An 8-Course Raw Vegan Degustation Menu

Right now I feel like the luckiest girl alive! As I sat at work beginning this post munching on my delicious kale, tomato, buckwheat, dulse and mung bean salad, I read that I've been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award at http://rawlivingandlearning.blogspot.com/ !! Wow!

Now in the darkness of the evening at home, I've made myself slightly ill having eaten too much chocolate ganache tart and lime chantilly left over from the weekend, I sit here only skimming the surface of the excitement within me that has come about from one of the best weekends ever!


I spent the weekend helping my girl Maya out, and assisting Omid Jaffari on his Sydney Botanical Cuisine Tour -

"Botanical Cuisine is a simplified approach to life and food that is focused on all things artistic and heirloom, where organic, seasonal produce is enough to please the eyes and the palate"

We had set up in quite the idylic setting really - harbour views from an absolutely stunning home in Cremorne. We set up white table cloths. Sparkling waters with lime wedges. And individual roses on each place setting - yes I did stop to smell them this time :)

Saturday morning we were busy little bees getting ready for an 8-course raw vegan degustation menu complete with recipes, hints and tips, tricks of the trade, questions, tastings, chatter and more. With a full house of 24 guests we began and over 4 hours worked our way through...

- Vanilla Sky Smoothie
- Raspberry soup infused with lemon thyme and vanilla, with strawberry gelato
- Shaved daikon radish marinated in orange blossom honey and cinnamon with shiitake mushrooms, curly sprouts and lavandula
- Pea, mint and dill soup
- Coconut, ginger and lime sorbet
- Eggplant and macadamia tart with olive tapenade and sunblushed tomato
- Chocolate ganache tart with lime chantilly
- Lemon granita infused with lemon honey, drizzled with cinnamon syrup



Shaved daikon radish marinated in orange blossom honey and cinnamon with shiitake mushrooms, curly sprouts and lavandula

Happy hungry ladies before their Pea, mint and dill soup

A mighty rich Chocolate ganache tart ... was served with lime chantilly (life saver - so deliciously rich)

Lemon granita infused with lemon honey, drizzled with cinnamon syrup. Perfect afternoon refresher and palate cleanser after the yummy choccie

Eggplant and macadamia tart with olive tapenade and sunblushed tomato

Maya, Oliver and I were running around making sure everything ran smoothly - which I am very pleased to say it all did. Everyone that came along enjoyed themselves and the company had, ate lots, asked plenty of questions, learnt new techniques and recipes, enjoyed a lazy Saturday afternoon by the pool, and went away with a little more inspiration for their kitchen fun at home.

I was buzzing with energy when we finished up for the day! I couldn't keep it in! I drove home in the afternoon sun, windows down, music up loud, and went for a solid bush run when I got there. I felt amazing!!

Cleaned up the system with a big kale salad, then chilled out with some Star Wars :)

Before we woke up to do it all again on Sunday - only better.

Sunday was DESSERT DAY!

So stay tuned...

Fizzy Fermented Foods anyone?

First up - my Apple-Cranberry-Walnut Grawnola finally made it out of my dehydrator and OMG!

I've been snacking on it all week straight from the jar I kept it in, that I only managed to get one proper brekkie out of it!! Served to moi (but of course) at work one morning with my brazil nut milk and a tasty 'nana it was out of this world. Kept me going and going and going... there will definatley be more where that came from!

But I wanted to make mention about fermented foods and good bacteria this time 'round (quite a jump from grawnola but hey). We touched on this in class the other day and it prompted me to dive a little deeper as I realised I had been eating miso and fermented cabbage salad, whilst also drinking kombucha this past week... all fermented foods high in good bacteria... but is there a fine line between good and bad? And how much one "should" have?

I still hear contradicting theories on all this bubbly stuff so I wanted to try and shed some light on the subject for those of you new to it all (but will let you in on a little secret - I'm still perfecting this myself)...

Fermented foods.

When I used to read those two words the same thoughts always came to mind - Rotten. Fizzy. Off. Stinks. Gross. Etc etc etc...
I suppose to a degree I wasn't far off. But since then I have learnt alot more and can appreciate the fizzy "off-ness" to certain things. Getting hungry yet?

Let me explain -

These so called "off" foods also known as fermented foods contain something I'm sure you've all heard of before; PRObiotics. Sold in the fridge at the health food shop... good to take after you've been on anti-biotics... what else though?

(NOTE: they are IMPERITIVE to take after a course of anti-biotics).

These little PRObiotic guys are basically living organisms - yes I mean bacteria - but they are the GOOD bacteria (just think "bacteria" eats things... good bacteria eats bad things, bad bacteria eats good things... I know which one I want more of). The good guys hang around in the large intestine keeping it happy and are said to have a miriad of health benefits (although some research is not conclusive on this; see further down*).
Foods such as miso, saurkraut, and yoghurt (thinking sour, fizzy, off again right?) are all fermented and therefore high in PRObiotics - the GOOD stuff!

Fermented cabbage salad from IKU Wholefoods

So that's step 1... (or could be Step 2... kinda like how Star Wars came out decades ago, but later on came the PREquels... ok having a Star Wars moment, sorry guys) Moving along...

Step 2 (or Step 1 - depends on how you look at it) PREbiotics.
These babies are a little different (but just as important) They promote the growth of PRObiotics. So without them, no PRObiotics can breed and make more beautiful PRObiotic babies to keep your guy happy :)
And that's when we can run into troubles and get tummy upsets, bloating, gas, yeast infections, IBS and more.
PREbiotics are easy enough to find in foods like onions, asparagus, garlic, jerusalem artichoke (used as low GI sweetener in David Wolfe's Sun Sweet raw chocolate flavour YUM), and two of my favourites - yacon syrup and bananas.

* This "in-conclusive research" I speak of... there have been tests to show probiotics and prebiotics provide a miriad of health benefits, but there are also alot that state otherwise. For this reason, all I can suggest is to try them for yourself and see how you feel, as most people notice a difference. Getting them either from the real deal foods, or from your health food store if you're in need of much higher therapeutic doses (such as if you've been on the contraceptive pill or anti-biotics for some time).

For me personally, I feel GREAT when drinking kombucha (fermented tea - yes it's fizzy) each morning on an empty stomach, and when having miso in my diet every now and then. My fav thing at the moment are nori rolls I make with an unpasteurised barley miso paste spread on the bottom and then stacked with vegies and sprouts - YUM!



So, in my opinion it's good to make sure you're getting both PRObiotics and PREbiotics in your diet, but my only caution would be to ensure you're getting them from a bunch of different foods and not just one. And see how happy your gut can be :D

My Wellness Weekend

So if I were to be totally honest with you guys (not that I'm not usually) Id briefly mention that I've been struggling personally for the past month, and over the weekend I hit a deeper low, which led to me doing things I am not proud of. My past has seen me very easily slip into periods where I stop looking after myself. In every way, shape and form.
Was I aware of all this? Yes and no. But a few days ago, I knew I needed to do something that would gently put me back on the path of healing.

So my weekend was this - backyard nude sunbaking, big green salads, juices, running through soft sand, yoga, beautiful talks with a close friend, crying to my mum who I hadn't seen in weeks, reading, journalling, creativity in the kitchen, sungazing, getting in the ocean, studying (hey; it had to be done)... and now I'm back on my healing path even if it still feels a little akward and tricky to stand up on.

And given everything I'm so passionate about, healing can have so much more benefit if teamed up with great, simple, easily-digestible foods. So here's where I started Saturday morning. A quick, easy, delicious brekkie when you're wanting something different to your regular smoothie - a Superhero Brekkie!!

Put a tablespoon or two of chia seeds in your bowl and add coconut water, plain water, nut milk, or whatever liquid is your current fav, and stir in in and let it sit for 5 or 10 mins. Then add anything and everything you like! I've got sprouted buckwheat, pepitas, sunflower seeds, goji berries, bee pollen, activated almonds, cinnamon, cacao, coconut, and yummy scrummy banana! Keeps me going and going and going and going...

