Whale Saves Diver

I just really wanted to share this beautiful story of a whale saving a diver. I copied the article below, but check out the article for the pictures of the whale saving the diver's life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1202941/Pictured-The-moment-Mila-brave-Beluga-whale-saved-stricken-divers-life-pushing-surface.html

It looks like a moment of terror - a diver finds her leg clamped in the jaws of a beluga whale. In fact, it was a stunning example of an animal coming to the rescue of a human life.
Yang Yun, 26, was taking part in a free diving contest without breathing equipment among the whales in a tank of water more than 20ft deep and chilled to Arctic temperatures.
She says that when she tried to return to the surface, she found her legs crippled by cramp from the freezing cold. At that point Mila the beluga took a hand, or rather a flipper.

'We suddenly saw the girl being pushed to the top of the pool with her leg in Mila's mouth,' said an official at Polar Land in Harbin, north-east China.
'She's a sensitive animal who works closely with humans and I think this girl owes Mila her life.'
Thankfully belugas, which live in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and feed on small fish and squid, have only small teeth and Yang Yun was uninjured.
At depths of 20ft and below, the water pressure keeps a body down, particularly if, as in this case, the limbs are effectively paralysed by the cold.
Reliving the drama, Yang Yun said: 'I began to choke and sank even lower and I thought that was it for me - I was dead.
'Until I felt this incredible force under me driving me to the surface.'


I never will understand why humans keep these magnificent creatures in small tanks, denying whales their right to live a free life in the open oceans with their pods. I cannot imagine the toll it takes on them emotionally, let alone physically (think about it, a whale naturally would roam thousands of miles in the vast open ocean, and we confine them to these little tanks, how hard must that be on them physically, too?), to live in captivity. Every time I've been to a zoo I've been sickened by it. I visited Sea World in 2008 with my mom and my husband and while I was glad we went because it was another experience that I thought on for a long while and it opened my eyes even more to the many ways we exploit animals; I just felt so sick to see these creatures kept locked up and forced to do tricks to please us stupid humans in the crowds. It is not right and it never will be right. That whale most likely has more compassion in her than the diver she saved today.

If a human was ripped away from its family in the wild, or if the human was bred in captivity and then taken away from its mother (the bond between a mother whale and it's baby is very strong), and then be forced to perform ridiculous tricks so a crowd could laugh and point and take pictures, and then also be denied all the wants and needs that million's of years have ingrained into them (such as living in a pod of fellow humans, choosing their own mate, eating what they want instead of whatever is given to them, going where they please, living where they choose to, having their offspring where they choose to, etc)... do you think that human would have enough compassion to save the life of one of these stupid beings that has complicity in their captivity and torment? I doubt it.

I don't mean to turn this beautiful story into a debbie downer type thing. I applaud this whale for having so much compassion. Animals will never cease to amaze me. All of us could learn from them at some time or another in our lives. I only wish all these magnificent creatures we keep locked up in our zoos and aquariums as nothing more than prisoners for entertainment could be returned to the wild where they belong. Please don't support zoos and aquariums. It isn't right that beings like this whale named Mila has to spend her days as nothing more than a prisoner for our entertainment.

Spicy Eggplant Wrap

1 eggplant
3 cloves garlic

1tsp ancho chile powder

1/2tsp smoked spanish paprika

3tb veganaise (or other vegan mayo, or regular mayo if you're not vegan)

1/4tsp salt

Originally I got this recipe from blog.fatfreevegan.com, but I didn't have it written down and didn't have time to go search for it in their archives. So I just made something similar. I started with preheating the oven to 425. While it was preheating I washed the eggplant, poked a few holes into it, and sprayed a cookie sheet with some non-stick spray and put it in the oven for 45 minutes. After it was done I cut it open and I let it cool while I chopped up veggies for the wrap. Once it was cool enough to handle I scrapped all the inside of the eggplant into a blender with the garlic, ancho chile powder, smoked spanish paprika, veganaise, and salt, then I blended it until it was fully pureed. It's delicious as a spread in wraps or as a dip for veggies. I made it a bit too spicy for myself tonight, but for those that like a fair amount of spice it is really delicious and the smoked spanish paprika adds a wonderful smokiness to it. The original recipe from fatfreevegan calls for chipotle chile powder and I couldn't find my jar, so I subbed the smoked spanish paprika and it worked very well. The original recipe also uses tahini instead of mayo, which would certainly be healthier but I am out of tahini.

The top picture is the finished spicy eggplant spread. The second picture is my plate of wrap fixings. It had a tomato that I cut half of it in slices and the other half diced, sliced radishes, broccoli, sweet red peppers, green leaf lettuce, and chickpeas. The last pic is of my plate with my tortilla wrap stuffed with spicy eggplant spread, chickpeas, tomato, lettuce, and sweet peppers, with radish and broccoli on the side. It was absolutely delicious and I am totally stuffed now! There's still plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow, too.

Oh, and please excuse the poor quality pictures. I can't find the cord for my camera to be able to upload pics, so I'm having to use my cell phone.

Farmer's Markets

Farmer's markets are always so exciting to visit. I'm lucky enough to live near one that is open 7 days a week and is located on their land. Today I got 2 large carrots, 2 peaches, 2 ears of corn, a head of lettuce, 3 tomatoes, 2 zucchinis, 2 containers of blueberries and a container of raspberries. Everything looks so delicious! I plan on making a bunch of salads, using some stuff for spicy eggplant wraps (from the fatfreevegan blog), zuchinni boats, grilling the corn with some veggie burgers, and some soy smoothies with the berries.