Tweet Meet Down by the Bay

Dea came down the first weekend of August to stay with us and spread out a little. She was renting a tiny apartment in D.C. but wanted to show her Italian family some of beauty of the area. I picked them up at the train station and was able to show them farmland. We picked up produce from my local CSA(community supported agriculture) and then went to a local watermen's restaurant. 

The next day we went to my mom and dad's house for an afternoon of chatting,

swimming, kayaking, and sailing.

The tiny specks out on the water are of us 

and our children paddling or sailing little boats.

Dealivinglotus finally gets to meet Blaq Berry.

My hubs is talking with Alien Implant while Enrico takes pictures of the Chesapeake Bay off in the distance. We had raw treats and sweets to share.

Before the sun began to set, we went off to my friend's farm for a carriage ride. My lifelong friend and best buddy, Susie is always looking for an excuse to hook up the Frank-The-Horse for a little schooling. She loaded up my twitter friends and headed on down the road.

A view from the carriage. Waaay Coool!

Dea is "bonding" with Jane. Keep your fingers away from the teeth!

The long driveway. 

The water in the background leads out to my parent's place around the corner.

Frank poses for a picture before we all say our goodbyes.

The last day was a trip to monuments in D.C. I was chauffeur with Dea as my navigator. I'd drop them off at a monument, circle the block or rest in the shade somewhere. Then they'd hop back in the car for another short trip. It seemed to work out perfectly. The bell tower chimed just as we were standing under it. The American flag billowed out just as we were photographing it. My car stopped right under a rainbow to let them out at the cool new National Harbor... My car wouldn't start again. It was stuck in park, in the middle of a busy street, ontop of a crosswalk. I stopped a passerby and as other drivers honked at the car in their way, I had my photo taken, smiling under a rainbow. What else could I do but laugh about it(I did have a little cry about it, too!) The family from Italy had to take a cab back to their apartment and I got a ride home in a towtruck. Well, almost perfect!

Juice on the Road

Day two wasn't bad. I drank one quart while I juiced. I consumed 2nd quart of juice before we left for Ocean City. 

I worried that I wouldn't have enough juice for my road trip so I brought a cooler, with a quart of juice and a quart of water. I had two teens in the car with me, who brought a gallon of water with them, but pointed out fast food places along the way. I finally stopped at a subway after which I was engulfed in smells of meatballs and red sauce as I drank my juice. By the time we were at the Atlantic ocean, I had about 8 oz of juice left. 

I twittered my raw and juicy friends asking for addresses of local juice bars in O.C. with the hopes of replenishing my juice supply before heading back home. While I took care of my business in town, the teens walked down to the ocean. I checked my twitters by cell phone. RawTN was the first to reply followed closely by RawAllison. Thanks to my tweet friends, I was typing addresses into the GPS (just discovered that the Garmin nuvi now comes in PINK! How cute!). In less than a mile, I'd have my juice! 

We got to the "juice bar" and found that it was just a refrigerator at a health club. All they had were bottled juices and sodas. But, as they were giving me directions to another place, one of the employees said, "Your name doesn't happen to be Robin, does it? It turns out that she (Jenny) and I were in early high school together way back when... What? Like, 26 years ago?? I didn't imagine I looked the same, but I guess close enough, because she recognized me. It's funny, because when I first saw Julia Roberts, I thought of Jenny. She seemed so excited to see me.

We stopped by a fishing center on our way out of town and we found a boating shop where I tried to sell the shop keeper on the cruising guide. Next I went next door to the dock side bar and had 2 glasses of orange juice and one glass of grapefruit. The bartender squeezed them as I watched. 

In addition to slamming a few down at the bar, here's a list of what went into second day's juicing:

The sweet juice made 2 quarts.

1 apple

1/2 lb seeded grapes

1/2 watermelon rind with 1/2 inch of pink still attached

2 cups pineapple

1/2 head celery

1 cucumber

1 orange

1/2 lemon

The savory made two quarts.

1 tomato

half head celery

1 giant carrot and it's greens

1 baby onion

1 garlic clove

1/4 lb arugula

1/4 lb butter crunch lettuce

2 handfuls blood beets

2 red radishes and their greens

2 white radishes and their greens

1 sliver of chili pepper

1 cup butternut squash (not much juice from that!)

Gifts for Dad on Mother's Day

I know that usually you would do something nice for your mother on Mother's Day, but we seemed to have it backwards this year. 

My dad has always enjoyed the outdoors. He's kept our family involved in all kinds of water activities from swimming to sailing. He took us skiing and ice boating in the winter months. He was my brother's scoutmaster, our friends' mentor, and an awesome role model of what a dad should be. 

My younger, older brother came down from New York City to visit on Mother's Day weekend. He repaired Pop's little remote sailboat toy and tested it out in the pool.

Later my sister and her hubs arrived armed with hammers, nails and lumber to repair Pop's dock. This made getting around the big boat a little easier for our dad.The youngest ones hammered down nails that popped up over the winter months and willingly ran to get extra tools as needed.
Once the dock repairs were under control, the little wind powered boat came back out to play in the big waters.

Pop's has been a sailing enthusiast all his life. When he married my mom, they honeymooned in Burmuda. They heard a new song (probably Lawrence Welk) and from that point on, it became "Their Song". Since then all of his sailboats have been named Yellow Bird. He seems to be happiest out on his boat. Of course, with one glance at these pictures, you can see why! 

Wednesday Night Racing

Since we had filled Mom and Dad's place with people (like 12?) we felt we should also fill their home with food. I brought my raw offerings to share:

My Guacamole and Raw Tortilla Chips

1 cup ground flax seeds


1 cup corn kernels


1/4 avocado


1/2 cup soaked sunflower seeds


2 TB minced onion


2 tsp minced garlic

1 TB nutritional yeast


1 tsp chipotle powder


1/2 tsp sea salt


water

Blend, adding just enough water to thin

Place on teflex sheet in dehydrator for 4 hours turn over onto screen and give 4 more hours or until crispy.

And using two recipe suggestions thanks to my raw food friends dealivinglotusflower and iheartrawfoods, I whipped up a cherry cheesecake using the ingredients I had in the kitchen:

My Raw Casheesecake

step 1 crust:

-process together:
1 cup raw pecan meal

1 cup raw coconut pulp leftover from making coconut milk


1/2 cup soaked dates (about 6-8 large)

1/4 cup shredded coconut

crust instructions:

-use spring form pan or 8 inch pie pan


-line bottom of pan with thin layer of shredded coconut to keep crust from sticking

-with moistened fingers, press the crust into the pan working up the sides


step 2 filling:

-blend together:


3 cups cashews (soaked one hour in 1/2 cup lemon juice & 1/2 cup water)


3/4 cup raw coconut oil (softened)

3/4 cup raw agave nectar


1/2 vanilla bean

filling instructions:

-blend (in your strongest blender) the soaked nuts with oil and nectar

-this will warm up, don't let it get hot

-pour/scrape mixture into your crust, using spatula to even it out

-put into freezer.

step 3 serving

top with

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

1 cup fruit

serving instructions:

-let sit out for half hour before serving

-either arrange fresh sliced fruit

or 

-lightly process 2 cups fruit with agave nectar and spread over cheesecake after it has set.