Sorry for my absence of late (again!), but life has just been totally crazy (cool crazy though), so much so that I couldn’t even churn out some good ol blog posts. There have been plenty of great eats and happenings over the last week:
Green Smoothie!!
Apple Virgin Mojito in City Centre Mall, Bahrain
My team run (6 x 1 mile relay race on camp). We took 2nd place for our category.
Great new take out place I have found in Saudi!
Grilled vegetable salad with balsamic dressing and avocado and mixed greens.
But the real news is that I am in Oklahoma City! Yes thatâs right, I am in the US of A getting ready to embark on 4 weeks of Raw Food Chef Bliss (School). I hadnât wanted to blog about it until now, as I thought I may jinx myself and not get here. For example my bosses actually unapproved my vacation 2 days before I was due to fly out can you believe, but with some fast talking, I was able to leave on that jet plane bound for 105 degrees.
For those of you that already follow along on twitter and facebook, of course this is no surprise. Some of my blog pals, including one half of the Pure2Raw twins, Michelle, have already been here and it was both through their adventures and my own online research that I came across this academy to further my intersest in raw foods!
So 24 hours, 3 plane rides and a car rental pick up and here I am! I know loads of you are interested to know all about my experience here (as I know plenty of you have designs on coming too) so I will do my best to document is as I go!
You cannot know how excited I am to be here right now but hopefully you will get to share in my next 4 weeks as we go along.
Today I met the rest of my crew who I will be learning with our Instructor Russell James â The Raw Chef, to pick up our gear ready for tomorrow.
I took the opportunity to sample some of the goodies on the cafe’s brunch menu and I cannot wait to try EVERYTHING before the month is out. I’m thinking of going for a WHOLE month of 100% raw.
Green Monkey Smoothie
Banana, Spinach, Agave, Vanilla, Young Coconut, Spirulina
Mexican Chopped Salad: Salsa, Cilantro, Guacamole, Red Pepper Cheese, Jicama, Spicy Tortilla Chips
Coconut Curry with Kelp Noodles
Oh by the way Happy Easter  for those of you that celebrate. With everything going on, plus living in a Muslim country most of the time I almost forgot! 
Off to get my beauty sleep for chef school!
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Hey hey everyone!! Has your week gotten off to a great start? For once it is nice to be back on a Monday – Friday schedule (unlike in Saudi where the regular readers will know, my working week begins on a Saturday – I still accidentally call Friday nights, the night before work, Sunday night)
I tossed and turned last night,from jetlag and excitement from my first day at 105 Degrees! I was so worried I would sleep through my alarm. No chance.
Breakfast was this:
And an unpictured banana.
Then I headed off for here for the day, just for fun 
105 degrees cafe. She looks even better in real life
Smoothie bar.
Our training kitchen.
These are not even ALL of the dehydrators!
Then lunchtime:
Green Mango Hemp
Spinach, Mango, Hemp Milk, Coconut Butter, Agave, Red Chili
Kimchi Vegetable Dumplings, Sesame Ginger Foam
Open-Faced Portobello Burger, Basil Aioli , Sesame Bun, Cheesy Kale Chips
Then it was back to class to do some more learning
Yum! I was sooo full from my lunch so packed this up for my dinner.
What did you do today?
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Hey everyone! I’m glad you are loving the raw chef school updates. I am having such a great time and it is right where I SHOULD be. The food, the people, the environment…need I ask for more? Rewind to last night and after school I headed out on a mission to get me a travel blender. Yeah I know I already have one back home but it is a Tribest Personal Blender 240V which is great for the UK, Europe and Oz but unless I travel with a gigantic transformer, I thought it a better idea to buy one here to make my smoothies for when I am not at school (but it is happening more »
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Hi hi everyone! How is your week progressing? I hope the next 4 weeks don’t go too quickly as I am LOVING being here in RAW HEAVEN! Day 2 started off with another one of these lovelies x 2 Then I hit the academy to practice our knife skills we learnt yesterday and make some yummo Beet Ravioli. My attempt at the dish…just before I tasted tested (the lot!) Don’t you just want to eat the screen? ‘Mum look what I made!” Then I had to just be a little indulgent and I ordered one of the Pomegranate Red Velvet cakes with Lemon Frosting off the cafe menu (I wish I made this!) Then it more »
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Hey everyone, hope your day was swell. Here’s some images from my day at the academy today. Feast your eyes on this Meyer Lemons Winter Salad with Microgreens, Citrus & Meyer Lemon Dressing Lunch break at the bar My new addiction: Green Monkey Smoothie Chanterelle Lasagna, Butternut Squash Noodles, Marjoram Kale Caesar Salad – no plate necessary, boxed up to take home for my dinner. (It was yum). Share on Facebook
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Hey what’s up peeps? Guess what? It’s almost Friday…wahoo!!! Well I actually wish the week wouldn’t go so fast as I am loving this course! This morning I woke up a little late so I grabbed a Larabar and headed out the door. I’ve since found out through a pal on facebook who has contacted General Mills (who purchased LaraBars in June 2008) that the following bars are still raw: The following bars are still 100% raw with no sugar… Apple Pie Banana Bread Cherry Pie Cinnamon Roll Coconut Cream Pie Ginger Snap Pecan Pie Pistachio Bar The ones with peanuts are roasted, the the cocoa is heated. The cashews use heat to extract the more »
