Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a special Valentine to my Dad.

I Love you!

Rawlicious - Coming Soon!

Yes! This is it! Rawlicious !!!

This is the most exciting post, which I have been waiting to share with you. I have been on the go this past week, constantly going from one place to another, a lot of transiting and with just enough time to check e-mails from here & there. But now I have the day off to catch up on things and work on my own projects .. and time to tell you the best news. So much going on lately..

But this is by far the most exciting!!! I am currently working on a project with a couple, Tracy & Angus, here in Toronto to open a most phenominal new Raw Cafe - Zen Den - Eco-friendly Product Emporium - Distributors of the purest, most High Vibe Superfoods, and the most nutritious and crazy delicious Living Food products ever!!! And also.. the health enforcing Inner Sanctum complete with Infared Sauna and MRS2000 mat. (interesting article about that here) We are going to share the most up-to-date, best health & wellness technologies and information available. Of course, I will be posting more about this..cause it's my main area of focus these days.. but for now, here's some pics of what we've been up to:

Smoothie experiments! We have come up with some of the best flavours - crazy, crazy, highest quality ingredients - most delicious drinks I've ever tasted. Seriously - you have to come check these out!!!

Gojis and pumpkin seeds soaking to make..

Rawkalicious Cookies
They were an impromptu inspiration I came up with to use the almond pulp from all those nut milk experiments. I made them quickly while Tracy was on the MRS2000 mat (8 mins) using all the ingredients I could find around me in her kitchen. & they were so amazing we have made 3 batches since, in less than a week!
(This is Tracy making this batch : )

Angus's incredible Valentine Macaroons.
They taste even better than they look. Absolutely delicious!!

Check out all of the smoothies we made..and this is only a few of them!!

& here's Tracy to the rescue to make us a serious Green juice.
That was so good after all those smoothies and sweet stuff!
(Wow, I've really come a long way..to think I would crave a green juice! ..bet Mom never saw that one coming! lol)

Ok, now..check out whats going on downstairs...
This is street level, where Rawkalicious is going to be.

The walls have just come down and it is just starting to be reconstructed.
The shadowy back there is me.

A bunch of guys have just showed up to work on the place. Angus is at the back in the orange t-shirt. He's doing most of the work reconstructing the place.

Tracy and Angus are such a phenomenal couple to work with, so positive, exciting, motivated, full of great ideas and fun to be around. It is such a joy to be working here with them! This spot is loaded with happiness and has the best feel-good, uplifting energy, I love it!!!

& ps - We are hoping to open in March.. but I will definitely let you know an exact date when it gets closer!! ..and when the website is up! ..it's coming soon!

February Raw Pot Luck

I managed to get in a few early shots.. the table was actually quite crowded a little later on. We had another full house - the dishes and people kept pouring in throughout the evening. Lots of great people, food, conversation, music.. a thoroughly fun and successful event.

Last Wednesday at Chocosol

Group Hug - Michael, Ruben & I

Cacao Butter

Lots of Chocolate - Many, many bins!

Conscious Food

Great Art

Building community through food

Maria making Raw Coconut Cakes - peeling coconuts

Me making Raw Chocolate Cookies

Kitchen Antics- always fun.. High Vibe

& Great Music!

Backtracking through Mercury, crazy times and eating raw Korean

Wow! It is the busiest week ever!!! & mercury is full-on retrograde!
Mercury is the planet that rules communication and transportation and when you are TTCing (public transit) from one end of the city to the other a lot.. when things go wacky it can take a lot of time. One day I will have a car again! & someone took my bag on the subway today.. I didn't notice until I went to get off, and it wasn't there, I couldn't believe it. I was totally engrossed in writing out smoothie recipe ideas and didn't even notice. & the worse part of it was.. yeah there was raw blueberry cheezecake, and chocolate tarts and cookies - all raw, of course - and a big bag of Chocosol goodies for Tracy & Angus to sample.. but the worse part was I had my special book in there which I have been writing raw recipes in since Day 1 raw - I had all my favorite recipes in there.. so many!!! Coloured marker drawn all around them.. & a lot of info for my book ..although I have the most important ones written over in a binder here. Thank God I've been organized about that! But maybe it will get turned in tomorrow. (fingers crossed- please, please, please!)
But - REWIND - my busy week.. we are going back to Monday here. I had back to back meetings with people interested in doing raw things here in the city ..some exciting things going on!!! The biggest one I am going to share with you soon! This is what I am going to be involved with in a very big way, and its very exciting. I just have to get up to date on my blog. I've had extremely limited computer time.. been hands on. (hint: but is much more than this- I am working with a couple developing an incredible menu- like I said Today was Smoothie Day..and tomorrow is also..cause we didn't even get 1/2 way through. There is some pretty exciting developing and experimenting going on! ok ..enough said about that - for now!
Ah, I'm just so excited about it!!!

