Friday, September 10, 2010

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 5

juice and fruit plate(s) to start... so it was becoming a habit of having a fruit plate in the morning. which is great but sometimes i was craving something more heavy, you know? my friend had vegan cereal but then would be brought a fruit plate as well! one time she got a bonus fruit (banana) too! she let me eat it. i miss my fruit plate mornings now, for sure.












lunch at the beach... a coleslaw with apple, grape, walnut and celery and a neat 'bread'. wasn't sure if it was spicy or if there was something in the dressing. but it was really nice!













dinner started with carrot hummous and raw crackers.













the entree was "moroccan tangine"... i hate that it's been so long since i was there that i forget what was all in this!













dessert was the "immortal parfait": a chocolate mousse with coconut creme and mint. lovely!

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 4

juice and fruit plate greatness before a rainforest walk and ziplining through old and new growth forests...













kale juice (with apple, lemon and cilantro) and "green salad".













and probably my favourite dinner of the trip...
started with watermelon juice and gazpacho (my favourite raw soup, for sure)














then, a raw taco!!!! seriously drooling about this numerous times since then. i can't wait to get a dehydrator to start experimenting making wraps and such!

















dessert... mora (blackberry) sorbet (with coconut)

breakfast at organic lives!


there is now an AMAZING granola at organic lives AND this absolutely delicious (and desserty) peach crepe!

i got two to go last night so my friend heading to the airport early early this morning could eat something yummy and i could celebrate friday? (and perhaps a new job!)

anyways... wow. coconut wrap with a coconut creme and i would love to have a day where i could just sit at the beach in the sun again with a million of these beside me to eat! hehe. oh and a coconut with a straw in it. is that too much to ask?

Thursday, September 9, 2010

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 3

this was the only day we had noni to start the morning (before yoga). i almost finished all of mine but wow, that stuff smells like something awful and it's hard to drink something just because you know it's really good for you!
so my friend and i were grateful for the usual juice at breakfast (perhaps a blend of pineapple, papaya and something else?) and i had a fruit platter...













lunch featured maracuya (passion fruit) juice and a kale salad with avocado dressing. YAY!














dinner started with tomato pave (featuring olives and pinenuts! yes!). for future reference, here is a tomato pave recipe i'd like to try in the future.












my main course was the heart of palm lasagne. i found it a little lemony for my liking though perhaps i was just drawing too many comparisons to organic lives's lasagne which has perfected the texture and comforts of lasagne flavours.














dessert was homemade chocolates featuring cacao (of course! love it!!!), coconut, nuts and raisins. excellent!

sejuiced


so i interrupt my so-called flow of costa rica posts yet again... but i just wanted to post something about sejuiced in vancouver (west 4th, near zulu records) as i haven't yet.
my friend and i have gone here for lunch for quite awhile now as he works nearby and i've always appreciated their 'super' (vegan) burger and getting a fresh juice. now that i'm doing the raw thing mostly, i love that they have a raw caesar salad! with raw croutons and crackers and all! i can't remember what juice i got today but it had beet and ginger in it so obviously it was awesome. i love this place. oh yah, and they also have a punch card for drinks so every 10th one is free! bubble tea houses here in vancouver have been discontinuing stamp cards but sejuiced hasn't! LOVE IT.
on a side note, there really should be organic fruit bubble tea houses here. i haven't had bubble tea in forever and i guess i haven't wanted to have one... it seemed to always be an issue of getting no sugar and no "non-dairy creamer" (i don't care if it's non-dairy! i still don't want it!) in my blended drink.
um, anyways! i love sejuiced!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

vancouver is awesome.

okay so i have to interrupt my stream of posts to come of costa rica drool-worthy foods to quickly say, THANK YOU WEDNESDAY. i got back on friday and was feeling super discouraged about being home, being cold, being poor, being away from the green beauty that is costa rica.
but then yesterday came along and reminded me of why vancouver is awesome.
first, despite recently moving into my own place and having no dishes, i made up a great salad and enjoyed it out of a pot. i don't use pots anymore for cooking but hooray for them being there for me to eat giant salads out of!












then, i was able to finally hit up the farmer's market. there is a wednesday one at main street station which rules as i usually work the weekends when the westend one is on. last summer, there was one in gastown which RULED but it was a trial run and i guess it wasn't successful enough to do again this year. and since i generally seem to be away most of the summers, it's september when i get a month of bliss of farmer's market time! so i was super excited to collect on the local, organic produce! so inspiring! and i got some curry crackers from radha too :)
















then! i got to meet up with my sister for gorilla food. we both got the jungle coleslaw (SO good!) and she got a burger and i got the main st monkey sandwich that i was craving all day. i last had one of their sandwiches the day i got home from korea so it was so nice to get one again.















and then to complete the day of awesome (though it would have been 200% amazing if it had worked out with my friend who i'm trading piano lessons for a chair to be delivered), i went to talent time that night. and a friend who runs an amazing company of earth-friendly moving boxes, frogbox, who helped me do a zero-emissions move across the city, came to the show too! it's been exciting to see how the crowd is growing at this show.
ooh and i brought chlorella (with spearmint) to drop in my water at the biltmore so it wouldn't taste nasty and also so i'd have this green drink to freak people out with. er, whatever. it made drinking more exciting.
anyways!
i made a pinata for it (full of money - it's a 'cover charge pinata', organic vegan lollipops, pencils, stickers and boxes of raisins) and again, this whole raw thing does wonders for multi-uses of kitchen products. like my stove becomes workspace for crafts! perfect! i haven't started storing stuff in my oven yet but who knows.













anyways, after a summer off, the variety show of inspired and earnest people of all sorts of talents came back to the biltmore. it happens the first wednesday of every month, it's $8 and starts at 9 but if you want a seat of some sort, the lineup to get in starts around 8. i was particularly impressed by the 12 year old violinist. and then at the end, the vancouver complaints choir performed and it was glorious! i loved the kind of complaints veda hille collected to represent the kinds of things vancouver people complain about: cars vs bikes, no beer in the grocery store and umbrella etiquette.
and it reminds me of helsinki which i spent one day in last summer. i guess theirs was the second ever complaints choir. anyways, when i was there, i was excited to find one place with raw/living foods - vegetaari. i went 2x the one day i was there and told the lady i was from vancouver and was excited to check out her place. she said beautiful things to me that of course i can't remember at the moment. but i can't help but relate beautiful food to beautiful people and beautiful love all around.

so... i may be back home and a bit restless for my next adventure (and seemingly in a rambling random mood today?), but there are plenty of exciting and inspiring things happening in my own city to keep me occupied for awhile.
thank you, vancouver.

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 2 (first full day)

so... the day starts off with a drink from a young coconut, yoga and breakfast!



so i had chia cereal every morning in korea but this was better as the chia was soaked perhaps overnight (that makes it so much more gelatinous) with maybe some coconut milk and banana blended in and blueberries, strawberries and banana chunks mixed in. yummy!



had a kale juice with lunch and a green papaya salad with tomato canopies.

















and dinner started with starfruit juice and a thai salad featuring hibiscus, fennel and bok choy...














and sushi was the main course featuring rice made of cauliflower and a "salmon" sashimi made of carrot. i found the sashimi kind of bland but all in all, still exciting!













for dessert - banana surprise. blended frozen banana with nuts and blueberry coulis on top!