buddha-full! raw vegan delights on the north shore! YAY!

a fresh juices and smoothie bar opened up just west of lonsdale in north vancouver in september... it is called buddha-full and i'm quite excited about it! the first time i went, i was thinking there were some raw things to eat but they "just" (who am i to say "just" - this is so exciting regardless!) had vegan baked goods and awesome drinks... i had the vibrance-C (ginger, mango, orange juice, pineapple, banana) smoothie...

 the next time i went, i got the ultimate feel-good smoothie (i swear, maca and cacao can do me no wrong - they fix me right up!!!) - the tall totem. i somehow forgot to take a photo of it. but then i took a raw cheesecake with raspberry coulis to go with me on the seabus. wow, does something like this make the cattle crossing (er, seabus journey) so decadent!

and now finally, today i got to go again! i had a ganesha's greens (with E3 live boost) juice and the raw veggie burger. it was so hard not gulping this down in quick bites. so delicious! so many flavours and textures!

 and well, it was hard thinking of when i would get to go again to try the raw pizza so i ordered it as well! hehe. a slightly chewy cracker of a crust with a yummy tomato sauce and cauliflower, kale, mushrooms, red pepper and cheeze.

this place has lots going on... i know there is a knitting club tuesday nights and they are having a halloween party. they host potlucks and art and music and massage and nutrition advice... i hope this place continues to grow!
<3

cascada farallas... day 10... early morning... last bites of bliss...

it was super sweet... they prepared some papaya and pineapple for me to eat in the morning. i still remember me saying the night before, "i cannot eat the cereal in the morning. i will not eat the cereal in the morning". um, so yah, i was not looking forward to the 3.5 hours on the road to the airport and no yummy foods. oh yah, when we got to the airport, it was so hard to find ANYTHING fresh. i saw one apple at one of the food court places but by the time i got to the front of the line, it was gone! it was so sad. i had dehydrated bananas and pineapple with me but there's only so much of that i can eat. ANYWAYS... i am drooling now thinking of eating this papaya and pineapple again. i never liked papaya, in canada or mexico or hawaii or wherever, until i came to costa rica...

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 9 (last full day! so hard to leave!)

last fruit platter breakfast... sigh!!!

 last lunch on the beach! some sort of creamy dressing on salad with pumpkin seeds...

 dinner is introduced with squash soup...

 and ooh... raw pad thai? fun!!!

 coconut tart bliss for dessert!!!

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 8

i remember asking the night before if i could have the chia cereal again. and the next breakfast, there it was! i really gotta try and replicate this coconut banana creamy goodness. cinnamon and blueberries also make it so amazing! even after eating chia cereal for at least 3 weeks of breakfasts in korea ^_^













lunch on the beach! salad with a sesame papaya (?) dressing. yummy!













cauliflower soup with cracker to start off dinner right....













eggplant canneloni with a walnut hemp portobello pate. YES.













turkish delight for dessert that really didn't resemble turkish delight at all but no bigs. definitely better than the durian creme but not as great as the sorbet or chocolates! this had apricot, sesame, coconut and cacao...

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 7

the breakfast fruit platter... so fun eating fresh rambutan (the spiky fruit) though it seems you don't get much per fruit - you gotta squish out the jelly-ish stuff and eat around the pit. i love the dried stuff too. so sweet and awesome!












lunch... coleslaw with cabbages and pepper... so lovely to be eating at the beach...














dinner started with a (virgin) pina colada and avocado dim sum! so awesome. in seaweed and served with a peanut sauce.













the main course was a curry crepe. i can't wait to be making my own crepes and wraps.













okay and if i remember correctly, this is the tiramisu parfait that had durian "mascarpone". nothing could disguise that durian taste! and the "chocolate cookies" in the parfait tasted like fruit cake. bah. and really the only thing i liked in this thing was the banana. and i think there was some coconut in there somewhere. my friend couldn't finish hers and declined saving it for the morning. i hated not being keen to finish hers like i would normally be. i wonder if i will ever like durian...

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 6

um so i don't know what is taking me so long to update this blog thing. i really have to finish my food vacation photo uploading though. this is getting ridiculous.
so this is my sunday in costa rica back in august...
i had a fruit platter (or 2) for breakfast. which i most commonly did. and i've actually started really enjoying just eating fruit in the mornings now. even with more wintery weather coming. i don't feel any different or more hungry if i only eat fruit or if i do a maca cacao banana smoothie or chia cereal or whatever. and i feel best when i eat a bunch of different fruit - first thing on my way to the bus, when i get to work and when i have a break in the morning... it's just great. what would be greater though is if i was in costa, eating all the amazing fruit there every morning... sigh...













lunch was starfruit juice and a zucchini pesto! YAH!!!

















dinner started with zucchini soup...













and the main dish was a durian quiche. the crust was a carrot/zucchini/flax creation. i appreciated the other flavours and textures but i find it really hard to get into the durian taste. the creaminess was AMAZING but gah, i don't like the flavour and it's so hard to hide! it's so good for you but still...












dessert was a mango strawberry torte (cheesecake). YES!