A Fun and Colourful day - Organic Wear makeup, Ravi's salad, Moja Tea Gallery, Bula socks, Achiote and sooo much chocolate!

"The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced" ~Aart VanDerLeeuw

I had a most amazing day at work today! Our cafe was closed until 2pm, there was a new make-up line launch event taking place in the space- a couple girls from NYC here promoting Organic Wear by Physicians Formula. This is the first certified organic makeup line to be sold in mass market retail stores! (due to be launched Feb. 08)
It is 100% Natural Origin makeup with certified organic ingredients. No harsh chemicals, parabens or synthetic preservatives - even the packaging is Eco-friendly! It's great.. But they only have foundation,concealer, bronzers, powders & blush so far.. no colors, eyeliners, mascaras, lipsticks or anything yet.. but, its a start. & I got a huge demo bag of products (Score!)

And while the cafe was closed, Luke & I went out on a field trip to checkout a few other cafes downtown. We went to Ravisoups on Adelaide first, it was our main stop.. Bt when we get there I discover they have soups & wraps, nothing raw... not even salads! But when I asked if there is any raw option (I suggested tomato & lettuce or whatever veggie wrap fillings they had) ..and then Ravi created the most amazing salad for me! It was so beautiful & colourful- What a presentation! I wished I had my camera (note to self again!- put camera in purse!!!) It was beautiful.. & was something like this:

Ravi's Salad

Korean cabbage, the crinkly kind - chopped
Radicchio - chopped or torn into small pieces
Parsnip -shaved slivers with veg peeler
Carrot - shaved slivers with veg peeler
Red pepper- thin strips
Apple - julienned strips
Pineapple - julienned strips
Basil leaves- lots
Cilantro leaves - lots

He served it with an oil& balsamic vinaigrette cause his tamarind dressing was from cooked tamarind... but when I recreate it here at home I will make a tamarind dressing like this:

Tamarind paste (soak tamarind in warm water for awhile,then mash and strain through a sieve/fine metal strainer - a bit of work, but so, so worth it, tamarind is one of the best flavours ever!) Then mix in a bit of maple syrup or agave (depending on pref &/or how pure you are), some nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), olive oil, lemon juice, Celtic salt & cayenne

Also.. I met a beautiful woman working there - Sandra Amarie - who is starting a business creating these incredible organic tea blends - Moja Tea Gallery - also on Adelaide, a few doors down.
She made us her Apple-Basil-Ginger Lung Ching Green tea. It's a 2 step process, 2 tea bags, the apple-basil-ginger gets steeped for 10 minutes and then the green tea gets steeped for 2 min max. Great tea is an art and she makes it simple for us who want to enjoy it without the hassle and complications of measuring, blending which is usually necessary for it. A brilliant idea ..and it was delicious. I am excited to try her other creative blends!!!
What an amazing lunch! A successful field trip-business excursion! ; )

Life is good! No, Life is great!!!

(Bonus) On our way back I bought the coolest socks at Groovy, Queen E. BulaBula. k, gotta cool it I guess, on a budget for awhile - I forgot..but got a hug and laugh from Mi-San about it. what a job-gotta love it.
Oh, and the most fantastic Barbie-doll-wild-pink scarf at Black Market, also on Queen. fun.

& it was so quiet today, guess cause we were closed earlier, it was so slack ..& I consumed soo much chocolate it was crazy..we found a raw cacao bean stash unexpectedly..started off with those, a few of Fred's totally fantasmical raw chocolate truffles, Mattieu came with a ChocoSol delivery, sampling to be done there! Raw Vanilla- How does a cacaoholic resist freshly made bicycle ground chocolates made with Love and the best cacao and most delicious vanilla beans in the world!??? ..and the Aztec Blood Hot Chocolate - it's a seasonal drink (almost done!) and chocolate decadence at its best. The dramatic red color comes from the Achiote (Spanish for annato seeds). Achiote is a small & irregularly shaped, deep reddish colored seed about the size of a lentil which are grown in pods. They have a delicate nutty aroma-flavour but are mainly used for their brilliant red pigment.

pic above of the achiote seeds & pods - Nature is so amazing! Gotta love it! Wow
Its a wild, wild world out there!