Raw Summer by maurine killough

Postscript...A Departure from Raw

2010-08-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

People often accuse me of having such a healthy diet, but it's not true. They even have the nerve to act horrified when I bite into a meat ball. A real meatball. No, I eat (and am interested) in just about everything. Below is an article I wrote for the San Francisco Professional Food Society.

The Great Soy Bean Mystery
How do you go from a green bean to a white cake, no trace of color? And what is yuba? These and other soy bean mysteries were solved at a recent tour with the San Francisco Professional Food Society of the Hodo Soy Beanery in Oakland.

Sleuthing started with Dean Ku, co-founder of Hodo Soy, who rolled out a thorough and enlightening tour of this success-story of an enterprise. We began with a tasting of still-warm soy milk, fresh off-the-presses plain tofu cubes, hijiki tofu salad, edamame tofu salad, flash fried tofu nuggets, and spicy yuba strips.

The secret is the freshness. Richer and fuller with a hint of bitter, the soy milk was nothing like I’d ever tasted. The fresh cubes were lightly chewy, but creamy with a delicate, clean flavor. In fact, in cultures who eat tofu, it is always eaten fresh, often straight from the vat. The idea of packaged tofu in grocery stores is unheard of. All the dishes were tasty but my favorite was the Yuba Strips.

What is yuba? To explain, we must first unravel the mystery of tofu. Hodo (translation “good bean”) begins with organic, non-GMO dried soy beans. Green edamame is fresh and not mature enough. The dried beans are soaked overnight, they are ground and heated. Next the pulp is separated leaving only the white “milk” rich in protein and non-saturated fat.

To make tofu, soy milk is mixed with calcium sulfate which coagulates, just like in cheese-making. After a few minutes the mass is spread out in shallow trays lined with cheesecloth, so the liquid strains out. Next, the trays are stacked and a compressor is used to weight them down squeezing out the liquid. The heavier the weight, the firmer the tofu. After less than an hour, the tofu sheets are ready to be cut and gently moved into a water bath to cool and stay fresh.

Back to yuba – considered the “sashimi of tofu” yuba begins with plain fresh soy milk, hand poured into metal pans with steam heat below. Within minutes, the milk develops a film across the surface. When the film is set, it is expertly hand-lifted and draped on a cooling bar. Yuba looks paper-thin but is quite flexible, and can be cut into “noodles” for a stir fry or marinated veggie mix, but my favorite is using it as a wrap! It’s delicate, nutty flavor and flexible texture make it absolutely perfect for wrapping veggies, bbq, anything! It's my new favorite lunch option.

A History - Mr. Minh Tsai brought memories of fresh, delicious tofu from his homeland in Vietnam to San Jose, and since he could find nothing like that here, he soon began replicating it, with great reception at local Farmer’s Markets. Now with former chocolate magnate John Scharffenberger on his board and a 12,000 square foot streamlined factory with custom equipment, Hodo Soy now supplies many restaurants including Coi, Slanted Door and Greens. Always delivered the same day, freshness is of utmost concern and is indicative of Hodo’s emphatic commitment to the highest quality possible.

So, whether it’s a block of white tofu, a spring green edamame, or even a paper-thin sheet of yuba, the Great Soy Bean Mystery is now solved.

Thank you to SFPFS member Karoline Boehm for photos

Sip, Snap, Savor or That's How the Pizza Crust Crumbles

2008-03-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's two days later and I'm finally cleaning up the remnants from my "showcase" dinner party for Sip Snap, Savor...a couple (Melissa & Phil) who are traveling the U.S. and time capsuling U.S. cuisine. They contacted me and I invited them to come experience (for their first time) raw, live cuisine.

They came to dinner on a Sunday night and thank you to foodie and former SF Professional Food Society President, Sandra Murray and her husband Greg Karras, for providing the delicious live cocktails we enjoyed (Cucumber, Celery Mint Julips and Pineapple, Orange and Rosemary mojitos).

Melissa came equipped with her notebook, curiosity and impressive wine knowledge, and Phil with his camera and ravenous laugh. Melissa is a wine aficionado. You should check out her wine tastings, classes and info at: http://www.praisecheesespassthewine.com/

The Menu:

snack - teriyaki kale chips

"Goat" Cheese and Tomato Tartlet

Firey Carrot Soup

Dandelion Salad

Live Pizzas - Sicilian & Italian

Coffee Mocha Cheesecake

I made two kinds of crusts 1) live buckwheat crust from Juliano's book (which I over dehydrated, it cracked, I panicked) and 2) onion bread crust which on it's own is over the top delicious, but I think it was too flavorful for a pizza crust.

Pizza Uno was a classic Italian Pizza (Juliano's cookbook) with a hearty red tomato sauce and Italian veggies (Roxanne's onion nut cheese, zucchini, capers, black olives, red peppers, etc.). Pizza Due - Sicilian Pizza was definitely different with an avocado base for the sauce, spiced with exotic middle eastern chutney spices and topped with sprouts, yellow peppers, green olives, scallions, etc. I think the favorite, however, were the tartlets I made as the first dish. I used Matt Amsden's goat cheese recipe, which is a sunflower seed "cheese" which I added chopped arugula to. The tartlets were the onion bread, topped with the cheese, then I had marinated zucchini shavings in a sweet lemon balsamic vinegar and topped with green, yellow and red tomatoes.

If you've never prepared a meal for complete strangers, who are then going to publish their experience at your house, let me tell you, no pressure at all.

When I chose to do this, I was all excited. I decided on an Indian menu and then thought better of it, as it involved so many steps, I decided to simplify. Pizza and soup seemed simple. But as the day drew near I started to doubt myself...would pizza be enough food?? I added a dandelion salad. Problem solved. But then, I began to visualize myself with these complete strangers. I knew I couldn't count on my husband...he would likely vaporize into thin air rather than have a social Sunday night. Oh, this was getting uncomfortable. Oh! I decided, what's wrong with me? I have all of the SF Professional Food Society to draw upon...who then? Sandra & Greg were my natural first choice to come and help me entertain these culinary travelers. Sandra and I have worked together for years in the Food Society and she and her husband are what I consider to be "Smiling Eyes Tribe"-- forward thinkers, open minds and warm hearts...plus they are real foodies! They generously agreed to come, and I realized it would be nice to have some live beverages, and with absolutely no arm twisting, Sandra agreed to bring the live cocktails, using Roxanne's book.

I began shopping days before carefully noting my bucolic plans. I started the crusts the day before. I composted the kitchen scraps that were buzzing with fruit flies. I vacuumed. I bitched at my husband for not helping. We washed the windows. I made the cheesecake. We went to a wine tasting party that night and I drank too much wine. Sunday: I did not have time to give into my hang over or take the dog for a walk, I flew out of bed and hit the kitchen. I checked on the crusts, and the buckwheat crust was starting to crack. I immediately removed it and it started crumbling! Panic manifested into hyperventilation as I dialed Dawn's number (co-owner of Cafe Soulstice) but no, they did not have any pre-made pizza crusts I could rush over and buy...they no longer make pizza at the cafe. I thought about crying but I didn't have time. See, this is the problem with live cuisine--you can't easily purchase replacement ingredients anywhere! My husband silently slinked into the car and headed for Sonoma. So much for the support.

Then I realized I didn't have any pretty glasses to serve the cocktails in. The thought of barreling off to CostPlus felt like a ton of bricks. A clear glass was essential to showcase these beautiful elixirs! Dinner was less than four hours away and I still had to mop the floor, clean the kitchen and prep the veggies! I enlisted deep breathing with a clenched jaw. I called Sandra. No problem, she says, I have the perfect glasses and I'll bring them. I sighed relief and then took a squirt bottle to the cracked pizza. This brilliant solution caused the crust to become doughy without patching the cracks.

When Sue called I was blow drying the pizza in the bathroom. She would take Dinah for a walk. Poor dog had been glowering at me all day. Thank God for sisters. OK, forget the cracked pizza. so what? By the time I dress it, it won't matter. And if it crumbles, it will still taste good, I told myself as I imagined these strangers as snooty professional chefs or haute cuisine food writers. The stress mounted.

The next epiphany came when I realized I didn't have any serving platters to lay these pizzas on!!! I needed a flat, solid 18"square surface to lay these pizzas on so I could dress and serve them. Usually, I just make one pizza, not two, and I use our butcher block, but this was for company! Writing, photographing, possibly-chef-people company! I tore the house apart looking for the pizza stone that never fit in our oven, which would have been perfect, but I never found it. Sue must be psychic because she called just then and before she could get a word in edgewise, I blurted out my predicament. No problem, she says, Paulette, her home-maker extraordinaire sister would surely have what I needed.

I went back to chopping vegetables and decided to forget about the crumbling crust, the missing glassware, or how the hell I was going to serve these pizzas. God, I prayed, Just don't let them be professional chefs. I have to say here, that delegation, that is sisterhood delegation, really works! Sue showed up with two marvelous blocks to serve the pizzas on. Dinah came home happy, and Sandra and Greg showed up bearing bags of drink-makings, fancy stemware, lovely freesias and even a bottle of wine that Sandra had designed the label for!

Melissa and Phil showed up and they were (thank you, God) not professional chefs, but good-natured and easy going. My favorite comment was when Melissa confessed she was pleasantly surprised and relieved to find the food so palatable, as they hadn't known what to expect from a raw, live food menu! That comment, along with Sandra and Sue flying in like angels to help me in my hour of stress, AND the fact that the crust did NOT crumble when we ate it, made my night! In fact, there was only a few scraps of that pizza left...and THAT'S how the pizza crust crumbles.

More than Just an Apple a Day...

2008-01-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

The live food movement is an emerging culinary culture we are seeing come on the scene right now, much as the vegetarian movement did in the early 1970’s. People did not flock to a vegetarian diet when it first began, in fact we were somehow a little frightened! What were we afraid of? Did we think vegetables were going to kill us? Perhaps given our high-protein diets at the time we were terrified of not getting enough protein. But, slowly, as we began to understand that grains and nuts are super high in protein too, tasty recipes were introduced, and nutritionists and even doctors began to endorse it, our culture began to accept it. Now a vegetarian diet is not so unusual and most of us recognize eating this way as a healthier trend than the meat and potatoes diet we grew up on. We’re finally accepting that vegetables and fruits aren’t going to kill us and in fact, might improve the quality of our lives.

So like vegetarianism was 30 years ago, the live food movement is being met with trepidation and suspicion. How do you get your protein? Isn’t preparing raw food hugely time-consuming? These are the most common questions I get. Yes, changing your diet seems scary, but it doesn't have to be! And there is a learning curve, for any diet! Yes, live food may seem as weird as vegetarianism may have seemed the first time we heard about it, but like vegetarianism, live food too might one day (soon) be accepted into the fold.

But there’s nothing weird about live food, in fact it is the stuff life is made of. And furthermore is quite gourmet! Live (raw) food is vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains prepared in ways that retain the food’s enzymes, vitamins and other nutrients. That simple. Live foodists flock to this diet not just because of taste and purity, but mainly because they want to maximize the amount of nourishment (and healing) that takes place when they eat! In short, live foodies feel more alive than they’ve ever felt in their lives. Charged, clear, energetic, healthy and thriving.

Raw food is “alive” because these foods have not been cooked or heated higher than 118 degrees. Conventionally cooked foods have had their vitamins and nutrients cooked right out of them, plus it takes them from an alkaline to an acid state, but the cornerstone of the live food philosophy is enzyme retention. Cooked foods are stripped of 100% of their enzymes in the process of being heated at temperatures higher than 118 degrees. Enzymes are essential to digestion! In fact enzymes are essential to our very life! Enzymes act as catalysts for every metabolic reaction in our bodies. Cell division, energy production, brain activity, all need enzymes. Vitamins and hormones need enzymes to do their work, as does our immune systems.
The other interesting note is that cooking converts alkaline foods (most vegetables) to acid ph. Disease thrives in an acid environment, it needs it! Conversely, disease cannot live in an alkaline environment.

When you eat cooked food all the time, the body has to function and fight diseases in a pro-disease (high acid) environment. It also has to scramble to try to generate the necessary enzymes to digest that food. What stress on the body! Here we are trying to nourish our bodies with food and instead we’re stressing it out! The body is only able to poorly replicate the enzymes you just killed by cooking your food. So digestion is not maximized, and many of us suffer from bloated bellies, flatulence, constipation, acid indigestion/reflux, poor memory and other maladies, very probably originally caused by basic poor digestion. Ask a raw foodie the last time they were sick. Cold or flu this year? Nope. Their body’s in a higher alkaline state, resistant to disease, and their immunity is stimulated and on active alert. In the driving position to eliminate any threats to the body as they are introduced.

I’ve been practicing this diet (but still do incorporate cooked food regularly) about 50% to 80% each day for about 13 months. The first thing I noticed was that I had more energy and needed less sleep each night. That means I woke up in the morning more refreshed. I had been feeling before that time groggy, sore and heavy when I first woke up. I have not been sick with a cold or flu once, and it’s mid-January. My bowel movements have been more frequent and regular THAN EVER IN MY LIFE, and I have always been on the constipated side. My pot belly that I had accepted as part of my genetic physique, is no longer puffy but flat and smooth. About 7 years ago I was diagnosed with Hepatitis-C and while I have been a-symptomatic my blood levels showing stress to my liver had been slowly and consistently rising each year. This year my blood levels were down to as low as before I knew I had this disease! The other thing that has changed for me is my brain fog and memory issues have cleared up. My mind feels sharp and clear and I’m not having trouble recalling “that word” I so often had trouble remembering.

I did drop some weight initially but I have leveled off, which is good for me as I am thin, only about 120 lbs. My husband, however, who was overweight did lose 17 lbs. He has not practiced this diet as much as me and is more closer to about 20% to 60%, but he's had benefits besides losing weight. His skin conditions have been relieved somewhat and he also has not been sick once this year, although he is still slightly overweight.

The food is delicious and it is exciting learning to prepare foods this way, although I admit there is a learning curve. I hope you'll enjoy my trevails and recipes on this site, but know that this blog tackled a very off-the-charts high-end recipe book! There are many books with simpler gourmet recipes that prove to be successful your first time.

When you maximize your nutrition by adding foods with the vitamins and fiber intact and live enzymes to your body, metabolic reactions take place and your nerves, hormones and most importantly your immunity/health are maximized. They say the body already knows how to cure cancer and all diseases. It’s just that when we short-circuit the body’s ability to act, we disable this function. Eating live, raw vegan cuisine awakens our immunity and maximizes our health.

It can’t hurt to try it. Vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains never hurt anybody.

The Last of the Great Rawhicans and the Feeding Frenzy of the Ravenous Piranha People

2007-09-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

This was it. My final recipe! Trio of Gelatos. Don’t you love it? My last recipe is actually three recipes. Frankly all recipes in this book seemed to be a composite of several recipes to each one, but hell, who’s counting?

We were having our long time friends Rick, Mady and Ed over night. We had been looking forward to this get-together, as it had been a while since we last had them all up to our Sonoma place. I imagined I would celebrate their visit with my grand finale last dessert. The actual recipe was Trio of Gelatos: Persimmon, Pineapple and Chocolate.

OK, folks, persimmons don’t begin to appear for months. What to do, what to do? I called Nancy Kux, professional baker extraordinaire for advice. What would be a good substitute? Damn, she must have gone out of town for the long weekend, no return call. What was good right now, I asked myself. And what would be colorful? Plums turned out to be the answer. Now for the chocolate gelato. Well, I still had a full container of fudge (raw chocolate, maple syrup and almond butter) left over from my failed attempt at truffles. I really wanted to use that up, plus it was scrumptious! So I decided not to make chocolate gelato but keep it vanilla so we could make sundaes! Plum, Pineapple and Hot fudge Sundae it would be!

I had thoughtfully frozen the ice cream canisters and packed them in the cooler for the trip. As soon as we arrived, into the freezer they went. I was prepared. As I began pureeing the pineapple and plums in preparation of the fruit gelatos, I reflected on the fact that I was making three gelatos and only had two canisters. This detail was compounded by the fact that I did not start the day before as I had planned, but on the day of our guests’ arrivals, Sunday.

I began to sweat bullets when for some reason the plum puree would just not freeze. I tried to be patient, but I had to admit when after 20 minutes it was still liquid something was wrong. I picked up the canister and much to my fear, it wasn’t frozen! How could this be? I had put it in the freezer the night before! I quickly put the puree into another container and put in the frig. I stuffed the non-frozen canister with ice, padded it with freezer bags and set it inside the ice tray of the freezer. Please, Goddess of Ice, freeze my canisters! It was a good thing I got started in the morning, maybe with a little luck the canister would be frozen by afternoon. I still had to make the pineapple and the vanilla!

