friday links + giveaway!

Happy Friday!

I have some wonderful shots of seals.
These seals know that the fishermen clean out their boats after loading the days catch, and they wait, patiently for the chum scraps to come out the end of the boat.
If you look closely, there is a smart seal, that sits right next to the water shoot and catches all the chum.
Greedy (but smart) little guy.


The seagull sitting on the back kills me!

Looking at me for treats.

See the one right under the water shoot?  He knows what he's doing.

Photos taken in chatham, ma.


Being a huge tea lover, Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Tea recently sent me a nice care package of their new raw tea
to try. Have you tried these? Wow are they good. Just 100% raw, clean, healthy tea.
No crap, no fillers, no aftertaste--just honest to goodness tasty tea.
True all natural flavors of: raw honey-lemon, raw peppermint, and unsweetened.
What is raw tea?  Picked fresh tea leaves, never dehydrated, and then blended into chilled water.  Kept cold, kept fresh.  Where are they?  They can be found in almost all Whole Foods Markets located next to their raw coconut water.
Follow Harmless Harvest on Facebook to see where they are holding tasting samples at your local Whole Foods Markets.

Cookbook Giveaway!

The Simply Raw Kitchen by Natasha Kyssa is donating a book to giveaway!

You might remember me talking about the abundance of creativity that I found looking through this cookbook.  I was so amazed at how one can get so creative with raw foods!
From The Simply Raw Cookbook:
"....The road to good health through proper diet and nutrition can lead down many paths; you may ask yourself, should I go vegan? Follow a gluten-free regimen? Should I eat raw or cooked foods? Natasha Kyssa offers all that and more in this inspiring collection of mostly raw, whole-foods recipes that will improve your health, no matter what your age. Natasha is a former international fashion model who transformed her unhealthy lifestyle by turning to raw foods almost twenty-five years ago; she is now a raw foods consultant and restaurateur who also runs marathons in her spare time. Natasha promotes a balanced, flexible diet designed for individual constitutions and based on fresh plant foods—gluten-free, toxin-free, and simply delicious. Her regimen also takes into consideration older folks and others who cannot tolerate an all-raw diet by including cooked foods. It's a cookbook and lifestyle guide to be shared between generations, much like Natasha and her mother, who contributes vegan versions of central European classics like borscht, mushroom goulash, cabbage rolls, and lovage dumplings. Other recipes include raw soups, cakes, and puddings, as well as a raw Pad Thai and spaghetti bolognese."

To enter the giveaway:
*leave ONE comment telling us what your favorite raw food dish
*please have a valid email in your comment and/or signature line
*anonymous comments will be deleted
*drawing held 11/8/2013

Around the web:

If you have a dog I hope you've heard about the tainted jerky treats?
Does salt consumption cause high blood pressure?
On a single breath of air, Stig Severinsen sets a new official Guinness World Record by swimming 250 feet (76.2m) below the ice in a frozen lake in East Greenland
Melanin Pigmentation in salmon fillets: causes, risk factors
Hilarious! I do miss LA at times. Here is: "Shalloween"
The ultimate vegan burger
How to promote your baking business on twitter
I do love cinnamon--check out these cinnamon shortbread bars
Oh how I love this idea: finger spoons!
Some of the best international slow cooker recipes I've come across in a while
DIY pickled eggplant
12 chemicals that are screwing up your hormones
DIY homemade caramel apples (easy too!)
My favorite pudding: banana. Nick shows us how easy it is to make at home
THIS mexican caesar salad has me drooling
The incredible shrinking plane seat (unreal!)
A simple test may catch early pancreatic cancer
Are you into knitting? Here are some cute animal hat patterns
Banana cream pie rice krispie treats
Chai infused butternut squash soup
Edible chocolate shot glasses! LOVE this.
Compound in broccoli may offer protection against radiation sickness
How to remove a tree stump painlessly (let me know if this works! I have a lot of tree stumps after
hurricane sandy)
Chili-garlic tater tots
5 foods for vibrant hair
DIY kale chips...in the microwave!
Pumpkin-pecan scones with browned butter glaze
Red Sox Koji Uehara's son comments on Dad's winning
Oh the many wonders of ginger root. Love to read about this!
Salted caramel pretzels
Scentee makes your smart phone smell like cinnamon roll when you get a text (would you buy it?)
Starbucks to open first "Zen like" tea house
David Lebovitz makes mac & cheese 
All natural chocolate nut bark
Did the Earth's water come from very early asteroid strike?
Do you have kids?  Have you had one of these days? Holy Moly!
Dark & Stormy caramel corn
Little food history on the "snack cake"
Red Flannel Hash
DIY Snicker Bar! (bookmarked & printed!)
7-layer candy bar dip (LOL!)

Massachusetts Residents: 
help sign the repeal the automatic gas tax TankTheGasTax.org
Do you know that there is going to be an automatic annual increase in the gas tax? How can that be?
This summer the legislature passed into law a linking of the gas tax to the Consumer Price Index!  That means as inflation rises so does the Massachusetts gas tax.  It is the gas tax to infinity and beyond.
Worse yet, it is taxation without representation.  Legislators never have to vote again to raise our taxes, but our taxes will go up! What if the CPI goes down?  You will still be paying 24 cents per gallon! The legislature capped the minimum you will pay, but they did not cap the maximum we will all pay at the pump.
This tax increase is directly aimed at the working poor and middle class.  It will not only increase the cost of commuting to work, but it will also hike up the costs of food and clothing.
Remember, 24 cents is just the state’s gas tax.  It doesn’t include the federal gas tax.
How do we end this taxation without representation?
We pass a ballot question in November 2014.  The first step in the process is collecting 100,000 signatures.  Will you help us? We need people to collect signatures and to sign our petitions.
tankthegastax.org 

Have a wonderful weekend!