The all-vegan restaurant will be opening soon to the public. A secret Sunday bunch was a perfect opportunity for a practice run through. With a very busy constant flow of foodies asking details about what ingredients went into their food, the restaurant owners were patient, friendly, and warm and thankful for all the compliments they received. The food was creative and flavorful, the service was friendly and the atmosphere welcoming.

The small, simple, yet artsy spot is in a hip, and stylishly quaint part of the city, just a few minutes from the hustle and bustle of the Power and Light District. At 17th and Summit, the eatery sits west of Broadway, just down the street from the popular arthouse Screenland movie theater. Currently the restaurant is without a streetside sign.

Chalkboard menu.

Garden tofu scramble with cottage taters and toast

Soft tacos with guacamole, cashew sour cream, cottage taters, and biscuits and gravy. (the gravy was made with coconut milk and cashews)

I chose the raw option on the menu, the avocado croquettes with cherry tomato-mango-thai basil relish and walnut cheese.

I did wait a bit for my plate, as they were busy preparing a fresh batch of avocado. But the wait was well worth it! The avocado was rich and creamy, the mango relish was sweet and flavorful, and the walnut cheese with red pepper and sun dried tomatoes was mildly spicy, yet smooth.

The chocamoca smoothie was made with cocoa, mocha, and bananas. The pure chocolate was complimented with the natural sweetness of the banana….marvelous!

And for dessert….cashew ice cream!

Fud (pronounced fooood), is opening to the public very soon! Initially, the hours will be Tuesday through Saturday 8am to 3:30pm with dinner served on Fridays and a possible brunch on Saturdays or Sundays.

Owner and chef, Heidi, and co-owner, Jerimiah, have been working hard to get this restaurant up and running! Job well, done guys! I am anxiously looking forward to the official opening of Fud, as I will definitely be returning. Maybe they will even have a sign up next time.

The answer could be environmental.

Fewer boys are being born. The falling male birth rate is global. More than twenty nations, including the United States, are observing this phenomena. And male infertility is on the rise. Human sperm counts are half what they used to be fifty years ago. And 85% of sperm are abnormal and less likely to successfully conceive.

Could this largely be due to chemicals in our environment? In our homes? In our workplaces? In our hospitals? And in the food we eat, water we drink, and air we breathe? Yes!

Sixty years ago synthetic materials did not exist. Now there are more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals being used in our products, 85% of which have never been tested for impacts on the human body. These chemicals are used to make plastics hard and unbreakable or soft and pliable. They are used to keep cosmetics fresh and fragrant, to keep computers flame resistant and fabrics stain resistant. These chemicals are used to help grow and manage the food we eat.

Pesticides have been proven to harm animals as well as humans. DDT was widely used as an insecticide for over thirty years before it was banned. In Florida, recent studies show male alligators that were exposed to pesticides measure very low testosterone levels, similar to the levels of the females. Male fish are growing female organs and even producing eggs. These fish were exposed to chemicals in the water that mimic the female hormone, estrogen. This is called hormone mimicking. If these chemicals are affecting wildlife, why not humans? Certain toxic chemicals are blocking the production of the male hormone, testosterone.

In Aamjiwnaang Reservation, Ontario, Canada, a petro-chemical plant releases over 130,000 tons of toxic chemicals each year, accounting for 40% of Canada’s chemical industry. Dioxins, benzymes and mercury are some of the chemicals produced here, all of which are known to be toxic to human reproduction. They believe that such a strong chemical exposure is killing boys in the womb. In 2006, the sharpest decline in male births ever recorded was here in Aamjiwnaang; half as many boys were born as were girls.

Those most affected by these toxins in our environment, are the unborn children. The fetus has very few defenses and is much more sensitive to these toxic chemicals than the mother. For the first six weeks after conception, the human embryo is neither male nor female. The cells are dividing from each other and after the sixth week, they begin to develop into organs. It’s at the seventh week of pregnancy that the male reproductive tract begins to form, based on the fetus’ sex hormones, including testosterone. Toxic chemicals in the environment are blocking the production of these hormones. Less testosterone is produced. Fewer boys are being born. Are male fetuses not surviving in the womb?

Every day we are being exposed to these synthetic chemicals in their clothing, furniture, bedding, in the water we drink and the air we breathe. These chemicals are accumulating in our bodies and wreaking havoc on our reproductive systems.

DEHP is a toxin used in making PVC, one of the most common plastics. PVC is used in many medical devices including intravenous tubing, catheters, blood bags, and breathing tubes. DEHP is ending up in our bodies, in the bodies of pregnant women, and in the bodies of baby boys who are suseptible to adverse affects on the male reproductive system. Many hospitals are starting to replace PVC equipment with non-toxic forms of plastic.

BPA, or byspheral A, is a synthetic estrogen used to make the most widely used plastic. BPA is used in making plastic baby bottles, water bottles, and plastic children’s toys, just to name a few. Wal-Mart has begun to remove baby bottles made from BPA from their shelves. And many plastic containers are now marketed as BPA free.

