Of all the myths, this is perhaps the most dangerous. Vegans who do not supplement their diet with vitamin B12 will eventually get anaemia (a fatal condition) as well as severe nervous and digestive system damage (6). Claims are made that B12 is present in certain algae, tempeh (a fermented soy product) and brewer's yeast. All of them are false.

Like the niacin in corn, the B12 analogues present in algae and tempeh are not bioavailable. We know this because studies done on people's blood levels of B12 remained the same after they ate spirulina and tempeh; there was no change, clearly indicating no absorption by the body (7). Further, the ingestion of too much soy increases the body's need for B12 (8). Brewer's yeast does not contain B12 naturally; it is always fortified from an outside source.

Some vegetarian authorities claim that B12 is produced by certain fermenting bacteria in the intestines. This may be true, but it is in a form unusable by the body. B12 requires intrinsic factor from the stomach for proper absorption in the ileum. Since the bacterial product does not have intrinsic factor bound to it, it cannot be absorbed (9).

It is true that vegans living in certain parts of India do not suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency. This has led some to conclude that plant foods do provide this vitamin. This conclusion, however, is erroneous as many small insects, their eggs, larvae and/or residue, are left on the plant foods these people consume, due to non-use of pesticides and inefficient cleaning methods. This is how these people obtain their vitamin B12. This contention is borne out by the fact that when Indian Hindus migrated to England, they came down with pernicious anaemia within a few years. In England, the food supply is cleaner, and insect residues are completely removed from plant foods (10). 
The only reliable and absorbable sources of vitamin B12 are animal products, especially organ meats and eggs (11). Though present in lesser amounts, milk products do contain B12. Vegans, therefore, should consider adding dairy products into their diets. If dairy cannot be tolerated, eggs, preferably from free-run hens, are a virtual necessity.

That vitamin B12 can only be obtained from animal products is one of the strongest arguments against veganism being a "normal" way of human eating. Today, vegans can avoid anaemia by taking supplemental vitamins or fortified foods. If those same people had lived just a few decades ago, when these products were unavailable, they would have died.

In my own practice, I recently saved two vegans from death from anaemia by convincing them to eat generous amounts of dairy products. Both of these sickly gentlemen thought their B12 needs were being met by tempeh and spirulina. They weren't.

Gorgeous, isn't he?!

After a day of tinkering (by an expert, not me!) it is now running beautifully and starts on the first pull. Despite our soil being just four inches of concrete on top of clay it does a fine job. In half an hour I managed to turn over the same sized patch as had recently taken two wwoofers the entire day! Because the ground has never been dug before and is FULL of weeds it is really hard work to keep the tiller under control. I plan to turn it over then wait a month and turn it again, etc, etc until I manage to get a fine tilth - with the addition of some chicken manure and compost, etc - I'll also plant some clover and then dig that in as a green manure. Hopefully by next spring we'll have some new veg plots to plant in.

Oh, what a lovely bunch of coconuts.....or rather tomatos! Yum - these beauties are from the tumblers that I bought from Homebase, and are doing fantasticly well. My vine tomatos, that I've grown from seed, I've had to cut some of the flowers off, as the plant cannot support the weight of purely the flowers, so it'll collapse under the tommys.

Cropping like a good 'un too has been my gooseberry bush......well, I got a small bowl full, which is better that the last 2 years, where the saw fly got them!

So last weekend, I made a gooseberry and apple crumble - not too much sugar, so you miss the sharpness of the gooseberry...mmmmmmmmmmm

This is my aubergine plant, and following on from a few weeks ago, Alys Fowler said that you should look to have no more than 4 flowers, and therefore fruit on one plant. I'm not sure WHY I am growing this, as I don't think I have ever cooked anything with an aubergine....but its a pretty plant - lovely paperlike purple flowers.

I'm unsure if now is the right time to crop garlic, or onions....I Just do it when they look like they need it. This is half of my garlic bed that had 'fallen' over, which I thought may be something to do with the wind and rain that we've had. I took these out last week and dried them off....I was worried that they would rot at the stem and go into the bulb. But, these look healthy! The ones I left in have since bolted (NITEMARE!) so are small and hard. I mainly chop these up, and put them into olive oil as well as some chillis (fresh from the garden this year!) and use it for cooking, as they are the main two things I put into my cooking.

Apart from the lack of variety, planting direct into the compost heaps has been a great success and the plants are all RAMPANT and trying to climb out of the compost heap and take over the world!!

