(A beautiful sunny day in Paris. Morning)
(Elliot and Tanya are waiting to collect their hired car at Gare du Nord Station to drive to Mont Saint Michel)

Avis Lady:  Your car is ready, please sign below
Tanya:        Oh, it says here there is a mileage limit of 250km per day with up to €0,80 per km fee after that. We are driving all the way to Normandy. And tomorrow we are driving back again.
Avis Lady: You will be fine, it is about 230km to Normandy from Paris
(Elliot and Tanya eagerly prepare for the scenic drive)

GPS:        There is 380km to your destination
(Brain calculations, followed by cursing sounds)


This was one of those rare times, that I wish I wasn’t so quick at maths. All those tunnels to get out of Paris didn’t really help much either, as the GPS would lose signal and get us making U-turns on more than one occasion... “€1.. €2 ..€3..” turned into a song. And then the chorus to this fun song came at every Toll stop (we sung the chorus often).


Ah well, I’ve been dreaming of seeing the Mont St Michel castle ever since Elliot and I moved to the UK over a year ago. In our unsuccessful attempt to get there when in Paris last year for all kinds of reasons (no cars available, all train tickets sold, no accommodation vacancy), we decided to give it another go in a ‘much in advance pre-organised’ fashion. A year of wait and €400 drive later, just getting there made everything worth it.

Mont St Michel was a rocky tidal island of French Magic. I couldn’t quite stop jumping from excitement, incase that’s not evident from photos.


If you have been to France, I don’t have to remind you twice about how much cheese there is- every menu, fridge and supermarket shelf has the most unbelievable choice of cheeses...accept...Raw Vegan. The inspiration of Mont St Michel will now forever be imbedded into my new recipe...




This recipe has the creaminess of Cream Cheese and the tanginess of Cottage Cheese and is so divine, it's hard to believe there are only 3 simple ingredients!

Essentials
Blender
Colander
Cheese Cloth/ Nut Milk Strainer/ Nylon Mesh
Plate
Bowl
Something heavy to weigh down the bowl (I used dry peas, but dumbbells or jugs with water will also work well)

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Macadamia Nuts
1/2 Cup Cashew Nuts
1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp Pure Water (or just enough to cover all the nuts when in blender)
Optional: Herbs and Spices

-Blend everything together (If you are not using a high speed blender, you may need to occasionally stop and scrape the mixture off the sides back onto the blade. Pulse from time to time, making sure there is always some mixture touching the blades). Make sure the nuts are well ground and the mixture is creamy

-Place the colander on a plate (this will stop the whey, which will be strained out in the process, from making a mess on the table). Place cheese cloth inside the colander

-Pour the mixture onto the cloth (on the right, you can see the consistency is blobby, not liquidy)

-Place the bag inside another one, or if you only own one- try turn it over itself, just as long as no mixture can escape when placing a weight on top

-Place whatever you decided to use as a weight on top and put the stack in a place away from draughts (mine is inside the dehydrator with trays out)

-Walk away for 24 hours. (I must admit I can never just walk away and readjusted the weight from time to time to squeeze more Whey out and also tasted the cheese in the process, but 24 hours seems to be the perfect time)


-Transfer to the fridge for half an hour to harden, shape into logs and then roll into any herbs or spices you like (I had one log in Cracked Black, Red Pepper and Paprika and the other log in a Mix of Dried Herns including Thyme, Marjoram, Parsley, Oregano, Sage and Basil)

I am yet to figure out why it is that if Raw Food is so much better and healthier and tastier, than its’ cooked opposite, we still try to make it look the same as cooked in appearance? Why do we still call it ‘cheese’, when it’s clearly not made from dairy? Why do we call it ‘pasta’, when it’s not made of anything remotely similar? Why ‘bread’, when baking is not in the Raw Food vocabulary?

I ask myself these questions often and yet when my [non Raw] friend and fellow blogger Roz comes to stay with us in London, I can’t help but organise a [Raw] meal that I am sure she will identify with. There it is! I have just answered my own question!!

