Although my partner and I are not sure what the exact date of our anniversary is, I recently decided to take a page from my own book and start to create a ritual of celebration for our partnership around a date. We marked one down on the calendar about a month ago and today is the day.

August 26th at least is a date I should be able to remember as it used to be my sister’s birthday. Another interesting comparison–seeing as she was given that date as her birth-date because no one really knew the exact date she was born either. Putting that all aside, it is amazing to stop and think that we have been together for 6 years!

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We began the GAPS diet (or enhanced Specific Carbohydrate Diet) in February, so we have now been on it for more than six months. The difference is remarkable. I have sent in for another hair analysis so I can compare the result with the test I did last November. All of our conditions have not completely disappeared. We have had to do a fair amount of travelling earlier this year and it has been difficult to maintain full control over everything that goes into our mouth on those occasions, but on the whole we have done very well.

The hardest thing about this diet is that it makes it very difficult to socialize. We can’t really go out to eat, go over to peoples houses to eat or even out for a couple drinks. We have started to drink Bloody Mary’s on occasion, as they seem to be relatively harmless. Beer or wine or anything sweetened just does us in. Going out to restaurants is a real pain too as you can never really be sure what is in a dressing or soup or whatnot unless you really know the place you are eating at is dedicated to real food. It was surprisingly easy in LA to go out to eat, and I think the gluten-free fad has really taken off all of a sudden, so I think it will get easier as well, perhaps grain-free will catch on by default!

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It has been another month or so since I last wrote, and since I promised to try and be better about sending out more regular updates I thought it was probably about time to fill you in on all the exciting things happening this past month.

The first thing which happened was that I went to my first peace-building conference here in Egypt. One of the priests in a nearby town was putting together a conference and had invited a Canadian out to be the key speaker. Interestingly enough the priest didn’t even know that I had taken this new position as the Peace Coordinator but for some reason he thought that it would be good for me to be along. Anyway, it turns out this Canadian (Brice Balmer) was one of the original people working on developing restorative justice as a viable alternative to the current criminal justice system. It was quite interesting hearing him talk about his experiences and his insights, and it was also great to watch the Egyptians attending the conference begin to think about possible ways to contextualize the things he was saying.

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Almost every summer, when I was a kid, I spent on the farm where my Grandmother was born, some kilometers outside Warsaw, Poland.

Coming from Long Island New York, it was like stepping back in a time machine. If you wanted to make a call you had to phone a central switchboard and they would connect you. Primitive, right? Endless fields of wheat, a swimming hole, barefoot kids, chickens in and out of the kitchen, homemade everything AND raw milk.

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Read the Wilderness Committee article about developing more sustainable waste management systems in Vancouver: Environmentalists Urge Minister Penner to Reject Incineration Due to Toxic Ash in Burns Bog Landfill.

About a month ago I sent in a message to Metro Vancouver after reading about the garbage issue on www.wildernesscommittee.org (great group working for the environment in BC). I just got an email with an update on the situation from Councillor Andrea Reimer and am posting it here in hopes that more folks will become aware of the situation.

Anyway here is the update from Andrea Reimer:

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We never seem to have much time for entertainment these days, but since coming to Vancouver, BC we have become fans of a local troupe of radical actors. The last play we saw was Death of a Clown by Sebastien Archibald. This was actually our first time at Queen Elizabeth park which was a treat in and of itself. We climbed through the park to the top of the large hill, through lovely gardens and past a Cambodian picnic with traditional music and dancing to boot. The view over Vancouver is fantastic, what a perfect spot for this modern version of Robin Hood, also written by Sebastien Archibald.

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This weekend I finally fulfilled a long-time dream and re-read The Cook by Harry Kressing. For anyone who loves cooking or who is interested in psychology and sinister plots, I highly recommend this book. For anyone who has worked in the service industry, catering for the excessively rich and snobby, this book is a delightful fantasy where the clever and hard-working cook turns the tables and soon has the boss for his butler. All the little details about cooking, the kitchen, the cookbooks (even a cookbook for cats!), the hunting and the shopping give a wonderful glimpse into what running an old manor kitchen might have been like. In this age of gluten-free and allergies for every imaginable food, The Cook also offers a parallel with every character’s special needs being catered to with the ease and flourish of a very accomplished chef. It is one of those books you just can’t put down, but with its 244 pages it is a quick read. You can’t truly call yourself a foodie if you haven’t read The Cook.

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Hannah Crum (otherwise known as LA’s Kombucha Mamma) on the occassion of the wonderful article she wrote for helladelicious – Kombucha Recall Madness – The Real Story – has generously offered to provide the Star Prize (a Brew Now Kombucha Kit valued at $35) for our first ever Twitter contest –

And YOU could Win!

All you have to do is follow @helladelicious & @kombuchakamp on Twitter by Sunday, August 15th

And

Tweet this message: ‘Win a Brew Now #Kombucha Kit from Kombucha Kamp RT & follow @helladelicious & @kombuchakamp by 8/15′.

Good Luck to all!

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Limited Time! Twitter Contest! WIN a Free SCOBY Brew Now Kit (provided by LA’s Kombucha Mamma and valued at $35- see it here).  All you have to do is follow @helladelicious & @kombuchakamp on twitter by Sunday, August 15th, then Tweet this message: “Win a Brew Now Kombucha Kit from Kombucha Kamp, RT & follow @helladelicious & @kombuchakamp by 8/15″.  Good Luck!

Visit Kombucha Kamp’s Contest Page Here

A special thanks to Hannah Crum who is LA’s Kombucha Mamma, and the author of KombuchaKamp.com for this article giving us the low-down about what has been going on in the US with the kombucha recall. She also conducts workshops about Kombucha year round, for anyone who wants to take control of their own kombucha!

As long as humans have roamed the earth, they have turned to Mother Nature to improve their health. Kombucha is an ancient folk remedy that is enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity. Purportedly discovered during the Qin Dynasty (221 BC) in China, 21st century peeps are reclaiming this sweet and sour tonic to aid in the digestion of our over-processed diet and to boost immunity in our increasingly toxic world.

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Long, long ago I had a dream to have a magazine with all my friends and family contributing and sharing their experiences as third culture kids (or not) so that others going through the same sorts of things will have something to relate to. Over the past nine months Hella Delicious has evolved to encompass many more facets of the DIY real-food-lovin’ culture, demonstrating that something much better than what we are generally led to imagine, already has an extensive network of roots and is now shooting up all over our world. In fact, it is well on it’s way to blossoming and bearing fruit.

Hella Delicious has been getting more authors and people who would like to contribute so we have a new design in the works, which we hope to have coming on-line in August. We had a lot of travels and whatnot at the beginning of the year, which has helped to clarify the idea of where Hella Delicious is going, having a chance to hang out with some old friends and family helped with hashing certain aspects out. Other good news is that Hella Delicious was recently ranked 36th in America’s top local food websites for 2010! We are pretty pleased.

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