Phthalates are petro-based chemicals used in making products that many of us use every day: deoderant, shampoo, body wash, and other personal care products. Phthalates are known to cause significant changes in male offspring. It is known to affect normal sexual development in male babies, called phthalate syndrome, or a decreased masculinization. Again, less testosterone.

So, what can we do about this? Buy toxic-free products. Buy BPA-free plastics. Buy from companies who produce phthalate-free products. Use the ZRecs Guide in determining which products contain harmful chemicals, from bottles and sippy cups to bath toys and sunscreen. Buy phthalate-free personal care products such as Shaklee and Burt’s Bees or products with certified organic ingredients. And eat organic food whenever possible!

To hear the full story, watch the CBC documentary below, “The Disappearing Male.”

Sigan estudiando espanol, estudiantes y tambien buena suerte a ustedes!

Creation: The True Story of Charles Darwin, written by Darwin’s great great grandson, Randal Keynes, is the basis for the newly released major motion picture of the same name, Creation. The biography is based on Darwin’s memoirs, letters, family papers, and manuscripts. It is the true life story of Charles Darwin, post HMS Beagle voyage, and how the death of his 10 year-old daughter affected his thinking on evolution, religion and human nature.

Once a deeply religious man, Darwin began questioning the book of Genesis, the accuracy of biblical ideas, and his commitment to faith, as he dug deeper and deeper into his theory of evolution. Darwin conducted experiments on his infant children, studying their behavior compared to that of a young orangutan. In one experiment when responding to his reflection in a hand mirror, the ape reached behind the mirror to touch the object, while his daughter did not. With this, Darwin concluded that the young orangutan was more intelligent than his own daughter! Through his studies with his son and daughter, he was confirming the link between human and animal, that humans are cousins to the apes.

After his daughter, Annie, died of fever, Darwin gave up on the Christian faith altogether. Every Sunday Darwin would walk his family to church and refuse to enter, while instead enjoying a stroll through the countryside. Darwin believed that we should not look for explanations of cruelty and pain in our lives, that God is not up there engineering and planning our paths, but instead that life is a natural process and nothing to do with moral actions of either child or parent. Not believing in God or an afterlife, Darwin constantly struggled with his wife, a devout Christian with a commitment to faith.

Listen to an npr interview with the author, Randal Keynes, here.

The movie was released January 22, 2010 in limited distribution. I have yet to find a theater playing the movie in Kansas City.

I saw this ring around the sun while backpacking Colca Canyon near Arequipa, Peru. What causes this halo? Rings around the sun are formed from the refraction of sunlight through tiny ice crystals high in the sky, similar to how a rainbow is formed. These clouds of ice crystals are called cirrus clouds. The halos, called 22-degree halos, typically form at a 22-degree radius from the sun. These rings often precede a warm front and can mean that rain is on its way, although there was no rain at the canyon that day, or the next, or the next. Similar halos can also be seen around the moon.

Mosquito bites are NOT the end of the world.

The Thanksgiving holiday without family, old friends or feast only makes me realize how thankful I really am for my family and friends.

Rarely do things go as planned. Sometimes the unplanned and unlikely are the most memorable and enjoyable.

Living in a dorm room with a dozen others and sharing a bathroom is not so bad…. And hot water showers are an amenity.

A person really can live out of one backpack for three months.

The plumbing in the Unites States wins awards compared to that in South America.

At 98 degrees Farenheit and 98% humidity, rain forests are insanely hot.

I love falafel!

Although hard to say goodbye, it is better to have made friends from strangers, even if our time together was abbreviated.

Family and friends are THE most important thing.

Don’t scream in the company of a baby monkey; it will bite you.

A trek is a long, hard journey.

Non-Americans often think that Kansas City is in the state of Texas. ??

Toilet seats, toilet paper, soap, and paper towels are luxury items.

I have forgotten a lot of spanish, remembered a lot of spanish, and learned a lot of spanish!

Political protests in Peru often result in road blockades…very inconvenient for travelers.

Tarantulas are really not as terrifying as you would think.

To not quickly judge someone without getting to know them. Age and appearances do not determine character.

Titicaca means stone puma.

To enjoy moments for what they are: definite, unique, and fleeting.

The Incas were small people who built very large steps.

There are 4,000 different types of potatoes grown in Peru.

The secret to successful composting.

Americans are the only people in the world who measure in inches and feet, pounds, and degrees farenheit. I really need to learn the metric system properly.

There is nothing better than a hug form someone who loves you! (or me)

I CAN survive without my Samsung A900 cell phone.

…so maybe this was not the Reader’s Digest version after all!

To celebrate Darwin´s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his ¨On the Origin of Species¨, the Stad Amsterdam is sailing the same route with Darwin’s great great granddaughter onboard as one of the lead scientists. Their mission: to determine the future of species. Follow the New Beagle voyage on Facebook here. The ship leaves from Peru continuing its voyage to the Galapagos. The film crew onboard beams the footage from the ship’s satellites to the Dutch broadcasting network for the television series.