So if we have really become so adverse to change even in this fast evolving world of technology and need something familiar to identify with, I am certain that my Spaghetti ‘Meat’ Balls will give you all the comforting homely feeling you are after...



For the Essentials
-Food Processer
-Dehydrator
-Blender (optional, I prefer the bolognaise sauce to be slightly chunky, so only used the Processer)
-Spiralizer (grater will do the job too)


For the 'Meat' Balls 
6 Portabella Mushrooms (peeled, chopped)
1 Cup Walnuts (soaked 1 hour)
2+ Tbsp Hulled Flaxseeds
1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Basil
2 Tbsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp Tamari Soy Sauce
2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
1 Tbsp Mixed Italian Spices (I used a combination of Parsley, Rosemary, Coriander, Basil and Oregano)
1/2 tsp Cracked Pepper

-Pour the Apple Cider Vinegar and Tamari over the chopped mushrooms, add garlic and basil leaves, stir through and leave to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours. (note if you only have little time, slice the mushrooms really thinly)

-Rince out the water from soaked walnuts, place them with the mushrooms into a food processer with an S Blade, pulse so they are chopped fine and mixed in, but still slightly chunky

-Depending on how long you marinated the mushrooms for, you will end up with a different amount of marinade liquid. If there is only a small amount, only add 2 Tbsp of Hulled Flaxseeds, but if your mushrooms are drowning in water, only then add 4 Tbsp of flax.

-Also add all the spices and pulse a couple of times to let everything mix in, then let the mixture sit for half an hour for the flax to soak up the liquid.

- Roll into any size 'Meat' Balls you like, but note that the larger it is, the longer it will take to dehydrate.
-Place on Mesh tray of your dehydrator and dehydrate at 110degrees F for 4-6 hours


For the Bolognaise Sauce
3 Medium Tomatoes (chopped)
1 Red/Orange Bell Pepper (chopped)
1 Lemon (juiced)
1 Cup Fresh Chopped Basil
10 Sundried Tomato Halves (soaked min 1 hour)
7 Dates (soaked min 1 hour)
2 Cloves Garlic (minces)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Mixed Italian Spices

-Pop all the ingredients (accept Olive Oil and Lemon Juice) into a Food Processer and process to a sauce.

-Add The Olive Oil and Lemon Juice and process some more. (Transfer to a blender only if you desire a smoother sauce consistency)


For the Pasta
2 Large Zucchinis/Courgettes

-I used a Spiralizer, but you can also either slice the zucchini as thinly as possible lengthwise and then slice again into thinner strips lengthwise to resemble noodles or you can use a grater


-To assemble, you can either place the noodles first, followed by sauce, then nut balls, like in the below picture, or start with the sauce, like in the top picture

-Garnish with fresh Basil leaves

I just luuuuuuve birthdays! I love Queen's Birthday for giving many a Public Holiday, I love Jesus's Birthday for giving everyone the festive spirit, I love my family and friends' birthdays for an excuse to celebrate and I especially love MY birthday! Nothing much has changed since I was a kid in a way of looking forward to the day. Even now I actually begin to get excited a whole month ahead and welcome getting older with sincere joy, as though I am turning 5 again. And I never stop being overwhelmed by the birthday wishes I receive- thank you so much all my beautiful people, you don't know how much it means to me. Seriously though, take my word for it- I can hardly sleep the night before, so you really make my day!

My very first UK Music Festival experience... now I see what all that fuss is about!

The tree hugger in me just couldn't wait to get out to open nature for three full days of festivities, but the princess in me dreaded the showerless camping. In the end, it turned out that music was what everyone came to V Fest for and with an event so well organised, there is very little one can complain about.

If you've ever had the opportunity to see Calvin Harris live (pictured right), you'd know how quickly he can make the top of your list. He was certainly my favourite, so much so that I didn't even stop and think to video.

My own first runner up was Florence and The Maching, she was sensational and here is a clip..



