Category: Uncategorized

By Joyce

Okay, I admit it, I’m a nutrient hoarder, and these black sesame balls makes good on that obsession. In this recipe, there are just a few ingredients which you mix in a Cuisinart- black sesame seeds, walnuts, goji berries, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, salt and a little bit of honey so it is a quick and unfussy snack to make. The flavor is nutty with bursts of sour sweetness and the spices gives an undercurrent of a far away land mystery. And it’s not too sweet so one does not start craving and thus eating too too many.

In East Asian Medicine, black sesame seeds nourish the blood so if you are vegan or eat primarily a plant based diet or are just looking for a satisfying snack then black sesame seeds can be used as a general tonic. They also lubricate the intestines so are helpful if one has constipation. The other unusual ingredient in this recipe is goji berries which also has a tonic effect on Qi and blood and is full of antioxidants. The spices are all warming and support digestion as well.

Goji berries are a cousin of tomatoes so if you have a sensitivity to that family or if you don’t have access to goji berries, you can substitute other dried unsweetened berries. For example, Trader Joe’s sells freeze dried raspberries which could be substituted. Feel free to experiment with other spices also. Enjoy!

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By Joyce

Chop. Chop. Time to harvest and preserve the bok choy and radishes coming out of the garden. In this ferment, I use just the stems of bok choy and add celery to keep it crunchy. The red radishes offers a bit of spice and a pretty rosy hue. Below is my recipe, such as it is. The fermentation process lends itself to experimentation and variation. I change proportions of ingredients based on what is available from my garden or fresh in the grocery store, usually making quart size containers at a time. Having a few different ferments bubbling away on the kitchen counter or in the refrigerator allows me to serve several small side dishes (Korean-style) alongside main dishes at dinner. I also use this ferment in salads, veggie roll-ups or as a garnish on crackers with cheese or spreads too. The variation at the table not only stimulates interest but digestion as well.

In Vegetable Fermentation Further Simplified, Sandor Katz gives the lowdown on how to ferment any vegetable. Trust me – fermentation seems exotic but it is really super easy. If you are looking to get into fermentation, follow his guidelines and you’ll be making very original side dishes and manufacturing your own tasty probiotics in your kitchen in no time. I’d love to hear about what you are fermenting.

Fermented Bok Choy, Radish & Celery

A few bunches of bok choy (only use white stems)

1 bunch red radishes (thinly sliced)

3 – 5 stocks celery

2-3 tablespoons of salt (amount of salt depends on volume of veggies and taste). Experiment!

(You can add garlic or any spice you please to this ferment as well)

Place chopped bok choy stems, celery and thinly sliced radishes in a flat dish and sprinkle salt over veggies. Let sit for a few hours until fluid is released from veggies. After washing hands, you can also massage veggies to release more fluid if necessary.

This time I used a Japanese pickle press to submerge my veggies but if you don’t have this handy kitchen tool, you can pack vegetables into a wide mouth canning jar or crock. Ideally, veggies are totally covered in salt brine but if not then add water. If you are using a crock, submerge veggies with a weight on top of a plate. If you are using a canning jar, you can use a double plastic baggie filled with water to submerge veggies.

Use a rubber band to secure cheesecloth or fabric over jar or crock to keep flies out and let sit on counter for 4 -7 days. The speed of ferment will depend on amount of salt and …read more

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By Joyce

In our household we aren’t stockpiling toilet paper, we are stockpiling daikon radish during this pandemic. Using this stout root daily in raw salads, soups or main meals is one of our hedges for maintaining clear lung function.

In Traditional East Asian Medicine, daikon radish is considered to have a cooling thermal nature, and a pungent and sweet flavor. It cools heat, cuts mucous (dampness) and promotes digestion. It also acts as a detoxifier because, as a diuretic, it stimulates urination, helping to remove excess fluid from the body via the kidneys. These are ALL excellent indications for incorporating daikon radish into one’s diet, since the symptoms of Covid-19 are a fever, dry cough and accumulation of fluid in the lung.

Compounding the coronavirus outbreak, we are in the midst of a seasonal change which is a typical time for common cold, flu, and allergy symptoms. As a preventative measure, use daikon radish to support your respiratory system and keep it congestion-free (regardless of the origin). Of course, cutting down and/or eliminating phlegm producing foods like sugar, dairy, and alcohol will reduce inflammatory responses in your body.

