Pics of my Calgary Rawkin Revel

[Carmella]

Hi everyone,

Just got back from an amazing 4 days in Calgary, giving an informal raw food prep class to Don's sister,Sandy, and her daughter, Jaime. Words come short to express how incredible and truly magical it was! It's been an intense few days, to say the least! I never thought we'd manage to make everything on my list but we did, except for a couple of salads. The setting was beautiful, the atmosphere was relaxed and fun, and to top it all up, the sun kept shining through, straight down to our food prep area! :) Not to mention that the food was out of this world. I feel so blessed for this wonderful experience of sharing about raw. I'm planning on giving a detailed account on my blog but since fairygirl was asking about seeing my pics as she is leaving soon for her trip, I thought I'd post some of the pics here and share them with you guys.

OK, here goes...

Day 1:

-Dinner Menu: Ceasar Salad, Vanessa Sherwood's Carrot and Parsnip Pasta with Cilantro Pesto, Marinated Broccoli and Portobellos to put on top, and Alissa's Raviolis

-The Boutenkos' Green Spinach Soup

Before going to bed, we loaded up the dehydrator with:

-Onion Bread

- And the Zucchini Roll-Ups from the Holiday Celebration ebook

[Veganforlife]

Beautiful!
Very nice!!!

[Ama]

Oh Carmella... everything looks so yummy. What did Sandy and Jaime think of everything? Sounds delicious. I just finished off the last of my onion bread, I can't seem to keep it more than 2 days... too good. I'm ready to make more zucchini roll-ups... YUM! I'll have to try the spinach soup, don't think I've had that one yet.

[luna99]

delish! wish I could have been there!

[Carmella]

OK, Day 2 is when the Raw Blitz really began.

Gotta get some fuel first... Our carrot, beet, apple, celery, ginger juice

- Alissa's falafels getting ready to go in the dehydrator

- Alissa's Falafels and Raw Guru's Veggie Burgers

- Charmoula, a middle eastern seasoned mayo

- Zucchini Hummus

- Alissa's Cucumber Sauce

- Spinach, Pear and Pecan Salad (Renee Loux)

- Cauliflower Tabouli from Raw Pleasure Australia's free ebook

-Maraw's wonderful Spinach and Herb Soup

-The full Dinner Menu. You can also see some onion bread and whole Portobellos that we marinated and dehydrated to use as burger buns.

Pfhew! As you can guess, we were pretty wiped but boy, what a feast we had!

Day 3 and 4 coming up soon...

[lil fairy z girl]

wow this food looks delicious :)

best wishes
sal
~*~*~*

[Raw Jewelrylady]

Carmella, what a beautiful array of culinary delights!

Sounds like you had a great time. Isn't it fun to share Raw with those you love?

thanks for posting the pics.. :)
Lana

[fairygirl]

OOooooh Carmella!

You outdid yourself girlie! The food looks absolutely FABULOUS!
Wish i had been there. I bet Sandy and Jamie loved the food eh?

I cant wait for September when you and i can finally UNcook together :D

i appreciate you posting the pics before i go, thanks a bunch!

[Apasaraw]

Carmella it all looks so gorgeous! I'll bet it tasted even better especially since you were with friends...your blog is looking great too. I went there last night..it's super!

[trinity082482]

When am I coming over? :)
I'd eat it all :p

[Carmella]

Thanks gals!

Sandy and Jaime kept raving about the food. Bruce wasn't too sure (LOL) but at least, he tried pretty much everything. (He's a real meat and potato guy.) Sandy just LOVES preparing food so we had a real blast. We kept talking about it all day and still didn't get tired of it! :D

Day 3 was the most intense as we were expecting company for dinner. I got up early so as not to feel pressured and it went pretty smooth. During the afternoon, as I was taking a little break, I thought I'd check my emails. Imagine my surprise when I saw I had a message from Diana Stovelaar (the raw chef who prepared the 2 free Holiday ebooks for Fred Patenaude). Somehow, she "happened" to stumble on my blog and saw that I was coming to Calgary! Isn't the Internet amazing? So I wrote back and invited her to our dinner party that nite. She thought at first she couldn't make it but she and her partner Manu did come around 8pm. They are both beautiful, vibrant people and we had an amazing connection. They kept raving about the food and saying I should write an ebook...LOL Everybody else loved the food too. It was their first time eating raw and never dreamed that it could taste so good! he he! Anyway, this was an evening I'll always remember.

