Had lunch downtown.... between appts.
I went to a healthy restaurant.... hoping I'd run into the owner, and have a chat.
I'd met him years before when he was giving a talk on nutrition for cancer patients.
I remembered eating
Quinoa for the first time..... he had many new things to sample that day.
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Cite This Source
quinoa, tall annual herb (Chenopodium quinoa) of the family Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot family), whose seeds have provided a staple food for peoples of the higher Andes since pre-Columbian times. The plant resembles the related lamb's-quarters of North America; its seeds are threshed, winnowed, and prepared like grain. Quinoa is eaten boiled like rice, used in soup or porridge, toasted in the form of tortillas, or mixed with wheat flour for bread. It is also used for poultry and livestock feed and is fermented to make an alcoholic beverage called chicha, more commonly made from corn. The foliage is used for salad greens. In the Inca Empire, where only the potato was more widely grown, quinoa is said to have been sacred; the year's first furrows were opened ceremoniously with a gold implement. Attempts to establish the crop outside its native habitat have been unsuccessful. Quinoa is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Caryophyllales, family Chenopodiaceae. He ended up coming right up and we chatted about nurtrtion and his dislocated shoulder. He's still giving talks on nutrition and his restaurant has been thriving.
I ordered up a 15.00 bowl of Tai Chicken Quinoa and felt safe in the shaded air conditioned patio space... voted best patio recently. It
was very nice.
It's interesting also bc he has about 10 large cages of exotic birds outside the restaruant and every inch of green space is planted with lovely herbs and perrenials.... bees buzzing, birds bathing, lovely handmade stepping stones buried and planted with succulents.
Planters sitting on the driveway, filled with healthy lovely growing things.... weeded and interesting.
Jusst healing and lovely and exactly where I wanted to be.
I guess some call him a hippie but he's clean cut, tanned with arms pitted from bird talons... into tibetan monk excercises
He also serves a mean bowl of Tai Quinoa..... it was lovely with broccoli, carrots, purple cabbage, purple onion, the grain of course and a light broth that perhaps had some coconut milk in it.... lots of fresh cilantro, which I love. A little fresh ground sea salt and I was in business.
Everythingn they serve's grown without pesticides or steriods.... no cages etc. Next time I'll order the tofu, which they called something else.... and see how that goes.
The water was filtered and the plants drink runoff from their refrigeration system.
Lots of customers happily paying 15.00 for a bowl of lunch, I plan to recreate in my kitchen.
One of his quotes: "The body needs grains every day..... very important....but without the gluten."
I believe him and that quinoa is gluten free: )
Lighter
