Sunday, May 30, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 12 valencia oranges
11:00 . . . 8 valencia oranges
2:00 . . . strawberries, right off the vine (lots!)
4:00 . . . more strawberries
6:00 . . . strawberries + local tomatoes (yes!)
7:00 . . . strawberries

Play: walking/running ~5 miles, dance, stretching

So I finally went to the organic strawberry field and picked my own. I went later this year than usual and the berries seemed sweeter than ever. It was just such a lovely day all the way around . . . very warm and sunny with a cooling breeze. Most of the time I was out there by myself, which I loved. So peaceful and quiet with all the sounds of Nature.

This is what is meant for us, to be picking our fruit right off the vine or trees, eating it warm with the sun and so alive and vital and SWEET. I ate an entire meal right off the vine. One for me, one for the basket. Two for me, two for the basket. I told the nice people that I wanted to pay them extra for all I ate but they wouldn't take it! It's toward the end of the season and they were just happy to have someone there at all. So I got a free meal of the sweetest strawberries EVER. Livin' the fruitarian life. :)

Each berry was so indescribably soft and light and sweet . . . each one literally melted in my mouth. They were like sweet marshmallows with a jammy sugary sweetness and a rich, rich strawberry flavor. Out of this world MAGICAL! The ones right off the vines were the best of all, full of prana. It was really interesting to experience how the ones I ate later were still wonderful, but missing a bit of vitality. It was noticeable, definitely.

So this serves to remind me of how fantastic it would be to really be living the dream . . . eating all my fruit right from the tree or vine, every day. I believe I will fit in one more visit to the strawberry farm before they are all gone. Thank you, Mother Nature. Thank you, organic growers. ♥

I will never forget this day. One of my best fruitarian experiences ever. ♥

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 1/4 watermelon
1:00 . . . 1/2 watermelon
3:00 . . . 1/4 watermelon
5:00 . . . 2 lbs. campari tomatoes
11:00 . . 8 valencia oranges + a few tomatoes

Play: ballet, acrobatics, stretching

Oh, boy. The good watermelons are here. And I feel a great peace and happiness, even more than usual, to know that for the next 6 months, I will have an endless supply of my favorite fruit!

Eating watermelon in hot weather reminds me of my childhood. Not because I used to eat a lot of watermelon, but because watermelon reminds me of Kool-Aid and icy slushees and popsicles, which were my summertime staples. I lived on those during the summer. . . lots of liquidy, fruit-flavored treats. (I knew. I KNEW.)

And the greenery in the above pic are muscadine grapevines. They are growning wild now, all around me. And all because I just threw the seeds from grapes everywhere as I walked around outside, eating my favorite grapes. I have done NOTHING to propogate them. What a fantastic gift from Mother Nature! I get to watch them grow and develop all summer. The grapes will be ripe probably in late August into September. There is nothing better than FREE wild fruit! ♥

But for now I am focused on my beloved watermelon. I am eating some right now! : )

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 1/2 small watermelon
12:00 . . 1 pineapple
4:00 . . . several glasses valencia orange juice + a few dates
8:00 . . . 1 large cantaloupe

Play: walking, dancing, yoga

This is the first whole watermelon I bought this season. It's still early and you can tell it is not of the best quality. BUT I have to say it was crisp and sweet. From here on out they will just get better and better each week.

When one is eating only fruit, the feelings of thirst and hunger are pretty much the same thing. They are not separate. To me it is like a baby drinking only mother's milk for the first few years of life. This one thing takes care of both thirst and hunger. Maybe we came up with two separate words to explain how one must hydrate after taking in dry food and poisonous spices and condiments.

And watermelon is one of the most wonderful thirst/hunger-quenching foods around. I am so happy it is almost watermelon season. Watermelon is the food of angels. ♥

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

8:00 . . . hand-squeezed pineapple juice (SO good!)
12:00 . . several glasses honey tangerine juice
1:00 . . . some local strawberries
3:00 . . . 2 lbs. campari tomatoes + a few pickling cukes
6:00 . . . lots (!) of cantaloupe pieces
8:00 . . . a few dates

Play : ballet and stretching, walking

Yesterday I really felt like a princess with so many super good things to eat. I cannot express how vital and sweet the pineapple juice was. I wanted gallons of it! And the feeling and thought of it stayed with me all day. You just KNOW when you get something your body loves and needs. ♥

And I felt the same with the honey tangerine juice. Like a silky sweet waterfall for my cells. My tastebuds were tingling with happiness.

Eating these strawberries reminded me that the very best strawberries I've ever had were in Costa Rica, grown by an organic farmer. They were sugary sweet! I didn't know strawberries could even be that sweet. The second best I ate last year, right off the vine at an organic farm. I'll be going there again this week for more fruity pleasure.

Yes, it is so worth it to scout out the very best fruit you can find, wherever you are. After a while, you develop a 6th sense about what you need and what is going to be really good quality. All the time and attention and money that I used to spend on complicated recipes and the latest kitchen gadgets and restaurants and on thinking of what I should eat/shouldn't eat (whew!) I now spend on simply finding good fruit. MUCH easier and far more enjoyable and the payoff is THE BEST!

We went to an outdoor wedding yesterday, by a lake with beautiful geese, and it was lovely to be outdoors. Plus they had a huge platter of endless fruit, and I latched onto the melon. I ate many plates of melon and got to talk to people about eating fruit. I love promoting the idea of it and giving my message to the world. It is slow, it is subtle, but I can feel that people are waking up. Me included. There is still so much to learn and understand about this life experience and beyond! :)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 1/4 watermelon
12:00 . . 1 pineapple + 2 champagne mangoes
4:00 . . . 3 cherimoyas
8:00 . . . 12 mandarin oranges

Play: lots of yoga

Wow. These cherimoyas were an unusual treat. Very ripe and sugary sweet. Their taste is really like just pure sugar. SO good. I got them at Whole Foods. And the seeds are really beautiful. I saved them for planting and maybe for making a bracelet.

And I am sad to report that it seems the honey tangerines are indeed on the wane. I'll make one more attempt today to scout some out in a new section of town. I have cleared them out of all the stores around me. Ha!

Fortunately, melon season is upon us, and watermelons will take the place of my beloved honeys. But yes, I am VERY sad to see them go. Not only were they delicious and vital, but they were reliably excellent. I could count on them to be perfect every time. I am very spoiled and picky now about my fruit.

Right now I am also stocked with papayas, mangoes, and cantaloupes. I am buying watermelons already, but they are not yet excellent. Still, it is like welcoming back an old friend. So goodbye to one friend, and hello to another. : )

In my fantasy fruit world, there would be honey tangerines, muscadine grapes, and super sweet and crisp watermelons all year 'round. Plus sweet papayas, mameys, jackfruit, and endless new fruits to try. Sweet heirloom tomatoes and small pickling cukes. Someday. . . some way. . .

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 3 glasses honey tangerine juice
1:00 . . . more tangerine juice (lots!)
3:00 . . . 1 pineapple
5:00 . . . 2 lbs. campari tomatoes + 8 small pickling cukes
6:00 . . . 1 large papaya

Play: dance, acrobatics, stretching

Life is full of surprises. This papaya was the BEST papaya I've ever eaten, and that includes the ones I've eaten in the tropics. It was so good that after one bite I had to take a picture, to remember the moment. Ha, ha.

It was so super sweet and magical that I could hardly contain myself. I probably drove my husband crazy talking about it. I had to thank the papaya, and Mother Nature, and the person who grew it for giving me this euphoric experience.

So naturally I went today in search of more papaya. I brought two home. I'll find out soon enough if they are on par with the other.

In fact, everything I ate yesterday was just SO GOOD. It is hard for peeps to believe that a snack of just tomatoes and cucumbers could be so satisfying and truly delicious. Sometimes I can hardly believe it myself. But once your taste buds become unadulterated and clean and correctly sensitive, the taste of simple foods is outrageously delicious. I love this food in a way that I never loved all the complicated junk.

It has taken me YEARS to get to this place. The place where eating simply seems natural and easy and what I want. I am filled with gratitude. ♥

Monday, May 3, 2010

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . a few glasses honey tangerine juice
12:00 . . more tangerine juice, fresh-pressed
3:00 . . . 1 large cantaloupe
5:00 . . . ~ 20 honey tangerines
7:00 . . . more honey tangerines + 1 lb. campari tomatoes

Play: walking/running outside, dance, stretching

A few days ago I got 8 dozen honey tangerines and they were gone in a couple of days! Between me and my husband they don't stand a chance. And I was thinking that may be the last of them since I bought out the store. Then yesterday I went out urban foraging and found another supply at a different store. So I bought THEM out and got 9 dozen! What a coup! I was in heaven! I guess I'm just going to go around town snatching up the last of the honeys. I have no shame.

This year their orange syrup seems even better than ever. I am blissfully dizzily drunk on their soothing sweet nectar. I feel like a baby drinking mother's milk when I drink the juice. I am in love.

Yesterday I was thinking about how I used to prepare a meal for guests. With a salad + dressing, a vegetarian entree, some bread, and a dessert, there would be like a million ingredients in there! The salad dressing alone had 7-8 ingredients, then say another 7-8 in the salad, probably 10-20 in the entree, 8 in the bread, and another 10 in the dessert. That's around 50 ingredients that the body has to deal with like a chemistry laboratory! Just in one meal! No wonder my brain felt mixed up all the time. : )

Now I usually have ONE ingredient at a time. (Sometimes I go crazy and have 2 or even 3!)

And the one ingredient I currently cannot live without is honey tangerines. I am going to go into mourning when they are gone. I will be like a drug addict in a panic, I fear. Sigh.