After an hour or so, I tried the other canister and ice-creamed up the pineapple. Goddess of Ice came through. I lost no time returning that canister to the freezer to hopefully freeze up before I needed it for the vanilla gelato. Finally the moment came when I could no longer put off the plum gelato. I expectantly pulled out the canister. Shook it. I could hear no liquid. Goddess, please let it be frozen. I poured in the chilled plum puree and flipped the switch and fled. I ran around the property doing chores so I would not melt it with my anxious gaze. I came back about 15 minutes later and hallelujah! Clumps were beginning to appear. Freezing happens. Two down, one to go. I decided to put off the vanilla until the very end to build up my freezer credits with the Great Goddess.

We had a fabulous dinner, the sunset was beautiful, the weather was perfect and we were all quite entertained watching Rick futilely bat away these little flies (for some reason he was the only one) who relentlessly flocked his ears. Ah, life was Good. Worlds collided as they often do with me and I enjoyed some grilled pork loin and the wine was flowing. I snuck into the kitchen, pulled out the canister I hoped would be most frozen, poured the chilled vanilla puree in and flipped the switch. Again, I couldn’t bear to watch. I walked back out to the picnic table to our guests, but I was nervously pacing and it wasn’t long before I returned to peer into the whirling ice cream maker. Still liquid. Don’t worry, it will happen.

I went back out, slammed back a gulp of Menage A Trois Red and confessed my worst fears with my guests. This was my last recipe and the vanilla gelato looks like it’s not going to freeze! This crowd was completely undaunted by this prospect and was all too quick for my tastes to come up with lots of alternatives for my beloved gelato We’ll have slushies! someone said. Yes, we’ll make milk shakes, said another. NO! I screamed, it HAS to turn out!
They all gave me that look.
Like, how unnecessary to take this thing so darn seriously, I mean REALLY. I ran back into the kitchen, I was alone in my resolve. They obviously did not know what this meant to me.

Well, it did seem to be slushing a bit, but why was it taking so long? I stopped the process, changed the canister out with the other one from the freezer. I would not be dicked with! I flipped the switch, poured a generous glass of wine and went back out to more creative alternatives such as granitas, snow cones and slurpees. I would have none of it. It seemed like forever, but eventually my vanilla mixture began to stiffen up and form those beautiful frozen wave-globs. As soon as it looked good enough, I hauled it into the freezer to finish. I would not take the chance that the canister would warm up and undo this progress!

The moment was upon me. Us, the World. Out came the other two and into the microwave went the fudge sauce (sorry, this is completely anti-raw, but I didn’t care, I wanted HOT fudge!) I scooped up the first two and then triumphantly took out the vanilla and scooped it too. Of course our camera had run out of batteries, so thank God Rick with flies still buzzing his ears took over as photographer.

After the photo shoot I had planned to serve dessert, civilized style, out on the dinner table with each guest having their own serving. I never made it that far. Our dinner guests began to hover around like piranha. I had barely served up another scoop before they all began to dive in with their spoons. While they were having spoon wars, I grabbed the fudge sauce and poured it over a couple of scoops of the vanilla gelato. I think that’s when things got ugly.

Spoons were clacking, lips were smacking. Gutteral sounds were humming out of mouths. Did you taste the plum? No, you HAVE to taste the pineapple. Oh, the plum is my favorite, no the vanilla. No fudge for me, I like it as is, cried Mady. No, you HAVE to try the fudge! Oh my God, the Fudge! More fudge, please. I slathered it on. We shamelessly attacked the defenseless gelatos.

It was ridiculous. It was truly a feeding frenzy of the first degree and it could not have been a finer finale, a more gratifying send-off for the completion of all 52 recipes. This has been such a deep and satisfying odyssey for me, but to have some of our dearest friends chowing like starving vultures on my very last recipe as if it was the last dessert they would ever have, well….it made my heart smile.

I stood on a chair, donned the book and announced myself Complete. Fin. Au Revoir. No Mas. Finito. Terminé. There was applause. There was more wine. And just like that, it was over.

Recipe 51: Apple-Quince Pavé with Pecan-Maple Ice Cream

2007-09-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

It was Thursday, the day before my supposed last day and I had two recipes to go. My back: HURT! I had seen the chiropractor twice and my physical therapist three times. Still: Hurt. How could I make my deadline, I complained to incredulous ears.

My friends and family were non plussed. What do you mean you won’t make your deadline…didn’t you set it yourself? Like, who cares if you don’t make your deadline, you’re the only one counting. Well, hell, I know THAT! It was the PRINCIPAL for god’s sake! If I can’t get my friends to take my own imaginary deadlines seriously, what else could I count on them for? Well, obviously, they just didn’t get it. They couldn’t understand why someone in such back pain who was busy at work and preparing to leave town would completely stress herself out any more on completing a self-established deadline. In short, they felt I needed to give myself a break. So I gave myself an extension. In reality, I hadn’t started this endeavor on exactly June 1st, it was more like June 5th so an extension was entirely legal. I’d finish up over the Labor Day weekend.

Now why would I expect the recipe before the last to be any easier than any other? And what is a pavé, anyway? A pavé, dear reader, is apparently a triangular dessert. A triangular dessert made from round apples and, instead of quinces which are out of season, oblong pears. The pear substitute idea came rather easily as I imagined quince would be similar to pear and luckily they were in season at the market.

I carefully cut “paper thin” slices of just-in-season gravenstein apples and pears and brushed honey-lemon sauce on each layer, then covered it and weighted it down with a brick. I’m evidently not evolved enough of a cook to have a 2 lb cooking weight in my cupboard. I jammed the sticky honey “pavé” and the canister of pecan-maple ice cream into the cooler and headed to Sonoma for the Labor Day Weekend.

This recipe should have been called Baklava! The thin but crunchy slices and the honey sauce make a delicious and healthy version of that middle eastern classic. Then of course, good old Roxanne wants the dessert to rest in a pool of sultana juice. This is not the first time she has thrown that curve fruit at me. I came to learn that sultanas are small and special dried grapes from the other side of the world. I could have used raisins, but found some champagne grapes at the market which when pureed and strained turned out as a sumptuous substitute!

The pecan maple ice cream – well, it had all the flavors, but the consistency was gritty and mealy. Just didn’t work. I would say next time I would strain it all before freezing, because the maple and pecan flavors were delicious.

When I lifted the brick from the pavé I had my doubts if the dessert would stay together and had even less confidence that when I took a knife to it that I would be successful in cutting triangles from round fruits, but the Klein-Trotter gods must have been looking down benevolently upon me, because the knife sliced right through and voila! The next to the last recipe was born, and this recipe was light, fruity, tart, attractive and DELICIOUS!

Raw food Heaven. And, sometimes Hell by Danny Swetlik

2007-09-05T23:18:00.001-07:00

Being a little overweight with borderline blood pressure was really bogging me down. When my wife told me she wanted to go raw for the summer I was totally on board. We started with a 36hr Stanley Burroughs master cleansing. Then cut out all processed foods. We agreed that 75% of our diet would be living foods or “raw” food. I said I can handle raw breakfast and lunch. However, dinner for me would have to come with some complete usually cooked proteins with raw veggies, no bread if possible or potatoes, etc. She reluctantly agreed, but then she moved our cooking pans down to the basement! Every time I wanted to cook something on the stove, I had to go dig around in the basement to find a pan!

I had no idea how overwhelming it would be for her to make our kitchen into a full time marathon for her raw food version of Julie Powell’s “Julie, Julia.” We went from usually using paper plates to full blown dishes and food prep utensil getting dirty by the hour. A dish washer used twice a week now became every day. Setting the alarm to get up 2am to turn the dehydrator off. Fruit gnats buzzing around her compost bucket. At times I felt like we were running a soup kitchen for the neighborhood. Being privileged to work at home and wander into an unused kitchen for a bite was over, at least for the next 12 weeks. I began to adapt to it as time oozed on. I tried to help with doing the dishes when I could but should have done more. Keep in mind there was plenty of comic relief. I tried to be the chauffer on her project, but was not always there to open the door for her. Thank the mighty spirits she is one strong Scottswoman!

By week five I had lost 15bls and was feeling fantastic! I have kept the weight off for over two months now by eating 50 to 60% raw. I hope to never go back.

Wife Maurine has brought new “life” into our world. I will always cherish her love for adventure of both the outside and inside world, even when it feels like it’s killing me. Including a vile smell in my store room and discovering her batch of sauerkraut fermenting.

There could not be a more lucky man on this grey earth to have someone like Maurine living by my side, making it a little greener and brighter every day.

Keep up the battle for a better life, my clever little Puck!

Loving you always, hubby Daniel

Shiitake Soup, Raviolis and Time to Back Out

2007-08-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

It’s nice to intersperse dismal-outcome recipes with successful ones. But aggravating as hell to have the end of my passionate journey interrupted with my hip going out of place and causing me all this back pain. I ignored my stiff back all summer (kitchen-store-office-kitchen-blog, and so on, was the constant routine) and finally the body parts got together, conspired against me and went on strike. My chiropractor noticed one leg longer than the other and pointed out that I had no use of a major set of muscles that control my leg. Hip is out, he says. I guess one adjustment isn’t going to do the trick because this morning, I am still hobbling and hurting.

Even though Shiitake Soup with Lime Radish and Winged Beans and the Bleeding Heart Radish Ravioli with Yellow Tomato Sauce were both modified, because who on earth has lime or bleeding heart radish? And winged beans must be from some other planet, my substitutes turned out quite nicely, and both made a delicious lunch yesterday. Lime Radish was substituted with chayote, winged beans with soy beans (thanks to Lesley Stiles of the Contra Costa Farmers Markets who told me she knew of winged beans and that they were similar to soy beans), and I used watermelon radish for the ravioli “stuffed” with herbed cashew cheese. So healthy, so fresh, so colorful, so delicious.

My Daniel keeps threatening to write up a posting, and I hope I will be able to include something from him before I finish. It’s been hard on him. He’s busy with his business too, and even so has exclusively cared for the dogs all summer, helped out more than he’s used to with the kitchen, shared his office space with me (grudgingly), dropped everything and made store runs for me, but mostly put up with not having me accessible. I think it’s the last point that he has resented the most. So, anyway, it would be interesting to see what he would write, so I hope he does.

It is with great satisfaction that I crossed off the last of the savory dishes in the table of contents. It’s hard to believe that I only have TWO recipes left! Today I plan to tackle Recipe 51: Apple-Quince Pave with Pecan-Maple Ice Cream.
Of course quince is not in season, so it will just be an Apple Pave (whatever Pave is).

OK, left lower back muscle is calling me. Time to move to another position. Maybe I’ll hobble to the kitchen and review the recipe and think about whether I can go to work today.

Recipe #48: This is NOT for the Home Cook

2007-08-29T15:44:00.001-07:00

Peel the pineapple. Cut a 4” long section of the pineapple. Using an electric slicer or a large, sharp knife, cut the section lengthwise to yield paper-thin slices....”

Yes, I’m going to cut “paper thin” slices out of a rugged, bumpy, juicy pineapple. Right. The best I could do was slice uneven hunks the thickness of corrugated cardboard, which by the way was the color of the coconut gelato: cardboard. No my friend, these recipes aren’t really for the home cook. They are a showcase of raw food at its fanciest with no regard for the untrained home cook. I was supposed to roll these “paper thin” pineapple pieces into rolls to make Tropical Fruit Spring Rolls with Coconut Sorbet.

Today was typical of the others, a scanning of the recipe, a mad dash to two stores to collect ingredients, back in the office until I’m so hungry I can’t stand it so I head down, make some lunch and Begin.

But this morning had a little exciting twist. This wonderfully impossible recipe called for the elusive longans that I’ve never found, but I’ve since learned that longans are very similar to lychees, so that’s what I’ve been using as a substitute. At the Asian market where I’ve been procuring my $1.29 young thai coconuts, I loaded up on lychees but then at the check out, what do I behold, but LONGANS! Wow, here I had given up and there they were. I tossed the lychees back in a pile and purchased these little suckers which were to be used as the filling for the unable-to-ever-roll-in-it’s-lifetime “spring rolls.”

Here’s what the Spring Rolls were supposed to look like (photo taken from the book).

For the coconut gelato, it called for honey granules. Yeah right, like I have honey granules just sitting around in my spice cabinet. Knowing better than to use liquid honey, because that might cause it to be too runny, I thought I would outsmart Roxanee and Charlie by using the rawest form of natural sugar, sucanat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucanat). Well, they had the last laugh (can’t you just see them snickering?) because sucanet retains its molasses so it turned my snow-white coconut gelato a dirty brown color. Just the right color to frighten the appetite. But actually, the gelato tasted wonderful, it really did!

Here’s my what mine turned out like (see photo).

This recipe could not have been any less sustainable, locale-wise. From the coconuts and macadamias from Hawaii to the passion fruit and longans from some far-off tropical paradise, this is a million dollar dessert in airline flights and handlers across the world. I wish I could say the flavor was worth it, but nah, I was unimpressed and Daniel didn’t even bother trying it.

Am glad I left this recipe toward the end. If I had attempted this one at the beginning I might have been too discouraged to continue.

How Green is Green?

2007-08-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

In the strict scientific sense we all feed on death - even vegetarians. ~Mr. Spock, Star Trek

I’ve been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s latest Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/) and it got me to thinking about how un-local many of the foods in the raw food diet are. You would think this diet, being so literally green, would be sustainable too. But let’s think about it: the greater protein portion of a raw food diet is nuts. Here in California almonds and walnuts aren’t hard to come by. And they store well over the year for when they’re not in season. Pine nuts, too I guess can come from this region. But cashews and brazil nuts, also a staple in so many recipes…how many miles and gallons of gas do they have to spend to reach my grocer?

Another concern is eating in season. Frankly, I don’t know how one would do this. Living here in California, we are very lucky to have extended seasons giving us so many fruits and vegetables year round. But even so, each produce item has it’s time and when I think about winter…what would I eat if I wanted to eat local? How about people in Michigan?

So how green is this diet anyway? One would have to be very committed and very creative to make it work. I asked Alicia Parnell, owner of Que SeRaw SeRaw (a take-out live food restaurant) how she has maintained her diet for the number of years she has been raw.

Here is an interview:

How many years have you been raw?
I was 100% raw for 2.5 years. For two years of that time, I felt a vast increase in energy, pains in my hip joints disappeared completely, I shed 25 pounds and felt great in my body.

About three months later, I attended a talk by Bryan Clement, the Director of the Hippocrates Institute in Miami Beach, Florida. He said that their research has shown that being 100% raw for two years gives a strong foundation for the immune system. After that, 85% to 90% raw and 10%-15% cooked is good. Even after hearing this, I waited another 3 or 4 months before beginning to eat some cooked food. The reason I did choose 5% to 10% cooked food was because I didn't think I looked or felt as good as I should given my diet for over two years.

What cooked foods do you allow?
It is varied... maybe a steamed artichoke, a veggie hotdog. About once every 3-4 months, we go to Il Fornaio and I have their butternut squash raviolis. I like the salads and wraps at Herbivore in San Francisco, the cooked rice dishes at Cafe Gratitude, etc. I have not eaten any meat or fish in over 5 years, and very little if any dairy.

What challenges do you have maintaining raw?
I experience no seasonal challenges in maintaining a 90%-95% raw diet. To be approaching 61 years of age with the energy level of when I was 20 is more than enough incentive to continue eating the way I do. You can't buy that anywhere at any price!!

My challenges in eating raw occur when we travel, like our Princess cruise to the Mexican Riviera last year. I finally resorted to choosing our vacation destinations based on the raw food I am able to enjoy. For example, this Christmas/New Year's, we're going to Kailua Kona, Hawaii. There are a couple of restaurants there that have raw food menu items. And fruit should be easy enough! My long-term goal and vision continues to be "having a raw/vegan To Go deli next to every Starbucks in the world." It has simply got to get easier for people to be able to choose healthy organic food. Que SeRaw SeRaw recently had a booth at the Burlingame Art and Jazz Festival. People would come up to the booth, look around and say: "A healthy food vendor at the festival?? WOW!!!!!" They were so happy!! We were right next to the deep-fried calamari!!

What about the goal of staying local with what we eat?
My mantra in every aspect of my raw food to go business is "KEEP IT SIMPLE."
I do my best to purchase local produce, nuts and seeds. I have chosen to use all organic. The challenge is that in San Mateo County, for example, there are only about three farms that grow exclusively organic. I went on a farm tour recently, sponsored by the Farm Bureau and the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau. None of the farms we visited were organic. I was the only person who dared ask why they don't grow organic. The response from one farmer was that they want to grow as much food as possible and they have to use sprays in order to accomplish that goal. Another farm grew only strawberries. They looked beautiful, but there was absolutely no flavor. They used a light spray on them and have been for years. The restaurants in our area are not demanding organic produce from the local farmers, so what's the incentive?

What percentage of your menu items are local?
If you can broaden the "local" definition to mean within 200 miles, then I would say 90% of my menu items are local (Southern California). I order almost all of my produce from an organic wholesaler in San Francisco, and they have to go South of here to get much of our produce.

