Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour Adventures - Florida Part III

Howdy guys!

Hope you're quickly recovering from the usual busy-ness of the Holidays! As for us, the last few days have been super low key, which has given me a chance to catch up on my blogging. (Yay!) I would have liked to bring closure to this year's adventures before moving on to the next, but Life had a different idea. (I couldn't even hook up to the local library's WiFi! Eeek!) Ah well, at least here's a good chunk of it... ;-)

Since leaving Stephanie’s place a few weeks ago (I'm beginning to lose track of time!), it seems that we’ve entered a new phase on our US travels; after a month of pretty much going from one home to another, we've started camping. It was a bit of an adjustment at first, but we’ve now found our stride. I'm the one scouting potential campgrounds and parks on the net - I guess you could say that it's part of my job as the designated navigator. ;-) (I've been using mostly this site and this site). Once on location, Don is in charge of setting up the tent and everything related to our temporary home while I start working on dinner. What a team, eh?

We’re actually enjoying being in our own energy and the much slower pace; a great opportunity to recharge our batteries and prepare for the busier and more demanding phases of our journey. The days are short (it’s starting to get dark by about 5:30) and we've found ourselves automatically adjusting to Nature’s rhythm. We’re usually in bed by 8pm and as a result, we also get up soon after the sunrise, which is way earlier than we’re used to. (In all of our years together, I can hardly remember starting our days before 9 am! hehe) I love breaks of continuity, though, as they force me to transform my reality as I know it and explore something entirely different and outside my usual routine.

Unless we’re changing location, our days are normally spent doing the Tibetan rites, walking, prepping food, resting and meditating. I've also found a way to work on my posts while being offline, which has made blogging on the road a possibility at all. Oh, and a good chunk of our time is spent in what seems like never ending unpacking and repacking of the van. Ah, the joys of camping! ;-)

We usually go 'back to civilization' every 2 or 3 days in order to pick up some groceries and catch up on our emails, etc.

Don relaxing with the furries on a cold, rainy day.

Each place where we stay is so unique! Here’s a brief overview of our time at various Florida parks…

Tomoka State Park, Ormond Beach
Tomoka State Park is the largest stand of old growth live oak in Eastern Florida. It is noted for its thick hammock of trees with arching limbs covered in Spanish moss, resurrection fern and green-fly orchids. Be-yu-ti-ful! We were one of the very few campers staying at this park, which was a bit puzzling as it has such a great location and several super clean bathroom facilities. In fact, it's America's first two-timer National Gold Medal Winner.

We've had a chance to observe how each campground has its own particular feeling and can have a very real impact on our mood. (Have you guys heard about astrogeography? Sure sounds fascinating!) However it's not a linear thing; although we felt very comfortable and at ease there. (I was so inspired that I kept running over to the laptop to jot down some notes! lol), Puss didn’t get to relax much. There probably were too many little critters running around outside the tent.

One of the great things about camping is that we have nature trails virtually in our backyard. Yay! The one at Tomoka Park was fairly short, but still very scenic. After crossing a forest of live oaks, sabal palm (which is Florida's state tree) and various local growth, we came upon an open area with a monument dedicated to an ancient Timucua Indian Chief.

With 12 miles of shoreline, the park's 2000 plus acres covers maritime hammock and estuarine salt marshes.

The shores of the Tomoka River.

During an evening walk, we had the pleasant surprise of seeing an orange tree. I was nearly jumping up and down with excitement and, of course, couldn't resist picking a couple. (Shhh! Don't tell anyone!) Although they smelled wonderful, the oranges were extremely tart, so perhaps they weren't quite ripe. It was still such a thrill!


When we left, the young lady at the desk told us about a scenic route to get to the A1A, the smaller road that hugs the coast. Wow, absolutely breath taking beauty! *sigh* A definite confirmation that we should try to avoid major highways in the future so as to get a better sense of an area's natural features.


