These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Not in any true order of preference, I would like to share with everyone the simple pleasures of being a "spouse" at Ross Med and living in Dominica.

Friends - It's hard really, moving to a new country. But thank the good lord, everyone else in this community is in a similar situation. With as much as I have relocated and evolved personally over the last decade, I have actually struggled with lonlieness. Growing up I always had a ton of close dependable girl friends, but this hasn't been as constant for me over the last few years. (boo hoo) No, but I've found hope! I have met so many beautiful people here, and I am so thankful for the time I get to spend with my friends. I am grateful for all these sweet mama's that I can call friends.  I have already had a few neighbors and hang out buddies come and go, but I still have Amberly! She's my neighbor and has the two most beautiful little girls. I go knock on their door to share a cup of tea and some girl talk... it's tonic for the soul. Banks, Amberly's 3 year old, is another of my favorite people - she just cracks me up with her sweet banter. She loves to compliment me/everyone (why thank you! who doesn't love a good compliment) and just makes you pour over her cuteness. There are so many others that are enhancing this journey, you know who you are and I just love you all!

Roseau Day with the Bestest Ladies and Babes

Music Festival with Rikki

Our Crew for Boiling Lake Hike

Banks and Me at Dance Class

RSO Northern Link Trip

Community -  Often I find myself awe struck by the community here. We live together, study together, work together, eat and drink together. Student, family, faculty, and locals alike. It's just so beautiful and comforting. Also, the spiritual maturity of this group is also a great relief. After living off and on in a monastery (no I've never been a nun people), I still constantly feel a strong presence of Spirit within the land and the community.

Singing & Dancing at In.Light.In

Yoga Shoot, thanks for helping me friends!

Cook Out at Kootney

Kittens - My kitten is my other BFF. I love her to pieces, and everyday I tell her how happy I am that she's in my life. True story. Steve is the same with kitten. She's just the cutest, best little companion ever.

One of Kittie's Favorite Spots

Another Favorite: in the closet under the clothes

Husbands - Oh and while we're at it, Steve is my numero uno bestest closest companion. I am so lucky to have such a strong, determined, intelligent, and understanding best friend and partner. He's doing so well in school, I am so proud of him. And on top of school he is loving EMS and the Salybia Mission project. In both activities he plays an active role in applying his book knowledge to health care: EMS in the Ross Community, and Salybia in the Kalinago Territory. He usually studies at home, so I get to see his sweet face often.

Birthday Rainbow

After Extreme Dominica

Morning Yoga Asanas

Dancing - Only my momma knew that I might fall into the position of dance teacher on the island. This has been a great creative outlet for me. Story: funny thing happened when I was cleaning out my closet at my parents house in April. I found a career aptitude test that I had taken in middle school which assessed my highest career potential in the performing arts. I laughed a little cause you see I was sooooo into dance at that time in my life, but now look at me! All these last years I have been fighting to find time for practicing visual arts, but the performing side just lay before me like a red carpet. Anyway, I'm now really looking forward to visiting home and taking some classes at the Houston Metropolitan Dance Academy to brush up on my skills and get some exciting new inspiration to add to classes.

Dancin' with the Kiddies

Stretching with Kiddies and Ms Christi

Yoga - So you've heard me mention yoga. Well what an amazing tool it is in my life. And what a wealth of experience I am gaining. I take classes from a gifted teacher, Trudy, where I learn from the spectrum of Yoga practiced around the world. I practice my own series gifted to me by my teachers in the Sivananda Organization. I teach a class weekly to the Ross Spouse Community. I've taught yachties out on the beach and I've taught a private class at an incredible resort, thank you to Ms Trudy's guidance through Rainbow Yoga. I am humbled by these incredible opportunities. I am working to expand the offering with both Rainbow Yoga and on my own, and look forward to updating everyone more on these developments. OH and in November, I am traveling to the Sivananda Paradise Island Retreat to work towards my Thai Yoga Massage Certification. I A M S O E X C I T E D. Not only to do the course, but just to be in that incredible spiritual place and with my Sivananda family.

Posing on De Champs Guest Balcony

Tree Pose while Banks Says Cheeese

Pretty Pose in Pretty Scenery

Exploring the Island - I have been on some pretty epic adventures around this island, already! We hiked through an active volcano, we repelled and cliff jumped through a canyon, we hiked up to breath taking waterfalls, we met modern indian people, we snorkeled, and sailed, hiked and hitched. (Big sigh) What a place to be!

Cliff Jumping at Extreme Dominica

Boeri Lake Hike on My Birthday

Bwa Nef Falls with Christy

Shopping Days - Hitting up the market in Portsmouth is a real treat when I make it up and alive early on a Saturday morning. I love talking with the older Dominican women. I love their style, their madras head scarves and big toothy smiles. I love their accents, which aren't quite calypso, more island French. I stock waaay waay up on fresh produce, herbs, coconut oil, and anything unique that I want to try. Today I bought chrisophene and made this massive vegetable medly with it, plus Dominican sweet potato and pumpkin - topped with a coconut pepper cream sauce. And I wouldn't want to leave off my epic shopping trips in Roseau, where I stock up on GF offerings, health food from Fresh Vitamins, and stop in for an organic lunch or juice at Organic Lifestyle, where Narissa and her husband treat me like family. What a joy!

The Only Picture I've Taken in Roseau

Cooking & Baking - Well when I'm not practicing Yoga, teaching dance, exploring the island, swimming, or hangin' out with friends, I'm in the kitchen... and I really love it! Who knew. I was never a big cook until pretty recently. I learned to cook at the Yoga Ranch, where as last resort they tossed me into the kitchen and had me cooking for 50. Hah, that's one way to work it out real fast! When I moved back to Brooklyn I cooked less, but now I'm back! Last weekend I did a cooking workshop with Sybil Allen Jones who has really opened my eyes to Caribbean cooking. This week I've made mashed green bananas (as opposed to mashed potatoes), and I've found new ways to incorporate coconut milk, oil, and season peppers. I've made some epic salads/ salsas with all the mangos, avocados, and tomatoes available here. And I'm just so thrilled every day to make fresh smoothies with the best ingredients. I'm feeling super healthy... even with all that local chocolate I've been consuming. Baking wise, I'm perfecting my chocolate chip cookies, I've made mango pie, and tonight my second ever gluten free cake. I've tried new recipes for other kinds of cookies... and I'm pinning many more to my "Get in My Kitchen" board on Pinterest to add to my repertoire. I think I'm going to make a pretty good mom. One day. hehe.

Rikki Preparing the Dough

GF Mac n Cheese Specialty

Cookie Ganache Sammies

Now while it looks like I'm a real perfect lifer here, trust me, I'm purposefully highlighting all the blessings in my life. The difficulties that have come up, while I'm learning to embrace them, and use them as lessons and catapults, I know these hardships are what will make life just that much better and more delightfully complex. I am practicing how to be happy within, and to be happy no matter where I am physically. It's all about what's inside the heart.

Love to All and Peace to All!

Jenny

Love for Coconut Oil

I would like to share with you my love for coconut oil. This aromatic oil has many health benefits, for which I urge you to read the linked article from Wellness Mama who has an informed approach at describing this in detail.

I am particularly inspired by a great website that I've recently become privy: Mind Body Green. From which, I daily find myself reposting articles. MBG posts articles that are info dense in the health and wellness sphere and fun to read. Anyway I was getting a kick out of this article 20 Signs You're A Wellness Junkie (Hilarious). Going through mentally, saying yes.. check to that, yes to that, and definitely yes to You’ve made peace with the fact that you smell like coconut oil. What else would you use to cook, moisturize, remove makeup, floss, and fuel your car? 

So I don't fuel my car with it... yet, but I do use it extensively on a daily basis. I've turned my sister in law onto it for moisturizer, and I myself lather head to toe with it in place of lotion. I also use it for near everything in the kitchen. It can handle the high heat, and it just enhances the flavor of just about everything. (I haven't found a time when I've thought, nope, using a different oil next time).