Thank you Alicia Parnell of Que SeRaw SeRaw (http://www.queserawseraw.com/w.com/) for taking time out of your very busy schedule running your wonderful restaurant to be interviewed. I’d like to mention that her husband, Aaron Parnell, is an extremely talented physical therapist who in just one session straightened my back out and I was able to walk away pain free. If you have any body issues at all, I urge you to visit him, he really sees the body in an innovative way and is truly able to reposture your body so it can heal..you get better NOW! Go to: http://www.reposturing.com/index.php?page=about

What’s a locavore? Learn more at: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6358.cfm

Magic Cookies, Recipe #46 and Pear Salad, Australopithecus #47

2007-08-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

I call these cookies magic, because no matter how long you dehydrate them, 18 hours, 24 hours, 48…they never get done! Roxanne instructs, “dehydrate for 10 hours or until they have the desired crispiness. They should be hard yet still moist.”

How about crumbly and doughy? Does that count?

Part of being a cook is being willing to test. So to experiment, I put five cookies into the oven, a real oven, at 350, then left the rest in dehydrator Hell.

I baked the cookies for about ten minutes, well that did the trick. Sort of. They tasted good but when you bit into them, watch out: dry quicksand. I cranked up the dehydrator to the max and left them overnight. Well, they finally were done, but same problem: one bite and poof! Quicksand Cookies (pictured here with a glass of fresh Almond Milk). I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles…(sorry, folks I couldn’t get around using that one).

The next fine day I woke up with my back stiffer than ever. In fact, I could walk as long as I imitated a little old lady (an arthritic one) and added a limp to it. So attractive for my age.
I decided to get started on the next recipe: Pear Napoleon with Porcini Mushrooms and Artichokes but I needed to go to the store for ingredients. Since sitting (and sitting in a car seat) aggravated my back, I decided to ride my bicycle to the store. Wouldn’t that stretch my back out and give me some exercise?

I popped two Advil and hit the road. Riding works, but walking, standing, sitting and god forbid, bending over, are out. I hobbled out of the grocery store back to my bike. I got home and read paragraph 2 of the recipe outlining how I was supposed to marinate the raw artichoke hearts for 8 hours first. Doh! This makes me realize just how Neanderthal-headed I am. Why won’t I just read the damn recipes before I’m ready to make them?

Since I had invited Suey for lunch and needed it in 20 minutes, not 8 hours, I decided to cheat. I’ve only got five days left, at this point, I have to just DO IT! Riding my bike back to the frickin’ store a second time to get cooked artichokes, I reflected on how hard-headed I am. I remembered I’m not Neanderthal at all, no, it is Australopithecus to be exact. According to my anthropologist friend Stephanie, I am a throw back. She says my head is the exact shape of Australopithecus, complete with the ridge running across the top of my head. She’ll reach over and cradle my head in her hands and awe over just how much I look like an Australopithecus. I’ll even catch her, after years of us knowing each other, gazing over at me with her head titled, examining my skull. I know she is marveling at the prospect of actually knowing a prehistoric woman. A hard headed prehistoric woman.

So back I came with cooked artichoke hearts and recipe #47 was born. For the side I made “BLT” salads: beautifully ripe red heirloom tomato with chopped dulse (seaweed) which added the "bacon" flavor. Yum, it was delicious. I was the only one who liked it, but that has no relevance, for I am Woman Australopithecus!

Vibrant Driving

2007-08-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Took a corner, sideswiped a truck
Crossed my fingers just for luck
My fenders was clickin' the guardrail posts
The guy beside me was white as a ghost
Smoke was comin' from out of the back
When I started to gain on that Cadillac
Knew I could catch him, I thought I could pass
Don't you know by then we'd be low on gas…
We had flames comin' from out of the side
Feel the tension, man, what a ride!—Asleep at the Wheel

These lyrics lend an airbrushed portrait of what riding in the RV was like. Loaded with our two dogs, abandoning the still-not-done cookies in the frig, and towing the new buggy behind, I clung to the back of the seat (Boomer had insisted on riding shotgun), white knuckled. We were off to the raw food conference.

The thing sounded like a rattle trap. It creaked and cracked, hissed and whined. The thing was so huge it felt like we were whooshing down the road, sort of floating from left to right while forging toward our doom. The dogs were terrified, Dinah was trembling and Boomer panting. Daniel impervious.

I had all these ideas of preparing our lunch as he drove…ha! I could barely peel myself from my seat. I don’t know what got into me, but that thing just did not feel safe. We finally did arrive to the Mendocino Coastline safely though.

Notes from the Vibrant Living Expo (http://www.rawfoodchef.com/) The conference was really good! I was sad I couldn’t stay the three days, but at least I got to attend one day. Raw foodie enthusiasts discussing topics near to their hearts…like supplements, gee, I am not the only one who abandoned supplements when I started raw…eerie, no one told me to do that and as it turns out, it is common raw foodie philosophy to get your nutrients from food, not supplements. I was with My People. I discussed nuances of different sea weeds with a vendor, found out that the tengusa I had searched for on recipe #10 is actually on the endangered list…no wonder I never found it!

And what a bright and smiling eyed bunch! I swear every person who I passed not only made eye contact with me, but smiled brightly. Wow, what a warm group.

Some of the lectures included: Vitamin B12 (turns out B12 is made by bacteria! It’s not in plants or animals, but is a bacteria that grows on them, wow!), Greens from the Sea, Healing your Body through Eating, Fat and Cholesterol in a Nutshell. I learned more about the importance of enzymes and friendly bacteria. One lecturer, a naturopathic doctor, Ruza Bogdanovich http://www.thecureisinthecause.com/bio.html, said we need 85% good bacteria and a max of 15% bad bacteria, but that most Americans, with the way we eat, have the exact opposite. I thought it was interesting to note that our cravings for sweet and yeasty foods is because you likely have a high number of the “bad” bacteria, because this type of bacteria loves that kind of food. This bacteria becomes you! And you crave what the bacteria craves. The reverse happens when you start improving your diet with fresh produce and sprouted nuts and grains. Your body adjusts to a higher count of friendly flora and this bacteria loves the raw stuff, and so this is what you begin to crave more. You are what you eat, microbes and all.

Another lecturer spoke on fermented foods (beer is one, as is sauerkraut and kim-chee) and how they were one of the first foods humans learned to make. It can treat stress, prevent infectious disease and act as a probiotic to combat disease. I also learned more reasons on why to soak nuts and seeds. Apparently seeds contain a high number of enzyme inhibitors, so if you eat them as-is, you are putting enzyme inhibitors in your body—the last thing we need. So when you soak, sprout or ferment them, the enzyme inhibitors are removed, making it an ultra digestible food.

The philosophy of optimum health is simply to have quality food absorption, which allows you to assimilate them and properly eliminate them. Eating a typical American diet does not support these processes, they in fact strip us of our enzymes. Without a high number of enzymes, we can’t absorb the food we eat, without healthy flora and proper enzymatic action we can’t assimilate our foods (so we still feel hungry, not satiated and eat more = big, fat American) and then our elimination is off-kilter, either we’re constipated or our colon gets irritated at the slightest thing. It all makes so much sense. Could it be this simple?

One well respected speaker, the so-called father of the raw food movement, Viktoras Kulvinskas has done years of research. He is a mathematician and very scientific and has produced published research to back up the importance of enzymes, proper diet and the vital importance of digestion on our health.

But I did have one revelation, and the thought that this is a huge omission at the conference or in any of the materials I’ve read, which is water. For example, our water here in San Mateo contains chloramines. Chloramines kill bacteria. So when I drink our water, aren’t I killing all the flora in my gut?? I began to think about this. I noted that my rejuvelacs weren’t as potent compared to the store-bought ones. Could it be that my juice can’t ferment because the water I’m using is sanitizing it?? If this is true, no matter how good we eat, the water will keep destroying my enzymes. So, to me, the quality of your home water would be one of the most vitally important issues…where is it in the literature? More on this later.

Anyway, it was a fulfilling experience, I ate lots of raw and then we climbed back into the rattle trap and headed down the coast highway toward home. But the glow of the raw foodies must have affected me, because no longer did the rattling and shaking bother me. I booted Boomer out of shotgun position and took my rightful place up front. I even wandered in the back to pack up, swaying to and fro with the groove of the rolling boat, as Daniel (now earning the identity as Ralph Kramden) rambled us down the highway.

We all made it back, rattle-trap be damned. And the cookies? They’re back in the dehydrator. God, will they ever get done?

Carrying a Chocolate Chip on my Shoulder

2007-08-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

When I set out to make these cookies, I never dreamed I’d be making, making chocolate chips. I mean, chocolate chips are something you buy in a bag and dump in your batter…."spoon the chocolate mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a very small tip and pipe ¼” in diameter onto nonstick drying sheets, forming 200 chips in all."

My god, this was it. The fine line between commitment and cheating. How criminal could it be to just go out and buy a bag of organic chips? "Dehydrate chips at 105 degrees for eight hours…" that means they’ll be ready at 2 in the morning, and I need the chips before I can start the cookies which take six hours, then 8-10 hours more. Why don’t I just put the frickin’ chips in the oven? They’d be done in an hour, right? I mean really, how much nutritional value am I trying to save here in a chocolate chip? But in the end, I didn’t stay committed to the integrity of raw because it was the right thing to do, I did it because I didn’t have a conventional recipe for cooking chips in an oven. What if I ruined them? No, I had to see it through.

I had even started a whole day ahead of time. And I even began by reading the recipe through (how grown up of me for once). Damn! There was no way I’d have these cookies done by choir-girls night tomorrow evening.

I cancelled my girls choir night, made, made the chocolate chips and decided to take the damn cookies and the dehydrator on the road with me. That’s right. We had rented an RV so I could attend a day of the Vibrant Living Conference up in Ft. Bragg – raw foodies from all over the world would be there, I had to go. The RV has a kitchen, right? I’d just bring everything with me and make them on the road.

This conference is coming at an inconvenient time as I have a big event in four days with the Food Society. It’s their annual BBQ which draws 200 and I’m still getting rsvp’s. So that’s a little nerve wracking, but what put me over the edge is I got a call from my other association. Where are those checks?

What do you mean, where are those checks?

I mailed them out last Friday, aren’t they there yet?

I’m not a worrier. Let that be somebody else’s job I say, which apparently is her job since she thinks the checks won’t get there. What a pessimist. I don’t like the feeling of worrying or being scared, it reminds me too much of the bottom of your life falling like a broken elevator, so I avoid it. Have a little faith, the checks will get there.

I sneak a look at my postage log. 8/16, $1.82 is carefully noted. I know I sent it, have some faith, but still I wrack my brain. What was I doing on Friday, which mail box did I leave it in? God, why is she calling me? Can’t she just relax? I’m sure it will arrive. How could this piece of mail (with $2100 in checks) get lost? I tell myself to relax. It will arrive. Then the thoughts come back, “Oh, why didn’t I FedEx it?” I try to reconstruct my Friday and it’s a void, I can remember Thursday and Saturday in detail. Note to self: write notes to self.

The Day Before. I finish up Recipe #45, Black Mission Fig Tart with Walnut Cream and take photos, too busy to write anything.

I run up to check email, she didn’t get the checks. I will now freak out. I’ve got to finish rsvp’s for two events, pack to get ready, dehydrate the cookies, pick up the trailer, work my regular schedule, and now I have to drop everything and stand in line at the post office to see if they can track those damn checks. An hour later I come back having been instructed to go online to get the phone number of her carrier. Several calls later and having found the postal employees to be surprisingly helpful, they’re telling me not to worry, it could take five days, even ten. I outwardly relax while I inwardly panic. Just what I need when I’m going out of town, something to worry about. I finish my rsvp’s, give everybody headcounts.
Then Daniel says to me, c’mon we have to go check this buggy out.

Buggy? What buggy?

Don’t you remember, he says, we talked about this.

Is this like us talking about getting a second dog and I said no? Or maybe it’s like getting the dog afterall but saying we’d only foster him and now he’s ours. Something like that, because the next thing I know I’m following him back from San Carlos as he drives ahead in our new dune buggy. He’s got some elaborate plan for towing it behind the trailer. I’m too overwhelmed to think about it. The cookies still aren’t done.

I go upstairs and check email one last time, hoping to get that magic email, that yes the checks arrived afterall. Ah, yes a new email has arrived from you-know-who. The beautiful words sing like fairies to my inner child…”the checks arrived today.” A huge weight of worry lifts and I feel like dancing. Then I think, why couldn’t she have trusted they would come? This took hours out of my day. She's holding down the worry job quite well, and spreading the joy. Ah, but now I can’t wait to go on this little sabbatical. Daniel pulls up in the RV. I stick the cookies which defy dehydration into the refrigerator. I'll deal with you later. Let the games begin.

Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup with Spaghetti Squash

2007-08-21T18:51:00.001-07:00

This would have been a fairly straight-forward recipe except that for some unintelligible, are-you-just-trying-to-torture-me reason, the recipe calls to dehydrate 1 lb. of the peeled and chopped butternut squash. Then you puree that with the fresh peeled, chopped butternut, ginger and other ingredients to make the soup. So this extra step, which surely would make or break the recipe, took a day.

I loyally followed directions. I was rewarded with about two teaspoons of dehydrated squash to add to the soup. Oh now this is really going to make a difference, isn’t it? You hold up a recipe for 18 hours to dehydrate 1 lb of squash and you end up with two teaspoons. If you ever make this recipe, skip that stupid, unnecessary step. It is fascinating to note what this means: that the bulk of squash is water!

The other dysfunctional thing about this recipe is how they instruct to make the “tuilles.” This is pureed squash with water and olive oil, which they then instruct you to pass through a sieve and then spread rounds out on a dehydrator sheet. I’m sorry, but if you strain it, there's no "spreading" about it, you are pouring runny liquid onto a dehydrator sheet! But I did it anyway. It looked like runny watercolor paint: Tuille de Monet le PeePee. Anticipating complete failure, I also made tuilles out of the actual puree, unstrained.

Thank goodness, because the liquid tuilles were nothing but stain marks on the parchment: Tuille de Monet le peepee Fini. The pureed tuilles were flakey, paper-thin cakes.

The shredded spaghetti squash in the soup was delicious, and inspired me to try and come up with a raw version of Sizzling Rice Soup. The crunchy shredded spaghetti squash really reminded of the sizzled rice they serve in the popular Asian soup.
Overall the soup had a nice, full flavor and the tuilles added some “meat” to the dish. What keeps on surprising me about raw food is how filling it can be. A bowl of this soup with a small salad for lunch totally satiated me. And without the unnecessary step of dehydrating the squash, this recipe is fairly easy to make.

Vibrant Flavors and Let’s Not Forget the Wine!

2007-08-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

“I can’t even stand how good this tastes!” I exclaimed to my husband who was staring off into space as my words bounced off his hard Polish head and floated off into the atmosphere unheard. He was busily crunching on a delicate, thinly sliced and perfectly marinated radish. He blandly vollied back, “yeah, this is great.” I think last night’s party where the Bat Boys band he played with 20 years ago reunited for Henry’s 50th left him a little listless.

Who could know that you could like a carrot so much? I mean, just a plain old carrot. Ah, but not just a plain old carrot, but a plain-old-carrot marinated. How could I really like a radish so much? I mean, a radish, with that kind of harsh-hot flavor? Ah, but a radish marinated…it changes. Then a beet. Well, we’ve all probably enjoyed beet salad, so that’s no surprise. But raw artichoke heart? Bland by itself, but marinated….a caterpillar to a butterfly. And so is born Carpaccio of Radish, Carrot, Artichoke and Golden Beet. Not bleeding heart radish as is specified, but the only other-worldly radish I could find: watermelon. Ain’t it pretty?

Husband did come to life in one way though. He did not know that raw cuisine called for fine wines and really perked up when I educated him that yes, raw cuisine does promote pairing with wine. I know I've never mentioned this before, but in fact, each recipe in the Klein/Trotter book contains a footnote with a very thorough and careful recommendation on which wine to pair with the recipe and why. Daniel thought it essential that I bring this up on the blog, and he’s right. YES! Raw foodies can and do drink wine. Wine is, afterall RAW! Wines, sherries and ports can also be found as ingredients to give many raw food dishes dimension.

This dish’s wine recommendation was a sparkling white…Blanc de Blancs from Pierre Peters or Larmandier-Bernier, to be exact. So my husband is pretty astute, and I thank him for pointing this out to me. And even though I don’t always feel heard by him, which I find infuriating, I must still be in love because my heart still melts when I see him onstage singing Little Sister.

Bottom of the Barrel: XIV

2007-08-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

I keep counting and re-counting how many recipes I have left. Then I go to the calendar (again) and count how many days left in August. Today it’s ten left, with 14 days to go. Totally do-able if I double up on a few days, because I know I won’t be in the kitchen for at least five of those days. (Going to the living food fest up in Ft. Bragg next weekend!)

