Thanks for giving Casey such a wonderful reception, guys. I’m so glad that you enjoyed her Green Recovery story. I’m excited for our next voice!

Yesterday morning, I had some very special guests over for breakfast:

Do you recognize my guests? They’re Lori and Michelle, the incredible Pure2Raw twins. I’ve been friends with Lori and Michelle from afar for a long time. We’ve traded recipes, raw food love, and they’ve even done me the honor of sharing their health stories with me, and asking me for some advice. They’re two of the warmest, sweetest, and most talented bloggers I know, and I’m so happy I got to meet them in person!

Normally, having someone over for breakfast means tofu scramble, pancakes, or some other sort of cooking endeavor. The nice thing about welcoming the twins into my home was that I could prepare something exactly like what I eat in the morning. We have very similar food tastes: we favor sweet+savory combinations, we have an intense love affair with avocados, winter squash and beets, our food tends to be very green, and we’ll use any excuse to eat chia seeds.

I knew, then, that a spread of chia puddings and berries would suit us all fine. But since the twins do run their own gluten free and vegan bakery, and since I’m improving my baking skills lately, I thought I’d bake them some gluten free muffins, too. I was nervous, but I reminded myself that if it tasted good to me, it was likely to taste good to them, too. The muffins I came up with combined a bunch of my favorite things: chocolate, millet, and chia. I hoped the twins would share my tastes, and fortunately, they did.

Gluten Free, Vegan Double Chocolate Chia Chip Muffins (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Yields 12

1 cup millet flour (you can also use GF all purpose flour)
2/3 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp flax meal
2 tbsp ground chia seed (whole will work, too, but I like the binding properties of grinding the chia)
1 banana
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup or agave
1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix the millet and almond flours, salt, baking powder, flax, and chia in a large bowl.

3) In a food processor, process the banana with the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla, and maple syrup.

4) Pour dry ingredients into wet, and stir to combine. Add vegan dark chocolate chips and stir again.

5) Pour into muffin liners and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These are sweet, dense, chewy, and full of delightful little chocolate chips. Don’t take it from me, though: take it from the twins, who gave them two (four?) thumbs up! What a relief.

The rest of breakfast was less daunting. Rather than brew coffee at home, I resolved to treat Lori and Michelle to NYC’s best cup of Joe, which is coffee from Joe:

And my two chia puddings were also a breeze. Chia pudding is one of my absolute favorite breakfasts, and now that it’s warming up, I prefer it to hot cereal. My chia puddings are usually served up with some fresh or frozen fruit and a sprinkle of cacao nibs. To access some of my favorite recipes from the archives, check out the ch-ch-ch-chia tab in my recipe collection!

The twins tend to be mindful of their sugar, so I opted for two chia puddings that weren’t overly sweet. The first was a cacao chia pudding that was inspired by mole sauce, which blends cocoa with a bit of heat. I love this combination!

Cacao Spice Chia Pudding (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 2-4

1/4 cup cacao nibs
6 pitted dates (or 2 packets stevia)
1 1/2 cps almond milk
2 tsps cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger (or 1/2 inch fresh)
Dash cayenne pepper (*dash*! Cayenne is piping hot, so be careful)
5 tbsp chia seeds

1) Blend almond milk, cacao, dates, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne in a VitaMix till smooth.*

2) Pour mixture over chia seeds and mix. Stir again in about five minutes, and again five minutes after that, until chia seeds have plumped up. Place pudding in the fridge till ready to use.

In addition to being bakers, raw chefs, bloggers, and photographers, the twins are also very athletic, and blog about fitness often on their blog. They enjoy various types of protein powder, but they’re primarily champions of Vega, just the way I am. We all admire Brendan and his work, and so I thought it would be nice for us to pay tribute to what he stands for with a Vega-infused protein pudding.

Cashew Protein Chia Pudding (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 2-4

2 tbsp cashew butter
1 heaping scoop Vega or Vega Sport Whole Foods Optimizer (sub any raw, vegan protein powder of choice)
1 1/2 cups almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
Dash salt
6 tbsp chia seeds

1) Blend almond milk, Vega (or other protein), cashew butter, and salt together in a VitaMix till creamy. Pour over chia seeds. As above, stir in five minute intervals till plump and set; store in fridge till ready to use.

I served the puddings and muffins with some fresh berries:

And muffins completed the spread:

I helped myself to both puddings, chopped banana, and some berries, and saved myself a muffin for an afternoon snack. I enjoyed it all, and felt glad that the twins seemed to feel right at home as they gobbled up the pudding with me.

We had plenty to gab about, but one topic we kept returning to was how easy it is to get pigeonholed within the blog world. They twins noted that, when they attend meetups, they’ll often hear, “oh, you’re the raw, vegan girls.” While the twins do eat mostly raw and mostly vegan, they don’t feel that either term defines them wholesale. I can relate: while I feel 100% comfortable with the vegan label, and basically comfortable with the “raw” one (“semi-raw” is obviously more accurate), these terms don’t totally sum up my blog and everything I want it to be: a source of inspiration to eat healthy, a place to celebrate animal life, a place to talk about body image and EDs, and a chronicle of my journey into medicine. We bloggers have to find pithy ways to sum up our missions, but in the end, our blogs are as varied as our lives are.

But if people want to think of me as “that raw, vegan girl?” Great. I’m proud of both my veganism and my passion for raw food, and I’m grateful to anyone who does me the honor of associating me with those lifestyles.

Even if their eating style isn’t neatly summed up by either raw foodism or veganism, I think that Lori and Michelle stand for the values of vegan and raw foods: they’re compassionate and passionate, culinarily adventurous, excited by the promise of good health, and eager to share their knowledge with others.

Thanks for breakfast, ladies!

Blogging friends: do you ever feel as if your blog mission gets pigeonholed? How so?

xo

Happy Sunday Eve! I’m neck deep in calculus midterm studies right now (Daphna, to answer your question, Columbia requires cacl 1+2 as a pre-req, but I’ll email you more of the details), and the only reason they’re not bringing me down is because the last week was filled with so much quality time with blog friends.

“Blog friends.” It’s a peculiar expression, isn’t it? I don’t typically designate the provenance of my friends, so I’m not sure why I do it when I talk about the people I’ve become close to through blogging. At the risk of sounding cutely contemporary, I happen to think that relationships that form online—be they platonic, professional, or romantic—often have the potential to be deeper and more meaningful than relationships that form through the normal course of socializing. After all, people who cross paths online usually do so because of a shared interest, hobby, or even a world view (for example, the many vegans who meet and share ideas in the ether). There’s no replacing the value of real world interaction, but the internet happens to be a wonderful place to identify and cultivate relationships that have a foundation of commonality—a foundation that transfers nicely into waking life.

It’s hard for me to describe the rich and supportive blogging community to people who don’t blog or read blogs. How can I do justice to the remarkable generosity that near strangers extend to each other every day in the blog world? Or—more difficult still—how do I explain the surprising intensity of friendships that form from these exchanges? It all sounds a little implausible to skeptical ears, I’m sure, but any blogger who has made a even one close friendship through blogging—and most of us have made many–knows what I’m talking about. When we bloggers do finally meet in person, we feel as though we’re meeting an old and dear friend; greetings always come in the form of hugs, and conversation ignites with no effort at all.

This week, I was lucky enough to see some of my closest friends from the blogosphere, and have meet a few others for the first time. It all began on Tuesday, when I met up with this girl for dinner:

That is Melissa, the woman who started it all: Melissa was the first blogger I ever wrote an unsolicited email to (as a fan). She was the first blogger I ever met in person (over a ridiculously fun dinner at Caravan of Dreams). And she was the woman who actually persuaded me to start a blog. For the record, I argued with her for about a year; I kept insisting that I didn’t have the writing skill, the time, or anything to say. (If nothing else, time has proven that I was wrong about that last bit!) When I did start blogging, she was the person who helped me pick out a blog URL; who saw my site before it went live; who sat next to me at my first bloggers summit, and so on.

Melissa and I have spent New Year’s Eve lounging on her sofa—all dressed up, with no intention of going anywhere at all. We’ve worked out together, cooked together, and survived NYC-Boston bus rides together. We’ve counseled each other through relationship ups and downs. We’ve vented about professional stress, traded thoughts about career direction, and supported each other with health advice. In short, there’s not much we haven’t experienced as friends. Blogging brought us together, but at this point, it’s easy to forget that either of us write a blog when we sit down to eat.

Except, of course, for the fact that we both take pictures of our food.

Mel and I had dinner at Peacefood Café, where I ordered my standard: the fluffy quinoa salad (quinoa, greens, avocado, corn, peppers) and a side order of roasted kabocha squash:

Two and a half hours later, neither of us wanted dinner to end. It did, but there will be another very soon!

If dinner with Mel wasn’t fun enough, I was treated to a meal with a blogger I haven’t yet met only a few days later. On Thursday night, my friend Bitt and her husband, Chris, were in NYC, and we arranged to have dinner.

Bitt is one of the bloggers I admire most. She’s kind and thoughtful, but she’s also whip smart, funny, and will not suffer fools gladly. She’s one of the more committed vegans I know, and she’s taught me so much about compassion. Bitt knows how to educate and provoke thought without preaching or losing her cool; I’ve seen how deftly she manages to outspokenly defend animals without coming across as vitriolic, and I truly respect it.

Raw food lovers that we are, Bitt and I used our meetup as an excuse to hit up one of my favorite raw vegan joints in NYC: Bonobos. As usual, I was all over their kale salad.  Instead of ordering my customary soup, though, I opted for one of the incredible raw nori rolls: walnut pate, sprouts, peppers, carrots, and beets stuffed into a sheet of untoasted nori, and served with a basil dressing. It was fantastic!

Eating at Bonobo’s makes me so, so happy! It’s as if someone entered my own kitchen, and decided to prepare exactly the kind of food I love for me. To make matters better, my company was ideal: Chris and Bitt were every bit as smart, witty, and warm as I knew they would be. I hope they’ll be in NYC or DC again soon, and I also want to visit them in Seattle, if they’ll have me. It’ll be all raw food and laughter, all the time.

On Friday morning, after a long and hard week, I made my way down to DC for my customary weekend visit. I’m always excited to be with M, but my bus ride went a lot quicker this time because I knew I’d be seeing some of my favorite bloggers, who had convened in DC for the national half marathon. If anyone’s been wondering what #bloggersinvadedc is all about, this was it:

I have to take a moment to share my pride for Anne, who beat her PR by a whole 13 minutes. EPIC!

And I’m mad proud of the prince of the blog world, Evan, who is now officially a marathon finisher. No less than an hour after this boy crushed the finish line at 26.2 miles, he was every bit as witty and adorable in person as he is online:

Finally, I’m proud of Sana, for not only rocking her 5K, but for being unashamed to talk about peeing in her pants in a public restaurant. Woman, I thought I was uncensored.

Sana, Anne, Evan and I met in Dupont after the race for a small bloggie lunch. In attendance was a blogger I’ve been waiting to meet for a long time: my friend Matt! You all may remember Mr. No Meat Athlete from his recent guest post on CR. Matt balances life as a PhD student, new dad, blogger, ultrarunner, and fledgling businessman with ease and grace, and he dreams big, just like me. It was so good to finally say hi, and even more apropos because this is Matt’s first week as an (official) vegan. I’ve known that this was in the cards for Matt for a long time, and I’m so proud that he’s finally taken a calm, confident leap.

You can imagine my delight when the exhausted runners wanted nothing more than to feast on…salad. Yes, salad. I love enlightened athletes. We met up at Sweetgreen, where we devoured a few giant bowls of leafy stuff. My mix was avocado, carrots, chickpeas, spinach, romaine, squash, olive oil, lemon, and salt:

Time flies when you’re having the best time ever. A few hours later, we were still gabbing away about life, blogging, food, fitness, and our mutual friends. Of course, savvy bloggers that we are, we took a time out to torture the table next to us ask a nice man at the table next to us to take a photo of us all. On four different cameras.

