The New Brooklyn

When is was seven years old, my family moved to Brooklyn from Chesapeake, VA. We were to spend a few years there while my father pastored at a local Baptist church. I cried for almost two months straight every night as I lay in my brooklyn bed trying to fall asleep but instead drenched in a dizzying melancholy for the lost evenings of southern living, the sounds of crickets and still country air replaced by the din of sirens and choking exhaust fumes. Contrary to the popular slogan, I hated New York. Particularly, the Crown Heights Brooklyn neighborhood, we now called home. Luckily, by the end of  our first year in the big apple, I was pretty well settled in and actually came to love the walks with my brother to the corner pizzeria for a fat slice and an Italian ice. After all those years, I can't believe I choose to come and live in Brooklyn and also how much the city has changed.

My siblings and I went to school at the old Brooklyn Armory, which was then the independent African school, Uhuru Sasa. The area surrounding Flatbush is fast becoming gentrified and filling up with trendy shops and restaurants. One of my favorite spots to grace the BK is Habana Outpost. Only open during the warmer months, this pavilion of local artists, musicians and foods is a true gem.

Another Fort Greene charm is The Greene Grape. I love the Olive Bread here and the fresh organic fruits and vegetables.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is a so rich with performances, exhibits and shows.

Walking along Flatbush Avenue towards the Brooklyn Public Library provides a grand tour of the chic restaurant invasion. Not long ago, this strip was home to many a mom and pop caribbean joint. Not so much now.

Don't misunderstand. I am not being a hater. I love all the choices that abound. Even though the merits of a good chana roti can never be denied. Now we have Thai.

Vegan.

Gastronomous.

Local and Organic.

And Fair Trade.

The gates of Prospect Park have never felt so, well...full of prospect.

With the Botanical Gardens just up the road and all the wonder inside its expanse.

This library, the one I frequented so many days with my family as a little girl, still packs a huge punch of welcoming glory.

Coming back to an historic Brooklyn brownstone after a day out on the streets is always a treat. Add to that a fresh salad with the local greens scored today and you have a perfect day in the new Brooklyn, sans tears.

7 Day Water Fast

Fasting for 7 days is like creating the world inside your body all over again. You totally renew yourself during this period and your mind, body and spirit are completely re-made. I humbly made it through each painstaking day drinking only reverse osmosis filtered water and came out on the other side of a very long week, a totally new being. Well, almost. I am still me, but somehow younger, clearer, more peaceful and happier. Food tasted different and new after my fast. A sliver of watermelon on the break-fast of my 8th day was like a royal meal.

I am now so much more appreciate of food, the act of eating and the quality of my body's digestion. For those first few days after the fast, I could feel each morsel of food as it integrated with my inner body. I truly understood that, "you are what you eat." I was fresh and new and each bite of food was making me up again, forming me. I highly recommend fasting as a spiritual and physical and emotional healer. Without herbs, vitamins or minerals from outside sources, my body's own intelligence mended itself. Without instruction from without, my body knew just what it needed to do for balance and wholeness.

So many of my ailments just got better as each non-eating day progressed. I healed and no one, nothing, helped me. And like God creating the heavens and the earth, I was put together by unseen hands. Before fasting, I was fatigued, allergic and irritable after a whirlwind trip from Florida to New York to West Africa and back. During and after I became very light, joyful and effortless. I floated through the days, although not without a price. The price being the excitement and thrill of eating, the overall stimulation food provides and the incessant boredom of watery days that took its place. Yes, water fasting is a challenge. One thing that kept me going was the wonderful findings of Maseru Emoto on the power of water which has been blessed with positive intentions. Through some of the toughest struggles to resist breaking the fast, I found peace in knowing I was filled with divinely inspired water crystals!

But, oh, the glory of food and drink imbibed after my fast. The pleasure of pure coconut water was unmatched.

Fresh coconuts can easily satisfy as meals for the week after a water fast.

