Classy & Conscious Date Night on A Budget!

Four Conscious Courses under $40

On Thursday night and I found myself strapped for date night ideas. I wanted to do something awesome.. on a time budget and a money budget I felt this was out of reach.  

 Ahh maybe just the typical drinks and dinner thing... bleh bleh.  I instead challenged myself to step out of the mundane and ordinary and into the extraordinary. 

I've been practicing no letting my old beliefs..my shoulds limit me.

Part of this transformational journey is bringing intention to all I do from start to finish. I want to walk you through this conscious evening I shared with my friend. 

At first I felt like there wasn't going to be enough time and it was going to be too pricey to do what I really want. 

The shoulds started to set in... I should just do the normal dinner drinks thing, I should maybe cancel, I should just forget about it. I noticed I stated "shoulding" myself. 

“Should is how other people want us to live our lives… Choosing Must is the greatest thing we can do with our lives.” -Elle Luna

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* When you start "shoulding" yourself check in with what is interFEARing- where are you letting fear-in. Is this fear real or just a delusion.  If you start "shoulding" yourself change your shoulds to what you must do and move forward without interFEARance!

 I pushed through the the shoulds and and put aside my fears and let intention rule the evening. I got out of my head and onto my bike! I enjoyed a nice pedal to the grocery to mark the beginning of the adventure. 

I unleashed my creative practice and tapped into what I'm good at. Flow just started to carry me. I had no idea what I was going to make, all I knew was that it was going to be under $40, 4 courses, relatively easy, and..both beautiful and delicious! I need a miracle! 

“Everything we do is infused with the energy with which we do it. If we're frantic, life will be frantic. If we're peaceful, life will be peaceful. And so our goal in any situation becomes inner peace.” ― Marianne Williamson

 I made a lap around the grocery and the menu came to me. I picked up various ingredients that were looking beautiful and just asking to be loved!

 When I got to the cashier I had a great time with her playing the "are we going to make it under $40" game. We were giggling with excitement as each item brought us closer and closer. We celebrated our success together as I came in at $41.34 (good enough considering my personal bottle of fancy PH balanced water I purchased; gotta hydrate). It was nice sharing smiles and victory. 

*I can be a master isolator especially when i'm in a funk, it is amazing how a shared human connection can transform the day . I am starting to realize how much my phone serves as a barrier to human connection, i have made the conscious intention recently to drop the internet connection and up my human connection!

The Evening begins...

 I returned home and my friend arrived. He had never been to the area and was also new to the country. I felt I should show him around but my impatience was setting in. I wanted to forget the walk and get the meal started. Then I thought for what? We had the whole evening and I was becoming overly focused on the outcome rather than enjoying the process. We ended up going for a walk and enjoying a great conversation and stroll. When we got back we got prepping! The great conversations continued as we came together through food, sharing memories, exchange of cultural narratives around food, laughs and great music(I was introduced to Musica de Portuguesa and he learned of The Grateful Dead for the first time ever(but the one song I played him felt like a lifetime).

The evening was a success. Letting go of doubts and fears allowed for creativity to be unleashed and resulted in an evening I will never forget. 

Here are the recipes so you too can experience a conscious evening of connection

*Check yourself; when you notice the outcome being the main objective check in. Ask your body and mind, How can I be more fully in this moment? . I like the use of Affirmation here: My affirmation is "I am safe in this moment and all will work out. I trust in the presence!" I am diggin' on Mama Louise Hay and her work with affirmations: check her out! 

Learn, Create Grow: Here is what was made and how you can do it too!! 

What's in the Bike Basket: 

1/4 cup of cold pressed olive oil ( I got lemon infused but regular will do) 

2 lemons 

2 limes 

4 spanish tomatos 

1 orange 

2 peaches 

5lbs watermelon 

1/4 lb of pumpkin seeds 

1 cup of almonds 

1 young thai coconut 

1 bunch of spinach on stem 

1 bunch cilantro 

2 sirrano peppers 

1 yellow zucchini

1 green zucchini

1bulb of garlic 

1 package of colorful sprouts 

1 red onion 

1 package of Pealed brand assorted dried fruit (soak as soon as you get home)

1 bunch of rosemary 

1 bunch of fresh basil 

1 bottle apple cider vinegar 

1 bottle tamari or namashoy 

1st Course

 

Watermelon Consume with avocado and Pickled onion 

3 lbs of watermelon 

1/2 red onion

1/2 avocado 

1 red onion 

fresh Basil leaf for garnish 

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 apricots soaked 

sea salt 1 teaspoon 

Pepper to taste 

1.In a blender place 6 cups of watermelon cubed and sea salt to taste and liquify and strain

2. use a madolin or hand slice red onion as thin as possible, place in bowl. Combine 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of water in a blender. Combine contents and toss in a bowl set aside until 

3. With a melon baller or a spoon ball half an avocado 

4. In a bowl pour in 1 cup of watermelon broth, sink balled avocado and 3 tablespoons of pickled onion, crack pepper and top with basil leaf 