Or something a little different if you plan ahead - you can start whipping up some gRAWnola mid-week for a weekend treat! I had some in the dehydrator all last week that I'll post for you guys in a few days. Apple-cranberry-walnut grawnola! SO GOOD! Just gotta blend me up some brazil nut milk to go with it! Ooh, or maybe I'll try hemp seed milk... hmmm.... yum either way... ok now I'm hungry again.

And the rest of my weekend (aside from the nude sunbaking, study, yoga, chats with people etc)...

Sunday morning I ventured down to Curl Curl before dawn to catch the sunrise. There were quite a few surfers out as well as one guy doing some fishing, and we were all starting our day with Mother Nature, who was giving us her absolute best. Pinks and purples in the sky. A gentle breeze. Warm weather.

I ran up and down the beach a few times through the soft sand , working up a good sweat, before the sun began to rise from the horizon...

Out of this world! It was absolutley stunning. I sat there sun gazing before getting in the surf and feeling the cleansing healing properties of the salt water I love so so much.

I had felt that it was exactly what I needed (even though a big part of me felt I should have been utlising the time to study for an exam I had today) and I was right. It felt nothing short of perfect for me. I needed the reflection time. The grounding time. The salt water and sea breeze. My soul belongs at the beach, in the sand, in the surf. With the sun on my skin, I'm never more alive and it does something to me I can't describe. And as the sunshine then decided to say it's goodbye for the reminder of Sunday only a short 30minutes later, it made my getting out of bed at 530am all the more worthwhile.

Next stop - Frenchs Forest Organic Markets to grab a few things. And I was so lucky to run into Maya doing her shopping, and then Jess and Will who were also doing theirs.

Organic baby plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, grapes... (if you want a really great read on organics that my nutrition class spoke in length about last week check out Kate's blog)


Loads of fresh herbs, plants, lettuces... I grabbed some Scottish kale that I LOVE so much, some rockmelon, green apples, pears, alfalfa and bananas... as well as lemon and ginger KOMBUCHA! YUM! (will post more about this and the fermented cabbage and miso I've been into the past few days soon also)

Chatted to a few peeps I used to see there each week when I got down reguarly (things have been hectic for a while I havn't gotten down!) and we exchanged stories, smiles, laughs, and more. I love it down there :)

And with a few of my ingredients I made this last night for dinner - kale, alfalfa, carrots, celery, avocado, sultanas, olive oil and tumeric. Amazing if I do say so myself. A must try! Tumeric is a fantastic anti-inflammatory so great for any coughs and colds starting to appear, and really good for arthritis or joint inflammation. Just incase you're interested ;)

Look after yoursevles and one another. Live. Laugh. Peace and Love to you all from the bottom of my heart xx

Coming down from cacao...

So I was going to politely ask you all to bear with me whilst the perfectionist in me looks over the 40-odd pages of notes I took last weekend to condense it all down into something quick, easy, informative, and interesting for you to read... but in doing so the playful child in me is yelling "who gives a rats ass, it's more fun to write as you're thinking, in the moment, wing it, and see how it goes".

So here I am!

I love that I sit here typing to you guys like I’m really typing to myself, talking with myself… I am still beaming and buzzing from what was one of the best weekends of my life to date! And no, that is no exaggeration!

Cacao come down...

So I met my superhero! Number one. My living breathing superhero. David Wolfe (Never come down from that one). The man I know I will work with one day. I have seen him before but never actually went up to talk to him. This time I did. So a self-confessed-David-Wolfe-junkie if there ever were such a thing, I was over the moon when I sat down to talk to him. Speechless even – stupid really. But I did infact tell him I’m a bit if a groupie, that I’m gonna be the first aussie female version of him (watch this face), that I couldn’t contain my excitement when I found out about his raw nutrition certification course (booked in baby!) and I’ve been following his teachings for a couple of years now. YAY! He was excited. I was excited. He was smiling. I was smiling. All hugs and smiles. Best day(te) ever!

