June 2006

June started out with my raw food's workshop! It was a success. About 10 people showed up and it seemed like everyone had a good time. I made 3 pates, 3 dressings, raw ravioli, and raw pasta, and then we ate it all together. I plan on doing many classes and workshops in the future. At least once a month. When people find out how simple raw foods can be there will be no excuse for not eating healthier! My friend says I'm going to be the raw version of Rachel Ray! She's so funny. One can only hope:) 

This turns into . . . This! Mock Tuna Nori Rolls:)

Ironically the person that the workshop inspired most was me! I've been making food like crazy. I just need more people to share it with! I made some mock tuna pate and then rolled it up in Nori sheets. The black ones aren't toasted but I'm not sure if they are technically raw. I heard from a seaweed insider that most of the Nori rolls are steamed. I feel okay after eating them though, and I'm sure they are better for you that the toasted Nori. I've been finding out a lot of  little things lately aren't technically raw such as hemp seeds and hulled sesame seeds. I don't fret about it though, I've come to the conclusion that 99% raw is good enough for me:)  Anyways I used cucumbers that were mandoline sliced and  dried out a little because they had been in the fridge a few days. It made a perfect filling for my Nori wraps. I also put the mock tuna pate in butter lettuce leaves and that was good too! I have so much fun getting creative with food. I realize now that it makes perfect sense. As a little girl I loved healthy food. Fruit and veggies were my fave and I when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up I would say, a chef! I realized that making raw food is a fulfillment of a dream I forgot I ever had!
 

 

The tan coconut: not as young as a green coconut not as old as a brown one. Shredded coconut ready to go in the dehydrator. The finished product is light and crispy and ever so yummy!

Speaking of food I wanted to show you all how to make your own dried coconut flakes. The ones in the store are defatted and usually have preservatives on them to keep them white. I prefer to use the tan coconut instead of the dark brown one. Tan coconuts can be found at Asian or Mexican stores. The are also know as cocos frescos in Spanish. After you have gotten the water out through the third eye, you cut the coconut in half. There are many ways of doing this. The easiest and safest, is to put it in a closed plastic bag and throw it on the cement or hard ground outside. After you scoop all the meat out you put the meat through the food processor with the shredding disk on. Then you dehydrate the flakes on the low temperature setting on your dehydrator. In my dehydrator it takes about 5 hrs but you an also leave them in overnight. You can use the flakes to top deserts, in raw cookies and candies, trail mixes, and cereals. It's actually good just as is. I tend to use more coconut waters than meats, so this is a good thing to make with the left over meat. Have fun!

Enough about food, for now that is. Last week I went on a beautiful hike near this spiritual center called Spirit Rock. There were visiting monks there from Thailand and one of them decided to take a walk as well. Well time passed and he was needed back at the center so they sent a meditation student out to look for him. He asked my friend and I if we had seen him. My friend asked, "Is he lost?" The student replied, "No, he's just empty." For the rest of the day my friend and I tried to be empty. Empty of our thoughts that is. It was fun imagining being empty and imagining this monk wandering through nature empty of all cares, worries, and sense of space and time. I plan on being empty more often:)

Everything seems like it's falling into place this month, hope the same is happening for you.

Best Wishes,

C

June Continued . . .

My brother came up for the weekend and we had a great time together. When we used to live together we would bond over watching TV. He helped me make a bunch of raw food and then we watched his DVD collection of Father Ted, which is probably the funniest T.V. series there ever was. It's from Ireland and is no longer on the air but you can buy the DVD collection. Warning: If you are a serious Catholic you won't probably like it unless of course you like laughing at yourself once in awhile.  We also watched one of my favorite comedic movies which is a Chinese movie called Shaolin Soccer. It's a comedy about Kung-Fu and Soccer with a Chinese sensibility. It is so nice to take a break from American programs and movies once and a while. My brother is lovely and very open to raw food. He actually became a vegetarian about three months after I went raw. My sister soon followed suit. It's nice to have a positive influence on the ones you love with out having to say anything but just by setting an example. I'm really blessed with cool siblings. Love them dearly and don't nearly see enough of them.

