Book Wish List

When I find some extra time, this is my current list of books I'd love to read:

1. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
2. Manifestos of Food and Seed
3. Omnivore's Dilemma
4. End of Food
5. Fast Food Nation
6. Slow Food Nation
7. Food to Live By
8. From the Earth to the Table

And, something else for people to check out: Food Matters at www.foodmatters.com

Ma'o Organic Farm Cooking Class

Ma'o Organic Farm Cooking Class
Originally uploaded by macro808

Fairly recently, I was invited to Ma'o Organic Farm to do a cooking class.

We made:

Colorful Pressed Salad
Poppy Seed Dressing
Green Rolls
Happosai (Lucky Chinese Vegetable Stir Fry)
Greens with Marinated Onions

There were 18 students all who learned more information about the types of foods they grow and how to use them. We had a blast.

Tonight's dinner menu

Lentil Soup
Collard Greens with Creamy Tofu Dill Sauce
Pressed Salad
Baked Black Eyed Peas
Brown Rice with Wheat Berries
Blueberry Kanten

YUMMY!!

Nov 5 Macrobiotic Dinner

Vegan Macrobiotic Community Dinner
Nov 5, 2008
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Dine in or take out, $13

MENU:

French Onion Soup with Mochi Croutons
Holiday Rice
Baked Squash
Black Beans
Fresh Arame Salad

Lemon Tofu Cheesecake will be served for dessert with Japanese Tea for an additional $3.50

Please contact Leslie for location and any other details.

Oct 10 Windward Macrobiotic Dinner Menu

Carrot Coconut Bisque
Brown Rice with Wild Rice
Summery Arame Salad
Broccoli and Mushroom Tofu Quiche
Green Rolls (Vegetable Sushi)
Blueberry Crisp

Recipe for humble pie from Melanie Waxman

First you need to -

Wash out your ego every once in a while, as cleanliness is next to godliness not just in body but in humility as well. ~Abbe Yeux-verdi

Then you have to make sure you -

Swallow your pride occasionally, it's non-fattening! ~Author Unknown

Having done that you remember -

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all. ~William Temple

Then you realise -

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. ~Benjamin Franklin

And you don't need to -

talk about yourself; it will be done when you leave. ~Wilson Mizner

When it comes to eating macro and playing sports -

Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple. ~Barry Switzer

Maybe stick with science coz -

When science discovers the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to find they are not it. ~Bernard Baily

If all else fails try this -

Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it. ~Oliver Herford

And in the end

It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. ~Andrew J. Holmes, Wisdom in Small Doses

and

If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings. ~Welsh Proverb

Enjoy and tell me how it tastes
Love Melanie!

Happy Meal for Thursday's Healing Seminar

One thing that is important to me as a chef is to have food that is beautiful to look at, in addition to being tasty. If something is supposedly "healthy" but is brown and unidentifiable, I don't believe that someone will feel good when they eat it. For example, sometimes, if I'm in a hurry, I will go into one of our local health food stores to see what they have in their deli. At times, what they have appears overcooked and definitely not fresh. I just know that if I eat that, even though it's from the health food store, I'm going to feel tired and sluggish. Here in Hawaii, they teach people to "Eat A Rainbow" and I believe in this philosophy. So, here is the menu for the "Happy Meal" we had last night for Dr. Terry Shintani's Healing Seminar:

Brown Rice with Wild Rice
Spring Green Salad with Tomatoes and Yellow Peppers
Poppyseed Dressing
Marinated Garbanzo Bean Salad (packed with healthy fresh vegetables)
Sweet Vegetable Soup (with corn, kabocha, carrots, and onions)
Watermelon

We actually had all the colors of the rainbow included in this meal.

For the soup, it wasn't necessary to use any type of pre-purchased or packaged seasoning. I looked in the refrigerator to see what was left over and needed to be used up. I found cabbage, onion, and carrot and cooked these until they were soft, along with some kombu sea vegetable to create a tasty broth. I strained out the vegetables, reserved the liquid, and created this as the base. Then, to create the soup, I used chopped carrots, corn, onion, kabocha, bayleaf, and more kombu, along with fresh water. At the end, I added salt to taste so that the naturally sweet flavor of the vegetables was enhanced.

Menu for Wednesday's client

Everything on this menu was vegan, and the sister and boyfriend who were uncertain of the idea of VEGAN and MACRO food were very pleasantly surprised! We said it was "Real food for real people."

Greek Salad with Tofu Feta
Spanikopita (spinach pie with tofu instead of cheese)
Falafel with Pita Bread
Tahini Sauce
Grape Leaves stuffed with Brown Rice, Currants, and Pinenuts
Strawberry Mousse

It was the mousse for dessert that had our male friend there going for second and third helpings. They couldn't believe it was so yummy.

