sea vegetables & more

i think i'm still tired from the long drive from dallas. it didnt help that i had a double espresso before i started on my long drive, which meant i didnt sleep well on sunday (like 3am!) and it kind of rolled over till today. i'm going to try to catch up on some desperately needed sleep!

we made some really yummy food though (what's new!)

we started the week with an introduction to making wheatgrass shots. russell, our instructor made three different concoctions which was very interesting for us to understand the different effects of mixing different ingredients.

we had wheatgrass on its own, and then the second shot was mixed with apple juice (which was too sweet for my liking) and the third shot was with ginger juice (very spicy but really gives you the kick!)





and then we made a sea vegetable salad from the sea vegetables that we soaked on friday.


i was introduced to 2 new vegetables :-) can you recognize them?



and this was my lunch!



psst...the first one is a watermelon radish, the second one is golden beet.

and i had my leftover ice cream... plus some from two of my coursemates.



i'm trying to keep up with my blogging but having fallen behind, there's so much to say!

we started tuesday 13th april with a very tiring task... to open up a box of 9 coconuts and separating the meat from the coconut water. hard work! after what seem like forever, i finally finished opening my batch and then we went on to more interesting stuff, like making the wrappers for the next recipe...







then we did prep for the burger buns, which have to be dehydrated. we used the almond flour which we dehydrator when we made almond milk. i forgot to take pictures of the buns... see what happens when you are busy having fun! you forget serious work like taking pics of burger buns! :-)

anyway it turned out great... and we made portobello burgers today, i think i put too much salt & olive oil in my portobello marinade. it was swimming in oil when i tried to cut it. oh well that's why i'm here. to learn! i am still bloated from lunch.



after lunch, we did prep for tomorrow... more chopping and cutting, etc.... what are we making tomorrow... hmmmm.... give u a hint, we'll be using the wrappers!

check back and see!

did you say Bliss?

one of the things that i enjoy doing since becoming more "raw" in my diet is to check out raw restaurants & cafes wherever i may go and i was told in dallas to go to BLISS.... so with my most reliable TOMTOM GPS, we made our way to the cafe... and i almost thought my TOMTOM let me down when i had to turn a corner to a highway and the voice from my GPS announced i have arrived at my destination. i was looking for a modern new york style cafe in a mall or something similar, little did i expect to see this... i'm not a snob... so not to be deterred by appearance, i decided to have my lunch there. after all there isnt many options for raw cafes in dallas...

so from the menu which had a very yummy list of items...

so i ordered a minty hemp smoothie,



for starters, i like my soup so it was to be the vietnamese pho soup made from kelp noodles served in a warm broth of tamari, bok choy, mung bean sprouts, scallions, crispy vegetables.




and for my entree, i ordered a Cowboy "Rawko" Tacos - made from corn tortillas, topped with chipotle flavoured beans, guacamole, nacho cheese, pico de gallo, salsa verde.



this makes me appreciate what i am learning in plating... :-)

i think after eating at 105, i'm getting spoilt. i didnt finish my lunch :-(

bon jovi live in dallas

what a treat! it was definitely worth the 3hr drive from OKC to dallas. well at least i got a chance to stay in a nice hotel with a lobby that doesnt smell of worn carpet and cigarettes!




you know how we all make a mental list of the things we'll like to do in our lifetime? well, going to see bon jovi live in concert is on my list. i don't really follow his music very much but somehow i've always wanted to see him in concert... so i'm glad i did it!

i had a reasonably good view. bought my ticket from ticketmaster by calling their hotline. i should have just bought it online coz it would have given me a much better seat at the price i paid! but it wasnt too bad, at least it was a close view to the stage... so close and yet so far... hehe...









this segment is apparently recorded live for a video..









the concert ended on a high note with "living on a prayer" my all time favourite bon jovi song :-)

have a great day!