One of the virtues of daikon radish is its versatility. It can be pickled, fermented, cooked or eaten raw. I hope this blog post doesn’t create a run on daikon radish, but currently Asian markets are well stocked.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes featuring daikon radish with simple and accessible ingredients.

A white radish and ginger soup is the soup of our times. With our current damp weather, this clear and aromatic broth is soothing and tastes just right. It has just a few ingredients and requires merely minutes to make. The ginger brings warmth, helps improve digestion, and stimulates your metabolism, while the radish does its cleansing work. Just add any green on top. I especially enjoy adding nutrient rich chickweed or overwintered chives from the garden. Depending on how many individuals you are serving, adjust amounts and increase ginger if you want more heat.

White radish and ginger soup (serving 2)

3 cups water

handful of thinly sliced daikon radish

4 – 6 thin slices of ginger

I tsp chicken or vegetarian bouillon ( I use Better Than Bouillon)

Small bunch of coriander, chickweed, spinach, scallions or chives

Combine all ingredients and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or so. Add the greens just before serving, along with salt and pepper to taste.

Okonomiyaki – Japanese Vegetable Pancake

This recipe has become a comfort food for us in the last few weeks. In addition to daikon radish, cabbage is the major ingredient in this recipe. Cabbage also clears heat and increases circulation. You can substitute other shreddable vegetables or sprouts. For example, instead of carrots, I used sprouted mung beans in this recipe. If you don’t have miso, mayonnaise mixed with horseradish works just fine as a topping.

https://www.pbs.org/food/kitchen-vignettes/walter-riesens-okonomiyaki-japanese-vegetable-pancake/

Raw Daikon Salad

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By Joyce

When my BFF dropped off six perfect little empty bottles, I was inspired to utilize them as carriers for this season’s remedy gift for friends, neighbors and clients. Since I had always wanted to try Fire Cider and had a month to go before the end of the year, I decided to make my first batch. I can now report from my own and recipients’ reviews – this is good stuff.

Whether you take a swig straight from the bottle or put a teaspoon in hot water or cocktails, or add it to salad dressing, you will instantly register the delicious potency of this fine folk remedy. It’s a perfect daily tonic for cold/flu season as it warms your insides up like an immune whisky. It has all the requisite flavors (spicy, pungent, bitter, sour and sweet) for kicking pathogens like cold and dampness out of your body and stimulating blood circulation.

I followed the recipe below from Mountain Rose Blog and also added astragulus root. I did keep my batch in a dark cabinet, but, full disclosure, I did not shake it every day. I only shook it once. This kind of recipe is infinitely adjustable to tastes and variations based on whatever you have in your pantry. The apple cider acts as a perservative so it does not have to be refrigerated. After I strained out my first batch, I added more cider vinegar over my shredded roots and herbs so I could extract even more of their medicinal properties.

With a dose of Fire Cider every day, I feel well armed this winter for keeping colds at bay.

Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh grated organic ginger root

1/2 cup fresh grated organic horseradish root

1 medium organic onion, chopped

10 cloves of organic garlic, crushed or chopped

2 organic jalapeno peppers, chopped

Zest and juice from 1 organic lemon

Several sprigs of fresh organic rosemary or 2 tbsp of dried rosemary leaves

1 tbsp organic turmeric powder

1/4 tsp organic cayenne powder

organic apple cider vinegar

raw local honey to taste

Directions
Prepare all of your roots, fruits, and herbs and place them in a quart sized jar. If you’ve never grated fresh horseradish, be prepared for a powerful sinus opening experience! Use a piece of natural parchment paper under the lid to keep the vinegar from touching the metal, or a plastic lid if you have one. Shake well! Store in a dark, cool place for one month and remember to shake daily.

After one month, use cheesecloth to strain out the pulp, pouring the vinegar into a clean jar. Be sure to squeeze as much of the liquid goodness as you can from the pulp while straining. Next, comes the honey! Add 1/4 cup of honey and stir until incorporated. Taste your cider and add another 1/4 cup until you reach the desired sweetness.

