mr whippy

Ironmen have aid stations to help them get through the heinous event, so it is only fitting that we stop on our afternoon walk to fuel up on coconut "ice-cream" from the not-so-whippy-nor-frosty boy. This is my first sighting of Coneman the Icetarian, but Tom admitted that he has had close encounters with him down in the past when I was away. I thought the bike vendors only offered stinky fish, which I am in no hurry to run after.  The theme music comes by way of his mobile phone wired to a speaker, and the ice-cream is kept firm with the help of crushed ice and a high concentration of seaweed powder. 

With energy restored, the walk continued to aid station number two which offered a mouthful of fresh lontar juice. Immanuel is our contracted climber, and he provides us with one litre, three times a week for use in our green smoothies. This is a small portion of his weekly collection, especially in the peak flow months of July and August. 

Being that the walk was a gruelling 30 minutes long and the sun was low in the sky, we had to finish the day with a few beers.

Just kidding. Here is photographic evidence of the first recycling programme in our village. The locals don't drink beer, but they are happy to collect the empties from the expats and trade them for half a cent each. Collect enough and you can buy yourself a new plastic bucket. 

season of plenty

The middle of the dry season is the peak time for produce. Carrots have arrived, tomatoes are in abundance, cauliflower make a brief appearance, cucumbers are sweet, and lettuce thrives in the cooler temperature. Kan kung (water spinach) is always plentiful and very cheap (top photo), and it provides the green in our green smoothie; the fuel for fearless paddling and blogging.  The local tofu is firm, delicious and versatile - scrambled, steamed, marinated, blended with cacao...I'll prepare it any way except fried.  The fridge is fully stocked this week for the arrival of Aquaman's parents, and we called upon our friendly neighbours to deliver the bounty in their ute. This called for morning tea, followed by the great veggie wash-up and a market day feast for the goats. There goes another simple morning. 

the shut down

In preparation for our departure, we close up the house with sheets of corrugated iron and shutters that Tom and his dad made. Each sheet is numbered to ensure the tech screws line up with the holes drilled in the timber frame.  Aquaman added a few prize words of reflection in between numbering.  The result is a solid box with spunk.

Our final night - salad on the "dining room" floor.  

The latest report from our neighbour is that Tropical Cyclone Lua (passed over the WA coast last night) initiated a swell that surged to our rock wall.  You on it?

Looking somewhat like brother and sister, the wild blonde hair, tan and vague blissful gazes are testament to another long season in the oceanic elements (the following day in Bali we gave the hairdresser free range to transform us for our homecoming).   There was time for a green smoothie and word game before packing away the blender and closing the door behind us.  We will be back in seven weeks for season 2012.  I hope you can join us.  Sampai jumpa lagi. 

In between now and then I can be found creating words & pictures here and here

300th post!

Here's to my 300th post and our official status as custodians of the land on which our house stands.  The future fate of Remote and Raw has been secured with official signatures and money in the right palms...and I don't mean the coconut variety.   It is with great joy I share words and pictures from our simple island life and thank everyone for your support and comments over the last three years. Share the love. 

simply breakfast

In a deviation from my normal green smoothie breakfast, I opted to cut up the banana, half the papaya and put them on a plate with a few highly prized dates.  Wild stuff.  Aquaman is in the office, taking up his position in the dawn patrol, and I missed the power cut off to make a green smoothie, so I thought I'd take the time to sit down and savour my organic fruit with an Earl Grey tea and my notebook.

For a while now I have been following a beautiful, austere blog by Jennifer Causey titled Simply Breakfast.  It is exactly that; photos of her breakfast.  Who would have thought it could be so captivating? Trust me, when you are thousands of miles from the nearest blueberry, loaf of fruit toast, or resupply of rolled oats, even skillfully shot photos of muesli can be strangely intriguing.   

above two photos by Jen Causey

Like my four legged friends in the village, my breakfast has a green component, however I serve it in a glass blended with papaya, banana, ginger and water.  A blog dedicated to photos of green smoothies would be rather dull, so I can eliminate that from my to-do list. What did you have for breakfast today?

when life gives you lemons

Apart from some lengths of rope, the shredded blinds were beyond salvage and met a fiery end.  The replacements are hung, and providing us with excellent wind, sun and privacy control. A simple solution to open walled living.  

The first few days I was making meals I would never dream of in Australia, where the stunning array of ingredients sends my raw vegan self into spins of joy. Mung bean curry with red rice. Bok choi marinated in orange juice. Fibrous leafy greens tossed with fresh air. 

We are on the tail end of lean times at the weekly market.  Fungus and waterlogging are the enemies of a vegetable garden, but the deluge of rain has produced a bumper crop of rice. Leafy greens are always available and we can't keep up with the home delivered papayas.  Lemons are juicy, tempeh and tofu are cheap following the soya bean harvest, and legumes are fresh and weevil free.  Carrots are yet to appear and tomatoes are frightfully expensive and scarce.  Avocados and mangoes have finished and the sesame crop was flattened by the cyclone.  

