hurrah for cozy dinners at the dinner table!

when is the last time you ate at a table in your home? for paul and i, it was last night! after what seems like months! and we vow to do it way more often. but a big push to actually sit down for dinner is to make a dinner worth sitting down for (rather than a quick rice and veg that we sit on the couch with), which last night was roasted butternut squash, raw chili, ginger garlic coleslaw, edamame quinoa and kombucha (grapefruit sage is my absolute favourite!) with jodie and janna!

the butternut squash was inspired by a recipe i saw in alive magazine but as usual for me and recipes, i didn't quite follow it. what i did was bake the butternut squash and then blend it with about 2 tablespooons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of earth balance and 2 tablespoons of dijon and a palm-full of fresh sage and a pinch of sea salt and a small nub of ginger. then i baked it at 400 F for about 30 minutes and then i broiled it at a bit higher to brown a bit of the top because i hadn't added anything (like cheese, like the recipe had suggested). it was smooth like baby food and i liked having it mixed with the other dishes, like janna's yummy quinoa, for texture purposes. it was also nice for a "sweet" change from my garlic-heavy chili and slaw.
the chili is my ever-faithful matthew kenney one (his everyday raw book is worth buying just for that recipe, i swear!) and i had made a raw caesar-ish dressing earlier that day that we used like a sour cream on top (delicious! it was a blend of cashews and water and lemon juice and ACV and sage and dulse and tahini and olive oil and braggs) and the slaw was inspired heavily by ani phyo's chinese chickenless salad (page 161 of raw food essentials, another great book to have around). i did a blend of braggs and ACV and garlic and ginger and olive oil and tahini and maple syrup. paul told me today when he pulled out the leftovers that it really needed some nuts on top which i agreed and the original recipe had called for that.
having time off right now affords me the luxury to relax and take time to make food and i hope this experience influences my working days as well so that i get into the habit of coming home from work and sitting down at the table for dinner after making more inspiring meals with paul. ^_^

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 12

breakfast... the mandarins were cut in half for whatever reason (to prevent us from sneaking them into our backpacks?). i had a container with me so i snuck some out, along with the cut persimmons they put out later. this was soooo great to have later in the morning! i had some more of the hemp buckwheat granola stuff with almond milk and some of the regular salad... i brought the remains of my box of quinoa to the head chef and managed to explain how to make it (through an interpreter) and it seemed he would bring me out some for lunch so i was excited for something new.

 well, an even bigger surprise at lunch was having a bowl put aside for me with spaghetti and sauce without the meat! i had the same meal as everyone else! not raw but hurrah for vegan! plus, the quinoa was made too! so i had some of that with the leftover sauce. i wasn't even hungry at dinner.

 but i couldn't resist eating the rest of the quinoa. and some boiled beyond belief cabbage. gross. but it was something different. i even found a strip of beet in my salad. um, not so inspiring. i tried some of my lydia's organics italian crackers (that i found in seattle) and they were a lot more inspiring!

heart + seoul

i only get 2 days in seoul this trip and today was one of them. eek!

day started in the school cafeteria... and i tried my room-made quinoa with chickpea miso and hemp seeds atop of the salad with *roasted* seaweed and lovely oranges on the side!

 okay and i didn't get a photo of just my roasted veggie burger at the 'honest' loving hut restaurant in itaewon. oops. well it's not raw either. but vegan amazingness!
me and darren met mipa from alien's day out at veggie holic bakery which was rad!
and then for dinner i had a veggie burrito plus avocado sans cheese and sour cream at dos tacos in hongdae. also not raw at all but mighty delicious!