Day 1, 11-11, The Hero's Journey

Spitzweg, visipix.com

 I woke early prepared to face the great challenge that lie ahead:  What would I eat for breakfast? 

While nibbling the last bites of a sesame bagel the previous evening, I drafted a list of possibilities--most of which included rice. I cooked up two pots--one for savory dishes, and another for sweet--albeit without any sweetener.

At 6:30 on the morning of the first full day of my "cleanse", I heroically toasted pecans and dusted apples with cinnamon to add flair and sustenance to my breakfast pudding simmering on the stove. 

An hour later, my youngest came galloping down the stairs saying, "Yum! Rice pudding, can I have some?" I begrudgingly doled out a small bowl of my only provisions, as he sat down to a breakfast of Gail's farm eggs, Canadian bacon and toasted oat bread from Amy's Bakery on Main Street. 

At 8:30, the phone rang, and I received the news that set the dire need for a cleanse into motion tow week earlier. It was a Friday afternoon when I had an interview with this organization that knocked my socks off. Afterward, I met my husband at a Tavern where we shared the fateful chicken wings that attacked my gallbladder for hours into a sleepless night.

For days I couldn't eat a thing without great suffering which is what brought me to my doctor's office and dumped me into this strange world without gluten or dairy or sugar or alcohol or I can't remember what else, but it's bad.

"Kelly, if you're still interested in working with us, we'd like to offer you the position," the voice on the phone said, not knowing that I would only be eating rice for three weeks.

My friend Jess arrived an hour later for our walk, presenting me with two celebratory scones.


"I can't.  I told her. I'm on a three-week liver cleanse."

"You?" she said.  "I thought you only thought about cleanses, but didn't actually do them."

"I know, I know," I said. "But this time, I don't have a choice."

"I'm so sorry," she said, with a sincerity that I dismissed as disproportionate.

I didn't tell her that I had just started the cleanse an hour earlier.  I wasn't sure she could understand how hard it had been to face a morning without green tea and toast, and how there was no way I could endure starting all over again having made it this far into this insane commitment.

But Jess understood more than I knew.  She did the same cleanse last spring and had even invited me to do it with her. Knowing that, I should have been more suspect of her compassion and concern, but I had yet to learn what lie ahead...


ps. The Moosewood is where I found the recipe for the rice pudding which I made with rich soy milk.  Mollie offers good, wholesome recipes in all her cookbooks.   As far as soy milk, there's only one I really like for its rich, satisfying flavor, and that's Eden Soy in the original flavor. It's great for making chai too!