Celebrating an all-natural lifestyle

Breakfast with Locals

Thanks for all of the interest in my summit recap and in my presentation! I promise to give you all info on how to view the talk when it’s available. Stay tuned.

It’s a beautiful day in Chicago, folks. My day started off with a nice workout in the Hyatt gym, a cup of coffee, and a little preliminary packing. Then, it was off to brunch in Logan Square with my Chicagoan friend Marc. Marc had suggested that we get out of the downtown area for a while and have brunch at Lula’s, a cafe that’s known for it’s fresh, seasonal, and local ingredients. After Mara confirmed that Lula’s is indeed much loved by those who know good Chicago grub, I was pretty excited to try it.

Lula did not disappoint! Killer menu, with at least two vegan/veganizable brunch items, and a generally fresh, healthy feel. I loved the heirloom tomato decoration (Sabrina, this is right up your alley!)

The menu:

After yesterday’s oatmeal mishap, I was sure to ask if their house oats (which were steel cut and organic) were vegan. They weren’t, but our awesome server assured me that they could be prepared vegan. And they were. And it was good:

I added some of the Justin’s maple almond butter that I found at my hotel cafe this morning. Not my favorite ingredient list, but it’s a good way to have some healthy fats at the ready when you’re on the go, and it sure tastes awesome:

Marc got the pancakes, which looked great:

And I think we both agreed that the coffee was top notch!

As was the view:

My only complaint was that the portion was a little small – I think I’m the only person I know who consistently finds restaurant portions to be far too tiny, rather than too large! So I followed it up with a bit of fresh fruit:

Brunch was refreshing in all of the right ways. After two days downtown, in tourist-ville, it was lovely to escape to another neighborhood. After a weekend full of food talk, it was great to switch topics to literature and music. And of course, good food is always restorative!

After brunch, Marc dropped me off at my hotel for checkout. Before I could go, I had to pack up all of my swag from yesterday’s summit! It’s too much to list, so I’ll let photos do the talking. Here are the vegan goodies I’m bringing home with me:

And the goodies that I knew I wouldn’t use, so I gave them to Marc:

As well as a beautiful and fragrant soap that Mara was kind enough to give me last night:

And world class Fitnessista macaroons from Gina. Wheeee! I can’t wait to eat these!

I gathered up my netbook and wandered around the lovely Millenium Park for a bit:

I love the architecture in Chicago:

Though no city ever competes with NYC for my devotion, I am so glad that I visit Chicago often. It’s a great city, and it boasts so many great blog friends. Not to mention two of my fave authors!

Now, I’m settled cozily at a Caribou Coffee, getting some work done in the glow of free WiFi:

In a little bit, Gina and Mara will pick me up for one final bloggie lunch/hang. I’m going to miss them so! I’ll be back with my final travel recap late tonight or in the morning.

In the meantime, a little culinary housekeeping: a few of you have tried out my dehydrator free energy bars and found that they’re not holding together (which makes for awesome grawnola, but not an awesome snack bar experience). Sorry guys! This wasn’t a problem for me, but just in case, I think you should try upping the agave/maple syrup to 6 tbsp in the recipe if you intend to make it – I edited the recipe to reflect this. You may also wish to add 1 tbsp more of flax to the mix. Also, do NOT forget to very gently cut the dough into bars after an hour, then let them go for another few. If you try cutting after they’ve dried out too much, they will indeed crumble in your hands. Good luck, and I hope this fixes the issues!

xo

Bad Blogger.

(Image courtesy of Erica)

I’m glad that people enjoyed the message of my last post, but for the most part I’ve been scatterbrained blogger this week. My twitter feed has been a sporadic series of “new post!” alerts. In the middle of writing this post, I lost my photo card reader and spent twenty minutes wandering aimlessly around my apartment in search of it (my apartment isn’t immense, by the way.) And today, I realized the reason I almost never do giveaways: I always forget to pick and announce a winner. If you happen to have entered my Hippocrates video giveaway, let me say this: I’m really, really sorry. I forgot about you. About all of you. With sincere remorse, I’m giving my readers one more day to enter the giveaway, and tomorrow night or Monday morning I’ll tell you who won. Yeesh.