2nd Course 

Summer Squash Carpaccio 

1 green zucchini

1 yellow summer squash 

4 tablespoons of tamari or namashoy 

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 sprig of rosemary 

3 cloves of garlic 

1/2 lemon 

6 fresh basil leaves 

3 tablespoons of capers(optional)

radish sprouts for garnish

1. with a mandolin thinly slice the squash
2. In a bowl combine lemon, minced garlic, tamari, and olive oli. Whisk contents together.
3. Toss zucchini in mixture and massage.
4. Drain liquid from bowl and set aside
5. Plate zucchini strips
6. Get Creative; Garnish with basil, rosemary, sprouts and capers
7. Drizzle remaining liquid lightly to finish

3rd Course 

Spinach Basil Capris 

2 roma tomatos 

fresh basil 

15-20 spinach leafs 

4 tablespoons of coconut oil 

1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds 

3 dates 

2 cloves of garlic 

1/2 teaspoon of seasalt 

1 lemon juiced 

1. Slice tomatoes into cracker-like slices about 1-2 cm thick

2. Combine spinach, coconut oil, pumpkin seeds, lemon juice, dates, garlic and seasalt in the blender and liquify. 

3. Place 2 tablespoons of mixture on top of each tomato slice 

4. Garnish with slivers of basil and cracked pepper 

4th Course

 

Young Thai Coconut Civiche 

1 young thai coconut 

1 tomato deseeded 

2 serrano peppers deseeded 

1/4 cup of cilantro chopped 

1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds 

1/2 cup of 1/2 a juiced orange 

1/2 orange pealed and cubed into 1 cm cubes (about) 

1 lime juices 

3 tablespoons of purple onion 

1 teaspoon of salt

1. Open coconut with the larges knife you have in the house and hack away . Great way to practice caution and get over your fears and get out some stress! Here is how: This chick will show you, or just ask the produce guy at the store and drink the coconut water as you shop! 

2. Drain (drink) coconut water and scoop out the meat. Chop the meat into 1-2 cm cubes 

3. In a bowl combine diced tomato, diced serrano, chopped cilantro, chopped purple onion, pumpkin seeds, cubed orange. Pix together 

4. juice 1 lime and 1/2 an orange directly into the mixture add sea salt and mix together with your hands or a spoon

5. For plating I cut a sliver off the round side of the orange so it sits flat on the plate, removed fruit part and filled with ceviche. 

Dessert 

RosemaryVanilla Almond Peach Halves

1 peach
1/2 cup of almonds
6 pieces of the dried fruit soaked
1/4 cup of the soak water
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary

1. Half the peach and remove the pit.
2. In a blender or food processor ( I love using my nutrabullet) combine almonds, dried fruit, soak water, vanilla and fresh rosemary. Pulse until contents it is an even consistency.
3. Stuff contents into each half, using an Ice-cream scoop is Ideal
3. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.  

Welcome To Lady Alchemy!

Hey Blog World I'm The Lady Alchemist and welcome to my Blog! 

Let me start by telling you why Im a Lady Alchemist, and what makes this blog space a place for learning and transformation... 

How The Lady Alchemist was born: It's been many years in the making but it really dawned on me a few weeks ago when I was doing this ... (see picture of crazy girl below) 

On this glorious day I decided to get the Alchemical symbol for Gold tattooed on my arm. I have a few other tattoos but this one is in a place where I see it and think about it everyday, therefore It has to hold great meaning for me. It sure does!! 

That brings me to Alchemy and why this blog is in existence.

 Alchemy is a process of transformation. The Wikipedia defines it as a process to transmute base metals into the noble metals (gold or silver); and development of an elixir of life. 

IN ENGLISH(and a little Lady Alchemist interpretation): When I look at that tattoo it reminds me that all the bullSHIT(base metal) in my life isn't going away, but is up to me to be transformed(gold or silver).

 There is really something to this alchemy thing, just as across culture and history all corners of the earth have accounts of scripture or a god, the same is true of alchemy. There are accounts everywhere from the Islamic and European world to ancient India and Asia! Its kinda a big deal.  

The masculine is the explicit and for the past centuries alchemy has focused on the transformation of elements outside of self as they appear in the world. As the Lady Alchemist i'll be using my feminine wisdom (and knowledge i've obtained from a few degrees collected over the years) to place focuses on the implicit. We will focus on the internal, the emotions and internal body's alchemical transformation.  

 Join the Lady Alchemist to embark on the process to uncovering your personal Elixir of Life. My objective is to inspire my readers to take life's bullshit and transform it into gold!!

That's cool and all but how in the heyyll do I intend to bring you on this journey? And how do I do it without the hippy/new age BS? 

I just want to be real and authentic with my readers. I like to believe that the world we see around us is our mirror. I will share that mirror with you and how I brought intention  transformed my experiences. A learn, reflect and grow process. 

A big part of internal alchemy is what were putting into our body and the way in which we are doing it. My background is in nutrition. There are plenty of ways to nourish yourself in a conscious way food, activity, work,play and the people in our lives. Together we will explore the relationship to all these things and how to work with the way we currently relate to these factors and how to transform them into the highest alchemy!

Check back for: 

-Recipes

-tips to exercise more connection to self 

-ways to practice nourishment 

-Reflections of the shit life presents and my journey of working to transform it 

-video tutorials 

-Vlogs

For more up to date posts, follow my Facebook page here!