Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Courtney Michelle - "Good Food Gone Fab"

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending The Dreaming Building's 1st ever Pop Up Food Court. This is a very nice space for anyone who is interested in shooting or hosting/being a part of any events.

My friends were vendors that day- Shannan (Shandog aka The Dog), Courtney, and Meme. Courtney Michelle is an Intimate Event Caterer who loves to cook. She has her own set of dishes that she was selling/showcasing, that day, called "Good Food Gone Fab!".

 Courtney Michelle
 Good Food Gone Fab!
(left) Courtney, Shannan, Mrs. Shandog, and Meme

The menu consisted of Sweet & Spicy chicken bites, chicken Parmesan bites, Salmon penne alfredo, Yellow rice (with and without seafood) and kale as a side. 
 cheeks FULL!
 Jarid and I happened to be their first customers for their day, and we'll be the first to tell you that it definitely was delicious. 
Me and Courtney
The place was smelling soooo good. 

I'm eager to see what's next for you on your cooking venture Courtney!

Don't forget to follow her on twitter: @cmy726 
And instagram: @cmyfablife

Related Posts: 




Monday, January 7, 2013

The healing effects of garlic


I was sick with a fever last week, and was inspired to write this post after I ingested about 12 cloves of garlic in one night and miraculously felt better the next day. I felt terrible that night with the works... body aches, fever, headache, sore throat, and mucus galore. It was disgusting. Anyway, I remember my step mom giving me a recipe for some soup that was guaranteed to make me feel better (and it did). The main ingredients were garlic, cilantro, and cayenne pepper... among other ingredients that made it soup, of course. Well I was too weak to chop up potatoes and carrots to make this soup from scratch so I decided to save some time and throw 12 cloves of garlic in some oriental flavored Ramen noodle soup, spiced with cayenne pepper to promote sweating. Needless to say, it still did its job. The fever and body aches were gone and I was ready for work the next day.

I spent the next day telling my colleagues about the healing power of garlic and instead of calling all of my friends individually, and explaining, I thought I'd just post something. The benefits are pretty amazing and I found that you can get tremendous healing by consuming 3 cloves of garlic per day. Now, some people think about that and say, "Yuck, a whole clove of garlic? Do you have to eat it raw?" Well, you'll definitely get the most health benefits out of eating foods in their raw state, but I don't think I could handle eating raw garlic everyday... and I'm sure the people I come in contact with on a daily basis wouldn't appreciate that either lol.

Here are the benefits that I found:
  • Excellent for creating and maintaining overall health
  • Promotes the well being of the heart and immune system with antioxidant properties
  • Helps maintain healthy blood circulation
  • Enhances the body's immune cell activity (one of garlic's most powerful benefits)
  • A powerful antibiotic, garlic inhibits the ability of germs to grow and reproduce
    • FACT: it's said that 1mg of allicin (an active component found in garlic when its chopped) has a potency equivalent to 15 standard units of penicillin (source).
    • Naturally powerful antibiotic effective against toxic bacteria, viruses, and fungus. 
  • Reduces cholesterol
  • One of the components of garlic is geranium, which is an anti- cancer agent
  • Blood thinner, similar to the effects of aspirin
  • Helps strengthen your body's defenses against allergies
  • Helps loosen plaque from artery walls
  • Helps regulate blood sugar levels
  • The best for expelling parasites such as pin worms from the human body
  • Lowers high blood pressure
  • Reduces the amount of free radicals in the blood stream
  • A cure for impotence
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Helps regulate the amount of fats cells formed in the body when taken at early stages
  • Prevents heart disease
  • Classified as an "anti-cancer" food.
Interesting facts:
Many home chefs mistakenly cook garlic immediately after crushing or chopping it, added Dr. Kraus. To maximize the health benefits, you should crush the garlic at room temperature and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes. That triggers an enzyme reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in garlic (source).

Garlic is toxic to cats and dogs.

Drinking lemon juice or eating a few slices of lemon will stop bad garlic breath.

source

Related Posts: 
 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

"Everything is a gift..."


Here's another quote from the book, "Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude." We should be expressing gratitude everyday, no matter what are circumstances are. Everything is designed by God to work out to our benefit, whether we're going through good times or hardships.

Related Posts:

Friday, January 4, 2013

"Express who you really are..."


I posted this on Instagram a couple weeks back and wanted to make sure I had it on record on my site. Sorry for the repetition, but I thought these were some strong words to keep in mind. This was quoted in a book I was reading titled, "Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude."

Related Posts:

Ethiopian Dinner with friends

A few weeks ago, Jarid and I had dinner with Jamila and her husband, Ramont. It was such a pleasure to see them and we laughed the whole night. I love it! I don't know if you guys ever had Ethiopian food, but let me just tell you that it tastes better than it looks. After dinner, Jarid and I were afraid to post the pics on Instagram because the plate looked like a bunch of poop lol. It was soooo good tho haha.

 Jamila and Ramont
 The food!
Jarid and I

Related Posts:

Inspired...


Before the new year came in, I was sitting back reflecting on what I can do differently to make me feel like I'm constantly accomplishing things. I think 2011 was the year where I was the most inspired because I noticed that I was constantly blogging and constantly making things. I felt the best when my mind was there. My creative juices would flow so much easier and I was wondering why that was... this quote sums it all up. Back then, the start of my day consisted in this search for something new to inspire me, whether it be a quote, some artwork, or just some craft that I can do myself. I even used to tell people that it was this craving I had and something I NEEDED to do in order to stay sharp. Well.... here I am... no time like the present to do it again and incorporate my yearning to help people with it this time around. Stay tuned... I think it'll be a great year (God Willing) :)

Related Posts:

Thursday, January 3, 2013

"I do not know where there is this difference, but I am sure that..."

Parfait recipe - these are BANGIN'

First, I'd like to give a special thank you to Pinterest for inspiring me and showing me how to make such a delicious treat. So, the first time I made this recipe, it was for dessert and I ended up making it for breakfast the next morning too. I was hooked. Here's what you need:

1 carton of blueberries
1 carton of strawberries
whipped cream
blueberry yogurt
a couple slices of pound cake

The directions are very simple..

1. Cut the pound cake into half inch cubes and cut the strawberries into quarter inch cubes. This is for preparation so that you're not cutting while you're layering the parfaits (like I do).

2. Then its time to start layering. Start off with about 4-5 cubes of pound cake, a couple spoonfuls of yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, and then repeat until the glass is filled.

3. After that, generously squirt some whipped cream at the top and then sprinkle some more blueberries and strawberries at the top (mostly to make it look pretty)

4. Enjoy ... Its going to taste like there's a fruit fight in your mouth. You won't be disappointed :)






Related Posts:

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Photographs by Shinichi Maruyama

This is ART. So interesting what you can do with different mediums and whats even more interesting is the art that you can make with the human figure. These are photographs taken by New York based photographer, Shinichi Maruyama, of nude dancers in motion. Maruyama writes:

I tried to capture the beauty of both the human body’s figure and its motion. The figure in the image, which is formed into something similar to a sculpture, is created by combining 10,000 individual photographs of a dancer. By putting together uninterrupted individual moments, the resulting image as a whole will appear to be something different from what actually exists. With regard to these two viewpoints, a connection can be made to a human being’s perception of presence in life.

Pretty amazing...








Related Posts: