Day 33 & 34

Time to catch up what a weekend! I think it all started when I had Saturday morning to myself and went into bliss mode. I've been lost in the enchanting world of Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women' which I am reading for Book Club on Tuesday night - all welcome by the way (don't worry if you haven't read it all - I'm only half-way through)! It really is a most delightful read, each chapter has a valuable life lesson and messages of living simply with love, truth, integrity, hope and peace are woven beautifully through the text. Less really is more and I am so thankful I am continuing to discover the joy of living simply. Sunday morning Miss Jen and I visited Northey Street Markets. I bumped into Ames again from Raw and Peace whose own bump is growing so she will soon be taking some time off but you will still be able to have raw breakfasts at Northey Street. Ames had these delightful waffles and other scrumptious treats available on Sunday so I want to try making these next! We had 'In the Raw - Afternoon Picnic' booked in for the afternoon and so did the weather apparently! What better to do on a sultry summer's day than to pack a picnic basket with goodies and spend the late afternoon lounging on the lush lawns of one of my favourite spots in Ipswich - Kholo Botanical Gardens. We had a lovely little turnout including a beautiful breeze that came to cool us, new friends  and and some guests hadn't visited the gardens before so it was a lovely discovery for them! It was a most serendipitous picnic for without consultation we had a four course meal laid out before us - rainbow quinoa salad entrée, followed by pumpkin, courgette & coriander savoury cakes topped with cashew cheez dip and tomato salsa, vegetable sticks and fruits to crunch on (and if so desired to dip in....) Adrienne's divinely decadent mudge (a raw cacao fusion of fudge and mousse) the recipe for which will be distributed Thursday evening at our gardening meet-up, raw tiramisu and an absolutely decadent rawberry pie (which to see you will just have to visit Miss LouLou's blog). There was plenty for all to share and I was deliciously full all evening nourished by delicious raw food, sunshine, nature's gallery of beauty and lovely friends.

Day 4

Dusk is tucking in the last of today and flashes of light from this afternoons storm linger in the distance. It's the time when the fruit bats begin their evening pilgrimage and the scent of home cooked meals waft through the air. I love watching dusk fall, I imagine it might feel to God like a mum or dad tucking kids into bed at night. Today my cousin (thanks Suzy!) posted a fabulous link on my wall today about Mimi Kirk a 71 year old raw vegan and I thought I would share it with you. It leads into what I wanted to share from a question I was asked today - what is this raw food thing all about? Now I am still very much a beginner so my understanding of the philosophy behind eating raw is rudimentary. Plants and seeds contain enzymes which aid in their own break down process. When you eat raw food you consume living foods that have not had their inherent enzymes destroyed by cooking which in turn places less strain on the body during digestion. Nothing can be heated over about 48 degrees. For further reading I suggest visiting Raw Pleasure. I'm still juicing at the moment (my skin is feeling fabulous with all this cucumber!) and collecting recipes so if anyone has a fabulous raw recipe they have tried, please shoot it over. One of my favourite raw dishes is Som Tum, it's a spicy Thai salad with the main ingredient being green papaya (which by the way has amazing health benefits even more so than the ripe fruit). The pics I have popped up show you the little tree we have in our garden (even a small tree can produce alot of fruit), the preparation process and the final product. We love it so much that we bought home the utensil the Thai's use to pound it all together. Oh ps Louisa Jane and I are throwing a raw food pot luck picnic at the gorgeous Kholo Gardens so if you'd like to join in the fun, please let us know!