Ingredient Variations
These herbs and spices would make a wonderful addition to your Fire Cider creations:

Thyme
Rosehips
Star Anise
Schisandra Berries
Astragalus
Parsley
Burdock
Oregano
Peppercorns
Beet Root Powder
Habanero Powder
Bird’s Eye Chili Powder
Whole Chili Peppers
Fresh orange, grapefruit, lime juice and peels

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By Joyce

The fall season is upon us, and naturally I crave heavier richer foods. Especially carbohydrates. Toast with butter, to be specific. But, here’s the thing – I try to limit carbohydrates, especially breads. How I satisfy my craving for bread is by making non-gluten bread recipes, even though I am not gluten intolerant. Because they are flourless and made of fermented grains, non-gluten breads offer more nutrients per calorie. If I’m going to eat bread, it has to satisfy my cravings and be worth its heft for my slower winter metabolism.

Here are two non-gluten bread recipes I found that are simple, flavorful, and most importantly, unfussy. They are infinitely amenable to variations. I always add hemp seed and more salt, especially on the top of the loaf.

This buckwheat bread is really simple, hearty and inexpensive: http://consciouscatering.ca/nama-bread/

This quinoa/millet bread, although more complex, has a sweet nutty flavor and when it is toasted the edges crisp up just right: http://www.wholeheartedeats.com/2014/02/the-unbelievable-bread_20.html

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By Joyce

Boom! Daylight savings arrives and like clockwork I’m out in the garden with a shovel, turning over our fall cover crop. Even though we’ve had plenty of overwintering crops in the garden, the disconsolateness of frequent rain and ugly muck became a barrier for entering our backyard plot of late.

Today, in our designated sugar snap plot, I found squatters from last fall: handsome kohlrabi plants with not much of a root but flush with a plentitude of green blood nourishing leaves, pretty yin tonifying golden beets, large yang tonifying sweet parsnips and flowering dinosaur kale. Before, content letting them rest undisturbed, now I am ready to devour them – all, in the next week. Craving large amounts of greens is my signal that spring has arrived.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, spring is the season of the liver and gallbladder, which regulate a smooth flow of Qi. However, after a winter of eating heavier meats and oil rich foods, these organs often get congested which can leave us feeling sluggish, irritable and depressed. Eating slightly sour foods, high in chlorophyll like greens and sprouts, can cleanse the liver by releasing toxins and moving stagnant energy. Increasing foods that are slightly bitter such as dark leafy greens, asparagus, radish leaves, dandelion and romaine lettuce can help with the heat and inflammation of springtime allergies. Turnips and radishes can also help cleanse the blood by breaking up mucous.

I love how garden cycles synch with seasonal and energetic shifts: I need to get peas in the ground and I need to detoxify my liver. By removing and eating the plants in the pea plot, I am waking up my own body for spring by nourishing and cleansing my blood, releasing stored up life-force, which in turn gives me not only space to plant my peas, but the energy and vision to begin a whole new garden season.

There’s that earth-based biolgical motive, and then there’s the more superficial vain motive, which crops up every spring too. If I can lose a few pounds by lightening up my diet and eating more greens then I can strut around in my skinny jeans, and that, naturally, feels real good too.

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By Joyce

Today’s daily cure was Zumba!

Tomarra’s 50^th birthday invitation read, Zumba, Bacon and Mimosas at the Rainier Beach Clubhouse. She, a talented massage therapist, who moves the flesh, blood and lymph of her clients, would, of course, host an invigorating event. Recovering from a muscle spasm in my lower back, and having never tried Zumba, I was a little nervous about shaking my booty today, but I couldn’t pass up an invitation to celebrate this very intuitive and creative woman.

At the beginning of the party, Tomarra tearfully paid tribute to the clubhouse, and spoke to her long held wish and now good fortune to be able to rent space since the clubhouse, historically a nexus for community activities, had become largely unavailable for rentals since 2005. Because the Rainier Beach Community Club recently procured a lease from its current owners, the VFW, the building is now fulfilling the mission of its original owners, The Rainier Beach Women’s Club, who specified the building was to be used for activities, which would enhance the community.

At 10:30AM, the music came on, and Zumba instructor, Paula Aio, started the dancing. Forward, back, side-to-side, hands and pelvis, up, down, our bodies squiggling in every direction. Paula hooted like a mama bird, smiling and encouraging her fledgling awkward flock, to keep moving to the beat of the music. And move, shout, and ululate we did, for a whole hour, occasionally stopping for a swig of water or to wipe off sweat. It was more than a workout; it was a tribal turnout. All of us, mostly women, mostly beginners, moved in time, together. Tomarra, sharing her love of Zumba with her community, gave the gift of her exuberant physical freedom, which inspired the rest of us to loosen up. And that kind of repeated pelvic rotation and thrusts released my lower back from its muscular rut. It was a blast.

