Macrobiotics and Me

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Hello!

The last few days have been wonderful. We did most of our food preparation on the days before xmas (I made seitan,macro mince pies, fudge a few days before and on Christmas eve I prepared soup, sprouts, fish sauce, dessert, hijiki) so on Christmas morning I only had to make a pressed salad, chop & roast parsnips, do seitan stew and bake fish which doesn’t take long. 

I’m really happy to have avoided sugar, meat and dairy – yay! I did think at one point maybe I’d eat a bit more widely but I don’t really see any point. It tastes nice in that moment but then I’m left with the psychological and phisoilogial aftermath whihc I just can’t be doing with as I’d much rather spend my energy on somthing more constructive. However, saying that, I did have some champagne, wine and beer on Christmas day and I didn’t feel 100% yesterday – it seems EVERYTHING comes with a price! Some times you can get a great bargain and other times you get wella nd truly ripped off, but the beauty is that we have a choice. In every moment, we have a choice

The days running up to Christmas I didn’t have time to update. But I took a couple of photos. On Christmas day I didn’t have breakfast (we planned to have pancakes but we ate late the night before so breakfast was out of the question!). For lunch we had asparagus and cauliflower soup, baked trout with a garlic and parsley sauce, seitan & mushroom stew, hijiki caviar, pressed daikon and carrot salad, roasted parsnips, brussels with smoked salmon & brown rice salad. For dessert we had a raspberry and clementine kanten with a vanilla custard on top which was amazing

In the evening I had a millet pie leftover from the day before with salad

And throughout the day I had a mince pie and some smoke salmon (not together!)

Yesterday’s food was:

No breakfast

Lunch – asparagus and cauliflower soup, rice balls from grain salad, cauliflower & pressed salad

Mince pie

Dinner – rice balls, brown rice and barley, boiled swede with umeboshi, hijki caviar & pressed salad

Now today, 27th December, I am going to fast and have only grains (maybe rice cream or home made grain milk mmmm!

I hope you’ve had a beautiful love filled Christmas

Lots of love & festive fun

Sharlene

Hello

Christmas is almost upon us and I’ve been busy today making seitan, mince pies and fudge. We’ve already planned our Christmas day menu and I want to make sure tha it’s all prepared well in advance so I don’t have too much to do on Christmas day (my family will be making traditional food so there won’t be much space for all the pots, pans and oven space that macro food commands!). I’m excited!

Breakfast

Brown rice and barley porridge with roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds a little rice syrup and a splash of rice milk

Lunch

Aduki and barley soup with rye bread

Grain coffee with rice milk and a little rice syrup

Dinner

Buckwheat, nituke carrots & onions, blanced leek, radish and broccoli

Fudge

I also had a couple of mini mince pies earlier as well as some ale and roasted parsnip and beetroot chips

Love, light & magic

Sharlene

Hello!

Ahh it’s truly winter in the UK at the moment. We had lots of snow in Devon and now I’ve finally made it home, it’s really cold and frosty with snow on the way – yayy, how perfect for Christmas! Whenever I look outside I feel like I’m in some kind of romantic movie!

Devon was great but I lost track of all the food I ate and didn’t get a chance to post.

I’ve been doing a bit of revision today as I have a macro exam in a couple of weeks (arghh!) and whilst I’ve always been amazed about George Ohsawa, today I felt some real gratitude and love of Michio Kushi and all his work. Some of the books he has written are just incredible. Ahh man, I love macrobiotics!

I’ve had yet another day of really amazing food.

Breakfast – buckwheat porridge with blanced greens and toasted seeds

A drink made of amasake

Lunch – Squash soup, brown rice balls, black beans, pressed carrot and celery salad, boiled vegetables (swede, daikon & broccoli) with a mustard and lemon dressing & baked miso onions

Clementine kanten – mmmm this was soo nice!

Dinner

Squash soup, brown rice & barley, boiled veg, onion and pressed salad from dinner

Hot apples juice and then…because dinner was too yang (oops)I had some hot rice milk too

Tomorrow I hope I will cook a better balanced meal!

I can’t wait for 2011!!

lots of solstice love

Sharlene

p.s. a couple of photos:

Hello

I’m getting a little lost in time here in Devon and struggling to work out what day it is!! I have a feeling like I enter into a big macro bubble when I come here and it’s great!

The food, as always, has been amazing. There’s been so many beautiful dishes and meals. I haven’t taken any photos either (grrr!) but I will put my camera in my pocket tomorrow and promise to take a couple of snaps!

