Elaina Love and Chaya-Ryvka Team up for Raw Nirvana!

Sandra, Chaya, Elaina, Diana, and A. J.: What a Team!

I was so blessed to be a kitchen angel last Saturday for the fabulous duo of Elaina Love and Chaya-Ryvka's  Raw Nuevo Mexican and Elegant Raw Desserts class. It was sponsored by The Southern California Raw & Living Foods Meetup  run by the amazing Diana Harrelson!

 My fellow angels were Sandra (check out her cool blog rawpomona! ) and A. J. (if you are lucky enough to live in the SF Valley, look what A. J.'s up to Here) Chef A J

And if you live in LA, why are you not already a member of Diana Harrelsons meetup group? Join Here!



Meet Elaina Love, an impressive lady!

Elaina Love is a professional Chef and Instructor, Lifestyle Counselor and Owner/Director of the raw food store and Pure Joy Planet. She authored the raw, vegan, living food recipe book Elaina's Pure Joy Kitchen to share her favorite recipe creations, which have also been published internationally. She is the creator of the Amazing Nut Milk Bag.

Elaina has been teaching raw food courses worldwide since 1998. She is a Chef/Instructor at the renowned Living Light Culinary Arts Institute where she has been on staff since 2000. Elaina has taught classes and provided raw food meals at many raw food events and retreats, including those for David Wolfe of Nature’s First Law, Dr. Gabriel Cousens of The Tree of Life, Living Light Internationals Raw World, The International Raw Foods Festival, The Boutenko Family and many more recognized leaders in the raw food community.

Yes, We got all the Recipes and Invaluable Tips from the Chefs!



This is only about half of the stuff The chefs had to bring to teach class
The Prep Table
Sandra hard at work preparing trays for Elaina Love
Set up for Corn Tortillas
Meet Up Organizer Diana Signing Lucky Folks In!

So many great tips were shown, like the Metric wonder measuring cup, just love that and only 5 bucks!

The tortilla mix was by far the best I have ever tasted. Elaina shared that adding a 1/2 tsp of turmeric will give it a gorgeous golden hue, and it's very healthy for you too. Another great tool was the "bash and chop",
Bash and Chop, Just like it Sounds!

just like it sounds, use it to smash garlic cloves, chop things up, and scrape things. Oh and to smooth out your tortilla batter to thin, even perfection!
Elaina putting the taco filling on the corn tortilla, YUM!
Now Just Roll it up and.. Voila!
Elaina makes it look sssssooooo easy.....she's a talented chef- so practice practice practice!
You Had to Be there.. this was so incredibly good
Taking a minute to chow down the raw enchiladas and cabbage rice, wow.. just amazing!




Elaina Shares about her journey to raw food chef/artist:


Meet Chaya-Ryvka, a person who really has a love for her desserts!

Chaya Ryvka is a Certified Raw Living Foods Chef, Educator, Lifestyle consultant, Juice Feast Consultant & “Conscious Creative”. She trained, mentored and assisted with Elaina love (master raw food chef, instructor and a pioneer of the raw gourmet movement) for over two years. Together they catered raw retreats for David Wolfe, and Dancing Butterfly, taught raw food preparation classes and opened the raw café “Café Soustice” in San Mateo. Chaya Ryvka also trained as a raw pastry chef with Tiziana Alipo and Mathew Rogers both head pastry chefs and co-creators of the extremely popular dessert menu and raw dessert recipe book for the now famous Café Gratitude. Chaya is currently and has spent the past three years; working as a Raw Pastry Chef and dessert class instructor for Café Gratitude, a Head Chef during the opening period of Elaina Love’s Café Soulstice as well as providing services to the community at large as a private in home chef, raw lifestyle/kitchen consultant, private and group living foods preparation instructor, raw caterer and juice feast consultant which she was trained as during her own 92 day juice feast by David and Katrina Rainoshek of www.JuiceFeasting.com. (Learn more about Juice Feasting by clicking here)

Chaya showed us how to create this amazingly delicious treat, a gourmet item for sure!
Raspberries on top of a gorgeous chocolate crust.

A very helpful tip was to use the bottom of the spring form pan upside down, so the crust does not get stuck in the edge!
Adding the white chocolate...
Chaya put Cacao Nibs around the edge of the cheesecake, looks great, tastes super.
Wish I had this right now.. it is the best dessert ever! White chocolate raspberry swirl cheesecake

The Most Amazing Vanilla Beans from Chaya



Elaina and Diana got crazy with Sandra and the Raw chocolates!
Raw Chocolate Truffles with Hazelnut Ganache, OMG GOOD!!!!!!!

Chaya ends the Raw Desserts Class with Love

namaste,
deb

A Note to Two Ladies I Adore

Mom, Nisey, Me and Ron


Today is an anniversary, a bit of a sad one.
Yesterday was a birthday, a very happy one.
Mom, Nise and Me many moons ago
So I want to write a love note to the two ladies I am speaking of.

Let's start with my little sister. What can I say about my Nisey? Denise is a sassy, funny, pretty, smart, witty lady,a talented artist, just a person you go to when you need an answer or a considered opinion. I love my sister dearly, she is truly a part of me. In many ways, she has always been the one I looked up to for guidance, even though she is the youngest and I am the oldest.
Happy Birthday Nise, I love you very much!..Sam and Her Auntie Nisey Cookin' up a Storm

And today is the anniversary of my Mom's passing on.