Here’s what I have left: just one in the appetizer section: Pear Napoleon with Porcini Mushrooms and Artichokes (I’ve been saving that one for pears to come in season, and they’re just beginning!); two soups: Shitake Mushroom Soup with Lime Radish and Winged Beans. Wait, let’s just stop there. Can you guess why I haven’t made this one yet? What is lime radish? What are winged beans?

Can anyone help me out here? Suggestions for any likely substitutes??

The last soup is Butternut Squash and Ginger with Spaghetti Squash. In the salad department I only have one left: Carpaccio of Artichokes, Bleeding Heart Radish, Carrots and Golden Beets. What’s a frickin’ bleeding heart radish? Last in the entrée department is one with the same problem: Bleeding Heart Radish Ravioli with Yellow Tomato Sauce. It’s going to be bleeding heart too bad, but I doubt that I will find a bleeding heart radish to satisfy either of these recipes, but I’ll start to make the round of calls….again. Maybe I’ll get lucky like I did with the salsify and find that it will suddenly come in season.
Radish print courtesy of Rigel's beautiful art you can see at: http://www.drenculture.com/prints/vegetables/index.htm

I get to end with quite a few from the dessert department: Fig Tart which I’m doing tomorrow, then Tropical Fruit Spring Rolls with Coconut Sorbet – since the “roll” is made from paper-thin cut pineapple, this one is a calamity just waiting to get it’s picture taken. I won’t be able to put it off for much longer though, will I? Trio of Gelatos – this should be no problem, except she calls for persimmon and they won’t be in season until Fall…what to do, what to do…
Apple-Quince Pave, well, that one looks hard and also quince isn’t in season. And lastly, Chocolate Chip Cookies – they call for sprouted wheat flour with no indication of how to make it, but I can guess and also sprouted meal. OK meal of what? Again, no clue of what it is or how to make, so I’ll be improvising and testing them out on the choir girls next Wednesday.
God help ‘em.

Are you Allergic to Wheat?

2007-08-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

I hear more and more of people discovering they are allergic to wheat. I find this ironic since wheat is like the first grain humans discovered to cultivate that kept them from starving and is probably why our species was able to thrive. How could we now, so far down the line of evolution, be allergic to something so basic? It isn’t genetically modified from what I’ve learned. Could it be because it’s been hybridized? Maybe the way it’s being processed. Or maybe we’re just getting too much of it.

Practicing this diet all summer (even though worlds have collided and I have not been pure), I have probably eaten more cleanly than ever before. I haven’t had a drop of dairy ice cream in months and months and very little bread or cooked wheat. Yesterday I picked up some wheat hot dog buns for tofu dogs. We were going to the county fair so I thought we’d eat some junk food at home to avoid the truly poisonous junk food at the fair.

I noticed after dinner my nose was markedly stuffy. Could this be a wheat allergy?? I suspect so. I bet many of us have a mild allergy to wheat and we’ve just learned to live with it. We think our stuffy nose or irritated throat or tendency to get colds is normal. Having been off wheat, as well as other cooked foods, I have noticed my usual slightly runny nose disappeared. It was all too telling when I reintroduced wheat yesterday and immediately had a runny nose all evening.

With that said Roxanne does use wheat in some of her recipes, for example the chocolate chip cookies. In fact rejuvelac, hailed to be so healthy by the raw foodists because it’s loaded with good-for-your-gut microbes, is made from sprouted wheat. But maybe it’s in the cooking?? Because I’ve not had an allergic reaction to the rejuvelac or the cheeses I’ve made from it. Or the tart shell I made the other day from the sprouted wheat flour.

So this is a curious thing. It is surprising how many food items (mostly processed) you’ll find that wheat has been snuck into, to cheaply thicken it or like in so many vegetarian items, to give it that more chewy “meaty” consistency. It’s like the pervasive GMO corn syrup found in countless processed foods.

So I invite you to question. If you’ve been feeling slightly under the weather, or downright sick, you may want to cast a suspicious eye toward that fluffy, innocent looking loaf of bread on your counter.

Salsify Appetizer / Cucumber Soup/ Mushrooms with Kohlrabi

2007-08-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

I think they should make the word “salsify” into a verb. For example, I found it very salsifying to finally, at long last make salsify into a recipe. Would that work?

I also found salsify delicious and nutritious (salsilitious?). High in fiber, Vitamin C, riboflavin, Vitamin B6, potassium and manganese. Using a vegetable peeler to peel strips made for nice wide paparadelli-like noodles which were marinated in wine vinegar and then mixed with truffle oil and salt. The porcinis were also marinated. The sauce was pine nut puree which brought all the flavors together. Salsify is a very mild tasting root, not bitter, not sweet and I think it does have the slightest hint of the flavor of an oyster. Or else that was just subliminal on my part knowing it is also called oyster plant. The recipe was called Salsify with Black Truffles and Porcini Mushrooms. Mine was simply Salsify with Porcinis. Until I move to Europe I don’t think you’ll see truffles being a stocked item in my kitchen, ever.

Next up was the English Cucumber Soup with Tiny Carrots and Amaranth Leaves and Pine Nut Mayonnaise. She wanted me to somehow find white and purple baby carrots (of course I ran across baby purple carrots this morning, sigh). And what the hell are Amaranth leaves, I mean, PLEASE?! I didn’t even bother. This recipe was basically just pureed cucumber, but the mayo and diced (not baby) carrots on top gave it dimension.

The Marinated Exotic Mushrooms with Kohlrabi and Arugula was easy to make and I had been looking forward to using kohlrabi in a recipe. I ran into it for the first time at the farmers market years ago and feebly tried it a time or two. Since then I’ve read about it being used as a substitute for mashed potatoes because of it’s savory and mildly horseradish flavor. This was a tasty dish I might do again.

What a fun adventure broadening my root horizons between salsify and kohlrabi, and even lotus root.
How very salsifying.

Magic Moments with Morel Mushrooms

2007-08-16T00:16:00.001-07:00

There’s hardly anything more pleasurable than trying out weird food on new friends. You know, newly made friends who are still too polite to spit out the food on their plates or gag in front of you. It’s a pleasure because you get to enjoy the challenge they must overcome to maintain pleasant facial features as they chew.

I guess that about sums up Morel Mushrooms and Lotus Root with Beets and Fermented Black Beans. Apparently lotus root is a good source of fiber, thiamin, B6 and vitamin C. I now like lotus root and have incorporated it into several salads. I know that the food combo here may sound a little unsavory but it wasn’t bad, it was tastey. It was just the raw morel mushrooms. Yes, they’re a little strong, but even better, I forgot to wash them. No Queen of Hygenic Kitchen Award for me.

So when one of my new choir friends (it’s Wednesday night get-together with my new choir buddies again) noted that the morels tasted “a little gritty” that’s when I realized I hadn’t rinsed them. I had marinated them, does that count?? My admission of this detail quieted the room for a moment.

But the look on at least one face was priceless and I’ll look forward to future possibilities in food to recreate pleasurable moments like these.

FOUND: Strange Black Carrot-Thing

2007-08-16T00:01:00.001-07:00

Salsify, Salsify you elusive thang
I almost didn’t find you and then you came

With just days to go
You arrived just in time
Now I won’t have to replace you
With watermelon rind

All the way from Belgium! Not local, you are
I couldn’t even find you, not even by car

But I could have grown you right here
California climate is prime
If I were a gardener, retired
or not working full time

I called all the stores,
and begged at least one complete stranger
I gave up all hope, put the recipe in the hanger

Then Rigel said, to Berkeley Bowl you must Go!
Salsify Galore
But sorry, the traffic will blow.

And now that I have you
I hope the recipe turns out
They also call you oyster plant
I hope you don't taste like old trout

Shooting Stars and Banana Tart, and oh yeah, Pad Thai too

2007-08-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we all reclined on the new magnificent deck that William built up in Sonoma to star gaze at the meteor showers. Tonight we went to Susie’s for dinner where our new dog, Boomer showered her hard wood floor with liquid comets out of his butt.
I think you get the picture.
But Dan is really good at “saves.” As she looked down at the new spot on her floor (after I somehow got through cleaning it up without puking), he firmly told her that the floor has needed to be refinished for years. “It’s high time you got these floors re-finished,” Daniel advised her. “Now you have the impetus. You should thank us.” Daniel is so gifted at turning bad things like these around. Such a helpful man.

To celebrate the prospect of newly refurbishing her floors, I helped out by providing dessert. Recipe 37: Banana Chocolate Tart with Caramel and Chocolate Sauce.

But now I realize I forgot to post a recipe! You can tell I’m getting busier at work by my lack of postings. The Young Pad Thai with Almond Chile Sauce was so perfect! Email me for the recipe, it’s a winner and easy to do. . I had a chance to use tamarind for the first time, very interesting. And the spicy cashews with it really gave the dish dimension. I brought it to the Concert in the Park last week and it was well received by Rick and Alane. It had that wonderful nutty sauce and coconut flavor that’s so good in Thai food. Very authentic, I recommend.

The Banana Chocolate Tart? Well it was delicious, but the “tart” that I first had to soak wheat berries overnight, then sprout them (2 days), then dehydrate them (hours), then grind into flour, to then mix with some oil, maple syrup and salt and dehydrate for ten hours (getting up at 3 in the morning to remove the parchment paper)…oh, that and then she tells me (because I never read recipes through before I cook, that would be too grown up) …because the tiny shells are fragile and time-consuming, make extras in case of breakage. Well, honey, I can tell you, there was no danger of breakage with these puppies. They had the integrity of week old bread. No breakage here, Roxanne.

So I would say the trouble of the “tart” was not worth it. But the delicious “caramel” sauce (cashew milk, dark honey, date paste, maple syrup) YUM, and the fudge (made from almond butter, cocoa and syrup) drizzled over the bananas: YES! The honey walnuts were a great accompaniment.

After dessert Susie made us sit through a movie we had already seen while she disappeared into the other room. Maybe to cry about her floor. You know how they have make-up sex? Well I’m hoping my dessert is make-up dessert. I hope it was delicious enough to remind her of what a sweet friend I am next time my dog lets go on her floor.

Life’s a Peach and then you Die

2007-08-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

It’s raining peaches, nectarines and plums in the Valley right now. Yellow peaches with firm, golden insides that are juicy, called Baby Crawfords. Mariposa Plum, Heavenly White Nectarine, Green Gage Plum, Gold Dust Peach, Speckled Egg Nectarine. These are just a few I learned about (and some I tasted!) at Andy’s Orchard http://www.andysorchard.com/index.shtml. Rare fruit grower and preserver of over 200 varieties, Andy Mariani, collects rare varieties and has saved many heirlooms from extinction.

Most of us have only seen a single species in the grocery stores. You see, the heirloom varieties don’t ship well and they don’t always “look” like that rosy red and orange peach color that consumers think taste good, so if a grower wants to sell his peaches, he will go with a peach that can stand up to the beating of being shipped and still “look” good. They will also pick these peaches before they’re even ripe. Hey, if they’re hard, they’ll ship better.

Unfortunately, once a peach is picked it will not ripen any further and never develop another drop of sweetness. Of course these don’t taste anything near as delicious or unforgettable as a heritage peach. Next time you buy a peach in the store, look at the stem. If it’s green, they picked it underipe.

Well, I had the great pleasure last week of visiting Andy’s Orchard and tasting 80+ succulent, juicy peaches, nectarines and plums. I went down with the Bakers Dozen group http://bakersdozen.org/ and Andy rolled out the red carpet with over 80 heirloom varietals cut up and labeled there for us to taste and learn more about. They even served peach cobbler! We were gorged with stone fruit as we descended upon the orchard where Andy talked to us a little about fruit farming and allowed us to pick!

All this time I thought a nectarine was some kind of a peach-tangerine cross or something. All a nectarine is, is a peach without the fuzz! Only one gene difference between them. He told us about a peacotum (apricot-peach-plum mix)! He showed us that all you should do when picking a peach is to gently cradle it. If it drops in your hand, it’s ripe and should be picked. If not, leave it until it’s ready.

Andy does not sell underipe fruit and because he is getting a reputation for such fine fruit, and consumers are beginning to catch onto this buy local = quality thing, he is now shipping boxes of his dazzling fruit out to some choice markets.

He told us a story about an heirloom variety known as the Dinosaur Egg. It had a happy reputation as a very delicious variety and the farm was beginning to get known for it’s famous plum, which is a good thing when a farmer can make a living. Unfortunately a marketing company decided this was a terrific name, patented it and began labeling inferior plums (but ones that had the same interesting “egg” look of mottled skin and solid fruit inside) as Dinosaur Eggs. The farm was prohibited from ever using the name again. Greediness is sickening, isn’t it? These kinds of stories make me so sad. But then I see how well Andy’s Farm is doing, how committed they are to quality and goodness, and I see Good overpowering the Bad.

It’s like the seasons. Now we have so much fruit, tomatoes and fresh veggies, it’s like a cornucopia! Then the season will change and the last peach will fall from the tree. The peach will rot and feed the soil, which will feed the tree for next summer’s delicious fruits. Nothing ever dies, really, it just recycles. Compost the bad to feed the good. Now, Go eat a Peach!

Ice Cream Rolls and the Glow of Louis Armstrong

2007-08-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Friends shakin’ hands sayin’ “how do you do” they’re really sayin’ I love you…

Wednesday evenings are becoming music night with a couple of my choir buddies. We listen to music together, sing a lot and share dinner. Today started like this:

1:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. I sleep walk to the dehydrator to turn it off so the cake for the ice cream rolls doesn’t get too dried out.
9:30 a.m. I’m up now and check the cake. Oops, it’s not dry at all, I turn the dehydrator back on. Thank God I have all day.
9:40 a.m. Power goes out.
9:50 a.m. Husband informs me that PG&E won’t have power back on until 11 a.m.
9:51 a.m. My internal alarm sounds as I realize I need to print 120 name badges and FedEx before 5 p.m. plus deal with last minute online registrations which I now can’t get because the power’s out. AND make two kinds of ice cream using an electric ice cream maker and put the dessert together requiring electric blenders in preparation of tonight.
9:59 a.m. I talk myself down from the roof and decide to do my usual trip to the Wednesday Farmer’s Market, followed by a hike up Sugar Loaf. Heck, by the time I return the power will be back on. I’ll have plenty of time. Life is good.
11:30 a.m. Huh, that’s funny, still no power. Husband informs me PG&E won’t have power back on until 2 p.m.
11:30:01 a.m. A panic attack sets in as I wonder how I will get everything done. Why does life have to be so difficult?
11:31 I switch into “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” mode. Yes, Deb is home, Yes, she has power. Off I go with my two dehydrator trays of soggy cake batter and the carmelized nuts to use Deb’s dehydrator. Backing out of the driveway the #$%&@ ! gate won’t open. Oh that’s right, it’s electronic, no power. I call my husband who opens it manually, but steps in dog shit so hops around on one foot to the hose. I appreciate the comedy relief.
11:33 I make mental note: husbands are handy even with dog shit caked on their shoe.
11:50 Put husband to work hooking up new computer monitor. Figure this is a good way to use dead time (I never have time to boss him around for stuff like this). I turn my compost pile. I check voicemail with my cell, since my phone system is out too. I’m not panicking, I’m NOT panicking.
1 p.m. I continue to develop different strategies on how I will get the name badges done by 5 if the power doesn’t come back on. I imagine hoofing my computer and ice cream maker to Deb’s. I make more business calls.
2:15 p.m. Power’s back on! Oh no, I forgot the cake at Deb’s. My God, I hope it’s not overcooked. I barrel out of the driveway and almost ram the gate down. Damn! It’s still manual because we didn’t plug it back in yet. I open it myself this time, careful not to step in any piles.
4:30 p.m. Husband says he is going downtown. Oh! I say, would you wait a few minutes for me to finish these tags so you can drop them at FedEx? He says yes. Mental note to self: Husbands are wonderful, especially with no trace of dog shit smell.
5 p.m. I’m in the kitchen ice-creaming up the Star Thistle Gelato and Chai Ice Cream.

Later that night…The dessert turns out beautifully and very delicious. I am proud. We sing and listen to a bunch of songs together and as we sing What a Wonderful World together I feel very peaceful and content after such a hectic day, and I say to myself, what a wonderful life.

(see comment for recipe)

Off-Key Duet and a Quartet of Soups

2007-08-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Somehow the dishes are getting done. In fact I discover him in front of the sink often these days. It’s kind of hard for me to believe but I think my husband’s learning where some of the less frequently-used kitchen items are stored. No, he hasn’t learned to wipe the counters clean, but he does sweep the floor if I ask. And he shares his computer with me for my blog writing and photos with a minimum of grumbling.

