Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A whole lot of inspiration

So I started this "verdant" journey with the idea that this year, my 30th, would be the year where I would start living a better life in every way. Of course the obvious ones are included, better health, the bikini body I have always wanted, etc. Also, I wanted to become Spiritually verdant, growing and maturing that aspect of myself. I wanted to become economically verdant, both personally and as part of a global economy that, although I probably can't single handedly change, I can at least do my best to not encourage in its wackiness (some may say wickidness).

So today at lunch we were eating at the Wild Cow again, and it was quite busy today I must say! Some at the table suggested that my last blog post had something to do with it. But I digress... We took another picture for the very purpose of this blog post. And as I looked at it tonight, I realized that this table was full of inspiring women. But this blog is about one of those women in particular. Girls, I am giving you all your props, but I want to say a few words about one friend of mine. I will call her RFM.

You see, she probably would not have chosen to eat at the Wild Cow, at least it would not have been a first choice. But she agreed because she enjoys hanging out with the rest of us, and she is almost always up for new things. And that is one thing I admire about RFM. She is not fearful, but boldly goes where she has never gone before! She is flexible and doesn't let things get her down. She rolls with the punches, but watch out, because when needed she can punch back too!

And RFM is honest. She will tell you how it is, she will openly disagree with you, and she will shed light on dark places. And all with the most loving spirit and the righteousness that comes with truth. I love it. I want to be a more honest person, too.

One last quality I want to mention is that she is steadfast. Once she knows she is right where she should be , she will stand firm and stand and stand and stand. This has come through both her strong faith and her life experience. And it is great to see. A real inspiration.

So I say all this to say, if we want to live a verdant life, it is important to surround ourselves with verdant people. People like RFM, or others, like RS who inspired me to start this whole vegetarian experiment. I am so thankful to her for that. Or her sister, who I think was the one who inspired her. Or MR, who not only lives vegetarian, but puts her beliefs into action with the hours and hours of volunteer work she does helping both animals and people who can't help themselves. So today, I felt like I was really part of a power squad.


On another note... I was also thinking again today about the name of this resturant. Here is a link to an interesting article about wild cows. I think India is one of the few places to have wild cows. Quite literally we are talking about jungle cows who, at times, will come out of the jungles and kill humans if they cross their path. To quote the article, "Science cannot defy their logic". If ever there was a phrase to make you want to read on, well, that is it! So I did. It is quite an interesting tale, one that really gives me a new respect for the name "The Wild Cow". I used to think of that name as kind of silly. But a wild cow is not a tame cow, and a cow that is not tame is a cow to watch out for!

I must end this post by quoting the last paragraph of the above noted article. I will tie the two divergent parts of this post together with this... We all should be inspired by something! For some, it is the great people they are surrounded by, for others it can be something as simple as the sight of a wild cow!

"So absorbed were they in relishing the tender shoots of post-monsoonal greenery, they did not notice us. Except for a semiadult male, probably on sentry duty for the herd, who threw its head at us from the safe distance with a belligerence befitting Myke Tyson. The more little you are, the more pugnacious you are! Such little muggins often fall prey to stalking predators. The master bull was at its dignified best, cool and composed, busy grazing on a patch a few ten metres away from the rest of the herd. The ambience was soft enough to make me emotional. I murmured at that majestic wild beast – “for God’s sake, don’t move further south”. The forest boundary was just a couple of miles away southward from that spot."

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Wild Cow for lunch


OK, so we did a lot of debating about the name of this resturant, but we decided to try it in spite of the name. The Wild Cow is a new Vegetarian resturant in Nashville, TN. The name refers, ironically, to the fact that cows are not wild, because probably almost all cows in the US are livestock cows. The website says:

"We started the Wild Cow to provide delicious, cruelty-free, healthy food to the people of Middle Tennessee. We will never support the inhumane and environmentally destructive factory farm system that dominates our agricultural economy, nor will we support corporations like Coke and Pepsi that thrive off of our addiction to sugar and artificial “food”. Nearly all of our food is purchased in it’s whole form, meaning we make almost all of our own sauces, dressings, soup stocks, etc. This means that we can name every ingredient in the food we serve!"


