Brighton

We went to Brighton last Sunday and did some of my favourite things: the early morning station market, the monthly farmers’ market and stocking up at Infinity. It was a last-minute decision (one of those which so frequently turn out to be spot-on). The weather was gorgeous for the 2nd of November – it has been gray, cloudy and uninspiring both since and before. The bright colours of my resulting pictures inspired my juice choice the following Monday morning. It was simply an amalgamation of things sculling around: home grown beetroot, carrot and cucumber, hand-picked apple, and then a few organics from hotter climes, ginger, orange and lemon. Like last-minute travel decisions, it turned out so well that I’ve drunk the concoction every day since.
In regard to gorgeous decisions, I couldn’t let a post pass without reference to Obama. Rebecca Walker (as ever) has posted beautifully on the President Elect.

Kitchen Inspiration

Continuing on the simplicity front, I bought a favourite Australian interiors magazine on Friday which always seems to feature at least a couple of exquisite ‘natural homes’ amongst the frou-frou designer offerings in each issue. This kitchen is a dream ... rustic, light, simple (and I love the fact that they’re using the cooker as extra storage space!)...

World Vegan Day

It’s world vegan day today. It’s probably the ‘done’ thing to offer a recipe, but all I can think of is pears. It’s like I’m an addict. I’ve been buying them from the orchard around the corner and simply slice them with a mandolin (to try and fool myself that I’m making an effort with my diet!) and munch away. They’re divine. Thankfully, Matthew Kenney’s Everyday Raw arrived today, so I have an offering ... Unlike his earlier co-authored Raw Food Real World, this book is a paperback, but the same slick production values remain. Indeed, it’s an excellent book to show to non-vegan sceptics. Kenney is clearly a genius on the piping bag front – all his puddings look so deft of hand! I was particularly interested in the raw ice-cream cones (the recipe uses fresh pear!), and I’ve mentally stored it in my head for Christmas celebrations ... (the instructions went a little askew in the book itself, but they’re printed up correctly on Amazon).

Yoga ...

I went to the Yoga Show today at Olympia. Sometimes food and/or exercise hits the spot perfectly in terms of upping the energy. Sometimes just being in London does it for me too. I walked to the show from Earl’s Court. Changing tube lines is a pet hate. I’m always amazed that people hang around at Earl’s Court waiting for a tube to High Street Kensington or Olympia, when the walk (especially once you hit the back streets) is always so pleasant. I passed a favourite garden store and second-hand book store (it was shut and the picture taken through glass has turned very trippy with the ceiling seemingly replaced by outside buildings!). The show itself was um ... rather than om. It made me feel very lucky to have such a great studio and Scaravelli teacher so close by. I should also say that I’m been somewhat entranced by this all week ...

Raw Kitchen Equipment #1

I love reading and seeing how other people live their lives, not just in terms of food, clothes, partners, family, friends, ideas, careers and dreams, but ‘dressing’ their homes as it were too. I like anonymous old things and places, rather than the ‘names’ of interior design and destinations. To that end, this site, and also this (this too!), give me great pleasure and inspiration. I’ve been thinking interiors recently, specifically kitchens. As much recycling and natural light as possible is a given, and whilst I muse on ideas and inspiration (pic from the non-raw Tassajara Bread Book), I thought I’d introduce my occasional series on raw kitchen gadgets. To tell the truth, I’m not a gadget person, I like as little kitchen kit as possible and preferably things that have been handed-down, or bought at boot-sales, flea markets etc. But there are certain (new) things that make life easier.

#1 in my occasional series is my coconut machine. Mature coconuts can be more than a little - ahem - tricky in terms of preparation, but this machine purchased from Southall, West London, for about £10 if I remember rightly, makes light work of the task in hand, and means there’s no more battling in trying to prise the shell from the meat. Simply open the coconut eyes to retrieve the milk, whack the coconut in half, and then wind the handle of the machine to grind the meat whilst holding the shell in your hand. It’s quick, easy and hand-powered - perfect! You can blend the results with a small amount of the coconut milk to make a fantastic coconut sauce, or dehydrate for use in various recipes. A particular favourite of mine is the live coconut pie from I Am Grateful (new book out in the UK on the 1st of November - can’t wait), which I sprinkle with home-grown redcurrants (yes, they’re still going strong).

For me, the blurb on the back of Tassajara Cooking says it all in terms of recipe guidance (indeed life): ‘... The recipes are not for you to follow, they are for you to create, invent, test. It explains things you need to know, and things to watch out for. There are plenty of things left for you to discover, learn, stumble upon. Blessings. You’re on your own. Together with everything’.

Perfect Autumn Day

Out running at 1.32pm. I try to always ensure that I’m outside for at least an hour each day.

Pink Sushi

I’m feeling inspired after seeing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s beetroot ice-cream and beetroot brownies the other night on Channel 4. Some experimenting ‘raw style’ this w/end is called for, but in the meantime, I can highly recommend the following.

This recipe is probably up there as one of my top ten autumnal raw dishes. It’s unattributed on the Waitrose website, but I think it’s one of Katia’s recipes. Her very beautiful website seems to be offline at the moment, but she was famous at Triyoga (alas, she no longer runs the café there) for her beetroot pâté and I do remember a little feature in the Waitrose magazine Food Illustrated about the café ... True, it’s very good with oodles of spouts wrapped in nori, but at the moment, I’m still wading through a glut of home-grown cucumbers so I tend to make cucumber sandwiches, with hefty cucumber ‘sandwich’ slices filled with the pâté. Yum!

An extra word on ingredients: As it’s a pretty decadent recipe (oil and nuts) I’ve found halving the quantity of nuts works just as well and the pâté still sets beautifully in the fridge overnight. I tried substituting non-raw maple syrup with raw agave (which I’m always suspicious of being truly ‘raw’ as it has to go through such an intense processing regime): it didn’t work, the tang was missing. Continuing on the tang front I used Bragg’s raw apple cider vinegar – excellent tang!

Blending tip: Unlike the recipe guidelines I’ve had the smoothest results by blending in three stages. First, the liquids: oil, maple, vinegar; then the pepper, beetroot, ginger and chilli; and finally the nuts. I should also say that for the best results it’s best to set the Vita-mix to ‘high’ speed (something I rarely do in my day-to-day life).