Today was another reminder of my blogging imperfections. I met up for lunch with Alexandra, who is Chloe’s little sister (Alexandra is a grown woman; I say “little” because I’ve known her since she was born, and I’m allowed). If Chloe is a sister to me, spiritually and practically, then Alexandra is the younger sister I never had.

Which means I get to do all sorts of annoying things to her, like mention how adorable she is on the internet:

…or call her “Ali,” which she does not love.

Most of the time, though, I try not to annoy Alexandra, which is why she chooses to hang out with me. Today, we were celebrating the end of her summer internship and her return to Boston for the fall semester. Our dining spot was Blossom, one of my favorite vegan lunch spots in New York, and also one of the city’s most inconsistent. Sometimes it’s amazing, and sometimes it’s a serious flop. You never know what you’re going to get. I suppose that keeps things exciting?

What I can always rely on at Blossom is the berry iced tea:

Topped with frozen ‘bloobs:

And the raw sweet potato rolls, which are stuffed with jicama, avocado, young coconut, and red pepper, and served with an almond ginger dipping sauce that has too much garlic for me, and thus is always swapped for the smoky mustard vinaigrette:

Delicious.

I had every intention of taking a photo of my entree, which was the red quinoa salad (red quinoa, navy beans, guac, and red peppers served with watercress), but I forgot.

Here’s my main area of blogger weakness: I almost never remember to have a camera with me at restaurants. And if I do, I’m halfway done with my meal before I remember a photo, or else I forget to finish the photostream once I start. Pathetic.

But you see, Alexandra and I were deep in conversation, and my food was really good (mostly), and I was really hungry. And I was doing what one should be doing at a restaurant with a good friend and a good plate of food: savoring the experience. There seem to be a lot of dialogs on food blogs about eating to live vs. living to eat, and how blogging can complicate it all. I’ve weighed in on the fundamental issue recently: I live to eat because I love food and everything to do with it: cooking it, feasting on it, talking about it. But my love of food doesn’t get in the way of my otherwise full life. I feel the same way about blogging: I love to do it, and I also don’t feel (as other bloggers seem to) that it “takes over.”

Yet I do enjoy days like today, when I get so caught up in my meal that I forget to document it for public consumption. It’s a happy reminder that blogging is still less important to me than my unabashed and unhindered enjoyment of food. Yes, I take pictures of what I eat and put them on the internet, and yes, I create recipes with an audience in mind, but I also go to restaurants and dig into my food and forget that there is such a thing as www.choosingraw.com. And, once in a while, that’s probably a good thing.

So forgive me, dear readers, if I sometimes post half of a meal review, or talk about cool giveaways and then forget to actually give the stuff away, or I skip a few days here and there, or recede from twitter like a bird in flight. It only means I’m living or eating with passion–and in the end, that passion is what I really like sharing with you.

What about you, bloggies? Do you enjoy your blogger fails, or rue them?

xo

Raw Cream of Broccoli Soup

A month and a half ago, when I was in Chicago, I tasted my first raw broccoli soup at the fabulous Karyn’s on Green.

Now, I’m a raw soup fanatic. Borscht, cream of zucchini, tomato, butternut squash — name any popular soup, and I’ve probably made a raw and vegan version. Except, that is, for broccoli soup. Until I tasted Karyn’s rendition, I was a little scared of raw broccoli soup. Raw broccoli always tastes a bit bitter to me (I prefer it steamed), so I just assumed that a soup made of the stuff would be bitter, too. Not so! Karyn’s was just perfect: lemony, a little garlicky (but not so much that it could offend my delicate palate!), and creamy without tasting heavy. Two thumbs way up.

Since this downright perfect soup, I’ve been inspired to try a rendition of my own. This weekend, with an excess of broccoli on hand, I decided to take the plunge. I concocted the recipe based on what I tasted at Karyn’s and on my broccoli hummus – I wanted similar flavors, and a texture that was slightly thicker than Karyn’s version. Here’s what I came up with!

Raw Cream of Broccoli Soup (serves 2 generously)

7.5 oz (a little less than 1/2 lb) broccoli, chopped
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for an hour or so
1/2 tsp salt and dash of pepper
1/2-1 clove garlic (adjust according to taste)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice (adjust according to taste)
1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cups water
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle for garnish

Blend all ingredients save the olive oil in a high speed blender on high. If you don’t have a high speed blender, try steaming the broccoli lightly before you blend–it’ll make for a much easier cooking process!