Ok these pics are from Monday evening. I went to another meeting at a Korean restaurant and it was awesome. I was invited to come, I thought as a raw consultant, but it was actually more a concept brainstorming session for a cafe in a very central location. Raw there would be totally amazing!! We'll see. But dinner - it was my 1st time eating Korean. & it wasn't actually a Korean restaurant - more of a bar. Most of the specials on the menu were different food entrees, often foods that are cooked at the table -mostly marinated meat- (I hear meat was very scarce in Korea and now that its plentiful here they eat lots of it) & most come with 5 bottles of beer or a bottle of Sujo (a Korean alcoholic drink). And it is interesting how it is served , with a parade of side dishes.. about 8-12 little bowls of various sides/toppings: beets, bean sprouts, sliced garlic, green onions, lots of different vegetables, most were cooked, not all and there was 3 types of kimchee - which I love - one really spicy one and a plate of lettuce leaves. So traditionally how you eat it is put meat or whatever you cook on the lettuce leaf, add your fav topping from the side dishes, roll up & eat. Hmm, great! This was familiar - this is how I often eat at home. ..& I had one there, but only one filled with raw veggies and kimchee.. because..

When one man there, who is into & understands the raw concept, heard I ate raw he went and brought me a raw protein green pack & and algae greens pack & made a special drink for me beforethey even ordered. & then he ordered this huge fruit plate. Check that out! That was so great.. there was so much food, we were balancing plates on plates at times, it was non-stop food. Plus then he brought out a bottle of ..umm, not sure what it is called- it was a drink made with 33 (or more?) different roots, leaves, berries, herbs etc all organic, wildcrafted and then fermented. It was a health drink mad in Korea by a company called GMF (God Made Food). He told me all about the raw communities in Japan and Korea. He said they are much bigger than here and that there is one raw community in Korea with over 2000 families!! wow! cool.

On Wed, I went to Chocosol, have pics to post soon from there. & Today a big demolition/reno job underway, before pics.... hmm... big news coming soon!!!!!
xox, Sweet Dreams, Good Night, I Love You, I'm Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You, (my evening cleaning job) Be Happy - xox - I Love You, I Love You, I Love You!!! xox - Peace out, Bliss ON ! : )

Almond Squares

The almond squares did smell amazing when I woke up and are a success!

So, I will happily share the recipe with you.. it's so easy!!

Almond Squares

2 c almonds - I tried using them unsoaked and ground them first in my BlendTec blender. I would not advise doing this with a regular blender, hard on the motor. Next time i make them I will try soaking them and just grinding first in the food processor. I am sure they will be great this way also. I was just experimenting and going for a smoother texture.
1/4 c almond butter (I used maranatha brand -raw, of course)
1/4 c honey (or agave)
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
dash salt

Line an 8"x8" pan with parchment paper or lightly oil with coconut oil. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and press into the pan. Then invert and bang down to release squares and then cut into smaller squares. I made 16 - 4x4. Dehydrate these squares overnight -they can go straight on the mesh sheets (if you don't mind the imprint they make :)

Wake up to the wonderful smell of them in the morning and Enjoy!
They're great with a big Chai Latte - raw version, with almond milk, the best!

Almonds, Mike Adams on natural, organic and processed foods and Milk

I am really into almonds lately, drinking lots of almond milk, almond cookies and now this evening I am making almond squares - a recipe I just made up and think is going to be amazing.. just put them in the dehydrator & will try them for breakfast. (& if they're amazing,of course I am going ot share the recipe! )

One of the great thing about dehydrating sweet stuff (including cereal, cookies, fruits) is the incredible aroma from it.. its a great thing to wake up to!


