Today is July 4th, 2010 and I am back from two weeks in the Northwest and California….a memorable vacation on many levels. Because we went to Alaska, which became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, I feel somewhat patriotic today, having been to this far away state.

I decided to combine July & August into one Home Page, thus the title above.  These are the vacation months when weather here is hot and menus are light and everything slows down a bit. So….to kick off July & August I have decided to commit to a more raw food regimen. I will be teaching a class with MANNA’s dietitian Cyndi Dinger at The Wellness Community again as I did last summer, in conjunction with MANNA, the non-profit organization where I volunteer to prepare and pack meals for critically ill people in the greater Philadelphia area. The topic is Awesome Rawsome, with the emphasis on adding more raw foods to one’s meals.

The recipes at the workshop will include smoothies, salads, and steamed veggies with the idea of not eating 100% raw, but rather adding more uncooked foods (with their enzymes intact) to the diet for improved nutrition. Above are photos of a smoothie, a salad, and steamed veggies from my photo archives. These may not be the exact recipes I choose, but they will be raw or lightly steamed, as these photos show.

As part of this “push” for more unfired fare in my diet, I started a diary called “Diary of a Raw Food Wannabe.” I will keep track of the foods I eat and see how close to raw I can get, as an experiment. Since hot weather predisposes me to cooking less and eating more uncooked meals anyway, the timing is perfect! I started today and will continue at least until I do the MANNA class on July 13th.

This is a photo of the front of The Wellness Community in Philadelphia, It’s nestled in the trees of Fairmount Park and has a lovely backyard with a covered area where we do the workshops.

I also plan to review more raw or nearly raw cookbooks such as the one below. I am waiting for another one in the mail, and then I will post a photo of all of them and give a mini-review of each:

While on vacation, I met two interesting people who worked on the Alaskan cruise ship. I plan to profile both. One is Feona Morrison, whose exercise classes and workshops were inspiring. Below is a photo of Fiona, who is a fireball of fitness:

Fiona Morrison, personal trainer and fitness instructor

The other person I plan to profile is David Naster, who was the comedian on board our ship. My husband and I saw him on two different nights, and then I attended his writing workshop the day before the end of our cruise. He has written three books on the power of humor and I was very much moved by his attitude toward life and laughter and how laughter can ease pain and suffering. Here’s David, a very funny comedian, yet serious about comedy:

David Naster, a serious comedian

Finally, while on vacation, we took many photos, both on the cruise and also in Los Angeles, when we visited my son by marriage and his partner, Ignacio, who works at Sony Columbia. Below is a photo of Julia Roberts with other cast members, who stars in the movie, Eat Pray Love, which I plan to see and review. (I believe Ignacio took the photo.) I also hope to review a movie we saw while in L.A. called Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. At 76 she is still hard at work doing what she does best—make us laugh! Since I am only a few years younger than Ms Rivers, I marveled at the pace she kept up in the documentary. She is a good example of a person with PMZ (post-menopausal zest).

The cast of EAT PRAY LOVE. Note: curtain in the background has the title of the film imprinted on the fabric.

Most of the photos I took were in the northwest, from Seattle to Ketchikan and then back to Victoria, British Columbia. In this Canadian city we visited Butchart Gardens, where this photo was taking. The gardens were breathtaking and I plan to feature the flowers throughout the summer. I also have some flower photos of Venice, California which I plan to share.

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, B.C. taken in the evening. The days were so long that we strolled the gardens from 7 to 9 pm and everything was still light and bright!

I hope your summer will be joyful, restful, and exciting. Take advantage of the weather and garden, walk, swim, paint, or do whatever you can to bring peace and JOY into your life! When I arrived back in Philadelphia, I was wearing my red patent flats, and when I reached the front of our condo building safe and sound, I clicked my heels together like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and repeated three times, “There’s no place like home.” I am overJOYed to be home.

P.S. After rereading this I am overwhelmed by what I need to do this summer to put all this in the computer, as well as rearrange the books and files in my workspace, so if I do not get to do all of these, just know that today, the 4th of July, I am declaring my independence to do what feels right during (the supposedly) slower summer months!

P.P.S. Just realized that I forgot to mention that July in National Blueberry Month, so there will be blueberry recipes soon.

When I was high school, there was a very popular and shapely girl in my class named June. And this was the era of Rogers’ & Hammerstein’s plays, in particular, Oklahoma! So the guys used to sing about classmate June with the title: June is Bustin’ Out All Over….and she would blush.

I don’t think that was the “bust” the songwriters meant, but I always remember the song for that reason. Now, of course, I think that term means that all the summer flowers are bursting and all the foods of summer are beginning to show up at Farmers’ Markets and supermarkets.

So for June, I hope to feature some early summer recipes and flowers that are in my neighborhood and beyond.  For example, today’s feature pictures are from my walk last week in my friend Linda’s neighborhood, where the houses are somewhat different, as is the foliage.

This was a basket of flowers on the steps of a house in my friend Linda’s neighborhood, where I walked with her last week. I love the way the sunlight (it was early morning) strikes the flowers.

Salads are an important part of my summer recipes…not just lettuce-based salads, but also cold grain salads like tabouli, slaw salads, and marinated veggie salads.  Here is a photo of spinach salad with pixie tangerines, which I will post later this week. The photo is just a tease!

Spinach Salad with Pixie tangerines and Lime Dill Dressing

Error! I had planned to post the Profile of Johanna Hertz in May and Gabrielle Pelicci in June, but reversed them in error. So this month I will post Johanna, pictured (again) in her shop, Cloth & Bobbin. In fact, I  will post this as my first article for June. My apologies to you and Johanna.

May was National Mental Health Month and I  had started to post my short list of books on the subject. But company this week-end interrupted my posting, so I will post it this month. Glad I am the boss of my blog or I would have been fired! (And since I am writing this on Memorial Day, this is a perfect place to make a Memorial Day acknowledgment for all the men and women who make our freedom possible.)

Since I have not posted any products in the last couple months, I thought for June I would feature the cleaning products I have been using recently, which give a positive nod to the concept of Earth Day Every Day. These are products by METHOD and I really feel good about using them. More on the posting….

A Sample of Method Cleaning Products

Finally, I plan to review another book from Square One Publishing. It is a book on eating raw foods, but do’;t get nervous. Many of the recipes use familiar foods and with warm weather, less cooking might not be a bad idea!

P.S. My husband and I are going on vacation the last week in June, so I am not sure how much I will actually be able to post before I leave. I can also postdate my articles, but time is the issue, so if this month is shorter, I will make up the short fall in July. Here is a final picture of what beautiful summer flowers are in bloom. JOYous June! (I have not forgotten that JOY is my theme for 2010!)