Cheese picnic night with my two favourite people!

Tea time, the best time of the day....

I have a 1:00 pm crash time. I don't wear a watch and unless I *have* to know what time it is I don't bother with it. I have different alarms set on my iphone that tell me when to get up, go to the bus etc. But, no matter what I am doing or where I am I can always tell when it's 1:00.

I get crabby (crabbier than usual), tired and have an overwhelming need for a nap. So, whenever possible, I set myself up for my 1:00 pm ritual that usually keeps me sane for the rest of the day.

Ahhhhh, a cup of tea, homemade biscotti and a nice read. Honestly, the only thing that could make this better are the days that I can follow this up with a little cat nap in a sunbeam (bliss).

Tea has been an important part of my life since I can remember. Coffee and I have a really dysfunctional relationship, one which I think I have said goodbye to permanently (I hope). But tea- ahhh tea never lets me down. Tea is good when I'm happy, tea is good when I'm sad, tea is good when I'm cold, tea is good when I'm hot.

I remember years ago, I had a benign tumour in my neck (but we didn't know if it was benign at the time) and went to see a specialist in downtown Calgary. After the appointment my Mom said that since we were right at the Palliser Hotel that we should go and have a cup of tea. As we sat down Mom made some comment to the effect of what "Copithornes" we were being - here we were in a crisis and the first thing we did was run off for a cup of tea.

Another "Copithorne" tea cures all memory I have is of my Grandma. She had fallen and was in the hospital getting x-rays. She was pretty banged up and was quite a wreck. The doctors were worried about her beyond just broken bones too. They had her in the examining room and Grandma started asking for a cup of tea. They denied her saying that they needed her to stay there and have these important tests done on her to make sure she was ok. She kept on persisting that she would be ok if only she could have a cup of tea. After a while of this back and forth the doctors relented and let one of us go get her a cup of tea. As she sipped her tea, you could see her visibly calm down. Did it mend her broken bones? No, but it sure mended her spirit.

Tea as a cure all for what ails you!

I have to admit though, that some cups of tea are just a little bit better. Today I'm having one of my all time favourite cups of tea. Lavender tea from Murchies in Victoria, British Columbia.

When I was a kid, my parents used to take us to Vancouver Island for our vacations. Eventually they bought their retirement home near Sidney, BC. I have many fond memories of the Island, high among those are my trips to Murchies.... often followed by a trip to Rogers Chocolates. Hence my obsession with tea and chocolate I suppose.

Getting Murchie's tea in Calgary used to be somewhat of a challenge. One made a bit easier by the fact that my parents still were making annual treks out to the Cedarwood Inn and Suites. Then we moved to Montreal, but I was smart and brought along a stash. When we moved to Rhode Island, I learned to scrounge for boxes of tea (because I'm sure no one would miss them lol) when I would go home. Finally, my parents just started buying tea for me for Christmas to ensure their stock was not depleted too badly on my trips home. Last fall, I had a good friend visit me in RI from Victoria. She kindly brought me some Lavender tea which I have been thoroughly enjoying - although I am learning to use it sparsely.... it's getting close to running out. I guess I'll have to start getting it shipped to Virginia!

It's a cold rainy day, and honestly I can't think of anything I'd rather do right now than go enjoy a nice warm cup of tea and my biscotti. If I turn away I can ignore the massive stack of laundry behind me. If I turn off the lights, I can't see that the floors need to be cleaned. I can focus on my comforting cup of tea and enjoy the bliss of silence and calm it brings me.

Namaste.

Apple Crisp from Kripalu puts a little love in my heart

One of my favourite places on earth to go is Kripalu. I was incredibly fortunate when we lived in Rhode Island that it was only a 2 1/2 hour drive away. Over the course of the 4 years we lived there I was able to make the drive to the Berkshires 4 times. Now that we are living in southern Virginia, it would be more like a two day drive, so I am trying to bring a little Kripalu to my mountains here every chance I get.

If you have ever been to Kripalu then you know that the food there is out of this world. I always love learning about the many vegetarian options. Even my meat loving family (myself included) love the new recipes I come back wanting to try. So when I saw Kripalu's recipe for apple crisp come up on my twitter feed yesterday I knew I had to try it.

I was a little nervous because the recipe called for 1/2 cup of maple syrup. I'd had a recipe a few months ago that used up a lot of my maple syrup (the recipe was not from Kripalu - I don't even remember what it was from - obviously I have blocked a bad memory) and the recipe was terrible. Maple syrup to me is like gold. We lived in Quebec for two years and got a taste of what really, really good maple syrup should be. Whenever we have someone from Quebec come visit us we ask for them to cart down some syrup. The most recent friends who visited us own a restaurant and brought us a jug of the stuff unlike I had ever seen before.

(Even though I'm Canadian, I don't actually drink maple syrup by the glass - but it was the closest thing I could find to show a size comparison!)

 You have not lived until you've been at a cabane à sucre- but I digress....

I had all the ingredients - even spelt flour if you can believe it! And the kids were asking for dessert. Dessert in our house is saved for special occasions like birthdays, holidays or any time mom has a craving for something sweet.  Last night was definitely a sweet night.

We came home late from the Y and everyone was starving. I thought I was probably going to be out of luck, that there was no possible way I could throw together an apple crisp on top of trying to get supper into the oven, get the kids fed and get to bed at any decent kind of hour.

The apple crisp took under 5 minutes for me to prepare. Then it sat in the oven for 30 minutes, I had to uncover it and then it stayed for another 10 minutes. It was done just in time for us to enjoy it in our pyjamas with a nice hot cup of tisane.

