Nourishing Flourishing

Wow — what a week this has been already! Sorry this is late…things have been utterly nuts. We scrambled down the mountain yesterday and have been moving nonstop ever since. We went to bed around 11 last night, after frantically tying up loose ends like packing, laundry, dishes, and making sure our garden plenty was harvested and given to friends (we were amazed at how much our summer squash alone had erupted just while we were out of town this weekend). My parents, husband, and I were all up at 3:15am, and the BFF Manfriend dropped us off along with the luggage at the bus stop by 4am. He parked back at our place, and then rode his bike at hyper speed for a mile and a half, up a huge hill, and made it to the stop by 4:10 (Dad timed him). Yes, I married a rockstar. By 4:40 we had embarked on the hour and a half journey to the airport.

You’ve probably read about some of the travel exploits of the past (ahem — Trade Joe’s and a hobo fridge, anyone?)… So, I thought I would give you an idea of how I prepared for two vegetarians, of which one who is gluten-free, one diabetic supertaster, and one really easygoing mother as we faced a very long, busy day of flying, driving, running (between flights), and, apparently, biking. As a result, everyone is comfortable, healthy, and still excited to be together.

I figured we would need substantial snacks, considering we wouldn’t have access to a real meal until late tonight. I don’t know how we did it, but we managed to fit the following in our carry-ons along with our embarrassingly extensive book collection (observe just one of literally 15 books I, alone, brought, and crammed in with some food):

- organic cherries
- apples
- a LOT of roasted almonds
- organic raisins
- 3 large sweet potatoes, baked in rounds the night before (I am the only sweet potato lover in my family at the moment)
- one dozen organic, ethically-sourced boiled eggs
- baggie of salt and pepper
- gallon-size ziploc of salad with dressing (I know, this wasn’t my best idea…)
- an entire loaf of GF bread (which many of you may know, is like a 10 lb brick)
- organic cheese for the cheese-eaters
- Dad’s peanut M & Ms (for blood sugar drops)
- water bottles

We all had a little something before we left the house, and have been snacking on the peanuts that we were surprised with on our flight. Who knew that an airline had a gluten-free option?! There was much rejoicing from the girl in seat 38B. (Psst. I’m that girl.) I was worried that Dad might end up having a difficult time regulating his insulin levels, but the walking refrigerator (it’s the new ghetto fabulous trick) worked out very well! Sure, we might have been the not-so cool kids sitting on the floor in Atlanta’s airport, shelling eggs and smelling like the week after Easter, but we were totally delighted to not have a huge McDonald’s bag and super-sized gallon of Coke, like most everyone else seemed to.

Anyway, we are about to land in Ft. Myers, Florida — I can see that gorgeous water from my window! — and take our rental car to Naples.

I have been dreaming of this trip literally (<– for Gretchen) since I was twelve years old, when I first came to this area to visit a tiny island with my family. But more on that later. For now, I just wanted to let you know I’m still alive, and still doing ridiculous things when I travel.

Like that will change.

I am sure blogging will be a little weird over these next two weeks, but please know that I am so grateful that you keep reading, and if I could be more frequent and consistent in publishing without throwing my life into imbalance this summer, I totally would. When school starts up this fall, I have a feeling reliable routine will dictate more normalcy in posting (in contrast to the unpredictability of my travels and responsibilities recently). Thank you so much for understanding that this is what I need to do to “nourish flourishing” in my life right now  : )

What food do you usually take on plane trips?

What are you doing to nourish flourishing in your life at the moment?

Ok, this is no recipe folks. And you have to use the term “gum” (very) loosely here. But it works, and it is healthy. It’s a nice little trick. It’s also something to keep us ADHD folks in line when we get squirmy.

I knew that gum made me feel “weird” once I started tuning into my body more, and paying attention to even the smallest adverse affects of what I put into it. There wasn’t much ambiguity or question about gluten, corn, most dairy, and soy… But I usually dismissed the thought with chewing gum. Mainly, because I love the stuff. It keeps my mouth busy, so I don’t emotionally eat, it calms me when I get antsy, and it tastes like a party in my mouth.

