Yeah, that’s my husband’s comment on me every time we invite friends for dinner or whenever there’s a discussion about food. A bit challenging though on how to explain why I am into organic stuff. Some understand me but some just raise their eyebrows. Anyway I can’t convince every body to go organic because they have their opinions and also going organic is not that easy especially where they live and how tight the budget they have. I am very grateful to find an organic cooperative here in our place that sells not so expensive organic food. Sometimes their price of organic food is cheaper than the non organic food items.
How I became an organic freak?
Well it all started when my mother passed away due to non hodgkins lymphoma, it was a difficult moment for us. I tried to understand how my mom got this disease. Somehow I could find some answers but I don’t know if those were the causes. Her doctor told us to be prudent on our health since our mom had it, meaning we should avoid smoking, pollution(if possible) and take supplements. My mom never smoked but the problem was, she was a seller in the market where her colleague was smoking near her everyday. Was it one of the factors.. passive smoking?
We used to live in a province since my father did not want to live in the city but the problem was..we’re surrounded by pesticides. My grandmother had a vegetable garden where her worker used to spray pesticides once or twice a month.
Sometimes together with my sister , we would ask our neighbor(my uncle) if he had leaves of chili pepper and he would tell us “ Oh not now, I just sprayed pesticides today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow you can have them.. My mom had a poultry where we would always disinfect our shoes or sleepers at the entrance of her poultry. We also experienced running into our house, closing our windows whenever our neighbors would ask the workers to spray pesticides on mango trees to have a good harvest. My father liked to spray Baygon or Raid every now and then to kill mosquitoes and cockroaches. Our cooking utensils/cookware before were made of aluminum orTeflon coated metal. We never used water filter before and our source of water was coming from a deep well.
I am very sensitive to chemical products maybe because of too much exposure before and hopefully I will be able to get rid of the toxins that accumulated in my body.
You see, my father avoided pollution in the city but even we have breathed some fresh air from time to time we were surrounded by chemicals in our province. My sisters and I were discussing about those events in our lives and thought those were some of the factors why we have some reproductive problems like myoma(uterine fibroids) , PCOS, fibrocystic breasts diseases.
I am blessed that we could afford to go organic but I make sure that spending for healthy stuff is no. 1 priority for us. I don’t indulge myself into other things that will not nourish myself and my body and I convince my husband to do the same. I don’t even wear too much make up as I used to be. I cut my husband’s hair and my hair, thanks to my mom who taught me how. She was a very good hairdresser. (oh that I also thought she was exposed with those hair products especially hair dye)
Two years ago, my husband bought a chemical product when we had problem on our drainage(clogged pipes) in our bathroom. I told him “before you pour that product into the pipe even though we don’t have children, think of the children and their future children the effect of what you’re going to do” then when he poured it down the pipe, I left the house for 4 hours feeling sad that my husband did not listen to me. That night I went searching on the internet for the natural alternatives and I found our info. on baking soda and vinegar and these 2 ingredients worked when we had drainage problem again. Now I am happy that my husband stopped using chemicals in our house now. His favorite natural alternatives are vinegar and baking soda.
I might be different from anyone but this is the journey I have chosen and believing that I am not only healing myself but the Mother Earth for the next generation to survive. My husband and myself have a simple task and contribution, we consider going organic as an investment for our health and the Planet. Who knows one day organic food will be much cheaper if everybody goes organic…. farmers will go organic too and we will all go “Back to Nature”
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Feeding the Ram
One of our week-end activities..feeding the ram on this small farm called "ferme de piqueur"
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Rabbit(Lapin) with Madeira in Tomato Sauce
My husband used to call me “Mon Petit Lapin” meaning “My Little Rabbit”.
I learned this recipe from him (originally from his mother) but he let me experiment in our kitchen so here’s my version:
1 whole rabbit, cut into desired size.
2 to 3 large white onions(chopped)
1 large tomato
1/2 cup each- red pepper/green pepper(capsicum), 1 medium carrot(sliced or diced)
½ cup tomato sauce
1 cup mushrooms of your choice(button, shiitake, maitake etc.)
½ cup green whole olives(preferably not pitted)
3 tbsp. madeira wine
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
2 to 3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive oil
Cut the whole rabbit into pieces(desired size). Wash then rinse and place in a casserole, cover and start boiling with ¼ cup of water. Then after few minutes(5 minutes) take out 90% broth leaving only a few drops of broth and stir fry(without oil) with garlic, onions for 3 minutes then add tomato, continue stir frying for 2 minutes then add mushrooms, carrots, tomato sauce, bay leaves. Let simmer for 30 minutes then add green/red peppers, green olives, madeira, salt & pepper and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Add and stir extra virgin olive oil after cooking.
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