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Hellooooo everyone! Yesss it’s Friday! This week has totally flown by and I wish it would slow down, because I am one week down of my 3 week course Thanks for your comments on what intimidates you at the gym! Nice to know that we are all normal eh? Any plans for this weekend? For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you will know that I had been toying with a road trip or a flight to Vegas to visit my pal who is here for a month also, but it looked to be too expensive a journey for such a short time so I am kicking Oklahoma style this weekend and it’s more »
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Introducing my new lover…. The Avocolada from Matthew Kenney’s Raw Food, Real World. Seriously, the tastiest smoothie that has ever touched these lips.And I’ve had plenty of smoothies. This is a recipe for glowing skin, as learnt at todays Plant Based Beauty class by Megan at 105 degrees. Expect to see this in my future. We also learnt about different ingredients to avoid, fruits and vegetables to use on or bodies and we made our own lip balm and deodorant. After the class we decided to hang out for a pensioner dinner at 3pm. I sampled 1 or 2 of 105 degrees cafe’s daily feature cocktails, Key Lime-tini (with sake). Yep, I am pretty much living more »
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Sorry I lost ya for a day, my sleep patterns are messing up again but here’s hoping I am not officially on Oklahoma time. How was your weekend y’all? Yesterday saw me heading to 105degrees for the Sunday Supper Menu presented by Sous Chef Kelly Dennis. This was my first course: Shaved Fennel with Blood Orange and Yogurt Pecan Encrusted Portobello with Wilted Spinach, Heirloom Carrots Coffee, Cardamom, Coriander / Date Custard with Candied Pistachios, Macadamia Mascarpone, Citrus, Saffron. Couldn’t believe this was a raw dessert. Tasted reminiscent of the butterscotch sauce served with Sticky Date Pudding. Yeah this pretty much rocked my world! All raw and deeelicious. Every Sunday Supper for $25 if you more »
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Happy Tuesday to you all? Much going on in your week? Good work on the veggie guessing from yesterday. Emily got it right! (Christine you got it half right and Sheri got the buckwheat correctamundo!) This was a watermelon radish (an antique asian radish with a slight peppery taste the whiter it is) And a golden beet. Cool eh? So today was quite a full day of coconut opening again…as you can see, a lot of fun (and sometime frustration!) To open up one of these babies (or 9!) My reward! Everyone knows I love my coconuts, and also the water. I made a video here and my Soul Sister (who I get to see more »
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Up until today, Culinary School = Eating School, but today was not so much the case. We did some more practical on sprouting. I’ve only ever sprouted alfalfa in my kitchen before, it’s kinda daunted me, so I have really been enjoying my learning on this. Expect to see more sprouting in my future Do you sprout? Here’s my chia babies. I’ll keep you updated on their progress. Grow babies grow! Then we began to make some Kimchi for use in a recipe later. Here’s what Wikipedia says about Kimchi Kimchi is very spicy and can also be exceptionally sweet. Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber, while being more »
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Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments on your attempts at sprouting and also your workout styles Today’s chef school saw us heading out on a field trip. Russell (our instructor)Â packed up the car (and us kids) and took us to a spring to collect fresh water about 2 hours away. I am sipping on some right now. This water tastes so clean and doesn’t have that chemically smell. You can find a spring close to you here. But not before we all had a chance to make our salad lunch to go! Then it was a 2 or more hour drive, and onto business…. The Raw Cowgirl Lunchtime! When we arrived back to the academy, more »
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Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments regarding my weekend visit to my newest favourite state of the US of A, Arizona and my pals at the Kristen Household. Did anyone notice that I ran out of time to blog about Day 10 (Friday at 105degrees?). In pictures… Kimchee – expect to see this ALOT in YOUR & MY blogging future  Freakin yum. Then we made it into a filling: For it’s future incarnation: Kimchee Dumplings A little secret: I actually wasn’t very good at this bit…I gave up and got a bit cranky at having to do something that I clearly wasn’t very good at. Of course I have shared the more »
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French is the order of the day with Crepes and Torte. Quick post today as I have to get ready and head back out to 105 degrees for their Open Day (night) for the Academy. If you are in the area, pop on in! Today we made Crepes. Savoury Then Sweet. Into the dehydrator. Then we made a batch of raw tofu. It should be ready tomorrow. Time to make the sauces for my heavenly vanilla chocolate tortes. Ginger Cream and Raspberry/Strawberry Sauce. Oh yeah it tasted as good as it looks! And again! I just don’t think you can get enough of these pics To ensure I had a decent lunch before I hit more »
