed by sample of vanilla bean living nutz ;)
2 cups water


LOVE, love, LOVE this passage I received by email recently from the Hazelden "Gift for Today" messaging service:

"In every conflict, ask, "Would I rather be peaceful or right?"

The power of detachment, the willingness to choose to be peaceful rather than make every conversation a battleground, is freedom at its very best. There is no mystery in how this is done. It's a decision any one of us can make as often as the opportunity to disagree comes up.

We don't really even have to hope for a more peaceful life. It's ours just as quickly as we make the choice to want something different in our daily interactions. Remember, those who come forth provide us with opportunities for practicing peace."

I *love* this concept of "would I rather be peaceful or 'right'?" ;) I've received the same message before via Abraham-Hicks too...I feel this is such a vital question to ask oneself in interactions with other humans... "would I rather be peaceful or 'right'?"
So many people seem to be remarkably attached to feeling that they are 'right' and/or have 'won' in a situation...yet who is really 'winning' anything, if someone in your context is feeling uncomfortable, unhappy or shamed?
I choose peace, for myself and those around me...what do you choose? ;)

All love and reverberations of delight,
A. Stokes-Monaaaaaaarrrrrrrrch. xxx

It's ALL so YUMMY :)))

OOoOoOOoohhhhhhh, what a LOVELY day it’s been here in Iceland today :))) We went on a wonderful ‘celebration’ trip out into the countryside and it was YUMMY :) It was a year ago today that Mr. Monarch got down on one knee and proposed to me, in England ;) It’s also the biggest ‘Holiday Weekend’ of the year here in Iceland, plus our new friend Eirikur leaves tomorrow for a month-long sea trip…SO, all-in-all it seemed like a mighty fine day to go out for a fun trip together :)

You can see a set of pics from today HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29292390@N08/

We stopped off first at Solheimar, the ecovillage where I first lived when I came to Iceland back in 2001 – we saw the trees that I’d planted back then, visited the greenhouses where I used to help raise cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes, bought stacks of their organic veggies, met some old friends and walked around the gorgeous grounds. It was SO fun for me to be there again :)
Then we went to the legendary ‘Geysir’ area – the original ‘geysir’ that all others were named after... ;) A BEAUTIFUL geothermal area...onwards to Gullfoss – one of the biggest and most aesthetically pleasing waterfalls in Iceland. We wound up the day with a trip to see the fishing boat Eirikur is setting off on tomorrow – WOW – what a different life than most of us are probably used to ;) It was so inspiring to see his sprouting racks and juicer set up on board, truly demonstrating that you CAN eat raw/living foods while travelling/wherever you are, if you CHOOSE to ;) Wonderful...

See our Pics from Today :)

on August the 1st I had:

1 quart water
mug of licorice tea
2 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, fennel, kale, watercress, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, ginger, carrot, parsley
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung bean sprouts, lentil sprouts and coconut chips stirred in and okra on the side. Followed by some goji and pomegranate powders
mug of ‘choco’ tea
1 quart water
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung bean sprouts, lentil sprouts and coconut chips stirred in and fresh okra on the side. Followed by some goji and pomegranate powders
mug of ‘choco’ tea
3 cups water
2 pieces of durian – YUMMMM :)
3 cups water

Ok, so many of you have been writing to ask about ‘energy soup’, ‘choco tea’ and ‘lime swirls’ that I thought it might be easiest to explain what these things are here ;)

‘Energy Soup’
The energy soup I’ve been having daily for the last few weeks is smthg like this, for 2 people:

1/2 a cucumber
1/2 a red or yellow bell pepper
a generous handful of leafy greens: spinach, kale, lettuce etc
little bunch of coriander
a little bit of garlic - maybe half a clove
juice of half a lemon
little handful of dulse
FAT: either 3 tbsp tahini or the flesh of a small avocado
Water or a mix of water and rejuvelac (if you have it) or - maybe 3 cups - abt half way up the blender, once all the veggies etc are already in the blender ;)

Place everything into a high-speed blender, blend and serve ;) We usually stir in some coconut chips, mung beans or smthg similar to chew on ;) ENJOY :)

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‘Choco Tea’
The teas I'm drinking at the moment are nearly all 'Yogi' Teas - from this company: http://www.yogitea.com - LOVE these teas ;)

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‘Lime Swirls’
The lime swirls are smthg my friend makes by blending together (I think) coconut meat, coconut water, lime juice, soaked cashews and a little yacon powder and yacon syrup. Then she puts them in little cake moulds, into the freezer - we can then pop one out whenever we want a sweet treat ;)

Hope that helps ;)

on August the 2nd I had:

1 quart water
mug of choco tea
3 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, fennel, kale, watercress, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, ginger, carrot, parsley
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung bean sprouts, lentil sprouts and coconut chips stirred in and okra on the side. Little bowl of hand-blended yum: tahini, lucuma, maca, cinnamon, yacon, water, with gojis stirred in for chewiness ;)
3 cups water
1 cup green juice: cucumber, celery, fennel, kale, watercress, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, ginger, carrot, parsley
2 cups durian smoothie: blended durian, yacon powder, cinnamon, vanilla, water, with gojis stirred in for chewing
mug of ‘choco’ tea
2 cups water

on August the 3rd I had:

1 quart water
1 cup green juice: cucumber, celery, fennel, kale, watercress, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, ginger, carrot, parsley
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips stirred in and okra on the side. Little bowl of blended yum: almonds, lucuma, maca, cinnamon, yacon, water, with gojis stirred in for chewiness ;)
1 quart water
2 nori rolls stuffed with avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, spinach, sunflower greens, dulse. Little bowl of blended yum: almonds, lucuma, maca, cinnamon, yacon, water, with gojis stirred in for chewiness ;)
mug of ‘choco’ tea
1.5 cups veggie juice: kale, carrot, sunflower greens, alfalfa, lettuce, cucumber
3 cups water

OooooOoOooo, here’s a great opportunity to show some more love for various raw food yumsters... Voting is currently underway for the 2008 Veggie Awards from VegNews Magazine in the US. I’m DELIGHTED to see that there are quite a few raw-friendly establishments and folk nominated in the various categories, such as:

‘Favourite Cookbook Author’ – nominees include Ani Phyo & Cherie Soria
‘Favourite Veg Athlete’ – nominees include Tim Van Orden and Brendan Brazier
‘Favourite Veg Blog’ – welikeitraw.com is one of the nominees

If you’d LOVE to show your support for these raw wonders, you can CLICK HERE to vote in the Veggie Awards. There are around 12 categories in which you get to choose your ‘favourite’. Voting closes on August 31st and you can even win some lovely prizes for yourself too, just by participating (such as a trip to New York ;) – CLICK HERE and enjoy ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx