As the saying goes, you have to repeat your actions, your issues, over and over and f-ing over again until you finally get IT. Until IT, the lesson, sinks into your being fully and completely and you have your AH HA moment. And it’s not until that moment of awakening you realize, all those moments before…the struggling…the suffering…was worth it. Was worth it because now you know. Now you FINALLY know what you want and what you don’t ever want to repeat again. And all those struggles, painful as they may be, make the awakening that much sweeter.
The ever changing, ever present, ever lasting obstacles of life deliciously presented to us all the time. Knocking on our doors to see if we see them, hear them and if so how we react to them. To see if we have changed, grown or need another repeating. And make sure you don’t get too comfortable in your accomplishments of conquering challenges cause the next challenge is right around the corner so you better be ready. Makes life interesting, though. Always exciting. Always shifting. That is, if you choose to see it. Explore it. Embrace it. I am doing just that these days. Have been really for the past 4 months. Embracing with fearless courage and excitement and sometimes patience (I’m working on that one…heee heee) my obstacle rich journey. Finally, interested in excavating why and how and what I do over and over and over again. And ultimately, realizing I have a choice if I want to continue doing what ever it is I choose to continue or not.
My name is V Blakheart or V Blak for short. A name which speaks volumes about what I have become. I am the perfect example of the typical cold hearted, logic base being, better known as a devolving, genetic, bag, sack, a.k.a. A DGBS Flesh Monkie, in Monkie jargon that is. Or if you are a member of the Red Monkie clan, I would be known as a bar bq sauce receptor or a BBSR Light Skin. Being a DGBS, I have lost control of some of my vital organs and yes this includes the freakin heart. Actually, the nano Genetic Mobile Modifier Implant (Gi Plug), targets the heart first. It’s the most troubling and toughest organ to monkify. Hence the Monkies like to get the blood sucker under control, before moving on to easier targets, such as your digestive system, tongue and those pesky organs involved in human self reproduction.
I am breaking my silence today and coming forward to tell you I don’t quite know what is going on. I am feeling something different. I know my Gi Plug is still active and in place. I can see it growing in size with each passing minute, day, and month. Clearly indicating, my progression or transformation into my final form, which if all goes well, will be that of a N.N.B. Monkie (New Nano Brain Monkie). All newly monkied beings start off this way. It’s impossible for the Gi Plug to develop a fully mature L/B. The logic brain simply takes years to achieve its full potential. It’s only after thousands of hours of tapping into the Akashic Field and the sampling of other genetic elements from the beings surrounding ones self, do you achieve the full Monkie L/Brain.
But enough of that and let me get to my point before I lose half of you Fleshies to boredom. The title of this post is, The Freakin Blood Sucker Isn’t Dead Just Yet, We Have A Beat. I know most of you thought I was going to write about the pet flee band, my dog Basil lugs around, but not today, we will get to the White Lies a little later. Today I am writing about my own long believed dead organic blood pumping, emotion emanating organ known as my heart. A post from the heart about the heart, pathetic.
My favorite quote on the issue of being vegetarian, or not. Exactly why I don’t call myself a vegetarian, vegan, raw foodist, environmentalist, or anything-ist.
“I think that people have framed this conversation in absolutes. Either you are or you aren’t. The word vegetarian, I think, does a disservice because there are a lot of people who care but maybe don’t care, or can’t care in an ultimate way. If you think about environmentalism, nobody would ask, “Are you an environmentalist or not?” The question doesn’t make any sense. And the notion that the first time you drive in a car or fly in a plane that you should throw your hands up in the air and say, “Okay, well I give up. I’m not going to try at all anymore,” is crazy. If people thought about food more like how we think about the environment, a lot of people would be eating differently and the whole system would look a lot different.”
Jonathan Safran Foer, from an interview about his book Eating Animals, with Kiera Butler for motherjones.com. To see the whole interview click here. To see his book on Amazon… here.
I get asked a lot if I’m vegetarian, or vegan. I don’t call myself or think of myself that way, even though I eat that way most of the time. Just not 100% of the time. And I don’t like rules. Some people are absolutist about it which is actually admirable, but it’s not what works for me. And I don’t think pushing absolutism onto others is what will change the world. Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
The tale of how Bad Ass Aria, never takes no for an answer, when it comes to reaching a Roma Lover. Well let me back up, let me start by saying, I got my train to Roma. Finally. It was quite an ordeal to get here. On the train that is. I have been challenged with an insane transition back into the real world from my peaceful countryside retreat in Noci. Away from food, wine, espresso, drama, computers, phones, language barriers, crowds of people, obstacles….Ahhhhhhhhh….
So…this is what happened…
The train station is in Bari, about an hour away from Noci. The van dropped me off, with 40 minutes to purchase my ticket, get some water, relax and slowly meander onto the train. I went to the self-serve computer to purchase my ticket but was having trouble. Hmmmmm, what was the problem…. well…the problem was the train seemed to be… sold out. Huh? SOLD OUT?? WTF?
My anxiety immediately started to build. I didn’t even think to buy my ticket in blissed out Noci.! Huh. Okay, pull yaself together. Talk to the authorities. So, I stood in the long ass line to talk to the Italian ticket guy. My turn comes, 25 minutes later. ‘I gotta get on that train. To Roma now.’ I demand. Not only does this guy not speak any English, he didn’t seem to give a shit and he just kept shaking his head, NO.
Well, mister grumpy Italia, I am not gonna take NO for an answer. My lack of speaking this beautiful language will not stop me either from convincing whom ever I need to convince that I gotta get on that f-ing train!!!
My cooking school has ended and now I have a few free days before I go back to Roma to meet my sister who will be joining me for the last two weeks of my Italian journey. Hmmmmmmm…what do I wanna do after a decadent week of abundant food and wine and socializing and lack of sleep…how about a silent retreat and f-ing cleanse! Ha.
I was looking on line at a bunch of different towns and hotels and then, after many searches, I found it: Abate Masseria Resort in the town of Noci. This place sung to me through the computer. I asked Silvestro what he thought about Noci (which means Walnut in Italian) and he said, “Noci? Why would you want to go there? It’s a farm town in the countryside and there is nothing to do.” Perfecto. That’s exactly what I want. Nowhere to be, nothing to see, no one around, no espresso, no wine, not a lot of food, just the sound of birds singing, wind blowing, farmers working, ahhhhhhh… bliss. So I took the train from Lecce north to a town called Bari, got into a cab and drove 45 minutes into the mountains, arriving at Abate Masseria Resort in peaceful Noci.
Last day of cooking school. If I was rocking more sleep (4 hrs last night) these days I would be feeling a bit better but I have not been able to get my beauty sleep this past week. And I am not one to have trouble sleeping soundly. Normally I am out like a light within minutes from my head touching that pillow. But, unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case here. It must be a combination of the haunted B&B I am staying at, the fact that the air conditioning unit in my room is right above my bed so the condensation from the heat f-ing drips on my head when I finally do fall asleep waking my ass back up, the insane amount of mosquito bites all around my right angle, the espressos (yes that is plural!), eating late and drinking like a f-ing alky. Ha! I wouldn’t change a thing though. It’s been wonderfully imbalanced and oh so wonderfully perfect. It’s important to shake things up a bit.
And so today we, of course, are ending this glorious week with a….FISH LUNCH! Oh yeah. Bring back those ‘shit’ eaters. I’m ready…Huh.
We go to the fish market and get the fish. Sticky. Fish markets are very very very stinky! But Silverstro reassures me that the fish were just caught and killed within the hour. ‘Great’, I say with a smile, ‘I’m gonna wait outside’.
Yes, friends, this is almost it. The Awaiting Table is coming to an end. It’s been so lovely but, I gotta tell ya, I am f-ing filled to the brim with food and wine. I need to stop f-ing eating and drinking! Ahhhhh… 1 dinner and 1 lunch to go…I think I can…I think I can…I think I can…okay…twist my arm…. :)
The temperature keeps rising here so we wanted to create the least amount of heat in the kitchen while making dinner. That was the plan anyway. But as you know, plans don’t always go as planned. Somehow I volunteered to make the eggplant over the hot stove. The dish shoulda been called eggplant with essence of Aria from all the sweat I dripped making them. And right next to me, Ted was sweating a big pan of yellow bell peppers and next to him Giuseppe was sautéing a pot of string beans…I mean…come on guys! This was probably the MOST heat we made in the kitchen!
The only thing that wasn’t creating any heat was a classic Leccese dish. It’s basically a bread salad with fresh vegetables. The difference is that they use a local dense hard bread to do it called, Frise Integrali. It’s cooked like a biscotti so it’s very hard and the only way they eat it is by soaking it in water to rehydrate it and then eat/use in recipes when soft. Am I the only one who finds that strange? I mean, why not just keep it soft in the first place? Well, I asked of course, and Silverstro informed me that this particular type of bread has been around for years and originally was eaten by field workers and those who travelled long distances because it doesn’t spoil. So they would pack the hard bread in their bag and when they got hungry travelling along the countryside, or working in the fields, they would forage some wild onions and tomatoes, what ever they could find and soak the hard bread in the fresh stream until soft and managia (that’s eat in Italian)! Well, I’ve tried it both ways and personally, I like it better crunchy. But then again, I’m American, so what do I know… :)
Lets be honest, I am not gonna be eating shellfish when I get back home and if I wasn’t here in Lecce I would not be eating all these ‘shit’ eaters at all. Well…that is what they are! And, as you know, while I AM here, I say… f-it! But I gotta admit, it’s been a wee bit challenging for me. But, I’m doing the best I can with embracing the all the many crustacean meals we are making. And we do seem to be making a lot of them. I mean, we are along the Adriatic Sea and all, where the water is clear and blue and beautiful. It surely looks clean but as we all know, looks can be deceiving so while I am here, it’s better not ta ask or investigate if the Sea is, in fact, clean so….F-it!
