Eating with Our Hands

I always preferred meals that I ate with my hands when I was little.  My children think any food we eat with our hands is "way more fun!!” than foods that require utensils.   

What do you think?  

Our hands are definitely designed to hold things, especially our food. Thank you, opposable thumbs! It would be an evolutionary disaster if cows had to hold on to their grass while they munched on it or if a tiger had to cut up his catch with a knife before he could consume his scored prey. Our hands are designed for a very specific purpose.   

My children and I spent a good chunk of our morning picking goji berries. They are quite small and annoying to pick. I am pretty certain the reason they cost $14 per pound because of the effort required to get them off the bush and into our mouths.  I don’t actually care for the taste of them but apparently, they are a SUPERFOOD!  

If you have never seen a goji berry, this is what they look like.  My son started to get bored after picking a small handful and wanted to quit. I tried to incentivize him by paying him 1 cent per goji berry. I paid him out $1 by the end of our picking session. 

A teaching moment was at hand… 

It was a counting lesson but even more importantly, I reminded him that 100 years ago Costco didn’t exist and people had to pick their food to eat it. How hungry are you? What will we eat when our goji berry plant winters over along with the rest of our backyard? 

The next couple of months we will deeply appreciate our ability to pick, hold and carry our food. Harvest time is a rewarding, sometimes overwhelming season, however, it’s a time for creativity, manual labor, intuitive culinary artistry and lots of dishwashing! The next several blog posts I will be sharing our recipes, ideas, and techniques.

Many blessings of wellness to YOU!

Nicole 

Silence is Golden
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Some days I would argue that it’s platinum. Maja and I were discussing the daily events that we wanted to incorporate into your retreat. Meditation was at the top of the list. It is one of the best therapeutic tools and all it takes is…. NOTHING. Why is that so hard?  Our other retreat adventures require major planning and logistical coordination. Will snorkeling with tropical fish and accidentally colliding with sea turtles be life changing? Absolutely! The other end of the pleasure spectrum is the opportunity to train our brain to be in the present moment.  It’s easy to do this when our monkey minds are enthusiastically engaged in the present moment.  Unfortunately, our current state of overstimulation/multitasking society has trained our brains into a condition that makes our attention spans shorter than ever. Good news!! There is a solution and it’s simple…

It is simple but not easy. 

The antidote to our current state of mental chaos is to do NOTHING. Yup, sit still and pay attention. Neuroscience technology is proving it. It releases a cascade of neurochemicals that increase our mental well-being. Meditation is as effective as pharmaceutical interventions.

Our OMGenuis opportunity for you this week is to take little moments out of your day to invite silence. My favorite way lately is to turn OFF the radio while driving. It’s an easy commitment and it really works. In fact, I have started turning off the radio before I turn my car off so when I start it up the next time I drive I have to consciously decide if I want noise. I find myself choosing silence more and more. Can you find a little smidgen of time to carve out for silence? You don’t have to make it official with a seated position or even a closed door.  Treat yourself to some bling platinum today! You deserve it.

Watermelon Coolies
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My favorite summer beverage recipe is what we call watermelon coolies at our house. I enjoy them almost daily in the hot Utah summer. Oh and here is a just a sample of the medicinal qualities of your gorgeous beverage!

Medicinal Qualities

  • Heart health
  • Anti-inflammatory Properties
  • Hydration
  • Digestion
  • Diabetes Prevention
  • Cancer Prevention

Read More About Health Benefits

Place the following ingredients in a blender

  • 1/4 of a medium sized watermelon, cut up into 1-2 inch chunks. 
  • Juice from 1 medium size lime
  • 8-10 mint leaves (If you don’t have fresh mint, you can use a couple drops of peppermint oil)
  • 10 ice cubes

Pulverize the ice and watermelon together. If you don’t have a powerful, high-speed blender, add some water to get things moving. Serve immediately and feel your body cool off from the inside out. 

Cheers to your wellness!  

#SoljournRetreatsNourish #HealthySmoothies #FruitCooler

 

Welcome to Our Farmacy

Food As Delicious Medicine

'Farmacy' is not a typo, even though my spell check kept trying to put it back to its less truthful concept we have all come to embrace, the pharmacy. We happened upon this sign posted outside of a fenced in garden in Downeast Maine. It’s always struck me as a powerful concept that needs sharing and elaboration.

Indulge Your tastebuds

My favorite thing about food is that it is delicious. We have six tastebuds...yes, the umami tastebud is considered one of the tribe now. I have a dear friend who had a rare brain attack that left her mouth unable to distinguish any difference between her tastebuds. She enthusiastically accompanied a group of colleagues and I to a Himalayan restaurant for an 'all you can eat' buffet....hello, variety! While we were all drooling over the brilliant favors of Himalayans cuisine, she enjoyed the variety of textures that also make food very enjoyable.

Early Influences

Maja and I grew up in a restaurant, literally. Our parents opened the Spice of Life in 1977. Our family dwelling was on the 2nd level of the restaurant, a large living space to accommodate our six person family comfortably. The Spice of Life was the local hang out and bar, but also a fine dining establishment for those seeking ethnic gourmet and a place to get your jam on on the weekends in York Village, Maine. Our bedroom was above the dance floor so we were exposed to a lot of good disco late into the weekend nights. The Spice Of Life was sold in 1986 and sadly turned into a group of gynecologists offices. Life has been a journey since the old days at "The Spice."

Some of our fondest childhood memories were watching our Dad become a culinary artist as he crafted a masterpieces for the specials menu. His chili recipe was a hot item when we sold the restaurant. When he played with food, he was in THE ZONE and all our patrons were the beneficiaries of his creative genius. 

It’s safe to say that he passed his love of all things food onto his children. We have all taken our own path with it, but what brings us together with the most pleasure and love is mealtime. It is truly medicine for our bodies and our souls. The food component of our retreat is something we are both passionate about. Our greatest vision and goal for the retreat is to inspire and equip those interested with the tools to connect you with food as medicine, a reason for celebration and to enjoy its wholesome deliciousness.

#SoljournRetreatsNourish

Maja Liotta