Lead us not into temptation

As I've mentioned before, this raw food cleanse has been very easy to follow and I am enjoying the recipes, the food, the feelings of aliveness and well-being and I definitely see it as a fairly permanent way of life.

But there are always temptations and you never know what type of martini is lurking around the corner ready to jump into your mouth.

Now let's get this straight -- I am NOT hankering for a martini and I am perfectly happy to be sitting here with my avocado pudding sprinkled with bananas (and now I know why you soak the dates ... because the skins are rather, umm, unsmooth?) but as each weekend approaches I feel the twinges of ... oh, it would be so nice to sit on the dock with a cocktail.  Or on Thursday night, when Peter and I normally go to the New London Inn for dinner, I feel a rather large twinge ... as well as a HUGE desire for there to be a raw food restaurant in the vicinity.  I mean, going out to eat is social, it's fun and it gets me out of the house and way from the kids who will drive me insane (which is understandable considering that in the past three weeks Peter and I have not gone out together, alone, at all.)  Food is such a thing.  It is so controlling.  How dare it decide whether or not I get my Thursday nights out?

Bah.

Last night we went out with friends for dinner -- and I did not have cocktails on the dock, but everyone else did.  I did not have cocktails at dinner, but everyone else did.  And I did not eat the appetizers they ordered ... but I did order myself a vegetarian pizza.  I mean, that's not raw, and while it is okay to go off the raw path, I don't think a pizza is every really copesetic.  And I woke up this morning not feeling light ... but heavy.  With the thoughts of NO MORE PIZZA running through my head.

It's just not as good as it used to be.

Today I have been printing out recipes left and right.  I made myself little appetizers with the dehydrated onion bread, with a slice of tomato, onion and avocado ... but then I was left with 3/4's of an avocado ... and all they do once open is go brown.  So I made chocolate pudding with the remaining avocado, but had to figure out measurements by winging it ... which was fine, but ignoring the soak dates command was wrong!  The lesson I learned today was that if you only use a small part of avocado you must have a plan B!

My 21 day cleanse will be up on Wednesday ... but I am not ready to give up everything.  I don't want to go back to cocktails daily -- and believe me, that is easy during the summer -- and I don't want to have a few cocktails and then find myself enjoying pizza.  I believe that can happen!  The devil's spirits will cause me to seek the heat of cooked food (which of course is devil-related, burning fires of hell and all).  Oh, you can find all sorts of craziness in the raw world -- but mostly it is inhabited by people who come up with fab recipes and share them with abandon!  Love it!

The hardest thing is that everything is work.  A few weekends ago I made watermelon juice and put it in a wine glass -- and had that sitting on the dock.  It was refreshing and yet, a pain because I had to make it, then clean the juicer.  (Not like unscrewing a bottle of vodka, you know?)

But my sister assures me that wine is raw.  So lead us not into temptation and pour me a glass of wine already.