Playing In The Kitchen

We decided to drive through Texas along the Mexico border through El Paso and then into southern New Mexico on our road trip. I had never been to the southern half of New Mexico so that was the main motivation for taking this indirect route but I was also very curious about the border. It was exciting! Most of the Texas/Mexico border drive was desolate. Just oil fields, cactus and blue skies. Then we entered the Guadalupe Mountain Range and enjoyed hours of breathtaking views. The drive through this range is called the Texas Mountain Trail and super easy (if you don't feel too nervous not having cell reception the entire way) you never drive up into the mountains, just through them at the base, so you can keep a good speed (80 mph speed limit in Texas!) and not have to climb up and then descend (I am now a master mountain navigator after conquering what seemed like a million of them on this trip). Other exciting things about driving along the border? Seeing border patrol vehicles, driving through checkpoints and signal jammers, looking at mountains in Mexico while driving in Texas, listening to Mexican radio stations and getting a text message on the cell phones saying we had been switched to international rates because we had left the country. :D This might not sound fun to you but I thought it was exciting and interesting. I am so glad I got to see a part of the country that most people will never visit (not much reason to be down there). The mountains alone were worth it. It was also mind boggling to see oil field after oil field and cactus varieties I had never seen before. We drove around for a minute through some residential neighborhood in El Paso. We were right on the border of Juarez but we may as well have been in Mexico for the way the houses, shops and even the people in this area looked. I had no expectations for that portion of the drive and ended up being really pleased with the experience.

Some friends I made in Texas.

After being in Texas for a few days my shoulders, arms and chest were pretty scorched. It only got worse as we made our way into New Mexico and spent more and more time outdoors in the desert. I tried to keep my shoulders and arms covered with a keffiyah but the sun found my skin anyway. I had brought a bottle of aloe vera with me and applied it liberally each morning and night and I STILL haven't peeled. Yesterday I found an aloe stalk that I had cut from my plant and put in the fridge before we left. Yes! I will put pure aloe on my skin.

Slice into the stalk but don't cut all the way through.

Squeeze the gel out and apply directly to burned skin.

It was nice and cold because the stalk had been stored in the fridge and it felt very nourishing to my skin and my being in general. If you have an aloe plant don't just admire its awesome looks, pamper yourself with its loving gift for your skin.

I have been having fun making recipes from the Taos Whole Foods Cookbook and today I made almond milk. 

I omitted the lecithin and whey and used both vanilla and molasses.

Gathering the ingredients.

I only used about 1/2 cup of water and ended up using the whole banana cause I like a thicker consistency.

Molasses swirls. Yum. 

The color isn't great but the flavor is super yummy. Adding water and thinning it out makes it more "milky" if you want to use it for cereal or something like that. I have plenty of almonds and blueberries left so I'll probably make this for lunch the rest of the week. Cheers! 

~ Love & Light ~