Tonight though I want to share a bit on the Mike Adams online seminar.. post a few of the interesting topics he talked about.

Nourish the body correctly & it will heal itself. (We know this- but it's just so important!)

He talked about there being over 500 phytochemicals in each natural food( & they are constantly discovering more & more all the time). Natural foods (fruits,vegetables, nuts, seeds) are so complex! Each one of these phytochemicals has a medicinal effect on the body - and also each of the other 499+ of them have their effects.. and the effects of all of them together working synergystically.
Our body has an incredible wisdom that knows what to do with these nutrients, whether science understands it or not.
Our body is 100% biocompatible with medicine from food.

He talked a lot about organics & the benefits.
Organic produce contains a lot more vitamins,minerals and nutrients.
It's better for our water systems/ecology,not as harmful for our environment.
Less CO2 emissions. (also eating vegetarian and locally produces wayyy less, so much of what we eat is flown in from other countries,often from the other side of the globe!)

He talked about 3 types of consumers:

1. Those who don't read labels. They listen and shop according to ads. These people are typically the ones who will suffer depression, sickness, aches & pains, marital difficulties, diseases - cancer, diabetes, etc...
2. Those who read the front of boxes and the claims made by them. These people are going to be confused but still suffer negative heath effects.
3. Those who read the back of boxes and the list of ingredients. These people are starting to get into health - recognizing and staying away from things like MSG and partially-hydrogenated oils, etc (things they can't pronounce)

& then he mentioned a 4th type - Those who don't buy boxes. (That's us super-healthy ones! : )

The Honest Food Guide- Great guide for shopping - download and printout here

Manufacturers of processed foods know that consumers are looking for MSG and have ways of hiding it in their products now under a multitude of names. The most common one is yeast extract which is in over 20% of the packaged processed goods in the grocery store.

Further info on MSG labelling from here.
Foods always contain MSG when these names are in the ingredient list: Monopotassium glutamate, Glutamate, Glutamic acid, Gelatin, Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, Hydrolyzed plant protein, Sodium casinate, Calcium caseinate, Textured protein, Tortulla yeast, Yeast extract, Autolyzed yeast, Yeast food, Yeast nutrient.
Foods often contain MSG when these names are listed: Malted barley, Malt extract, Malt flavoring, Maltodextrin, Carmel flavoring (coloring), Stock, Broth, Bouillon, Carrageenan, Whey, Whey protein, Whey protein isolate, Whey protein concentrate,Pectin, Protease, Protease enzymes

Manufacturers don't want to change the ingredients, easier to change the label.

If a product says Fat free or Trans fat free - this does not mean it is still not loaded with trans fatty acids. There are loop holes and cracks in the system to hide these under.
A product can have up to .5 grams of fatty acids per serving and claim its 0. And a serving size can be whatever they choose.. so say 1 cookie is a serving, but if you sit down and eat a whole bag - 32 cookies could = 16 grams of trans fatty acids! That could be a heart attack.

Milk - 1st - Why are we drinking infant formula from a furry bovine species?
& 2nd - If so, why Pasteurized?? (Read- The China Study)

Raw milk is fermented and a living food which can be beneficial to human health.
There is a huge difference between dead (pasteurized) milk and living milk which is alive with enzymes, nutrients intact and much more digestible.
But,
Mike Adams challenges people to try a 30 day milk-free diet.
Interview with Robert Cohen, author of "Milk, the Deadly Poison", excerpted from here -

Mike Adams: I've recommended to readers they take a 30-day no-dairy test. Seven days is also plenty, if you're aware of your body, to see the difference, but what can people really expect to change. You've mentioned some of the things, but what about the long-term health improvements? If someone gives up milk, what can they expect to happen in a month or in a year?

Robert Cohen: Well, you know, it's interesting you ask that question, because the Townsend Medical Letter, which is a doctor's letter written by doctors for doctors, over 180,000 get it, in the May of 1995 issue, they talked about cow's milk, the symptoms, that they've been linked to a variety of health problems -- mucus production, hemoglobin loss, allergies, and numbers 8, 9, and 10 on their list were mood swings, depression, and irritability. Now, you think about people who have mood wings, depression and irritability, and many people blame it on Epstein-Barr virus, being middle-age crisis prone.

