Even a Weekend Makes a Difference

Friday's Food:
Breakfast:
banana with raw crunchy almond butter

20 ounces water

Snack:
6 Foods Alive Mexican flax crackers

Early Dinner:
Salad with romaine, carrot, daikon, 1/2 avocado, sprouts and dulse with nutritional yeast, olive oil and Herbamare

20 ounces of water

Dessert:
Shared pint of Organic Nectars raw chocolate hazelnut ice cream while driving up to Woodstock, NY

A taste of raw kale chips with cayenne and othe cheesy raw seasonings

Saturday's Delicious Meals: (raw and non-raw)
Breakfast: after a killer mountain hill run!
green smoothie with Swiss chard, carrots, apples, water and honey

Lunch: at the Garden Cafe in Woodstock, NY
arugula and white bean salad with a delicious creamy mustard vinagrette
small appetizer vegan cheddar and cashew tart
1 organic kumquat (hard to find)
1 raw energy chunk with date, cacao and seeds

'Big Chill Dinner': cooking with dear friends; this meal was extraordinary!
Rockin' Guacamole with avos, tomatoes, purple onion, garlic, sea salt, chili powder, cilantro and dulse with organic blue corn chips (Lizzie)
Beet, fennel, sunchoke and onion extravaganza: steamed red beets sauteed with fennel, sunchokes and purple onion, with a balsamic agave reduction and some rosemary; 1 small log of chevre goat cheese tossed in to melt (my creation)
Wild Ramps (local, seasonal greens) sauteed with olive oil, garlic and sea salt (me)
Michael's Hari Krishna Burritos!
Recipe:
2 cans organic kidney beans heated in a pot
Make a "chaunce" (Indian) of 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin and 1 teaspoon "Hing" or Asvete spice (Indian), along with 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
The chaunce is made by heating oil in a small skillet until hot; then you throw in the spices and it opens them wide up (taught to me by Michael Hoare)
Then you add the chaunce to the kidney beans; add 8 ounces or more (to taste) of tofu sour cream, all the while mashing the beans to a pulp (you can use a potato masher if you like)
mash it to a pastry-like form
Once done, wrap it inside sprouted flax or grain wraps and stick a toothpick to seal.
You can also add other ingredients, such as sliced avocado to the burritos
warm olive foccachia bread with olive oil
2 Corona Light beers:)

Fabulous Midnight Ramble concert at Levon Helm's home in Woodstock
Late Night Dessert:
Raw kale chips
Coconut Bliss ice cream (Naked Coconut and Chocolate Hazelnut)

Today's (Sunday) Food:
Breakfast:
Green smoothie with purple kale, red chard, strawberries, water and honey; YUM!

Snack: at the top of a mountain with amazing overlook, after a great hike
trail mix of raw nuts, seeds and raisins; an apple

Lunch: back to the Garden Cafe
Ambrosia berry smoothie with strawberries, blueberries and banana with coconut water, orange juice and maple syrup
Arugula and white bean salad repeat with amazing vinagrette

Snacks:
6 raw energy treats with dates, cacao, spirulina, chlorella, oat, barley and wheat grasses
leftover foccachia bread dipped in fantastic olive oil
a couple of forkfulls of leftover beet salad
a couple of spoonfuls of Coconut Bliss ice cream


33.8 ounces of water

I encourage you to "take a break." I can find infinate reasons to continue focusing on whatever project I need to complete; I know you can, too!!
Just getting away for two days is completely rejuvenating. Not once did I check email! though I did feel a tinge of missing writing to all of you. It was so great not to be with "technology." I had fabulous meals with fabulous friends; hiked, ran, saw an unbelievable concert and shared intimate, fun and interesting conversation with dear friends. Oh, yes, and just 'chilled.'
What I am left with tonight, after unpacking, is the desire to take such good care of myself always. Taking care of ourselves reminds us to continue taking care of ourselves more intimately. In order to remember this, we need to continue doing it. I plan to log off now and crawl into bed with a good book, starting my next week with a great night's sleep. Please write in and let me know how you have been nurturing and nourishing yourself lately...

Eating Joyfully with Friends

OK, I am back from my wonderful weekend (except for the passing of my dear friend Wendy's doggie Ahbbahdoo, who was and will always be a part of our Tribe) and I missed writing to you so much! After some non-raw integration and lots of revelring with dear friends, I am so looking forward to eating simply and vibrantly tomorrow. Read on and watch the weekend's progression...

Saturday's Food:
Breakfast:
Raw mango smoothie with frozen mango, fresh banana, psyllium seed powder, flax seeds and water

Lunch:
1 banana

Snack:
raw cashews

Dinner at Blossom vegan restaurant on 9th Avenue and 21st Street, NYC:
Shared appetizers:
Seitan empanandas
ravioli with a cashew cream sauce (this dish is beyond the beyond)
cigars (forget what they were filled with); all yummy

Entree:
Rigatoni with a porcini mushroom cream sauce with broccoli rabe

Shared desserts:
Lavender creme brulee
apple fritters
Cocoa V Plate tasting of chocolates
We really wanted their chocolate ganache, but they were out of it
Hours of great conversation with six fabulous women

Today's Food:
large glass of lemon water (thank you, Idele!)

Brunch with friends at Le Pain Quotidien: (bread like you can only get in Paris and Belgium)
Shared bread basket filled with organic breads (nutted, flutes, bagettes) with strawberry and raspberry jams and olive oil
avocado nori Tartan (open sandwich; very delicate) of litely smeared avocado on organic wheat bread with 4 slices of avocado
slices of radish
slices of nori seaweed
small bowl of hummus

Snack:
2 amazing pieces of vegan chocolate at Cocoa V; a praline and a raisin caramel cluster; WOW!!! (9th Avenue and 20th Street, NYC); a vegan chocolate shop with organic wine and chocolate cafe next door; I found out they are open until 10:30 Friday and Saturday nights and serve an aged nut cheese and vegan fondue

Dinner for my dear friend Pat's birthday at Tlaquepaque restaurant on North Avenue in New Rochelle, NY:
1 Mexican beer! at her home
shared guacamole with homemade chips
created for me vegetarian burrito filled with sauteed cactus, mushrooms, pepper and Spanish rice with a melted Spanish cheese similar to Mozzarella; surrounded by tomato sauce
Dessert (while wearing sombrero and cowboy hat):
homemade flan (the real Mexican kind; not Americanized)
Drink of blended cactus, lime and pineapple; created for me by the owner, Victor, when we got to talking about food. He drinks this every day, and it tasted just like a green drink I would make.
Victor and his wife come from the town of Tlaquepaque, right next to Guadalahara, Mexico. His wife does all the cooking and infuses her own personal style. Victor loved creating a vege extravaganza for me, and had I asked him just to give me marinated raw cactus, I know he would have done that, too! Everything is fresh, and when I commented on the dessert, Victor said, "It's made with alot of love."

I look forward to a good night's sleep, a good run in the morning, and lots of water tomorrow!

Please write in and share what foods you had a loving relationship with this weekend...