We served Cilantro Pesto Mushies in the living room, while waiting for one of our guests. They also munched on the Zucchini Roll ups and Savory Nori Snacks that we had prepared the day before. Then we moved to the table and had the Boutenkos' Rawsian Borscht. After that, everybody could help themselves buffet-style to 2 kinds of pizzas, raviolis and lasagna. We also had Caesar salad as there was lots of left-over dressing from Wed.

For dessert, we served my Tropical Cheesecake topped with strawberry sauce, RP's brownies and Maraw's Chocolate-dipped Date Truffles.

WE WERE SOOOOOOOOOO STUFFED! But man, was it ever delicious!

OK, here are the pics...

-Pesto Mushies before dehydrator
-Pesto Pizza
-Tomato, 'Cheddar Cheese' and Pineapple Pizza
-My Luscious Lasagna
-Alissa's Raviolis
-Brownies and Choc. Date Truffles
-Tropical Cheesecake before and after the pineapple

[PixieLed]

That's so awesome Carmella. You do need to write an ebook. ;)

I love your pictures, you're making me salivate. :D It sounds like a nice trip too!

[Carmella]

Day 4 was our final day and we took it a little easy...esp after yesterday's blitz. We loaded up the dehydrator with a bunch of sweet treats. Sandy was excited about making raw cookies as her DH brings the SAD kind every day for his lunch.

It was a little cloudy that morning but by the time we finished with our 'unbaking', the weather was just gorgeous so we went for a nice walk in one of Calgary's parks.

Then Sandy and Bruce were off to a SAD dinner party, although Sandy didn't feel like going at all but thought she couldn't cancel. So it was just me and Jaime for dinner. We had a lovely time, slowly preparing our Asian meal. Again, she took lots of pics. She's a professional photographer and has a real eye for presentation. It's thanks to her if we were able to take such beautiful photos of our raw creations.

-Maraw's Lemon Chewies (we also made the Chocolate ones but they didn't look as good as they tasted...:D )

-Maraw's Nut Crumbles

-Renee L. Underkoffler's Caramel Coconut Cookies

-Brigitte Mars' Berry Good Scones

-Nut crumbles (top), Scones (middle) and Caramel Coconut Cookies

-By the time we finished putting everything in the dehydrator and were ready for our green smoothie, the sun was shining! Yay!

-Ahhhhhh! Bliss! What better way to relax after all this uncooking...

-My Sunny Sushis posing

-Our Thai Feast: Zucchini and Jicama Noodles with my Pad Thai Sauce, Thai Coconut Soup from the Holiday Celebration ebook, left-over Cucumber Dressing and Salad, and Sushi. Yummy!

-And last but not least, my ChocoNut Bliss Crepes with left-over sauce from Maraw's Truffles... Heavenly!

[Apasaraw]

Professional food stylist caliber photos! WOW!

Thanks for sharing this Carmella...it's really inspiring me...

[trinity082482]

How do u manage to eat all that food? :eek:

hehehe delicious! :D

[Rawkinlocs]

Wow what a spread! Looks great!

[moonstone523]

This food looks amazing.

Moonstone :D

[lil fairy z girl]

the food looks wonderful. i wish i could taste some of this :)

sal
~*~*~*

[Carmella]

Thanks! The food really was wonderful AND plentiful! he he! I could have never made it without their help though. We were a good uncooking team.