Mood swings, depression and irritability -- you take estrogen every day, with progesterone and melatonin and all of these different female hormones that are coming from pregnant cows, and it's going to mess you up. I can't even tell you what it's even going to do to you. But I know that we become very hormonal, depressed, mood swings, depression and irritability -- give it up. It really is an easy solution. You can spend thousands of dollars with your doctor, and take all sorts of medication, and give kids Ritalin, but there's no need for it! Just go not milk -- completely dairy-free.

...dramatic results, especially with attention deficit disorder, autism -- we're seeing such dramatic changes in children who go completely dairy-free.

Mike Adams: What about the long-term prevention of chronic disease?

Robert Cohen: There's a place on this planet where they have more people living over age 100 than anywhere else, where the average woman lives to age 86, where people don't even need x-ray machines because they don't get breast cancer or osteoporosis. That place is 160 islands between Japan and Taiwan called Okinawa. Now the book was written by Wilcox and Suzuki called "The Okinawa Plan," and you read that these people are eating 1/20th the amount of calcium that we do, yet they don't get bone breaks.

And you'll read the analysis of calcium intakes all over the world -- South Africa they're eating under 100 milligrams a day, in America 980, and yet we have 14 times the rate of pelvic fractures. It's not the calcium you eat, it's not the cow's milk you eat -- it's the protein, the animal protein that causes the acid condition in the blood which your body must neutralize, and it does so by leaching calcium from your bones. And this is the real science -- this is not the goofy milk mustache ad marketing -- this is the real science that you find in peer-reviewed scientific journals, the truth that most Americans are not getting.

Pics from The Ethicurean - Chew the Right Thing post - Don't sterilize our nuts: Take Action on Almonds.

Amazing Cookies - How To - Improvise

I made cookies yesterday that were amazing.. but I don't have a recipe to recreate them.. I could come close. What happened, and this is typical in creating raw foods.. is that I made a bowl of cereal. I had almonds and walnuts and pumpkin seeds soaked. Drained them and then put them in a bowl with a cut up banana, apple, pear and raisins.. and realized it was a Huge amount.. so I put over 1/2 of this in another bowl & then went & made almond milk. Almonds in a blender with a few dates and water, blend & strain.. I made a lot just to have for the next couple days. I hadn't made it in awhile - I really should make it more often esp. in the winter, its great and comforting (and filling) in a cup of tea and on cereals.

Well, I was thinking that with the almond pulp left over and the other bowl of cereal.. I mixed them together.. added another banana, apple, raisins, lots of hemp seeds and some sesame seeds, a couple T's of honey..oh, and another handful of walnuts that weren't soaked (? what do you do..gotta go with it!) Then I dropped by big spoonfuls a couple inches in diameter onto teflex sheets and dehydrated. Flipped after a couple hours & dehydrated overnight..

Amazing for breakfast. Now thats comfort food!

They are actually similar to ( & I am sure I was inspired by this) another recipe I concocted & posted here. If you want a recipe to follow, this one is great . And keep in mind that with raw recipes its easy to add and omit things, change it around according to what you have in stock, and still have it turn out and taste great. You will know by tasting the dough before you dehydrate..if its hard to stop eating it .. it'll turn out great.
Dehydrating can intensify flavours, but doesn't change them a lot.

The Simply Raw Festival and Raw Lifestyle Film Festival

Check out the Simply Raw festival site for more info on both the festival and all about Simply Raw- it's a great site to check out!!

Raw Vegan Village

Storm & Jinjee are developing a Raw Vegan Village - this is awesome and it seems very much along the lines of the Anastasia domain concept.

"Thanks for all the amazing feedback regarding the Raw Vegan Village concept! it seems that we could fill 20 communities like this with all the people who wrote saying they would like to live in such a place! So what I'm learning is that community is very important to many raw vegans. For many people their home life and community life is a primary obstacle to maintaining a raw vegan lifestyle. And to answer the most frequently asked question - where will The Raw Vegan Village be? - the answer is we don't know yet. We are looking into sites in Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington. But we are also open to other suggestions." ~Jinjee from her Daily Raw inspiration e-mails

Post suggestions & ideas to their Blog by following the link above.

also visit their website - The Garden Diet - to get better acquainted with this amazing family, if you aren't already.