But one night a few years ago, we were driving to (of all places) Nebraska (I promise we travel to more than just NE, despite what the blog may lead you to believe). I used to chew gum to keep me alert, especially on long road trips. It was fairly late in the evening, and shortly after I put a new piece of gum into my mouth (probably the third in the course of a couple hours), my throat started to close. What? Yes. I didn’t have an anaphylactic reaction — I could still breath, but it took a significant amount of effort. The sensation of my swelling throat and the thought of not being able to take in air like I normally do had me panicking. Obviously, that didn’t help things much. J worriedly asked if I needed to go to the emergency room. I didn’t, and I was fine. However, I experimented a bit after this to see if it was just in my head, and of course, it wasn’t.

After grieving the last pack of gum I would ever buy

I kept brainstorming what I could substitute… I needed something that kept a good flavor in my mouth and wouldn’t disintegrate in 5 seconds flat (<– actually, most gum falls into that category, eh?). The natural gum was a little too steep to justify, and I kind of hated it anyway. We had some leftover ginger root laying around one day, and I “needed” gum. I shrugged and snipped off a little nubbin. I was alone, so no one could judge me for my “unconventional” choices. An hour later, I was still enjoying the fresh taste and having something to keep me from chewing on my tongue in desperation. Also, doesn’t ginger just rejuvenate you, and make you feel vibrant and energized through and through?

Take some fresh ginger root.

(Update: If you hate ginger [or just want to try something different], use licorice root, as Mallory kindly and wisely reminded me! Look in most imported goods stores — it looks like a small stick, and tastes like sweet anise. I used to be addicted to it. You will be too. Legit.)

Cut a small piece off. (If fresh ginger is a new thang for you, be careful! It can be pretty zingy, so just take a small amount at first.)

Chew, suck, or otherwise keep your mouth busy with it. (Please refrain from jokes…I seriously rewrote this 10 times before I gave up.)

Once it gets too stringy and bothersome, spit it out. (Or…if you’re lazy….swallow it. Not that I would ever do that…)

Easy. Cheap. Healthy. Effective. It might even qualify as another Hobo invention!

I know, this is simple, and kind of lame. But for those of us avoiding the ingredients in gum (aspartame, sucralose, sugar,and artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives), it is a delightfully legit alternative. A little hippie, yes, but whatever. In the words of my wise father, “Screw ‘em if they can’t take a joke.”

Dad, these are words I live by. <3

Oh. Also. We are heading out for a camping and hiking adventure for these next two days

BUT I’ll be back with some vegetarian, gluten-free camp food (!!!) to share. Because everything tastes better when it’s cooked over a fire. Awww yeeeeaah.

Also, I missed you yesterday.

Also, I will miss you the next two days.

Also, I’m sorry I’m bad at responding to emails in a timely manner. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate them!

Also, I love you.

Do you have any weird reactions to things like gum, or am I the only freak here?

Have I been MIA or what?!

Oy vey. My apologies. Travel tends to do this to me… I’ll recap a little more of our trip in the next day or so, but for now I thought I’d jump ahead to a special moment.

We left eastern Nebraska and drove for about 10 hours or so to get to Scottsbluff. My (soon-to-be) brother-in-law (lots of hyphens) was hired to play Mark in RENT there this summer. Kyle is a wonderfully talented actor, and we love theatre — and more importantly, we love Kyle. So we thought a few hours of detouring would be very worth the late night drive back to Boulder, Colorado. It certainly was! Even after seeing the show on Broadway, I have to say: Kyle nailed his part. But we also had some…weird things happen along the way.

I wrote out the whole story, and deleted it, because I just didn’t think anyone would find it as hilarious as we did. I just want to offer the caveat that this might be a “You Had To Be There” kind of thang. You couldn’t see the looks people gave us, or the exasperation of our hour of driving through a town that takes 15 minutes to reach the edges of, or our attempts to get close enough to all the drive-through menus without setting off the sensor and having to explain that, “We don’t eat meat — and we’re just looking to see if you have absolutely anything that doesn’t contain bacon and American cheese.”

Awkward.

(Also: No. They don’t.)

