Olive Penguins!! HOW did I NOT KNOW these existed? :)

These get the award for most adorable food!

If you subbed a seed cheese for the cream cheese, these could be made totally raw, too!

I am so making these for Thanksgiving.

Here is a great photo of them.

Here is a better tutorial.

enjoy! I squealed with delight when I saw them and hope they bring squeals of delight to your day too.

love,
Kimberly

p.s the image of these adorable edibles is from Andrea Spark's blog.

Kimberly's Excellent Adventure or Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Great news! I made it to Boston yesterday!

So the story:

Got up at 4:30 a.m. to get on a 6:30 flight to NYC. Got to airport, no problem, through security, no problem.... then to the gate. "Ladies and Gentlemen, for those on flight 4356 to New York's La Guardia, I've received a call from Crew scheduling -- the crew is delayed and will be here, but I don't know when. I'll keep you updated."

I know that this crew overnights in Des Moines. So either one of them awoke ill....very bad because they'd have to fly someone in to replace them, or one of them overslept the alarm.

After 30 minutes, the crew arrives.

Turns out the flight attendant overslept.

"Ok," I thought, "I still have probably enough time to make the cab to Penn Station for my noon train... IF there isn't too much traffic in NYC and IF we don't have to circle LGA, as is often the case."

"And there's always another Acela express train at 1:03."

Fly to LGA, no circling, great! My plane ended up being 45 minutes later than the scheduled arrival time. It's about 11:00 now. Train leaves for Boston at noon. I might make it. Maybe. If traffic isn't too bad. I hope. Maybe.

Land, go to cabs. Get into cab. Feeling physically ok.

Cab takes off from curb. No, no....cab LURCHES from curb, then SLAMS on breaks, skids.... cab honks, swerves, stops, lurches to a start, stops, lurches, swerves left and right... ALL THE WAY TO PENN STATION . ..about 45 minutes in heavy traffic.

I have to open the window. I don't get car sick. I almost got car sick.

I've ridden in cabs all over the world. I know cabbies tend to drive very aggressively.. but this was more than I'd ever experienced. I thought of asking him to drive more slowly because I wasn't feeling well, but frankly, I was a little afraid if this man. I didn't want to antagonize him.

I'm looking at the clock... it's 11:44 and we pull up in front of Penn Station. *exhale* I pay the cabbie the $35 for the honor of almost being killed on the streets of NYC, and RUN into the station. I've never been there, have no clue where I'm going or how large this place is.

And I want an iced latte. ;-)

I quickly discard the latte idea... now that I was actually there, I didn't want to risk missing my train to Boston and having to wait another hour, especially still feeling a little woozy from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

I run, my eyes searching up and around for clues to the Amtrak train departure tracks... oh, and I still have to find these "Amtrak Kiosks" where I have to scan the bar code off a piece of paper -- this will then spit out my actual ticket. Why Amtrak can't let you print your ticket when you buy it online, like the airlines do, I have no idea, but whatever.

Finally I see the "Amtrak" signs. I run. I run carefully, swerving this and that way to avoid knocking people over. I'm thinking "Damn! I hope I make it" alternating with "If I don't, though, this is a cool place, and I bet I can get decent food and a latte here."

I see a kiosk near the "Acela train waiting" area. I scan my bar code. It's 11:52. Success! Machine belches out my ticket!

Grab ticket, run over to Man at Desk. Ask Man where I board train. Man points "over there, see that long line of people going down that escalator?" Yes, I see them. "Get in that line."

I do. It's a long line. I'm SURE I could make it to that Dunkin Donuts for an iced latte, but I'd rather have a Starbucks one. I don't see a Starbucks though. Hmmmm. Get out of line? Hmmmm. Nah, don't want to miss train. But 3 hour 30 minute train would be more pleasant if begun with iced latte.... much more pleasant.

Nah, don't risk it.

Board train. Very few seats left. No windows. None. There goes my idea of sleeping. I can't sleep unless I lean against the window. Oh well.

Find seat next to nice friendly young man reading a Big Classic Novel. He seems like a good choice, I will at least have quiet. He seems shy. I am right, he smiles but says nothing the whole way to New Haven, where he disembarks.

The trip goes quickly, I read a book and listen to music. I stare out the window at the Northeast coast, one of the first nice days, families on the beach, old seaside towns, former whaling villages. I adore the Atlantic Ocean and its history.

Arrive at South Station in Boston. Beautiful GORGEOUS spring day, warm, slight breeze. I am overjoyed to see the city I love so much in Spring Bloom yet again.

Only one more mode of transport left to my home on the North Shore. The C & J bus.

I have no idea where to get it here. I ask at info counter, they point: I run!

My eyes dart around South Station as I run... is there a Starbucks here? Nope. Damn. lol

It's 4:47 now anyway, the bus leaves at 5:00. It's Friday evening so it may already be full. I abandon thoughts of anything but finding my bus. I get to the ticket counter and am sold a ticket, good sign. I get the 4th to the last seat!! YAY!! Woo hooo!!

