Celebrating an all-natural lifestyle

Healthy Living Summit 2009!

Hello, Lovelies!

I’m back with my official Healthy Living Summit report! Though Ms. Katherine and I moaned and groaned a bit upon our 7 a.m. wake up call, we were ready to go by the time we arrived at the Radisson for the Summit. There, I found Heather and Caitlin valiantly signing people in, my soul sista Melissa chatting with the adorable Chandra, and other bloggers mid-breakfast. Here’s a shot of the lovely spread, which consisted of coffee and tea, baked goods and bagels, juice, a variety of yogurt, and tons of fresh fruit. The lady in the picture is Ms. Katie, who I was glad to see this weekend — we’re both NYC bloggers, but hadn’t touched base in a while:

I enjoyed breakfast with Megan and Caroline, as well as Katherine, Heather, and her sister:

The room was abuzz with blogger meeting and greeting:

We shuffled into the hotel’s conference room to hear the morning’s lineup of speakers.

The highlight — at least in my book — was Cory, whom you all know is my friend and go-to source of blogger savy. Cory’s presentation, Blogging 101, was chocked full of useful information on how to begin, grow, and maintain a succesfull blog. He touched on numerous resources that I didn’t know about, and he gave a number of useful tech tips. Every now and then, Kath chimed in with her own blogging expertise:

The other morning speaker was Janel Ovrut, R.D., who gave an overview of healthy eating and her own suggestions for a balanced diet. There was also a Q&A session with the summit organizers: Kath, Tina, Meghann, Catilin, Heather, and Jenna. This was charming, and a great way to learn more about the bloggers. Caroline’s question was ultimately my favorite: if you could be the next food network star, what show would you host?

Next came the lunch: here’s a shot of Melissa and I before the break:

It was a nice spread of sandwiches (or rather, sandwich fillings and fresh bread), more fruit, and vegetables.

I wanted to stay for all of the post-lunch activities, but I had plans to meet up with my friend and surrogate little sister, Alexandra (for reference, she’s the kid sister of my BFF down in New Orleans, Chloe). Ali just moved to Boston for grad school and is gettling settled as I type!

Unfortunately, by the time we managed to coordinate it was getting late in the day, and I was hoping to catch a not-so-nocturnal bus back to New York, so Ali and I decided that we’d try to coordinate again soon. Meanwhile, I had the chance to stroll around Boston with Katherine and Melissa, and I’m so glad I did! Here’s a shot of the two goddesses in the park:

And the waterfront. It was a spectacular day, and I can say that I have amassed a fine new appreciation of Boston:

Here’s Katherine and I close to the apartment again, in Beacon Hill (thanks, Mel, for the photo!):

Finally, it was time to head home. Melissa and I boarded the bus for a few hours of reading and catching up on work girl talk. And it was great Duh.

I made it home with one awesome gift bag, too! Take a peek, guys:

And behold, the offerings:

Barney Butter, which I haven’t tried:

A variety of bars. I’m especially psyched about the Pure bar (I’m a big fan) and about trying one of Ange’s Glo bars!!!

A copy of Body and Soul magazine and an Athleta catalog:

Some dried fruit, including Peeled snacks — I love these!

Annie’s Cheddar bunnies, which my Mom will dig, and some applesauce:

And some nuts from Oh! Nuts:

Not bad, eh?

In all, it was a terrific weekend. I got to meet so many bloggers whose work I’ve admired for ages now. For example, Gena and Jenna were finally united at the cocktail party on Friday (photo courtesy of Jenna — thanks girl!):

It was so nice to meet my Raw Wednesday Challenge co-host in person!

It was also terrific to meet Meghann, who bounded up to me with a hug and a huge and a friendly smile. Kath and I got to chat a bit about life since our New Orleans meetup, I got to give my girl Heather a big hug, and I had the huge joy of meeting Tina, too! I emailed Tina well over a year ago now to express my admiration of her blog, and I’ve remained her fan since. She’s a gem in person: funny, modest, and disarming. Finally, it was lovely to say hello to Caitlin, whose work with Operation Beautiful has astounded me.

