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Posts Tagged The Kind Diet

Mochi, the Adult Version of Sea Monkeys!

Jan 18

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 13 Comments

Well hello blog world!  My how quickly a week flies by when one is immersed in all sorts of recipe testing and business related stuff!

Fortunately I did take some time out to relax a bit over the weekend and make a fun Sunday breakfast. Have you ever had MOCHI before?

mochi

I knew it existed, I had read recipes for things to make with it (muffins, pizza crusts, waffles), but I’d just never picked any up at the store.  Cory loves waffles and so I decided to see what this mochi was all about.

One thing I love about the original flavor is the ingredient list:  Organic sweet brown rice, filtered water.

That’s it!

I cannot take credit for this fun idea – I learned the technique from Alicia Silverstone in her book The Kind Diet.  She has kindly included the recipe on her website as well for those of you who want to give it a try.   I didn’t make the syrup in the recipe – I just used a little raw honey and sprinkled it with chopped almonds.

This is my kind of cooking.  You cut the mochi into strips, lay it on your waffle iron, and VOILA – it grows into a waffle like those crazy sea monkeys we used to add to water as kids.

They were pretty good!  Definitely chewy and you want to add flavor with some sort of topping because alone they taste like, well… rice.

I even had some strips of tempeh bacon that I’d made the day before.  It was a fun and FAST breakfast for a lazy Sunday morning.

Next time I’ll have to try the Raisin-Cinnamon flavor!

Have you ever made mochi?  How do you like to prepare it? 

– Shari B. =)

 

 

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My Style Miso

Jan 10

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 5 Comments

Hi friends!  Happy Sunday!  It’s going to be 50 degrees today and I couldn’t be happier!  MSP and I are going get out for a REAL outdoors run!  Oh yeah!  Then on to meet one of my best friends for some SBUX action.  A great start to the day!

Since I posted the book review yesterday I didn’t recap much from Friday, so I’ll rewind a bit.

Friday’s workout was 30 minutes of intervals on the TM (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0 mph for a minute each then repeat) followed by 20 minutes of shoulder strength (KB overhead presses, KB side raises, rear delt rows, YTI).  Shoulders are truly one of my favorite muscle groups to work on.  I’ve had a heck of a time getting my rear shoulders to grow so I’ve really given them a lot of attention lately.

Saturday’s workout was another round of Physique 57 on DVD.  I’m getting better!  I even increased my weights on some of the moves!

***

Friday eats were of the usual sort for me.  I made “Now and Later” smoothies:

One to drink "NOW"

And one to drink "LATER"

The combination of greens, acai and a purple to-go container do not make for pretty food photo ops, that’s for sure.  That’s one UGLY smoothie!

Both smoothies had a couple of clementines in them and I would like to know who has the fun job of having to put one of these on EVERY single one:

I had leftovers again for lunch, so no exciting photos at my desk.  But what WAS exciting when I got home was getting to try my first Umeboshi Plum!

Raw veggies, raw goat cheddar, dollop of hummus and UMEBOSHI!

You know that face you might make when you bite into a lemon?  It was kind of like that at first.  It’s sour and SALTY.  But then you get into the flesh and you can kind of tell it was fruity before being pickled.  Definitely interesting.  They are highly alkalizing, but high in sodium too, so one every few days is plenty.  This is not an item that you pile onto your plate.

After posting my blog Friday I moved on to iTunes to see what I could spend a giftcard on.  My latest favorite cardio song is “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha. Yes, I’m still listening to music for teens.  Not sure how I’ll ever break that habit.  Although, her lyrics are definitely NOT appropriate for teens, I quickly found!  But for $6.99 on iTunes I couldn’t resist just getting the whole album.  She has some great high-tempo beats to run with!

It's a party at my PC...!

I made some My Style Miso for dinner, meaning I didn’t follow a recipe I just kind of threw in what I wanted.  Thought I’d share it with you in case you’d like to make some too!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/2 sheet Nori (folded and cut into strips)
  • 1-1/2 tsp barley miso
  • 4-5 shakes nama shoyu
  • handful fresh organic spinach

Bring broth, water and dried mushrooms to a light boil.  Simmer with bubbles for about 7 minutes, letting the mushrooms reconstitute.

