Well, I did it! I mailed in all the necessary paper work and the check for my booth space! A little drama was experienced along the way. I saw that the Association is located right on 9th Ave, not very far from my apartment - I would've felt much better delivering it in person, making sure everything was there and properly done, etc. etc., so I called their number to make an appointment. No answer, so I left a message. Thursday night rolls around and I wait until I know their office is open and call again. No answer. It took them a while to respond to my initial email, so I figured I'd give them one more day to call me back. Friday night arrives, no news from them, so I call and again no one picks up. I don't leave a message. Instead, I grab my papers and traipse on down to their office, which on their message is open every night 6-10pm. I knock on the door several times and wait around 5-10 minutes, hoping someone will answer. No luck. Irritated, I head back home (picking up strawberries, 2 boxes for $3 along the way) to get an envelope and stamp, and on my way out to meet some friends I popped that sucker in the mailbox. Booyah!
I'd been wanting to write a post since Wednesday, but wanted to wait until the festival stuff was wrapped up (leastways on MY end of things - I'm still a bit nervous about how they'll get back to me with all the info and whatnot as their communication chain seems to be lacking a link or two). That's not the end of the line for me though, not by a long shot. I still need to shop around for insurance, and figure out my set up (portable table, chairs, tent, banner, etc. etc.). But now I HAVE to do those things, because I sent in my money. I also am going to check out the three main NYC Street Fair Organizations - the companies that hold the street fairs all summer long, every weekend, and see which one I want to join for the season. The 9th Ave International Food Festival is only a two day event.
In other news, Monday I started feeling sharp pains on my left side directly underneath my ribs. I was also sneezing, a lot. My allergy medicine didn't help at all, so I went through what I'd eaten recently to figure out if it was a new allergy of some sort. The only new things I'd consumed were fresh Mandarin Oranges (funny, I'd only ever had them from a can until this week), and Honey Roasted Peanuts. I'd also eaten quite a bit of peanut butter, not something new, but definitely more than I normally eat. My mom has a mild peanut allergy, and while I've never had adverse symptoms before, you can develop allergies out of the blue. I figured I'd just eaten too many peanut products. But since I wasn't sure, I also stopped eating the Mandarin Oranges.
Tuesday came and found me still feeling sick - stomach upset, nauseous, still the sharp pains. Wednesday hit and I felt much better, but I had absolutely no appetite. I drank water and a bit of juice. When I moved certain ways, the sharp pain returned. Maybe it was gas - but the only time that ever happened, the pain was much lower down and lasted infinitely shorter, like several minutes, not several days. I started looking online for possible causes - but most of what I came across didn't address pain under the left ribs - it was either lower down or all on the right side where most of the organs are. The only important thing where I was feeling pain is the spleen. When I pressed on the spot the pain wrapped across my middle and all over to my right side.
Thursday morning finds me at work and during playtime I mulled over my situation and decided to go on a juice fast/cleanse/whatsit, just to see if it helped at all. I'd already done Wednesday with nothing but water and juice. After work I bought some orange juice and grapefruit juice (both not from concentrate) and a Naked fruit juice. I wanted to buy cranberry juice because I've heard that really does a great job sluicing out your innards, but the market was out. Even if this didn't help my mysterious pain problem, it wouldn't hurt to clear out any toxins lurking in my blood and organs. It wasn't very hard as I still wasn't very hungry. I went home and spent all afternoon tackling my To Do list and keeping myself busy.
As I sat down for the evening to do some more digging on my stomach pain and talking to my mom, I got a whiff of steak. I immediately started drooling and suddenly I was super hungry. But I had promised myself to do this juice cleanse for three days! I still had one day left! I couldn't give in and snarf down food you had to chew - this was an experiment meant to help myself, I couldn't just blow two days of it. Luckily, I didn't have any steak in my apartment, or I'm sure I would've succumbed. However, after countless glasses of juice and water, I realized this just wasn't very filling. I had watched several documentaries over the past few months about health - a few specifically dealing with juicing. I realized that I was rather doing things the lazy way by just buying juice from the store instead of making it myself, and that was why I wasn't feeling satisfied.
