Bon Bons

Hey there Cutes.

Put on your Danc'n boots

Come Dance with me.

You'll want to go dancing after you eat a few of these bon bons. More cacao ...... more magnesium. For the joy and health benefits of Cacao, look on my "Cacao Breakfast Pudding" post.

These tasty tid-bits can be as chocolaty as you desire. I'll give you a sorta basic recipe but you can adjust to your taste.

Use a food processor.

1 C. almonds (remove skins)

1 C. Cacao powder or nibs

1/2 C. coconut

Agave necter to taste

1 or 2 tb. pine nuts (optional)

small amount of spring water. Maybe 1/4 C. Go easy & slowly as you want to be able to make balls

Process everything to a ball-rolling consistency. Roll small balls in any of the following..... finely chopped coconut, cacoa powder, any finely chopped nuts. If you are lucky enough to have Virgo patience in your astro chart, roll them into small, round, even balls, (not the lumpy kind like mine) Then come to my house & help me color code my underwear drawer. :)

But seriously ..... a tip on almonds, the most alkaline of nuts. Almonds contain a small amount of amygdalin (better known as laetrile which is cancer curing/preventative). But don't go crazy on this nummy food as it's high in fat UNLESS you have a degenerative disease, then eat up. When I was young, I used to eat several apricot pits (laetrile) a day to help avoid degenerative diseases. But after the Feds found out it would cure cancer.... bye bye pits. I know many people who now get them from Mexico or grow their own.

How to remove almond skins ....

You want almonds to be raw ....... heat them on stove in a small amount of water. DON'T BOIL. Just bring to a boil so almonds are heated. Drain H2O and toss almonds in a bowl of ice cubes and water. Now, pinch almonds between thumb and finger & the skins pop right off. It's rather tedious but I sit in front of the tube with 3 bowls. The bowl of almonds in the ice cubes, 1 bowl for the skinned and another bowl for the skins. As long as I'm "doing it" I skin enough for almond milk. hummm ..... ever tried the milk?

Wanna know how to make almond milk?

Toss a couple handsfull of organic skinned almonds in the blender

Chop up 3 or 4 medjool dates (be sure to remove pits) & toss in

Add spring water.... enough to make it a milky consistency

Mix. I use a high speed blender so everything gets chopped up. If your blender isn't as powerful and a little residue is left, you can squeeze the milk through a cotton bag or cheese cloth.

Tip.... For sweetner, you can use any dates or agave, or honey or even maple syrup. Date are known for curing throat & chest ailments.

I recently happened to spot organic corn flakes in the health food store. Shades of my childhood. Used to love corn flakes. The bag just jumped into my cart, so I thought, oh what the heck ..... Soon as I got home I poured a bowl of the crunchy flakes and added cold almond milk. OMG I thought I was that skinny little Indian again who they were always trying to "fatten up." I only recommend corn flakes as a special memory treat. It's a once-in-a-while thing. Remember ..... when ever you cut a grain, you are devitalizing it. Far better to eat the whole grain. I eat whole grain oatmeal every day. You can cook it slowly (all night is good) in a crock pot. Nice & creamy. I go against my belief system when I cook with electricity ..... ex. crockpot, food processor, blender, etc. but they are such labor savers and I'm healthy. If you are sick, don't put this extra stress on your already over-burdened body. It's far better to cook with gas & use hand chopping.

What Car Would You Buy?

I would buy this 1929 Desoto if I could afford it, have a place to protect it and have a chauffeur to maintain it. But after a lot of consideration, it's not worth the added annoyances. I recall I was once talking to a Gypsy and somehow the conversation got around to refrigerators. He didn't own one and said he didn't want one. I asked why, of course, dumb but curious me. He said a fridge would be nice to keep his food from spoiling but think of the expense and it would completely ruin his life. He went on to say that if he had a fridge, he'd need electricity and an outlet to plug it into. Ah ha.... that means a house. A house means a mortgage. A mortgage means money and money means a job. No thank you. He'd rather deal with the rotten food.

Some years ago my old Plymouth went kaput, finito, the end. My husband, never having put his energy into cars, simply said, "Go out and buy another." I knew he really wouldn't fuss about the price or what kind of car I chose, so that was no problem. Well ..... he might have raised an eyebrow if I'd come home with a Lamborghgini (I don't even know how to spell it so how would I know how to drive one) but I didn't. I came home with a little Nissan pickup. I think the price was about eight or ten thousand, but so long ago I don't recall. People were shocked at my choice. My husband could certainly afford a more expensive car and a truck, yet!!!!! Why would I chose a truck? It was way before it was stylish to drive a pickup ..... especially for a woman.

At the time, I was into antiques and a truck was perfect for my scroungings. It was small and easy to park. Zippy for little vehicle. It had AC and a radio with disc player (the old tape thing, but it was long ago, remember). It also had a heater, of course, which I didn't really need because we lived in Florida at the time. It met all my needs. I loved it.