Fold the nori and then cut into strips with kitchen shears, add to broth along with the spinach and the nama shoyu to taste (I used about 5 shakes of the bottle) and simmer for 3 minutes to let the seaweed and shoyu do their thing!

Using a measuring cup, take some of the liquid out of the soup pot so that you have something in which to dissolve the miso.  You only want about 1/2 a tsp to each cup of liquid with your miso soups (Thanks for the tip Alicia!) so I mixed 1.5 tsp of the brown barley miso into my liquid, stirring well till dissolved.  Then remove soup from heat (or turn down to LOW) and add the dissolved miso to it.

Stir it through with the rest of the liquid and serve after a minute or so.

The shiitake mushrooms made this dish feel ‘meaty’ and it was actually pretty filling all on it’s own that night.  You can make this so many ways, adding leftover brown rice, changing up your greens, adding tofu, etc.  As mentioned before, light broth soups are a great way to curb your appetite when you are trying to watch your portions.

Enjoy!

***

Well friends, I have an outdoor run calling my name right about  now!  See you soon!

Have a SUPERB Sunday!

– Shari B. =)

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Review: The Kind Diet

Jan 9

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 10 Comments

As promised, I have finally finished reading The Kind Diet (Alicia Silverstone) and thought you might enjoy hearing a little about it, in case you are interested in her book or in moving to more plant-based nutrition.

***

The PROS:

The book is beautiful

Right off the bat you can tell that she cares how her message is presented.  The paper is thick and sturdy.  It has a very nice, easy-to-read layout with full-color photos throughout.  If you decide that you want to purchase this book, be sure to get the actual book and not the Kindle version.  You’ll really be missing out if you do.


The message comes through in a friendly way

One of my favorite quotes from this book is:

“When you make this journey in your own way, there’s no such thing as failure.”

That seems to sum up her attitude throughout the book.  I was welcomed in by her conversational writing style and felt like a friend was educating me on a topic for which she has a lot of passion.

She offers many facts and informational sidebars, without coming across as overly “preachy” about a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

It is applicable to various levels of eating styles

She divides it into three eating plans of  Flirting, Vegan and Superhero.  People who are Flirting are learning about the lifestyle and aiming to cut down on their animal-product consumption (but not necessarily intending to go veggie) and she gives you a long list of ‘transitional’ foods that will help you switch out some of your favorites with something similar as you are getting started.  Her Vegan section includes rich and flavorful foods to show that you can still have things like cupcakes and tacos while enjoying a vegan lifestyle.  She also takes it one step further into what she calls the Superhero plan, where one learns to let their palate begin to appreciate the natural essence of vegan foods without many added spice or condiments.

I was pleasantly surprised to catch myself going “Huh… I didn’t know that” as I read along.  I learned a few new things, which is I appreciate. For example, I’d already been looking for miso that was NOT powdered and learned she recommends BARLEY miso (aged for at least two years).  Supposedly that has the highest level of “medicinal properties” when compared to other types of miso.  Additionally she taught me that you never want to add miso to the water or broth when it’s boiling or it can kill the enzymes so you want to add it at the end of cooking and simmer it for 2-3 minutes.

Chewing and digestion are important points in this book

And you know that makes me happy, because I am a stickler for wanting peeps to CHEW THEIR FOOD!  Myself included, because it’s easy to forget.  But good digestion starts in the mouth and I was tickled to see that Alicia touched on this a few times.

***

The Not-So-PROS
(I didn’t want to call them full-fledged “CONS”)


Many recipes call for Exotic Ingredients

She does have quite a few ingredients listed throughout that won’t be found at a ‘regular’ grocery store, so if you intend to use the book for recipes, hopefully you have a specialty healthfood store nearby.  Our local Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocer does now carry Umeboshi Plums (salt plums) and I just found them the other night.