Anastasia State Park, St-Augustine
St-Augustine is the oldest city in the entire nation. Its architecture, fort and narrow cobblestone streets reminded me a lot of Quebec City. (I actually found out that both cities were built only a few years apart.) We’d read positive reviews about the state park located just across the causeway on Anastasia Island. The campground, however, turned out to be a huge disappointment; it was overpriced, crowded and, to me, the landscape was not as spectacular as other parks we've stayed at. After specifically asking for a quiet and private site, we were placed right next to a shower building with its light shining straight into our tent at night. Great! And to make matters worse, a large group of people moved in next door for what was apparently intended as a 'campfire party'. They drank, laughed, talked loud and oh yes, even puked too for hours! Phfew! What a meditation that was for sure!


The weather in St-Augustine was also miserable which certainly didn't help our overall impression of the place. I was wearing like 5 layers and still couldn't warm up! We had considered attending a raw meet up at the Present Moment Café, but our mostly sleepless night combined with the promise of rain to come sent us on our way. Before leaving town, we popped by the Farmer's Market which happened to be held just a couple of driveways over. In spite of the light drizzle, there were artisans, bakers and organic farmers selling their wares. The Present Moment Cafe had a booth so we got to sample some of their products and chat with a nice fellow called Craig.

Local musicians gathered under the thick canopy.

By the time we left the market with several bagfuls of gorgeous fresh organic produce (yippee!), the rain had started in earnest. There's a saying in Florida that if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes or drive a few miles. However when we arrived in Jacksonville it was still pouring. The perfect excuse to stop by Shakti Life Kitchen!

Rawdez Vous At Shakti's
On our way to Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park we dropped by Shakti's in order to finally meet Eva Rawposa with whom I've been brushing shoulders online for at least two years. After missing her last time we were around, I had received an email in the morning saying that she'd be working that day. As we were pulling into the parking lot, our (real cheap) cell phone rang. (Yep, we're now catching up on all the techno gadgets! lol It's sure coming handy since public phones have become something of a rarity nowadays.) Sure enough it was Eva!!! I thought perhaps she'd seen our van through the window, but nope, she just thought she'd call to let us know that the restaurant would close in a couple of hours. Talk about our antennas crossing! lol Eva was about due for a break so we hung out together while munching on some delicious food.

One of the daily specials: Unchicken Filet with Pine Nut Alfredo Sauce. Although I definitely dig the concept, I found the Unchicken patty a little too dry and not very flavorful. It was served with a yummy Wild Rice Pilaf - one of Eva's creations, and a mixed green salad.


Shakti's Savior Sandwich: Hearty Rosemary Black Sesame Living Bread topped with creamy Cashew Cheese, Avocado, Tomato, Greens, and Sprouts. It came with crackers (Fiesta Flax Crackers and Corn Chips - both excellent!) and a choice of mixed green salad, coleslaw, rice pilaf or sauerkraut. We went with the latter as it had been a looooooong while since we'd had kraut.

The whole thing was under $7.00!!! Wow, what a deal and soooooo good!

Eva's deluxe custom made sammie: four different kinds of nut cheezes with avocado, grated carrot, lettuce and sprouts in a soft pita bread wrap.

Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, Jacksonville
While sitting at the restaurant, we were hoping that the downpour would stop, but no such luck. We were just going to have to make do. And so, if you can believe it, we actually put on our bathing suits and set up the tent in the heavy rain, which we felt was quite an accomplishment. That night our things did get wet, but fortunately the campground had laundry facilities so we were able to dry our bedding and clothes the next day.

We’d stayed overnight at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park when we first arrived in Florida and were wanting to come back in order to enjoy its fantastic location. In spite of having close to 300 sites, the campground is fairly private and divided into several loops so that it doesn’t feel so big. No doubt the fact that there weren’t many campers around for this normally busy time of year – a telltale sign of the economic depression – had something to do with it. The only negative about Hanna's campground is that it doesn’t have very many tenting sites, and the latter tend to be mostly bunched together.

The campground has a rule that you can’t stay longer than 2 weeks at a time and we soon found out why, as a group of transient people set up house next to us. We actually asked to move as we didn’t feel safe leaving our things (and Puss!) unattended. They put us on an awesome site tucked away among the big RVs. It backed onto the woods and was super private and quiet. (If you go tent camping at Hanna Park, ask for site # 291!!!)

Among Hanna Park's best features are its many hiking and biking trails. We walked to our feet's content. ;-) During one of our walks, we got talking with a man who had emerged from a parallel trail virtually at the exact same time as we did. One thing led to another and we learned that Ray usually lives in Alaska and was presently visiting his mother in Jacksonville. He told us about a really neat site called CouchSurfing that hooks travellers with others willing to host them in their homes. We only got a chance to briefly check out the website, but it definitely looks interesting.