Menu for a recent party

One of my clients had a very serious health condition that kept her in the hospital for weeks. After getting out of the hospital, she firmly committed herself even more to her health by doing yoga and pranayama, ending toxic relationships, playing golf to keep active, and keeping up a very healthy whole foods macrobiotic diet. She just made 1 year of strong health, which is getting better all the time, and she had a party to celebrate this. The menu was:

Chinese Cabbage and Celery Soup
Watercress Salad with Figs and Artichoke Hearts
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Oven-Baked Acorn Squash
Holiday Brown Rice, Wild Rice, and Vegetable Pilaf
Lentil Pate
Arame Sea Vegetable Salad
Carrot Cardamom Cake with Coconut Cream Sauce

10-day Healing Seminar

Every couple of months, Dr. Terry Shintani (author of The Good Carb Revolution and Eat More, Weight Less) does a Healing Seminar for people in Honolulu, Hawaii. Approximately 30 people typically register for each program. They show up on a Saturday, the first day of their program, for a 12-hour long day of cooking demonstrations, lectures, chi gong, and whole foods meals. Since they have medical conditions, they are all medically monitored. The next 9 days of the program are not quite as intense, but they do have more lectures and we consistently prepare meals for them. For the most part, these people have been eating a standard American diet for their entire lives, and in many cases, it shows. Seminar after seminar, the participants are dealing with obesity, auto-immune disorders, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, and diabetes, including other lifestyle related diseases. They somewhat go into shock with everything they are being taught, and despite this, they are courageous and persevere, but not without some humor (where's the pizza? where's the salt, sugar, pork, shrimp, beef?!!). They were all very curious about what quinoa was. Why did it have those snake-like tails in it? What was it? HOW DO YOU SAY THAT AGAIN? HOW IS IT SPELLED!!!! Last night when I cooked for them, they were on day 5 of their program, and some of them had already lost 10 pounds, their blood sugar levels dropped by half. They were starting to come around, and their taste buds actually coming back to life after years of being bombarded with overdoses of sugar, salt, and other additives. By the end of the 10 days, for many of them, their lives have been altered forever, equipped with the knowledge of how to prevent many common illnesses and to maintain strong health with the power of food.

zodi shower

zodi shower
Originally uploaded by macro808

When I was growing up, we had a very rustic cabin, with a woodburning cast iron stove to cook in and heat hot water for doing dishes, no electricity, a root cellar to store fruits and vegetables in, and we got spring water from a fresh water spring nearby. We chopped wood, carried water, and bathed in the lake. This lifestyle is no longer possible in the area we had our cabin, due to different factors, but we still are able to go there and enjoy the incredible natural landscape and natural living lifestyle. Here's a photo of our outdoor shower that looks up into the treetops. It's a revelation to have warm showers instead of dunking in the icy cold lake.

Check out
http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consumer/zodihottaptravelshower.html

to see how cool and handy these are!

northern idaho

northern idaho
Originally uploaded by macro808

Wednesday night I returned from about 9 glorious days cut off from the world in the wild and wooly mountains of Northern Idaho where I saw moose, deer, hawks, chipmunks, and other wildlife, plus the very colorful human inhabitants! Luckily there were no bear or cougars to be seen, though they are an accepted part of the landscape. I woke to see this gorgeous view each morning, though the photo hardly does the area any justice! The water was super refreshing.

Amazing type of orchid

Amazing type of orchid
Originally uploaded by macro808

At the beginning of the month, I went to the Hawaii State Farm Fair on the Bishop Museum grounds, where they had an open air farmer's market, games and rides for kids, animals like pigs, ponies, sheep, and chickens for the young people's 4-H projects, and a huge tent filled with exotic tropical plants for sale. There were several I had never seen before, such as this wonderful example in the photo. I can't recall the name, but there were several similar to this one in pink, white, and yellow. Amazing!!

For whatever reason, Monsanto was there at the event, after just purchasing thousands of acres of land on the North Shore, and it was frustrating to see them there. I had to walk away from their tent before I started spouting angry words. My friend spoke to them, however, and they had well-scripted BS answers to his questions about organic farming.

The 4-H projects reminded me of how I grew up in a rural part of the mainland US. The smells of hay and sounds of animals were comforting. Watching the newborn baby chicks popping out of their shells and the older ones scurrying around was very sweet.

"Sultry Subcontinental Night"

This is one of those very specific nights when I feel so lucky to live in diverse, multicultural, and colorful Honolulu. On the last Friday of every month, The Academy of Arts puts on an event called ARTafterDARK where they open up the galleries and magically transform the entire museum, including all the courtyards and gardens, according to that month's theme. Tonight was "So Sari" (Indian). There were rose petals and marigolds all over the entire museum including floating in enourmous Asian style ceramic pots, flickering candles to light the city night, breezy gauzy tapestries that fluttered gently in the tropical breeze to partition off gardens and create a romantic atmosphere. They had an "open air street market" with henna artists, Indian snacks, jewelry, clothing and even some absolutely hilarious Indian God action figures like Hanuman all beefed up and ready to rumble. In another courtyard they offered Indian food (too much eggplant for me though), and the definite highlight was a Bhangra DJ from New York. People from all walks of life were getting in on the dancing, from infants to senior citizens, and I mean really getting into the groove!! Everyone was completely friendly, dressed to the nines, glowing, smiling and happy tonight. Yep, LUCKY I LIVE HAWAII.

Backyard Gardening Again

Each weekend over the last few weeks, I've gotten to play in the dirt with a pick, shovel, and rake. It feels fantastic to work hard and sweat this way, working the earth.

I have to say, it was amazing to take the compost that I made (complete with all my cute wiggly earthworms) and pour it into the ground, and to then see the land come back to life. After adding the compost, the soil had a richer smell, was softer, moister, fluffier, and had a more vibrant color.

In went the lettuce and cilantro last week, and after just a few days, their little tender heads appeared.

Meanwhile, the beans, radish, kabocha, marigolds and daikon are all growing like crazy!! The carrots are on their own slower time schedule, but they are definitely healthy and vibrant. It's wonderful to eat breakfast, gaze outside, and see all the green life popping up. Great way to start the day.

In different parts of the garden, my expert gardener friend built "frog doors" so that the frogs could hop right in to eat up all the slugs. There's even a "frog house" so some happy and lucky frogs can take up residence around the lettuce. It's a ceramic pot turned on its side and placed in a cozy corner.... Once the lettuce grows in, I'm sure we'll get a resident or two.

Potluck gang

potluck gang
Originally uploaded by macro808

Building community around a healthy diet and lifestyle is something I feel is paramount to enjoying life. When I lived in Japan, I initially felt very isolated, but when I met all of the fellow students at Macrobi Garden, I felt so much more at home in a foreign country. We may have spoken two different native languages, but we certainly shared the language of macrobiotics.

My goal has been to bring that camaraderie back to Honolulu.

We often have potlucks, thanks to Ruth, who opens up her home to all of us. This photo was from one of the various evenings that we enjoyed together.

To my right was a visitor from Japan who happened to be in town at that time, so I invited her along. If anyone is coming into town, get ahold of me to see if there are any events going on! We love to get groups of people together and enjoy the food everyone prepares.

I also encourage other people to start similar communities. It can take time to build one, but it's worth it. Even in one's own country, it can be isolating to be the only person who babbles on about "yin and yang". People who don't get it think that's kinda freaky. So if you have friends to share it with, the world doesn't seem so unfriendly!!

Teaching at massage school

teaching at massage school
Originally uploaded by macro808

Every three months or so I head to Kailua to teach at the American Institute of Massage Therapy, Hawaii. I spend the day cooking a typical vegan macrobiotic seasonal organic meal for the students, and then talk to them about what macrobiotics is all about. This was one of the groups - there are a few other people scattered about the room or on the floor who are not visible. It's always fun to go there! Thanks to Elizabeth Reveley who invited me to be a part of their faculty.

Brief History of Sugar

I picked up the book Sugar Blues again recently by William Dufty as I was preparing for teaching a dessert class. The points in the book were a good reminder for me to consider not only the health implications, but also the political implications of sugar. The following information below outlines some of the points I felt were very noteworthy in the history of sugar refining, marketing, and consumption. One of the overall health effects of sugar is that while it can relax you, it makes you feel weak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pre-sugar humans enjoyed chestnuts, almonds, pistachios, apples, figs, grapes, olives, mulberries, barley, wheat, rye, millet, cucumbers, melon, carob, mint, onion, anise (fennel), garlic, leeks, lentils, mustard, milk, honey, and a wide variety of other whole foods that were grown locally, in season, and had a natural sweetness to them.

No ancient texts mention having sugar. When it does finally show up in historical documents, it’s in the form of sugar cane. It is most likely from India rare, imported, and expensive and traditionally used as medicine.

Around 325 BC, Greek and Roman soldiers are first reported to have chewed sugar cane. Persia is the first known country to process it around 600 AD. The Persians started trading it and then Islam overran Persia. It’s thought that the Arab armies started indulging in its sedative and tranquilizing properties and that this consumption may have contributed to their downfall. Soldiers chew the sugar cane, are reported to have “soldier’s disease” and become gluttonous and less courageous. They experience bleeding gums, hemorrhagic skin spots, and swollen legs.