So last Thursday night is where it all began. A lecture here in Sydney where I was on the edge of my seat waiting to dive into all the information about to be presented to me. Surrounded by like minded individuals, pen and paper in hand, ready to go!

“YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT”

Take it, leave it, try to ignore it, forget it, or prove it wrong… those few simple words have stood the test of time and will continue to do so. And these few words are what David usually starts with. And where I feel the strongest connection.
Food. Nutrition. Education. Throw them all together and that’s me. That is my passion. It is also David Wolfe’s passion – thus the self-confessed-DW-junkie right here. Loud and proud.

I went along with my good friend Jess, but ran into loads of people I knew; friends and trainers, my colon hydrotherapist, people who recognized me from the raw café, from work, from my blog even (and finally met the woman behind The Raw Butterfly). It was a fantastic mix of people all with similar interests and a few really different backgrounds. I love that!

We learnt fascinating facts, figures and fantasies about hormones and how to correct your own; this stuff is all very new to me still – I started getting into hormones about 8months ago and every little bit I learn is incredible interesting to me so I loved all that! David also spoke in depth about bone density, Chinese medicine philosophies, Chinese herbs and jing, Ormus, calcification in the body, cancer, herbal immune boosters, detoxing, cell rejuvenating, longevity, immortality, goal setting, thought processes, he even gave his thoughts on what he believes 2012 to be all about.

But the core underlying of the whole weekend was YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. This is the fundamental principle to it all. To everything. For so many reasons. And on so many levels. It's something I really want to dig deeper and deeper with you guys on. Explaining in more depth the reality behind those few words.

Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, sprouts, seaweeds, grasses, superfoods, superherbs.

This is exactly what my diet consists of currently. Of course some things more than others like anyone really, but in learning more about different things I am trying more and more, seeing what my body can handle and handle well. Seeing what impacts me, works well for me and what doesn’t work well for me.

A human guinea pig. It excites me! High doses of different superfoods daily, then not at all. Sporadic taste testers, more of one thing, less of another, mixing it up, all together, each on their own. Surprising my body. I get kicks out of seeing how my body takes to different things and how I feel. And what gets me jumping even more? When I can then tell someone else about my experience – along with things I’ve read, heard, or researched. I get customers, clients and friends asking me all the time about different supplements, superfoods, healing foods, natural remedies and more… and I love when I can give them a solution based solely on my research, my education, AND my own experience. That is the icing on the cake in my books. And usually what most people are wanting to hear about I find.

"Eat the best food ever and observe the results over time. Eat the worst food ever and observe the results over time. Compare and contrast."

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

But enough of that for now, we'll revist that later on...

On Saturday Jess and I had way too much energy (I take that back - there's no such thing) so were outside during our lunch break lazing about on the softest grass ever, and then both had the same impulse to start doing cartwheels...

and handstands...

crashing down all over the place but having a ball, both filled with childlike energy and enthusiasm. Buzzing with all the knowledge we were taking in! So we thought we'd take it one step higher - with CACAO! Yep we both had our first Sacred Heart chocolates (well my second as I caught one David threw in the crowd on Thursday night - that was pure manifestation baby). So this stuff is the bomb! The creme-de-la-creme of raw chocolates.

Here's me opening the Immuno Mushroom - cacao nibs, maple sugar, cacao butter, whole cacao beans with their skins on, pine pollen, and the good stuff - medicinal mushrooms, and quite the list - chaga, turkey tail, reishi, maitake, shiitake, cordyceps, himematsutake, mesima, oyster and lions mane, all made to perfection in a chocolate that is so prefectly rich and creamy, bitter and sweet, melt-in-your-mouth soft yet with a delectable snap of a bite. I've never had any raw chocolate come close to how good this stuff is!

