Gorilla Food IV or V?

The Return of the Bikes (to Gorilla Food).

Made a morning smoothie (banana, spring salad mix, watermelon... left out the strawberries this time), and drank 125 mL of it while doing laundry and practicing assorted computer skillz i.e. not spilling anything on my keyboard.

I biked to softball practice with Michelle along the scenic seawall (which I completely ignored in favour of making sure I didn't run over any pedestrians while riding my squeaky, gear mis-aligned bicyclette). It was a leisurely ride to the park, with just enough heat and uphill portions to ensure a sweaty back and left-side-of-the-face burn. Actually I think I managed the leftside burn while pitching facing westnorthwest. And the face is only a little crisp. My shoulders and back caught most of the sun action.

Left softball practice early with Michelle for some healing raw eats at Gorilla Food. Dehydrated and hungry, we biked there twice -- the second time with the required equipment (to document the experience).

All raw deliciousness: Thai Fresh Wraps, Green Taco, Veggie Burger, Choco-Gorilla shake! Menu with character descriptions here.

Dessert: Tiramisu and ferrero rocher gelato. Learned that gelati is the plural form.

For breakfast on this seriously sunny Saturday:

the most delicious fruit smoothie I've ever accidentally made - banana, strawberries, grapefruit, watermelon, water, cayenne pepper. MmmmMmmgood; best means by which to rid oneself of previous night's fish and chips indulgence.

Afternoon: Another smoothie or two with salad mix (backup when there's no more spinach / arugula). Cashews.

Later, went for a harrowing bike around the Stanley Park seawall with Goran. We knew as we were leaving the packed parking lot in English Bay that this tour was ill-fated: people were everywhere, blocking out the scenery. People were the scenery. People walking on the bike path. People not moving over when Goran called politely, "I'm on your left," then, "Left! I'm on your left! No, *I'm* on your left!" followed by some creative mixed martial arts fusion dance to avoid the crash. I enjoyed the show from the rear. (The phrase most often exchanged between us on this ride: too many mother uckers, uckin' with my shi.)

Also, somebody jumped off the Lionsgate Bridge. We didn't stick around to see what the Coast Guard recovered.

On that note, I think that's all the food-related talk I can stomach right now.

For the past few days that I've not updated this, I've been enjoying my morning green (spinach or arugula) smoothies and afternoon seawall walks / bike rides with Goran. My dinners have been masala wraps from Capers (cous cous, lentils, greens, raisins, almonds...) and yesterday grabbed some fresh oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

The sunshine is eternal in this place. Vancouver is feeling good these days.

Tonight, fish and chips with Mike! The chips were fresh and surprisingly herbtastically tasty; reminded me of homefries we'd have for breakfast back in the day. I'm so full. Too full to attend FUSE at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Arugula Smoothies are Decent

Breakfast smoothie:

Banana
Spinach
Strawberries
pinch of cayenne
water

Snack smoothie:

Banana
Peach
Mango
Strawberries
pinch of cayenne
water

Arugula Smoothie:

Arugula
Banana
Peach
Mango
Strawberries
pinch of cayenne
water

The arugula smoothie was all right. I'd expected a spicy result, but instead was pleasantly greeted by a taste that I don't recall right now as I drank the smoothie several hours ago, but I recall that I wholly liked it.

Later for dinner, I had a vegetarian deluxe steamroller #3. Soon I'll be getting a free burrito, says the guy who works there. Saweeet. Bittersweet -- it'll mark the end of my patronage; once they give me something for free, I never return. Just ask the people at Baguette Time and Red Burrito.

Biked around the seawall with Goran before the rains came. No rains came, just clouds and a few people out for their evening workouts. The rains are holding off for now. I'm hoping it rains tonight so the baseball diamond is dry by game time tomorrow evening.

Back to the seawall: total time to skate/bike around crowded seawall the other day: 41 minutes. Today: 37 minutes, going at a leisurely pace.

What You Don't Know About Orange Juice

Oh, so much to tell.

