Two Candles

Today marks the second anniversary of The Sunny Raw Kitchen! Woo hoo!!! *doing the happy dance*

A Short Recap
It's been an extremely event-full and, yes, challenging year in many ways for me. Come to think of it, it seems that things have been happening in two's... After spending a number of years at the same spot, I moved not once but twice in 4 months, my dear Heathy came for a visit in September then again in December, I did two Vipassana meditation retreats, went on two major road trips, and lastly, I published two ebooks, The Best of Raw Freedom Community and Just Desserts.

Life's busy-ness has limited my involvement in the cyber world and, at times, even in the kitchen. Still, whenever I got the chance I let you in on what I'd been up to via my What's Uncookin' Good Lookin'? series and shared with you (almost religiously!) my Recipes of the Week. I also reported back on the results of my experiments with making cultured cashew cheese and, let's not forget, my second chocolate marathon which I recounted in great details in For The Love of Chocolate.

Feedback From the Online Raw Community
This year, I have received honors I would never have dreamed of! I was given the Inspirational Blogger Award and Creative Blogger Award, and was featured as one of the Favourite Raw Chefs of 2008 in Raw Pleasure Australia's December newsletter.

I was also nominated five times for Best of RAW 2008 and I am beyond thrilled and honored to confirm that I qualified in 3 categories! My Sunny Raw Kitchen blog was voted 3rd Best Raw Vegan Website as well as 5th Best Raw Vegan Media while I came 6th place as Best Raw Vegan Chef. (The other 2 categories were Best Raw Vegan Educator and Best Raw Book with The Best of Raw Freedom Community.)

Wowsers! I was content with being nominated and didn't expect to end up among the finalists, right alongside raw food well-known personalities such as Ani Phyo, Cherie Soria, David Wolfe and Nomi Shannon!

My heart-felt thanks to all those who have given me their votes of confidence and to my dear readers who have been dropping by this virtual kitchen over the last couple of years. It wouldn't be the cozy and fun place that it is if it wasn't for you!

My Favorites of 2008
At the beginning of a brand new year, one is naturally moved to reminisce about what's happened in the last 12 months: the good, the bad, and in my case, the yummy. (Yah, yah, I know I'm a bit food obsessed! lol) So I thought I'd share some of my favorite recipes of 2008. I always find it difficult to stick to a select few, but I exercised great discipline and managed to come up with the following. You may recognize a few from last year's list, but these are all staples that I have been making over and over again.

Here we go...

My Top 28 Raw Recipes for 2008:

(In no particular order)

1. Heathy's Butterscotch Shake
2. My Super Choconana Shake
3. Ingrid's Tomato Dressing
4. My Dill-icious Dressing
5. My Cheddar Cheeze Spread or Dip
6. My Sunflower Garlic Spread
7. Ocean's Oh My This Is A Tuna!
8. My Cream of Leek
9. My So Like Campbell’s Tomato Soup
10. Matt Amsden's Scarborough Fair Vegetable Soup
11. Jennifer's Cream of Zucchini Soup
12. My Popeye Gone Raw Cream of Spinach Soup
13. Don's Pilgrim's Soup
14. Matthew Kenney's Rosemary-Garlic Mashed Potatoes
15. Cherie Soria's Crab Cakes
16. The Daily Raw Cafe's Jalapeno Burgers
17. My Spinach & Cream Pasta Casserole
18. My Spinach & Mushroom Pockets
19. Joz's Fajitas
20. The Famous Onion Bread
21. Ani Phyo's Black Sesame Sunflower Bread
22. Garlic & Dill Cheeze
23. My Strawberry Shortcake
24. My Dazzling Hazelnut Cream Pie
25. Heathy's Chocolate Orange Cake
26. Heathy's Nutless Chocolate Crème
27. My Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
28. Cafe Gratitude's Mudslide Pie

I know Heathy loves that sorta thing too so I'm handing the ball over to her. I'm dying to find out your fave recipes of the year, dearie!

Away From The Kitchen
Sorry to have to say it, but I won't be blogging for a while, as I'm getting ready to leave for another Vipassana retreat. Can't think of a better way to start the new year! I'm looking forward to the opportunity to plough through (and hopefully release) yet more layers of 'sankhara' or mental conditioning. But before I go, I decided to leave you on a fun note!

'Name Your Fave' Draw
Tell us your 3 favorite recipes posted on The Sunny Raw Kitchen and which of my 2 ebooks, The Best Of The Sunny Raw Kitchen and The Best of Raw Freedom Community, you'd like to receive. Upon my return, I will draw 2 names who will deserve a copy of their ebook of choice.

Wishing you all a growth-full and blessed new year 2009!

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