Kripalu may no longer be "just down the road for me". But I'm trying every day to bring a little Kripalu to our lives. I may not have the wonder of the Berkshires to look at, or the peace that the entity of Kripalu instills in my soul, but the view from my back yard is none to shabby....

We are working at bringing a little *om* to our lives. Kripalu always puts a little love in my heart (and last night my belly too!)

Roanoke Natural Foods Coop. Good to be a member!

I love our local Co-op. We were lucky to find out about the Co-op while we were here house hunting -  so it's been part of my grocery shopping circuit since the get go. I love all the local dairy, meats and produce that are available there. And the bulk food aisle has become an important part of filling my pantry.

But, it's not just the *things* I can get there that I like. It truly is a community Co-op. Last Sunday they brought their community together for an owners' cookout (I still want to call it a BBQ - but BBQ means something entirely different here than it does where I come from). The Grandin area was the first real introduction to Roanoke that I had back in April when we were house hunting. We were in the area on Earth Day and spent a wonderful spring day walking up and down the street enjoying the festivities.

I was not sure exactly what to expect. But, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day, and history had taught us that chances were we would have a lot of fun -  so the kids and I thought "why not?"

We went early so they could play at the playground across the street. They always have fun at that park and usually it's a struggle to get them to leave. But, after a while the smell of the grill made its way up the hill and got our stomachs growling. This time the kids were pestering me to leave the park so they could go down to the Co-op parking lot.

And why not? Along with the wonderful smells there was music!

Of course since we were there so early we had to get a seat and a drink. Right across from where they were cooking and beside the band. The best spot according to the kids!

We didn't notice the line start to form. A bunch of happy people waiting their turn for some grub!

Jenna took one look at the grill and said "Mom, that's big enough to cook a bear on". Have I mentioned we had a bear problem at our house?








There was a fun lady who did caricatures while we waited.

She picked up on Jacob's big head. I told him his big head almost killed me!!!

Jenna's turn

Pretty accurate don't you think?

Here were our menu options. Pretty decent selection don't you think? Grass Fed Beef!!! Love it!

And the grill full of food (no bear)

Here was my meal. Beef burger, green salad, pasta salad and a cookie. You were supposed to get only one salad, but Jacob made a salad error so I got his too. :-)

Nothing else to do but enjoy the good food, fun people and wonderful evening!

What a party they put together. This was free to members.
Thank you Roanoke Natural Foods Coop!!!

Anderson Cooper.....who is the disordered eater?

I have admired Anderson Cooper for years now - ever since he was a host on the show The Mole. Ok, let's be honest, I thought he was hot, so it made me watch the show. But, then I discovered he was not only a reality TV host, but actually quite a respected CNN news reporter. The fact that he is a Vanderbilt is an added bonus.

I have watched him throughout the years. Recently when Hurricane Irene came roaring up the East Coast, I watched him report from NYC. I learned more that morning about hurricanes than I had my entire life. I actually commented to my husband that if Anderson Cooper had been my math and science teacher, I probably would have gone much farther!

So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to hear that he was starting a daily talk show. I have been lucky enough to catch it a couple of times. One of those shows was titled: Anderson's Food Intervention where he discussed the peculiar diets some people (himself included) have. There were two ladies on the show who pretty much live on potatoes, or some form of potato.

The true tragedy for me was to discover that Anderson Cooper himself has an issue with food. He was told it's not an "eating disorder", but rather he has "disordered eating". As in, he really could care less about food and would be just as happy drinking a protein drink for every meal.

What?

He showed us the interior of his fridge which was pretty much filled with some pop and some sausages. He said he only had the sausages since it was the only thing he knew how to cook. Good thing he's rich!

Anderson Cooper went on to say that since he does have to eat, there are only certain things he will eat - about 4 things I believe. Egg whites, some dinner from the Boston Market, those sausages, and something else I can't remember. He does not like vegetables and had never had spinach.

I don't understand how he made it through his childhood never being forced to eat spinach - or something like that.

I have two childhood memories of being forced to eat food. One good, one not so good. My mom likes liver. Liver still makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I have a memory of sitting at the dinner table with the gross slab of liver on my plate and a huge mound of ketchup. I was not allowed to leave the supper table and go to my soccer game until that darn liver was cleaned off my plate. It still makes me want to cry, and no I still don't like liver.

On the other hand, we had a British lady who used to help look after us and she liked Brussel sprouts. It was much the same scenario - me crying at the table and her telling me I had to finish them. She did tell me that if I ate them often enough I would grow to like them. As it turns out, I now love Brussel sprouts.

(by the way, it's not like the Brussel sprouts were better prepared. Both the liver and the Brussel sprouts were nasty. But, I learned to bake Brussel sprouts and they're super yummy like that).

The point is, I think it's important to be open to trying new foods. To give Anderson Cooper credit, he did eat spinach on this show for the first time. Hated it, but he did eat it.

Here's where I was dumbfounded during this show. I *got* that his food issues were weird. I mean, being so picky - that's weird, right? But, then he went on to ask the therapist: well, what about those people who spend all their lives thinking about food? I know people who are either planning what to eat, eating, or thinking about what they just ate.

Well, the therapist said that's also a form of disordered eating.

What? I'm a disordered eater? I thought that was normal. What on earth do the rest of you do with all the hours in the day if you're not thinking about food?????

The therapist said that "these people" use this mechanism to block unpleasant thoughts. They think about food instead about worrying about bigger problems.

And the problem with that would be?????

*by the way, I just ate a pizza on an Ezekiel flatbread with leftover roast, onion confit and some sharp cheddar. I followed it with some yummy chocolate and a cup of tea. Supper I'm not sure of yet, but you can bet I'm thinking about it!!!*