Feline Farewells, Dragon Dreams, & Significant (Other) Updates

Is it already time to celebrate the arrival of another new year? 🐱>🐉 🤔

The Year of The Cat was an absolutely amazing, often intense, and incredibly educational journey––despite having commenced rather peculiarly/formidably. Looking back it now feels like one of the best years I’ve had in ages, possibly ever. Even in consideration of a few (then) seemingly endless difficulties faced along the way, it actually proved to be an incredibly momentous, transformational period for me––as I suppose is meant to be any year of one’s own lunar zodiac. At least that’s how I seem to recall having been told how the opposition thing works… Am I far off in this recollection?
In any case, it also kept me so heavily occupied that finding time to post here (or anywhere, for that matter) proved relatively impossible! As it has now been nearly an entire year since my last update to this blog, there now seems quite a bit of news to share––mainly consisting of big changes in progress and interesting things ahead!

However, I would first like to pay tribute to a very dear friend to whom I shall refer simply as “Prudence” (😉)––an incredibly funny, clever, and beautiful fellow “cat” of Vietnamese descent who taught me a great deal about traditions, taboos, and etiquette observed at the start of each new lunar year. Happy new year, sister! 🐱🐲

Secondly, I would like to acknowledge the passing of sweet Huxley––my father’s beautiful feline companion who left us in August 2023. Why is it that so many of my most beloved feline friends pass away in August? This makes late Summertime seem like an especially poignant time of the year for me, often leading to transformative events and decisions made in relation to such dramatic shifts in energy. Huxley the (feline) Bear was clever, joyful, hilarious, and incredibly affectionate––especially for someone who had found his way to us by way of a feral community in my old Riverdale neighbourhood.
Having brought so many wonderful years of comfort and happiness into Daddy’s life through his own final days on Earth, Hux truly deserved more than I was able to adequately provide for him as his inherited guardian. I feel so deeply remorseful for not having been there to see him off, though news of his imminent mortality may also have served as a sort of revived motivation for me to clear out all aspects of life which seemed misaligned with my heart’s desire and life’s true purpose.

In relation to such, I am also quite appreciative for such as a sort of blessing-in-disguise––thus feeling compelled to express my deepest heartfelt gratitude for another divinely life-altering gift…
While it seemed as if one special bear having ascended from Earth should have created a sort of sad empty space in my life, my heart rather unexpectedly opened itself up to make room for a few more angelic guides (to whom I also refer affectionately as “bears”)––led by one of the most incredibly clever, resourceful, and limitlessly capable men I have ever encountered (the first having been my own dear father––may his soul rest in eternal peace).

So many aspects of his character, interests, inspirations, motivations, even approaches to life seem so incredibly well aligned with my own… it’s almost as if we grew up together! As such, he has rather successfully managed to remind me of who I truly am, what I am meant to be doing, how I should be going about doing it, and essentially “saved” this past year by helping to transform each day into some of the most wonderful, memorable milestones I could ever have hoped to experience. I am grateful beyond my own present scope of words to have been welcomed into this beautiful family, and for each little project, adventure, and task that comes my way as a harmonious element within this rhapsodic alliance. 🤗💚

And so, as a result of certain aforementioned points, I feel relatively comfortable in announcing that I am finally getting back on track––albeit from a slightly different perspective than how I had previously been doing things––and no longer on my own.

Over the past several months Alex and I have been interactively collaborating, co-creating, and working diligently toward alignment of our intentions to help others to the best of our abilities––both respectively and also as part of a team effort––doing our very best to provide high quality goods and services in blissful cooperation with a select handful of well-respected friends, mentors, and other esteemed collaborators.

The book on which I had been working for many years has since evolved into a joyfully collaborative effort, thanks entirely to the very best recipe tester one could ever hope to find. Alex not only tries out my formulas, he somehow next-levels many of them to the point where they evolve into something even more magical than I could have ever dreamed up or created on my own. Alex’s presence in my life has been a Godsend, and I cannot recall a time of greater happiness for me within this incarnation. Thanks, Bear! 💜

And then there is the matter of websites…

Although still an ongoing work-in-progress at the moment, this particular site has recently undergone some notable changes––including a rebranding of sorts. As such, The Raw Veganista is now known as Ahimsa Living Wellness––and AhimsaLivingWellness.com shall be the new URL for the site (although both domains shall, for the time being, lead to exactly the same place). As such, I have taken some time to update certain elements of the site––including its “about me” section and a few other bits. The old blog shall also be archived, and all future posts shall be directed to a few new spots––either directly or by way of cross-posting between interconnected websites:

Veganarchy.co.uk – A uniquely specialised database for locating events, amenities, goods, and services––especially for subscribers based within the the United Kingdom.
Veganarchist.kitchen––the international hub for showcasing numerous ventures, ideas, and formulations via ourselves, as well as featured collaborators from all over the world.
DarkStardust.com––My hub for curation and cataloguing of my own non-culinary creative endeavours! Here you will find links to musical projects/releases (along with infos on how to book me for future work), creative/design elements, featured collaborative partnerships, and (most recently) precious metal & gemstone jewellery available for sale.
OrganicAlex.com––Alex’s site! Here you can learn more about the exceptional man himself, types of services he is able to offer, arrange consultations, directly book him (and us) for a variety of events, services, etc. from virtually anywhere on Earth.

There is also a rather expansively detailed foreword posted to the blogging portal, further explaining some of my intentions in moving forward with the Ahimsa Living Wellness brand (and this website).

All other sites are nearly complete, hopefully ready to to go live a bit later on this month, whilst this one shall remain a work in progress for a bit longer as things take shape elsewhere.

As far as social media is concerned, I am still on hiatus from mainstream outlets, but have been archiving a fair amount of my culinary work (as well as some of our collaborative efforts) via what was once a “secret archive” on Flickr. There are also some Telegram channels to which one may subscribe for various updates, and I am presently in the process of creating a Linktree to keep track of everything from one static location.
Meanwhile, Alex can be found via all of the usual spots (Instagram, FB, etc.) as “Organic Alex” & “Organic Alex Catering” whilst his newly renovated site (organicalex.com) is undergoing -its- finalising touches.

I have now written enough here that friends & family who subscribe for such news should be feeling relatively satisfied (if not overwhelmed), and far more than enough for anyone else who may have been wondering about what’s been happening with the blog and my ongoing raw/living foods-centred journey toward full recovery.

I also suppose at this point that you should all be rewarded for all of your patience, time, and effort in having read this far… As such, I shall leave you with a “vintage” recipe from LORAX Community Kitchen that I’ve been planning to make for Alex and some dear friends with whom we are meant to be reconnecting this week, along with some inspiration for the new lunar year:

Spicy Cabbage & Sesame Salad with “Wasabi” Aioli –

Salad:

Preparation:

1. Combine cabbage, shredded carrot, cilantro, scallions & a small amount of sesame oil in a large serving bowl.
2. Place pumpkin seeds, ginger, horseradish & salt into Vitamix (or similar high speed blender)
3. Add oils & a small amount of water

4. Start Viamix on lowest dial setting, gradually increasing speed & adding water as substance breaks down and becomes pasty/creamy, but not too liquidy (stop & re-start to check consistency).

The end result should appear something like this:

 

5. Pour wasabi mixture over cabbage salad & mix well (there should be surplus to reserve for later use as a condiment).

Sending many heartfelt thanks to all of you who have been reading through, along with warm thoughts and good wishes for all of the luck of this new Dragon Year upon us! 💜