Day 13 at the Kushi Instiute

Today we woke up with the snow being all over the ground and everywhere.  It lasted till about 11:00a.m. and then it all disappeared, but it was beautiful while it lasted.  Today we learned how to cook with Barley and how it helps to break up animal protein and mucus from the body.  You can cook it in a pot like rice, the pressure cooker, or in the clay pot in the pressure cooker.  Th barley has to be soaked over night to help break it down a little bit.   My favorite way it was cooked today was called the "5 element" barley dish because you added 5 different vegetables to it and then put it in the clay pot and then the clay pot into the pressure cooker  to cook.  The 5 vegetables were carrots, corn, shitake mushrooms, lotus root, and dried tofu.  The only seasoning was a pinch of salt and the vegetables came out sweet and juicy with the barley being just the right consistency.  All the vegetables in the dish were diced about the same size.  This is a wonderful hearty dish to make during the fall and winter or when it snows in late April.   The kitchen made vegetable tempura for lunch also to keep us warm and at breakfast the chef added grated ginger too so we could stay warm while we sat in class all day.  It is fun learning how to tweek your diet for the weather or for whatever kind of energy you  are going to be spending for the day.  For example if I was going to at home writing a chapter of my book that day I should eat lighter and more greens so I could concentrate and stay seated to write.  If I was going to work outside and do physical labor I can up my nuts and natural sugars like fruit or a liitle brown rice syrup to give me the energy I need for that activity.  I am loving how I can help my family, friends, and patients with the different foods.