Overuse of Two Obnoxious Words

“Yummy” and “sexy” were used all too often throughout.  I don’t really think of my food as sexy.  And I know foods needs to taste good and be yummy.   But those two words appeared a lot more than they needed to and it started to become distracting to me.

***

Recipe Tests:

Azuki Beans with Kabocha Squash:

This recipe was chosen from the Superhero recipe section of the book, so that means not a lot of spice action.  And to be honest you could tell.  As I had not yet found a Kabocha Squash at the time of making this recipe I subbed in Butternut (which the recipe mentioned would be fine.)

I made my beans from SCRATCH instead of relying on canned for probably the first time ever – and even soaked them with some Kombu seaweed as per the recipe:

It made a very hearty dish that provided me with plenty of easily reheatable lunches to-go for the week.  But I did have to add a few pinches of sea salt and nutritional yeast for some flavor each day because apparently I have not yet earned a Superhero’s taste buds.

Quinoa with Basil and Pine Nuts:

Again, I had to make a substitution because the pine nuts at Whole Foods were ridiculously expensive.  So MSP and I looked at each and said, “Who needs pine nuts??” and decided to use some sunflower seeds that we had on hand instead.  Wow was this dish aromatic.  I LOVE to use fresh basil in recipes – it smells amazing in the kitchen.  Because this was also a Superhero recipe, it too was a little bland so we had so give it some S&P the first night.  But the leftovers were REALLY flavorful because the basil had time to infuse with the rest of the dish.  So my tip would be to make this the day before you want to eat it.

***

Overall I have to say I really loved this book.  I want to go have tea with Alicia – she seems very fun to be around!  She is so passionate about animals and health that it’s hard not to get excited along with her.  This will be a book that will have a place in my kitchen, that I will refer to often, and will be all marked up with sticky notes.

Alicia has started a website (The Kind Life) which includes her blog as well.  I noticed yesterday she posted one of her recipes from the book, Radicchio Pizza with Truffle Oil, for you pizza lovers out there.

It retails for $29.99 but Amazon.com sells it for almost half that at $17.54.  I’ve added it to the FitFeat Faves Store, so if you want to check it out you can click HERE.

***

Have you read “The Kind Diet”?  If so, what were YOUR thoughts? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section.

Hope you are having a SUPER Saturday, friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Umeboshi, Kabocha, and Falafel .. Oh My!

Jan 8

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 2 Comments

Hello FitFeat Friends!  Welcome to the weekend!  Ahhh I’m so glad it’s Friday.

Thank you all for having fun with my “Twenty Questions” post from yesterday! I loved reading the replies, and Cindy I’m SO bummed your comment went “poof” off into a bloghole somewhere!

Oh my, where to start?  Guess we’ll start with the fact that I did NOT get a workout in yesterday.  :(   I was faced with working out or writing a blog post, and I just don’t like to let down my awesome readers!  To be fair, Tuesdays and Thursdays are tough days for me to get workouts in anyway, so it’s not biggie.  The weather will be above freezing this weekend so I know I’ll be outside making up for lost time.  Don’t go thinkin’ I’m slacking off or anything!

Yesterday’s eats were great!  I started with just a couple of bites of a Larabar before my first client.  Which held me over just fine for a bit.  Then I made a cinnamon raisin  Ezekial and almond butter sandwich to go, with a side of travel decaf.

For the record, I do not condone much eating while driving, because it’s ‘mindless munching’ where your brain is otherwise occupied and as such, not really registering all the face-stuffing going on.  But I am guilty of needing to do it on occasion and understand when clients need to as well.  Yesterday was the ridiculous snow day where people where driving like we got 2 feet of snow when in reality it was 2 inches — my 10 mile drive took AN HOUR on the interstate.

Lunch at my desk (lookout, blurry iPhone photos are running rampant in today’s post) consisted of a salad with mixed greens, dulse, grape tomatoes, broccoli, and sugar snap peas:

Along with a side of leftover Azuki & Squash dish from The Kind Diet:

(There WILL be a review.  I know I’ve been saying that all week – but I don’t want to rush it.  :)   It’s getting there, I promise!)

