Really important water movie trailer:

How to find love

This is a photo of me in Costa Rica up in the mountains of Monte Verde. I woke up early one morning to see the sunrise and sat on the remains of an old wall that overlooked deep valleys. I was singing quietly to myself for some time when the most beautiful white horse approached me and was not afraid at all.

He came right up to me as I kept singing and let me put my cheek on his chest for what seemed like an eternity . I have never felt such awe and gratitude for an experience before. Luckily my friend Lila woke up, saw the scene and shot some dreamy photographs for me to keep forever.

Vegan Cranberry Pancakes with Cinnamon

This is what we had for brunch today! I'm finally posting the recipe for these beautiful vegan cranberry cinnamon pancakes...
It's extremely simple and the taste is out of this world!

Cranberry Pancakes:

2 cups unbleached flour
3 Tablespoons custard powder (most custard powders are vegan before you add the cow)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups water (add less if you like them fluffier- I enjoy them more crape-like)
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar if you don't have apple)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional if you like them fluffier- and yes it's vegan)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dried cranberries (as many as you like)

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk.
2. Heat up a pan on medium to low heat with a little coconut oil (or sunflower or vegetable oil).
3. use a ladle to pour the batter into the pan in medium-sized pancakes.
4. As one side is frying sprinkle dried cranberries over it.
5. flip it over when the right time comes (you will know because small holes will start to form on the surface).
6. Flip the beautiful pancake onto a plate and drizzle it with REAL maple syrup and powder it with a little cinnamon. (do not use false syrups- it's a crime).

This recipe makes about 8 medium-sized pancakes. Love it!!

Sedna

This is one of my favorite paintings that I won't sell to anyone. Oil on board.

famous vegans and vegetarians

Josh growing up vegetarian and then vegan.

Well for all those people who don't believe it's a good thing to raise children on a vegetarian or, god forbid, a vegan diet I have a six foot bit of evidence I'd like to present to the courts. Josh is now almost 16 (!!!!) and taller than me. He's extremely active, does well in school and is very talented at guitar.

As long as you feed your children well balanced meals every day they will turn out alright. Of course he's now in a junk food teenager phase, but he still helps me with recipes when a dish is missing something, and he eats dinner with us most of the time.

At some point you just have to let go and realize that your job as a parent has peaked, and your child will make their own decisions- for the most part -from now on. Some of those decisions will be questionable, but we've all done stupid things in our lives. And those stupid things make us who we are right now... so it is what it is.

I feel really good that I've instilled in him the basic principles of compassion for other people, animals, and the planet, a sense of self-worth and, something my mother taught me, which was to find something funny about any given situation (even when things didn't seem very funny at all).

Black Rice & Walnut-Stuffed Squash!

Black Rice & Walnut-Stuffed Squash:

2 butternut squash
(or acorn squash)
1 red pepper
½ cup walnuts
3 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 red onion diced
2 cup brown or black rice


1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds for later use (you can roast them up with olive oil and sea salt).
2. Preheat the oven to 350. Place the squash face down on a pan with a little water in it, for about 25 minutes, or until you can easily poke a knife through.
3. Prepare the rice in 2.5 cups of water (or as directed on bag of rice) with the red onions, garlic and sea salt.
4. When the rice is ready, mix all of the other ingredients together and fill the squash halves on a plate, letting it overflow. Sprinkle them with cinnamon and serve with something light like a salad. The walnuts and cranberries go very well with the warm, rich flavour of the squash and sweet black rice.
Soooo good! Serves 4.