Mom the Hipster at the beach

Mom, words fail to describe how very much I miss you. We all do. It's a feeling that never leaves me. I see you in so many ways, in my daughters face, in hummingbirds that flit around the flowers, in the flowers themselves, in butterfly wings and the shifting moods of the sky. I know you are there, with me. I carry you always, right here in my heart.
I love you Mom, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
Jazmine, Denise, Mom, Debbie and Sam at Mom's 77th Birthday Celebration

This is from a brochure from the hospice we used, I think it sums up the journey out of this earth pretty well:

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side
spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and
starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty
and strength. I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the
sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large
in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my
side and she is just as able to bear her load of
living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at
the moment when someone at my side says: "There, she
is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
"Here she comes!"

And that is dying.
Henry Van Dyke

Hug the ones you love, tell them how much you adore them,
Go on!
What on Earth are you waiting for?
love deb

Love in the Mail, Punk Rawk Labs Styley

This my Favorite pic of Alissa, She looks like a 40's Movie Star!

Alissa of Punk Rawk Labs sent me a mystery package, via the US mail.. and oh the mystery was solved right away by Sam! See if you can understand a word she says, through the chewing enjoyment!



This is the Cherry Almond Biscotti from Raw Food, Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. I hid them immediately.. so addictive and yummy!

Also from RFRW, these spicy herb chips, YUM, perfect for eating guacamole, says Sam!
So who is this Mysterious Punk Rawk Chef??

Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist, Alissa, used to be a scientist – a genetic engineer, in fact. She got fired for having an artistic temperament. That’s when she started playing guitar and singing songs. She went back to waiting tables, and started playing music again. That’s where she met drummer, Elliott. In Minneapolis. A fellow drifter from the west coast who came to the Twin Cities via Fairfield, CA and Tulsa, OK. Just like Alissa. Has anyone else around there even heard of those places? Elliott went out west in search of the blues, but that’s not where it’s at, he says. The real blues is right here. All along the Mississippi. Together, they are the Screaming Cherry Blossoms – a slightly eclectic, slightly unstable, world-weary voice over the foundation for everything that rocks.


Alissa is a scientist!!! She makes raw food into rawking raw art, look at some of her work and by all means, so see her at punk rawk labs HERE!


Thank you Darling Alissa, and as you walk in the snowy world that is your home, carry our warm love in your punk rawk heart always!
peas out
deb and sam

Anthony and I On a RAW Field Trip

Anthony and I at Rawvolution with the famous Coconut Haystacks, YUM!

Fresh from Bali, Dawn and Anthony were in LA Friday the 13th. And what good luck that was for me! They were here for a pit stop before heading back to chilly Minnesota and the eco project. Dawn had business to attend to so Anthnoni and I took a little field trip together. We headed off to Rawvolution first, for breakfast, although for him it was like midnight in Bali time!
We caught up a bit and Anthony told me all about his trip with Dawn.


And they were so sweet to bring presents back! Sam got the little purse from Thailand with adorable surprises inside (she went crazy with love for it all!)

Sam in The Sarong and Purse from Dawn and Anthony

A Beautiful Doll and Cool Bracelet from Thailand
That gorgeous Sarong ,Sam stole it for a fashion show right away! And just for me, a glorious jar of honey from Big Tree Farms.

Yes, it is beyond amazing and NO you cannot have any, get your own from their website. Or just travel to Bali and pick it up! I hid it away, just for me. Here is the description from Big Tree Farms, you really need to see what they are doing there, it is so exciting!

A dark amber honey and a truly sensual experience. Mango Blossom honey reveals flavors of smoke, butter, black cherries and high notes of passion fruit. An incredibly exotic raw honey! Try serving with aged cheeses such as cheddar, blue cheeses and Parmigiana. Smear over pink grapefruits and citrus and grill for an incredibly fresh dessert. Drizzle over pancakes and waffles.

I made some fresh almond milk and some raw brownies for them.. Dawn called us to say how awesome the milk tasted! I hope the brownies were not too hard, they soften up , but they were a tad rock like from the night in the dehydrator!
The Raw Food Section at Co Op
This Co Op Rack was Full Of Great Deals:2.00 for 3 pears and 3 apples, Organic!
After we had some cereal and chocolate macaroons, we headed over to Co Opportunity in Santa Monica. We needed some rocket fuel, check it out in this very short video series. I think I'll call it
Belly up To the Bar with Anthony, the juice bar that is!

and then, we compared juices.. in my car.. it was pouring rain!

Mine was super hot and kept me warm all the way home!


For the flight home, I shared a book I read that I really enjoyed. It is a true story of a guy named Eustace Conway, a modern day Daniel Boone. If you get a chance, pick it up. Anthony really enjoyed it. For more on Eustace, go to his website Turtle Island Reserve. He is a fascinating man that is very in tune with the natural world all around him.


Elizabeth Gilbert's Book about Eustace Conway




Turtle Island Preserve Summer Camp with Eustace Conway

We shopped a bit more, talked and laughed. Anthony is a great friend, I only wish he and Dawn lived closer so we could spend more time together.


We forced a salesperson to take our picture..
Be sure to check out Anthony's videos on Youtube.. here is one where he eats his weeds!! Sam loves this video, she laughs so hard when he eats the grass!

The Best Raw Food!




Thanks for spending time with me Anthony! Next time you two must come over and feast in the DDR Kitchen !






Valentine Collage I Made at SPACE gallery
Watch this space for Valentines love tomorrow.. and the raw dinner at Au Lac to celebrate 13 years of wedded bliss!

much love and green juice,

deb