And I dutifully enjoyed the fresh elixir as I reawakened my digestive system from its slumber. Many suggest fasting with the help of a trained specialist or healer. In my case, Divine wisdom was my guide. I simply listened to my body's deepest messages. I slept when it said lie down, drank water when my stomach churned with old undigested toxins, and meditated when it ventured to process all the emotional baggage linked in with substances my body wanted to rid itself of. I spent a great deal of time reading, doing simple yoga poses, appreciating nature and even a few nights camping on the beach

and another few, tiny house camping.

I came to more deeply understand that life is a gift, a simple pure and perfect reward for being who I am, what we are. Pure Spirit. And so I was, in a way, born again.

Pure Vermont

Vermont is unparalleled in its awesome splendor. The pure simplicity and beauty of the place is astounding.

It's a bit like going back in time. A time when people were simpler and with purer intentions and needs. Everyone here seems to be a farmer or an innkeeper or small local shop owner.Take for instance, Doug and Linda, proprietors of the Inn at Baldwin Creek. They grow their own food, cook it up in their bed and breakfast kitchen and serve it Wednesday thru Sunday at their restaurant, Mary's.

The only thing more inviting than a snow-capped Inn, is a snow-capped Inn at night.

The well-appointed rooms are quaint and cozy.

The nearby town of Bristol is sleepy, yet well-stocked.

With a stellar used book store.

And a California-worthy natural foods store. Imagine lush Mountain Greens in the dead of winter.

And not to far past Lovers Lane,

You'll stumble upon Middlebury, a most delightful small city,

With true charm and grace,

And a most delightful health food store of it's own.

A wonderful step back in time, small town Vermont is.

Perhaps, it is this sense of community, purpose and belonging that the world needs to return to, in order to create the peace that we all so deeply desire.

The Present Moment

There is no better place to be, but the here and now. As Ram Dass made clear in his timeless book, Be Here Now, the present moment is all there is. I had the pleasure of visiting a delightful place in St. Augustine, Fl, which takes its culinary inspiration from the timeless now. This haven for spiritual seekers offers up pure, vegan and raw food all made from fresh and local ingredients and with a palpable conscious awareness. It's called the Present Moment Cafe and is the antithesis of contemporary fast food, though the service is quick, kind and efficient.

 

The delicious food, however, speaks volumes about how high quality, minimally processed food can aid in keeping us present in the now moment- the only true space and time we have.

 

I have never tasted such enlightened cuisine. Everything on the menu is sublime. You can literally close your eyes and just point to something and rest assured it will be an aimmensely satisfying treat for your palate. Because every dish is as good as the next, I often found myself ordering the Chef's Sample plate. Look at this masterful creation.

On it you have a housemade pickle, raw corn chips, sunflower seed mock tuna pate, topped with a heaping salad of fresh local greens.

Another sampler includes raw vegan sushi with wasabi, pickled ginger and tamari, a saucy seaweed salad and a nut/seed veggie burger with marinated onions and provolone puree.

And yet another, highlights the unbelievably scrumptious white truffle zucchini pasta with pine nut parmesan and a barbecue portabella topped nut loaf. All raw!

As you can see, I couldnt get enough of these outstanding meals. And so, every day I found myself taking a moment to enjoy a delicious plate.

 

The soups here are so amazingly good, too. All raw and vegan, the culinary stars in the kitchen are adept at creating heavenly broths such as brocoli cheddar soup and spicy potato bisque. Oh and I almost forgot. The desserts!! Raw, vegan, sugar free delights.

This vanilla ice cream brownie sundae is made with cashews, agave and cacao. Clearly, it is not at all difficult to stay present in the beautiful city of St. Augustine. Everywhere you look, there is exquisite beauty.

The air is clean and fresh and everyone smiles at you as you walk along the cobblestone streets.

 

 

And as you make your way in the moment, the path before you establishes you in presence.

You are one with the simple pleasures of life. The sun and ocean breeze greet you at every turn. Even the shops dance in their array of finery. Inviting you to attend to the here and now.

For the present moment is all there is.