TREAT

TREAT – THE BUDDHA COOKIE CUTTER

A fun alternative to traditional holiday cookies!

Cinnamon Buddha Cookies
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s book “Baking: From My Home to Yours” (Sweet Tart Dough recipe)

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 stick plus 1 tbsp (9 tbsp) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190C) degrees.
2. Pulse flour, sugar and ground cinnamon in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. Stir in the yolk and pulse again until the dough forms clumps and curds. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly, knead just to incorporate dry ingredients. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight). If you have a cookie mold like I do, just press small pieces of the dough inside the mold and pound it on the counter to let the cookie come out. If not, then you can roll the dough to any thickness you like and cut out cookies of various shapes.
3. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Place the cookies on top and bake for 20 minutes covered with another layer of parchment paper, remove the paper and bake for another 5 minutes. Let cool.

You can buy it here
http://cafefernando.com/cinnamon-buddha-cookies/

RESTAURANT

RESTAURANT – FLOUR + WATER

Flour + Water is a San Francisco Italian restaurant that focuses on seasonal ingredients sourced from the unparalleled and ever abundant California artisans and growers.
Their menu changes daily and is intentionally small and focused. The cuisine of flour + water has literally been done for hundreds of years in Italy—they are not re-inventing it rather trying to pay tribute to what we believe is the world’s purest style of cooking.

Opened last May in a restored Victorian building on a quiet corner a few blocks from the center of the Mission District, flour + water is the latest in a steady stream of high-caliber Italian restaurants to enter the neighborhood. The owners, David White and David Steele, are longtime Mission residents, with roots in the food trade.

“We make the kind of food that chefs like to eat,” Mr. McNaughton said of the restaurant’s cooking style. Given the restaurant’s name, it should come as no surprise that pizza and pastas are focuses. The kitchen has a wood-fired oven, and Jon Darsky, the pizzaiolo, is a skilled operator; even before you take a bite, the aromas that waft through the restaurant make that abundantly clear. A tangy margherita with fior di latte, a fresh-milk cheese, is delicate yet substantial.

The pastas, all housemade, included a maltagliati with a dark and earthy braised giblet ragù ; and a roasted corn and crescenza cappelletti with bitter honey, which gave the dish a pleasantly sharp finish.

For dessert, the restaurant offers an understated chocolate budino with sea salt flakes and espresso-caramel cream ; and a honey-pistachio semifreddo, topped with a little mound of green frost — a granita of herbs and simple syrup.

Flour + Water, 2401 Harrison Street; (415) 826-7000; www.flourandwater.com. Open daily, 5:30 p.m. to midnight.


http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/travel/27bites.html?ref=travel

NUTRITION

NUTRITION - JUICING


Benefits of Green Juice:
Leading medical authorities, nutritionists, dietitians, and other known experts in the medical field recommend that we consume three to five servings of green leafy vegetables a day. No vitamin or medicine is a legitimate substitute. The healing elements that are found in green leafy vegetables are so powerful and synergistic, no combination of synthetic medicines or supplements could ever match their power.

Five main benefits of green foods are:

Chlorophyl power
• Chlorophyll is quite possibly the most powerful element that exists in the universe. Chlorophyll is one of the most intensely researched elements and has been used in the treatment of everything from periodontal disease, diabetes and low iron, to open wounds, ulcers and body odor.

• Its chemical makeup strongly resembles hemoglobin (the portion of the blood that carries oxygen). The center element of chlorophyll is magnesium.
• Some research is now suggesting that chlorophyll can efficiently release magnesium, and replace it with iron. In other words, chlorophyll can actually be converted to hemoglobin, which increases the flow of oxygen to all parts of the body.
• Oxygen reduces stress on the body, creates greater energy and endurance, and creates an aerobic environment. In an aerobic environment, disease cannot get started.
• An aerobic environment also is beneficial to the so-called friendly bacteria which promotes digestive health and detrimental to bad bacteria which contributes too disease, body odor, and bad breath.

Trace Minerals
• The recommended source of virtually all minerals and trace minerals is green leafy vegetables. It is not an accident that while we have begun consuming fewer and fewer green foods, the lack of trace minerals quite possibly has become the number one cause of disease within Western culture today.
•Chlorophyll is the only food that creates an environment that is ideally suited to deliver and to maintain those proper mineral qualities.
• Chlorophyll contains magnesium which is immediately delivered to the muscle tissue. This mineral is absolutely essential for both cardiac and respiratory wellness. Night leg cramps bother you? Take more magnesium.
• While many women need to increase the iron in their diets, but conventional supplements usually result only in constipation and headaches. This is because the body does not know what to do with the iron it is receiving. When you ingest minerals through plants, you can never suffer from toxicity.
• There are many other benefits to the trace minerals. Potassium is important for digestive health, chromium helps blood sugar control, and selenium aids the metabolism. Calcium reverses osteoporosis, and helps build stronger bones and beautiful hair. While calcium is probably the most popular mineral consumed through supplements, the bioavailability of such products is a fraction of what you can receive by consuming green leafy vegetables.

Vegetable Protein
• Lightweight complete vegetable protein contain all eight essential amino acids, which are building blocks for the immune system, enhance reproductive function, and creates lean connective tissue which leads to dense, heavy permanent muscle on the body.
• Without proper body volume and the quality of peptides, we will begin to break down our own bodies. In other words, the body feeds on itself.
• All of the phytochemicals found in green food are interrelated. You cannot isolate them. You cannot mix liquid chlorophyll, digestive enzymes, antioxidant enzymes, mineral supplements, an alkalizing agent, and lightweight protein supplement and expect to come up with an effective food.