For father's day I went to visit my grandparents which was so wonderful. My plan was to bring a vegan chocolate pie that I was going to make out of coconut meat and cashews. I wasn't planning on eating any so I wasn't concerned if it was all raw, I just wanted it to be all Vegan. Anyways, a total kitchen disaster followed. By accident, I cut the rubber spatula on the Vitamix Blender  blades and then blended it in with the pie filling! Needless to say I had to throw the most of the filling out. Luckily there's a lovely local grocery store across the street from me. They carry over 100 organic produce items everyday! They also carry Vegan chocolate cakes. So my brother and I picked one up and I also brought some of the pie filling that didn't get spatula in! Anyways my family loved it! My cousin's new husband was there and he began asking me a lot of questions about the raw diet. I felt uncomfortable because I don't feel that family gatherings are an appropriate time to get on your soap box! But, I politely answered his questions and when my Uncle asked me if I felt primal on the diet I said yes and gave out a loud roar. It was pretty funny. I think it's important to keep things light in situation like this. No need to alienate or threaten the ones you love.  Like I said earlier, setting a good example is key and also giving healthy X-mas gifts is a nice way to say I love you and I care about your well being.

 

Speaking of family my father is traveling to Spain tomorrow to visit family and to go on a bird watching expedition. His hobby is to photograph birds in flight. His photos are amazing! Click the photos on the right to see them enlarge.  I'm really impressed! It's so nice to see my dad involved in something he's really passionate about. I think it's so important to be involved in something you are really passionate about even if it might not be practical to do it on a full time basis. Even if you don't earn one penny from your passion, it's still important to have something to light the fire in your soul. That's priceless! I got this advice from Barbara Sher, she does specials on PBS and has a few books out. I think she's one of the best speakers on this topic.

 

 

Two  slices of my raw apple pie. The Carob Orange Pie I gave my friend. Good thing she didn't bake it:) It would've melted to pieces.

We had our raw foods potluck this month. It was a small group and I decided to make an apple pie that turned out pretty good. The best part of the potluck was that my two non raw friends came and they were so excited about everything. They were so enthusiastic asking me all kind of questions and saying how much they liked everything. It was so cute! I ended up giving one of my friends an extra raw pie that I had made to take home. It was a frozen pie, and then she called me the next day to tell me that she had baked the pie in the oven for 1 hr at 325 degrees. She almost had me until I heard her laughing in the background. She's so funny. She loved the pie and said that her cousin, who is a junk food junkie, liked it also. I also got one of my friends turned onto coconut oil to use it as personal body care. I personally use it as a conditioner, hair balm, moisturizer, deodorant, shaving cream, and make up remover. She absolutely loves it and loves the way it feels and smells. She even said it worked really well as a deodorant! This is all from a non raw person which is exciting to me because it means the average person could be open to it! I think coconut oil as body care could change the world! Do you know how many nasty chemicals are in personal body care products! Even most of the so called natural brands have them as well! Just less of them! I just gave a talk about it at the Marin Raw Food's Potluck. It's one of my passions to spread the news to as many people as possible about the dangers of personal care products. Some of the information from my talk is on my website in the articles section.

Another thing I wanted to tell y'all about is this wonderful little contraption called Nasaline. Basically it's a large syringe that can shoot water up your nose to clean your sinuses. The other night I had to sleep in a very dusty place and I woke up very congested with a runny nose. After cleaning out my nose with water a few times through out the day I was completely better! I must put it on my recommendations page; it's better than anything I've tried for my sinuses.

Summer is farmer's market season and a few weeks ago I was shopping in at my local farmer's market and I came across a fellow who is selling organic culinary herbs and teas. I was able to smell the herbs and they really smelled fresh. I bought an herb blend called Mediterranean Blend and it's really good because it has fennel seeds in it. Anyways the guy said that he would give 15% off  to the students from my raw food prep classes as long as they mentioned my name. He sells the herbs at the Saturday farmer's market in Santa Rosa and also online. So if you're looking for a good source of culinary herbs check this out http://www.santarosatea.com/shopCulinary.htm

I finally kicked my Kombucha habit! It was getting too expensive. My new little pleasure is to buy natural sparkling mineral water from Trader Joes and add naturally flavored stevia to it from www.sweetleaf.com My favorite flavors are Apricot and Chocolate Raspberry. It's just like soda but better for you. I talked to the company and they told me that the flavors come from natural essential oils, although it is not a raw product. Stevia can be raw but you most grow it and dry it yourself.  We grow stevia in our front yard and then dry the small green leaves in a dehydrator at a low temp. Sometimes I pop a few leaves in the blender to use as a sweetener.

There is probably more I want to tell you but I think it's time to switch gears. And of course there is always next month! I'm going to Vegas next month for the NNFA expo so that should be exciting. Hopefully I'll have a lot of exciting new things to share with you. All the best.

C