By the end of the party, after all the delicious breakfast food, it felt like it wasn’t only Tomarra’s birthday we were celebrating; it was the clubhouse’s birthday too. The vitality and joy in our recently refinished hall is an initiating spark for many more community celebrations to follow. As someone who served last year, and will again this year, as a trustee on the executive board of the Rainier Beach Community Club, I had the privilege of watching committed members of our community do the hard work of reattaching its core mission to the building that gave birth to it. Happy, Happy Birthday!

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By Joyce

When Delores, my utterly kind and professional dental hygienist, asks during my regular teeth cleaning appointments how often I’ve been flossing my teeth, I cannot lie. It’s not that I’m incapable of lying, it’s that Delores is my across-the-street neighbor so she is privy to seeing debris stuck between my teeth on a regular basis. She never shames me, but ever conscientious, she always, at every appointment, educates and reminds me to floss. To be totally honest, I’ve never been much of a flosser (except on the night before my teeth cleaning appointment) in spite of Delores’ very real concern about the inflammation under my 27^th cusped and food trapping pockets between my back molars.

My teeth started getting the attention they deserved when my trusted friend and advisor on all things Ayurvedic, Maurine, gave me the scoop on oil pulling for oral care. I incorporated it into my morning routine after Delores gave me the thumbs up. She personally had tried it with sesame oil and liked it, and saw good results in her patients.

One of my favorite features of this method is that it is hands-free. On an empty stomach in the morning, I dissolve one teaspoon of solid coconut oil in my mouth and then just swish it through my teeth for 10 -20 minutes while cleaning up the kitchen. Grinding the coffee, swish, swish, swish; emptying the dishwasher, swish, swish, swish; sweeping the floor, swish, swish, swish. Sometimes I have to remind myself to swish, which is kinda amazing since my mouth is bulging from the ever-increasing volume of saliva mixed with oil. When that I’m done moment comes, I spit the pathogenic mixture into the trash, avoiding a solid mass of coconut oil from clogging up my pipes, then rinse and brush my teeth. Smooth and glossy, my choppers feel very clean.

High quality sesame, sunflower and olive oil can be used for oil pulling, however I prefer organic coconut oil. A known anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and inhibitor of Streptococcus bacteria, coconut oil is an inexpensive gentle warrior against gum disease and tooth decay. It acts as a cleanser and detoxifier and has the added benefit of whitening teeth. Systemic health issues related to inflammation like sinusitis, allergies, infections, arthritis, skin problems and pain can improve from oil pulling. Since our mouths house billions of bacteria, germs, parasites and toxins, I love the notion of pulling and expelling these potentially harmful buggers.

Desperately wanting my dental hygienist’s approval, I waited expectantly at my last dental cleaning appointment for Delores’ appraisal of my teeth and gums. At last, after taking a very close look, she gave me kudos: a total lack of plaque on my teeth and reduced inflammation on my 27^th cusped. However, she reminded me that flossing is still beneficial for gum stimulation.

All right. All right.

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By Joyce

It’s the little things, the things that come in small packages, which often give me the most joy.

Today, Upper Rainier Beach residents, Iris and Dave, organized the first Seed Swap, an informal neighborhood event. Located in their dining room, it was perfectly little. As I browsed the table filled with thoughtfully categorized vegetable varieties, I was smitten; it wasn’t just the seed varieties that got my attention, it was how they were packaged. Iris and Dave with typed labels on small plastic bags, gave clear growing instructions; Kim brought seeds in small paper origami packages, complete with a numerical key on a separate piece of paper; others, including myself, simply put the name of the variety on a label and called it done. Kristen and Don brought their seeds in little plastic tubes. I took a sampling of their Purple Driveway, an otherwise unidentified purple lettuce that, you guessed it, grew alongside their driveway.

While some attendees perused the table making their selections, others exchanged gardening tips, lessons learned, and plans for their upcoming garden. This kind of free exchange of information and resources, a little thing, an underground thing, has the potential, like in every seed, to nourish our whole community.

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