How To Deal With : H2O no?

Has Anyone Else Asked Who Turned On The Oven?

For the last few months, London felt like Manhattan in August - Sticky, hot, and hardly any breeze to comfort your sweaty & irritable blogger. At night, since we have no fan or air conditioner, we have used ice packs in the hopes of a comfortable nights sleep. By morning cold showers are not just a blessing, they are more necessary than the moon to the ocean current! For the last few nights I've journeyed to the gym for the beautiful air conditioning. Sadly sleeping in the stuffy flat becomes almost impossible. The buildings here in the UK are made to retain heat, since winters are so cold I usually wear every stitch of clothing I own. Now, just thinking about clothing makes me need a shower and some ice water down my throat!

Water...How beautiful, how essential it is in our lives. We flock to the sea shore for the sun and the refreshing embrace of the salty waves. Too cold and we wish it were warmer, too hot and we wish it chilly. Fickle, we are.

Important Liquids & Carbonated Eggs

Yup...This is an egg...

Water is something our bodies need to function properly, yet we seem to forget to carry it around to drink. Humans have put water fountains in schools and public parks, only to discover that some of them are not clean enough to drink from. In my fitness travels, I have seen many a water bottle, and many a forgotten-at-home one at that! Whether you are heading to the gym, the office, or just out for a walk in your back yard, you should be drinking water. They all say it, we all know it. Truth fact is we just don't want to.
What kid has not danced in anticipation, waiting for their parents to let them have that first sip of soda? When I was 10, it was a right of passage to be allowed soda, but I never knew just how bad it was for you. That is until I saw how well Coke can clean a carburetor, or how any soda can do this to an egg. About 6 months ago, I forced myself to kick the habit. Now, if I have any soda at all (which is rarer than a unicorn that's gone cannibal) it would be for a rum and coke or a ginger-ale to sooth mah tum tum! Kicking the soda habit is tough, but really worth it. How many people tell you to drink more water? I have been told many times by doctors, both on tv and in offices, magazines and books to drink more of it, to add lemons or mint to it, to replace it with other drinks. And for an ex-coffee addict, and a person who has finnally kicked the soda-monkey-on-the-back, there was no problem really. It was water, or juice, or tea...otherwise it would be smoothies, malts, or shakes. God those sound good right now... refreshingly cold...Opps! Right now, we gotta get focused up and psyched about H2O!!

Drink-Ability & Plastics

For the Survivalist in us all!

Water needs to be filtered, steamed, cold, clean, to be drinkable. Have you ever tried to purify water without a Brita? I only know of one process, and it uses a big of expensive charcoal. The first filter I had was kicked to the curb when I found that it was leaking little black dots into my drinking water. This doesn't seem like good filtering! Once your water is drinkable-hopefully you don't have a natural disaster screwing up your pipes-how would you carry it around? Just a glass everywhere? A red solo cup at all times? A water bottle!!! "But some water bottles can leak plastic into the drinking water after a while, don't they?" That is a truth fact, yes. Certain brands leak a bit of plastic, but others now have labels that say there is no Bisphenol A or BPA (It's used to keep make plastic stronger. Research says it is not Cancer causing, but that we should avoid ingestion as much as possible). People used to drink out of lead coated tankards, now we are ingesting plastic. Oh, how the future history books will mock that.

Trying to change the history books and he'll just go flippy!

That is why I recommend using glass bottles or non BPA bottles. There are some water brand that come in glass tubes (VOSS), but that can get a bit pricey. If you want to keep some green in your wallet without getting unreasonable then purchasing a non BPA bottle is the way to go. Another glass bottle route comes from our lovely friends at the Snapple Company. If you want some flavored tea (maybe not the best choice of drink out there, at least compared to water, but a great tasty tea!), why not save that bottle? Reuse it for everyday use in your classroom or office? We have a white wine bottle that we keep stocked in the ice box for fresh cold water.

Have The Borrowers Taken Your Old Water Bottles?

With all the options out there today, from buying a bottle everyday or investing in a long term relationship with a plastic buddy (no, not a humming toy), it can all just get a little daunting. How many times, even if you had your own water bottle in your locker or bag, have you just bought that dollar twentyfive aquafina from the vending machine at lunch? Working in theatre, we are taught very early on to leave a work space cleaner than we found it. You can't imagine how many empty plastic bottles, even after a non-theatre class, are left under desks with other trash. Hipsters, Hippies, & Green-Thinkers all say we need to decrease our carbon foot print (and for the record, I completely agree), which has led to a increase in demand for personal and reusable thermoses...but not for soups or coffee.
Many parents, before sleep away camp buses come to take the kids away for the summer, take their offspring to camping supply stores. This is something that I highly recommend. If you are gonna buy one, make sure that it has any and all features you want/need. For example, I want a bottle that can hold more than a pint of water, that can fit into my lunch box-bag & backpack, ice can be put into it, and its BPA free. If you want one that looks like the nanny robot from the Jetsons, or one with some emblem or cute dancing little frog, then be prepared for some sad truths. Unfortunately there are many sticky fingered people out there.