Why isn’t this enough for me? Why do I also want him to be in good cheer about the whole thing and to offer a supportive attitude? It’s not enough that he supports me with his actions, I want his attitude to align with mine too. There has been some friction in the household the last few days. When things are good, I reflect back on the sour times and think I’ve been too intense and should ease up on him. When things aren’t so harmonious I realize it’s definitely him, not me. No, I’m not PMSing as he likes to suggest in these situations. In fact, I think HE is PMSing, and if I WERE PMSing, he would be taking his life into his hands by even suggesting this.

Like tonight. Soup Quartet. The soups have been cupped, garnished, photo taken (by me, I’d like to emphasize). He walks into kitchen. I say, “hey the soups are ready, let’s taste them.” What’s his response?
I’ll try them tomorrow.
You'll try them TOMORROW?!
Not: Hey, honey just LOOK at those soups. Wow. I can’t wait to taste them.
So that’s what I say to him, basically. I’m sure there’s some term for this technique in psychology, like leading the stupid, pea-brained horse to water or something.
Then he backs up. “Of course I want to taste them tonight.” The horse drinks water.

One thing I work at here at the homestead is composting. I save all our kitchen scraps for the worm bin and for the compost pile. This decreases our garbage volume, adds valuable microbes back to the soil, which saves on watering the plants, enriches the soil better than any store-bought fertilizer could ever do, saves $$ on buying water-table polluting fertilizers, doesn’t contribute to the ever-piling high sea of garbage at the dumps that we’re running out of space on…gee, what else? Suffice to say I’m going to the trouble to do a good thing (remembering, of course, that no good deed goes unpunished).

Do I get a pat on the back? No, he has the nerve to make snide comments about the fruit flies that gently buzz around my compost canister. It’s not like a swarm, and I clean it out every other day. What’s the big deal?

Today I harvested compost from my worm bin and walked through the house with a bag full to spread on the lawn.
Eew, what’s that? He whined. I imagine his face all screwed up, because that’s what I see when he takes that tone.
It’s worm castings, are you hungry?
I mean, Daniel is a guy-guy. Why would something like worm castings, fruit flies or decomposing vegetables gross him out?
I think he does this just to piss me off. It does.
And so the soups provided a perfect illustration of just how different we are.

As I said, tonight I made A Quartet of Soups: Asparagus, Carrot, Corn and Celery Root (see comment for recipe). But first, a word about the soups. All very simple to make, except the frickin garnish on the Celery Root Soup took a couple of days. They wanted to marinate the eggplant quarters that are dropped in the soup, as well as the slivered celery root on top. I don’t know whether I like celery root or not, but I found the soup complex and tastey. The Carrot Soup with young thai coconut, well, I always like carrot soup or juice, so that’s a no brainer. I also like Corn Soup, but somehow this one did not work for me. Too simple, I think. It simply consisted of pureed corn and water seasoned with salt to taste, then strained and a few kernels thrown back in. I suggest making it with nut milk and not straining it, that would help. just didn’t do it for me. I found the raw flavor of blended asparagus a little wild and slightly bitter. It had celery, onion and a host of other ingredients…something just seemed off, maybe my taste buds. Like my taste for husbands.

Below is a ranked list of our favorites:
Me#1: Celery Root Soup; Daniel#1. Asparagus
Me#2. Carrot Soup ; Daniel#2. Corn Soup
Me#3. Corn Soup ; Daniel #3. Carrot Soup
Me#4. Asparagus ; Daniel#4. Celery Root

Now I don’t know if you are getting the full irony here, but we are EXACT opposites! Celery Root my favorite – his least favorite. Asparagus my least favorite—his favorite. God help us.

I guess it is interesting being married to a guy who astonishes me with such confounding differences.

What I fell in love with, and still am in love with, are the wild seemingly grab-bag thoughts that blurt out of his mouth, the man who can write music and sing it to me right on the spot, the man who cares for our dogs like they are our children, and the man who wanted to build a life with me. He has made a home for me and even when I find him infuriating or irritating, I am not alone. He is there loving me, but in his way, not always mine, but loving me nonetheless. Like by doing the dishes.

Lives Beginning at 40 and Taco Friday

2007-08-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

You know that saying...Life begins at 40? Being in my forties, I contemplate (and even experience) that from time to time. But for my girlfriend Justine, it is really, truly happening. She just turned 40 in June and now…she is pregnant! So life really is beginning at 40 for her in a Big Way. She had a whirlwind tour around the block this year with a) losing a career job; b) getting married; c) meanwhile having health problems and at least one surgery that I know about; d) pulling out her San Francisco roots and moving back home to Connecticut; e) traveling to Egypt for her honeymoon and getting deathly ill and now f) discovering she is 10 weeks pregnant!

What better way to celebrate in her honor than with Taco Friday? Friday night’s dinner began Thursday with beginning the dehydration process of the soaked flax and sunflower seeds, mixed with onion and spices to make the taco shells. I wasn’t confident at all that they’d taste good, or more importantly have that crunchy texture I wanted, but forward I went, Corona in hand.

This is a recipe for three styles of tacos: trumpet mushrooms and fresh corn with salsa vinaigrette; jicama and Asian pear with lime and avocado salsa; mango and tomatillo with cilantro and chili salsa. The tastiest was the Mango-Tomatilla Taco...this one I shall do again. But shockingly, the taco shells were crunchy and delicious! And very filling; all alive with omega 3's. We invited our neighbors Alane and Rick over (Alane being my fabulous compost teacher) . They ate every scrap and I took this as a good sign.

They don’t have kids either, and I think like us, it has caused them to embrace life in a different way than our parent-friends. Alane is involved in many projects involving sustainability, recycling and earth friendly endeavors including education…all this in addition to her day job as a gardener. After 40, she is just really starting to enjoy the respect of being a leader in her field and being involved in making a difference in our world. And me, realizing that I can be fullfulled without that son or daughter I knew I would have. I am living my life choices that I have carefully cultivated over the years and even though I still wish so much we could have raised a child, life is blooming in some beautiful ways I could have never imagined, and I can honor from a distance (with some relief, as I see how darn hard it is!) those friends who were blessed with the parenting path.

Dessert was my first attempt at a key lime pie, or what I describe as bitter-sour mealy pie. Looks good though, don’t it? And life goes on, and for all of us there are new beginnings, all the time. Congratulations, Justine and Aaron, and welcome to your Journey.
Rick, Alane and Daniel sitting down to Friday night tacos.

When Worlds Collide

2007-07-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

It kept getting later and later trying to leave for our weekend road trip. I knew what was happening. We’d be on the road right at lunch time and I just could not get it together to make something healthy to eat for the road. Where does that leave us? I knew the answer. Each time we go on a road trip, we concede to fast food. When you are out of your environment, you have to make concessions, right? Afterall you have to live in the real world, right? It’s all in balance, I tell myself. This is where worlds collide. And it doesn't just happen in food. In fact, our choice of food is just a value. Isn't this the way human beings group themselves off from others, because they don't share their values or beliefs or practices? Is this why we kill each other? Not worth it, in my opinion, but I do see the value in grouping with like-minded people. It feels good.

I used to consider eating fast food almost a treat. It was kind of fun to have something so “bad” and for-sure I enjoyed the cheeseburger, fries and cola on the rare occasions my food options were so limited. But this time I knew I just couldn’t go there. I didn’t even want a cheeseburger. I really didn’t. I knew I would already be breaking my live diet at their party where there would be lots of typical American fare: meat, carbs and beer.

Which fast food place is the least junkish? If only we could find some local sandwich shop, it wouldn’t be as unhealthy as “fast” food, but finding something like that while zooming down the freeway at 70 isn’t feasible. Subway, I suggested. Husband nixed. Jack in the Box he suggested. Axed by me. What about Taco Bell, would that be so bad? After some bantering we settled on Wendy’s. Luckily they have a few veggie side dishes. As we checked out in line I noticed a chart of all their menu items with calorie and nutritional value listed. Interesting. I got the two items containing a few wee grams of fiber: a salad and baked potato. Was pretty darn happy with myself as I watched Daniel gorge down that gross, empty-caloried hamburger.

I refuse to live in a bubble, and I’m way too social to not join people for feasts. This diet thing, what we choose to eat, don’t eat, how we decide to treat our bodies…you just can’t take it all too seriously…it’s only life. Life is a banquet: eat, eat! I do draw the line at some things, though, like soft drinks, most fried or processed foods. However, for 46 years I’ve eaten meat. I’m a Texas girl where steak is king and ribs are venerated, so when we arrived up in the mountains at our friend’s remote cabin, where slow cooked ribs, bbq brisket and roasted turkey awaited, I stepped over into...The Other World.

It’s hard enough to maintain a living food diet in the Bay Area, heck, even in my own home, but where our friends live, there are only steak houses, fast food and barbeques. I decide in situations like this, that it’s better to be balanced than to be on some freakishly strict diet. So in the spirit of my Texan-ness (and weakness for savory home-cooked meat), I joined right in (a beer first, of course) on the tender ribs, potato chips, potato salad, bread, macaroni salad and other mouth-smacking, high-acid, non-fiberous, low nutritious, high carb and protein party food. I ate. And ate. And drank. Ate some more. And ate. Had another beer. I breaked half way through my fruit crumble to gnaw on some crusty bread and olive oil and then went back to my dessert. What was wrong with me?

I kept walking by the table and grazing on the potato chips, eyeing the spare ribs and thinking how I’d like to have another. Finally around 10 p.m. I allowed myself one last a spare rib as a “night cap.” I felt insatiable. I really felt like I could eat more, but I cut myself off after that. Geez, where’s the balance?

Is it that this food is so un-nutritional that you don’t feel satisfied and that’s why you feel like gorging? Or is it that I’m starving myself to death on this rabbit food and when I finally got to some real food my will to survive kicked in? I was afraid I’d wake up the next morning with a stomach ache. But thank goodness, I did not. I had danced in The Other World and crossed back with only a pot belly and bit of constipation. I started my morning, not by joining my comrades in coffee and cake, but blended up watermelon and drank a big glass. They all thought I was nuts.

Traveling back to the Bay Area, we stopped at the store. I ran straight for the produce section. Huge local, organic tomatoes, a parsnip, zucchini, avocado and cucumber. Daniel bought some red trout. For dinner we would have a stuffed tomatoes, cucumber soup and fish. I was back in My World again, at least for now safe from the temptations of the ribs, chips, chops and lox.

Textured Flavors of Food and Friend, Sarahndipity

2007-07-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m closing in. Recipe 33. 18 recipes and more than thirty days left. I think I can do that. Whew. Man, I’m glad the pressure’s off. Now I can really take my time in planning the recipes and get more into quality versus rushing it in!

Last night’s recipe was Tomato, Rapini and Spring Legume Salad. A fabulous recipe, I recommend it. Crunchy beans, ever-so-slightly peppery rapini (broccoli rabe), tomatoes which are in their prime now, sweet fennel strands and a delicate and perfect mustard vinaigrette. See comment for recipe.

I’d like to dedicate this here recipe of many textures, colors and flavors, to an amazingly multi-textured, colorful, many-flavors of a woman I met about 15-16 years back who has made a remarkable impression on my life. She’s truly the smartest person I’ve ever been friends with; or who would even consider being friends with me, oh-one-of humble IQ origins. She has taught me how to look differently at life in a way no one else ever has. Because of her, I know have an astounding new template for this Universe, seeing connections and building my spirituality to new bounds. She is an artist, philosopher, writer, avid reader, lay-naturalist, self-taught scientist, book author, computer nerd, creator, cheerleader of all that is inspiring and good, and dreamer…boy, is she a dreamer!

Have you ever met a person who affected you on a deeper level than you ever imagined? It’s like how you feel when you catch the sight of a shooting star. It is spectacular and wondrous. That’s how I feel about Sarahndipity. She is my shooting star.

To see some of Sarah’s projects: http://www.graceartgroup.com/

I am the Queen of…

2007-07-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am known as the Queen of the Pterodactyls but those who are closest to me know the bare truth that I am more notably known as the Queen of Bodily Functions. Let me just say that the raw food diet so harmonizes with my body that I am in danger of losing my latter title.

The heart of live food, Roxanne Klein writes, is enzyme preservation. Cooking food kills enzymes. Live food is loaded with them. Enzymes help us digest and they act as catalysts for every metabolic reaction in your body. Cell division, energy production, brain activity, all need enzymes. Vitamins and hormones need enzymes to do their work, as does our immune systems. The hormone part is close to my heart as I begin my journey on pausing menses, with the byproduct of the urge to tear my clothes off, especially at night.

Temperatures higher than 118 degrees kills enzymes, vitamins and nutrients, that's why we use dehydrators over long periods of time to get the texture, without losing all the healthy stuff. When my body is dealing with such functional, alkalizing fuel, I don’t heat up. Unprocessed foods are cooler and that’s good for a Queen with lively bodily functions.

Take raw cheese for example. In raw food-making cheese is nut cheese and is “cured” with rejuvelac, a fermented grain berry juice that’s loaded with enzymes and naturally occurring acidophiles which is a well known probiotic that promotes production of niacin and folic acid in your body, good digestion and is also considered an immune booster. Lactose intolerant like me? Delicious nut cheese is the answer! No longer do you have to look to dairy to get your acidophiles. Click here for information on rejuvelac and how to make it: http://www.hishealingways.com/rejuvelac/makerejuvelac.html

Today’s recipe is the Mediterranean Cheese Salad. The cashew cheese was rolled in tomatoes, basil and olives. The spicy pine nuts were my favorite surprise in this salad: soaked pine nuts tossed with chile, cumin, salt and onion and then dehydrated until they were crispy. The salad is served with live flax crackers (pure omega-3 fatty acids).

I don’t think I should lose my title over this. I am still the Queen of Bodily Functions. They’re just quiet, gliding vibrant functions now, that’s all. Ahaa, Ahaa.

Cherries Sabayon and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

2007-07-24T16:56:00.001-07:00

My sister Susie has been galavanting the country, completely ignoring me. OK, it’s true, she’s one of the few dedicated blog readers, but still. How dare she go on two vacations and have a good time without me? But yesterday I got a few precious hours with her alone, so made the Cherries Sabayon as an afternoon dessert. Fitting, because my sister Susie is: a bowl full of cherries! And, also affectionately described by my husband as a Mary Hartman act-alike. But even though she has some really genuine Mary Hartman mannerisms, Susie has that cherry-bowl thing going on.

She teaches me how precious life is. She’s someone who drinks in every moment of life’s experiences like a rare elixir. Biologist, teacher, adventurer, mother, violinist? and now grandmammy of twins. There is no one I’d rather travel with. She makes me do things. Dangerous and wild things like hiking in a tropical forest with only my flipflops and no bug spray (can you say 37 bug bites in the face?) or like spending the night on an open 300’ high platform, exposed to the elements in a strange and tropical country. I won’t go into the details behind the weird slurping sounds I heard as I laid awake pretending to be asleep.

Susie mirrors some piece of my adventurous self that crawled back into it’s safe little crevice. She is bold and brave and wonderful. She is German too, and hard-headed, that one, but still, a bowl full of cherries.

And so Michigan Sour Cherries with Vanilla Cream and Orange Sabayon. Minus the Michigan Sour part of it. Cherries are coming to the end of their season so I was anxious to use this recipe while they are still so deliciously dropping. What are Michigan Sour cherries, anyway? I probably would have had to order them online or something. I wielded my hatchet again so that I could make the cream and sabayon, whose bases are pureed young coconut (I know what that is now).

I hate to possibly add a speed bump to all you potential raw foodies out there, but in order to really get into the raw food thing, you’ll eventually break down like I have done and purchase a better blender than your house blender. I just spent $400 on a Vita-Mix blender and I expect it will be well worth it. The problem is, soups and sauces, like this sabayon, for example, just aren’t as smooth and velvety as you want them to be. Use the Cuisinart you say? Nope. I thought the same thing--the Cuisinart does a lot of things well and does puree, but it does not get it that smooth, velvety consistency. So I’m down $400 and am anxiously waiting my new purchase to arrive any day now. I ordered a red one. Like cherries.

Mrs. Cleaver Meets Young Thai Coconut

2007-07-20T23:04:00.001-07:00

Bought my first cleaver today. And, finally, finally found out what the hell she means by “young Thai coconut” in so many of her recipes. In the past, I just used dried coconut but last night I attended Elaina Love’s class on a Detox Diet at Café Soulstice, and it was wonderful. She not only had a young coconut but used it in the class and demonstrated how to open it.

So when I found the “young Thai coconut” at a local Asian grocery AND a cleaver at my other favorite Asian market to open it with, I decided it was a Good Day. I just adore being in the kitchen, it’s my new favorite thing in life. I could do this every day, but only as long as I didn’t have anyone telling me what to do, or what I am doing wrong (everything). Anyway, dessert was to be Fig Napoleon with Honey Pastry Cream.

First I started early this morning with the “Baklava Tuiles.” Golden flaxseeds, maple sugar, fuji apple, cinnamon and vanilla. I was supposed to spread that onto the dehydrator tray, but really I poured it onto the tray. Then I realized the problem: I had used maple syrup instead of maple sugar. It was too runny. Damn! Good thing I was getting started early, now I would have extra time to dehydrate it several more hours to get the tuile to the crisp texture it needed.