That’s Sana, Evan, Matt, Anne, and me. Aren’t Anne and I a cute couple? Look at us, playing with cameras:

Whenever Anne and I hang out, it feels as though no time has been lost. I adore her, plain and simple.

There is no more rewarding or meaningful part of being a blogger than the friendships you take away. I am so grateful for the awesome women and men I’ve met because of CR, and the kindness and generosity they’ve showed me. I <3 you all. (Sidenote: did you know that “<3” just got added to the OED? Along with OMG, muffin top, and TMI. Nice.)

Before I go, I thought it would be cute to share a cell phone pick that another dear blogger friend, Diana, sent me a few days ago. It’s me at Bonobo’s, and it was taken when she and I had lunch with Sophia in August.

It’s weird: I look at that photo and think about how, at the time, I hadn’t yet decided to dedicate my life to health care, and I wasn’t in love, and I had no idea what stochiometry was. A whole lot has changed in the last eight months.

But I guess my love of raw kale salad has remained.

xo

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!

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

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

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!

Happy Monday, all!

Last night I had the pleasure of dinner at Cafe Blossom with the very awesome Kristen and her husband, Greg. Kristen and Greg are in town for an extended visit (you can read all about their meals and adventures on Kristen’s blog). As you know, I’ve been a fan of Kristen’s blog, e-books, and writing for a very long time, and so it’s of little surprise to me that she and I have become fast friends during her stay!

Cafe Blossom holds a special place in my heart for several reasons:

1) It’s across the street from my apartment. Literally. When a vegan cafe with raw options opened across the street (two months after I moved in, no less), I chalked it up to the workings of divine providence.

2) The general manager, Craig, is a pretty cool dude (and a friend of mine).

3) The Pink Lady juice, which I blogged about here.

4) My favorite appetizer, the all-raw Autumn Sweet Potato Rolls

5) The generous salad portions! There is nothing that irks me more than the pitiful little mounds of mesclun greens to which most restaurants assign the name of a “salad.” Even certain vegan restaurants (sorry, Candle 79) seem to think it’s perfectly OK to serve bird-sized salads for $14.00. Sorry folks, but to me, a salad means a heaping mountain of greens and veggies. This is something that the good people at Cafe Blossom understand and honor: all of the salads are not only delicious, but generous enough to feed a woman with an appetite!

For dinner tonight, I ordered the sweet potato rolls (coconut noodles, jicama, carrot, red and yellow pepper, scallion and avocado with an almond ginger dipping sauce) and the spring greens salad (sweet cherry tomatoes, cucumber, jicama, carrot, tamari toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds) with avocado instead of seeds and lemon and olive oil for dressing. Both dishes were delicious:

And since Kristen’s birthday was on Saturday, the kind folks at Blossom treated us to a slice of their vegan chocolate cake, which we all sampled and agreed was delicious!

It was a lovely evening. I’m so glad that Kristen has extended her trip to NYC, so that I can spend a little more time with her before she heads home!

Speaking of friends in the blogosphere, I want to extend a special thank you to my friend Cory — AKA Zestycook — this morning. If you’ve never checked out Zesty’s site, go explore: it’s a passionate testament to his love of all things culinary and his incredible talent in the kitchen. But Zesty is far more than a great chef: he’s also a tech wizard, and he’s given his time and expertise to so many of us in the blog community by answering tech support questions, helping with WordPress emergencies, and the like. In the last week, he’s helped me with a bunch of my own little “tech-challenged” inquiries, and I’m super grateful to him. Thanks, Zest!

