Sunday, September 23, 2007

Going to New Zealand-FOR REAL!

I am at the airport. 2 minutes ago, the agent at the ticket counter told me that New Zealand doesnt accept my visa! What? After a few minutes, they figured that the embassy here spelt my last name wrong and they had to override the visa system....After the check in, I went to the passport control and the police stopped me since I didnt pay the tax for going abroad. I totally forgot about it since in the last 7 years, I was working in the US. My sister was all excited that I was going to cancel the trip and stay with her!

I paid $15 to go out for vacation and all is good now, I am going to Dubai, staying there overnight, complements of Emirates and then flying to Australia and then to Auckland. Many hours of flight but totally worth it...I am going here and then here.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Cafe Fernando

Cenk and his blog, Cafe Fernando , made it to Hurriyet, one of the most read newspaper's in Turkey. His blog is amazing as well as his  food photography. Check it out!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Going to New Zealand

is so difficult, for the last two weeks I have been trying to get a visa from the NZ consulate. The amount of documents, the details they ask for is incredible and the money we spent to get everything done is close to a Istanbul-Europe ticket. I am not even counting the time and the energy my dad spent to get everything done, including a trip to Ankara since New Zealand doesn't have a consulate in İstanbul. And today I got my visa! Super happy! For only ten minutes. First they told me only today that I have to get a visa from Dubai, since I have a stopover there but it is an easy visa, you can get it at the airport...Then the bomb dropped. I also need a visa from Australia. What the F? I could not believe it, I don't even have a stopover in Australia. Apparently, I need a transit visa for going over their air space. Can any sane human being explain me the logic behind this?
 
In the end, my flight is on Sunday. I already bought the ticket, the embassy doesn't work Fridays and I have one day to get the visa. It will happen if its meant to be, if not, I am going to be sad, really sad!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Vegan Baking and Flax Seeds

I have learned to veganize any recipe by simply getting rid of the eggs and replacing them with delicious, nutritious and cheap flax seeds. In traditional baking, you need eggs for binding and texture but not for the taste, who wants eggs with their lemon cake? So, even if you are not vegan, take my advice, 1 tablespoon of flax seeds (whole flax) and 3 tablespoons of water equals to one egg. My famous banana bread have up to 4 flax-eggs and it still works perfect.

You can add the flax with water in a blender and continue adding your wet ingredients for even mixing. It also works great with recipes that need oil...Since we are baking vegan, go ahead and drop that butter and add some canola oil...Oatmeal cookies, breads, muffins, pancakes, even FRENCH TOAST!

Why are they good for you?
Flaxseeds are known as Linum usitatissimum, meaning "most useful." They are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, protect against cancer, help healthy digestion, control against high blood pressure, are great for skin, add shine to your hair and sooo much more!



Monday, September 17, 2007

Strange

Flickr blog has been suspended for Turkey...No access from here, so strange, has anyone know the background?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmum/1239630250/

For Healthy Thyroids

I have thyroid disease and I stopped taking the medicine a year ago, a decision I made on my own thinking I can cure myself eating naturally. This wasn't a very good decision and now I am back taking the medicine again. However, I am doing a lot of research and found this information from Andrea Beaman. Thyroids are so vital for your energy and overall health. So, check this out. I eat a lot of soy, almost all the cruciferous vegetables (see below for the list) and no yogurt or miso. Instead I should have I wish I knew this before!

"Foods that can contribute to enhanced thyroid health include natural unrefined, non-iodized sea salt.  Sea salt contains an abundance of minerals and trace minerals imperative to overall health.  "Iodized salt" (common table salt) focuses solely on iodine and neglects the balancing minerals and trace minerals, and can disrupt the body's natural process of absorption.

Sea vegetables can benefit the thyroid because they contain high concentrations of calcium, iron, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, zinc, magnesium, copper, chromium, vitamin A, vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6, manganese, iodine and more.

The thyroid takes in iodine and combines with tyrosine (amino acid) and is converted to T3 & T4.  A lack of tyrosine can lead to depression.  Natural sources of tyrosine include meat, fish, wheat, oats, almonds, lima beans, pumpkin and sesame seeds, and fermented foods like miso and yogurt.

Some common "healthy" foods can contribute to thyroid dysfunction. For example, goitrogens inhibit the body's ability to use iodine, promote goiter formation and act like anti-thyroid drugs.  Foods from the Brassicacae family (cruciferous vegetables) and others, contain these goitrogenic compounds: broccoli, cabbage, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, cauliflower, watercreass, brussels sprouts, radishes, turnips, bok choy, arugula, daikon and rutabaga.  Goitrogens are deactivated by HEAT.  These specific foods needs to be COOKED (most often). 