Yesterday’s food:

Breakfast – a small bowl of porridge which I think was rice and spelt or oats and spelt with a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds & almonds & a little apricot compote

Lunch – aduki beans with carrots, baked onions with miso, brown rice and c chestnuts, steamed cabbage and a pressed radish salad followed by a really beautiful pear crumble with this lovely subtle orangey custard which wasn’t too sweet and just perfect

Dinner – parsnip soup, scrambled tofu, winter stir fry, millet and cauliflower mash and sauerkraut

Today

Breakfast – miso soup with shiitake & tofu, porridge with seeds and a little apricot compote

Lunch – sea food tempura (prawns and fish) mmm I love fish and prawn tempura, roasted parnsips and sweet potato, carrot and daikon pressed salad & millet patties

Amasake and apple dessert

Grain coffee with soya milk

Dinner - onion, cauliflower and brocolli soup,  cous cous (made with carrot juice so it was a lovely vibrant orange colour!), hijiki dish, brussel sprouts, pressed cucumber and radish, red cabbage dish,  tempeh tempura & squash puree

Cherry dessert with custard

It was a cooking class this evening hence all the rich and wonderful food that you probably wouldn’t eat in a normal day!!

Lots of macro love and light

Sharlene

Bonjour!!!

I have returned, but I am now in Devon for more macrobiotic activities – yay!

Paris was amazing J We went to two lovely macro restaurants which were really great. It was so nice being able to go to a restaurant to eat macro food. We also frequented a number of other ‘non macro’ restaurants too which was also really nice.

Saturday

Breakfast – nothing! I was recovering from having hot oat milk before bed which I so shouldn’t have done as I felt like I’d been run over by the macro bus when I woke up and my kidneys and intestines were  not best pleased!

Lunch – miso soup (packet), grain salad (brown rice, barley, dried tofu, corn, greens, onions) and oat waffles with hummus. Brown rice balls with chestnuts and raisins

Dinner – sushi with fish, tempura, sake & a little radish salad. It is such a shame that sushi restaurants don’t use brown rice!

Sunday

Breakfast – nothing

Lunch – a lovely macro lunch of pumpkin soup and brown bread, brown rice, quinoa, loads of different salads, a little bit of arame and the nicest tempeh dish I’ve ever had (it had an orange and ginger flavour and it was delicious!)

Followed by an equally beautiful and delicious chocolate cake with a lovely custard & a cup of twig tea J

A French beer

Dinner – an over indulgent French feast…

Mussels in white wine sauce with French fries and baguette

Frogs legs, snails (Dejan and I had a debate about which was more yin, snails or frogs…ha ha!), salad, more frogs legs, an onion tart (which had cheese in it)

Followed by crème brulee, apple pie & ice cream & a selection of other non macro sugary French things

Red wine

Monday

Breakfast

Nothing!

Lunch

Another macro feast – pumpkin soup, brown rice, millet, different salads, tofu, kidney beans

An apple an coconut tart

Grain coffee with rice milk

A beer

Dinner

Grain salad, a couple of olives, tempura fish

Beer

Some cookies

Tuesday

Breakfast

None!

Lunch

Buckwheat & chickpea soup – all together to form a kind of stew

Dinner

Buckwheat & corn

Today

Breakfast

Ume-sho-kuzu drink

Lunch

Buckwheat & corn

Dark chocolate

Dinner

A bowl of lentil soup

WOW – so the last few days I’ve indulged in my fair share of gluttony and I’m a little ashamed to say that I have enjoyed it! It has been nice to go off the rails because it makes me so much more determined to get back on track and to understand more and more about food, health and consciousness. It has been interesting to watch my health change over the past few days too and to see the effect that extreme yin has on moi. I have not been so happy to look in the mirror to see what it tells me!!!  – thank God I have macrobiotics so that I can recover my health and improve my condition. 

I’m so happy that 2011 is approaching. The past two years have been great as I’ve become used to the macro way but I’ve stopped making progress with my health and consciousness, and I have not put to good use everything I know and understand. I am certain that I understand a lot about the theory of macrobiotics but I do not truly know it in practise. So 2011 will be the year that I maintain a clear and steady focus on my development and practice of macrobiotics so that I can transform into a true macro woman J  Bring it on J

Love & light

Sharlene

P.S. I’ll post some photos from France soon

Hello

Whoops – I am late again!

