Childhood Apples

Two beautiful Lithuanians spent some time with us in Rome and cooked up this delish dish from their childhood. I'll be writing down the accurate ingredients + process soon. Meanwhile, enjoy this heart-warming treat.

In other news, finishing a lot of video projects plus upcoming skillshare online class on creating video portraits here. Sign up and enjoy 15% off with code EUNOIA. Video trailer for that will be coming soon. :)

Rawventures: Strawberry Smoothie

Hello, I'm back again with a little spring offer (I've been busy, still am but heck this one's too good to keep to myself), an easy super delicious Strawberry smoothie. Its so easy and simple your brain can just sit out and bask in the sun. Ok maybe a few steps do require thinking (like button pressing) but anyway, here it goes:

Recipe: Avocado-Kraut Salad with Greens

Snowstorm coming says the news and while today the snow went from fluffy to melty, its dreadfully only the beginning. Its not that bad, I think/hope. Just not much of a home-buddy and all this time cooped in makes me wish I was a yeti frolicking in winter wonderland.

Anyhoo, I felt like I needed a good dose of greens so we had some lightly steamed greens and a deliciously spicy Avocado-Kraut salad. Sounds like an episode of Bizzare Foods you say? Just think: pickled veggies/fruis. Its really good, no joke. *wink wink* Plus sauerkraut is packed full of good stuff and if you can get a hold of them in your local microbiotic shop/center or whole foods supermarket (or make your own) you can get creative and mix it in your salads or as a condiment, side-dish -- endless possibilities really.


Spicy Avocado-Kraut Salad 

1 Avocado. Carve a grid and scoop into a bowl.
4-5 Cherry Tomatoes chopped.
1/4 cup chopped spring onions or leeks (which I had)
3 tbsps or scoops of Sauerkraut (mine is a mix of cabbage and apple)
1 tsp of Tamari (or soysauce or salt to taste)
dash of paprika (a bit more for me coz I like the flavor) and chili/peperoncino
Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions: Mix all together. Let sit for a bit for flavors to mix well before serving.


Savory Greens 

4 big green Savoy Cabbagge leaves chopped into rectangle bits
1 bunch of Broccoli florets chopped roughly
1 red onion chopped
2 big garlic cloves chopped
2-3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
squeeze of lemon juice and dash of chili/peperoncino (optional)

Instructions: Steam greens over boiling water for about 5-7mins or until it turns bright green and slightly wilted. In a hot pan fry chopped onions for a bit until it turns slightly brown on the sides, add salt (I dont use very much, maybe half a tsp) and chili (if you want. i do, i like it hot.) and then add chopped garlic and cook for a minute before turning off the fire, adding steamed greens and mix all together with a squeeze of lemon (if you want.). Serve.

Happy foodie.

Recipe: Perssimon Banana Muffins

Visual learners unite! This here is an experiment in both design and baking. With all the Perssimons we 

brought home from Roberto's, I thought I'd bake some before they rot. My first experiment was a hit. I didn't write down anything so this next batch was an improvisation of the first. Still yummy good. Also, Jillian asked if I could share some Perssimon recipes so here it is.

Anyway, to close this:

- bake in muffin/cupcake pan on 180C or 356F for 15-20 mins 

- yields 6-12 depending on the size of your pans

Enjoy and share your experiment if you give this a try. :)

Potato Cakes, Guacamole and Salsa

Its getting cold here. Got the sniffles already. Drinking lots of fresh juice, stocking up on this season's best fruit and veg, mmm.. Anyhoo here is a nice veg dinner for any kind of season.

Potato Cakes
Ingredients:

• 3 large potatos
• some extra virgin olive oil for frying
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese or leave out and increase salt by a tsp
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk or leave out
• 1 egg whiskedù
• 1 tsp powdered garlic or omit
• handful of parsley chopped

Instructions:

1. peel and chop potatoes. boil in pot of water for about 20 minutes or until soft/mushy.
2. drain, transfer in a bowl and mash.
3. mix in milk, pecorino, salt, chopped parsley and whisked egg. mix well.
4. fry a spoonful of the mix (carefully flattening it out as you scoop it on) on a non-stick pan with some olive oil in medium heat. 
5. wait 2-4 minutes or until it browns a bit before flipping on the other side. pronto!

Guacamole
There are so many ways to make guacamole. Its super easy what I did here. OR check out an old guac experiment here.

1. Halve 2 medium avocados, remove seed
2. trace a grid with a knife and scoop out layer by layer on a bowl (so you get nice even cubes)
3. add juice of half a big lemon, grate some skin off the lemon (zest), salt to taste, dash of hot pepper powder, and some chopped fresh red onion. mix

Salsa
Another popular condiment and again, so many ways to make it. Here, my simple version

1. 8-10 of those ripe small salad tomatoes. chopped finely or pulsed in a blender/processor.
2. stick of celery minced
3. half a medium red onion minced
4. mix all together and serve

Plating the whole thing is easy with so much color and texture, its fun to see and even better to EAT. heeee
btw, used some of the free labels from PuglyPixel. ;)

Anguria with Mint

This is it. The last of the melons, for now. I have to thank Stacey for the brilliant idea of adding in chopped mint. The combination defined a new kind of fresh - plus it tasted like a million bucks! Gourmet on a budget - bang for your buck, whatever you want to call it. This tops gelato - and I love gelato. ok, enough praise and worship. Just some few guidelines (you cant really call it recipe when theres only 2 ingredients involved without having to cook anything right?).

1.) Good fresh ingredients. Get the good juicy ripe red, not the greyish pinkish dull melon that tastes like some kind of bitterish eh. Fresh mint plucked straight from the plant if you can or place a stalk of leaves on a glass of water to keep it fresh for a day or two. If you can't, melon alone is a winner.