With the motor of the machine running, drizzle in olive oil. Pour into two soup bowls, and enjoy!

I like my soup quite thick, so I used only 1 1/2 cups water. If you like a thin soup, go ahead and use 2.

I served this up as part of a Memorial Weekend luncheon with my mom. I devoured the soup – really enjoyed it — but she thought it was a little tart, which is why the lemon is listed as 1-2 tablespoons in the recipe; if you’re like me, and you love acid, keep it at 2 tablespoons. If not, use 1 tablespoon!

Otherwise, we agreed that this was a tasty, savory bowl, and the taste of broccoli wasn’t apparent at all! If anything, I’d like to have tasted it even more than I did. Looks like raw broccoli soup is going to join the rotation of CR soup favorites

Another highlight of my week thus far: Maren has launched Butter Your Body, a vegan, organic, handmade line of sumptuous and simple beauty products! You all keep asking me about my skincare and beauty routines, and I promise, I promise I’ll post more on that soon. But this is a great place to start! I always do my best to purchase skincare items that are organic (or at least all natural and paraben/sulfate-free) and vegan. For me, the simpler the better: coconut oil is my moisturizer of choice, and oatmeal, olive oil, and sea salt are frequent guest stars in the rub and mask departments! No, I’m not a purist: I’ll use my coworkers conventional hand lotion at the office, or shampoo at the gym, but I do my best to keep it simple. And nothing could be more simple than the lovely lip butter Maren sent me:

Yum! It smells gently of lemon, and nothing more! No artificial fruity flavors or funky colors. Check out the scant ingredient list:

Sorry, they got smudged in my purse! I’ve been toting this bad boy around all over the place. And I have to confess, I haven’t just been using it as lip balm–I’ve been rubbing it on any and all dry spots when I’m on the go. With ingredients this basic, you can’t go wrong on your lips, cheeks, or anywhere! For more of Maren’s goodies, check out the Butter Your Body website. Yum.

So, it’s Wednesday. Week #1 of June Insanity–and no, I don’t mean hardcore body sculpting–is halfway done. Thank you for all of your supportive comments about my scheduling challenges!! Not gonna lie, I’m already pooped. But I got home earlier than I expected to tonight, and even put my feet up and watched an hour of reruns. It felt great to steal a stealth moment of idleness!

But now, it’s back to work. Nite!

xo

Sun, Suppers, and Sublime: Florida Pt. Two

Greetings, all! I’m home!!!

Words do not begin to express my joy at being back. To me, the best part of any trip, anywhere, is coming back to my life NYC. Travel’s nice and all, but no adventure beats the adventure of living and working in the Big Apple. Period.

So where was I? Last time we talked, I think I was just recapping my fabulous dinner at Escopazzo. Well, that dinner was not my last at the restaurant, but lots of fun transpired in between. I spent my mornings in Hollywood running along the famous boardwalk:

And spent my afternoons doing this:

I may be married to the streets of Manhattan till death do us part, but I’ve got an inner sun worshipper, and she loves to be indulged.

What was I eating at the beach, you ask? Great question! Most of my mornings began with sprouted bread and raw hemp or almond butter; vegan overnight oats and blueberry-banana smoothies also made appearances. Packing for the beach was a bit trickier; as I mentioned in my last post, eating on the go as a vegan who likes raw food isn’t always a cinch; fresh veggies don’t enjoy spending hours in backpacks and beach bags under the sweltering sun. For that reason, I made it my first order of business on Friday to arm myself with some transportable greens. Enter Averie’s kale chips!

This was my first kale chip experience! I’ve wanted to make them for ages, and promising Mike’s Mom a quick and easy dehydrator tutorial afforded me a good excuse. This was a simple a process as can be. I began with a big bunch of curly kale:

…and I followed Averie’s “coating” recipe, which was inspired by a Matthew Kenney recipe, nearly to a T. I substituted cherry tomatoes for bell peppers, since that’s what I had on hand.

It’s a cashew, nooch, date, salt, lemon, tomato blend that looks something like this:

Making the chips simply involves smothering the raw kale with the divine cashew goo, and mushing it all together (not unlike making massaged kale salad, though messier). Smothered kale went onto a dehydrator tray and was put into the machine at 105 for 7 hours (overnight). They emerged looking and tasting divine!

