The Sunny Raw Kitchen

Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour East Coast Adventures - Part II

2009-11-04T12:54:00.002-05:00

I was telling you how much being on the road has been a major adjustment for us. (You can read my first account of our US adventures here). Just to give you an idea, we've given 3 classes and attended 2 potlucks in 8 days! Phfew! Talk about shifting gears! If you'd told me that only a couple of months ago, I probably wouldn't have believed you! Amazingly, we've been able to take it pretty much in stride. It took a while to get our sea legs but we're getting better at pacing ourselves and adjusting to this new hundred miles (not kilometers! lol) an hour flow.

Checking Out The Raw Scene in Syracuse

We zoomed up to the Syracuse area one day in order to meet Carrie - with whom I'd been emailing back and forth for a while - and in order to attend a Raw Meet-Up. Don and I arrived at Carrie's home early afternoon so that we'd have some time to connect and to show her how to make kombucha tea. Actually, on a side note, later that evening we tried GT's kombucha which I'd been reading raving reviews about for ages. In our humble opinion, it's nowhere as delicious as our homemade brew. ;-)

Carrie, her husband Peter and their little guy Andrew.

After sharing a delicious raw meal (Russell's Spinach & Wild Mushroom Quiche filling on zucchini pasta and salad), we left for that evening's potluck which was being held at Speedy Greens in Cicero, NY. Believe it or not, it was only the second raw potluck Don and I have ever taken part in! We thoroughly enjoyed tasting all the different dishes that people brought along: onion bread, bruschetta pasta, bell pepper strips and salsa, watermelon soup, kale chips, pumpkin squares, brownies... Strange that food tastes soooooo much better when someone else has prepared it, hey! ;-)

It was the first time that the members of the local Raw Meet Up were getting together and a dozen people attended. As you know, support is soooooo key, especially when it comes to something so not mainstream as eating raw foods.

Carrie had arranged for us to stay at Cathy's, the owner of Speedy Greens. After driving around in the dark for a while (thank goodness we had a guide!), we came to an unexpected sight; Cathy and her partner Michael live in a gorgeous log house that they have completely designed. From composting toilets, to poured concrete counter tops, to radiant heaters, to an electromagnetic stove... A green dream home!

Wood everywhere you look!

Although Cathy and Michael aren't really into raw, the next morning they prepared us a breakfast of chopped fresh fruits, dried fruits, almonds and sunflower seeds. How thoughtful! We had fun swapping stories and actually realized that we shared lots of common interests. We would have liked to stay and connect longer with them, but we had to head back towards Ithaca in order to get ready for Sunday's uncooking class.

SRK Live in Ithaca
The class was held at Tanya and Claire's spanking new raw commercial kitchen, and our timing couldn't have been better as it was the very first day of it going operational. Tanya and Claire recently took over an already existing raw company called Good Stuff by Mom & Me. We had the opportunity to sample several of their awesome products which got me really excited about their new venture: Pecan Pie Bars (my personal fave!), Sweet Almond Granola, Hazelnut Fudge, Fig Bars, Pecan Sandie, Walnut Fudge Brownie, and the list goes on... Oh, and they even have some raw breads that I am told are to LIVE for! You guys just HAVE to drop by their site and check out their yummy goodies!

With the lovely Tanya and Claire of Good Stuff by Mom & Me.

One lucky Don! ;-)

I was telling folks at the Meet-Up in Syracuse how I hadn't had a single cold since going raw almost 9 years ago. Ha ha Wouldn't you know it, I started to get a sore throat a couple of days later! No doubt that my body was protesting about my recent lack of sleep and going a little overboard at a Thai restaurant in Ithaca. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I could hardly speak but thankfully my voice was back in time for me to teach the class. ;-)

As you can see, I had a captivated audience of future little raw chefs. They were so attentive and oh-so-cute.

Don preparing food for people to sample.

Everything was kid approved which is totally cool in my book!

Before the class began, Claire's son had asked about the funny looking gadget I had sitting on the table (the spiral slicer). When I told him it was to make zucchini noodles, he immediately offered his help. I took him to his word, and later invited him to join Don. Next thing you knew, all the kids were lining up in order to get noodling too! hehe

Potluck At the EcoVillage

The day after the class we arranged a last minute potluck at the EcoVillage; a cool co-housing community that currently includes two 30-home neighborhoods, FROG and SONG. There is also an organic CSA vegetable farm, an organic CSA/U-Pick berry farm, community kitchens, a neighborhood root cellar, community gardens and varied natural areas.

With all that was going on Sunday, we hadn't really had a chance to connect properly with Tanya and Claire, so it was nice to have an opportunity to spend more time together. A funny little anecdote... I complimented Tanya on the delicious dressing she used to toss her veggie salad with and asked her for the recipe. Laughing, she replied that it was actually the almonnaise that I'd demoed the day before! lol Like I said, food tastes so differently when prepped by someone else. ;-)

My head was still feeling pretty stuffy on the day of the potluck so I completely forgot to take pics of the food. Ooops! But I did have the wit to take a little walk around the Village before night falls in order to take a few shots.

The EcoVillage has a lovely view over Ithaca.