2.) Chop your melon whichever shape or form you like. I find that bite-sized chunks work best - keeps those tiny air globules intact for that slight crunch. But if you like it slushy, slash and slush away. Or bite straight into it like a wild man-woman she-wolf. er

3.) Chill. Chillllll in the fridge... It makes all the difference on a hot sweaty day. Cocomero means watermelon in Italy, so does Anguria but I think Anguria fits better. It sounds a bit erotic and having a good helping of this stuff is almost too pleasurable, even more eating it with your bare hands. ;)

Cycle of Almonds

I've grown increasingly fond of eating and experimenting with raw food that I've recently invested in a dehydrator to broaden the possibilities. I decided to do a whole cycle of almonds starting with almond nut mylk, an easy enough to do project. Just soak 1-2 cups of almond nuts in water overnight. Next morning, drain soak water and rinse nuts (they'll double in size).

Put in blender. Add water a bit above the level of almonds (or more if you want the mylk to be less dense).

Blend and then squeeze mylk through a sieve or cheesecloth or nut milk bag. Store in the fridge or enjoy it straight away with some honey. I made "chocolate milkshake" by blending some mylk with banana, some carob, maca, lucuma and a dash of cinnamon.

The pulp left from the bag I then used to make dehydrated cookies! (even Fra got excited)

The recipe for this was based on raw nut bread but I omitted and added different things (raisins, dried grated coconut, flax seeds, etc) and didnt even bother to write anything down so I'll just have to try it again next time and then repost the recipe. :) Anyway, I made 2 kinds: one huge monster cookie and a batch of smaller regular cookies. The bigger denser one was more chewy. =D And boy was it a full breakfast!

Rawventures: Veggie Sushi with Lemon Tahini dressing

More recipes? Did I just do all this in one go? Answer: No. I happen to take pictures of most of my experiments and come back to them looong after (more like a month or so until the camera's memory card goes full). Then I have to get rid of it by releasing it into the World Wild Web (fly free my little ducklings, fly freee).  ok, here it goes.



Veggie Sushi Wushu! What better way to make use of whats left of your vegetables than to roll it up with Nori and dip into something YUM. If its getting really hot where you are, as it is here, this'll cool you down without sacrificing spice and flavor. Also, when was the last time you enjoyed freshly grated carrots? Its surprisingly refreshing, crunchy and sweet. Its easy to make magic with these things, seriously.

Ingredients:
- 2 or 3 medium-sized carrrots grated (the amount will have to depend on how much sushi you want to make)
- 2 stalks of celery with leaves, finely chopped
- half cup chopped spring onions
- 2-3 nori/seaweed sheets
*note: obviously you can mix in other vegetables too like grated radish or beets or greens - experiment!



For the Lemon Tahini dressing, mix:
- juice of half a lemon (about 2-3 tbsps of it)
- 2 tbsps tahini (its sesame seed paste/butter. go get a bottle now, you'll love it. :)
- 2 tbsps nama shoyu or soy sauce
- dash of paprika
- dash of chilli powder OR wasabi
- light drizzle of agave syrup or honey (optional)

Process:
1. Ready your sushi assembly line. Lay out your nori sheet, long side up. Fill and layer your veggies.



2. Top with your Lemon Tahini dressing and start rolling. I'm no master of this so its normal to have irregular bumps and spaces. Seal with a bit of water or oil on the edges of your nori sheet.



3. Chop, serve, enjoy.

Our dedicated tester finishing his melon quickly before I eat all the sushi 

Easy Herby Mushroom Sandwich

My mental name-generator isn't working so well today. I guess we'll just have to settle with Herby Mushroom sandwich. Hey Herb, how ya doin'?
Anyway, this is a super easy quick veg sandwich that'll make you happy and smiling in a matter of minutes - those precious MINUTES.

We will need:
- handful of fresh mushrooms sliced not too thinly
- half cup of sliced eggplant cut to fit your sandwich
- handful of fresh basil leaves
- slices of fresh tomato
- whole wheat bread slices
- Balsamic vinaigrette (simply mix 2tbsps of olive oil with 2tbsps of Balsamic vinegar, add a bit of agave syrup or honey - whatevers available, and mix. set aside)

Process:
1. in a non-stick pan or grill, lightly toast your sliced mushrooms and eggplant until they sweat a bit.




2. dip your toasty mushrooms and eggplant into your Balsamic vinaigrette. have them sit there for a little bit, absorb those juices, then assemble on to your slice of bread.

3. layer in some tomato slices and top with some fresh basil leaves. Enjoy.

Rawventures: Brasil nut paté

Heres something for anyone with a need for something nutty, sour, and spicy. Goes perfectly well with celery and carrot sticks or as a filler for veg sushi (or bread and breadsticks, whatever you fancy). The key is to soak the nuts overnight for a creamier texture. oh, and pickled sundried tomatoes. :)

Ingredients:
- half cup of Brasil nuts (soaked overnight)
- 1/4 cup mix of cashew nuts and/or sunflower seeds (soaked overnight)
- 1/4 cup pickled sundried tomatoes (if not available, soak 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes with the juice of half a lemon, mix in a bit of chopped parsely and oregano and drizzle with olive oil. let sit overnight)

- 3-4 tbsps of olive oil

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small sized red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- dash of paprika
- dash of chilli powder (or more if your HOT)

Process:
1. Mix everything in your food processor or mortar then pulse or grind to a paste.
2. Serve in a bowl. Enjoy.

Guacamole Remix

Summer recipe thats yummy anytime. :)