Mike’s Mom and I agreed that the recipe was perfection. Thanks, Averie, for the inspiration!

My beach lunches, then, consisted of varying combinations of the following:

• Kale chips
• Pure/Prana/Larabars
• Tons of bagged carrots, celery, and cucumber slices, kept as close to the bottom of our backpack as possible for coolness
• Celery sticks with individual servings of raw nut butter
• Homemade raw trail mix
• Raw brazil nuts
• Lots of water

I would have loved some avocados to transport, but alas, we didn’t have any on hand.

The beach was dreamy, but the real highlight of Friday was a blogger meetup I’d been eagerly anticipating for weeks: dinner at Sublime with Melissa!

I’ve been reading Melissa’s blog for a long time, and I can’t think of many bloggers who are more honest, thoughtful, and fun than she. It’s been especially special to watch her write more openly about her eating disorder recovery in recent months; for those of you who visit her blog, check out the “side notes” tab for her more contemplative posts on the recovery process. It’s no easy task to bare one’s soul in discussing emotional struggles of any kind, and Melissa does it with courage and a genuine desire to help others who suffer. I applaud her, and I’m lucky to have met the woman behind the words!

Sublime is one of South Florida’s most well known vegan dining destinations. With its accessible menu and lavish decor, it’s a fun experience that seems to appeal to both vegans and omnis (Melissa and I had a hunch that the place was packed with at least 50% omnivores).

Check out that indoor waterfall action!

It features a seriously extensive and fancy menu:

With dishes that are both creative and familiar. There’s a whole list of sushi rolls and vegan pizzas, as well as filling entrees and sides:

No wonder it took us ages to decide on what we wanted! As we deliberated and chatted, we were charmed by the antics of our theatrical waiter, who nicknamed me “the seductress.”

Not sure why.

He also treated us to a magnificent amuse-bouche: basil polenta squares.

If these were meant to set the tone of the meal, well then, they were a success. Melissa and I were swooning over how good they were! Can you tell my tastebuds are dancing?

When we finally got around to ordering, Melissa and I were proud of ourselves for sampling a fairly broad range of menu items! We began with the “frito misto,” which were crispy cauliflower in a sweet chili sauce:

These were really tasty, but not totally for me. They were on the fried side (I guess they put the frito in frito misto), and also a little reminiscent of sweet and sour chicken, a childhood takeout dish I do not recall with fondness. The dish was also pretty huge, and we were both eager to save our appetites, so we didn’t have too much. With all of that said, I think the fact that the cauliflower did taste so much like traditional Chinese-American staple cuisine probably works in its favor when appealing to mainstream eaters, and any dish that helps people to warm up to veganism gets two big thumbs up from me!

We also got grilled asparagus, which were smoky and delicious, but still crisp. Perfect!

Next up, the main courses. I was craving vegan sushi, so I ordered two rolls. The first was the “dynamite roll,” made with Veganaise, asparagus, capers, and cucumber. The restaurant graciously made it without onion for me!

The verdict? Yummy. The veganaise was kept to a bare minimum (which was good for me, since I’m not a huge fan), and I loved the clean flavors. My second roll was even better! This was the quinoa roll, which was quinoa, carrots, and cucumber. Melissa (consummate sushi chef that she is), noted how remarkable it was that they managed to get quinoa to hold together in a roll, since it’s not very sticky. I agreed, and vowed that I’d soon learn how to make this happen in my kitchen:

My final entree component was the wonderful chopped salad: tomatoes, romaine, cukes, peppers, olives, and chickpeas, dressed with olive oil and lemon:

We both adored this! The only issue was that the salad first arrived swimming in dressing. I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to dressing: I like it a lot, and actually find it sort of annoying when people act as though oil is going to bite. But there are limits, and drippy greens are my upward limit. Thankfully, the restaurant didn’t mind sending out a lightly dressed second portion, and in split timing, too. Thank you, Sublime!

For her part, Melissa went for the “margherita classico” pizza, made with fresh tomato sauce and vegan ‘rella. I tried it and thought it was great–especially the handmade whole wheat crust!

This was perfect timing, since Melissa had a long run planned for the next morning, and she tends to choose pizza as a pre-race meal.