Notice the solar panels?

In addition to the community gardens, several homes also have their own.

Our Daily Dose of Green and Fresh Air
In spite of all the busy-ness since our arrival in the States, we've managed to go for walks almost every day; a wonderful way to explore the local scenery. One great thing about heading south is that trees have retained more of their leaves due to the warmer weather. An extra long Autumn. Lucky us!

Walking around Groton.

While visiting Carrie, we went for a walk at the nearby Chittenango State Park. Simply gorgeous! We were even blessed with the sight of a bald eagle flying right above our heads.

Chittenango Falls

We'd been told to make sure to check out the famous gorges around Ithaca, so one afternoon Don and I went to Treman State Park, just outside town. Oh man, what a feast for the eyes!

Kyky had a great ol' time!

Unfortunately, the photos aren't doing that good a job at capturing how majestic the gorges are and how magical it is.

Here you can get a sense of the ginormous cliffs. See the little black and white smudge in the water? That's Kylo going for a dip. ;-)

Some of the many waterfalls we encounter along the path.

Greeted by vibrant fall colors in the distance.

And Now A Little Surprise...

Lisa and Michael (our adopted family which I introduced you to in my last post) have a nifty new gadget called a Flip that makes high definition videos. That thing is almost smaller than my camera (wow!) and allowed us to capture moments of our time in the Ithaca area.

I thought you guys might enjoy watching little extracts. Just bare in mind that this is my first time playing editor and that the class was held in a big and nearly empty space so the sound isn't very good. Ah well! At least it will give you an idea of what we're like "live" and "in the flesh". ;-)

What Next?
We are blown away by all the beautiful people that we've encountered on our path so far, and how smoothly it is all unfolding. What a promising way to begin our journey across the US! It's so interesting to watch our itinerary come together; canceled stop here, new possibility opening there...

Right now we're in Pennsylvania, taking a much welcomed break, and will be headed for Washington, DC next week. At this point, we have arranged to stay with friends who have a teeny apartment for a couple of days, but we'll be needing a different place for the remaining time in DC. If any of you would be prepared to host us, please send me an email at:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Coming up next on our Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour...

- Washington, DC :

Raw in a Flash class on Wednesday Nov. 11th at 6:30 pm
Raw Desserts Made Easy class on Saturday Nov. 14th at 2 pm

For more info or to register, contact Sarah at threecrows@verizon.net

Other planned stops include:

- Melbourne, Florida: class during the week after Thanksgiving
- St. Augustine, Northern Florida : early December
- Nashville, TN (in the works)
- Houston, TX
- Austin, TX
- Patagonia, AZ
- Phoenix, AZ
- LA, CA
- Santa Barbara, CA
- San Francisco Bay area, CA
- Medford, OR
- Anacortes, WA
- Seattle, WA

We'll be having some kind of raw get together in most of those places, so drop me a line if you'd like to be kept posted. Also, if you live somewhere along the way and would like to hook up or even help put together an event, please send me an email to:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Looking forward to connecting with some of you!

Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour East Coast Adventures - Part I

2009-10-31T14:02:00.001-04:00

Before I get started with our rawkin' adventures in New York State, let me back track a little and tell you about what goodies we prepared to take along for the road. I am notorious for stocking up: raw products, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, you name it! Even now, with all of our worldly possessions in the van, almost half of it is food! lol So before leaving my sister's home a few weeks ago, we had pounds and pounds of nuts and seeds, so I figured that we might as well carry those in 'munchable' form. Plus, during our travels across Canada this summer, we had taken a bunch of dehydrated foods that proved to be so key in helping us stay raw while on the move. As it turns out, it took 3 D (dehydrator) days in order to prep all the yummies I had in mind!

We made some obvious staples, but also tried a few recipes for the first time: Onion Bread, Rainbow Flax Crackers, some left-overs from a flax cracker experiment, Soft All Veggie Wraps, Cumin Flat Bread and another one made with almond flour and oat flour (sorry, I can't recall the exact name right now) from Matthew Kenney's latest book Entertaining in the Raw, Nori Snacks with my Sunflower Garlic Spread, and Herb Pizza Crusts. We also had a few sweet goodies: two different kinds of Sweet Seed Crackers from Purely Delicious magazine, Raw Food Real World's awesome Cranberry Maple Granola, Heathy's Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, and a modified version of the CocoNut Chewies Bar that Clairecunn posted on Raw Freedom Community. Phfew! I'm exhausted just reading over the list! lol I told you we were at it for some time!

And The Journey is On...
Don and I are highly aware of how plans and ideas are, well, just that, and that when the rubber meets the road, Life may have something very different in store. In fact, to us, it's a wonder that anything turns out at all as we imagine it! Approaching the US border crossing, we really didn't know what to expect. As we pulled up next to the custom officials, we were prepared to get refused and have to head West back to British Columbia. (Although I have to say that this would have been a surprising turn of events, as there has been so many indications that going on this journey across the US was our next step.) The guard did his thing, asking us a few questions (some of them a tad strange like "How did you two meet?" lol), then waved us forward.