My Favorite Choice

I've had classmates and teammates alike leave their new and expensive bottles on trains, buses or just in classes. Its almost as if they sprouted little plastic legs and buggered off, or the sticky fingered devils strolled off into the middle of the day, pockets full.
However you choose to stay hydrated in this heat wave then chilly summer, just remember to drink any amount of water throughout the day at all all you'll be golden! Just, maybe, don't let your sweaty sticky fingers latch on to a bottle that's not technicality yours...unless you have found this during an apocalypse and need that water bottle to survive. But never trust a canteen, in could be a trap....Dollhouse....

Bye For Now xx

Cooking With The Seasons : Spring & Summer

I'm a list-making-crazy chick. There is just no denying it. I have always made to do lists (for home work assignments, chores, and researching fun activities or party planning), and I have always found them helpful. Especially helpful for keeping on schedule; be it task, schedule or time. I was so nuts about maintaining an organized life, I had a table of contents in all of my school notebooks and binders. Unfortunately I was never so organized when it came to healthy food choices. As a kid, and high-school-er, I gave into the peer pressure and the embarrassment of being a square peg in a round hole. The kids around me could eat whatever they wanted. Why was I put on slim fast and the Zone diet when I was 10? Now that I can be in charge of my own kitchen, it has become so much easier to be in control. With no one buying the junk food, the house is stocked with only healthy foods! If Claus or I want the junk, we go out for it, but we never bring it home. Sometimes we go for long walks to a specific ice cream place, each get a single scoop cone and walk home. The only difficult part of being in charge of your own kitchen is when you have no time to plan ahead.
When it comes to doing the weekly shopping, I always recommend making a shopping list to prevent the dangerous impulse of buying junk food. Think about it. How many times have you gone to the supermarket without a list and accidentally over bought? Or worse, caved into the impulse and bought that tub of ice cream or that bag of M&M's. Around this time of year, fresh produce is abundant! If you have a tiny fridge, like me, you will need to keep your list short and very fresh! Always keep yourself stocked with fresh produce, especially this season! I mean, if you only have veggies in your house then you wont choose that brownie staring back at you from that tiny little baking tray. Head down to your local Farmer's Market with your empty basket (or in my case my backpack), and get ready for the fun. 

Right now, you can buy almost anything! Buying with the seasons will help you have varied dishes all year round. Right now, its JULY! Everyone is grilling meat, and eating Pop-sickles, and in need of sun block. Watermelon seeds are being spit on the ground, cherries and peaches are being made into preserves, and other summer-y foods are just everywhere!

Eat 'em while you can y'all!

Around this time of year, our shopping list usually looks like this:

Fruits

Nectarines, apples, oranges, lemons, tomatoes, bananas, plums, grapes, blue berries, strawberries, cherries, pineapple (small), watermelon

Veggies

Carrots, Celery, Basil, Lettuce, Onions, Zucchini, avocados, green beans, Leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, beets

Meat / Poultry / Seafood

Steak (low fat), Pork Loin (low fat), Chicken Breast, Thighs, or a Whole Bird, Frozen Shrimp, Halibut, Tuna Steaks

Dairy

Greek Yogurt, 2% Milk, Mozzarella Cheese, Cheddar Cheese

Pantry Items

Tuna in water, chickpeas, Olives, Quinoa, brown rice/gluten free pasta, Nuts and Seeds (specifically almonds, pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds)

I would even take this one step further and say you should ingredients for anything. Cook your healthy food in advanced! Prep your produce for snack and meals! Fight the laziness! Like with cleaning and working, a schedule for groceries helps you not to obsess. When you have a seriously over scheduled life, it leaves very little time to make smart food decisions. If you clean the kitchen before you go out shopping, it will be easier to prep the food once you're back. Once your sink is clean of dishes, and your tiny kitchen is ready for prepping, it is time to begin. Wash all your produce very carefully in cold water. Pat dry carefully, and then get out your storing materials. I use Chinese takeaway plastic boxes, since they are clear and reusable. I also put post-its to date the veggies, to make sure that they wont go bad on us. You can buy containers to keep organized, but some are clunky, difficult to clean, and expensive. If I had a bigger fridge, then I would be buying more things to organize my life.

 How do you organize your kitchen? Do
you use fancy equipment in your kitchen?
Do you have a different method
or more than one you would recommend?
Any method is better than a messy kitchen
leading to not so smart food choices. 

Well, I'm off to the Market!
Hope I'll see you there!

Bye For Now xx