One or two pumpkin plants are OK, but 11 is quite a lot and there are already dozens of yellow balls maturing in the sun. Faced with the possibility of having to carve over a hundred halloween pumpkin faces, I panicked and decided we should start eating them as soon as possible. So baby pumpkin is now on the menu. I’ve tried roasting them whole in the oven – just drizzle olive oil over fist-sized pumpkins and bake hot for 25 minutes – they are sweet, juicy and delicious and you can eat the whole thing (i.e. no need to remove seeds!).

1. 2 green peppers, 1 white pepper
2. 3 pickling cucumbers
3. a basket of some sort of cherry tomato variation
4. a tiny raspberry tart

These ingredients will be consumed throughout the week.  Mmmm.

• Dwarf Beans - 'borlotto',
• Broad Beans - 'the sutton',
• Peas - 'ambassador',
• Pak Choi - 'riko white'.

Today I Will Mostly Be Harvesting:

• New Potato's - 'lady christl' and 'charlotte',
• Cabbage - 'spring hero' and 'advantage',
• Dwarf Beans - 'borlotto',
• Dwarf Beans - 'ferrari',
• Lettuce - 'balmoral' leaves,

Vegetables in Progress

• Tomato's - 'Green Zebra',



• Cucumber's - 'Marketmore',



• Broccoli 'tenderstem',

Plot Progress - Week 23

Plot 1
Carrots, red spring onion and beetroot are growing stronger from sowings made on 1st June 2008. Runner beans are slowly wrapping themselves around the canes. Parsnip foliage is going wild. Sowed Pak Choi into the gaps.

Plot 2
Tenderstem Broccoli nearly ready to pick, cabbage resolution savoy and golden acre are growing well after transplanting, still a few sacrificial cabbages of 'advantage' variety to attract the cabbage white butterflies to lay their eggs on (and not on my newly transplanted ones - seems to be working so far).

Plot 3
Broad Beans and Mange tout removed after harvesting. New sowings of peas, broad beans and dwarf beans under cloche (mainly due to cats digging bare soil). 2 x butternut squash plants doing well after transplant. Brussels sprout plants wedged in between dwarf beans but are growing steady.

Tomato and Cucumbers (outdoors)
Tomato's have been tied to the canes and pots placed into upside down propagator lids. This has helped as this fence is a sun trap and dries the plants out daily, I pour water into the lids so the plant takes the water from its roots when necessary and doesn't dry out. All tomato plants are flowering and some are fruiting. Cucumbers are rambling over the decking and are producing flowers and fruit.

The word vegetarianism is defined by Wikipedia in the following manner : it is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, and slaughter by-products.

Mostly the Indians follow lacto vegetarian: where along with vegetable one can also take milk, honey and other dairy products. This is because Cow is considered scared in Hindu religion, thus the milk is consumed assuming cow to be sacred mother.

Beside this many Indians also prefer to take flesh occasionally. This type of vegetarianism is actually semi-vegetarian. There are many other varieties of semi-vegetarianism.

However certain class of Hindu follow Su vegetarianism : in this apart from being Lacto veg one does not eat onions, garlic, scallions, leeks and shallots. Mostly the people who follow Yoga philosophy, they follow this. Why ?? Because the aim of Yoga is to attain a stable, desire-less and focused mind, and ultimately join the soul with God. Eating these things make the focusing of mind difficult and also makes the controlling of desires difficult. Thus this is practiced by them.

There is another related term Fruitarianism : It is a diet of only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant. This is mostly practiced by people following Jainism. Some times Hindus also follow this occasionally. They follow it during the times of fast.

Whatever the kind of vegetarianism one follows, the reason for following them can be related to morality, religion, culture, ethics, aesthetics, environment, society, economy, politics, taste, or health.

Now you must wondering why I'm talking about all this ? The reason is that I'm a Hindu and practice Yoga philosophy. Thus I'm a Su Veg but sometimes on days of fast I also follow Fruitarianism. Presently I'm living in Italy. Practicing these are really difficult in places where majority of people are non-veg. Its difficult not because I don't find lot of vegetables in supermarkets, but because the way I'm being treated by society.

Common remarks and words that I hear from public are : " are you joking that you are veg " , " really " , " I will not be happy if I practice that " etc. and the most extreme one : " are you crazy " .

Sometimes the criticism comes in an indirect way. Like many times it happen that I'm called for party by my friends, almost all the people going for party are non-veg with me the only exception who neither drinks alcohol nor eats meat. Thus it becomes quite difficult. Either I have to ask them to arrange for something veg for me which appears like asking for favor or I just make any reason that I would not be able to come but then this gives an impression that I'm not a very social person. This type of unspoken criticism hurts more.