Instead here's something useful, brought to my attention by the guardian of the masses, Goran: Tropicana Orange Juice is not really orange juice. So choked. I'm not a big fan of buying things in boxes, but every once in a while my generous roommate donates a carton of the stuff to me upon his return from a shopping experience in the land of bulk, i.e. Costco. Killing me with kindness.

And an interview with the author of "Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice," Alissa Hamilton: "Orange juice, with its image as a natural Florida product, bears the fingerprints of chemists and is often shipped from South America."

More reasons to know where your food comes from and what is in the soil and how your meals are prepared and by whom and how much do they love you...?...!

Last night I ate a flat square container of fudge. Okay, I saved a row of it for breakfast. The fudge was part of Goran's "Live a Little in Funcouver" campaign. Fudge on an empty stomach is twice the not-fun.

After breakfast: my usual smoothies (grapefruit, banana, cayenne, spinach), cashews, arugula and avocado salad, lots of carrots, two gala apples, and I think that's it!

Sunglasses

A grapefruit-spinach-banana-mango-cayenne smoothie for breakfast, followed by a steamroller #11. The girl working at Steamrollers asked me if I was really going to plant my shirt. My shirt reads, "When I've finished with this t-shirt I'm going to plant it." I scoffed and said, "No way; it's merino wool," but I could tell that she didn't hear what I said. I wonder what she thought I said. I hope it was something better than what I actually said.

Later: I sat in the park and read a book in the sunshine with the pigeons; ate a banana; Goran called -- he was in the neighbourhood so we went for a bike/blade around the Stanley Park seawall. Despite the congestion on the seawall as per usual, and despite the oblivious best efforts of the masses of ipod-wearing bladers and walkers, I didn't run anyone over this time. Nor last time. Knock on wood for next time.

After the seawall rush hour, we walked down the quiet west end streets of colourful flowering gardens and tree blossom scents to the Robson Street Caper's for a masala wrap (cous cous, lentils, tomatoes, onion, almonds, raisins, etc.). We also made a stop at Safeway to try out the self-serve checkout. Somewhere along the way, likely while bouncing a racquetball off of anything solid along our path, Goran misplaced/dropped his favourite feels-like-a-part-of-him sunglasses. (A detachable part of himself, apparently.) We spent the rest of the evening retracing our steps but found nothing. Well we found electrical tape and some batteries. By the end of this mini odyssey, Goran had lost not only his sunglasses but also the hope that he'd find his sunglasses. This was a case of the journey sucking as much as the result because the whole time that we were looking he wouldn't stop talking about how upset he was with himself that he'd lost his best, never made again, unique in all existence, sunglasses.

Learn from this, children.

Moral: If you find sunglasses that answer to the name of Sweet Companions, give them to Goran. Thank-you and goodnight.
=)

Last night, in the rain, I biked to Flying Wedge on Denman and bought a large veggie pizza. Flat flax crust. I threw as much arugula on it as each of the three and one half slices I ate would hold. There was very little cheese on the pizza, which was good, but way too much flour for me in one sitting. Right; most people don't eat half the pizza in one sitting.

The rest of my day yesterday and today: banana strawberry cayenne mango spinach smoothies, leftover pizza, salads... YAM FRIES tonight after softball. Remind me not to eat fries. Oh how much more quickly the pile of grease sitting in my stomach fades from memory than from my body....

I remembered that I have another camera! It is filled with professional-calibre photos from last Christmas, though.

Someone is smoking *something* outside my window. Gag me with a spoon. My morning smoothie: spinach, my last grapefruit, banana, cayenne, water.

Later: carrots, a #3 steamroller, salad. An apple. This photo captures the foreboding tone of my morning green smoothie.... kidding. Nothing replicates the feeling. I mean that I like my green smoothies. Really, I suggest that you try one and let me know what you think. (Mom.) What's so gross about something green? You eat foods that are brown and enjoy them, right? SO, expand your horizons by limiting your intake of crahp. =) If you so desire. I don't really care what you do, and I mean that in the best way.

22 degrees Celsius outside today, and my room's heater is going strong. Strange.

I ate all raw except for two veggie patties remaining in the 4-pack from yesterday. I had them for breakfast with a salad and avocado first thing in the morning because I woke up thinking, 'Ew, those veggie fake chicken burgers were gross. I should get rid of them right away by eating them now.'

Later: an apple, a grapefruit, a handful of cashews, another smoothie and then a seawall walk with Goran. We entertained thoughts of stopping for a veggie burger at Vera's until divine intervention in the form of a suspicious "closed for an hour due to unexpected slicing off of finger" note scribbled in blood on their door, effectively derailed that train. Okay, the sign wasn't as descriptive; but c'mon, we all know what happened.

I came home and made a smoothie + ate a whole banana. My room is too hot. I am falling asleep.

I'll have a new and working card reader for my camera one of these days.

Began and ended my day with a banana-grapefruit-spinach-cayenne smoothie.

In between: some cashews, a salad with avocado, an apple, a bike ride to softball practice, an apple, a bike ride to BBQ place, a salad with poppyseed vinaigrette dressing and two veggie patties that were okay but kind of gross. Water water water.
Bike ride home. Smoothie, as mentioned.

I have more to share but my card reader fell apart, so no new photos.

Checked out the garden plot the other day and a row of something is sprouting! All is well in the world.

Mad World

Hello, blog. Apologies for the neglect. I've been active, drinking my morning smoothies (with spinach), and enjoying the seawall and social time.

Yesterday I made myself get up somewhat early so I could accompany Lori on a bus ride to Richmond to see a surgeon about a knee. I had fun seeing her again! Lori emanates a loving-kindness that is fun to bask in. If she reads this she might think I'm being facetious. I'm not. She told me I roll my eyes too much.

Lots happened yesterday! Mysteriously (or not), I ran into a friend I had seen only once in the past five years. Well, she nearly ran me over, haha.

Here's the scene: I was walking through the alley behind my building, with my headphones on and eyes to the ground. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, but I was not in a pleasant mood. Long story. To sum it up, I was upset with myself for cancelling an afternoon interview (I eventually went and was glad I did). Anyway. During the time that I was upset with myself, I was enjoying the strength of my anger and resolved to make some changes and go straight for what I want. So, that's what I was thinking about as I walked back from the recycling bin where I'd thrown my certified organic strawberry containers. I vaguely noticed a car drive by me but I didn't look up because frankly I didn't care about anything but my inner resolve. I heard the car stop a few feet behind me. That's not too weird, I guess. And go in reverse. Hmmm. 'Please don't ask me for directions, please don't ask me for directions.' It was driving in reverse beside me... I still didn't look up. Finally the car came to a dramatic halt forming a V formation in front of me to block my path (against a parked truck). Impressive skills. I wondered just how badly this person wanted directions. I bent over, peeked into the passenger window, saw an attractive (yes that's the first thing I thought) woman trying to remove her sunglasses from her eyes. I thought, 'Why is she looking at me like that? She must think she knows me. Hmmmmm. She looks familiar, maybe someone on the L Word who remembers that time I accidentally walked onto the set 2 summers ago. Wow, maybe I'm famous already...'

She took off her sunglasses. It took me a second to register what was happening. "Gosia?! Holy sh*t -- I never see you!" I actually spoke aloud what I was thinking. She said she'd thought it was me. She wondered why I was walking through a back alley. I told her I live in that building [pointed to the one with the dumpster and bed mattress leaning against it] and added that it looks nicer from the front. I forgot to ask her what she was doing driving through a back alley.

I have photos of food but my camera card is stubborn.

Softball practice and BBQ tomorrow! I'll bring fruit or something.

Late night trip to the store for apples, mixed seeds with raisins, bananas and avocados (avocadoes?). I didn't eat all of this for dinner. I ate none of it, in fact. I felt full just looking at the pile of food on my desk.

This morning, another spinach-strawberry-cayenne-water smoothie. Sunflower seeds and raisins.

