100% Raw – Thanksgiving Recap

Friday, 28th November 2008

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[ Part of the RBJ Writing Collaboration for November 2008 ]

My Wife and I Hosted This Year

So, this year my wife and I hosted the Family Thanksgiving Dinner. We also hosted last year. My wife’s side of the family was mostly present. My niece, “Harvard Girl”, was able to fly home for Thanksgiving break and she came down. “Berkeley Girl”, my other niece, is an architect and she was too busy with a project she’s doing in Costa Rica, so she was unable to come. So it was basically my wife’s side which included her two sisters and their families. It was fun as usual. And, of course, my college sophomore son came down from UC Riverside.

A Little Night Music

I played piano early in the evening, before and during Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner music for the family. And during the prayer I played the slow movement from Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, such a beautiful, simple melody perfect for saying grace and giving thanks.

It had been raining here and there, throughout the day, and for some reason the grand piano sounded very nice, and a bit on the mellow side. Instruments made of fine wood, of course, are affected by the change of weather…

Family Drama

There was a bit of “family drama” going into this Thanksgiving holiday. But, come to think of it, I think everyone experiences some sort of family drama during the holiday season. It could be considered natural when you think about it. Things wouldn’t be exciting without a little drama in our lives, no?

More Ghost Stories

Anyway, a topic of conversation was about our “personal ghost stories”, again! Oh, by now I have quite a few.

My older son confessed that he thought he saw his grandpa (who passed away this year) walking past him while he was on a train! And my brother-in-law, while at a hotel in Pennsylvania, had finished taking a shower and he saw writing on the steamed mirror that said, “Same Time, Next Year”. Okay, now that freaked ME out!

My sis-in-law who lives up the street had some experiences to tell. Her Dad, my father-in-law, passed away this year in June… God rest his soul… and my sis-in-law has been experiencing strange phenomena at her house. And my father-in-law spent most of his time there… But, I had my ghost stories to tell too. I repeated my story about the vanishing woman at Starbucks (of all places) and my experience with Room 427!

But overall, Thanksgiving Day was a huge success, and a lot of fun. I felt sad that my sis-in-law from Santa Barbara had to leave early this morning, but my brother-in-law is a Computer and Robotics Engineer and has so much work to do.

Doing 100% Raw on Thanksgiving Day

I was the only raw vegan in the family Thanksgiving get-together! And, I helped out with shopping for last minute items, helped out in the kitchen, and was able to non-chalantly keep a low profile and not mention I am 100% raw vegan! Surprisingly, the topic of going 100% raw never came up! And I’m glad to my family members for that, and maybe they’ve been reading about me and respecting my uniqueness?

Anyway, here is a basic recap of what I ate yesterday. I’m sure my non-raw friends are wondering what I ate since I didn’t go for the standard Thanksgiving faire. But, I felt I had a wide variety of foods and I didn’t crave any of the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, pie, stuffings, etc…

Breakfast

1 cacao-banana smoothie

1 avocado

1 handful of olives

Lunch

1 Raw Pasta Dish – zucchini noodles made with a Spirooli Slicer, fresh basil, garlic, olives, minced lettuce, pine nuts, tomatoes with cold pressed olive oil and a pinch of celtic sea salt. (I luv this dish!)

First Dinner

flax crackers with guacamole

apple slices – made with Spirooli Slicer (by my brother-in-law)

1 large salad – various lettuce leaves, spinach, radicchio, arugula, frisee, chard, tomatoes, endive, artichoke hearts, green olives, cucumbers, and sun dried tomatoes with cold pressed oil and vinegar.

Second Dinner

jicama slices with creamy garlic dip

1 Raw Pasta Dish – zucchini noodles made with a Spirooli Slicer, fresh basil, garlic, olives, minced lettuce, pine nuts, tomatoes with cold pressed olive oil and a pinch of celtic sea salt. (I luv this dish!)

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Category: Life
Tags: 100% Raw, Life, Raw Vegan Sites, Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Join The Discussion

Priss

Do you love the Spirooli, should we all get one?

randomguru

Hi Priss! My brother-in-law got a kick out of making apple slices with the Spirooli.

I'm just amazed at how the Spirooli makes spaghetti sized noodles out of zucchini. I'll have to post a photo. The only thing is you have to leave the noodles at room temp for a little while so they have a better consistency and aren't as hard.

But my wife's family thought they were real spaghetti noodles at first.

Wendi Dee

It sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving, Carlos! I'm going to read the ghost stories, next--thanks for giving the links.

Congratulations on staying 100% raw during the family gathering!!! That's just so fantastic! I'm happy for you!

I don't know why I never thought about doing apples with the spirooli slicer before! It's a great idea. Thanks! When I make zucchini noodles with it, I put them in a collander, coat them with some salt and oil, massage it in just a bit, and let them sit. If you let them sit long enough, the salt softens them and they really *are* just like cooked pasta! They release a lot of water and soften right up when they have been sprinkled with salt. If you eat a low salt diet, you can easily rinse them once they are soft.

Going to read the ghost stories now...

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

randomguru

Wendi: thanks for the suggestions regarding zucchini noodles. I definitely tried putting some salt and oil on the noodles and massaging them. It really helped with achieving softer noodles.