New York City

I worked in NYC for many years, so I know the city pretty well.

I'm here on a business trip for the next few days. I do not have my camera so my phone pics will have to do. In advance my apologies for the crappy quality.

I've now lived in SW Florida for the past 8 years. The first thing that I really noticed when walking around the Big Apple yesterday, is that people just don't look all that happy.......with the exception being the people that sing while walking ;-)

Life is tough in the big city, and it shows on people faces and postures.

There are many wonderful options to eat REAL FOODS....possibly more than most places in the world. Yet....not many people here eat the good for you stuff. Eating is an integral part of city life and the options are endless.

Where else in the world can you order a pastrami or corned beef sandwich that is so large that Hulk Hogan couldn't even get his mouth around it. Above is part of the famous Carnegie Deli pastrami sandwich. I didn't eat any of the rye bread but ate most of the pound of pastrami with some half sour pickles and some coleslaw. Enough sodium to last you a month or so......but the taste was wonderful.

Do you all remember my friend best Steve I talked about? After almost 2 years, he is off all medications and his bone marrow transplant was successful. He's doing great and each day that goes on, puts him closer to the five year mark. At which point he is officially in the clear and will have a normal life expectancy. He's one of my real heroes in this life!!!! I'll be hanging with him and his two young kids today and spending a wonderful sunny day in Central Park playing, running and climbing.

Have a great Saturday.

Savings

Just wanted to share this with all of you;

http://agriculturesociety.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/saving-money-on-your-organic-life/

A great link to $1.00 off coupons for most of the organic products we all buy on a regular basis.

Courtesy of Raine Saunders.

Lunch

This is an easy lunch you can make, that transports well to the office.

Fillet Mignon, onions and a spinach salad with avocado, tomato and an evoo and balsamic vinaigrette.

Lets prepare;

Slice the fillet in small thin pieces. Slice a 1/4 of a sweet onion (they are in season now).

In butter saute the onions. Keep them on the firm side, the little bit of crunch will add to the texture of the salad. Next quickly cook the meat. I use some sea salt and fresh ground pepper to give it some extra flavor. Side note on sea salt. As long as your active (and sweat regularly) occasional sea salt is ok in my opinion. I think it is NOT ok if your sedentary. It will add to the myriad problems of being sedentary.

In a large bowl combine organic baby spinach, an avocado and a handful of grape tomatoes.

In a small dish combine 4 tbsps evoo with 1 tbs balsamic vinegar. Stir well, drizzle over the salad and toss together. You can find a large tub of organic baby spinach at Costco. I think I paid $4. for it. Also if you have a hard time finding organic fruit (especially berries), Costco has great great deals on blueberries, black berries and raspberries. They are grown in the here in the US and not overseas. Buy some extra blueberries and toss them in the freezer.

One more tree climbing picture. I go to the top of the tree, so by the time I come down, my limbs are tired. As you can see from the small grimace on my face, lol.

Climbing palm trees is a little different then climbing a big oak tree. If you haven't climbed a tree in a while, just like any exercise/play, start slow. But give it a shot, it's a wonderful workout and just makes you feel like a kid all over again.

Make it a great day!

Breakfast

I feel like it's been forever since my last post. I really miss sharing posts and pictures with all of you. Strange........ it's like I haven't talked to my friends in a while.

I just want to say THANK YOU again, to all of you for reading the blog and taking the time to leave comments. I've added an email link, so if you ever have questions or would like to see certain recipes/ideas or feedback, drop me an email.

A simple but satisfying breakfast;

Two strips of bacon, blackberries, watermelon, two (left-over) grilled drum sticks and few small slices of raw cheddar goat cheese.

In the other pics, I'm proudly sporting Mark Sisson's primal t-shirt.

GROK ON everyone and GET PRIMAL.

(disclaimer; my daughter talked me in to the wet t-shirt pic lol)

Sorry for the lack of posts everyone. It's just not the same sharing my Feel Good Eating dishes without the pictures. But fear not.......the pictures WILL return shortly.

Remember I had some new recipes for you?

I want to share this one;

1 pound grass fed beef cut into bite sized cubes. (I used top round)

1 strip of bacon

6 cloves of garlic.

1 yellow onion

2 dried chili peppers

3 tbsps red wine

3 tbsps heavy cream

Just a few simple ingredients makes for a delicious tasting dish.

In a hot large skillet or a wok, put the strip of bacon in a let it cook. Next add a pat of butter and saute the chopped garlic, onion and dried chili pepper. I then used some kitchen shears and cut the bacon into tiny little pieces (while it was in the pan)

Now add the meat. Stir well and let it cook to desired temp. Now add your red wine. Let it reduce some and then mix well. Next add your heavy cream, again let it reduce some and then stir together. Serve nice and hot!

A side salad of some romaine, tomato, cucumber, carrot and scallion made it a real nice looking plate.

In the 70's you could find thousands of "hippies" hanging on the steps of this very special monument.

Missing my camera.....

