My daughter Laurel is a raw foods chef. She emphasizes the benefits of eating raw foods - increased energy levels, decreased illness and disease, healthier skin, and successful weight loss. She says that cooking food at high temperatures destroys beneficial enzymes and nutrients that promote health. I've known this for quite awhile, but then....I love to grill, bake, fry, steam, and generally mangle anything I can get my hands on! It is the 'play' that makes food-handling fun.
However, it is always fun to see what Laurel is up to. She showed me stuff in her pantry and refrigerator, and I enjoyed looking at all her spices, grains, and dehydrated foods. Everything was carefully labeled and organized - so typical of a professional chef.
Laurel showed how to prepare and dehydrate garden-fresh kale (a favorite of mine) by coating the leaves with a ground cashew-spice blend, then dehydrating the leaves.
The results are dried kale chips with curried spices: Garam masala, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, raw ginger, cumin, parsley, onion and garlic - many of my favorite combinations.Laurel shops organic, raw, whole foods. She had packages of raw granola made with coconut, almonds, pumpkin seeds, figs, raw agave, vanilla bean and cinnamon. Brazil nuts can be added, and the contents are put in a blender with spring water to make Brazil Nut Milk. She had young coconuts, de-husked by the grocier. She drinks the coconut water.
Ruhiyyih and I drove up on Saturday to visit, and some of Ruhiyyih's friends joined us.
It was 'An Afternoon with the Girls' - Veronica and Renee and their girls, Zoie and London. Better photos of the afternoon are here, in our Flickr account... Blogger doesn't upload any of the 'retouching' offered in Picassa, so these are dark.
It was great seeing Ruhiyyih, to have morning coffee together before she headed back to Richland.Laurel said it would be 'potluck', which is her way (I think) of saying she's not inclined to cook! She served salmon, however, and
I brought the rest - a rice/mape bean combo; hummus and rolls; spicy Sambar; yam poriyal; and a variety of garden greens.