One evening, we strolled by the lake just as the sun was about to set. Nature's artwork!

Hanna Park also offers beach access. Yay! Believe it or not, it was actually the first time that we really had the opportunity to do some earnest beaching since our arrival in Florida. (And a darn good thing too since the weather turned the very next day and the temperature dropped considerably!) As we were soaking up the sun we crossed paths again with Ray and hung out.

Man, hard to believe these were only taken a couple of weeks ago as it's been so chilly lately that we had to go digging and pull out our warm clothes. Well, at least Don got to wear his new trunks once! hehe

The Beach Boys!

One of the host campers told us that we could ask to extend our stay beyond the 2 week period so we were considering remaining there over the Holidays, but unfortunately for tenting sites this option wasn't possible. It turned out that we had to move after a couple of days anyway as that particular spot was reserved. Since once again the heavens were splitting wide open, instead of setting up on yet another site we decided to pack up and travel to Tallahassee where we'd been invited.

Our Outdoor Kitchen
Our camping experience here in the States has been a lot more luxurious than in Canada, as showers are free (yay!) and all the sites (at least those we've been to so far) have both water AND electricity. This makes a HUGE difference as it allows us to use our appliances (in Canada, we sorta had to sneak the Vitamix to a nearby RV site or into the bath buildings! lol) As a result, aside from the facts that our working space is outdoors, that we can’t run our dehydrator and don’t have access to a fridge/freezer to set desserts, our food prepping hasn’t suffered too much. So we’ve been able to enjoy our morning carrot apple beet ginger lemon juice (what a way to start off the day; the body soaks it right up!), smoothies, as well as our usual soups, dressings, spreads and even desserts.

"Where's Mr. V," you ask? Well, last week smoke started coming out of the motor as we were blending soup. (Oh no!!!!!!!) When I called Vitamix inquiring about the warranty, the super patient and nice lady (their customer service rawks!) determined that it was only the blade bearings that had seized. Phfew! Way simpler to replace than having to send the whole blender to the company and find a place for them to ship it back to. The thought of going without a blender even for a single day, let alone a couple of weeks, was a frightening one (we use ours at least three or four times daily!) so we decided to buy a cheapo to tide us over. We found a GE 600 watt for $39 at Walmart. I must say that it does a pretty darn good job at pulverizing greens for a regular blender. We're impressed!

One of the main factors that we’ve had to take into account when prepping food while camping is the weather. Rain makes it difficult to easily access the car and use our equipment, so we normally keep it simple on those days. Breakfast/lunch is plain fruits and sometimes Sweet Seed Crackers with nut butter and banana slices. Dinner is trickier, as when it’s raining it’s also usually cold, which brings yet another challenge. It took me a while to figure out what we could eat on such days, as my body was craving something warm after spending hours in the chilly wet. We’ve come up with a couple of variations of miso soup, depending on whether we're looking for an appetizer or a main course, that always sooooo hits the spot!


Simple and Light Miso Soup

Serves 2

For this recipe you’ll need:

• Your favorite miso (I used chickpea)
• 1” piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 4 cups hot water
• Seaweed of choice (we like broken up nori and wakame)
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced and tossed in equal part olive oil and tamari and a crushed garlic clove
• 1 green onion, chopped
• Large handful of mustard greens, sliced
• 1/2 avocado, cubed
  

Assembly:
Heat up the water, then add ginger and let steep for a few minutes. (I used an electric kettle then transferred the water and ginger into a thermos.)

Spread about 1 tsp of miso inside each bowl. Add a little hot ginger water and dissolve miso with a spoon.

Add seaweed and veggies.

Top with the rest of the ginger water and enjoy!


Here's the heartier version we've been making...

Whole Meal Miso Soup

Serves 2

For this recipe you’ll need:

• Your favorite miso (again, I used chickpea)
• 1” piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 4 cups hot water
• Seaweed of choice (we like kombu, broken up nori and wakame)
• Broccoli and cauliflower florets
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced and tossed in equal part olive oil and tamari and a crushed garlic clove
• 1 green onion, chopped
• Large handful mustard greens or bok choi, sliced
• 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
• 1 cup total of red and/or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
  
• 1/2 avocado, cubed

Start off by boiling water in a pot, along with the ginger and the piece of kombu.

