NO MORE WATER

image by Garance Dore

This week, I'm trying something new which I hope will completely change my life. I'm going to try to: never use water (and soap) to clean my face ever again!

You probably think this is crazy (or if you don't and have proof of success, please let me know!) but as I was reading Garance Dore's blog, I had some sort of epiphany and realized that yes, in the last year or so where I've been cleaning my face only with water & soap, it has actually gotten worse! And I'm not the type of person to wear lots of makeup, foundation, powder, etc and I put on a moisturizer daily, so why was this happening?

Then I realized that the only time when my face was smooth was during my stay in Paris. Ok you can say that the air there was probably much better, but I was never washing my face with soap & water, I was using a milk cleanser & a tonic, which is exactly what is recommended by Garance's dermatologist. 

As I am in no capability to buy the 3 items on the list: 1/ The milk makeup remover Hydrabio Lait 2/ Avène’s Thermal Spring Water and 3/ The moisturizing cream Ictyane H.D. “for severe dry skin”, I am using locally made products, making sure they don't have too many chemicals or alcohol in them and hoping they'll do the trick.

I'll keep you posted! :)

CARROTS, BEETS AND TURNIPS

Yesterday was the bi-monthly organic vegetables delivery from the Cipanas Organic Farm, and I discovered that I had received beets, carrots and turnips (I love just being surprised by what they're harvesting!).

I usually eat my beets pre-cooked in salads and my turnips in a french beef soup (Pot au Feu), but this time, I felt like doing things differently so I went online and checked out some recipes.

I remember seeing somewhere that you could mix potatoes and turnips into a mash, so I did just that:

POTATOES AND TURNIP MASH

4 potatoes

1 large turnip (lobak)

2 tbsp of unsalted butter

3/4 cup of milk

a dash of cream

salt and pepper

Slice the potatoes and turnips and cook in boiling water for around 20 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain the water and start mashing with a potato masher. Add the butter, salt and pepper, milk and cream. Taste and add according to your liking.

The great thing about potatoes and turnip mash is that your child doesn't even realize that he's eating a vegetable high in vitamin C :)

I also wanted to try roasting beets, so I discovered a video of Jamie Oliver where he did just that and kind of inspired myself from it:

ROASTED CARROTS AND BEETS

6 organic carrots, cut around 2cm thick

3 small beets, peeled and cut in half

olive oil

salt and pepper

balsamic vinegar

juice of 1/2 orange

garlic

herbs (thyme, mint, oregano, rosemary, lavender)

Preheat your oven at 220 degrees celsius.

Mix your beets and carrots separately.

Beets: mix with salt, pepper, dash of balsamic vinegar, lavender/rosemary, garlic and olive oil.

Carrots: mix with salt, pepper, juice of 1/2 and orange, thyme/mint, garlic and olive oil.

You can put your carrots and beets in one tray but try to separate them.

Cook for about 45 minutes (you may want to cover with aluminum foil if it takes too long to cook. They should be between crunchy and tender after the allotted cooking time.

Sprinkle some feta cheese on top before serving.

Eat with roasted chicken!

LOVE FRESH VEGGIES

I love these fresh organic vegetables that come every Friday from the YUM organic farm in Cipanas, West Java. The farm produces enough vegetables to make around 30 to 40 baskets of vegetables a week. Since YUM does not yet have a marketing officer to sell these baskets, I am helping out to find orders and distribute to people who are interested in buying YUM's vegetables. Also, every other Friday, we sell our vegetables at the JIS Farmer's Market, where other vendors sell canned organic food, homemade bread, etc. If only Jakarta also had it's own farmer's market :)

FOOD RULES TO LIVE BY

I've always been fascinated with food, especially good food. And sometimes, I feel its overwhelming effects on me, including over-indulging and using food as a tool for boredom or reward. On the other hand, I was also taught to appreciate food especially real, home-cooked food. That's why when I heard about the movie Food, Inc (see trailer here), I was really interested to find out what it was all about.

One of the books that the movie Food, Inc was based on was written by Michael Pollan and after that famous book, he wrote another one, Food Rules, which was given to me yesterday and I couldn't stop reading it until I finished it today (Thanks Dinda!). Below here are a few of those rules that I plan to follow from this day forward :)

[image found here]

HOW TO LIVE TO BE 100+

Since we're on the subject of living a healthy life, take a look at this TED Talk video where Dan Buettner explains how he and his team have studied different communities in the world where people tend to live longer and happier. Here, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep these communities living older and healthier.

Among the habits are:

- Move naturally (no fitness centers, just walking and using stairs)
- Have a sense of purpose
- Eat wisely (mostly plants)
- Connect with your loved ones and belong to the right tribe

HEALTHY LIFE

A very good friend of mine, Brett Money, who owns a first-class wellness center in Jakarta called OM Wellness, gave me these images a couple of weeks ago. He's very much into health and sports (he's actually a physiotherapist specialized in sports physiotherapy) and is the perfect example of a healthy, balanced person.

I really like these images because they're visual and as someone who is a visual-learner, I find these really easy to understand and apply :)



I believe most diseases are food-related these days. There used to be a time when we bought our groceries from the local market, cooked every meal at home and ate with our family every day. Nowadays, we have canned food, fast food and people rarely eat with family besides going to the restaurant. We live with pesticides, MSG and saturated fats and some don't even find it harmful. Well, I think it's time to get back to the old habits of cooking fresh food, knowing where your food came from and what ingredients are in your food.... Maybe by doing these 3 steps, we can start to live healthier :)