Goodbye Spring.

Happy solstice! In honor of the summer solstice, I said a farewell to my beloved spring vegetables last night. Fava beans and english peas, goodbye.

After work on Saturday night, there was fresh pappardelle and trenette left over that I stocked up on. I went to the market the next day and bought about 3 pounds of favas, definitely leaving few for anyone else, sorry! I made the fava bean puree one last time and took it to my friend's birthday bbq. Big hit! I made sure to stash some favas for myself, so I could make my last spring veggie pasta of the season.

I don't cook with favas very often. This was actually the first season that I ever had - I was always intimidated by them. But whoa, they are definitely now one of my favorites. And, super easy, just need a lot of love and time to prepare. So, since I am new to the fava world, I decided to cook them very similar to how they are done for the puree. Except, I doubled the mis en place (but used half the olive oil), added shallot, used far less favas, and obviously, didn't puree them. And, I added yummy english peas!

I reserved about 3/4 cup pasta water and added it to the fava and pea mixture.
Garnished the dish with some Pecorino Ginepro. nom nom.

Now, it's time for lima beans...

Paige, is that ayurvedic?

My dear friend Matthew, who I work with, constantly questions the ayurvedic lifestyle that I am experimenting with. He is always behind me, asking if what I am putting into my body is ayurvedic. It's a torture method to get under my skin, but he does help remind me to ask myself that question... constantly. So, thank you Matthew, for your snide reminders :)  And, no ice cream is not very ayurvedic.

But! I love ice cream so so much. My mom and I would go out for ice cream all of the time. She is always reliable to have at least one flavor (sometimes four!) in the freezer. There is a great old fashioned soda fountain in South Pasadena that reminds me of my childhood. It is called the Fair Oaks Pharmacy. Malts, banana royales, Rickey's Phosphate, egg creams, burgers, fries, I was obsessed.
I came across another old fashioned soda fountain, Soda Jerks, that used to be in Pasadena, but now relocated to the Santa Monica Pier. I worked at their old location in high school, and my love for ice cream really became intense. I would make milkshakes for breakfast, literally. Soda Jerks serves Fosselman's Ice Cream, which in my opinion is the best.

Needless to say, I really love the whole idea of old fashioned soda shops. It reminds me of the scene in The Music Man, when Professor Hill and Marian are in the ice cream parlor. A movie that my father introduced to me as a child and remains one of my favorites.

Being in Colorado, I have learned that people do not seem to share this same infatuation for ice cream. There are some great places, don't get me wrong, but an old fashioned soda shop is hard to come by. Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went on a drive to the little town of Lyons, to try out their ice cream parlor. Lyons Soda Fountain & Bakery was delicious and well worth the drive. I had a strawberry ice cream soda, "Soda in the Hay" and my boyfriend, Matthew (different Matthew than above!) had a banana royale. We will definitely be returning. And, they have patty melts - one of my favorite pre-vegetarian meals.

There's Matthew and I in the mirror!

I made Matthew get Mallo Creme on his sundae - yum!!

I think it's safe to say that I am desperately missing California. So many of my posts relate back to my childhood and places I love in L.A. - mostly revolving around food, but it's where I fell in love with food!

Eccentric Artists' Gardens

Poor me: living in my little studio in an alley, with no yard of my own. I have quite a few indoor plants to make up for my lack of yard, but it's just not the same! I want to sip my prosecco and eat my olives, surrounded by lush greenery. Since that is not the case, I decided to go on a garden tour of the eccentric artists around the little town of Boulder. It was so lovely! These gardens are a true expression of their inhibiter. It was a great way to spend a warm afternoon.

I just love this view: water-stained glass, weathered wood, bright sunlight. This picture was taken, looking out from Rebecca DiDomenico's greenhouse.

I complimented the woman who owned this home on her array of umbrellas. She had four or five of them overlapping one another. I could have sat there in the shade all afternoon. She told me how she used to be sad and hard on herself, because she couldn't afford a gazebo, so she saw the umbrellas as the next best thing. These umbrellas were one of my favorites on the tour. They made her yard so inviting and comfortable.  How refreshing and beautiful to live within your means.

This gate!

in a year. (in a nutshell.)

I started drinking sea veggies, just over a year ago. Yes, drinking.

I was asking my yoga teacher, Julie (lots of thanks to the inspiration in my life goes to Jules), what this drink called Body Balance was all about. It is sold at the studio, and I had tried it, but just had no idea what it was. She just so happened to be attending a Body Balance conference the upcoming weekend and asked if I wanted to join her. I accepted, having no idea what I was getting myself into.
Julie works for Life Force Int. and the conference was a very in-depth meeting of their amazing and beneficial products. I learned a lot about sea vegetables, to say the least. I also heard some inspiring stories about how this drink has really saved people's lives: removing cancer, treating depression, weight loss and increased energy.

But, seriously, look into sea veggies. The amount of nutrients that comes from these plants is crazy! Calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, iodine, Vitamins A, B, B2, B6, B12, C, folic acid, niacin... to name a few! Even my ayurvedic book talks about how great they are. But, if I am looking from a Pitta perspective, I should have them only occasionally. Quick interjection: speaking of a Pitta perspective, I took another dosha quiz and it seems like my dosha is changing a bit; I could possibly now be a Pitta Kapha?! Does that mean that I am balancing out a bit more?? Does that mean that I am unbalanced even more? I must do some more reading. Anyways, so yes, I now drink Body Balance, which also has aloe vera in it, which is incredibly rich in nutrients/minerals/amino acids.

All that being said, about three weeks after I started drinking my sea veggies, I decided to stop eating meat. And, by stop eating meat, I should say that I significantly decreased my intake and changed which types of meats I was eating. This all came about from my ayurveda experiments. As a Pitta (if that really is what I still am?!), a purely vegetarian diet is recommended, but I can have chicken, venison, rabbit, and turkey, if I am going to eat meat. Tough change in my life! Being totally obsessed with food, I used to be the type of person that would put bacon into everything, overload on seafood when I would go back home to California, and yeah, you get it. But, now I like to think that I am obsessed with food in a totally different way: a way in which I use food to benefit my body, soul, and mind. Yes, I'm still working on doing that all the time - my chicken wing binge still plays a very avid role in my life. BUT, I'm working on it. Good.

Okay, so with the B.B., the "vegetarian" diet, wow, I feel so much better! I have noticed how easy it is for my body to digest food. My weight doesn't fluctuate like it used to, and I lost weight. My energy levels have definitely increased.

It's strange for me to say, but Body Balance really did change my life. It inspires me to take care of myself. It helps me take care of myself.

xo.

snack time

butter. 

veggies, blanched, then slightly sauteed with lemon, butter, salt and pepper.

Toast, ricotta, veggies.