The best thing I have ever made

http://www.choosingraw.com/raw-spinach-burgers/comment-page-1/#comment-88208

When I was in Hong Kong, I ate out at a raw restaurant.  I was disappointed, for being just veggies it sure was a heavy meal.  I ordered a raw vegan burger and fries with high expectations.  I could only eat about half of it, and I had the sinking feeling I had unknowingly just ate 2000 calories.  At least that's the criticism I hear about raw food restaurants- disregard for calories in favor of making raw food exciting for non-raw people.  Today I was thinking it would be nice if I could revamp that meal.  I was already dehydrating stuff, so I started hunting for recipes.  I found the website above, it's totally new to me, but I have now bookmarked it as a favorite.  The food isn't all raw, so I thought I would share.

So the raw burger recipe is pretty simple, pulp from the juicer, spices and nuts, pulverized in the food processor and then dehydrated for 8 hours or so.  The recipe calls for spinach pulp, but I didn't have that.  I juiced parsley, cilantro and carrots and then used walnuts instead of sunflower seeds.  I had to cut the recipe in half because I didn't have enough pulp, and now I'm wishing I'd doubled it. 

For now I'm dehydrating by putting my oven on the lowest temperature (170) which is too hot.  I'm looking forward to buying a proper dehydrator in the January sales, even with the sales it's going to be an investment.  I'm also toying with the idea of buying a used video camera and starting my own youtube channel.  I knew that the channels I watched were somehow making money with every view, but I didn't really know how or how much.  The blog The Simple Dollar recently spelled it all out and the math was pretty surprising.  I'm tempted to give it a shot.  I'm thinking of posting videos of my smoothies, juices and raw food stuff and make a bit of extra banana money on the side.  I think I'd need to clear it with 'the work' first.

Just like I'm 10 years old

Hi!

I just called in sick, it sucks, but you all benefit from an unscheduled blog post. 

So on the "diet" front, I stuck pretty close to the 80/10/10 low fat fruitarian way of eating since vacation.  (Side note- while on vacation I hit my realistic weight goal.  My unrealistic weight goal remains not even in sight).  At first I struggled with hummus withdrawal, but once over the hump, I found most days I was actually eating around 5% fat when I could have been eating roughly double that.  But then I also have had a few days totally off plan.  I had a couple of days when I ate a lot of rice because the fruits and veg in town were awful or too expensive.  Since then my stomach has been really upset.  I figured it was sushi sickness- the sickness my sisters experience immediately after eating rice. I thought if I went back to my usual diet, it would go away, but it didn't.  It was also about this time that I ate fruit at my staff breakfast party.  It dawned on me this morning, that maybe my real issue is that I got glutened from that breakfast.   I haven't been glutened in more than a year, I had a good run.

This morning I was getting out of my pj's and into some comfy I'm-staying-home sick-clothes.  I recently went through all my clothes and got rid of a bunch of clothes that were too big.  I also found some new clothes that I had never worn or had forgotten about.  Today I'm wearing a Camp Olave t-shirt that I got when I was a Brownie.  I think I was 9 or 10 years old when I got it.  I always liked it and now I'm really glad I kept it.  I didn't ever think I'd be able to wear it again though!  Thrilling. 

Note to self, figure out how to undo the "take a crappy picture" setting on your iPhone.

Bad customer service from Shaw Cable

This was going to be an angry, ranting post about my hatred of Shaw cable.  I'm over it now (okay, not totally over it).

Earlier this week my internet/cable promotion ran out, and I was offered a better deal by telus.  I had tried to make arrangements almost a month ago to end my service, but was talked out of it  by the phone reps.  I was told I didnt need to do anything until the day my promo ended and I would be billed for 2 additional days.  Long story short, 3 different phone reps gave me wrong information, which has landed me with a bill for over $100 for internet and 6 days worth of cable.  I was angry that had I done as I originally wanted, I would have owed a lot less.  I called in to complain, and got a really argumentative woman who at first wouldn't let me speak to a supervisor until I finally insisted.  The supervisor was not helpful either.  I was really surprised that he would not honour what the previous employees had told me.  Instead he insisted I was wrong.

My original plan was to switch to the competitor for a couple of months until Shaw offered me another promotion to return.  I had never had any sort of problems with Shaw up until now.  I had been with them since 1998, and expected them to apologise for the confusion, and make it right.  Instead I am a disgruntled customer who will not return.  I was going to file a formal complaint with the commissioner for telecommunications and the BBB, but I decided it wasn't worth the mental anguish.  Shaw cable is rated "F" with the BBB, so I assume they have no interest in responding to the complaints they receive.  And really, it's not about the money, I just wanted an apology, I didn't want to be told I was a liar. 

Shaw cable, you have won the award for the worst customer service I have received in my entire life.  Chester, supervisor at Shaw cable, I will not be sending you a Christmas present, and from now on my code word for asshole will be Chester.  "Stop being such a Chester"  "He looks like a real Chester".  It works, don't you think?

It's all her fault

Yeah, I know it's been too long between posts, and I have other things I could be blogging about.  I just haven't been into blogging. 

The picture seems a strange assortment of things.  They all things that my cat has broken or stolen in the last couple of days.  Feathers and a match stick she found... somewhere and brought inside.  Maybe on my balcony?  She broke the bell that they ring to go out on the balcony.  She ripped off the jewel from Ella's latest artwork.  She chewed in half my latest piece of jewellery.  It was piece of coral that I found in Thailand and wrapped in silver wire to make it into a pendant.  I just finished making it yesterday, and was really happy with it.  And finally, she found where the baseboard was loose in a closet, and took it.  It took me a while to figure out where it came from.  I've put it back a few times, but she just goes back and gets it again.  If cats were able to be in search and rescue, she'd be great at it.

All these little things that she finds are gifts I guess?  It made me remember when I was 3 or 4 putting on my snow boots only to find the cat had put a dead mouse inside.  I guess if she can't hunt mice, she''ll hunt for loose baseboards and match sticks.