The Best Foods Ever - Colourful, Worldly and Spicy Inspiration and Experiments

This afternoon I went grocery shopping while realtors were showing my home. It's so awesome to feel great about everything you put in the cart. It all looked so good sitting there in the cart, it was beautiful unloading it at the check out.. and beautiful again carrying it home in those reusable cloth bags with all the green stuff sticking out of the top - almost as good as carrying flowers home and then it looked great again unpacking it. This is really feel-good food, so colourful, so inspiring, so full of life - that's real soul food - nourishing on a much deeper level than just the physical.

This grocery trip was really inspired by my lists of recipe experiments just waiting to be tested. Note the one thing not raw in my pile - the rice paper wrappers. I have been really wanting to create an amazing spring roll and try these. I have 2 amazing dipping sauces just waiting for a good spring roll. But I also bought some Boston lettuce, which is soft and might work also as a wrapper.. I am not sure about if Rawlicious would have a spring roll in a rice paper wrapper ..maybe considering the inside is all raw & the dipping sauce..hmm.. but I have a need to try these anyway, just for fun.

Yesterday I spent the day at Rawlicious - it was salad dressing day. We now have a House dressing, Tahini-Miso, Ginger-Date, Poppyseed and a Balsamic Vinaigrette, as well as our becoming famous Caesar Dressing.. & On the way home I went to the Market -Thursdays are Dufferin Grove market days. These are some of my favorite things from there: fresh-pressed that day apple cider, honey (Bee Universe) from a guy who loves his bees, fresh sprouts (Toronto Sprouts, of course!) & my favorite favorite ........ Chocolate!!! Nibs, the most amazing Tehate and a new flavour which I think will make an incredibly smooth and creamy hot choc - Seedy Trinity, with hemp and sesame seeds. Mmm..

& This last pic is of one of my experiments just an hour ago - Eggplant Mexican Patties and Carribean Patties. They are in the dehydrator right now.
About 15 years ago, when the kids were all little, our family moved to New Brunswick, where I am from. We lived there for 3 years and then moved back to Toronto. When we moved, I was eating cooked food at the time and really missed some of the things I was used to eating here in Toronto, especially warm Italian bread from the bakery and Jamaican beef patties. (I know, maybe I shouldn't even be admitting that on here, but thats the way it was.. ) At the time the patties were not even heard of there, while in Toronto they were available at almost every corner store. So, 15 years ago I set my mind to creating these patties and came very close to recreating the actual thing. & now, although I am wayy over wanting bread or beef or patties, I still do love spices! ..and recreating things & I have been inspired again.

So today I came up with spice mixtures I had been thinking about for awhile - a Mexican blend, a Caribbean Curry blend (from that original patty recipe) and Jerk seasoning blend. I used those first 2 seasoning mixes on my experiment today and have the Jerk mixture waiting for something else-I think a sauce marinade for dehydrating vegetables in. ..maybe tomorrow.