Today was an easy peassy fish soup that surprisingly didn’t taste too fishy or was too stinky. Which is kinda surprising cause it’s clams, shrimp, mussels, scampi and cod fish in a pot with white wine, tomatoes, garlic, sea salt, red pepper flakes, fresh chopped parsley, basil and mint. It’s very quick to make. The soup takes, at most, about 8 minutes from start to finish. Thank god for the bread today cause I basically dipped it in the soupy part, avoiding the ‘shit’ eaters as much as I could…
If my life in Italy wasn’t envious enough for you… and me for that matter …I’m gonna break down my days here in Lecce. Around 10am we all meet at the café for our morning espresso drink of our individual choosing. I first started out with an Americano but since it is so freaking hot here I have moved onto the iced espresso with the almond milk I talked about in my previous post. Oh and since I am being so honest with you all, I must admit, my one shot of espresso has moved onto two! It’s a pretty molto bene way to start the day, I gotta say.
So, after we all slowly enjoy each other’s company mixed with the gentle kick from the caffeine, we walk down the road to the famers market and buy all of our fresh produce and ingredients for lunch and dinner. After shopping we walk back to school in the hot summer sun and start our prep to cook lunch. Also, if we are making pasta, we will make 2 different shapes and we’ll enjoy one shape for lunch and the other for dinner.
This is the first time in a long time I have enjoyed eating pasta. It’s fresh and dense and chewy and light and hearty all the same time so less is more, which means you don’t need to eat a mound of it to feel nourished and get satisfied. And since it’s a blend of unprocessed whole grain barley and semolina flours, it gives it tons of fiber, which makes for lovely regularity for this traveler. Sorry…I’m just saying…
Ummmm…before I mention what we prepared, I just want to give a shout out to a very special particular G Monkie who informed me that I am the first and only one blogging on this site who is writing about non-vegan dishes. Thank you for allowing me to share my non-vegan ways!
On our menu it’s actually called the Pumpkinseed and Herb Salad, but otherwise referred to by me as my favorite breakfast salad. I wake up craving this salad. And yes, it’s meant to fix me. I started eating this specific green mix because I was told that I probably need more of the sexy mineral zinc in my system, among other things. I haven’t been feeling well (at all) so this salad is part of my healing plan. My books are all about how raw food makes you feel amazing. I used to feel amazing. Why do I now feel like shit? And how can I admit that? (Doing it now). More on the healing plan as soon as I can find more time to write about it. Back to zinc. Pumpkinseeds happen to be very high in zinc. And so my love affair with pumpkinseeds has been rekindled.
Years ago in another (not raw) restaurant, I put a pumpkinseed salad on the menu: lolo rosso and red oak lettuces, shaved bosc pear, shaved pecorino, toasted salted pumpkinseeds and pumpkinseed lemon dressing. While I love delicate fluffy greens like lolo rosso and red oak, what I really can’t get enough of are kale and herbs. I could eat bathtubs of kale.
So, I started making myself this salad at the restaurant. Kale plus a bunch of parsley leaves, cilantro leaves, and torn mint leaves. Add hempseeds (full of omega-3’s… good for so many reasons!). Then toss the whole thing in a dressing made of pumpkinseed oil and lemon juice, and plenty of salt (ideally Himalayan crystal salt). You can also use a mix of olive (or other) oil with the pumpkinseed oil since the flavor is strong, and good quality raw organic pumpkinseed oil happens to be super expensive. (ours comes from Austria, raw and organic). I love maxium pumpkinseed flavor so I use just that oil and lemon (and salt). Top this green pile with a handful of pumpkinseed macadamia parmesan.
G / Video Okay I have been in search of a spicy raw cashew cheese recipe all day and just came across this video on making a cashew cheese by DeliciousRevolution, First time seeing her.
G / Style Beat the Heat With DIY Ice-Cube Bling You Can Make in 5 Minutes
G / Food how to roast an avocado and what to do with it when you do [5 ingredients]
G / Food Cashew Ricotta Cheese (No Tofu Needed, No Milk Needed) It’s light. It’s fluffy. It’s creamy. It’s ricotta cheese.
G / Style Sustainable fashion at its best. One garment, 20 ways to wear. Check out ecovogue 365′s Butterfli.
G / Food Botanical Recipe: Dill, Grated Cabbage, Red Radish & Sweet Pea Salad
G / Design It’s amazing how easy it is to now go completely leather free, with amazing leather like fabrics by Joseph Noble. They make a range of fabrics with feel better than leather and last longer
G / Food The Ultimate Sausage and Pepper Pizza – RAW It’s Rawfully Tempting!
G / Food Chocolate Fruit and Almond Bark – D E C A D E N T and H E A L T H Y! Sooo Rawfully Tempting!
G / Food The edible cups are made entirely out of agar agar (a gelatin substitute).
Photographer: V Blak
Photographer: Aria Alpert Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
