Rawlicious Patio

The Rawlicious patio is now open! It's got a beautiful comfy ambiance, great music and great food!!
and now I will be going there and be able to enjoy it from the other side. I had decided over a month ago to take a leave.. lots of personal projects to work on, and gave my notice.. it was a slow transition out.. and I may show up again to help out, you never know.
But it was kind of sad, kind of freeing, working my last day on Friday. Transitions are strange things - I am getting very good at the transition phases of my life!

I love the patio.. and love Cassandras paintings! They are found hanging all over Rawlicious. Here are a few pics I took of the garage mural in progress.

Cass can often be found in the kitchen or paintbrush in hand out in the patio.

Enjoy the beautiful, warm, creative, fun energy at Rawlicious! & of course, great food!!!

Beauty, Healing, Bliss, Fantasy, Energy, Shamans and Overriding Overwhelmedness

I am finding Joy and Beauty everywhere lately.. things that used to bother me, rarely do now.
I am loving that. I do however, have an intensity of feelings.. and do experience some feelings of overwhelm-edness .. I am not sure if this is just from overworking, or from all of the transitions in my life right now (I think I am becoming a butterfly! ) , or if I am just tapping into the collective consciousness.

I am happy almost all the time, with moments of wow, I am feeling really overwhelmed; I have so much to do that I can't do anything. A few things I have found that help with this:

1. just stopping and meditating 10 minutes, removing myself from the outside world
2. writing a list of things I need to do & prioritizing, numbering them
3. getting myself into another environment: a trip to ChocoSol, Sprouts, even the grocery store.. yesterday it happened and I went to Rawlicious and got right out of it. The gym would be great also.

I have really enjoyed Jinjees last few e-mails:

On Healing the Planet:
"How arrogant to think that we can heal the planet, when it is the planet which can heal us, if we would only let it! If we would have the humility to believe that.

The planet will be here long after we are gone. But if we work with nature through this green revolution including a green diet, we can heal ourselves! And yes, the planet will be a little happier too! What's good for us is good for the planet; we are made of the same stuff."

on Fruit Fasting:
"If all you eat is fruit for a couple of days, you don't even want anything else! Suddenly nothing else will do! It is all you want! You have to have the good stuff! Not that I'm recommending eating only fruit as a permanent diet, but it is an absolutely awesome experience to eat just fruit for a few days. Try it sometime this summer! It is an inexpensive ticket to another and blissful reality!"

I have been remembering the wildest and most wonderful, wacky dreams.. fantasy all mixed up with reality lately. Really, really crazy and yet profound. I love it!!

My Mom sends me the most inspiring e-mails .. because she lives and breathes love, joy and happiness every moment, she is a most amazing ( and humble) woman!

"I am certainly gaining a lot from practicing Qigong ... it is amazing
how much better I do my Tai Chi forms now. The energy channels are
really opening  ... giving me lots more flexibility and a deep joy
that seems almost constant. It is very awesome."

Mom also sent me a link for The Shaman Shack, which I am quite intrigued with.

and I love this quote on his page of pictures of friends:
"Since starting Shamanshack 3 years ago, I have been blessed to come into the most fascinating group of people Ive ever known. These friends include true shamans, lightworkers of all types, my apprentices and shining examples of the new seed race of the spiritual human. These lightworkers are re-creating a pristine world. They're already at work rejuvenating our Mother through promotion of Permaculture food forestry and bio dynamic organic sustainable farming. We're showing the way of the light by bringing a new spiritual symbiotic consciousness. Eating Raw food, affirming loving thoughts of peace and interconnectedness of all beings. Pure high-frequency organic raw living foods and High vibrational Tonic herbs are premier among the great driving forces of our mind-body purification. As an old way of burning, division and consumption crumbles, we must be the light, the guides. Come on and be with us in the light of the NEW CONSCIOUSNESS."

Create for yourself the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, happy day yet! xo

May Poem in June

In the Month of May

In the month of May when all leaves open,
I see when I walk how well all things
lean on each other, how the bees work,
the fish make their living the first day.
Monarchs fly high; then I understand
I love you with what in me is unfinished.

I love you with what in me is still
changing, what has no head or arms
or legs, what has not found its body.
And why shouldn't the miraculous,
caught on this earth, visit
the old man alone in his hut?

And why shouldn't Gabriel, who loves honey,
be fed with our own radishes and walnuts?
And lovers, tough ones, how many there are
whose holy bodies are not yet born.
Along the roads, I see so many places
I would like us to spend the night.

- Robert Bly

Dragon Wings and Fairy Dust

I am creating magic today!!!
..even though my whole computer got seemingly wiped out (hours later the files got rediscovered hidden far, far away.. many thanks for a special computer wizard friend!)

Careful plans, long hard thoughts.. looking in and looking out.. gathering information.. & inspiration.. sowing love and blessings .. reaping the same.. and always having lots of Fun!