This is when it hit us that it was truly happening; this new and exciting chapter in our journey had begun! Don and I kept looking at each other, shaking our heads. We knew that our lives were about to radically shift - in the way that traveling always does - but in the 10 days or so since our arrival in the US, it's almost like we've been living in another dimension! lol And to think that only a little over a year ago, we still lived on a mountaintop, pretty much coming down only to go grocery shopping!

A Growing Fammunity
When we set off on this journey, we had a sense that it wasn't going to be only about raw foods, but rather that the latter would act as the bridge or 'excuse' in order for us to connect with amazing and beautiful people. Man, were we ever right! (And our travels have only just started!!!)

The first stop on our American tour was Groton, NY. (Pronounced "Graaaaaaawton" by the locals. ;-) ) After some initial confusion (I highly recommend to take Google maps' instructions with a grain of salt!), we finally made it to Lisa's centenary Victorian home. I won't give you all the details as to how we came to stay with them, but believe me, it is an awesome story with the undeniable signature of fate all over it. Lisa, her husband Michael, their little guys Graham (5) and Gabriel (2), and grandma Sally welcomed us with such opened arms! In just a few days we simply couldn't shake the feeling that we were family.

After one of our many (very) late talks.

The kids also adopted us in no time. They are sooooooo adorable! The day after we got there, Graham candidly told Lisa: "Carmi & Don could stay here forever!" Awwwww

Oh lookie, Donnie... Pumpkins!

In Lisa's Sunny Kitchen

While Lisa and Michael were at work, Don and I would take over the kitchen and whip up some raw yummies for dinner. The most challenging (but also fun!) meal we prepped for them was on the day after our arrival. After snooping around their cupboards and fridge, I opted for a Carrot Curry Soup my dear Mosaica had been raving about (oh sooooooo good!!!), Kelp Noodles in Peanut Sauce served in collard wraps and Russell James' Wilted Kale Salad. At some point, Graham, their 5 year old, looked over at Don and I working in the kitchen and solemnly declared: “You two ARE very good cooks!” ;-)

Carrot Curry Soup

I just have to tell you the little story around the kelp noodles. Lisa decided to order those from the Raw Food World after she read this post and hadn't gotten around to using them yet. Of course, she'd have never guessed at the time that I'd one day be standing in their kitchen and preparing that very dish. “Buy the noodles and she will come!” Lisa said laughing. ;-)

Kelp Noodles Wraps

We also had a little extra to enjoy on its own...

Kale Salad

Everyone loved the meal, even Graham who usually is a bit suspicious of new things. Lisa told me he normally eats very slowly, but he wolfed down his food and reached out for seconds! lol

Some of the other delicious food we've shared included...

Snowdrop's Corn Chowder

Jozzie's Fajitas

My Spinach & Cream Casserole

One afternoon, Graham gave us a hand in making my Super Caramel Chocolate Tart.

First he helped Don press the crust.

Then he beautifully decorated it with pecans. See the smily face?

Proudly showing our handiwork.

Ooops, caught in the act! hehe

Can you tell everyone's happy to dig in?

Meet the whole family: Graham, Gabriel, Lisa, grandma Sally and Michael. They're giving the Tart the thumbs up!

I also made my Fruit & Nuts Choccie which Graham helped me demold.

Gabe and Graham enjoying their raw dinner consisting of apple, cucumber and avocado pieces.

I'm so so happy that the food we prepared went over so well and to have introduced them to recipes they'll actually feel like making again. Yay! Even Sally was open to trying our juices, smoothies and various raw goodies and thought they were delicious. ;-)

Behind the blogging scene...

After a real good laugh. (Hey Puff Ball!) ;-)

Be back soon with the rest... ;-)

Oh, and in case you missed it, you can find out more about our upcoming stops in this post.

Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour - East Coast Itinerary

2009-10-27T14:12:00.001-04:00

We've made it to the other side of the border (yay!) and have been staying in the Ithaca, NY area since last Wednesday. So far, everything has been going amazingly well: meeting beautiful people, sharing lovely food and enjoying the perfect autumn weather.

I'm working on a post that will tell you all about our New York adventures, but for now I just wanted to bring you up to date in terms of our itinerary. We can't really organize events a great deal ahead of time, as it all depends on how things unfold as we go, but here's what it's looking like for the next little while, in case any of you guys would like to join us.

Raw in a Flash class in Gloucester, NJ on Friday, Oct. 30th. For more info, contact Kellian at kellianncougle(at)hotmail(dot)com

Raw in a Flash class in Gardners, PA (near Carlisle) on Sunday, Nov. 1st. For more info, contact Marty at 717-486-4232

We'll also be teaching a couple of classes in Washington, DC during the week of Nov. 9th. We're still in the process of working out the details, but send me an email at sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com if you'd like to be kept informed.

Other stops coming up on our Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour...

- Raleigh, NC
- Northern Florida (St. Augustine and Melbourne)
- Houston, TX
- Austin, TX
- Patagonia, AZ
- Phoenix, AZ
- LA, CA
- Santa Barbara, CA
- San Francisco Bay area, CA
- Medford, OR
- Anacortes, WA
- Seattle, WA

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Off to work on my post... ;-)