Today is the last Tuesday of the Iranian (Persian) year…. What is the significance? The Eve of the last Wednesday is called “Chaharshanbeh Suri” (Chaharshanbeh = Wednesday & Suri = Fire), which is the Festival of Fire.

The festival of fire is a prelude to the Nowruz festival, which marks the arrival of spring and revival of nature. Bonfires are lit to keep the sun alive till early hours of the morning. The celebration usually starts in the evening, with people making bonfires in the streets and jumping over them.
There is no religious significance attached to Chaharshanbeh Soori and it serves as a cultural festival for Persians, Persian Jews, Muslims, Armenians, Kurds, Turks and Zoroastrians alike. Indeed this celebration, in particular the significant role of fire, is likely to hail from Zoroastrianism.

As we jump over the fire, we say Zardiye man az tou, Sorkhiye to az man, which means   “Your redness (health) is mine; my paleness (pain) is yours.”

Unfortunately since we have moved to Houston I haven’t been able to attened Chaharshanbeh Suri, this was a party/festival that I never missed while I live in Atlanta.  The festivities are usually well organized.   The one in Atlana is usually hosted in Rosewell by the Chattahoochi river, with tons of food and a DJ

There are two Chaharshanbe Suri here in Houston tonight….  well it looks like Raymond and I going so I will be posting pictures in my post tomorrow.

You can find the location of Chaharshanbeh Suri in your city (US &Europe) by clicking here.

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Lack of sleep and traveling this past weekend is catching up with me.  I am miserably tired today.  Last night I told myself I will be in bed no later than 8:30, well that didn’t happen tonight I am really hoping to get into bed really early (hence my hesitation to go out tonight).

I skipped my AM workout so Raymond and I can go for a bike ride in the evening.  So since I was home for breakfast I offered to make Raymond a bowl of oatmeal  I got home and was super exhausted and since we had a little bit of drizzle it was enough excuse for me to say…. let’s take today as rest day.

I started my day with 16 oz of Green Juice.   I felt very dehydrated so I drank some coconut water on my way to work.   I had a tangerine and some strawberries for my AM snack.   Lunch was something I had been craving… OATMEAL!

In todays mix

- 1/3 C Scotish Oats
- 1 C Hemp Milk
- 1 tbsp Flax Seed
- 1 tbsp Almond Butter
- 0.5 tbsp Rose Jam
- 1 Banana
- 2 strawberries

The afternoon dragged…. all I could picture was Sadie sleeping my big bed and thinking I wish I was cuddled up with my little munchkin!  Since day dreaming didn’t help I made myself a large cup of tea and ate two dates with some pecans.

Dinner was quick and yummy.   I roasted Eggplant, Zucchini, Okra and small red potatoes and steamed Broccoli and carrots…. I served the veggies with Millet.

This was my first time trying millet… I liked it but I didn’t love it like I love quinoa.

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Thank you for your comments about the Kid at Starbucks… from your comments I learned that Starbucks now has Oatmeal… so I looked at their website

Its good to know when traveling and don’t have many options.  But in general though I feel like most of their breakfast cakes are not really a healthy option for an adult let alone for a kid.  I do agree everything in moderation so once in a while treat is fine where as an everyday breakfast at Starbucks probably not a good idea.

You can find nutritional information for everything on Starbucks’s menu here.

~ G