The Wild Cow tends to serve mostly Vegan food, but some dishes do include free range eggs and organic cheese can also be added if desired. Our group included one long time vegetarian, two newby vegetarians who TRY to eat vegan, and one meat eater.
The ambiance of the place is great. Very "crunchy", with local art on the walls, and the servers all look like the live the natural lifestyle. Everything on the menu looks yummy, with lots of fresh options, different daily specials, soups and all sauces and dressings are homemade. I chose a tempeh buffalo sandwhich and vegan mac and "cheese". We all got sodas with natural and organic ingredients. Those were great too. The organic green tea root beer is recommended!


The food was awesome. We really enjoyed it. The long time vegetarian in the group was so happy to have a menu full of options to choose from instead of the usual one or two veggie options on a typical menu. Even our meat eater said the veggie burger was pretty good.

This is defitely a place to eat for anyone eating vegetarian or vegan in Nashville.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

This week in verdant living...

So I just ate a really good meal. I cooked it last night, then took leftovers for lunch, and was still craving it by the time I got home. And I cooked it myself, amazingly!

I made a dish called Moujadra, which is a Lebanese dish. I found it on i was a kaleidoscope, a great blogspot blog I recently found. There is a lot of good recommendations for food on this blog, so check it out.

With it I also made Squash and Onions, a recipe found in The Kind Diet, by Alicia Silverstone. It was so easy. I sauteed a couple onions in olive oil, cut up a butternut squash and threw that in with some oregano after a few minutes. After sauteing both for a couple minutes I added about 1/2 cup of water and covered it. Then I let is steam for about 20 minutes. The squash was soft and the onions gave it great flavor. MMMM.

So here is what my friend Rebekah made for dinner tonight. Looks good, huh? It is called Gingered Green Beans with Hidjiki. It is also a Kind Diet recipe. This photo is used without permission, so I hope she does not mind!

Another vegetarian exploration of the week was out annual trip to Siam cafe for Valentines dinner. It is where we ate the night of our first date as well as the Valentines day 9 years ago when we got engaged. So it is a tradition. But this is my first time going in with the mindset of eating vegetarian. But it was great because I could have any dish I wanted and they would substitute the meat with veggies and tofu. So I had my normal favorite, red curry, and it was delish!!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Vegetarian International

This week we got to go to a Vegetarian resturant. Both Vegetarian and Indian. And it was delicious!
We went to Woodlands Indian Resturant on West End Ave in Nashville. And it was great! Here is a picture of the beautiful food.

WE enjoyed a great night there with other vegetarian friends and vegetarian "flirts" and I think by the end of the night the servers thought we were a bit weird. But we had a great time. It is funny that I always forget that we have this great vegetarian resource in the Indian community. Imagine ME forgetting that! So it was great to re-discover a menu that is wide open to me as I eat this new way. Of course not everything there was Vegan, but much of it was, which was great.

And while I am talking food again, I thought I would add a picture of MY Rustic pasta that I made tonight. The other picture of this dish was not credited to me and some people doubted that I REALLY made it. So this is for those doubters! ;)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Castille soap...ever used it?

So I am trying lots of new things so far this year, and one I have tried is Castille soap. It is billed as a natural soap with tons of uses and that is not harmful to the environment. Apparently you can bathe in a pristine stream using it and not pollute the area...because it is made of olive oil and other oils.

So does it work? That is a question. Well, so far I have used it for a few things. I used it as a body wash. That worked fine. The kind I got had a nice peppermint smell. Very refreshing. It did leave my skin a little dry, but with a touch of lotion it was fine.
I then used it as a shampoo. Ew. No go. my hair became wiry and thick and weird. BUT I did try another natural method that worked better...Baking soda. Straight on the hair while I was in the shower. I rubbed it in and then conditioned. Seemed OK. My hair feels clean and light.

This article raves about Castille soap, but I am a bit stumped by it. That is, I am not sure how to use it in the laundry or dishwasher, or as a cleaner...but I am trying. I put a bit of it with water and vinegar to make a spray cleaner. Worked OK, I guess, but one can't seem germs dying, so I hope it is working!!

Ever used this soap? I'd love to know what you think...