Kings of Leon were A-mazing, but perhaps I looked forward to them a little tooo much. Plan B were another huge favourite and I surely surprised myself at how much I enjoyed Prodigy. No, I am still surprised! Oh and there is certainly nothing wrong with Peter Andre.. nothing wrong with him at all :)


With so much time planned to be spent camping, I knew I needed to get some serious dehydrating going on and below you can see my dehydrator full of:
Fruits (tray 1)
Granola Bars (trays 2 and 3)
Nut Clusters (tray 4 and 5)



- Soak Pecans and Almonds overnight. Rinse
- Soak Walnuts, Cashews and Dates for 1 hour
- Process Pineapple, Dates, Cinnamon and Vanilla in the food processer, until the mixture turns into a sauce
- Transfer into a large bowl and manually mix in all the nuts and cacao nibs
- Spread onto teflex sheets and dehydrate at 110 degrees F overnight
- Transfer to mesh trays and dehydrate for a further 20 hours

Spitalfields on Sundays- it is really quite something else. Thousands escape from the cloned high streets to discover some truly hidden gems, hard to find fashion pieces, funky artworks and all kinds and sorts and variations of really fascinating original stuff, that I pay money to view in Galleries.

Spitalfields market, Upmarket, Brick Lane, foodcourts, restaurants, bars, cafes, portable kitchen vans, temporary corner shops, street stalls and smells- the glorious, enticing, tantalising smells. Spitalfields is a Disneyland for the hungry!


My friend Aya, who is also the founder of London’s Raw Food Catering company Raw Vegan Fast, like a real magician negotiated her way into a highly unlikely possibility of a stall and I, together with my Raw Chocolates and Nut Shakes came along for the ride. The hardest part of the entire day was having to resist the Mexican food right next to us. That smell was to DIE for!! But since I choose the kind of foods to LIVE for, with it also came the easiest part of the day- an inspiration for my next Raw Food dinner...

RAW VEGAN TACOS

No time wasted diving into my ideal recipe hunt and I didn’t even get past Google’s very first suggestion, when right there in front of me- a recipe I couldn’t possibly fault. My new favourite Raw Food blogger Angela, uses Chocolate!!!! How did I never think of that myself? I put chocolate powder in everything, why did I never think to try it in ‘meat’? It makes so much sense! Raw Cacao Powder is bitter and sour, dark and addictive, nutty and crisp, rich and creamy all at the same time, I just couldn’t help myself and shamelessly copied the entire recipe for Angela’s Taco Meat...

For the Raw Vegan Taco Meat
2 Portabella mushrooms
1 Cup Walnuts (soaked 1 hour)
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 heaped Tbsp Raw Cacao Powder
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp ground pepper
Salt to taste

-Pour the mixture over sliced mushrooms and leave to marinate for 2-3 hours
-Transfer to a food processer and add the remaining ingredients
-Pulse a few times to mix the ingredients, but keep the chunks for texture

Now back to my own original recipes...

For the Raw Vegan Taco Shells
3 Corn cobs
1 Cup Milled Flax seeds (soaked in 1 cup water 1 hour)
½ Cup Sunflower seeds (soaked 1 hour)
¼ Red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt

-Slice the corn kernels off the cob
-Transfer all the ingredients in a high speed blender, starting to fill the bottom with the softest ingredients first
-Pulse and blend until the mixture is spreadable
-Spread four equal round bases onto each dehydrator teflex sheet
-Dehydrate at 115degrees F for 3 hours
-Use a sharp spatula to carefully shave each base off the teflex sheet and transfer onto a mesh tray
-Make some tubes out of tin foil and fold each base over each tube to make a taco shell
-Return to the dehydrator for another 3-4 hours


2 ripe Avocados
1 Lemon, juiced

For the extras
This is your preference, but I used:
Cucumbers with coriander and salt
Carrots and olive oil
Salsa of tomatoes, red peppers and red onion (it is not in the photos, because the thought of what was missing for me came later)

Super Satisfaction. And so much... Better Raw