Even when people do make something veg for me, they forget to exclude onions, garlic etc. Once I was called for small dinner party, where they made some veg stuff. The host were happy that I would be also coming for party while mostly I say no. I was also happy that I'm going to meet friends. However only when I reached there that I realized that the food contain onions and garlic, while the sweet dish contains eggs. I didn't want to trouble them nor I wanted to make a joke of myself. Thus I decided to eat the food leaving the sweet dish. I felt bad that I had to violate the rules. But then I also felt happy that I made them feel good by joining them for dinner. :)

Recently I had to go for a conference related to my research work. There they asked me while registering me for the conference, whether I'm vegetarian or vegan or follow some other. It was quite difficult to explain them the kind of diet I practice. And unfortunately at that time I didn't have the knowledge of the different terms assigned to various categories of vegetarianism. Somehow I managed to explain them the restricted diet I follow. But after the conversation was finished I realized that almost everyone in the room was staring at me with wide open eyes.

There are many encounters like this through which I have to go. Just because that I'm veg and follow a restricted diet that I have to undergo an unspoken criticism. Practicing vegetarianism in a region where majority is non-veg, is considered abnormal. :)

This week, I spent 8$ on: fresh okra, 2 sweet onions, 3 cubanelle peppers, and one head of purple cabbage.

Look out for what I do with these things.  The okra is not pictured because I fried it and forgot to document the whole thing!  It's ok though, they weren't very photogenic (but delicious!).

• ascoltare musica (in questi giorni, nella mia playlist ci sono Thee Headcoatees, Regina Spektor, The Lulabelles, The Donnas, The Weepies, Hole, Mademoiselle K, Supersnazz... toh che strano, tutte voci femminili...)
• mangiare un sacco di frutta e verdura cruda e cucinare pranzetti vegan con gli amici
• guardare i lampi e i fulmini stando sdraiati in terrazzo
• leggere Umberto Eco
• andare in palestra e aumentare un pochino i pesi per fare più fatica
• contare i giorni che mancano alla partenza per le Hawaii (60!!)
• immaginarsi cose assurde e autocensurarsi, ridendo
• guardare un mucchio di vignette di ICHC

Come peggiorare la qualità delle proprie giornate:

• dimenticarsi di caricare l'ipod e quindi non ascoltare musica oppure ascoltare musica di merda deprimente
• mangiare latticini
• andare in macchina senza aria condizionata con i finestrini chiusi perché fuori diluvia, e morire di caldo
• non avere niente da leggere
• non andare in palestra per pigrizia e rimanere in casa a fissare il muro chiedendosi, "perché non sono andata in palestra?"
• pensare che probabilmente per altri 2 mesi non vedrò il mare
• immaginarsi cose assurde senza autocensurarsi
• accorgersi che non hanno aggiunto nuovi lolcats su ICHC

(chiedo venia... non mi ricordo a chi ho rubato questa foto)

The rest is a simple beschamel sauce.  Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a pot.  Once melted, add two tablespoons of flour and make a blonde roux (about 4-5 minutes of stirring).  Then, add two cups of whole milk and bring up to a boil while whisking.  Once the milk is bubbling, turn off the heat and add two cups of cheese.  I just used some leftover shredded cheese scraps from the freezer, so it was a mix of cheddar and mozzarella...at this point, I believe, a beschamel is now a mornay sauce.  Top the potatoes with the sauce, and place in a preheated 350 degree oven.  Bake for one hour to 80 minutes or until the potatoes are nice and tender.  Season with salt, pepper, and sprinkle with parsley for fun.

While not vegan (just veggie), it didn't have a huge amount of cheese, egges or butter, and no milk or cream in it.  Yarbs came over for lunch and we feasted on it!

We ate half of the 9" circular casserole.  Boom came home and wondered what happened to it - I was all, 1/4 in my belly and the other 1/4 in Yarb's belly!  I am surprised that he wouldn't have figured we ate it all - we are eaters!

It was, all in all, a success.  I will add it to my repertoire - I wonder if it would freeze ok...  may need to give that a shot.  Then I could make 3 at the same time and then just freeze 2 of 'em and pull them out when need be.

M and I had friends and family in town for the holiday (what's more American than grilled meat and fireworks in the nation's capital??? Nothing.)  We went with a taco bar.  Yup.  Mexican food on Independence Day.  Don't judge.

