Wednesday, September 28, 2016

September's Inside the Theme





It's time for another IGGPPC Inside the Theme post and unfortunately, for me, it's all about food lol.    
     Now don't get me wrong, I love good food. But if I didn't need it to be alive and healthy, I wouldn't mind cutting back to just a sampling of mostly desserts every week or so... Also, despite having a very stereotypical Italian mom, that loves me so much she tends to overfeed me, can whip up a meal in minutes out of almost nothing and has her own super delicious, special spaghetti recipe, that part of the Italian genes skipped me and I barely know how to make a cold sandwich hehe. So be warned that my answer to these questions might not be what you expect from a "food-themed post."






1) What two edible masterpieces inspire your inner chef? 
As previously mentioned, I have absolutely no inner chef, but here are some pics of some amazing foods I've come across this year to inspire the rest of you, or at least inspire you to go out and find pretty foods to take pictures of haha.
Veggie lasagna and Vegan white chocolate whoopee pies and cupcakes!

Chocolate "Moose" and Hello Kitty blunt cakes. Yummm











Vegan sushi and "chick'n" with a nut crust on a bed of veggie goodness












Disney treats are THE best! Did you notice my partiality towards desserts?



2) Timeless Treasures. What family recipe do you most treasure or covet (if you don’t have it yet)? 
Well, apparently my great-grandma had some incredible pie and cake recipes that have been handed down only to worthy females in the family. My mom has them now and even my uncle who's a chef isn't supposed to have them. I mean not even grandma could get them! They went straight into my mom's hands while she and my great-gran baked together and these treasures are highly coveted, just not by me. I would love to get to eat more of said secret recipe desserts though! My afore mentioned uncle also has some delicious secret recipes of his own that he's been passing along to one of my cousins. His creations are drool worthy and he makes them for me as his present whenever we get together, but again I'm more interested in eating them than making them.







3) In a box? With a fox? Where would you have dinner if you could partake in a fictional feast?
Have any of you read the Tiger Saga by Colleen Houk? Amongst all the adventure and running around, two of the characters end up being guests at a fairy kingdom. I believe it happened in the third book, Tiger's Voyage... Anyway, the feast was all vegetarian, mostly vegan and made mainly out of nuts and flowers, plus it was a gorgeous location amongst fairies. That's one of the fictional feasts I would most like to attend. Or you know, if you want something more mainstream. I would not decline an invitation to Beast's castle as long as Lumier makes sure to tell the kitchen staff it has to be vegan :D




4) A feast for the senses. Comfort food goes beyond just eating, what kitchen scent is at the top of your list?
One of my favorite kitchen scents, interestingly enough, is fresh brewed coffee. I do not like coffee at all, but that scent smells like mom and I love it! I also love the smell of fresh baked goodies, but who doesn't?




5) Most memorable or strangest meal you’ve ever eaten?!
Hmm, this is a tough one, like I said food is not all THAT important to me, so I don't think of it as memorable. What makes a meal memorable is being with my loved ones, or in a particularly great place. I remember places and people and conversations way more than the food we had. But now that I think about it I guess one of the most memorable meals I've had was the one I technically never had... When I was in pre-school or first grade, I went to a friend's house to play restaurant. She had just gotten this amazing new set of dishes that were tiny but as functional as the real ones in the kitchen. We invited lots of plashes to our restaurant and served the food her mom had left on the stove for our dinner. We played for hours and we kept eating out of those tiny plates throughout the entire time. By the time they made us clean up and get ready for dinner we were stuffed and couldn't figure out why! LOL
     As for strange,  I'm not that adventurous with food, unless it's vegan but then I know I'm not really eating something strange. 
I guess my strangest snacks were when in grade school I would pick these blue, trumpet-like flowers straight from a tree during recess to drink their sweet nectar and munch on the petals haha. As you can tell, I miss being a fairy, I love flowers, to talk to, to photograph, paint and to eat! So there you have it. Now you know a little bit more random information about me and I managed to make myself hungry so I'll hop along to find some snacks. 



Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Happy Peace Day!


©Bree Castillau http://www.colibreephotogrart.com/spiritual-art


Yay today is Peace Day! And for some reason it’s become very important to me this year. Something about it deeply resonated with me this time, to the point I felt compelled to create an image for it and share it in the form of a postcard with all my friends around the world. By now, I've almost mastered not questioning why things get stuck in my system and just go with the flow, so I did. And the image above is what came to me, with the feeling that Love and Peace for everyone is the only dream we need to collectively catch...

I don't know what it is, but there's something about 2016's Peace Day, because even In my town there is going to be a specific, super fun gathering to celebrate it this evening! I'm definitely not missing out on it, we will focus around a sacred drum circle to spread peace and healing around the world.  We’ll begin with a candlelight ceremony to build our intentions for healing and harmony across the globe and after the drumming, we will be in a peace meditation with crystal singing bowls. I know this is a little "out there" for a lot of people, but it's right up my alley and sounds like the perfect way to celebrate Peace and spend the last official full day of Summer <3

Honestly, much as Earth Day, Peace day should be celebrated every day, but it's so easy for most of us to get caught up in our daily lives and forget about sending loving thoughts to the planet on a daily basis, that it’s nice to get at lest a yearly reminder to stop and focus on creating the world we want to live on, even if just for a day. Collective positive thoughts on Peace and tolerance do make a difference. 
Image from Elizabeth Harper's https://www.sealedwithlove.com


I guess now that my pen-pal friendships have deepened and I've met so many new people around the globe who are all trusting in each other, opening the hearts to be generous and get to know other cultures without judgement or limitations, make Peace day resonate more with me now than it’s done before. Because despite of what people are saying about the negativity of 2016, all I’ve felt is Peace, Love and Acceptance from people who have never even met me in person and from those loved ones around me. And I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate that. 


What does Peace mean to you? How do you envision world Peace?



Oh and before I forget, Happy Fall Equinox everyone! Halloween season starts in 9 days and I couldn't be more exciting for all the Fall fun and Halloween magic coming up. Hope you all have a wonderful start of the season now that the energy is fully shifting and we're moving out of the latest retrograde!!