Midafternoon I had a BUBBLY!!!!  Mmmm you know that makes me happy!  I had a few bites of raw goat cheese along with it. Totally felt like I was at a wine tasting party.  Only better.

Dinner was at Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill with a very good friend.  We choose to do dinner since it’s been a bit too cold to SOCIALCIZE lately!  (Or as that particular friend calls it:  ChatterCize!  Love that!)  I had about half of this humongous falafel plate:

I think I’ll get at least three meals out of that one!  Yikes!  This time I asked for some extra pickled eggplant.  DEEE-VINE!

I went to the dinner location a bit early since there is a brand new Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocer nearby.  I’ve been skimping along this week at the end of my almond butter jar so I needed to make a stop.  In typical Shari style, leaving the store with the ONLY item I went in to get was not possible (because apparently I don’t have enough food in the house already):

First I finally found Umeboshi Plums!  During the course of reading and reviewing The Kind Diet I tried to find them at Whole Foods with no luck.  But they actually JUST got them in at VCNG.  Wahoo!  So excited to try one!

Next, I have been searching for a kabocha squash for a few months now.  I hear from everyone how great they are, how nutty they taste, and of course the recipe I made this week from Alicia’s book called for one (and I had to sub in butternut).  Finally found a little BABY KABOCHA to try!  Look how cute!

And last but not least, the almond butter I went in for in the first place.  I decided to splurge this time on the organic version.  Last time I just got the raw creamy Maranatha, because the organic version is DOUBLE the price of the non-organic jar.  But I thought for sure it tasted different and it was really bugging me.  So I got the organic and did a taste-test last night when I got home.

And it DOES taste different!  The raw is a more delicate, slightly sweeter flavor than the non-organic.  So I wasn’t crazy (well maybe crazy but for other reasons!) I will need to do further reading on whether I want to justify the cost of the organic.  I spent more than ONE HOUR of PAY on that jar!  I’m telling ya, this part-time job is solely to support my health food store addiction!  :)

***

Well friends, I better hit the ‘publish button’ on this post so that maybe my friends on the west coast will have a little light reading to do while they are watching the clock count down to 5:00.  ;)   I think it’s time to have a little glass of wine to celebrate the arrival of Friday evening, and I have a feeling there will be a bit of Wii Resort in my evening!

Have a FABULOUS Friday and an even better weekend!  I’ll be back again tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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Twenty Questions

Jan 7

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

OK maybe not 20, but who’s counting?? (There’s Question 1…)

Hi friends!  It’s Friday EVE!!  My schedule is so wonky this week.  Normally I prefer to post first thing in the morning but this week has me all out of whack.  I’m dying for Friday night to get here (for no reason other than it will be the weekend and I can grab a blanket and my book and RELAX!)

Remember when I was lamenting the other day about the LOOONG wait till May for another holiday weekend? (There’s Question 2…) I found out today that our office is closed on MLK, Jr. Day AND President’s Day!  SCORE!!! So I have one more full week before I get another SHORT holiday week – how cool is that?? (Question 3) And during MLK week I also have jury duty one day (please please don’t let me get picked to be a juror).  You don’t even want to get me started on that.  I’ve lived in 3 counties over the last 10 years.  This will be the 4th time I’ve been called to jury duty (twice in one county, once each in the other).  Of the 3 times prior that I’ve been called, I was selected as a juror for 2.

MSP on the other hand, has NEVER received a summons.  I swear their selection process is not random.  Big Brother seriously keeps track of our satellite dishes and targets those who have watched law shows like Ally McBeal or Boston Legal.  I’m on to them.

So I have to get a little girly on you for a moment:  Do you ever have a zit that feels THIS BIG?  (#4)

Dramatization =)

I feel like I’m walking around with a big target on my face!  I know I can’t complain, because I’m very fortunate to have good skin that is clear 90% of the time.  But this one is a doozy!

Did I totally gross you out? ;)   TMI? (Q’s 5 and 6!)

