Thanks to some new music on my phone I am happy (?) to say that I am back to running. Over the last 2 days I have logged 4 miles. That doesn't count the mile and a half a few days ago and then 2 and a 1/2 that I walked today with a client. I took this photo during the run yesterday. Overcast but nice and cool. Perfect.

I mentioned FoMu in a previous post. Lisa and I went again last night. These are the flavors. ALL DAIRY FREE! They even had vegan sprinkles and gluten free cones! Sounds crazy but it is the best ice cream I have EVER had.

p.s. just realized after posting that you can't actually read any of the flavors. But there are a lot!

Birthday part 2

Saturday I celebrated my birthday with Kim and Meg. I spent the day cooking and they came over for dinner. This is the pesto I made with basil from the backyard, pistachios instead of pine nuts and without dairy to make it vegan. It was awesome! I put it over quinoa corn pasta (gluten free) and mixed in some asparagus and fresh corn. YUM! I also made vegan/raw/gluten free chocolate tarts. They turned out SO WELL. The photo does not do them justice.

After an awesome dinner we went to a show at the Improv Asylum. Lots of laughing. It was a great show.

To celebrate my birthday some friends and I went to Teranga. It is a Senegalese restaurant and was AMAZING! So many choices for vegans! The photo is what I had. Veggies in a tomato-based sauce with rice. We also had fried plantains that were super yummy.

Afterward we headed to FoMu for ice cream. It was delicious, dairy/gluten free, locally made and without refined sugar. No really, it was INCREDIBLE! Some of the best ice cream I have ever had. It was an awesome day followed by hanging out with a friend on Sunday. Birthday part two will take place this coming weekend!

Today Kim and I returned to Rockport for another day of kayaking. The weather was perfect. We worked a LOT harder this time. Totally expecting to be sore tomorrow. Totally worth it. This picture is of the harbor.

I've been a vegetarian for quite some time. I don't remember ever being that much of a fan of red meat. Starting in high school I experimented back and forth with giving up various meat products. Red meat was the first to go. I rarely ate it and even less frequently cooked it. Then there was the very last day. I still remember it. I had made a hamburger in the George Forman grill (remember those things!) and rinsed it off but didn't scrub it. When I returned home after a long opera rehearsal I walked into an apartment that stunk of red meat. That was it. Done. From then on I would eat chicken out sometimes, but rarely cook it. Then it dwindled down to the rare piece of fish. The last creature from the sea that I ate (well, attempted to but couldn't) was a lobster in Maine. It was on the plate staring back at me. Yes, it was dead but it appeared to be watching me! And that day I said good-bye to seafood. While in Nicaragua I ate WAY to much dairy and wheat/gluten. Basically bread/tortillas and yogurt at an attempt to calm my furious digestive system. Since being back I have made yet another dietary change: gluten and dairy free. Not sure if I will stick with it, but I am for now and it's going well. There are plenty of other options. Coincidentally the NY Times had an article about cow's milk last Sunday (we really aren't made to have it). Check it out HERE. Tonight I tried the above product for the first time. Mac and cheese that is made from brown rice pasta and dairy free "cheese." While it isn't your typical, it's pretty good and I feel good about eating it. I'm currently reading Fair Food. It's basically about how messed up our food system is. If you didn't realize that, you need to read this NOW! Also a recent read (highly recommend, it will blow your mind), The End of Food.

Very early into my trip we took a day adventure to the Somoto Canyon. The plan was to hike (with a guide, of course) and then once at the end we'd get in and float back to the beginning. Imagine my surprise (I wish there was a photo of my face when I was told this) when less than a mile in we were told to swim across a fairly quick moving river. Um, ok. I needed a bit of help, but did make it over. This photo is of me floating back to the start. It was probably a 20ish minute float back.

I went to see my amazing herbalist yesterday. They whipped me up a concoction that they conveniently put in these little pouches. While they are very helpful and work wonders, they taste TERRIBLE. I try to make it a little more fun with the fancy straw. Three a day for three more days. Bottom's up.

An added bonus of travel? Spending 6 hours in the emergency dept last night. Not sure if i caught something while away or when i got back but it was pretty bad. After a day of kayaking and fireworks with friends Wednesday I started feeling really achy. Not the post-kayak achy, but achy all over and just not feeling right. Thursday morning I could barely get out of bed. I finally drug myself to my office where I lasted all of about 2 hours (1 of those hours asleep in a conference room). I went in for an acupuncture session then headed home. I just kept feeling worse and realized that something was really wrong when my temperature read 104.5. That convinced me that something needed to be done, fast. I went to the hospital and once they heard that I had recently been to Central America they placed a mask on me and took me back. The evening started with 2 liters of IV fluids. After the training paramedic finally gave up trying, someone else got the IV in. There are many, many marks on my arm to show his attempts. I had a chest x-ray and a million other tests done. It took quite awhile for the fever to go down, but finally did. Everything that they tested came back normal and they all seemed pretty shocked. While it was good, I still have no idea what was wrong. Eventually they decided to send me home. Today I've been resting, except for my visit to my herbalist, and plan to do the same tomorrow. Pretty scary stuff and nothing that I want to ever repeat!