A lot of the stuff we froze so they're stocked up for a while. Amazingly, we went through most of the 'unfreezable' stuff. I also took some left-overs for lunch for the 9 hour trek back to BC... Oh yeah, we had 4 ziplocs full of cookies and I suggested they freeze some but Sandy insisted that they'd go through them no problem! LOL

[maraw]

What a beautiful spread. I know you must be exhausted, but also very pleased with introducing your family to such delicious food. Oh, how I would have loved to be a mouse in the corner begging for crumbs! ;)

The zucchini roll-ups look and sound amazing. I will have to try those some day soon.

Thanks again for sharing your wonderful weekend with us.

[faith4u]

Carmella,

What book did your zucchini roll ups come from? They look really good. I would love to make them.

[star1919]

Wow... Wow... Wow... What beautiful food! Thanks for sharing! :D

[Carmella]

You're all SOOOOOOOO welcome! The best part about it all is sharing!:D

Maraw,
Yep, I definitely don't feel like doing too much uncooking these days...Thank God for freezers! LOL But you're right, what a feeling to be sharing something so beautiful, tasty and good for you as raw food! There was just so much I wanted to show them and the amazing thing is that I managed to nearly make it all! It speaks of how it flowed and what great assistants they were... Actually, it's so easy when someone is as passionate about raw as they were. I feel so blessed!

faith4u,
The zucchini roll ups are just fantastic! Great as appetizers or snacks. The original recipe is in the gorgeous Holiday ebook published last month by Nomi Shannon and Sheryl Duruz (who's actually a member of this forum). However, I just got the good news that Nomi and Sheryl are giving me permission to post the recipe and a few of their stunning pics on my blog! Yay!

fairygirl,
I'm glad you were an incentive to post these up. Now that most of the photo editing is done, I can focus on the writing part for my blog... I'm hoping to post as many of the recipes as possible, as soon as I get the ok from the different raw chefs. So far so good though! :)

I know you're on your way very very soon for this much awaited trip. Have a wonderful journey girl! Can't wait to uncook up a storm with you next fall! Who knows, I might even go down to the States with you if you're driving and are willing to pick me up on the way... :p

Oh and Trinity, you KNOW you're welcome anytime! LOL

[fairygirl]

Carmella, OMG you amaze me girl! It looks sooo darn amazing. I hope that Sandy and Jamie realize how fortunate they are to have had you come to their house and do this with them. its wonderful.

And thank you for posting these so fast, im so happy to see them before leaving (but of course i will be in touch). Sweeet!!! we can go to Cali together!
take care and keep up all that great food prep *hugs*

[Lady Green Jeans]

Carmella,

Amazing! I so wanted to reach into your pictures and take a serving or two. Thank you for posting your wonderful food pics. What an awsome time you had.

[Carmella]

Have a wonderful journey fairygirl! Oh, and remember to have a few bites of tropical fruits for me! :D

It would be so cool to go to Cal together... The Rawsome Sisters on the Road! he he

Stay in touch!

Thanks Lady Green Jeans,

I feel so blessed for this incredible experience. It was so much fun! I've heard from Sandy and Jaime and they've already started to get creative with raw. Yay!

[honeybee joy]

WOW! I am impressed! You have such beautiful food! It's making me hungry!!!

[lafsalot]

OMG!!!!!! I only wish I could have been there - everything looks delish. ~ Cathy

[Little Mango]

Carmella, I just wanted to say that /i always love to see your creations! You can just tell how much love and attention you put into these recipes.....and you are incredibly inspiring also!! Thank you!









oh.....and you always make me so hungry too!!:o

[Carmella]

What an awesome way to begin my day! Thanks gals!

Little Mango,
Creating raw food is like a meditation for me. So cool that it actually transpires through the computer screen! lol

[Lay-Lay]

Beautiful spread! How wonderful!

[JEN]

Wow!! Ive died and gone to RAW Heaven!!! Your food looks delicious!!

[Eilene]

Help me...I want a taste of everything right now!!! It all looks fabulous!