So I got loads! 69% whole bean with vanilla. 58% "milk" choc. 70% Sun Sweet with inulin (jerusalem artichoke) - which was my first one and so rich, no sweetener at all, my fav so far. 83% Midnight (looking forward to that one). And 52% Amazonian - the powerhouse choc. Get this -

amazonian jungle peanuts, coconut, brazil nuts, quararibea funebris, incan berries, cashews, purple corn extract, maca, acai, lucuma, vanilla bean, stevia leaf, sacha jergon, camu camu, sacha inchi nuts, yacon leaf, clavo huasca, yacon root, andean salt, chuchuhuasi, tahuari golden, canchalagua, iporuro, pasuchaca, hercampuri, pau d'arco, guayusa, chancapiedra, yerba mate, cats claw, and manayupa amongst the cacao nibs, cacao butter and maple sugar.

Could you get a better chocolate?

I think not. But you could (and we did) combine that with awesome music, awesome people, more cacao, and have yourself a RAW CACAO ECSTACY PARTY! Welcome in Saturday night.

Cacao smoothies, cacao mousse, cacao ice cream, cacao brownies, and superfood bliss balls. Jess and I made sure we tried them all (and went overboard with 2 serves of ice cream).

After a cacao celebration ceremony to honour the sacred bean, we danced our butts off with David and friends we ran into as the weekend progressed. Bare foot, arms up, hips moving to the drumming beats from Ganga Giri, blissing out on cacao, having the time of our lives!




THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!! I had an absolute ball :)

NOURISH: VALENTINES RASPBERRY TARTS

Have you ever been excited to get creative in the kitchen when you're feeling down, and then putting all your LOVE into what you're doing, even when you're not exactly sure what it is you're doing, to later have everyone try your creation and be WOWed by it?

Ok, so possibly a very lengthy way to ask that question, but still... have you?

It's a strange thing I think - when I'm emotionally feeling like shit (pardon my language there), I get in the kitchen and somehow manage to find so much joy and love that fills my being from top to toe and comes out into what I'm making and getting messy with, which is then tasted in the food. It tastes AMAZING! Just like an Italian mamas spaghetti - always beats the fancy expensive restaurant version doesn't it?

I decided to get in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon coz I was feeling really flat, upset, sad, and lonely. Depleted of any joy really, and I wondered when was the last time I actually got in the kitchen and got my hands dirty? I couldn't remember!! When I'm not feeling happy and can't decribe it any better than just being FLAT it's a sign to get creative. It's what my soul needs. It's where I get rid of the blah energy and bring in loads of bounce and fun! Dancing around to Bruno Mars (addicted to his new CD), hips-a-swingin, birds on the window sill, the kitchen was mine!

So that's exactly what I did. I had an idea of what I wanted to make, but wasn't totally sure so just went with it... and by the end I had these babies -

Banana Choc Fudge Cookies

Top-of-my-head stuff that turned out awesome. Above we have the before shot... and below is the aftermath once having spent a couple of days in the dehydrator.

Chewy, delicious cookies perfect with friends in the afternoon (right Jess?)

And then Valentines Raspberry Tarts.

And what made me smile the most - when I took them into work and over to my cousins and posted them on facebook, I had everyone asking for the recipe! It was actually really nice! Coz again, it was top-of-the-head-stuff! Sure I got inspiration from here, there and everywhere but essentially these are my babies! Looked yummy. Tasted yummier. And they had me feeling yummy.

So here it is;

The Base/s:

1/4 cup ground oat groats

1/2 cup ground cashews

1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil

1/8 cup agave syrup

good pinch of sea salt

Throw it all into a big bowl and mix really well.

The rest of it:

1.

1/3 cup medjool dates, pitted and chopped

few tbsp warm water

Blend these together, adding enough water in tiny tiny bits until it belnds nicely.

2.

3/4 cup raspberries (frozen or fresh)

good squeeze of lime juice

Blend this until smooth, and then push it all through a sieve so that all the tiny seeds are seperated and you're left with nice runny smooth raspberry sauce.

3.

1/4 cup ground cashews

1/4 cup coconut oil

good pich sea salt

tsp vanilla

Blend all these together until smooth.