So why am I so obsessed with coconut oil? Well, a teacher of mine, and Ayurvedic practitioner, Lalita Devi, first turned me onto coconut oil mixed with neem oil for my face due to some tenacious adult acne. (yuck!) While it helped a little, I was able to find that my gluten allergy was the cause... but that's another story. Anyway, in Ayurveda I learned that skin is considered an organ. A major component of overall health is through oleation of the skin organ. Huh?! So I learned that our skin soaks everything up, moving absorbed nutrients (or toxins) into the blood and bones which circulates all through the body. A crazy novel thing I was learning! A real game changer in my life actually. After that I really began taking a close look at ingredients in my beauty products. I urge you all to do the same. Whatever you're puttin' on that skin's going into your whole body!

From Ayurveda, I learned that coconut oil is particularly cooling for strong and more fiery body types (aka Pita Dosha). For a face that requires moisture, but light moisturizer at that, coconut oil has become my entire cosmetic supply kit. I don't need much else. And since moving to tropical Dominica, due to it's cooling properties, coconut oil is a great choice not just for face but for everything: applied both topically and absorbed through nutrition.

I can tell you from personal experience that when we use coconut oil on our bodies we actually contribute to a healthier immune system, but go ask a holistic/Ayurvedic doctor about the specifics on that one. I also hear that it contains a natural SPF... but I don't rely on it for a full few hours exposed in the sun, only on cloudyish days when I'm not going to be in the sun for long.

Enough rambling, now uses:

1. Face Moisturizer

2. Whole Body Lotion

3. Food!

5. (specific favorites for 5, 6, 7) Coconut rice

6. Coconut curry or Dal

7. Frying (not that frying is so healthy, but I loved my coconut oil fried okra).

8. Adding to anything in your daily diet, as 20 ml a day is good for brain function and memory

9. A tonic for fresh wounds

9. A mild sun block


Now that I'm writing, I'm realizing my list doesn't seem all that extensive, but it really is a big part of this household. Try it for yourself. Read the articles I've linked so that you know some of the super groovy health benefits. And then... never turn back!


Peace Ya'll,

Jenny

Stir It Up

Little darlin' stir it up..... Your recipe is, - darlin' - is so tasty, when you show and stir your pot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh).

I have been cookin' lots lately, lots and lots. It's much more practical for us budget wise, and on an energetic level its more healthy. You see, the thoughts and mental juju of the cook go into the food, did you know that? Well, it is true. Do a taste test between one meal cooked with love and another, same ingredients, cooked with depression and anger. I can guarantee the meal cooked with love is going to taste better and effect the body in a more agreeable manner. Maybe I could even find some scientific evidence to prove this. The first thing that comes to mind is the book Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto. This is an experiment that shows the energetic effects of words on molecules of water. Positive words like love make pretty crystal shapes. Angry messages like I'm going to kill you make awful looking shapes. Ick, just thinking about the negative effects makes my skin crawl. Look it up, it's good stuff. 

I have learned through the study and practice of Yoga that not only should we eat the freshest most healthful foods, but foods with the most prana (or life force). For example, freshly picked spinach, all lively and green is much better than wilted spinach, and even better than frozen spinach, which loses its alive-ness when it goes into frozen mode. We literally are what we eat. The food we eat transforms into our flesh, blood, and bones. 

Another facet to my husband's and my mindful approach to food is that we try to avoid foods that will make us unstable. For me, very cold foods can make me sleepy, hazy, and even pretty gassy (I'm sure you wanted to know!) For Steve, acidic foods, onions, and garlic, not only make his breath stinky but give him more tendency towards anger. These specific traits that guide our diets can be explained more broadly in terms of Ayurveda, or the science of traditional medicine which originated in ancient India. If you need any help understanding what foods are best for your body type and demeanor, ask me about it, I can either help or guide you to some useful texts. 



Now onto the Jackson-Miller Dominican kitchen highlights:


Coconut Rice & Lentils
The recipe off of the back of Silk Coconut Milk for coconut rice is insanely good! Add dry roasted coconut flakes on top, words can't explain. 

