Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour East Coast Adventures - New York State Part II

I was telling you how much being on the road has been a major adjustment for us. (You can read my first account of our US adventures here). Just to give you an idea, we've given 3 classes and attended 2 potlucks in 8 days! Phfew! Talk about shifting gears! If you'd told me that only a couple of months ago, I probably wouldn't have believed you! Amazingly, we've been able to take it pretty much in stride. It took a while to get our sea legs but we're getting better at pacing ourselves and adjusting to this new hundred miles (not kilometers! lol) an hour flow.

Checking Out The Raw Scene in Syracuse

We zoomed up to the Syracuse area one day in order to meet Carrie - with whom I'd been emailing back and forth for a while - and in order to attend a Raw Meet-Up. Don and I arrived at Carrie's home early afternoon so that we'd have some time to connect and to show her how to make kombucha tea. Actually, on a side note, later that evening we tried GT's kombucha which I'd been reading raving reviews about for ages. In our humble opinion, it's nowhere as delicious as our homemade brew. ;-)

Carrie, her husband Peter and their little guy Andrew.

After sharing a delicious raw meal (Russell's Spinach & Wild Mushroom Quiche filling on zucchini pasta and salad), we left for that evening's potluck which was being held at Speedy Greens in Cicero, NY. Believe it or not, it was only the second raw potluck Don and I have ever taken part in! We thoroughly enjoyed tasting all the different dishes that people brought along: onion bread, bruschetta pasta, bell pepper strips and salsa, watermelon soup, kale chips, pumpkin squares, brownies... Strange that food tastes soooooo much better when someone else has prepared it, hey! ;-)


It was the first time that the members of the local Raw Meet Up were getting together and a dozen people attended. As you know, support is soooooo key, especially when it comes to something so not mainstream as eating raw foods.


Carrie had arranged for us to stay at Cathy's, the owner of Speedy Greens. After driving around in the dark for a while (thank goodness we had a guide!), we came to an unexpected sight; Cathy and her partner Michael live in a gorgeous log house that they have completely designed. From composting toilets, to poured concrete counter tops, to radiant heaters, to an electromagnetic stove... A green dream home!

Wood everywhere you look!

Although Cathy and Michael aren't really into raw, the next morning they prepared us a breakfast of chopped fresh fruits, dried fruits, almonds and sunflower seeds. How thoughtful! We had fun swapping stories and actually realized that we shared lots of common interests. We would have liked to stay and connect longer with them, but we had to head back towards Ithaca in order to get ready for Sunday's uncooking class.

SRK Live in Ithaca
The class was held at Tanya and Claire's spanking new raw commercial kitchen, and our timing couldn't have been better as it was the very first day of it going operational. Tanya and Claire recently took over an already existing raw company called Good Stuff by Mom & Me. We had the opportunity to sample several of their awesome products which got me really excited about their new venture: Pecan Pie Bars (my personal fave!), Sweet Almond Granola, Hazelnut Fudge, Fig Bars, Pecan Sandie, Walnut Fudge Brownie, and the list goes on... Oh, and they even have some raw breads that I am told are to LIVE for! You guys just HAVE to drop by their site and check out their yummy goodies!

With the lovely Tanya and Claire of Good Stuff by Mom & Me.

One lucky Don! ;-)

I was telling folks at the Meet-Up in Syracuse how I hadn't had a single cold since going raw almost 9 years ago. Ha ha Wouldn't you know it, I started to get a sore throat a couple of days later! No doubt that my body was protesting about my recent lack of sleep and going a little overboard at a Thai restaurant in Ithaca. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I could hardly speak but thankfully my voice was back in time for me to teach the class. ;-)

As you can see, I had a captivated audience of future little raw chefs. They were so attentive and oh-so-cute.

Don preparing food for people to sample.

Everything was kid approved which is totally cool in my book!