Arabia falls to the European Crusaders. From this time, the 7 deadly sins flourish across the 7 seas. Slavery, genocide, and organized crime are directly related to sugar processing, trade, and sales. Illnesses such as the plague, beri beri, cancer, scurvy, and other unusual diseases parallel sugar consumption. As sugar consumption goes up, fatal diseases increase.

In the 1500’s, the Dutch and other Europeans finance palaces and sugar fuels politics. The British control the islands where molasses and rum are first made. White people make fortunes in taxes and tariffs.

In 1812, Napoleon’s army takes sugar rations. The French army who had never seen sugar before defeat Napoleon.

In 1905, Japan fights Russia. The Japanese carry salted fish, dried seaweed, pickled and umeboshi plums. Russia falls to the Japanese. The Japanese adopt habits of the western world and fall prey to new diseases.

The sugar business was the model for other agribusiness conglomerates that were to follow decades later. It has a low cost, everyone can use it, it’s supported by the government, and it’s mainly marketed towards children.

The processing of sugar follows the same trail as the opium poppy. It has habit forming sensory pleasures just as heroin, opium, and alcohol.

sunrise in waianae with tractor in foreground

sunrise in waianae with tractor
Originally uploaded by macro808

LESLIE’S SERVICES AND TESTIMONIALS

Everyone deserves great abundance, energy, health, happiness, and well-being, and one of the easiest ways to bring more of this into your life is through the healing power of whole foods.

Leslie Ashburn has been a passionately dedicated vegan macrobiotic personal chef and cooking teacher for the past 5 years and in the food service business for over 20 years. She cooks for weddings; busy professionals such as artists, lawyers, and doctors; tourists; people dealing with significant illnesses such as cancer; surfers; small groups of people; dinner parties and special events; massage students; families; on boats; the Honolulu community at large through her bi-monthly dinners; healing seminars with the local living treasure Dr. Terry Shintani; and more.

Leslie's style of cooking, along with her customers, is colorful, diverse, dynamic, creative, and sophisticated.

She can help you eat right in the comfort of your own home, and if you want to be a better cook, she can teach you how. She'll help you create menu plans, unclutter your kitchen and your life, navigate the health food store, and trouble shoot anything you're facing as an obstacle to achieving greater health and happiness. You'll enjoy a variety of foods you probably always wondered how to cook, vibrant local organic produce straight from the farm to your kitchen, as well as the benefits of eating a whole foods diet, including better sleep, stable moods, more energy, improved concentration and mental focus, less PMS, fewer cravings, and the alleviation of many other troublesome physical symptoms.

Testimonials:

“Leslie is an amazing person and an amazing chef. Everything she prepares is infused with her passion and her heart, and because of that, her food is created at a level beyond the ordinary, making it truly extraordinary.

In learning from her through classes, as well as eating her delicious food consistently over the years, I have embraced a new consciousness about macrobiotic food. I feel nourished, alive and balanced after one of Leslie's meals. She is always working with a smile on her face and in her heart and her food takes on that very same quality. I smile after each meal that she prepares for me, as I know it is such a treat for my body, mind and spirit.

In addition, Leslie is conscious, connected, inspiring and confident in who she is which brings forth that very same energy into my life through her food. Anytime I know I can partake of a macrobiotic meal that is prepared by Leslie, I will never miss that opportunity. She is that awesome.” Alice Inoue, Astrologer and Feng Shui Expert

“Four years ago, I made the time for macrobiotics to achieve a better state of health for myself and went on this journey where I met Leslie. I took a few classes from her and learned how the macrobiotic diet can be more than the basic foods that I was exposed to in the '80s. The food was very tasty and varied. The kabocha salad is one of my all time favorites!! I appreciate Leslie’s variety of recipes as well as her expertise in cooking. She has such a positive energy and always is reliable and dependable in helping me to be healthy eating the macro way. I have had her cook for me at least a couple of times a month and have participated in her twice a month dinners. If you are looking for a healthier lifestyle, then macrobiotics is the way to go and Leslie can help you get there through her cooking. Happy Eating!!!!” AS

“I wanted to let you know I planned a little dinner party for my husband’s birthday celebration last night and all the dishes were very very yummy. The sweet corn soup was very refreshing, the lentil / barley salad (served cold) went very well with the walnut pesto pasta. And, I made the prune cake! Turned out delicious. Thank you so much. I felt like you were right there with me in the kitchen and I was able to take my time and enjoy the shopping, cooking, preparing and dining process. I'll look forward to your next class. Thank YOU!” AM

see http://www.macrobiotichawaii.bravehost.com/ for more information