During lunch hour I invested in peace of mind at the windy beach, on the rocks.

Took the bus for once to Kensington Park for a Re-Ups softball game. Fun game of smoothly executed plays and strong defence. De-fence, de-fence. We won. I don't remember the score. It doesn't count anyway because Michelle didn't show.

After the game, we went to Duffin's Doughnuts. Or Donuts. I didn't check the name. I didn't eat anything there, either. Instead, I took the bus downtown and grabbed a Tommy veggie-style steamroller since I walked right by the place on my way home (I'd exited the bus a few streets early when I saw the long line-up waiting for the 22 at Burrard Station.) This is all very interesting and serious. I did take photos of the food but my camera card is being testy.

This morning the rain convinced me to sleep through a casually planned bike ride (my chain is squeaky enough as is).

Breakfast: a traditional spinach-banana-strawberry-cayenne smoothie.

Snack: some cashews and an apple. Carrots.

Dinner: Undecided as of yet. I watched the Canucks vs. Blackhawks game tonight, and every time I've watched them play, the Canucks have lost. Funnily enough, when I went to the store to stock up on some veggies, the Canucks scored a few. But yeah -- obviously, I continued to watch. Sorry, people.

Banana Leaf

Went to the Banana Leaf for Mother's Day dinner with Michelle, who made somewhat of an effort to save my life as I started to cross the street in front of a speeding car. (Thank-you.)

This is what I ate (minus the chicken satay), verbatim from the menu:

Appetizer Sampler For 2
A platter of our most popular appetizers: chicken satay, spring rolls, roti canai, calamari & salad.

Sayur Lemak
A Nonya adaption of Malay-style vegetable in a mild and creamy curry sauce.


For dessert:
A cup of sugar from Delaney's.

A torrential downpour on the walk home. It was raining so hard that the thought of being rained on that hard made me laugh out loud a few times. Then I thought of this song:

After a 4am bedtime last night, I woke up today feeling less than stellar. Yes, I use that word. Drank some water, enjoyed a refreshing banana-strawberry-grapefruit-cayenne smoothie and went for a walk to the usual park by English Bay. Busy on a sunny Saturday. Sat in the sun with the pigeons and tanned my left side while listening to Daniel G. Amen's audio book about proper brain functioning and behaviour. Walked through the alleyways home, had some tomato and avocado panini things with banana and sunflower seeds, went for a bike ride around Stanley Park again with Goran. I didn't bring my camera with me anywhere today. Noticed the tides were high for the second day in a row (May 9 4:03am full moon), came home to change clothes after bike ride. Boo-yah -- I was the first to confirm attendance at our softball game this Tuesday, sitting at the computer while Goran searched for a Family Guy espisode to show me. After that, went for an evening stroll to Capers for some cashews and a masala wrap (cous cous, peppers, raisins, almonds, lentils...). For dessert, some cherries. Early to bed tonight.

This evening Goran and I skated/biked around the Stanley Park seawall again, then planted seeds in my Davie Village Community Garden plot. I planted some sugar snap peas, manigold witerbi chard, persian garden cress, wildflower butterfly mix, oxheart carrot and mizuna mustard greens. I think that's all. I forgot to take a photo of the plot post-plant and soil top-up. I'm using lots of hyphens. Thank-you, Goran, for your assistance with my plot preparation and for your general support of straight-up deviousness. I'm over-tired.  And goodnight.

Bruised and Thready Avocado

My sweet little avocado was one of the few ripe ones left on display at the store last night. And so, its history (I can imagine) involved many a person squeezing the hell out of it to see, "Is it ripe yet? Now? Today? A minute later? A new person later? Oops, dropped on the floor. Now?"

At lunchtime today when I cut the thing open, clinically, not getting too attached to it, my imaginings were confirmed: bruises and those wormlike thready fibres running throughout its young (and of age) flesh.

What is up with those thready fibres? Grosses me out.

I salvaged some avocado innards and wiped them on my salad.

