Now I know I mentioned not wanting my injury to get me down, but in the end, it did. Not in spirit, but rather down off my feet.
For the first couple days, I thought I was invincible, doing everything I could to try and get everything done as usual. Unfortunately, I discovered that I needed to take it easier, if I ever hoped to get better.It has now been a week since my spill, and I am only just starting to see some improvement. For instance, my foot no longer resembles one belonging to a Cabbage Patch Kid, probably due to the fact that I've taken up residence on my couch.
Everything happens for a reason, so I guess I was supposed to take a break. I just didn't mean literally.
During my downtime, I've been flipping through magazines, visiting with my mom, who has been nice enough to stop by on three separate occasions (she brought me this card today, which sums things up perfectly with, "Bummer! Feel better soon"), and reading the books she left for me (on the bright side, I now have time to read again). Today, I finished Sue Monk Kidd's "The Secret Life of Bees," which was the inspiration for today's post.
I always love when books mention what the characters are eating, even if it isn't raw (so does my mom, who made a cake talked about frequently in another book). Who am I kidding? I wouldn't mind if a whole book was about food; maybe that's why I adore cookbooks so much.
But back to today's post. Although the book I just read didn't center around food, I still found myself craving what was written in the text. So, I decided to have peaches for breakfast (the main character starts off living on a peach orchard), followed by a lunch featured within its pages.Often times, the characters would have pimento cheese sandwiches for their midday meal. I thought, "oh, I can make it out of cashews like this one." I guess I could've done that, but then I'd have to soak the cashews and blend all those ingredients, when I'm supposed to be taking it easy.
On to plan B, I did have some tahini in the house, as well as a red bell pepper (makes for a good pimento substitute) and these raw olives (pimentos always make me think of olives). I put all these ingredients on top of a Lydia's Organics Green Cracker, and began searching for more toppings to complete my plate (now this is turning into something like, "Everything tastes better when it's sitting on a Ritz." So, what do you put of your crackers?).
Keeping with the "pimentos" (or in this case, red bell pepper), I topped another cracker with a "pickled" cucumber slice (I like to marinate cucumber slices in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, agave, sea salt, pepper and dill; something my mother has done for years) and sprinkled on some color with finely diced red pepper.
The third cracker had a garden theme, based on the times the women in the book enjoyed the fruits of their garden. I decorated it with thin slices of zucchini and tomato from my mom's garden and some corn kernels, cut from an ear of corn she picked up for me at a nearby stand (she's been so wonderful, bringing me fresh produce, while I cannot do it myself).
Lastly, to drink it all down, I made a refreshing orange beverage out of the oranges my mother-in-law brought me to boost my vitamin C. I thought it was only fitting, since the ladies in the book would cool down with what was referred to as "orangeade." I even served it in this old collectible jelly jar, which made it even more authentic.Now all I needed was a banana cream pie. May, one of the characters in the book, had to eat a perfectly unbruised banana each day. She would peel one after another until she found an unblemished one. Rosaleen, not wanting to waste anything, would make "banana pudding, banana cream pie, banana jello and banana slices on a leaf till August told her it was all right, just throw the blooming things away."
Unfortunately, it would take some effort to make a banana cream pie right now (hey Jeff, you could send me one; he makes a mean raw pie. If you are going to the Raw Spirit Festival, you might be lucky enough to try one), so maybe I'd settle for one of May's candlestick salads, which was half a banana standing up in a pineapple slice (my mom brought me a pineapple and some bananas, too).
"Let me light your candle," she'd say, and strike an imaginary match. Then she'd fasten a bottled cherry (although I'd prefer fresh) on the tip of the banana with a toothpick.
Or, perhaps I could make my own version of August and Lily's salted peanuts in Coca-Cola. I've always enjoyed goji berries in my bubbly kombucha. Maybe today, I'll try it with my maple walnuts. I'll let you know how it goes.
