Nine years ago, Sandy Pukel decided to take veganism and macrobiotics on the high seas.  Since then, every spring, a huge cruise ship hauls just under a thousand of us pasty health food freaks out into the sunshine of the Caribbean.  If you've never been, I can't recommend it enough.
Next Spring, the ship is leaving [...]

Officially, I'm a Canerican… the perfect yin and yang between Canada and America, so when stuff like Royal Weddings come along, I get all confused.  So many of my friends in this lovely country get really upset at the monarchy, and I, having been socialized in a Commonwealth country, have a hard time with some [...]

I have had a serious case of blogstipation.  My worst yet. 
You see, I went to Israel in December and had one of the best times of my life.  Between the landscape, the history, the people  and the classes I taught , it was an incredibly rich and layered experience. 
Hence, the blogstipation.  There is just too [...]

I recently had the privilege of cooking for William Spear's week-long retreat called The Passage.  I have known Bill for many years now… I first met him as a macrobiotic scribe in New York City and took notes while he gave consultations to clients.  That was a small, and memorable, window onto his compassion, experience [...]

I hate to re-blog, but we ARE getting close to Thanksgiving and it is ESSENTIAL that you are all prepared to make amazing Tofu Turkeys, so I am re-posting the recipe below.
Remember: it is easy. You're basically just stuffing a dome of tofu with delicious stuffing and baking it. No biggie. It's just that the [...]

I lost a good friend this week.
I’m not going to name names. It freaks me out to go public with something so private. Neither Facebook nor my blog are appropriate for that. Plus, he was one of the few internet holdouts… preferring to connect face-to-face with the rest of the world… when he wanted to [...]

In general, I'm not shy about touting my strengths. I hope I'm not obnoxious about it, but I probably am. I can be a ridiculous name dropper and have even proven–in the middle of a party–that I can still do the splits. Really, I can be kind of a jerk. 
BUT I rarely blow my own [...]

I’m not sure one can really understand Japan without experiencing it.  I mean, I’d seen Lost in Translation, read a novel by Mishima in college and heard many friends’ anecdotes…  I remember the Hello Kitty days (not entirely over, by the way) and I have a handful of close Japanese friends I’ve met through macrobiotics…  [...]

So I'm in Japan. 
I know.  JAPAN!!
I guess I never thought I would actually get here… it's funny how we carry around whole worlds in our heads–our future, goals, prejudices, fantasies–and then we get confronted by reality.  And reality is always SOOO different from these cities in our minds.  Different color.  Different feeling.  Different everything. 
First, let [...]

 
I just don’t understand Strawberry People .  I just don’t.  I don’t GET wanting to eat a berry that makes me feel like I’m French kissing a cat .  Call me crazy.
This time of year is so hard.  My beloved raspberries  come out to play and I am once again reminded of just how deeply [...]