August 10, 2011

reliving the scariest day of my life


email to my father
(no subject)
May 26 8:19AM

first off, i am COMPLETELY safe now. in cusco. about to take first hot shower in two weeks. then i wrote an explanation of yesterday, pòssibly scarier.

´"i spoke too soon. the stomach worsened and i wasnt abole to keep any
food or water down for 3 days. really scary. no hospital around. of
course the border is closed due to protestors, but i wanted to get to
peru asap for a good hospital. but we had to take this 9,5 hr refugee
style boat across the lake to puno. it was so crazy, they led a big
group of us down to a marshland, no dock, set up a immigrations
desk in the tulles and at 7am a boat showed up. all the while i was
tooo weak to lift my backpack couldnt even think, crying. THANK GOD there was a doctor in line by us who gavce me a pill and within an hour i kept down sips opf water, the first in 3 days, my mouth hurt from dehy,
then puffed rice and a half banana. it no longer felt like someone with
sharp fingernails was wringing out my stomach like a washcloth.
obviously still didnt feel great, but didnt think i was dying. 9.5 hrs
later we arive in puno, a city full of 10000 protestors. great. all
the roads are bloackad and stores closed. the protesters march by our
hostel about once an hour. but were safe in here and i feel completely
mostly better and am feeding myself. and have another one of those pills in case. ate a full pesto ravioli dinner and big breakfast and am feeling good. now we have to get out of this city. love you"

at immigrations in puno we had to bang on a metal opverhead for 10minut4es until they let us in. scary protestors, throwing stones, concrete. all day and night. all streets out of town blockaded. everyone said no way out. we climbed a huuuuge steep hill for over an hour in the 4000m altitude trying to see f we could walk out. got to the to p and were told we weer in unsafe area there was no way out and should turn around. found a group of police officers who we bribed to take their friends cars to take us out, but we had to pay kind of alot and convince them since it was likely their windows would be smashed. we drove off roading and around blockades, ducking. then we hit the real blockade of the main highway. they were going to let us out, saying there would be more cars on the other side then we saw the blockade moving they were running towards our two cars. then they were sprinting, throwing huge blocks of concrete. i thought we were going to die. the cops turning on the car and spun off into a country farm road well not a raod, but a path thing. we watched the protesters through the rear window still runninf towards us throwing the concrete and holding huge sticks. we drove on the dirt farm roads for about an hour, asking evey country person we saw where the roads we safe o get to juliaca, the next own where there would be buses to cusco. finally we made it to julicaca. got on a bus for 8hrs driving through a beautiful lightning storm, and got here to cusco, at 3am where we are safe, fed and my belly is well. no injuries. i honesly cant believe the amount of luck that was involved in this. but also feel we were very smart in the decision making, the protests were supposed to be worsening and the protestors had announced they wanted a few dead people. wouldnt an american death be a priz. going to tootle around cusco today and just relax and enjoy the feeling of being alive and healthy. then to sacred valley maybe in a couple days. train to macchu piccu on the 1st. . love you, em
so much
glad to be safe and feel me made some very good wuick decisions, helped with luck lovelovelove em

September 25, 2009

Now I'm on my own, vegan and poor...lets cook!

Dinner after the first days of class:

I baked some tofu and made this Curried Tofu Salad:
  • 1/2 cup soy mayonnaise
  • 2 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 pound firm tofu cut into chunks and baked
  • 2 cups chopped carrots
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • raisins
  • chopped apple would be good too
  • also maybe some sliced almonds next time!


Then I had leftovers from last night. This idea is from PETAs College Cookbook. I just made quinoa, added black beans, cumin, a jar of salsa, salt, pepper and a tomato from the garden...easy!


Quick Quinoa Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa
can of black beans
sprinkle of cumin
jar of salsa

add it all together!

I bought bulk amaranth, dried fruit, and oats from the natural food store. Tomorrow is the farmer's market where I'm planning on only bringing $10 and trying to stretch it. I'm also planning on baking bread to roti or something this weekend.

June 25, 2009

Food Inc...go see it before it's too late!


No really, it could be too late. This movie is crucial for everyone to see. It is basically a simplified version of the Omnivore's Dilemma, which I finished tonight, which I also highly recommend. This movie gave the basics of agribusiness such as GMOs, animal treatment, and discusses farming techniques. It concludes that we can all make a difference "three times a day" when we choose what we are eating. Even if you think you know it all, which you may, this has some great visuals and puts complex arguments into simple, easy to digest snippets. Go see it, and bring a friend!

Easy Shirataki

This is a quick, cheap and easy dish that will be great next fall when I'm once again a poor struggling college student. It was really good and healthy for being so simple.

1 package Shirataki Noodles
any veggies you have
soy sauce 
garlic powder

Microwave it and eat!

June 21, 2009

A little activism

Here is a snippet of the activism I took part in at UCSC. I got table tents with different facts about vegetarianism up in all the dining halls. I called the campaign "Veg for a Week". We also got over 200 people to go vegetarian for a week through tabling and having people sign a pact. I really enjoyed this, but want to do more. Any ideas??

June 20, 2009

Vegan Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe was great. I didn't have high expectations for vegan cookies after a bit of a fluke with some chocolate ones from veganomicon, but these were highly recommended on the web, and the praise was well deserved. Great texture, great taste, you'd never know they were vegan. They're from Vegweb and you don't need any fancy egg replacers or pureed tofu, just a good old banana. Here's the link:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6605

Tuna Salad?

I've been wanting to make this for a long time now, and I finally did. And good thing I did, because this is a keeper. This was so cheap to make and healthy, and tasted even better than how I remember tuna salad. Definitely good for a poor vegan college student.
No-Tuna Salad
  • 1(15 oz.) can chick-peas, drained

  • 1/4 cup vegan mayo

  • 2.5 T. minced dill pickle (about 1 pickle-slice, give or take)

  • 1 green onion, chopped

  • 1 t. soy sauce

  • salt 'n pep
Put it in the food processor, and that's it!