I get pretty excited when I come across something new – to me – in the edible world. I would say I even get a little giddy. Such was the case when I found a raw cookie recipe on Kristen’s site that called for Lucuma powder.

What the heck is a Lucuma?

According to my groovy new friends at Raw Food World, it’s an amazing Peruvian fruit! Isn’t it freakish how all the superfoods of the world (Acai, etc) come from exotic and remote parts of world? Anyway, with my Lucuma (which I have yet to try) came a fun assortment of goodies:

Including some teasers is just good business. Thanks Matt & Angela!

Terrible photo, but if you squint you’ll see some Hemp protein powder, some chia seeds, and a lovely packet of Natural CALM (magnesium, ahhhhh) which I’ve thrown at Chris a couple times this week. I think he’s going to take it to work to hold up at tense moments and yell “Don’t make me use this!’

But I digress…the Hemp powder was interesting. I liked the flavor but missed the extra foof that whey powder gives my smoothies. I haven’t used the chia seeds yet, but I think I may make Janetha’s muffins (or one muffin) or just dump them in a smoothie. Anybody have any good ideas?

Coming up … photos from our Raw Thai “cooking ” class. (Chris and I couldn’t figure out if Raw Cooking was a misnomer or an oxymoron. Word geeks, I look to your guidance.)

There were so many days where I was just way too tired to work out. I have a gym membership, but I haven’t stepped in there in months. Then I started T3 therapy, and suddenly I was awake! I had energy! I wanted to MOVE!

Around the same time, I started buying exercise DVD’s. Word of warning: you have to be careful when you purchase exercise DVD’s online – read the fine print because many programs send you a new DVD every few months, and I don’t know what it takes to stop that. But if you buy them on Ebay, like I did, you can save yourself the hassle.

Meet my new workout partner:

Her name is Chalene Johnson, and her circuit training workouts are kicking my boot-ay! Um, hello? She has LEAN in her name! I swear I started seeing results after three workouts. My arms were tighter right away, and the heaviest weight I was using was only 5 lbs. I’m ready to move up to 10 lbs already for the full body exercises (and then I don’t know what I’m going to do because I don’t have any heavier weights). It’s working as long as I work it!

Outsides the confines of my narrow den, I’ve been seen hitting the 2.8 mile loop at Greenlake with my dog and the lovely Marissa:

I’ve known Marissa for a few years now and witnessed her transformation first hand. This fantastic woman ate real food and worked her butt off to lose 150 lbs, and I couldn’t be more proud to call her a friend. Along with our friend Bay, who’s a writer, we circumnavigate the lake trying to not trip over each other or get caught in a dog fight or get run over by a idiot on a tall bike. It’s dangerous work, but we press on undeterred. Sometimes we even go around twice!

Next up – more yummy meals and maybe I’ll finally get around to some home style posts. We made an interesting purchase this weekend. Can’t wait to show you!

Yesterday I needed a little bit more in my lunch, and it just so happens that Whole Foods is a short walk from my office. Fancy that. I don’t really shop at WF unless I’m at work. Anyhoo, I spotted a new yogurt I’d never seen before – it’s Icelandic! Why? Because Greek yogurt is soooooo last week. Introducing my $2.39 yogurt*:

Icelandic delight!

It was delicious, thick like sour cream, and kept me full until dinner. It’s sweetened with agave nectar, in case anyone’s worried about that. My feeling is there’s always something to worry about so I’m not going to worry about one serving of agave in a week. It was expensive but more of a treat that a buy-every-day item. I highly recommend it!

As promised, my free plums have made it into my $5 yard sale dehydrator. It’s made by Ronco, what could go wrong? I’m a little afraid of my dehydrator, but it was time to take it for a spin. By tomorrow morning, I should have dried plums, and our house will not be a charred shell of an abode. Fingers crossed!

I already teased you with my workout partners. I swear I’m gonna post them tomorrow!

PS. The scale this morning said I had lost 3 whole pounds! That’s crazy! That’s 13 total in just the last few months. Hooray for T3 therapy and eating healthy!

*For the sake of blogging, I am now carrying labels in my purse. Fortunately, Siggi’s makes theirs removable for easier recycling, but I’m pretty sure I’m not above carrying around an empty yogurt container so I can photograph it when I get home.

Wanh wanh

Hi everyone! Thanks for letting me know that it wasn’t that you didn’t WANT to leave a comment, it was that you couldn’t. We will be working on the dreaded 404 error by the weekend. (My bad that we’re having dinner with friends tonight, and I am otherwise occupying my IT guy’s time with social frivolities.)

I’ll let you know when we’re up and running and you can comment like crazy!

If you have something you’d love to tell me right away, you can reach me at Carbzilla through Google mail.