I stumble on to the bus, get the last of three seats in the last row in the back and am thrilled to have it. I get a window this time, so there is leaning! There is dozing!

An hour later, standing at the bus depot, I see my partner's car pull into view. *sigh* He steps out, smiling at me. My heart swells up as I smile back. When did he get more attractive? Has he always been this gorgeous?

We embrace and I am suddenly home again, a different --- but similar home to the one created by the embraces of my son and I. My two homes, the arms of my son and the arms of my partner.

And that was Kimberly's Excellent Adventure, Friday April 24, 2009.

The End.

Some of the best things in life are . . .random.

I'll just get right to the point with this one: Another random, throw-this-in, throw-that-in concoction of goodness. For this lunch, I started with crunchy kale, chopped some celery, tomatoes and red onion, added avocado and a thick confetti of raw sunflower seeds. A splash of olive oil and I was done.

Make sure you use very ripe avocado for this: As you eat and mix things around, the avocado will get softer and act as a dressing, coating everything else. mmmmMMmmmmm!

So you'll need:
kale
celery
tomato (or red bell pepper if you dislike tomato, must have red, it's so pretty in this dish)
avocado
sunflower or other seeds
olive oil

Eat, Love, Enjoy!

Cooking, with Love

Long story I'll get into some other time, but my partner and I live in different states for now. He was here in the Midwest this past weekend. We indulged in many delicious things, one of which was cooking together. It was a simple pasta with vodka cream sauce, but really it was a shared hour of bonding over the world's second oldest connector: food. (Or first oldest, depending on whether the chicken or egg came first.)

The pungent, rich garlic wafting in the air, the sizzle of the red onion in the hot pan, the bubble, bubble, bubble of the boiling pasta water . . .and the stops for a kiss, a pat, a hug and squeeze. Sublime.

Crafting a meal together is a sacred event in my book. Whether it's with a lover, a friend, your mother, dad, son or daughter . . .plan to cook or bake something with someone you love soon. *smooches* and Buon Appetito!

Max the Raw Food Chef

This is Max writing this post. I am the 9 year old son of Kimberly, the blog writer. I am here to say that I thought of mixing apple and kiwi. It tasted sweet and tangy. :)

Melange De Yum.

Nutty, clean, sensual, earthy, Spring in a Bowl. My lunch today was extremely hastily assembled. After business in the morning, I had time to stop by home before afternoon business in the "big city." Time enough to grab a quick and healthy lunch. Lacking any notion of what I'd eat, I began to forage the cupboards, freezer and fridge.

The search revealed some gorgeously seductive Swiss Chard, a utilitarian but tasty frozen organic veggies mixture of corn, green beans and carrots, some edamame, and raw cashews. I've been eating a lot of raw foods lately, but my body wanted something warm and cozy. I scooped some ghee into the frying pan and added about a cup of the veggie mixture, a small handful of the soy beans, and a couple leaves of Swiss Chard. A few minutes later, when all was warmed, I sprinkled some chopped cashews on top, and finished with drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

Oh.

My.

Goodness!!

I really need to throw things together more often. Viva Creativity!

Now go love yourself,
Kimberly

Welcome to Food & Love!

Hi everyone,

Welcome. Some of the best decisions I've made haven't been thought out very well. heh. I hope this is one of those. I feel I've begun a really important (to me anyway) journey to health and happiness, and decided to create a space to share what I'm learning.

The title of my web journal ("blog" sounds like a the name of a creature from some black lagoon, or better yet, from the depths of a spirulina and blackberry smoothie), is Feed Me, Love Me.

I thought I'd best explain that the title because I know when one is having food issues, one always hears things like "food isn't love" and "it's best to learn to separate the two", right? Well, I disagree. I've been lucky to spend some time living in the household of a natural foods caterer and if her food wasn't edible love, I don't know what was! The night I moved into her household was a little rough for me emotionally.

As I was sitting on my bed starting to cry, I heard this sweet voice from downstairs, "Kim, would you like some peaches with cashew cream?" Well, yes, yes I did want some of that, and that was "peaches and cashew cream" but it was also Love.

I don't think we are well-served to separate love from food. Good, healthy, nurturing food is and can be Love. Nothing wrong with that. Where we go wrong is when we start to believe the food can solve emotional problems . . .well, huh. Actually, maybe it sort of can. I mean, if we are eating whole, healthy foods, prepared in ways that actually build us up rather than cause disease and tear us down, isn't that loving? Isn't that emotionally healing?

But what I'm talking about is when we think the not-healthy foods will somehow rescue us from hard emotional times. They won't, not in the long run. I'll get into that later but I'm an expert on it, suffice to say.

Anyway, welcome to Feed Me, Love Me. I hope you'll drop by for a green smoothie and a chat now and then, or maybe even a fair trade coffee and organic cow's milk latte.

Now go love yourself, eat something healthy and yummy!
Kimberly