Day 8

Breakfast

a lovely buckwheat porridge with shoyu

Lunch

Vegetable spring roll & an onion bahji

Oat bar

Dinner

Millet and sweet rice porridge – mmmmm, this was sooo good!

Day 9

Breakfast

Buckwheat porridge

Lunch

Red lentil soup

Brown rice with gomasio, hijiki, sauerkraut, boiled celeriac, a buckwheat cracker & boiled greens & carrots

Followed by a lovely amazake drink & then a load of fudge (whenever I make this I just HAVE to eat it all! It’s definitely the ultimate macro treat!)

Dinner

A cup of grain coffee & some bancha tea

Day 10

Breakfast

Amazake drink

Lunch

Buckwheat with onion and greens & boiled red cabbage with lentil sauce poured over

Brown rice balls with raisins and chestnuts

Dinner

I haven’t had it yet, but it is going to be millet salad (made with millet, onions, prawns, radishes, mixed green leaves, a little red pepper, boiled carrots & a few bamboo shoots!) & maybe I’ll have a little pizza that I made although I’m not supposed to be eating any baked stuff at the moment and this I made with a spelt, wheat and brown rice base. I might have a brown rice ball after that too!

I’m off to Paris tomorrow and looking forward to exploring some macro places there :0). Our suitcase is jam packed with a load of food! We have some brown rice and barley salad I made the other day, chickpea soup, homemade waffles, a hummus spread, olives, grain coffee, twig tea & some vegetables. But of course, I’m also really looking forward to tasting some of the delights of France

I probably won’t post whilst I’m there but I’m back on Monday evening so I’ll update you then. I’ll take photos & try to be good!

Love & light

Sharlene

Hola!

Breakfast

I had breakfast! woo. I had some museli roasted first before adding hot water a a dash of shoyu – mmm I love the salty sweet combination with the few raisins in there!

Lunch

Chickpea and swede soup

Brown rice with adukis, pressed radishes, carrot, parsnip and kuzu stew on a bed of steamed greens & baked cod with leeks, capers and olives (this was a recipe from Verne Varona’s book ‘Macrobiotics for Dummies’

A dessert made of amazake, pasta and nuts with some coffee mousse

Twig tea

Dinner

Chickpea soup

Brown rice and adukis, pressed radishes, carrot and parsnip stew & a little leftover fish that I didn’t manage to finish at lunch (in fact, I still have a little left for llunch tomorrow!)

A little leftover peanut dessert from the other day!

Mu tea

I think I need to wean myself off of desserts for a little while!!

ahhh ILOVE MACROBIOTICS!

Love & light

Sharlene

Hello

No breakfast for me this morning as I didn’t feel too good

Lunch

A simple millet and buckwheat stew with vegetables

Dinner

Chickpea soup and a little brown rice and barley

Grain coffee

The end of the year is approaching and I love this time of year for deep relfection and for making plans for the following year. It feels a little bit like a time of rebirthi. This is the time to plant the seeds of the future and I love it!

Tonight I have been busy preparing food for the weekend. Dejan and I are travelling and we want to make sure we have a least one truly macro meal per day! But we have to make sure it’s not as yang as the last time so no bread or heavy food!

Lots of love & light

Sharlene

Hello!

Day 4

Breakfast

No breakfast for me again

Lunch

Millet and squash soup

Quinoa spring roll

Pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seed bar

Dinner

Brown rice with gomasio, stewed cabbage & pressed cabbage and fennel salad & boiled daikon

Hot rice milk drink

Snack/other

A few corn chips with hummus

Day 5

No breakfast

Lunch

Millet and squas soup

Brown rice, boiled cabbage, stewed cabbage and pressed cabbage – ha ha!

Coffee mousse with walnuts

Dinner

Millet and buckwheat, pressed cabbage & stewed carrots and onions

Peanut fudge

Twig tea

Love & cabbage!!!!

Sharlene

Howdy!

Mmm I just had a really delicious dinner. I prepared it earlier today so that I could really enjoy it as I find if I cook and then eat straight away then I don’t appreciate it as much.

Breakfastlessness

Lunch

Quinoa salad with fried kale – mmm!! Such a lovely lunch

Stewed apple

Dinner

Quinoa spring rolls, a kind of millet pie with a tofu topping, pressed fennel and radish salad, sauted kale and ginger &  bean, swede and kuzu stew

Followed by a Serbian grain coffee wit home made grain milk – ahhh!

Loads of macro love and light

Sharlene