Finally, we reached the end of town. And the Wal-Mart. In desperation (and our growing suspicion that they didn’t, in fact, really have a grocery store), we walked in, and started checking ingredients. After seeing that the bean, salsa, and guacamole dip has a list of ingredients 40 lines long, we moved on to the canned aisle. Refried beans. That’s innocent enough, right? Mashed beans. Protein. Cheap. Yes. Except that all but one brand had lard in it. Again, literally. I’m not being hyperbolic here. We realized we needed a can opener, and went to the deli to ask if they wouldn’t mind opening it for us after we purchased it. “Um…wow…Hmm…I don’t…I don’t know.” …Uh. What? “You’ll have to find a manager…I just don’t know…” About 3 minutes of this evasion and “I don’t know ’bout that”-ing. You would have thought we asked if we could slather ourselves in the leftover fryer grease and run naked through the aisles. “I just don’t know ’bout that…”

We just bought a flippin’ can opener.

It is staying in the car from now on, for moments like this.

Time was quickly closing in on the start of the show, so we waited until we got to the theatre parking lot to start “dinner.” We were tired, road-worn, and looked like we needed a change of clothes and a shower. As people began to filter into the venue, we hurriedly crammed food down our gullets in our car, which was packed to the hilt with firewood (for camping) and bags. Utensil-less, we were scooping our refried beans from the can with crackers; J was ravenously biting chunks right off the huge 5 lb block of organic cheese we had brought in the cooler.

It took us a moment to realize that people were staring at us as they passed.

And then it took about five seconds to connect that they were staring because we LOOKED HOMELESS. All we needed to do was start a bum fire in that front seat and you would have thought so, too.

The fact that we started laughing maniacally about this afterwards probably didn’t help things…

On the bright side, I always wanted to be a hobo when I was little.

Reach for your dreams, kids.

Please tell me you’ve done something equally weird.

‘Tis the season for travel! If you happen to be staying in a hotel… You’re in luck. I am ready to share my secrets. (Although, the photo quality, I confess, isn’t great today folks. Our hotel had terrible lighting, in my defense!)

I do not drink coffee every day. For one thing, it’s expensive to do that. For another, I love the taste, and as a result, can easily drink way too much, and dehydrate myself for the rest of the day. And for another — I like to think of coffee as a luxury. But let’s stay focused. I tend to want…slash need…coffee when I travel. I’m not sure if it’s just a mental thing or what, but I need a pick-me-up more than usual. And hotels just mock me with their little drip coffee makers. Um…does anyone else think such devices make coffee taste like plastic, chlorine, and…dirty water? Not real coffee. Not good. So. I got creative. Some call coffee-making and drinking an art. I must, then, be an artist. And artists must break rules, push boundaries — do wild and crazy things. And with that…

Here’s my little trick for turning disappointing pre-filled filter hotel “coffee” into almost-French-Press-delicious coffee:

1) Take your pre-filled coffee filter.

2) Rip it open.

3) Place contents where the filter should go.

4) Brew as usual (add water, switch on, yadda yadda yadda).

5) Spoon out floating grounds from cup (this really doesn’t take long, promise).

6) Rejoice, and sip.

I know it’s ghetto. I know. But so was my other brilliant idea. And seriously… This coffee was so awesome. It saved the day at least twice while I was in San Diego. It’s like drinking liquid sleep.

And with this unconventional method, you can feel rebellious, but legal… and very creative and antiestablishmentarian for showing Starbucks that you don’t need their $8 drinks. Holla for your dolla!

Please, someone else tell me I’m not the only ghetto traveler… <3

*** Check out below for the (in)famous Ghetto Fridge! ***

I don’t know about you, but I am dreaming of a tropical vacation right about…now. And surprisingly, we actually get one this summer!  (We don’t often justify trips like that, but this is a unique situation.) As I’m reflecting on our recent trip to San Diego, I know I need to begin mentally preparing myself for our special adventure in July. Yes. Already. Because I really, really, really don’t want to deal with another epic fail like last time! (<– My bad, body. My bad.) In line with the other Traveling Healthy post, here are some of the techniques that I usually employ, and always work for me when I actually make use of them… Ah, life. Always learning from you.