Putting it all together:

Decide if you want mini tartlets or one big one - and then using wet fingertips, spread your base onto the bottom of whatever you choose to use (silicone moulds, muffin tins, etc). Pop in the freezer to set.

Blend all the filling ingredients together (once you've done each individual step). Grab your bases and start spooning the filling ontop. DO THIS QUICKLY as the coconut oil will set on the cold bases pretty quick. Shake and bang your tarts on the bench so that they even out and become smooth ontop.

Decorate with goji berries, cacao nibs, fresh berries, whatev!

Store in the freezer and eat whenever you need some lovin!!

So there you all go. Unleash your creativity, roll up your sleeves, and SPREAD THE LOVE!

Or try your hand with some raw chocolate... DAVID WOLFE IS HERE! I'm so excited I can't tell you! Tomorrow night is his first lecture here in Sydney and I'm BUZZING so much I feel like I'm on drugs!! CACAO perhaps? Then there's more lectures all weekend and the highly-anticipated RAW CACAO ECSTACY DANCE PARTY!! Wait for those pics hey!! Watch this space! :)

Organics in a box

Today I was down in Crows Nest grabbing a few things - hemp seeds, coconut oil, pepitas - before a small smoothie and 2hrs at the gym. I upped all my weights in my Pump class and got through every little bit of gruelling running, jumping, squatting, punching, hopping, kicking and clapping during Body Attack afterwards, affirming to myself "no regrest Christie, no regrets". And left feeling FAB!

Why am I telling you this? Who knows. Maybe I'm still coming down from my "gym high" and wanted to share it with you guys? But as I sit here at home on a Saturday night eating salad on the lounge, I felt the urge to blog, keep my mind in distraction from other things and thoughts, and tell you guys about the DELICIOUS salads I've been concocting thanks to the organic fruit and veg box I got this week!

I ordered a box from work coz now I'm at college, I don't have organics staring me in the face at work everyday to grab whenever I may need! And ordering a box from work means I have one less thing I have to worry about during my week - well for a few days anyway. I think next week I'll need a much bigger box, or make sure I pop down to markets on the weekend too, coz I eat a hell of alot more food than this here!

The goodies - I got tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, coz lettuce, bok choy, cabbage, corn, a big fat cucumber, half a rockmelon, a nashi pear, and some cavendish bananas! YUM!

And then got straight into it! Last night my creativity and taste buds took my here ;

A greek garden salad if you like - Cos lettuce, a tomato, half a corn cob, half head of broccoli, quarter of an avo, 3 raw black olives, few crumbled walnuts, olive oil and freshly squeezed lime (served one raw vegan)

Today I was pottering round home until after lunch so had another look in my box (and grabbed a few other bits from the fridge) and came up with this;

Healthy Healing Salad - Cos lettuce, half a head of brocc, one carrot, half corn cob, few tbsps of coconut oil, and really generous handfuls of both dulse flakes and nutritional yeast (served one hungry raw vegan)

And just now I came up with this;

A Sweet Coleslaw - half a cabbage softening in olive oil for a few hours - then 2 shredded carrots, one julienned green apple, good handful of sultanas, sprinkling of cinnamon, juice of one orange, a small splash of apple cider vinegar, decent crackling of black pepper and a pinch of sea salt (made enough for dinner and extras for lunch tomorrow and the following day - time saver!)

Tomorrow morning I hope to get down to Frenchs Forest Markets for some more organics (gotta get me some kale!!), bliss out at yoga, and then have some KITCHEN FUN creating something I can indulge myself in on Valentines Day!


Fancy a clue -

Sweet are fresh berries.
Salty the sea.
I'tl be something delicious,
Creative from me.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Short Cuts through Nutritional Medicine??

Well my first week of Nutritional Medicine is almost over and I LOVE IT! I've met some really nice people, the lecturers are all friendly and bubbly making the classes interesting and informative, and every little bit of my being is vibrating from the excitement of what I am learning (first week I kno... things will no doubt get tougher and harder, but this is what I EAT, LIVE and BREATHE so to finally be learning it in a classroom setting...).
It feels GREAT!