I'd been intrigued about juicing for quite some time actually, and my mom had even sent me a juicer that had belonged to my grandma that no one ever used. It arrived and promptly sat in its box for months, unused by this concrete jungle dweller. I recalled my cousin Jenna having a post on her blog about juicing. I went back and reread it and also did a search for other people's accounts and recipes. I even found a great site where you could find juice recipes to combat specific maladies. I spent a good few hours researching and talking to people about it, getting more rared up as I went. I finally fell asleep and dreamed about juicing. A sleep that was, however, interrupted, not once, but TWICE by me having to get up to pee. Not cool. I'd even stopped drinking a few hours before sleeping in hopes of combating the inevitable, but to no avail.
I dug the juicer out of the box and looked at it. My mother had forgotten to include a manual. Thankfully, those sorts of things are posted online, so a quick search yielded the desired results. I washed it by hand (Odin knows when last it was washed, and it had funky stains on it...gross) and spent at least half an hour debating what recipes to use and how much produce to buy. Should I only buy enough for one or two recipes? Or since I was already making a trip, just buy ingredients for the 3+ pages of recipes I had already written down and assume I'd love and stick with juicing? After making at least 4 different lists, I settled on buying for 4 recipes. I went to the market and while I get excited every time I go there, I'm sure I must have been practically glowing. The ingredients weren't really different from the produce I normally buy there, but I knew I was going to be juicing them - and it gave me a secret pleasure :)
In other news, Monday I started feeling sharp pains on my left side directly underneath my ribs. I was also sneezing, a lot. My allergy medicine didn't help at all, so I went through what I'd eaten recently to figure out if it was a new allergy of some sort. The only new things I'd consumed were fresh Mandarin Oranges (funny, I'd only ever had them from a can until this week), and Honey Roasted Peanuts. I'd also eaten quite a bit of peanut butter, not something new, but definitely more than I normally eat. My mom has a mild peanut allergy, and while I've never had adverse symptoms before, you can develop allergies out of the blue. I figured I'd just eaten too many peanut products. But since I wasn't sure, I also stopped eating the Mandarin Oranges.
Tuesday came and found me still feeling sick - stomach upset, nauseous, still the sharp pains. Wednesday hit and I felt much better, but I had absolutely no appetite. I drank water and a bit of juice. When I moved certain ways, the sharp pain returned. Maybe it was gas - but the only time that ever happened, the pain was much lower down and lasted infinitely shorter, like several minutes, not several days. I started looking online for possible causes - but most of what I came across didn't address pain under the left ribs - it was either lower down or all on the right side where most of the organs are. The only important thing where I was feeling pain is the spleen. When I pressed on the spot the pain wrapped across my middle and all over to my right side.
Thursday morning finds me at work and during playtime I mulled over my situation and decided to go on a juice fast/cleanse/whatsit, just to see if it helped at all. I'd already done Wednesday with nothing but water and juice. After work I bought some orange juice and grapefruit juice (both not from concentrate) and a Naked fruit juice. I wanted to buy cranberry juice because I've heard that really does a great job sluicing out your innards, but the market was out. Even if this didn't help my mysterious pain problem, it wouldn't hurt to clear out any toxins lurking in my blood and organs. It wasn't very hard as I still wasn't very hungry. I went home and spent all afternoon tackling my To Do list and keeping myself busy.
As I sat down for the evening to do some more digging on my stomach pain and talking to my mom, I got a whiff of steak. I immediately started drooling and suddenly I was super hungry. But I had promised myself to do this juice cleanse for three days! I still had one day left! I couldn't give in and snarf down food you had to chew - this was an experiment meant to help myself, I couldn't just blow two days of it. Luckily, I didn't have any steak in my apartment, or I'm sure I would've succumbed. However, after countless glasses of juice and water, I realized this just wasn't very filling. I had watched several documentaries over the past few months about health - a few specifically dealing with juicing. I realized that I was rather doing things the lazy way by just buying juice from the store instead of making it myself, and that was why I wasn't feeling satisfied.