Prepare and bring what you can.

The first things I pack when we head out on a trip are: nuts, dried fruit, whole grain crackers, and hummus, along with crudités (<– classy way of saying, “finger-food vegetables”) for dipping and munching, like carrot sticks, celery sticks, sliced bell peppers (organic please), and grape or cherry tomatoes (aka nature’s candy). We also bring airport-friendly options like prepackaged, small servings of nut butters, whole apples, pears, bananas, Larabars, sandwiches, simple and healthy trail mix, and sunflower seeds.

One of the hardest things about travel for me is not getting the amount of greens I need/want/am used to. If you are worried you might not be able to access vegetables as easily, bring a dry packet like Amazing Grass. Same goes for protein – if you think you might not be able to get enough, bring a baggie of powder. These keep well and can be adapted easily to whatever you have access to, even if it’s just adding straight-up H20.

I hope you see potential here.

Take advantage of “opportunities”…

I’m just going to be honest with you guys: I am a terrible, terrible, notorious mooch. If I stay at a hotel and they have fruit in the lobby – guess what? At least a serving of it is going to be gone in about 5 minutes (or as long as it takes me to stuff some in my purse/hands). I am shameless. Sorry. I blame my grandmother. She would go to buffets and fill her purse with muffins, napkins…even salt and pepper shakers. When we tried to encourage some deceny, she would wave us off and in her thick Spanish accent pronounce, “Ey, we paid for it!” True that, Grandma. True that.

Random related story:
When my dad helped me move during college, we stayed at a nearby hotel until the dorms opened. I should note, my dad and I have wayyy too much fun together. We love coffee. We love treats. We love laughing. We love laughing, drinking coffee, and eating treats together. And when they had such a nice lobby, and endless free coffee…and then set out a plate of fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies… Well, what did they expect us to do?! We were there for about 3 hours. Literally. Coffee. Refill. Laughing. Cookie. Refill. Laughing. Laughing. Cookie refill. Laughing. Scowl from front desk employee. (His name was Luke. We remember these things.)

My dad went back and stayed a few times when he came to visit me.

They don’t put cookies out anymore…

Find a grocery store or market nearby

Does the city you are staying in have a farmer’s market? An easy google search should tell you. You might be surprised at what foods you can find, and what a treat this local experience can be. Bonus: you get exercise at farmers’ markets! This is a fantastic option if you can’t find a grocery store nearby.

As you already know, this was (supposed to be) the highlight of our trip to San Diego: TRADER JOE’S! Once you find one, go and stock up on healthy snacks, and less perishable items. Or, even perishable ones — I have never had a problem with keeping vegetables and fruits cool in a hotel room. Which leads me to…

Be creative

Let me tell you about my system. I can’t make any promises about its safety… but I can promise that it is ghetto and works. And by works I mean…”saves me a ton of money.”

You know that ice bucket that’s so fun to fill? (Just me? Always my favorite part of traveling as a child.) Go fill the plastic bags inside of it. Tie the ends. Place leftover food from dining out on top. Bam. Instant refrigerator! Or, if you go out, and buy almost more food than you can carry (despite being super strong, obviously), and need to live off it without a fridge for several days… Think big. And improvise:

The Shamelessly Cheap Hobo Hotel Fridge:

1) Use plastic bags (you can recycle them later) to carry some of your groceries.
2) Sneakily creep out of your room, and nonchalantly fill bags using the ice maker.
3) Act like nothing weird is happening.
4) Keep filling bags…
5) Say, “Oh, yes, thank you!” to the kind woman doing the hotel’s housekeeping, when she offers you a GIANT plastic trash bag.
6) Transfer all ice to said bag.
7) Strategically cover food with ice in bag.
8 ) Loosely tie ends and place in bathtub (which, lets be honest, you hardly use anyway…).
9) Relish your genius. And (now refrigerated) hummus.
10) Replace ice as needed.
11) WIN.

Just take it out when you need to shower, and make sure things stay cold. We changed the ice during the morning and evening. And you know what? We ate like kings queens royalty of some variety.

Any tips you have to share? Are you awkward and moochy too?