Naturally, it was also great to say hi to many of my fellow New York bloggers (hey Leslie!) and simply to be a part of a community of women (and men) who care about healthy living. That I also got a chance to experience Boston, and — most crucially — a chance to escape my busy routine for a weekend, was a big added bonus!

I want to take a quick minute to address some feedback I got on my post about Friday’s party. When I mentioned my choice to eat beforehand, I didn’t in any way mean to imply that I felt excluded by the meal options. I didn’t! My intention was to show you all how to plan around social events if you pursue a raw or vegan diet. In fact, I think Heather was highly gracious in not finding my inquiry high-maintenance! When one hosts a large party, one has to cater to the largest common denominator. The summit meals were vegetarian friendly, with some options for omnivores and vegans: this was without a doubt the sensible route.

I didn’t expect a variety of raw or vegan options: this was not a raw vegan event. It was a healthy living event, and as I like to constantly emphasize, there are many varieties of healthy lifestyles. Mine is one. It’s not the only one. My goal in attending this weekend was to have a chance to connect with bloggers like me, not to seek out a sense of kinship with other raw foodists. The Summit was planned thoughtfully and with an eye on balance. Janel had a different dietetic philosophy than I do, but she was enthusiastic and helpful; the keynote speaker (who I missed, sadly) was a dairy farmer, and I’m not generally supportive of dairy, but her emphasis was the importance of sustainable and organic farming, which I support with all my heart; the goodies in the giveaway bag weren’t all raw, but they all had minimal, high quality, and organic ingredients.

In other words, the fundamental values on display at the Summit were admirable ones. I may have a slightly different set of values, but I respect the fact that my own way is but one of many. And that kind of variety and multiplicity is exactly what I was happy to experience in meeting so many other bloggers. Thank you, Summit Ladies, for your hard work. It paid off, and then some.

I’ll be back soon — happy Sunday!

xo

P.S. Check out other recaps here!

Beantown.

Greetings from Boston, guys! It’s been a long day.

So I’m going to confess: the last time I visited Boston (which was some time ago), it was not my favorite city. Today, however, after a long bus ride (over four hours, but the time flew by with a good book and some packed green juice), I got to experience the city in the best way possible: that is, in the hands of a good guide. The lovely Ms. Katherine, with whom I’m crashing this weekend, gave me a terrific tour. Highlights included:

Scenic Boston alleys:

Quincy Market:

Katherine and I at the market:

The gorgeous haymarket — not quite the Union Square farmer’s market, but impressive nontheless!

A lone seagull:

And the waterfront:

And finally, two shots of our lovely little apartment — thank you to Katherine’s friend Allison for letting us stay here while she’s away!

Tonight was the blogger cocktail party before the big Summit event tomorrow. Hosted at an Italian restaurant, it was a nice affair. It was great for me to meet so many bloggers whose work I’ve read, or whom I’ve corresponded with! As for food, there was a beautiful spread of Italian goodies. This said, the only raw/vegan option was a salad. I had asked my pal Heather, one of the summit organizers, about options before the event, and she’d advised me to hit up Whole Foods beforehand. Which I did.

This was a perfect example of when honesty is the best policy! I told Heather that I wouldn’t want to be a pain if there was a formal sit down dinner, but that I wanted to be sure I had options if it was a buffet. And she very candidly told me to follow instincts and grab a bite! This means that I had a tasty, filling dinner, rather than showing up to the event hungry and eating a plate of greens. And hey, if there had been more food, I could have simply eaten more. But better safe than sorry. Remember, rawcurious friends — plan ahead! There is no shame in sweet and honest inquiries, and the payoff is a happily full belly.

Katherine and I are off to read before crashing. It’ll be a long day tomorrow, so I’ll update in the late afternoon or evening! Have a great night.

xo

Raw Food and Wreckage

So then this happened:

Wait, wait. Let’s back it up a bit.