Before the class began, Claire's son had asked about the funny looking gadget I had sitting on the table (the spiral slicer). When I told him it was to make zucchini noodles, he immediately offered his help. I took him to his word, and later invited him to join Don. Next thing you knew, all the kids were lining up in order to get noodling too! hehe

Potluck At the EcoVillage

The day after the class we arranged a last minute potluck at the EcoVillage; a cool co-housing community that currently includes two 30-home neighborhoods, FROG and SONG. There is also an organic CSA vegetable farm, an organic CSA/U-Pick berry farm, community kitchens, a neighborhood root cellar, community gardens and varied natural areas.

With all that was going on Sunday, we hadn't really had a chance to connect properly with Tanya and Claire, so it was nice to have an opportunity to spend more time together. A funny little anecdote... I complimented Tanya on the delicious dressing she used to toss her veggie salad with and asked her for the recipe. Laughing, she replied that it was actually the almonnaise that I'd demoed the day before! lol Like I said, food tastes so differently when prepped by someone else. ;-)

My head was still feeling pretty stuffy on the day of the potluck so I completely forgot to take pics of the food. Ooops! But I did have the wit to take a little walk around the Village before night falls in order to take a few shots.

The EcoVillage has a lovely view over Ithaca.

Notice the solar panels?

In addition to the community gardens, several homes also have their own.

Our Daily Dose of Green and Fresh Air
In spite of all the busy-ness since our arrival in the States, we've managed to go for walks almost every day; a wonderful way to explore the local scenery. One great thing about heading south is that trees have retained more of their leaves due to the warmer weather. An extra long Autumn. Lucky us!

Walking around Groton.

While visiting Carrie, we went for a walk at the nearby Chittenango State Park. Simply gorgeous! We were even blessed with the sight of a bald eagle flying right above our heads.

Chittenango Falls

We'd been told to make sure to check out the famous gorges around Ithaca, so one afternoon Don and I went to Treman State Park, just outside town. Oh man, what a feast for the eyes!

Kyky had a great ol' time!


Unfortunately, the photos aren't doing that good a job at capturing how majestic the gorges are and how magical it is.

Here you can get a sense of the ginormous cliffs. See the little black and white smudge in the water? That's Kylo going for a dip. ;-)

Some of the many waterfalls we encounter along the path.

Greeted by vibrant fall colors in the distance.

And Now A Little Surprise...

Lisa and Michael (our adopted family which I introduced you to in my last post) have a nifty new gadget called a Flip that makes high definition videos. That thing is almost smaller than my camera (wow!) and allowed us to capture moments of our time in the Ithaca area.

I thought you guys might enjoy watching little extracts. Just bare in mind that this is my first time playing editor and that the class was held in a big and nearly empty space so the sound isn't very good. Ah well! At least it will give you an idea of what we're like "live" and "in the flesh". ;-)

What Next?
We are blown away by all the beautiful people that we've encountered on our path so far, and how smoothly it is all unfolding. What a promising way to begin our journey across the US! It's so interesting to watch our itinerary come together; canceled stop here, new possibility opening there...

Right now we're in Pennsylvania, taking a much welcomed break, and will be headed for Washington, DC next week. At this point, we have arranged to stay with friends who have a teeny apartment for a couple of days, but we'll be needing a different place for the remaining time in DC. If any of you would be prepared to host us, please send me an email at:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Coming up next on our Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour...

- Washington, DC :

• Raw in a Flash class on Wednesday Nov. 11th at 6:30 pm
• Raw Desserts Made Easy class on Saturday Nov. 14th at 2 pm

For more info or to register, contact Sarah at threecrows@verizon.net

Other planned stops include:

- Melbourne, Florida: class during the week after Thanksgiving
- St. Augustine, Northern Florida : early December
- Nashville, TN (in the works)
- Houston, TX
- Austin, TX
- Patagonia, AZ
- Phoenix, AZ
- LA, CA
- Santa Barbara, CA
- San Francisco Bay area, CA
- Medford, OR
- Anacortes, WA
- Seattle, WA

We'll be having some kind of raw get together in most of those places, so drop me a line if you'd like to be kept posted. Also, if you live somewhere along the way and would like to hook up or even help put together an event, please send me an email to:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com

Looking forward to connecting with some of you!