What would I buy today? Well, now I live in Montana & do mountain travel. I recently did buy another Nissan X-Terra.... bright red. I put the doggie shield in the back and Cody has her little apartment. Still suits my needs. If I'm stuck in the winter, I shove it into 4-wheel and zip I'm out of the muck.

Cars are rather fun. What would you buy or what did you buy? It's been said that you can tell a person by the car they drive. Is zat so? That would be a good conversation. Tell me. I want to see & hear about kj's "pride with Grandmother sitting on the bumper." Gotta love that car.

Cacao Breakfast Pudding

Cacao Pudding

You'll have to adjust this to your taste. I'll just give you some basic ingredients. I use a power blender, a Blendtec but I'm sure any blender will do the job.

1 tai coconut, use water & the young meat

or you can use a banana

an avocado or 1/2, depends on how much you're making

2 or 3 heaping tb. of raw cacao powder or nibs

there again, depends on how chocolatey you want it

Around 2 handfuls of greens. I used arugula for this but you can use spring greens, romaine, lettuce, spinach. I like to use the lighter greens rather than kale because the taste isn't as strong but Kale gives you a lotta bang for your buck.

I sweeten to taste with agave.

I add favorite superfoods as bee pollen, hemp seed, goji berries,

Go a little light on the liquid at first or it may get too runny, although always remember to use enough liquid so it won't stress your blender.

Here's the story of my "weeding day." Montana has had rain every day this spring. Bozeman has always been a valley of rich farmland and along with all this rain, every growing thing seems to explode into life. So do the unwanted weeds.

I made a big dish of the above pudding and ate half of it before I went out to pull weeds. I wasn't in the mood but it had to be done. I weeded 4 hours by squatting, kneeling or bending over with my butt in the air. I went in the house and ate the rest of the pudding. The weeding job was only half finished, so back outside to weed for another 3 1/2 hours. Holy Moly..... that's 7 1/2 hours of weeding. I was beginning to feel the stress in my back from the constant bending over but it wasn't anything excruciating. The next day, I was aware of a little stiffness in the backs of my legs. That was it. I'm not trying to say that this is a magic potion that is responsible for allowing you to work all day but I know it gives me energy and something else. I get a real "high" from this chocolate concoction. Have you ever been drunk on alcohol? Of course, everyone has. You know that happy, delerious feeling ...... just before the hangover ........ that's the feeling I get with this pudding. WOW It's a great happy natural high.

Chocolate, Cocoa and Cacao....... What's the difference. The words are all used interchangeably. There doesn't seem to be a rigid demarcation line with the words. Cacao usually means the raw bean and it's often called chocolate, too. Cocoa usually denotes it's been heated and that results in loss of many of it's nutrients. I wouldn't touch "milk chocolate" with a ten foot pole. It means just what it says that milk has been added. The milk will contain artificial hormones that have been fed to the animals and along with that goes a bouquet of pesticide residues. So the cocoa powder will dissolve in water, a potassiium carbonate is also added. You don't need these additives in your system so use the raw cacao bean in either powder or nibs form.

Benefits of Cacao

Magnesium galore. Probably the highest source. Magnesium builds strong bones and balances brain chemistry. If you are eating a Standard American Diet, you are most likely deficient in Magnesium. Women menstrate and they crave chocolate because this is a time when it's easy to get deficient of magnesium. Raw Cacao is also rich in sulfur that builds strong hair and nails and gorgeous skin.

Remember the high I said I got from eating raw cacao ...... that is because it contains anandamide and phenylethylamine. But you can simply call it the the Bliss or Love chemical. That is why Love feels so good because we release this bliss chemical. So therefore, being in love or eating chocolate will give you that same blissful high.

Raw Cacao also contains arginine which increases blood to the penis and that increases sexual desire. Good News. A natural Viagra

Negative Effects of Roasting or Heating Cacao

Roasting releases both tannic and oxalic acids and can cause mood swings, nervousness, anxiety and insomnia

To sum up..... eat the raw Cacao. You can find it at a health food store or you can order it online. I order mine online and always keep a good supply on hand.

My Sister Eileen and Reflections

Tuesday Morning. I awoke to a rather dull, gray day. It promised more gray than just the early morning mist. Bozeman was on my agenda for today so I flipped on the TV weather channel. Instead I got Turner Classic Movies and "My Sister Eileen" popped on the screen. Oh no..... 1955 with Janet Leigh. That movie was my longing, my dream, my lost hope.

I didn't remember Janet Leigh being the original barbie doll. But there she was, on the screen, the exact image of barbie ....... long blond pony tail..... perky, flirty boobs that would put an eye out........ a waist so tiny it would fit a charm bracelet........a stomach with the slight suggestion of a woman ..... and a firm rounded rump (not the Kim Kardashian rump but rounded in a 50's style.) It was like the first time I was seeing her and I'd seen the movie perhaps 7 times. I know why. I was nubile at the time and we never look at what we are, but what we aren't. Janet Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis is attractive but it must have been annoying to grow up in the shadow of a goddess for a mother.