One of the many fun benefits of blogging is entrance into a community. Choosing Raw has allowed me to connect with so many incredible men and women, in and out of the blogosphere. In the last week, I’ve been lucky enough to spend some quality time with a few bloggers who have become friends in the real world, as it were. On Saturday, I headed over to my favorite culinary mecca, Pure Food and Wine, for dinner with two such friends, Diana and Katherine. Dinner at Pure is always delightful, but it’s even more fun with newcomers to the restaurant! I got to watch as Diana and Katherine experienced the asparagus sushi (one of my stanbys):

Summer mache salad (a nice addition to the summer menu):

And trumpet mushroom scallops (which taste so much like regular scallops that I find them borderline-creepy, but are salvaged by a delicious truffle “mousse”):

For the first time. With lots of help from me

And then came our entrees. Both ladies got Pure’s classic lasagna:

While I decided to be hopelessly boring and get my signature salad (greens, dulse, avocado, tomato, cucumber, carrots, argon lemon vinaigrette) and guacamole:

And no dinner at Pure would be complete without the mint sundae with three spoons:

It was a lovely evening, and even lovelier company.

Fast forward to last night. As you all know, Lindsay (the Happy Herbivore) is one of my favorite gals. So I couldn’t be more pleased that she has just moved back to her hometown and mine! In honor of her arrival, I had some of Lindsay’s and my mutual blogger friends over for cocktails last night. On the menu were my raw appetizer favorites. (You can expect recipes for all of the following within the next few days.) We had two kinds of jicama rolls. The first were stuffed with cucumber and carrot and served with an Asian dressing:

The second were stuffed with asaragus, yellow pepper, and cilantro, and served with an avocado cumin dressing:

I also served raw mini-pizzettes, which is a fancy way of saying zucchini rounds topped with my raw pizza cheese, basil, and an heirloom cherry tomato:

Crudites with my raw zucchini hummus:

And no meal at my place would be complete without guac:

In the midst of chatting and chewing, we were interrupted by a deafening rumble. I kid you not when I say that this sounded like an avalanche of sorts. I ran into the kitchen, certain that my shelves had collapsed, to find nothing amiss. Then I peered over to the bathroom and noticed some grime and dust peeking out from under the crack of the bathroom door.

Aha.

Upon opening the door, I found this:

Yes. That is a hole in my bathroom ceiling. A nice chunk of it collapsed, leaving chaos in its wake. Lord knows what my upstairs neighbors have been up to.

As unpleasant as this was, I have three things to be grateful for:

1)    My mother lives close by.
2)    I had much comfort in the form of my six lovely guests, who bolstered my spirits as I called my management company.
3)    No one happened to have been heeding nature’s call when this happened. Thank god.

So I’m camping out at my mom’s until my super can fix the damage. In the meantime, thank you Heather, Diana, Lindsay, Ashley, Elise, and Katherine for having shared this singular experience with me. I know we won’t soon forget it.

On that note, my friends, have a great day. And, um, watch your heads.

xo

A Pure Dinner

Hey guys!

Thanks for such an awesome response to Beam Green! I would love to have you NYC gals as guests, so please keep getting in touch if you’re interested!

I’m taking a break from a night of reading to recap my very fun dinner last night with Melissa and Liz — aka, the blogcelebrity Veggiegirl! Liz and I have corresponded and spoken before, but this was my first time meeting her in person, and it was great fun! She’s witty, sharp, sweet, and passionate about all things raw and vegan. The three of us went to Pure Food and Wine, where I got a simple dinner: a build-your-own salad with avocado and guacamole. (I know, I know, I am the world’s most boring woman. But I was in the mood!):

Variety came with the dessert selections, which ranged from Melissa’s gorgeous passion fruit tart:

To the complimentary strawberry shortcake (yum) for the table!

Here’s the three of us ladies outside (Me, Mel, and Liz):

Afterwards, Melissa and I went to 71 Irving for some tea and overdue girl talk. It was a really fun night, and a much needed interruption in a busy week.

I hope you’re all having wonderful Fridays. I’ll be back tomorrow with some recipe action, so stay tuned!

xo

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that Jacques Pepin blurbed one of the books I’m working on today. I don’t usually edit food/nutrition books — in fact, this is my only one — and I felt a little starstruck!

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