I'd been intrigued about juicing for quite some time actually, and my mom had even sent me a juicer that had belonged to my grandma that no one ever used. It arrived and promptly sat in its box for months, unused by this concrete jungle dweller. I recalled my cousin Jenna having a post on her blog about juicing. I went back and reread it and also did a search for other people's accounts and recipes. I even found a great site where you could find juice recipes to combat specific maladies. I spent a good few hours researching and talking to people about it, getting more rared up as I went. I finally fell asleep and dreamed about juicing. A sleep that was, however, interrupted, not once, but TWICE by me having to get up to pee. Not cool. I'd even stopped drinking a few hours before sleeping in hopes of combating the inevitable, but to no avail.
I dug the juicer out of the box and looked at it. My mother had forgotten to include a manual. Thankfully, those sorts of things are posted online, so a quick search yielded the desired results. I washed it by hand (Odin knows when last it was washed, and it had funky stains on it...gross) and spent at least half an hour debating what recipes to use and how much produce to buy. Should I only buy enough for one or two recipes? Or since I was already making a trip, just buy ingredients for the 3+ pages of recipes I had already written down and assume I'd love and stick with juicing? After making at least 4 different lists, I settled on buying for 4 recipes. I went to the market and while I get excited every time I go there, I'm sure I must have been practically glowing. The ingredients weren't really different from the produce I normally buy there, but I knew I was going to be juicing them - and it gave me a secret pleasure :)
The Foe.
I got home and the juicer was on the counter, staring at me. Trepidatiously, I sized up my opponent. For some reason I thought I was too much of an idiot to properly use the machine, or it wouldn't work because goodness knows how old it is, or something would break or go wrong.
A sampling of fruits in my first recipe
Oh, how wrong I was, dear readers! I derived so much enjoyment out of using the juicer for the first time, I almost wish someone was around to witness my giddy excitement. I turned it on and put the first blueberries in and it rumbled to life, jiggling on the counter top, pressing out beautifully colored juice. It gave me a sense of power and accomplishment - I had control over these fruits, and I was sending them to their pulverizing, liquidy doom! Mwuahahahaaaaa!!
It's so helpful - having a shelf to put fruits and veggies so you can just drop them easily in the hole.
Beautiful colors - you know it's healthy :)
My first juice was a massive success - incredibly delicious and super nutritious tasting. As I'd read somewhere along my browsing, after I juiced the fruit I strained it into a cup to further reduce the bits of pulp that inevitably get in there and therefore make your innards do actual digesting like on normal food.
First round of straining - there was waaaaay more by the time I finished straining all the juice.
After drinking this juice I immediately felt more full, as well, compared to the store bought juices that just left me needing to pee without sating my hunger. I love to eat fruit, and actually wouldn't have much of a problem eating an apple, half a carton of strawberries, a container of blueberries, and a container of blackberries. But this made it so much easier!
The actual amount of fruit I consumed
About two hours later I decided to try a heartier recipe - drinkable bruschetta. I should have put the basil into the juicer wrapped around or in the tomato slices - I'd forgotten that tip I'd read saying it's best to put greens in with heavier fruits and veggies. It was still tasty (I've never been one for tomato juice. Actually, I don't think I've ever had it before because I always thought it would taste disgusting - but it wasn't! Very light and refreshing but filling.) although a whole head of basil yielded only a few drops of juice. And if you ever use garlic in juicing, definitely go with less is more. I only used one smallish sized clove and boy, did it have a zingy little bite :)
I figured my juicer needed a name, as we are going to be such good friends and all, and while it is not the most imaginative name in the world, he's not a very imaginative machine. I have dubbed him: Juicey. And we will make beautiful meals together :)
While I'm very grateful to have Juicey, didn't have to buy him myself or spend hours, possibly days, deliberating over which model juicer to buy, he does get very messy. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to clean up if done right away (so everything doesn't get hard and start sticking), but I am left wondering if other model juicers don't get as all over dirty as Juicey likes to. As I read somewhere along the way, I lined the pulp waste basket of the machine with a plastic bag in an effort to minimize the cleanup. Well, sure, it kept that basket clean, but I still had to clean the whole blasted thing, anyway! Oh, Juicey. I've heard there's actually things you can do with the leftover pulp, but have yet to read about it in depth. Seeing as how Juicey so wonderfully provides such excess after the juicing process, I should probably find that article and read it - no sense letting it all go to waste!
