Tried and tested, orange marinated mushroom “meatballs” with absolutely meaty-mouthfeel will rock anyone’s raw world. Have it with zuchinni spaghetti or make sauce from the marinade to go with zoodles (zuchinni noodles).

2 cups Fresh Shitake or Portobello Mushroom (you can mix dried shitake in if you like)

1/3 cup Raw Pecan Nuts

1/2 cup Orange Juice

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 bunch Fresh Basil

1/2 bunch Fresh Sage

1 Tablespoon Raw Agave Nectar

1/3 cup Tamari or Nama Shoyu

5-6 Dried or Fresh Chillis

1/5 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 cup Filtered Water

Blend everything except the mushrooms and pecans in a blender till smooth. Chop mushrooms into chunks, put them in a deep bowl. Pour the blended marinate over the mushrooms, letting them soak for 4-5 hours.

Cantaloupes may look all gaudy and at most funky in a outlandish sort of way but they really have a pristine lil’ heart. Please don’t judge him by appearance alone,  as you can see he’s quite sensitive and tender inside.

With some alterations that is.

I surgically removed his insides and replaced it with 10 fleshy pitted lychees and a cluster of organic chia seeds.

This is my finest albeit monstrous creation capable of rivaling Shelly’s Frankenstein anytime of the day.Wait… No, any fraction of any minute any day.

Bought  a load of this stuff- Organic Black Chia seeds today. I am not too familiar with this touted superfood but it looks like a better off cousin of the sesame seed and it claims to be “Nature’s Richest Natural Source of Omega 3-EFAs and fibre. They come in black and white. Me being me, I went for black.

To quote the back of the package, “Used as an energy food for centuries, Chia has been rediscovered today as a “functional food” (food that promote health and prevent diease). Chia seeds are gluten-free (celiacs rejoyce!) , rich in antioxidants and contain 18 amino acids, three times more iron than spinach, six times more calcium than milk and fifteen times more magnesium than broccoli.”

photo credits: tunachilli

There’s a big food fight going on between the Macrobiotic and the Raw community over differences in their health disciplines- with the Raw foodists emphasizing on beneficial ‘live’ enzymes and the Japanese derived health system- the Macrobiotics emphasizing on the balance of yin and yang.

Macrobiotics also has roots in Chinese medical science. In Chinese traditional medicine, there are 4 different body types:

TAI YANG (Greater Yang): Large, beefy, red-faced, over-developed upper body, under developed lower body

SHAO YANG (Lesser Yang): Healthy mesomorphic, neither fat nor thin, normal muscle tone

Here’s the Today’s Mothers’ Day! Hearts to all mothers out there! (as well as to everyone playing the role of mom)

Of all the significant memorial days, Mothers’ Day holds the most meaning to me. 9 months of labour  must be the hardest thing to endure, not to mention all the labour and love that go towards rising a child from birth to adulthood. All mothers’ rock! Hail all mamas! All Mothers’ Banzai!!!

I love spaghetti. It’s like one of the fun-est stuff to eat. Especially how the Italians do it, twirling fat strands round and round the fork. Twirl and whirl- the perfect reason why kids and adult kids MUST play with their food.

Here’s a raw version of one of the most beloved dish in the world, minus the calories, plus all the goodness!

Zucchini Spaghetti

1 large Zucchini  julienned

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tomatoes

1  tablespoons of Italian Herb Blend (dried or fresh)

1 Bay leaf

Soups are a lovely thing to have, as a nice side dish or simply by itself. Everyone needs some slurppable comfort sometimes. Here’s a simple low-fat yet delectably creamy sweet soup.

Mr. Apple saw a bunch of cute dates on the kitchen counter, couldn’t decide who was the cutest, so he went ahead and dated them all. Dates are pretty okay with sharing one guy. These honeys are just in for the money anyways.

Mr. Apple can be such a play boy sometimes.

Mr. Apple Dates Dates Creamy Soup

1 Apple

6-7 Dried Dates

Anyone with UTI knows what a pain this illness is. You lose control over your bladder muscles and you trickle pee instead of having a nice waterfall flush. It is even worse if it isn’t you having the UTI, (we actually don’t mind our own pee that much) but someone else’s. Like your CAT. What a pain in the urethra. Ever tried giving meds to your cat? It’s like asking your relatives to lend you money. They will be reluctant at first but then you gag them into submission.  Did I say gag? Er.. I mean beg.

Summer= Ice Cream

What a simple equation. So is this recipe!

1 Avocado

5-6 Dried Figs

1/2 cup almonds (pre-soaked) or 1 banana

1 teaspoon Arrowroot Powder

2 tablespoons Agave Nectar

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

2/3 cups filtered water

Blend it, freeze it. 1/2 hour later, take it out blend it (by whisk or blender) and shove it back into the freezer. Do this in 1/2 hour intervals for 2-3 more times to break up ice crystals. And then freeze for another 4 hours. Garnish with mint leaves or sliced dried figs.

Haphazard Naked Salad #2 and mizu blue earrings- Thanks Laney!

Being overly sentimental might be deemed as a flaw, but my whole being seem to embrace it, even thrive on it. Can I ever practice detachment like the Zen monks and DADA artists have mastered so marvelously?

Things I hold too dearly, I crush and destroy. Like the cherished house lantern made of casually painted clay. It broke into pieces one day, with an accidental slip. I cried then but now I realized it was a blessing in disguise.

I am learning to let go, to let things fall apart.