If desired, add broccoli and cauliflower florets in order for them to soften up or cook.

In the meantime, spread about 1 tsp of miso inside each bowl, then add a little hot ginger water and dissolve miso with a spoon.

Add other seaweed and veggies.

Top with the rest of the hot ginger water.


Other soups we’ve been regularly making include several no brainer staples by Jenn Corbleet ( Cream of Zucchini Soup, Cream of Cucumber Soup and her Tomato Soup), as well as Corn Chowder, Creamy Sweet Pea Soup and Cheezy Spinach Almond Soup.

Some of the entrees that we’ve enjoyed so far include Fajitas, Nori Rolls, Asian Veggies in Ginger Marinade on top of zucchini angel hair or brown rice vermicelli, Tuna Salad on crackers or wrapped in mustard greens, Spring rolls made with rice paper and dipped in Ginger Marinade, Asian Spinach Salad and marinated veggies on quinoa. I’ve also come up with a simplified version of my Spinach & Cream Casserole in which I combine the mushroom and spinach marinades together in a bowl and skip the dehydration step. Soooooo good!

We have a salad almost every day with whatever greens we have on hand and tossed in my House Dressing, Tomato Dressing or just a little olive oil, tamari and nutritional yeast.

Munching on one of our evening feasts. (Can you see Puss all comfy on my lap?)

When we have dessert, it’s usually something quickly whipped up like banana slices with Heathy’s wonderful Chocolate Sauce or the famous Sweet Seed Crackers topped with nut butter or Artisana’s Chocolate Bliss and banana. Chia Tapioca Pudding always makes a great sweet treat (or breakfast!) Recently, I’ve also been experimenting with pudding in which the chia seeds are blended. One day, I came up with a really delicious combination using chia seeds, persimmon, orange juice, dates and a little grated ginger. (I might have used banana too but can’t remember for sure. Sorry!)

One of my faves has been a chocolate/superfood variation, inspired by the one that Vic, the Raw Shaman, makes.

Chocolate Chia Pudding
1 cup + 2 tbs water
1/4 cup Brazil nuts (other nuts would work well too!)
2 tbs chia seeds (grind these first in a coffee grinder if you don’t have a high power blender)
2 tbs cacao powder
1 tbs carob powder
1 tbs + 1 tsp maple sugar or agave
4 small dates, soaked
1 tsp each: mesquite, lucuma and maca
1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend water and nuts first, then strain. (For a simpler version, leave the pulp in.)

Return nut milk to the blender and add the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Chill before serving for best results.

If desired, enjoy with banana slices. Yum yum!


The Gift
I have a really neat anecdote to share, but first I gotta back up and tell you a little about our approach to diet, you know, to sorta place the story in context.

Over the years, my relationship with food has changed a great deal (that's probably a mega understatement!) and has gone through a number of phases. When I first got into raw nearly nine years ago now, like many others I was initially so excited about the radical shift in the way I looked and felt on raw that I became a bit of a zealot. You know, the 'Hollier than thou' syndrome and all that. I felt superior about my food choices and tried real hard not to 'get tempted' by the bad bad cooked foods. (God forbid!) My use of willpower in order to “stay raw” (as with all other diets and programs out there) turned out to be a real nightmare. I was thinking about food from morning til night (come to think of it, I'd even dream about it too! lol) and was plagued with cravings and the binging fits which always insue from this process. I was also obsessed about not eating too much, still running the old program that I had to watch the amount of food I was ingesting.

Thankfully, after much painful work around letting go of control and understanding more thoroughly how the mind works, I was gradually able to relax around food and embrace wherever I was at on my path to health. I came to take the long view of improving my diet gradually as opposed to giving myself a hard time about every single slip along the road.

For several years, Don and I ate what is usually referred to as ‘high raw’ or ‘80% raw’ (not that we really care about percentages, but just to give you an idea). Basically everything we ate was uncooked except for the evening meal’s entree, which usually consisted of something light like quinoa or millet (both are alkaline grains by the way), or steamed/baked veggies.