On to less nasty things, here’s another question:  Do you ever open your fridge and wonder how the heck you ended up with way too much food for the week? (there’s # 7)

I’m not sure exactly how it happened to be that my fridge is bursting at its seams.  I think Costco is partly to blame – I ended up with a bag of avocados, a HUGE tub of hummus, an extra tub of salad greens, etc.  Costco is dangerous like that!  You walk by and think “hmm I could us an avocado” but the bag has 6 and you don’t really need 6 but WOW is it a really good price for 6 avocados so now you have a bunch of ‘cados that ripened all at once and no time to eat them all!

So in an effort to use up at least some of my veggies, I made an ‘on-the-fly‘  dinner:

A portabella mushroom “burger” with a Veggie Slice (soy cheese) and salsa on a bed of salad greens:

And some “mish-mash” miso soup:

I am loving making my own miso soups at home.  It’s fun to use it as a base and throw things in.  This time I started with organic vegetable stock and some dried shitake mushrooms (soaked for 15 min prior to adding to soup).  I brought that to a very light boil and let it bubble for about 6 or 7 minutes while I was working on the portabella.  Then I added a handful of fresh spinach, about 3 shakes of the nama shoyu bottle and about 1/2 cup of leftover quinoa.  Then I removed from the heat and added the miso.   As I type this I realize I should have added some sea veggies too!  Oops!  But still, it was GOOD!

I’ll be sharing more about miso in my review of The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.  I’m almost done writing my comments about it.

Here’s a tip for you: If you are trying to cut back on portions or calories, a good way to keep your intake in check is to have a light broth ‘soup’ as your first course.  When I first met with my acupuncturist he had me just heat up chicken broth and add a little spinach.  This wasn’t for the purpose of losing weight – it was more for digestion.  But it works GREAT to fill you up a little bit before you eat your ‘actual’ meal which will go a long way to help you out if you are working on a weight loss goal.

***

Wednesday Exercise:

I did the Physique 57 DVD for my strength workout again yesterday.  I’m starting to get a little more coordinated, but not much.  ;) I feel it though.  Of all places, I feel it in my left toe.  Yep, that’s right.  57  minutes of ouch to have a sore TOE.  Not booty, not arms..  TOE. You spend a LOT of time with your heels lifted off the floor without shoes.

It’s funny to hear one of the testimonials that always plays at the beginning of the DVD about how ‘this workout lifted her butt 2 inches’.  What I’d like to know is, how does one measure that?   Do you measure how far it is from the floor to your ‘cheek’ along the backside of your leg? (8 and 9) Hmmm, I’m not sure that’s very scientific!  ;)   I can tell you that I did not take THAT particular measurement BEFORE I started doing this workout.   I don’t care how high or low it is as long as it doesn’t have a lot of ‘hail damage’.  That’ll be my litmus test.

Well friends do you think I have bounced around to too many topics yet? Did I count right?  ( 10 and 11) Which of the 12 questions will you comment on in the comments section? (12) You have plenty to choose from!

Have a great day everyone!

– Shari B.  =)

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The Day of Many Dates

Dec 31

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Hi friends!  Happy New Year’s Eve!  :)   My eyes popped open at 4:03 a.m. this morning – oh boy, midnight seems like a L-O-O-O-N-G time from now.  I have a feeling I’ll be celebrating on East Coast time and out like a light at 10:02.  ;)   That is, if MSP is driving us home from the party.  If not, I better borrow some toothpicks from the marinated mushrooms I’m taking so that I can keep my eyelids propped open long enough to drive home.  Then it might me more like 10:32.

Yesterday was a great (if not super busy) day.  I had dates with a couple of “new friends”, Tanya and Alicia.

First Tanya.  She is the instructor on the “Physique 57″ DVD.  Still doing my ‘try lots of new exercises till I can get OUTSIDE for a run’ game.

There is only ONE reason really that I chose to purchase this DVD – this little lady right here:

(Photo Source)

I have a little “fitness crush” on Kelly Ripa.  So if SHE does it, I wanna try it too.   Her transformation through the years has been fun to watch.  She’s said in the past that she goes to classes at Physique 57, so now that it’s available via DVD I wanted to see what it does to my body, being someone who already works out with weights and runs.  I’ll keep you posted for sure!