Going through separation withdrawls.....

Still no camera.

Here's last nights dinner.

Try it with me. This is what you'll need.

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs

red curry paste

coconut milk

garlic

onion

butter

frozen or french spinach

2 roma tomatoes

vidalia onion

daikon

evoo

balsamic vinegar

Here we go step by step and leave me a comment with how it came out;

chop about 4 cloves of garlic

chop 1/4 of a vidali onion

dice the chicken breasts

1 large teaspoon of red curry paste dissolved in 4 tbsps hot water

Put, 1 tbsp organic butter in a large skillet or wok. Add the onion and garlic. Next add half the red curry paste/water. Then add the chicken and stir. After a minute or 2 add the rest of the red curry paste. Keep stirring.

While that's cooking dice up your two roma tomatoes, thinly slice and chop some vidalia onion and dice/chop about a 1/2 cup of daikon. Put them together in a bowl and add 2 tbss evoo and a dash of balsamic. Side salad done.

Now that you're chicken is done, push it to the sides in your skillet or wok and add your spinach. I added about a cup and a half of frozen spinach. Let it cook for just a minute and then combine everything and stir. Lastly add about 1/3 of a can of coconut milk. Stir well!

How much coconut milk you use will depend on how thick you want your "sauce". For this dish I don't want it too runny, so while the heat is still high, I let the coconut milk warm up and reduce.

It's an easy one right? Great flavors. ENJOY!

And here's a picture of an old fashioned Dutch "pickle" stand.

We take our pickling seriously ;-)

(all pictures on this blog have been taken by me.)

Camera MIA ;-(

I went away with my kids this weekend, and took a bunch of cool pictures to share with you.
Only problem is.....I think we left the camera. I will call the place today, but for now, my camera is MIA.

Here's a simple salmon recipe;

Salmon for 2. (use wild salmon)
You can grill it, poach it, bake it. I like it best grilled.
4 tbspoons organic butter
1/4 cup finely diced dill pickles
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teasp. tarragon.

Let the butter soften and mix with the diced pickles, dijon and tarragon.
Cook your salmon and spoon the "pickle butter" over the fish.
ENJOY.

Eggs, Paprika and Salsa

Question, Do you buy salsa or make your own?

You know I made some tacos yesterday. I also made some salsa.

This is so easy and I'm sure a lot of you make it yourself, but just in case you need some inspiration, here it is.

6 -8 plum tomatoes, 1/4 of a large red onion, 1 small red pepper, 1/4 de-seeded jalapeno, 2 teasps of lime or lemon juice and 1 cup fresh chopped cilantro . Toss in the food processor. This is a basic variation. Go crazy add whatever you like and see what you come up with.

Yesterday for breakfast, I made a 4 egg omelet. Some scallion and tomato inside of it.

Try a little PAPRIKA as a spice when you make eggs, it's flavor combines well with eggs and butter. Omelet, some celery and blueberries.

Make it a great day!!

A few things and I'm back !

Sorry for the lack of posts for the past few days. Life got very very hectic last week, and then I did not have a chance to throw up a post letting you all know that I went for a quick, last minute, weekend get away.
Because of all the crazy crazy travel deals to be had at the moment and my proximity to Miami, FL, I took advantage of a cruise going to the Bahamas for 3 days.

This kind of view helps melt the stress away:

It never ceases to amaze me just how vast the oceans are and how incredibly blue the Caribbean waters can glow.

I won't go on a rant yet)......but.........Want to see people shovel in, insane amounts of food? Go on a cruise ;-) Maybe a topic for another day.

Rusty at Fitnessblackbook mentioned me in this recent post. Thank you so much Rusty and I hope many readers looking for primal feel good eating ideas will find some useful recipes here. Like I've said before, Rusty's blog is full of continued quality info. Maybe that's why he gets 100,000 plus hit a month ;-)
Since we are talking link love; check out Free the Animal's post on sugar. This is awesome to forward to friends and family. And hopefully eye opening.

And back to food!
Last night's dinner was a quicky. Made some Tacos for the kids (you know Cinco de Mayo and all) they enjoy tacos a lot! I ate with them. The only non paleo item was a nice dollop of full fat sour cream. Man is that stuff tasty ;-) Just don't eat it often and you're fine. And since we're trying to lean out...you don't need to finish the whole container, just a tablespoon will do.

Some lettuce, half an avocado, meat with taco seasoning (half turkey,half grass fed ground beef), tomato, lettuce and sour cream. 2 small plates like this fill you up nicely.

And lastly, don't think I've ever posted anything on the books I'm reading, so thought I'd share the following with you.
Talk about primal/paleo, this guy lived on fish for 76 days!!! It's a classic but I had never read it. Great read for taking on a cruise right???????

I'm only half way through the next book, (White Tiger) but it's UNBELIEVABLE!
It's won a myriad of awards, but check it out if you have a chance.

That's all for now. Coming up this week 3 new recipes.

And.....SMILE a lot today.