For the protein (animal), I grilled skirt steak, chicken, and shrimp.  I also threw onion and pepper skewers on the grill for the vegetarians (they also had black beans for protein).  To compliment the taco bar, we had cheese, tortilla, sour cream, hot sauce, fresh salsa (thanks Leah), asiago dip (Leah as well), guacamole (M's famous), rice, and shredded cabbage.  Plenty of beer as well.  Quite the feast, but guess what?  I didn't take any pictures of the food!!!

It was raining outside, my poor cat was in the hospital, there were people everywhere in the house, and I was on the spot to produce a delicious meal, so I forgot the camera.  This is all I've got.

The tuna was a really nice touch along with the salty capers and olives.  Big plate not necessary.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Wise words, T.Jeff, wise words.

Ahhhhnyway, I was really busy today and though I ate (more than enough) I didn't focus enough to eat real meals, mostly snacks and such throughout the day... so no pics.

Tomorrow starts my week off, well actually 9 days! I'm very excited, but it's not a week off from school work so I'm going to try to finish out my history class (by reading 2 books and writing 2 papers) next week so that there'll be less stress and I can just 'enjoy' Art History. I'm so excited to have time off, and even more excited for the weekend afterward for my j-o-b interview! Who gets excited for that over vacation? I am strange :D

Hope everyone's having a great holiday weekend!

A lot of the day, I felt like giving up and just running away home but I don't want to do that... it would not automatically equal happiness and an easy job search. I did suck it up and realized that the best job for me now is a nanny job, just not this one. I actually found some amazing ones in the city that are live out. Heh, which means regular hours and my own space. All good things. The one I'm dying for is with a baby, I love babies :) We scheduled a meeting for the weekend that I'm back in the area, and I'm hoping things go well, especially since she wants someone in September! Which means that I could give two weeks notice after my next vacation (hah) and use that week off for apartment searching and moving. I can even fly one or both of my parents here (since I would have been going there if things were different) and they can go with me, which is always good because some 21 year old, 5'2'' "innocent-looking" girl probably shouldn't work through leases and such on her own (I mean she certainly can but her mom and dad are so much better at it than she is!).

Honestly, I'm more at peace with this than with anything else. I'm still open to other things but really, I don't want to get stuck at some admin job that'll mean putting aside my own goals for awhile. (Not that I wouldn't love being an admin, I did it in high school and loved it, especially the sitting on a computer all day part). Oh, and this particular nanny job would be a significant pay raise, for significantly fewer hours (no more 65 hour weeks) and significantly few children. More money, less hours, less stress, in the city of DC... niiice

*Sigh*

Who knows man, who knows. It seems like every day there's something different going on in my brain when it really should be focused on school and being young and all that. Oh well, life is about challenges and surmounting them and learning from them.

Omigosh... FOOD lol

Lindsay over at For the Love of Oats talks about Cinnamon Raisin PB, and as huge cinnamon raisin fan, well I knew that I needed to get my hands on a jar. Imagine my delight when my small town Giant carried the flavor on its shelves!

Mmm, Peanut Butter and Co. The ingredient list is most impressive

Peanuts, Evaporated Cane Juice, Raisins, Cinnamon, Organic Palm Oil, Salt

What? No High Fructose Corn Syrup? No Partially Hydrogenated Oil? Can they even do that?

Why yes, yes they can, and it tastes goooood! I love this PB, when I first opened the jar the aroma of cinnamon was so distinct but I didn't see any raisins. The first sandwich that I had using this had a few raisin bits in it, which is why I encouraged my picky father to try it (he said he didn't want to have to chew through a raisin)... well I was missing out with the first sandwich, because deep in the jar are whole, deliciously sweet raisins. I think that my favorite part is the texture of this peanut butter.

It's so creamy but then there are the raisins that add a great chew to the peanut butter. Oh my, I'm obsessed. The best part (well one of the many) is that unlike some natural nut butters there's no need for stirring, always a plus when you're in a rush. The nutrition facts are pretty great to:

Serving Size: 2 T (32 g), 180 kcal, 11 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, 9 g sugar, 6 g protein

When you compare that to regular peanut butter (190 kcal, 16 g fat, 3 g s.f., 150 mg sodium) you're pretty much ahead, calorie-wise, health-wise and taste-wise, and that regular peanut butter doesn't have cinnamon or raisins in it!

Well, frankly I knew it had to be good because everything Lindz eats looks and tastes good (based on what I've tried).

For dinner, I had the best salad ever.

