Autumn Harvests

It's been a crazily busy month, with my best friends wedding at the beginning of September, followed by a string of workshops, parties and work to occupy me since then! I adore September though; all the autumnal harvests appearing, the overlap of the late summer produce with the first autumn squashes, fruits and brassicas. It really is natures feasting time, with such abundance of goods with the cooling shorter days and feelings for denser foods and staying inside making food more! That's the way I am feeling at the moment... creating lots of new autumn recipes and preserving the gluts of fruits that are falling everywhere!

The week after Lucy's wedding, I catered for an alternative birthday party for a group of home educated children between the ages of 5-10. It was great fun, hard work but they all loved it were so into good wholesome food which is so inspiring to see. Most of them had been bought up with some raw-food influence in the family, so were used to eating raw cakes, sweets and crackers, though it was new to a few of them. They all got stuck in though, gathered blackberries from the hedgerows to decorate a cake I had bought, made some hula hoops for a hooping lesson in the garden, gathered wild edibles from the lanes and rolled their own cacao-truffles for their party bags. The day after was a 'yoga-in-the-yurt' day with Mandy, with the theme of 'Blissful balance' which was wonderful as always to be a part of and share with such lovely people. What made it even more special, was spending some time with Mandy and Monty dog afterwards, and jumping in the river with them for a refreshing post yoga swim! It was *cold*! But made us feel so alive after a gorgeous day, getting plenty of attention from shocked walkers by at our efforts, and nearly decapitated by a huge swan!

Sweet girls enjoying their delicious Live lunch full of Love

The Face Cake they decorated, with blackberries they picked

Lunch in the Yurt... Mushroom, broccoli and sundried tomato 'quiche'

Blackberry and raspberry layer cake

Me cutting cake for the hungry yogis!
Berry cake and Lime avocado pie

Post-yoga swim in the river with Monty!

This week, I have been house sitting for Lucy and Graham at their house in the city, looking after their crazy cat Bebop and three rabbits. It's amazing what a change of scenery and home can do for you, just little changes to get you out of your usual habits and make you do different things. I have been able to do some nice 'me' things this week; enjoy living close to town and see people walking past the window every day, have some cosy cat and movie time and be able to walk around to see friends! Yesterday, Mandy and I took a trip to London, for a girls day out at Tri-yoga to do a class with her teacher Claire Missingham. The plan was to go to the class, catch up with some yoga friends for lunch, explore a bit of London, then hit Saf restaurant for a gourmet raw dinner in Shorditch! I have been wanting to visit Saf for ages, and as Mandy is leaving the UK this year, it was a treat to us both to celebrate the wonderful workshops we have bought together and both our passion for good food..

The yoga was the hardest yoga class I have ever been in, but loved the challenge of it and was an experience to be in such a big class with alot of very strong and good-looking people! It wasn't until after the class, that I realised who the woman opposite me who I thought looked familiar was... I was sweating, stretching and chanting with Mel C from the spice girls! I felt quite star struck, and had to contain myself from going up to her and introducing myself as the sixth spice : ) I am often referred to as the spice girl as I work on a spice market and apparently always smell of spices! So after our hot yoga class, we had tea in a gorgeous tea room, with the g=biggest selection of teas I have ever seen on the walls to select from. I Got a slice of raw cake from a vegan cafe on our way to do some window shopping of the pricey shops of oxford circus. It's so cool how you can get raw-options at most veggie places in London. Getting the tube to Shorditch, we ended our yoga-gastronomy tour of London at the famous Saf botanical restaurant and coctail bar : ) It truly exceeded my expectations, and I ate the best meal out I have ever had. We had three courses, sharing a platter for starter, two mains, two desserts and two out of this world cocktails! If you are into raw foods, vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, foodie, cocktail connoisseur or love fine dining experiences, then this place is for you. I want to take all my friends and share the pleasure we got last night from such beautifully prepared food. The service was friendly, atmosphere relaxed, kitchen open and the food came not only beautifully presented, but really promptly too. By the we had to leave, we had both eaten three substantial courses and drinks, but felt amazing; and ready to go out and party if didn't have a train to catch! Next time.. it will defiantly be the prelude to a night out in London, and I will be sampling more of their ridiculously creative cocktails. Here's the pics of the heavenly Saf....