( spirulina smoothie in Chemistry) :)

I've had to re-work my week though, compared to how it used to be. Three days a week I'm studying for 9hr days, plus travel time, study at home, gym sessions, yoga, runs, coaching, working at the health food shop AND preparing all my food - which can take anywhere from 1hr up to 3hrs per day!! Busy busy!

So I'm trying my best to try and cull the meal prep a bit - as the rest is all a little bit trickier (self confessed fitness junkie - don't dare try taking that away from me!!).

So, each night when I make my salad for dinner, I make enough for two, throwing a whole lot into my tupperware container for lunch the following day. Short cut numero uno.

I've also been making my brekkie smoothies the night before if I know I've got an early(er) start. Today I took 2 smoothies with me. One for brekkie and one for afternoon tea. I kept them in the freezer over night coz I was going to the gym at 530am and wouldn't be slurping on my smoothie til at least 8am. By then - perfect slushie and ice cold. As for afternoon tea - cold all day. Yum!

Snacks are ALWAYS in my bag; nuts, seeds, goji berries, dried apricots, medjool dates, whatever I'm feeling like. Perfect mid-arvo when I'm getting the munchies and want the cheeky snack whilst note taking.

And then my buckwheat crackers are also a great throw-in-the-bag-and-run type munchie. This arvo I spread a couple with barley miso and unhulled tahini; Don't knock it til you try it! It's a weird combo I know, and even weirder that it reminds me of VEGEMITE... But it's delicious! Give it a go (and let me know what you think)!

I'd love to get any extra suggestions you guys may have with organising your food. And I hope my suggestions help you - study or not, we all lead busy lives these days!

Permission to show off?

Okay I've just gotta show off what my friend Jess and I made last Thursday night -


Moonie Pies!!!

A recipe of Heather's that I've wanted to make for soooo long (even though I'm not a fan of making chocolate-dipped-anythings really). I thought it would be alot of chocolatey-messy-fun to do with Jess. So we rolled up our sleeves, and around so much chatter we slowly got things under way.

A date and walnut base, covered with a vanilla-coconut-cream layer, topped off with a another layer of the date and walnut base... all left to set layer by layer until it looked like this. One mighty big slab of we cut up into about 30 pieces.

Then the messy (taste testing) part - the chocolate dipping. Although if I do say so myself... we were pretty clean!

It amuses me that something of reasonable size, once dipped into a rich cacao sauce and left to set, instantly turns into giant blocks of rich chocolatley goodness - almost too big for one!
I said almost ;)

Of course we had big green salads full of goodies, as I've gotta have greens when making something with cacao or I feel sick as a dog (even so, the following morning I woke feeling the effetcs of the cacao).

Yummy kale, sprouts, mushies, cukes, sunnies, avo, asparagus, seaweed, onion chili relish, olive oil... loads of fun!!

Aside from that, last Friday I had orientation for college (which starts tomorrow!!) - which wasn't all I cracked it up to possibly be by the way... but once that was over, I met Dani for a whopper sized organic vegie juice on her lunch break then took my time walking from Crown Street all the way to Newtown to get my colonic!! Yes, it was the 35+degree day here but I've gotta say I love the heat! And aside from one other friend of mine, I think I could be the only person in Sydney that loved it last week. Ok so HEATWAVE I know. I get it. It's hot. Maybe I need to move north?

Anyways, I hadn't my therapist in a while so I was very excited to catch up on everything we've missed! As usual, a great session (no need for gorey details) followed by my little slice of bliss - the infra red sauna. Not usually a sweaty person I love getting in these things coz i actually sweat! And coz of the temps we were having last week, I was dripping in less than 5minutes. Want proof?

From head to toe baby!

So tomorrow begins my new adventures in Nutritional Medicine as I begin my studies! It's something I have wanted to do for far too long and so I am excited to finally be beginning - but at the same time, which surprises me actually, I'm very bloody scared!

Wish me luck! I'll let you all know how I go.