Nama Shoyu, Spring Rolls with an Amazing Dipping Sauce, the Market and Kevin Giannis online Health Seminar

I had a couple delicious spring rolls yesterday - I had just finished making cookies (raw, chocolate) at the Cacao Loft - Chocosol Headquarters and took a walk up Yonge St. to go to Noah's (health food store) & get some more Nama Shoyu (see empty bottle in background next picture). Nama Shoyu is the only raw unpasteurized, enzyme & lactobacillus rich, soy sauce and it is amazing that only one company makes it - Oshawa.

"From the village of Godspring, high in the mountains of Japan, comes a shoyu that is truly a living food. This village historically has made shoyu for the emperor of Japan using a careful process that requires a great deal of patience. Made from mountain spring water and aged for four years in cedar casks, the production of this healing food is truly a labor of love, which may explain why high-quality artisan shoyu is now so difficult to find. We are excited to offer this full-bodied shoyu, high in B12. It is the only unpasteurized and organic variety available." ~http://www.celticseasalt.com/OSHAWA_NAMA_SHOYU_P442.cfm

Noah's didn't have it. It's not so easy to find..but worth the treasure hunt to get it.
And I stopped in at the Green Mango and got what I thought were raw spring rolls. My brother & I had a long discussion about if rice wrappers were raw or not, and after looking it up last night I have decided that they probably are not.. but they were really good (& they could be). ..& so I tried to copy it in a very 'raw-style' way last night.. by blending & dehydrating ground & soaked chia and young coconut meat & water.. I probably shouldn't mention it cause it wasn't a huge success. They taste great but they came out too dry this morning - out of the dehydrator & crumbled when I tried rolling veggies up in them, even after wetting them to rehydrate.. O well, but this is how sometimes great ideas are born.

But I made a great dipping sauce! I love to experiment with sauces and tried recreating the amazing dipping sauce that came with the spring rolls - really the best part.. they had this amazing distinctive taste.. that made you want to keep dipping, you could drink this stuff!
The secret ingredient was surprisingly caraway - which is a spice I rarely use..but it worked so well in this. Probably not exactly like theirs, but it tasted amazing &..
This is not the most simple recipe, tamarind is a bit of work... but always so worth it.. one of the most amazing flavours.. Here's my recipe:

Spring Rolls

Unless you come up with a raw rice paper analogy-alternative ( & if you do please tell me!!!) use a vegetable leaf as the wrap, like romaine, or collard or even iceburg would work. Then finely slice or grate on mandolin or spiralize some veggies: carrots, cucumber, daikon radish, zucchini - and sliced celery or green onions, and sprouts are good in them. (I used beets, just cause I had them prepared.. Wrap a wonderful assortment of veggies & finely sliced or grated ginger and a few mint leaves are amazing in there also, in your leaf.

Spring Roll Sauce

1 c tamarind paste - Take 1/4 block of tamarind and soak in 1 c water to soften then mash through strainer- more instructions from a previous post & most excellent recipe here)
1/2 c agave
2 T nama shoyu
2 T olive oil
1 t grated ginger
1 t salt
3/4 t caraway
1/2 t ground coriander seed
small sprinkle of anise and garlic powder

Pour some into a little bowl, dipspring rolls in and enjoy. It's sooo good!

Oh..I went to the market today - had to meet a friend to trade the next Anastasia book with (she's almost caught upwith me) Hey, & another friend there, Duane, had the new book just out Book 8.1 - The New Civilization. cool! I'm still into Book 7, and its on hold for a bit..trying to stay focused. my own thing..sorting through piles of recipes that I have experimented with and written over the past few years.. Thankfully I have them almost all in one place! ..and that I have kept records and written them down. There are some bursts of brilliancy and inspiration in there. ; )
Markets have the best shopping ever, premade raw organic salads and check the date on the cider - it was fresh pressed just hours ago from local apples- cool!!! & local greens, raw pesto, hot chocolatl drinks, up the vibe!! local greens, best honey, To sprouts, wonderful friends.. going to the market is soul food too!

