Energy Flow.

My friend Alexis is a kundalini yoga instructor at Jivan. He sent me this diagram of how energy flows through the chakras. Previously I thought that the end goal of kundalini was to get the energy to your third eye chakra, but this is not the case! It moves in a cyclic manner: it uncoils 3.5 times at your root chakra, then moves up the back of the spine, over the top of the head, makes four spirals at the throat (which is the chakra of communication, one of the most important in kundalini), and then makes it’s way back down to your root chakra which is three fingers below the belly button. I think this diagram is very useful in understanding the process. Enjoy!

black bean brownies (BBB)

Today was the most beautiful day ever! I didn’t wake up until noon (recurring theme in this blog so far), but made up for it in the frolicking in the sun that ensued throughout the rest of the day.

After doing some reading at a nearby cafe, I stopped by Malin Landaeus‘ eponymous vintage shop for her Sunday tea party. Malin is a more than just a shopkeeper, she is an equisite woman full of stories to share. She also happens to be a very good cook, and a vegan one at that! She makes treats galore for whatever nomads (or starving models) happen to wander in to her shop on N. 6 St. and Bedford (which is un-marked on the outside). She and her daughter run the establishment which is home to an assortment of color-blocked, high-end vintage she has collected over the years.

Her daughter, Nova,  gave me her recipe for black bean brownies which I would like to share.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. spelt flour

1 Tsp. salt

1 tblsp. baking powder

1 1/2 c. cocoa

4 tblsp. instant coffee

Instructions:

The recipe that she used was from NoMeatAthlete.com which called for 2 1/4 c. raw sugar – she substituted agave & maple syrup for the water in the recipe to make them sweet.

*Sidenote: The brownies are sweetened with agave. It is one of the most natural, unrefined sweeteners out there so you won’t get a rush/crash after eating a few of these treats. Agave is also low on the glycemic index so it is a good sugar substitute for diabetics, hypoglycemics, and people with certain allergies. It also just tastes great.

She also used Stevia (depending on the type you use, 1-3 Tsp., but be sure to taste it as you go so as not to make it too sweet). She also added 1 1/2 c. chopped, toasted walnuts – but you can use any kind of nuts/seeds you like.

She used :

2 c. black beans which had already been (pressure) cooked (with water)

1 Tsp. Vanilla extract

1 Tsp. Chocolate extract (if available)

Recipe says mix with 1 cup water, but she used the sweetener-liquids listed about with a tiny bit of water. Mix the dry ingredients. Blend together the beans, agave/maple syrup (approx. 1/2 c. each), and maybe 1-2 tablespoons oil.

You can also experiment with using pureed dates/prunes or apple sauce to add more moisture. It seemed too dry when she first mixed the wet & dry together, but once it was well-mixed with nuts & all, it seemed to be a good consistency – more cookie dough like than batter. Bake in well oiled Pyrex dish (if it’s difficult to flatten it into the form, you can use a little oil on top)

25-30 min. on 350 ºF

Bon appetit!

Sunday morning = black mission figs, Norman Luboff Choir, and sleepy-eyed polaroids

What a lovely/lazy (lazely?) Sunday. Black mission figs are my favfavfav thing ever thanks to my dear friend Rory who introduced them to me at his humble abode one Sunday not too long ago. Perfect cut up into quarters and sprinkled on oatmeal with a couple of walnuts.

For lunch I made tabouleh salad in a successful attempt to copy one I had last weekend at Cafe Gitane in Nolita.

Ingredients:

1 cup trader joe’s whole wheat couscous
1 cup water
1/2 lemon (juice)
2 tbsp olive oil, walnut oil, avocado oil, or flax seed oil
1/3 package of cherry tomatoes
trader joe’s frozen corn
1/2 cup nuts (pine nuts work, but i used walnuts that i bought in bulk in chinatown)
1/3 package of mushrooms of your choice (i used grilled portobella)
hummus to dollop on top!

Basically I just cooked the couscous for about 5 minutes, then added the remaining ingredients, dolloped hummus on top, et voila! easy salad, tastes best after being refrigerated and even better as leftovers the next day. this is also a great salad for on-the-go at castings and shoots.

Later on I edited a food article about sustainable agriculture for my publicity class and in the evening went to see the new national geographic documentary called “Last Lions” at the Angelika Film Center on Houston. I got the tickets for half price on Groupon, as kind of an impulse buy. The movie was kind of sad, and interesting, and scary at the same time! It was more like a narrative than I expected, and lo’ and behold, the narrator was none other than Jeremy Irons, better known as ‘Humbert Humbert’ in Lolita.

Edibles.

I woke up at the crack of…noon today to go to the greenmarket in Mccarren Park. Although this may sound like an excuse, I actually went later on purpose. The market gets really busy in the morning and thins out by noon so it’s more fun to shop around and talk to booth owners, but still not miss out on good produce. They did not have their wonderful mulled (and chunky) apple cider today – BLARGH – but i shall live. For under ten dollars I have my week’s worth of leafy greens and home-pressed garlic. Good daddy watching to boot.

Sidenote: got locked out of my apartment afterward and had to travel to Cobble Hill to get the spare keys from my landlord at the YMCA. Luckily I had picked up a free issue of local food publication Edible at the market which I read on the subway. What a way to start a Saturday!