carrot daikon drink!

since i didn't make this today, a photograph will be forthcoming.  in the mean time, this is a request for carrot daikon drink from a friend of mine.

carrot daikon drink is great for releasing old stores of stagnant oils and animal products.  it's particularly useful after a cleanse or fast to get that stuff up and out.

it's important when you do a regimen of carrot daikon drink to walk lots, drink lots of water, and chew your food well.  i believe intuitively that it works best that way.

also, don't do it before bed.  you'll be up peeing all night.  thank you daikon!

also also, do not eat for thirty minutes before or after carrot daikon drink unless instructed to do so by your macrobiotic counselor :)

carrot daikon drink
one serving

1 cup grated carrot (fine to semi-fine grating)
1 cup grated daikon (fine to semi-fine grating)
1 square inch nori seaweed
1/3 pickled umeboshi plum or 1/2 tsp umeboshi plum paste

bring 2 cups of water to a boil.  add carrot and daikon, return to boil, and simmer ten minutes.  add nori and ume plum.  let sit until it's cool enough to drink, and drink/eat 1 cup.  if you've got extras, i always like to share :)

user warning:  this stuff smells really, really bad.  prepare to clear out your house.  people will complain.

It's A Dark Brown, Rich Beverage

They say civilization is only three meals away from anarchy.

After five days in the car, it happens a lot faster than that.

We decided our collective kidneys were fried after days of coffee and hard crackers, so we decided to start a family three-day remedy regimen.  The family that slow-cooks beans together stays together.

What I hope to accomplish in drinking this tea is discharging stagnant kidney energy, thus sleeping better, experiencing less bloating, and lose those bags under my eyes from late nights on the road!

1 cup dried organic aduki beans

5 cups spring water

Kombu, wakame or nori seaweed, postage stamp-sized (optional)

Set five cups water to boil.  If you tend to be dry and thin, either avoid this tea or be sure to use the seaweed.  If you start to feel yourself growing tense after drinking this a few days, add the seaweed.

Simmer aduki beans in boiling water for one hour.  Most of the liquid should boil down, and the brown liquid that's left should be thick as Paula Deen's tears.  I drink this at least an hour before bed, because sometimes it gives me an upset stomach.

Follow for three days or as directed by a counselor.

Food First Aid: Cabbage Poultice

It's been an eternity since I last posted, so I apologize.  I have about six huge posts saved up for you guys that I've just been sitting on.  They'll be beautiful, I promise!

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I just moved home, and I've been cleaning out the attic.  It's boxes on boxes under boxes beneath rugs that conceal yet more... well, you know.  So I'm throwing away old college Japanese tests and three copies of Homer's Odyssey when something tiny and brown jumps out of the box, on my leg, and scurries away.

Needless to say, I woke up today on a road trip to the Kushi Institute to find my calf swollen, red, itchy, and angry.  A patch about the size of an Oreo cookie was raised like a welt with a big red mark in the middle.  It was a spider bite.

I just got bitten by a tick a month ago, and had another, much scarier spider bite in high school, so I knew what I wanted to do.  I took a road trip pit-stop at the Waynesville, Virginia Super Walmart.  It was a lovely Super Walmart.  It has probably never seen a Hillary '08 shirt, an organic tomato, or anything portraying Barack Obama in a positive light.

At the Waynesville Super Walmart, I snagged myself a green cabbage, making sure the darker outer layers were still hanging around.  Organic would have been ideal, but it worked.  At this point, the spider bite had gotten really uncomfortable, hot, and really swollen.

I applied a cabbage poultice for four hours, trading the leaves once an hour.  I didn't see any difference after one hour, a small difference after three, and a remarkable difference between hours three and four. The area directly targeting the bite on the cabbage leaf had actually wilted and partially dissolved.

Six hours later, I can still see a small round circle, but the swelling and redness are almost gone.  This is the second time cabbage has really helped me out with a painful bug bite.

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I would recommend going to the doctor's office for ANY bug bite that looks bad.  Spider bites in particular can be really nasty if left untreated, and can result in surgery or limb loss, so I say it's ALWAYS better safe than sorry.  I resorted to the cabbage because I was in the middle of rural Virginia and was desperate, and just wanted to share my story.

If the doctor OK's it and says it's not dangerous, but I'm still feeling discomfort from swelling or itching, the cabbage really helped me.

If You've Got the Poison...

re • me • dy
(noun)  Middle English remedie.  The process by which a concoction of grated daikon radish becomes a bout of self-induced diarrhea.

When I began this lifestyle, I thought there was no WAY vegetables could have as powerful an effect on the body as prescription medication.

I had time to think about the potential holes in my logic after one too many Carrot-Daikon remedies.  There is remarkable clarity to be found in the bathroom at four in the morning.

My face is wrapped in a washcloth soaked in hot ginger water.
Beneath the cloth is a thick paste of grated fresh lotus root.
This is the scariest image you'll ever see on my blog.

There are several traditional Japanese and Chinese remedies regularly used in the macrobiotic diet and practice.  Some of them are external, like the Lotus Root Plaster (see haunting image to your right).

Others, like Carrot-Daikon Drink and Ume Sho Kuzu, are taken internally at specific times of day.  I do not recommend taking these remedies without the guidance of someone who knows what they're talking about, like a macrobiotic counselor, acupuncturist, or herbalist.  They can have a profound impact on the body, especially when taken over the course of a few weeks.

That being said, here is my quick and dirty guide to remedies.  If you have been told that you need them, this is how I'd do it...

Lotus Root Plaster

- 1 fresh lotus root, cleaned and dried
- 1 tbsp flour (whole wheat pastry or rice flour)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger root (if your condition is sensitive, omit)
- Washcloth

Grate lotus root with fine metal or ceramic circle grater until it forms a smooth paste.
Add flour and juice from fresh ginger and mix with hands.
Put on ugly jammies.  This will jack up your good jammies.
Before bed, apply 1/2 inch-thick layer of paste on sinuses, chest, and swollen glands.  Wrap face in gauze or washcloth with air holes, and prepare to lay very, very still.


In the morning, remove what's left of the paste from your skin with a good, hot shower, and prepare for your eyes, nose, and lungs to start discharging infection.  This means that you need to start carrying tissue.


Follow up with another night of lotus root plaster or at the very least, body scrubs.


In the morning I'd recommend changing your sheets.  When this stuff falls off your face, it doesn't look good.


Carrot Daikon Drink
- 1 cup grated fresh carrot (fine grater)
- 1 cup grated fresh daikon (fresh grater)
- 1 1/2 cup water
- Dash shoyu/tamari
-1" square nori seaweed


I like to make this in the morning before breakfast.  Do not eat 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after Carrot Daikon Drink unless instructed to do so by your counselor.


Grate your carrots and daikon on your fine grater.  If using a ceramic circle grater, rotate your arm in the same direction.  This is a helpful meditation and keeps consistent energy in your dish.


Combine all ingredients in a small pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for ten minutes.  Drink while hot, and eat all the solid ingredients.  This makes a good amount of remedy, so don't try to finish it yourself if it doesn't feel natural.


The one thing I miss the most about the Kushi Institute is making remedies at night with my fellow cooks.  I can't tell you guys how cool it is to simmer black soybeans at midnight with a bunch of close friends.

It's the little things in life...