My Long Minnesota Weekend

Don't Bring Home the Bacon, Son...
Bring Home the Durian!

Like a good boy, I brought back two durians for my mom.

Never had a Durian? Head for an asian market in your largest nearby city, or do it right and go to SE Asia and eat them FRESH. Durians in the states are likely frozen, but they still taste pretty great. Luckily my mom enjoys them, and even my dad doesnt mind them. This guy lives on Dinty Moore, Doritos, and Grilled-Cheese Sandwiches, so there's hope for all of us still.

I had a great time back home this weekend, and I stayed raw the whole time, easily. My mom recently purchased the Alissa Cohen DVD and Recipe Book, so we had alot of quality time together making AMAZING raw food dishes.
Raw-violi...Pumpkin Pie...Cacao Crispy Cookies (my invention) and my SUPERB Hunza Raisin-Pepita-Hempseed Balls. Oh we did a butternut squash pasta with meatballs made of brazil nutmeat and parsley, along with liquid aminos and garlic. SOOO GOOD.

I made the two hour journey from the airport to my parent's home with my uncle, who was in Minneapolis for business. Whenever he is nearby, he usually comes up and stays over. He purchased a 1.5 acre spot across from my parent's about 5-6 years ago so no one else would buy it and build a house there. He said he would never build on it, and then if my parents ever sold their place, they would sell it as a package.

However, I've come to the realization that this place would be PERFECT for my personal permaculture project that I mentioned earlier. He agreed to sell it to me, and I plan on starting everything next spring. YES! At the moment, I plan on buying a yurt for my housing, and then just develop the land and start planting fruit trees and building the greenhouse and sq. foot gardens. I want to be there about 4-5 months out of the year (May-Oct 1st), but this all depends on where I'm at career-wise.

This is the spot. The woods spread out from each side the the cleared area gets bathed in wonderful south-facing sunlight about 10 hours a day...I want to do all the fruit trees right along the front ridge, and then have the yurt and gardens a little bit further back.

Im really excited for this...and if I sell my spot up in Woodstock, I should be able to do everything pretty easily. This is what I spend my money on. Forget the take-out food...forget the daily coffee...forget the pharmaceutical bills...this is where its at. This is my medicine.

I would like to contact the local school district and have it arranged so local classes can come out and see how everything works. I want to get kids turned on to these ideas asap so they can live more connected and meaningful lives. We should know where our food and water comes from, and where all of our garbage and waste goes. To be ignorant of this is, in my mind, lazy and inexcusable. If I would have had some influential rawfood role-model in my life when I was a kid, I'd be scared to imagine what I could have accomplished already.

Anyways, it was beyond great to see all of my friends again, and despite the weather being pretty bad, we had a great time. I wish I could have stayed up there for the whole week. The wedding I went to was really beautiful, and it was such a joy to see my two good friends exchange vows in front of all their family and friends. I've known them well since 2001 so it was really cool to see them make it all official.

What are your views on modern-day weddings? Do you still appreciate the traditional or is it time to make it more modern and equal? Should young women still wait patiently (OR NOT) until their boyfriends propose? Do you know any woman who has proposed to a man? What about the large numbers of guests? Should we try to make these ceremonies more intimate? You don't want to offend anyone, but when is enough, enough? The wedding this weekend had a great balance of people. I think there were around 150, but it seemed very intimate and close. Any ideas would be appreciated. I think I would get married outside for sure, and try to keep my guest list fairly small. Perhaps the idea of huge wedding festivals are becoming less and less common.

Back to FOOD.

I had a great idea for a smoothie right before I left last Thursday. I had been adding basil to pure coconut smoothies, and found it to be really refreshing...very reminiscent of Thailand.
So I came across some purple basil, and decided to combine them to see what would result. I was thinking that Id get some vibrant purple coconut smoothie.

One Thai Coconut from NYC Chinatown

One Bunch of Purple Basil from Union Sq. Greenmarket

1 tsp of Agave, 1 tbsp of Coco Oil

Blend...blend...blend...and?

Chocolate Milk? Nah...well, it was nowhere near the purple I was hoping for but still tasted great. Live and learn.

Im really getting into Mesquite Powder lately too...such a great flavor.

Next post: Raw Food and my spiritual experiences because of it.

I LOVE reading the comments! Keep it up!

Rawmodel