Deb dropped by so I decided it would be safest to try the new cleaver with a guardian standing by. I wielded the big axe and actually did a fair approximation of what I saw Elaina do last night. Deb was impressed. I was shocked that I still had my fingers.

Now that I had opened the coconut, I could make the “custard” for Star Thistle Gelato (young thai coconut meat, coconut juice, honey, cashew milk, honey, coconut oil and vanilla). From that base I added agar agar and some cashews to supposedly thicken it up. Into the blender as directed. Whirl, whirl. Still like water. Whirl, Whirl. Not thickening.

Checked the tuile and flipped it. Hours later it was still not crisp. This is when I started multi-tasking. This is what I do when I'm nervous. I put in the remaining star thistle custard into the ice cream maker. Why not make it gelato as intended? Intermittently running the blender trying to thicken the cream. Also cutting, chopping and mixing ingredients for the main entrée. Washing dishes. Re-reading the recipes. The kitchen is getting more crowded with produce scraps, dirty cutting boards and measuring cups. Crash! One of the pitchers I have drying turns over and breaks in the sink. I rummage through the dirty dishes and retrieve the broken pieces. Goodbye, pitcher. I puree up the fig sauce for dessert. It is 8 p.m. Husband sizes up situation and announces he is going out to buy us dinner. Check tuile, still pliable. I turn the dehydrator up. Fuck the enzymes and nutrients, I want it crisp! Gelato done, voila! I put in freezer. Now to focus on entrée.

After my tirade about not eating raw mushrooms in the previous post, I would be damned if I would eat the Portobello Mushroom Pave recipe raw. But I still wanted to do the recipe, afterall I have vowed to do every recipe in the book. So I decided to broil the mushrooms. Let me just say I’m glad Daniel went out to buy dinner. And also that cooked mushrooms aren’t too friendly about being cut “paper thin.” I did get good at it though. When Daniel came home and complained the salmon skin had been left on, I said “No Problem!” and whipped out my knife and slicked off the skin pretty well, I’ll admit. But I have to say, folks, this is the first recipe I’ve done in this book that I really disliked, and I like portobellos. Even the sauce, (tahini, shallot, garlic, oil, rice vinegar and water) was yucky! Nope, this one didn’t turn out. Pictured here is my dish with the photo from the book behind it. See how nice hers looks? Mine looks like sliced dead frog. Ribit. Maybe if mine were raw they would have had more flavor and been more attractive on the plate, but like I said: I won’t eat mushrooms raw anymore.

So the entrée was pretty much a failure, but I still had hopes for the Fig Napoleon. I checked the dehydrator, still the tuile is not crisp. It’s 9:30 p.m. Screw it. You can’t tell in the photo they’re not crispy, I reasoned, and they still taste good, so that’s the way it will be. It was pretty delicious, even though the sauce never thickened and the tuile was soft. Daniel doesn’t like figs, or so he thought, because he ate almost all of his dessert even though he wasn’t hungry (as if hunger ever had anything to do with enjoying a dessert…men!) After the photo, I put the tuile back into the dehydrator. Just to punish them I am going to keep them in there all night. We’ll see if they defy crispness then.

Shrooms aren’t Vegetables, so Don’t Eat ‘em Raw (right, even those little white ones they serve in your salad)

2007-07-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

After my weekend hiatus am back eating raw again and feeling as energetic as ever. Have found that my stove top makes a good drain board, so it’s useful for something.

Yesterday I made Mushroom Ragout. Now we can have a serious talk about when raw foodies take it too far. I put my trust in Paul Stamet, see http://www.fungi.com/front/stamets/index.html. I consider him the foremost authority on mushrooms in this country, if not the world. Well, at least he’s the one I’ve heard of anyway. He has discovered that mushrooms can clean up toxic waste in our environment far more effectively than any conventional methods ever used, and in his studies he advocates using mushrooms medicinally to stimulate your immune system and treat various diseases. But one thing Mr. Stamet is clear on, is that raw mushrooms do not have nutritional or medicinal value for us. Mushrooms must be cooked for our bodies to commune with nature, so to speak. In fact, mushrooms can have a slight toxicity when eaten raw. In short, it’s not good for you.

My question was: how cooked do they have to be? So I called the helpful staff there at Fungi Perfecti and was told mushrooms need to be cooked to at least 160 degrees. Portobellos need an even higher temperature: 400 degrees. Apparently mushrooms (not a vegetable, they are fungi, so they are their own animal) have very large proteins (and other compounds too) which our bodies can’t break down. Cooking reduces their size, making us able to assimilate the mushroom’s great qualities, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, reduces cholesterol, and immune enhancer just to name a few (see the chart at: http://www.fungi.com/mycomeds/info.html).

The danger in eating them raw? Well unless your diet is really high in fiber, they’ve been know to cause colon impactions. Our bodies just don’t know what to do with them raw. Thank you, Julia from Fungi Perfecti, for sharing your valuable time and knowledge with me.

Which brings me to the Polenta with Wild Mushroom Ragout recipe. Turned out lovely and tastey, and my colon did not have a fit…have a look at the list of mushrooms it called for:

Lobster mushrooms

Pom Pom

Shitake

Cinnamon cap

Portobello

The recipe called to dehydrate them, which I did, but if I ever make this recipe again, I will pull out the old frying pan and convert my stove top from it’s dish draining duties and give it back it’s old job.

PS: go to this link to see something that will blow your mind!
http://www.fungi.com/info/articles/luminescent.html

Putting the Tomato Right

2007-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Truthfully I haven’t felt that great lately. What could it be? It’s true I’m meno-pausing. Or could it be the back and forth between raw and cooked…the real world that I still have to live (and eat) in and the at-home world where I can control my meals? It is also likely that eating raw is detoxing me, and every time I go back to cooked foods, I am more sensitive to the toxins in those foods. With a hot flash or two for emphasis.

Life is like that. Think of the toxic people we have to be around. I’ve arranged my life intentionally to exclude the types who don’t harmonize with me, but I still have to run into them from time to time on the outside. Frankly, because I’ve held the distance from them and protected my space, it’s given me a greater capacity to not feel so threatened by them, and to even have compassion (from a safe distance!). Hopefully this not-feeling-on-top-of-the-world thing that has come on in the last days is just a movement forward to the next whatever good thing I’ll be experiencing, like delicious heirloom tomatoes!

Today’s dish is Heirloom Tomato Terrine. What better summertime dish than this one when tomatoes are coming into their peak. I’m not a “cut out the seeds and peel” kind of gal. I think tomatoes are so delicious nothing should be cut off, except the navel, but for this recipe, since it would be a stacked dish, in a terrine (vs. a tureen, Justine), I followed the directions and peeled the tomatoes and removed those delicious seeds. I slurped up a few as I went and saved the peelings, etc. to juice and pour on the dog’s head. Yes, the faint aroma of skunk lingers yet.

Here’s the dish on a bed of spinach pesto (w/cashews, garlic, salt and olive oil). She wanted me to salt and pepper each layer of the tomatoes but I love the naked flavor of tomatoes so much, I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Of course when I went to flip it over onto the dish, there were a few runaway tomatoes sliding out, trying to ruin the photo. So just like how I’ve been feeling, I’ll pull myself back in…slide the tomato back into the space where it belongs, let it all marry together, and then cut a slice of life and enjoy how delicious it tastes, even if I’m not feeling on top of the world.

Titanic Kitchen

2007-07-12T22:29:00.001-07:00

Does it make any sense that I’m so busy cooking that I don’t have time to make anything to eat? For Daniel, losing weight is a good thing. For me, not so much. Frankly, I was suprised to learn I have dropped almost 4 lbs. So tonight after whipping up (see the state of my kitchen if you want to see the aftermath) Stuffed Chiles with Mole Sauce (yum!), I ate that, a burrito (thank you Alane, it was delicious), the fruit salad, a bite or two of pizza and a few bites of a hot dog and a beer. There. That ought to do it.

The Stuffed Chile recipe looked insane, but once I got into it, it wasn’t so crazy. The stuffing was made of walnuts, cashews, almond butter, veggies and spices. The delicious mole (a la maurine) I had to alter. She (the great Roxanne) wanted to have all these chiles included:

1 ancho chile
1 chipotle chile
1 mirasol chile
2 guajillo chiles
1 pulla chile
2 pasilla chiles

what is she, a dragon? ? It reminds me of my friend Rosemary. We call her the Goddess.
Most times she has cooked for me, my mouth went ablaze with the firefull peppers she likes to season her dishes with. She is Italian and she is Hot. We call her the Goddess for a reason. She’s one of these remarkable people who never stops if she wants something. A college professor, world traveler, book author, speaker, consultant in the business world, and one of those rare people who are so incredibly beautiful on the outside, it’s surprising to find they are flawlessly beautiful on the inside. Maybe if I ate spicier food I could be like her, but this is what I put in:
a few small pieces of 1 Anaheim chile
and that was enough, it had just enough heat.

I mean, really. If I would have put all those chiles in there it would have set off the fire alarm in my kitchen! But all the other ingredients made a beautifully delicious mole! Especially the chocolate sauce, made with almond butter…yum!

I brought the stuffed chiles to Music in the Park night tonight. Everybody liked them, but they went wild for the mole.

NEW: I will have an attachment with all the good recipes and my notes on them linked to this site…COMING SOON!

The Savory Fruit Salad was an interesting balance between the sweet melon and nectarine and the shaved fennel and red onion, then with a fennel vinaigrette with shallot and fennel.

So, the dishes are piled up. The kitchen is a ship wreck. Where is Daniel? I hear the great guru say “go to the TV and you will find your husband.”

At least I’m not going to bed hungry.

Crepes A La Mo + Watermelon Soup – The Easy Bake Oven Way

2007-07-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Look how soft and spongy the crepe from her book looks—pictured here. Mine turned out like corn tortillas. But I’m not complaining, I’m thrilled they turned out at all. A couple of them got stuck on my dehydrator screen. I couldn’t figure out whether to use parchment paper or not so I tried it both ways. I guess parchment would be the safer bet if there ever is a next time. The crepes are made from golden flax, green apple, some spices and water. I took a departure on her version of sour cream. I just don’t like the graininess of coconut, so instead used sunflower seeds with the cashews, a splash of rejuvelac and a little honey. It was pretty good.

I forced the Curried Crepes with Yogurt Sauce on my poor unsuspecting music tutor who is always hungry, why? Because he never eats. He just works and works. The mother instinct in me wants to feed the poor man. He was so hungry he ate standing up. I’m glad he enjoyed it. I keep having these close calls with nobody eating my dinner, thanks for coming through, Curt.

Making food like this reminds me of being a kid. You don’t have to worry about burning yourself. I have this “play” oven (dehydrator) with these cute plastic trays and screens, it’s like putting together a puzzle. To make soup I just toss in ingredients and press a button on the cuisinart and presto: soup. Of course there’s the danger of cutting yourself, and I am far too careless with the mandolin, making elegant juliennes. But cooking like this is like having a play kitchen for me. Everything is fresh and colorful; there’s no secret, really other than letting all the flavors meld together and taking a chance on the sauce. I mean it’s not like learning the finer technique of flipping a crepe or the science of baking the perfect cake.

Watermelon Salad was dessert, really. Longans again. This is the second recipe calling for these obscure “longans.” My Food Lovers Companion describes them as a small soft fleshy fruit with a tough outer shell and large seed. But no one’s ever heard of them around here. How about a lychee? If you look lychee up, it’s basically the same description. Those I can find, living here in the multi-cultural San Francisco Bay Area, so lychee instead of longan it is.

And so it is. When I had my solo tea parties as a kid, I didn’t have tea so I found some vinegar and used that for my tea. God it was sour, but I lived in pretend land so developed a tolerance for it. And so it is.

Wanted: Last Minute Eaters Recipes 21-22: Lasagna and Kabocha Soup

2007-07-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

It took a few weeks but finally the administrator in me came out and now I have an actual “chart” (isn’t that sick?) of the coming week’s menus, with a list below each day ticking off items I will need to buy AND special notes if I need to get something started that day for the next day’s recipes. Oh, but it doesn’t end there. I now have a list of every grocery store with the phone number and extension# of the produce department taped on my cabinet. The low point came today when I started a frickin’ price comparison spreadsheet of bulk items that I regularly buy with the prices from all the grocery stores. That means I have to now bring that spreadsheet with me next time I go shopping and fill in the blanks. Once done, I’ll know who’s got the least expensive flax seeds in the area and so on. Don’t worry, I’ll post it so you can save money too.

So now that Daniel is clear on not sharing live food dinners with me, the routine is that when a recipe seems like it’s going to turn out, I start madly calling my neighbors to drop by for dinner, at the last minute. I can never give them advance notice because, what if it’s a disaster? So tonight when I lifted off the “terrine” (as opposed to a tureen, Justine-thanks, now I know what a terrine is!) and the lasagna didn’t spread out like blobby lava, I knew I had a winner. I frantically started calling around. “Sue, want to have dinner?” Not sure, she has to call me back. “Deb, want to have dinner?” I left a message. Who else to call? My husband was napping so I suddenly felt very alone. I went ahead and started pureeing the kabocha squash for the soup. That looked like it would turn out too. And then my heart was heavy. Nobody to share it with. Not even the dogs, they hate this type of cuisine.

I got the camera out and starting snapping. But I needed to actually cut the lasagna for the photo so people could see the layers. God, I hated to cut into it. What if the whole thing fell apart? Just then the phone rang. Deb saved the day! She’d be right over. Suddenly my whole world lit up. I confidently sliced into the lasagna and it didn’t fall apart. Snap, I got my photo.

Lasagne was a winner! The photo from the book was so intimidating, I can’t believe I made this and it wasn’t even that difficult. In fact it was fairly straight forward. The only hassle being I had to start the herb cheese a day or so back so it would be ready today. This dish was absolutely delicious and really tasted like lasagna, only better!!

The Kabocha Squash Soup with Sweet-Sour Sultana Sorbet was supposed to be a dessert, but I think it’s better placed as an appetizer or between-course palate cleanser, if you do that kind of thing (I don’t, but maybe I should start!). What are sultanas? Apparently they are a small, white raisin from somewhere else in the world, so it’s comparable to a Thompson grape here. That’s what I used.

So if you want to be a last-minute-call-to-dinner friend, drop me a message. I need last minute eaters.

Penetrating Love: Recipes 19 and 20 Heirloom Tomato Soup with Olives +Greek Salad

2007-07-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Love has penetrated the walls of this house. I will look back on these days as the fullest of my life.—Susan Frey

Moving around our kitchen, I’m a little more aware of the splatters on the wall, how clean the stove top is these days since I don’t “cook” and my sister’s poem that hangs on the wall. I look at it often. Sometimes I feel it’s true (the love part) and sometimes it couldn’t be further from my experience. And then I feel sad, because I never want to look back on a time behind me as the fullest of my life, like all the fullness could be over. It seems each year in these times of mine feels fuller and fuller. Music with Daniel and Rick, cooking like a maniac, running a small business that I love, singing with a choir, loving our Sonoma place, our dogs, each other, my huge family of friends…it’s so full. May it stay so.

And as Daniel declared he can take the raw food no more, he must have MEAT!, I served the Tomato Soup and the Greek Salad. Not before I made him take the photos, though. We continued to argue through most of dinner. About nothing. About “I am aggravated, so it’s your fault” kind of stuff. Stupid frustrations of living with a person who is as dynamic and headstrong as yourself. Who doesn’t see it your way. Feels like most of the time. But then we ended up singing songs in the kitchen, which is my favorite thing in the world. That and making food: Heaven. I love him for that, making our kitchen heaven.

I’m sure that is what Susan meant for me, for us, when she gave the poem as a wedding gift. Letting the loving times fill us up.

Mystery Ingredient Soup and a Salad only the Cook will Eat

2007-07-08T17:41:00.001-07:00

Does it make you a good cook if you know you could have whipped up a tasty meal for your loved ones if only you hadn’t followed the recipe?
Or does it make you a bad cook because you couldn’t get the recipe, written by two high-end gourmets, to taste very good.

Or are my friends just complainers? I mean I expect it from my closet food-critic husband, but my girlfriends? Just because the Red Bell Pepper Soup with Mango Dollops had strands of “white things” in them…I mean, why make a big deal out of that? They said the “white strand things” distracted them from the taste. What sissies. I gulped mine right down. I thought it tasted pretty good. What white strand things? Finally Susan dug one out of her soup. Huh, I thought, weird. Then Justine piped up with the same complaint. What could it be? It looked like hairs from a bottle brush. Could it be the fibers from the turnip thing I added that was supposed to be juiced horseradish? No, it was too tough for that. In a word, inedible. I gave up on trying to figure it out and poured their soups through a sieve, but neither of them accepted the refined version. Doesn't say much for their adventurous spirit, does it?