Mandy trying to decide whether to go for a 'guilty husband' or a Kentucky Love affair : )

Guilty Husbands got first shot... Rose and almond vodka, cacao, cherry dessert wine and champagne......

Our beautiful starter.. Cheese board with three different breads and crackers. Cashew cheeses in four flavours, red pepper flax crackers, barley bread and mixed seed crackers, with amazing dried tomatoes and red pepper dressing. Best nut cheese I have ever tasted!

Cashew cheese with herb stuffing and pink peppercorn crust

Mandy very happy about the scrummy pad thai.. courgette and carrot 'noodles' with a date and ginger dressing

Our other main dish was a sundried tomato 'quiche' made from a warm buckwheat base, caramelised onions and a cashew cheese topping. Yummmmmm

Desert time... The devilishly rich chocolate torte. I couldn't believe these deserts were raw. They were so much more solid and smooth than I have ever seen or made before, with out tasting oily. Pure decadence. Look at the ginger coulis hearts! Love on a plate...

Orange and cacao torte with ginger sauce. Utterly divine, but the richness of the dark choc torte won the battle of deserts. What a feast

Next week is my autumn harvest workshop at Amity Point cafe. It is the Autumn equinox on that day, so I will be talking about cleansing as it is the best time of year to go on a cleanse! Luckily for everyone on the workshop, all the food will be amazingly healthy, cleansing and full of life force to carry them through the seasonal turnover. It is the second of four monthly workshops I am running, using seasonal produce and a seasonal theme. This week I will be making a warm buckwheat and pear porridge, butternut squash soup, quiche, kale chips and a chai pumpkin pie! I love my workshops, and love that my attendees love them too! Mandy and I have our last raw-yoga day at Seamere next Saturday, which will be an Autumn equinox themed class and autumnal cleansing menu. Equinoxes are generally the optimal times to do some sort of cleanse. I like to them around spring and autumn, when the shifts from winter to summer and vice versa are most strong. On Autumn equinox, the days are becoming shorter and cooler and the yin energy is wanting us to become slower, complete projects and conserve energy ready for the winter months. The change of seasonal produce from cool watery fruits such as tomatoes and cucumbers, to earthy woody vegetables and heavier sweet tree fruits, tells us that we need to store more energy in our bodies for the cold months, slow down to digest our foods better and add heat to our foods to warm us from the inside. The equinox marks the start of Autumn, and the night of the equinox is when the day and night is of the same length. Equinox in latin means 'time of equal day and night', and after this, night will start to conquer day. It is said in traditional chinese medicine that autumn equinoxes affect the lungs and large intestine, so our bodies are detoxifying these areas at this time. Warm spices to keep the lungs clear are helpful, while staying off mucus forming foods like dairy and gluten would be highly beneficial. If you are able to do juice cleanse or colon cleanse using herbs or a fibre drink such as psylium and clay, it would help the colon rid itself of toxins from the large intestine and get ready for the increasing density of foods to come over the winter. Seasonal cleansing is all about preparing our bodies for the change of pace and nature, taking some time to reflect on the past three months and what you wish to see for the season ahead. Grief stored in the lungs will want to release now, and built of negative thoughts or emotions will signal the elimantive organs to begin the process of letting go. It is just as important during a cleanse to take time to reflect, meditate and breathe as it is to be mindful of what you take into your body. I will be taking this coming week of our autumn equinox to enjoy the cleansing process myself, and blog about that next time!

Enjoy the wonderful change of seasons and all that it brings. Love, let go and laugh!! x x x x