Fermented soybean products, a healthy staple (in small quantities) in many Asian cultures, include tempeh, miso, shoyu, natto and tamari.  In America we've mass produced the soybean without properly fermenting it to release the antinutrients contained within, and it has become an unhealthy "health" food.  Improperly processed soy products have been linked with thyroid disease, digestive disorders and many other illnesses."

For more information continue reading on Andrea's site.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Ice-cream machine that sucks!

Hmmm, future holds not much freedom, even with our ice-cream! Check out the "Voice-stress ice-cream dispenser". The machine is programmed to serve more portions for sad. The spaceship to the moon will certainly have one of these and what will be next, a machine that tells you what flavor you need when you are sad???? I want my chocolate, no matter what, when and how sad I am.


Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Montezuma Film Festival

Organico is the official restaurant for the International Film Festival in Montezuma! I am so proud and excited! It starts in November 1st, please come by and say hello!

Friday, September 07, 2007

Tomas Sanchez

I discovered Tomas Sanchez at Maria and Jorge's house. They are amazing art collectors, and know him personally. He is a Cuban artist, his work is truly breathtaking, the paintings are so peaceful and meditative. I can look at these all day long.

http://www.remediosvaro.biz/tomas_sanchez.html

He has a book on Amazon as well...

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

from Amsterdam

The noodle place at the Airport is fantastic. Very small place, they
have only 6 items on the menu, one vegetarian. I am going to do this
dish at Organico. Noodles, wakame, snap peas, corn and sprouts. It is
so good and easy too. I am already considering to have the same soup
for dinner too. I am here at the airport for 10 hours and it is about
enough time to go through the stores and catch up with the new
technology. 7.2 meg digital cameras on sale? Wow!

I am going to pass on dinner though, I realized the soup costs 14
Euro, about 17 dollars, what??? This is sooo expensive, This might
explain the huge line at McDonalds upstairs, People rushing over for
cheap and tasty plastic.

I am heading over to duty-free to buy my dessert, Smarties! Yes, my
all time beloved Smarties, next to a huge M&M stand, M&Ms are just too
fake next to Smarties. Sigh!

Sunday, September 02, 2007

a beautiful day

I went to pick up my passport to the DHL office. There was a nice song on the radio and I asked the guy if he knew the song. He said his name was Mana and he could make me a copy of the CD. I could not believe it, random stranger offering me to make a copy of the CD. Such a nice heart and too bad I was leaving next Tuesday. In a few moments, I even imagined going to the store and buying the CD- totally pre-paid for the CD-mentally:)

To my surprise, he said he can make it by Monday and give it to me if I am in area! I was so touched! You have no idea how much sleep I lost over good friends telling me to go and buy CDs. So once again, life is really worth enjoying every moment, and not knowing what is in the corner and the beautiful connections we make with each other. Exciting and juicy! So, be happy! Speaking of juicy, I had the most weird vegetable for dinner last night. It is called here "horse balls" and tastes like cow brain. Apparently it was good for the liver but I could not eat it, very rare that I don't like a vegetable. Karl didn't eat it, either and it made me feel better:)

It is T-2 days before I go home, but my mom today told me that I will be home Thursday. I am leaving Tuesday and it is taking me 2 days to get home. I have 10 hours of a wonderful wait in Amsterdam. Anyone wanna meet me there? I can bring cookies!

Jai Uttal and Plastic Dog Bamboo!

Nataraja from Jai Uttal is the my favorite song ever. Dagmar introduced me to this wonderful song a couple months ago and I can't go to bed without listening to it over and over again.

I woke up to a beautiful morning and found my favorite one of a kind flip flops eaten by Bamboo! We used to make fun of him and call him "plastic dog" (because when Kati and Mark found him, he was almost dead on the street and Mark thought he was a toy, hence plastic toy) and now he really is a plastic dog. You are what you eat Bamboo! I am so disappointed.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Watch out for Raw Almonds, they are about to disappear!

It is getting more and more difficult to live on healthy food. Now, raw almonds are about to disappear. This is very serious and I am not sure how many people are aware of the problem. It is sickening how the government is controlling what the people eat. Almonds are so good for you, maybe you might become healthy and be a threat to the community.

"The FDA has taken it upon themselves to say that from around Sep 1 2007 all almonds in the USA, Mexico and Canada can no longer be raw. While they will still be labelled 'raw', they will be 'pasteurized'. Some will be pasteurized with steam but many will be treated with a carcinogen Propylene Oxide."

We get the almonds from the States in Costa Rica and good thing I am going to Turkey, so I will stock up but in the long run, I just have to find a way to grow them here, or export from home.

http://www.relfe.com/07/raw_almonds_banned.html

In the meantime, go to www.livingnutz.com and click on the almond pasteurization petition link on the front of the page and sign your name as well as your state, town, and zip code.