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Day 13 of Level One at 105degrees Academy today started with some green juice. 1 large cucumber, 2 peeled lemons, 3 apples Then we had a tasting session with each others creations. I much preferred the ones that reminded me of holidays…with ingredients like mint, lemongrass etc. After a green juice my GREEN superhero was busting to come out. Remember the cheese we started fermenting the other day? It was time to put some add ins. I chose garlic and rosemary. And before I put it in the dehydrator to develop a rind, I had to taste test quite a bit. And I think I am in love. With me. For making it. Hehe. We’ve more »
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Today at raw chef school saw us getting to the nitty gritty of being chefs. We have now learnt the major building blocks of raw food cuisine so us ‘kids’ were left to go crazy in the toy store and start coming up with our own creations. Today saw not so many photos and I didn’t even stop for lunch because I was so totally into what I was trialling and creating for both a breakfast meal and a lunch meal. Before we got started though, first priorities first. We pulled our cheeses out of the dehydrators. Remember the ones that me fall in love with me? Well they are even better just out of more »
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Happy weekend to you!! Do you have any exciting plans? I had hoped to get involved in the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon tomorrow (only doing the half of course!) but I totally took too long to register and now it is sold out!!! Ah well, might check out the arts festival and get ready for my last week at culinary school. I cannot believe it is almost over already!!! Yesterday at school saw us continuing on with our own recipe creation (under the fantastic supervision of one of my favourite raw chefs and instructors) For my breakfast recipe, I took inspiration from my day job. I wanted to create something that my passengers would enjoy. They more »
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Well itâs my last week here!! Although I am getting a little sad about leaving my new friends and wonderful raw culinary school, I keep telling myself that it is âsee ya laterâ and not âgoodbyeâ as I feel 105degrees has not seen the last of me Not many photos from class today as we start heading into final assessment mode where we have to design and create a 3 course meal based on our skills we have developed thus far. But before I go anywhere, I have some REALLY exciting news to share with you all. Russell James, our instructor & UK Raw Chef Extraordinaire, is celebrating his birthday on Friday! And he wants more »
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Wowsers, it is only 2 more days until I finish up and hopefully become a certified Raw Chef So having said that, today was spent mainly trying to get some more of my 3 course meal sorted out. It’s not so straight forward with raw food, when you have dehydration, fermentation and sometimes even sous vide prepartions to do. What is a sous vide you ask? It’s this! It is a piece of equipment used in plenty of commercial kitchens and I’ve even seen it make an appearance or two on Iron Chef America (I LOVE THAT SHOW!) Here’s what Wikipedia have to say about it. Sous-vide (pronounced /suËËviËd/), French for “under vacuum”,  is a method of cooking that more »
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Who doesn’t love a bit of Iron Chef? I love it!!! Level One gang: And for those of you not following me all day on facebook and twitter today, here is a sneak preview of what I have got in store for my final assessment tomorrow. It’s my last day at Raw Chef School Take your places in Kitchen Stadium!!!! Ice-Cream maker??? Eggplant fresh from the Sous Vide Lunchtime!!!! I’ll be back tomorrow with the final reveal on my 3 course dinner menu!!! Any ideas?? Russell James (The Raw Chef), who is also my instructor for this course, has some great birthday deals going on his Home Study Course and his Recipe Books until midnight more »
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I know you are are dying to know how I went yesterday with my final assessment at raw chef school, but I’ve just some last minute errands to run before I fly out tomorrow, so I’ll be back later with more on that Nothing like a bit of suspense. I just wanted to let you know you only have a few more hours left to purchase my chef school instructor Russell James‘ recipe ebooks or homestudy program at the discounted rate to celebrate his birthday today. I’ll be back with a rundown on my last day at 105degrees. Also don’t forget to vote in my poll on what you would like to see here, now more »
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According to Dairy Free Betty, I’ve been a bit of a tease, but there has been a method to my madness of holding back from sharing with you my final meal, and that is that it all happened in such a blink of an eye, that I really didn’t take many photos. Russell however did, but he is holding my photos hostage for a few more days so here is what I can share with you, just as I am about to board my flight here in Chicago. Until I return to the sandpit….enjoy This is how my day began…. Second course : Tastes of Arabia – cheese cigars, mutabal, zucchini hummus, buckwheat tabouleh & more »
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Russell James and I “Iron Cheffing” it up! I get plenty of emails from people asking me about my time at 105 degrees, or trying to locate all my posts from my time there. I have painstakingly put them all together in one place. So if you didn’t catch it the first time, here are my posts from when I went to Raw School to become a Raw Food Chef. And don’t hesitate to drop me an email should you have any questions or if you are thinking about going and just need a few things answered. Email me at contact@girlonraw.com Enjoy! 105 degrees â Part 1 105 degrees â Part 2 105 degrees â more »
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