Snack: strawberry-banana-cayenne smoothie. I forgot to wash the strawberries. Don't tell anyone. Usually I wash my containers as soon as I walk in the door, but yesterday my roommate was in the kitchen so I washed only one of my two containers of strawberries, and I did so in the bathroom. Just -- don't ask. We have an unspoken agreement not to be where the other is at any time. Small quarters. Familiarity breeds contempt, etc.

This morning for breakfast: banana-grapefruit-apple-mixed greens salad smoothie.

Lunch: a super deluxe vegetarian burrito with brown rice (#3) from Steamrollers. Not that tasty. Plus I just felt hungrier later in the day.

Snack: a grapefruit and an apple.

Woops, I've messed up my blood sugar level. I feel a hunger, but for what? All day I've been thinking of having red curry for dinner from the Thai place down the street, but instead, I'm heading to the produce store. A small but important victory (against myself? Divide and conquer...? No! Cut out the crap and unite with what strengthens/enriches experience. Yep).

Hah, I can hear somebody's radio alarm beeping in the building next door (my window is open) -- I bet somebody set their alarm for PM instead of AM -- no one is in the room to turn it off. I wonder if the people in that building are going nuts yet. If not, this oughtta make zenmasters out of the lot of them. [Edit @7pm: the alarm is still going strong. I'm impressed. Impressed that I'm still sane. No comments from the peanut gallery, Mom.]

Dinner: A mouthful of salad, some sunflower seeds and raisins, a strawberry-banana smoothie. Probably not the best as food combining goes.

I like this song. It reminds me of what I'm forgetting.

I've been AWOL for the last couple of days.... Yup. So tonight for dinner I had a mixed salad with walnuts and apple.

That is, I had some plain mixed salad greens, then found the walnuts that had gathered in the bottom of the dish; later for dessert, an apple.

=)

Go, Crista! Yay, Re-Ups!

This morning Crista beat her goal time at the BMO Vancouver International Marathon! Fifth in age/gender category. Congratulations again, Crista!

My biggest accomplishment of the day was waking up at 6:15 a.m.

Had time for 7/8ths of a carrot for breakfast. After the marathon madness, indulged in a steamroller #11 with Sumit, biked home for a 10-minute nap, a mixed greens salad with red bell pepper and a grapefruit-banana-gala apple smoothie.

The Re-Ups had an afternoon practice game against CBC Radio 3. Left my house at ten minutes to three. Biked to China Creek Park by three-ish, exhausted. We played a full nine innings of 'everybody hits' and all had a gay ol' time, except for Michelle, who was playing for the other team.

After softball I had a veggie (avocado, something else, tofu) sushi combo. It was okay. Tofu is grossaroo -- I don't know how I'd missed that ingredient under the veggie combo description. Anyway, the soya sauce always kills me with its 100000 times the levels of sodium I'm used to, so I had only a tad.

In bed by 10pm!

Davie Village Garden Plot

Good news!  This morning I secured my plot in the Davie Village Community Garden for $10.oo.  I will go back later to top-up my plot (#14 -- I think it's in a decent location) with fresh soil, if anybody wants to help.... hint hint.  I have a million seeds from 2005.  If I plant all of them, something might germinate.  

I feel a sentimental moment coming on.  Oh, it's here already: I love this city.  I love the country more, but for a city, Vancouver is superiocity.  While at the garden a few minutes ago, I noticed that there are many people that share my last name, taking part in this garden.  What does it all mean...?  Um, it means that sharing is good.  Sharing is the fabric of healthy homes and communities, and thus, of community gardening.  *Breathes deeply, pounds chest, for no reason.*

More on the Davie Village Garden controversy (to plant edibles vs. ornamentals) from cityfarmer.info.

Yesterday Goran and I inline skated and biked, respectively and respectfully, around the Stanley Park seawall.  I left my backpack at home for once, so that I might enjoy a taste of real, string-less, freedom!  And without my pack, my back remained dry.  Epiphany.  Usually my shirt absorbs litres of smoothies in sweat form after a bike ride, but not this time!  Related non-effect: my foot did not cramp for lack of electrolytes.