Oh, & I listened to Mike Adams last night.. was interesting and I will post some about it tomorrow.. already started listening to Byron Katie now as I type this- multitasking.. have to go pay attention.. will post more on this tomorrow.
These online health seminars are from Kevin Gianni's 'The Healthiest Year of Your Life' - each night he has an hour long podcast available for 24 hours.
The one tonight with Byron Katie, is available till 8pm tomorrow evening, available here:

& coming up (note links for free access):
Feb 4th - Jon Barron
Feb 5th - Dr. Richard DiCenso
Feb 6th - Nomi Shannon
Feb 7th - Jim Katsoulis
Feb 10th - Jill Fleming
Feb 11th - Craig Pepin-Donat

& back to sorting through recipes... adios amidos, buenos noches!

The Best Decadently Healthy Junk-Food Day Ever! ..Keeping Busy

This is my glass of OJ - blood oranges- delicious! that I had Sunday morning.. that was the only morning I haven't been doing my new morning routine .. was just in one of those moods.

& I was indulging in cashews sprinkled with sesame oil& salt.. and lots of Hot Choc- Rawket Raw Tehate! The totally amazing decadent drink, my favorite!!!

Thats funny, that my junk-food day is fresh squeezed orange juice and raw nuts, chocolate etc!! This lifestyle is definitely a win-win situation!

I realized I haven't been here as much lately, but I will be again. Still busy and focused
Whats up? Lots ! I am cleaning out my house getting it ready to fix up, plaster, paint.. will be selling it this spring.
Went yesterday morning to FoodShare, checking out their commercial kitchen to rent to make our raw bread, getting ideas. They have a huge mixer! would love to try that. but we have other kitchens to check out, fun! ..formulating plans, spent this afternoon going through more old raw & health books, really fascinating.
& of course lots of reading & writing..
Tomorrow I am going to Chocosol - The Cacao Loft - to make Raw Chocolate Cookies.
Oh & I have just gained access to the JuiceFeasting site for 30 days so will explore and post on that soon also. cool!

~Hugs~ Have a beautiful day!! xo

An Incredible Morning Routine!

I have this new morning routine that has really been working for me.. Today was the 4th day doing this ..but I think this is a keeper!
I was inspired by my Moms smoothie recipe that I posted a few days ago.. but this isn't a smoothie because I have just not felt like eating much in the mornings lately.
So this is what I have been doing..

An Incredible Morning Routine!

1st thing in the morning I get a tall glass of water with phytoplankton mixed into it.
Drink and take a digestive enzyme and then drink another glass of water...

Then I get my morning going.. shower and wake up, do my thing..
and about a 1/2 - an hour later

I get another glass of water and add (aprox. measurements):
1/2 t MSM
1/2 t Maca
1/4 t una de gato (cat's claw - open 500g capsule)
1/4 t fo-ti
1 Host Defense (medicinal mushrooms) cap opened and poured in - can substitute 1/4 t powdered Reishi
1/2 lemon - juiced
1 T agave
a dash of cayenne

stir and drink
it will settle a bit if it sits around so keep the spoon handy..

It actually tastes quite good. However, the Fo-Ti is the strongest tasting herb and if it is left out it will taste better..but its one of those really, really incredible herbs for you .. & well, it's a decision.

I find that when I do this I usually don't feel like eating till noon..which is a really good thing these days because I have been staying up and eating later than usual a lot lately.

This is a real, clear headed, vibrant energy concoction!
Enjoy ..a votre sante!

Rawket Raw Tejate - another Chocosol Experience

I loved this pic mainly because of the red painted bowls to the left, which are the same bowls they use to serve hot chocolate drinks at Chocosol. (I use ceramic bowls at home - there is something very special and almost ceremonious about drinking hot chocolate out of special bowls)
This is a pic of traditional Tejate, which is indigenous to Oaxaca, Mexico.

I didn't bring my camera today, Kaiya had it, she's working on an art project with it. (pic from here) Too bad because even though I was only there for a couple hours this morning, it was a totally happening place. Scott & Maria were in full-action making their Raw coconut cakes. (totally amazing! - I got a little cup of 'to die for' icing before I left, I love it so much, I eat the icing last when I eat their cakes!) Mathieu was there, Micheal was there and Ruben showed up shortly after me with a selection of great music cd's and his drums, which after making the Tehate he sat in the corner and played on to the music.