The French lentils are super easy. Just boil and simmer for 20 minutes, then add salt, fresh herbs like rosemary, and a little olive oil. 

Plain avocado is enhanced with some salt, ground black pepper, and maybe a little olive oil. 

Silk Coconut Rice Recipe:
1 cup jasmine rice
1T coconut oil
1.5 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
Toasted coconut flakes 

1. Coat rice in coconut oil over medium/low heat 120sec
2. Add coco milk and salt, bring to boil
3. Turn down to simmer, cook 15-20 min
4. Fluff, add toasted flakes on top.

French lentils, coconut rice, and fresh avocado.

Indian Style Dal  
A standard in our house - dal with red lentils. I was stoked when IGA had fresh cilantro AND red lentils, so I made this.

Ingredients:
Chief Brand Curry Mix
Oil of your choice (I used almond I think, which I brought from the states, but you can use any as long as you don't over heat the olive oil)
Ginger
Whatever other veggies you have - here we used some red potatoes that our neighbor brought by
Fresh cilantro if you have some
Salt
Jalepeno Pepper

Coat the pot with oil and heat
Add ab a T of curry powder and stir in and mix, opening up the tumeric but not overheating cause it will burn!
Stir in ginger coat and cook for a few minutes
Add in potato (or other root veggies) coat add salt to taste
Cook and simmer in oil and spice for 10-15 mins, feel it out
Add 2 cups water
Add 1 cup washed red lentils
add salt
Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer about 15-20 minutes - lentils should be all mushy
Stir in fresh cilantro
Add some pepper

Finished!

Indian style daal with West Indian curry mix

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
We've participated in 2 bake sales now, Ross is home to many of these. I am using bake sales as an excuse to perfect chocolate chip cookies because I can't buy them already made here. I found a recipe on the blog Peas and Thank You - Find it HERE 

I found the flours I needed (oat and brown rice) & xantham gum at Fresh Vitamins in Roseau. Everything else came from IGA - though I had to stalk the baking isle for the arrival of chocolate chips. Oh, and haven't used vanilla, cause haven't found the gluten-free-certain kind yet.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Granola
I finally gathered enough unsalted, un-roasted nuts and dried fruit to make some granola. It was pretty good, though a little chewy. Next time, I'll have to boost the heat up higher. But first... will have to scrounge for all my nuts again... like a squirrel.

Gluten Free Granola Mix

Chia Seed Breakfast of Champions
I spent entirely too much on these Chia Seeds and Hemp Oil from Fresh VItamins, but I've been enjoying my Aztec super food. I feel the body getting stronger with every chewy chia seed. I add the organic Dominican honey that I've been getting from another spouse on campus who is helping out an organic farmer, Jah Call. We're calling his products Nature Warrior I believe, and a bunch of us have banned together and voted on starting a co-op. I can't wait! We've heard that Jah Call is humbled by our interest. It's one of those special win-win things that brings sweetness to all of our lives here on the island.

New breakfast habit - Chia Seed with hemp oil and Dominican honey

Gluten Free Mac & Cheese
And finally, the jam - gluten free mac and cheese. Today was my first attempt, and Steve and I both were amazed by the magic that happened in the oven. Here's how this process went:

Cook the gluten free macaroni purchased from Astaphan's in Roseau
Grated as much cheese as possible - white cheddar, mozzarella, and orange cheddar. Almost too much to fit in the baking dish.. almost.
Rinsed mac with cool water - put in baking dish
Added olive oil, about a T of milk, butter, salt, cracked pepper, and the very large bowl of cheese. Saved it for after Yoga class to bake.
Baked at between setting 3&4 - 325ish - (most ovens here don't seem to have temperature markings) It was a little lower than the standard baking setting which is between 4&5 at our apartment (350ish to 375ish)
Baked for about 15-20 minutes

Gluten Free Mac & Cheese

Next time I go to Roseau, I'm picking up ingredients for making pies.... so stay tuned. I'm thinking mango pie. Never made a pie before. It's going to be awesome.

Love to all, Peace to all.