To stay in theme, today (the theme of fixing meals my guests won't eat) I made the Creamed Cauliflower Soup and the Marinated Artichokes, Turnips and Beets. The soup should be called Boringly Bland White Stuff that has no flavor. After you puree basically only cauliflower, water and some vinegar you’re supposed to put it through a sieve, but if you did that, there would only be one bowl of soup. No matter, no one would eat it anyway. Although I ate most of mine. I’m the only one around here with any determination.

The Beet-Artichoke Marinade turned out surprisingly tasty. To me, that is. No one liked that one either, but the thinly sliced beets, turnips and artichokes flavored with a vinaigrette, a bed of date, jalapeno and cranberry sauces is really delicious. And loved ones who don’t like your food? At least I keep them entertained and obesity at bay.

18 Down and 33 To Go! 54 days left.

Dolmas and Broccoflower Couscous and Neighbors of the Mayacamas

2007-07-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

I don’t like traditional dolmas very much. They taste vinegary and mealy, but these live-food Dolmas with Dill-Sour Cream Sauce were crispy and fresh with a delicate sweetness. The “rice” in the dolmas was the ever-popular pulsed parsnip which I am finding in so many of Roxanne's recipes and I could not find dried currants so used fresh ones. How the coconut and cashews could wind up tasting like a dill sour cream sauce was pretty amazing to us all. But when I do the recipe again (and I will!) I won’t bother with the sauce, the dolmas were so delicious they didn’t need a sauce. Thank you to Sarahndipity for the photos.

I served this on the 4th of July when we were up at our Sonoma place and invited our crazy neighbors Karen and Jannell over. Karen, a product of the Berkeley-Hippy era who still lives by the finer virtues of that time, and Jannell who lives next to her in a tiny cabin and grows a sprawling and beautiful flower and vegetable garden. They brought over the illustrious Ricky, master-of-all-things-at-age-24 and a few other friends. Sarah and William have been up planning out their huge deck that will surround a tree, and we had Cath, a prior guest at Cinque Terre also there with her faithful dog Molly to grace our table. What a party.

Couldn’t find broccoflower, so did the most logical thing and simply mixed cauliflower and broccoli heads. No champagne grapes so used red grapes. The curry oil finished the recipe, giving it the spicy flavor it needed to not be bland.

Being up on top of the wine country in the mountains is a sublime and cleansing experience. The atmosphere is wild and wonderful, as are most of our neighbors who I refer to as the “Smiling Eyes Tribe.” To see the fireworks we all piled in the car (including the dogs) and drove along the incredibly bumpy and dusty road over to Random Ridge, Bill Hawley’s place which sits up on the southwest side of the mountain and overlooks the entire Bay Area and downtown Sonoma. Since Bill is a grape grower, there was plenty of his wine flowing, I had my wands glowing and we all enjoyed the fireworks show from our tailgates. http://www.randomridge.com/place/photos.html

I never made it to the soups and looks like I’ll be taking tonight off too. Still recovering from the alien party in my gut, I guess.

Heirloom Apricots Losing Ground

2007-07-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of Blenheim apricots? They’re only grown down in the Santa Clara Valley region and anyone who’s tasted one says they are the best tasting apricot in the world. Forget the bland Turkish apricots with the great shelf life. But sadly these dreamy fruits don’t travel well and Blenheims often have green and yellow colors on their skins, which fool consumers into thinking they have no flavor. People just want to buy the pretty rosy-orange apricots, but if they took one bite, they would be so happily surprised!

Slow Food has added the Blenheim to their endangered list as farmers throw in the towel when competing with the visually perfect and tasteless apricots at our groceries. And we lose so much farmland to developers too. Luckily Nancy Kux invites me each year to accompany her to a farm where we can either pick, or simply buy a nice quantity of the Blenheims. This time we were directed by Blenheim Apricot advocate Barbara Anderson to Bertuccio’s in Hollister.

We toured their facilities and came home with 25 lb boxes of the little jewels. Pictured here drying. I’m giving them away like crazy as they don’t last long. They are an ‘eat now, always remember’ fruit. I hope the few of us who trek down every year, and those who buy the dried Blenheims will be enough to keep a few orchards in business.

For more info, check out: http://www.freelancenews.com/printer/article.asp?c=60974

Internal FireWorks make Holiday in my Gut

2007-07-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

I’d like to say I took it easy over the 4th of July holiday. Instead I invited aliens into my house for a party. Aliens being bacteria and house being my stomach. Can you say food poisoning?

Should I blame it on the evil beef burger or the killer squash blossoms?
Here I’ve been on this insanely healthy diet, feeling so energetic and healthy and then I had a beef burger at a friend’s party. Could it be that it was such a shock to my body?
Or could it be that the raw food I didn’t wash harbored the bad guys?
Nobody knows but my innocent and suffering intestines, but I confess I suspect the innocuous-looking, delicate squash blossoms. Look at them, so colorful and pretty. Those deceptive little imposters.
Photo courtesy of: http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0805b.htm

I consider this rude experience (yes, I writhed in pain on a public bathroom floor for 45 minutes, unable to move) to be a sort of graduation, an awakening if you will of the degree of respect I must now have as a raw foodie. I’ve always been so cavalier and trusting about the cleanliness of the produce I buy. When the squash blossoms came in a shrink wrapped container (and knowing that I did not want them to wilt for the photo I would be taking of them shortly) I skipped over my usual step of soaking produce in a solution of grapeseed extract water.

Verily, verily I say unto you: many foreign hands hath touched thy produce. Lo, false prophets shall attack your belly if you do not obey the god of sanitization (sanity?).

Even (and especially) sprouts need to be washed. Those tiny hard-to-wash onion, daikon or sunflower sprouts apparently love to harbor unfavorable bacteria.

The bacteria party is over, but my cells are still sweeping up, repairing the damage and pulling the house back together. And who knows, a lot of the time people need antibiotics to recover from food poisoning, I didn’t. Maybe all this healthy eating put my body in a better position to ward off the evil aliens all on it’s own. That’s what I’d like to believe.

Tomato Tart / Ceasar Salad with Rawmesan+Croutons / Stuffed Squash Blossoms

2007-07-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! These recipes were worth the effort! Took me three days to pull it all together. First I had to make rejuvelac (fermented wheat berry juice) so that I could make the nut cheese, which took a day. Then I had to dehydrate it. Had to make croutons also with the cheese, which also required hours of dehydration. Had to make dragon crackers so that I would have crackers to roll the onion rings in. Whew!

Keep in mind those new to raw food: all recipes shown here are fresh "alive" have not been cooked. We dehydrate crusts, crackers, croutons, etc., to get the desired texture, but all enzymes and vitamins are preserved (unlike cooking).

We had the tomato tart for lunch with one of my “splash” salads, which means a fresh vegetable and nut-filled bowl of whatever I can find in the refrigerator with very little leaf action. The tart was not as much work as I had imagined and pretty tasty, although I gave up when it came to making my own dehydrated tomatoes. I just used a jar of sundried tomatoes. This recipe is a keeper! Email me if you want me to send you the recipe.

I worked straight (including yet another trip to the grocery store) from lunch on for dinner. I had been dehydrating a single carrot since yesterday so that I could grind it up and roll the “croutons” in it. That damn carrot just would not get crispy. I finally just ground it up anyway, the clock was ticking. Rolled the croutons in it then it all went back into the dehydrator. The “rawmessan” was dehydrating too. I whipped up the ceasar salad dressing which was KILLER, and then began blending the stuffing for the squash blossoms.

Finally the crackers were ready, so I ground a few of those up and added the herbs, then dipped red onion rings in olive oil and rolled them in the crumbs, which didn’t stick very well (egg would have been nice, but this is vegan, remember?) and then they went into the dehydrator.

Ready to stuff the blossoms and discovered I couldn’t find all the parts to my pastry bag and nozzle…a momentary panic until I got resourceful and resorted to a large grip-lock bag. Man, it worked like a charm! The photo here does not do it justice. Oh! The stuffing was pine nuts, pistachios mixed with a delightful Indian herb mixture and it was just HEAVEN…a wonderful floral aroma, so delicious.

The rawmessan and croutons made the ceasar salad, pictured here in a beautiful new bowl that my dear sister Deb gave me as a gift to cheer me on for this project. Thank you, Debbie, I love you.

These are the most delicious recipes I’ve made so far, although I can see a growing annoyance in Daniel (husband-photographer). He repeated several times today “we can go back to paper plates after this project is over, right?, right?” He grumbled rather loudly at having to do the dishes again (although I was the one in the kitchen ALL day). Goddess bless him, he is helping me so much and I know he’s quite unsure why the hell I am taking on such a time-intrusive hobby, but I’m HOOKED and I am just having SO MUCH FUN, but I admit I am tired and looking forward to my day off of doing this tomorrow.

Count: 13 down, 39 to go in 9 weeks.
Next up over 4th of July holiday – Red Bell Pepper Soup with Mango / Greek Salad /Dolmas and Kaboch Squash Soup. God help me.

House Stinkin’ Party

2007-07-01T10:36:00.001-07:00

Whenever we’re invited over, we always try to bring more than we take.
Last night our friend Nick was celebrating moving into his new place.
Like the Clampits that we are, we of course brought our dogs. He’s on ten acres of open space and the dogs were in pure heaven running around like hyenas.

We had a lovely evening and toward the end of the night an overwhelming odor floated onto the patio as Boomer (our dog) approached. We knew within a split second he had been skunked. Poor boy got hit in the face and his eyes were burning, as he madly rolled himself on Nick’s lawn. Boomer often wears a t-shirt, so we pulled the soaked t-shirt off of him, he rolled some more. We squirted his eyes with water and wiped them off with paper towels and he rolled some more. By this time, we both were reeking.

As nice of a guy as Nick is, I couldn’t help notice how he tried to close his front door on me as I tried to walk in. Imagine that. Soon his whole house was reeking and all his guests were groaning. By then my olfactories were desensitized so I didn’t see what the big deal was. We called the vet who gave us a concoction to remove the odor:
-1 qt hydrogen peroxide
-1/4 c baking soda
-1/4 c dishwashing liquid

We ungracefully bowed out with Nick enthusiastically waving goodbye through a closed window (I think he was holding his nose).

We got home and bathed Boomer and it was much better except for the fact the damn skunk got him in the face and we couldn’t put the mixture too close to his eyes. So you only smell it if you kiss him, or when he kisses you! He of course slept with us last night, after all he’d been through I couldn’t reject him from his comfort zone.

But we had to chuckle this morning, realizing that Boomer had probably wiped most of the skunk smell onto Nick’s lawn, right in front of his front door. I wonder how long that smell will linger? And imagining the skunk-soaked t-shirt laying in his yard as a special “gift” made us laugh even harder. Happy House Warming, Nick!
Yes, we’re givers.

Next up: Open Faced Tomato Tart & Ceasar Salad with Rawmesan & Croutons!

Tengusa Seaweed MIA, Recipe #10 DOA

2007-06-30T16:40:00.001-07:00

Did I say this project has taught me to be courageous about substitutes? Did I say that?

No Japanese market in the vicinity has heard of Tengusa, so I tried Kombu. Kombu allowed me to skip the tedious steps of making a gel sheet out of the tengusa, dehydrate and then roll it up.

Like I could have ever done that anyway!

Hey, not finding tengusa was a favor. As was not finding sea beans. Actually, I think I’ve eaten seabeans before and I sure would have liked to try them, but if I expect to do a recipe almost every damn day, I can only search so far and wide. So it was julienned French beans mixed with seaweed salad. Close enough, right?

So do I announce my failures to the world? That eating kombu was like eating a rolled up piece of kelp you step over at the beach? I ate one and spared my husband. Sea vegetables make good compost.

Cucumber Rolls and Jicama Corn Salad, 9 down and 44 to go

2007-06-29T16:57:00.001-07:00

Evening plans meant I had to throw together recipes number 8 and 9 over lunch. Rick & Alane invited us to a private screening of a new documentary Semper Fi, One Marine’s Journey. This story, about a courageous and gentle man’s discovery of the truth of our “war on terror” and about himself was powerful. I hope you’ll check it out on Showtime, see http://www.semperfithemovie.com/. This is a man who follows his passions. I believe our passions lead us to heal the world in some way, yet here I am involved in this passion. How superfluous this project seems when compared to what this man is doing. And yet, I know in my heart we are all part of that "grand orchestra" each with our part to play. We have to fully honor the part we play and trust, trust (underscored) that what we are following is somehow a contribution, and never second-guess it no matter how small or silly it seems. I guess that is the challenge. That somehow something as seemingly insignifcant as my own indulgence here with this project can somehow contribute in some way for the greater good of all. I don't know, maybe it's just a drop of sweetness that the world needs.

Back to lunch. Daniel came to the rescue, sharpening the knife and cutting the vegetables “brunoise.” No dehydrating necessary and I had all the ingredients. With Daniel’s help, all I had to do was put it together. Then I realized I had forgotten the Asian Pear for the salad. What to do? One thing this book is teaching me is to have the courage to substitute. I spied a green apple, why not? In fact, it was the perfect substitute. Really, I think the pear would have blended in too much with the jicama and corn. The sour apple really gave the flavor a pop that was terrific! The cucumber rolls? Well they just would not roll. I guess I shaved the cucumber too thickly. I forced a couple for the photo (thank you, toothpicks), but for lunch we just used the cucumber as “bread” to scoop up the stuffing. Both recipes were sublimely delicious, fresh and energizing. I wish it could always be this easy.

I’m still looking for salsify. Any takers for finding this little devil?

Daikon Lo Mein and Stuffed Chard, Yin and Yang

2007-06-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

I did these recipes so long ago I barely remember it. It was day before yesterday.

That was the day when I happily invited Sue, my professional photographer sister (I have a lot of sisters) over. I said, why don't you come by and photograph a recipe and have dinner?

It was no problem because I had planned to whirl up a lentil loaf for the main course and attempt the daikon lo mein as a side dish.

Then I tasted the lentil loaf and remembered...I don't like the flavor of ground sprouted lentils...yuck! Then I was in a panic. What would we have for dinner? I slapped open 'The Book' and selected the next appetizer up: Mung Bean Salad Wrapped in Swiss Chard with Marinated Vegetables and Thai Vinaigrette. Alane had delivered fresh picked chard from her garden the day before, so all I had to come up with was:

cauliflower mushrooms

yuzu citron juice

water chestnuts (fresh, of course)

Being incredibly foresightful (is that a word?) I opened another recipe and hurriedly wrote down some more wierdo ingredients I would need for future. Thinking ahead. Tengusa seaweed, sea beans, and agar agar, I think it was.

I hopped on my bike straight for Takahashi Market. Yes, on the yuzu and agar. no fresh water chestnuts so in flew the canned version. Try the bigger Japanese market. OK. No. To Draeger's: No. Since the mushrooms were basically for garnish, I got some frisee salad, that would look good. But at check-out I learned it was like $7 for a bunch. Frisee rejected. By now I was spinning. Sue would be there in less than an hour and I had to throw it all together. The kitchen was a mess. I got stressed (equals yelling at poor husband).

Sue arrived and actually liked the lentil loaf so much she took some home. The funny thing about daikon is the taste seems to change if you julienne it or shave it, as this recipe calls for. I don't like the strong hot-radish flavor, but shaved, it seems to soften and the flavor improves. Both dishes turned out ok, but not very flavorful. But it was certainly healthy and we were satiated. Then I realized I had forgotten to include the pureed waterchestnut in the chard rolls! doh!

And so is life. A rush of stress spreads into a wave of ease. A wave of good times squeezes into a hard time for awhile. Sometimes things are good, but they don't taste as good as you want. Sometimes you don't feel understood, then you feel you love everything on this world so much you can't stand it. The yin and yang of life.

Peaches, Ice Cream and a Taste of Motherhood

2007-06-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

I spent the last three days preparing to serve "cheeseburgers" tonight. Attempting to use our oven as a dehydrator for five recipes now, has finally pushed me into purchasing a dehydrator. The Excalibur was recommended to me, so that's what I bought, can be purchased from Elaina Love's website: http://www.purejoyplanet.com/.

It's not that I think the food will taste any better, it's just that once you get more into this, you become very conscious of the nutritional value of food, and they say cooking beyond 105 kills the enzymes, vitamins, and life-giving properties of the food. The lowest my oven will go is 140. And the more into this you get, the more you want to eat like this. It's addictive in a great way. Now instead of my cabinets being stocked with flour and cereals and bags of chips, canned goods, etc. I have jars filled with lovely nuts, grains and dried fruits. And I'm actually using them in the most delicious recipes!

