Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Cycle of Almonds



I've grown increasingly fond of eating and experimenting with raw food that I've recently invested in a dehydrator to broaden the possibilities. I decided to do a whole cycle of almonds starting with almond nut mylk, an easy enough to do project. Just soak 1-2 cups of almond nuts in water overnight. Next morning, drain soak water and rinse nuts (they'll double in size).



Put in blender. Add water a bit above the level of almonds (or more if you want the mylk to be less dense).



Blend and then squeeze mylk through a sieve or cheesecloth or nut milk bag. Store in the fridge or enjoy it straight away with some honey. I made "chocolate milkshake" by blending some mylk with banana, some carob, maca, lucuma and a dash of cinnamon.



The pulp left from the bag I then used to make dehydrated cookies! (even Fra got excited)
The recipe for this was based on raw nut bread but I omitted and added different things (raisins, dried grated coconut, flax seeds, etc) and didnt even bother to write anything down so I'll just have to try it again next time and then repost the recipe. :) Anyway, I made 2 kinds: one huge monster cookie and a batch of smaller regular cookies. The bigger denser one was more chewy. =D And boy was it a full breakfast!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Adamo is born

Towards the last week of June, I've been having contractions by the day. Fra had several exams to complete in University then and was asking baby to wait until after the 1st week of July. I told baby to come when he pleased. July 1st, around 6:30am, I woke up with contractions. Fra wasn't convinced it was the real thing (or maybe he was in denial. hehe) so I waited for several minutes to see if it would reoccur - well, it did and it kept going up until we birthed Adamo around 4:45pm.




It was a long process. In the beginning I was at the birthing tub hoping I'd have a relaxed, ecstatic birth. It turned out to be too relaxing while contractions were getting stronger, longer and the hours just passed by like there was no tomorrow. I tried other positions: standing, squatting, on my back, and finally on a chair - which, towards the end, worked perfectly well. The birthing didn't turn out as relaxed/ecstatic as I wished but it was most definitely cathartic - no tears were shed, not a single drop (up until seeing baby's face, that is) but I did give out the most ferocious sound (primal scream?) that it made Fra say, "you can do it Tausug tribe woman!", referring to part of my father's blood line.



The name Adamo came up at the last minute. It was one of the names Fra suggested months ago - among many others. How it came up at the last moment and how it felt so right, ah well it just did. Adamo, the italian version of Adam, the first man. AD/ad, in latin means to or towards. Amo, in italian means love. Fra's mother Pina, whos also big with esoteric stuff, looked it up further and found out it also means earth. More here. I like looking at situations as if they somehow connect to other things, like the fact that he chose to be born on the first day of July while I was born on the last. Another good friend Patricia, a vedic astrologer, told me that a partial solar eclipse occured on his birthday and at the moment he was born, the eclipse was just about over. She says hes definitely going to be strange (ookk.. hehe), sensitive, and... well, we shall see. :)



Not too long after his big arrival, we were informed that an infection and a health complication came up. This meant staying for a loong 9 days in the hospital. Without communication, I imagined I was having a retreat. Hes all well now and thats all that matters.

The story continues. More pictures here.