The GAIA Health Blog

Some Healthy Food Fun:    The Wanderlust Food Diaries (of a chronic daydreamer)

Can You Stand The Rain?
(...life in America's rainiest city,        Seattle, Washington)

On the Menu:     "Rainy Dayze" Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Recipes
Music:               The video "Can You Stand The Rain", by the group New Edition

"Sunny days .... everybody loves them, but tell me baby,   Can You Stand the Rain? "
    --New Edition (...from the song, "Can You Stand the Rain")

...to Dominique (...she knows why)      :)
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These all-day Seattle rains provoke random thoughts....

For example, it hit me, looking out at today's downpour, that in my 3+ years living in Seattle, I've kissed a hell of a lot of women up here....

...My last "Seattle Kissing Bandit" incident being the cutie pie cashier at Whole Foods, who stopped me and said "I'm moving to Texas this weekend and I really want to kiss you good bye."



After my mind said "WTF?", I said "Uh...Sure". She said "Meet me outside near the Xfinity Store in 15". I said "But its raining", and she said "So What?"

Cut to my love scene, I'm all up in this nighttime rainy, "French Film Style", 15 minute "lip-lock", then she runs back in...her break is over.

I got a text from her the next morning saying only "Yum-Yum" with the smiley face emoticon with the tongue sticking out.....and I never saw or heard from her again......


....damn, such a "Snap Chat", only for the moment, world we live in these days. Did she just use me for some female's "instant gratification"? (....I'm not pissed it happened, I'm pissed it's over!!!)


Now, my sex life, that's the other end of the spectrum, pretty pathetic (though I'm cool with whatever, I'm kinda proud of this sexual
"Zen Master" thing I got going on).

....and I break ranks with the standard guy mentality of dating someone you "halfway" like, just to "get some" ......not my style.



Like I said, rainy days provoke random thoughts.......

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Annnnnnywayze, to separate fact from fiction on this "rainiest city" perception of Seattle, Seattle is no where near the rainiest city in the USA as measured by total rainfall, it ranks about 44th. Where it ranks near the top, is the number of days of the year where there is some precipitation, pushing close to 200 days out of the year.

But, I'll take the rainy Seattle winter over the Chicago snow that I grew up in without thinking twice, for me it's kind of a "Happy Rain" (more on that later). For one thing, since I'm a "home-body" by nature, rainy days are my perfect excuse to stay in mess around with new recipes all day...watching Seahawks Football, and all that.........

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"Rainy Dayze"    Slow Cooker/Crock Pot    Recipes

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Crock Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches topped with Healthy BBQ Sauce and Healthy Slaw                         Crock Pot Beef Stew (click photo below recipe)
(...I'm technically Gluten Free, but bend a little for a great sandwich a few times as year)
(click photo below for recipe)

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Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers with Lamb and Wild Rice
.....though you can stuff with whatever you want, like ground chicken, beef or turkey, or vegetarian                     (click photo below for recipe)

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Crock Pot Whole Chicken (Click Photo below for recipe)                                          Crockpot Braised Red Wine Short Ribs with Cheddar Potato Perogies (click photo below 4 recipe)

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Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs                     (click photo below for recipe)

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Crockpot Honey Harissa Chicken with Chickpeas, Feta and Pomegranate Rice (Click Photo below for recipe)                                Crockpot Carne Adasa Beer Chili (click photo below for recipe)

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Rewind 6 years when I was laid off from my job in Chicago, packed up, left town, having no clue where my life was headed, unknowingly soon to become the ultimate "High-Tech Hobo", working in 5 different states. Seattle just happened to be that place where I said "I'm not moving anymore, here I stay".

I don't see Seattle as my permanent home, I yearn for blue skies and sunny days as I plan my move to the Caribbean. But until that chapter of this crazy journey comes, home is where the heart is, and the gloomy Seattle rain is where I found my sense of stability, my peace of mind, my happiness, my "sunshine" within the soul.

So, until I get to the Caribbean, I can definitely "stand the rain" .....it's my "Happy Rain" :)

~stay healthy~

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"Sail Forth. Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring. I with thee and thou with me. For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared go. And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all." --Walt Whitman

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p.s. I know that's not Seattle below, I just love the photo :)                                                             

go back to the list of all entries in
"The Wanderlust Food Diaries"

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