The always-interesting, style-inspiring raw chef Ani Phyo has a new uncookbook coming out in the spring! She promises lots of full-color photos and I can’t wait. In the meantime, look at how pretty and fashionable she is (not to mention that she is ethically cool too: a recycling vegan who lives in Portland!). I wanna be her when I grow up.

I really want to try a new fat-melting procedure called Velashape. Designed to help combat cellulite on the tummy, butt, thighs, and hips, it’s non-invasive and FDA-approved. I’d like to do it ASAP, but it works best on people who are within 10 pounds of their goal weight. Since I’d like to drop more than that, I might hold off for awhile and see how it goes. If you live in the Atlanta area, you can have it done at Trinity Massage and Aesthetics. If anyone has tried it, please let me know what you thought. In the meantime, check this out:

As a vegetarian, I know that it’s important to include lots of beans in my diet, to make sure I get appropriate levels of protein and fiber. As a picky eater, I pretty much avoid beans. Oh sure, I’ll eat green beans now and then, and I’ve had baked beans in the past, but I’m not much of a cook, so I don’t really explore new foods very often.

But I recently checked out The Daily Bean, by Suzanne Caciola White. Filled in 175 recipes for black, white, red, and garbanzo beans, plus lentils, this book is pretty interesting. The standard fare is there: burritos, salads, soups, pastas…but she also makes bean pancakes, pies, and puddings. Right now, I’m considering a fairly simple-looking black bean salad; we’ll see how it goes.

Once the weather turns colder, I might turn my attention to soup. (I’m also not much of a soup eater, to the consternation of pretty much everyone I know). I like pumpkin and Rachael Ray, and I found a recipe of hers that looks pretty tasty and easy: pumpkin black-bean soup. I actually have this particular recipe on a DVD, so I’ve seen it in action, and it looks very simple to make. I can’t find an online version of the video, but I did find someone else’s version of the soup on youtube, so I thought I’d share it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wx1Kt2suzOY

If anyone tries either of these recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know how the soup turned out!

Now that the 4th of July has passed, it feels like summer is really in effect. It hits in the upper 80s every day, stays light until 9:00, and every public building is freezing because the air conditioners are all on full blast. It’s the best time of year to focus on your health, too: the weather in conducive to swimming and outdoor workouts, and the grocery stores are bursting with yummy fresh produce. I’ve been working out with a trainer once a week, and I’ve been trying to squeeze in a few workouts on my own between sessions, so I thought I’d share my 2008 summer exercise playlist.