All my young life I had wanted to get a one way ticket to New York and dance in Broadway musicals. Be a rockette. Maybe become a star. Live my own life and make my own decsions. But.... (now play doom music) I met this gorgeous hunk of a man who wanted to marry me. OMG I was so young and soooo insecure. If I didn't grab this, no more opportunities would ever come my way, or so I thought. I was smitten with love which was actually lust. In those days, a so called "nice girl" was a virgin until marriage.

Girls, then, were like little lambie pies, that could be herded by a sheep-dog of a male. There was no Oprah, no Dr. Phil, or TV shows that pointed out the pitfalls of a hasty marriage or what values to look for in a healthy relationship. I folded. I put my dream in a box, got married and raised babies. Although I put my dance shoes in "kind of a box," it didn't get put on the very top shelf. I danced, I competed, I had 2 studios, I taught. But it was more like hobby dancing. That was OK, but 10 years ago I had a Vedic astrology reading. He took one look at my chart and screamed, "You were supposed to be a dancer, what happened?"

The above is like part I. When there's a one, there's a two. Here's the two.

That beautiful hunk was my "first mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart." (Shades of David Copperfield.) I didn't know it until these past 10 years, but Mr. Hunk was a full-blown Narcissist, a Tiger Woods and I don't mean he was a good golfer.

We stayed together 25 years and all that time I didn't have a clue about these personality disorders. Of course, I blamed myself. I'm sure everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about. There's reams of information out there now. When I finally figured out that it was my husband's problem (and not mine) I read every book ever published on the subject. There's one book that summed up my life. I guess we all follow a pattern like little cookie cutters but the book, My Secret Life With a Sex Addict" by Emma Dawson tells it, as if she's quoting my life.

We stayed married 25 years but it was off and on, together and apart. It was a sick relationship, exactly like Emma says in her book. I know no one can understand how a woman can become a victim to a Narcissist. If I were to watch my life on a movie, I would loath the woman and say, "Why doesn't she just walk away. Leave. Take the kids and run?" I can't explain in this little space but we just don't for so many reasons. I'm also a Pisces and at times, we can be the doormats of the Universe.

After 25 years I got away. Not with therapy but I did it on my own and with the help of my best friend, Marilyn. We all have scars, especially my four kids. Mr. Hunk died this past February on Valentine's Day. Marilyn laughed and said what appropriate justice for a sex addict. I hadn't seen him in years and I just breathed a heavy sigh when I heard he was dead.

That's the end of part II but there's a little sequel. I spent some time alone, getting to know me and trying to heal with my kids and I met the Mr. Wonderful. It was different. He had a rotund belly, was kinda short, had a rather buck-toothed grin but he made me laugh every single day. He never lusted after other women and he adored me. We celebrated 25 joy-filled years together before he died. He was like dessert, saving the sweetest thing for last.

WOW ...... What a Turner Classic Movie will do for the old memory cells!!!!!!!!!!!

Country Song My Granddaughter Wrote

Country Song My Granddaughter Wrote

Country Song by Ashly

WAIT ………..Before you turn this off.

I know background music isn’t the accepted thing these days. I’m told that most people find it annoying. Here’s what Matthew MacDonald has to say about background music in his book, “Creating a Web Site.”

“Most people like to browse the Web in peaceful silence. That means no trance-hypno-ambient background tracks, no strange disco beats and no sudden cymbal crashes. This aversion to noise may be due to the fact that something like 98% of all Web browsing takes place on company time.”

But, in spite of all that, give this country song a listen. It’s written and sung by my Granddaughter, Ashly. It’s called “Red River” played by her band, “Little Jane and the Pistol Whips.”

Remember Plant a Radish?

Anybody remember the musical "The Fantasticks?"

Two gardening fathers are talking about their kids, their love & their problems

If you remember the melody, here are the words ....... sing away.

(P.S. It's all a lead-in to what's kept me youthful for 80 years)

Plant a radish

Get a radish.

Never any doubt.
That's why I love vegetables;
You know what you're about!

Plant a turnip.
Get a turnip.
Maybe you'll get two.
That's why I love vegetables;
You know that they'll come through!

They're dependable!
They're befriendable!
They're the best pal a parent's ever known!
While with children,
It's bewilderin'.
You don't know until the seed is nearly grown
Just what you've sown.

So
Plant a carrot,
Get a carrot,
Not a Brussels sprout.
That's why I love vegetables.
You know what you're about!

Life is merry,
If it's very
Vegetarian!
A man who plants a garden
Is a very happy man!

Plant a beanstalk.
Get a beanstalk.
Just the same as Jack.
Then if you don't like it,
You can always take it back!

But if your issue
Doesn't kiss you,
Then I wish you luck.
For once you've planted children,
You're absolutely stuck!

Every turnip green!
Every kidney bean!
Every plant grows according to the plot!

While with progeny,
It's hodge-podgenee.
For as soon as you think you know what kind you've got,
It's what they're not!

So
Plant a cabbage.
Get a cabbage.
Not a sauerkraut!
That's why I love vegetables.
You know what you're about!

Life is merry
If it's very
Vegetarian.
A man who plants a garden
Is a very happy man!

A vegitari-
Very merry
Vegetarian!