a sad vitamix story... hopefully soon with a happy ending!

on april 18th, i was so excited as i got my delivery of vitamix replacement parts. i put everything together. my vitamix still did not work.
i finally called them on the 21st to ask and i was told i would be sent the stuff to be able to send my whole vitamix base to them to look at and make sure to fix. i am still waiting!
i hope i can talk to someone about it tomorrow. i hate that my broken vitamix isn't even on its way to being fixed right now! and i'm sure that waiting part is going to take awhile!!!
sigh!
*may 17th update: called and apparently they didn't have my apartment suite number! so i never got the FedEx slip. they emailed me the slip instead so my vitamix is finally on its way for servicing. fingers crossed i get it back in june!*
well, at least we have a magic bullet here. it's a bit more work but i can still get some yummy smoothies happening in it.

this smoothie is DELICIOUS. it's frozen banana, almond milk, some supergreens powder, fresh mint and lucuma powder. it tastes like how ice cream should taste! ^_^

p.s. in the last couple days, i have had 2 friends excitedly tell me they have bought their first vitamix! i hope i can visit them soon to get my extra smooth smoothie fix! ^_^ hehe

chocolate mousse in a glass

ok so maybe not the most INSPIRING photo of all time but how could i post without a photo?
anyways, after my flow class, i NEEDED a chocolate smoothie! but i was also down for experimenting. and what i have ended up with is the softest, most lightest (almost foamy!) pudding of a smoothie. i'm 'drinking' it with a spoon! heaven.
this is what i did and well, i'm not one for following recipes (or measuring) so strictly so the following is my best educated guess:
*half a frozen banana
*half an avocado
*1 cup almond milk
*2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
*1 tablespoon yacon syrup (i've been loving trying it in everything lately, trying to figure out exactly what i like about it. i'm so used to dates and maple syrup as a sweetener, this fruity sweetness is a nice switch!)
*a sprinkle of red maca powder (figure it can't hurt to combine some with that cacao)
*a sprinkle of lucuma powder (hmm, since i didn't have enough sweetness with the banana and yacon... haha)

i'm going to do my best to save some of this for paul to try when he gets home. i'm so curious for a second opinion!

bananas and chocolate!

i don't know what i would do without bananas. frozen for smoothies, smushed up with cacao bits and coconut for a snack, fruit on the run... they are just the best!

tonight paul was saying he wished he could dip his banana in chocolate, so, grateful for the inspiration, i started throwing things into the vitamix.

i put about 4 spoons of cacao powder, a heaping spoon of coconut oil, a heaping spoon of almond butter, a few hunza dates, a number of splashes of almond milk (had to keep adding because there wasn't really enough in the blender to mix things around - as it were, there are still some chunks of dates).... anyways... it was so good and i'm convinced this is my raw chocolate pudding recipe. and i'm definitely going to start making it on the regular!

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 15

breakfast... the last of my granola (sniff!), some pineapple and salad/*roasted* nori, ahem, kim (i am in korea and all, i should be practicing my minimal korean)...

 there was tofu at lunch and soy/onion/veg sauce so i went for it. oranges were a nice surprise! (snuck some for later) and i added some hemp hearts to my salad.

 bean sprouts and onion or garlic or something with carrot strips and the salad... this time with the rest of my package of hemp hearts and the end of my bag of croutons. apple cider vinegar to keep it from blowing away...

now that i'm approaching my last week (i leave in one week tomorrow morning!), i'm thinking of emptying my jars (olives, walnut butter, chickpea miso...) so i don't come back with half-used food. i'd rather keep things unopened or totally demolish them. so we'll see how it all works out...
i'm getting super excited to get a vitamix when i get home (i got some money for one for christmas/birthday) and start making some new foods at home! making food at home again (rather than on trays in the cafeteria or at the desk in my room) will be AMAZING.
seoul tomorrow! yay!!!

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 14

getting close to the end of my raw granola stuff. tomorrow is the last day of that! had it with almond milk, but of course, and the obligatory salad with *roasted* seaweed and brought the last of my homemade dehydrator ginger red onion flax crackers. by the time i got to breakfast this morning, one of the chefs was carting the oranges away! boo! they brought out persimmons right after which is great too of course. but it's exciting to switch up the fruit!

 lunch... okay this was the envy of every eye that spied my tray. one of the chefs prepared some of my brown rice and then they had what i think are perilla leaves steamed up and salad that i put apple cider vinegar and hemp seeds on. i rolled up some brown rice with the greens and some salad and dehydrated lemon ginger pumpkin seeds inside raw nori.

 oh yes! not perfect looking but oh so great!!!

 tonight i got another bowl of the brown rice but i was too lazy to make sushi so i just had the nori broken up on top (doesn't mix as easily as the roasted stuff but it was still a welcome taste). the salad was topped with the vinegar and hemp seeds again.

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 13

breakfast! the raw hemp granola and almond milk and salad and persimmons on the side! yay!

some green stuff on the side was exciting at lunch. also the banana because, oh yah, mashed it up again with cacao nibs. LOVE THIS. added hemp seed to my salad. had to eat a vega vibrance bar after this though. and some teriyaki sprouted almonds!

 dinner... my head chef friend made some of the organic brown rice i brought! hurrah! it was nice to have something warm, i have to admit. it tasted like oatmeal. but i was hungry and it worked MUCH better than the white rice they serve. i have been confusing the chef by not taking white rice (which is served at every meal)... it is vegan but to me, it is so pointless (and maybe even painful!) to eat it!
ooh anyways, i had salad too (duh) and splashed some apple cider vinegar on it with crumbs of raw bagels. drinking some chickpea miso as i write this... 3 days until seoul and 9 days until i leave for home!

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 11

breakfast... i had saved a banana from yesterday and couldn't resist mashing it up with cacao nibs like last night's lovely treat! there were oranges and well, salad! and today i thought i should open up the organic almond milk i brought and the goji hemp buckwheaties that i had bought back home at buddha-full. i found it a little bland until i got to the exciting golden berries but really, it was a nice comfort food in the morning. i was hungry by noon though which was a bummer and had to grab a larabar. i wish larabars were raw and organic but i love how simple the ingredients of them are! so really i should be making them myself!

 lunch - an orange i saved, some steamed greens of some sort with garlic salt and then i poured some dulse crumbs and spanish almond croutons from back home at organic lives. i am already regretting i only brought one bag of them with me this trip. i just have a few crumbs left for a iceberg lettuce salad in the very near future.

 dinner... it was a sad night tonight for me as everyone was buzzing about this squash dish that had cheese mixed all through it. i was happy there was cold (yet previously steamed) broccoli and i almost finished off my croutons (alongside dulse again) on the salad. i am so graetful for my bag of spirulina superchips which i managed to eat all of while typing on this here computer. i was so excited to see them at drive organics before i left as i have always ordered the bars from vegan essentials for these korea trips when i have time to wait for them to cross the border. well, a bag costs $10 in vancouver but online, it's $5.49 u.s. bleh. oh well, it was worth it! of course i didn't know i'd end up in seattle the day before i left for korea where i could get 2 bars for $4 at whole foods! ANYWAYS.. this is not a price comparison blog, i swear.

mon amie smoo thie

the other night i made the most delicious thing... and today i made it again but put it in a bowl as i didn't have a glass big enough...

this is, as patrick cleverly named, the 'mon amie' smoothie:
frozen persimMON
alMONd milk
cinnaMON
cardaMON

perfection!!!

oh, i put coconut on top in this bowl setting as it was kinda confusing to me eating out of a bowl. like it was icy pudding?