Homemade "Orangina"

I very accidentally just made something that is a wonderful discovery! I juiced several oranges for a dessert I am making for my husband's birthday....Raw Orange and Ginger Glazed Donuts

I am also making Raw Cherry Tarts with Hazelnut Crust, but with strawberries, because I have lots of fresh strawberries, no cherries.  

I think it will be pretty darn good though. I always have my own "available ingredients" alterations on recipes. I haven't gotten to taste much yet, so I will have to get back to you on how that goes. However, in general I am yet to have the raw desserts fail me. Even if they look nothing like the picture that is shown with the recipe (which they always inevitably do the first few times), they do taste darn good! My opinion has shifted to believing that raw desserts actually taste way better, with much more flavor and sweetness than baked goods.

Anyway, back to why I am writing this. I juiced the oranges, but had way more oranges than I needed- already had the citrus juicer out so I juiced the rest. I gave the juice to James (my husband), he drank a sip or two, but I noticed he put it down. I decided to give it a taste. It was pretty tart. It needed something. We have some "agua mineral" (carbonated water) in our house at the moment. I poured half a glass into the o.j., added a few drops of organic agave nectar and BAM! I was back in the mall at age 8, after my mom had her hair cut on the top floor of Bloomingdales at the King of Prussia mall. My treat afterwards was always one of those cool teardrop shaped bottles of "Orangina". This tasted way better today though. I have this childhood attachment to the drink, but after drinking it once last year, I was so disappointed in all the other flavors my mouth was noticing, I vowed never to drink it again. It is full of all other ingredients, including my favorite "natural flavor".  But THIS is really good, tastes so similar, but only has 3 ingredients, all ones I can control where they come from! You should try it if you are an "Orangina" fan but don't want all the other stuff that comes with that flavor (and besides, they don't use those cool bottles anymore either).

HomeMade "Orangina"

1 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice (preferably from organic oranges)
1 cup of carbonated water
1/2 teaspoon of agave nectar (or organic sweetener of choice)

Stir and enjoy (preferably in the sun)

Enjoy!

Loyalty

Loyalty.  The spanish word for it is lealtad or fidelidad. Wikipedia defines it as faithfullness or a devotion to a person, group, country or cause. I just had a realization that this day has had a theme showing loyal qualities in people or other living beings that I have been noticing. Perhaps this is a quality that is always present in such form, it is just that today I chose to notice and appreciate.

The presence of loyalty began when talking to my husband about how we have been deceived in the past by someone we believed to be loyal to us- a person we had trusted, had become a good friend to our children, who we had entrusted our safety and well being with. They turned around and ran as fast as they could, stealing money, tools and our loyalty to humans beyond our family. It has taken us some time to get back to a place of feeling a loyalty towards people we meet and take a "friending" to. We just up and moved to another country, leaving behind all those we may have loyalty to, and have had to make our way in a new place, with skepticism towards loyalty lurking around the corner. There has still been no clear verdict in the case, but I have a feeling I know where my loyalty will lay, and I certainly know where it will not ever rest!

This evening the kids and I went to the beach to watch the sunset and have some chips and guacamole and dogs run around, and kids jump, run, tumble, and chase in the sand. We arrived at the spot with just  enough sun left to enjoy food, play a bit, enjoy food, play some more, see the amazing colors of the sky, and still get home with some light left. Upon arriving we pulled up to another van on the beach- our friends Kurtis and Joella, who run the only health food store in town. They are young, hip folks who also have 3 dogs. One is huge- a bull mastiff named Charlie. The other two are little guys- ShooShoo and Yoda- a Bijon and long-haired Chihauha respectively. The little white dogs play a lot with each other. I have always seen Charlie more on his own, not as interactive with the other dogs, more with people. I discovered tonight that Charlie is 100% loyal to Kurtis. While he surfed, Charlie sat on the beach, wearing Kurtis's shirt by the way, watching him swim in the ocean, so intent and focused. When Kurtis would swim to another break, Charlie would follow on shore, further south or north along the beach. He would then lay down and rest his head on his paws, watching very intently. This was such an amazing act! Maybe this is common, but looking around at my 3 dogs- Pia was constantly nudging  a stick (or really a small shred of bark) into my lap, her loyalty to the object very apparent. River and Dali both celebrated this night on the beach- after a week of partying Mexicans in this spot, the beach is completely coated in leftover food, firepits, and poopy toilet paper. We weren't at the beach for these two dogs, we were in heaven! Anyway, my dogs were certainly lacking in the loyalty department compared to the devoted Charlie!

My kids running up the dune. Charlie's silhouette, loyally watching the little figure in the ocean.

My post kids-in-bed routine involves technology details- finding inspirations to post on Facebook, reading articles that seem interesting that I've gotten emailed links to, yadayadayada...my "homework" if you will. In tonight's findings, one Facebook post I found was a picture of a woman looking into the eyes of a dog, who looks very wolf-like, very much like our River dog. On the picture says "When I look into the eyes of an animal I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul." A.D. Williams. I couldn't help but think about Charlie and his loyalty.

Kids attempting the silly face picture- Charlie in the back left, watching intently while wearing Kurtis's shirt. Dali to the right sniffing for more food.