In the summer of 2006 we both transitioned to fully raw, without any actual ‘decision’ on our part to do so; it’s simply what happened. As I was going to guide a raw meditation retreat at my sister’s I started to browse the net and compiled an incredible amount of recipes. My plan was to come up with a menu for the retreat so that my main focus could be meditation, not food prep. And of course, we had to try them too to see if they were any good. Next thing you knew, there simply wasn’t any room left for cooked foods in our diet! Right around this time we also acquired a dehydrator, which opened up so many new exciting possibilities and helped take care of our usual cravings for warm food in the winter.

Just as we didn’t ‘choose’ to eat only raw, about 2 1/2 years later, we spontaneously started reintroducing cooked foods – again mostly simple stuff such as potato, squash and quinoa (although I did have a major pop corn phase! lol) At the time we were sharing a house with Mosaica and Pontifex, whom we’d met via our forum, with the intention of exploring the possibilities of community. As it felt important that we prepare and enjoy our meals together an alignment automatically took place. It was a very painful process for me, as my body had a hard time digesting the cooked food at first, but now I'm so grateful for the flexibility that it has been offering me.

This has proved to be helpful in this recent phase of being on the road, as we’ve been staying with people that don’t necessarily eat raw. It’s also so appreciated - especially now that we’re camping - to have the option to cook some quinoa or steam some veggies on rainy days or when we haven’t got the energy or time to get creative. When you look closely, our actual diet hasn’t changed that much, really; given a choice between something raw and something cooked, we’ll usually go with raw.

So this brings me to my little story...

When we were staying at Hanna Park, one particularly chilly evening a young woman and her father walked over to our site, holding Tupperware containers. She said that they had lots of left over soup and since we were camping in the cold, she thought we might enjoy something warm. Although I was in shock about her kindness and thoughtfulness, I somehow had the wit to mention that we were vegetarians. She candidly replied that the soup was made with cheese tortellinis, Portobello mushrooms, onion and chicken broth. Yep, pretty much as un-raw and non vegan as can be, but humbly and gratefully accepting her offering felt like the right thing to do. It was such an act of genuine kindness that I simply couldn’t refuse. Can you picture me telling her, “Thanks very much but I’m sorry, we actually don’t eat wheat and animal products. As a matter of fact, we usually don’t even cook our food!” How do you think it would have made her feel? Surely wouldn't have encouraged her in future to listen to the wild impulses of her generous heart!

Don and I ate the soup huddled in our tent, and you know what? It tasted delicious! And in spite of the fact that it contained three major ‘no-nos’ for me, I had zero adverse reaction whatsoever! Not even a runny nose from the wheat! Wowsers!

To me, this little incident is such a testimonial to how far I've come in my relationship to food and even to Life in general. Don Juan Matus (Carlos Castenada's mexican mentor) says that you can't know directly that you've changed, you can only observe that you no longer respond to situations the way that you used to. It also beautifully illustrates the point that it’s not just about what foods you put into your body, but also about the spirit in which they are prepared and eaten and the way you feel about it. If you eat something that's not optimal at any given time, so what? You just turn the page and move on. In this case it must have been something like 10 years since I last had tortellinis, and it's very doubtful that I'll eat some again any time soon. It's difficult to explain if you haven't experienced it for yourself, but there's something that feels intrisically good about being fluid and embracing whatever Life is sending your way, as opposed to blocking/resisting the flow because of ideals and mental constructs.

Interestingly (and also very timely!), I've heard that there's a wave of well known figures in the raw food movement that have been recently coming out admitting they've been eating some cooked foods. I'm not surprised at all! In our personal experience we were able to maintain a fully raw diet effortlessly and 'healthily' (ie without the use of imposed force and control) only in very unique circumstances where we were under minimal stress and had virtually no exposure to other people.

So the point of this story is to stay as flexible as you can and don't beat yourself up over little bumps on the road. In my book "steady as she goes" is the way. ;-)

Phfew! This is turning into one very long post! I better take a little breather before telling you about the last of our Florida adventures!

I wish you all a blessed, insight-full and transformative new year 2010!

P.S. I've posted a new updated version of our Sunny Raw Kitchen Tour itinerary here! Hope to see you somewhere along the way!