I figured my juicer needed a name, as we are going to be such good friends and all, and while it is not the most imaginative name in the world, he's not a very imaginative machine. I have dubbed him: Juicey. And we will make beautiful meals together :)
While I'm very grateful to have Juicey, didn't have to buy him myself or spend hours, possibly days, deliberating over which model juicer to buy, he does get very messy. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to clean up if done right away (so everything doesn't get hard and start sticking), but I am left wondering if other model juicers don't get as all over dirty as Juicey likes to. As I read somewhere along the way, I lined the pulp waste basket of the machine with a plastic bag in an effort to minimize the cleanup. Well, sure, it kept that basket clean, but I still had to clean the whole blasted thing, anyway! Oh, Juicey. I've heard there's actually things you can do with the leftover pulp, but have yet to read about it in depth. Seeing as how Juicey so wonderfully provides such excess after the juicing process, I should probably find that article and read it - no sense letting it all go to waste!
Look at that!
So, it is now Saturday morning. I successfully completed my three day juicing cleanse. I even went out with some friends from college last night but I figured drinking was fine, as 1. It's still liquid, 2. There was juice in my drinks, 3. Alcohol will burn out any impurities in my blood and the fruit juice mixer will wash it down, and 4. I had a few fries but it was already Saturday morning by that time.
Now the question is, do I go back to regular food right away? I will definitely keep juicing - probably once a day at the least, possibly more. Maybe the next step is to wean myself back onto food with soups. It's annoying, but I've gotten fearful of food (ridiculous sounding, I know) because I'm so exhausted with feeling sick all the time! I've been doing much better since cutting out gluten, but I just got those sharp pains, out of the blue. I am feeling much better than I was, but I still occasionally get that sharp pain under my ribs. If it's still happening next week I'll contemplate a trip to the doctor.
Anyway, it's a little past noon, and I need to get up. With this new juicing thing, I may actually start eating breakfast! Shocking, I know. As I have two new cartons of strawberries that need eating, I believe I'll go make another juice like I did yesterday. In case you have your own version of Juicey, here's the recipe:
1 Apple (I used Golden Delicious, seeds/core removed)
Half carton of Strawberries (leaves taken off)
1 pint Blueberries
1 pint Blackberries
Juice and Enjoy!
Now the question is, do I go back to regular food right away? I will definitely keep juicing - probably once a day at the least, possibly more. Maybe the next step is to wean myself back onto food with soups. It's annoying, but I've gotten fearful of food (ridiculous sounding, I know) because I'm so exhausted with feeling sick all the time! I've been doing much better since cutting out gluten, but I just got those sharp pains, out of the blue. I am feeling much better than I was, but I still occasionally get that sharp pain under my ribs. If it's still happening next week I'll contemplate a trip to the doctor.
Anyway, it's a little past noon, and I need to get up. With this new juicing thing, I may actually start eating breakfast! Shocking, I know. As I have two new cartons of strawberries that need eating, I believe I'll go make another juice like I did yesterday. In case you have your own version of Juicey, here's the recipe:
1 Apple (I used Golden Delicious, seeds/core removed)
Half carton of Strawberries (leaves taken off)
1 pint Blueberries
1 pint Blackberries
Juice and Enjoy!
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