Brasil Hangover Salad

Lovely lovely warm music-in-the-streets life-loving Rio. Very unlovely hangover. I won't claim this salad cured my hangover, but it did enable me to make it the few blocks to the beach and a fresh coconut full of life sustaining head clearing electrolyte-filled water. The salad took a whopping hour to make, but only on account of massive hangover slow motion.

The Baghdad version would have dried figs and dried coconut carted in from Jordan and no cilantro, unless we brought it in fresh from Amman and then got a hangover within three days before it went off and was forgotten in the depths of the fridge. If I really were hungover in Baghdad, by the way, I'd try to con Sara into going to the cafeteria for the spinach, since that's a long walk in the scorching sun with no coconuts or spontaneous bossa nova along the way. If she wouldn't, I'd probably eat the ingredients sans spinach in bed while watching reruns of Dead Like Me and whining.

Brasil Hangover Salad
2 cups spinach
1 large handful cilantro, de-stemmed
1/4 cup shredded coconut, fresh (2 T if dried)
1 mango, cubes
2 figs, sliced
2 T almonds
1 T pumpkin seeds
1 T sunflower seeds
1 t balsamic vinegar
1 t olive oil
1 t lavender pepper

Toss in a big bowl, and mind the knife in your hungover state...

P.S. Have you had this new-fangled lavender pepper? It's black pepper mixed with dried lavender buds and a touch of sea salt. It adds an incredible little note to salads and veggies. (You can make your own by adding dried lavender to your pepper grinder and giving it a shake). Be careful about getting carried away with this new taste sensation and over-peppering, as you don't want to choke on a particularly peppery mouthful. Just sayin'.

Bagnola

There's nothing like a delicious bowl of raw granola to start your day off right. This Bagnola (inspired by a let's-pull-everything-out-of-the-cabinets-and-see-what-happens-when-we-mix-it-together moment - you know those moments) can be eaten like trail mix or enjoyed in a fresh foamy bath of raw nut milk. The buckwheat groats are supposed to be crazy good for you, and add a cereal feel. I always get grossed out when I soak and rinse them, because the soak water is full of gooey slime, but if you go to a safe place in your head and squint your eyes really hard while rinsing, it's not too terrible. I also envision all the residual goo magically evaporating during dehydration. Don't you dare tell me that's a unicorn idea.

Bagnola

1 cup buckwheat groats, soaked 30 m, rinsed and dehydrated until dry, crispy and goo-free (for you with your fancy dehydrator, maybe 4-6 hours, for us, a loooong time in a very slow oven)

1 cup goji berries

1/2 cup mulberries

1/2 cup almonds, crushed into bits

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup dried blueberries

1/4 cup cocoa nibs

some chopped dates, if you want to get fancy, or sweeter

The sweet chewiness of the mulberries balances out the crunchiness of the groats and muskiness of the goji berries, and the coconut and blueberries add a little more texture and flavor zing. (The cocoa nibs just add... well, cocoa. My theory is chocolate goes in/with everything.) Throw in a container and shake.

Carry on the go as a snack, or blend 1/4 cup raw almonds, cashews or pecans (soaked/rinsed/dehydrated, if you're into that) with 1 cup pure water, and douse a hearty bowl of Baghnola. I bet if you mixed in some sort of adhesive-y material, like banana, you could dehydrate and make trail mix bars... science project for the fall.