My sisters Lise and Lady Lori brought baby-Gael for the afternoon and dinner. I could tell they kind of looked at me in awe as I excitedly explained to them about preparing live foods. Lori’s a mom with two kids, and Lise is a new mom with Gael, almost 2 years old. Lori came sans kids tonight. I mean, they’re both so exhausted and taxed by caring for their children, they couldn’t imagine taking something like this on, they barely have time to think about the next meal, much less indulge in this “fad” that is so time-consuming. But, of course, I look at them in awe. They’re both such good mothers, like the kind I would want to be or have! Really living the dream of feeling the curl of their child in their arms. And as much as I wanted to be a mother, I’m not, and now that I’m over it I’m really having a good time throwing myself into things. So instead of spending all my energy caring for my kids, I have energy to do these crazy projects. Somehow, this is my motherhood. And in this way, I see we can look at each other in complete awe and admiration of how we’re doing things.

It's not often I get to have my sisters for a few precious hours alone, so I was pleased to be serving an all-living menu, but nervous the damn burgers would not turn out. By late afternoon they were still soggy and I wasn't sure my "dehydrating" was working. My husband ran out and purchased ground sirloin and buns and fired up the barbecue as 'back up.' But once again, somehow these live-food recipes are delicious no matter what! To my surprise, they loved the burgers (Juliano's cookbook). And then we only sampled the cooked burgers. I served Corn Wowder (from Vibrant Living Cookbook) on the side, another live dish...a great summer soup. Anyway, from Roxanne's book, I did dessert: Indian Red Peaches with Vanilla Ice Cream and Pecan Praline. It was heaven. We couldn't believe how much the "ice cream" tasted like real ice cream--no dairy and sweetened only with agave nectar. I cheated on the fruit and did not dehydrate it, served it fresh. I cheated on the praline as well, no dehydrate, can you say "toaster oven?"

47 more recipes to go in only ten weeks. Oh no! That's basically a recipe every night!

Tomorrow: Daikon Lo Mein.

And if you have a sense of humor, check out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr4_RfJxwsU

On Fire!

2007-06-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

After eating this way all week, I started to get a real energy boost on Wednesday, but by Thursday, I was ELECTRIC! I just FEEL SO GOOD eating this way! I worked a full day, took the dogs out, started on the "cheese slices" and "bread" for the "hamburgers," prepared lunch and dinner, got a little work-out in, worked on my music, met with Rick to sing through our song list, then even went to Deb's to look at the paint job in her kitchen. Of course I went over there in my house shoes and left wearing only one. When it came time to leave we couldn't find the mate anywhere. Those damn dogs.

Truthfully, and I know this sounds cliche, but when you eat live you feel alive. It feels great to be human when you feel good.
And it's amazing what actually tastes good once you get into it, for example, yesterday for lunch this is what I had:

red onion and cherry tomatoes with wine vinegar+olive oil

julienned (gotta use a mandolin, folks) raw sweet potato

with pine nuts

that was it! totally satisfying and the sweet potato was INCREDIBLE...it didn't need a thing. I ate every scrap. For dinner I rummaged through the Vibrant Living recipe book and made a Cucumber/Avocado Soup that had chopped zucchini in it. Now I don't even like raw zucchini, and this was DELICIOUS! I don't know what it is, but you gotta try this! I went a little off the raw, and simmered up some cracked wheat and served it over spinach, tomatoes, etc., and the dressing was pureed tomato and basil. Yum! For dessert I brought the rest of the Sharlyn Melon granita I had left over to Deb's and had it with her. She was rinsing her nuts and was showing me her raw cookbooks...she's totally getting into this! I'm in the middle of an interview with her to put on Sarah's website. She was the first woman electrician-forman in San Francisco, so i'm interviewing her on what it's like to be in an almost entirely male trade.

I like the brain dead aspect I enjoy from using a cookbook. Sometimes it's hard to get into the kitchen to figure out a meal. With this "mission" of mine, I just open the cookbook, and all I have to do is follow the steps. My dad was a big cookbook guy, maybe that's what infected me. But it's just so easy instead of wondering what to have for lunch/dinner, I just open one of the living recipe books until I run across a recipe I have all the ingredients for. Sometimes they don't even sound that good, but then, they'll taste suprisingly terrific. I think that's what is getting so many of us into this concept of eating live, and is keeping us here: it's delicious!

Morning Love

2007-06-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

One thing about preparing food this way, your kitchen is easier to clean up.

I don't say this because my husband does all the dishes now. no, he just thinks he's doing all the dishes...but I say this because there's no grease. no splattered olive oil, no greasy pans, no big pots, and the stove top is immaculate! And just think, that's what's going into your body! It's just raw fruits and vegetables, but overall, pretty easy to clean up. OK, a dog food can that needs to be cleaned out because I insist on recycling, plus stray dog hairs. And I also insist on composting, which enrages my husband. I mean what's the big deal? A few fruit flies buzzing around. This really bugs him (ha!) but it has cut down on our trash, and I've made some killer soil from it.

This morning I skipped the favorite part of beginning my day: the Morning LoveFest.

With two rescue dogs, one who sleeps with us and the other who climbs up about 6:30 am every morning to wedge himself between my husband and I, we (or I, really) ritually begin the day with a snuggle fest of kissing and rubbing these canine angels.

This morning, anxious to start "nacho cheese" for a "hamburger" recipe from Juliano's cookbook, I skipped our routine. Shortly after I'm up, the dogs sauntered into the kitchen bleary-eyed, heads down, nudging me. They needed their morning coffee: LoveFest.

What is a Sharlyn Melon? And what the hell is Salsify? Recipes #4+

2007-06-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

For my next foray, I thought I'd try the next-up appetizer Salsify with Black Truffles and Porcini mushrooms. I will tell you what salsify is if I ever find it. I'll also skip ahead to dessert and tackle the Watermelon Soup with Sharlyn Melon Granita.

But can I tell you Draeger's wanted $40/lb. for the porcinis. Wait, don't laugh yet, they wanted $50 for one truffle. Now I'm a hyena. Forget the truffle, lady, not gonna happen on our budget.

I bought the dried porcini's for $4.99. Draeger's is out of the salsify, but will call me if it ever comes in (coincidentally June-Aug is salsify season). I drove over to the Mexican market to see if they might have it: nada. I even called Takahashi Japanese market: sayonara.

I'll try Sigona's and then Marina Market, I've heard is pretty cosmopolitan as salsify is apparently a European thing.

But good old Draeger's-just-down-the-street did have a Sharyln melon. Here 'tis in all it's glory, a dressed up cantaloupe.

I bought the truffle oil (my first time ever!) and Kimberley's white wine vinegar, which is the only white wine vinegar I've ever tried that I thought was actually good. Really good, actually. This mission is racking up the grocery bill. I'm going to have to add a donate button to my site. seriously.

So the Sharlyn melon is for a dessert Watermelon Soup with Sharlyn Melon Granite and Micro Mint. Micro mint. I mean really.

I hauled out the ice cream maker, even though Roxanne says pour in a shallow pan, freeze and scrape with a spoon every half hour (yeah, right) "creating a snowlike result." Why can't I just use an ice cream maker? We'll see what I do here.

OK, ice cream maker it is. And on the ellusive, mysterious salsify: none at Takahashi, none at the mexican market, none at the marina international market, none at Piazza's or Rainbow in the city. However, both Draeger's and Piazza's had at least heard of it and said for me to follow up in a few days.

We only got into two arguments to get this photo taken. You'd think he'd get it after awhile. I'm preparing the meals. He's sitting there watching tv. When I call to say I'm ready for a photo, how hard is that? But it's this repetitive routine each time "where's the camera" "I don't know you had it last," then "oh the card isn't in the camera." Meanwhile my granita is melting. No pressure. So of course I had to yell at him. I told him I would fire him from photographing. And then I outlined his job position more clearly. Make sure the camera is ready, so when I call you, you take a picture. That's all I ask of you. For some reason he found this patronizing, but he did like the dessert. Happy Summer Soltice!

Recipes #2 & #3: Morel & Mushroom Stack and Peppercorn Cheese

2007-06-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind schedule, with vacation and all, but I did two recipes today.

First, the "Three Peppercorn Crusted Cashew Cheese with Honeycomb and Balsalmic"

I started the recipe weeks ago, when I soaked the cashews, but then we went on vacation, so I hauled the poor nuts up there and then remembered I didn't have any Rejuvelac. I didn't have any wheat berries to make any rejuvelac either.

So I saved the nuts in a bag...ten days later...well, let's just say I did a wierd thing for me: I threw them out and started new.

So this turned out beautifully...pretty straight forward until she says to "press the cheese into a ring mold" What ring mold?

I lined a ramekins w/paper instead. I put the peppercorns in first, then the cheese, pressed. Refrigerated, then inverted it. Perfect! and tastey too.
I made one for Deb, my electrician friend who is also now getting turned onto live foods, but I pressed nasturtium flowers into with the peppercorns...pretty.

Second, the "Layered Morel Mushrooms and Fennel with Two Vinaigrettes: Opal Basil and Mustard Seed"

Luckily, because of Draeger's just down the street, I was easily able (if not expensively) to procure dried morels.

This recipe was lots easier than I had imagined and not as tasty as it looked.

I made it easier, for example, Opal basil? I don't think so. Regular basil will do. Crushing mustard seeds to make the vinaigrette? Nah. I used my taragon mustard and it was yummy. I couldn't deal with the honeycomb thing either. So as I was slicing the fennel, wondering how I was going to get the pureed fennel to stack up on the morels, I hear the dreaded sound: 'hack, hack, wretch' No! I scream. Our stupid cat has this throw up thing she keeps doing. Why can't she be like our dogs and head for the door when she has to puke? No, she has to ALWAYS vomit on (first choice) 1) upholstry 2) persian rug 3) carpet 4) bed (sheets and pillows preferred) and lastly is the floor. And I bet she NEVER pukes outside. So in the middle of three dogs (yes, I'm babysitting Jimmy again) and trying to make this new recipe, I'm scraping vomit off the chair cushions and trying to squirt Nature's Miracle into the cane chair where the puke has leaked into the crevaces.

Newcomers beware: she doesn't mention to core the fennel! (Sorry I had to delete the photo, folks, it was blurry and not shot from the side (as I had instructed husband) so sort of looked like a plate a vomit. Really, it looked quite gourmet in real life.

The flavors were good, but the morels tasted watered down...next time (if ever there is one) I will dry them carefully and marinate them in a mixture of both her vinaigrettes first. (bad photo, I'm sorry, blame it on husband, as I do with all things).

With the leftovers, I mixed it all together and it was delicous...voila!

Recipe Uno - Wakame Sushi Rolls

2007-06-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

The first recipe is a gourmet looking sushi roll. One of the reasons I never did anything but look at this book with awe and put it back down again.
This recipe went suprisingly well, except that photographer-husband did not download the photos and then "disappeared" from his camera. ugh. so I did the recipe a 2nd time, pictured here a little blurry. Of course you can't really see the sushi and that's because oh-esteemed photographer husband doesn't know how to use his own camera. God forbid should either one of us read the manual. They say food styling and photography is a real art and now I can see why. God, how awful photos of home food can look! I can't be a cook and a techno-photographer both.

I discovered daikon and parsnips, and both are wonderful! You can julienne either up (use a mandolin) for salads...yum! But this recipe used parsnips as the "rice" in the sushi roll.
I felt sure when I rolled it up, it would be a disaster, with the contents bulging out and even worse when I cut it, imagining the nori paper to tear and fall apart, but miraculously, with my first recipe...it turned out as delicious as it was beautiful.

Of course I had to snigger at the call for "brunoise cut" and the "baton" cut this or that. What the hell is brunoise? According to my Food Lover's Companion it is a "mixture of vegetables, finely diced or shredded." And indeed, in the back of Roxanne's book, she does give a definition...fine dice, as she does with baton: match stick. And she says to use the daikon leaves...uh, excuse me, they are tough and practically inedible! I mean this is real life here.

Well, I've learned two fancy words and satisfied the bird (that's daniel, oh-beloved husband-photographer) with a delicious dinner, twice.

About this Labor of Love

2007-06-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Fortified with little experience, but truly a passion for living food, a husband who wants to lose weight (he has lost 14 lbs so far and LOOKS and FEELS terrific) and a neighborhood gourmet grocery store, I will embark on not nearly such a daunting project as cooking every recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, but something less monumental, but still intimidating to me, which will be to prepare all the recipes from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein’s fancy shmancy gourmet RAW book over the summer. I’ve had this book for several years now and have not attempted one single recipe. What else will motivate me but to declare it as a goal to an audience?

But first I want to not only give credit, but communicate to author Julia Shaffer of Julie & Julia, My Year of Cooking Dangerously that her hilarious book inspired me to do this…not only to love the kitchen more, but that a fellow Texan with a gutter mouth like me, might be inspired to write. And she can…she’s a very good writer. Anyway, she inspired me and before I start my own “mission” (as opposed to Julie's "project"), I want to write her and let her know that I hope she is not feeling plagiarized or copied by my mimicking her project…my husband says the best form of flattery is plagiary...I only hope copycatting is just as flattering. Purchase her book: http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Julia-Year-Cooking-Dangerously/dp/0316013269

So, back in like 1995 this totally cool restaurant opened up in my neighborhood (Inner Sunset, San Francisco) called Raw. I was immediately attracted to this restaurant and was totally intrigued to learn that all the gourmet and delicious looking dishes turning out were totally uncooked vegan dishes. Fermented wheat berries, dehydrated crusts for pizzas and “breads,” pureed fruits for pudding, soaked nuts for “cheese,” herbal infused waters and teas, sea vegetables…all these exotic, delicious but purely healthy foods served in the most artistic way. Nothing heated beyond 105 degrees, so as to keep the “living” enzymes and nutrients that are alive in nuts, seeds and vegetables alive.

The owner, a beautiful man named Juliano wound up moving to southern California where he started another restaurant (I think) and wrote an amazing cookbook. Well, here it is, like 11 years later, and I finally have his cookbook, and am finally ready, with the necessary encouragement from my husband, to start a whole new way of eating. It’s a TERRIFIC cookbook and I totally recommend it. I’ve already been making all kinds of delicious things from it. But his book has like over 100 recipes and I didn’t know if I could do that over the summer, but also his are easier. Roxanne’s is unbelievably high-brow, so thus the challenge.

I started first by making my own almond milk instead of buying the dead almond milk in the box. Beautiful, snow-white "milk" squeezes out of my husband’s beer sock (this is the PERFECT tool for making almond milk) over my hopefully washed fingers and into the glass pitcher. You can add a little blended date or a dash of maple syrup, but truly for us, we really don’t need it. Almonds are loaded with calcium, vitamin E and magnesium, and have their own natural sweetness. We’ve been going through, like a pitcher every 2-3 days.

First you have to soak the almonds (or any nut, like you can make pecan milk, cashew milk, brazil nut milk, etc.) for 4-24 hours. The idea being that when you soak a nut in agua, the nut thinks it’s going to seed and so starts rejuvenating and the enzymes and life-giving properties in the nut “wake up” and once they’re activated, they are optimum for consumption, with the maximum of living nutrients.

Everything is alive. And I know a lot of people don’t eat meat because they don’t want to kill an animal. But how can we say a plant is so much lower on the scale of things? I personally don’t believe they are. Plants, I have learned, in my modest forays into the world of composting and worm farming, do some mind-blowing things…one could say they think and make decisions. Of course most humans snigger at such a suggestion. We are so egocentric. Anyway, I have to say I do feel bad about an animal being killed just so I can enjoy a filet Mignon melting in my mouth, or even worse, oysters, which I LOVE, are ALIVE when you eat them on the half shell. Your teeth ripping into their tender body is how they get to die. At least cows get to die a more humane death. But look how we treat plants. We rip them out of the ground and chop them up! They die slowly, eh? So it is sacred, eating other life, no matter if plant or animal. And I don’t know how to be humane about it, well plants anyway. But for my fellow mammals, I can buy free-range, organic, etc., and hope that the folks at those farms have integrity.

So I got the bright idea, a time saver, to soak my almonds in advance and store them in the frig in a container. Every day I thought of blending them up to make almond milk, but no, I thought, I’ll wait cuz I don’t want to make the milk until we’re ready to drink it…I want it to be as fresh as possible.

So I was ready today to make a new batch. Nursing a bit of a hangover from a wild dinner out with the Dactyls saying farewell to a sister who is moving off to Connecticut with her new husband, I was craving a milk shake. I rummaged through the cabinets and I found Them. I can’t believe he bought Ruffels potato chips! After recovering from the mild shock (Daniel is serious about not eating junk and to lose weight, but I guess he had a weak moment when I left him for a night--God knows, I certainly did not adhere to any kind of healthy consumption last night!) I crammed a few in my mouth as I opened the lid. Shit! A few of the almonds had MOLD on them. Damn, I swear, this live/fresh food thing is so unforgiving sometimes. Better eat another chip. I picked up one at a time and scraped the little dot of blue mold from each nut. After about five I said fuck it and dumped them all into the blender. Ate another handful of Ruffels. Mold is supposed to be good for you, isn’t it? I poured the filtered agua over them and whirled away. Yum almond milk. Yuck, potato chips.