Finally, I wanted to give all NYC kids a head’s up about a fun party on Saturday night. My friend Vanessa, the owner of Gnosis Chocolate (an incredible raw chocolate company — product review soon!) is hosting a  raw chocolate and dance party on Saturday night, featuring chocolate elixirs, spring water, crudites, and other raw goodies. The party will follow on the heels of a two hour lecture from Daniel Vitalis on immunity and hormone production. I’m not a dancer, but I am a chocoholic, so I’ll be there.

Tickets are available here if you’re interested. Check it out!

OK, that’s my news for the morning. Hope you’re all getting a great start to your weeks!

xo

Hey all!

Hope you’re enjoying great weekends. I’m here with a quick post to report on two lovely memorial day meals. The first was an NYC blogger lunch yesterday afternoon. Gina, aka the Fitnessista, was here in NYC for a visit, and I was lucky enough to meet her and a few other bloggers for lunch at Caravan of Dreams.

Other bloggers present were Ashley, Melissa, Brooke, Megan, and Katie.  It was great meeting these fellow NYC girls (and seeing Melissa) and getting to know Gina, who is every bit as warm, beautiful, and enthusiastic as she is on her blog! It was also great to meet her friend Megan, who’s a fellow raw gal.

Here’s a shot of my lunch, which is my favorite Caravan dish: the Thai Avocado Salad:

And a group shot: Melissa, Ashley, Megan, Gina, Me, Brooke, Megan, and Katie:

Tonight, I celebrated my new promotion with Melissa, who was sweet and generous enough to treat me to dinner at Pure! Melissa and I have both been a bit deluged in work and life lately, so it was really delightful to celebrate the end of her finals, my new title, and her upcoming trip to South Africa with a relaxed and delicious meal. To start, we split the sushi rolls, which we both forgot to photograph. Then we each had a salad. I had the S&M salad, which I’ve blogged about before, and Melissa tried this salad, which is a new addition to the summer menu:

An assembly of heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, and a balsamic reduction, it looked and tasted amazing.

Here’s a photo of the two of us:

It was a great meal and a great night. I am very, very fortunate to have Melissa as a friend.

Speaking of Melissa, she’s hosting a great giveaway on her blog: a sampling of the popular Blueprint cleanse! Check it out! Also be sure to check out Zesty’s amazing blog makeover giveaway!

And now it’s home for some work before I hit the sack. I’ll be back with a recipe or two later this weekend. In the meantime, thank you all for your great feedback on my last post. I’m so glad that I’ve inspired some of you to feel confident about your food choices, and I hope I’ll continue to encourage your confidence! Keep it up, everyone.

xo

Hi Everyone!

It’s waaay past my bedtime, but I just wanted to check in and 1) say hello, 2) report on the fun I’ve been having so far!

My flight was delayed for five very long hours on Friday. But I made it here in one piece and in time for Chloe’s beautiful graduation cocktail party, which was held at a historic B&B uptown. It was a fun evening, full of tasty hors d’ouevres (and an early dinner, which I ate when I got of my very delayed flight and got to the B&B), some much needed catching up with my second family (Chloe’s parents and sister) and a carriage ride around the French Quarter!

Today began with a yogadownload (Hip Opening Flow), and then brunch at Chloe’s. On the menu were fresh berries (so good!)

a quiche that Chloe’s sister made (inspired by Mark Bittman)

and a giant salad for me, which I forgot to photograph. The day culminated in Chloe’s commencement. Here’s a photo of us together!

And the day ended with an awesome treat: a meetup with Kath! Kath and I have been penpals and friends for a while now, so it was fantastic to finally hang out! I met her and Matt at a laid back, fun lounge in the Quarter. Here we are outside:

Then we made our way back to her hotel, where we hung out and chatted in the dining area for a while. Kath is just the way you imagine her to be: unbelievably smart, savvy, funny, and sweet. Not to mention beautiful! I am definitely hoping she comes to NYC to visit sometime soon — or that I make it to NC!

It was such a nice end to the evening — even if we both stayed up later than we meant to!

I am ending the post with a photo of me and the lovely graduate, of whom I am SO proud, outside at the cocktail party last night:

Night y’all.