My second date was with Alicia Silverstone:

It was a short date, only enough time for one chapter.  I’ve been coveting this book since its release.  And I took a good long look through it at Borders the day after Christmas.  It has a beautiful full color format and a lot of great recipes.  And as much as I wanted to take it home that day, I knew it was half the price on Amazon.  The first chapter and the intro are great – I have a feeling I’ll love this book.  I’ll give a better review when I’ve read it and tried some recipes.

I also had dates with Costco, Vitamin Cottage, Safeway and Whole Foods!  (Any guesses on what I had for dinner? Yep, Gigande Beans at the WF Food Bar!)

And last but not least I had a date with my kitchen.  It was a messy date, can ya tell?   :)

When you are in the mood for new recipes that are healthy, raw and vegan, head on over to Choosing Raw.

Gena’s blog always inspires me.  She has a style of writing that I could read all day.   And recipes that I could try all day as well.  This week, I tried her Raw Zucchini Hummus and her Cashew Cheese with Meyer Lemon & Cherries.  Except that my hummus wasn’t completely raw, and my ‘cheese’ didn’t have meyer lemons OR cherries in it.  But you work with what you’ve got, right?

The zucchini hummus is genius.  I love it.  I will love it even more when the tahini that I currently have in stock is GONE (because it’s roasted AND salted) and then I can buy the raw unsalted version.  This brand I have in the fridge has an almost burnt flavor that is too strong in this hummus, but luckily it has mellowed out in the fridge the last few days.

Per Gena’s recipe notes I did NOT add the sesame seeds so in turn I also left out the olive oil. It came out with a perfect hummus consistency.  ;)   Yesterday I smeared it on Wasa crackers with some mashed avocado and leftover black bean burgers halves for lunch at my desk.

I know, I know, again with the blurry iPhone photo! How 'bout that snazzy legal pad placemat too?

And the sweet Cashew Cheese?  Amazing.  It reminds me of neufchatel cheese with the subtle tart and sweet flavor.  I couldn’t find Meyer Lemons (so I used regular lemons) and I didn’t have dried cherries (so I added a small palmful of raisins), but it’s fantastic nonetheless.  It made me want to smear it all over a cranberry bagel.  But that would defeat my ‘clean eating’ somewhat.  So instead I’ll probably put it on some Ezekial toast or a sweet wheat cracker that I happen to have on hand. It would also make a perfect breakfast crepe filling.

Gena's Cashew Cheese with Lemon

Part of the excitement in trying this cashew cheese?  Getting to use one of my new xmas gifts from MSP:

A microplane superfine zester!  It rocks!!  I’ve been using a teeny tiny thing that only takes off one piece of zest at a time, so I was SO excited to find this inside some gift wrap under the tree!!  (Isn’t MSP the best??  I’m certainly a lucky girl!)

***

I’ve been reflecting on what an interesting year 2009 has been.  It started off a bit on the rough side and is ending beautifully.  Isn’t it fun to rewind the year and consider all of the changes that you never would have expected?  If you’d asked me last December 31 if I thought I’d:

  • walk away from my job with the really NICE salary and benefits during an economic recession
  • stop eating chicken, beef, pork and cow’s dairy and finally be someone who eats veggies because she WANTS to
  • eliminate soda, artificial sweeteners and a list of other ‘health thieves’
  • go back to personal training
  • start a fit living blog (and actually STICK WITH IT for more than 2 days!)
  • make new & wonderful friends all over the country from that blog (I love you guys!)
  • be able to go off ALL medications (and it was quite the laundry list)
  • recover from chronic insomnia
  • go on an RV adventure with my mom and grandma
  • and much, much more

I would have said you were talking crazy talk.

But lo and behold, that is what this year has included.  How about you?  What’s the most ‘surprising’ thing that’s happened this year that you would never have expected when you started 2009?

It has been an absolutely ENLIGHTENING year.  And I can’t WAIT to see what 2010 brings!

Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR celebration tonight!  I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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