In all, it was an awesome dinner. I’d probably have tweaked a few little things: for example, using brown rice in the dynamite roll instead of white. But I love that Sublime offers eaters of all varieties an experience that feels tasty, welcoming, and desirable–not to mention service and decor that’s truly special.

And I especially loved the company. Melissa is a gem — so sweet, smart, and genuine — and I hope I get to have her in town for an NYC dinner soon. Here are our end-of-meal outtakes!

With flash (ew, but at least our features are visible):

Thanks, Melissa, for driving all the way to Ft. Lauderdale to share this lovely meal with me!

The weekend ambled on, punctuated with sun, with lavishing attention on Mike’s dog, and with long walks around the marina. On Saturday night, Mike and I drove into South Beach for a movie, and we decided to make a second stop at Escopazzo. Once was not enough, especially since I was dying to try the lasagna that Mike’s Mom had ordered on my first trip there! I started with a baby arugula, red kale, and sprout salad:

And helped myself to the spectacular cashew, zucchini, and tomato lasagna, which was adorned with shitake mushrooms this time, too!

It was wonderful.

On Sunday morning, I woke up early to jog down to Josh’s farmer’s market on the Hollywood boardwalk, which numerous readers and Tweet pals had recommended. I knew it would be sad to visit without being able to purchase any wonderful local produce–I was, after all, about to fly home–but I wanted to at least witness and support the farmer’s market in writing.

It was every bit as wonderful as I’d been led to believe! Gorgeous local fruits and avocados:

Crucifers galore:

Greens as far as the eye could see:

Sprouts:

Shrooms:

And roots:

As well as a truly awesome selection of raw nuts and dried fruit, all at reasonable prices! I helped myself to some almonds, dried apples, and dried pineapples to snack on before my flight later that day:

I also scoped out the juice bar. I wanted a juice like no other, but they were priced on the steep side: all $8.00 and $9.00! I totally respect that they’re organic and local, but this was above my travel budget, so I sadly moved along.

As I made my way home, I tried to erase the smell of fresh durian from my nose (durian smoothies had been on the menu). It’s a fruit I have an especially hard time getting friendly with. Probably because it smells like onion to me. (Shudders at her desk).

In the afternoon, Mike and I made our way back to South Beach for some last hours in the sun. We decided to have lunch outside on the fabulous see-and-be-seen Lincoln Road (which Melissa had recommended, too). We settled on a fun, Turkish-inspired healthy fast food joint called Pasha, which has several Florida locations. It had an awesome menu!

…featuring salads, falafel, hummus, kebabs, and smoothies. I decided to get a large salad with a grilled veggie kebab deconstructed on top:

And a big side of hummus, which I dumped onto the salad along with lots of fresh lemon!

In spite of the fact that my Yaya would berate me for dining in a Turkish restaurant (old rivalries die hard along the Mediterranean shores), the grilled veggies, lemon, and spread, coupled with my tan, made me feel quite Greek. Opa!

A few hours of sun and some street-side veggie juice later, I was on my way to the airport. Edge-of-my-seat enthusiasm for returning to New York waned over the course of a long and exhausting trip home. Apparently there were lightening storms between VA and NY, and we ended up circling Norfolk for two hours before landing to re-fuel, waiting on the tarmac for an hour in sweltering heat, and taking off again. By the time I reached Newark (instead of LaGuardia), it was 3 AM. I waited in line for a $71.00 taxi back to Manhattan in the chilly rain, and fought the urge to rip the cigarettes out of the hand of the woman in front of me (don’t worry, everyone, I resisted).

But today, I woke up in my cozy bed, windows open, horns honking, and garbage trucks ambling along the avenue. New York: it’s music to my ears.

Thanks to everyone who sent supportive tweets last night in the midst of my travel woes, and to you all for following my Chicago and Florida adventures this week. Thanks also to those of you who noticed, via Twitter, that this post went up a few hours ago, was accidentally deleted, and re-posted. Because of your Google readers, I didn’t have to re-write it! Yeesh: between the 3 a.m. landing, the torn jeans (I ripped a hole in my favorite jeans by accident today, and not near a seam, but a blog reader tipped me off to Denim Therapy!) this has been one manic Monday.

I hope to check in this week with a fresh recipe for the first time in two whole weeks, but work may keep me buried. I will do my best! Have a great night, guys.

xo

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