Well, it was a special day at Chocosol because, thanks esp. to my newly Raw friend.. we needed a 100% raw hot chocolate to help overcome a coffee addiction.. and also just because its an amazing thing to have. Tejate is my favorite of the hot choc flavours and Michael said that he thought it could be done.. and so.. today- Rawket Raw Tehate was born! : ) (I am totally honoured!)

To the right is Mamey seed. Mamey is a close relation to the Sapote fruit. I was surprised how large the seeds were. And the flavour ..I was trying to distinguish it, then realized its like an amaretto-almond flavour. Michael told me that we can only sense about 500 different flavour variations with our tongues and there are over 20,000, and probably way, way more flavours out there. So we relate flavours to each other.

But we had a dilemma today ..whether to roast the seed for the flavour or not. I decided to -lightly- roast the seeds and Rosita de cacao, just as little as possible.. because its a very small portion of the ingredients and big on the flavour. Next time we are going to plan ahead and dehydrate the seeds and husks of the flowers for 24 hours and the flowers themselves for 12 hours. so it's pure, pure raw..Yes!

We used raw cacao and agave.. and it turned out amazing!

This is a pic of the rosita de cacao. I grinded these and the Mamey seeds by hand- twice, fine grind.. and then mixed it with the Raw Cacao - which was an amazing flavour -I got a lesson on fermented Cacao beans, muy interesante! Then we ground this all together 2 more times till it was a silky smooth texture. Next we sweetened this most deliciously flavoured luscious chocolate with agave.. and then it was ready to put into molds.

I was only there for about 2 hours, till noon. Next week I am planning on going back Wed. am to make my raw chocolate cookies.

& on the way home..I got to see one of my favorite musicians - King Achilla Orru -playing at Bloor and Yonge. Yes!! Seriously High-vibe music. Soul food. ..& I talked to him, hes coming out with a new cd in a few months.. Which is great, I have almost worn out the old one I have of his!

Smoothie routine

Wow. It was cold in Ottawa! ..But we had a great meeting and good progress was taken toward the upcoming film festival. Lots of planning going on.. yes.

Now, heres my challenge. One person that I am coaching is more raw then I am! ..determined to be 100% for at least a month to test this. So, I am inspired.. and putting away those 80%+ treats (mainly truffles and chocolate) that I like to indulge in. Chocosol makes a few pure raw chocolate varieties - raw vanilla and Sawako snow - going to try both those as an (almost) hot chocolate for us.

Another issue is that we discovered that Vega protein powder, which I had suggested, is not completely raw..a friend of Brendan's told me he thought about 80-90% raw. So for an alternative smoothie idea I called my Mom, who drinks a lot of smoothies and has quite a smoothie routine down.
I usually just have greens and fruit and maybe some flax seeds in mine.
Here's what she drinks in hers.
She has 2 favorite combos, a morning one and an afternoon one.

Morning

Greens – e.g. spinach/parsley/baby greens

Fruit- banana/mango/apple/berries

Goji berries

Hemp protein powder (or hemp seeds)

Coconut oil

Maca

Ground flax &/or chia seeds

Cacao

Lemon

Honey

dash cayenne

(bee pollen)

taken with Digestive enzymes

Afternoon:

Greens

Fruit

Pumpkin seeds

Black sesame seeds

There are so many smoothie combinations.
Creating an incredible smoothie combination for your first meal of the day can be a perfect way to get lots of greens and superfoods in. That way it feels like your nutritional intake is covered and anything else you have during the day is just bonus.

Road Trip - Raw Film Festival plans underway

Mi-San and I are off on another road trip.. we're heading out early, early tomorrow morning.
We are driving to Ottawa to plan and scout around for a good location for the Raw Film Festival which is coming up from LA in September. We are also going to be meeting with Natasha & Mark of Simply Raw. The film festival will coincide with the Simply Raw Festival they hold in September. Last year the Festival was a huge success drawing thousands of people.

I just added a few great links into the previous post - Raw Pot Luck Pics
check out:
Mark & Chantelle's site - Living Nutrition
Tamara's site - Beyond Beliefs
& Fred's (KKOhm Truffles) site - Food Not Candy

k, back to work...
Have a spectacular, beautiful and adventurous weekend!!! Much Love!