After a summer of indulging our gustatory senses we were looking forward to returning to a simpler way of eating. Less about stimulation, more about sustenance.  Raw nutrition; light, organic, fresh and nourishing. Green smoothies in the morning and evening,  papaya, bananas and a meal somewhere in the day.  I call it "high-tea", but Aquaman says high-tea is meant to have cake. Coffee is still sneaking its addictive nose in and Sunday's are an almond milk smoothie fest. You would be right in thinking our life revolves around the blender and our outdoor dining table with ocean views. We sure aren't here for the shopping.

beach breakast

Forget about tequila and sex on the beach.  Green smoothies are where it's at.  Our breakfast staple - banana, papaya, ginger, greens, lemon juice, water.  Gets your motor running. 

smoothies & scrabble

After loosening the constraints of our diet while Matt was here, we are now reigning it back with a green smoothie & salad blitz. Out comes the Scrabble board, and a blender full of banana, papaya and silverbeet is knocked back between words. Let it be know that I am still the champ.

international green smoothie day

We don’t know who coined this one, but hear, hear. Homage to the humble green smoothie.

We have run out of bananas, so this morning’s blend is a simple papaya and greens combo. Just got the smoothie made before thegenerator shit itself again. Thankfully there are two days of power coming up for Indonesian Independence Day, so we have time to get the “fumigator” fixed.

We encourage everyone to incorporate green smoothies into your diet – they really are delicious, quick and easy. For fun, you can join up to the free “14 day smoothie challenge”, or at least check out the recipes and testimonials on this site. For background to the green smoothie revolution and detailed research findings into the benefits of simply adding 1L of green smoothie to your current diet, check out Victoria Boutenko’s website or get your hands on one of her inspiring books : "Green for Life" and "Green Smoothie Revolution".

Kermit was wrong. It is EASY being green.

know your greens

Being the only vegetarians in the village, we are often called upon by other bulehs to identify the leafy greens, and espouse their many benefits and uses. Over time, we have identified which ones are best in salad, which ones make a tasty green smoothie, and which ones are good for roll-ups. The greens are plentiful and cheap, sold per bunch, tied together with a strip of lontar or pandanus leaf. They are grown organically within a 20 km radius, and picked fresh on market morning. Heaven for a raw foodie and the planet.

The main greens available are :
bayam (amaranth leaves) – dark green, small leaves, our salad staple

sayur putih (literally white vegetable; bok choi) – fibrous & strong, good for green wraps



sayur hijau (literally green vegetable; pak choi) – large fibrous leaves, softer stem than sayur putih, our choice for green smoothies (shown above)



kangkong (water spinach) - nicknamed "dream weed" for their alleged ability to stimulate dreams, small narrow leaf and fibrous stem. We don't use these often. (shown above left, with sayur putih)

daun ubi (sweet potato leaves) – very tough stems, small elongated leaves, don’t get into these much.

dangerous smoothies

The generator lives at the side of the house, jammed in with the left over timber, buckets, shovels and mops. It has a tendency to grow legs and walk when left in view, so we have wrapped it up like a present in one of Tom’s discarded paintings. We didn’t foresee our enthusiasm for green smoothies when designing the house, so an easily accessible generator shed wasn’t on the plan.

The usual regime is, I get the ingredients for the smoothie ready while Tom the “Genny Boy” cranks up the “fumigator.” This arvo I took charge of the pull cord, knocked the shovel, which knocked the sledgehammer, which fell onto my head. Ohh yeah, that hurts.

raw food bali

Every Saturday morning there is a small organic market that brings together 10 local, independent growers and related businesses with a selection of vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants, natural cosmetics and remedies, breads, cakes, rice and organic seeds and seedlings. I purchase a bag of lush vanilla beans, locally grown raw cacao and hibiscus seeds to try in the garden. Morning tea is a green smoothie and a cashew-milk latte chaser (woops, there's the coffee monster again) at the divine Little K raw vegan café. Tucked behind the Yoga Barn, the shady deck overlooks a terraced garden of coconuts, bananas and tangled undergrowth, rising to rice padis beyond. Me and my laptop are in wireless heaven.

There is a blossoming raw food network in Bali, particularly around Ubud, that is in part driven by Mark Ament and Leah Rinaldi, founders of Raw Food Bali. They hold regular raw food classes, retreats and pot-luck dinners, and their website is a valuable information portal for everything raw. I visit Mark at his home - where students of a raw food class are eagerly devouring their vegan creations - and pick up a supply of raw cashews (hand shelled in Flores), virgin coconut oil, and Balinese cacao beans. We are set for another month of "power day smoothies."

green smoothie revolution

Green smoothies are back on the menu. We only have power from 6.00pm to 6.00am, so we make our smoothie at night and keep it in the freezer. Living in a house without walls we are generally awake at dawn to the rustling of coconut leaves, chooks, dogs, and the full volume chatting of locals beginning their daily activities. Even so, it is nice to grab the extra few minutes sleep if a quiet morning arises.

Today's green smoothie contains pak choi, papaya, banana, orange juice, bee pollen & goji berries. A little enthusiastic with the pak choi plus I threw in some papaya seeds, so the result is a bit bitter. For more information about the magic of green smoothies, check out Victoria Boutenko's website, the mother of the green smoothie revolution.

Rain for a third day and the temperature is a mild 26 degrees. I dust off Tom’s old cut-off wetsuit and join Hildi for a surf in the drizzle.