1st week 105

i can't believe its been a week since i arrived in OKC. this week seem to have flown by, i guess time flies when you are having fun! and i sure had a lot of fun this week. so we made handroll and lots of other yummy stuff... i'll just post the pics and let you drool...

beet ravioli - a very easy to follow recipe and taste absolutely divine.



chanterelle lasagna, butternut squash noodles w/Marjoram

butternut squash & chanterelle is a type of mushroom as seen here ...












and after some magical work, this is what we get.... (i really need to work on my plating!)



this is by far my favourite recipe of the week.

we also made pad thai, which i didnt really like. i much prefer the authentic pad thai but that is sadly not raw. of course there are ways to improvise on the taste, maybe i should do some experiments :-)



winter salad using micro greens, shaved fennel, citrus, himalayan salt, arbequina oil (olive oil)

this i really enjoyed. i think i am going through a green phase... i seem to crave for greens!

i love the shaved fennels and the meyer lemons used in the recipe...



kale caesar salad... an all time favourite of mine. i didn't do any plating coz it ended up packed as my dinner back at the motel.



oh did i mention we had to open up a case of coconuts? my arms were really sore after that session...




so what did we do with all the coconut meat & water..... ? LOTS!!

we made ice cream, which was yummy (i forgot to take a pic of the end result!)


that's the cuisinart ice cream machine, unbelievably easy to use!













that's the tub that goes into the machine. yes i made orange chocolate mint ice cream with orange zest. yes it was very good!


ok its really late, i must sleep. early start tomorrow... i have lots more to post, will try to do it after class tmr. oh ya did i mention i went to see bon jovi in dallas over the weekend? it was fantastic.. i'll post some pics SOON! promise!

day one 105 degrees

i arrived in oklahoma city on saturday evening, flight delayed by 2 hrs. it's taken me till thursday to attempt to update my blog coz i've just been busy settling down. i'm staying at this motel extended stay america, well it certainly isnt a four seasons hotel. reminds me of the time when i was in hangzhou for the "internship". its a studio apartment within a building, so you have your own little kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom. first night i was too tired for anything... and just slept right through. woke up with rashes on my legs, i think its an allergy reaction to the bedsheet. anyway i was too excited to bother, went down to 105degree to meet with my instructor for the month, russell james who comes from brighton, UK. met with some of my coursemates and we all had a pleasant lunch. my first meal at 105.... green monkey smoothie - absolutely addictive. made from banana, spinach, agave, vanilla, young coconut and spirulina

for my appetizer, i had a smoked maitake soup, chickpea miso, cilantro, avocado. being a soup person, i have high expectations... this was ok, and for the main course i had pizza bianco with creamed spinach, nice combination but the portion leaves one wanting for more... collected my chef uniform. i like the jacket, very stylish but the pants is way too big. it's only in the USA that i can wear a size S and feel that it's too big!

fast forward...



first day in class, there's only five of us which is a big difference from LL. it's great to have a small group though, we learn so much more!

i love the design of the "classroom", what a treat to be working in a brand new kitchen with the state of the art equipment. you feel good just being there!




first day in class and i am already learning new things... having come from LL, i would have thought that it would be dejavu, but i was pleasantly surprised that i was introduced to new equipments, different methods of doing things.

well for one, we are expected to do hands-on and complete a whole recipe by ourselves. in LL, we worked in groups of four, so you don't actually get to do a full recipe by yourself all the time.

russell started off the class by giving us an overview and introduction to the whole place, we walked through the kitchen, cafe and store. it's such a cool setup. its like nyc in okc.... i love it!

we had lunch at the cafe today. its really nice that there's student discount. as it is, the food is very reasonably priced so the student discount is a bonus!

i had the mexican salad, which is nice. i always love mexican. i didnt manage to have a mexican when i was in LA so this is good...



and for my main course i had a thai curry noodle, made with kelp noodle. the kelp noodle was a bit crunchy for my liking... i think i'm spoilt by my raw food friend linda's kelp pasta which she made at LL (i'm hungry just remembering the dish she made which was sooo yummy!)




my classmate had the kimchi vegetable dumplings with sesame ginger foam. it's so pretty, don't you think??


and another had the blue corn nachos, salsa guacamole, red pepper cheese micro cilantro. i just love the way they plate... makes the food too pretty to eat!



and the open faced portobello burger, basil aioli, sesame bun, chessy kale chops... yummy!




and the canneloni, pignoli ricotta, sun dried tomato marinara, pistachop pesto... (are you hungry yet???)


and the sprouted grain VLT, winter vegetables, bibb lettuce, sun dried tomato tapenade...





and all that before we had our first hands-on session!!!..... spicy tuber handroll. being a big time fan of japanese food, this is definitely a delightful start to the month-long raw food affair i am having!

we learnt to make sushi roll at LL, but this opened my eyes to new ways of doing a handroll, with a new kitchen toy!











just one day in class, and i feel like i'm one step closer to being a recreational gourmet raw food chef, is that possible?