Enzymes
• Green foods contain phytonutrients that are capable of initiating chemical reactions. cleansing, detoxifying while enhancing the immune system.
• Plant sources contain both antioxidant and digestive enzymes identical to those manufactured by the body. This becomes vitally important when we realize that our bodies have a limited ability to manufacture enzymes, and when we run out, death will result.
• To make it simple, cooking and processing food eliminates enzymes, while raw, unprocessed foods contain them in great supply.

Alkalizing Agent
• Acid and alkalinity is measured on a pH scale of 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral. Scores above 7 are alkaline, and scores below 7 are acidic.
• Certain ecology of the body must be alkaline in order for humans to be healthy. The most notable example is the human blood which must a pH of 7.4. It will begin to steal potential the mouth, small intestine and the urinary tract.
• The first ecology that it will rob is the mouth. There are a number of common problems: including cavities, plaque, bleeding gums, periodontal disease, and bad breath. Green foods can reverse this dangerous process.
• The small intestine needs to be alkaline in order to regulate the passage of glucose through the intestine. The benefits of regulated blood sugar are many, including potential weight loss, increased energy, and higher metabolism. Both hypoglcemics and diabetics find that they benefit significantly by taking green juice, which alkalizes the small intesine, which in turn, regulates the passage of glucose through the intestinal barrier. This results in energy, stamina, and endurance.


http://allonhealth.com/barleylife/more-than-multivitamins.htm

NEW

NEW - själ KASHMIR PERFECTION

A perfectly balanced facial designed to restore fatigued and exhausted skin, mind and body. pearl enzymatic mask for polishing and brightening followed by kashmir perfecting mask for restoration.

Specially chosen gem stones for massage, clarity and chakra balance. Includes lymphatic drainage using precious oil infused with blue kashmir sapphires. Finished with O2 blast leaving skin hydrated, toned and glowing.


Read more here:
http://sjalskincare.com

EVENTS - BREAST CANCER AWARNESS MONTH

EVENTS - CANCER VIXEN

Read more:
http://cancervixenfund.org

HEALTH

HEALTH - LIN SISTERS

Lin sister herb Shop was opened with the goal to help those seeking eastern medical practices for alternative healing and prevention. They have a wide selection of patent formulas, as well as the filling of custom herbal prescriptions.

Lin, along with his sisters Susan and Jane, started working in the herbal field in 1983, shortly after immigrating to New York from their native China.

"We had the idea for this business when we came here," says Lin. "If we went to see a doctor, we found that the medicine was not part of our culture, what we believe in."

Today, the Lins operate treatment centers in New York’s China town on Elizabeth Street and the Bowery, where customers walk past a small library featuring books on Chinese diet therapy and massage and a wall of wood drawers, from which staffers dispense their organic remedies. Upstairs, on the white-tiled second floor, a receptionist helps clients schedule appointments with licensed acupuncturists.

The treatment center also offers chinese medical diagnoses, reflexology, moxibustion and meridian work at reasonable prices.

Lin Sister is located at 4 Bowery, New York City, N.Y. 10013

Tel: 212-962-5417

http://linsister.com

ART/DESIGN

ART/DESIGN - BIRD'S NEST

Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957 as the son of Ai Qing, one of modern China’s most renowned poets. He entered the Beijing Film Academy in 1978. In 1979 and in 1981 he took part in exhibitions held by the avant-garde group "Xingxing (The Stars)." Soon afterwards Ai moved to the U.S.A., returning to China in 1993. Since his return Ai has worked in publishing and also been active in his support of young Chinese artists through his China Art Archive & Warehouse (CAAW). In 2000 he was one of the curators of the influential exhibition "Fuck Off." Since designing his own residence and studio in 1999, Ai has been involved in over 70 architectural and urban planning projects. His recent exhibitions include the Venice Biennale 2008, 2008 Liverpool Biennial, Documenta 12 (Kassel, 2007), and "Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection" (touring since 2006).

Ai Weiwei is one of contemporary China's most exciting creators, with a range of activities including everything from art and architecture to design, publishing, and curating. In the last few years, Ai's international reputation has grown dramatically through a series of highly acclaimed projects, including his contribution to Documenta 12 in 2007, and a collaboration with architects Herzog & de Meuron on the "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

http://www.mori.art.museum

GEMSTONE

GEMSTONE - PEARL THE MARINE GEMSTONE

Largely calcium carbonate, pearl is produced within the tissue of shelled mollusks.

The pearl represents faith, charity, truth and spiritual knowledge. It is a unique stone as it comes from the animal kingdom yet is reflective of the mineral world. Pearl’s water origin gives it a natural resonance with tidal and lunar forces and is thus considered to be good for emotional states. Pearl powder contains properties for brightening and helps to inhibit the tyrosinase (or spotting) process. Pearl also contains high levels of glutathione which is a natural anti-oxidant or detoxifier.

Micro-Pearl is contained in sjal’s enzyme exfoliating mask, orbe eye crème, balans cleanser, cela and kura intuitif. Pearl granules are contained in the exfoliating pearl mask for physcial polishing and exfoliation.