(I created dragon wings.. and a water dragon too!)

Some things are best left unsaid. Timings important.. and now off to bed.

Sweet and Sparkly Fairy dust Dreams!! xo

The Best Errands Ever! : ChocoSol, Kensington Market and Toronto Sprouts

My afternoon of errands.. I stopped by one of my favorite places - ChocoSol - to pick up lots of cacao for me & to bring home (NB) to my Mom!! Lots of flavours and freshly made nibs. Mmm!!! the bestest highest vibe chocolate ever!!! I love their chocolate.. and I love that they make raw flavours also!! : )
This room that Michael is in has just been built this year ..and Now there is a plan, a vision for...- see drawing below..
..for the rooftop gathering and meditation space, herb garden and above bike energy technology to power a sound system below.. amazing visions and growth going on here..
& it was amazing to see Rosie back!! : ) She was in Halifax for awhile.. where I am going soon! Looking so forward to that!


The ChocoSol kitchen, lots of action!

Next up, Kensington Market.. supplies for raw experimenting creations..

Every time I come here it just keeps getting better!

Toronto Sprouts! I love the green drink on the desk.. a sign of a truly high-vibe place.. wheatgrass powered!

Rachel! : )

It's emptying out.. getting barer & barer all the time.. what will happen to Toronto Sprouts?

Production is still going on..

I love this scene! Wish I could provide scent and oxygen enhanced pictures for you!!

& now I am home.. have special crackers in the dehydrator (dragon wings!), downloading new music to my ipod and about to create my animated vision board. I have been dreaming and envisioning beautiful things and images to put on it. Fun! xo, Love & peace!!

My Strawberry Lacuma Cookies

One of the really fun things about eating raw foods is creating with raw foods!! While there are lots of raw food prep books out there.. the realm of raw foods is still mainly wild uncharted territory.. so many new inventions and ways of preparing foods are still yet to be explored.

& I love turning up the music, opening the windows, letting the sunshine in and creating..
Last week I made these incredible Strawberry Lacuma Cookies.. they were amazing. I was apprehensive about how they would turn out.. they had an almost smoky mesquitey flavour to them ..and turned out to be almost addictive!

But.. I didn't write down what I put in them.. and I tried to recreate them yesterday, sort of..I got carried away putting different things together in the bowl.. even some of Chocosol's chili chocolate! and they are very, very good ..
but not the same.. I think I put black sesame seeds in last time.. hmm, I wonder if I actually put mesquite in? maybe just a tablespoon..

I will just have to try again once this batch is done. I just ate 3.. it won't take long!!

note - added later, in response to Caleb's comment for ingredients.

Hey Caleb,
have been thinking of your request for ingredients and I couldn't remember them all, except for my crazy idea of putting chili chocolate in there! : )

I actually just found the piece of paper that had the ingredients on it. I have a thing with experimentation and also of spinning around my kitchen and putting everything I can find into a bowl and seeing what happens.
: )
Usually I am in the habit of writing it down somewhere (ideally in the notebook I have in the kitchen), but often just on a piece of paper.


Here is the recipe of what I made, the 2nd batch. & I think I remember putting black sesame seeds in the 1st batch, which is probably what gave it the smoky flavour (I recognize it now, just made black sesame bread yesterday! Here you go, Enjoy! :

1 1/2 c Walnuts
3/4 c Raisins
process until chunky

2 c Strawberries - processed until chopped up well

3 Bananas - mashed
1 c Almond Pulp (from making almond milk)
1/4 c 5 Chili Chocolate - chopped ( 5 chili chocolate is a ChocoSol product, you can substitute other chocolate pieces)
1/4 c Lacuma powder
3/4 c Sesame seeds
1 c Pecan meal
2 T Vanilla
1/2 t Cinnamon
dash of salt - if I know me. : )

Have fun experimenting with this!

Collecting pictures

Here are a few of the pictures I am collecting to make an animated vision board. : )

I'm not sure if I am going to keep this egg bed one, it's over $66k!! .. it is beautiful and funky, love it.. but not sure if I am into collecting things in my life right yet. ; )

"Always aim higher than you believe you can reach. So often, you’ll discover that when your talents are set free by your imagination, you can achieve any goal.

If people offer their help or wisdom as you go through life, accept it gratefully. You can learn much from those who have gone before you. But never be afraid or hesitant to step off the accepted path and head off in your own direction if your heart tells you that it’s the right way for you.

Always believe that you will ultimately succeed at whatever you do, and never forget the value of persistence, discipline, and determination.

You are meant to be whatever you dream of becoming." ~Edmund O’Neill

"Write it on your heart that every day is the Best day of the year" Ralph Waldo Emerson

k, need hearts for my kids, etc.. will collect more pics tomorrow, have to leave for Rawlicious in 30 mins. xo, Have the Best Day Ever!!