Spinach, Red, Yellow and Orange Peppers and Annies Papaya Poppyseed dressing. I realized as I was making the salad that I'd need some whole grains in there, so I stuffed a bunch of the salad into a pita and added some avocado to the pita. I mean, I know it's simple ingredients but really the dressing really complimented the sweetness of the peppers. Next time (when I have a better veggie stock and not the depleting 'going away for a week' produce drawer), I'll definitely add more veggies- tomatoes, cucumbers, anything. I added some avocado to the pita mostly because they tend to be dry and the avocado helps counter that. Since I'm so low of produce, I'll be having the same thing for lunch. OK, I lied I'll be having it for lunch because it is delicious! Hehehe!

Between lunch and dinner I also had this:

Fruit punch (half juice, half water). I hate drinking my calories, and I hate 'fake' juice but for some reason this was calling my name from the fridge. It was super good, and even at 4 oz. of juice, 5 oz. of water it was still too sweet (eck). It was refreshing at the time but not really the best juice choice out there.

I have a long night of reading ahead of me so I brought up a snack so that I don't end up raiding my 'closet/pantry' (hmm never thought of that possibility, but unless I start eating raw couscous I think I'm ok)... so I grabbed my last two carrots and a bowl of grapes.

Sorry for the low quality photo... the lighting in my room stinks because I have a low watt bulb and heavy blinds, plus heavy curtains... that and the curtains are pink so it reflects a rose colored light all over the room (which I love, but it's not really the best for pics). (Check out sparkpeople in the background).

Hmmm, that was a long one, procrastination maybe definitely :D

Night!!!!!!!!!!!

This year I went on a mission to sort out the back of our garden. The last owners had a bit of a veggie patch going but they took the railway sleepers away with them and I let the area get overgrown. So this year, with some encouragement from Tammy, I got digging and sieving and created a bed with some really nice soil.

It's been planted up with cauliflower, kale, broccoli and broad beans. Our next door neighbour gave use a couple of runner bean plants, which I've planted but I need to sort out poles. They're currently held up by rocket sticks that landed in our garden after our neighbours the other way had fireworks.

So far the chicken wire has kept the rabbits out (and the cows, the deer, squirrels, foxes, hedgehogs rats, mice, badgers, moorhens and most of the other wildlife that scuffles through our garden) but I must own up to using slug pellets. Those slimy suckers can eat a lot of leaf in one night.

Anyway, as the photo shows, it's all growing pretty well. I just need to get the second bed sorted so I can give some of these plants some breathing space.

Listen to me? I'm 33 and sound like I'm 73. I used to be an expedition leader, dammit!

- Sean

Here's a "lovely" quote:

JP: laughing Tomorrow is my day off, I'm going to go upstairs and stay in my room and be lazy all day.

Me: Why did you say that?

JP: Isn't that what you do on your days off?

Me: Not really, I have school work and stuff and most of the time if I stay here it's because of that, if not then I do fun stuff with my friends.

JP: I told mom that's what you did up there, she's the one who said that.

Um, what? Seriously? One day. One day off a week. One day when she has to take care of them for a full 24 hours (and I mean five of them she has what, an hour, tops). One day. One day off. After 22 months where I had zero days off other than eighteen days of vacation. Yeah, I counted. You know I hate "pay back" but I she just lost her Saturdays, and hey her Friday night dinners too. I mean Friday night they go out, I stay home, and they pay me nothing extra for it. You know, and I don't really care that she thinks/feels that. I care that she says that to a seven year old.

Apparently, this has become meltdown central. I took a picture of my lunch though but apparently it ran away. It was simple- peanut butter sandwich, two carrots and a whole bunch of blackberries. Then there was a loss of control (shortly after that conversation)... I can't really remember what I ate (scary) but I do know there were pringles involved and that my stomach hurts but I can't tell whether it's a stressful stomachache or a too many carbs one.

Um, I don't know. I have a pretty amazing lead at DC Courts. Let's pray that it works out.

I made a meal plan for tomorrow. Well the three major meals and snacks. I think I need to eat smaller meals and reincorporate snacks in between them, at least now while I'm stressing so much... I may be stealing some of Em's fruit/veg plates!

Procedure :
1. Chop Cabbage, Onions and 1 Green Chillies
2. Add graded Coconut, Ginger, Garlic, Somf and 3 Green chillis [Avoid adding water]. Grind to Masala Paste
3. Add oil to the thawa and heat it
4. Add Onion, fry until it turn golden color.
5. Add Cabbage, Green Chilli and season it untill cooked.
6. Add masala paste, Haldi and salt to the cooked ingredients.
7. Once the masala is cooked with the cabage, Add cooked rice and mix

Tip: Biriyani leaves, Cloves can also be seasoned along with cabbage to add more smell and taste. Add Ghee to add flavour